Hitmonchan

Hitmonchan's usefulness in the main Pokemon games is its access to all of the Punch moves. For Pokemon GO, this means it only has access to two moves with STAB. It doesn't have a large amount of stats and is outclassed by other easily accessed Fighting-types. 

Best PvE Offensive Moveset

• Counter has superior damage to Bullet Punch due to STAB.
• Rock Smash is slightly worse than Counter on offense. 
• Brick Break and Close Combat are extremely close in terms of performance; this is up to personal preference.
• Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch have little use on offense. 

Best PvE Defensive Moveset

• Rock Smash is Hitmonchan's hardest-hitting fast move. 
• Bullet Punch offers no defensive type advantages and lower damage than Counter. 
• Brick Break has the most damage of all of Hitmonchan's charge moves. 
• Ice Punch offers coverage against Flying-types and has superior damage to Thunder Punch.
• Fire Punch has no utility on Hitmonchan. 
• Close Combat is not viable due to Hitmonchan's poor HP.

Counter is the best fast move for Hitmonchan, and benefits from STAB. Bullet Punch is suboptimal stat-wise and doesn't have any real use; it can cover Hitmonchan's weakness to Fairy-types, but you shouldn't be staying in for those fights anyways. 

Hitmonchan is a Fighting-type Pokemon, and this moveset helps with remembering that fact. Frequent use of Power-Up Punch solidifies Hitmonchan's role as a Fighting-type and could help snowball its way to victory if left unchecked, since subsequent attacks become even more threatening. The choice between the elemental punches is up to personal preference and varies greatly depending on the situation and matchups. In general, Ice Punch is the more popular choice as it provides the best coverage, but the others still have their uses.

Hitmonchan becomes more of a swiss army knife with this moveset, which threatens up to 10 different typings. Thanks to the January 31, 2019 update, all of the elemental punches have identical stats and therefore Hitmonchan doesn't need to shield bait. While the low energy cost (40) per punch is appealing, their relatively low base power (55) leaves much to be desired, as they have a disappointing 1.38 DPE (Damage Per Energy) and lack STAB.

Master League: 0 / 5