[Overview]
<p>After two generations of being completely ignored, Mawile finally has a chance to shine thanks to its Dream World ability, Sheer Force. Combined with an adequate movepool and priority moves, Mawile is now able to strike fear in all those who oppose it. Sadly, its stats are still sub-par and setting up can be difficult in a tier dominated by Pokemon who can easily take Mawile on before it sets up, such as Braviary, Magmortar, and Camerupt. However, don't let Mawile's gentle appearance deceive you, for if you underestimate it, Mawile will seize the advantage.</p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Fire Fang
move 4: Sucker Punch / Crunch
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly
evs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Mawile's new ability, Sheer Force, it is now able to compete with the big boys of NU in terms of 'sheer' firepower. Thanks to its excellent defensive typing and decent bulk, Mawile can set up a Swords Dance and skyrocket to a high 538 Attack, subject to further increase by Life Orb and Sheer Force. Iron Head provides reliable STAB, while Fire Fang rounds off its coverage decently, as Water-types in NU are few and far between. Both attacks are boosted by Sheer Force. Mawile has the option of using either Sucker Punch or Crunch as its last move. Sucker Punch provides good priority for Mawile to hit faster opponents, but Crunch gets boosted by Sheer Force and enables you to take out Misdreavus, even if it uses Will-O-Wisp. After a Swords Dance boost, Mawile's Iron Head is powerful enough to 2HKO defensive Pokemon resisting it, such as Mantine, or tanks, such as Eviolite Tangela.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs are pretty straightforward: max Attack for the most damage output, 228 Speed EVs and a Jolly nature to outspeed max Speed Adamant Torterra, and the rest go into HP to help Mawile take a hit slightly better. Mawile prefers to run Sucker Punch over Crunch for the much needed priority, so a teammate that can easily deal with Misdreavus, such as Haunter is recommended; Haunter is also immune to Ground- and Fighting-type moves that Mawile is weak to. Lickilicky has no trouble dealing with Misdreavus either, and can provide Mawile with cleric support; however, it should be noted that Lickilicky shares a Fighting-type weakness with Mawile. Despite the skyrocketing power of Mawile at +2 Attack, it nonetheless greatly appreciates hazard support from Stealth Rocks and Spikes to make its job easier. With Stealth Rock, Mawile is capable of OHKOing Mantine with Crunch; with Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes, Mawile has a high chance of OHKO'ing the omnipresent specially defensive Camerupt. The only counter Mawile can't break past even with Stealth Rock and Spikes support is Quagsire although this is easily remedied with Cacturne, who is also capable of providing Spikes support. Keep in mind that partnering Mawile and Cacturne amounts to a compounded Fire- and Fighting-type weaknesses.</p>
[SET]
name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Taunt
move 4: Substitute / Iron Head
item: Leftovers
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP/ 28 Def / 228 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Another niche that Mawile occupies is being the only Baton Pass using Steel-type in the tier. This set takes advantage of Intimidate and enables Mawile to Baton Pass a Swords Dance to a teammate who can then sweep more easily. Taunt lets it combat slower Taunt users, walls, and phazers. Taunt gives it something to differentiate itself from other Baton Pass users such as Ninjask, who quiver in fear of a well timed Roar, Whirlwind, or Haze. In the last slot, Mawile can choose to use Iron Head or Substitute. Iron Head allows Mawile to hit a Pokemon hard, making the most out of its Attack boost before using Baton Pass, while avoiding being set-up fodder. However, with Substitute it can prevent itself from getting inflicted with burn from the likes of Pokemon such as Misdreavus, and along with Taunt will provide Mawile the opportunity to Baton Pass more boosts and possibly even the Substitute itself.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The Speed EVs and Jolly nature allow Mawile to outspeed Adamant Torterra and most walls who will inevitably switch in. With this EV spread, Mawile can outspeed walls and Taunt them, or use Baton Pass to escape before Torterra can hit with its Earthquake. A more offensive spread of 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spe can be used with Iron Head to take more advantage of Mawile's Sword Dance, hitting opposing Pokemon hard before Mawile is forced to use a last minute Baton Pass out to a teammate. This however is not recommended as Mawile's primary objective should be to get as many boosts as possible to give out to teammates. Mawile can also use Iron Defense over Swords Dance to pass defense boosts, most notably to set-up Pokemon such as Calm Mind Mesprit, whose path to becoming an offensive juggernaut is made easier. Mesprit also provides good synergy with Mawile, resisting Fighting-type moves and being immune to Ground-type ones while appreciating Mawile's resistances to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks. Water-types such as Floatzel and Basculin resist the Fire-type moves that Mawile hates, take the boost, and can start to sweep with Swords Dance boosted Aqua Jet or Waterfall and appreciate not having to rely on a Choice Band for dealing a consistently high damage output. Poison-type teammates also work as they aren't weak the Fighting-type attacks that Mawile loathes and usually lack a proper stat boosting move of their own to abuse. Muk and Skuntank are the Poison-types that stand out the most, with Muk having great bulk and Attack and Skuntank having a powerful STAB priority move in Sucker Punch to abuse in tandem with the Swords Dance boost. This sounds all nice and dandy, but the power of Baton Passing Swords Dance boosts can be abused even further by giving it to one of the most powerful Pokemon in NU, Swellow. Swellow is immune to the Ground-type attacks used on Mawile while appreciating the Swords Dance boost to easily sweep the opponent with its high Speed and Guts-activating status orb. With a boost, nothing is safe from Swellow as even its most common switch ins such as Golem and Regirock are capable of being 2HKOed with Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes on the field, while everything that doesn't resist it are utterly destroyed.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Mawile is also capable of using a SubPunch set, while taking advantage of Intimidate and Pain Split. The recommended EVs for this set are 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Def, equipped with Life Orb, to hit hard while also increasing its bulk. However, this set can be beaten by Misdreavus and other bulky Pokemon that are capable of taking Mawile's hits with impunity. Another option for Mawile is to focus on bulk, with spreads such as 252 HP / 172 Atk / 84 Spe while holding Leftovers. This spread maximizes Leftovers recovery, while still outspeeding and 3HKOing Tangela after a Swords Dance boost. Due to Intimidate, great typing, and decent bulk, a fully defensive set with 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD EVs is usable. A set of Toxic / Pain Split / Iron Head / Sucker Punch allows Mawile to make the most out of it bulk by Toxic stalling and recovering with Pain Split. Iron Head provides reliable STAB, while Sucker Punch allows it to take out weakened enemies to prevent it from taking any extra damage. With the same EV spread Mawile can replace Toxic with Sunny Day or Rain Dance and provide support to anything capable of abusing them, such as Victreebel in the sun and Gorebyss and Huntail in the rain. However, setting up Sunny Day and Rain Dance is done better by Mesprit and Prankster Volbeat due to them being able to set up it up faster, while still being bulky enough to take hits./p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Decently powerful special attackers check Mawile easily, as even a neutral special attack tears Mawile to shreds. Furthermore some Pokemon Mawile could be capable of beating, can check Mawile if it has not yet gotten a Swords Dance boost. Quagsire is by far the most potent counter to Mawile, being able to ignore any boosts Mawile may have obtained, and being able to hit Mawile back with a super effective Earthquake. Emboar is the next best answer to Mawile, resisting all of its commonly carried moves and forcing Mawile to run away.</p>
