[TM13IceBeam]

Originally Posted by Fat slowking

Just finished my run of Black 2 with a team of Arcanine, Jellicent, Espeon, Mandibuzz (Weak Armor), Mienshao and Gliscor. The tiering for Arcanine, Jellicent and Espeon seems pretty accurate so I won't be talking about them. I'll give my two cents on Mandibuzz in this post:

Availability: Route 4. Can be caught as early as before Gym 3. She comes at Level 25, which will be around the same level, if not higher than your other team members.

Stats: Extremely defensive (110/105/95), especially at the point you get her as your other team members will still probably be NFE. Nothing can OHKO her, not even SE attacks. Offenses are disappointing, but has decent speed.

Typing: Dark/Flying is probably one of the best typings for the E4. It gives you a typing advantage/resistance against every member.

Movepool: You can go offensive with a Nasty Plot set with NP/Dark Pulse/Air Slash/Roost - yes her offenses are weak but she has the defenses to set up - or you can go defensive with Toxic/Fly/Foul Play/Roost @ Leftovers. Protect is preferred over Roost, but it requires BP grinding at the Subway/PWT. I went with the defensive set, and whilst it often failed to one-shot opponents, it rarely ever got close to being KO'd.

Major Battles: Great against Burgh (minus Dwebble). Poor against Elesa. Clay's STAB doesn't affect her but his Pokes have SE coverage moves (and Weak Armor becomes annoying here). The remaining gyms won't do much to Mandibuzz, but it's not like she'll be doing much back either - so she's only used as a filler most of the time. She fails against Colress, too. Once you get Toxic however, you can pretty much stall out any non-Steel/Poison Pokemon with little trouble.

Mandibuzz doesn't really shine until the E4. Shauntal becomes a joke - her Drifblim's Thunderbolt can't even 2HKO you (note that my Mandibuzz did have a Careful nature). Grimsley's team can be stalled out, apart from Bisharp. Weak Armor does become a burden after a couple of defense drops though, so you'll probably have to switch out at some point. Caitlin is a joke (again, not even SE attacks will do significant damage, plus special attacks won't activate Weak Armor). Marshall is also manageable by spamming Fly, though admittedly you'd probably have a team member that's more effective against him. Mandibuzz slays Iris' Haxorus with ease with two Foul Plays (Haxorus will never OHKO, and your Foul Play will do just enough to not bring it down to Focus Sash/Full Restore range).

Additional Comments: The strategy to using Mandibuzz is to exploit her high defenses and out-stall opponents - which is why she probably wouldn't appeal to people who prefer a speed run. She isn't the Pokemon for you if you plan on sweeping through teams with a single attack. Weak Armor as an ability is also a let down, but the effects don't become noticeable until after 2-3 defense drops. Being only available on Thursdays and in Black 2 also diminishes its accessibility. But, being one of the Pokemon with the highest defensive stats in the game means that she'll often be one of the last members standing in your team. If you're looking for a fun to use Pokemon that can adopt a different strategy to other offensive powerhouses, Mandibuzz is certainly not a bad choice. For that reason, I believe she deserves a solid mid tier placement.

i was under the impression that mandibuzz was uncatchable until after burgh thanks to team crustle

np + snarl is pretty decent when you get her and is immediately available, and imo you should just go offense since mandibuzz is bulky enough to sustain some hits even with weak armor (which makes her go faster). air slash and dark pulse don't come until stupidly late (around marlon or before him) so she's stuck with basically np/snarl/pluck or AA/faint attack all the way until humilau because for some stupid reason most of her good tutor moves (heat wave, roost) are in there too.

@zandock: SD Return? return has excellent neutral coverage with force palm, only failing to hit ghosts which you can smack with dark pulse. lucario isn't really mid imo