Musharna Discussion

[watashi]

Arguably the best Psychic type in the tier got a few new toys to play with in BW2!

Musharna
Traits: Forewarn | Synchronize | Telepathy
116 | 55 | 85 | 107 | 95 | 29​

Musharna is one of the most versatile and bulky Pokemon in NU. Despite its awful speed, it can run deadly offensive sets such as Choice Specs or Trick Room thanks to a nice Special Attack stat. Musharna's base 116 HP paired up with decent Defense allows it to utilize Calm Mind to its fullest, becoming extremely hard to take down after a few turns. If sweeping is not your thing, it also has many options to support teammates such as Baton Pass or the newly acquired Heal Bell. The latter, paired up with the ability Synchronize, makes opponents think twice about inflicting status upon the Psychic Tapir. Despite its fleeting offensive movepool, Musharna is almost guaranteed to impress no matter which role it plays on the team.



Sets:

[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psychic / Stored Power
move 3: Moonlight
move 4: Heal Bell / Signal Beam / Hidden Power Fighting / Baton Pass
item: Leftovers
ability: Synchronize
nature(s): Bold
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 SpD

Musharna's most common set and probably the most effective! The amount of Pokemon Musharna can set up on is incredible; it can come in on every wall not carrying Taunt or Encore and proceed to set up multiple Calm Minds. Thanks to Heal Bell, Musharna no longer has to worry about being crippled by Toxic. After Calm Mind, no attack in the tier is guaranteed to OHKO Musharna; the best one can do is Choice Band Rampardos' Head Smash, which has a 31.25% chance to get the job done. However, as bulky as Musharna is, it cannot touch Dark-types without a coverage move. Even then, it can only muster a weak hit against its best counter—Skuntank. Baton Pass allows Musharna to bypass Skuntank's attempts to Pursuit it (assuming it doesn't Taunt) and provides a huge boost to any special attacking recipients.

[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Shadow Ball / Signal Beam
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Moonlight / Trick Room
item: Life Orb
ability: Synchronize
nature(s): Modest / Quiet
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD

This set trades in the passive ability to run over teams for immediate damage. With Life Orb, max Special Attack, and a positive nature, Musharna can surprise and deal serious damage to walls switching in hoping to stop it from setting up. Offensive teams have a hard time taking powerful Psychics and could potentially be swept if Musharna chooses to use Trick Room. Even with no EV's in defense, it can still take hits fairly well from the likes of Sawk and Gurdurr.

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Shadow Ball / Signal Beam
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Trick / Baton Pass
item: Choice Specs
ability: Synchronize
nature(s): Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD

Trick is a new addition to Musharna's movepool and can be used to cripple its usual counters and checks in conjunction with Choice Specs. This set hits even harder than the previous one, although it can't switch moves. Like the Life Orb set, Specs Musharna still has the ability to tank hits and dish them out, making it an great option for offensive teams. Another option in the last slot is Baton Pass, which can be used to scout for switch-ins and provides the team with momentum.


Musharna is a great option for all types of teams. It's offensive potential and extremely solid bulk makes it one of the most reliable Pokemon in the tier. What are you waiting for? Go out there and try Musharna!

 

[MMF]

This Pokemon right here is my favorite thing to use in NU right now. Its just so reliable and strong and most teams can't touch it whatsoever. And now that its gotten Heal Bell it can break stall like no one's business.

The only problem with Musharna is that SKuntank and Absol are the banes of almost any Mush set, especially the Heall Bell CM set as Mush can't touch them. Also Cinccino 2hko's with Tail Slap which is unfortunate but at least Mush can take a hit from it!

 

[CrashinBoomBang]

Absol can't really switch in on Musharna thanks to Night Slash not being a KO while Signal Beam is a clean 2HKO and HP Fighting from Specs/LO OHKO's, but yeah Skuntank is a HUGE problem, even if you run HP Ground.

I don't know if it's as good as before the BW2 releases, but it's still really strong. Especially offensive sets, I don't see enough of them even though they're fantastic and bear a certain surprise value.

 

[col49]

Yeah, Mushy is downright awesome in the current metagame, and those new extra moves just add to that. Calm Mind was already almost impossible to beat as is, and now Heal Bell allows him to avoid status without wasting slots on unreliable Rest-Talking, while offering team support! Personally, I feel as though Psychic / Signal Beam / HP Ground is better for the offensive set in the current metagame, passing up an SE hit against Ghost-types for the ability to hit Skuntank on the switch is more useful (though I suppose Trick is a decent option to cripple Skuntank). However, these additions make me wonder how usable a support set would be, something along the lines of Heal Bell / (Thunder Wave/Toxic) / Moonlight / Psychic.

 

[CrashinBoomBang]

It really doesn't miss out on much without Shadow Ball, seeing how it's just 25 BP weaker against Misdreavus and Drifblim, and it can't really beat the former without Calm Mind anyway. Psychic/Psyshock + Signal Beam + Hidden Power [Ground] is definitely the best option for offensive sets in this metagame.

 

[DTC]

I used this set on an offensive team as a bulky pivot and it worked surprisingly well:

Musharna

Trait: Synchronize
EVs: 242 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Moonlight
- Thunder Wave / Baton Pass
- Heal Bell / Baton Pass

Musharna serves as an effective check to many fast Pokemon in the meta, which is what makes this set and most other Musharna sets useful even on offensive teams. Thunder Wave is useful to lower the Speed of fast Pokemon for slower Pokemon such as Ursaring and Emboar. Heal Bell is good for removing crippling status that can ruin your Pokemon. Baton Pass can be used to keep up momentum, but it doesn't have much utility compared to Thunder Wave/Heal Bell to warrant use most of the time.

I have to say I'm loving Heal Bell Musharna so far. It's so fun to switch into status to cripple the opposing Pokemon automatically and just cure it off.

 

[Raseri]

I've played with the Specs set a lot. Well before Trick was released. Honestly I've found Musharna almost underwhelming right now. Dark types and things that can force it out are running rampant i find myself struggling to boost or help the team much. That is why I turned to the specs set, being able to throw off powerful attacks is great right now in the Ditto meta. It might just be that psychic types arent as good with the death of fighting types, but right now I find running Musharna to be a liability most games