Pokemon Go: Machamp weakness, counters

ByAdam B Hours
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Machamp in the Pokemon Anime

Machamp is a very strong Pokemon and is often used both to defend and attack gyms in Pokemon Go, but what is its main weakness?

This article is designed to inform you enough about Machamp and its biggest weakness so that you know how to defeat the incredibly strong superpower Pokemon.

What is the biggest weakness of Machamp in Pokemon Go?

As is typical in any Pokemon title, including Go, precisely how strong a Pokemon is and what moves it uses may vary depending on the individual, but there are a few things that remain consistent across all of any given species of Pokemon.

The easiest thing to exploit with Machamp is its Type.

Machamp is, and presumably always will be a Fighting-Type Pokemon. But Machamp is also a pure Fighting-Type Pokemon. This means that it shares the weaknesses and strengths of all Fighting-Types.

The Pokemon Machamp again shown in the Pokemon Anime (Weakness - Pokemon Go)
The Pokemon Machamp again shown in the Pokemon Anime, Credit: Bulbapedia

READ MORE: Pokemon Go: Snorlax Weakness, counters

Pure Fighting-Types actually have a handful of resistances and weaknesses to target. I’ll include them all below;

Resisted types:
  • Bug
  • Dark
  • Rock
Fighting-Type Weakness
  • Fairy
  • Flying
  • Psychic

Resisted types will deal only 62.5% of their usual damage, while attacks that target the Weakness of Machamp will instead deal 160% of their usual damage. This means that employing Psychic-Type, Fairy-Type or Flying-Type is ideal. If you happen to own something like a Mewtwo for example, Machamp won’t cause you many issues.

This means that the biggest weakness of Machamp in Pokemon Go is actually a three way tie between Psychic-Type, Fairy-Type and Flying-Type Pokemon.

What moves can Machamp use in battle?

Sometimes it worth considering what your opponent can hit you with, to try to pick a type that has an advantage against what damage they will do. With that said, Machamp actually has access to a quite a large move pool, including all of the following:

Fast Attacks
  • Bullet Punch (Steel)
  • Counter (Fighting)
  • Karate Chop (Fighting)
Machamp In the Pokemon Anime (2)
Machamp is a strong and determined fighter, but its move type variety needs some work
Credit: Bulbapedia
Charged Attacks
  • Close Combat (Fighting)
  • Cross Chop (Fighting)
  • Dynamic Punch (Fighting)
  • Heavy Slam (Steel)
  • Rock Slide (Rock)
  • Payback (Dark)
  • Stone Edge (Rock)
  • Submission (Fighting)

In summary, try to find a Pokemon that can hit one of those super effective types listed above to above any of the Weakness options for Machamp, ideally one that is resistant to Rock-Type and Fighting-Type moves for the easiest time.

READ MORE: Pokemon Go: How to earn Stardust in 2021

Is there anything else?

Fighting-Type aggressive Pokemon like Machamp are seen less frequently defending Gyms than popular defenders such as Snorlax or Slaking. In part this is due to their awkward Type, as Normal-Types only take increased damage from Fighting-Types such as Machamp. This does make Machamp a great Gym attacker.

Placing Machamp to defend a Gym however is not so common, as one of the most powerful Pokemon in the game, Mewtwo, is a Psychic-Type. Being a Legendary, it cannot be used to defend Gyms, but it can still attack them. And that would place any defending Fighting-Types into the firing line.

If you’d be interested in reading more about Pokemon Go, you can find more Pokemon Go pieces on The Click right here, and more by me personally here.