The third and final member of the lousy three, Munkidori has not reached the same heights as its compatriots and master. This is largely due to how Munkidori's stats do not gel with its typing or abilities. Poison is a largely defensive type and both Psychic and Poison are rather mediocre offensively. So the fact that Munkidori is a fast frail special attacker, like many other Psychic type Pokémon does it few favors. Toxic Chain also does not gel well with such a stat spread, requiring the user to either have multi-hit attacks to help guarantee a poisoning, or the bulk to help survive long enough to land multiple attacks for that Toxic Chain activation, of which neither Munkidori's stats lend themselves well to. Fast frail attackers are a dime aplenty in Pokémon and Munkidori lacks the power to standout against such foes, even in comparison to other Poison or Psychic types.
Not to say that Munkidori is completely without merit. Munkidori is one of the few very Pokémon that gets access to Parting Shot and Fake Out, allowing Munkidori to ruin a team offensively while aggressively repositioning and resetting Munkidori's very fast Fake Out. A Fake Out that can become utterly ruinous with a Toxic Chain activation. Or one could simply spring for U-Turn for even more chances of Toxic Chain. With Grass type support Pokémon on every team, Munkidori is well positioned to threaten them with only Cornerstone Ogerpon not being weak to either of Munkidori's STABs. Munkidori's frailty still holds it back to a massive degree, where one wrong move can mean Munkidori's removal, but remains an interesting if unorthodox pick nontheless.
Monkey Maneuvers
Munkidori
-Fake Out
-U-Turn
-Sludge Bomb
-Psychic
Ability: Toxic Chain
Item Attached: Assault Vest
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 188 Def / 4 SAtk / 60 SDef / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
Tera Type: Poison
This bulky Munkidori set forgoes power for pure longevity, allowing it to stick around to Fake Out the opposing team as long as possible in an endavor to get Toxic Chain activations acting akin to Incineroar, albeit with a much rarer typing that doesn't as heavily double down on weakness like Fire-Dark. Fake Out is one of the best moves in doubles, as for a single turn can supress an opposing Pokémon, while doing chip damage. This allows for brutal double ups into fast Focus Sash users like Chien-Pao and remove them using slower teammates that such Pokémon could otherwise check. U-Turn is fantastic for pivoting Munkidori out of the line of fire as well as an extra chance to activate Toxic Chain and allow Munkidori to switch back in for another Fake Out. Sludge Bomb and Psychic are STAB options for when Munkidori can go on the offensive the former invaluable in checking opposing Grass types like Rillaboom, Ogerpon and Whimsicott while the latter is great for Amoonguss and Urshifu-Rapid.
EVs are here to maximize bulk. With the physical investment given Incineroar cannot 2HKO with Flare Blitz without significant Attack investment, while Jolly Ogerpon is unlikely to 2HKO as well as survive Adamant Urshifu-Rapid's Surging Strikes into Aqua Jet as well as survive two of Rillaboom's High Horsepowers thanks to Grassy Terrain recovery. With 60 Special Defense and Assault Vest, Munkidori becomes quite the sponge, only being 3HKO'd by Raging Bolt's Life Orb Thunderbolt, on top of being likely to survive Scarf Chi-Yu's Overheat in the Sun. Tera Poison is recommended for this set as Munkidori's more exploitable weaknesses come from its Psychic typing on top of having offensive merit in boosting Munkidori's Sludge Bombs into OHKO's on its preferred targets save Assault Vest Rillaboom.
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