[OVERVIEW]
Muk is one of the few offensive Poison-types in NU. Due to its bulk and Poison typing, it's a great stop to many of the Grass-types in the tier, such as Lilligant. Its Poison typing also allows it to soak up Toxic Spikes when required. Poison Touch, in combination with Poison Jab, allows Muk to consistently wear down opposing Pokemon, but due to its coverage moves having fairly low base power, Muk's damage output otherwise is average. Because of no reliable recovery and Muk's fairly low base Speed forcing it to take damage when attacking, Muk tends to get worn down quite easily throughout a game. Muk also faces some competition from Garbodor as an offensive Poison-type because of Garbodor's greater Speed and access to entry hazards.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Poison Jab / Gunk Shot
move 2: Shadow Sneak
move 3: Giga Drain / Brick Break
move 4: Fire Punch / Ice Punch
ability: Poison Touch
item: Assault Vest
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
nature: Brave / Adamant
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
In combination with Poison Touch, Poison Jab has an effective 51% chance to poison anything it hits, allowing Muk to easily wear down opponents. Gunk Shot is a more powerful alternative to Poison Jab, but because it isn't a contact move it doesn't have the same chance to poison its target. Shadow Sneak offers valuable priority to offset Muk's low base Speed that also hits frail Ghost- and Psychic-types, such as Haunter, Jynx, and Rotom, hard. Giga Drain hits Quagsire, Rhydon, and other Pokemon 4x weak to Grass-type moves hard. Brick Break hits Rock- and Steel-types, but as most Rock-types have high physical defense, it doesn't do much damage. Fire Punch hits Mawile and Ferroseed, two Pokemon that Muk otherwise can't beat. Alternatively, Ice Punch hits Ground-types, such as Sandslash, Torterra, and Golurk, as well as Archeops harder than any other move Muk has.
Set Details
========
Max Attack EVs and an Attack-boosting nature are used for maximum power. Using an Adamant nature is only for sets without Giga Drain, otherwise Brave is the preferred nature. Max HP gives the most bulk to Muk with the remaining EVs. Assault Vest boosts Muk's decent special bulk to better take on special attackers. Choice Band is an option over Assault Vest for more power, but Muk has no spammable STAB type to be locked into and the increased special bulk from Assault Vest is usually more useful. Poison Touch gives all of Muk's contact moves a chance to poison the opposing Pokemon and is the most useful ability for Muk.
Usage Tips
========
Use Muk to pivot into threats such as Mega Audino, Lilligant, and Ludicolo in order to tank a hit and threaten them with a STAB move. However, while Muk can take on several threatening specially offensive Pokemon, it can rarely take on more than one or two per game, so decide early which ones are the most important for Muk to cover. It can be worth attacking with Poison Jab even if the predicted switch-in resists Poison-type moves, as the chance to poison is very high. However, this should be done with care, as the poison chance isn't guaranteed and it can be better to just attack with the appropriate coverage move. Pokemon with moves that can cause a burn, such as Scald and Will-O-Wisp, should be approached with caution, as a burn will severely limit Muk's usefulness in the game.
Team Options
========
Good partners for Muk include Dark-types such as Liepard and Pawniard that can get rid of the Psychic-types that Muk is troubled by. Other good partners include Water-types such as Samurott that can take on the Ground-types that threaten Muk, while Muk in return can deal with the Grass-types that Water-types dislike. Pokemon that benefit from Muk luring in and taking out Carracosta and Rhydon with Giga Drain, such as Scyther, Sneasel, and Tauros, are good options. Fighting-types such as Sawk, Hariyama, and Gurdurr are able to deal with the Steel-types that are immune to Muk's STAB move better than Muk itself can. Lastly, Pokemon that can clear away entry hazards such as Claydol and Prinplup are good partners, as Muk will be switching in and out quite a bit and will benefit greatly from not having to take hazard damage every time.
[SET]
name: Curse
move 1: Poison Jab
move 2: Curse
move 3: Shadow Sneak
move 4: Fire Punch / Brick Break
ability: Poison Touch
item: Black Sludge
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
nature: Careful
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Poison Jab, combined with Poison Touch, has a 51% chance of poisoning the target. Curse boosts Muk's Attack and Defense, making it very bulky and powerful, at the cost of its already low Speed. Shadow Sneak allows Muk to somewhat work around the Speed decrease Curse gives because of the priority, but it's a very weak move otherwise. It also deals significant damage to less bulky Psychic- and Ghost-types, such as Haunter, Mismagius, and Jynx. Fire Punch hits Steel-types such as Klinklang and Ferroseed that are immune to its STAB moves. Brick Break can provide solid coverage together with Poison Jab, hitting Rock- and Steel-types such as Carracosta, Klinklang, and Regirock. Gunk Shot can be used over Poison Jab for a boost in power, but the cost of lowered accuracy is usually too much.
Set Details
========
Max Special Defense and HP EVs with a Careful nature maximize Muk's special bulk, and Black Sludge gives a little bit of passive recovery. Sticky Hold can be used over Poison Touch to stop opposing Pokemon from using Trick to stop Muk from setting up.
Usage Tips
========
Set up late-game when the Psychic- and Ground-types that counter Muk are gone or weakened enough that Shadow Sneak can take them out. Muk can still be used early-game, however, by taking advantage of the high poison chance that Poison Jab has to weaken its switch-ins for later. While Curse boosts Muk's Defense, it's still not able to take on the stronger physical attackers in the tier such as Sawk and Archeops. Pokemon such as Lanturn and Mismagius that commonly carry moves that can cause a burn, such as Scald and Will-O-Wisp, should be approached with caution, as a burn will severely limit Muk's usefulness in the battle. Quagsire, Weezing, and Gourgeist-Super are also in this category, but they beat Muk one-on-one as well.
Team Options
========
Dark-types such asLiepard and Pawniard make for fairly good partners, as they can deal with the Psychic-types that Muk is troubled by. Fighting-types such as Sawk, Hariyama, and Gurdurr are able to deal with the Steel-types that are immune to Muk's STAB move. Water-types such as Samurott that can take on the Ground-types that threaten Muk are good partners, as Muk can in return deal with the Grass-types that Water-types dislike. Pokemon that commonly carry Grass- and Fire-type coverage such as Lilligant can deal with many of Muk's checks and counters, as they are often weak to either type. As Muk fears getting burned, Heal Bell support from Pokemon such as Audino is useful, but it's better to prevent Muk from being burned at all.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Power-Up Punch can be used over Brick Break on the Assault Vest set to boost its offensive power, though the low power of the move makes it useless for anything else. A combination of either ChestoRest or RestTalk can be used to give Muk some recovery, but RestTalk is somewhat unreliable and ChestoRest is a one-time option. Memento has some use on sets without Assault Vest as a way to enable something on Muk's team to set up easier. Another option is Explosion, which can allow a Muk at low health to deal a lot of damage. Note that most of Muk's common switch-ins either resist or are immune to Explosion, however.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Psychic-types**: Most Psychic-types, including Xatu and Uxie, can use Psyshock to hit Muk for super effective damage without having to worry about Assault Vest, while Muk has no way to threaten them unless they're weak enough to be taken out with Shadow Sneak. None of the Psychic-types in the tier can switch in repeatedly, however, as Muk's attacks wear them down relatively quickly.
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Sandslash, Quagsire, and Rhydon resist Muk's main STAB move and are bulky enough to take very little from Ice Punch, while they can threaten Muk with their own STAB moves. Quagsire and Rhydon both take significant damage from Giga Drain, however.
**Other Poison-types**: Due to Muk's normal coverage, other Poison-types such as Garbodor and Weezing have no trouble switching in on anything Muk might attack with and don't have to fear getting poisoned either. They can then proceed to, in Weezing's case, burn it with Will-O-Wisp, or in Garbodor's case, set up Spikes. Garbodor has to watch out for Curse variants though, as they can still set up on it.
**Strong Physical Attackers**: Most of the strong physical attackers in the tier, such as Kabutops, Archeops, Mawile, and Tauros, can all deal enough damage on Muk's less bulky physical side to easily take Muk out. Not many of them can freely switch in on Muk, however, as they risk getting poisoned and worn down faster because of that.
Last edited:
