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Forewarn
- Tells which of the opponent's moves has the highest Base Power.
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Synchronize
- When afflicted with status, the enemy is afflicted also. Can pass nature to wild Pokemon.
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Telepathy
- Does not take damage from allies' attacks.
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Level 5 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
116
|
- |
28 |
31 |
- |
| Atk |
55
|
10 |
12 |
15 |
16 |
| Def |
85
|
13 |
15 |
18 |
19 |
| SpA |
107
|
15 |
17 |
20 |
22 |
| SpD |
95
|
14 |
16 |
19 |
20 |
| Spe |
29
|
8 |
9 |
12 |
13 |
Overview
Musharna is one of the biggest threats in NU thanks to its impressive defensive stats and above-average attacking prowess. It has numerous positive attributes to go along with its fantastic stats, such as a wide movepool that includes the useful Moonlight and Heal Bell and a decent typing. It can perform numerous useful roles well such as physical wall, setup sweeper, and pivot. In addition, Musharna can counter many top threats such as Gurdurr and Sawk. While it is one of the slowest Pokemon around and there are Dark-types in the tier, Musharna is still such a huge threat that even a well-constructed team can easily be weak to it.
This is Musharna's trademark set. Like many other famous boosting sweepers from the past, Musharna can boost really easily and there isn't all that much that can stop it. This Musharna also performs multiple roles: it's a physical wall, cleric, and boosting sweeper all in one. Calm Mind is the move that makes this set, boosting Musharna's already good Special Attack and Special Defense by one stage. Not even Choice Specs Charizard outside of the sun can 2HKO +1 Musharna, which is a testament to how bulky Musharna truly is. Musharna can easily boost up and then heal when weakened with Moonlight, making it a seemingly impossible tank to break through. Psychic is Musharna's STAB move, doing a lot of damage to pretty much everything that doesn't resist it. For the last slot, you get to decide what is the bane of Musharna's existence: status or Dark-types. Because Dark-types are somewhat easy to get rid of and Heal Bell also has the benefit of curing the status of Musharna's teammates, Heal Bell is usually more useful.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
240 HP EVs give Musharna enough HP for a Leftovers number, gives it the most physical bulk possible, and then throws the rest of the EVs into Special Defense. Speaking of EVs, a more offensive spread can be used for this set, but then Musharna won't be as good of a physical wall or cleric and can't boost as easily. Thunder Wave is an interesting option over the moves in the last slot, as it will allow Musharna to spread status before it attempts to sweep; however, using it means that Musharna has nothing to deal with both status and Dark-types. Psyshock or Stored Power can be used over Psychic, but most Pokemon in the tier are hit harder by Psychic and Stored Power is less useful early-game before boosts.
Gurdurr and Sawk do well against the Dark-type counters that plague Musharna. Skuntank is a good teammate if you decide to use Gurdurr and Sawk, as they create the infamous Psychic / Dark / Fighting core, checking each other's threats. Lickilicky appreciates Musharna's ability to switch into Fighting-type attacks and doesn't have to use up a moveslot for Heal Bell if Musharna is using it (or vice-versa). Just about any Pokemon that is really susceptible to status will appreciate the Heal Bell support provided by Musharna. Toxic Spikes support is useful for dealing with opposing Psychic-types and goes especially well with Musharna because Musharna can easily get rid of the Poison-types that soak them up.
Musharna is a fantastic choice for an offensive tank thanks to its access to reliable recovery and attacking prowess. This set is immediately stronger than the Calm Mind set, but easier to wear down. Life Orb Psychic backed by a boosting nature will do a lot of damage to even some bulkier Pokemon such as Braviary. Signal Beam gives coverage against Psychic- and Dark-types while Hidden Power Ground hits Steel-types such as Probopass and Klang. Trick Room can be used over Hidden Power Ground to allow Musharna to outspeed pretty much everything; however, the coverage provided by Hidden Power Ground is usually more useful. Moonlight rounds out the set, allowing Musharna to heal off wounds from Life Orb recoil and any attacks that hit it.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
If you're using Trick Room, a Quiet nature should be used. Shadow Ball hits Ghost-types such as Golurk and Misdreavus harder, but provides no additional coverage that Musharna needs. Psyshock can be used over Psychic to hit special walls such as Lickilicky harder, but the metagame is mostly physically inclined. Leftovers can be used instead of Life Orb so that Musharna doesn't get worn down as easily, but Musharna's attacks will be noticeably weaker.
This set doesn't require as much support as the Calm Mind set does, as status and Dark-types aren't as big of threats. Gurdurr and Sawk can easily beat all of the tier's Dark-types and work as the Fighting-type part of the Psychic / Dark / Fighting core. Skuntank is a good candidate to fit the Dark-type role, as it can easily get rid of annoying Ghost-types such as Misdreavus.
Choice Specs Musharna may look odd because it can't use Moonlight effectively when it's locked into a move. However, in practice, this set abuses Musharna's great Special Attack stat. Choice Specs Psychic is very strong, but also somewhat unreliable if the other team has Dark-types, so use it conservatively while they're still alive. Signal Beam and Hidden Power Ground are coverage moves, hitting Psychic- and Dark-types and Steel-types, respectively, but both moves have the same flaw: they're bad moves to get locked in to because of how weak they are. Trick goes well with Choice Specs, as it allows Musharna to cripple special walls and Pokemon such as Skuntank, but there aren't many situations where Musharna wants to Trick away its Choice Specs. As Musharna does well against all of the common sleep inducers, Sleep Talk is a good option to allow Musharna to act as a very solid check to Pokemon such as Amoonguss.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Moonlight can be used over Hidden Power Ground to turn Musharna into an offensive tank after it Trick's away its item, but there will rarely be any situations where Moonlight is useful when Musharna is choice-locked, so it is usually forced to Trick away its item before it can reliably recover. Shadow Ball can be used over Trick or Sleep Talk to hit Pokemon such as Golurk and Misdreavus harder, but Trick and Sleep Talk usually have more utility. Like Shadow Ball, Baton Pass usually has less utility than Trick and Sleep Talk, but it acts as a pseudo-U-turn/Volt Switch. Psyshock hits special walls harder than Psychic, but it will do less damage to the rest of the tier.
Again, Gurdurr and Sawk are fantastic partners, especially considering that Dark-types can easily set up on this set if they switch in on Choice Specs Psychic. This isn't exactly the best Musharna set for a Psychic / Dark / Fighting core, but it's never a bad idea to pair Musharna with Fighting- and Dark-type partners.
As most fast Pokemon are frail and weak to priority, a pivot that can switch into many attacks and support the team is vital for certain offensive teams. This Musharna acts as such a pivot, and indeed is one of the best in the tier. Musharna can switch into many attacks from the likes of Gurdurr, Carracosta, and Piloswine and hit them hard with Psychic. Moonlight is a move that should be on any non-Choice Specs Musharna, as it gives Musharna survivability. Thunder Wave is a great move for supporting offensive teams, which appreciate slowing down fast Pokemon, while Heal Bell cures Musharna's team of crippling status. Baton Pass can be used over either Thunder Wave or Heal Bell so that Musharna's teammates can switch in safely.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
240 HP EVs are used because they allow Musharna to reach a Leftovers number without sacrificing much bulk. This set is very malleable; Musharna should be using whatever moves support your team best. The moves listed on the set are just the ones that are most common on Pivot Musharna. Reflect, Light Screen, Trick Room, and Rain Dance are all good options if your team would benefit more from them than the ones listed earlier.
You shouldn't try to support this Musharna with teammates; it should be the one supporting the team. Some teammates that appreciate the support that Musharna provides include Ursaring and Zangoose. Pokemon such as Marowak and Ursaring are extremely powerful but slow, so when the majority of the opposing team is slowed down with Thunder Wave, they can easily smash through the opposing team. Fast, frail Pokemon such as Zangoose and Swellow appreciate Musharna's ability to switch into threats such as Sawk. Many of these Pokemon have access to Guts, or in the case of Zangoose, Toxic Boost, and need a free turn to activate their status Orb, which Musharna can provide with its slow Baton Pass. Finally, any Pokemon that is really susceptible to status will appreciate Heal Bell support, though note that this can be counterproductive with Pokemon that rely on a status Orb.
Other Options
Forewarn is nice for Pokemon such as Samurott and Altaria that run both physical and special sets, but Synchronize usually has more utility. A RestTalk set with Calm Mind and Stored Power is decent and can easily set up and destroy, but it's mostly inferior to Moonlight + Heal Bell. A full-on Baton Pass set that aims to Baton Pass boosts such as Barrier and Calm Mind to teammates is pretty good, but Musharna has better things to do and a full Baton Pass set suffers from a major case of four-moveslot syndrome.
In regards to move options, Musharna has a few other tricks up its sleeve. Sleep is always a powerful status, and Musharna has access to two methods of inflicting it: Yawn and Hypnosis. Unfortunately, there isn't much room for either move, and they both have major flaws: the opponent can just switch out of Yawn, and Hypnosis has an unreliable 60% accuracy. Toxic can be used over Thunder Wave, but Musharna would much rather spread paralysis, and there isn't much room for Toxic. Rain Dance, in theory, sounds like a pretty good move with Baton Pass, but again, Musharna has a bit of four-moveslot syndrome already and running Rain Dance only exacerbates it. Also, Rain Dance makes Moonlight ineffective.
Checks and Counters
Musharna is a very difficult Pokemon to check because of its amazing stats, typing that gives it few weaknesses, and versatile movepool. Knowing the flaws of each set and what Musharna set your opponent is using helps. Mono-attacking Calm Mind Musharna can easily be countered by Dark-types and certain Pokemon that resist Psychic-type moves. If Musharna has Signal Beam, it can easily be shut down by Toxic. Offensive Musharna quickly gets worn down from Life Orb recoil and the increased damage taken due to its lack of Defense EVs and Special Defense boosts; however, it is much harder to switch in to. Choice Specs Musharna has the flaw of being locked into a move and can't recover health with Moonlight effectively unless it Tricks something; after it uses Trick, it basically just becomes a somewhat less efficient Offensive Musharna. Pivot Musharna is the easiest to check, as it focuses on supporting the team and checking certain offensive threats rather than being a huge threat to the opposing team.
Being a Psychic-type, Dark-types do a very good job at checking Musharna. Skuntank can easily switch into anything Musharna uses besides Hidden Power Ground and use Pursuit if Musharna tries to switch out. However, Skuntank lacks power, and two Hidden Power Grounds from any of the offensive sets will likely kill it unless it's running an unusual specially defensive set. Liepard has to watch out for Signal Beam; otherwise, Liepard can Encore Musharna into a move that doesn't threaten it and set up Nasty Plot. Scraggy is the best check to Musharna, as the only thing that Musharna can do to beat it is Trick, but Musharna usually has teammates that can easily take care of Scraggy. Zweilous is one of the very few Pokemon that can OHKO Musharna without boosts, but it has to be wary of switching into Life Orb or Choice Specs-boosted Signal Beam or Trick.
A few other Pokemon can check Musharna well. Misdreavus can Taunt Musharna and kill it with a few Shadow Balls. Misdreavus can also set up a few Calm Minds or Nasty Plots on Musharna. SubDisable Haunter can Disable Musharna's Psychic and render it useless while attacking it with Shadow Ball, but it has to be wary of switching in on Psychic. Golurk can survive two unboosted Psychics and do a ton of damage with Shadow Punch. Swoobat can boost faster than Musharna and smash it with an extremely strong Stored Power; it also has an excellent typing for tanking Musharna's most common attacking moves. Strong physical Bug-types such as Pinsir and Armaldo can 2HKO even physically defensive Musharna. Heavy hitters such as Choice Band Emboar, Braviary, and Ursaring can do the same, but will usually go down with Musharna. Most Pokemon with Megahorn, such as Swords Dance Samurott, can 2HKO Musharna. Phazers such as Dragon Tail Lickilicky and Roar Bastiodon do well against Calm Mind Musharna, but Musharna can always come back and boost later in the game. Having Spikes and Stealth Rock on the field makes Musharna considerably easier to beat with heavy hitters. Like most defensive Pokemon, Taunt and status shut Musharna down. Just remember that if Musharna has Heal Bell, it can always cure its own status. Tricking Musharna a Choice item prevents it from using non-attacking moves well; this isn't the most effective strategy against Choice Specs Musharna, though. Using Sleep Powder or Spore can work in a pinch, but Musharna does really well against the most common sleep inducers.
Musharna is a challenging Pokemon to defeat, especially if it has the right support backing it up. You will often have to resort to doing something risky just to beat Musharna. It's not incredibly overpowering to the point where it's nearly impossible to beat, but be very careful when fighting it.
