Hitmonlee – Pokémon TCG Highlander

Hitmonlee rolls into Highlander with damage and reach at a blitzing speed. Even in the mid to late game, Hitmonlee has the utility to keep momentum and grant you a lead with crucial knockouts.

Strategy Points:

• Being able to do 30 damage to the bench as early as turn 1 is threatening by itself. Combine that strength with the flexibility to Rescue Stretcher or Klara for Hitmonlee for a crucial late game 30 snipe and you have quite the brawler that can control the board through damage alone. Applying Weakness and Resistance from this attack means that if you find a Pokémon weak to Fighting, you can use Honchkrow or Team Flare Whistle to keep reviving that Pokémon for fast knockouts. You can use Eviolite to stop the self damage from this attack.
• With an average of 40 damage anywhere, “Gut Kick” serves as yet another bench sitting threat that can also dupe big attackers. Jellicent, Ariados, and Spidops will increase the damage of this attack while making it more overall difficult for your opponent to retreat.
• There’s a beauty to be had with the simplicity of “Mega Kick”. You can start dealing 60 damage on the first turns thanks to Regirock + Stark Mountain or going 2nd with Double Colorless Energy. With the aid of its other 2 attacks, Hitmonlee can set up big knockouts when used with “Mega Kick”.
• With Tyrogue
• The stat bonuses granted with “Stages of Evolution” grants Hitmonlee an edge in offense, defense, and mobility. An important thing to note is Hitmonlee’s rare “Evolved Basic” status that allows it to get the benefits of Eviolite and Triple Acceleration Energy while not worrying about anti-unevolved strategies from Machamp.
• “Show Form Set” grants reliable Fighting Energy recovery for Pokémon like Golem and Barbaracle to stream more damage.
• Because there are three different Pokémon that evolve from Tyrogue, you can run 3 of them in the same deck. This allows for stacking “Show Form Set” while providing an abundant Evolution Tree that allows you to prize a few away and still have one or two in the deck, evolving into any “Hitmon Evolution” you want.
• With Hitmonlee – Level X
• “Vital Ki Kick” placing 6 damage counters for 1 Fighting Energy works well with Hitmonlee’s other attacks for high range knock outs. A hidden strength with this move is that it places damage counters, so it can bypass bench protectors like Dugtrio and Manectric.
• When it comes to effective combos with Kinetic Kick, you have a lot of options:
• – Basic: Run Crushing Hammer and/or Team Flare Grunt to get rid of most or all of the Defending Pokémon’s Energy.
• – Stage 1: Run Full Flame or Wela Volcano Park to amplify the effectiveness of inflicting Burn here.
• – Stage 2: Professor Kakui and PlusPower can easily shape this attack for a knock out, especially if you did any previous bench damage.
• – EX: Palossand will stop Poké-Bodies that stop Special Conditions and attack effects, you can also run Vileplume to make switch cards harder to play.
• – Pokemon like Shiinotic and Claydol cover a lot of extra damage and disruption respectively for Kinetic Kick.