Pokkén Tournament Machamp Viability?

[Gringaer]

I feel like he is a super strong character that can do a lot of strong stuff but he just gets beaten heavily by field phase characters. Do you guys think it would be a good idea to dual main Machamp with someone like Charizard or Gengar? I would like to know your thoughts!

 

[Footzeez]

Honestly in my opinion I think he is quite viable on his own. My reasoning why is once you get down pack movements like your cancels you can maneuver around projectiles and such in the field phase. Also your command grab can be used to slowly advance forward in the field phase while canceling it with a jump or a guard. Out of these two options you have a couple things you could do. Once in the air you could do your overhead if they were to throw a projectile to switch it to dual phase to start your main dmg tools. Or if you cancelled into the guard you could continue to advance until you get your grab or continue to maneuver with your cancels.

 

[Gringaer]

Yeah I have been playing more with him and Cancelling and approaching with blocked command grab is super good and can be a great mixup. Also the fact that he has super armor on a lot of his moves really help him with his stuff. I am going to continue solo maining this dude for a while now that I know this info.

 

[Footzeez]

Yeah I have been playing more with him and Cancelling and approaching with blocked command grab is super good and can be a great mixup. Also the fact that he has super armor on a lot of his moves really help him with his stuff. I am going to continue solo maining this dude for a while now that I know this info.

That's great to hear! Hope to hear more on your progress. Also i was soon gonna make a thread compiling a list of findings on him as well as my opinions on MUs and such and i would love for you to give me your insight soon also. ^_^

 

[Blade Knight]

I'm a bit late to this discussion but this is my take on it after taking Machamp through Ranked mode for a ways:
Machamp is prefectly viable on his own, but may be hard to stick with as a solo main. Machamp has some matchups where you're going to have to work hard and which feel unfair but which are generally very easy once you get in even just one time such as Braixen or Gardevoir. Your success will depend quite a lot on your ability to block consistently and to make properly timed use of your counter attack options. You need to be prepared to deal with frustration and some matches feeling unfair or like you couldn't do anything if the skill disparity is too great. A lot of times you're going to be forced into a guessing game on wakeup, but you do that twice as hard to anybody you knock down in duel phase.

As a character Machamp is more support dependent than the rest of the cast but this isn't a bad thing, Machamp brings out the strength and utility of a lot of supports moreso than any other character as well. Whimsicott, Diglett, and Rotom/Magneton are noteworthy in their ability to cover weaknesses of Machamp depending on the matchup; Whimsicott should be a 100% take in the Shadow Mewtwo, Gardevoir, Chandelure, and Braixen matchups unless you are VERY confident without it. Even Ninetales can have some nice utility in the Blaziken, Charizard, and Weavile matchups where Machamp actually has advantage in terms of projectiles in field phase.

Overall Machamp is a strong character who is downright terrifying to face on wakeup or when backed to a corner, which can happen very quickly thanks to cross chop and forward X or frame traps such as Jab 2->Submission or Body Slam->Up Y->Close Combat pushing the opponent a long ways across the screen. The character also has a distinct advantage of having none of their projectiles cause phase shift, so you're free to throw rocks and focus blasts for tons of damage in matchups where your opponent is forced to approach you, a nice bonus that I don't see many Machamps take advantage of. Also, empty jumps into Air Grab are awesome, seriously, people forget you have that tool all the time and will just block or begin charging a counter. It's worth an enormous amount of damage.

That was a lot of text but that's about how I feel on it now. tl;dr Machamp is a hard character to play solo who is heavily support reliant but really really rewarding to succeed with.

 

[meleebrawler]

Another thing most Machamps forget is Scary Face, a counter move move with surprising range that lowers the opponent's speed. Very useful as a surprise and if you're on the receiving end of rushdown.

 

[Ghidorah14]

When I first started playing, I used to think machamp was the worst character in the game because of his weak projectile game, slower moves, and general unsafeness on block. I wanted to main him so bad, but kept losing to spammy characters.

Now, I've learned how to deal with them, and I love machamp to death.

Machamp is definitly viable; you just cant play mindlessly with him, moreso than with pokemon who can usually get away with it (pikachu libre). I wouldnt say he's solo viable, though, as braixen and chandelure pretty much invalidate him. I use mewtwo as a secondary, because he has a fantastic field phase, and psycho cut straight up nullifies almost every other projectile in the game.

Machamps jumping Y in field phase is actually pretty good. It's slow, but the damage is immense, and you can easily do a shorthop Y to apply pressure at a medium distance. Rocks are great because of their massive, lingering hitboxes, and both are great as a meaty attack on someone's wakeup.

Learning to counter attack dash cancel is a must with this guy.

 

[meleebrawler]

When I first started playing, I used to think machamp was the worst character in the game because of his weak projectile game, slower moves, and general unsafeness on block. I wanted to main him so bad, but kept losing to spammy characters.

Now, I've learned how to deal with them, and I love machamp to death.

Machamp is definitly viable; you just cant play mindlessly with him, moreso than with pokemon who can usually get away with it (pikachu libre). I wouldnt say he's solo viable, though, as braixen and chandelure pretty much invalidate him. I use mewtwo as a secondary, because he has a fantastic field phase, and psycho cut straight up nullifies almost every other projectile in the game.

Machamps jumping Y in field phase is actually pretty good. It's slow, but the damage is immense, and you can easily do a shorthop Y to apply pressure at a medium distance. Rocks are great because of their massive, lingering hitboxes, and both are great as a meaty attack on someone's wakeup.

Learning to counter attack dash cancel is a must with this guy.

Braixen can be managed, you just have to make sure she doesn't cause shifts to duel from afar since she will make your life hell with jumping fireballs. Side ranged spammers can be dealt with jumping+x with good timing, or Scary Face. Use Cross Chop if they favour the fireball lob instead.

For Chandelure it's important to remember that all the fireballs (except Will-O-Wisp) and lasers do not inflict any chip damage, so patience is key for getting in. She's not very fast so it isn't too hard to chase her down. Pro tip: in duel, always try to hit with Scary Face (or any other debuff-causing support) before closing in, as that will make Overheat useless.