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Primeape is a Fighting Pokémon which evolves from Mankey. It is vulnerable to Flying, Psychic and Fairy moves. Primeape's strongest moveset is Counter & Close Combat and it has a Max CP of 2,288.
"When Primeape becomes furious, its blood circulation is boosted. In turn, its muscles are made even stronger. However, it also becomes much less intelligent at the same time."
Counter is one of the best fast moves in the game, and are superior to Primeape's other fast moves.
Cross Chop requires an Elite TM, but is valuable due to its very low energy cost and benefiting from STAB. Night Slash shares the same low energy cost, which makes it great for applying shield pressure and coverage against many of Primeape's counters. Close Combat is a very powerful but riskier move due to its self-debuff, but 45 energy isn't too steep for Primape, and can be very effective in hit-and-run tactics or as finisher moves. Ice Punch provides wide coverage, including against Primeape's weakness to Flying-types, and doesn't cost a lot of energy. Low Sweep is terrible, TM this.
Primeape is a mono-Fighting type with somewhat poor bulk, but a fast moveset. Access to one of the best fast moves, Counter, gives Primeape a lot of strength as a Fighting-type, and 3 of its charge moves requiring only 35 energy lets it apply a lot of shield pressure fairly quickly. Counter coverage with Night Slash or Ice Punch are good ways for Primeape to fight back against counter picks like Psychic or Flying Pokemon, but those alone can't carry Primeape out of its fragility problem. Access to Close Combat can also make Primeape a dangerous threat, with the potential for finisher nuke-style plays or hit-and-run tactics. The mistake with Weather Ball Water isn't a very significant one; while it is a highly efficient charge move, its coverage isn't highly relevant for Primeape's typing.
The level 50 update improves Primeape's performance in Ultra League significantly. Primeape competes with Machamp very closely, and has similar results, but sports slightly worse bulk while offering faster coverage options. Unfortunately Night Slash and Ice Punch aren't as powerful as Machamp's Rock Slide, and the latter also tends to perform better when both shields are in play, partly due to Primeape's fragility. Overall Primeape is a good side-grade option with its own kit, but still somewhat overshadowed by Machamp.
Primeape severely lacks the stats that it desperately needs to compete well in Master League, with numerous Pokemon boasting significantly higher stats and CP.
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