What it does
High Jump Kick is a Fighting-type physical move with extremely high base power — among the strongest Fighting moves for physical attackers. The catch is severe: if the move misses, gets blocked by Protect or Spiky Shield, or targets a Ghost-type Pokémon (which is immune to Fighting), the user takes damage equal to half its max HP immediately.
Ghost-type immunity is the one you absolutely cannot forget. Clicking High Jump Kick into a Ghost-type results in the user losing 50% HP and the opposing Pokémon taking zero damage. This happens often enough at every level of play that it's worth checking the target type before every single use.
Protect is everywhere in doubles. If the opponent shields the target, you eat the crash damage. Predicting whether the opponent Protects is part of using High Jump Kick correctly — it can't be used mindlessly.
Under Gravity (a status effect that affects the whole field), High Jump Kick is completely unusable — the move is blocked. Some doubles teams run Gravity; be aware of this restriction.
Accuracy is 90%, which means a genuine miss chance — and every miss is a 50% HP loss.
Who runs it
Tsareena at 19% uses it as Fighting coverage. Attack 120 means the damage is real, and Grass/Fighting as a dual type combination hits Rock and Steel — both common switch-in threats against Grass.
Hawlucha at 12% is the speed-and-STAB case. Base Speed 118 means it goes first against most targets, which reduces (but doesn't eliminate) the risk of walking into a Protect. Fighting STAB on this move is one of the strongest single-hit Fighting options available.
Medicham at 4% turns Pure Power into the highest-damage normal situation possible. Effective Attack doubled makes High Jump Kick hit like almost nothing else in the game. The low adoption rate suggests it competes with other move choices on Medicham's set.
How to use it
Two checks before every use:
Is the target Ghost-typed? If yes, do not click this move. Period.
Will the target use Protect? In doubles, the safe window is when the opponent has a compelling reason not to Protect — when their HP is low and they need to attack to survive, or when Fake Out pressure is already keeping their partner occupied.
With Fake Out from a partner locking down one opposing Pokémon, the High Jump Kick target is less likely to be Protecting (since the partner is flinched and the target needs to respond to you). That's the cleaner window.
Tips & strategy
Predicting Protect is the skill that separates confident High Jump Kick users from the ones who blow themselves up. The common novice mistake: using it on turn one against a lead that obviously wants to protect while the partner sets up. Change moves in that situation.
In doubles, when your partner is also threatening the field with a spread move or high damage, the opponent has to decide which threat to Protect from. If your partner's pressure is higher, the High Jump Kick target might not Protect at all — the math splits in your favor.