History
Aipom was cute, but not competitively viable. Maybe for Little Cup, if Little Cup even existed back then. Ambipom wasn't necessarily a welcomed evolution, because nobody really cared about Aipom but Ambipom suddenly had qualities deemed playable. Ambipom has been in UU for as long as I remember, always placing and ranking high with consistency and still holds the #1 lead in UU to this day. When Froslass was dropped Ambipom had some competition, but having a faster Taunt let it do his job until Froslass was banned for good. As far as everyone's concerned, Ambipom is great in UU but will never be to the point where he'll be nominated as a suspect. With a few days until Black and White's release, people have to wonder at what changes will come and how they'll affect Ambipom along with the rest of the UU environment.
Qualities
Ambipom's Base Stats: 75 / 100 / 66 / 60 / 66 / 115
Ambipom's Ability: Technician / Pickup
A couple things immediately jump out at you. First is the base 100 Attack stat, further powered by STAB and Technician, allow Ambipom to hit most Pokemon who don't resist the Normal-type hard. Second is the fast base 115 Speed, which ranks Ambipom the fifth fastest Pokemon in UU, and second among usual lead Pokemon after Alakazam. Ambipom abuses this speed, jetting around his opponents while hitting them hard. Ambipom's physical movepool has what he needs, if not some more. Fake Out / Return / U-Turn are the staple moves in his movepool, but Ambipom gets some interesting moves such as Gunk Shot, Seed Bomb, etc. Rock- and Steel-types can be smashed by a Low Kick, and Ambipom does have Shadow Claw, Payback, and Pursuit to deal with Ghost-types, too. Ambipom can also Baton Pass either Agility or Nasty Plot boosts to his teammates, while preventing issues with Taunt.
Like most Pokemon, however, Ambipom is far from perfect. 75 / 66 defenses are extremely poor, meaning an Ambipom staying in won't be staying for long. His defenses are so frail that if you lose a speed tie with an opposing Ambipom you could be finished off next turn with Double Hit / Return. Being a pure Normal-type means Ghost-types can switch in with little to no worries and hit back. All-in-all it's fair to say Ambipom's benefits outweight the costs.
Playstyles / Sets
Ambipom has been a lead Pokemon since forever. That said, his two main functions molded in one are a lead Pokemon and a fast revenge killer. After the opening series of moves Ambipom can switch out to a teammate and later come back to revenge kill a sweeper or just Fake Out for free. The most common items are Life Orb and Silk Scarf. Life Orb raises all of Ambipom's power at the cost of 10% HP each turn. Combine that with his frailness and Ambipom can go down very quickly. Silk Scarf gives only Fake Out / Return 20% as opposed to Life Orb's 30% but without the expense of losing HP. Silk Scarf is often preferred because Ambipom's remaining moves such as Pursuit or U-Turn don't make enough use of the Life Orb boost to receive the 10% recoiil damage. That said, Life Orb would be more common on straightforward attacking sets. Double Hit is something useful on Ambipom, but it's only really used for breaking through Substitutes and Return is just more reliable. Ambipom loves Stealth Rocks, as having them up alongside Ambipom (or in this case, opposite of) really gives your opponents headaches on their selection: do they stay in and get demolished by a Fake Out or switch, racking up entry hazard damage and Fake Out damage? Unless your opponent has Spirtitomb, it's not an easy choice.
Ambipom @ Life Orb / Silk Scarf
Technician / Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
~ Fake Out
~ Taunt
~ U-Turn / Low Kick / Pursuit
~ Return
This is your standard lead Ambipom. Fake Out and Taunt serve secure functions: hitting something hard and then shutting out Stealth Rock / a status move. U-Turn provides great utility, switching out to an appropriate counter (And also escaping from Spiritomb who Ambipom can't normally touch), Low Kick dropsmashes Registeel and Rhyperior, while Pursuit scares Pokemon like Uxie from switching after being Taunted. A Jolly nature ensures you'll at least speed tie with other Ambipom, making the opening more of a coin toss start. Attack and Speed EV's are maxed, which is pretty standard.
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Technician / Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
~ Fake Out
~ Return
~ Low Kick
~ Payback / Pursuit
With Life Orb focus, Ambipom maxes attack and strives to smash hard at the cost of losing 20% of his health just for using Fake Out+Return. Low Kick ruins any Steel-type switch-in, while Payback ensures you'll have something decent to hit Spiritomb on the switch. Pursuit is also viable for trapping more frail Pokemon. Again, the EV spread is pretty straightforward.
Ambipom does have Nasty Plot, which means you can add him onto a Baton Pass team with Agility / Nasty Plot, but Ambipom's frail and it's just too much of a gimmick to really work out for Ambipom.
Ambipom can also be a center on Rain Dance teams, as his speed and access to Taunt and Rain Dance can shut out other leads. I don't know why you'd use Ambipom over Electrode for setting up Rain Dance, though...
Teammates
The number one problem for Ambipom is Ghost-types, so having teammates which can manipulate around them are great partners for Ambipom. Hitmontop can deal with Spiritomb using Foresight and then threaten with a supereffective Close Combat / Mach Punch, while Arcanine can absorb the Will-o-Wisp and smash it with a boosted Flare Blitz. Another Fire-type, Houndoom is great at dealing good damage and scaring off Spiritomb. Other than that Ambipom's great utility makes it a great partner Pokemon on almost any team.
Counters
True Ambipom counters are hard to come by, but Spiritomb is probably the best. Not only is it immune to Fake Out / Return / Low Kick, but it takes neutral damage from Payback / U-Turn as well. Defensive sets will make switches, but Ambipom is hella faster and can shut your Calm Mind / Toxic / Will-o-Wisp. Offensive and Trick Spiritomb also work well, especially with surprise. Tricking a Choice Specs onto Ambipom basically ruins his usage for the rest of the match, and with more offensive sets you're going to be dealing good damage, combing Spiritomb's average attacking stats and Ambipom's frail defenses. Defensive Rock- and Steel-types such as Registeel, Regirock, Rhyperior, and Steelix can laugh off the Fake Out / Return but are horrified if Ambipom carries Low Kick. Mismagius can make a switch-in if the Ambipom lacks Payback and proceed to setup. When in the lead, Ambipom is best countered by...other Ambipom. Lead Ambipom should be running Jolly to force a speed tie, where you'd risk losing your Ambipom. Alakazam also "beats" Ambipom with Psychic while taking like a truckload of damage from Fake Out. It's probably more useful to deal with Ambipom by switching in something moreso than it is to play around it. All in all though, Ambipom has such a great movepool that it's hard to determine the remaining utility moves aside from Fake Out / Return, so scouting will be a necessity.
Opinion
Ambipom is a great Pokemon. Ambipom causes opposing leads to trip over while hitting them hard. Fake Out truly shines on Ambipom, backed by STAB, Technician, and priority. Once the opening has been blown apart, proceed to your teammates and save Ambipom until later when you need something revenge killed. Or better yet if your opponent has lost their Ghost-type just crush anything with free Fake Outs. Make sure you provide Ambipom with the proper team support to get rid of Ghost-types, and something like Stealth Rocks will really ruin your opponent's day in conjunction with Fake Out.
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