Daily Pokémon Discussion - Infernape
Today's Daily Discussion Pokémon is Infernape. My favorite part of this sub is in-game playthrough discussion and discussion about using pokemon on playthrough teams so that's what I plan to focus on, but feel free to discuss other aspects such as design, battling vs this pokemon, Battle Frontier, Competitive, etc.
Chimchar is one of 3 starter Pokémon you can choose at the beginning of the game. It's Fire type and evolves early into Monferno at level 14, becoming Fire/Fighting, then into Infernape at level 36. Its early stabs include Ember, Flame Wheel, and Mach Punch. Brick Break is available right after you get Rock Smash and Fire Blast (and Focus Blast if you want) is available when you reach Veilstone. Flamethrower is obtainable via TM after you get Surf, and Flare Blitz comes very late. Close Combat is an excellent move learned upon evolving into Infernape. Useful coverage moves include SolarBeam (paired with Sunny Day,) ThunderPunch, Shadow Claw, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Grass Knot, and Return. Useful utility includes Swords Dance, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot if you wait forever to evolve it (at which point focus blast and vacuum wave become real moves,) U-Turn, and to an extent Taunt.
I think a lot of people agree Infernape is one one of the best pokemon in the game, fire type is largely unresisted by most foes in sinnoh, rock and ground types that do resist tend not to enjoy being hit by fighting Stab, overall flame wheel is extremely spammable the first half of the game, and then when the game becomes water water water before and after pastoria thunder punch becomes available - monferno also gets shadow claw right after gym 3 which paired with fighting stab is resisted by no pokemon. With these qualities and its speed and both attack stats, soloing the game with Infernape is pretty effortless if you invest all your resources into it, and Infernape is an extremely valuable contributor to any team even if you don't. While those 4 attacks is a perfect set in and of itself, Infernape gets physical and special priority in Mach punch and vacuum wave for when its speed isn't enough. Infernape also gets Earthquake and Stone Edge by TM, an excellent combo on anything that can learn both, but generally wants to leave these finite TMs for pokemon that get stab on at least one. Earthquake can be pretty great if you can spare it though, fire/ground is a great combo. It also can run sweeping sets with Swords Dance if 4 attacks isn't sweeping enough for you, and can run special based sweeping sets with calm mind or nasty plot, but I find these a little gimmicky more than optimal, particularly since nasty plot kind of requires you to sabotage chimchar's midgame to get it. They're still fun to use and effective builds though, and at the very least provide something different. Infernape can also run Sunny Day as a pseudo setup move for its fire moves, which activates SolarBeam as a great coverage move. If others on your team enjoy the Sun you can u-turn into them (if you can fit it on the set)
Infernape is probably the best fire type in sinnoh, and fire type matches well into most gyms save for wake. It doesn't have as much utility vs the e4 though. Monferno has an imperfect fantina matchup due to being weak to mismagius's psybeam but fast strong flame wheel and wisp immunity means it contributes a lot to the fight even if it usually can't win it alone. Being weak to Bertha and Lucian, not super helpful (but often trading or better) vs flint, and weak to Garchomp make its endgame utility kind of limited - but good speed, offenses, and massive type coverage mean it'll pretty much never be useless in a fight.
I'm using a sun setter Infernape set with Sunny Day, SolarBeam, Flamethrower, and either CC or U-Turn on a Semi-Sun team in my current playthrough, and I've used Flamethrower, CC, Aerial Ace (Bad,) and Calm Mind (bad on this set) on a Sun team a while back. I used an Infernape with earthquake, stone edge, cc, and swords dance on a mono fire team, and a couple more I don't have record of the sets of. I'm curious about the special sweeping sets.
What do you think of Infernape? Have you used it on your team? How did you utilize it? How much did it contribute? What are some memories or experiences you have with Infernape?
Today's Daily Discussion Pokémon is Infernape. My favorite part of this sub is in-game playthrough discussion and discussion about using pokemon on playthrough teams so that's what I plan to focus on, but feel free to discuss other aspects such as design, battling vs this pokemon, Battle Frontier, Competitive, etc.
Chimchar is one of 3 starter Pokémon you can choose at the beginning of the game. It's Fire type and evolves early into Monferno at level 14, becoming Fire/Fighting, then into Infernape at level 36. Its early stabs include Ember, Flame Wheel, and Mach Punch. Brick Break is available right after you get Rock Smash and Fire Blast (and Focus Blast if you want) is available when you reach Veilstone. Flamethrower is obtainable via TM after you get Surf, and Flare Blitz comes very late. Close Combat is an excellent move learned upon evolving into Infernape. Useful coverage moves include SolarBeam (paired with Sunny Day,) ThunderPunch, Shadow Claw, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Grass Knot, and Return. Useful utility includes Swords Dance, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot if you wait forever to evolve it (at which point focus blast and vacuum wave become real moves,) U-Turn, and to an extent Taunt.
I think a lot of people agree Infernape is one one of the best pokemon in the game, fire type is largely unresisted by most foes in sinnoh, rock and ground types that do resist tend not to enjoy being hit by fighting Stab, overall flame wheel is extremely spammable the first half of the game, and then when the game becomes water water water before and after pastoria thunder punch becomes available - monferno also gets shadow claw right after gym 3 which paired with fighting stab is resisted by no pokemon. With these qualities and its speed and both attack stats, soloing the game with Infernape is pretty effortless if you invest all your resources into it, and Infernape is an extremely valuable contributor to any team even if you don't. While those 4 attacks is a perfect set in and of itself, Infernape gets physical and special priority in Mach punch and vacuum wave for when its speed isn't enough. Infernape also gets Earthquake and Stone Edge by TM, an excellent combo on anything that can learn both, but generally wants to leave these finite TMs for pokemon that get stab on at least one. Earthquake can be pretty great if you can spare it though, fire/ground is a great combo. It also can run sweeping sets with Swords Dance if 4 attacks isn't sweeping enough for you, and can run special based sweeping sets with calm mind or nasty plot, but I find these a little gimmicky more than optimal, particularly since nasty plot kind of requires you to sabotage chimchar's midgame to get it. They're still fun to use and effective builds though, and at the very least provide something different. Infernape can also run Sunny Day as a pseudo setup move for its fire moves, which activates SolarBeam as a great coverage move. If others on your team enjoy the Sun you can u-turn into them (if you can fit it on the set)
Infernape is probably the best fire type in sinnoh, and fire type matches well into most gyms save for wake. It doesn't have as much utility vs the e4 though. Monferno has an imperfect fantina matchup due to being weak to mismagius's psybeam but fast strong flame wheel and wisp immunity means it contributes a lot to the fight even if it usually can't win it alone. Being weak to Bertha and Lucian, not super helpful (but often trading or better) vs flint, and weak to Garchomp make its endgame utility kind of limited - but good speed, offenses, and massive type coverage mean it'll pretty much never be useless in a fight.
I'm using a sun setter Infernape set with Sunny Day, SolarBeam, Flamethrower, and either CC or U-Turn on a Semi-Sun team in my current playthrough, and I've used Flamethrower, CC, Aerial Ace (Bad,) and Calm Mind (bad on this set) on a Sun team a while back. I used an Infernape with earthquake, stone edge, cc, and swords dance on a mono fire team, and a couple more I don't have record of the sets of. I'm curious about the special sweeping sets.
What do you think of Infernape? Have you used it on your team? How did you utilize it? How much did it contribute? What are some memories or experiences you have with Infernape?