The concept of Swords Dancing was never so clear: boost your Attack to sky-high levels, and then make use of it by ramming it into your opponent's skull. Earthquake will shatter anything that doesn't outright resist it and even a few things that do. Most of the things that aren't getting killed are up in the air, so Stone Edge them to death. Fire Punch is for Bronzong, Skarmory, and Grassers. Double-Edge hurts Cresselia, Claydol, and Mesprit more than Stone Edge.
Leave off Swords Dance for Double-Edge and you got a basic all-out attacker that would have Choice Band as an option if Thick Club wasn't simply better in any and all ways possible. And let's be honest: with 518 or even 568 Attack, depending on your nature, do you really need Swords Dance? Obviously this set is better for hit-and-run than for late-game sweeps, and the versatility might make it the better Marowak to Baton Pass to. Double-Edge puts a good hurting in Weezing and Claydol. Other OptionsMarowak has two main options to pound Weezing into the ground. The first one is Substitute, which blocks Will-O-Wisp attempts, stops Pain Split from working and saves Marowak from being boned (such a bad pun) by Explosion. Weezing is unable to break the Substitute at once with Sludge Bomb, allowing you to gain control over it with repeated hits. Substitute helps against Bronzong's Hypnosis, Toxic and Explosion too. ThunderPunch does a load of damage to Gyarados, but that's about where the usefulness ends. Don't fool yourself into thinking it helps against other Waters; it just does as much as Earthquake. Bonemerang is often hailed as Marowak's signature move to break Substitutes. As it is, there's very few Pokémon around using Substitute that Marowak can beat; think Gengar, Sceptile, Celebi, and Vaporeon. The accuracy drop isn't worth it since Marowak simply cannot afford to miss most of the time. Speaking of missing, Stone Edge is too shaky to find its way on Marowak's moveset as well for the very same reason. Sing is even more inaccurate but serves a different purpose: to completely shut down one counter that comes into Marowak. Try to use it on switches, and not when you're taking something one on one. Aerial Ace is an OHKO on Breloom for sure, but then again, Fire Punch will be as well most of the time. It helps a little against Heracross switches, of course. Endeavor is interesting since Marowak is immune to Sand Stream, but I'll bet you 20 bucks Marowak has no problems bringing Pokémon to low HP without it. Stealth Rock is of more use on something that can take a hit and live, and not on something with, you know, the attacking power of a nuke. EVsAs you can see, I chose to let Marowak take the most offensive route possible in letting him max Speed and Attack. He'll often outrun Milotic, Suicune and some other things that are keen to stick around the 200 area, which is crucial. You can choose to build Marowak's HP instead of his Speed, of course, which means he'll be taking Rock hits better. If you're Baton Passing Speed to Marowak, you'll want to take the recommended route though. OpinionMarowak shows a good example by wearing a skull as a helmet, because it is recommended other Pokémon do so when he's around. His attacking power is right up there with giants like Slaking and Medicham. Sadly, a Pokémon with such great (nearly overkill) attack must have drawbacks. Marowak has no Leftovers recovery, pretty pitiful HP and Special Defense, and is not the quickest one out there. Give him Paralysis support, or some help from a Baton Passer like Zapdos, Jolteon, or Ninjask. He's good on Trick Room teams as well, but make sure to make him as slow as possible there. CountersMarowak can hurt everything in the game, as expected from something with an Attack stat this huge. Obviously Bronzong can clear him with Grass Knot or whip up Reflect, just duck for Fire Punch. Claydol will be glad to come in and Ice Beam Marowak, if Marowak isn't responding with repeated Double-Edges. Weezing has been covered in Other Options: if you ain't got Substitute or Double-Edge, he can make life sour. Skarmory with Toxic can be a pest and Whirlwind away your boosts, just know which elemental punch to avoid. Anything faster than Marowak with a Special move or any kind of Water, Grass, or Ice move is going to 2HKO if not OHKO him. Basically, if you can't KO Marowak quickly, chances are he'll KO you. Treat him like Rampardos, Medicham, and such. |
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