Machamp Guide: Builds and Moves | Pokemon UNITE

This is a guide on how to play Machamp in Pokemon UNITE. Learn about all of Machamp's moves and skins, and how to use Machamp with our builds complete with best movesets and items, as well as matchups, and what counters to use against them.

Machamp Tier Rating and Stats

Machamp Basic Information

Machamp	Tier:	Role:
		All-Rounder
	Attack Type:	Difficulty:
	Melee	Intermediate
	Damage Type:
	Physical
"Machamp is a Pokémon that specializes in melee combat, powered by its strong fighting moves."

Tier List: Best Pokemon to Use

Machamp Stats

Offense	Defense	Mobility	Scoring	Support

Machamp Evolutions

First Evolution	Second Evolution	Final Evolution
Machop (Lv. 1)	Machoke (Lv. 5)	Machamp (Lv. 9)

Machamp Strengths and Weaknesses

Strong Auto Attacks

Machamp is an All Rounder but despite being one, his main damage comes from auto attacks and critical strikes. Make sure to stay on top of your targets and dish out those auto attacks!

Gap Closing

This is perhaps, Machamp's greatest weakness. To get close to the enemy, he needs to walk while using his hindrance immunity skill. This makes him prone to take the enemy's first hit and even if he gets close, he needs extra time to dish out damage since his damage comes from physical attacks.

Best Lanes for Machamp

Top
Jungle
Bottom

Jungle

Jungle is a great role for Machamp due to his fast clears. He also lacks early engage/disengage tool which causes him to lose out on trades in lanes.

Machamp Builds

Crit Build

The point of this build is to go up close and use the empowered normals to stack with critical hits.

Moves and Upgrades

Lv. 1 (ZR)	Lv. 3 (R)	Lv. 5 (R)	Lv. 7 (ZR)
Bulk Up	Karate Chop	Submission	Cross Chop
You'll want to get Bulk Up immediately as that's what empowers your next attack, which stacks with Crit attacks. Next you'll want Cross Chop to close distance with enemies and Submission to improve your Bulk Up buff.

Battle Item

Item	Tips
Eject Button	This Eject Button will allow you to close distance even more alongside Cross Chop, letting you get up close as soon as possible.

Held Items

Items	Tips
Scope Lens	Scope Lens increases your critical attack, and when it stacks with an empowered normal from Bulk Up and Dynamic Punch, it'll deal massive damage.
Energy Amplifier	Energy Amplifier increases the charge rate of Barrage Blow, and empowers Machamp after performing it, allowing him to stack damage with his Unite Move.
Muscle Band	Muscle Band just makes Machamp hurt more, allowing you to have dangerous normal attacks aside the critical hits.

How to Play Machamp

Machamp is a straight up fighter. He's not as strong a damage dealer as other attackers, but he does have a bit of tankiness to him ensuring his survivability.

He's a melee fighter, so make sure to get up close and personal as much as possible. Your goal is to knock out the enemy, then score points while they're respawning.

Force Engage Even On Early Levels

Of course, real enemies won't just stand in your range like this, but know that machamp's damage comes from extended fights so stay on top of enemies as much as you can!

Machamp is a strong fighter that has a natural slow in his boosted attacks. Together with bulk, he can run down enemies early on so force fights against enemies that are far from their goal posts as much as possible.

Burst Down Key Targets During Team Fights

Machamp can ignore disables with Submission then jump straight to his targets. With empowered autoattacks and crits, bursting down his targets are extremely easy.

When Engaging, Don't Dive in Headfirst

Machamp is tanky but he's still not as durable as defenders like Snorlax and Crustle. Even if he ignores disables, the damage from attackers can still quickly whittle his HP down rather quickly. Approach from the grass or flank to easily reach enemy attackers without suffering lots of damage during the engage.

Use Cross Chop together with Submission for Easy Engages

Submission is a buff and it is not cancelled by using a different skill! Use Cross Chop to dash through enemy ranks then auto attack your key target while having the submission buff to gain a huge amount of damage, critical chance, and attack speed while you're target gets disabled for a few seconds!

Use Submission and Barrage Blow Buff Together

These two buffs when used in tandem, turns you into an unstoppable source of damage. It grants you a massive souce of damage and attack speed. Don't use Barrage Blow just for the finisher, it has a lengthy buff so use it at the beginning of the fight!

Machamp Combos

Early Game Combo

Step #	Move
1	Bulk Up
2	Standard Attack
3	Karate Chop
This is Machamp's early game combo. Weaving in that extra auto attack before Karate Chop is not too crucial but it is needed if you want to maximize your early game damage due to Bulk Up's auto attack enhancement property.

Critical Burst Build Combo

Step #	Move
1	Submission
2	Cross Chop
3	Standard Attack
This is your RKO single target burst combo. Submission is a lengthy dash move that allows you to somersault an enemy by using your auto attack while in your Submission buff. This buff is not cancelled by Dynamic Punch and can be used in conjunction. Buff with Submission, dash in to your target with Dynamic Punch, then auto attack them to oblivion.

Machamp Matchups and Best Counters

Hard Counters
Fair
Easy

Matchup and Counter Explanations

Best Counters for Machamp

Pokemon	Explanation
Cinderace	Cinderace is a strong single target damage dealer. Machamp's cannot be disabled when engaging so the best way to eliminate him as threat is to kill him. Cinderace does this really well and his feint also allows him to avoid Machamp's damage with ease.
Crustle	A tank that can go toe to toe with Machamp's damage. He can also sacrifice Shell Smash to summon walls to prevent Machamp's engages.

Fair Matchup Explanations

Pokemon	Explanation
Absol	Absol is a burstier version of you but is way more fragile. This is in the fair matchup since he can still burst you down in the right situations.
Venusaur	Venusaur is an Attacker that wants to get up close with people (with the giga drain petaldance setup). He has the damage to eliminate you while surviving so approach with caution.
Garchomp	He can go toe to toe with you on several occasions and his passive makes him deal damage to you due to your auto attacking nature.
Gengar	A skill match up. Similar to Absol, he can burst you down if you're not careful.

Easy Matchup Explanations

Pokemon	Explanation
Charizard	Keep running him down for free kills as he cant really defeat you on any stage of the game.
Eldegoss	Eldegoss lacks any tool to survive your assault aside from hiding in his teammates. Dive him first on team fights to eliminate the enemy's healing.
Snorlax	Snorlax's main strengths are his tankiness and his ability to apply disables to several players. Machamp can get through all of these by being immune and using empowered auto attacks and crits against Snorlax.
Lucario	Mobility is Lucario's main strength. Unfortunately for him, Submission's distance covered is way greater than Lucario's escape tools and your damage is way higher than him.
Alolan Ninetales	Dash through his projectiles using Cross Chop then use Submission for the kill.
Pikachu	Pikachu's net is his main threat and Submission can easily pierce through this.
Mr. Mime	Dash through his wall and he'll have nothing in his kit to stop you from attacking him.
Zeraora	You outdamage Zeraora and his escape tool's cooldown is pretty long. Use Submission to chase or run away from him and if he exhausts all his mobility skill, turn and fight him for an easy win.
Greninja	Zero damage. Chase down the clone that's running away everytime.
Slowbro	Machamp ignores all disables and Slowbro's three abilities all focus on this. Machamp is one of the hardest counters to Slowbro.
Cramorant	One of the easiest target to chase down and burst. Make sure to focus Cramorant in teamfights unless there are more valuable targets (like Eldegoss).
Wigglytuff	As a jungler, you're safe from Wigglytuff's insane early game damage. You also ignore his disables later so he should pose little to no threat to you.
Talonflame	Talonflame is one of the most fragile pokemon in the game. He can run away using Brave Bird so wait for him to use it first before engaging on him for a kill. Fly is also an escape tool but you can outrun it with Submission.
Gardevoir	When fighting a Gardevoir, simply bulldoze your way past all the CC and others to target them. Once you get in close, you have the upper hand.

Machamp Moves and Ability

Machamp Moves

Level	Move 1 (R)	Move 2 (ZR)
1 or 3
5
7
9

Move Slot 1 (R)

Karate Chop (Lv. 1 or 3)	Move Type: Melee Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 6s Total Damage: 658 (Lv. 3)
Performs a karate chop, damaging the enemy Pokemon.
Cross Chop (Lv. 5) Upgrade Lv. 11	Move Type: Dash Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 6s Total Damage: 808 (Lv. 5) / 1328 (Lv. 15)
Dashes forward with forearms crossed, increasing critical hit chance. When upgraded, increases basic attack damage.
Close Combat (Lv. 5) Upgrade Lv. 11	Move Type: Melee Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 7s Total Damage: 1407 (Lv. 5) / 3385 (Lv. 15)
Moves towards the target point, throwing multiple punches while moving, and becoming immune to hindrances. The last punch deals increased damage. When upgraded, afflicted enemy Pokemon takes extra damage from Close Combat.

Move Slot 2 (ZR)

Bulk Up (Lv. 1 or 3)	Move Type: Buff Damage Type: Status Cooldown: 10s
When activated, increases movement speed and attack speed, and grants immunity from hindrances. It also empowers Machamp's next basic attack.
Submission (Lv. 7) Upgrade Lv. 13	Move Type: Hindrance Damage Type: Status Cooldown: 11s
Rushes towards the target enemy Pokemon, becoming unstoppable, and attacks from above, rooting the target in place. When upgraded, increases critical hit chance, and attack speed.
Dynamic Punch (Lv. 7) Upgrade Lv. 13	Move Type: Dash Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 9s Total Damage: 656 (Lv. 7) / 1240 (Lv. 15)
Leaps towards the target point, damaging and stunning enemy Pokemon. After performing the move, grants increased movement speed, increased attack speed, immunity, and empowers Machamp's next basic attack. When upgraded, further increases movement speed and attack speed bonus.

Unite Moves (ZL)

Barrage Blow (Lv. 9)	Move Type: Buff Damage Type: Status Cooldown: Percent Based
Attack, movement speed, defense, and special defense increases for a short time. When used again, Machamp will unleashes a flurry of punches, dealing damage to opponents in the area with the final blow dealing the most damage.

Standard Attack

Standard Attack	Becomes a boosted attack with every third attack, dealing increased damage when it hits. This boosted attack also decreases the movement speed of opposing Pokemon for a short time.

Ability (Passive)

Guts	When afflicted with a status effect, its attack increases.

Machamp Skins (Holowear)

Beach Style

Beach Style
350 Aeon Gems	18 Holowear Tickets

All Pokemon Skins (Holowear)

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Pokemon Roster
Pikachu	Charizard	Snorlax	Crustle
Greninja	Eldegoss	Talonflame	Lucario
Venusaur	Mr. Mime	Slowbro	Absol
Machamp	Wigglytuff	Alolan Ninetales	Cramorant
Gengar	Garchomp	Cinderace	Zeraora
Gardevoir	Blastoise	-	-