Mamoswine
Type:
Abilities: Oblivious / Snow Cloak / Thick Fat (HA)
Stats
HP: 110
Attack: 130
Defense: 80
Special Attack: 70
Special Defense: 60
Speed: 80
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Notable Moves
STAB
- Avalanche
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
Coverage
- Body Press
- Heavy Slam
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide
- Stone Edge
- Smack Down
- Superpower
Utility
- Endeavor
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Substitute
Setup
- Curse
- Trailblaze
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Pros and Cons
+ Amazing Offensive Typing: Mamoswine has access to arguably the best offensive typing in the game. STAB Ground/Ice typing is amazing as it hits 9 of 18 types for super-effective damage, and almost any Pokémon in the game for atleast neutral damage. There are only 6 fully evolved Pokémon in the entire game that resist both of its STABs, being Rotom-Wash, Rotom-Heat, Rotom-Frost, Bronzong, Cryogonal and Mega Delphox; all of which are covered by Mamoswine's coverage options such as Trailblaze, Stone Edge and Knock Off.
+ Priority Ice Shard: Ice is one of the best offensive types in the game and having a priority move of its type benefits Mamoswine hugely as it makes up for its underwhelming 80 base Speed stat. A majority of the Pokémon in the format are weak to Ice moves and some are even 4x weak to it.
+ Item Versatility: Mamoswine makes use of almost all of the limited items in the Champions format. It can use the Choice Scarf to make itself a very fast and strong threat able to revenge kill almost anything. Never-Melt Ice is a very useful item to boost the power of its STAB Ice Moves, especially priority Ice Shard. It can also make use of the Sitrus Berry to maintain its longevity throught the battle and survive a couple of attacks. Some resist Berries like Chople, Passho and Occa can be used to make it survive almost any single non-boosted super-effective Fighting, Water or Fire attacks which are very common in the format. The Lum Berry is also a viable item which can be used to absorb the omnipresent Will-o-Wisps in the format.
+ Great Abilities: Mamoswine has access to 3 very solid abilities to choose from. Oblivious makes it immune to Intimidate, preventing its attack being lowered by anything. Snow Cloak is an amazing ability if Mamoswine is paired with a Snow setter such as Mega Froslass, Alolan Ninetales or Chilly Reception Galarian Slowking, boosting its evasiveness by 1 stage, along with the 1.5x Defense boost it also gets from the Snow, making it very difficult to KO. Thick Fat turns its Fire weakness into neutrality and Ice neutrality into resistance, helping out with the matchups against those two types.
- Mediocre Speed Stat: Mamoswine has a mediocre speed stat of 80, which is not necessarily bad but in the current format it's comparatively much slower than most of the common threats. With this speed stat, it usually requires the Choice Scarf or Trailblaze to become a fast offensive threat.
- Absence of other Viable Items: Although Mamoswine makes use of most of the limited items in Champions pretty well, there are some other very important items not currently present in the Champions format which affected Mamoswine's viability. These items include the Choice Band, Life Orb and Assault Vest, which were 3 of the most common items Mamoswine previously used.
- Poor Defensive Profile: While Mamoswine has a perfect offensive typing, it's quite the opposite defensively. Without the Thick Fat ability, it's weak to 5 types, some of which are very common in the format such as Fighting, Water and Fire. It also has only one single type resistance, being Poison (and Ice if Thick Fat) and one immunity. Having a handful of common weaknesses and very few resistances makes its defensive profile pretty disappointing.
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Potential Sets
Choice Scarf
Choice Scarf Mamoswine works an excellent revenge killer in the format. With max speed EVs and Jolly nature, it's able to outspeed some of the fastest threats such as Mega Beedrill, Dragapult and Mega Greninja. This set is able to revenge kill a majority of threats in the format with its amazing stabs and coverage options. Snow Cloak can be used over Thick Fat if it's paired with Chilly Reception Galarian Slowking.
Standard Attacker
A standard Mamoswine set can be very versatile and flexible depending on what the team needs and provides. Never-Melt Ice boosts the power of its Ice Shards, Lum Berry prevents it from getting burned and Sitrus Berry increases its longevity. If paired with Chilly Reception Galarian Slowking, Snow Cloak is the better ability choice. If the team needs a Hazard setter, it can also run Stealth Rock in its fourth move slot.
Trailblaze
This Mamoswine set utilizes its best setup move, Trailblaze. Finding a safe opportunity to get a Trailblaze off can give it the benefits of Choice Scarf without being locked to a single move. Stone Edge can be used over Ice Shard to KO Mega Delphox or Rotom-Heat. Smack Down can be used to remove Corviknight's Ground immunity on switch-in, catching it off-guard.
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Potential Teammates
Fast Attackers: As Mamoswine has a mediocre speed stat and requires Choice Scarf or Trailblaze to boost its own speed, it needs teammates which can naturally outspeed other fast threats and deal with them.
Dragon Types: Dragon Types resist more than half of Mamoswine's weaknesses, i.e., Grass, Water & Fire (without Thick Fat) type attacks. They can switch into these attacks which threaten to KO Mamoswine. Dragonite and Dragapult work especially better as they can switch into the Fighting type moves which Mamoswine is also weak to.
Snow Setters: Snow setters like Mega Froslass or Alolan Ninetales with Snow Warning or Galarian Slowking with Chilly Reception can give an opportunity to Mamoswine to run its best ability, Snow Cloak. It doesn't just boost its evasiveness by 1.25x but also boost its Defense by 1.5x, which makes it really tough to KO, especially with Physical attacks. Galarian Slowking works especially better as it can safely bring in Mamoswine with Chilly Reception while also not overlapping any types with Mamoswine.
Hazard Setters: Other hazard setters can relieve Mamoswine from the burden of carrying Stealth Rock for its team and can enable it to run an All-Out Attacking set or a Choice Scarf set easily.
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Checks and Counters
Physically Defensive Pokémon: Physically Bulky Pokémon with recovery which can switch into both of Mamoswine's STABs easily are great checks to it. As Mamoswine doesn't have access to a viable setup move to boost its attack, it usually cannot break through them.
Rotom Buddies: Rotom Wash and Rotom Heat can serve as perfect Mamoswine counters as both of them resist its Ice STAB and are immune to its Ground STAB, as well as threaten to burn or OHKO it with their STAB Hydro Pump/Overheat. Rotom-Frost doesn't threaten an OHKO on Mamoswine but can still burn it. Rotom-Wash is the ultimate counter as unlike the other two, it isn't 2HKO'd by any coverage move of Mamoswine, except if it switches in on Smack Down. But it outspeeds!
Super-effective STAB Priority Attacks: There are many priority users in the format which can hit Scarf Mamoswine for super-effective damage. These priority attacks are strong enough to KO Mamoswine after a little chip without the Snow defense boost.
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In conclusion, Mamoswine is one of the best offensive Pokémon in the format which can 2HKO almost anything you can name of, but is usually held back by its lackluster speed stat and number of weaknesses which makes it easy to KO. It can use the Choice Scarf item or Trailblaze to fix its speed but both of them also have their cons. It is currently the strongest Ice Shard user in the format which makes it a great revenge killer even without Scarf, able to snipe off a big chunk of the Ice weaks in the format. Its fantastic offensive typing and strong 130 base Attack makes it a nightmare for to safely switch into and deal with for most teams.
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