I wouldn't say so completely. In terms of power, sure thing. But Ambipom has a higher speed stat and the option of using an item. I've used him plenty and found him very useful in various situations. Being able to outspeed and KO Garchomp after a fakeout is amazing because nobody expects it. But I'm also sick of Mega Kangaskhan everywhere so I'm a little biased. But a Technician Life Orb Ambipom is not something to ignore completely, it hits very hard and is amazing as a pop in and out annoyance Pokemon. I also think a Switcheroo Ambipom can be frustrating, especially if someone wants to swap into it thinking they can take a hit and bam, they've got themselves a Flame Orb etc.
At the same time, does anybody know how Technician calculates? I worked it out on a stream and if I'm right, Double Hit has a slightly higher damage output then Return so you may want to swap those moves.
Parental Bond is just so overpowered. Not that Ambipom is completely useless by any means, but it's just outclassed by majority of factors terms of sheer power that Mega Kangaskhan has. Double Power-up Punch and 200 damage Seismic Toss (post-Bank) is just icing on the cake.
Yeah, that they do. But there are still those odd times when people assume one Pokemon is faster than Ambipom so they switch into two returns that can potentially take the opposing Pokemon out. But then again, we can't rely on people making those kinds of mistakes anyway.
That aside, how would a switcheroo Ambipom look? Would it be the same as LO Ambi?
Ambipom @ Flame Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Switcheroo
- Return
- Power-Up Punch
- U-turn
If you really want to use Switcheroo... it is a bit tricky to use with Flame Orb, especially if you opponent has something like Choice specs, because you have to use it in the first turn otherwise you'd get burned. You could try other items like Choice Band which is a better alternative on Ambipom, though be careful about using switcheroo with other powerful physical 'mons.