In-battle formes
Base
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| HP: | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 85 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 85 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 55 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 55 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 50 |
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Mega
| Type | |
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| HP: | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 105 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 125 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 55 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 95 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 50 |
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Overview
Mawile is an overall average Pokemon that is able to serve as a wallbreaker or a physical wall. This versatility is thanks to its nice movepool, with decent offensive and utility moves such as Play Rough, Iron Head, and Stealth Rock, and two great abilities in Sheer Force and Intimidate. Furthermore, Mawile has a great offensive and defensive typing that offers good STAB coverage and a useful resistance to Stealth Rock and an immunity to Toxic Spikes. When serving as a wallbreaker, Mawile can break through many slower foes such as Drampa and Clefairy, and even certain faster ones such as Alolan Raichu thanks to Sucker Punch. As a physical wall, Mawile can take hits from many physical Normal-, Dark-, and Grass-types, including Stoutland and the physical variants of Skuntank, Spiritomb, and Shiftry, and either cripple them with Toxic or Knock Off or use the opportunity to set up Stealth Rock. Sadly, Mawile's stats are a large setback; though it has somewhat respectable Attack and Defense stats, Mawile is pretty slow and specially frail, making it relatively easy to KO for many offensive foes. These downsides furthermore leave it with a lot of competition in both of its potential roles, with other wallbreakers either offering a higher damage output and bulk, such as Aggron, or superior Speed, such as Skuntank and Stoutland, allowing them to threaten a larger number of Pokemon. Similarly, other physical walls such as Regirock and Metang can accomplish many of the same things Mawile can defensively, and even bring their own unique aspects in Regirock’s higher natural bulk and Metang’s access to Earthquake to punish switchins; both also have noticeably higher special bulk.
Wallbreaker
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Moves
Play Rough serves as Mawile’s main STAB move and hits Fighting-, Dragon-, and Dark-types such as Gurdurr, Drampa, and Spiritomb for super effective damage. Iron Head gives Mawile a secondary STAB move that hits some bulky foes such as Regirock and Clefairy super effectively and certain Fairy-resistant Pokemon like Victreebel neutrally. Sucker Punch somewhat makes up for Mawile’s low Speed by allowing it to hit faster foes such as Alolan Raichu and Choice Specs Jellicent. Fire Blast hits Steel-types like Alolan Sandslash and Ferroseed super effectively, in addition to nailing Tangela.
Set Details
Sheer Force boosts Mawile’s moves bar Sucker Punch and stacks with Life Orb while negating its recoil. This, combined with 252 EVs in Attack and a Naughty nature, allows Mawile to hit as hard as possible. A Naughty nature is preferred so that Fire Blast can still deal a decent amount of damage. 252 Speed EVs allow Mawile to outspeed as many Pokemon as possible, giving it more offensive presence. A Naive nature can be run to outspeed certain Pokemon such as Adamant Golurk and Aggron, but Mawile prefers extra power to allow it to wallbreak more easily.
Usage Tips
Due to its decent Attack stat, Life Orb, and Sheer Force, Mawile is best utilized to break down bulkier Pokemon like Gurdurr and Ferroseed. Mawile should very rarely be switched in to take an attack, as even resisted moves such as Stoutland’s Return and Oricorio-E’s Hurricane still do a lot of damage. Exceptions are switching into attacks that it is immune to, such as Dragon- and Poison-type attacks, but even then, users of those moves often carry coverage that can dent Mawile. Your best bet is to predict or bait a switch into something like Regirock or Clefairy before doubling into Mawile. It can also switch into a potential Toxic from foes such as Audino or while the foe is recovering, such as Clefairy using Soft-Boiled. Alternate options are to bring it in through a slow pivot, such as Lanturn's Volt Switch, or after a teammate is KOed. Lanturn can also be used to lure in specially defensive walls like Ferroseed before using Volt Switch to bring in Mawile for a KO. When facing fast Pokemon, Mawile should usually go for Sucker Punch. However, be aware that certain Pokemon could use this as an opportunity to set up, such as Oricorio-G using Substitute or Calm Mind.
Team Options
Mawile can break down bulkier foes such as Regirock and Mudsdale, allowing late-game sweepers such as Lycanroc and Scyther to come in and clean up. Special attackers such as Aurorus and Drampa can help deal with physical walls that give Mawile trouble, while Mawile can help break down special walls. Special attackers also lure in said special walls, which Mawile can double in on. Slow pivots such as Eelektross and Lanturn can take a hit before getting Mawile onto the field safely, supplying decent chip damage in the process. Water- and Grass-types such as Jellicent, Ludicolo and Torterra can help with the Ground-types that threaten Mawile such as Golurk and Mudsdale, and Mawile can pressure the defensive Pokemon they struggle with in return, such as Ferroseed and Tangela. Hazard setters such as Qwilfish and Regirock can help weaken foes through residual damage, making them easier for Mawile to break through. While Mawile appreciates hazards, it's also prone to being worn down by Spikes itself and is unable to threaten Qwilfish, making Pokemon that can compensate for this weakness like Cryogonal and Rotom-F desirable.
Physical Wall
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Moves
Stealth Rock limits your opponent's ability to switch, as it deals a good amount of chip damage every time one of their Pokemon enters the field. Play Rough gives Mawile a reliable STAB move, most notably against Dark- and Fighting-types such as Spiritomb, Alolan Raticate, and Hitmonchan. Super Fang is Mawile's other form of offensive pressure, as it takes away half of the target's current health; this helps it break down bulkier foes that don't mind Play Rough such as Regirock, Mudsdale, and especially those with reliable recovery, such as Musharna. Super Fang also hits Poison- and Steel-types such as Roselia and Aggron, which resist Play Rough and are immune to Toxic. Toxic is used to whittle down bulkier foes and can be stacked with Super Fang. Knock Off is an option over Toxic that helps Mawile cripple Eviolite holders like Roselia and Ferroseed, as well as Choice item users like Camerupt and Stoutland.
Set Details
252 EVs in HP and Defense, along with an Impish nature, allow Mawile to best take physical attacks from Dark-, Grass-, and Normal-type attackers such as physical Skuntank, Leafeon, and Stoutland. Intimidate lets Mawile more easily switch in to take those physical attacks by lowering Attack stats. Leftovers gives Mawile constant recovery, making it harder to break through or wear down, and is Mawile's only form of recovery. Rocky Helmet is an alternate choice that whittles down contact move users such as Skuntank and Stoutland and is especially helpful against U-turn users such as Primeape and Liepard. Unfortunately, Rocky Helmet makes Mawile easier to wear down due to the lack of residual recovery.
Usage Tips
Mawile is best used when switching in to take hits from Dark-types like physical Skuntank and Absol, Grass-types like physical Shiftry and Leafeon, and Normal-types like Stoutland and Alolan Raticate. Most of these Pokemon do very little to Mawile, so will often switch out on the next turn. Mawile can use this turn to set up Stealth Rock, use Toxic on the incoming foe, or make a double switch into a better matchup. However, be wary of coverage on physical attackers, such as mixed Skuntank's Fire Blast and Silvally-Fairy's Flamethrower, which will threaten to 2HKO Mawile. Mawile can also take advantage of Intimidate by activating it and pivoting into a teammate that appreciates it. However, be wary of Defiant users like Primeape, which just gains an Attack boost when hit by Intimidate. When the foe is at high health, Super Fang will often do more than Play Rough, especially against bulkier foes, so it is usually the better choice of attack. However, when the foe reaches lower health, Super Fang will be weaker, making Play Rough the better option. Mawile isn't the best switch-in to Fighting-types, especially wallbreakers such as Primeape and Gurdurr, due to its Steel typing. Mawile furthermore doesn't have a very good matchup against Psychic-types due to its terrible Special Defense stat allowing Pokemon such as Musharna to 2HKO it with Future Sight.
Team Options
Mawile can form a nice defensive core with specially defensive Pokemon such as Audino and Clefairy, as they can help with many special attackers that give Mawile trouble such as Jellicent and Lanturn, while Mawile can help with the physical attackers that break through them without trouble such as Stoutland and Alolan Raticate. Certain Water-types such as Jellicent and Lanturn can handle Fire-types such as Combusken and Simisear, while Mawile helps against Grass-types such as physical Shiftry and Leafeon. Water-types can also help with Steel-types such as Aggron and Probopass, as can Fighting- and Fire-types such as Gurdurr and Simisear. Similarly, checks to Ground-types such as Torterra and Eelektross can help against the likes of Mudsdale and Alolan Dugtrio. Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Oricorio-G, Alolan Raichu, and Haunter appreciate Mawile's ability to deal with Dark-types, which can allow them to more easily set up late-game. Due to Mawile’s lack of reliable recovery, it appreciates teammates that can provide healing, such as the previously mentioned Audino with Wish and Musharna with Healing Wish, especially if Mawile's item of choice is Rocky Helmet.
Other Options
Mawile can be used as a Swords Dance sweeper, but its opportunities to set up can be hard to find due to its frailness. Swords Dance furthermore forces Mawile to replace Fire Blast, which leaves Mawile susceptible to being walled by Steel-types. It can also take out Sucker Punch, but losing out on priority makes it even easier to revenge kill. Rock Slide is a coverage option that hits incoming Fire-types like Simisear, but can only be used on a predicted switch, and again at the loss of Fire Blast or Sucker Punch. Similarly, Thunder Punch can 2HKO Qwilfish and Jellicent, but is generally not worth giving up a move for as it does not hit much else. Mawile's defensive set can run Pain Split for a somewhat reliable form of recovery, but struggles to free a moveslot. With 176 Special Attack EVs, Mawile can serve as a decent lure for physical walls due to its great special movepool. This includes moves such as Grass Knot for Mudsdale and Focus Blast for Aggron and Probopass, but they are generally useless moves otherwise and only hinder Mawile due the loss in Attack EVs. Finally, Mawile can be used with minimum Speed on Trick Room teams as a decent mixed attacker, and although it is weak compared to other Trick Room attackers, it has the advantage of not having a weakness to any form of priority.
Checks and Counters
Fire-types: Fire-types such as Combusken, Turtonator, and Simisear resist both of Mawile's STAB moves and easily OHKO with Fire Blast, but they don't appreciate switching into Play Rough. They are even KOed when Play Rough is combined with damage from Stealth Rock and Sucker Punch. Combusken outspeeds Mawile and resists Sucker Punch, but is OHKOed by Play Rough, and while Turtonator can take a Play Rough, it cannot switch into one. However, both OHKO Mawile with Fire Blast.
Faster Pokemon: Due to the offensive set's frailness and low Speed, Mawile is very easy to revenge kill, so it largely fears Pokemon that outspeed it. This includes Pokemon such as Jellicent and Simisear, with the defensive set being especially vulnerable due to a lack of Sucker Punch. Additionally, while the offensive set can use Sucker Punch to alleviate this weakness, Mawile has to be careful of Pokemon using status or priority moves to take advantage, such as Substitute Jynx and Aqua Jet Carracosta.
Ground-types: Ground-types such as Mudsdale, and Torterra can take a hit from Mawile before easily OHKOing it with their respective STAB moves. Faster Ground-types such as Golurk and Alolan Dugtrio fear Sucker Punch, but can take one before similarly OHKOing Mawile, or just use it as an opportunity to set up Stealth Rock or a Substitute, respectively. However, none of these Pokemon, barring Alolan Dugtrio, are immune to Toxic.
Steel-types: Steel-types such as Aggron, Probopass, and Bronzor take little from Mawile's attacks and are immune to Toxic; their biggest fear is Super Fang from defensive Mawile, but they can simply KO Mawile or use the move as an opportunity to set up Stealth Rock. However, certain Steel-types, namely Alolan Sandslash and Ferroseed, do not like having to take a Fire Blast from offensive Mawile. Ferroseed, Metang and Bronzor are also threatened by Knock Off, as they lose a substantial amount of bulk when they do not have an Eviolite.
Physical Walls: Physical walls such as Jellicent and Qwilfish switch into Mawile's attacks with relative ease and can cripple it with Scald, Will-O-Wisp, and Taunt. Other defensive walls such as Tangela can also accomplish this, but fear Fire Blast from the offensive set. Qwilfish is also the only Pokemon of these that does not have to be careful of Toxic from the defensive set.
