Pokémon Alola Marowak

[Groudon ex]

Name: Marowak (Alola Form)
Dex: #105
Type: Fire / Ghost
Base Stats: 60 HP / 80 Atk / 110 Def / 50 SpA / 80 SpD / 45 Spe (425 BST)
Abilities: Cursed Body / Lightning Rod / Rock Head (HA)

Movepool

Level Up

Start - Growl
Start - Tail Whip
Start - Bone Club
Start - Flame Wheel
L3 - Tail Whip
L7 - Bone Club
L11 - Flame Wheel
L13 - Leer
L17 - Hex
L21 - Bonemerang
L23 - Will-O-Wisp
L27 - Shadow Bone
L33 - Thrash
L37 - Fling
L43 - Stomping Tantrum
L49 - Endeavor
L53 - Flare Blitz
L59 - Retaliate
L65 - Bone Rush

TMs

TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM11 - Sunny Day
TM13 - Ice Beam
TM14 - Blizzard
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM21 - Frustration
TM23 - Smack Down
TM24 - Thunderbolt
TM25 - Thunder
TM26 - Earthquake
TM27 - Return
TM30 - Shadow Ball
TM31 - Brick Break
TM32 - Double Team
TM35 - Flamethrower
TM37 - Sandstorm
TM38 - Fire Blast
TM39 - Rock Tomb
TM40 - Aerial Ace
TM42 - Facade
TM43 - Flame Charge
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM46 - Thief
TM48 - Round
TM49 - Echoed Voice
TM52 - Focus Blast
TM54 - False Swipe
TM56 - Fling
TM59 - Brutal Swing
TM61 - Will-O-Wisp
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM71 - Stone Edge
TM75 - Swords Dance
TM78 - Bulldoze
TM80 - Rock Slide
TM85 - Dream Eater
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM97 - Dark Pulse
TM100 - Confide

Egg moves

Egg - Ancient Power
Egg - Belly Drum
Egg - Screech
Egg - Skull Bash
Egg - Perish Song
Egg - Double Kick
Egg - Iron Head
Egg - Detect
Egg - Endure
Egg - Chip Away

Transfer only moves

Dig
Incinerate
Rock Smash
Secret Power
Power-up Punch
Strength
Earth Power
Fire Punch
Focus Punch
Icy Wind
Iron Defense
Iron Tail
Knock Off
Low Kick
Outrage
Snore
Stealth Rock
Thunder Punch
Uproar
Captivate
Natural Gift
Fury Cutter
Mud-slap
Mega Punch
Mega Kick
Body Slam
Dynamic Punch
Take Down
Double-Edge
Bubble Beam
Water Gun
Submission
Counter
Seismic Toss
Rage
Fissure
Mimic
Bide

Analysis

Alola Marowak may seem like a pretty unremarkable Pokémon at first glance. It's very slow, has poor Special bulk and possesses a number of unfortunate weaknesses, namely to Water, Rock, Ground, Dark and Ghost. However, its typing in combination with the Lightningrod ability also grants it a unique palette of resistances (Fire, Grass, Bug, Ice, Fairy, Poison, Steel) and immunities (Normal, Fighting, Electric), allowing to effectively check some of OU's most dangerous threats such as Pheromosa, Genesect, Tapu Koko, Xurkitree, Kartana and Mega Mawile, among others. A neat side effect of its Ghost typing is that it cannot be trapped by Dugtrio.

While Aegislash can also check many of these effectively, it is Marowak's Electric immunity/Fire resistance which sets it apart. Alola Marowak also has Thick Club in its arsenal, like its vanilla counterpart, making it one of the hardest hitters in OU and very tough for offensive teams to switch into.

Make no mistake however, Alola Marowak is by no means a top-tier Pokémon. It is severely hampered by its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazard; Stealth Rock in particular. Due to the lack of reliable recovery and recoil from Flare Blitz it is worn down very quickly; thus hazard removal is encouraged. Its Pursuit weakness is also a major letdown. Regardless, Alola Marowak can find a solid niche on OU teams that require its unique blend of defensive capabilities and offensive potential.

Movesets

Offensive Tank

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 112 SpD / 132 Spe (EV spread by Jaguar360)
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Bone
- Flare Blitz / Fire Punch
- Earthquake / Bonemarang
- Will-O-Wisp / Toxic / Stealth Rock / Swords Dance

This is Alola Marowak's most effective moveset, giving it the bulk to switch in a few times on behalf of its resistances. Despite only 16 EVs, it still reaches a very respectable 440 Attack stat with Thick Club, in which it gets two strong STAB moves in Shadow Bone and Flare Blitz to take advantage of. Fire Punch is an alternative if you find the recoil from Flare Blitz a little too much to handle, although the drop in power will be very significant. Earthquake rounds out the set, hitting Pokémon such as Heatran, Tyranitar and Toxapex super effectively. Bonemerang could be used as an alternative to break Substitute and deal more damage under Grassy Terrain, although has only 90% accuracy and thus should only be considered if your team has difficulty with BuluTran cores. The last moveset is Alola Marowak's utility option. Will-O-Wisp allows it to cripple switch-ins such as Landorus-T, Garchomp, Mega Gyarados and Tyranitar among others. Toxic is a good option vs bulky Waters such as Rotom-W, and also bulky Dark types like Guzzlord and Mandibuzz. Stealth Rock is always useful, especially since Alola Marowak can force out a number of Pokémon and thus gets many opportunities to set it up for you team. Swords Dance allows Alola Marowak to put in some serious work vs Stall teams; for example OHKOing Hippowdon with Flare Blitz and Toxapex with Earthquake at +2. The Speed investment gives Alola Marowak the jump over defensive Pokémon such as Clefable, Aegislash and Chansey, while the rest is dumped into SpD to patch up its mediocre special bulk. If you're not concerned about Speed you can run an alternative spread of 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD, giving it about 25% more power.

Specially Defensive

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club / Leftovers
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Bone / Bonemerang
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

This set plays a similar role to the first one except it's designed to live much longer. With full HP and SpD investment alongside Alola Marowak's naturally high physical bulk, this Pokémon can become surprisingly tricky to take down, especially after it has spread some burns with Will-O-Wisp. Shadow Bone is a reliable and reasonably strong STAB attack; Bonemarang is also an option to do more damage to the Fire types which may come in to absorb Will-O-Wisp. Rest + Sleep Talk is pretty self explanatory. Note that Leftovers is an option for increased longevity, but this will result in Alola Marowak being rather passive by halving its Attack stat. Note that if you do decide to use Leftovers, you could run this set with Calm nature and use Hex as your attacking move, giving Alola Marowak a little more offensive presence vs burned stuff.

Substitute Attacker (suggested by Albacore)

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Bonemerang / Earthquake
- 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 investment, but it actually outspeeds the important base 200 Speed tier (just barely; it hits 207 speed) ,which not many defensive Pokemon are able to surpass (idk how much speed Heatran runs nowadays*, 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 outspeed stuff: it outspeeds everything paralyzed up to base 140s

You can definitely 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.

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.

*Standard Heatran runs 68 Spe (207), so you only tie with it. At least Substitute can protect you from Earth Power if you get that up beforehand.

Trick Room Attacker

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Flare Blitz
- Shadow Bone
- Earthquake / Bonemerang
- Low Kick / Swords Dance

In case you're running a Trick Room team, Alola Marowak is perhaps worth considering. Unlike its vanilla counterpart it gets to abuse Rock Head effectively with STAB Flare Blitz; most of the time you can just click it mindlessly and many things will either die or take heavy damage from it. Shadow Bone is the obligatory secondary STAB move, Earthquake / Bonemerang can be considered as with the first set. Low Kick rounds out the set's coverage, OHKOing Tyranitar, Mega Gyarados and Hydreigon and 2HKOing Guzzlord. Swords Dance is also an option in the final slot but bare in mind that Trick Room is limited to 5 turns and thus you will have little time to set up.

Team Options

Alola Marowak can more or less function independently as an attacker thanks to its solid offensive typing, movepool and Thick Club-boosted Attack stat, but nonetheless appreciates the support of any strong Special attacker to help it break down the opponent's defensive core; preferably one that can threaten bulky Ground, Water and Dark types.

As mentioned above, hazard removal is strongly recommended when using Alola Marowak, as they will severely limit the amount of times it can switch in to check what it is supposed to. Defog Tapu Fini is one of the best teammates, as it can switch in on Water and Dark attacks aimed at Alola Marowak. Defog Mantine is another good choice since it appreciates something to take Electric attacks for it, and Mantine can return the favour to it by soaking up Water and Ground attacks. However, these share a mutual weakness to Rock. Defog Skarmory on the other hand does not share any weaknesses and appreciates Fire and Electric resistances to support it. Other viable hazard removers to pair with Alola Marowak include Mega Scizor, Excadrill, Lati@s, Dhelmise, Starmie and Mew; but be wary that the latter four compound on its Dark/Ghost weaknesses and give your team more stuff at risk of Pursuit.

It should be noted that Tsareena will be a very solid teammate for Alola Marowak if it ends up in the lower tiers.

Checks & counters

Tyranitar is Alola Marowak's biggest nemesis. While it has to be careful to avoid being hit by moves such as Earthquake or Low Kick, and doesn't appreciate burns, because it outspeeds Alola Marowak, resists both of its STAB moves and has access to Pursuit it can spell doom for it. Other Pursuit trappers such as Weavile and Bisharp can also be very threatening for Alola Marowak if they are brought in via double switch or from a U-turn, but cannot switch in directly.

Guzzlord is probably the closest thing to a true counter to Alola Marowak, soaking up any of its attacks bar Low Kick with ease thanks to its Dark/Dragon typing and impressive 223/53 physical bulk. Hydreigon has less bulk but can also switch in easily and Roost off any damage. Mega Gyarados also has the fortune of resisting both of its STABs but is crippled by Will-O-Wisp. Physically defensive Mandibuzz can take a Flare Blitz and OHKO Alola Marowak with Foul Play or heal up with Roost as it is forced out, but has to be careful of Toxic.

Physical tanks such as Landorus-T, Garchomp and Hippowdon can switch fairly comfortably into Alola Marowak and threaten it directly with their STAB Earthquake; although watch out for burns. Kommo-o resists Flare Blitz and is able to tank a Shadow Bone and force it out by likewise is also potentially threatened by a burn unless it runs a purely Special set.

Bulky Water types such as Rotom-W, Alomomola, Azumarill and Tapu Fini resist Flare Blitz and don't have too much difficulty taking a Shadow Bone or two, and can take it out with STAB Water moves. Toxapex can deal with any Alola Marowak lacking Earthquake/Bonemarang with ease but has to be careful as it is outsped and risks being OHKO'd by these moves after a Swords Dance boost. Special mention should go to Pelipper as a check, since Alola Marowak hates Rain because of the nerf to its Flare Blitz, making it much easier to switch in to. Pelipper itself can also switch in directly without too much trouble if it invests in physical bulk and can Roost off any damage.

 

[Steel With It]

Minor nitpick: I'd recommend Bonemerang over Earthquake, since Grassy Terrain is going to be everywhere this gen.

 

[Flarowak]

This thing is so clean right now. It comes in on so many things right now, and hits so hard. Shadow Bone is such a great stab. My favorite of the new stuff so far, although Bewear has caught me by surprise lol.

 

[13_luckynumber]

Legit AF. Countering Pheromosa, Xurkitree, Tapu Koko while hitting like a truck with Flare Blitz and Shadow Bones.

 

[Some random freak]

I'm a big advocator for this mon. Being able to check some of the scariest threats in the meta is a huge plus and being able to cripple some of it's counters with Will-O-Wisp means Marowak should at least put in some work most of the time. Also, while pursuit trapping is a pain the main users of the move have to be careful as they won't KO Marowak if it doesn't switch out and they'll likely be OHKO'd by Bonemerang.

As for partners, Tapu Bulu is amazing not only for it's type synergy but also because of Grassy Terrain healing which improves Marowak's survivabilty by a decent amount. Water types who can remove hazards like Tentacruel and Mantine appreciate Marowak being able to deal with the new powerful Electric types that threaten them and in return they can remove Stealth Rock to make Marowak's life easier.

 

[Neetz0r]

This is so awesome! It can check Genesect and wall Pheromosa without any fear and I think it can beat Aegislash with Bonemerang. My top toot of the week.

 

[Rosen]

I could see this thing having a niche on Trick Room teams, but otherwise I don't really see anything spectacular, for all it checks, it seems like there's other, lower-risk options out there, and I'm not sure it'll be able to warrant a spot on many serious teams (although folks like ben gay and branflakes very well may prove me wrong). I wish it got some priority moves, like shadow sneak or sucker punch, otherwise, I don't see it having much of a chance in OU

 

[viol and bass]

I'd like to suggest using Fire Punch over Flare Blitz on the offensive set. Alolan Marowak hits really goddamn hard regardless, and it's so useful as a defensive check to stuff like Xurkitree and Pheromosa and steels, even with the offensive spread. It's a shame to allow it to be worn down by recoil when it's going to be killing almost everything regardless.

 

[Flarowak]

I'd like to suggest using Fire Punch over Flare Blitz on the offensive set. Alolan Marowak hits really goddamn hard regardless, and it's so useful as a defensive check to stuff like Xurkitree and Pheromosa and steels, even with the offensive spread. It's a shame to allow it to be worn down by recoil when it's going to be killing almost everything regardless.

I actually have been pairing it up with latias to patch that up a little bit with healing wish support. however I also don't run much bulk on my marowak. I invested enough into speed to outrun standard banded azu...just in case. haven't ran into it yet though so I might just change it lol.

 

[viol and bass]

I actually have been pairing it up with latias to patch that up a little bit with healing wish support. however I also don't run much bulk on my marowak. I invested enough into speed to outrun standard banded azu...just in case. haven't ran into it yet though so I might just change it lol.

Nice! Another alternative that works actually pretty well is Alolan Persian with Z-Parting Shot (fully heals the switch-in and removes status. It's nice because it doesn't die in the process). They actually patch up each other's weaknesses well. Persian takes Ghost and Dark moves, while Wak takes Fighting, Fairy and Bug moves that Persian's weak to.

 

[Flarowak]

Nice! Another alternative that works actually pretty well is Alolan Persian with Z-Parting Shot (fully heals the switch-in and removes status. It's nice because it doesn't die in the process). They actually patch up each other's weaknesses well. Persian takes Ghost and Dark moves, while Wak takes Fighting, Fairy and Bug moves that Persian's weak to.

That actually sounds pretty dope, might give that one a shot.

 

[Groudon ex]

I'd like to suggest using Fire Punch over Flare Blitz on the offensive set. Alolan Marowak hits really goddamn hard regardless, and it's so useful as a defensive check to stuff like Xurkitree and Pheromosa and steels, even with the offensive spread. It's a shame to allow it to be worn down by recoil when it's going to be killing almost everything regardless.

Done; for some reason I was under the impression that Alola Marowak couldn't receive transfer moves, but then I figured that you could just transfer a Cubone from ORAS and evolve it into Alola Marowak in SuMo.

 

[viol and bass]

I could see this thing having a niche on Trick Room teams, but otherwise I don't really see anything spectacular, for all it checks, it seems like there's other, lower-risk options out there, and I'm not sure it'll be able to warrant a spot on many serious teams (although folks like ben gay and branflakes very well may prove me wrong). I wish it got some priority moves, like shadow sneak or sucker punch, otherwise, I don't see it having much of a chance in OU

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this mon. It's not just a good check to certain specific threats, it's one of the very few checks to some truly major threats. For instance, everyone's talking about how insane Pheromosa is right now, and how it has like two checks. One of those is Marowak, and since I've had Marowak on my team, Pheromosa hasn't been threatening, like, at all. Same with Tapu Koko, who can do precisely nothing to Alolan Wak, who also robs its Volt Switch . Same with Xurkitree, which has Tail Glow and 183 SpAtk or whatever, and is nevertheless walled and OHKOed. I keep finding more prominent mons that this thing walls cold. Magnezone, for instance. Buzzwole. Magearna. This is all while hitting harder than almost anything else in the tier. I think this thing may become an OU staple when Aegislash leaves the tier.

Edit: Genesect!!! Also Kartana.

 

[Bugzy]

We'll see where this guy ends up when things settle down but right now he's amazing. So many steel and electric types being played and he pretty much hard counters them.

 

[Zé Capáu]

I like its ability to check most threats in OU.

But you still should watch out for an undesired Knock Off, not only taking away Thick Club but also being super-effective.

 

[Jaguar360]

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.

 

[G-Luke]

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

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.

Bonerang is better

 

[Jaguar360]

Bonerang is better

I just don't think getting janked by the 90% accuracy haha. Otherwise Bomemerang is def better than EQ for the crit chances and Sash/Sturdy breaking.

 

[Siggu]

I just don't think getting janked by the 90% accuracy haha. Otherwise Bomemerang is def better than EQ for the crit chances and Sash/Sturdy breaking.

And not getting affected by Grassy Terrain.

 

[Lordemort]

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.

I think running low kick for Chansey and Heatran is better imo

 

[Jaguar360]

I think running low kick for Chansey and Heatran is better imo

Chansey is hit harder by Flare Blitz, so Low Kick's only useful if you're running Fire Punch w/ Lightning Rod. Plus it only 2HKOs with max Attack.

16+ Atk Thick Club Marowak Low Kick (60 BP) vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 214-252 (33.3 - 39.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak Low Kick (60 BP) vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 274-324 (42.6 - 50.4%) -- 95.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

16+ Atk Thick Club Marowak Flare Blitz vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 319-376 (49.6 - 58.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak Flare Blitz vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 411-484 (64 - 75.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Bonemerang and Earthquake are more effective against Heatran also. The biggest threat you hit with Low Kick is Tyranitar really, which still gets hit harder by EQ/Bonemerang. The ground coverage is better right now since they don't get the Attack Drop from Aegislash's King's Shield.

 

[TURBODERP]

And not getting affected by Grassy Terrain.

This is actually huge because Heatran can't switch in on you then or beat you 1v1 even with Bulu (which is a great teammate) putting up Grassy Terrain.

 

[HotFuzzBall]

I mistakenly underestimated Alola Marowak's power tbh, I think the Base 80 Attack stat turned me off until I realized Thick Club existed. Definitely a strong mon, since it checks formidable threats such as Pheromosa, Xurikitree, Kartanna, Celesteela, Tapu Bulu/Koko, and Genesect.

 

[Bugzy]

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.

 

[HotFuzzBall]

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.

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.