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OU attempt at Primeape

Chrikke

First off, I'm not a pro at D/P, in fact I've stopped buying Pokemon games after FR/LG. But I'm a bit into D/P competitive battling through Shoddy.
I never really excelled, but I beat my fair share of moderators back on Netbattle.

The first thing you might think is: ...wtf? Primeape?
And that's the beauty of it: nobody expects it, and making a surprise is already putting one foot behind the door ( or however that's said :P)

Primeape is usually used as a physical sweeper, which is obviously what his stats suggest. 'But there are better alternatives out there!' Exactly, let's leave it to them then, shall we?

Primeape boasts an incredibly useful ability, Vital Spirit. Especially with Hypnoses being thrown around these days.

And on top of that, it's my most favorite pokemon ever! A boxing ape-pig crossbreed? Hell yeah!

Build1
Primeape @ nothing - Vital Spirit
Jolly
[HP 90, 216 Atk, 204 Spe]
*Ice Punch
*Thief
*Close Combat
*U-turn/Aerial Ace

The trick is to bring this into a sleep inducing move. Bare in mind that Primeape is fragile. Then it will probably switch to a tank, even if it's Gengar. Gengar is fragile as well, and it'll run like hell thinking this is a scarfape. Why else would you bring it in, right? (Watch out for the occasional scarfed Gengar though) When the tank comes in, steal its Leftovers. The chance is small, but you might also steal a choice item. Anything BUT specs is a blessing. The EV's given, it'll outspeed neutral unscarfed Garchomp. U-Turn is for scouting, AA for Hera. Close Combat for hit and run tactics.

Build2
Primeape @ nothing - Vital Spirit
Adamant
[HP 196, Atk 130, Spe 184]
*Thunder Punch
*Thief
*Close Combat
*U-Turn/Aerial Ace

Same tactic as above, only this time you're sacrificing speed and dragon coverage for a bit beefier amount of HP and a chance to stick it to Gyarados and Skarmory. These EV's should give you 320 HP(nicely dividable by 16, should you steal some lefties) and 272 Speed, which is also a nice number for those who like to put their speed at 270. You'll still outspeed adamant Heracross, watch out for the occasional Jolly one.

Everything looks nice on paper, but I'm sure some are still a bit skeptical, prolly just because it's Primeape. Calculated on MetalKid:

Ice Punch to max HP/Def Gliscor: Damage: 49.44% - 57.91%
EDIT: Forgot to take lefties in account. Small chance of 2HKO. Stealth rock will solve this.
Ice Punch to Sala after intimidate: Damage: 75.30% - 88.55%
Ice Punch to Garchomp: Damage: 90.48% - 106.44%

As we can see, it will surely 2HKO Gliscor, and when paired with Stealth Rock will kill Salamence and likely Garchomp as well.

Thunder Punch to BulkyGyara after intimidate: Damage: 53.65% - 63.02%
Thunder Punch to Skarmory: Damage: 24.25% - 28.44%

Well, it fails to 2OHKO Skarmory. In fact it would likely be a 6HKO -_-. Nick his lefties, or pair Primeape with Magnezone.

Aerial Ace to standard 104 HP Hera: Damage: 96.33% - 113.15%

Obviously, this makes Primeape also excellent to switch in on Breloom, who's frailer than Heracross.

Final words:
Granted, this idea is not foolproof. It will require a great deal of prediction skills for it to work. Not to mention Primeape's mediocre stats, with only Atk and Speed somewhat exceeding the average. The key to this set lies in its surprise and the ability to support your team, if only a little, combined with some coverage for rampaging OU's. Play your cards right, and throw in Primeape to suck up sleep, scout for switches, steal an item ,sweep in late game and outpredict the usual switch-ins. A fine choice, should your team have problems with sleep, or the above mentioned pokemon.
 
Theif is interesting, but IMO not worth sacrificing your item slot and a move slot. Aside from theif, this seems to me like just a regular Primeape set, meaning still outclassed by pretty much all physical sweepers..

One thing you might want to consider which is actually unique to Primeape and that helps differentiate him is Overheat. With a Life Orb, a neutral nature, and 0 EVS, you're doing 70% - 82% to a standard Skarmory with Overheat, which is obvioulsy a guaranteed 2HKO, close to OHKO with Stealth Rock down. Primeape won't really ever survive any attacks anyway, so you could probably even take those HP EVs and put them in SAtk. Overheat lets you get by Skarm, Forretress and Bronzong pretty easily, and while your at it with the special attacks, 0 EVed, neutral nature, Life Orb Primeape does 63% - 74% to Gyarados with Thunderbolt, and with a few EVs you can turn that into a likely OHKO with Stealth Rock down.

Just two things I've found to be useful on Primeape after using him in the past. When it comes to just straight up Physical attacking, Infernape is pretty much by far the superior option, but also like you said, Primeape has that surprise factor about him, and Overheat really takes advantage of that
 
Primeape @ Life Orb
Ability: Vital Spirit
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 220 Attack / 216 Speed / 72 Special Attack
*Close Combat
*Thunderbolt
*Overheat
*Payback / Hidden Power: Ice

Use this as a lead. It works, and its perfectly viable for OU. It outruns +base 90s, and OHKOs Gyarados with Stealth Rock. Overheat OHKOs Forry, and 2HKOs Skarm. HP Ice OHKOs Gliscor when he switches into a Close Combat. Payback however, destroys Gengar for a OHKO, who cannot OHKO you back, or put you to sleep.
 
The second set does not have much validity. If a Skarm uses Brave Bird, it has not got the defense to live through that, even with the HP. It is wasted evs imo. Can we get some calcs of attacks against Primeape?
 
doesn't need to. If Skarm is weakened enough, you can open the floor for a teammate. You'd also be surprised how many people leave skarm in thinking you will switch
 
Chrikke said:
And on top of that, it's my most favorite pokemon ever! A boxing ape-pig crossbreed? Hell yeah!
Click to expand...

That should be taken into account.

Anyway, Thief is indeed a good option, but I don't see Gengar running from Primeape after his Hypnosis got absorbed, or even after getting hit by the item-stealing attack, his stats are good enough to 2KO the Fighting ape with Shadow Ball. Aditionally, Primeape can't hit Gengar unless it has... say Punishment?

However, I do think Primeape is an underrated Pokémon in UU. His moveset got wider this generation and his traits are cool.
 
-FL- said:
That should be taken into account.
Click to expand...

Gotta love a bit of sarcasm every now and then. xD

Honestly, I'm quite surprised. I checked MetalKid just now, as I was sure a boosted Shadow Ball coming from Gar would OHKO Primeape. Strangely, it would only do about 65-77%.

However, Brave Bird would indeed kill it. But I wouldn't even bother keeping Primeape in against Skarmory. Come to think of it, using Close Combat is a much better bet.

Damage: 28.44% - 33.53%
Should you have already stolen its leftovers and it gets weakened by Stealth Rock, it's a possible 3HKO. If you outpredict him and he roosts, you can even 2HKO .
 
I've had fun with this set.

Primeape@ Scope Lens
-Stone Edge
-Cross Chop
-Focus Energy
-U-Turn

Yes its a crithax Primeape. With this set Primeape's two main forms of attack both have 50% crit and coming off 105 attack! Rock + Fighting gives great coverage and with U-Turn, should they switch in something unfavourable when you focus energy. You still have like a 25% chance of scoring a critical hit when switching out with U-Turn.
 
Forsety said:
I've had fun with this set.

Primeape@ Scope Lens
-Stone Edge
-Cross Chop
-Focus Energy
-U-Turn

Yes its a crithax Primeape. With this set Primeape's two main forms of attack both have 50% crit and coming off 105 attack! Rock + Fighting gives great coverage and with U-Turn, should they switch in something unfavourable when you focus energy. You still have like a 25% chance of scoring a critical hit when switching out with U-Turn.
Click to expand...

You actually have a 33% chance of critting with U-turn. Even better.
 
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