[OVERVIEW]
Kingambit shines as one of the tier's most dangerous sweepers thanks to its solid STAB combination, superb defensive typing, high Attack stat, Swords Dance, and an incredible ability in Supreme Overlord. Its access to Sucker Punch allows it to compensate for its slow Speed and serve as a potent revenge killer, picking off a wide range of faster targets, such as Dragapult, Deoxys-S, and Iron Moth. It can also customize its EV spread, item choice, and Tera type selection, allowing it to tailor itself to what its team desires and overcome many would-be answers. For example, Tera Flying and Air Balloon improve Kingambit's matchup against Ground-types, Tera Fire and Lum Berry let it foil attempted burns from Will-O-Wisp, and Tera Ghost flips its Fighting weakness and turns the tables on Body Press Corviknight and Fighting-types. Thanks to these traits and flexibility, Kingambit is welcomed by nearly every offensive archetype in the tier. However, it is heavily burdened by a crippling weakness to Fighting, as well as common attacking types like Fire and Ground. This leaves it struggling against common threats like Zamazenta and Great Tusk without Terastalizing, and plenty of Pokemon like Gholdengo, Deoxys-S, and Iron Crown often slap on Fighting-type coverage to deal with it. Additionally, these Pokemon, as well as Corviknight and Dondozo, often utilize Tera Fighting specifically to turn the tables on Kingambit. Tera Fairy is also commonplace in the tier, as Pokemon like Gholdengo, Dragapult, and Moltres sometimes utilize it to avoid being revenge killed by Kingambit's Dark-type attacks. Additionally, its slow Speed forces it to rely on Sucker Punch for mind games, deal with faster-paced teams, and play carefully to avoid letting foes like Ogerpon-W, Primarina, Dragonite, Moltres, Cinderace, and Kyurem take advantage of it by using Encore, recovery, Will-O-Wisp, and Substitute. The ubiquity of priority moves, such as Raging Bolt's Thunderclap and Dragonite's Extreme Speed, is another way that Kingambit's Sucker Punch can be outplayed. On top of this, Kingambit lacks reliable recovery, and it struggles to fit all the moves it wants in one set to threaten targets like Great Tusk, opposing Kingambit, and Hisuian Samurott.
Other Options
=============
Kingambit has a couple of other Tera types that it can make use of: Tera Fighting powers up Low Kick and allows Kingambit to maintain its Dark resistance while ditching its Fighting and Ground weaknesses. A Black Belt can be used with this Tera type, allowing Kingambit to further threaten Great Tusk, Zamazenta, and Dondozo. Tera Grass flips the matchup against Ogerpon-W and lets Kingambit set up on Ground-types like Great Tusk, Ting-Lu, and Iron Treads. However, the use of these Tera types is very specific and forces Kingambit to give up a more crucial Tera type like Ghost, Fire, and Fairy. A set with Protect, Substitute, Spite, and Thief with Pressure as its ability can be used on stall archetypes to surprise would-be answers, like Great Tusk, non-Roar Zamazenta, by draining PP from their super effective attacks. However, this set requires extensive support to pull off and sacrifices Kingambit's offensive capabilities. A bulky Stealth Rock set is also an option on these team archetypes, which serves as a solid answer to Hatterene and allows Blissey more freedom to run a different move like Flamethrower or Shadow Ball.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/favmon-garchomp.653095/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsu.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/username.XXXXXX/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/username.XXXXXX/
Kingambit shines as one of the tier's most dangerous sweepers thanks to its solid STAB combination, superb defensive typing, high Attack stat, Swords Dance, and an incredible ability in Supreme Overlord. Its access to Sucker Punch allows it to compensate for its slow Speed and serve as a potent revenge killer, picking off a wide range of faster targets, such as Dragapult, Deoxys-S, and Iron Moth. It can also customize its EV spread, item choice, and Tera type selection, allowing it to tailor itself to what its team desires and overcome many would-be answers. For example, Tera Flying and Air Balloon improve Kingambit's matchup against Ground-types, Tera Fire and Lum Berry let it foil attempted burns from Will-O-Wisp, and Tera Ghost flips its Fighting weakness and turns the tables on Body Press Corviknight and Fighting-types. Thanks to these traits and flexibility, Kingambit is welcomed by nearly every offensive archetype in the tier. However, it is heavily burdened by a crippling weakness to Fighting, as well as common attacking types like Fire and Ground. This leaves it struggling against common threats like Zamazenta and Great Tusk without Terastalizing, and plenty of Pokemon like Gholdengo, Deoxys-S, and Iron Crown often slap on Fighting-type coverage to deal with it. Additionally, these Pokemon, as well as Corviknight and Dondozo, often utilize Tera Fighting specifically to turn the tables on Kingambit. Tera Fairy is also commonplace in the tier, as Pokemon like Gholdengo, Dragapult, and Moltres sometimes utilize it to avoid being revenge killed by Kingambit's Dark-type attacks. Additionally, its slow Speed forces it to rely on Sucker Punch for mind games, deal with faster-paced teams, and play carefully to avoid letting foes like Ogerpon-W, Primarina, Dragonite, Moltres, Cinderace, and Kyurem take advantage of it by using Encore, recovery, Will-O-Wisp, and Substitute. The ubiquity of priority moves, such as Raging Bolt's Thunderclap and Dragonite's Extreme Speed, is another way that Kingambit's Sucker Punch can be outplayed. On top of this, Kingambit lacks reliable recovery, and it struggles to fit all the moves it wants in one set to threaten targets like Great Tusk, opposing Kingambit, and Hisuian Samurott.
Other Options
=============
Kingambit has a couple of other Tera types that it can make use of: Tera Fighting powers up Low Kick and allows Kingambit to maintain its Dark resistance while ditching its Fighting and Ground weaknesses. A Black Belt can be used with this Tera type, allowing Kingambit to further threaten Great Tusk, Zamazenta, and Dondozo. Tera Grass flips the matchup against Ogerpon-W and lets Kingambit set up on Ground-types like Great Tusk, Ting-Lu, and Iron Treads. However, the use of these Tera types is very specific and forces Kingambit to give up a more crucial Tera type like Ghost, Fire, and Fairy. A set with Protect, Substitute, Spite, and Thief with Pressure as its ability can be used on stall archetypes to surprise would-be answers, like Great Tusk, non-Roar Zamazenta, by draining PP from their super effective attacks. However, this set requires extensive support to pull off and sacrifices Kingambit's offensive capabilities. A bulky Stealth Rock set is also an option on these team archetypes, which serves as a solid answer to Hatterene and allows Blissey more freedom to run a different move like Flamethrower or Shadow Ball.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/favmon-garchomp.653095/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsu.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/username.XXXXXX/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/username.XXXXXX/
Last edited:
