Pokémon Alola Marowak

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So I think pretty much everyone has come to appreciate his shockingly high viability at least right now but what are some meta changes that might bring this guy down? I mean right now he's insane cause we have people thinking they can just spam UB's and Genesect and win but he counters them all quite well. Once the "lol I'm just gonna use a bunch of legendaries!" phase dies down and people start playing real teams what would Marowak have to watch out for? Bulky waters are obvious but I feel he could still be useful even if rain becomes popular since rain likes tapu koko and volt switch as well and he counters that...

If this guy actually becomes and stays OU then honestly I'll be surprised, I always liked him and wanted him to be good but I never thought he'd really be that good. What wonders a change of typing can do, his stats are identical to the PU Marowak.
Yeah, I've been thinking that, that it just happens that the most powerful and likely to be suspect candidates (if not outright ban) all struggle against it.

I don't think it will ever be without an OU niche, though.
 
good point, people are using Alola Marowak to counter top tier threats that will probably either warrant a quickban (Aegislash, Pheromosa, Kartanna) or suspect test (probably all the Ultra Beasts except Nihilego and Guzzlord). I feel like it would hurt Marowak's viability once these mons leave, but, I still think it will have a presence since it checks the tier's multitude of Steel types and also the small number of Electric types.
what will be funny is playing him in Ubers after these mons get banned. lol Marowak, PU and Uber viable.
 
If you don't care about speed, which is valid, I think that this might also be a good EV spread if you're looking to be more defensive.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Cursed Body Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 36 Def / 180 SpD
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Bonemerang
- Shadow Bone

40 Atk lets you OHKO 40 HP Tapu Koko with Bonemerang, 36 Def and Impish lets you live ScarfTar Edge from full and Wisp it, while the rest is in Spdef to let you wall Tapu Koko and most Electric-types better.

EV spread almost certainly isn't optimal, but yea.
 
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If you don't care about speed, which is valid, I think that this might also be a good EV spread if you're looking to be more defensive.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 36 Def / 180 SpD
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Bonemerang
- Shadow Bone

40 Atk lets you OHKO 40 HP Tapu Koko with Bonemerang, 36 Def and Impish lets you live ScarfTar Edge from full and Wisp it, while the rest is in Spdef to let you wall Tapu Koko and most Electric-types better.

EV spread almost certainly isn't optimal, but yea.
I assume thats a typo and you are using Lightningrod to deal with Tapu Koko?



Anyway on Marowak as a whole...i think it being a full stop to Volt Turn as a whole is a Solid Niche to have that may keep it at least in the minds of OU players. While its powerful now with Pheremosa and Genesect in the tier (The latter of which could stick around for quite a while, as while its bad, its nowhere near the most broken thing in the tier) as long as the Tapus exist (And Marowak is a good check to 3 of them, particularly Koko), and they look to be an OU mainstay, i think Marowak will have a place on many teams. it checks way too much while still being offensive not to find its place.

Maybe not OU by usage, as the meta wears on its only gonna get harder and harder to use, but it will be OU Viable, and i can't see it dropping that low.
 
I like running speed on this to outpace Aegis, Clef, etc. 45 base speed is slow as molasses uninvested.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head / Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 108 SpD / 132 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Toxic / Stealth Rock / Will-o-Wisp / Swords DAnce
- Earthquake / Bonemarang

I think this spread is best for it, allowing it to take hits and get the first move versus a good amount of defensive Pokemon while still hitting quite hard thanks to Thick Club. Straight up Specially Defensive Marowak can probably do without speed though.

This thing's definitely really solid right now.
Thanks for this set; I've updated the OP with it.

I've decided not to slash Rock Head has an ability option since without the Electric immunity, Alola Marowak loses much of its defensive potential and thus one of its main niches (switching in easily into stuff like Tapu Koko, Xurkitree, Thundurus, Raikou, Magnezone etc). However, I've added a Trick Room attacker set which uses Rock Head as its ability, since then the focus should be solely about power.
 
Why would Alola-Marowak want to run Bonemerang over Earthquake?

Specifically, what is slower than it, that commonly runs Substitute, that A-Marowak can hit SE with Bonemerang to justify the 10% miss chance?

(EDIT: Nvm, Tapu Bulu kek. The question stands: what Substitute users, if any, does Bonemerang counter?)
 
Why would Alola-Marowak want to run Bonemerang over Earthquake?

Specifically, what is slower than it, that commonly runs Substitute, that A-Marowak can hit SE with Bonemerang to justify the 10% miss chance?

(EDIT: Nvm, Tapu Bulu kek. The question stands: what Substitute users, if any, does Bonemerang counter?)
SubToxic Heatran/Aegislash spring to mind. Bonemarang is still a lesser option imo but that's something.
 
your trading a 10% miss chance for not getting its power cut when Bulu has been in.

Given i find Bulu and A.Marowak work well together, this should not be underestimated, and honestly makes Bonermerang the superior of the two atm imo.
 
your trading a 10% miss chance for not getting its power cut when Bulu has been in.

Given i find Bulu and A.Marowak work well together, this should not be underestimated, and honestly makes Bonermerang the superior of the two atm imo.
I've been having moderate success with a Bulu / A.Wak / Toxapex core recently. Who else do you pair Bulu and A.Wak with if you don't mind sharing? (I'm really new to the competitive side of Pokemon so team building is hard for me). Just looking for ideas. I have thought about putting Tentacruel over Toxapex for Rapid Spin support since Marowak hates rocks.
 
I've been having moderate success with a Bulu / A.Wak / Toxapex core recently. Who else do you pair Bulu and A.Wak with if you don't mind sharing? (I'm really new to the competitive side of Pokemon so team building is hard for me). Just looking for ideas. I have thought about putting Tentacruel over Toxapex for Rapid Spin support since Marowak hates rocks.
Just anti rock support is enough, still trying to find a good addition to the core tbh, i just know i want a defogger.
 

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So here's what I've been running on this thing:

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Earthquake / Bonemerang
- Substitute

Okay so, it might seem really weird to run Max Speed and Jolly on such a slow Pokemon, but hear me out. Running Speed actually helps Marowak a lot when it comes to stallbreaking. Being able to outspeed stuff like Hippowdon and Mega Venusaur prevents them from being able to stall you out with faster recovers or just revenge kill you. It also lets you Sub on them before they inflict you with status. And yes, base 45 speed may seem slow even with investement, but it actually outspeeds the important base 200 Speed tier (just barely; it hits 207 speed) ,which not many defnesive Pokemon are able to surpass (idk how much speed Heatran runs nowdays, might be more than Marowak can reach, but from what I've seen most are very bulky). And, most importantly, Substitute lets it act as an excellent MMawile check, given that they rarely run Knock Off and will most likely try to Sucker Punch Marowak. Oh, and with TWave support, it has an actual shot at being able to ouspeed stuff: it oustpeeds everything paralyzed up to base 140s

You can defenitely use Lightningrod over Rock Head to counter Tapu Koko and Xurkitree, but that means you need to run Fire Punch over Flare Blitz, which reduces your wallbreaking capabilities quite a bit.

I initially dismissed this thing because of its speed+poor defensive typing, but in the current metagame, its typing is actually pretty useful, its coverage is amazing, and it packs one hell of a punch, so consider me impressed.

edit: replay of it putting in work: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-480434906
featuring lefties marowak: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-481334624
 
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Slow but I'm Good (Marowak-Alola) @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 12 SpD / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Bonemerang
- Substitute

Here the set I'm using, with great success. 164 Spe EV investment to outspeed base 65s and below (Pelipper, Aegislash, Clefable, Celesteela are notable things). Bulk investment to avoid LO Tapu Koko's Dazzling Gleam and Celesteela's Heavy Slam from breaking your sub (88% chance they won't break your sub). Maximum attack with Adamant to hit as hard as possible (TBH there's very few thing Marowak can't 2HKO, especially with the Def drop from Shadow Bone). It basically counter the same thing as the SpD set (Tapu Koko, Xurkitree, Pheromesa) but packs increadible amount of power. Alternatively, 96HP/252ATK+/20SPD/140SPE can be used to 100% avoid Tapu Koko and Celesteela from breaking your substitute, but it only outspeed base 61s (miss on Pelipper)
 
I've been using Maro-A with MVenu and Tapu Fini they work kinda great, they wall most of the meta which consists of Phero, Aegi, Tapu Koko and Zygarde-C. But they struggle against something like Lando-I or any ground-type move like Thousand Arrows from Zygarde-C. I'm curious to see what Maro-A can do in this tier. I'm yet to find Ttar, but when the meta settles probably Ttar could be a problematic for Maro-A.
 
I don't really see the point of running sub on this thing. Sub on slow attackers is very rarely useful, especially when leftovers aren't a good option. And in Wak's case, it's immune to burn and most paralysis regardless (does Glare not hit ghosts?). Also, you guys who are running Rock Head Flare Blitz because you're afraid he can't wallbreak otherwise, try out a max attack lightningrod Fire Punch set and find me anything that he can't 2hko. You don't need Blitz. And Lightningrod is too damn perfect to pass up (save TR sets).
 
Marowak-A is so great. It looks awesome, it still hits as hard as regular Wak, but it has 4 freaking immunities. I love this thing to KO, but I'm a bit scared for this pokemon's future. Its main role is checking most of the current UB threats and dishing out huge damage on the switch in, so it is highly meta dependent. If all the UBs end up being banned, it still has its great typing, but I don't think it'll retain the impact it has now, while UBs often make up peoples' win condition and it just stops them cold.

I have played with 3 attacks + WoW, but while having the option is nice, I rarely actually clicked it, because oftentimes, the raw damage is preferable. I attribute that to the burn damage nerf(before Gen7, I'd just click WoW on a whim since even SpAttackers wouldn't appreciate the damage).

I feel like Bonemerang is the infinitely better option than Earthquake. It breaks subs, which makes it always win against sub Xurkitree(and many sub users in general), and most of all, it isn't hampered at all by Grassy Terrain, which I feel is one of the best things you can do to support Alola Wak. Tapu Bulu+Marowak-A make a great wall-breaking core in general.
 
Do you guys think This is going to be OU? Hit like a truck and can check/Counter a lot of shits like all The tapus bar fini, most UB, heatran and some other shits
 
Even after Genesect and the UBs are gone, there's still Tapu Koko, Charizard-Y (and -X without EQ, for that matter), Celesteela and Scizor-M to check, along with Magearna and (...) yeah. Also, stallbreaking-capabilities since it smashes through Toxapex and Ferrothorn and basically everything along these lines.
 
It seems like a good anti-meta mon at least at this point. As long as Tapu Koko/Celesteela/Magearna are a force in OU, Alolan Marowak should have a niche.
 
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sd wisp marowak.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch
- Shadow Bone
- Will-O-Wisp

this. this offers so much. wisp incoming landos and sbone those tapu finis for a good 50 percent while still not being passive as fuck vs chansey and the works. best set ive user so far tbh
 
You can defenitely use Lightningrod over Thick Club to counter Tapu Koko and Xurkitree, but that means you need to run Fire Punch over Flare Blitz, which reduces your wallbreaking capabilities quite a bit.
Wait what? Are Lightningrod and Thick Club mutually exclusive right now?
 
So I just caught a Shiny(!) Cubone that came with Lightning Rod, but it has a Serious (neutral) Nature. I really really want to fit this thing onto my team to eliminate their crippling weakness to Tapu Koko and for its own STABs, but I'm not sure if the Nature is going to ruin it or not. Will it still be able to do the job despite the dead weight in the SpA stat?
 
So I just caught a Shiny(!) Cubone that came with Lightning Rod, but it has a Serious (neutral) Nature. I really really want to fit this thing onto my team to eliminate their crippling weakness to Tapu Koko and for its own STABs, but I'm not sure if the Nature is going to ruin it or not. Will it still be able to do the job despite the dead weight in the SpA stat?
SpA is irrelevant for Alolan Marowak. Serious nature isn't ideal but for casual competitive play, it's not the worst in this case. You'll have to run max HP, max Atk though.
 
sd wisp marowak.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch
- Shadow Bone
- Will-O-Wisp

this. this offers so much. wisp incoming landos and sbone those tapu finis for a good 50 percent while still not being passive as fuck vs chansey and the works. best set ive user so far tbh
I like the idea of this because realistically you don't need more than your STABs to break the vast majority of things, but given how insanely hard this thing hits, do you even need Swords Dance? I think Chansey is 2HKOed by Fire Punch after rocks regardless. This mon puts in so much work using only it's STABs that it might be one of the very few pokemon who has a different form of 4MSS: too MANY moveslots.
 
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