NU Spotlight: Musharna

By Quite Quiet. Art by Litra.
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Musharna by Litra

Introduction

Musharna was introduced in generation 5 and quickly found a place in the NeverUsed tier, where it stayed for the entirety of the generation, as one of the best Pokémon available. With XY, players in higher tiers were again overlooking Musharna for other, more powerful threats, so it quickly fell through the tiers until it ended up in NU again. After a visit to PU during NU's earlier stages, Musharna once again settled down into the NeverUsed tier, where it has stayed since then. Throughout the course of the generation, more and more threatening Pokémon have been introduced into the tier, such as the ORAS Megas, Skuntank, and more recently Charizard and Omastar. With the metagame shifting more towards offense and an extremely reliable counter in Skuntank showing up, Musharna's viability took a hit. However, Musharna is still a dominant force in the metagame to watch out and prepare for, as unprepared teams can easily get swept away by it. It also happens to be Raseri's (the tier leader's) favorite Pokémon.

Musharna's Qualities

The most important thing Musharna has going for it is good bulk and reliable recovery through Moonlight. Together with a decently effective Psychic typing, it stands out as one of the hardest Pokémon in the tier to effectively wear down. Its typing also lets it act as one of the tier's most reliable physical Fighting-type answers, as it switches into all of them, especially with a Colbur Berry equipped. That's not to say that's Musharna's main role on most teams, though. With access to Calm Mind and Barrier, Musharna makes for one of the most threatening boosters in the tier due to being incredibly hard to take down after just a single boost from either move. Being able to boost easily combined with access to Stored Power makes Musharna a potent late-game wincon as soon as the Dark-types have been removed. Its movepool also includes moves like Thunder Wave, Heal Bell, and Baton Pass, all of which fill a more supportive role, either to paralyze, cure status, or to pass boosts to other team members to sweep with instead. Synchronize, while somewhat situational, is the best ability Musharna has and will at least discourage some Pokémon from trying to status it.

Playing with Musharna

musharna

This is by far Musharna's most threatening set. Using its bulk to boost up, Musharna becomes a fearsome threat that is near impossible to take down. This is mostly done late-game when Musharna's counters have been dealt with or weakened. The choice between Barrier and Signal Beam depends entirely on what team support Musharna will have, as Signal Beam Musharna can get around Dark-types on its own, while Barrier Musharna need its team to do that for it. On the other hand, Barrier Musharna has a much easier time sweeping, as the physical boosts stops effectively everything from breaking through it, barring crits. The listed EV spread is Musharna's most common one, maximizing its ability to take physical hits and set up a Calm Mind, but a mixed spread of 240 HP / 172 Def / 96 SpD with a Calm nature is also viable, though it changes a bit what Pokémon Musharna can set up on. The added special bulk also gives it a much easier time to switch in on, and set up on, special attackers such as Magmortar and Sceptile. Heal Bell, as well as Psychic, can also be used to easier break past Steelix, which normally stops Musharna.

musharna

As an alternative to the Calm Mind set, Musharna's movepool also lends itself to a more supportive role. Musharna no longer aims to sweep on its own but to weaken the opposing team through spreading status instead. A slow Baton Pass also allows Musharna to safely bring in some frailer team members such as Swellow so they can threaten the opposing team. Two other moves could be used on this set as well: Healing Wish and Heal Bell. With Musharna's bulk, it's likely to stay around for long, and a late-game Healing Wish can be game-changing.

Playing against Musharna

When thinking about answers to Musharna, Dark-types such as Skuntank, Malamar, and Liepard are always one of the first that come up. With a typing that grant them an immunity to Musharna's STAB moves, they completely wall the Barrier Calm Mind set and generally only have to fear Signal Beam. Skuntank does this especially well, as its secondary Poison typing makes it neutral to Signal Beam, and it has access to Taunt to completely shut down Musharna's boosting attempts. Even though Colbur Berry is pretty common, Dark-types still manage to be one of the better answers in the metagame.

Outside of that you have Scyther, and to a lesser extent Pinsir, which can break through almost any boosting Musharna does with their Bug-type STAB moves and take it out, though Scyther has to be running Bug Bite over U-turn for this. They do have to be careful, however, as a Musharna with a few defensive boosts behind it can still outheal any damage they do, so if they are going to check it, they need to get in relatively soon or Musharna will be too bulky to break, even for them.

Completely stopping Musharna's boosting attempts with Taunt or Encore effectively neuters it, as an unboosted Musharna doesn't have enough power behind its attacks to threaten its checks. While Skuntank is the most reliable at stopping Musharna this way, Mismagius and Liepard can do it reasonably well too. Similarly, Toxic Spikes, Will-O-Wisp, or generally any status-inducing move slows down Musharna's boosting, as it has to heal up more than otherwise, which allows a lot of Pokémon an easier time beating it. Steelix is the most common option for this, as its Steel typing makes it immune to a Toxic through Synchronize and it also resists Musharna's STAB and most common coverage move. Other Steel-types such as Klinklang and Metang can do this too, but they aren't as common. In fact, if you find your team especially weak to Musharna, running Toxic on a Pokémon it usually sets up on, like Hitmonchan, can be a relatively effective way to let you beat Musharna more easily.

Powerful attackers such as Swords Dance Samurott, Swords Dance Rhydon, Pyroar, and Charizard can actually act as checks to Musharna as well, as their raw power gives them the ability to outdamage any healing Musharna attempts. Although unreliable early in a game, it is a valid late-game tactic that can allow you to easily take it out. If all else fails, it's possible to beat Musharna simply by PP stalling Moonlight's 8 PP through repeated attacks, as a Musharna with no way to recover its health is much easier to deal with. This should be the last option, however, because it's far too unreliable to consistently rely on.

Fitting Musharna onto a team

Fitting Musharna onto your own team is very easy, as its raw bulk, typing, minimal support required, and general effectiveness in the metagame make it one of the more suitable Pokémon out there for balanced and defensive teams. Despite this, there are some things Musharna cannot deal with and needs support for from its team. Mostly, this support comes from a Fighting-type such as Hariyama and Primeape that can deal with the Dark-types that trouble Musharna, as they are the main threat to it. As Skuntank is the most common answer to Musharna on many teams, sometimes you can resort to a Skuntank lure instead of a proper check, such as Explosion Shiftry. Mostly, this should only be done in combination with a proper answer and shouldn't be the only thing to rely on.

Steelix is another Pokémon that generally threatens Musharna's attempts to set up, so a team member that can deal with it is very helpful. Some options include the previously mentioned Fighting-types such as Hariyama and Primeape, but Fire-types such as Magmortar and special Water-types like Samurott are also able to deal with it with relative ease. It can also be a good idea to pair Musharna with a Pokémon such as Charizard, Magmortar, Guts Hariyama, and Garbodor that can soak up any status moves aimed at Musharna and also deal with the few Steel-types that hinder it.

Due to Musharna's ability to check Fighting-types, Pokémon such as Ferroseed and Rhydon that tend to dislike those generally fit on the same teams, because it provides a very solid switch-in to one of their main answers. If Musharna is using Baton Pass, special attackers with no effective way to boost their own Special Attack such as Swellow, Magmortar, and Samurott can pair well with it.

Conclusion

When it comes to the NeverUsed tier, Musharna has been a constant threat to watch out for. Though its viability has changed over time, it has always been relevant. So if you're building a new team or just plan to play a couple matches, take an opportunity to go out and play with it, and experience just what it has to offer.

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