[Overview]
<p>Sawk has always been one of the strongest Pokemon in NU, and the addition of Ice Punch to his movepool has only made him better. Sawk has the privilege of being one of the few fully-evolved Fighting-type Pokemon in the tier, joining Throh and Emboar. Sawk usually holds a Choice item, allowing him to use his base 125 Attack and base 85 Speed to outspeed and hit the majority of the metagame extremely hard with Close Combat. Sawk has the potential to be either a great wallbreaker or revenge killer. Sawk also has a very useful ability in Sturdy because it allows him to always survive a hit from full health, greatly increasing his longevity. Despite the speed and power Sawk packs, he is a very predictable Pokemon, and as a result, can be played around easily.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Ice Punch
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Earthquake / Reversal
item: Choice Band
ability: Sturdy
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Sawk has amazing stats for using a Choice Band set. With this set, Sawk uses his base 125 Attack to break common walls and facilitate a sweep for a teammate. Close Combat is a strong, reliable STAB move that Sawk will be using most often, 2HKOing almost everything that doesn't resist it. Ice Punch is used for the great coverage with Close Combat and because it hits Pokemon such as Amoonguss and Golurk harder than any other move on the set. Stone Edge serves a similar purpose: hitting Pokemon that can comfortably tank a Close Combat such as Volbeat, Pinsir, and Rotom-S. The last slot is a tossup between Earthquake and Reversal. Earthquake completes Sawk's coverage, giving him a move to use against grounded Poison-types such as Garbodor, who can tank a Close Combat and set up Spikes and Toxic Spikes in front of Sawk with ease. Earthquake is also useful because it gives Sawk a powerful move with good neutral coverage when Close Combat is not a viable option, as, even without a STAB boost, Earthquake hits reasonably hard. On the other hand, Reversal has immeasurable power if Sawk is forced down to 1 HP, potentially OHKOing Shelgon with Stealth Rock on the field. However, Reversal can be described as unreliable at best, as there is no guarantee that Sawk will be at 1 HP in any given match.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Adamant is the preferred nature, as it allows Sawk to potentially 2HKO one of his best counters, Tangela, after Stealth Rock damage. A Jolly nature allows Sawk to outrun very few threats that Adamant does not; besides Speed tying with other base 85 Speed Pokemon, the only common threats that Jolly gets the jump on are Timid Gardevoir and Adamant Kangaskhan. Thus, Sawk would generally prefer the extra power than the extra Speed, so an Adamant nature is preferred. However, if your team needs to outrun the previously mentioned threats, Jolly is definitely viable.</p>
<p>Because Choice Band Sawk loves to abuse Sturdy, a spinner is a great partner. Armaldo is a great teammate as it not only can remove hazards from the field, but it can also provide Stealth Rock for Sawk and threatens Musharna and Duosion, some of Sawk's counters. Dark-types such as Absol and Skuntank are also great teammates because of their ability to remove many of Sawk's best counters such as the aforementioned Musharna and Duosion, as well as Misdreavus, who is also a full stop to Sawk. Absol's extremely powerful Sucker Punch allows it to OHKO many threats that would normally outspeed and defeat Sawk such as Cinccino and Swoobat. Because Sawk needs Stealth Rock on the field, any Pokemon that can use the move is a valuable teammate. Probopass and Piloswine are good teammates because they are able to defeat the Flying-types that plague Sawk, as well as give him the hazards he desperately needs. Probopass possesses a resistance to Flying-type moves, while Piloswine has amazing natural bulk and STAB priority in Ice Shard to combat them. Sawk also appreciates Spikes support, as it turns some 2HKOs into OHKOs, most notably against Garbodor. The two best Spikes users in NU are Cacturne and Garbodor, who can both lay hazards throughout the match to make Sawk's job easier.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Ice Punch
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Toxic / Earthquake
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Choice Scarf Sawk sacrifices a large amount of power in order to become one of the best revenge killers in the tier. With a Choice Scarf, Jolly Sawk reaches 442 Speed, enough to outrun every unboosted Pokemon in the tier and many boosted ones as well. Even without a Choice Band, Close Combat still does a lot of damage to most offensive Pokemon. For instance, it is able to OHKO Dragonair lacking Eviolite and Raichu. Ice Punch offers good neutral coverage alongside Close Combat, hitting Grass-types such as Amoonguss moderately hard. It is also Sawk's best option against Golurk. Stone Edge hits Flying-types such Rotom-S, and gives Sawk a way to hit Ghost-types such as Haunter and Misdreavus. The last move should generally be Toxic, as, without a Choice Band, there are many Pokemon that completely wall Sawk such as Tangela, Alomomola, and Shelgon. Toxic gives Sawk a way to cripple them for the match, as their staying power is greatly limited by it. However, Earthquake is also an option because it gives Sawk a move to hit grounded Poison-types such as Garbodor and Arbok who would otherwise set up on this set with ease.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Jolly is the primary nature because it is needed to outrun a few Pokemon that boost their Speed, such as +2 Dragon Dance Fraxure and +2 Combusken. If neither of those Pokemon threaten your team, then an Adamant nature is an option; however, it doesn't score many notable KOs that Jolly does not. Choice Scarf Sawk is not meant to be used as a wallbreaker and should only be used to revenge kill offensive Pokemon or clean up severely weakened teams, as it lacks the power to do anything significant against more defensive teams early game. Reversal is an option in the last moveslot, but it is largely inferior to Toxic or Earthquake because it is quite weak and won't be able to defeat any significant Pokemon. Choice Scarf Sawk doesn't need a spinner as much as Choice Band Sawk does, but Armaldo still makes for a good teammate for his ability to weaken Musharna and use Stealth Rock. Absol and Skuntank are also great teammates, as their high powered Dark-type moves can remove some of the full stops to Sawk such as Musharna and Misdreavus. Exeggutor is an interesting partner because it is capable of defeating many of Sawk's counters with one set; Leaf Storm deals massive damage to almost all of Sawk's counters, and Exeggutor can also use Psychic to remove Weezing. High powered Pokemon such as Braviary and Emboar also make for good teammates because, with their extremely high Attack stats and powerful moves, they can weaken the opposing team so Sawk can clean up. Emboar in particular works great because it can switch into Will-O-Wisp, a move commonly used to defeat Sawk. However, while Emboar can defeat Misdreavus and Weezing with ease, both Sawk and Emboar are Fighting-types which means they have many weaknesses in common.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>The majority of Sawk's options are presented in the two sets above. Sawk has Fire Punch and ThunderPunch, but they don't offer much in coverage. Sawk also has access to Bulk Up to boost his Attack, but Gurdurr and Throh are far better bulky boosters. Substitute + Pain Split is a unique combination that Sawk has access too, but unfortunately, Sawk can't use this well because he lacks both power and Speed when not using a Choice item. A set with Fist Plate and Fling is viable to hit Musharna and Misdreavus hard once, but it does nothing useful after that. One of the more interesting options that Sawk has is the combination of Salac Berry and Reversal, which, when combined with Sturdy, can turn Sawk into a really fast hard hitter. Unfortunately, this isn't easy to pull off because NU runs rampant with priority and entry hazards.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Although Sawk is very powerful, he has many counters in the tier. Both Musharna and Duosion can take any hit from Sawk and OHKO in return if Sawk is not at full HP; they both have reliable recovery in order to take on Sawk many times during the match. Misdreavus and Weezing are also great stops to Sawk, as they take pittance from his attacks and can burn him with Will-O-Wisp. Bulky Grass-types such as Tangela and Amoonguss can both handle the Choice Scarf set with ease and reliably switch in on the Choice Band set to scout the move choice, as they both easily survive a hit. Alomomola and Shelgon are two defensive behemoths that are capable of taking on the Choice Scarf set with ease and recover off the damage. Whether Sawk is running Choice Scarf or Choice Band, he is susceptible to being revenge killed by fast Choice Scarf users, one of the best being Rotom-S, who outspeeds Choice Scarf Sawk and can OHKO with Air Slash. Choice Band Sawk is much easier to check, as many Pokemon can outspeed it and OHKO with the appropriate move. Cinccino can outspeed and OHKO Sawk even through Sturdy, while many common Pokemon such as Swoobat, Charizard, Swellow, and Zangoose can all defeat Sawk with ease with the appropriate move. Golurk is an interesting offensive check; though Ice Punch and Earthquake do a lot of damage, Golurk is able to switch in for free against Sawk's other two moves and throw off a high powered move of its own. Defensive Exeggutor can either take advantage of Sawk by using Harvest or by OHKOing him with its very powerful Psychic. The common core of Amoonguss and Alomomola can also defeat any Sawk with ease, as they both have Regenerator and Sawk can not hit both of them hard with the same move. Finally, because Sawk is almost always holding a Choice item, a Pokemon that runs Protect can make maneuvering around him a lot easier.</p>
[Unreleased]
<p>Mold Breaker is an amazing ability that we have been waiting for Sawk to receive for a very long time. Mold Breaker would turn Sawk into one of the best anti-leads in NU, allowing it to OHKO the many Sturdy Stealth Rock leads that run rampant such as Golem, Bastiodon, and Probopass. In fact, no common Pokemon that uses Stealth Rock can survive a hit from Choice Band Sawk. Mold Breaker also makes it much harder for Weezing to defeat Sawk, as it is 2HKOed by Choice Band Earthquake. Although Mold Breaker is clearly a great ability for Sawk, Sturdy still has its uses, as being able to survive any hit from full health can be invaluable. However, once released, Mold Breaker will likely be the ability of choice.</p>
