if at first you don't succeed, do it like your momma told ya
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[OVERVIEW]
* The combination of good a Speed tier and unique attacking capabilities offered by Parental Bond allows Mega Kangaskhan to pressure both offensive and defensive teams.
* Mega Kangaskhan's unique ability in Parental Bond allows it to take better advantage of certain moves—particularly Body Slam and Seismic Toss—for their secondary effects or strong fixed damage, making Mega Kangaskhan deceptively difficult to switch into for most teams.
* Its relatively strong Fake Out gives it revenge killing and anti-leading utility against offensive teams.
* Its immunity to Ghost-type attacks is valuable with the large presence of Lunala.
* Mega Kangaskhan's raw damage output can be underwhelming due to its modest base Attack, giving it staunch competition with stronger Mega Evolutions such as Gengar, Salamence, and Lucario.
* Despite solid all-around bulk, Mega Kangaskhan is short on useful resistances and can struggle to get into play.
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Fake Out / Ice Punch
move 2: Seismic Toss
move 3: Body Slam / Double-Edge
move 4: Crunch / Ice Punch
item: Kangaskhanite
ability: Scrappy
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
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* Fake Out ensures a safe Mega Evolution for Mega Kangaskhan and does decent chip damage with STAB and Parental Bond.
* Seismic Toss is surprisingly deadly with Parental Bond, dealing a fixed 200 damage to any target not immune to Fighting-type moves. With Stealth Rock support, this makes Mega Kangaskhan capable of 2HKOing the majority of the metagame with one move.
* Body Slam provides a decently strong STAB option that has a high 51% chance to paralyze the foe thanks to Parental Bond. The paralysis coupled with Seismic Toss usually allows Kangaskhan to defeat support Arceus formes.
* Double-Edge is significantly more powerful than Body Slam, but it forces Mega Kangaskhan to take a fair amount of recoil damage and does not offer paralysis utility.
* Crunch allows Mega Kangaskhan to 2HKO Giratina-O after Stealth Rock damage and defeat other Ghost-types such as Mega Gengar and Lunala. Parental Bond gives it a 36% chance to lower the opponent's Defense, so it can also be used to soften up enemy walls.
* Ice Punch can also be used to OHKO offensive Mega Salamence without an Intimidate drop and 2HKO Zygarde, though it barely misses the 2HKO on Giratina-O after Stealth Rock damage.
* Ice Punch or Crunch can be used over Fake Out for maximum coverage if so desired.
Set Details
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* Scrappy is used as the ability pre-Mega Evolution, offering Mega Kangaskhan the ability to hit Ghost-types with its STAB moves if necessary.
* Maximum Speed with a Jolly nature allows Mega Kangaskhan to outrun all variants of Lunala and Yveltal that do not carry Choice Scarf.
* The remaining EVs are poured into Attack so Mega Kangaskhan can hit as hard as possible.
* An Adamant nature is usually inferior to Jolly, but it can be used if more power is desired.
Usage Tips
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* Fake Out allows Mega Kangaskhan to anti-lead most suicide entry hazard leads, especially Deoxys-S.
* In addition, Fake Out allows Mega Kangaskhan to act as an emergency stop to weakened setup sweepers such as Geomancy Xerneas and Swords Dance Arceus, switching in and out as necessary to keep using the move. This tactic tends to work better if the target is poisoned, dramatically increasing the accumulated chip damage.
* Seismic Toss is fairly spammable, but against a switch-in that might outspeed Mega Kangaskhan such as support Arceus or even Lugia, it is usually best to use Body Slam first to try to paralyze it.
* Crunch is best used on predicted switches to Ghost-types to avoid wasting a turn by using a Normal- or Fighting-type move.
* Although Mega Kangaskhan can survive many neutral unboosted attacks when healthy, it should try to avoid switching in on attacks if possible due to its lack of resistances. Double switches and taking advantage of expected recovery or utility moves are ideal moments to bring in Mega Kangaskhan.
* In the same vein, try not to let Mega Kangaskhan get poison or burned—the chip damage can make using Fake Out counterproductive.
Team Options
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* Mega Kangaskhan works well with Pokemon that are adept at spreading Toxic to help it get additional value out of Fake Out, as well as assisting it in wearing down defensive Pokemon. Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh are good options for spreading Toxic, since they can handle Steel-types that would normally come in to absorb Toxic.
* Though Toxic Spikes are of questionably value in the metagame due to the ubiquity of Mega Gengar, they nonetheless synergize well with Mega Kangaskhan. Cloyster and Toxapex make decent users of the move.
* Giratina-O is fairly good at spreading Toxic while also providing Defog support and a switch-in to Fighting-type attacks.
* Dark-types such as Yveltal, Arceus-Dark, and Darkrai work well with Mega Kangaskhan to handle Ghost-types it cannot take on well itself, such as Arceus-Ghost, Mega Sableye, and Mega Gengar.
* Xerneas is a good offensive partner for Mega Kangaskhan, putting heavy offensive pressure on walls such as Mega Sableye and Zygarde-C while providing a switch-in for Fighting-type attacks.
* Arceus-Ground is also a good offensive partner—it shares many checks with Mega Kangaskhan, and each can assist the other in wearing them down.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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* Earthquake OHKOes Mega Lucario and can allow Mega Kangaskhan to antilead Excadrill.
* Return can be used as a middle-ground STAB option between Body Slam and Double-Edge, though it usually isn't much better than clicking Seismic Toss.
* Sucker Punch provides an alternate source of priority to use against faster Ghost- and Psychic-types such as Mega Gengar and Mewtwo, though Crunch is superior for all the other Ghost-types and Fake Out already OHKOes Deoxys-A, making Sucker Punch not terribly necessary most of the time.
* Power-Up Punch gives Mega Kangaskhan +2 Attack, enabling it to punch through bulky Pokemon such as support Arceus formes with relative ease, though it is blocked by Ghost-types and is worse than Seismic Toss against foes such as Skarmory and Ferrothorn.
* Fire Punch picks up quick OHKOs on Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn and is Mega Kangaskhan's best option against Skarmory aside from Seismic Toss.
* Wish and Protect give Mega Kangaskhan a source of recovery and let it survive longer against bulkier teams.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-types are immune to Normal- and Fighting-type moves, and most carry a way to KO or cripple Mega Kangaskhan before it can use Crunch, unless it catches them on the switch. Mega Gengar is faster than Mega Kangaskhan and can either cripple it with Will-O-Wisp or KO it with Focus Blast. Mega Sableye is not weak to Crunch and cripples Mega Kangaskhan with a burn, only fearing repeated Defense drops. Giratina-O can tank a single Crunch with ease and either cripple Mega Kangaskhan with status or do massive damage with Draco Meteor. If holding a Choice Scarf, Lunala can switch in on Mega Kangaskhan and strike it with Focus Blast before taking a Crunch.
**Zygarde-C**: Zygarde-C's massive HP stat makes Seismic Toss nonthreatening, and it can easily shrug off Mega Kangaskhan other attacks and retaliate with status. However, it needs to be wary of Ice Punch.
**Mega Lucario**: Mega Lucario resists Mega Kangaskhan's typical moveset and is not OHKOed by Seismic Toss, easily outspeeding and destroying it in return with Close Combat. However, Mega Lucario is loath to switch in directly for fear of Body Slam paralysis.
**Fighting-types**: Buzzwole is not 2HKOed by Seismic Toss at full health, OHKOing Mega Kangaskhan in return with Hammer Arm. Although they take a lot of damage from Fake Out, Pheromosa and Blaziken can easily revenge kill Mega Kangaskhan once it has been used up.
**Lugia**: Lugia outspeeds Mega Kangaskhan and isn't 2HKO by Seismic Toss, outstalling it with a combination of Roost and Toxic. However, Lugia does need to be wary of being paralyzed by Body Slam.
**Ferrothorn**: Although Ferrothorn is 2HKOed by Seismic Toss, it can come in on any other move with little risk and force Mega Kangaskhan to take significant recoil damage with Iron Barbs.
**Skarmory and Celesteela**: While both Skarmory and Celesteela are 2HKOed by Seismic Toss after Stealth Rock damage, they can switch in on any other move with ease and cripple Mega Kangaskhan with Toxic or Leech Seed.
**Mega Slowbro**: Although Slowbro is 2HKOed by Seismic Toss, it can come in on any other attack, survive the followup hit, and use Toxic on Mega Kangaskhan, recovering the health it lost in the process with Regenerator.
**Bulky Pokemon**: Although Mega Kangaskhan threatens close 2HKOs on most Pokemon with Stealth Rock support using Seismic Toss, it threatens outright OHKOs on hardly any Pokemon in the metagame. A bulky Pokemon that can afford to stay in and take a hit can thus retaliate with status or a strong attack to take Mega Kangaskhan out of the match if necessary. Pokemon that can threaten burns or Toxic such as support Arceus formes, defensive Primal Groudon, bulky Ho-Oh, and defensive Primal Kyogre are among the most notable candidates.
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