Community POTW #135

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and this week we are heading to Johto!

Hitmontop #237 - Serebii.net Pokédex

Hitmontop Pokémon Serebii.net Pokédex providing all details on moves, stats, abilities, evolution data and locations for Pokémon Sword & Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

www.serebii.net

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Hitmontop has seen quite some usage in doubles with its combination of Intimidate and Fake Out being very strong in hindering opponent's momentum, until Incineroar came around with that same combination plus U-Turn and lots more bulk that was. Still though, Hitmontop is a nice pokémon and it gained a few boosts in gen 8, with Rapid Spin getting buffed, the addition of the Eject Pack, and Triple Axel joining its movepool. It also has a different typing, which depending on the team can be advantageous.

Hitmontop @ Eject Pack
Adamant nature
Ability: Intimidate
252 HP, 252 Attack, 4 Speed
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch / Wide Guard
- Rock Slide / Triple Axel

Doubles support Hitmontop. Eject Button used to be popular for a set like this, but Eject Pack gives Hitmontop more control over when it switches out and allows it to get a strong hit in if outsped on its out turn. Eject Pack combined with Close Combat gets a strong hit in, then cancels the bulk loss by switching, which also resets Fake Out and Intimidate. The rest of the moves can be varied. Triple Axel is a powerful Ice move it gets now, although suffering a bit on accuracy. Rock Slide gives spread damage and combines well with Fighting coverage, although Hitmontop is generally not fast enough to also get good flinch hax with it. Wide Guard is useful support, and Mach Punch gives it priority.

Technician attacker
Hitmontop @ Wide Lens
Adamant nature
Ability: Technician
252 HP, 252 Attack, 4 Speed
- High Jump Kick
- Triple Axel
- Mach Punch
- Rapid Spin

A different take on Hitmontop, for singles. Wide Lens gives Hitmontop 10% more accuracy, which adds up for Triple Axel which can deal massive damage with Technician boosting it further as it really wants to land all three hits. Ice also is nearly always great coverage to have, and covers flying types and Grass/Poison types like Amoonguss. High Jump Kick benefits from the accuracy buff on Wide Lens as well, nearing perfect accuracy so its recoil is not really relevant anymore unless you hit a Protect or a Ghost. Mach Punch is a bit imitating Scizor's Bullet Punch technique, priority is always nice with such a boost even if Scizor has much more attack. Rapid Spin is mostly relevant for environments with lots of entry hazards, but Hitmontop resists Stealth Rock and also gets a Technician boost on Rapid Spin so it can deal some notable damage, as well as playing a bit like a setup with it boosting Hitmontop's speed. More speed investment is possible here to outspeed more after a Rapid Spin, although with Hitmontop's low natural HP you sacrifice a lot of bulk reducing the HP investment.

 

[XaelOstigian]

(Insert Beyblade joke here)

 

[Yveltal91057]

With too many obvious weaknesses (Flying, Fairy, Psychic and Ghost), Hitmontop gets absolutely wrecked in the competitive scene. A Choice Scarf+Brave Bird combination is Hitmontop’s worst nightmare.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

There's more to a pokémon than just number of weaknesses. It's also not even weak to Ghost. Tyranitar has been a monster since gen 2 even with seven weaknesses. Incineroar dominated in USUM VGC format despite being weak to both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre's STAB moves and having no business stat wise measuring itself up to such monsters. Hitmontop has two excellent abilities and quite a versatile movepool that allow it a couple of great niches few other pokémon can do, and it has good enough stats to get by. While it wishes access to some other moves (Rock Tomb and Storm Throw to name a few), it isn't getting "absolutely wrecked" or anything close to that, it's probably the best Tyrogue evolution.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Interesting that the Wide Lens option for Triple Axel wasn't mentioned. Since Triple Axel gets stronger with each successive hit, Wide Lens's accuracy boost actually boosts the potency of Triple Axel much more than a flat 10% accuracy boost would suggest at first glance. The odds of landing all three hits without Wide Lens are just about 73%, while with the Wide Lens are about 97%, a huge gain on what is effectively a 180 base power coverage move with Technician. It doesn't matter that Hitmontop only has 95 base attack, if you have that kind of power on your coverage that's still huge damage, base power on moves scales much harder than base stats do.