STAB close combat and fire blast/overheat both hit harder than neutral shadow claw.I think I'm gonna vote for the banning of both Latios and Latias out of spite...
If going mixed or purely physical (which will probably be avoided), then would shadow claw be a good option for hitting the above dragons on the switch? Yes, it's shadow claw we're talking about here, but still!
Meh, I'll stick with nasty plot. How much power do you need to ohko trick room reuniclus with fire blast? Aside from him, the likes of Jellicient and the lati twins can be covered by partnering infernape up with a team member. Let's see if the king of swing can make a comeback into OU.
i think its because blaziken got moved up to ubers (i just found out like a minute ago lol)Wait. Where are people getting these claims that 'Infernape will finally rise to OU' or 'He's finally not UU'? Have tiers been out? I know Smogon has a new server with usage statistics but are they accessible? The usage statistics for the beta server are accessible 24/7 here http://91.121.73.228/Wifi/index.html but it has always shown Infernape up a few spots above Blaziken, around the 20s.
Personal experience.Wait. Where are people getting these claims that 'Infernape will finally rise to OU' or 'He's finally not UU'? Have tiers been out? I know Smogon has a new server with usage statistics but are they accessible? The usage statistics for the beta server are accessible 24/7 here http://91.121.73.228/Wifi/index.html but it has always shown Infernape up a few spots above Blaziken, around the 20s.
I don't know about that, but I do run into Infernape often. They are always either a lead set or the awesome Choice Band set.Personal experience.
Fire Punch and ThunderPunch are illegal with Iron Fist at the moment due to the lack of move tutors in Black and White.[SET]
name: I have no claws
move1: Fire Punch
move2: Thunder Punch
move3: Swords Dance
move4: Mach Punch
ability: Iron Fist
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe
nature: jolly
Yeah well Blaziken is banned, so SD and NP sets are viable, and so is the lead role. Nape is still quite good, and 108 speed is no slouch, despite it no longer being the great tier it used to be.Let me give the laydown here:
ALL DW starters, including chimchar, CANNOT breed down their DW abilities because they will all be male. Therefore, all egg moves cannot be used with the DW ability, and most of the punches are unusable. ALso, Blaziken has much higher offensive stats and a better ability, along with access to o.k. STABs in HJK and Blaze Kick. The only time you will ever use infernape's new moves and ability is as a mixed sweeper. That, or special/physical sweepers. You will only see other apes, such as the leadape, in 4th gen or without Iron fist. Basically, iron fist is only usable with mach punch anyway.
I have to agree, it has so much utility, I mean literally I can justify it on 90% of my teams. Have a problem with Jirachi, use Infernape, Ferrothorn, use Infernape, Scizor, use Infernape. And even if they bring in a counter, they still take massive damage from infernape, sometimes even enough to 2HKO.Choice Band Infernape is wonderful stuff. Just freaking wonderful. It's like opening a care package in Black Ops and getting a death machine/grim reaper.
Sadly, I think this may be his most viable set. NP Infernape would have been great if not for Latios ruining everything, forcing you to run team support just to succeed. Lead Infernape seems pretty much dead though and I've never tried SD Infernape so I can't say much on its success.
Don't forget Chandelure who doesn't fear much except Stone Edge.Namely Latias / Latios, but they need to be careful of U-turn. Gyarados, Dragonite, Salamence, Jellicent, Slowbro, and Tentacruel are all good answers to Infernape, although they need to be wary of certain coverage moves that Infernape may carry, such as Thunderpunch, Stone-Edge, HP Ice, or Grass Knot.
Heatran wearing a Choice Scarf and Gengar are good checks that can even switch-in on one of Infernape's STAB. To a lesser extent Starmie, too.