Machoke [QC 0/3]

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dhelmise

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QC: x / x / x
GP: x / x

[OVERVIEW]

  • carves a niche in nu with no guard dynamic punch
  • outclassed as an eviolite fighting-type by gurdurr, which has better bulk and attack
  • can switch in on and take care of sleep inducers
  • can cripple entry hazard setters and setup sweepers with dynamic punch
  • threatens most normal types with its combination of decent special bulk and reliable recovery and attacking

[SET]
name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Dynamic Punch
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Eviolite
ability: No Guard
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 212 SpD / 44 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

  • dynamic punch is machoke's main stab move, which is 100% accurate and extremely powerful with no guard and allows it to OHKO Aggron, and the confusion that it provides lets machoke cripple status users
  • knock off lets machoke cripple eviolite users like bronzor and other dark-weak pokemon like most rotom sets and haunter
  • rest and sleep talk work together to let machoke regain health reliably and cure itself of status while also being able to attack while sleeping

Set Details
========

  • max hp investment, 212 spd evs, a careful nature, and an eviolite allow machoke to have great special bulk along with decent physical bulk
  • 44 speed evs let machoke outspeed base 50s that dont normally invest in speed like piloswine, regirock, and aggron and ko them with dynamic punch
  • no guard provides machoke with unmissable dynamic punches

Usage Tips
========

  • spam knock off early-game to cripple all item-holding pokemon, especially eviolite users
  • avoid knock off too because while machoke might resist the move, it's crippled when it loses its eviolite
  • try to switch in safely or on special attackers like jynx, lilligant, and magmortar
  • avoid heavy slam from choice band aggron, as it can easily 2hko machoke
  • use dynamic punch carefully, as the scarcity of its pp can lead to it being used quickly
  • however, try to use dynamic punch to ko crucial foes like shiftry and to confuse and force foes out with the confusion chance
  • try to use rest whenever machoke is getting low on health and / or has a status ailment that it wants to get rid of
  • remember that rest-inflicted sleep always lasts three turns, so use sleep talk on the turns that machoke will be sleeping and predict the turn that machoke wakes up to either attack or rest again
  • machoke can be used as a status absorber because of rest

Team Options
========

  • entry hazard setters like mesprit are good teammates because the stealth rock that they provide increase machoke's chances of OHKOing pokemon with dynamic punch
  • mesprit is also good because it can switch in on opposing psychic types and take care of them for machoke, machoke returns the favor by being able to take care of dark-types
  • dark- and ghost-types like liepard, shiftry, and rotom are good teammates because they can take care of psychic types that threaten machoke
  • steel- and poison-types like steelix, klinklang, and garbodor are good teammates for taking care of the fairy types that threaten machoke
  • fairy-, ice-, rock-, grass-, bug-, flying-, and ground-types like mega audino, jynx, omastar, lilligant, vivillon, swellow, and rhydon appreciate machoke's ability to take care of opposing steel-, rock-, and ice-types with ease; vivillon is a good teammate because machoke takes care of the rock- and steel-types that threaten it, and it takes care of grass-types in return
  • ground-types like rhydon are also useful teammates for taking care of poison-types that machoke can't break, like garbodor

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

  • bullet punch can be used over knock off to give machoke a form of priority, but it loses out on the coverage and utility that knock off provides, doesnt hit anything that dynamic punch does already (except for clefairy), and has no merit instead of knock off
  • poison jab can be used over knock off as well to hit fairy and grass types, but the boost in damage is minimal against them incomparison to dynamic punch after the stab boost to hit anything for more of an advantage
  • guts can be used but requires a complete change in moveset and causes machoke to be completely inferior to gurdurr
  • ice punch / thunder punch can be used for coverage against flying and water types, but they can be easily taken care of by knock off and dynamic punch

Checks and Counters
===================

**Physical Flying-types**: Physical Flying-types like Archeops, Swellow, and Charizard can outspeed and KO Machoke with their respective STAB moves.

**Psychic-types**: Psychic-types like Musharna and Mesprit can survive one of Machoke's Knock Offs with ease and KO it in return with their respective STAB moves.

**Bulky Attackers**: Bulky attackers like Garbodor and Xatu easily survive any of Machoke's attacks. Even though it can use Knock Off against them, they can easily retaliate with strong STAB attacks and often aren't affected too much by losing their items.
 
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erisia

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Hi Kris. Unfortunately, me and the rest of the NU QC team think that this analysis as currently written demonstrates a lack of sufficient metagame knowledge and experience with using this Pokemon to be continued.

Machoke is a niche Pokemon and the analysis should go into specific detail about its role and use, how it plays differently and requires different support to other Fighting-types that outclass it in more general roles. Most of the team options section seems to talk about good partners for Fighting-types and little else; this analysis should point out specific teammates that benefit from the free turns that Machoke's Dynamic Punch can create, and not just rattle off the type chart. You state that Machoke should spam Knock Off in the early game, but using Dynamic Punch right off the bat is usually preferable since you either get the damage against the target you're looking for or a defensive switchin such as Garbodor or Weezing is confused and extremely easy for a setup sweeper to exploit; Knock Off can come immediately after if you really want to remove their item, and one of its main uses is in crippling targets that may switch in after Dynamic Punch's confusion forces a threat out.

You also place a lot of emphasis on Machoke's Dynamic Punch being able to OHKO targets, but this is actually the least relevant thing Dynamic Punch does, as it's quite a weak move without Attack investment or a boosting item and the free turns that its confusion generates are the whole point you use Machoke over say Hariyama or even Throh in the first place. You also talk about Machoke wanting to switch into Sleep inducers, but switching into Jynx and Vivillon is extremely risky as they can both 2HKO Machoke with their unboosted STAB attacks and Sleep Talk has a good chance to give them a free turn. I'm extremely surprised you suggested that Machoke can switch into Jynx in particular when you mention special attackers; about the only time you'd do this is when you know it's a Choice Scarf set and it's locked into Ice Beam or a coverage move, and you didn't specify that.

These points and other suggest that you haven't used Machoke or played against it enough to really pin down its niche in this metagame, and considering the time it has taken you to write this up from the initial post, this isn't acceptable. We need to make sure that this Pokemon has a high quality analysis written as soon as possible before Sun and Moon makes it irrelevant.

That said, feel free to contribute to other analyses in the future where you have more experience and knowledge of a Pokemon in its respective metagame.
 
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