Shadestep
volition immanent
[OVERVIEW]
Medicham is one of the strongest physical attackers and one of the best wallbreakers in the NU tier due to its ability Pure Power combined with its extremely strong STAB moves and excellent coverage moves in Thunder Punch and Bullet Punch. Medicham also has an excellent Speed tier, outpacing and KOing common Pokemon such as Vanilluxe, Decidueye, and Samurott, as well as outspeeding pretty much all defensive Pokemon in the tier. However, Medicham is very easily worn down with entry hazards, Life Orb recoil, and potential Rocky Helmet and Aftermath damage. Its low HP stat and defenses don't help with this either; Medicham can almost never safely switch directly in on any predicted attack, as it takes massive damage even from resisted hits. Medicham's main attacking move, High Jump Kick, isn't risk free either, as Ghost-types and Pokemon with Protect are commonly seen in the tier, both of which cause High Jump Kick to miss and Medicham to lose 50% of its health. Lastly, Medicham is outsped and KOed by most offensive threats in the tier, like Rotom, Heliolisk, and Comfey. Offensive Golbat also aims to outpace and KO it with Brave Bird.
[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: High Jump Kick
move 2: Zen Headbutt / Psycho Cut
move 3: Thunder Punch
move 4: Bullet Punch
item: Life Orb
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
High Jump Kick is Medicham's strongest move, doing big damage even to neutral or resisted targets. Zen Headbutt allows Medicham to hit most Pokemon that resist or are immune to Fighting such as Garbodor, Rotom, and Decidueye. Its flinch chance can also be a big deal in dealing with walls like Palossand. Thunder Punch is the best coverage move Medicham can use in NU, as it 2HKOes any Slowbro variant after Stealth Rock damage. Bullet Punch allows Medicham to pick off Pokemon that could otherwise KO it, such as Sneasel and slightly weakened Whimsicott. Psycho Cut can be used over Zen Headbutt to avoid recoil damage from most notably Garbodor, as well as for its 100% accuracy, but it misses out on important OHKOs on Golbat, Vileplume, and Garbodor.
Set Details
========
Life Orb gives Medicham's already great Attack a boost. A Jolly nature is used to outpace common Pokemon like Vanilluxe and Speed tie with Passimian and Braviary, two Pokemon that could otherwise heavily damage Medicham. Maximum Attack and Speed EVs make Medicham as powerful and fast as possible.
Usage Tips
========
Avoid switching Medicham directly in on a predicted attack, since it's very frail and likely to take a big hit from any attack—even resisted ones. Rather, utilize teammates with moves like Volt Switch, U-turn, and Parting Shot to get Medicham in safely. While using High Jump Kick often seems risk free, be wary of the opponent potentially switching in either a Ghost-type Pokemon or a defensive Slowbro. The former will cause Medicham to lose 50% of its health, whereas the latter is mainly a momentum drain. Since there aren't many hard counters to Medicham, people will often try to pivot around it as well as they can. Because of this, playing aggressively with Medicham, predicting switch-ins and hitting them with the appropiate coverage move, will mess up most defensive teams.
Team Options
========
Slow U-turn and Volt Switch Pokemon like Incineroar and Vikavolt are great partners for Medicham, as they can guarantee a safe switch for it. Pokemon that can outpace Pokemon like Heliolisk, Whimsicott, and Sceptile are also great partners, as Medicham has trouble dealing with these threats. Pursuit users, namely Sneasel, help Medicham spam High Jump Kick even more easily by erasing Ghost-types like Rotom and Dhelmise. Pokemon that can easily beat Slowbro, like Heliolisk and Whimsicott, are great partners for Medicham, as Slowbro is one of the few mostly safe switch-ins to it. Entry hazard removal is very important for keeping Medicham healthy throughout the battle, since it is already prone to being worn down due to Life Orb recoil and other residual damage, and Spikes and Stealth Rock damage limits its opportunities to switch in even further. Garbodor is also a good partner for Medicham, as it deals with most of the Fairy-types in the tier and can also set up entry hazards for Medicham.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Bulk Up Medicham is a cool setup sweeper on bulky offense teams, being able to take Sneasel's Knock Off at +1 Defense and gain most HP back with Drain Punch. This set should run Electrium Z with Thunder Punch to KO most Slowbro variants from full HP. This set lacks immediate breaking power, however, and it is not commonly seen for that reason. Choice Scarf Medicham can KO Pokemon like Heliolisk and Sneasel by surprise, but the surprise factor only works once, and after that, it is much easier for the opponent to safely switch into Medicham. Medicham could also opt to run Ice Punch over Zen Headbutt for a better matchup against Palossand while still hitting Vileplume and Golbat hard. This, however, makes the matchup versus Garbodor and Rotom much harder for Medicham.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Slowbro**: Slowbro is one of the few Pokemon that can reliably beat most Medicham variants due to its resistance to both of Medicham's STAB moves; however, it has to be wary of Thunder Punch, since all Slowbro variants are 2HKOed by Thunder Punch with Stealth Rock up.
**Ghost-type Pokemon**: Medicham has to be wary of Ghost-types switching in on its High Jump Kick, as they cause Medicham to lose 50% of its health. Most Ghost-types in the tier are either faster than Medicham, like Rotom and Mismagius, or bulky enough to take one hit from it. Examples of this are Palossand and Decidueye.
**Faster Pokemon**: Pokemon like Heliolisk, Sneasel, and Whimsicott all pose a threat to Medicham, since they naturally outpace it and can all KO Medicham without needing much prior damage. None of these can safely switch in on Medicham, though, since the former two get OHKOed by High Jump Kick, and the latter one faints to a combination of High Jump Kick and Bullet Punch. Comfey is also a threat to Medicham, as it outprioritizes and KOes Medicham with Draining Kiss due to its ability.
**Recoil Damage**: All of Medicham's moves make contact aside from Psycho Cut, meaning it is very prone to being chipped away at by Rocky Helmet, Iron Barbs, and Rough Skin damage, combined with Life Orb recoil and potential High Jump Kick crash damage.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Shadestep, 262983]
- Quality checked by: [[eternally, 295647], [Rabia, 336073], [Espeonage, 395065]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [A Cake Wearing A Hat, 388157]][/hide]
Medicham is one of the strongest physical attackers and one of the best wallbreakers in the NU tier due to its ability Pure Power combined with its extremely strong STAB moves and excellent coverage moves in Thunder Punch and Bullet Punch. Medicham also has an excellent Speed tier, outpacing and KOing common Pokemon such as Vanilluxe, Decidueye, and Samurott, as well as outspeeding pretty much all defensive Pokemon in the tier. However, Medicham is very easily worn down with entry hazards, Life Orb recoil, and potential Rocky Helmet and Aftermath damage. Its low HP stat and defenses don't help with this either; Medicham can almost never safely switch directly in on any predicted attack, as it takes massive damage even from resisted hits. Medicham's main attacking move, High Jump Kick, isn't risk free either, as Ghost-types and Pokemon with Protect are commonly seen in the tier, both of which cause High Jump Kick to miss and Medicham to lose 50% of its health. Lastly, Medicham is outsped and KOed by most offensive threats in the tier, like Rotom, Heliolisk, and Comfey. Offensive Golbat also aims to outpace and KO it with Brave Bird.
[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: High Jump Kick
move 2: Zen Headbutt / Psycho Cut
move 3: Thunder Punch
move 4: Bullet Punch
item: Life Orb
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
High Jump Kick is Medicham's strongest move, doing big damage even to neutral or resisted targets. Zen Headbutt allows Medicham to hit most Pokemon that resist or are immune to Fighting such as Garbodor, Rotom, and Decidueye. Its flinch chance can also be a big deal in dealing with walls like Palossand. Thunder Punch is the best coverage move Medicham can use in NU, as it 2HKOes any Slowbro variant after Stealth Rock damage. Bullet Punch allows Medicham to pick off Pokemon that could otherwise KO it, such as Sneasel and slightly weakened Whimsicott. Psycho Cut can be used over Zen Headbutt to avoid recoil damage from most notably Garbodor, as well as for its 100% accuracy, but it misses out on important OHKOs on Golbat, Vileplume, and Garbodor.
Set Details
========
Life Orb gives Medicham's already great Attack a boost. A Jolly nature is used to outpace common Pokemon like Vanilluxe and Speed tie with Passimian and Braviary, two Pokemon that could otherwise heavily damage Medicham. Maximum Attack and Speed EVs make Medicham as powerful and fast as possible.
Usage Tips
========
Avoid switching Medicham directly in on a predicted attack, since it's very frail and likely to take a big hit from any attack—even resisted ones. Rather, utilize teammates with moves like Volt Switch, U-turn, and Parting Shot to get Medicham in safely. While using High Jump Kick often seems risk free, be wary of the opponent potentially switching in either a Ghost-type Pokemon or a defensive Slowbro. The former will cause Medicham to lose 50% of its health, whereas the latter is mainly a momentum drain. Since there aren't many hard counters to Medicham, people will often try to pivot around it as well as they can. Because of this, playing aggressively with Medicham, predicting switch-ins and hitting them with the appropiate coverage move, will mess up most defensive teams.
Team Options
========
Slow U-turn and Volt Switch Pokemon like Incineroar and Vikavolt are great partners for Medicham, as they can guarantee a safe switch for it. Pokemon that can outpace Pokemon like Heliolisk, Whimsicott, and Sceptile are also great partners, as Medicham has trouble dealing with these threats. Pursuit users, namely Sneasel, help Medicham spam High Jump Kick even more easily by erasing Ghost-types like Rotom and Dhelmise. Pokemon that can easily beat Slowbro, like Heliolisk and Whimsicott, are great partners for Medicham, as Slowbro is one of the few mostly safe switch-ins to it. Entry hazard removal is very important for keeping Medicham healthy throughout the battle, since it is already prone to being worn down due to Life Orb recoil and other residual damage, and Spikes and Stealth Rock damage limits its opportunities to switch in even further. Garbodor is also a good partner for Medicham, as it deals with most of the Fairy-types in the tier and can also set up entry hazards for Medicham.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Bulk Up Medicham is a cool setup sweeper on bulky offense teams, being able to take Sneasel's Knock Off at +1 Defense and gain most HP back with Drain Punch. This set should run Electrium Z with Thunder Punch to KO most Slowbro variants from full HP. This set lacks immediate breaking power, however, and it is not commonly seen for that reason. Choice Scarf Medicham can KO Pokemon like Heliolisk and Sneasel by surprise, but the surprise factor only works once, and after that, it is much easier for the opponent to safely switch into Medicham. Medicham could also opt to run Ice Punch over Zen Headbutt for a better matchup against Palossand while still hitting Vileplume and Golbat hard. This, however, makes the matchup versus Garbodor and Rotom much harder for Medicham.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Slowbro**: Slowbro is one of the few Pokemon that can reliably beat most Medicham variants due to its resistance to both of Medicham's STAB moves; however, it has to be wary of Thunder Punch, since all Slowbro variants are 2HKOed by Thunder Punch with Stealth Rock up.
**Ghost-type Pokemon**: Medicham has to be wary of Ghost-types switching in on its High Jump Kick, as they cause Medicham to lose 50% of its health. Most Ghost-types in the tier are either faster than Medicham, like Rotom and Mismagius, or bulky enough to take one hit from it. Examples of this are Palossand and Decidueye.
**Faster Pokemon**: Pokemon like Heliolisk, Sneasel, and Whimsicott all pose a threat to Medicham, since they naturally outpace it and can all KO Medicham without needing much prior damage. None of these can safely switch in on Medicham, though, since the former two get OHKOed by High Jump Kick, and the latter one faints to a combination of High Jump Kick and Bullet Punch. Comfey is also a threat to Medicham, as it outprioritizes and KOes Medicham with Draining Kiss due to its ability.
**Recoil Damage**: All of Medicham's moves make contact aside from Psycho Cut, meaning it is very prone to being chipped away at by Rocky Helmet, Iron Barbs, and Rough Skin damage, combined with Life Orb recoil and potential High Jump Kick crash damage.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Shadestep, 262983]
- Quality checked by: [[eternally, 295647], [Rabia, 336073], [Espeonage, 395065]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [A Cake Wearing A Hat, 388157]][/hide]
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