Primeape

[JCM.]

Primeape

65 / 105 / 60 / 60 / 70 / 95​

Abilities:

• Vital Spirit
• Anger Point
• Defiant

Notable moves:

• Close Combat
• Punishment
• Hone Claws
• Bulk Up
• U-Turn
• Taunt
• Earthquake
• Stone Edge
• Substitute
• Focus Punch
• Fire Punch
• Ice Punch
• ThunderPunch

Primeape is the new Fighting-type in town, but don't get fooled by the fact that it seems outclassed by Sawk! This monkey has access to U-Turn and Punishment, the former allowing it to scout and switch out on Psychic switch-ins, and the latter allowing it to deal a lot of damage to CM Musharna. Primeape also has nice Speed, allowing it to run a Scarf set.

 

[Ashley11]

Primape is easily going to be giving sawk some competition with Uturn and Punishment Under his belt. itt could also be an Ok anti lead, with Taunt, and Uturn. It has the elemental punches which could be a big help. I dont see it getting much done with BU though. Its too frail for using a BU set. I think this will be a nice addition to NU!

 

[Punchshroom]

Competition with Sawk? More like comrades: this dual Fighting combo will easily be one of the most difficult cores to stop in NU.

 

[Shuckleking87]

A couple poke that could take the potential core of CB Sawk and CS Primeape
Musharna: duh
Alomomola: can somewhat take the core, cb cc's from sawk wil really hurt.
Vileplume: I really hope this poke gets alot more love, this thing is really a beast, and can take all moves barring CB ice punch
Frillish: Sawk can't really do anything while Punishment is a 3HKO at best. This poke should get way more usage.
Misdreavus: Hopefully gets some burns off
Weezing: Hope that Sawk doesn't go for Earthquake. Air balloon Weezing would probably be the best counter lol
Duosion: Another very underrated poke

Of course, prediction works too, but the fact that Primeape has U-turn will be extremely annoying

 

[Five Green]

Interesting guy, indeed. I think that Scarf will be his claim of fame, other sets would probably be eclipsed by Sawk. Resistance to Stealth Rocks, U-Turn, nice speed that lets him outspeed Gorebyss at +2 are sweet. :3

 

[sickweare]

Yeah, Prime isn't outclassed by Sawk, they have different niches as fighting types! Scouting is the name of the game for Primeape thanks to U-turn and that sweet speed tier. Also, CM Mushy giving you issues? If given enough boosts, that Mushy can say bye as Primeape takes it on with Punishment. Primeape should definitely be interesting to use in this tier.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Primeape will be one cool cat this time around.

Primeape can hit pretty decently hard with that STAB CC, and he has his place as a strong and speedy scout. Primeape will be pretty hard to counter directly as his U-turn will be sure to allow him to keep up offensive momentum and get to a teammate, namely Skuntank. Punishment is also really cool to pretty much shit on Musharna after that thing gets enough boosts.

Sawk'll still give it competition, but I'm sure Primeape will still have a place.

 

[Unitas]

Scarf Primape with U-Turn is a very effective scout in NU thanks to some of the psychic types running rampant. U-Turn/Close Combat/Earthquake/Ice Punch with a scarf works wonders and hits reasonably hard. Double Edge is also an option for added power.

 

[NfskMjmMal]

Primeape and Sawk serve different roles. Sawk is mainly meant for wallbreaking with its higher attack, but Primeape is better as a Scarfed scout. Primeape's movepool allows it to deal much better with those Psychc-types Sawk hates, but Sawk can still dish out huge damage that Primeape can't. Sure, of course there is some redundancy, but one doesn't completely eclipse the other. Happy April Fool's

 

[ebeast]

Choice Scarf is definitely going to be Primeape's main set of choice. It has a great base 95 Speed stat that lets it outspeed the entire tier including some other common Choice Scarf Pokemon such as Rotom-S, Braviary, Gardevoir or the boosting sweeper Gorebyss. The moves for it are most likely going to be: Close Combat / U-turn / Ice Punch / Stone Edge. Close Combat and U-turn are a given as they give Primeape the option to hit something hard or scout counters. Ice Punch lets Primeape hit Golurk and Roselia, while Stone Edge lets it hit Scolipede the hardest. Even though Scarf Primeape has a lot of utility as a cleaner or revenge killer, it simply doesn't hit all too hard which makes it not all to hard to deal with. Primeape is a good fit in the NU metagame.

Other people have been talking about it but a core of Choice Band Sawk + Choice Scarf Primeape + Dread Plate Skuntank puts a lot of pressure on Musharna and Misdreavus, the latter who is bound to get more common due to the introduction of Scolipede. Alomomola and the like still give this trouble as it has the bulk to take on Skuntank and Primeape easily while it can pivot around Choice Band Sawk with Regenerator. Punishment is not really too good of choice on Scarf Primeape as even it does weak damage to Musharna unless it has set up quite a bit.

 

[dcae]

Personally I think Primeape will become the new top Scarfer fighting type thanks to superior speed when comparing with Scarf Sawk, and access to the incredible Uturn. Count on an increase of CB Sawk and Misdreavus will soar up in usage to counter both Priemape and Sawk, as well as Scoliprde. Overall, a welcome addition to the NU tier.

 

[Kendrick Lamar]

Excited for this new Ape metagame. Would be very interesting to see which fighting type will get more usage.

 

[ryanr554]

U-turn on it's own is enough to make it not outclassed by Sawk. Being able to hit the psychic types hard while switching out is an invaluable asset in NU.

I can still see Sawk being used more due to it having a lot more power but Primeape is still a very good fighting type in NU all the same.

Also, does Primeape really need a scarf? It is pretty fast by NU standards already.

 

[RabidChipmunk]

U-turn on it's own is enough to make it not outclassed by Sawk. Being able to hit the psychic types hard while switching out is an invaluable asset in NU.

I can still see Sawk being used more due to it having a lot more power but Primeape is still a very good fighting type in NU all the same.

Also, does Primeape really need a scarf? It is pretty fast by NU standards already.

I'd say Primeape needs to be Scarf'd in order to outspeed just about every other Scarfer in the tier (barring Charizard). Scarf makes him a great scout, allowing him to U-turn on potential threats, and giving him anything but a Scarf is encroaching on Sawk's territory.

 

[skylight]

Also, does Primeape really need a scarf? It is pretty fast by NU standards already.

It allows it to speed tie with Scarf Jynx and OHKO, outspeed non-Scarf Jynx and OHKO, outspeed and OHKO both Rotom with SR up, outspeeds Scarf Sawk, outspeeds and kill Charizard, outspeeds and has a chance to OHKO Scolipede and definitely OHKOs with rocks up, outspeeds Scarf Gardevoir and can 2HKO with U-turn while OHKOing with prior damage, and speed ties Scarf Haunter. It's fast, yeah, and can work without a Scarf -- but for teams that need a good Scarfer that can either speed-tie or outspeed (and kill) some of the bigger offensive threats in NU then it's definitely useful.

edit: My laptop shut down midway but w/e my post extends upon the things it can actually do good damage to.

Excited for this new Ape metagame. Would be very interesting to see which fighting type will get more usage.

Probably both. Sawk to take out more defensive mons, Primeape to take on more defensive teams etc.

Count on an increase of CB Sawk and Misdreavus will soar up in usage to counter both Priemape and Sawk, as well as Scoliprde. Overall, a welcome addition to the NU tier.

252Atk Primeape (+Atk) Close Combat vs 4HP/0Def Sawk (Neutral): 80% - 94% (235 - 277 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO.

Counter would be the wrong word to use, given that any Sawk can't even switch into Primeape (if it's Scarf, and even if it's not Scarf it'll outspeed anyway).

 

[FortressDoor]

When I first saw Primeape dropped, I didn't think much would change. How is Primpeape going to compete with things like Sawk and Gurdurr?

But then I went and played against a Primeape on the later, and Primeape is really good in NU. If anything, I think Primeape is better than Sawk. Sawk hits a lot harder, but Primeape is faster than Sawk, and actually has a large movepool. U-Turn and Punishment allow Primeape to beat things like Mushy, and even the (somewhat rare) NP or CM Missy, which would usually block Sawk completely. I fully intend on playing more Primeape in this meta, as even its Choice Band set, though it hit more lightly than Sawk's, is completely viable, though Scarf will also be great.

I wish PS was up so I could try out Ape some more. I will be upset if it is not in Top Ten by the next month usage stats

 

[Constantinipple]

has nobody played around with encore yet? some thing around the lines of this?

Primeape (F) @ Expert Belt / Life Orb
Trait: Vital Spirit
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Encore
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

with expert belt you can trick people into thinking you are choiced, and it can encore the opponent into a non attacking move like a pokemon trying to set up.

also primeape and sawk partners in crime

edit: omg jcm add encore to notable moves

 

[Infernis]

I've been testing out a couple variations of Primeape for a Sawk/Primeape/Skuntank core, and it's proven quite the fighter.

Primeape @ Expert Belt
Trait: Vital Spirit
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Punishment
- U-turn
- Earthquake / Stone Edge
(Choice between hitting all types except fighting super effectively between him and Sawk or massacring Scolipede.)

along with a standard Dread Plate Skuntank and my own custom Sawk set:

Sawk @ Expert Belt
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Stone Edge
- Thunder Punch / Low Sweep
(SE against Alomomola and friends or being able to slow something down on a switch is a hard choice.)

It seems to work fairly well so far. Primeape scouts with U-Turn fairly well even without a scarf, and many times has been able to escape Musharna or Gardevoir to let Skuntank in. Their wide offensive movepools and Primeape's ability to switch at a moment's notice lets them mesh very well. The Sawk EVs let him handle certain specific physical attacks very handily on the switch and proceed to KO. I'm considering making him yet more defensive and dumping the rest of the speed so that he survives more switches. An alternative core I'm going to try will consist of Primeape/Throh/Skuntank, since Throh can take a serious pounding while still hitting just as hard as Primeape with Expert Belt.

 

[PureQuestion]

252Atk Primeape (+Atk) Close Combat vs 4HP/0Def Sawk (Neutral): 80% - 94% (235 - 277 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO.

Counter would be the wrong word to use, given that any Sawk can't even switch into Primeape (if it's Scarf, and even if it's not Scarf it'll outspeed anyway).

Pretty sure he was saying Missy is the counter to both of them.