approved by Mizuhime
QC approvals: [Audiosurfer, Mizuhime, Darkmalice]
GP checks: [Muk, Ender]
Overview
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Known for its monstrous power, Mega Mawile storms into this generation with an already decent base 105 Attack stat, which, when coupled with its ability, Huge Power, makes it the strongest Pokemon in the game. However, power isn't the only thing it has. Its two STAB attacks, Play Rough and Iron Head, offer it strong neutral coverage against a large portion of the tier, and its Sucker Punch makes even faster threats fall. It has nine resistances, two immunities, and a useful ability in Intimidate that will soften physical blows before Mawile Mega Evolves, increasing its overall bulk. Due to its low Speed, it works very well in Trick Room, but because of its powerful Sucker Punch, Mega Mawile also works well outside of it. Unfortunately, it is threatened by the many Ground- and Fire-type attacks in Doubles, and despite its raw power, it is often unable to muscle past the Fire- and Steel-type Pokemon that resist its STAB moves. It also has terrible stats prior to Mega Evolution, making it vulnerable as it switches in or before it Mega Evolves. However, Mega Mawile is still a very powerful Pokemon that can easily rip unprepared teams apart and that must always be accounted for while teambuilding.
Bulky Attacker
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name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Play Rough
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Iron Head / Substitute / Swords Dance
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate / Hyper Cutter
item: Mawilite
evs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 40 Def / 36 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
nature: Brave
Moves
========
Play Rough is a powerful, decently accurate STAB attack which decimates Dragon-, Fighting-, and Dark-types, while maintaining strong neutral coverage otherwise. Sucker Punch picks off weakened Pokemon that might be faster (or slower in Trick Room). Iron Head is a perfectly accurate secondary STAB attack that hits Fairy-, Rock-, and Ice-types hard. Substitute can also be used in this slot to take advantage of openings and protect Mega Mawile from chip damage and status attacks. Swords Dance can be used instead to give Mega Mawile a means of boosting its already high Attack stat to the point where it can easily cut through opposing teams with Play Rough and Sucker Punch. Protect should be used in the last slot because it shields Mawile from damage while still allowing its partner to attack, making it a very useful move in Doubles.
Set Details
========
Mawilite is the obvious item to allow Mawile to Mega Evolve into the much more powerful and viable Mega Mawile. Mawile's HP is maximized so it can tank as many attacks as possible. 40 EVs are put into Defense to allow it to survive Life Orb Garchomp's Earthquake and -1 Choice Band Talonflame's Flare Blitz after spread reduction. 36 EVs are put into Special Defense so it can survive Heatran's Heat Wave after spread reduction and Choice Specs Rotom-W's Hydro Pump. The rest of the EVs and the Brave nature make Mega Mawile as powerful as possible. Speed is minimized with an IV of 0 and a Brave nature to make Mega Mawile as fast as possible under Trick Room. A faster spread of 252 HP / 164 Atk / 92 Spe EVs with a Speed IV of 31 and an Adamant nature can be used to outspeed Pokemon such as 0 Spe Tyranitar and Scrafty outside of Trick Room. Intimidate should be used as the initial ability to allow Mawile to soften the opponent's blows while it Mega Evolves. Hyper Cutter can also be used so that Mega Mawile will ignore the effect of opposing Intimidate, but Intimidate is generally the better option, as it provides Mega Mawile with more bulk, and Mega Mawile can usually still deal solid amounts of damage, even after a single Attack drop.
Usage Tips
========
With this set, Mega Mawile aims to remove Pokemon that threaten its team. There are two ways to play with Mawile. The first is conservatively, waiting before Mega Evolving it and switching it in and out frequently by utilizing its resistances and immunities, such that its initial ability, Intimidate, can be utilized as much as possible. Then, once the opposing team is thoroughly weakened, Mawile can Mega Evolve and proceed to use its humongous power to deal heavy blows. The other way to play with Mawile is to save it for a late-game sweep, which is the only time Hyper Cutter should ever be used. A Mawile using this playstyle is reliant on team support, as it relies a lot on Trick Room and requires that its typical checks and counters are taken care of; however, this Mawile can easily sweep when played correctly. For both playstyles, it is always helpful to get Trick Room up, as it greatly boosts Mega Mawile's offensive presence, turning it into a bulky, powerful, and fast threat in just one turn. Because of its power, it is extremely difficult to switch into Mega Mawile, as even Intimidate users will take a lot of damage when hit by a neutral attack. This can be taken advantage of, as Mega Mawile can bait physical walls and weaken them or even muscle past them with Swords Dance. It's very helpful to remove Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp users early so there is nothing to obstruct Mawile's sweep. While using Mawile, timing Protect well is important, because Mawile will often be double targeted. However, don't use Protect too much under Trick Room, as it will waste the Trick Room turn.
Team Options
========
This set works best with Trick Room support, so Trick Room setters such as Cresselia, Chandelure, and Jellicent make great partners. These Pokemon also all have pretty good synergy with Mawile. Cresselia can switch into Ground-type moves, and Chandelure and Jellicent easily sponge Fire-type attacks. Wide Guard support is also useful because the most common Ground- and Fire-type moves, Heat Wave and Earthquake, are spread attacks and can be blocked by it. Hitmontop is a great partner, as it is able to provide Wide Guard support, Intimidate to form a dual Intimidate core, Fake Out to buy Mawile turns to set up, powerful Close Combats to knock down Steel-types, and Feint to break opposing Protect so Mawile doesn't waste valuable Trick Room turns. Thunder Wave and other forms of Speed control also support Mawile well. Thundurus is a potential teammate that can spread Thunder Wave quickly and reliably for Mawile while it takes care of Rock- and Ice-types in return. Rotom-W can support Mawile with both Thunder Wave and Electroweb as well as counter Ground- and Fire-types while Mawile beats Grass-types and weakens physical attackers for it. Keldeo can offer Icy Wind and check Ground- and Fire-types while Mega Mawile takes on Fairy-types. Other bulkier Water-types such as Gyarados and Suicune are good partners because they easily counter Ground- and Fire-type attacks while baiting Grass-types for Mawile to set up on. Rain teams are a good environment for Mawile as well. Dragon-types are often immune to Ground-type attacks and can easily sponge Fire-type attacks, while Mega Mawile can cover their Dragon-, Ice-, and Fairy-type weaknesses.
Other Options
########
Knock Off can be used as a more reliable Dark-type attack to hit Steel- and Fire-types neutrally and powerfully. Fire Fang is an option for hitting Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Scizor super effectively. Brick Break can be used to hit Steel-types immune to Fire Fang, such as Heatran, while Rock Slide and Stone Edge can be used to hit Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y. Ice Punch can be useful for Landorus-T, a common switch-in to Mawile. Taunt can be used to stop slower Pokemon from using non-damaging moves such as Trick Room or Will-O-Wisp. Misty Terrain can be used to support both Mawile and its teammates, making Mawile immune to status. Outside of these, Mawile has a small usable movepool without many other options. Any other options that are used should be substituted into the third slot, as the first two attacks are too valuable to give up.
Checks & Counters
########
**Offensive Typing Advantage**: Steel-types can shrug off Mega Mawile's attacks due to their resistance to both of its STAB moves. Heatran is the best Mega Mawile counter, as it 4x resists both of its STAB attacks and can KO it with Heat Wave. Excadrill is also a fine counter, as it can also OHKO Mega Mawile with Earthquake. Ferrothorn can beat Mawile one-on-one by wearing it down with Leech Seed and Iron Barbs. Scizor can shrug off Mega Mawile's attacks and use it as setup bait. However, Scizor must watch out for Fire Fang, Heatran is weak to Brick Break, and Ferrothorn and Excadrill are susceptible to both. Fire-types, like Steel-types resist Mawile's STAB attacks and are similarly great at countering Mega Mawile. Mega Charizard Y can easily OHKO Mawile with any STAB attack. Rotom-H is bulky enough to shrug off multiple Sucker Punches and can burn Mawile with Will-O-Wisp or OHKO it with Overheat.
**Intimidate and Burns**: Pokemon with Will-O-Wisp or Intimidate such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T are good checks to Mawile. Landorus-T can also hit Mega Mawile hard with a super effective STAB Earthquake, though it just misses the OHKO. Keep in mind that a burn will only cancel out Huge Power, so Mawile's attacks will still hit with the force of base 105 Attack. Because of this, even these bulky Pokemon should only be switching in on resisted hits. Faster users of Substitute can play around Sucker Punch and set up for free.
**Miscellaneous**: Defiant users such as Bisharp can take advantage of Mawile's Intimidate ability, grab an Attack boost, and hit back very powerfully. Bisharp can deal a huge chunk of damage with a +1 Life Orb Iron Head, and it doesn't mind sponging an Iron Head or Sucker Punch in return. However, it has to be careful, as Mega Mawile can OHKO it with Play Rough, while Bisharp cannot OHKO in return, even at +1.
QC approvals: [Audiosurfer, Mizuhime, Darkmalice]
GP checks: [Muk, Ender]
Overview
########
Known for its monstrous power, Mega Mawile storms into this generation with an already decent base 105 Attack stat, which, when coupled with its ability, Huge Power, makes it the strongest Pokemon in the game. However, power isn't the only thing it has. Its two STAB attacks, Play Rough and Iron Head, offer it strong neutral coverage against a large portion of the tier, and its Sucker Punch makes even faster threats fall. It has nine resistances, two immunities, and a useful ability in Intimidate that will soften physical blows before Mawile Mega Evolves, increasing its overall bulk. Due to its low Speed, it works very well in Trick Room, but because of its powerful Sucker Punch, Mega Mawile also works well outside of it. Unfortunately, it is threatened by the many Ground- and Fire-type attacks in Doubles, and despite its raw power, it is often unable to muscle past the Fire- and Steel-type Pokemon that resist its STAB moves. It also has terrible stats prior to Mega Evolution, making it vulnerable as it switches in or before it Mega Evolves. However, Mega Mawile is still a very powerful Pokemon that can easily rip unprepared teams apart and that must always be accounted for while teambuilding.
Bulky Attacker
########
name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Play Rough
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Iron Head / Substitute / Swords Dance
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate / Hyper Cutter
item: Mawilite
evs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 40 Def / 36 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
nature: Brave
Moves
========
Play Rough is a powerful, decently accurate STAB attack which decimates Dragon-, Fighting-, and Dark-types, while maintaining strong neutral coverage otherwise. Sucker Punch picks off weakened Pokemon that might be faster (or slower in Trick Room). Iron Head is a perfectly accurate secondary STAB attack that hits Fairy-, Rock-, and Ice-types hard. Substitute can also be used in this slot to take advantage of openings and protect Mega Mawile from chip damage and status attacks. Swords Dance can be used instead to give Mega Mawile a means of boosting its already high Attack stat to the point where it can easily cut through opposing teams with Play Rough and Sucker Punch. Protect should be used in the last slot because it shields Mawile from damage while still allowing its partner to attack, making it a very useful move in Doubles.
Set Details
========
Mawilite is the obvious item to allow Mawile to Mega Evolve into the much more powerful and viable Mega Mawile. Mawile's HP is maximized so it can tank as many attacks as possible. 40 EVs are put into Defense to allow it to survive Life Orb Garchomp's Earthquake and -1 Choice Band Talonflame's Flare Blitz after spread reduction. 36 EVs are put into Special Defense so it can survive Heatran's Heat Wave after spread reduction and Choice Specs Rotom-W's Hydro Pump. The rest of the EVs and the Brave nature make Mega Mawile as powerful as possible. Speed is minimized with an IV of 0 and a Brave nature to make Mega Mawile as fast as possible under Trick Room. A faster spread of 252 HP / 164 Atk / 92 Spe EVs with a Speed IV of 31 and an Adamant nature can be used to outspeed Pokemon such as 0 Spe Tyranitar and Scrafty outside of Trick Room. Intimidate should be used as the initial ability to allow Mawile to soften the opponent's blows while it Mega Evolves. Hyper Cutter can also be used so that Mega Mawile will ignore the effect of opposing Intimidate, but Intimidate is generally the better option, as it provides Mega Mawile with more bulk, and Mega Mawile can usually still deal solid amounts of damage, even after a single Attack drop.
Usage Tips
========
With this set, Mega Mawile aims to remove Pokemon that threaten its team. There are two ways to play with Mawile. The first is conservatively, waiting before Mega Evolving it and switching it in and out frequently by utilizing its resistances and immunities, such that its initial ability, Intimidate, can be utilized as much as possible. Then, once the opposing team is thoroughly weakened, Mawile can Mega Evolve and proceed to use its humongous power to deal heavy blows. The other way to play with Mawile is to save it for a late-game sweep, which is the only time Hyper Cutter should ever be used. A Mawile using this playstyle is reliant on team support, as it relies a lot on Trick Room and requires that its typical checks and counters are taken care of; however, this Mawile can easily sweep when played correctly. For both playstyles, it is always helpful to get Trick Room up, as it greatly boosts Mega Mawile's offensive presence, turning it into a bulky, powerful, and fast threat in just one turn. Because of its power, it is extremely difficult to switch into Mega Mawile, as even Intimidate users will take a lot of damage when hit by a neutral attack. This can be taken advantage of, as Mega Mawile can bait physical walls and weaken them or even muscle past them with Swords Dance. It's very helpful to remove Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp users early so there is nothing to obstruct Mawile's sweep. While using Mawile, timing Protect well is important, because Mawile will often be double targeted. However, don't use Protect too much under Trick Room, as it will waste the Trick Room turn.
Team Options
========
This set works best with Trick Room support, so Trick Room setters such as Cresselia, Chandelure, and Jellicent make great partners. These Pokemon also all have pretty good synergy with Mawile. Cresselia can switch into Ground-type moves, and Chandelure and Jellicent easily sponge Fire-type attacks. Wide Guard support is also useful because the most common Ground- and Fire-type moves, Heat Wave and Earthquake, are spread attacks and can be blocked by it. Hitmontop is a great partner, as it is able to provide Wide Guard support, Intimidate to form a dual Intimidate core, Fake Out to buy Mawile turns to set up, powerful Close Combats to knock down Steel-types, and Feint to break opposing Protect so Mawile doesn't waste valuable Trick Room turns. Thunder Wave and other forms of Speed control also support Mawile well. Thundurus is a potential teammate that can spread Thunder Wave quickly and reliably for Mawile while it takes care of Rock- and Ice-types in return. Rotom-W can support Mawile with both Thunder Wave and Electroweb as well as counter Ground- and Fire-types while Mawile beats Grass-types and weakens physical attackers for it. Keldeo can offer Icy Wind and check Ground- and Fire-types while Mega Mawile takes on Fairy-types. Other bulkier Water-types such as Gyarados and Suicune are good partners because they easily counter Ground- and Fire-type attacks while baiting Grass-types for Mawile to set up on. Rain teams are a good environment for Mawile as well. Dragon-types are often immune to Ground-type attacks and can easily sponge Fire-type attacks, while Mega Mawile can cover their Dragon-, Ice-, and Fairy-type weaknesses.
Other Options
########
Knock Off can be used as a more reliable Dark-type attack to hit Steel- and Fire-types neutrally and powerfully. Fire Fang is an option for hitting Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Scizor super effectively. Brick Break can be used to hit Steel-types immune to Fire Fang, such as Heatran, while Rock Slide and Stone Edge can be used to hit Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y. Ice Punch can be useful for Landorus-T, a common switch-in to Mawile. Taunt can be used to stop slower Pokemon from using non-damaging moves such as Trick Room or Will-O-Wisp. Misty Terrain can be used to support both Mawile and its teammates, making Mawile immune to status. Outside of these, Mawile has a small usable movepool without many other options. Any other options that are used should be substituted into the third slot, as the first two attacks are too valuable to give up.
Checks & Counters
########
**Offensive Typing Advantage**: Steel-types can shrug off Mega Mawile's attacks due to their resistance to both of its STAB moves. Heatran is the best Mega Mawile counter, as it 4x resists both of its STAB attacks and can KO it with Heat Wave. Excadrill is also a fine counter, as it can also OHKO Mega Mawile with Earthquake. Ferrothorn can beat Mawile one-on-one by wearing it down with Leech Seed and Iron Barbs. Scizor can shrug off Mega Mawile's attacks and use it as setup bait. However, Scizor must watch out for Fire Fang, Heatran is weak to Brick Break, and Ferrothorn and Excadrill are susceptible to both. Fire-types, like Steel-types resist Mawile's STAB attacks and are similarly great at countering Mega Mawile. Mega Charizard Y can easily OHKO Mawile with any STAB attack. Rotom-H is bulky enough to shrug off multiple Sucker Punches and can burn Mawile with Will-O-Wisp or OHKO it with Overheat.
**Intimidate and Burns**: Pokemon with Will-O-Wisp or Intimidate such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T are good checks to Mawile. Landorus-T can also hit Mega Mawile hard with a super effective STAB Earthquake, though it just misses the OHKO. Keep in mind that a burn will only cancel out Huge Power, so Mawile's attacks will still hit with the force of base 105 Attack. Because of this, even these bulky Pokemon should only be switching in on resisted hits. Faster users of Substitute can play around Sucker Punch and set up for free.
**Miscellaneous**: Defiant users such as Bisharp can take advantage of Mawile's Intimidate ability, grab an Attack boost, and hit back very powerfully. Bisharp can deal a huge chunk of damage with a +1 Life Orb Iron Head, and it doesn't mind sponging an Iron Head or Sucker Punch in return. However, it has to be careful, as Mega Mawile can OHKO it with Play Rough, while Bisharp cannot OHKO in return, even at +1.
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