Musharna (old kiyo wins again, CLASSIC)

[Kiyo]

[OVERVIEW]

• Catch-all check to physical attackers
• Great stop to one of the meta's biggest threats in sawk
• Superior to Mesprit as a pivot due to recovery and sweeping potential
• Solid movepool options that can keep the opponent guessing
• Ability to 6-0 teams from preview

[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psychic / Psyshock
move 3: Moonlight
move 4: Signal Beam / Baton Pass
item: Leftovers / Colbur Berry
ability: Synchronize
nature: Bold
evs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpDef

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Calm Mind lets Musharna beat strong special attackers such as Sceptile, Pyroar, and Magmortar after some boosts, allowing Musharna some offensive presence is also great coming off of that base 107 special attack stat.
• Psychic is great for hitting Gurdurr and anything without an Assault Vest hard.
• Psyshock weaker straight off the bat but allows Musharna to get past things such as Magmortar and Hariyama easier, it also allows Musharna to win Calm Mind wars versus things such as Mega Audino.
• Moonlight is Musharna's best means of recovery, allowing it to regain 50% of its HP against everything but Snow Warning Aurorus.
• Signal Beam lets Musharna hit the Dark-types that are a common answer to it.
• Baton Pass lets Musharna pass Calm Mind boosts to fast special attackers such as Pyroar and Sceptile.
• Thunder Wave slows down the fast threats that Musharna is often faced with, and can provide extra set up opportunities and spare you turns of recovery with paralysis.
• Heal Bell keeps Musharna and its team free of status, which can be appealing for a mono-attacker but should often be left to more support oriented roles.

Set Details
========

• EVs and nature hit a Leftovers number while providing the most optimal bulk to take on the tier's many physical attackers.
• Synchronize gives Musharna a way to punish Pokemon looking to status it.
• Leftovers gives Musharna some passive recovery that can turn 2HKOs into 3HKOs after Musharna has taken a hit or two. Colbur Berry is another great option if Musharna will act as your team's primary Fighting-type check, as it allows it to switch into powerful Knock Offs more easily.

Usage Tips
========

• Make sure you're at a high enough HP to switch into and avoid the 2hko from strong physical attackers such as Sawk and Tauros. Musharna can easily get worn down throughout the course of a match, so keeping this in mind can be vital to your success.
• Take set-up opportunities when given, but only if you feel you have the ability to sweep. A full HP Skuntank, a Steelix known to have Toxic, and a number of other things can easily cut a sweep short.
• Baton Pass can be useful to pivot out of weaker Pokemon, or those choice locked into a move Musharna deals with. Baton Pass also has the ability to avoid giving Pursuit users like Skuntank the damage boost from a switch. This can be great to get your offensive threats into favorable matchups.

Team Options
========

• Fighting-types such as Gurdurr, Hariyama, and Sawk are great for switching into and threatening the Dark-types that plague Musharna.
• Grounded Poison-types such as Garbodor and Skuntank are able to absorb Toxic Spikes that plague Musharna. They also have ways to beat some of the most common Dark-type Pokemon.
• Rapid Spin and Defog users such as Pelipper, Mantine, Sandslash, Kabutops, etc. can clear the field of entry hazards that turn 3hkos on Musharna into 2hkos.
• Baton Pass recipients: Fast special attackers can pair well with sets using Calm Mind and Baton Pass, good examples include: Floatzel, Pyroar, and Sceptile.

[SET]
name: Barrier
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Barrier
move 3: Moonlight
move 4: Stored Power
item: Leftovers / Colbur Berry
ability: Synchronize
nature: Bold
evs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpDef

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Calm Mind both boosts Musharna's Special Attack and Special Defense, and raises the base power of Stored Power.
• Barrier makes Musharna incredibly hard to kill and can increase the base power of Stored Power.
• Moonlight gives Musharna a recovery option to help it succeed against Pokemon that can still deal significant damage to Musharna after a few boosts.
• Stored Power can hit anywhere between 20 and 360 base power, given the number of boosts Musharna has. This can get scary pretty quickly if your opponent is not well equipped to deal with it.

Set Details
========

• EVs and nature hit a Leftovers number while providing the most optimal bulk to take on the tier's many physical attackers.
• Synchronize gives Musharna a way to punish Pokemon looking to status it.
• An specially defensive EV spread can be utilized to give Musharna more set-up opportunities versus special attackers. (I forgot the spread, but I'll try to edit it in later unless someone posts it)
• Leftovers gives Musharna some passive recovery that can turn 2HKOs into 3HKOs after Musharna has taken a hit or two. Colbur Berry is another great option if Musharna will act as your team's primary Fighting-type check, as it allows it to switch into powerful Knock Offs more easily.

Usage Tips
========

• This Musharna set can be used to pivot in and out of strong physical attackers throughout the match; however, its main focus is on running through teams late game. This set struggles to deal damage immediately, making it generally worse at pivoting in the early game.
• Removing Dark-types, Toxic Spikes, and any potential Toxic users on the opposing team is key to ensuring a clean sweep with Stored Power.
• It is possible to beat Dark-type Pokemon that Musharna cannot damage through means of passive damage such as Life Orb, poison, and burn. Given the ease at which Musharna can boost its defensive stats, setting up on a statused or weak Dark-type equipped with a Life Orb can be plausible.

Team Options
========

• Fighting-types such as Gurdurr, Hariyama, and Sawk are great for switching into and threatening the Dark-types that plague Musharna.
• Heal Bell and Healing Wish users can give Musharna a second chance at a sweep if you were reluctant to scout for status moves earlier in the match. Mega Audino can both Heal Bell status away from Musharna and check the Dark-types that trouble it.
• Pokemon that can lure in and weaken Skuntank such as HP Ground Psychic-types and Earthquake Sceptile can make quick work of Musharna's number one stop.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Curse + Baton Pass
• Offensive Trick Room
• Magic Coat
• Energy Ball
• Hidden Power Ground
• Kee Berry
• Choice Specs

Checks and Counters
===================

**Dark-type Pokemon**: Dark-type Pokemon such as Liepard, Pawniard, and Skuntank are immune to Musharna's STAB moves and can hit it for super effective damage. Pawniard and Skuntank only take neutral damage from Signal Beam, and Skuntank can shut Musharna down with Taunt.

**Status**: Burn and poison decrease Musharna's longevity considerably and make it difficult for it to pivot into powerful attackers later in the game. Toxic poison can be one of the best checks to Stored Power Musharna due to the increasing damage per turn.

**Taunt**: Pokemon such as Mismagius, Pyroar, and Skuntank that commonly run Taunt are able to shut down both Musharna's primary means of stat boosting and recovery, making it fairly useless until it can switch out. Skuntank can also prevent Baton Passing Musharna's from escaping its Pursuit with Taunt.

**Powerful Wallbreakers**: Powerful Wallbreakers such as Choice Specs Pyroar, Choice Specs Sceptile, and Work Up Tauros can be difficult for Musharna to deal with given any prior damage, especially considering Musharna will often have to use Moonlight multiple times to avoid a 2HKO from one of their attacks.

**Bug-types**: Bug-types such as Pinsir and Scyther can boost their stats and hit Musharna for super effective damage, both often carry Choice Band and can deal huge chunks of damage without a boost as well.

**Quagsire**: While Stored Power variants can get past Quagsire as its power gets boosted regardless of Unaware, standard Calm Mind variants will struggle to break through Quagsire with boosting alone.

 

[Kiyo]

Hey this is really poorly written, I know. It's my first analysis in a while but its ready for QC, tear it apart boys.

 

[erisia]

Overview should really emphasise that Musharna's sweeping ability is the reason to use it over Mesprit as a pivot, as it lacks Stealth Rock, U-turn, and other nice attributes that Mesprit has.

Mention that Psyshock and Stored Power both allow Musharna to boost up alongside other Calm Mind sweepers such as Mega Audino and eventually beat them by bypassing SpD boosts and ridiculous base power respectively, crits notwithstanding.

Mention that the Stored Power set can't KO things immediately in an emergency, making it worse as a general pivot.

Colbur Berry is pretty self-explanatory but you should probably have a sentence somewhere identifying when to use it over Leftovers on both sets.

Mega Audino could be mentioned as a specific teammate for the Stored Power set as it can be both a Dark-type check and a Heal Bell / Wish supporter at once.

Quagsire should probably be in Checks and Counters if Energy Ball is in Other Options. Tbh I would probably just get rid of Energy Ball since Quagsire is like its only target and you're better off using something like Mesprit if you're trying to do that. Same with Hidden Power Ground imo.

Also not sure about speed creep in analyses but should the 16 EVs on both sets go into Speed so you can do things like outrun uninvested Steelix and Baton Pass away before it uses Toxic? Or is that not allowed for such a low number? Weird Base 29 Speed.

 

[Kiyo]

did those things, minus the point about 16 speed evs to outrun lix i don't think its a bad idea but i'll want confirmation before doing it because im lazy.

 

[erisia]

Bolts said mentioning 16 Speed EVs was fine in set comments and doesn't need to be the main set, so once that's done QC 1/3 from me.

 

[Blast]

[OVERVIEW]

• Catch-all check to physical attackers
• Great stop to one of the meta's biggest threats in sawk
• Superior to Mesprit as a pivot due to recovery and sweeping potential
• Solid movepool options that can keep the opponent guessing
• Ability to 6-0 teams from preview

make sure you add some negatives to here too, it has 4mss and moonlight pp + lack of resistances can make it easy to pressure
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psychic / Psyshock
move 3: Moonlight
move 4: Signal Beam / Baton Pass
item: Leftovers / Colbur Berry
ability: Synchronize
nature: Bold
evs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpDef

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Calm Mind lets Musharna beat strong special attackers such as Sceptile, Pyroar, and Magmortar after some boosts, allowing Musharna some offensive presence is also great coming off of that base 107 special attack stat.
• Psychic is great for hitting Gurdurr and anything without an Assault Vest hard.
• Psyshock weaker straight off the bat but allows Musharna to get past things such as Magmortar and Hariyama easier, it also allows Musharna to win Calm Mind wars versus things such as Mega Audino.
• Moonlight is Musharna's best means of recovery, allowing it to regain 50% of its HP against everything but Snow Warning Aurorus. and abomasnow
  
• Signal Beam lets Musharna hit the Dark-types that are a common answer to it. give some examples of darks
  
• Baton Pass lets Musharna pass Calm Mind boosts to fast special attackers such as Pyroar and Sceptile. mention it can also allow it to keep momentum up early-game by dry passing
  
• Thunder Wave slows down the fast threats that Musharna is often faced with, and can provide extra set up opportunities and spare you turns of recovery with paralysis.
• Heal Bell keeps Musharna and its team free of status, which can be appealing for a mono-attacker but should often be left to more support oriented roles.

Set Details
========

• EVs and nature hit a Leftovers number while providing the most optimal bulk to take on the tier's many physical attackers.
• Synchronize gives Musharna a way to punish Pokemon looking to status it.
• Leftovers gives Musharna some passive recovery that can turn 2HKOs into 3HKOs after Musharna has taken a hit or two. Colbur Berry is another great option if Musharna will act as your team's primary Fighting-type check, as it allows it to switch into powerful Knock Offs more easily.

Usage Tips
========

• Make sure you're at a high enough HP to switch into and avoid the 2hko from strong physical attackers such as Sawk and Tauros. Musharna can easily get worn down throughout the course of a match, so keeping this in mind can be vital to your success.
• Take set-up opportunities when given, but only if you feel you have the ability to sweep. A full HP Skuntank, a Steelix known to have Toxic, and a number of other things can easily cut a sweep short.
• Baton Pass can be useful to pivot out of weaker Pokemon, or those choice locked into a move Musharna deals with. Baton Pass also has the ability to avoid giving Pursuit users like Skuntank the damage boost from a switch. This can be great to get your offensive threats into favorable matchups.

Team Options
========

• Fighting-types such as Gurdurr, Hariyama, and Sawk are great for switching into and threatening the Dark-types that plague Musharna.
• Grounded Poison-types such as Garbodor and Skuntank are able to absorb Toxic Spikes that plague Musharna. They also have ways to beat some of the most common Dark-type Pokemon.
• Rapid Spin and Defog users such as Pelipper, Mantine, Sandslash, Kabutops, etc. can clear the field of entry hazards that turn 3hkos on Musharna into 2hkos.
• Baton Pass recipients: Fast special attackers can pair well with sets using Calm Mind and Baton Pass, good examples include: Floatzel, Pyroar, and Sceptile.

[SET]
name: Barrier
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Barrier
move 3: Moonlight
move 4: Stored Power
item: Leftovers / Colbur Berry
ability: Synchronize
nature: Bold
evs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpDef

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Calm Mind both boosts Musharna's Special Attack and Special Defense, and raises the base power of Stored Power.
• Barrier makes Musharna incredibly hard to kill and can increase the base power of Stored Power.
• Moonlight gives Musharna a recovery option to help it succeed against Pokemon that can still deal significant damage to Musharna after a few boosts.
• Stored Power can hit anywhere between 20 and 360 base power, given the number of boosts Musharna has. This can get scary pretty quickly if your opponent is not well equipped to deal with it.

Set Details
========

• EVs and nature hit a Leftovers number while providing the most optimal bulk to take on the tier's many physical attackers.
• Synchronize gives Musharna a way to punish Pokemon looking to status it.
• An specially defensive EV spread can be utilized to give Musharna more set-up opportunities versus special attackers. (I forgot the spread, but I'll try to edit it in later unless someone posts it)
• Leftovers gives Musharna some passive recovery that can turn 2HKOs into 3HKOs after Musharna has taken a hit or two. Colbur Berry is another great option if Musharna will act as your team's primary Fighting-type check, as it allows it to switch into powerful Knock Offs more easily.

Usage Tips
========

• This Musharna set can be used to pivot in and out of strong physical attackers throughout the match; however, its main focus is on running through teams late game. This set struggles to deal damage immediately, making it generally worse at pivoting in the early game.
• Removing Dark-types, Toxic Spikes, and any potential Toxic users on the opposing team is key to ensuring a clean sweep with Stored Power.
• It is possible to beat Dark-type Pokemon that Musharna cannot damage through means of passive damage such as Life Orb, poison, and burn. Given the ease at which Musharna can boost its defensive stats, setting up on a statused or weak Dark-type equipped with a Life Orb can be plausible.

Team Options
========

• Fighting-types such as Gurdurr, Hariyama, and Sawk are great for switching into and threatening the Dark-types that plague Musharna.
• Heal Bell and Healing Wish users can give Musharna a second chance at a sweep if you were reluctant to scout for status moves earlier in the match. Mega Audino can both Heal Bell status away from Musharna and check the Dark-types that trouble it.
• Pokemon that can lure in and weaken Skuntank such as HP Ground Psychic-types and Earthquake Sceptile can make quick work of Musharna's number one stop.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Curse + Baton Pass
• Offensive Trick Room
• Magic Coat
• Energy Ball
• Hidden Power Ground
• Kee Berry
• Choice Specs

Checks and Counters
===================

**Dark-type Pokemon**: Dark-type Pokemon such as Liepard, Pawniard, and Skuntank are immune to Musharna's STAB moves and can hit it for super effective damage. Pawniard and Skuntank only take neutral damage from Signal Beam, and Skuntank can shut Musharna down with Taunt.

**Status**: Burn and poison decrease Musharna's longevity considerably and make it difficult for it to pivot into powerful attackers later in the game. Toxic poison can be one of the best checks to Stored Power Musharna due to the increasing damage per turn.

**Taunt**: Pokemon such as Mismagius, Pyroar, and Skuntank that commonly run Taunt are able to shut down both Musharna's primary means of stat boosting and recovery, making it fairly useless until it can switch out. Skuntank can also prevent Baton Passing Musharna's from escaping its Pursuit with Taunt.

**Powerful Wallbreakers**: Powerful Wallbreakers such as Choice Specs Pyroar, Choice Specs Sceptile, and Work Up Tauros can be difficult for Musharna to deal with given any prior damage, especially considering Musharna will often have to use Moonlight multiple times to avoid a 2HKO from one of their attacks.

**Bug-types**: Bug-types such as Pinsir and Scyther can boost their stats and hit Musharna for super effective damage, both often carry Choice Band and can deal huge chunks of damage without a boost as well.

**Quagsire**: While Stored Power variants can get past Quagsire as its power gets boosted regardless of Unaware, standard Calm Mind variants will struggle to break through Quagsire with boosting alone.

add aboma and aurorus somewhere too

You know the drill, QC 2/3 afterward

 

[Hootie]

Kiyo write this up soon please

 

[boltsandbombers]

Kiyo If this isnt written up in 3 days I'm reassigning, Musharna is a pretty important mon and it's been almost 4 weeks since you last edited the OP.

 

[Kiyo]

Kiyo If this isnt written up in 3 days I'm reassigning, Musharna is a pretty important mon and it's been almost 4 weeks since you last edited the OP.

thanks for the free likes fuckers.

 

[Kiyo]

Kiyo If this isnt written up in 3 days I'm reassigning, Musharna is a pretty important mon and it's been almost 4 weeks since you last edited the OP.

Remind me to do this tonight on Skype plz

will do - bolts

finally - hootie

 

[boltsandbombers]

this is being reassigned; locked and moved