Mawile

Intimidate
Lowers the foe's Attack 1 stage. Decreases wild encounter rate.
Hyper Cutter
Prevents the enemy from lowering this Pokémon's Attack.
Type Tier
Steel UU
Statistics
Min- Min Max Max+
HP
50
- 241 304 -
Atk
85
185 206 269 295
Def
85
185 206 269 295
SpA
55
131 146 209 229
SpD
55
131 146 209 229
Spe
50
122 136 199 218
Name Item Ability Nature

Swords Dance Mawile

Leftovers / Expert Belt Hyper Cutter Adamant / Jolly
Moveset EVs
~ Iron Head
~ Focus Punch / Brick Break
~ Crunch / Sucker Punch
~ Swords Dance
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Mawile gets a decent STAB move in DP, but the absence of a Ground move in its movepool is a real downer. At least it gets Focus Punch to tackle other Steel types, especially Probopass which can trap Mawile. Hyper Cutter ensures Mawile does not lose its Swords Dance stat-up all that easily.

Name Item Nature

Choice Mawile

Choice Band / Choice Scarf Adamant / Jolly
Moveset EVs
~ Iron Head
~ Focus Punch
~ Sucker Punch / Crunch
~ Rock Slide / Fire Fang / Fire Blast
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Mawile doesn’t usually have the time to setup with Swords Dance, so a Choice Band set might be more appropriate. Both Hyper Cutter and Intimidate have their merits here, so you can choose either one. Even though Mawile’s movepool is relatively decent, it still has problems in type coverage due to the absence of a Ground move.

Name Item Ability Nature

Baton Pass Mawile

Leftovers Intimidate Careful
Moveset EVs
~ Iron Head
~ Swords Dance
~ Stockpile / Iron Defense
~ Baton Pass
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Mawile can Baton Pass attack and defense boosts, although its typing and speed doesn’t really make it good at this. Still, it could be a decent passer in the lower tiers. Remember that Stockpile boosts the defense and special defense of Mawile by one level, much like Cosmic Power, in DP.

Name Item Ability Nature

Sing BP Mawile

Salac Berry Intimidate Jolly
Moveset EVs
~ Endure
~ Sing
~ Swords Dance
~ Baton Pass
252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Another Baton Pass set, using Sing, which Mawile can learn after purification in XD. If Salac Berry gets activated, whether via Endure or not, you use Sing, assuming you're now faster than the foe, then Swords Dance while the foe is switching out and Baton Pass the attack and Speed boosts to a counter.

Other Options

Mawile learns Ice Punch and Thunderpunch through the Emerald Move Tutors, and Ice Fang and Thunder Fang through breeding. If you want to try to spring a rather gimmicky surprise, you can make use of its rather nice special movepool, including Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon, Charge Beam and Dark Pulse. Counter is a good option on Mawile given his defensive typing and Intimidate, and can work in conjunction with Taunt and/or Focus Sash.

EVs

For the first two sets, you can trade a few HP EVs and put them in speed, but don’t expect Mawile to outspeed too many things, even in the low tiers.

Opinion

Mawile got a physical STAB move in DP, and little else. Don’t expect this fact to propel Mawile out of the lower tiers any time soon.

Counters

Anything with a good Ground, Fighting, Fire, Water or Electric move that can outspeed Mawile is a counter to it. Sadly for Mawile, that includes the majority of attacking Pokémon.