Pee-Wee Punchers: The Fighting-types in LC
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Introduction
The Fighting-type is arguably the most dominant type in Little Cup. This is due to the type's offensive coverage, hitting other types like Steel-, Ice-, Rock-, and, Dark- super effectively. Additionally, the fact that Fighting-types generally have high Attack stats and access to moves such as Bulk Up, Drain Punch, Mach Punch, Hi Jump Kick, and others make them even more terrifying. However, there are five Fighting-types that stand out from the rest of them—these are the PEE-WEE PUNCHERS!
Mienfoo
This little kung fu guy is the most common Fighting-type you will see in Little Cup and for good reason. Its famous defensive set has made it a staple on bulky offense teams, and also quite a nifty Scraggy check. Mienfoo is gifted with Regenerator, an ability that pretty much all Pokémon wish they had for its ability to heal 1/3 of a Pokémon's health upon switching out. Knock Off is great to get rid of the opponent's Eviolites, which will help your offensive Pokémon break through them easier. U-turn is also very useful because it lets Mienfoo act as a pivot by scouting who the opponent switches in, letting you gain momentum while healing HP with Regenerator. Drain Punch is a good STAB that also provides recovery. With assets such as the ones mentioned, Mienfoo is a very hard Pokémon to KO. Mienfoo also commonly carries the priority move Fake Out, to help wear down the opponent's Pokémon.
Mienfoo's options don't just stop at bulky pivot—it can go a more offensive route with a Life Orb and moves like Hi Jump Kick and Stone Edge to deal huge damage to the opposing team, or it can run an effective Choice Scarf set, letting it often take down Pokémon like Murkrow (which is faster than Mienfoo) and Snover (which outpaces Mienfoo with a Choice Scarf) by surprise. Heck, Mienfoo can even run a deadly SubPass set that can lure in and beat its main counter Misdreavus with a Life Orb-boosted Payback.
Riolu
Riolu is a very unique Pokémon, and unlike Mienfoo, there is only one set that you have to watch out for with Riolu really, although that set can have a few variations. You see, Riolu is blessed with the hilariously good ability Prankster, giving it priority on all of its status moves. This is what makes the combination of Protect + Copycat so good. Protect can scout the move the opponent is going to do, and then you can Copycat it back to be able to perform the move first. You can imagine how useful Copycating a Misdreavus's Shadow Ball or a Foongus's Spore could be. While Protect + Copycat forms the crux on almost any good Riolu set, the priority fun doesn't end there. Yep, this little dog thingy is often seen throwing around priority Toxic and of course it often uses Roar. Now, while Roar still has negative priority with Prankster, using Copycat after you have used Roar will let you spam priority phazing, which is capable of slowly beating teams that don't carry a quicker priority like Fake Out from Mienfoo or Roost from Prankster Murkrow. Riolu also has a nice STAB Drain Punch to deal damage and provide recovery, and can run Crunch to help with Misdreavus and Natu.
Scraggy
Scraggy is one of the most threatening setup sweepers in the LC metagame. It boasts a great offensive presence with its good Attack, strong STABs, and near perfect coverage, as only Croagunk resists both Fighting and Dark. It also offers good bulk and great abilities in Shed Skin and Moxie, which either lets Scraggy have an easier time setting up a Dragon Dance or makes it more threatening after every kill. What makes Scraggy even harder to deal with is its access to many different moves to hit Pokémon that can otherwise deal with it, such as Zen Headbutt to hit Croagunk, as well as Hi Jump Kick for threats that he usually can't muscle through like bulky Murkrow. The most common set seen is the Dragon Dance set, which uses its good bulk to boost up its Attack and Speed to extremely threatening levels. However, another set that isn't used as much is the Choice Scarf set, which takes advantage of Moxie to clean up weakened teams with Hi Jump Kick or Crunch.
Timburr
Timburr is an incredibly powerful threat in the metagame that everyone should take into consideration. The first thing Timburr boasts is a solid Attack stat, along with good defenses especially when boosted by Eviolite. With this, it can function well as a bulky tank. Timburr also has decent ways to mitigate some of its flaws with Mach Punch and Drain Punch, which makes up for its lack of Speed and recovery to an extent. Timburr also has access to Payback, which grants great coverage against Ghost-types such as Misdreavus while giving near perfect coverage against the entire tier. Timburr commonly runs a Bulk Up set, which lets it boost its bulk and offense to turn into an insanely threatening bulky tank. Timburr also helps a lot against common threats nowadays, such as Misdreavus and Scraggy.
Croagunk
Croagunk is one of the better offensive utility Pokémon in LC. Its access to a great defensive typing for the LC metagame along with the coveted Fake Out + priority combination in the form of Vacuum Wave and Sucker Punch lets Croagunk carve a solid niche in the metagame. It helps offensive teams check a lot of Fighting-type Pokémon in the LC metagame, such as Mienfoo, Scraggy, and Riolu. Its Water immunity with Dry Skin also lets it check some Water-types such as Tirtouga. Croagunk can also pose a solid offensive presence of its own, having great coverage with Drain Punch and either Shadow Ball or Sucker Punch. However, Croagunk is more often seen as the "glue" of a team rather than a offensive threat. Nonetheless, Bulk Up sets are also viable so as to let Croagunk beat out Bulk Up Timburr and pose a offensive threat as a late-game bulky sweeper.
Dealing with the Pee-Wee Punchers
While these Fighting-types are indeed powerful, awesome, and cute, there are ways to beat them. You might think that Misdreavus would be good, because of its high stats and Ghost typing; however, the only Pokémon it has an easy time with is Mienfoo. Timburr can beat it with Payback and Scraggy can beat it with Crunch, while Croagunk has either Sucker Punch or Shadow Ball (or both) and Riolu, with some prediction, can Copycat Shadow Ball or 2HKO with Crunch. Riolu and Croagunk, however, still have to worry about a +2 Shadow Ball can nearly KO either. If Murkrow can come in for free on these Fighting-types and they are not at +1, it can usually beat them all with a very powerful STAB Brave Bird and shrug off a priority Mach Punch or Vacuum Wave. Bulky Spore users like Shroomish and Foongus can typically take even a +1 hit and answer back with a Spore, although against Riolu, they are better off spamming Giga Drain for fear of it using Copycat on Spore.
Conclusion
Get out there and start using these Pokémon, guys; they are very easy to fit on teams, they are very powerful and, most importantly, they're very cute. n_n
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