|
-
Oblivious
- Grants immunity to infatuation and Captivate.
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Snow Cloak
- Evasion increases 25% in hail.
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Thick Fat
- Fire- and Ice-type damage is reduced by 50%.
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Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
110
|
- |
361 |
424 |
- |
| Atk |
130
|
266 |
296 |
359 |
394 |
| Def |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
| SpA |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
| SpD |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| Spe |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
Overview
In many ways, Mamoswine is the quintessential anti-metagame Pokemon. With excellent Attack and fantastic offensive typing, Mamoswine is uniquely suited to checking many of the biggest threats of OU. Thanks to Ice Shard, Mamoswine can OHKO sweepers such as Thundurus-T, Landorus, and Garchomp before they can even move. Mamoswine is no slouch against defensive teams either; its powerful STAB attacks, Earthquake and Icicle Crash, together allow it to 2HKO nearly any Pokemon that tries to switch into it. For teams that need a Stealth Rock user that does not give away too much momentum, Mamoswine is a very effective option and can still use its priority to check weakened sweepers. Unfortunately, Mamoswine's Ice / Ground typing is not nearly as good defensively as it is offensively, and its plethora of weaknesses and base 80 Speed make it difficult for it to come in against many offensive Pokemon that it is unable to KO with Ice Shard. Nevertheless, Mamoswine can be a powerful presence on many teams with its ability to revenge kill threats and break walls.
Equipped with a Life Orb, Mamoswine can use its base 130 Attack and powerful STAB attacks to deal extensive damage to the opposing team. Icicle Crash and Earthquake allow Mamoswine to hit the majority of the metagame for neutral damage, 2HKOing most Pokemon that aren't heavily invested in Defense. Ice Shard provides Mamoswine with powerful priority that mitigates its average Speed and hits many of the top threats in OU for super effective damage: Garchomp, Salamence, Dragonite, Breloom, Thundurus-T, Landorus, and Landorus-T are all easily revenge killed by Ice Shard with minimal residual damage. Superpower rounds out Mamoswine's coverage, 2HKOing Ferrothorn, OHKOing Air Balloon Heatran, and giving Mamoswine its best shot at dealing significant damage to Rotom-W. However, if the coverage granted by Superpower is unnecessary, Mamoswine can opt to run Stealth Rock instead; this is a viable option on many offensive teams that do not have space elsewhere for Stealth Rock, and Mamoswine can certainly find opportunities to set up Stealth Rock thanks to its sheer power. It is important, however, to be careful when setting up Stealth Rock with Mamoswine against teams where it is needed to check threats. Sacrificing it for Stealth Rock against a team that has a Salamence waiting to sweep is often not a worthy trade-off at all! Teams seeking a set more dedicated to setting Stealth Rock may find more use in Focus Sash Mamoswine. When it comes to natures, both Jolly and Adamant are viable options for Mamoswine. Running Jolly allows Mamoswine to outspeed Adamant Lucario, all Breloom and Heatran, and non-Choice Scarfed Politoed, as well as being able to Speed tie with unboosted Dragonite. Unfortunately, the drop in power from Adamant to Jolly diminishes Mamoswine's ability to threaten defensive Pokemon; you will have to decide whether outspeeding certain offensive threats is worth the decrease in damage.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
The choice between Adamant and Jolly natures on Mamoswine can be better explained with damage calculations on relevant defensive Pokemon in OU:
- Adamant Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 44.60% - 52.84%
- Jolly Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 40.91% - 48.01%
- Adamant Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 106.93% - 126.24%
- Jolly Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 96.53% - 114.36%
- Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 34.43% - 40.72%
- Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 31.44% - 37.13%
- Adamant Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 35.71% - 42.14%
- Jolly Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 32.14% - 38.10%
- Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 60.48% - 71.90%
- Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 55.71% - 65.71%
With the added power from an Adamant nature, Mamoswine has a significantly easier time against several defensive Pokemon. Adamant Mamoswine can 2HKO Ferrothorn with Earthquake instead of having to suffer residual damage and lower its Attack and Defense with Superpower. The boost in power also helps to ensure the OHKO against Tyranitar; it can be incredibly frustrating to have Earthquake barely not KO Tyranitar, only to have it set up Stealth Rock. Although Skarmory is a good counter to Mamoswine in general, Adamant gives Mamoswine a better chance against Skarmory; with a little luck from Icicle Crash's 30% flinch chance, the extra power can help Mamoswine muscle through it. Against many walls, the difference in power simply means less prediction is needed to threaten 2HKOs; in Hippowdon's case, an Adamant nature allows Mamoswine to KO Hippowdon with Earthquake and Icicle Crash in quick succession rather than needing to 2HKO it on the switch with Icicle Crash.
Other moves can be run on Mamoswine to help it defeat specific threats. Garchomp, Gliscor, Haxorus, Hydreigon, and Gengar are all typically vulnerable to Mamoswine's Ice Shard, but they can avoid being easily revenge killed with the use of Substitute. By running Icicle Spear, Mamoswine can break their Substitutes and continue to deal damage in the same turn. Unfortunately for Mamoswine, there are still a number of threats in OU, such as Keldeo, Rotom-W, and Terrakion, that it cannot check so easily due to its lack of speed or coverage against them. Latias is a great partner for Mamoswine, capable of covering Mamoswine's weaknesses to Fighting- and Water-type attacks as well as switching into these threats. In return, Mamoswine can dispose of Latias's common counters such as Jirachi and Tyranitar, as well as checking Choice Scarf Salamence that could revenge kill Latias. However, both Mamoswine and Latias must be wary of Scizor. Thundurus-T is another good teammate, able to easily KO Skarmory and bulky Water-types that Mamoswine has trouble getting past. Thundurus-T also resists Scizor's STAB attacks, although its low Defense and Stealth Rock weakness mean that it should avoid directly switching in as much as possible. Breloom works well with Mamoswine; between Mamoswine's Ice Shard and Breloom's Mach Punch, most offensive threats in the tier can be revenge killed. The pair also excel at dismantling defensive cores, as Mamoswine threatens Pokemon such as Celebi and Tornadus that are common Breloom switch-ins, while Breloom destroys bulky Water-types and can put to sleep the few Pokemon that counter both it and Mamoswine. Despite sharing weaknesses to Fighting- and Water-type attacks, Heatran is also a good partner for Mamoswine. It is a consistent switch-in to Scizor, sets up Stealth Rock to help Mamoswine get more KOs, defeats Steel-type walls such as Skarmory and Bronzong that Mamoswine has issues with, and takes some of the pressure of checking Dragon-types off of Mamoswine. Magnezone is a similarly good teammate, trapping and KOing Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Scizor and pressuring slower Water-type Pokemon.
Mamoswine can forgo the power of Life Orb to instead be an effective Stealth Rock setter that can still provide some utility later in the game by picking off threats with Ice Shard. Stealth Rock is the reason to run this set; Mamoswine is all but guaranteed to set up Stealth Rock so long as its Focus Sash remains intact, something easier for Mamoswine to maintain than most other Pokemon due to its immunity to all forms of weather damage. Endeavor allows Mamoswine to remain extremely dangerous even after it has been brought down to 1 HP. Mamoswine can use Endeavor as an opponent attacks, leaving both Pokemon at 1 HP, and pick off the opponent the next turn with Ice Shard. Ice Shard also gives Mamoswine a way to help its team later in the game, when its Focus Sash has been broken and Stealth Rock has already been set, by allowing it to revenge kill numerous threats such as Garchomp, Salamence, and Thundurus-T. It is important to note that, as this set does not run Life Orb, Mamoswine will need many of these threats to be significantly weakened in order to effectively check them with Ice Shard. Earthquake provides Mamoswine with strong STAB that still heavily damages many offensive Pokemon, even without the benefit of Life Orb.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
As this set prioritizes setting up Stealth Rock quickly over breaking walls, a Jolly nature is preferred. However, an Adamant nature is a good option if you do not need Mamoswine to outspeed Jolly Breloom—the extra power will help greatly to compensate for the lack of Life Orb. Icicle Spear lets Mamoswine damage Pokemon that use Substitute and is useful against Focus Sash and Sturdy leads. Due to Focus Sash and an immunity to weather damage, Mamoswine can set up Stealth Rock in most situations. However, Pokemon that can flinch and 2HKO Mamoswine, such as Jirachi, can successfully prevent Mamoswine from setting up Stealth Rock. Skarmory stops offensive Jirachi and synergizes well with Mamoswine, being able to cover Pokemon such as Scizor and Terrakion that can threaten to OHKO it, as well as setting up Spikes to complement Mamoswine's Stealth Rock. Celebi is another good partner for Mamoswine, as it can easily switch into the Fighting- and Water-type attacks that Mamoswine fears; Celebi also counters Rotom-W, which would otherwise wall all of Mamoswine's moves save for Endeavor. Dragonite can also switch into many Grass-, Water-, and Fighting-types that threaten Mamoswine, and it appreciates Mamoswine's ability to weaken their mutual checks with Endeavor.
Other Options
Mamoswine's useful offensive typing gives it some potential roles not listed. Running Choice Band over Life Orb gives Mamoswine significantly more firepower and revenge killing ability, but Mamoswine is powerful enough for most purposes with Life Orb, and being locked into Earthquake is perilous. Choice Scarf is also useful for Mamoswine to allow it to consistently revenge kill +1 Dragonite and Thundurus-T, but its usefulness is diminished by Mamoswine's access to Ice Shard and the ease with which many Pokemon can set up on it once it is locked in; Choice Scarf Icicle Spear is most useful to revenge kill Substitute Garchomp, but that set is no longer as common as it once was. Mamoswine can run Stone Edge to OHKO Volcarona, but Life Orb Earthquake is sufficient to KO offensive variants.
Checks and Counters
Due to its high Attack and powerful STAB moves, Mamoswine has few counters. Skarmory and Bronzong are its best counters, taking relatively little damage from its attacks and threatening to set up entry hazards or KO it. Rotom-W also switches into most of Mamoswine's moveset, but takes substantial damage from Life Orb Superpower. It is also important to note that all of these switch-ins risk having their HP greatly lowered by Endeavor when switching in on Focus Sash Mamoswine. It is significantly easier to check Mamoswine than to counter it, as Mamoswine's Ice / Ground typing and middling Speed makes it vulnerable to super effective Fighting- and Water-type attacks. Pokemon that can outspeed Mamoswine, withstand Ice Shard, and hit it super effectively, such as Keldeo, Terrakion, and Scizor, all solidly check Mamoswine.
