[OVERVIEW]
- Unique poison-dark typing give Muk an unique niche in ubers, destroy any kind of psyspam.
- Most reliable pursuit trapper for the tier.
- It faces competition from TTar which has stealth rock utility and checks Ho-oh too. However TTar can only do one of those things, since it will be too low or just death to do the others. It also needs chople berry to survive a powerful fighting attack from deo-A, lunala...
- M-Scizor can use pursuit too but it takes the mega slot and lunala beats it.
- Great ability in poison touch, procs on any of his attacks bar gunk shot and punishes it’s switch ins, like PDon
- “Sky high” special bulk when paired with assault vest:
- It’s physical bulk is poor
- Weakness to ground, the most common coverage type attack in ubers, makes solid PDon checks and ground immunities mandatory
- It can be a back up xerneas check
- No recovery
[SET]
name: ASSAULT VEST
move 1: Pursuit
move 2: Gunk shot / Poison Jab / Poison Fang
move 3: Shadow Sneak
move 4: Knock Off
item: assault vest
ability: poison touch
nature: adamant
evs: 252 HP / 112 Atk / 144 SpD or 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Pursuit for obvious reasons
- A poison move is needed to hit hard xerneas.
- The choice between those 3 is personal: damage output vs consistency vs 50% chance to badly poison the target. The last one is great against Supportceus formes but the other 2 are needed if you want to use it as a reliable xerneas check.
- Knock Off deals more damage than pursuit and takes the opponent’s item which is really helpful.
- Shadow sneak gives Muk some extra utility in revenge killing weakened ghost and psychics. It will also surprise your opponent and cause annoying mind games.
Set Details
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Assault vest gives muk incredible spd for no cost, muk takes little advantage from non damaging moves although it has access to some useful ones (taunt, memento). 252 HP/ 144 SpD evs are run to improve his mixed bulk and survive a boosted moonblast after SR+1 layer of spikes. Adamant nature and the leftovers evs increase his damage output against xerneas and secure the OHKO on M-gengar and lunala if shadow shield is broken.
An alternative Ev spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD can be run to increase your damage output, specially vs xerneas, but the match up vs Deo-A and other physicals will suffer.
Some Interesting Calcs
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252+ Atk Muk-Alola Gunk Shot vs. 216 HP / 40 Def Xerneas: 372-438 (83.2 - 97.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Muk-Alola Poison Jab vs. 216 HP / 40 Def Xerneas: 248-294 (55.4 - 65.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Assault Vest Muk-Alola: 240-283 (68.1 - 80.3%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes
112+ Atk Muk-Alola Gunk Shot vs. 216 HP / 40 Def Xerneas: 330-390 (73.8 - 87.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
112+ Atk Muk-Alola Poison Jab vs. 216 HP / 40 Def Xerneas: 218-260 (48.7 - 58.1%) -- 96.1% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 144 SpD Assault Vest Muk-Alola: 262-310 (63.2 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes
112+ Atk Muk-Alola Poison Fang vs. 216 HP / 40 Def Xerneas: 138-164 (30.8 - 36.6%) -- 63.4% chance to 3HKO
4 Atk Life Orb Deoxys-A Superpower vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Muk-Alola: 239-282 (57.7 - 68.1%)
4 Atk Life Orb Deoxys-A Superpower vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Muk-Alola: 239-282 (67.8 - 80.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes
Usage Tips
========
- Save Muk if it is supposed to be the Xerneas check
- Don’t include it on a team if there is no strong reason to use it.
- Be aware of double switchs, Muk is useless against physical attackers and the opponent will play more carefully his ghosts and psychics due muk.
- Don’t let it get burnt it will be a lot less useful
Team Options
========
- Groudon counters and ground immunities such as support arceus formes and gira-o are good teammates. They appreciate having M-Gengar and other ghosts removed while they check Groudon and other physical attackers.
- Hex users like M-Gengar and the aforementioned Gira-o take advantage of the poison Muk spreads cause hex. The former also deals with the support arceus formes Muk kinda sits on.
- Wish support from chansey/blissey is helpful to muk, who deals with M-gengar and the psychics that obliterate the blobs.
- Anything that benefits from a pursuit trapper takes advantage from having muk on his team.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
- Assault vest is the only viable set for muk, other sets are outclassed by the superior SpD
- Explosion deals decent damage once muk is no more useful
- Clear smog resets stat changes, but has little utility apart from that
Checks and Counters
===================
** Ground types and strong physical attackers**: They easily force out Muk, but they dislike getting poisoned on the switch.
**Support Arceus Formes**: They take little damage from muk’s attacks and can clear hazards, but they dislike getting poisoned and hate being badly poisoned by poison fang.
**Steel Types**: They are immune to poison but knock off will annoy them
**Zygarde-C**: Zygarde-C is a nuisance, Muk can just knock off his leftovers and switch out
**Burn**: Muk can't effectively pursuit trap opposing ghosts and pstchics with his attack halved
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