VGC Research and Analysis Project (Week 1: Mega Mawile)

[Take Azelfie]

With the new VGC officially beggining, players need to start adapting more and more to the metagame as it changes. The purpose of this thread is gather useful information on a certain pokemon. This can become a valuable resource for people looking to innovate. The point of this project is to find every potential thing a pokemon has to offer like defensive capabilities, moveset options, support, different potential items etc. Every week you guys as researchers can post your findings in this thread and try to bring out any hidden potential or underrated options here. There will only be a few rules and anyone can participate.​

• When you post something that might pike our interest please provide proof
  • A meaningful calc of x mon living x hit is enough proof to justify EV investment
  • A Battle Replay of the move / ability / item you are trying to display is effective (OPPONENTS MUST HAVE AN ACTUAL TEAM)
  • If posting a beneficial partner please provide a set and what it does that particularily helps x mon (try to stay away from Smeargle
• Share what benefits it may have and what use it would provide in actual match over something you normally wouldn't run.
• If you do decide to post on something disagree or agree with, make sure you add on to the conversation with your own finding or elaborating more off of it
• Do not post anything that is completely unrealistic / viable, example being Choice Specs Ferrothorn.

Enjoy and have fun, I am really looking forward to getting progress on this.

This week's research target is...
MEGA MAWILE!!!

A heavy duty attacker blessed with the ability Huge Power has gone through a resurgence of popularity since last year. It has many tools but doesn't use them
Sample Set:
Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head / Play Rough / Protect
- Iron Head / Play Rough / Protect

Discuss!!!​

 

[Take Azelfie]

reserved for archive

 

[MrScaryMuffin]

I used Mawile almost exclusively during 2014 and loved it for her bulk and power. I ended up with around 140 CP that season, I think.

In 2016, I see Mawile used as a check for Xerneas, Kang, and Salamence.
I've seen it paired with Kyogre, to remove the Fire threat (and force Groudons to switch out), and typically Levitate or flying mons to offer a safe switch out option for Ground type attacks.

Most of the time, Mawile is a part of a Trick Room team with Cres (who is one of those Levitate mons), but with 108 speed investment, Mawile can be fairly decent under Tailwind as well. As Ray Rizzo explained with his 2014 Virginia Regionals report, you don't *have* to invest fully into Mawile's Attack, because she would be 2HKO most things anyways. That said, it was generally agreed that, by the end of 2014, Adamant Mawile was the correct nature to use.

Mawile requires 0 ATK investment to OHKO uninvested Xerneas with Iron Head, so I would recommend looking at what bulk you want in Mawile first and then tossing left over EVs into attack.

Typical moveset for Mawile would be:
-Protect
-Iron Head
-Play Rough
-Sucker Punch

Protect and Iron Head are almost required in 2016 since you might need to Protect while waiting for Trick Room to set up or bait a Ground/Fire move into Mawile's protect while the partner KOs the threat.

Play Rough is Mawile's most damaging STAB, but there are a lot of fairy resists around due to Xerneas' popularity so, depending on your meta you might want something else. I personally prefer to keep it since it's great against Rayquaza (under Trick Room) and Salamence.

Sucker Punch is the probably the biggest reason you want to invest 252 EVs into ATK. I've even seen Mawile paired with Yveltal to further boost its damage. Outside of Trick Room and against mons without priority, this may be your only chance to do damage before Mawile gets KO'd. However, it can be difficult to use and, if you're intimidated, it doesn't do as much damage as you'd hope.

Alternate moves I've seen are Knock Off, Fire Fang, Earthquake, and Rock Slide, though Rock Slide was more of a CharY counter in 2014...I don't really think it's useful in 2016. Knock Off is good if you lead off against Xerneas and predict them to switch out, allowing you to slap the item out of the hands of whatever is coming in. Fire Fang and Earthquake are primarily counters to other steel types and their usage heavily depends on the rest of your team.

Overall, Groudon's oversaturation is a big hurdle for Mawile. Not only do you need to deal with Groudon directly, but you also need to deal with the random Ground type attack techs that everyone is packing to deal with Groudon as well. Just like in 2014, you really need to build your team around Mawile and have a game plan to make Mawile relevant in most of your matches. As such, Mawile is really better for best-of-three scenarios where you can gather information and formulate a gameplan over time. I personally consider Mawile to be a B-tier mega since it requires heavy support in order to do its best work.

 

[cityscapes]

I used Mawile almost exclusively during 2014 and loved it for her bulk and power. I ended up with around 140 CP that season, I think.

In 2016, I see Mawile used as a check for Xerneas, Kang, and Salamence.
I've seen it paired with Kyogre, to remove the Fire threat (and force Groudons to switch out), and typically Levitate or flying mons to offer a safe switch out option for Ground type attacks.

Most of the time, Mawile is a part of a Trick Room team with Cres (who is one of those Levitate mons), but with 108 speed investment, Mawile can be fairly decent under Tailwind as well. As Ray Rizzo explained with his 2014 Virginia Regionals report, you don't *have* to invest fully into Mawile's Attack, because she would be 2HKO most things anyways. That said, it was generally agreed that, by the end of 2014, Adamant Mawile was the correct nature to use.

Mawile requires 0 ATK investment to OHKO uninvested Xerneas with Iron Head, so I would recommend looking at what bulk you want in Mawile first and then tossing left over EVs into attack.

Typical moveset for Mawile would be:
-Protect
-Iron Head
-Play Rough
-Sucker Punch

Protect and Iron Head are almost required in 2016 since you might need to Protect while waiting for Trick Room to set up or bait a Ground/Fire move into Mawile's protect while the partner KOs the threat.

Play Rough is Mawile's most damaging STAB, but there are a lot of fairy resists around due to Xerneas' popularity so, depending on your meta you might want something else. I personally prefer to keep it since it's great against Rayquaza (under Trick Room) and Salamence.

Sucker Punch is the probably the biggest reason you want to invest 252 EVs into ATK. I've even seen Mawile paired with Yveltal to further boost its damage. Outside of Trick Room and against mons without priority, this may be your only chance to do damage before Mawile gets KO'd. However, it can be difficult to use and, if you're intimidated, it doesn't do as much damage as you'd hope.

Alternate moves I've seen are Knock Off, Fire Fang, Earthquake, and Rock Slide, though Rock Slide was more of a CharY counter in 2014...I don't really think it's useful in 2016. Knock Off is good if you lead off against Xerneas and predict them to switch out, allowing you to slap the item out of the hands of whatever is coming in. Fire Fang and Earthquake are primarily counters to other steel types and their usage heavily depends on the rest of your team.

Overall, Groudon's oversaturation is a big hurdle for Mawile. Not only do you need to deal with Groudon directly, but you also need to deal with the random Ground type attack techs that everyone is packing to deal with Groudon as well. Just like in 2014, you really need to build your team around Mawile and have a game plan to make Mawile relevant in most of your matches. As such, Mawile is really better for best-of-three scenarios where you can gather information and formulate a gameplan over time. I personally consider Mawile to be a B-tier mega since it requires heavy support in order to do its best work.

Where are you getting this information? Mawile can't learn Earthquake... but we all wish it could so it could beat Groudon.