Holiday
on my best behavior
Malamar has always been one of my favorite Gen 6 pokemon, and his performance in XY PU looks promising. Most of his qualities come from his Ability, Contrary, giving him a boost for every stat drop, and vice versa. The best 3 ways for this are: Sticky Web, giving him a Choice Scarf essentially, Superpower, giving him a Bulk Up, and Defog, giving him +1 Evasion (gimmicky, but still there.) 92 Atk and 73 Spe aren't exactly the best, but when the opportunities arise, he can easily snag a boost to dent the opposition. 86/88/75 Bulk is decent, especially with this typing giving him only two weaknesses. This could merit to a RestTalk Set.
Malamar @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Superpower
- Night Slash/Psycho Cut
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Superpower
- Night Slash/Psycho Cut
Of course, the more popular sets will be the Life Orb attacker and the Choice Scarf sets.
Malamar @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Taunt/Rock Slide
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Taunt/Rock Slide
Malamar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Switcheroo
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Switcheroo
Not all is well with Malamar. As previously stated, his stats are just enough to pull of the sets he can run. Despite having only 2 weaknesses, a x4 weakness to Bug is not good, especially with all the U-Turn users in the tier (as well as Megahorn Samurott.) Also, Malamar is pretty dependent on his item, and with Knock Off lurking everywhere, this can definitely limit his synergy with teammates; however, despite these flaws, I can see Malamar being a solid Pokemon should it get moved down to PU.
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