RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

I recently participated in a Pokemon tournament where the participants were assigned randomized teams, and one of the critters I picked up was Ambipom. Given that most of my team was junk, I had to be very creative in my movesets, and although I didn’t expect Ambipom to be particularly useful, he managed to save me on a number of occasions. So this week is all about everybody’s favorite slightly creepy monkey!

Ambipom
Normal
HP: 75 Atk: 100 Def: 66 Sp Atk: 60 Sp Def: 66 Spd: 115
Ability: Technician: Moves with a base power of 60 or less have their base power boosted by 50%.
Pickup: After battle, there is a 10% chance this Pokemon will be holding an item.

A number of Pokemon went from suspect to superstar in the transition from R/S/E to D/P/P, and Ambipom got some of the biggest improvements. Where Aipom was almost uniformly ignored as a party member in the last generation, D/P/P gave it a very useful ability, a much better movepool, and stats that actually make it a threat in combat. Ambipom’s biggest gain is undeniably in its base stats. The funky monkey gained a full thirty points in Atk and twenty in Spd, making it a wonderfully fast Pokemon that can still dish out a fairly strong hit. Ambipom’s abilities, on the other hand, are split 50/50 between amazingly useful and entirely useless. Technician is a wonderful ability that allows Ambipom to make use of some commonly ignored moves with useful side effects, like Aerial Ace, Fake Out, and Double Hit. Pickup, on the other hand, has absolutely no effect in battle whatsoever. Can’t win them all, I suppose.

With Ambipom’s increased popularity comes increased predictability. The vast majority of Ambipom you see will be using Fake Out to lead, followed by either U-Turn to switch out to a counter, or Double Hit to try to take you down. Barring the odd Baton Pass set, it’ll be pretty easy to outpredict Ambipom and get a counter into play. And unfortunately, counters are pretty easy to come by. Ambipom more than any other Normal-type Pokmon in the game (save possibly Tauros) is vulnerable to Pokemon who resist Normal-type attacks. The other main problem with Ambipom is its craptastic defenses. With an HP of only 70, and defenses that both hover below average at 66, Ambipom can’t take a hit to save its life.

Ambipom’s predictability is a problem that can be remedied, though. The cheeky ape has a number of surprises in its largely unexplored bag of tricks, allowing you to shock a foe if given half the chance.

Standard Monkey
Ambipom @Life Orb
Jolly (-Sp Atk, +Spd) nature
Technician ability
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Fake Out
-U-Turn
-Double Hit
-Brick Break / Shadow Claw
This is the set you’re likely to see most often on Ambipom. The idea is to use Fake Out on turn 1, followed by U-Turn if you’re faster than your foe and need to switch to a counter, or Double Hit if you need straight-up damage. U-Turning to a Pokemon with good resistances or immunities — Spiritomb for example — is a great way to score free damage and get Pokemon into play without letting up pressure on your foe.

Despite being predictable, this set can be very effective. The monkey’s solid Atk, combined with Technician and the same-type attack bonus (more commonly called STAB), gives Ambipom one of the most powerful Fake Outs in the game. Double Hit is your best bet for raw damage output, but the final slot is honestly a bit of a problem. Ambipom has trouble with Steel, Ghost and Rock-type Pokemon, who all resist his strongest STAB moves. Brick Break is probably the best choice given that it covers both Steel and Rock-type Pokemon, but it does leave you completely vulnerable to Ghosts. So Shadow Claw is a good option in the fourth slot, but I’d recommend getting a Magnezone on your team, in order to trap and kill the Steel-types that Ambipom will no longer be equipped to deal with.

A brief side note on Double Hit: With Technician and STAB, Double Hit is exactly as powerful as Return. The only reason Double Hit is listed over Return is that it can be used to destroy Substitutes and still deal damage to the defending Pokemon. If Double Hit’s accuracy is a problem for you, feel free to use Return instead.

Pass Monkey
Ambipom @Leftovers
Timid (-Atk, +Spd) or Modest (-Atk, +Sp Atk) nature
Technician ability
252 Spd, 252 HP, 6 Sp Atk
-Nasty Plot
-Baton Pass
-Thunderbolt / Substitute
-Swift
How’s that for a surprise? Generally speaking, a Pokemon with a base Sp Atk of 60 would not be a candidate for a special-based set, even with Nasty Plot. However, most people facing Ambipom are going to assume they know better, and send in a Ghost or Steel type as soon as they see the monkey, predicting your first move is going to be Fake Out. Imagine their shock when you set up with Nasty Plot, and proceed to pass it to any of a dozen nasty special attackers.

This set lives in praise of Technician, without which Ambipom would have no worthwhile STAB move. Technician turns Swift from an uninteresting example of one of the only Normal-type special attacks into Ambipom’s best bet. This set also does very well against one of Ambipom’s biggest counters; Skarmory. With Thunderbolt, Ambipom can take Skarmory out without too much trouble, even taking Roost into account. Shock Wave is also an option over Thunderbolt, but it’s slightly weaker and its never-miss accuracy isn’t that attractive when you’ve got Swift on the same moveset.

If you’d prefer a bit broader support, Nasty Plot can be switched out for Agility. This means you’d have to make a number of other alterations to the moveset, though, such as switching to a Jolly nature, dropping Swift for Double Hit, and dropping Thunderbolt altogether in favor of Substitute. Something to think about.

Last Monkey Standing
Ambipom @Life Orb
Adamant (-Sp Atk, +Atk) or Jolly (-Sp Atk, +Spd) nature
Technician ability
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Fake Out
-Last Resort
-(none)
-(none)
Possibly the oddest moveset you’re likely to see on an Ambipom… Or really any other Pokemon. But hey, Last Resort just says you have to use all your other moves before you can use it, it doesn’t specify how many other moves you have to have in your moveset. This Ambipom is capable of delivering a shockingly powerful Normal-type assault, thanks to Last Resort’s massive base power of 130, boosted to 195 by STAB.

As you might have guessed, this Ambipom is absolutely useless against Rocks, Steels, and yes, Ghosts. For that reason, this Ambipom really needs to be paired with a Pokemon that helps trap and destroy these Pokemon. Magnezone is a good choice to take care of Steels thanks to its Magnet Pull ability, while Tyranitar works wonders on Ghosts thanks to its access to STAB Pursuit. Dugtrio is a good choice for taking care of Rock-types without the Levitate ability, but be wary of Duggy’s extreme fragility.