Pokémon Mawile

[radica]

Pokedex Number: #303
Type: Steel/Fairy
Base stats: 50/85/85/55/55/50 -> 50/105/125/55/95/50
Abilities: Hyper Cutter and Intimidate Hidden: Sheer Force Mega: Huge Power

Notable moves:

• Crunch
• Baton Pass
• Sucker Punch
• Iron Head
• Play Rough lvl 60
• Toxic
• Taunt
• Protect
• Brick Break
• Swords Dance
• Stone Edge
• Rock Slide
• Fire Fang
• Ice Punch
• Poison Fang
• Thunder Punch

Analysis:

Megas were based on popularity but somehow a Pokemon from NU got a Mega and type addition of Fairy and man is fairy good with Dragon immunity. Having both Steel and Fairy gives it the two best defensive typings in the game with all of Fairy's weaknesses (Poison and Steel) covered by Steel granting Poison immunity and canceling Steel. The reverse is true for Fairy covering Steel's weakness to Fighting. When all things are said, Mega Mawile is only weak to Fire and Ground but providing 4 normal, 7 half, 1 quarter, and 2 immunity.

Typing is only half the battle and Mega Mawile stats don't seem that strong except for the fact it gets Huge Power therefore doubling its Attack stats. That's not all folks because Mawile can have Intimidate, the Pokemon effectively has two abilities being able to use Intimidate on entry then transform to get its Huge Power. All of sudden Mega Mawile has a slight chance of making it in OU metagame with it's raw damage and fantastic defensive typing. Not everything is good though. That great Attack stat comes with a pitiful 50 base Speed that forces Mawile to be bulky.

Potential Movesets

Swords Dance
Nature: Admant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Currently Unnamed Mega Mawile Megastone
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Sdef
- Swords Dance
- Rough Play
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head/Ice Punch/Stone Edge/Thunder Punch

One of Mawile's old NU sets, one Swords Dance allows Attack to skyrocket when combined with Huge Power and the extra 20 Base Attack from the Mega form. Good typing and bulk can let it survive a few hits and STAB Rough Play can easily OHKO popular OU Pokemon. Sucker Punch gives Mawile invaluable priority to KO low health/fast speed threats. The last ability would be coverage but would be dependent on the meta.

Attacker
Nature: Admant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Currently Unnamed Mega Mawile Megastone
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Sdef
- Rough Play
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch/Stone Edge/Thunder Punch

Swords Dance wants to Sucker Punch really really badly. A mixed attacker set would allow Mawile to get more coverage and not seem too predictable while trading away sweeping power.

Sub Split
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Currently Unnamed Mega Mawile Megastone
EVs: 252 ATK / 172 Def / 84 Spe
- Substitute
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit/Rough Play
- Pain Split

Subsplit them and then predict them to death. No STAB or anything but you won't need it. I put all that in Def because with that much investment, you can take an EQ from pretty much everyone unbanded except STAB powerhouses, and you can pain split the guy who used it and fuck them up. Fire, in many cases, will OHKO even with max investment, and you're better off just Sucker Punching or switching out. That and it's neutral to more physical types than special. Speed investment is to outrun Jellicent so you don't get whisped or anything else.


Counters & Checks

Fire and Ground types are the best checks and counters due to Mawile's pitiful 50 Speed. There really is no shortage of OU that can learn EQ or some type of fire move and unless Mawile uses Sucker Punch it will always take damage first. On that note, Sucker Punch can also involve the opponent outplaying Mawile and creating a sweep threat or giving free turns to set up entry hazards.

Synergy

Mega Mawile can make a decent lead Pokemon with it's strong defensive typing and decent bulk. It can then hit hard with it's STABs or Swords Dance to hit harder later. If not you need to bait out Mawile's two threat types to leave the opponent with no real answer. Doubles could be where Mawile really shines due to Trick Room, turning its low Spd into an advantage allowing it to run rampant with it's Huge Power Atk Stat and strong STABS on the opposing team.

Personal opinions

I like Mega Mawile. It's how all the Megas should be - providing interesting ability or type changes that change how the Pokemon is played over just a stat boost. We're still very early into the game and with new information that parents are now easily passing their moves it's plausible that Mawile could learn more priority +1 moves to make it viable in the OU meta. One can still dream about a Mawile with Bullet Punch.

PS - First time doing this. Hope it's decent.

 

[AccidentalGreed]

No mention of Foul Play? For shame!

People have been discussing the possibility of Foul Play + Huge Power Mawile for months before the game's release, and if people are unaware, Foul Play basically applies the Huge Power boost against any threat, effectively dealing huge, HUGE damage to any physical attacker that isn't resistant to Dark. Even Metagross is OHKO'd thanks to Dark's neutrality to Steel and effectiveness against Psychic now. This didn't even take into account that Mawile's base Attack stat would even be changed; we know now, however, that thanks to the boost in Attack the Mawile can still afford to invest in defenses.

So I think I'd add a defensive attacking set somewhere here. I'm sure the guys who know about Foul Play will help ya!

 

[Mattman324]

Hmm, if it's gonna run Foul Play, would a Choice Scarf set work? What items would even boost Foul Play's power, anyway, if Huge Power will?

Choice Scarf loses the Huge Power and the Mega Evo, though. (gah, ninjad! Have to say something more!)

Can this thing get Work Up or some other method of attack boosting? IIRC when I was reading the Malimar thread it said that stat boosts effect Foul Play as well.

EDIT: Herpaderp Swords Dance. Well, THAT would be deadly. Effectively getting a 4x power Foul Play, you're OHKOing a lot with that.

 

[Thorhammer]

Isn't it stat boosts on the opponent that affect Foul Play? That's how it always felt like it worked with my Malimar ingame, but I haven't verified. Would be odd if both did.

Recall that Mega Evolutions cannot hold items. Mega Mawile can still hit pretty hard despite this.

Aaaaaaaa, right right right.

 

[Shroomisaur]

Mega Mawile is going to be fearsome. It has the stats, the ability, and the typing. Solid defenses with tons of great resists and Intimidate means Mawile will be guaranteed to have a chance to set up easily, and with an SD on top of his already insane Attack... watch out. Obviously its biggest problem is Speed, so Sucker Punch is key for priority, but it's always a dicey prediction game relying on that.

Mawile's also going to have trouble getting around Steel types, as they resist his STABs and he doesn't get EQ to really hurt them. That final moveslot is going to be a tossup between Iron Head or Thunder Punch/coverage moves. Heatran looks like a solid switch in thanks to no EQ fears, but nothing is going to want to take boosted hits from this guy. Nothing.

As for Foul Play... yes it's powerful, but Mawile has 105 base attack anyway and STAB options will still have more power. What would you replace for it? If you ran a defensive set with it, your other moves would drastically drop in power, so I'm curious as to how you would build around it....

 

[silenced]

Hmm, I feel a SubSplit set should get a mention at the very least. Substitute + Pain Split would help both mawile forms in my opinion, allowing it to abuse its measly HP while weakening most pokemon to the point where it becomes too dangerous to attack it because it can use sucker punch to KO after abusing subsplit enough times. I'm not sure what the EV's for such a set should be though, but enough speed to outrun jellicent with the rest placed into attack and HP should do the trick.

 

[Haruno]

Am I the only one that thinks sucker punch + pursuit makes for one hellish combination? so mawile can function as a fairly decent pursuit trapper since mons that you would want to pursuit would hesitate to attack as well due to sucker punch. It also has nice coverage moves to take advantage of. Overall it still has lackluster speed even factoring in sticky web but it could be used on tr I guess.

 

[Runic]

Sub Split
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Currently Unnamed Mega Mawile Megastone
EVs: 252 ATK / 172 Def / 84 Spe
- Substitute
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit/Rough Play
- Pain Split

Subsplit them and then predict them to death. No STAB or anything but you won't need it. I put all that in Def because with that much investment, you can take an EQ from pretty much everyone unbanded except STAB powerhouses, and you can pain split the guy who used it and fuck them up. Fire, in many cases, will OHKO even with max investment, and you're better off just Sucker Punching or switching out. That and it's neutral to more physical types than special. Speed investment is to outrun Jellicent so you don't get whisped or any horrid bullshit like that.

 

[silenced]

Sub Split
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Currently Unnamed Mega Mawile Megastone
EVs: 252 ATK / 252 Def / 4 Sdef
- Substitute
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Pain Split

Subsplit them and then predict them to death. No STAB or anything but you won't need it. I put all that in Def because with max investment, you can take an EQ from pretty much everyone unbanded except Landorus-T, and you can pain split the guy who used it and fuck them up. Fire, in many cases, will OHKO even with max investment, and you're better off just Sucker Punching or switching out. That and it's neutral to more physical types than special.

Glad someone took that idea on board. A few things though
-You may want enough speed EV's to outrun Jellicent though, as getting burned by WoW/Scald before setting up your sub would really suck.
-Possibly slash a fairy move with pursuit, just so you have a nice STAB attack to abuse, as mono dark is asking for trouble from terrakion especially, as well as being bait for most other fighting types. Also hitting non lati dragons before they boost and EQ you is a good idea too. I think Dark/Fairy also gets good, if not perfect neutral coverage these days in OU, since fairy doesn't resist itself (although I've probably missed something there).

 

[angry barbaracle]

Heatran and Ferrothorn resist Fairy/Steel, Fairy/Dark and Dark/Steel. Mawile can't do much to them except by using Brick Break or Fire Fang, which are weak and waste a moveslot.
Mawile really has been blessed with Steel/Fairy. It may be one of the most efficient Mega Gengar checks thanks to it, being neutral to Focus Blast, resisting Shadow Ball and then using Pursuit, Sucker Punch or even Iron Head to defeat it, switching in as it Mega Evolves so Shadow Tag doesn't become an issue later in the battle. It can also check Alakazam, Reuniclus, most OU dragons, most fairies and even Aegislash in some cases, among others. Mawile has a lot of potential.

 

[Cipher Admin Lovrina]

Heatran and Ferrothorn resist Fairy/Steel, Fairy/Dark and Dark/Steel. Mawile can't do much to them except by using Brick Break or Fire Fang, which are weak and waste a moveslot.
Mawile really has been blessed with Steel/Fairy. It may be one of the most efficient Mega Gengar checks thanks to it, being neutral to Focus Blast, resisting Shadow Ball and then using Pursuit, Sucker Punch or even Iron Head to defeat it, switching in as it Mega Evolves so Shadow Tag doesn't become an issue later in the battle. It can also check Alakazam, Reuniclus, most OU dragons, most fairies and even Aegislash in some cases, among others. Mawile has a lot of potential.

Actually, the Steel Type has lost a few resistances--it's a double-edged sword really, but it means that Heatran and Ferrothorn don't resist Sucker Punch or any Dark moves anymore. Does anybody have a spread or set for Mega Mawile? I can't decide if I wanna go Adamant max hp and attack or a more defensive set like Careful or Impish. Max HP is a must, but the defenses are something that we can tweak, I think...

Play Rough/Iron Head/Sucker Punch/Swords Dance or Ice Punch or Brick Break or Thunder Punch Fire Fang. Also, is it true that Knock Off received a boost this gen?

 

[Upstart]

The mixed attacker set should really be called All-Out Attacker.

In terms of other possible sets

The Ravenous Tank
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Mawilte
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe (speed will change varying on how speed tiers develop)
- Substitute / Iron Head / Toxic
- Foul Play
- Rough Play
- Pain Split

 

[angry barbaracle]

Heatran and Ferrothorn won't take much from Pursuit or Sucker Punch, even if it isn't resisted. Ferrothorn also isn't likely to attack Mawile directly, but set up hazards or Leech Seed.
Mawile still isn't OHKOed by Shadow Ball though, so it can still bring up a mindgame with Sucker Punch/Pursuit after switching in while Gengar mega evolves. The best it can do is burn Mawile, and Will-O-Wisp doesn't look like it will be widespread in Mega Gengar sets.

 

[alexwolf]

The mixed attacker set should really be called All-Out Attacker.

In terms of other possible sets

The Ravenous Tank
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Mawilte
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe (speed will change varying on how speed tiers develop)
- Substitute / Iron Head
- Foul Play
- Rough Play
- Pain Split / Toxic

I think it would be better to use both Toxic and Pain Split and forfeit Iron Head / Substitute. Iron Head doesn't hit anything that Rough Play doesn't. The Rock-types of OU, Terrakion and Tyranitar, are hit harder by Rough Play than by Iron Head. So, you would only want Iron Head for Ice- and Fairy-types. Mamoswine outspeeds and OHKOes Mawile, while Azumarill is hit harder by Rough Play due to its neutrality to Steel. So, Iron Head is useful only for Togekiss and Abomasnow, both Pokemon that Mawile has no business dealing with, as the first often carries Fire Blast and can paraflinch Mawile (which is lethal when you lack Leftovers) and the second being a very strong special attacker in its Mega Forme, which also wears you down with residual. SubSeed regular Aboma also fucks up Mawile pretty badly, as Mawile loses 18% life each turn while being unable to heal with Pain Split due to Sub blocking it.

So, unless we have some other Fairy-types in OU that Iron Head hits super effectively and Mawile can actually switch into, Iron Head is not really worth using. Sub is in the same boat as Iron Head, pretty much useless. SubSplit is an effective strategy on Pokemon that have the Speed to use it. What's the point of using Sub if you can't even outspeed any status user and you don't even have lefties? You are better off using Toxic in the first slot, to cripple bulky Pokemon such as Hippowdon and Landorus-T. Or even Sucker Punch for some priority.

 

[Runic]

This thing is pretty slow, with its only priority move only working if the opponent does a damaging attack. Because of this, I'd imagine that it'd be pretty susceptible to stallers. However, it gets Taunt, which forces the opponent to switch or take a hit, which completely overrides that. I don't think Taunt deserves its own set, but I do suggest that you put down taunt as an option for the fourth move in the Swords Dance slot/third in the Mixed slot.

 

[Shadow-XIII]

While Mega-Mawile looks pretty solid, the real question would be: Is it WORTH that one mega evolution you have? As for foul play, doesn't sending in an intimidate mawile lower its power? While it seems like an excellent strategy, I think it depends more on what mega-mawl will be countering, since dragon types are already taken care of thanks to play rough, and a lot of special attackers (fire types DX) have lower attack than mega-mawl, making foul play obsolete.

 

[Cipher Admin Lovrina]

it should be noted that Ice punch was only availaible to dream world mawile, which means unless something changed in gen6 mawile cant use ice punch + intimidate

Actually, Mawile gets Ice Punch and Thunder Punch from the move tutors in Platinum, Heart Gold, and Soul Silver. The rarer moves on it are Body Slam, Counter, and Seismic Toss from Gen 3--none of which are really viable on Mega Mawile.

Hm, perhaps physically defensive Heatran will be something this generation? I'm pretty sure the specially defensive one is taking between 73.8% - 87% from a Swords Danced Sucker Punch from Mega Mawile. Even a fully physical one will get smacked with 53.6% - 63.2% damage. Of course, it would be foolish for Mawile to stay in anyway, but still, those are impressive numbers.

 

[Adzz]

I haven't yet confirmed if MegaMawile can learn swagger this gen, but its been able to in past gens so I am assuming yes. It would seem like an incredible pairing with Foul Play as it confuses its opponent while also giving a huge damage boost to its own Foul Play. The idea is to use swagger first turn and then use rough play/pain split/earthquake depending on the situation. If your opponent hurts itself due to confusion, great, but if the opponent pulls off an attack this can easily be remedied with a pain split. For a fourth move, Earthquake hitsall three types that would resist Rough Play for SE damage giving Mawile perfect coverage and more offensive capability. Substitute would also be a good option because it would provide defensive support, confusion + a substitute would make getting to Mawile very difficult.

Swagger MegaMawile
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Mawilite
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Hp / 4 Sdef
- Swagger
- Rough Play
- Pain Split
- Earthquake/Substitute

Mawile's biggest downside is it's speed, but this can easily be turned into an advantage with a trick room team which would turn MegaMawile into a beast of an offensive threat. However, outside of Trick Room I still believe that this move set can be a great addition to any team. I havent run any numbers or anything, but putting EVs from HP into speed might be one way to allow MegaMawile to get ahead of its opposition, but any feedback would be great, what does everyone think?

 

[Slayerblade]

Brave nature with A 0 speed IV might be A good option If you want it to be slower than Aegislash when it's in attack mode.

 

[Zeta5]

I remember when I first saw Mega Mawile. I think its gonna be amazing. The first thing that came to me was a set a lot like a certain Toxicroak in 5th gen

Mawile
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Mawilenite or whatever its called
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Sdef
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head/Ice Punch/Stone Edge/Thunder Punch/Play Rough/pain split
- Sucker punch

I could work but there's no recovery due to the lack of leftovers or healing move unless you really want to run pain split over a move which might ruin its offensive capabilities... I guess it all comes down to whether its steel/fairy typing can work wonders(or your opponent has no pokemon left to hit this super effectly or powerful enough).

 

[Runic]

How to Not Get Stalled
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Currently Unnamed Mega Mawile Megastone
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Swords Dance
- Rough Play
- Sucker Punch
- Taunt

 

[sidakarya]

Something that hasn't been mentioned is that M-Mawile will make a fantastic check to all-out attacking Lati@s. With a Careful nature and just 16 SpD EVs, it can avoid a 2HKO from anything other than Latios' HP Fire (which has been nerfed and might not see as much use) and either OHKO with Sucker Punch or use the switch-out as opportunity to set up. Even without an Atk-boosting nature it still has a ton of Attack already, so it doesn't sacrifice that much power.

EDIT: On that note, a bulky set could work quite well:

Nature: Careful
Ability: Intimidate -> Huge Power
Item: Mawilite
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Atk / 16 SDef / 84 Spe
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch / Crunch
- Iron Head
- Pain Split

This Mawile will work as a decent pivot that can check several Dragon and Fairy threats at once. After an initial Intimidate, M-Mawile can take non-STAB, non-boosted physical SE hit from the likes of Salamence and Dragonite with a 3HKO at worst. The 16 SDef lets it get away with only a 3HKO from any Latios set lacking HP Fire and survive a Modest Togekiss' Fire Blast. Pain Split is for recovery, which works well with Mawile's low HP. Bear in mind, that even with a neutral nature and 156 Atk EVs its actual attack is still a sky-high 570, amazing for a defensive mon.

EDIT the 2nd: Sorry, forgot Surf was nerfed too, so you only need 16 SpD to make LO Surf a 3HKO. It might also want some speed to outspeed Jellicent, and forgo Swords Dance for Pain Split.

 

[Sapientia]

I dont think, that Swords Dance makes much sense. You will rarely be able to attack after setting up a Swords Dance (unless with sucker punch), because of your low Speed and the fact that mons like Heatran easily One Hit you after a boost. And even if you can KO something you are really easy to revenge kill.

Considering it's really good defensive typing and it's decent bulk I would run something defensive that still hits hard due to Huge Power. With little invest in Atk you should still be able to do massive damage to any mon that is switching in.

Would play something like Pain Splite, Play Rough, Crunch / Sucker Punch / Foul Play / Pursuit.
Pain Split for Recovery, Fairy + Dark for perfect coverage and a filler.
EVs obviously max HP, some defence and rest atk.

 

[Gold Geno]

Has nobody thought to use Mawile's Intimidate and Mega Mawile's Huge Power to scare out Pokemon and set up substitute? It would give it a damage buffer to fall back on and keep the opponent second guessing. If you need a move to deal with Steel types, look no further than Brick Break. Then, just round it out with Iron Head and Play Rough for your STAB options.

 

[sidakarya]

It was mentioned in the Cores thread, one excellent teammate for M-Mawile is Salamence. Their type resistances fit together perfectly, and both of them are bulky and have Intimidate at the start. Special defensive M-Mawile checks the Latis and Togekiss while Mence's usual coverage moves destroy Steels. They can form a very nice offensive core.