Kingambit, the Big Blade Pokémon. Only a Bisharp that stands above all others in its vast army can evolve into Kingambit. Though it commands a massive army in battle, it's not skilled at devising complex strategies. It just uses brute strength to keep pushing.

Overview

Bisharp was not in dire need of an evolution, its capabilities at forcing difficult decisions thanks to Sucker Punch while heavily punishing Defog use thanks to Defiant already affording it a valuable niche. Kingambit’s arrival would be considered overkill if not for its unique capabilities pushing it to heights that even Bisharp could only dream of. Base 135 Attack is monstrous, on par with some Legendaries and Dark STAB is extremely spammable especially with STAB Iron Head cutting down the common Fairy/Tera Fairy types that would resist it. Kingambit’s bulk is top notch too, Base 100 HP is massive, and backed up by a fantastic base 120 Defense and decent 85 Special Defense is more than worth the speed drop Kingambit receives evolving from Bisharp. Dark Steel typing is also fantastic, Steel providing a wide array of resistances and Dark giving Kingambit invaluable resistances to Dark and Ghost, otherwise potent offensive types, synergizing wonderfully with Kingambit’s increased bulk. Kingambit’s Supreme Overlord is what warps games around it, turning Kingambit into a literal king’s gambit able to reverse sweep teams thanks to the effective Choice Band boost it receives if it is the last Pokémon standing. Further accenting Kingambit’s role as the last one standing, it is incredibly flexible in both EV distribution and Tera Types, able to be customized to subvert would be checks with ease.

The fact that Kingambit customizes to address checks does hint at its underlying issues. Base 50 Speed is wholly unimpressive and while Kingambit’s Sucker Punch is a powerful answer to this, Sucker Punch’s limited PP and ability to be played around with status are exploitable by faster threats with status like Will-O-Wisp Dragapult, Cinderace and Moltres. Kingambit is also incredibly reliant on Terastalization as part of its famed flexibility given that for all of Dark Steel’s strengths, it has incredibly exploitable Fighting, Ground and Fire weaknesses. Additionally, four moveslot syndrome strikes Kingambit hard, always leaving exploitable gaps in its moveset. Kingambit is far from easy to use either; whether to Terastalize, whether to Sucker Punch or use another move, playing Kingambit to its best requires good prediction. Kingambit’s opponent must walk that same wire however, with whoever can better read the other coming out on top.
Positives
Base 135 Attack is literally legendary, and easily bolstered by Swords Dance and Kingambit’s abilities leave few safe to Kingambit’s attacks.
STAB Sucker Punch remedies Kingambit’s poor Speed and complimentary Steel STAB and Low Kick coverage further reduces answers to it.
100/120/85 defenses coupled with Dark Steel typing enables Kingambit to comfortable tank large swaths of the roster.
Supreme Overlord is an absurd ability, providing a massive power boost the more Kingambit’s party falls, at its absolute best enabling reverse sweeps.

Negatives
Poor base 50 Speed is exploitable if one can play around Sucker Punch.
Common Fighting, Fire and Ground weaknesses cut into Kingambit’s bulk.
Requires good prediction to get the most out of Kingambit.

Movesets

King Me

-Sucker Punch
-Kowtow Cleave
-Iron Head
-Swords Dance
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Item: Blackglasses
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Kingambit’s signature set, or at least the frame of it as it were, being a late game wallbreaker and sweeper thanks to Supreme Overlord and Kingambits frankly insane base Attack. While Supreme Overlord is most effective in the late game, Kingambit’s bulk and typing give it a ton of early and midgame utility for pivoting in to eliminate select targets. Sucker Punch is all but Kingambit’s signature move, offering invaluable and powerful STAB priority that threatens most sweepers. Kowtow Kleave is secondary Dark STAB, important given Sucker Punch’s low PP and inability to hit when the opponent is using Status moves. So, if you expect a Status attack, you can still apply pressure with Dark STAB. Iron Head is secondary Steel STAB and incredibly complimentary with Kingambit’s Dark STABs, not only hitting Fairy types like Clefable for super effective damage, but also hitting Dark and Fighting types for neutral, requiring specific typing combinations (like Keldeo, Blaziken, etc.) to resist both. Swords Dance is another fantastic tool for punishing status moves or switches, ramping up Kingambit’s damage to levels that outright require your opponent to make the correct call or get torn apart by the vengeful king.

Tera Types:
What truly catapult’s Kingambit’s claim to fame is its adeptness at abusing Terastalization as an answer for any situation. Largely, these Terastalizations are defensive in nature, enabling Kingambit to shed its weaknesses and easily soak what would be a lethal blow before striking back. Tera Dark is popular for not only shedding the Fire and Ground weaknesses from its Steel typing but pushing Sucker Punch and Kowtow Cleave to absurd heights and apply immediate pressure without any further setup. Tera Flying is another amazing defensive and offensive option famous for forcing predictions, given the immunity to Ground and resistance to Fighting, and resistance to Rock and Ice pre-Tera. Flying Tera Blast is also another amazing coverage option with wide neutral coverage alongside Sucker Punch and Low Kick. Fairy Tera also provides invaluable Fighting resistance while being an all-around great defensive typing whose weaknesses Kingambit resists pre-Tera for more mind games while Fairy Tera Blast being a more consistent Anti Dark option as opposed to Low Kick. Speaking of Low Kick, Tera Fighting is another option that removes Kingambit’s weaknesses and buff Low Kick while shoring up the matchup against opposing Kingambit. Other niche options include Tera Fire for resistance to Fire and immunity to Burns, Tera Water as another great defensive typing with resistance to Fire and coverage for opposing Fire and Ground types, and Tera Grass for the Ground resistance and answering opposing Ground types like Great Tusk and Dondozo.

EVs and Items:
Max Attack and Speed are recommended for this set. While this may be odd given Kingambit’s lacking base speed, the more targets Kingambit outspeeds, the less it needs to lean on Sucker Punch to outspeed foes, and forces opponents to run more speed to outspeed Kingambit. With Max Speed, Kingambit outruns bulkier variants of Primarina, Raging Bolt, Corviknight, Skarmory, Skeledirge and Heatran. It’s to the point that even these Pokémon will often run the minimum speed necessary to outrun Kingambit, that is how much it has shaped the game around it. Alternatively, one can go for HP investment, making Kingambit more reliable at grabbing opportunities to Swords Dance and pivoting into attacks in general, though one can mix and match depending on what you want to outspeed. 96 Speed with a neutral nature outspeed uninvested Primarina and Pelipper, while 144 Speed outspeeds uninvested Corviknight and Skeledirge. Kingambit’s item is just as flexible. Blackglasses is the primary recommended as the item for buffing Sucker Punch and only priority move without draining Kingambit’s health or locking it into a move. Lum Berry is another great option, blanking a Will-O-Wisp that could shut down a Kingambit comeback and preventing Will-O-Wisp from a faster foe being a lose-lose. Air Balloon is also worth consideration, giving Kingambit an invaluable Ground immunity until attacked, often forcing foes to use a weaker attack before they can threaten Kingambit. Bulkier Kingambit investements appreciate Leftovers or Heavy Duty Boots for the added longevity they provide.

Partners:
While Kingambit is largely self-sufficient, having its teammates lighten the load to facilitate breaking or sweeping is always appreciated. Other Dark types for a Dark type spam team make from great partners for Kingambit, drawing out and softening up Dark checks early for Kingambit to blow by them later, or for Kingambit to subvert them and enable its teammates. Roaring Moon is a key example of such teams, its natural access to Acrobatics makes it fantastic at ruining opposing Fighting types while its Knock Offs are great at drawing them in to absorb such powerful attacks and deprive them of their item that could save them from Kingambit later. Hisuian Samurott is another example, setting Spikes with Ceaseless Edge and able to threaten Great Tusk (and incidentally other Fire types) with its Water STAB. Iron Valiant is another great option to subvert Dark resists, its Fairy and Fighting typing annihilating opposing Dark and Fighting types while Kingambit itself is well equipped to handle Steel types that bother both, and Iron Valiant’s fantastic Speed makes it great at getting the jump on some of the faster targets.

Other Options:
Low Kick offers fantastic Fighting coverage against other Dark and Steel types, especially opposing Kingambit, but having to give up Iron Head or Kowtow Cleave opens up painful gaps in Kingambit’s coverage. Substitute is fantastic at punishing opponents trying to play around Sucker Punch, but admittedly is hard to fit without losing either vital coverage or boosting.

Doubles and VGC Options

Due to the smaller party sizes of Doubles formats, it is difficult to get the same use out of Supreme Overlord as is singles. That hardly matters to Kingambit as it is the best user of Defiant currently available. Kingambit’s very presence punishes reliance on status drops for damage and speed control, leaving Defiant online is most battles thanks to the popularity of Incineroar and Intimidate. Even if your opponent doesn’t bring status drops, Kingambit’s immense power leaves it far from passive and its fantastic typing and bulk help it stick around once it hits the field. Kingambit’s low speed is less of an issue in Double’s thanks to Trick Room support. Kingambit thrives as a Dark type that can easily OHKO Flutter Mane thanks to its fantastic Steel STAB. Kingambit’s reliance on Sucker Punch for priority still causes issues, with Follow Me and Rage Powder outright blanking Sucker Punch in addition to Protect being a common and safe stalling tool against it. Kingambit’s common weaknesses are another persistent headache and being a Steel type that doesn’t resist Fairy can leave Kingambit overwhelmed by Flutter Mane’s Moonblast. The most popular Intimidate users in Incineroar and Landorus-Therian having Super Effective STAB is another source of volatility that Kingambit much contend with.

Castling Maneuver

-Sucker Punch
-Kowtow Cleave
-Iron Head
-Protect
Ability: Defiant
Item: Blackglasses
Tera Type: Dark/Fairy/Dragon/Flying
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature

Kingambit acts as both a physical win condition and passive support all in one slot. Kingambit alone places opponents in a lose-lose situation where they are forced to choose between buffing Kingambit or letting Kingambit’s physical partners run wild, disincentivizing having them come out in the first place. Sucker Punch is amazing on Kingambit, giving it a way to bypass its poor speed and threaten serious STAB damage on most targets. Kowtow Cleave compliments Sucker Punch, being a reliable Dark STAB that goes off without the prediction that Sucker Punch requires, enabling Kingambit to destroy the priority blocking Indeedee-F and Farigarif and enable Sucker Punch for future rounds. STAB Iron Head pairs with Kingambit’s Dark STABs nicely, destroying Fairy and the popular anti Dark Tera Fairy types as well as annihilating the current most popular Pokémon, Flutter Mane. Protect is as always highly recommended on any Doubles set, enabling Kingambit to scout for Terastalizations, switches and other ways to bypass Sucker Punch as well as block Fake Out, stall for setup, stall for opposing beneficial conditions to expire, information gathering and more.

Blackglasses is recommended as a costless option to bolster Kingambit’s Dark STABs without any downside, making its Sucker Punches as strong as possible. Tera Dark is more of the same, removing Kingambit's Fire, and Ground weaknesses while pushing its Dark STABs to game ending levels, enabling Kingambit to deal obscene damage to the point of 2HKOing resistant or bulky targets with priority Sucker Punch. Otherwise, Kingambit remains as flexible with its Terastalization options as ever. Fairy is an all around great defensive typing that resists Fighting, Dragon resists popular Grass-Fire-Water cores and Ogerpon, while Flying gives an immunity to Ground and resistance to Fighting. EVs are for as much bulk and Attack as possible. Bulk is generally preferred in Doubles as it enables Kingambit to stick around longer and ward off Intimidate alongside Trick Room being a potent (though not required) option.

Other Options & Partners:
Physical attackers of all shapes and sizes love Kingambit for its anti-Intimidate tendancies. Of those, Wellspring Ogerpon and Rillaboom stand out the most. Wellspring Ogerpon does wonderfully into opposing Ground types as well as Urshifu Rapid, while offering invaluable redirection support to prevent your opponent from preemptively removing Kingambit. Rillaboom's Grassy Surge provides passive recovery and weakens Earthquake, making Kingambit’s phenomenal bulk stand out even more. Other partners include Chien-Pao with its Defense slashing Sword of Ruin and Gouging Fire with Howl and anti-Fire support.

Swords Dance skyrockets Kingambit’s power and a great way to punish opponents using redirection to get around Sucker Punch. Low Kick and Brick Break are notable Fighting coverage to answer opposing Dark types, the other most popular way to get around Kingambit’s Dark STAB. Low Kick hits harder in general, though the power difference on Incineroar is only 5 and Brick Break ruins the other most common way to blunt physical attackers in Screens. Assault Vest greatly improves Kingambit’s matchup against Flutter Mane and other Special Attackers, but at the cost of Protect.

Countering Kingambit

Kingambit’s immense power, access to priority, great bulk and fantastic typing already leave it with few reliable answers, and with the sheer flexibility Kingambit has shown in Terastalizing, no one check is truly safe until Terastalization has been expended.

Pokémon that resist both STABs and have sufficient bulk tend to fare the best. Keldeo easily resists both Dark and Steel STABs and threatens OHKOs with both Secret Sword and Specs Hydro Pump. Urshifu Rapid similarly performs well, threatening a OHKO with Close Combat, but only a 2HKO with Surging Strikes, but Kingambit can only 3HKO in turn with its STABs. Blaziken may resist both STABs, but can be 2HKOd by Blackglasses Sucker Punch, and can fail to pickup the OHKO on max HP variants. Ironically Kingambit itself can reliably take on other Kingambit provided it has Low Kick for the mirror match.

Faster Pokémon that resist Sucker Punch also tend to fare well, though are more likely to run afoul of Flying and Fairy Terastalizations and do not like switching into Iron Head. Great Tusk is a standout option, its massive physical bulk all but guaranteeing a 3HKO from Kingambit while more than capable of OHKOing backwith either of its STABs. Zamazenta easily endures Sucker Punches with ease and isn’t even 2HKOd by Iron Head without a Swords Dance boost, while threatening a OHKO back with its own Fighting STAB. Iron Valiant can’t switch into Iron Head at all, but otherwise can heavily punish Sucker Punch and Swords Dance thanks to Encore and threatens an OHKO with Fighting STAB.

If Kingambit trades Kowtow Cleave for Low Kick, passive Steel resistant Pokémon become a larger issue. Defensive Dondozo comfortably tanks anything except Kowtow Cleave and can overwhelm Kingambit with Curse, Body Press and/or Waterfall. Gouging Fire needs serious defensive investment but can otherwise tank Sucker Punches and threaten back with Flare Blitz or ruining Kingambit’s offense with Breaking Swipe (singles) or Burning Bulwark (doubles). Toxapex is another massive headache without Kowtow Cleave, able to chip down with Surf, heal off with Recover and wipe Swords Dance boosts with Haze. Specs/Booster Energy Raging Bolt still takes serious damage from Low Kick, but otherwise fares well against Kingambit, and if it has enough speed can even beat Kingambit at its own game with Thunderclap all but always 2HKOing.

Faster Pokémon with Will-O-Wisp also pose an issue for Kingambit, able to ruin its offense without triggering Sucker Punch, though they all otherwise take severe damage from Kingambit’s attacks. Moltres and Cinderace are key examples of Will-O-Wisp users that can ruin Kingambit before it can start though struggle against Lum Berry and Tera Fire.

Anime Appearences

Kingambit has yet to appear in the Pokémon anime. # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics