1v1 Sawk

Chickenpie2

red:active
is a Contributor Alumnus
[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]]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
AMQC
Comments Add remove
[OVERVIEW]
  • Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy. What does Sturdy allow Sawk to beat? I'd talk about how it is very good against frail, offensive Pokemon like Mega Charizard Y, Greninja, and Kartana. Then, it seems important to add that Sawk is the second fastest Sturdy user, allowing it to safely tank a single hit from slower Pokemon like Magnezone and Celesteela, and have two turns to KO it with.
  • It has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z, Choice Scarf, and Choice Band, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview. This is a little bit weird because Choice Band is in other options with its reasoning for existing being a 50/50 with Gyarados, which doesn't exactly give much reason to try and run it. I think this should be more focused on how Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf cover each other pretty well
  • Decent Attack and Speed, along with access to Rock Tomb, which is used on the Fightinium Z set, and strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab, which are used on the Choice Scarf set, allow it to cover certain frail Flying- and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y
  • Unfortunately, 1v1 has a myriad of Psychic-type Pokemon that stop Sawk in its tracks, like Mega Slowbro and Mew. This really just boils down to bulky Pokemon that can wall Sawk and its reliance on Fighting type, so you should combine it with the point on the bottom
  • Common priority move users like Donphan and Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus can beat Sturdy, and make it hard for Sawk to keep up.
  • Sawk doesn't have a good boosting move outside of Bulk Up, which is usually too slow to compete with Pokemon like Mega Sableye and Mega Venusaur. Combine with Psychic-type point
[SET]
name: Fightinium Z COOKIE MON$TA
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 and Laser Focus 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 OHKOs Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb.
  • Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp.
  • Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Zeraora after a Rock Tomb, which it could not with an Adamant nature. Both of these are just dependent on whether you have Protect to block Fake Out, and if you do, you can just attack both of them for the win (Zeraora is OHKOed if it does not use Bulk Up, and you can just hit it again if it does). If there is a better reason for running Jolly, say it.
  • The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose.
  • Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to restore its negative stats and bypass Taunt. Z-Bulk Up actually doesn't restore negative stats, it just adds an extra attack stage
  • Sturdy is an incredible ability in 1v1, allowing Sawk to take a hit from most Pokemon unless it is from a Mold Breaker user.

Usage Tips
========
  • Sawk should be sent out to face Normal-, Steel-, and Rock-type Pokemon that it has a positive matchup against, like Type: Null, Registeel, and Archeops. Too obvious
  • Sawk is quite straightforward. Most games should not last more than 2 turns, as Sawk is a hyper offensive oriented attacker. Unnecessary
  • Against Pokemon that can boost their Defense, like Magearna, Incineroar bulky Meloetta, and Gastrodon, use Laser Focus to guarantee a crit 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. You actually need Adamant for a reliable Naganadel, but the roll is
  • 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, be sure to use it against Fake Out users like Mega Lopunny, Zeraora and Ambipom if they use Protect. Against Z-Move users that know you run Protect, It ends up being a 50/50 against Z-Move users as they can use their Z-Move to break through Protect and Sturdy. However, this plan is not foolproof, as Mega Lopunny can potentially use Substitute, Zeraora can use Bulk Up, and Ambipom can use its Z Move during the turn Sawk is using Protect, turning them into 50/50s.

Team Options
========
  • Specially offensive Pokemon like Choice Specs Greninja and Mega Gardevoir pair well with Sawk, as they cover each other's weaknesses. Sawk can beat specially defensive Pokemon like Magearna, Registeel, and Mega Charizard Y, and as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. Greninja and Mega Gardevoir can take care of different Ghost-type Pokemon for Sawk; Greninja handles Aegislash while Mega Gardevoir handles Mega Sableye, and both can beat Shadow Ball Z-Conversion Porygon-Z.
  • 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
  • Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja.
  • Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 non-Extreme Speed Dragonite.
  • Poison Jab punishes pesky Fairy-type Pokemon like non-Will-O-Wisp Mega Gardevoir and Whimsicott. You beat Gardevoir even if it does have Will-O-Wisp thanks to Choice Scarf
  • Fire Punch is another option to deal with Choice Scarf Genesect.
  • Counter is a good move to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, such as Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp Choice Scarf Sawk can beat Dragonite with Ice Punch
Set Details
========
  • Maximum Attack and Speed ensures that Sawk can hit as hard as possible while outspeeding Mega Lopunny. Adamant can also be run if Mega Lopunny is not an issue, for better rolls against Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Lele.
  • Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Mega Lopunny.
  • Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, non-Will-O-Wisp Mega Charizard X, Garchomp, non-Extreme Speed Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, allowing Sawk to bait them to an extent. Fast Flame Charge Zard X wins and Sawk needs Adamant for Garchomp
  • Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Meloetta Zygarde and Kommo-o. You even acknowledge in Team Options that Sawk wins against Meloetta, I guess you found it out while writing Team Options and then forgot to delete it from here.

Team Options
========
  • Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Dragonite.
  • Sawk 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.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
  • Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat.
  • Taunt and Bulk Up are good utility options that can help Sawk against some stall Pokemon. Bulk Up with Fightinium Z can be utilised to have a better chance against Gyarados.
  • Poisonium Z can be used as a lure for Tapu Fini and uninvested Primarina. Add downsides for all three of these

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 Mold Breaker to punish Sturdy users like Sawk's reliance on Sturdy. Scarf Haxorus loses to Donphan, Crustle, and Mega Aggron, so I wouldn't really call it a good punisher of Sturdy users

**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. 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[], [], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Commenting on Eriey's QC

Comments in Red bold
[OVERVIEW]
  • Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy. What does Sturdy allow Sawk to beat? I'd talk about how it is very good against frail, offensive Pokemon like Mega Charizard Y, Greninja, and Kartana. Then, it seems important to add that Sawk is the second fastest Sturdy user, allowing it to safely tank a single hit from slower Pokemon like Magnezone and Celesteela, and have two turns to KO it with.
  • It has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z, Choice Scarf, and Choice Band, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview. This is a little bit weird because Choice Band is in other options with its reasoning for existing being a 50/50 with Gyarados, which doesn't exactly give much reason to try and run it. I think this should be more focused on how Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf cover each other pretty well
  • Decent Attack and Speed, along with access to Rock Tomb, which is used on the Fightinium Z set, and you don't need to specify this, this is just the overview of what viable tools it can mainly use, not describing what each individual set has strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab, which are used on the Choice Scarf set, allow it same here to cover certain frail Flying- and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y
  • Unfortunately, 1v1 has a myriad of Psychic-type Pokemon that stop Sawk in its tracks, like Mega Slowbro and Mew. This really just boils down to bulky Pokemon that can wall Sawk and its reliance on Fighting type, so you should combine it with the point on the bottom
  • Common priority move users like Donphan and Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus can beat Sturdy, and make it hard for Sawk to keep up.
  • Sawk doesn't have a good boosting move outside of Bulk Up, which is usually too slow to compete with Pokemon like Mega Sableye and Mega Venusaur. Combine with Psychic-type point
[SET]
name: Fightinium Z COOKIE MON$TA
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 and Laser Focus 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 OHKOs Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb.
  • Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp.
  • Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Zeraora after a Rock Tomb, which it could not with an Adamant nature. Both of these are just dependent on whether you have Protect to block Fake Out, and if you do, you can just attack both of them for the win (Zeraora is OHKOed if it does not use Bulk Up, and you can just hit it again if it does). If there is a better reason for running Jolly, say it.
  • The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose.
  • Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to restore its negative stats and bypass Taunt. Z-Bulk Up actually doesn't restore negative stats, it just adds an extra attack stage
  • Sturdy is an incredible ability in 1v1, allowing Sawk to take a hit from most Pokemon unless it is from a Mold Breaker user. iffy on whether or not this is necessary, as this could just be discussed in Usage Tips, but cp2 can decide

Usage Tips
========
  • Sawk should be sent out to face Normal-, Steel-, and Rock-type Pokemon that it has a positive matchup against, like Type: Null, Registeel, and Archeops. Too obvious
  • Sawk is quite straightforward. Most games should not last more than 2 turns, as Sawk is a hyper offensive oriented attacker. Unnecessary
  • Against Pokemon that can boost their Defense, like Magearna, Incineroar bulky Meloetta, and Gastrodon, use Laser Focus to guarantee a crit 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. You actually need Adamant for a reliable Naganadel, but the roll is is wut
  • 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, be sure to use it against Fake Out users like Mega Lopunny, Zeraora and Ambipom if they use Protect. Against Z-Move users that know you run Protect, It ends up being a 50/50 against Z-Move users as they can use their Z-Move to break through Protect and Sturdy. However, this plan is not foolproof, as Mega Lopunny can potentially use Substitute, Zeraora can use Bulk Up, and Ambipom can use its Z Move during the turn Sawk is using Protect, turning them into 50/50s. while I agree that the phrasing before was weird and confusing, and should have been changed, a comment on why you're changing it so the writer understand is always helpful

Team Options
========
  • Specially offensive Pokemon like Choice Specs Greninja and Mega Gardevoir pair well with Sawk, as they cover each other's weaknesses. Sawk can beat specially defensive Pokemon like Magearna, Registeel, and Mega Charizard Y, and as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. Greninja and Mega Gardevoir can take care of different Ghost-type Pokemon for Sawk; Greninja handles Aegislash while Mega Gardevoir handles Mega Sableye, and both can beat Shadow Ball Z-Conversion Porygon-Z.
  • 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
  • Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja.
  • Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 non-Extreme Speed Dragonite.
  • Poison Jab punishes pesky Fairy-type Pokemon like non-Will-O-Wisp Mega Gardevoir and Whimsicott. You beat Gardevoir even if it does have Will-O-Wisp thanks to Choice Scarf
  • Fire Punch is another option to deal with Choice Scarf Genesect.
  • Counter is a good move to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, such as Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp Choice Scarf Sawk can beat Dragonite with Ice Punch uhhhhhhh this is only true on Choice Item variants, definitely not the case for z move variants, which is the most common. Unsure what you were trying to convey (that sawk beat every dnite variant, it 'can but not always' beat dnite with ice punch, etc) but be careful to specify exactly what you mean so the writer understands
Set Details
========
  • Maximum Attack and Speed ensures that Sawk can hit as hard as possible while outspeeding Mega Lopunny. Adamant can also be run if Mega Lopunny is not an issue, for better rolls against Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Lele.
  • Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Mega Lopunny.
  • Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, non-Will-O-Wisp Mega Charizard X, Garchomp, non-Extreme Speed Choice Item Dragonite would be a better descriptor, Espeed is basically required on z move dnite Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, allowing Sawk to bait them to an extent. Fast Flame Charge Zard X wins and Sawk needs Adamant for Garchomp very good in both usage tips shifting the topic away from completely obvious tips, btw. :blobthumbsup:
  • Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Meloetta Zygarde and Kommo-o. You even acknowledge in Team Options that Sawk wins against Meloetta, I guess you found it out while writing Team Options and then forgot to delete it from here.

Team Options
========
  • Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Dragonite.
  • Sawk 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.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
  • Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat.
  • Taunt and Bulk Up are good utility options that can help Sawk against some stall Pokemon. Bulk Up with Fightinium Z can be utilised to have a better chance against Gyarados.
  • Poisonium Z can be used as a lure for Tapu Fini and uninvested Primarina. Add downsides for all three of these

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 Mold Breaker to punish Sturdy users like Sawk's reliance on Sturdy. Scarf Haxorus loses to Donphan, Crustle, and Mega Aggron, so I wouldn't really call it a good punisher of Sturdy users

**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. 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[], [], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

Very good AMQC, although a few nitpicks with how the messaging is conveyed. Chickenpie2 please implement this edited version of the amqc
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
[OVERVIEW]
  • Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy, which lets it defeat most frail offensive Pokemon like Mega Charizard Y, Greninja, and Kartana. okay but beating frail offensive pokemon is definitely not a unique trait to either fighting types or sturdies - mega lopunny, kommo-o, mega blaziken and donphan/golem can all do that quite easily. Maybe say that it can choose to utilize strategies that to beat Pokemon fighting types normally lose to, like Togekiss and Magearna, because it can invest offensively while still being able to use setup or viably run Choice Scarf even though it only 2hkos most threats
  • Coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna, Magnezone, and Celesteela not reliable enough for Scarf Sawk, i would choose something else if possible Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta.
  • It also has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z, Choice Scarf, and Choice Band, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview.
  • Decent Attack and Speed, along with access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab to cover Flying- and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y and Mega Gardevoir.
  • Unfortunately, 1v1 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 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 and Laser Focus 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 OHKOs Volcarona and almost always Mega Charizard Y bulky flame charge wins sometimes, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb.
  • Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp.
  • Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Zeraora after a Rock Tomb, which it could not with an Adamant nature.
  • The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose.
  • Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt.
  • 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 Gastrodon, use Laser Focus to guarantee a crit All-Out Pummeling the following turn.
  • Use Rock Tomb to slow down Pokemon like Magnezone and usually Naganadel, before finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling.
  • 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, be sure to use it against 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 50/50s.
  • With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Bulk Up Turn 1, then Z Bulk Up the next in case Gyarados uses Taunt. Use Rock Tomb if they do not Mega Evolve, otherwise, use All-Out Pummeling to KO them.

Team Options
========
  • Specially offensive Pokemon like Choice Specs Greninja and Mega Gardevoir pair well with Sawk, as they cover each other's weaknesses. Sawk can beat specially defensive Pokemon like Magearna, Registeel, and Mega Charizard Y, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. Greninja and Mega Gardevoir can take care of different Ghost-type Pokemon for Sawk; Greninja handles Aegislash while Mega Gardevoir handles Mega Sableye, and both can beat Z-Conversion Porygon-Z.
  • 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and Serperior fares well against stall oriented Pokemon like Mew and Mega Sableye.
  • would mention answers to ghost types, which wall it well, and general stall answers, as well as a reliable char x answer, or answers to Pokemon that don't mind rock tomb or z-cc, like victini or togekiss

[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
========
  • Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja.
  • Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 non-Extreme Speed Choice Item Dragonite.
  • Poison Jab punishes pesky Fairy-type Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Whimsicott.
  • Fire Punch is another option to deal with Choice Scarf Genesect.
  • Counter can be run to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, such as Choice Item Garchomp and Landorus-T.
Set Details
========
  • Maximum Attack and Speed 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 and Tapu Lele. you should already 2hko the most common variants with jolly
  • Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Mega Lopunny.
  • Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Item Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats.
  • Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o.

Team Options
========
  • Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite.
  • Sawk 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.

[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 or Ice Punch for Zygarde, not very reliable, you would win with tectonic into espeed however these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect, or Mega Gyardos for Bulk Up.
  • Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny.
  • Poisonium Z 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 Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on 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 has ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[], [], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

tag me when implemented
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
[OVERVIEW]
  • Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy.
  • Coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta.
  • It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves or utilizing a Choice Scarf to outspeed them, while also being able to take on bulkier Pokemon like Deoxys-S and Gastrodon would change to something more relevant, like maybe Magearna (even tho you only need LF) with utility moves like Laser Focus and Bulk Up. and remove this since its only a move mention
  • It also has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview.
  • Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab allow it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting.
  • Unfortunately, 1v1 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 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 and Laser Focus not needed, talked about next 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 OHKOs Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb.
  • Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp.
  • Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Zeraora after a Rock Tomb, which it could not with an Adamant nature.
  • The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose.
  • Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt.
  • 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 Gastrodon, 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 usually finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling.
  • 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, be sure to use it against 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 50/50s.
  • With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Bulk Up Turn 1, then Z Bulk Up the next in case Gyarados uses Taunt. Use Rock Tomb if they do not Mega Evolve, otherwise, use All-Out Pummeling to KO them.

Team Options
========
  • Specially offensive Pokemon like Choice Specs Greninja and Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super 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, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
  • Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja.
  • Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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.
  • Fire Punch is another option to deal with Choice Scarf Genesect. this seems super niche, even for a move mention
  • Counter can be run to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, such as Choice Item Garchomp and Landorus-T.
Set Details
========
  • Maximum Attack and Speed 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 Mega Lopunny. Pheromosa relevant bc Lunge Fightinium could win if slower
  • Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Item Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, and can therefore lure them in.
  • Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o, even though Ice Punch hits them super effectively.

Team Options
========
  • Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite.
  • Sawk 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.

[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 or Rock Tomb + Ice Punch for Choice Item Dragonite, however these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect, or Mega Gyardos for Bulk Up.
  • Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny.
  • Poisonium Z 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 Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on 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 has ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[], [], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

after this qc 1/3

alakazam-QC.gif
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
[OVERVIEW]
  • Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy.
  • Coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta.
  • It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves or utilizing a Choice Scarf to outspeed them, while also being able to take on bulkier Pokemon like Deoxys-S and Gastrodon would change to something more relevant, like maybe Magearna (even tho you only need LF) with utility moves like Laser Focus and Bulk Up. and remove this since its only a move mention
  • It also has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview.
  • Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab allow it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting.
  • Unfortunately, 1v1 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 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 and Laser Focus not needed, talked about next 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 OHKOs Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb.
  • Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp.
  • Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Zeraora after a Rock Tomb, which it could not with an Adamant nature.
  • The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose.
  • Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt.
  • 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 Gastrodon, 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 usually finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling.
  • 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, be sure to use it against 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 50/50s.
  • With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Bulk Up Turn 1, then Z Bulk Up the next in case Gyarados uses Taunt. Use Rock Tomb if they do not Mega Evolve, otherwise, use All-Out Pummeling to KO them.

Team Options
========
  • Specially offensive Pokemon like Choice Specs Greninja and Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super 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, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
  • Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja.
  • Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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.
  • Fire Punch is another option to deal with Choice Scarf Genesect. this seems super niche, even for a move mention
  • Counter can be run to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, such as Choice Item Garchomp and Landorus-T.
Set Details
========
  • Maximum Attack and Speed 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 Mega Lopunny. Pheromosa relevant bc Lunge Fightinium could win if slower
  • Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Item Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, and can therefore lure them in.
  • Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o, even though Ice Punch hits them super effectively.

Team Options
========
  • Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite.
  • Sawk 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.

[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 or Rock Tomb + Ice Punch for Choice Item Dragonite, however these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect, or Mega Gyardos for Bulk Up.
  • Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny.
  • Poisonium Z 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 Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on 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 has ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[], [], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

after this qc 1/3

View attachment 211057
implementing my own check-

ready for 2nd check
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
Red = change
Red strikethrough = remove

Purple = belongs elsewhere
Blue text = my commentary
Green = elaborate
Orange = insert here
[OVERVIEW]
  • Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy.
  • Coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta.
  • It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves 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.
  • It also has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview.
  • Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab allow it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting.
  • Unfortunately, 1v1 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 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 OHKOs Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb.
  • Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp.
  • Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Zeraora after a Rock Tomb, which it could not with an Adamant nature does it care about doing this? Presumably it'd just go for the KO. Replace with a better reason to run Jolly, like outspeeding Smeargle and defensive zardx.
  • The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose.
  • Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt.
  • 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 Gastrodon uh, think quagsire was meant to be put here, 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 usually finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling.
  • 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, be sure to use it against 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 50/50s.
  • With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Bulk Up Turn 1, then Z Bulk Up the next in case Gyarados uses Taunt. Use Rock Tomb if they do not Mega Evolve, otherwise, use All-Out Pummeling to KO them. wouldn't a more generally safe play be to use z-bulk t1, followed by tomb and cc (guaranteed 2hko)? only risks losing to +2 high atk gyara

Team Options
========
  • Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super 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, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
  • Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja.
  • Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 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 lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Item Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, and can therefore lure them in.
  • Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o, even though Ice Punch hits them super effectively. why?

Team Options
========
  • Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite.
  • Sawk 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.

[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 or Rock Tomb + Ice Punch for Choice Item Dragonite, however these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect, or Mega Gyardos for Bulk Up.
  • Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny.
  • Poisonium Z 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 Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on Sturdy. photon geyser necrozma could be worked into here as well

**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 has ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.

**Residual Damage**: put something here for passive damage from threats like wisp zardx/garde and ferrothorn/garchomp (iron barbs/rough skin into ohko)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[Alakazam, 276708], [Osra, 239997], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

free cp2
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Red = change
Red strikethrough = remove

Purple = belongs elsewhere
Blue text = my commentary
Green = elaborate
Orange = insert here
[OVERVIEW]
  • Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy.
  • Coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta.
  • It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves 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.
  • It also has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview.
  • Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab allow it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting.
  • Unfortunately, 1v1 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 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 OHKOs Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb.
  • Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp.
  • Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Mega Lopunny and Zeraora after a Rock Tomb, which it could not with an Adamant nature does it care about doing this? Presumably it'd just go for the KO. Replace with a better reason to run Jolly, like outspeeding Smeargle and defensive zardx.
  • The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose.
  • Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt.
  • 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 Gastrodon uh, think quagsire was meant to be put here, 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 usually finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling.
  • 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, be sure to use it against 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 50/50s.
  • With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Bulk Up Turn 1, then Z Bulk Up the next in case Gyarados uses Taunt. Use Rock Tomb if they do not Mega Evolve, otherwise, use All-Out Pummeling to KO them. wouldn't a more generally safe play be to use z-bulk t1, followed by tomb and cc (guaranteed 2hko)? only risks losing to +2 high atk gyara

Team Options
========
  • Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super 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, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
  • Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja.
  • Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 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 lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Item Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, and can therefore lure them in.
  • Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o, even though Ice Punch hits them super effectively. why?

Team Options
========
  • Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite.
  • Sawk 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.

[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 or Rock Tomb + Ice Punch for Choice Item Dragonite, however these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect, or Mega Gyardos for Bulk Up.
  • Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny.
  • Poisonium Z 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 Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on Sturdy. photon geyser necrozma could be worked into here as well

**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 has ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.

**Residual Damage**: put something here for passive damage from threats like wisp zardx/garde and ferrothorn/garchomp (iron barbs/rough skin into ohko)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Chickenpie2, 305552]
- Quality checked by: [[Alakazam, 276708], [Osra, 239997], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

free cp2
implemented. This good for 2/3?
 

pqs

Banned deucer.
got sawks for christmas
add remove comment
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy. Coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta. It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves 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. It also has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview. Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab allow it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting. Unfortunately, 1v1 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. i mean these are mostly just because of type resistances- Common priority move users like Donphan and Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus 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 OHKOs Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb. Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp. Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against non-SubFlail 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Smeargle and bulky Mega Charizard X, something it cannot do with Adamant. The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose. Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt this is a little niche so can you give an example of what it beats. 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 usually finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling. 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, be sure to use it against 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 50/50s. "be sure to use it" and "however it's not foolproof" are confusing, i'd change the wording With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Z-Bulk Up Turn 1, then use Rock Tomb into Close Combat if they do not Mega Evolve, otherwise, use Close Combat to KO them. examples?

Team Options
========
Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super 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, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 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 lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Item Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, and can, therefore, 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 with Ice Punch.

Team Options
========
Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite. Sawk 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.

[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 or Rock Tomb + Ice Punch for Choice Item Dragonite honestly i'd just remove this because it's only good against scarf due to band running espeed, however these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect, or Mega Gyardos for Bulk Up. Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat landot matchup is noteworthy too. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny. Poisonium Z 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 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 has ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.

**Residual Damage**: Bulky Will-O-Wisp users like defensive Mega Charizard X can break Sawk's Sturdy and mitigate its ability to deal damage, prepping Sawk for a KO 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], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
implement and then ready for gp
QC-pqs-small.gif
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
got sawks for christmas
add remove comment
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy. Coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta. It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves 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. It also has a lot of great viable Item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview. Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch and Poison Jab allow it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting. Unfortunately, 1v1 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. i mean these are mostly just because of type resistances- Common priority move users like Donphan and Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus 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 OHKOs Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y, and lets it outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb. Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Item physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp. Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against non-SubFlail 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 lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling, while also outspeeding Smeargle and bulky Mega Charizard X, something it cannot do with Adamant. The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose. Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z-Bulk Up to increase its Attack further and bypass Taunt this is a little niche so can you give an example of what it beats. 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 usually finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling. 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, be sure to use it against 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 50/50s. "be sure to use it" and "however it's not foolproof" are confusing, i'd change the wording With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Z-Bulk Up Turn 1, then use Rock Tomb into Close Combat if they do not Mega Evolve, otherwise, use Close Combat to KO them. examples?

Team Options
========
Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super 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, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, while it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and 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
========
Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 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 lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything 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 on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Item Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats, and can, therefore, 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 with Ice Punch.

Team Options
========
Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite. Sawk 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.

[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 or Rock Tomb + Ice Punch for Choice Item Dragonite honestly i'd just remove this because it's only good against scarf due to band running espeed, however these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect, or Mega Gyardos for Bulk Up. Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to 50/50 Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat landot matchup is noteworthy too. This is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z as it loses to Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny. Poisonium Z 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 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 has ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and Bulk Up or 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk.

**Residual Damage**: Bulky Will-O-Wisp users like defensive Mega Charizard X can break Sawk's Sturdy and mitigate its ability to deal damage, prepping Sawk for a KO 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], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
implement and then ready for gp
QC-pqs-small.gif
implemented this, ready for gp
 
amcheck

add
remove
(comments)

(back to app again lol)
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, thanks it is the only Fighting-type with Sturdy. C (idrk how saying it being the only Fighting with Sturdy is substantial; nonetheless, this is subjective) coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone,. (full stop) Sawk poses a huge threat to a wide range of the 1v1 meta. I; it (FS->SC, tho the first clause can be removed instead to cut fluff)can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back (i would recommend a word change to avoid rep) with heavy -hitting (AH) moves or utilizing a Choice Scarf to outspeed them, while. (FS since this is already run-on) It is also being able to take on bulkier Pokemon like Deoxys-S and Magearna with utility moves like Laser Focus. ItSawk also has a lot of great viable Iitem options, (RC) such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, (RC) to tailor Sawkit to fill many different potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability during team preview. Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch, (AC) and Poison Jab allows it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that, which resist Fighting. Unfortunately, 1v1 has a myriad of bulky Pokemon that can generally brush off any of Sawk's attacks, (RC) like Mega Slowbro, Mew, Mega Sableye, and Mega Venusaur. Common priority move users like Donphan and Mold Breaker Pokemon like Haxorus have ways of dealing with Sturdy users, (RC) and make it hard for Sawk to keep up (i don't particularly like this verb here, but it's aight).

[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
========
(break)
Close Combat along with Fightinium Z allows Sawk to punch holes in foes like Magearna, Mega Tyranitar, and Incineroar. Laser Focus lets Sawkit power through Pokemon that rely on boosting their Defense to win, (RC) such as Magearna and Quagsire. Rock Tomb OHKOes Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y, (RC) and lets it outspeed Magnezone even after taking an Electroweb (this last bit is super weird; i recommend something along the lines of "lets it keep up against Magnezone's Electroweb Speed drops" tho this is highly subjective). (fluff) Counter gives Sawk has a few options for the laa chance to win against slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choice Iitem physical attackers like Choice Band Dragonite and Garchomp (CB Garchomp, too? it would be nice to have a CS example to justify the "Choice item" remark). Protect blocks any potential Fake Out Pokemon(Protect blocks the move, not the Mon) from breaking Sawk's Sturdy, letting it potentially gain the upper hand against Zeraora and non-Substitute + Flail Mega Lopunny and Zeraora(super nitpicky, but avoids SubFlail Zeraora confusion). Bulk Up gives Sawk a chance to beat Mega Gyarados, (RC) and works nicely with Laser Focus to take on dDefense -boosting (AH) foes like stall Deoxys-S.

Set Details
========
Maximum Attack and Speed lets Sawk hit as fast and hard as possible. Notably it canEV investment (technically, you're only maxing out Speed; hence, word addition) lets Sawk OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus-boosted All-Out Pummeling, (RC) while also outspeeding Smeargle and bulky Mega Charizard X, somethingwhich it cannot do with Adamant. The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose(no need to say this lol). Fightinium Z boosturns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for Z- (RC) and Bulk Up to further increase itSawk's 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. (um, ok lol; there's not much substance in this last sentence; maybe cite some matchups where Sturdy is 'crucial'; you can omit it if you want)

Usage Tips
========
(<br>)
Against Pokemon that can boost their Defense, (RC) 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 usually finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling. 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 50/50coinflip situations. With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Use Fightinium Z-boosted Bulk Up Tturn 1, and then use Rock Tomb into Close Combat if they do not Mega Evolve,; (SC) otherwise, use Close Combat to KO them. examples?(lol a QC note is still here :///; anyway, I did not get what the "chance" remark is for; what makes this strat fail/boil down to a roll)

Team Options
========
(<br>)
Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with movwith moves super effective against Fairy-types super effectivelike Greninja and Megainst Fairy Gardevoir (note 1: what does Gardy-M use that is SE to Fairy? no need to include; just fact-checking, since I don't see it on the current analysis) (i get why you moved the examples, but you're removing the restriction [that they're SE to Fairy] that way; simply switching like this might lessen that confusion right away) pair well with Sawk, as they cover each other's weaknesses. Sawk can beat specially defensive Pokemon like Magearna, Registeel, and Mega Charizard Y, as well as fast physical attackers like Choice Scarf Archeops and Darmanitan, whilebut it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. Greninja and Mega Gardevoir canThey can also take care of different Ghost- and Fairy-type Pokemon for Sawk; Greninja handles Aegislash and Tapu Bulu, while Mega Gardevoir handles (word change recommended) Mega Sableye and Tapu Lele. (FS to avoid run-on) Moreover, and both can beat Z-ConversionNormalium Z Porygon-Z, Tapu Fini, and Primarina. Pokemon that beat bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Primarina are good partners for Sawk. In particular, (since it's unclear that this relates to the prev sentence) Celesteela and Serperior beat most Sturdy users reliably, besides Crustle, which Sawk is good against. T, (AC) reliably; (merge) they also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and. (FS) Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir, (AC) and 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
========
(<br>)

Close Combat is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents foes like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 Iitem Dragonite. Poison Jab punishes pesky Fairy-type Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Whimsicott. Counter can be run to punish opposing physically offensive Pokemon, (RC) such as Choice Item Garchomp and Landorus-T.
<br>

Set Details
========
(<br>)

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, (RC) for better rolls against Pokemon like Garchomp. Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Pheromosa. Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing Sawk to fire off anything it wants to granted that the foe does not have Mold Breaker. (this last sentence is similar to the other one ^, just with more words; this needs more substance still; it's just dex info)

Usage Tips
========
As t(br)
T
his set runs Choice Scarf, i set is quite straight forward, (AC) as youSawk can only use one move per game. Use Sawkit on threats that it can OHKO, or 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice Iitem Dragonite, and Whimsicott, as non-Choice Scarf Sawk normally loses to these threats without Choice Scarf, and can, therefore, lure them in (the non-CS change clarifies which actually lures). Don't send Sawk in on bulky threats like Zygarde and Kommo-o, (RC) even though Ice Punch hits them super effectively, as Sawk isn't strong enough to break through these Pokemon with Ice Punch.

Team Options
========
(br)

Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawkit can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite. Sawk pairs well with Ghost-type Pokemon like Aegislash and Z=-ConversionNormalium Z Porygon-Z (idt Z-Conversion is an acceptable term), (AC) 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.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
(br)

On the Fightinium Z set, Sawk can opt to run other moves in the last two slots, (RC) such as Poison Jab for Whimsicott, (why two slots, then?); (C->SC) however, (AC) these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant matchups like non-Substitute + Flail Mega Lopunny for Protect, or and Mega Gyarados for Bulk Up. Choice Band boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it to beat Landorus-T and 50/50have a chance against Gyarados with Thunder Punch and Close Combat (umm, no changing moves here, right? just double checking). THowever, this is generally not as useful as Choice Scarf or Fightinium Z, (AC) as it loses to Z-Conversion (same as last note; ignore edit otherwise) Porygon-Z, and Mega Lopunny. Poisonium Z can be used as aso that Sawk can lure forin and beat (technicalities) 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 (this sounds awkward tbh, but it's fine)**: Psychic-, Fairy-, Ghost-Poison, and PoisonGhost-type Pokemon naturally resist or are immune to Sawk's STAB moves, (RC) 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 Mold Breaker to punish Sawk's reliance on Sturdy. Similarly, 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. (FS) They also hasve ways of outplaying Protect via Substitute and, (AC) Bulk Up or, (AC) and Z-Moves. 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 then use their priority moves to finish Sawk 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, prepparing Sawk for a KO 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 (back = in return; pick one) after Sturdy is broken.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pqs

Lumari

empty spaces
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris an Administrator Alumnus
TFP Leader
remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/2
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with thanks to access to Sturdy (RP) coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk 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. (mostly so that the mention of choice scarf flows better in context) It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves hard or utilizing a Choice Scarf to outspeed them (RC) while also being able to take on bulkier Pokemon like Deoxys-S and Magearna with utility moves like Laser Focus. It also has a lot of great viable item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview. Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch, (AC) and Poison Jab allow allows it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting. Unfortunately, 1v1 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 (RC) 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 OHKOs OHKOes Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y (RC) and lets it Sawk outspeed Magnezone even after it uses Electroweb. Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 force mind games against Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choiced Item 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 (RC) and works nicely with Laser Focus to take on Defense-boosting (AH) 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, (AC) it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling after using Laser Focus (RC) while also outspeeding Smeargle and bulky Mega Charizard X, something it cannot do with Adamant. The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose. Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for 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 (RC) before usually (what does this mean) finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling. 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 50/50s coinflips. With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Use Z-Bulk Up Turn 1, then use Rock Tomb into followed by Close Combat if they do not Mega Evolve; (SC) otherwise, use Close Combat to KO them. examples? (qc comment?)

Team Options
========
Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super effective against Fairy (neither of these runs super effective moves?) 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 it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They Both of them also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and while Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and Serperior fares well against stall-oriented (AH) 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 is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents nails foes like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 (RC) for better rolls against Pokemon like Garchomp. Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Pheromosa. Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing allows Sawk to fire off anything 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, (AC) as you can only use one move per game. Use Sawk on against threats that it can either OHKO (RC) or outspeed and 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice item Dragonite, and Whimsicott; (SC) as non-Choice Scarf Sawk variants normally loses lose to these threats, and can, therefore, 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 with Ice Punch.

Team Options
========
Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite. Sawk also pairs well with Ghost-type Pokemon like Aegislash and Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, (AC) 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.

[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; (SC) however, (AC) these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant important matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect (RC) or and Mega Gyardos Gyarados for Bulk Up. A Choice Band set boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it allow Sawk to beat Landorus-T and 50/50 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 (RC) 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 (RC) 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 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 has 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 (RC) and then use their priority moves to finish Sawk 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, prepping Sawk for a 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: [[, ], [, ]]
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/2
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk is one of the premier Fighting-type Pokemon in 1v1, as it is the only Fighting-type with thanks to access to Sturdy (RP) coupled with a good Speed tier that allows it to outspeed bulky offensive threats like Magearna and Magnezone, Sawk 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. (mostly so that the mention of choice scarf flows better in context) It can deal with hyper offensive Pokemon like Greninja, Kartana, and Hoopa-U by taking a hit with Sturdy and hitting back with heavy hitting moves hard or utilizing a Choice Scarf to outspeed them (RC) while also being able to take on bulkier Pokemon like Deoxys-S and Magearna with utility moves like Laser Focus. It also has a lot of great viable item options, such as Fightinium Z and Choice Scarf, to tailor Sawk to fill many potential different roles and adding to its unpredictability in team preview. Its access to strong coverage moves like Stone Edge, Rock Tomb, Ice Punch, (AC) and Poison Jab allow allows it to cover Flying-, Poison-, and Fairy-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Jumpluff, Naganadel, and Mega Gardevoir that resist Fighting. Unfortunately, 1v1 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 (RC) 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 OHKOs OHKOes Volcarona and uninvested Mega Charizard Y (RC) and lets it Sawk outspeed Magnezone even after it uses Electroweb. Sawk has a few options for the last slot. Counter lets Sawk 50/50 force mind games against Mega Mawile and Substitute Mega Metagross, as well as dealing with other Choiced Item 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 (RC) and works nicely with Laser Focus to take on Defense-boosting (AH) 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, (AC) it can OHKO standard Magearna with a Laser Focus All-Out Pummeling after using Laser Focus (RC) while also outspeeding Smeargle and bulky Mega Charizard X, something it cannot do with Adamant. The remaining 4 EVs serve no particular purpose. Fightinium Z turns Close Combat into a powerful All-Out Pummeling, while also having potential for 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 (RC) before usually (what does this mean) finishing them off with All-Out Pummeling. 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 50/50s coinflips. With Bulk Up, Sawk has a decent chance against Gyarados. Use Z-Bulk Up Turn 1, then use Rock Tomb into followed by Close Combat if they do not Mega Evolve; (SC) otherwise, use Close Combat to KO them. examples? (qc comment?)

Team Options
========
Specially offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Greninja with moves super effective against Fairy (neither of these runs super effective moves?) 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 it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which Greninja and Mega Gardevoir beat reliably. 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. They Both of them also beat Mega Gyarados and Aegislash, and while Celesteela deals with troublesome Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir and Serperior fares well against stall-oriented (AH) 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 is Sawk's main STAB move, nailing opponents nails foes like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Stone Edge hits Flying-type and Bug-type Pokemon that would 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 (RC) for better rolls against Pokemon like Garchomp. Choice Scarf allows Sawk to outspeed most Pokemon up to Pheromosa. Sturdy lets Sawk survive a hit from maximum HP, allowing allows Sawk to fire off anything 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, (AC) as you can only use one move per game. Use Sawk on against threats that it can either OHKO (RC) or outspeed and 2HKO if it outspeeds them, like Porygon-Z, Choice item Dragonite, and Whimsicott; (SC) as non-Choice Scarf Sawk variants normally loses lose to these threats, and can, therefore, 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 with Ice Punch.

Team Options
========
Type: Null and Mega Sableye are good partners to Sawk, as Sawk can beat out hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Torrent Greninja for them, while they cover bulky offensive Pokemon like Donphan and Z-Move Dragonite. Sawk also pairs well with Ghost-type Pokemon like Aegislash and Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, (AC) 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.

[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; (SC) however, (AC) these usually come at too great of a sacrifice, losing out on imporatant important matchups like non-Substitute Mega Lopunny for Protect (RC) or and Mega Gyardos Gyarados for Bulk Up. A Choice Band set boosts Sawk's physical moves to allow it allow Sawk to beat Landorus-T and 50/50 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 (RC) 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 (RC) 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 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 has 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 (RC) and then use their priority moves to finish Sawk 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, prepping Sawk for a 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: [[, ], [, ]]
implemented
 

Astra

talk to me nice
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Community Leader Alumnus
add remove (comments)
[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, (RC) 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 it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which 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, while and Celesteela also deals with troublesome Fairy-types Pokemon (consistency) like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir, (AC) while and 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-type 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 as too great of a sacrifice, 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], [, ]]
2/2 :blobthumbsup:
Estronic-GP-small.gif
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
add remove (comments)
[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, (RC) 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 it falls prey to Mega Slowbro, Dragonite, and Mew, which 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, while and Celesteela also deals with troublesome Fairy-types Pokemon (consistency) like Tapu Lele and Mega Gardevoir, (AC) while and 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-type 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 as too great of a sacrifice, 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], [, ]]
2/2 :blobthumbsup:
View attachment 255604
implemented
 
  • Love
Reactions: pqs

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top