Muk-Alola [QC 3/3] [GP 2/2]
[OVERVIEW]
Alolan Muk acts as a great special pivot with its high HP and Special Defense, allowing it to check threats such as Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, and Greninja. This is compounded by its access to a STAB Pursuit, which allows Alolan Muk to effectively trap and KO Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, and Mega Alakazam. Even when Alolan Muk is not using Pursuit, Poison Touch allows it to easily spread poison and cripple bulky switch-ins, further punishing switches. However, Alolan Muk's passivity and weakness to physical attacks invites in powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Mawile, Landorus-T, and Zygarde. Alolan Muk can absorb Toxic Spikes, but it is otherwise vulnerable to entry hazard damage and lacks any recovery, hurting Alolan Muk in its pivoting role. Lastly, Alolan Muk is outsped by the majority of the tier, meaning it will almost always have to take a hit before moving.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Rock Slide
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Knock Off is a powerful, spammable attack that carries the benefits of removing items and potentially poisoning targets. It also has the benefit of scouting Z-Crystals on Pokemon such as Celesteela, Landorus-T, and Garchomp. Pursuit traps and removes powerful Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mega Alakazam, Latios, Tapu Lele, and Gengar. Poison Jab is a reliable STAB move and has a nice 51% poison chance when combined with Poison Touch. Rock Slide allows Alolan Muk to better check Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y and is preferred over Stone Edge for its higher accuracy.
Set Details
========
136 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allow Alolan Muk to OHKO Tapu Lele with Poison Jab, while 4 Speed EVs enable it to outspeed Chansey. The rest of Alolan Muk's EVs are placed into HP and Special Defense, allowing it to pivot into more special attacks. Assault Vest increases Alolan Muk's special bulk even further while having little drawback due to Alolan Muk's poor support movepool. Poison Touch is the preferred ability, as the other two options are completely useless on this set.
Usage Tips
========
Optimally, Alolan Muk should come in on a Psychic- or Ghost-type and proceed to trap and KO it with Pursuit. While Alolan Muk does not take large amounts of damage from neutral special attacks, it is generally not recommended to switch Alolan Muk into them, as it has no form of recovery, and this wears it down quickly. Try to switch Alolan Muk in on attacks it resists or is immune to, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic and Gengar's Sludge Wave. In addition, Alolan Muk should generally avoid physical attackers due to its low Defense stat. If there is no reason to use any of Alolan Muk's other moves, Knock Off should be spammed due to its utility and lack of immunities.
Team Options
========
Offensive Pokemon weak to Psychic and Ghost such as Nihilego and Keldeo enjoy Alolan Muk's ability to easily trap and eliminate Pokemon of these types. Fighting-type Pokemon in particular, such as Keldeo and Terrakion, can easily dispose of Steel-types while additionally acting as lures for Alolan Muk's Pursuit targets. Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk, as it easily deals with Ground-type Pokemon while setting Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a small amount of passive recovery. Trappers such as Dugtrio and Magnezone can be utilized to help remove Steel-types. These Pokemon should not be run just to help Alolan Muk, however, as its pivoting role does not require its checks and counters to be completely removed. Pokemon immune to Ground-type attacks such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T can use Alolan Muk's weakness to the type as a free switch in opportunity. Lastly, Wish users such as Alolomola, Clefable, and specially defensive Jirachi can pass Wishes to Alolan Muk to keep it healthy throughout the match.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Fire Blast can be run instead of Rock Slide to better deal with Steel-types such as Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Mega Scizor; however, this is generally not recommended, as Alolan Muk's other moves are very valuable. Shadow Sneak can be used to pick off weakened targets but hits for very little damage. Clear Smog can be run in place of Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB move for its ability to stop setup sweepers but hits for basically no damage.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio is particularly troublesome for Alolan Muk, as its trapping abilities coupled with Earthquake easily remove Alolan Muk from play.
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp threaten Alolan Muk with their Ground-type STAB moves, take little damage from any of Alolan Muk's attacks, and can use Alolan Muk as setup fodder. They must be wary of Poison Touch, however.
**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Mega Scizor, and Mega Mawile easily check Alolan Muk lacking Fire Blast. Steel-type Mega Pokemon get a special mention for not even fearing the initial Knock Off from Alolan Muk.
**Magearna**: Z-Move Magearna variants cannot have their item removed with Knock Off and easily set up on or KO Alolan Muk with a bit of prior damage or Z-Move use.
[OVERVIEW]
Alolan Muk acts as a great special pivot with its high HP and Special Defense, allowing it to check threats such as Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, and Greninja. This is compounded by its access to a STAB Pursuit, which allows Alolan Muk to effectively trap and KO Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, and Mega Alakazam. Even when Alolan Muk is not using Pursuit, Poison Touch allows it to easily spread poison and cripple bulky switch-ins, further punishing switches. However, Alolan Muk's passivity and weakness to physical attacks invites in powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Mawile, Landorus-T, and Zygarde. Alolan Muk can absorb Toxic Spikes, but it is otherwise vulnerable to entry hazard damage and lacks any recovery, hurting Alolan Muk in its pivoting role. Lastly, Alolan Muk is outsped by the majority of the tier, meaning it will almost always have to take a hit before moving.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Rock Slide
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Knock Off is a powerful, spammable attack that carries the benefits of removing items and potentially poisoning targets. It also has the benefit of scouting Z-Crystals on Pokemon such as Celesteela, Landorus-T, and Garchomp. Pursuit traps and removes powerful Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mega Alakazam, Latios, Tapu Lele, and Gengar. Poison Jab is a reliable STAB move and has a nice 51% poison chance when combined with Poison Touch. Rock Slide allows Alolan Muk to better check Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y and is preferred over Stone Edge for its higher accuracy.
Set Details
========
136 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allow Alolan Muk to OHKO Tapu Lele with Poison Jab, while 4 Speed EVs enable it to outspeed Chansey. The rest of Alolan Muk's EVs are placed into HP and Special Defense, allowing it to pivot into more special attacks. Assault Vest increases Alolan Muk's special bulk even further while having little drawback due to Alolan Muk's poor support movepool. Poison Touch is the preferred ability, as the other two options are completely useless on this set.
Usage Tips
========
Optimally, Alolan Muk should come in on a Psychic- or Ghost-type and proceed to trap and KO it with Pursuit. While Alolan Muk does not take large amounts of damage from neutral special attacks, it is generally not recommended to switch Alolan Muk into them, as it has no form of recovery, and this wears it down quickly. Try to switch Alolan Muk in on attacks it resists or is immune to, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic and Gengar's Sludge Wave. In addition, Alolan Muk should generally avoid physical attackers due to its low Defense stat. If there is no reason to use any of Alolan Muk's other moves, Knock Off should be spammed due to its utility and lack of immunities.
Team Options
========
Offensive Pokemon weak to Psychic and Ghost such as Nihilego and Keldeo enjoy Alolan Muk's ability to easily trap and eliminate Pokemon of these types. Fighting-type Pokemon in particular, such as Keldeo and Terrakion, can easily dispose of Steel-types while additionally acting as lures for Alolan Muk's Pursuit targets. Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk, as it easily deals with Ground-type Pokemon while setting Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a small amount of passive recovery. Trappers such as Dugtrio and Magnezone can be utilized to help remove Steel-types. These Pokemon should not be run just to help Alolan Muk, however, as its pivoting role does not require its checks and counters to be completely removed. Pokemon immune to Ground-type attacks such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T can use Alolan Muk's weakness to the type as a free switch in opportunity. Lastly, Wish users such as Alolomola, Clefable, and specially defensive Jirachi can pass Wishes to Alolan Muk to keep it healthy throughout the match.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Fire Blast can be run instead of Rock Slide to better deal with Steel-types such as Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Mega Scizor; however, this is generally not recommended, as Alolan Muk's other moves are very valuable. Shadow Sneak can be used to pick off weakened targets but hits for very little damage. Clear Smog can be run in place of Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB move for its ability to stop setup sweepers but hits for basically no damage.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio is particularly troublesome for Alolan Muk, as its trapping abilities coupled with Earthquake easily remove Alolan Muk from play.
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp threaten Alolan Muk with their Ground-type STAB moves, take little damage from any of Alolan Muk's attacks, and can use Alolan Muk as setup fodder. They must be wary of Poison Touch, however.
**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Mega Scizor, and Mega Mawile easily check Alolan Muk lacking Fire Blast. Steel-type Mega Pokemon get a special mention for not even fearing the initial Knock Off from Alolan Muk.
**Magearna**: Z-Move Magearna variants cannot have their item removed with Knock Off and easily set up on or KO Alolan Muk with a bit of prior damage or Z-Move use.
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