The Ivory King
[OVERVIEW]
* Mamoswine has an exceptional offensive typing that allows it to put serious pressure onto nearly any team.
* In addition, it possesses a powerful Ice Shard, which is useful for checking those that are weak to it or very frail.
* Ground / Ice typing and Thick Fat are a pretty nifty combination in a metagame where Electric-type offense is common.
* Although it's not hopeless against faster teams thanks to Ice Shard, it is quite slow.
* While it is a strong wallbreaker, it's not impossible for certain defensive Pokemon such as Scizor and Celesteela to wall it.
[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Icicle Crash
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Freeze-Dry / Superpower
item: Life Orb
ability: Thick Fat
nature: Naive
evs: 240 Atk / 16 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Earthquake and Icicle Crash together hit nearly every Pokemon neutrally and a frighteningly high number super effectively.
* Ice Shard provides a revenge killing tool against various Dragon-, Ground-, and Flying-types and in general improves your match up against faster teams.
* Freeze-Dry scores a 2HKO on physically defensive Rotom-W which otherwise walls Mamoswine. It also effortlessly beats Quagsire, eases prediction against Gyarados while simultaneously ignoring Intimidate, gets past physically defensive Tapu Fini, and puts a lot of pressure on rain teams, which would like to be able to switch Pelipper into Mamoswine.
* Superpower is an option to muscle past Ferrothorn, a large nuisance.
* Knock Off can be used in the final slot. It denies the valuable items that Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Rotom-W all rely on, thus effectively hitting all of them in one moveslot.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Speed EVs and a Naive nature lets Mamoswine outpace all Tapu Bulu and achieve a Speed tie with Hoopa-U.
* 16 Special Attack EVs ensures that Freeze Dry 2HKOes physically defensive Rotom-W.
* The remaining 240 EVs go into Attack to deal as much damage as possible
* A Jolly nature and 252 Attack EVs should be used if Mamoswine is running Knock Off or Superpower as its fourth move.
* Adamant and Naughty natures hit 10% harder and score an OHKO on Tornadus-T after
Stealth Rock damage with Ice Shard, though the loss of Speed may prove costly.
Usage Tips
========
* Identify threats that can be checked by Ice Shard such as Zygarde or Pheromosa and keep Mamoswine healthy enough to perform this if your team requires it.
* Identify Pokemon on the enemy team that can wall Mamoswine, if there are any. If this is the case, get past them by relentlessly targeting them with the rest of your team, or play around them by leveraging the fact that the opponent must keep this counter healthy.
* Once there are no counters, bring Mamoswine in safely by double switching or with switch advantage, and then throw its weight around and break down the opponent's defenses.
* Don't be afraid to let Mamoswine go down in the early- or mid-game as long as it's done enough damage to create a win condition elsewhere. It's a wallbreaker, not a sweeper.
Team Options
========
* Although it is a little redundant to have two of such wallbreakers, Magnezone traps and KOes all of the Steel-types that plague Mamoswine.
* Being able to take advantage of common Mamoswine switch-ins is key. Mega Charizard Y doesn't really fear all that much from Buzzwole, Celesteela, Scizor, Skarmory, or Ferrothorn. This will really put the opponent's defensive cores to the test.
* Mega Charizard X is also capable of using these switch-ins to set up on.
* Tapu Koko forces enemy Ground- and Grass-types in constantly and can turn this into free turns for Mamoswine with U-turn. It also can prove to be an effective Ferrothorn lure with Hidden Power Fire.
* Pokemon that can take advantage of the bulky Water-types that switch into Mamoswine, such as Latios, Venusaur, Ferrothorn, and Tangrowth, are good partners. Like Tapu Koko, Latios, Venusaur, and Tangrowth are all potential Ferrothorn lures with Hidden Power Fire.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* A Stealth Rock Focus Sash lead seems OK thanks to Endeavor, and a Taunt immunity granted by Oblivious, but it's usually too slow to do much more than set up Stealth Rock and then faint, which is usually not worth a teamslot.
* A Choice Band set hits harder than Life Orb, though it's questionable how much this added inflexibility is worth, especially considering how few free turns Mamoswine will get in a game, and that common Pokemon are immune to its strongest attack
* Choice Scarf could catch someone by surprise, but that's about it.
* Stealth Rock on the Life Orb set sounds appealing, but Mamoswine is quite slow and not bulky either. It's just not going to have the same consistency as other Steath Rock users. Plus, Tapu Fini and Skarmory are rather common Defog users, and they counter Steath Rock Mamoswine quite handily.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Buzzwole**: Buzzwole is Mamoswine's best counter by a long shot. It can switch into any of its attacks, Roost off any damage, and threaten to OHKO it with Superpower.
**Select Defensive Steel-types**: Second to Buzzwole, Celesteela, Skarmory, Scizor, and Ferrothorn are all a serious nuisance to Mamoswine. However, Superpower, Earthquake and Icicle Crash are at least mildly threatening and force recovery moves.
**Bulky Water-types**: Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, Suicune, Manaphy, and Quagsire can fare well against Mamoswine lacking Freeze-Dry.
**Speed and Priority**: Mamoswine is slow, not particularly bulky, and weak to common priority moves such as Bullet Punch and Aqua Jet. Anything with these moves or simply a good amount of speed and power and no weakness to Ice shard, such as Greninja, Crawdaunt, Mega Metagross, or Mega Charizard Y, will be able to check it.
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