Medicham

[Baldafor]

Medicham - Pokemon #308
Fighting/Psychic

Abilities-
Pure Power - Doubles attack stat
(Dream World) Telepathy - Protects against damage from team mates in doubles

Base Stats - 60/ 60 (~168 with Pure Power)/ 75/ 60/ 75/ 80
BST - 410 (~518 with Pure Power)

Moveset by Level Up - Medicham: Lv1: Fire Punch, Lv1: ThunderPunch, Lv1: Ice Punch, Lv1: Bide, Lv1: Meditate, Lv1: Confusion, Lv1: Detect, Lv4: Meditate, Lv8: Confusion, Lv11: Detect, Lv15: Hidden Power, Lv18: Mind Reader, Lv22: Feint, Lv25: Calm Mind, Lv29: Force Palm, Lv32: Hi Jump Kick, Lv36: Psych Up, Lv42: Acupressure, Lv49: Power Trick, Lv55: Reversal, Lv62: Recover

Egg moves - Fire Punch, ThunderPunch, Ice Punch, Foresight, Fake Out, Baton Pass, DynamicPunch, Power Swap, Guard Swap, Psycho Cut, Bullet Punch, Drain Punch, Secret Power

TM/HM learnset - TM03 - Psycho Shock, TM04 - Calm Mind, TM06 - Toxic, TM08 - Bulk Up, TM10 - Hidden Power, TM11 - Sunny Day, TM15 - Hyper Beam, TM16 - Light Screen, TM17 - Protect, TM18 - Rain Dance, TM19 - Telekinesis, TM21 - Frustration, TM27 - Return, TM29 - Psychic, TM30 - Shadow Ball, TM31 - Brick Break, TM32 - Double Team, TM33 - Reflect, TM39 - Rock Tomb, TM42 - Facade, TM44 - Rest, TM45 - Attract, TM47 - Ankle Sweep, TM48 - Troll, TM52 - Focus Blast, TM53 - Energy Ball, TM56 - Fling, TM67 - Get Even, TM68 - Giga Impact, TM70 - Flash, TM77 - Psych Up, TM80 - Rock Slide, TM83 - Cheer Up, TM84 - Poison Jab, TM85 - Dream Eater, TM86 - Grass Knot, TM87 - Swagger, TM90 - Substitute, TM94 - Rock Smash, HM04 - Strength

New Moves:

Ankle Sweep - Fighting 60 power 100% accuracy Physical attack - Lower's targets speed, 100% chance
Cheer Up - Raises Attack and Sp. Attack 1 stage
Psycho Shock - Psychic 80 power 100% accuracy Special attack - Uses Sp. attack, but hits the opponent's defense stat instead of sp. def.
Telekinesis - Raises target in the air for 3 turns
Get Even - Normal Physical 70 power 100% accuracy - Doubles in power if your ally died last turn

Medicham has had it rough in the past. Before the Physical/Special split, it had trouble filling out its moveset, but still managed to smash face. In 4th gen, it found itself outclassed by powerful new sweepers even with the added coverage of the elemental punches. Choice Scarf opened a new window for Medicham as a revenge killer or fast sweeper with Psycho Cut and High Jump Kick/Brick Break plus coverage moves, but it was pushed aside for other faster Fighting types like Heracross, Lucario and Infernape who had access to the nearly drawback free Close Combat at 120 base power.

Now, in 5th gen, High Jump Kick has raised in base power to 130 from 100, which gives Medicham one of the strongest attacks available in the metagame at 195 base power after STAB from an effective base attack power of 168, which is the second highest in existance.

Choice Sweeper
EV Spread: 252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 Special Defense
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Pure Power
Nature: Jolly

High Jump Kick
Psycho Cut
Ice Punch/Rock Slide
Thunder Punch/Rock Slide

This set works much more efficiently than before. High Jump Kick will now devastate anything that doesn't resist it. With this spread, you achieve 46.1% - 54.8% against the standard spiking Skarmory, a definite 2HKO after Stealth Rocks, which is a very excellent reason to use Medicham over a weaker pokemon. The EV's are taken from the analysis page.

There are other possible sets, but I like to stay away from gimmicks on glass cannon pokemon. What are your thoughts on how well Medicham will work with his new High Jump Kick tool?

 

[tennisace]

It's really too bad that Shanderaa exists. Even though Rotom-A lost it's ghost type, there are three new ghosts that really put a damper on Medicham's fun. It's going to serve the same role in Gen 5 as in Gen 4: effective revenge killer in the lower tiers, and a nasty little "surprise" in OU.

 

[SlimMan]

Does Telepathy mean he draws in attacks, or nullifies them?

If it means 0 damage from any attack aimed at teammates, then it will MURDER in double battles. Follow Me would draw ALL attacks to the enemy, while Medicham would prevent those attacks from doing anything at all.

Better yet, with something like Clefable, Magic Guard would prevent even Toxic damage. Medicham+Clefable=UNBEATABLE in doubles. This ability will change Medicham's place and boot it right up to OU; for doubles anyway. That is assuming it blocks the attacks and doesn't absorb them.

 

[Da Letter El]

I think damage from teammates means that if, for example you are rocking medicham/kyogre, and kyogre uses surf, you don't take damage. So if a teammate uses a move (i.e. surf/explosion) that would also hit you, you take no damage. But I'd like someone more informed than myself to clarify that. Besides, having telepathy means that you don't have Pure Power, which is a bummer.

Anyway, medicham loves the increase in hjk power, but I agree that it most likely won't be a huge difference-maker in terms of displacing other fighting types, and with shanderaa, fighting types have an even tougher time succeeding. Still, pure power's a really nice ability, and while it may not learn a whole lot of new moves, that simple increase in power will certainly make medicham pack even more of a punch than it already did.

 

[Aqueos]

Lucario learns hi jump kick from breeding along with some other fighting types (blaziken). Actually contrary to belief, Shanderaa cannot set up on this as when you hit a ghost type with hi jump kick it counts as missing, so medicham will just kill itself before shanderaa can set up.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

Stronger STAB will help Medicham slightly but it's unlikely to break into OU. Faster, more offensive teams will run circles around his 80 base Speed while defensive teams will typically have a bulky Ghost that walls him hard. A Physical Ghost attack (or Agility lol) would have done wonders for him but I guess he'll have to wait for a potential tutor in the 3rd game.

 

[Wishy]

New ghosts put a damper on Medicham's parade, especially Shanderaa. But it's all about playing it right, and if you can predict the switch I don't think Shanderaa will survive a Psycho Cut. It's not that that bulky... The only problem is if you mispredict and HJK, Shadow Tag Shanderaa comes in, and then you're screwed. It's a tricky mind game either way...

Desukan, on the other hand. Uhh, if Medicham gets infected by Mummy does that mean Pure Powers effect does not apply?

 

[TheAussieLapras]

it is one of those pokemon which are more effective when less people use it because if everyone knows it is around it is pretty simple to counter so you have to trust on this thing to pull of a nasty late game sweet when the chandelear and any other ghost is out of the picture, then it with scarf it will be very hard to counter, but I doubt again it will make OU

 

[IronGross]

Why no mention of Rock Slide? Rock has fantastic coverage let alone with Fighting...

 

[M BLADE]

The only new thing is Acupressure (which Medicham can Baton Pass; only he and Dodrio now), which may or not work with Recover or whatever.

Hi Jmp Kick boost is cool, but it still leaves Medicham walled by any bulky Psychic out there.

 

[Not Scicky]

Idunno, maybe Medicham could work in Trick Room? With a Choice Band he does 47.4% - 55.9% to Max/Max Rankurusu with Hi-Jump Kick and if EV's are invested in HP instead of speed he can survive at least a few attacks, I've done the same sort of thing with Breloom but Cham is bulkier kinda? I wish Cham got Shadow Sneak or something.

 

[Noble Cactus]

Doesn't Pure Power double Medicham's current Attack, not his base Attack? If so, that's much stronger than a 168 base Attack.

 

[Ryanide]

Yes it does. Same for Azumarill's huge power. So if Medicham has a total of 200 attack, for example, it really has 400 attack.

 

[DDRMaster]

Doesn't Pure Power double Medicham's current Attack, not his base Attack? If so, that's much stronger than a 168 base Attack.

No, 168 is about right. It actually comes out to be equivalent to a Pokemon with 169.5 Base Attack with max Atk EVs when you use max EVs on Medicham.

Ankle Sweep could potentially be used to patch up Medicham's average speed but it probably won't work too well since the majority of Pokemon that switch in on Medicham are Ghost types.

I think the only things Medicham got that are useful this Gen are the boosted HJK and the fact that it doesn't automatically kill itself when it misses (it only takes away 1/2 of your maximum health). Speaking of which, you should never use 4 HP EVs in a set because that will give Medicham an even HP. This means that it will KO itself after two misses of HJK if it doesn't take any other damage.

 

[Ryanide]

KOing itself after only 2 may be a good thing if you get checked by Shanderaa. You'll want to ko yourself as soon as possible.

 

[DDRMaster]

KOing itself after only 2 may be a good thing if you get checked by Shanderaa. You'll want to ko yourself as soon as possible.

Well for now, ST Shanderaa doesn't exist yet and to be honest, I don't think Medicham is making it into OU with all of the good new Fighters like Kojondo, Roopushin, Zuruzukin, and the musketeers as well as Blaziken being even better now that it has Speed Boost.

 

[Ryanide]

Yeah that is true. It completely lacks utility outside of "hit really hard" due to lack of priority and speed. But it's still very powerful even compared to new fighters like Rohpushin. It's got to have some use as a surprise at least.

 

[Green Mage]

Ankle Sweep is pretty huge on this I think. So many people expect him to be scarfed and he causes tons of switches. Dropping the speed of whatever switches in could be devastating to the opponent. Even if they switch right out, you get another free hit on whatever comes in.

Nothing to hit ghosts though, which is unfortunate on a HJKer. Still can't believe this doesn't learn u-turn. Thanks to Payback, u-turn, regeneration and higher speed, i'd say that Kojondo outclasses Medicham pretty handily. All that Cham has over kojondo is higher attack and a second stab.

By the way, Shadow Tag Shanderaa doesn't exist. Stop trying to derail every thread with unreleased dream world stuff.

 

[wyndamn]

your Choice scarf set its great, i thought the same when i saw the HJK boost this gen. but heres another two i made a yesterday which i havent tested yet but looks good on paper.

MediCham

Pure Power/Jolly
Salac Berry
116 Hp/160 Atk/232 spe

Zen Headbutt/Rock Slide
Drain Punch/HJK
Substitute/Bulk Up/Accupressure
Recover/Bulk UP/Baton Pass


This set has kinda the same defenses and HP as infernape, so in theory it must survive with enough hp to make 1 substitute if your slower than your opponent or possibly activating Salac berry right away (if not adjust the HP evs at the cost of speed) if you are faster, then substitute until the berry activates then Drain punch or recover to regain HP. The atk evs makes it have the same attack power as a max garchomp or scizor (which its 394) while the speed it has outspeeds max timid Heatran by one point(even holding a scarf after the salac boost) but if that is too much speed for your taste, you can drop it to 176 evs which generates 264 spe and after the berry boost outspeeds Aerodactyl and Friends.


The moveset has good coverage between zen headbutt or rockslide (both providing Flinch rate) and High Jump Kick or Drain Punch, the later providing stab and recovery withaout the necessity of recover,but since both moves on the first slot have an unlreliable accuracy you can choose any other attack which gives it coverage you may like such as ice Punch, Fire Punch or even bullet punch for priority. Besides subtitute you can run also Bulk up which after one boost generates 591 Atk (with Pure Power) & 279 Def or even run accupressure together with recover to gain more hp back or even baton pass instead to pass those boosts to another pokemon.

Wanna-be Roobushin

Adamant/Pure Power
Leftovers/Life Orb
240 HP/176 Atk/84 Spd/8 Spe

Bullet Punch
Drain Punch
Rock Slide/recover
Bulk UP/recover


The evs generates 321 HP/440 atk/207 Spd & 198 spe which its bulky enough after one bulk up gets 660 Atk & 279 Def so after this only special attackers will be a problem, but thats why the spd evs are there to soften that but if dont care about it just shift them to attack and its more speedy than roobushin meaning he can come into a wall and start the pain. I think this doesnt need more explaining.

 

[the voice of reason]

Max attack adamant Medicam@choice band does 33.8%-40.1% to 252/200 Dusclops@pre-evolution stone with psycho cut, an easy 3HKO. Dusclops is one fuck of a good defender. Food for thought.

 

[Oh My Biscuits]

I really wish Medicham got Mach Punch. I remember losing to a Doryuuzu with my "counter" named Azumarill. I really just got unlucky and it had 1% of its HP left. I would smack a Choice Band on it and call it my counter. But anyways, I wonder how well Medicham would do against Roopushin.

 

[SMZ]

Acupressure is really meh, so HJK is the only 'improvement'. Telepathy sucks even in doubles, you're trading off that huge attack to a base 60 simply is off putting. I'm not sure if it has a niche in OU with Kojondo and other stuff running around.

 

[sax king]

I'd like to revive this thread because I have discovered a fantastic lead set for Medicham. I'll post it here and explain it a bit:

Medicham @ Life Orb
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly
Pure Power
--Fake Out
--Hi Jump Kick
--Rock Slide / Zen Headbutt
--Magic Coat

This is incredibly powerful. Medicham has ridiculous attack as well as Fake Out and Magic Coat, making it a beast of a lead. The idea is to fake out the first turn, reflect any kinds of status or hazards, then kill. Just to show how powerful he is, Fake Out deals about 12-14% on physically defensive Hippowdon, and then HJK deals about 56-66% for a grand total of 68-80%. 252/4 Politoed is always OHKO'd by HJK. DNite is OHKO'd by Rock Slide after a Fake Out. Max Defense Nattorei is OHKO'd by HJK. Physically defensive Skarmory is always 2HKO'd by HJK. Furthermore, the most fun thing in the world is reflecting hazards back at the opponent. The choice between Rock Slide and Zen Headbutt is just a choice between power and coverage.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

 

[Darusare]

It's going to serve the same role in Gen 5 as in Gen 4: effective revenge killer in the lower tiers, and a nasty little "surprise" in OU.

meh
he wont be nearly a nasty now

 

[deluge]

I was theorymoning a SubSplit Medicham in gen IV:

Adamant/Jolly Medicham@LO
~Substitute
~Pain Split
~High Jump Kick
~Psycho Cut/Rock Slide

(Pain Split over Recover to soften up walls in order to finish them off with another move)

Never did test it because it I just felt it was too slow and frail to get setup opportunities in the tier I was playing.
Who's going to switch out if you can outrun and KO (unless you think Cham is scarfed)?
(In the current metagame, unlike Gen IV, there's a very common, very slow, fighting-weak Steel so maybe Nattorei is his ticket)

Anyway, his best sets are probably what every uses: slap on a scarf to patch speed and abuse Power Power + HJK and his access to elemental punches.