I have taken Mamoswine over for Sciztar; his original OP is here.
beefy pachyderm
[Overview]
<p>In many ways, Mamoswine is the quintessential anti-metagame Pokemon. With excellent Attack and fantastic offensive typing, Mamoswine is uniquely suited to checking many of the biggest threats of OU. Thanks to Ice Shard, Mamoswine can OHKO sweepers such as Thundurus-T, Landorus, and Garchomp before they can even move. Mamoswine is no slouch against defensive teams either; its powerful STAB attacks, Earthquake and Icicle Crash, together allow it to 2HKO nearly any Pokemon that tries to switch into it. For teams that need a Stealth Rock user that does not give away too much momentum, Mamoswine is a very effective option and can still use its priority to check weakened sweepers. Unfortunately, Mamoswine's Ice / Ground typing is not nearly as good defensively as it is offensively, and its plethora of weaknesses and base 80 Speed make it difficult for it to come in against many offensive Pokemon that it is unable to KO with Ice Shard. Nevertheless, Mamoswine can be a powerful presence on many teams with its ability to revenge kill threats and break walls.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Icicle Crash
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Superpower / Stealth Rock
item: Life Orb
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Equipped with a Life Orb, Mamoswine can use its base 130 Attack and powerful STAB attacks to deal extensive damage to the opposing team. Icicle Crash and Earthquake allow Mamoswine to hit the majority of the metagame for neutral damage, 2HKOing most Pokemon that aren't heavily invested in Defense. Ice Shard provides Mamoswine with powerful priority that mitigates its average Speed and hits many of the top threats in OU for super effective damage: Garchomp, Salamence, Dragonite, Breloom, Thundurus-T, Landorus, and Landorus-T are all easily revenge killed by Ice Shard with minimal residual damage. Superpower rounds out Mamoswine's coverage, 2HKOing Ferrothorn, OHKOing Air Balloon Heatran, and giving Mamoswine its best shot at dealing significant damage to Rotom-W. However, if the coverage granted by Superpower is unnecessary, Mamoswine can opt to run Stealth Rock instead; this is a viable option on many offensive teams that do not have space elsewhere for Stealth Rock, and Mamoswine can certainly find opportunities to set up Stealth Rock thanks to its sheer power. It is important, however, to be careful when setting up Stealth Rock with Mamoswine against teams where it is needed to check threats. Sacrificing it for Stealth Rock against a team that has a Salamence waiting to sweep is often not a worthy trade-off at all! Teams seeking a set more dedicated to setting Stealth Rock may find more use in Focus Sash Mamoswine. When it comes to natures, both Jolly and Adamant are viable options for Mamoswine. Running Jolly allows Mamoswine to outspeed Adamant Lucario, all Breloom and Heatran, and non-Choice Scarfed Politoed, as well as being able to Speed tie with unboosted Dragonite. Unfortunately, the drop in power from Adamant to Jolly diminishes Mamoswine's ability to threaten defensive Pokemon; you will have to decide whether outspeeding certain offensive threats is worth the decrease in damage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The choice between Adamant and Jolly natures on Mamoswine can be better explained with damage calculations on relevant defensive Pokemon in OU:</p>
<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>Adamant Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 44.60% - 52.84%</li>
<li>Jolly Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 40.91% - 48.01%</li>
<li>Adamant Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 106.93% - 126.24%</li>
<li>Jolly Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 96.53% - 114.36%</li>
<li>Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 34.43% - 40.72%</li>
<li>Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 31.44% - 37.13%</li>
<li>Adamant Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 35.71% - 42.14%</li>
<li>Jolly Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 32.14% - 38.10%</li>
<li>Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 60.48% - 71.90%</li>
<li>Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 55.71% - 65.71%</li>
</ul>
<p>With the added power from an Adamant nature, Mamoswine has a significantly easier time against several defensive Pokemon. Adamant Mamoswine can 2HKO Ferrothorn with Earthquake instead of having to suffer residual damage and lower its Attack and Defense with Superpower. The boost in power also helps to ensure the OHKO against Tyranitar; it can be incredibly frustrating to have Earthquake barely not KO Tyranitar, only to have it set up Stealth Rock. Although Skarmory is a good counter to Mamoswine in general, Adamant gives Mamoswine a better chance against Skarmory; with a little luck from Icicle Crash's 30% flinch chance, the extra power can help Mamoswine muscle through it. Against many walls, the difference in power simply means less prediction is needed to threaten 2HKOs; in Hippowdon's case, an Adamant nature allows Mamoswine to KO Hippowdon with Earthquake and Icicle Crash in quick succession rather than needing to 2HKO it on the switch with Icicle Crash.</p>
<p>Other moves can be run on Mamoswine to help it defeat specific threats. Garchomp, Gliscor, Haxorus, Hydreigon, and Gengar are all typically vulnerable to Mamoswine's Ice Shard, but they can avoid being easily revenge killed with the use of Substitute. By running Icicle Spear, Mamoswine can break their Substitutes and continue to deal damage in the same turn. Unfortunately for Mamoswine, there are still a number of threats in OU, such as Keldeo, Rotom-W, and Terrakion, that it cannot check so easily due to its lack of speed or coverage against them. Latias is a great partner for Mamoswine, capable of covering Mamoswine's weaknesses to Fighting- and Water-type attacks as well as switching into these threats. In return, Mamoswine can dispose of Latias's common counters such as Jirachi and Tyranitar, as well as checking Choice Scarf Salamence that could revenge kill Latias. However, both Mamoswine and Latias must be wary of Scizor. Thundurus-T is another good teammate, able to easily KO Skarmory and bulky Water-types that Mamoswine has trouble getting past. Thundurus-T also resists Scizor's STAB attacks, although its low Defense and Stealth Rock weakness mean that it should avoid directly switching in as much as possible. Breloom works well with Mamoswine; between Mamoswine's Ice Shard and Breloom's Mach Punch, most offensive threats in the tier can be revenge killed. The pair also excel at dismantling defensive cores, as Mamoswine threatens Pokemon such as Celebi and Tornadus that are common Breloom switch-ins, while Breloom destroys bulky Water-types and can put to sleep the few Pokemon that counter both it and Mamoswine. Despite sharing weaknesses to Fighting- and Water-type attacks, Heatran is also a good partner for Mamoswine. It is a consistent switch-in to Scizor, sets up Stealth Rock to help Mamoswine get more KOs, defeats Steel-type walls such as Skarmory and Bronzong that Mamoswine has issues with, and takes some of the pressure of checking Dragon-types off of Mamoswine. Magnezone is a similarly good teammate, trapping and KOing Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Scizor and pressuring slower Water-type Pokemon.</p>
[SET]
name: Focus Sash
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Earthquake
item: Focus Sash
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Mamoswine can forgo the power of Life Orb to instead be an effective Stealth Rock setter that can still provide some utility later in the game by picking off threats with Ice Shard. Stealth Rock is the reason to run this set; Mamoswine is all but guaranteed to set up Stealth Rock so long as its Focus Sash remains intact, something easier for Mamoswine to maintain than most other Pokemon due to its immunity to all forms of weather damage. Endeavor allows Mamoswine to remain extremely dangerous even after it has been brought down to 1 HP. Mamoswine can use Endeavor as an opponent attacks, leaving both Pokemon at 1 HP, and pick off the opponent the next turn with Ice Shard. Ice Shard also gives Mamoswine a way to help its team later in the game, when its Focus Sash has been broken and Stealth Rock has already been set, by allowing it to revenge kill numerous threats such as Garchomp, Salamence, and Thundurus-T. It is important to note that, as this set does not run Life Orb, Mamoswine will need many of these threats to be significantly weakened in order to effectively check them with Ice Shard. Earthquake provides Mamoswine with strong STAB that still heavily damages many offensive Pokemon, even without the benefit of Life Orb.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As this set prioritizes setting up Stealth Rock quickly over breaking walls, a Jolly nature is preferred. However, an Adamant nature is a good option if you do not need Mamoswine to outspeed Jolly Breloom—the extra power will help greatly to compensate for the lack of Life Orb. Icicle Spear lets Mamoswine damage Pokemon that use Substitute and is useful against Focus Sash and Sturdy leads. Due to Focus Sash and an immunity to weather damage, Mamoswine can set up Stealth Rock in most situations. However, Pokemon that can flinch and 2HKO Mamoswine, such as Jirachi, can successfully prevent Mamoswine from setting up Stealth Rock. Skarmory stops offensive Jirachi and synergizes well with Mamoswine, being able to cover Pokemon such as Scizor and Terrakion that can threaten to OHKO it, as well as setting up Spikes to complement Mamoswine's Stealth Rock. Celebi is another good partner for Mamoswine, as it can easily switch into the Fighting- and Water-type attacks that Mamoswine fears; Celebi also counters Rotom-W, which would otherwise wall all of Mamoswine's moves save for Endeavor. Dragonite can also switch into many Grass-, Water-, and Fighting-types that threaten Mamoswine, and it appreciates Mamoswine's ability to weaken their mutual checks with Endeavor.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Mamoswine's useful offensive typing gives it some potential roles not listed. Running Choice Band over Life Orb gives Mamoswine significantly more firepower and revenge killing ability, but Mamoswine is powerful enough for most purposes with Life Orb, and being locked into Earthquake is perilous. Choice Scarf is also useful for Mamoswine to allow it to consistently revenge kill +1 Dragonite and Thundurus-T, but its usefulness is diminished by Mamoswine's access to Ice Shard and the ease with which many Pokemon can set up on it once it is locked in; Choice Scarf Icicle Spear is most useful to revenge kill Substitute Garchomp, but that set is no longer as common as it once was. Mamoswine can run Stone Edge to OHKO Volcarona, but Life Orb Earthquake is sufficient to KO offensive variants.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Due to its high Attack and powerful STAB moves, Mamoswine has few counters. Skarmory and Bronzong are its best counters, taking relatively little damage from its attacks and threatening to set up entry hazards or KO it. Rotom-W also switches into most of Mamoswine's moveset, but takes substantial damage from Life Orb Superpower. It is also important to note that all of these switch-ins risk having their HP greatly lowered by Endeavor when switching in on Focus Sash Mamoswine. It is significantly easier to check Mamoswine than to counter it, as Mamoswine's Ice / Ground typing and middling Speed makes it vulnerable to super effective Fighting- and Water-type attacks. Pokemon that can outspeed Mamoswine, withstand Ice Shard, and hit it super effectively, such as Keldeo, Terrakion, and Scizor, all solidly check Mamoswine.</p>
beefy pachyderm
[Overview]
<p>In many ways, Mamoswine is the quintessential anti-metagame Pokemon. With excellent Attack and fantastic offensive typing, Mamoswine is uniquely suited to checking many of the biggest threats of OU. Thanks to Ice Shard, Mamoswine can OHKO sweepers such as Thundurus-T, Landorus, and Garchomp before they can even move. Mamoswine is no slouch against defensive teams either; its powerful STAB attacks, Earthquake and Icicle Crash, together allow it to 2HKO nearly any Pokemon that tries to switch into it. For teams that need a Stealth Rock user that does not give away too much momentum, Mamoswine is a very effective option and can still use its priority to check weakened sweepers. Unfortunately, Mamoswine's Ice / Ground typing is not nearly as good defensively as it is offensively, and its plethora of weaknesses and base 80 Speed make it difficult for it to come in against many offensive Pokemon that it is unable to KO with Ice Shard. Nevertheless, Mamoswine can be a powerful presence on many teams with its ability to revenge kill threats and break walls.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Icicle Crash
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Superpower / Stealth Rock
item: Life Orb
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Equipped with a Life Orb, Mamoswine can use its base 130 Attack and powerful STAB attacks to deal extensive damage to the opposing team. Icicle Crash and Earthquake allow Mamoswine to hit the majority of the metagame for neutral damage, 2HKOing most Pokemon that aren't heavily invested in Defense. Ice Shard provides Mamoswine with powerful priority that mitigates its average Speed and hits many of the top threats in OU for super effective damage: Garchomp, Salamence, Dragonite, Breloom, Thundurus-T, Landorus, and Landorus-T are all easily revenge killed by Ice Shard with minimal residual damage. Superpower rounds out Mamoswine's coverage, 2HKOing Ferrothorn, OHKOing Air Balloon Heatran, and giving Mamoswine its best shot at dealing significant damage to Rotom-W. However, if the coverage granted by Superpower is unnecessary, Mamoswine can opt to run Stealth Rock instead; this is a viable option on many offensive teams that do not have space elsewhere for Stealth Rock, and Mamoswine can certainly find opportunities to set up Stealth Rock thanks to its sheer power. It is important, however, to be careful when setting up Stealth Rock with Mamoswine against teams where it is needed to check threats. Sacrificing it for Stealth Rock against a team that has a Salamence waiting to sweep is often not a worthy trade-off at all! Teams seeking a set more dedicated to setting Stealth Rock may find more use in Focus Sash Mamoswine. When it comes to natures, both Jolly and Adamant are viable options for Mamoswine. Running Jolly allows Mamoswine to outspeed Adamant Lucario, all Breloom and Heatran, and non-Choice Scarfed Politoed, as well as being able to Speed tie with unboosted Dragonite. Unfortunately, the drop in power from Adamant to Jolly diminishes Mamoswine's ability to threaten defensive Pokemon; you will have to decide whether outspeeding certain offensive threats is worth the decrease in damage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The choice between Adamant and Jolly natures on Mamoswine can be better explained with damage calculations on relevant defensive Pokemon in OU:</p>
<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>Adamant Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 44.60% - 52.84%</li>
<li>Jolly Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 40.91% - 48.01%</li>
<li>Adamant Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 106.93% - 126.24%</li>
<li>Jolly Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 96.53% - 114.36%</li>
<li>Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 34.43% - 40.72%</li>
<li>Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 31.44% - 37.13%</li>
<li>Adamant Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 35.71% - 42.14%</li>
<li>Jolly Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 32.14% - 38.10%</li>
<li>Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 60.48% - 71.90%</li>
<li>Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 55.71% - 65.71%</li>
</ul>
<p>With the added power from an Adamant nature, Mamoswine has a significantly easier time against several defensive Pokemon. Adamant Mamoswine can 2HKO Ferrothorn with Earthquake instead of having to suffer residual damage and lower its Attack and Defense with Superpower. The boost in power also helps to ensure the OHKO against Tyranitar; it can be incredibly frustrating to have Earthquake barely not KO Tyranitar, only to have it set up Stealth Rock. Although Skarmory is a good counter to Mamoswine in general, Adamant gives Mamoswine a better chance against Skarmory; with a little luck from Icicle Crash's 30% flinch chance, the extra power can help Mamoswine muscle through it. Against many walls, the difference in power simply means less prediction is needed to threaten 2HKOs; in Hippowdon's case, an Adamant nature allows Mamoswine to KO Hippowdon with Earthquake and Icicle Crash in quick succession rather than needing to 2HKO it on the switch with Icicle Crash.</p>
<p>Other moves can be run on Mamoswine to help it defeat specific threats. Garchomp, Gliscor, Haxorus, Hydreigon, and Gengar are all typically vulnerable to Mamoswine's Ice Shard, but they can avoid being easily revenge killed with the use of Substitute. By running Icicle Spear, Mamoswine can break their Substitutes and continue to deal damage in the same turn. Unfortunately for Mamoswine, there are still a number of threats in OU, such as Keldeo, Rotom-W, and Terrakion, that it cannot check so easily due to its lack of speed or coverage against them. Latias is a great partner for Mamoswine, capable of covering Mamoswine's weaknesses to Fighting- and Water-type attacks as well as switching into these threats. In return, Mamoswine can dispose of Latias's common counters such as Jirachi and Tyranitar, as well as checking Choice Scarf Salamence that could revenge kill Latias. However, both Mamoswine and Latias must be wary of Scizor. Thundurus-T is another good teammate, able to easily KO Skarmory and bulky Water-types that Mamoswine has trouble getting past. Thundurus-T also resists Scizor's STAB attacks, although its low Defense and Stealth Rock weakness mean that it should avoid directly switching in as much as possible. Breloom works well with Mamoswine; between Mamoswine's Ice Shard and Breloom's Mach Punch, most offensive threats in the tier can be revenge killed. The pair also excel at dismantling defensive cores, as Mamoswine threatens Pokemon such as Celebi and Tornadus that are common Breloom switch-ins, while Breloom destroys bulky Water-types and can put to sleep the few Pokemon that counter both it and Mamoswine. Despite sharing weaknesses to Fighting- and Water-type attacks, Heatran is also a good partner for Mamoswine. It is a consistent switch-in to Scizor, sets up Stealth Rock to help Mamoswine get more KOs, defeats Steel-type walls such as Skarmory and Bronzong that Mamoswine has issues with, and takes some of the pressure of checking Dragon-types off of Mamoswine. Magnezone is a similarly good teammate, trapping and KOing Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Scizor and pressuring slower Water-type Pokemon.</p>
[SET]
name: Focus Sash
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Earthquake
item: Focus Sash
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Mamoswine can forgo the power of Life Orb to instead be an effective Stealth Rock setter that can still provide some utility later in the game by picking off threats with Ice Shard. Stealth Rock is the reason to run this set; Mamoswine is all but guaranteed to set up Stealth Rock so long as its Focus Sash remains intact, something easier for Mamoswine to maintain than most other Pokemon due to its immunity to all forms of weather damage. Endeavor allows Mamoswine to remain extremely dangerous even after it has been brought down to 1 HP. Mamoswine can use Endeavor as an opponent attacks, leaving both Pokemon at 1 HP, and pick off the opponent the next turn with Ice Shard. Ice Shard also gives Mamoswine a way to help its team later in the game, when its Focus Sash has been broken and Stealth Rock has already been set, by allowing it to revenge kill numerous threats such as Garchomp, Salamence, and Thundurus-T. It is important to note that, as this set does not run Life Orb, Mamoswine will need many of these threats to be significantly weakened in order to effectively check them with Ice Shard. Earthquake provides Mamoswine with strong STAB that still heavily damages many offensive Pokemon, even without the benefit of Life Orb.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As this set prioritizes setting up Stealth Rock quickly over breaking walls, a Jolly nature is preferred. However, an Adamant nature is a good option if you do not need Mamoswine to outspeed Jolly Breloom—the extra power will help greatly to compensate for the lack of Life Orb. Icicle Spear lets Mamoswine damage Pokemon that use Substitute and is useful against Focus Sash and Sturdy leads. Due to Focus Sash and an immunity to weather damage, Mamoswine can set up Stealth Rock in most situations. However, Pokemon that can flinch and 2HKO Mamoswine, such as Jirachi, can successfully prevent Mamoswine from setting up Stealth Rock. Skarmory stops offensive Jirachi and synergizes well with Mamoswine, being able to cover Pokemon such as Scizor and Terrakion that can threaten to OHKO it, as well as setting up Spikes to complement Mamoswine's Stealth Rock. Celebi is another good partner for Mamoswine, as it can easily switch into the Fighting- and Water-type attacks that Mamoswine fears; Celebi also counters Rotom-W, which would otherwise wall all of Mamoswine's moves save for Endeavor. Dragonite can also switch into many Grass-, Water-, and Fighting-types that threaten Mamoswine, and it appreciates Mamoswine's ability to weaken their mutual checks with Endeavor.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Mamoswine's useful offensive typing gives it some potential roles not listed. Running Choice Band over Life Orb gives Mamoswine significantly more firepower and revenge killing ability, but Mamoswine is powerful enough for most purposes with Life Orb, and being locked into Earthquake is perilous. Choice Scarf is also useful for Mamoswine to allow it to consistently revenge kill +1 Dragonite and Thundurus-T, but its usefulness is diminished by Mamoswine's access to Ice Shard and the ease with which many Pokemon can set up on it once it is locked in; Choice Scarf Icicle Spear is most useful to revenge kill Substitute Garchomp, but that set is no longer as common as it once was. Mamoswine can run Stone Edge to OHKO Volcarona, but Life Orb Earthquake is sufficient to KO offensive variants.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Due to its high Attack and powerful STAB moves, Mamoswine has few counters. Skarmory and Bronzong are its best counters, taking relatively little damage from its attacks and threatening to set up entry hazards or KO it. Rotom-W also switches into most of Mamoswine's moveset, but takes substantial damage from Life Orb Superpower. It is also important to note that all of these switch-ins risk having their HP greatly lowered by Endeavor when switching in on Focus Sash Mamoswine. It is significantly easier to check Mamoswine than to counter it, as Mamoswine's Ice / Ground typing and middling Speed makes it vulnerable to super effective Fighting- and Water-type attacks. Pokemon that can outspeed Mamoswine, withstand Ice Shard, and hit it super effectively, such as Keldeo, Terrakion, and Scizor, all solidly check Mamoswine.</p>
[Overview]
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Icicle Crash
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Superpower / Stealth Rock
item: Life Orb
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
[SET]
name: Focus Sash
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Earthquake
item: Focus Sash
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
[Other Options]
[Checks & Counters]
- The Wooly Mammoth makes it return to BW2 with some new toys under its belt. Mamoswine has new powerful STAB, Icicle Crash and has obtained its new Dreamworld Ability, Thick Fat which decreases its fire weakness.
- Mamoswine can function differently on different teams; it can be a great lead for teams to set up Stealth Rock or can be an offensive sweeper to take on Thundurus-T, Tornadus-T and Landorus-T. If your team is in need of Pokemon that will check Dragon types, Mamoswine is the best choice. Mamoswine has one of the best STAB priority move in the tier, Ice Shard to help revenge boosting Dragons and the three genies. There aren't many Pokemon that out speed Mamoswine while taking neutral damage from Ice Shard and there aren't many offensive Pokemon that can pivot switch into Mamoswine unless they're healthy.
- Mamoswine has an acceptable Base Speed of 80 which is good for getting the jump on slower Pokemon in the tier but it is uniquely mitigated by Ice Shard namely the increasingly popular Technician Breloom.
- Due to Mamoswine's Ground/Ice typing it leaves you weak to common priority users STAB for example: Scizor's Bullet Punch and Breloom's Mach Punch. But don't let this discourage you from using Mamoswine, once it gets in safely, it's a pain for most teams that once.
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Icicle Crash
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Superpower / Stealth Rock
item: Life Orb
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- This is Mamoswine's most powerful set. Coming off a Base 130 Attack and with a Life Orb Mamoswine becomes a threatening sweeper. Not many Pokemon are going to want to switch into a powerful move from Mamoswine.
- With Superpower, Mamoswine is able to hit Air Ballon Heatran who would not take any damage from its STAB Earthquake. Superpower is also effective against Rotom-W's who is arguably Mamoswine's most common switch in. If Ferrothorn is a problem for your team then it should also be noted that Superpower can also get a 2HKO to Ferrothorn.
- Icicle Crash is a powerful STAB attack that has a nice flinch chance. To show how powerful Mamoiswine's Icicle Crash is, it can get a OHKO to Dragonite even through Multiscale, but most Dragonite's would never stay in on a Mamoswine anyway.
- With Mamoswine's Base 80 Speed, faster Dragons like Grachomp, Salamence , Hydreigon and Haxorus will try to get a get Fire Blast to punish you but Ice Shard is here to get a quick KO. Mamoswine also checks the likes of Tornadus-T, Thundurus-T, Landorus and Breloom with its STAB Ice Shard.Tornadus-T is not KO by Ice Shard as it only does 75.58 - 89.63% unless it comes in with Stealth Rock on the field then its a guaranteed OHKO.
- When choosing a nature for Mamoswine the preferred nature is an Jolly Nature. With an Jolly Nature you are guaranteed to outspeed Adamant Breloom ,max speed Politoed, other Adamant Mamoswines, positive speed-natured Heatran, and Adamant Lucario. With a Jolly Nature you will break the speed tie with Dragonite and have a 43% chance of OHKO it through Multscale with Icicle Spear.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- If your team is in need of a Stealth Rock user you can not use Superpower on this set and use Stealth Rock but you will lose out on 2HKOing Ferrothorn who can then OHKO you with either Gyro Ball or Power Whip.
- The use of Jolly nature is generally better for number of things you can outspeed, but the difference between the two matures is that 10% power drop from Adamant to Jolly which actually loses a number of KOs. For example:
- Adamant Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 44.60% - 52.84% (Chance to 2HKO after SR and Leftovers, very high chance with one layer of Spikes only)
- Jolly Earthquake vs 252/88+ Ferrothorn: 40.91% - 48.01%
- Adamant Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 106.93% - 126.24%
- Jolly Earthquake vs 252/0 Tyranitar: 96.53% - 114.36% (Basically for lead matchups, and nothing will frustrate you more than to miss the OHKO and having it set up Stealth Rock on you)
- Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 34.43% - 40.72% (Good chance at 3HKOing Skarmory if you get the 30% flinch chance)
- Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/232+ Skarmory: 31.44% - 37.13%
- Adamant Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 35.71% - 42.14%
- Jolly Earthquake vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 32.14% - 38.10%
- Adamant Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 60.48% - 71.90% (2HKO guaranteed with SR for Earthquake then Icicle Crash)
- Jolly Icicle Crash vs 252/252+ Hippowdon: 55.71% - 65.71% (Miss the 2HKO for EQ + Icicle Crash)
- With an Adamant Nature you are guaranteed to outspeed Adamant Breloom and KO it with Ice Shard. Also with an Adamant Nature your Earthquake will always OHKO and out speed Special Defensive Jirachi.
- One of threats that can take Mamoswine's STAB and can KO him is Choice Band Scizor's Bullet Punch.
- If Pokemon like Substitute Garchomp, Gliscor, Haxorus, Hydriegon and Gengar behind a substitute are giving you problems Icicle Spear is great for breaking their substitute.
- Latias is also a good partner for Mamoswine, as Mamoswine easily dispatches of BOTH of Latias' main counters, Jirachi and Tyranitar, and in return Latias provides a nice check to problematic threats for Mamoswine, such as Keldeo and Rotom-W.
- Thundurus-T makes a good partner for Mamoswine as his powerful Electric STAB attacks can easily dispose of Skarmory as well as the bulky Water types that Mamoswine can not easily take out.
- Breloom is a good teammate for Mamoswine, as its a decent check to the defensive core Celebi/Amoongus. Mamoswine struggles against the likes of Terrakion and bulky Water types which Breloom easily handles with Mach Punch and Bullet Seed respectively. On the other hand, Breloom struggles with Pokemon Dragons type which Mamoswine can pick off with Ice Shard. Breloom can return the favor by checking Bronzong, Slowbro, and Skarmory who walls Mamoswine by putting them to sleep.
- Heatran is another good partner for Mamoswine because Heatran can check he steel walls like Bronzong and Skarmory and tank Dragon hits and assaults which teams with Mamoswine tend to be vulnerable against.
- Mamoswine can be effective on Dragspam team because Mamoswine can check opposing Dragon-types that may give Dragspam teams trouble because of most dragons being 4X weak to Mamoswine's STAB he is an excellent teammate on DragonSapm teams.
[SET]
name: Focus Sash
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Earthquake
item: Focus Sash
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- What made Mamoswine so threatening in Diamond and Pearl is his Focus Sash Lead set. This set is great for a lead Pokemon to set up the entry Hazards. When choosing a nature for Mamoswine, Jolly Nature is preferred over Adamant. This set is not designed to break through walls but to outspeed opposing threats namely to insure you out speed Breloom before it spores you. When playing with Focus Sash Mamoswine if you opponents lead with Politoed 53.302% of the time they will use Scald which has a 93.75% chance of OHKOing you but with Focus Sash and Endeavor you can bring your opponent down to 1HP and you can retaliate back with priority Ice Shard which will help you win the weather war.
- Ice Shard should always be used no matter what to pick off dragons types and Tornadus-t and Thundurus-T from trying to sweep your team.
- If your opponent doesn't lead with a Pokemon that can't OHKO your Mamoswine then its safe to go ahead and set up Stealth Rock
- While Earthquake isn't as hard as the Life Orb set, is still great to hit Heatran and Jirachi hard
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- If your team is not worried about speeding Jolly Breloom and other Adamant Mamoswine then you can opt for an Adamant Nature for more offensive power.
- If you want to break opposing lead Pokemon's substitute's you can option for Icicle Spear in replace for Endeavor.
- Celebi has good synergy with Mamoswine, since it counters Breloom and other Fighting-types, and is able to beat Rotom-W.
- Also, Bulky Dragonite appreciates having his would-be checks weakened, and has good synergy with Mamoswine.
[Other Options]
- For more fire power you can option for Choice Band to fire off some power Earthquake, but being locked into Earthquake sucks, but practically no Pokemon who is immune or resist Earthquake apart from Skarmory and Rotom-W would like to switch into Icicle Crash anyway.
- Stone Edge is another option to hitting Volcarano but Earthquake is usually sufficient to take Volcarona as the Life Orb Mamoswine OHKOes offensive variants of Volcorana.
- If you want Mamoswine to have more speed you can use a Choice Scarf to revenge kill Tornadus-T and +1 Dragonite but it isn't very good in OU since Mamoswine's STABs are easily abused and its somewhat redundant by Ice Shard and the Pokemon that used to be susceptible to this set Sub Garchomp and Sub Breloom aren't as common as they used to be in OU.
[Checks & Counters]
- Mamoswine doesn't have many counters but faster Pokemon can stop the Mammoth in its track. Scarf users who can take Ice Shards and beat Mamoswine with powerful STABs such as Jirachi, Heatran, and Rotom-W all make solid checks to Mamoswine.
- Since Mamoswine is weak to water moves, faster water types like Keldeo, Starmie, and Choice Scarf Politoed are all good Pokemon to check the Mamoswine with their STAB Hydro Pump.
- With Mamoswine's Ice Typing it leaves it weak to faster fighting types like Lucario, Keldeo, Infernape, and Terrakion who are very common in the OU tier as they resist Mamoswine's Ice Shard.
- Choice Band Scizor's Bullet Punch is also another check to Mamsowine as it will always KO Mamoswine.
- Mamoswine has trouble breaking through physical walls like Slowbro and Skarmory. A good teammate for Mamoswine is Magnezone who can trap Scizor locked into Bullet Punch, as well as Ferrothorn and other steel types attempting to tank an Earthquake.
- Special Defensive Rotom-W can easily come on Mamoswine and OHKO with Hydro Pump but it doesn't like to switch in on Superpower.
- Terrakion can also take out Mamoswine with Close Combat but it must be careful of switching in to Earthquake as it can OHKO Terrakion.
