Pokémon Infernape

[SomeDrunkRockLee]

Infernape and Terrakion both have 108 speed lol.



Why is Thunder Punch a must? I really don't see the reasoning since Infernape's main problems are Azumarril, Mega Pinsir, Talonflame, and the Lati@s. the first three all have priority and basically require you to predict to use it otherwise the moveslot is wasted, (Ape also has fire moves for predicting Pinsir lol) and U-Turn is how you get Lati@s killed via pursuit from other dude. U-Turn is a MUCH better option.

For some reason I was thinking Terrak was 109... :/

Anyway, Thunderpunch allows Ape to, yes, hit counters on the switch. Tentacruel, jellicent, Azumarrill, and Talonflame are easily worn down by a few Thunder Punches, enabling Ape to break through it's own counters. Much of the time when using Ape, Thunderpunch will have the highest reward:risk ratio, able to easily beat down its counters while infernape looses a little bit of health if it mispredicts to something like a choice locked scizor bullet punch.

 

[alexwolf]

Nice, not necessary. If your team has a way to get those mons reliably, (Rotom-W literally checks all of them minus Zard Y lol) having a way to switch while knowing what to bring and push the momentum way into your side. If you're building a team with Infernape, you should probably have one way to beat them anyways lol. It's just the safer option overall, unless your team is Zard Y weak, which admittedly isn't uncommon to have one that is, but that's basically it.

Saying that you can beat some of the hardest hitting Pokemon in OU with the proper support is not an argument. Infernape is already a pretty mediocre Pokemon in OU, and providing it a lot of support to function should make you question yourself why are you even using it in the first place, instead of using better Pokemon that can work better with less support. I am not saying that you must always use ThunderPunch, but you will want to have it 90% of the time, as the Pokemon it covers are simply that important.

 

[QuickBH]

Saying that you can beat some of the hardest hitting Pokemon in OU with the proper support is not an argument. Infernape is already a pretty mediocre Pokemon in OU, and providing it a lot of support to function should make you question yourself why are you even using it in the first place, instead of using better Pokemon that can work better with less support. I am not saying that you must always use ThunderPunch, but you will want to have it 90% of the time, as the Pokemon it covers are simply that important.

I believe the initiation that allows you to safely send in those pokes while still being able to 2hko not terribly defensive mon's like Rotom-W is nice, and really helps Infernape out, but idk not in the arguing mood haha. What you say makes sense. :)

EDIT: I'm a fucking asshole lmao. You're right. Really happy to see that Ape is getting some respect.

 

[Baharoth]

Infernape is already a pretty mediocre Pokemon in OU, and providing it a lot of support to function should make you question yourself why are you even using it in the first place

Covering each others counters on a team isnt exactly "lots of support". Even top S rank threats have things they cant handle on their own. Thats basic support that every pokemon needs and in this case the safe switch ins to Infernape are common threats that any team needs to be prepared for anyway. It doesnt matter if u run Infernape or not, you ve got to have something on your team to stop those things so you shouldnt need a prediction reliant coverage move to deal with them.

That said Infernape has 2 ways of dealing with its switch ins. 1. relying on prediction to hit them with Thunderpunch multiple times (assuming ur opponent is stupid enough to use the same switch in over and over again) 2. just U-turning out into ur own check like so many other good pokemon do it as well. Dont know, to me way number 2 looks a lot safer and better.

 

[QuickBH]

I've started to go with his side. A pokemon's OWN strength should be determined by itself. I think Thunder Punch is a strong pick now, however I still believe that it in itself isn't THAT necessary, but it's really good. Also, when it comes to prediction, you also have to factor that the risk also involves that your current mon is gonna get wrecked by close combat, so unless you go full Joey the entire game you're good.

And no, I'm not trying to kiss up the mod.

 

[Baharoth]

I've started to go with his side. A pokemon's OWN strength should be determined by itself. I think Thunder Punch is a strong pick now, however I still believe that it in itself isn't THAT necessary, but it's really good. Also, when it comes to prediction, you also have to factor that the risk also involves that your current mon is gonna get wrecked by close combat, so unless you go full Joey the entire game you're good.

And no, I'm not trying to kiss up the mod.

A Pokemons own strength isnt determined by a single coverage move, if u go for Thunderpunch u will get screwed over by other things because u now lack coverage for them.

Regarding prediction, u also have to account for the possibility that the Heatran u thought would switch out in fear of CC just stays in and uses Earth Power which will outright kill Infernape. I am a risk averse player so i try to avoid risks like that at all cost. Using coverage moves that work only on predicted switches is something I would do only in 2 cases. 1. I cant handle the things covered by that move otherwise. 2. The pokemon using that move is fairly bulky and wont die most of the time if I happen to mispredict. In Infernapes case 1. means that my team is flawed because it cant realy handle top tier threats and 2. is obviously not the case because Infernape dies from any decent neutral hit.

Ofc Thunderpunch is a viable option, i guess its just a matter of player mentality here, but i would always pick the risk free U-turn over the risky Thunderpunch unless the potential payoff is realy huge, which it isnt since Thunderpunch doesnt even ohko most of the things its supposed to hit.

 

[Jaguar360]

Shadow Claw and Stone Edge are options, but if you have Iron Fist, Thunder Punch is definitely the best choice. I agree with the mixed set alexwolf posted earlier. I was about to post it myself, but with Overheat as a slash for Fire Blast.

 

[SomeDrunkRockLee]

A Pokemons own strength isnt determined by a single coverage move, if u go for Thunderpunch u will get screwed over by other things because u now lack coverage for them.

... this doesn't make sense. The point of running thunderpunch is that it affords the greatest amount of coverage you can get on infernape. Yeah, you're missing out on some coverage against a few threats, but isn't the point of coverage to hit the largest number of relevant threats as possible? That's like saying "Running Earthquake on Salamence is useless, since it causes you to miss out on the ability to hit Gliscor with Hydro Pump." Sure, you miss out on one notable KO, but you gain several more.

 

[MattyBrollic]

Being an avid Infernape user, I have found that the set I have the most success with in OU is:

Infernape
Iron Fist
Naive/Hasty 252attk/4spa/252 Speed
Life Orb
close combat
mach punch
u-turn
overheat

This set makes for an excellent mixed wall breaker and momentum keeper. Mixape is extremely effective with stealth rock support and some playful prediction. Nape can surprisingly 2HKO a large portion of the meta game with close combat. Because so many threats risk getting 1 or 2hkoed by CC, some of Napes most common switch ins are Lando-T Gliscor and Aegislash, all of which are easily 2hkoed by Overheat after stealth rock even with the sp attack drop. Iron fist life orb mach punch picks off a surprising amount of weekened foes and completely shuts down the ubiquitous Bisharp. Another point worth noting is that with Istealth rock support, Talonflame and Charizard Y are both easily 2hkoed from 50% which is why thunder punch is not necessary. Azumarill is a great answer to Nape but even it gets hit fairly hard by switching into CC and it lacks reliable recovery as well so Azumarill would be lucky to switch in on Nape even twice within a match. If anything, Nape can u-turn out on a predicted Azumarill switch to createa better match up. Overall, I think Infernape can perform very well in OU this gen as it is not very common or well prepared for. Just keep in mind that Infernape really appreciates stealth rock support.

 

[The_Derpy_Chicken]

Just a couple things here. 1. You people are extremely narrow-minded in that you find it neccesary to run at least U-turn or T-Punch. I run neither, and it works out fine for me. T-Punch is unneccesary because (as previously mentioned) the coverage it gives should be prepared for by a non prediction-relying move on any half decent OU team. And so then you might say always use U-turn then. Well, if you predict a switch, (and if you use U-turn, you should be predicting a switch) then it's really not usually that hard to correctly predict what they will use, unless they predict your prediction. Which, in my limited experience on PS, has not yet happened. Worst case scenario, send out your best bet against any and all of their remaining team members. If one bad prediction costs you the game, you have a problem. So just use your neurons and predict them, that way you don't need to use a moveslot for U-turn.

2. You are also very focused on the fact that Terrakion packs more punch, along with some others. However, the others are easier to predict, since they can't run any combination of mix/phys/spec the way Ape can. On top of that, he gets a nice coverage combo from Fire/Fight STABs.

Sorry for the length and possible incoherence. I will edit later and finish my thought trains, since I'm almost falling asleep every time I stop typin to think.

 

[shilly]

in all my using of infernape in 4th and 5th gen, as well as testing out a banded variation in 6th, LO mix-nape is the way to go with this guy. infernape has great coverage moves on his special side, and with the equal atk and sp. atk base stats it's a sin imo to waste it for just physical attack. anyway, here's the set i use:

Dingo (M) Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
168 Atk/88 SpAtk/252 Spd
-Fire Blast/Overheat
-Close Combat
-Thunder Punch
-Hidden Power (Grass)

in my eyes, flare blitz is pretty awful on infernape, especially paired w/ life orb. it has such dire hp and defenses and talonflame or mega 'zard-X are more preferred users of it. overheat is nice since it packs more of a devastating punch on any pokemon that doesn't resist it, and even pokemon who resist it don't take it too well either! but fire blast does indeed have the benefit of not lowering sp. atk, so that's what i usually go with when i couple it w/ my mega zard-Y. close combat is essential, duh. as for thunder punch, i think it's a great coverage move on nape, personally. sure, stone edge is better in terms of coverage and bp, but i think when coupled w/ iron fist it does near close to the amount of damage s-edge does, idk. HP grass is used over grass knot b/c i hate grass knot, lol. and through personal use, it hits things like rotom-w a lot harder. the set is utterly walled by lati@s but that's not what it's made for.

some calcs on HP grass over grass knot:
88 SpA Life Orb Infernape Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Rotom-W: 120-143 (39.4 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
88 SpA Life Orb Infernape Grass Knot (20 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Rotom-W: 42-49 (13.8 - 16.1%) -- possible 7HKO

grass knot is pretty bad imo, lol

 

[The_Derpy_Chicken]

LO mix-nape is the way to go with this guy.

A new day, a new outlook. hmm... since everybody is saying how great Mixape is, I guess I'm going to try him out on my team. I use physical Ape at the moment, since he has a great special damaging partner, but who knows. However, I remain adamant that you guys are looking too much at what a pokemon can do by itself, and not enough at what it can do with a team. The sum of a pokemon team is greater than it's parts. And some pokemon work in different ways. Imagine a team of really good pokes with no synergy vs. a team of ok pokes with amazing synergy. That's why I'm so adamant about this point. Infernape may be outclassed by himself, but with a team... he could well outclass the other guys.

 

[lelinfernape]

Have this badass
Punch monkey
EVs:252 attack, 252 speed, 4 special attack
Choice band
Naughty nature
-fire punch
-thunder punch
-focus punch
-swords dance/u turn

 

[midend]

Have this badass
Punch monkey
EVs:252 attack, 252 speed, 4 special attack
Choice band
Naughty nature
-fire punch
-thunder punch
-focus punch
-swords dance/u turn

Locking yourself into swords dance is the naughtiest thing a banded infernape can ever do, though i am not very jolly about it.

 

[lelinfernape]

Locking yourself into swords dance is the naughtiest thing a banded infernape can ever do, though i am not very jolly about it.

Sometimes I switch out focus punch for u turn

 

[midend]

Sometimes I switch out focus punch for u turn

I think you lost your focus, allow me to be adamant about not dancing with swords on choice-locked monkeys

 

[BurningFury101]

Sometimes I switch out focus punch for u turn

Have this badass
Punch monkey
EVs:252 attack, 252 speed, 4 special attack
Choice band
Naughty nature
-fire punch
-thunder punch
-focus punch
-swords dance/u turn

In actual topic, though, I've always liked Infernape back in Gen 4. It was probably my #1 most used Pokemon due to it's near unmatched speed (Trust me, it's speed tier was amazing in the day), amazing movepool, and great mixed attacking stats. But, as said in the first page, Infernape isn't getting worse, the tier is just getting better. CBanded Azumarill gives no hell about Infernape - the best way to actually kill it with Infernape is a Gunk Shot:
252 Atk Life Orb Infernape Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 351-413 (86.8 - 102.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Even so, as I said, CBanded can just Aqua Jet it. I can't say much because I gotta go, I'll post something else later - probably a full review, cya!

 

[QuickBH]

I think you lost your focus, allow me to be adamant about not dancing with swords on choice-locked monkeys

There is no turning back, quit being so naive. If Infernape feels that firey about dancing, he can make the choice to dance as he pleases even if it involves pointy weapons, as long as he doesn't lose his thunder.

 

[The_Derpy_Chicken]

You two have fun with your poetry. I will say this only: at least in singles, being choice-locked into a boosting move leaves you two options; death and switching. Basically, its worthless.

 

[QuickBH]

You two have fun with your poetry. I will say this only: at peast in singles, being choice-locked into a boosting move leaves you two options; death and switching. Basically, its worthless.

Locking yourself to a boosting move EVER IS DUMB. You are literally foddering yourself for nothing.

 

[Toljik]

Judging by the user name "lelinfernape",

 

[The_Derpy_Chicken]

Locking yourself to a boosting move EVER IS DUMB. You are literally foddering yourself for nothing.

Lol, I almost never play anything non-singles, and certainly not competitively. All I know about is singles really. That's why I said at least in singles. XD

 

[Sevifar]

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Overheat
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

This is the set I've had the most success with in OU. It forgoes Priority and an electric move (two things i feel other pokemon do better) and acts as a scout, revenge killer and of course, janitor when the game has nearly run its course. I haven't played around with the EV's too much so there's probably a more effective spread. CC/Overheat are the stabs, and since Infernape usually dosen't stay in for long, I opted for overheat's accuracy and power. Stone edge provides good coverage alongside nape's stabs and can cripple some important switch ins (Most Dragons, Togekiss, Pinsir, Volcarona, Azumarill) but most importantly, it means Talonflame can't safely switch in on Nape. It also 2hko's gyara after SR (unless it Mevo's on turn 2). U-turn hurts the lati's a lot, doing 60%+ roughly on them. Its also useful to break sashes, multiscales and air balloons, and of course is your main scouting move.

Just keeping nape away from priority, and know when to U-turn and when to hard switch or double switch.

 

[Dovahhkiin64]

Personally I find infernape to be a great charizard y counter thanks to the fact that it outspeeds and with mixed attacking stats and max speed it can easily one shot a charizard y with stone edge.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Need to learn the definitions Dovahhkiin64-- a counter is a Pokemon that switches in on another. Infernape can't counter Charizard-Y when it takes:

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Infernape in Sun: 207-243 (70.6 - 82.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

minimum 70.6% damage from a resisted Fire Blast.

 

[mikelos]

it gets vacuum wave so you can go pure special with that