Muk (Alolan)
QC 3/3
[OVERVIEW]
* Alolan Muk has an excellent typing that provides 4 useful resistances and an immunity to Psychic, which combined with its good 100/105 special bulk makes it a safe switch-in to many Psychic-type Pokemon such as Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam.
* STAB Pursuit allows Alolan Muk to effectively trap Psychic-types and either KO or severely cripple them on the switch.
* STAB Knock Off hits hard and complements Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB moves by being able to cripple Steel-types.
* Muk has a respectable chance to spread poison by virtue of Poison Touch. This allows it to potentially cripple normally safe switch-ins before being forced out.
* It's incredibly weak to Ground-types, and has no real way to threaten them outside of removing their items with Knock Off.
* A lack of reliable recovery limits how much Alolan Muk can switch in, which hurts it as a pivot.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Poison Jab / Gunk Shot
move 4: Shadow Sneak / Fire Blast
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Adamant / Brave
evs: 252 HP / 240 Atk / 16 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* STAB Knock Off hits very hard when removing an item.
* Pursuit can trap prominent Psychic-types such as Latios, Mega Alakazam, and Tapu Lele.
* Poison Jab is Alolan Muk's secondary reliable STAB and has approximately a 50% chance to poison thanks to Poison Touch.
* Gunk Shot hits harder than Poison Jab, can KO earlier and avoids Rocky Helmet damage from Pokemon such as tank Garchomp and defensive Landorus-T to keep Alolan Muk healthier throughout the match, but has shaky accuracy and misses out on Poison Touch's additional poison chance.
* Shadow Sneak allows Alolan Muk to come in on severely weakened foes to revenge kill.
* Fire Blast specifically takes out Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory, which would otherwise wall Alolan Muk, and threatens Steel-types in general.
Set Details
========
* Assault Vest allows Alolan Muk to easily switch in on special hits then cripple or KO the opponent in various ways.
* Poison Touch is vastly superior to Muk's other abilities, and allows all of Alolan Muk's contact moves to potentially poison.
* Poison Jab can OHKO all four the Tapu group outside of maximum HP Tapu Fini, which is OHKOed by Gunk Shot.
*Alolan Muk's ability to force switches with Pursuit and Knock Off benefits from entry hazards on the opponent's side.
* An Adamant nature should be run unless Alolan Muk is running Fire Blast, where a Brave nature is more beneficial.
* 16 Special Defense EVs allow Alolan Muk to avoid the chance of being 2HKOed by a Choice Specs Timid Tapu Lele's Moonblast after Stealth Rock damage as well as boost its special bulk that much more.
Usage Tips
========
* Bring in Alolan Muk on resisted special attacks, optimally a predicted Psychic-type move, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic.
* Avoid switching directly into neutral STAB moves, as Alolan Muk will take quite a bit of damage and cannot afford to lose the HP due to its lack of any recovery.
* Knock Off should almost always be the go-to attack unless either Shadow Sneak is required for the revenge kill or a switch is likely, in which case Pursuit is a good choice.
Team Options
========
* Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk, as Grassy Terrain halves the power of Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a minor amount of recovery. Any Pokémon that can reliably take out Ground types, like Tapu-Bulu, mitigates Alolan Muk's huge weakness to the type.
* Bulky Wish passers such as Chansey and Alomomola can keep Alolan Muk healthy and are able to switch into most of its checks safely.
* Offensive Pokemon such as Nihilego, Breloom, and Nidoking greatly appreciate Alolan Muk's ability to trap and KO fast Psychic-types such as Choice Scarf Tapu Lele and Latios.
* Buzzwole in particular covers Alolan Muk's weaknesses very well, resisting Ground-type attacks and easily beating Steel-types while Alolan Muk covers the fast Pyschic-types that threaten Buzzwole. It's Substitute + Drain Punch set also appreciates Alolan Muk's poison helping it whittle down Pokemon such as Landorus-T while setting up.
* Dragon- and Dark-type Pokemon such as Garchomp and Greninja appreciate Alolan Muk's ability to easily handle Fairy-types, in particular the Tapu group.
* Rotom-W can be a helpful teammate for Alolan Muk, as it can switch into predicted Ground-type attacks and proceed to KO with Hydro Pump or cripple with Will-O-Wisp.
* Flying-types and Pokemon with Levitate can use Alolan Muk's ability to lure Ground-type moves to get a free switch in.
* Magnezone's and Dugtrio's ability to trap and KO Pokemon such as Heatran and Scizor is a huge help to Alolan Muk, as these Pokemon would otherwise wall it. These trappers should not be run solely to aid Muk, however, as its pivoting role doesn't require the complete removal of Steel-types.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* While a Choice Band set similar to normal Muk's may seem appealing, Alolan Muk lacks Ice Punch and any way to deter Ground-types from switching in outside of the initial Knock Off.
* A Curse set can be run to boost Muk's weaker Defense while making it more threatening, but Muk functions much better as a pivot and is outclassed by other bulky set up sweepers such as Zygarde and Buzzwole.
* Air Balloon can be run to basically guarantee a Knock Off on a Ground-type, but Alolan Muk should not be directly challenging a Ground-type in the first place.
* Brick Break can be run if Bisharp is a problem, but Fire Blast is typically better for its ability to hit Steel-types harder.
* Poison Fang can be run as Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB move if a high poison chance is desired, but it has underwhelming Base Power.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground-types**: Alolan Muk has no coverage moves to super effectively hit Pokemon like Landorus-T and Garchomp, and Ground-type moves, particularly Earthquake, can easily KO it. Alolan Muk can poison them before switching out, though, wearing them down over the match. Excadrill in particular fears almost nothing from Alolan Muk, being immune to its poison.
**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio can trap and KO Alolan Muk with Earthquake by virtue of its weak Defense and low Speed. However, Dugtrio should be wary of Shadow Sneak if brought down to its Focus Sash.
**Mega Scizor**: Without Fire Blast, Mega Scizor is immune to or takes very little from all of Alolan Muk's STAB moves and takes no bonus Knock Off damage, and can proceed to set up or threaten Alolan Muk with its strong physical attacks.
**Bisharp**: Bisharp, like Scizor, takes little from both of Alolan Muk's STAB moves and can easily set up if it lacks Fire Blast or Brick Break.
**Steel-types**: Outside of the initial Knock Off, Alolan Muk without Fire Blast poses little threat to Steel-types such as Skarmory and Celesteela. Knock Off is particularly effective when removing Celesteela's Leftovers, as it has no form of reliable recovery.
**Burns**: While Alolan Muk is immune to poison, sets without Rest are easily crippled by burns from Will-O-Wisp and Scald.
QC 3/3
[OVERVIEW]
* Alolan Muk has an excellent typing that provides 4 useful resistances and an immunity to Psychic, which combined with its good 100/105 special bulk makes it a safe switch-in to many Psychic-type Pokemon such as Tapu Lele and Mega Alakazam.
* STAB Pursuit allows Alolan Muk to effectively trap Psychic-types and either KO or severely cripple them on the switch.
* STAB Knock Off hits hard and complements Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB moves by being able to cripple Steel-types.
* Muk has a respectable chance to spread poison by virtue of Poison Touch. This allows it to potentially cripple normally safe switch-ins before being forced out.
* It's incredibly weak to Ground-types, and has no real way to threaten them outside of removing their items with Knock Off.
* A lack of reliable recovery limits how much Alolan Muk can switch in, which hurts it as a pivot.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Poison Jab / Gunk Shot
move 4: Shadow Sneak / Fire Blast
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Adamant / Brave
evs: 252 HP / 240 Atk / 16 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* STAB Knock Off hits very hard when removing an item.
* Pursuit can trap prominent Psychic-types such as Latios, Mega Alakazam, and Tapu Lele.
* Poison Jab is Alolan Muk's secondary reliable STAB and has approximately a 50% chance to poison thanks to Poison Touch.
* Gunk Shot hits harder than Poison Jab, can KO earlier and avoids Rocky Helmet damage from Pokemon such as tank Garchomp and defensive Landorus-T to keep Alolan Muk healthier throughout the match, but has shaky accuracy and misses out on Poison Touch's additional poison chance.
* Shadow Sneak allows Alolan Muk to come in on severely weakened foes to revenge kill.
* Fire Blast specifically takes out Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory, which would otherwise wall Alolan Muk, and threatens Steel-types in general.
Set Details
========
* Assault Vest allows Alolan Muk to easily switch in on special hits then cripple or KO the opponent in various ways.
* Poison Touch is vastly superior to Muk's other abilities, and allows all of Alolan Muk's contact moves to potentially poison.
* Poison Jab can OHKO all four the Tapu group outside of maximum HP Tapu Fini, which is OHKOed by Gunk Shot.
*Alolan Muk's ability to force switches with Pursuit and Knock Off benefits from entry hazards on the opponent's side.
* An Adamant nature should be run unless Alolan Muk is running Fire Blast, where a Brave nature is more beneficial.
* 16 Special Defense EVs allow Alolan Muk to avoid the chance of being 2HKOed by a Choice Specs Timid Tapu Lele's Moonblast after Stealth Rock damage as well as boost its special bulk that much more.
Usage Tips
========
* Bring in Alolan Muk on resisted special attacks, optimally a predicted Psychic-type move, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic.
* Avoid switching directly into neutral STAB moves, as Alolan Muk will take quite a bit of damage and cannot afford to lose the HP due to its lack of any recovery.
* Knock Off should almost always be the go-to attack unless either Shadow Sneak is required for the revenge kill or a switch is likely, in which case Pursuit is a good choice.
Team Options
========
* Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk, as Grassy Terrain halves the power of Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a minor amount of recovery. Any Pokémon that can reliably take out Ground types, like Tapu-Bulu, mitigates Alolan Muk's huge weakness to the type.
* Bulky Wish passers such as Chansey and Alomomola can keep Alolan Muk healthy and are able to switch into most of its checks safely.
* Offensive Pokemon such as Nihilego, Breloom, and Nidoking greatly appreciate Alolan Muk's ability to trap and KO fast Psychic-types such as Choice Scarf Tapu Lele and Latios.
* Buzzwole in particular covers Alolan Muk's weaknesses very well, resisting Ground-type attacks and easily beating Steel-types while Alolan Muk covers the fast Pyschic-types that threaten Buzzwole. It's Substitute + Drain Punch set also appreciates Alolan Muk's poison helping it whittle down Pokemon such as Landorus-T while setting up.
* Dragon- and Dark-type Pokemon such as Garchomp and Greninja appreciate Alolan Muk's ability to easily handle Fairy-types, in particular the Tapu group.
* Rotom-W can be a helpful teammate for Alolan Muk, as it can switch into predicted Ground-type attacks and proceed to KO with Hydro Pump or cripple with Will-O-Wisp.
* Flying-types and Pokemon with Levitate can use Alolan Muk's ability to lure Ground-type moves to get a free switch in.
* Magnezone's and Dugtrio's ability to trap and KO Pokemon such as Heatran and Scizor is a huge help to Alolan Muk, as these Pokemon would otherwise wall it. These trappers should not be run solely to aid Muk, however, as its pivoting role doesn't require the complete removal of Steel-types.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* While a Choice Band set similar to normal Muk's may seem appealing, Alolan Muk lacks Ice Punch and any way to deter Ground-types from switching in outside of the initial Knock Off.
* A Curse set can be run to boost Muk's weaker Defense while making it more threatening, but Muk functions much better as a pivot and is outclassed by other bulky set up sweepers such as Zygarde and Buzzwole.
* Air Balloon can be run to basically guarantee a Knock Off on a Ground-type, but Alolan Muk should not be directly challenging a Ground-type in the first place.
* Brick Break can be run if Bisharp is a problem, but Fire Blast is typically better for its ability to hit Steel-types harder.
* Poison Fang can be run as Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB move if a high poison chance is desired, but it has underwhelming Base Power.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground-types**: Alolan Muk has no coverage moves to super effectively hit Pokemon like Landorus-T and Garchomp, and Ground-type moves, particularly Earthquake, can easily KO it. Alolan Muk can poison them before switching out, though, wearing them down over the match. Excadrill in particular fears almost nothing from Alolan Muk, being immune to its poison.
**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio can trap and KO Alolan Muk with Earthquake by virtue of its weak Defense and low Speed. However, Dugtrio should be wary of Shadow Sneak if brought down to its Focus Sash.
**Mega Scizor**: Without Fire Blast, Mega Scizor is immune to or takes very little from all of Alolan Muk's STAB moves and takes no bonus Knock Off damage, and can proceed to set up or threaten Alolan Muk with its strong physical attacks.
**Bisharp**: Bisharp, like Scizor, takes little from both of Alolan Muk's STAB moves and can easily set up if it lacks Fire Blast or Brick Break.
**Steel-types**: Outside of the initial Knock Off, Alolan Muk without Fire Blast poses little threat to Steel-types such as Skarmory and Celesteela. Knock Off is particularly effective when removing Celesteela's Leftovers, as it has no form of reliable recovery.
**Burns**: While Alolan Muk is immune to poison, sets without Rest are easily crippled by burns from Will-O-Wisp and Scald.
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