[OVERVIEW]
* Bewear is an excellent tank thanks to its ability Fluffy, which reduces all contact moves (even special ones) by half, allowing it to counter physical attackers like Tapu Bulu, Tyranitar, Weavile, and Kartana.
* Bewear's Normal/Fighting typing gives him a Dark-type resistance, which is important against Tyranitar, Weavile, and Bisharp, and an immunity to Ghost-type moves. It also takes reduced damage from Stealth Rock.
* Bewear's high base attack along with powerful moves allows it to punch holes in the opponents team with Choice Band.
* Bewear's typing is commonly exploited by common threats such as Tapu Lele, Hoopa-U, Heatran, Volcanion, Pheromosa, and Mega Pinsir. It also gets walled by Ghost-types such as Mega Sableye, Mimikyu, and Shedinja.
* Bewear has no access to reliable recovery moves, which makes it hard to consistently check physical attackers it needs to. It must rely on support moves like Wish from other Pokemon to restore its health.
* Low Special Defense means Bewear can't take much from special attackers like Tapu Koko, Heatran, and Magearna unless its already healthy.
* Due to Bewear's low Speed, it gets outsped by the likes of Tapu Koko and Hoopa-U and always has to attack second aside from a few instances like Toxapex, Ferotthorn, and Sassy Celesteela.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Hammer Arm
move 2: Return
move 3: Facade/Ice Punch
move 4: Earthquake
item: Choice Band
ability: Fluffy
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Hammer Arm is the main STAB move, allowing it to have coverage against major threats like Celesteela, Bisharp, Tyranitar, Skarmory, Weavile, Ferrothorn, and Heatran in exchange for a speed drop.
* Return is used to hit things hard when Hammer Arm/Superpower isn't simply effective, like with Tapu Fini, Azumarill, Toxapex, and Mega Venusaur. Double-Edge can also be used to hit things harder, but Bewear loses HP each time it uses, so it isn't recommended.
* Facade allows Bewear to do extra damage if it gets statused. It also allows Bewear not to be a dead weight when it's burned and still be able to put some work if it gets paralyzed or poisoned. Alternatively, Ice Punch allows Bewear to hurt Flying-, and Ground-type Pokemon like Landorus-T, Garchomp, Dragonite, Salamence, and Zygarde.
* Earthquake is useful against Pokemon like Magearna, Alolan Marowak, Toxapex, and Jirachi, who can otherwise wall Bewear.
* Superpower and Double-Edge are more powerful versions of Hammer Arm and Return, allowing Bewear to hit things harder. However, both of them reduce Bewear's durability by either lowering its Attack or Defense, or by taking recoil damage, something Bewear can't afford.
Set Details
========
* 252 HP EVs allow Bewear to tank hits from both sides better, while 252 Atk EVs along with an Adamant nature maximize its offensive capabilities.
* Fluffy is the only viable ability, as the 2 other abilities are useless and Fluffy allows Bewear to tank contact physical hits.
* Choice Band is the preffered item, as it allows Bewear to hit extra hard against foes.
Usage Tips
========
* Since Bewear is bulky enough to take a physical hit, you can switch it against physical attackers like Weavile or Tyranitar safely and deal massive damage against an opposing Pokemon with its strong moves. It can also take on Tapu Bulu most of the time.
* Avoid picking Superpower/Return if there is a Ghost-type Pokemon on the team, since it can come in and force Bewear to switch. However, you can try predicting a Ghost-type switch-in and use Shadow Claw.
* Bewear has problems taking super effective moves from the likes of Hoopa-U, Tapu Fini, and Magearna. It can even have problems against super effective physical contact moves from Pheromosa, Buzzwole, and Mega Pinsir. Think twice before sending it in.
* Bewear shouldn't stay in against special attackers that can safely check it, like Tapu Lele, Magearna, Mega Alakazam, and Mega Charizard-Y.
* Bewear has the physical bulk to take hits from major threats like Pheromosa, and Mega Pinsir, and if the trade-off is worth it, Bewear can severly damage them in order to pick them off with an another Pokemon.
* With a little bit of prediction, Bewear can safely take out Pokemon who are weak to Ice, like Landorus-T, Dragonite, Garchomp, Zygarde, and Salamence, with Ice Punch on their switch in.
Team Options
========
* Bewear appreciates special walls like Celesteela, Alolan Muk, and Tapu Fini it can safely switch into.
* Jirachi is useful if you want to keep Bewear's health up with Wish support.
* Poison-types such as Toxapex, and Mega Venusaur is an excellent partner to Bewear, as they can wall Fighting-type Pokemon like Pheromosa, and Buzzwole.
* Alolan Muk is also a great partner with Bewear, since it can beat Psychic- and Fairy-type Pokemon like Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini, and Latios, trap Psychic- and Ghost-types like Latios, Gengar, and Mimikyu, and can wall special hits so that Bewear can safely come out and wreck havoc.
* Stealth Rock setters like Garchomp, Landorus-T, Tyranitar, and Nihilego can threaten Flying-type Pokemon, who are a threat to Bewear otherwise.
* Magnezone can be used to trap Skarmory, and Celesteela, who can wall Bewear with their excellent defenses and stall tactics.
* Other Steel-type Pokemon like Heatran, Mega Metagross, Ferrothorn, and Excadrill can check Psychic- and Fairy-type Pokemon that can threaten Bewear like Tapu Lele, Tapu Koko, Latios, and Latias, although all of them have to be weary of Focus Blast from Tapu Lele.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Bewear can run either a Swords Dance or a Substitute set, taking advantage of its natural bulk, although this isn't recommended, as it's very slow to pull this these sets off.
* Life Orb can be held instead of Choice Band to allow Bewear to freely select its moves, but it won't hit as hard as a Choice Band set, and it will take damage every time it uses a move, making it very inefficient.
* Shadow Claw is useful against Pokemon like Gengar, Alolan Marowak, and Mimikyu, who can otherwise wall Bewear and threaten it with super effective moves, although these Pokemons are mostly niche and isn't as common as Steel-types, which Earthquake can handle better.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Special attackers**: Bewear's meddling special defense allows special attackers like Tapu Lele, Hoopa-U, Latios, and Magearna to run over Bewear easily. It also doesn't help that the majority of relevant special attacker in the metagame are Psychic-, and/or Fairy-type Pokemon, exploiting Bewear's weaknesses.
**Ghost-type Pokemon**: Ghost-types like Mega Sableye, Shedinja, Gengar, and Mimikyu are a big threat against Bewear, simply because they are immune to its main STAB moves. Mega Sableye can safely switch in against Bewear and spread burn with Will-O-Wisp, Shedinja can only get hurt by Shadow Claw, Mimikyu can easily force Bewear out to get a +4 Attack boost, and Gengar can outspeed and OHKO Bewear with Focus Blast.
**Fighting-type Pokemon**: Pokemon like Pheromosa, Buzzwole, and Terrakion can check Bewear efficiently thanks to their super effective moves. However, with the exception of Buzzwole, they must damage Bewear by other means before facing it, because if they don't, Bewear can tank super effective hits from all of them and OHKO them with either Superpower or Return.
**Psychic-type Pokemon**: Tapu Lele, Mega Metagross, Hoopa-U, Mega Alakazam, Latios, and Latias can easily beat Bewear with a Psychic-type move due to their incredible power and their speed, OHKOing it easily, while Bewear can only really hurt them if they switch in to it. Only Mega Metagross needs to hurt Bewear beforehand in order to safely take him on, otherwise Bewear can take a Zen Headbutt and severly damage it with Hammer Arm or Earthquake.
**Fairy-type Pokemon**: A majority of Fairy-type Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Magearna, Mimikyu, Azumarill, and Tapu Fini can outspeed Bewear and potentially OHKO it with a Fairy-type move. With the exception of Tapu Lele and Magearna, they must have damaged beforehand or set up, otherwise Bewear can tank through their hits once and OHKO them with Return or Shadow Claw for Mimikyu.
**Flying-type Pokemon**: Gyarados, and Landorus-T can check Bewear and OHKO it with Supersonic Skystrike in return. Mega Pinsir, and Salamence can take advantage of Bewear's weakness and OHKO it as well, though they do have trouble switching in to Bewear outside of Earthquake. All of them must also damage Bewear beforehand, otherwise Bewear can tank the hits and OHKO all of them with Return or Ice Punch.
**Fire-type Pokemon**: Pokemon like Heatran, and Mega Charizard-Y can check Bewear with their Fire-type move, while Alolan Marowak can switch in to anything except Shadow Claw or Earthquake and can threaten it with Will-O-Wisp combined with Flare Blitz. However, they must damage Bewear beforehand in order to OHKO it, otherwise, it can take them out either by Superpower, Return or Shadow Claw/Earthquake.
**Steel-type Pokemon that is neutral to Fighting-type moves**: Some Steel-type Pokemon like Skarmory, Celesteela, Mega Metagross, and Mega Scizor, can check Bewear and wear it down by either restoring their health to take advantage of Superpower, or just 2HKO'ing it. Bewear can't hit them for super effective damage with Superpower, so it has to resort to either spamming Superpower to damage them, or be forced to switch out.
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