Overview
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Say hello to Medicham, a Pokemon that has suffered in the lower tiers of competitive battling in the past but has received new hope for its existence in OU due to its Mega Evolution. It has a fantastic ability, Pure Power, which doubles its Attack stat, boosting it to an equivalent of base 249 with a positive nature and maximum Attack investment. Additionally, Mega Medicham is the fastest user of Pure / Huge Power and Medicham also has a good movepool that allows it to annihilate any type of foe. Unfortunately, it does suffer from four-moveslot syndrome, and its type coverage moves are generally lacking in Base Power aside from High Jump Kick, which has its own downfall in unreliability. Medicham also has very poor bulk and has susceptibility to all most all forms of priority and it competes with other physical Mega Evolutions like Mega Mawile and Mega Heracross. Still, Medicham is a powerful physical attacker worthy of a spot on any offensive team.
Physical Attacker
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name: Physical Attacker
move 1: High Jump Kick
move 2: Zen Headbutt
move 3: Fire Punch / Ice Punch
move 4: Substitute / Fake Out
ability: Pure Power
item: Medichamite
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly / Adamant
Moves
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Mega Medicham boasts one of the highest Attack stats in the game and a fantastic base 100 Speed to back it up, which Azumarill, Kyurem-B, and Mega Mawile lack. This set is built to simply use all that power to its fullest potential. High Jump Kick is used because it's Medicham's strongest physical STAB move. While it is powerful, don't be reckless with it, as a Ghost-type switch-in, miss, or well-timed Protect can be costly. Fire Punch is used to annihilate Aegislash, which otherwise gives Medicham problems, as well as to incinerate Scizor. If hitting Gliscor, both Landorus formes, and Dragonite (as well as hitting Garchomp more reliably) is a concern for your team, Ice Punch is the best way to deal with them.
Zen Headbutt is a great secondary STAB move for Medicham and it also allows Medicham to hit physically defensive Mega Venusaur, which normally take very little from Medicham's attacks. It also lets Medicham beat defensive Fairy-types such as Clefable and Sylveon and deal good damage to Azumarill. For the last slot, Substitute can be very useful to ease prediction as well as keeping Medicham from being crippled by status. Fake Out is also a good option for repeated chip damage, a guaranteed flinch against a big threat, breaking sturdy or focus sashes, and granting you the ability to safely Mega Evolve. If you want, you can also use a set with High Jump Kick, Zen Headbutt, Fire Punch, and Ice Punch for maximum coverage.
Set Details
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Medichamite is essential for the all-around massive stat boosts achieved by the Mega Evolution. A Jolly nature gives Medicham the maximum Speed possible to help ensure it outspeeds and ties with important targets, including the Mega Charizards, Excadrill, Kyurem-B, and Landorus-T.
Usage Tips
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Mega Medicham is basically a nuke, but it has trouble switching into battle, so your team should have ways to bring it in safely, such as U-turn or Volt Switch users. Successfully setting up a Substitute is instrumental to doing heavy damage with Mega Medicham since you don't have to predict as much; Medicham can attack much more freely when it doesn't fear a potential OHKO in return. Setting up a Substitute on the prediction of a Ghost-type switch-in or faster Fighting resist is key. Mega Medicham can deal the maximum amount of devastation to enemy teams if you're setting up a Substitute when you predict the enemy to switch out into another Pokemon or hitting a predicted switch in for the most possible damage.
Team Options
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Good teammates for Mega Medicham are Pokemon with access to U-turn or Volt Switch because it doesn't like hard switching into attacks due to its frailty. Among Pokemon found on VoltTurning teams, Scizor is a great partner because Mega Medicham takes care of many checks to Scizor. Rotom-W is a great Volt Switch user that is capable of stomaching attacks from common priority users that want to pick off Mega Medicham and retaliate by crippling it with a burn. Mid- to late-game sweepers such as Lucario or Terrakion are great teammates for Mega Medicham because they can sweep with ease after Mega Medicham has already broken down the opponent's walls. If Fire Punch is used, a Pokemon that beats Gliscor and Landorus-T such as Rotom-W is mandatory and if Ice Punch is used, a Pokemon that beats Aegislash like Bisharp is also mandatory. Even if Fire Punch is used, however, alternative and more reliable ways of beating Aegislash is advised.
It should be noted that Mega Medicham is average speed-wise, making it vulnerable to revenge kills from faster threats. A good way to amend this somewhat (at least for grounded threats) is by pairing it with a Sticky Web user; Smeargle and Shuckle are good users depending on the team. Another way of getting around the speed problem is by using Prankster Thunder Wave Thundurus; not only is Thundurus naturally quick and can outrun and KO some of Mega Medicham's most common checks, but it can also use its priority Thunder Wave to slow down absurdly faster threats for Mega Medicham to pick off. Together, both Mega Medicham and Thundurus make a devastating offensive combination, only stopped by their frailty.
Other Options
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Thunder Punch can be used to hit Slowbro, Azumarill, and Gyarados, but using this move sacrifices more useful type coverage or the ever-useful Substitute. If you really want to use Mega Medicham as a sweeper, interchange the third or fourth moveslot for Bulk Up. The Defense boost from Bulk Up is a waste, but achieving over 900 Attack is something that even some of the best physical sweepers with Swords Dance can only dream to have. Your opponent will also usually expect Mega Medicham to be a wallbreaker instead of a sweeper.
Checks & Counters
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**Slowbro**: Slowbro completely stops Medicham, taking next to nothing from all of Medicham's attacks and using Regenerator to heal off the damage it takes. However, while Thunder Punch is rare, it will let Medicham easily defeat Slowbro.
**Ghost-types**: Aegislash can also come in on any move except for Fire Punch and either threaten to either KO Medicham or use King's Shield to lower its Attack. Gengar naturally outruns Mega Medicham and can OHKO with its STAB Shadow Ball, but can't switch into Zen Headbutt or the elemental punches or risk being OHKOed. Their Ghost typings also greatly limits High Jump Kick, making use of said move extremely risky.
**Common Priority Users**: Talonflame can revenge kill Medicham with a priority Brave Bird, but it doesn't like switching into any attacks besides Fire Punch at all. Likewise, Scizor, Bisharp, and other common priority users can pick off a slightly weakened Medicham as long as it isn't protected by Substitute.
**Faster Pokemon**: Strong Choice Scarf users can revenge kill Medicham, as long as Medicham doesn't have a Substitute up, pack certain priority attacks, or is supported by Sticky Web. Such examples of this include Landorus-T, Excadrill, Gardevoir, and Kyurem-B. Naturally faster Pokemon such as Greninja, Gengar, and Latios also apply.
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