I wrote the first RU Muk analysis and a good deal of it is still relevant in the current RU metagame, but woefully under competitive.
As such, I believe that the intro paragraph, OO, Dream world, and most of the Tank/SubPunch/Curse sets and counters section can remain exactly the same. a complete revamp will follow with only the Choice Band set receiving a full RU analysis. Other sets will have a decent mention in OO with reasons given to the nature of their non-competitiveness.
I talked to DittoCrow. He recommended that only the Choice Band set be up for QC/GP
Ready for QC checks
MUK
The Good
• Special Defense is pretty good (105 HP / 100 SpD)
• Sticky Hold is kind of nice
• 105 Atk for a bulky Poison isn’t bad
• Resistance to Grass and Bug
• Absorbs T. Spikes
• Movepool works (for what Muk should do anyway)
The Bad
• The rise of Drapion and Cofagrigus hurt
• Weakness to Psychic and Ground
• Horrible STAB
• Base 50 speed
• Can’t take hits as well on the physical side
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Gunk Shot
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Fire Punch
move 4: Shadow Sneak
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
I'm probably the most common user of Muk and I always use the first suggestions listed here (Gunk, Focus and Fire Punch, S. Sneak). 95% of the time it's Gunk Shot and Shadow Sneak anyway.
[Comments]
•Probably Muk’s best RU set the only reason you use Muk in RU
• Muk can take a hit (hopefully a special one) and retaliate
• Gunk Shot really is powerful (pretty much a nuke) this power is the reason you use it over Poison Jab
• You can use a dry Focus Punch = heavy damage to common counters
Steelix (252/252 max) = 56.6% - 66.7%
Aggron (252/252 max) = OHKO
Kabutops (252/252 max) = OHKO
Magneton @ Eviolite (252/0) = OHKO
• Shadow Sneak does good damage to several frail sweepers, don't expect it to stop a SD Drapion though.
• calcs are listed below in posts 4 and 7 (as well as a few logs)
[AC]
•evs are pretty obvious for a tank, 4 spe is to outspeed the common 0 spe tangrowth.
• Excellent for coming in on Scarf Galvantula or similar
• Stench could be used over Sticky Hold, but the flinches will be very rare
• Fire Punch can be replaced by Thunder Punch for Omastar and Qwilfish or even Ice Punch for... Sandslash, but seriously just use Fire Punch
• Explosion can be used, but the common Muk counters are all either immune or resist it making it mostly useful just to get something in for free
• Payback might also be used, but Shadow Sneak has much better utility
[partners and counters]
• Tangrowth, Mandibuzz, Sigilyph are all good partners
• in terms of offense, accelgor, absol, lilligant are pretty good.
• counters are already listed in the current analysis, but Steelix, Aggron, Sandslash/Qwilfish depending on coverage, Bulky Ghosts with WoW. Steels should still be slightly wary of switching into a CB boosted Focus Punch.
[OTHER OPTIONS]
(first paragraph)
• mention of tank set changing CB to lefties, depending on the ev spread, either too weak or not enough bulk
•mention of SubPunch with Sub over Fire punch, outclassed as a SubPuncher in RU
•mention of Curse set which has a niche with Trick immunity, outclassed as a Curse user in RU, mostly due to lack of reliable instant recovery
(second paragraph)
• Muk has pretty bad 4MSS so he can’t really fit Toxic, Taunt, Sunny Day, or Rain Dance on his sets, but he has access to them
• He has Thunder, Thunderbolt, Thunder Punch, Focus Blast, Fire Blast, Dark Pulse, Sludge Wave, Façade, Shadow Ball, Rock Slide, and Explosion. (all have minimal usage except maybe Explosion on the CB set) He has Pain Split for a semi-reliable recovery.
• Has Acid Spray, Screech, Disable, and Memento (Memento could be useful in some cases)
• Can do a lol choice scarf to out speed max speed 97s (sigilyph) and under
• With Sleep Talk, Muk can make a very useful sleep absorber as he resists most sleeper's STABs and does good damage to them with his STAB
• As a poison type Muk gets to use Black Sludge, which is usually meant to deter Trick users that can't use it on Muk anyway. If item clause is in effect and you have another defensive poison type without Sticky Hold, Leftovers can be used exactly the same way
[COUNTERS]
• Steelix is biggest counter by far. Depending on the set, Aggron, Magnezone, Kabutops, Sandslash, Registeel, Bulky Ghosts with WoW. Also sleep users.
• Almost anything that is faster with powerful Ground or Psychic
• A lot of the listed counters (except Steelix and Bulky Ghosts really) can be beaten with specific moves or sets, conservative play until the set can be determined is recommended
[Dream World]
• Poison Touch is viable, but inflicts regular poison which might interfere with para or burn spreading. Muk's STAB attacks also spread regular poison anyway. Sticky Hold is certainly one of Muk's niche characteristics and should be considered first.
Reason for change:
Upon personal re-testing (and help from others) the other 3 sets were considered to be under competitive in RU, still minimally useful, but there are many better choices; therefore, they will be removed from the on-site analysis upon the QC/GP check of the CB set.
I personally don't think Ice Punch can be justified as a preferred move choice when it literally is for one thing now... I only listed common threats that resist poison for the coverage. Fire Punch > Thunder Punch at this point because Fire Punch hits the things that are immune to Poison and Thunder punch only hits the resists (which still take reasonable damage. 40% min to 252/4 Kabutops)
As such,
I talked to DittoCrow. He recommended that only the Choice Band set be up for QC/GP
Ready for QC checks
MUK
The Good
• Special Defense is pretty good (105 HP / 100 SpD)
• Sticky Hold is kind of nice
• 105 Atk for a bulky Poison isn’t bad
• Resistance to Grass and Bug
• Absorbs T. Spikes
• Movepool works (for what Muk should do anyway)
The Bad
• The rise of Drapion and Cofagrigus hurt
• Weakness to Psychic and Ground
• Horrible STAB
• Base 50 speed
• Can’t take hits as well on the physical side
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Gunk Shot
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Fire Punch
move 4: Shadow Sneak
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
I'm probably the most common user of Muk and I always use the first suggestions listed here (Gunk, Focus and Fire Punch, S. Sneak). 95% of the time it's Gunk Shot and Shadow Sneak anyway.
[Comments]
•
• Muk can take a hit (hopefully a special one) and retaliate
• Gunk Shot really is powerful (pretty much a nuke) this power is the reason you use it over Poison Jab
• You can use a dry Focus Punch = heavy damage to common counters
Steelix (252/252 max) = 56.6% - 66.7%
Aggron (252/252 max) = OHKO
Kabutops (252/252 max) = OHKO
Magneton @ Eviolite (252/0) = OHKO
• Shadow Sneak does good damage to several frail sweepers, don't expect it to stop a SD Drapion though.
• calcs are listed below in posts 4 and 7 (as well as a few logs)
[AC]
•evs are pretty obvious for a tank, 4 spe is to outspeed the common 0 spe tangrowth.
• Excellent for coming in on Scarf Galvantula or similar
• Stench could be used over Sticky Hold, but the flinches will be very rare
• Fire Punch can be replaced by Thunder Punch for Omastar and Qwilfish or even Ice Punch for... Sandslash, but seriously just use Fire Punch
• Explosion can be used, but the common Muk counters are all either immune or resist it making it mostly useful just to get something in for free
• Payback might also be used, but Shadow Sneak has much better utility
[partners and counters]
• Tangrowth, Mandibuzz, Sigilyph are all good partners
• in terms of offense, accelgor, absol, lilligant are pretty good.
• counters are already listed in the current analysis, but Steelix, Aggron, Sandslash/Qwilfish depending on coverage, Bulky Ghosts with WoW. Steels should still be slightly wary of switching into a CB boosted Focus Punch.
[OTHER OPTIONS]
(first paragraph)
• mention of tank set changing CB to lefties, depending on the ev spread, either too weak or not enough bulk
•mention of SubPunch with Sub over Fire punch, outclassed as a SubPuncher in RU
•mention of Curse set which has a niche with Trick immunity, outclassed as a Curse user in RU, mostly due to lack of reliable instant recovery
(second paragraph)
• Muk has pretty bad 4MSS so he can’t really fit Toxic, Taunt, Sunny Day, or Rain Dance on his sets, but he has access to them
• He has Thunder, Thunderbolt, Thunder Punch, Focus Blast, Fire Blast, Dark Pulse, Sludge Wave, Façade, Shadow Ball, Rock Slide, and Explosion. (all have minimal usage except maybe Explosion on the CB set) He has Pain Split for a semi-reliable recovery.
• Has Acid Spray, Screech, Disable, and Memento (Memento could be useful in some cases)
• Can do a lol choice scarf to out speed max speed 97s (sigilyph) and under
• With Sleep Talk, Muk can make a very useful sleep absorber as he resists most sleeper's STABs and does good damage to them with his STAB
• As a poison type Muk gets to use Black Sludge, which is usually meant to deter Trick users that can't use it on Muk anyway. If item clause is in effect and you have another defensive poison type without Sticky Hold, Leftovers can be used exactly the same way
[COUNTERS]
• Steelix is biggest counter by far. Depending on the set, Aggron, Magnezone, Kabutops, Sandslash, Registeel, Bulky Ghosts with WoW. Also sleep users.
• Almost anything that is faster with powerful Ground or Psychic
• A lot of the listed counters (except Steelix and Bulky Ghosts really) can be beaten with specific moves or sets, conservative play until the set can be determined is recommended
[Dream World]
• Poison Touch is viable, but inflicts regular poison which might interfere with para or burn spreading. Muk's STAB attacks also spread regular poison anyway. Sticky Hold is certainly one of Muk's niche characteristics and should be considered first.
Reason for change:
Upon personal re-testing (and help from others) the other 3 sets were considered to be under competitive in RU, still minimally useful, but there are many better choices; therefore, they will be removed from the on-site analysis upon the QC/GP check of the CB set.
I personally don't think Ice Punch can be justified as a preferred move choice when it literally is for one thing now... I only listed common threats that resist poison for the coverage. Fire Punch > Thunder Punch at this point because Fire Punch hits the things that are immune to Poison and Thunder punch only hits the resists (which still take reasonable damage. 40% min to 252/4 Kabutops)
