How good will Infernape get?
So, I caught a 91% 15ATT Chimchar at Lvl 31 and have evolved to Monferno. CP is 1351 and will be a great Infernape. (Infernape IS one of my fave starter evolutions)
Is it best to keep for its inevitable community day where you'd expect it to get Blastburn? or is he better as a fighting type and ready to evolve now?
I have a 2522 CP 89% Lucky Blaziken with Counter / Focus Blast which im 100% maxxing out, a 100% IV Breloom Counter / DP at 1652 cp which will eventually max, I also have two Highish level Machamps (2535 / 2223) (, and an almost max Poliwrath at 2304CP lucky 89% Rock Smash Dynamic Punch.
Is Infernape in the region of what i have? Better? Worse?
Or should i wait for Blast Burn? (If thats what you can expect for CD)
I am lacking in Fire Dept. 93% Sky attack Moltres 2447, 100% Charizard, (Overheat, missed CD, but will get him this weekend with 93% Lucky ready), 93% Entei 2211. But lacking candy for Legendaries.
Fire Infernape, or Fighting Infernape?
Answers
Infernape is currently lackluster as both a fighting and a fire type. There really is no reason to have one except for the dex entry. It's much worse than your Machamps, Breloom and Blaziken as a fighting type, but it is better than the Poliwrath.
Much worse than your fire legendaries, similar to the Charizard, and any high level Flareon you evolve with FS/OH or FS/FT will easily outrank it. As will any BB Charizards you evolve this weekend.
As for when it gets its CD, presumably a year from now, Infernape will become about equal to Charizard as a fire DPS but lack the beneficial resistances from the flying-typing. By then Blaziken will have gotten its CD, which might make it the best fire-type in the game by a fair margin and make Infernape's CD fairly irrelevant.
(Might, because Blaze Kick has been found in the game master and Niantic could throw a curveball and not make Blaziken outclass Moltres)
On its community day you will catch about 200 Chimchars. Chances are good that a number of them will have higher stats, higher level. Some will be shiny. Your current 91%er will be lost in the crowd. Evolve it now, and the only thing you loose will be the stardust you are going to invest afterwards.
On the other hand, right now Infernape is rare & cool. Use it now for attacks in team raids for comments from co-players; put it as gym defender if you want to draw players in to liberate him eventually. Immediately after community day, Infernape will drop to his new status of dull & common.
Some people actually play this game for fun you know. Instead of always having to pick the absolute ideal counter. So regardless of the battle system, a lot of people probably have fun using something like an Infernape or Blaziken instead of the monotony of endless Machamp. Furthermore, with the current battle system, optimization isn't even that important, since even less than optimal counters can pretty easily take down defenders in the set time. Probably not something like a Veronat. But a pretty solid Pokemon like Infernape should be fine, and likely more fun for a lot of people.
This whole optimization-or-bust thing you routinely do is obnoxious. 100%s or Pokemon with 15 attack are not the only viable pokemon. Blast Burn is not the only viable fire move. Shadow ball Mewtwo is not the only viable Mewtwo. There are lots of combinations of Pokemon, IVs, and moves in this game. And lots of them are perfectly viable and perfectly fun to play. It doesn't have to be only "THE FATEFUL 10." So basically just chill out and let people play it as a game.
