Shadow Hariyama
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
At long, long last, Hariyama has finally surpassed Machamp in terms of Fighting Type DPS! Too bad Shadow Machamp is a thing.
Just like the way that Hariyama is a slightly worse Machamp, Shadow Hariyama is a slightly worse Shadow Machamp. But being a slightly worse Shadow Machamp is still a very strong position to be in, making it worth raising in the absence of the Champ.
Offense
- Force Palm is Shadow Hariyama’s optimal fast move, while Counter falls behind a bit.
- Dynamic Punch is the clearly superior Fighting-type charge move, contributing the most damage and being flexible to use.
- Superpower is a step down, and Close Combat is a further step down, and Upper Hand is actually a lower hand.
- Bullet Punch and Heavy Slam are almost never ideal on an offensive Shadow Hariyama, even in the snow.
Defense
- Bullet Punch and Heavy Slam counter Hariyama’s Fairy-type weakness and hit Flying and Psychic-types with neutral damage.
- Counter is a decent alternative to Bullet Punch, but it's resisted by Hariyama's usual counters.
- Force Palm falls behind.
- Dynamic Punch is better than Superpower on defense, but neither provides any coverage against Hariyama's weaknesses.
- Upper Hand is a tad weaker, but the fact that it's 3-bar makes it generally the best option.
- Close Combat takes too long to access, being a 1-bar move.
Force Palm has tremendous average performance thanks to its high damage output and above average energy generation, making it the Fast Move of choice for Shadow Hariyama. Upper Hand is a low-cost Charged Move that sports high damage per energy and a chance to buff Defense. Finally, Heavy Slam is an okay move with some counter-coverage
Shadow Hariyama is a mono-Fighting type featuring average bulk, and a very narrow but powerful moveset. Access to Upper Hand gives it a strong and spammy move that can potentially score Defense buffs, but its coverage is entirely limited to the very mediocre Heavy Slam. Pretty much, this is a relatively bulky Pokemon with two really strong moves, but everything else about it is either a hinderance or pretty mediocre.
