Sawk (QC 2/3)

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Sawk: The Destroyer of Souls since October 2011

Overview
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Sawk is a Pokemon that possesses immense power with its high Attack stat and a powerful STAB Close Combat, which allows it to become a formidable wallbreaker. In addition, Sawk possesses a decent movepool to use, with good coverage options such as Knock Off, Stone Edge, and Zen Headbutt to hit anything that can stomach a Close Combat hard. Its Speed is also decent, at base 85, allowing it to pester slower teams quite well. Sawk also possesses great abilities in Sturdy and Mold Breaker. However, while its Speed is usable, it's not excellent, meaning Sawk gets outsped by several faster Pokemon such as Virizion. It is also somewhat frail, as its bulk is still rather mediocre. Furthermore, should Sawk run a Choice item, it can be quite easy to take advantage of once it has locked itself into a move, meaning it is a Pokemon that must be played carefully to be used to the fullest effect.

• Massive 125 Attack and strong 120 BP STAB
• Decent offensive movepool, with good coverage to hit anything that resists Fighting
• Reasonably decent 85 Speed
• Great abilities in Mold Breaker and Sturdy
• These traits combine to make Sawk a formidable wallbreaker
• 85 Speed is decent but not that great, so somewhat easy to revenge kill
• Can be taken advantage of when Choice locked
• Somewhat frail, 75/75/75 isn't that good of bulk
• Still, Sawk's raw power and coverage make it a strong choice for a wallbreaker

Wallbreaker
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name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Zen Headbutt
move 4: Stone Edge / Ice Punch
ability: Sturdy
item: Choice Band / Black Belt
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant / Jolly

Moves
========

Close Combat is an extremely powerful STAB move that dishes out a lot of damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Knock Off serves as a great coverage move, hitting Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mesprit, Musharna, and Mismagius hard: the ability to strip Pokemon of items is also a good bonus. Zen Headbutt is generally used to hit Weezing hard, and it can also hit Vileplume, Garbodor, and to a lesser extent Muk hard. Stone Edge hits Scyther and other Flying-types hard, but Ice Punch is an acceptably alternative if accuracy is desirable over the raw power. Ice Punch can also work relatively well with a Choice Band instead of a Black Belt. Earthquake is a usable option to hit Garbodor hard without activating Rocky Helmet or Aftermath, but Garbodor can still take on other moves that Sawk has beyond Zen Headbutt, and the move overall has less value unless Sawk is running Mold Breaker. Poison Jab can also be used to hit Granbull and Togetic, but neither Pokemon is common in NU as it stands.

• Close Combat is the powerful and reliable STAB move, wreck everything with its pure power
• Knock Off complements Close Combat well, hitting Mesprit and Mismagius pretty hard. Depriving opponents of their item is nice too (IT HITS CLAYDOL TOO)
• Zen Headbutt is the preferred in the final slot to hit Weezing fairly hard as well as other Poison-types like Vileplume and the less common Muk
• Stone Edge is cool to hit Scyther and other Flying-types hard, such as Mantine and Pelipper, as well as Rotom-S
• Ice Punch hits Vileplume and Flying-types hard but has less value than Zen Headbutt and Stone Edge, which deal with the aforementioned Pokemon well enough
• Earthquake is a decent option to hit Garbodor without any residual damage from Aftermath or Rocky Helmet, but Garbodor can still take on Sawk's other moves (and Zen Headbutt handles it well) and thus it has less value unless Mold Breaker
• Poison Jab is okay to hit Granbull and Togetic, but neither are exactly common as is

Set Details
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Maximum Attack and Speed are invested as to help Sawk wallbreak and sweep well. Sturdy is the best ability for this set, allowing Sawk to serve as a one-time check to any Pokemon, being able to live a hit once and then retaliate for significant damage. Mold Breaker is an acceptable alternative as it allows Sawk to bypass Custap Berry Golem while also hitting Mesprit, Mismagius, and Weezing in the event that Sawk runs Earthquake. However, Sturdy is generally much more useful as it allows Sawk to check any Pokemon once. Choice Band can be used for the sheer power to be able to put heavy dents in anything, but a Black Belt allows Sawk to freely choose between moves while still providing a boost to Close Combat. Life Orb is a viable alternative that can boost the power of all of Sawk's moves, but its recoil is generally undesirable with Sturdy.

• Max Attack and Max Speed are needed for Sawk to wreck
• Sturdy allows Sawk to function as a one-time emergency check to things while wallbreaking
• Mold Breaker is an alternative ability to be able to bypass Levitate from Mesprit, Mismagius, and Rotom if Earthquake locked, bypassing Sturdy is occasionally cool too, but generally is not as useful
• Choice Band is there just to smash with sheer power alone, but Black Belt still provides Close Combat good power and allows freedom of moves
• Life Orb is a viable option as it gives a reasonable boost in power and freedom of moves: it has recoil, however, clashing with Sturdy, and also gives away Sawk's ability to switch moves
• Adamant nature because Sawk doesn't outspeed that many notable things, but Jolly is nice too

Usage Tips
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This particular Sawk is best used early to mid game, being able put heavy dents in many Pokemon using its sheer power and coverage to wallbreak effectively. Take advantage of Sturdy, as this allows Sawk to check any sweeper in the tier once and obtain a KO. Use Sawk to be able to weaken counters of late-game cleaners such as Feraligatr and Mismagius.

• Best used early-mid game, putting heavy dents in the opposing Pokemon with its power
• With Sturdy, Sawk can check any sweeper once and smash with CC or a coverage move
• Is mostly a wallbreaker: it aims to just hit as hard as possible
• Use it to weaken counters of some good late-game cleaners such as Virizion and Heliolisk

Team Options
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Liepard and Sneasel are both good options to be able to take on Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mismagius and Mesprit. Liepard can also provide support with Encore and Thunder Wave, allowing Sawk to enter the field more easily. Xatu is also a good teammate, as it can make use of its ability to bounce back hazards so that Sawk can keep Sturdy intact for a longer time. Cryogonal, Sandslash, and Togetic can also be used to remove hazards directly via Rapid Spin and Defog respectively. Typhlosion is a good teammate to be able to wallbreak effectively as well, taking care of potential counters such as Vileplume. Late-game cleaners such as Feraligatr and Scyther also appreciate the wallbreaking Sawk provides.

• Liepard and Sneasel are decent to scare away Mesprit and Mismagius
• Heliolisk can take on Scyther well and use Volt Switch to get Sawk in
• Cryogonal and other Defoggers like Togetic could work to remove hazards too
• Xatu is a good teammate to bounce hazards and U-turn Sawk in-it also deals with Garbodor and Weezing decently
• Other wallbreakers such as Typhlosion can work well in tandem with Sawk to aid in wallbreaking
• Entry hazard support is always useful, Mega Steelix in particular is good to take on Mesprit and Uxie quite well
• Late-game cleaners that benefit from Sawk's wallbreaking prowess are nice too: things like Feraligatr, Scyther, and Virizion definitely appreciate what Sawk provides

Choice Scarf
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name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Earthquake / Poison Jab
move 4: Ice Punch
ability: Mold Breaker
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant

Moves
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Close Combat again serves as a strong STAB move that hits hard. Knock Off allows Sawk to hit Mesprit, Mismagius, and Rotom hard while it also has the bonus of removing held items from Pokemon.

• Close Combat is strong and reliable STAB
• Knock Off is coverage to hit Ghost- and Psychic-types and also depriving Pokemon of their items
• Earthquake hits Weezing and other Poison-types hard, Poison Jab is for fairies like Granbull and Togetic but neither is very common, so otherwise Poison Jab is a rather lackluster option as it lacks much power especially unboosted
• Ice Punch hits Vileplume and Flying-types

Set Details
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• EV spread is max power and Speed
• Adamant is the only nature because power is needed on Scarf Sawk
• Mold Breaker is still useful because Mesprit and Mismagius are common

Usage Tips
========

• This set is more of a revenge killer and late-game cleaner, revenging threats such as Archeops while sweeping late-game
• Remove its counters before you try to sweep with Sawk
• Make use of coverage moves such as Knock Off to hit anything that tries to come in on a potential Close Combat
• Works well late game when counters are gone in order to sweep; works decently mid game too to revenge kill
• Its greater power and Mold Breaker EQ to hit Weezing are Sawk's greatest advantages over Primeape as a Scarf Fighting-type

Team Options
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• Decent breakers like Specs Typhlosion and LO Samurott work well to weaken Sawk's counters, such as Musharna and friends
• Entry hazard support is nice: Mesprit and Ferroseed do this well, and Mega Steelix handles the pixies very well
• Other Pokemon such as Rotom, Heliolisk, Leafeon, and Scyther can bring Sawk in via Volt Switch, U-turn, or Baton Pass to get it in safely

Other Options
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• Thunder Punch
• Taunt
• Bulk Up
• Rock Slide
• Reversal+Sturdy could be a workable but silly gimmick
• Ugh this thing's movepool is small lol

Checks and Counters
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• Vileplume
• Swellow
• Mesprit
• Scyther
• Uxie
• Faster Pokemon, such as Jynx and Rotom, but can't switch in
• Not that many counters because its coverage is decent, but try to take advantage of whatever it gets Choice locked into

For writeup

**Bulky Fighting resists** aka Mesprit, Uxie, Vileplume, etc.

**Faster Pokemon** Jynx, Rotom, Virizion, Scyther, Swellow

 

[g]

Mention Life orb and Fist Plate as they shit on stuff like ferroseed trying to protect and on teams that have chain switching as their main Sawk answer

 

[FrankSteel]

The other non choice items are also nice to help against the ghosts that switch in expecting you to be locked into CC.

 

[Raseri]

ScraftyIsTheBest is this skeleton complete? If so, I'd like to add Black Belt as a slash option behind CB and rename the set Physical Attacker. Being able to switch moves is much more valuable for Sawk in XY

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Okay this is ready.

 

[soulgazer]

I really think Adamant deserves to be a slash on the Choice Scarf set, if not the main Nature as Jolly is honestly piss weak and doesn't really let Sawk outspeed anything (correct me if im wrong) important that Adamant doesn't.

Mention Taunt in OO, remove Rock Slide / LO from OO, Thunderpunch too.

Add Life Orb in the first set's Set Details, it is a good item and deserves a good mention.

Speaking of the first set's Set Details, make sure to talk about what Jolly does (outspeed Mesprit 100% of the time, outspeeds Adamant Kangaskhan and Zangoose, let you outspeed or tie with other Sawk, etc).

ScraftyIsTheBest

 

[Martin]

you should slash Sturdy on both the sets for use alongside Poison Jab as EQ is literally the only reason to run Mold Breaker on this thing.

 

[Ares]

Sturdy Sawk is really quite meh, mold breaker can come into play a lot more often. And it's not just eq that mold breaker affects, it's stuff like Sturdy and Levitate, and other abilities, and the point of it is that sawk can get a happy medium when trying to predict.

 

[boltsandbombers]

You should note as to what a jolly nature outspeeds, as there is a big difference in power between that an adamant.

 

[Blast]

Honestly, do we even need Scarf? I've always hated it. It's weak, not even that fast for a Scarfer (Gorebyss beats even Jolly by one point at +2), and unlike something like Mesprit who has Trick and Healing Wish, it lacks more or less any utility against bulky teams (except Knock Off I guess but there's plenty of stuff that learns that lol). I mean, it does technically have a ~niche~, but that niche is so small in like 99% of scenarios I really don't think it's worth salvaging tbh. I never use it, and I kinda doubt anyone else does either :/ So unless someone can prove otherwise, consider this QC Rejected 1/3 for Scarf.

 

[Ares]

I mean personally I've always said that Band is much better than Scarf. However I do think Scarf has some good uses, they function a bit differently because without Band Sawk isnt really wall breaking. Its more of a revenge killer.

But one thing that annoys me is that everyone always seems to run Sturdy in conjunction with Scarf. Sturdy requires enormous support to even do anything, keeping hazards off of the field in a game where it is so easy to set them back up. Cant switch in on anything as prior damage renders Sturdy useless. Mold Breaker is just infinitely better.

It is outclassed by Mesprit as a Scarfer obviously, and also does not have access to a move like U-turn / Volt Switch. However it does have a niche, I dont know if that niche is enough to warrant a set. But people are going to be using Scarf Sawk regardless thanks to people like BT, so if they are gonna use it regardless we may as well tell them how to use it properly. I think it should stay, but I'm wouldnt really mind if it wasnt on the analysis.

 

[FrankSteel]

A fast close combat is kinda cool, but outside of that scarf definitely has it's limitations. It's just too easy to force it out/wall it when it has scarf.

 

[Aladyyn]

I'm also of the opinion that Scarf Sawk sucks (also I end up being weak to it all too often so I hate it even more) and probably doesn't deserve to be on the analysis. Sturdy is useless and Sawk is slow and easy to take advantage of when locked into weak CC or even weaker coverage move (CB doesn't face this problem as it does a good chunk to frailer resists).

On a different note, I think Taunt deserves a big mention somewhere on the analysis - at least it should be the first thing in OO, maybe mentioned in Moves for Fist Plate (could that be a stand-alone set if we remove scarf?). Speaking of OO, get Rock Slide out of there, not worth running over Stone Edge.

First thing in Checks and Counters needs to be Granbull as it is THE Sawk switchin unlike all the other things that can't really switch in reliably.

Also I think EQ should be slashed with Ice Punch (before it) because they both hit Dragalge and either Vileplume or Garbodor and you can pick between having to have something for Plume which you should have and not being hazard fodder for Garbodor and Qwilfish. I think EQ is a more useful move to have overall than Ice Punch and PJab at least gives Sawk a chance to beat Granbull if it gets the poison.

 

[soulgazer]

ScraftyIsTheBest are you still working on this?

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Yeah I'm still doing this, I'll get on this a bit later today, I'll add in the suggestions and Scarf will probably get removed.

 

[Punchshroom]

Massive 125 Attack and strong 120 BP STAB
Reasonably decent 85 Speed
85 Speed is decent but not that great, so somewhat easy to revenge kill
Somewhat frail, 75/75/75 isn't that good of bulk

The stats can be seen in Overview, you don't need to mention this.

 

[boltsandbombers]

Small nitpick, adamant > jolly on scarf sawk. I think others will agree with me, it really needs the power of adamant imo.

 

[Blast]

Still upholding my rejection for Scarf, so not QCing that. Anyway:

Bump Life Orb up to at least Set Details for the first set (and remove it from OO), it's a good item choice.

Some of the stuff in C&C can just be lumped together. Lump Swellow in with faster mons, and Slurpuff + Mesprit can be put together as offensive checks that can take advantage of a Choice-locked Sawk. Also list more bulky Fighting resists like Granbull and Garbodor

ScraftyIsTheBest

 

[Ares]

ScraftyIsTheBest are you still working on this? Please implement Dat Blast changes, although I think scarf should stay as a set listed last.

You need to fill out UT and TO for both sets, right now they are quite small and I get little to nothing from them.

Please fill out C&C all the way.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Hi I'm still doing this and I will get on it this upcoming evening, I've been pretty busy lately so yeah. Same applies to Aurorus.

 

[Blast]

ScraftyIsTheBest make sure you flesh this out for ORAS, there's a lot of mentions of Slurpuff and a couple sections could use some more detail (particularly UT and TO)

In addition I'd like Sturdy to be given a bigger mention on the first set, CB Sturdy Sawk is actually really good with proper support since it lets you serve as a one-time emergency check to stuff and is generally better on sets without EQ.

I'd also like Zen Headbutt to be put in at least Moves, it allows you to hit Weezing even w/o MB and more importantly hits every relevant Poison-type in one moveslot (Vileplume is neutral to EQ). Adamant CB is just enough to 2HKO Weezing as well

 

[CanadianWifier]

I'd go as far as to put Sturdy as the only slash. With proper hazard support, a full health sturdy sawk can literally counter anything once. Also, with Adamant Banded zenner, hitting Weezing with EQ is way less of an importance, making Mold Breaker much less necessary.

 

[soulgazer]

agreeing about everything regarding sturdy sawk

 

[Ares]

ScraftyIsTheBest you have 24 hours to update this to ORAS with the above changes. It says you edited on Sunday but there are still mentions of banned mons and the ability has yet to be updated.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Okay...I fleshed this out a bit and removed all banned mon mentions, also added Sturdy in and Zen headbutt in moves in the Physical Attacker set. So this is ready for now.