[OVERVIEW]
Dark
========
Alolan Muk is the best Dark-type defensive check to Fairy-types with its Poison / Dark typing giving it a neutrality to Fairy. To supplement that already good defensive typing, it also has great special bulk and can serve as one of Dark's more reliable special walls. In addition to switching into Fairy-types, Alolan Muk's can take out Fairy-types such as Tapu Koko that are often difficult to KO for Dark teams thanks to its STAB Poison Jab. Poison Jab combines especially well with Poison Touch and makes Alolan Muk capable of spreading poison around very easily and risky to switch into. Its use of Knock Off and Pursuit makes it even harder to switch into or switch out of, as Alolan Muk can remove items like Porygon2's Eviolite and trap Pokemon such as Alolan Raichu. Outside of STAB attacks, it has good coverage moves in Rock Slide to hit Volcarona and Fire Punch to hit Klefki and Ferrothorn, all of which are threats to Dark teams. However, when its attacks aren't super effective, Alolan Muk's underwhelming offensive stats means that it can barely even damage walls and rarely threatens even attackers outside of poison. Even though Alolan Muk it can take big special hits, its physical bulk is average, meaning physical attackers can take it on easily, and it has no way to heal at all, making it easy to slowly take down over time.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest (Dark)
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Poison Jab
move 3: Rock Slide / Pursuit
move 4: Fire Punch / Fire Blast / Pursuit
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Careful / Sassy
evs: 248 HP / 12 Def / 248 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Knock Off is a decent STAB attack that removes items, helping to take on Eviolite users such as Chansey and allowing Alolan Muk to more easily beat some Choice item users like Diggersby. Poison Jab is the preferred Poison-type STAB move because it has a 51% chance of poisoning targets thanks to Poison Touch and is reliable for beating Fairy-types. Rock Slide is a great coverage option that OHKOes huge threats to Dark teams such as Volcarona. It also almost always OHKOes Mega Charizard Y and deals significant damage to Mega Pinsir to prevent it from setting up safely. Fire Punch hits Steel-types such as Klefki and Mega Scizor better than any of Alolan Muk's other moves do, preventing them from setting up on Alolan Muk. Fire Blast does have a few advantages over Fire Punch, though, in being able to avoid contact with Ferrothorn, 2HKO Bisharp, and prevent Alakazam from using Counter, but Fire Blast does suffer from worse accuracy. Pursuit is also an option over a coverage move to hit Pokemon as they switch out, which can be helpful for taking out or at least chipping away at Pokemon such as Alolan Raichu and Mantine that Alolan Muk forces out.
Set Details
========
248 HP and 12 Defense EVs means that even after Stealth Rock, Alolan Muk will never be OHKOed by V-create from Choice Scarf Victini. The rest of the EVs are put into Special Defense to maximize Alolan Muk's special bulk. A Careful nature is used with an Assault Vest to improve Alolan Muk's Special Defense even more. If Fire Blast is used, a Sassy nature should be used to avoid lowering its damage output. Poison Touch gives Alolan Muk an additional 30% chance to poison its targets and is especially effective with Poison Jab.
Usage Tips
========
Alolan Muk can easily switch into most special attackers with its great bulk, and passive walls such as Chansey typically can't threaten it thanks to its Poison typing, so take advantage of these foes early-game to bring Alolan Muk into play often. If Alolan Muk is carrying Pursuit, you can play more riskily and switch it directly in against Pokemon it wants to trap, such as Latios, in order to secure the KO. Try to keep entry hazards such as Stealth Rock away to avoid making Alolan Muk take unnecessary damage, as the lack of recovery means that damage will add up fairly quickly. Early-game, use Knock Off liberally to remove as many of the opposing team's items as possible. For example, against Fairy teams, removing the enemy Klefki's Light Clay is a top priority early on to limit the number of turns that Reflect and Light Screen will halve the damage you deal. While using Knock Off, Alolan Muk should also use Poison Jab frequently to spread poison. In this way, Alolan Muk can cripple walls like Porygon2 in two ways, both by removing a crucial item such as Eviolite and by poisoning them. Be careful when trying to poison walls that can burn Alolan Muk, such as Mega Sableye and Mantine, though, as it hates being burned. In addition to halving Alolan Muk's Attack, burns start the timer on how long Alolan Muk can act as a wall. Make sure to preserve Alolan Muk's health in matchups where it is needed to check a high priority threat. For example, against Bug teams, Rock Slide Alolan Muk is the most reliable check to Volcarona, as even a +2 Inferno Overdrive with Stealth Rock support can't OHKO Alolan Muk, so it is important to not let Alolan Muk take too much damage early on.
Team Options
========
Alolan Muk is a great teammate for almost all Dark teams, as it serves as a Fairy check for offensive teams and a very bulky special wall for more balanced teams. Entry hazard control is important for preserving Alolan Muk's HP, so Mega Sableye and physically defensive Mandibuzz are frequent partners for Alolan Muk, as Magic Bounce can prevent Stealth Rock from coming up and Mandibuzz can Defog hazards if they get past Mega Sableye. Together, the trio form a great defensive core as well, covering all weaknesses effectively. While Sand Stream will chip away at Alolan Muk, Tyranitar is still a good option for supporting Alolan Muk. Tyranitar can use Pursuit, letting Alolan Muk bring coverage moves instead, and it also has Stealth Rock to help punish the switches that Alolan Muk can easily force. With Levitate, Hydreigon makes for a more offensive teammate that can help beat Ground-types for Alolan Muk. Hydreigon also takes on physical walls and particularly Steel-types very effectively, so Alolan Muk may find it easier to drop Fire-type coverage for other options. Greninja is another strong offensive Ground check, as its Ice Beam threatens almost every Ground-type. Greninja also uses U-turn for pivoting into Alolan Muk easily and Gunk Shot to relieve some of the pressure on Alolan Muk to check Fairy-types. Weavile can be helpful for relieving pressure on Alolan Muk, as it sometimes runs Pursuit to enable Alolan Muk to choose other coverage moves and can offensively check most Ground-types such as Garchomp.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Dark
--------
Alolan Muk can try to use Black Sludge on a RestTalk set with Curse and Knock Off, but it's only useful in very specific matchups and can be unreliable at times.
Checks and Counters
===================
Dark
--------
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon are typically unafraid of Alolan Muk's attacks and can either OHKO or cripple it with their super effective STAB attacks.
**Physical Wallbreakers**: Alolan Muk's below average Defense makes it quite vulnerable to being OHKOed by physical attackers such as Choice Band Terrakion and Choice Band Victini.
**Walls**: While walls tend to hate taking Knock Off or getting poisoned, Alolan Muk ultimately can't really touch most walls such as Slowbro and Mantine, as they'll typically have recovery to outlast it.
**Steel-types**: Although a few don't enjoy taking Fire-type attacks, most Steel-types such as Skarmory and Celesteela are relatively unafraid of Alolan Muk, as they cannot be poisoned.
**Residual Damage**: Because Alolan Muk lacks recovery, residual damage from burns and entry hazards is permanent on Alolan Muk and can prevent it from properly checking threats for the team.
Dark
========
Alolan Muk is the best Dark-type defensive check to Fairy-types with its Poison / Dark typing giving it a neutrality to Fairy. To supplement that already good defensive typing, it also has great special bulk and can serve as one of Dark's more reliable special walls. In addition to switching into Fairy-types, Alolan Muk's can take out Fairy-types such as Tapu Koko that are often difficult to KO for Dark teams thanks to its STAB Poison Jab. Poison Jab combines especially well with Poison Touch and makes Alolan Muk capable of spreading poison around very easily and risky to switch into. Its use of Knock Off and Pursuit makes it even harder to switch into or switch out of, as Alolan Muk can remove items like Porygon2's Eviolite and trap Pokemon such as Alolan Raichu. Outside of STAB attacks, it has good coverage moves in Rock Slide to hit Volcarona and Fire Punch to hit Klefki and Ferrothorn, all of which are threats to Dark teams. However, when its attacks aren't super effective, Alolan Muk's underwhelming offensive stats means that it can barely even damage walls and rarely threatens even attackers outside of poison. Even though Alolan Muk it can take big special hits, its physical bulk is average, meaning physical attackers can take it on easily, and it has no way to heal at all, making it easy to slowly take down over time.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest (Dark)
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Poison Jab
move 3: Rock Slide / Pursuit
move 4: Fire Punch / Fire Blast / Pursuit
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Careful / Sassy
evs: 248 HP / 12 Def / 248 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Knock Off is a decent STAB attack that removes items, helping to take on Eviolite users such as Chansey and allowing Alolan Muk to more easily beat some Choice item users like Diggersby. Poison Jab is the preferred Poison-type STAB move because it has a 51% chance of poisoning targets thanks to Poison Touch and is reliable for beating Fairy-types. Rock Slide is a great coverage option that OHKOes huge threats to Dark teams such as Volcarona. It also almost always OHKOes Mega Charizard Y and deals significant damage to Mega Pinsir to prevent it from setting up safely. Fire Punch hits Steel-types such as Klefki and Mega Scizor better than any of Alolan Muk's other moves do, preventing them from setting up on Alolan Muk. Fire Blast does have a few advantages over Fire Punch, though, in being able to avoid contact with Ferrothorn, 2HKO Bisharp, and prevent Alakazam from using Counter, but Fire Blast does suffer from worse accuracy. Pursuit is also an option over a coverage move to hit Pokemon as they switch out, which can be helpful for taking out or at least chipping away at Pokemon such as Alolan Raichu and Mantine that Alolan Muk forces out.
Set Details
========
248 HP and 12 Defense EVs means that even after Stealth Rock, Alolan Muk will never be OHKOed by V-create from Choice Scarf Victini. The rest of the EVs are put into Special Defense to maximize Alolan Muk's special bulk. A Careful nature is used with an Assault Vest to improve Alolan Muk's Special Defense even more. If Fire Blast is used, a Sassy nature should be used to avoid lowering its damage output. Poison Touch gives Alolan Muk an additional 30% chance to poison its targets and is especially effective with Poison Jab.
Usage Tips
========
Alolan Muk can easily switch into most special attackers with its great bulk, and passive walls such as Chansey typically can't threaten it thanks to its Poison typing, so take advantage of these foes early-game to bring Alolan Muk into play often. If Alolan Muk is carrying Pursuit, you can play more riskily and switch it directly in against Pokemon it wants to trap, such as Latios, in order to secure the KO. Try to keep entry hazards such as Stealth Rock away to avoid making Alolan Muk take unnecessary damage, as the lack of recovery means that damage will add up fairly quickly. Early-game, use Knock Off liberally to remove as many of the opposing team's items as possible. For example, against Fairy teams, removing the enemy Klefki's Light Clay is a top priority early on to limit the number of turns that Reflect and Light Screen will halve the damage you deal. While using Knock Off, Alolan Muk should also use Poison Jab frequently to spread poison. In this way, Alolan Muk can cripple walls like Porygon2 in two ways, both by removing a crucial item such as Eviolite and by poisoning them. Be careful when trying to poison walls that can burn Alolan Muk, such as Mega Sableye and Mantine, though, as it hates being burned. In addition to halving Alolan Muk's Attack, burns start the timer on how long Alolan Muk can act as a wall. Make sure to preserve Alolan Muk's health in matchups where it is needed to check a high priority threat. For example, against Bug teams, Rock Slide Alolan Muk is the most reliable check to Volcarona, as even a +2 Inferno Overdrive with Stealth Rock support can't OHKO Alolan Muk, so it is important to not let Alolan Muk take too much damage early on.
Team Options
========
Alolan Muk is a great teammate for almost all Dark teams, as it serves as a Fairy check for offensive teams and a very bulky special wall for more balanced teams. Entry hazard control is important for preserving Alolan Muk's HP, so Mega Sableye and physically defensive Mandibuzz are frequent partners for Alolan Muk, as Magic Bounce can prevent Stealth Rock from coming up and Mandibuzz can Defog hazards if they get past Mega Sableye. Together, the trio form a great defensive core as well, covering all weaknesses effectively. While Sand Stream will chip away at Alolan Muk, Tyranitar is still a good option for supporting Alolan Muk. Tyranitar can use Pursuit, letting Alolan Muk bring coverage moves instead, and it also has Stealth Rock to help punish the switches that Alolan Muk can easily force. With Levitate, Hydreigon makes for a more offensive teammate that can help beat Ground-types for Alolan Muk. Hydreigon also takes on physical walls and particularly Steel-types very effectively, so Alolan Muk may find it easier to drop Fire-type coverage for other options. Greninja is another strong offensive Ground check, as its Ice Beam threatens almost every Ground-type. Greninja also uses U-turn for pivoting into Alolan Muk easily and Gunk Shot to relieve some of the pressure on Alolan Muk to check Fairy-types. Weavile can be helpful for relieving pressure on Alolan Muk, as it sometimes runs Pursuit to enable Alolan Muk to choose other coverage moves and can offensively check most Ground-types such as Garchomp.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Dark
--------
Alolan Muk can try to use Black Sludge on a RestTalk set with Curse and Knock Off, but it's only useful in very specific matchups and can be unreliable at times.
Checks and Counters
===================
Dark
--------
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon are typically unafraid of Alolan Muk's attacks and can either OHKO or cripple it with their super effective STAB attacks.
**Physical Wallbreakers**: Alolan Muk's below average Defense makes it quite vulnerable to being OHKOed by physical attackers such as Choice Band Terrakion and Choice Band Victini.
**Walls**: While walls tend to hate taking Knock Off or getting poisoned, Alolan Muk ultimately can't really touch most walls such as Slowbro and Mantine, as they'll typically have recovery to outlast it.
**Steel-types**: Although a few don't enjoy taking Fire-type attacks, most Steel-types such as Skarmory and Celesteela are relatively unafraid of Alolan Muk, as they cannot be poisoned.
**Residual Damage**: Because Alolan Muk lacks recovery, residual damage from burns and entry hazards is permanent on Alolan Muk and can prevent it from properly checking threats for the team.
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