ANNIHILAPE STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Annihilape is a Pokémon introduced in the 9th generation (in Paldea) and the name doesn’t even come true because it is literally an annihilating monkey and I already tell you that the set that I bring you today will surprise you a lot because what a beast. It is the evolution of Primeape.

Part of its appeal is an exclusive move called Fury Punch since this allows it to have an extremely devastating combo and if everything works as we think (lots of tests have to be done), the combo is going to be very broken and it smells like this Pokémon could reach the tier of Ubers.

I will not anticipate the surprise, you will see it as you read this post, I will only tell you that it has a very broken combo with Pawmot . Read on to find out.

? ANNIHILAPE’S STATS

His statistics add up to a total of 535 points , so not bad, but let’s see his distribution:

• Health: 110.
• Attack: 115.
• Defense: 80.
• Special Attack: 50.
• Special Defense: 90.
• Speed: 90.

His distribution of statistics is quite interesting. Let’s start by talking about those powerful and generous 115 Attack points, which are obviously going to scare us to deal good physical damage. The Speed ​​is true that despite being good, it is not that high either and there will be many common Pokémon in the competitive game that will pass us by, for example Tinkaton (be careful with this one), Staraptor or  Gengar .

Defensively, it’s also not bad, it doesn’t reach the level of a tank like Ferrothorn or Toxapex … but it’s pretty well covered on both sides and those 110 HP help it a lot.

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Skeledirge is a Ghost Fighting-Type  just like Marshadow, which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

• He is immune to Normal and Fighting.
• It is very resistant to Bug.
• It is resistant to Rock and Poison.
• It is weak to Fairy, Flying, Ghost, and Psychic.

Having 2 immunities is great, the most interesting one is the Fighting Type because many Pokémon carry moves of this type as coverage due to their high coverage. Normal is not that interesting, but it immunizes us from movements such as Surprise.

We are quite short of resistors, that is true; Bug is pretty meh, but at least it protects us against Scizor ; Rock’s is very cool due to the presence of Rock Trap and Poison’s isn’t very relevant either, but it’s there.

Regarding its weaknesses:

• Fairy : Dangerous weakness for being a very common type in the competitive. Be very careful against the aforementioned Tinkaton or other pokemon like Togekiss or Azumarril.
• Flying : A weakness also to take into account. Pokémon like Talonflame  or Dragonite will destroy us.
• Ghost : Especially those that are faster like Dragapult  or Ceruledge .
• Psychic : Not excessively relevant, but be careful against Pokémon like Armarouge.

ANNIHILAPE’S ABILITIES

Now let’s see their abilities and comment on which ones we find most relevant:

LIFE SPIRIT

Prevent our Pokémon from being able to sleep, also we will not be able to use Rest. Little to add, it is not very relevant because sleep is not used much in competitive.

MENTAL FORCE

This prevents them from making us go back, something more relevant than the previous one due to the presence of Surprise, especially in doubles or VGC. Mold Breaker ignores this ability, so keep that in mind against Pokemon like Tinkaton, Hawlucha, or Excadrill .

COMPETITIVE (HIDDEN ABILITY)

It is the most interesting of all and is quite viable both in Singles and Doubles or VGC. It will increase our Attack by 2 levels if an opponent lowers our statistics, ideal against Pokémon with abilities such as Intimidation (which in doubles is also our daily bread) and let’s remember that many attacks have a probability of reducing our statistics.

Keep in mind that a rival has to lower our statistics , if you lower them yourself or with a teammate it does not count.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

The perfect Iv’s, the usual; regarding EV’s and Nature:

To boost your offense:

• EV’s : 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Defense.
• Nature : Firm (+ Attack, – Special Attack).

To boost his defensive side (you’ll see why):

• EV’s : 252 Health, 128 Defense and 128 Special Defense.
• Nature : Cautious (+Special Defense, –Special Attack).

RECOMMENDED ITEM

These are the objects that I recommend for Annihilape:

• Remains : As strange as it sounds, it is viable in this Pokémon because as you will see later we are very interested in enduring a good time in the field. In case someone does not know the object, it restores a little health each turn.
• Assault Vest : Increases Special Defense by 50% with the drawback that it prevents us from using status movements, which we will not care about with our kit and again I insist that it is very worthwhile to enhance the defensive section of this Pokémon.
• Choice Scarf : Increases our Speed ​​by 50%, but when using a movement we will be forced to continue using it until we return to the Poké Ball.
• Insurance Weakness : Tremendous because it will increase our Attack and Special Attack by 2 levels when we are hit with a weakness.
• Choice Ribbon : Like the Handkerchief but increasing our physical damage by 50%. Most recommended the Scarf, but it is still an alternative.
• Vidasfera : Increases our damage by 30%, but we will lose 10% of our health when making an offensive attack.

FURY FIST: HIS SIGNATURE MOVE

• STAB Ghost.
• 50 Power.
• 100 Accuracy.
• Increases power by 50 for each hit we receive.

Fury Fist is simply crazy no matter how you look at it and this is where that brutal combo with Pawmot that I mentioned at the beginning of the post comes from. Basically we will increase the power of the attack by 50 points when we are hit (it counts if we hit ourselves with Confusion, but if we are hit with the typical attack that hits several times in a row, it would only increase the counter by one).

But… do you know what is best? That this counter is maintained if we return Annihilape to the Pokéball and even if they weaken it … so some of you will already imagine the broken combo with Pawmot.

BEST MOVES FOR ANNIHILAPE

The movements that I recommend the most for Annihilape:

• Fury Punch : Without a doubt, the essential movement to create our devastating combo and our favorite Ghost STAB. Ghost is very effective against Ghost and Psychic. Great for Pokemon like Hatterene .
• Drain Fist : STAB Fighting, Physical, 75 power, 100% accuracy and we will recover 50% of the damage we cause as health. Ideal to damage and heal us in passing. Remember that Fighting is very effective against Normal, Steel, Ice, Rock and Dark. Which is why we cover tons of Pokémon like Meowscarada or Weavile to give a few examples.
• Point Blank : STAB Fighting, Physical, 120 power, 100% accuracy but our Defense and Special Defense will go down 1 level.
• Earthquake : Earth, Physical, 100 power, 100% accuracy. Tremendous Ground coverage that as an extra data will cause double damage to Pokémon that use dig (which is not used much but good). Ground is very effective against Fire, Electric, Steel, Rock, and Poison. So it will be great against Pokemon like Ceruledge,  Cinderace ,  or Ampharos.
• Ice Punch : Ice, Physical, 75 power, 100% accuracy, and a 10% chance to freeze the target. Coverage against Grass, Ground, Dragon, and Flying for Pokemon like Garchomp  or Salamence .
• Fire Punch : Fire, Physical, 75 power, 100% accuracy, and 10% chance to burn. Grass , Steel, Ice, and Bug coverage for Pokemon like Ferrothorn or Venusaur .
• Thunder Punch : Electric, Physical, 75 Power, 100% Accuracy, and has a 10% chance to Paralyze. Coverage for Water and flying. Quaquaval or Gyarados .
• Protection : State, we protect ourselves that turn with priority. We should not use it 2 times in a row. Good especially for doubles.

ANNIHILAPE STRATEGIES

Here are some example strategies for this Pokémon, feel free to share yours with us in the comments.

ANNIHILAPE + PAWMOT – BEST FRIENDS EVA (SINGLES)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs:
  • 252 Health, 252 Speed, 4 Defense for a more defensive variant.
  • 252 Speed, 252 Attack, 4 Special Defense for a more offensive variant.
• Nature: Firm (+Attack, -Special Attack).
• Item: Assault Vest / Choice Bandana / Life Orb / Weakness Insurance (sort of in order of priority)
• Skill: Competitive.
• Movements:
  • Fury Fist
  • Drain Fist
  • Earthquake
  • Ice Punch / Fire Punch / Thunder Punch

We have a set with very good offense and even defense since we can heal ourselves with Drain Punch and it is a Pokémon that withstands blows well. The idea is to take blows and endure them so that Puño Furia gets doped.

The funny thing is that the power accumulation of Fury Punch is maintained even if we are weakened, that’s where our friend Pawmot comes into play to revive us and preserve all the boosts we have in that movement (and if you look at our Pawmot strategy you will see that even we have a combo to revive 2 times). With which at that moment we will have a bad beast that, as it will have received several blows, will hit some Fury Punch that will make your rival shudder. It’s a killer combo.

ANNIHILAPE AUTOSTRIKE DESTROYER (DOUBLES/VGC)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed ​​and 4 Defense.
• Nature: Competitive (+Speed, -Special Attack).
• Object: Insurance Weakness.
• Skill: Competitive.
• Movements:
  • Fury Fist
  • point blank
  • Earthquake
  • Protection

This Pokemon has a tremendously broken combo. First of all we will take a partner that has the Vile Shadow movement, a Ghost-type movement that hits with priority (a good example is Sableye ) with which we will attack our Annihilape, activating our Weakness Insurance. We’re also attacking each other, which brings the power of our Fury Punch up to 100 Power.

The damage is massive with this, but if we also have Pawmot on the team, this power buff is maintained since even if they weaken it, we maintain it and we can revive it (although we lose the weakness insurance). In addition, with the boosted attack of our sure weakness, the Close Range will hit very hard as well, do not be obcequéis with Fury Punch.

Protection is key for those Ghosts that are faster than our Annihilape and we run Earthquake for cover.

ANNIHILAPE TERACRYSTALLIZATION

• Phantom Teracrystallization .

Few doubts regarding the Teracrystallization since we are very clear that we want to maximize its powerful Fury Punch with the double STAB Phantom that the Phantom Teracrystallization would provide us. However, we also have an alternative to take into account:

• Teracrystallization Fight .

Mainly to empower our Drain Punch to deal more damage and in turn also heal us more to hold up much better on the field.

HOW TO DEFEAT ANNIHILAPE AND COUNTERS

And now just the opposite, what should we do to defeat him and some of his counters:

• Quickly Eliminate Pawmot : If we don’t let Pawmot revive him, we’ll screw up Annihilape’s tremendous combo.
• Toxic : It should be looked at, but I don’t think the poison damage will boost us and it would be a very good idea to finish us off this way so as not to buff Fury Punch. Toxapex can mess up the game by stalling us with toxic, especially if we don’t have good coverage against it.
• Burn : As with most physical offensives, burn is a big problem for them. Chandelure  or Skeledirge would be good choices for their Wisp.
• Fastest Pokémon that Delete it : Gengar or Dragapult are good examples of this.