Chickenpie2
red:active
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as thanks to access to Sturdy coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, it poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 metagame. Furthermore, its ability to run a lot of great viable item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, allows it to fill many potential different roles and adds to its unpredictability in Team Preview. It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back hard or utilizing a Choice Scarf to outspeed them while also being able to take on bulkier Pokemon like Deoxys-S and Magearna with utility moves like Laser Focus. Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch, and Poison Jab allows it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting. Unfortunately, 1v1 also has a myriad of bulky Pokemon that can generally brush off any of Sawk's attacks, like Mega Slowbro, Mew, Mega Sableye, and Mega Venusaur. Common priority move users like Donphan and Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus also have ways of dealing with Sturdy users and make it hard for Sawk to keep up.
[SET]
name: Fightinium Z
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Laser Focus
move 3: Rock Tomb
move 4: Counter / Protect
item: Fightinium Z
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Close Combat along with Fightinium Z allows Sawk to punch holes in foes like Magearna, Mega Tyranitar, and Incineroar. Laser Focus lets Sawk power through Pokemon that rely on boosting their Defense to win, such as Magearna and Quagsire. Rock Tomb OHKOes Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y and lets Sawk outspeed Magnezone even after it uses Electroweb. Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk force mind games against Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choiced physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp. Protect is an option that blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against non-Substitute + Flail Mega Lopunny and Zeraora. Bulk Up gives Sawk a chance to beat Mega Gyarados and works nicely with Laser Focus to take on Defense-boosting foes like stall Deoxys-S.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack and Speed investment with a Jolly nature lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably, it can OHKO standard Magearna with All-Out Pummeling after using Laser Focus while also outspeeding Smeargle and bulky Mega Charizard X, something it cannot do with an Adamant nature. Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling while also giving Sawk the option of Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt in order to get the best odds against Mega Gyarados. Sturdy is an incredible ability in 1v1, allowing Sawk to take a hit from most Pokemon.
Usage Tips
========
Against Pokemon that can boost their Defense, like Magearna, bulky Meloetta, and Quagsire, use Laser Focus to guarantee a critical hit from All-Out Pummeling the following turn. Use Rock Tomb to slow down Pokemon like Magnezone and Naganadel before finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling, although Naganadel can sometimes survive given low rolls, and Magnezone can use Zap Cannon to fish for paralysis. Counter should be used if a strong physical attack is predicted. This is mainly against Pokemon like Choice Band Garchomp, Mega Metagross, and Mega Mawile. If running Protect, it can be used to lure in and potentially beat Fake Out users like Mega Lopunny, Zeraora and Ambipom. However, this is not foolproof, as Mega Lopunny can potentially use Substitute, and Zeraora and Ambipom can use their Z-Move during the turn that Sawk uses Protect, turning these matchups into coinflips. With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Use Z-Bulk Up Turn 1, then use Rock Tomb followed by Close Combat if they do not Mega Evolve; otherwise, use Close Combat to KO them.
Team Options
========
Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves effective against Fairy pair well with Sawk, as they cover each other's weaknesses. Sawk can beat specially defensive Pokemon like Magearna, Registeel, and Mega Charizard Y for them, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew reliably for Sawk. Greninja and Mega Gardevoir can take care of different Ghost- and Fairy-type Pokemon for Sawk; Greninja handles Aegislash and Tapu Bulu, while Mega Gardevoir handles Mega Sableye and Tapu Lele, and both can beat Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, Tapu Fini, and Primarina. Pokemon that beat bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Primarina are good partners for Sawk. Celesteela and Serperior beat most Sturdy users reliably, besides Crustle, which Sawk is good against. Both of them also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela also deals with troublesome Fairy-type Pokemon like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir, while Serperior fares well against stall-oriented Pokemon like Mew and Mega Sableye.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Ice Punch
move 4: Poison Jab
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
STAB Close Combat nails foes like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Stone Edge hits Flying- and Bug-type Pokemon that resist Close Combat like Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona for super effective damage. Ice Punch allows Sawk to reliably hit Dragon-type Pokemon like Naganadel and Choice item Dragonite. Poison Jab punishes pesky Fairy-type Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Whimsicott. Counter can be run to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, such as Choice item Garchomp and Landorus-T.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack and Speed investment with a Jolly nature ensures that Sawk can hit as hard as possible while outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Choice Scarf Dragonite. Adamant can also be run if Mega Lopunny is not an issue for better rolls against Pokemon like Garchomp. Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Pheromosa. Sturdy allows Sawk to fire off any hit it wants to granted that the foe does not have Mold Breaker.
Usage Tips
========
As this set runs Choice Scarf, it is quite straight forward, as you can only use one move per game. Use Sawk against threats that it can either OHKO or outspeed and 2HKO, like Porygon-Z, Choice item Dragonite, and Whimsicott; non-Choice Scarf variants normally lose to these threats, meaning Sawk can lure them in. Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o, even though Ice Punch hits them super effectively, as Sawk isn't strong enough to break through these Pokemon.
Team Options
========
Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover for bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite. Sawk also pairs well with Ghost-type Pokemon like Aegislash and Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, as they can break through Psychic-type Pokemon like Mew and Mega Slowbro, while Sawk handles Mega Charizard Y, Heatran, Magnezone, and Volcarona for them. Aegislash and Porygon-Z are also great at threatening physical walls like Tapu Fini and Mega Altaria, while Sawk punishes special walls like Meloetta in return.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
On the Fightinium Z set, Sawk can opt to run other moves in the last two slots, such as Poison Jab for Whimsicott; however, these usually come at too great a cost, losing out on important matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect and Mega Gyarados for Bulk Up. A Choice Band set allows Sawk to beat Landorus-T and force Gyarados into mind games with Thunder Punch and Close Combat. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z, though, as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z and Mega Lopunny. A Poisonium Z set can be used as a lure for Tapu Fini and uninvested Primarina. This is usually not worth running over Fightinium Z, as Fightinium Z covers many more matchups, in particular Magearna, which is a much more common threat than the rare uninvested Primarina.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Pokemon Resistant To Fighting**: Psychic-, Fairy-, Ghost-, and Poison-type Pokemon naturally resist or are immune to Sawk's STAB moves and can usually take a hit or two to guarantee a win over it. Bulky Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Clefable, Mega Sableye, and Mega Venusaur are all very good answers to Sawk, as it does very little damage to them.
**Mold Breaker Users**: Mega Gyarados and Haxorus are two very common Pokemon that use their ability in Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on Sturdy. Choice Specs Necrozma, while not a Mold Breaker user, can use Photon Geyser to bypass Sturdy.
**Priority Move Users**: Mega Lopunny and Zeraora can break non-Protect Sawk's Sturdy with Fake Out and finish it off before it can attack, and both have ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or a Z-Move. Other Sturdy users like Donphan and Golem can tank any hit from Sawk before using their priority moves to beat Sawk. Primarina, Aegislash, and Dragonite can survive at least one hit from Sawk and use their priority moves to finish it off.
**Residual Damage**: Bulky Will-O-Wisp users like defensive Mega Charizard X can break Sawk's Sturdy and mitigate its ability to deal damage, allowing themselves to KO it next turn. Rough Skin and Iron Barbs Pokemon, primarily Garchomp and Ferrothorn, can also be troublesome against Sawk, as Choice Scarf Sawk isn't guaranteed to immediately OHKO either one, and they can in return KO Sawk back after Sturdy is broken.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[Alakazam, 276708], [Osra, 239997], [pqs, 425798]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Estronic, 240732]]
Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as thanks to access to Sturdy coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, it poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 metagame. Furthermore, its ability to run a lot of great viable item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, allows it to fill many potential different roles and adds to its unpredictability in Team Preview. It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back hard or utilizing a Choice Scarf to outspeed them while also being able to take on bulkier Pokemon like Deoxys-S and Magearna with utility moves like Laser Focus. Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch, and Poison Jab allows it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting. Unfortunately, 1v1 also has a myriad of bulky Pokemon that can generally brush off any of Sawk's attacks, like Mega Slowbro, Mew, Mega Sableye, and Mega Venusaur. Common priority move users like Donphan and Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus also have ways of dealing with Sturdy users and make it hard for Sawk to keep up.
[SET]
name: Fightinium Z
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Laser Focus
move 3: Rock Tomb
move 4: Counter / Protect
item: Fightinium Z
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Close Combat along with Fightinium Z allows Sawk to punch holes in foes like Magearna, Mega Tyranitar, and Incineroar. Laser Focus lets Sawk power through Pokemon that rely on boosting their Defense to win, such as Magearna and Quagsire. Rock Tomb OHKOes Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y and lets Sawk outspeed Magnezone even after it uses Electroweb. Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk force mind games against Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choiced physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp. Protect is an option that blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against non-Substitute + Flail Mega Lopunny and Zeraora. Bulk Up gives Sawk a chance to beat Mega Gyarados and works nicely with Laser Focus to take on Defense-boosting foes like stall Deoxys-S.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack and Speed investment with a Jolly nature lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably, it can OHKO standard Magearna with All-Out Pummeling after using Laser Focus while also outspeeding Smeargle and bulky Mega Charizard X, something it cannot do with an Adamant nature. Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling while also giving Sawk the option of Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt in order to get the best odds against Mega Gyarados. Sturdy is an incredible ability in 1v1, allowing Sawk to take a hit from most Pokemon.
Usage Tips
========
Against Pokemon that can boost their Defense, like Magearna, bulky Meloetta, and Quagsire, use Laser Focus to guarantee a critical hit from All-Out Pummeling the following turn. Use Rock Tomb to slow down Pokemon like Magnezone and Naganadel before finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling, although Naganadel can sometimes survive given low rolls, and Magnezone can use Zap Cannon to fish for paralysis. Counter should be used if a strong physical attack is predicted. This is mainly against Pokemon like Choice Band Garchomp, Mega Metagross, and Mega Mawile. If running Protect, it can be used to lure in and potentially beat Fake Out users like Mega Lopunny, Zeraora and Ambipom. However, this is not foolproof, as Mega Lopunny can potentially use Substitute, and Zeraora and Ambipom can use their Z-Move during the turn that Sawk uses Protect, turning these matchups into coinflips. With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Use Z-Bulk Up Turn 1, then use Rock Tomb followed by Close Combat if they do not Mega Evolve; otherwise, use Close Combat to KO them.
Team Options
========
Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves effective against Fairy pair well with Sawk, as they cover each other's weaknesses. Sawk can beat specially defensive Pokemon like Magearna, Registeel, and Mega Charizard Y for them, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew reliably for Sawk. Greninja and Mega Gardevoir can take care of different Ghost- and Fairy-type Pokemon for Sawk; Greninja handles Aegislash and Tapu Bulu, while Mega Gardevoir handles Mega Sableye and Tapu Lele, and both can beat Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, Tapu Fini, and Primarina. Pokemon that beat bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Primarina are good partners for Sawk. Celesteela and Serperior beat most Sturdy users reliably, besides Crustle, which Sawk is good against. Both of them also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela also deals with troublesome Fairy-type Pokemon like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir, while Serperior fares well against stall-oriented Pokemon like Mew and Mega Sableye.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Ice Punch
move 4: Poison Jab
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
STAB Close Combat nails foes like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Stone Edge hits Flying- and Bug-type Pokemon that resist Close Combat like Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona for super effective damage. Ice Punch allows Sawk to reliably hit Dragon-type Pokemon like Naganadel and Choice item Dragonite. Poison Jab punishes pesky Fairy-type Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Whimsicott. Counter can be run to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, such as Choice item Garchomp and Landorus-T.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack and Speed investment with a Jolly nature ensures that Sawk can hit as hard as possible while outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Choice Scarf Dragonite. Adamant can also be run if Mega Lopunny is not an issue for better rolls against Pokemon like Garchomp. Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Pheromosa. Sturdy allows Sawk to fire off any hit it wants to granted that the foe does not have Mold Breaker.
Usage Tips
========
As this set runs Choice Scarf, it is quite straight forward, as you can only use one move per game. Use Sawk against threats that it can either OHKO or outspeed and 2HKO, like Porygon-Z, Choice item Dragonite, and Whimsicott; non-Choice Scarf variants normally lose to these threats, meaning Sawk can lure them in. Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o, even though Ice Punch hits them super effectively, as Sawk isn't strong enough to break through these Pokemon.
Team Options
========
Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover for bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite. Sawk also pairs well with Ghost-type Pokemon like Aegislash and Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, as they can break through Psychic-type Pokemon like Mew and Mega Slowbro, while Sawk handles Mega Charizard Y, Heatran, Magnezone, and Volcarona for them. Aegislash and Porygon-Z are also great at threatening physical walls like Tapu Fini and Mega Altaria, while Sawk punishes special walls like Meloetta in return.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
On the Fightinium Z set, Sawk can opt to run other moves in the last two slots, such as Poison Jab for Whimsicott; however, these usually come at too great a cost, losing out on important matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect and Mega Gyarados for Bulk Up. A Choice Band set allows Sawk to beat Landorus-T and force Gyarados into mind games with Thunder Punch and Close Combat. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z, though, as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z and Mega Lopunny. A Poisonium Z set can be used as a lure for Tapu Fini and uninvested Primarina. This is usually not worth running over Fightinium Z, as Fightinium Z covers many more matchups, in particular Magearna, which is a much more common threat than the rare uninvested Primarina.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Pokemon Resistant To Fighting**: Psychic-, Fairy-, Ghost-, and Poison-type Pokemon naturally resist or are immune to Sawk's STAB moves and can usually take a hit or two to guarantee a win over it. Bulky Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Clefable, Mega Sableye, and Mega Venusaur are all very good answers to Sawk, as it does very little damage to them.
**Mold Breaker Users**: Mega Gyarados and Haxorus are two very common Pokemon that use their ability in Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on Sturdy. Choice Specs Necrozma, while not a Mold Breaker user, can use Photon Geyser to bypass Sturdy.
**Priority Move Users**: Mega Lopunny and Zeraora can break non-Protect Sawk's Sturdy with Fake Out and finish it off before it can attack, and both have ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or a Z-Move. Other Sturdy users like Donphan and Golem can tank any hit from Sawk before using their priority moves to beat Sawk. Primarina, Aegislash, and Dragonite can survive at least one hit from Sawk and use their priority moves to finish it off.
**Residual Damage**: Bulky Will-O-Wisp users like defensive Mega Charizard X can break Sawk's Sturdy and mitigate its ability to deal damage, allowing themselves to KO it next turn. Rough Skin and Iron Barbs Pokemon, primarily Garchomp and Ferrothorn, can also be troublesome against Sawk, as Choice Scarf Sawk isn't guaranteed to immediately OHKO either one, and they can in return KO Sawk back after Sturdy is broken.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[Alakazam, 276708], [Osra, 239997], [pqs, 425798]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Estronic, 240732]]
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