KTAF

Tank Muk FTW

Female
Seen April 28th, 2016
Posted December 4th, 2013
1 posts
9.5 Years
Hi I'm Katie and I'm new to the forums :happy2:

This is the team I've been using on PO lately. I decided it would be fun to make a team based around brute force rather than stalling, stats and status effects. My team's theme is the Attack stat. I would love for some critiques on my team, especially Muk. Please remember that this team is designed to not rely on stat moves or stall tactics; so I won't be including either of them in the team.

Without further ado, here they are:

:t068:
Machamp @ Expert Belt
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 SpDef, 252 Spe
Adamant
- Dynamic Punch
- Bullet Punch
- Dual Chop
- Fire Punch

:t373:
Salamence @ Focus Sash
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 SpDef, 252 Spe
Adamant
- Aerial Ace
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw

:t089:
Muk @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 SpDef
Adamant
- Poison Jab
- Shadow Sneak
- Fire Punch
- Brick Break

:t303:
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 SpDef, 252 Spe
Adamant
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Thunder Punch

:t260:
Swampert @ Zoom Lens
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 Atk, 100 Def, 156 SpDef
Adamant
- Aqua Tail
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm
- Ice Punch

:t359:
Absol @ Scope Lens
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Atk, 4 SpDef, 252 Spe
Adamant
- Psycho Cut
- Aerial Ace
- Night Slash
- Sucker Punch


:t068:
Machamp is the lead, as he can do good damage plus guaranteed confusion to the opponents lead. This can prevent some slower Focus Sash leads, such as Forretress or Ferrothorn, from laying down any hazards. Machamp's Fire Punch is used to take out the popular Bug/Steel type leads. Dual Chop counters anyone leading with Dragonite and Bullet Punch provides a quick hit to finish off the opponent. Machamp's item is Expert Belt due to the type coverage that his moves provide.

:t373:
Salamence is the heavy hitter. His moves are the most powerful of their type, within Salamence's movepool. The Focus Sash allows Salamence to hit the occasional Ice type or sweeper that might OHKO him. Moxie's attack boost allows Salamence to increase his strength as he attacks.

:t089:
My 'signature' pokemon, Muk. I have never seen Muk before in OU but those I have battled seem to be quite impressed with mine. Poison Jab is incredibly powerful on this Muk, and Poison Touch makes it even more likely that the foe will be poisoned. Fire Punch allows Muk to counter Steel or Grass/Poison types that might be used to counter him. Brick Break allows Muk to remove screens, and also hit Steel and rock types hard. Shadow Sneak can take out any pokemon with low HP, as well as counter psychic types with poor defence, such as Alakazam. Assault Vest boosts Muk's SpDef to a ridiculously high level, to the point where it only loses half HP to a Fire Blast from Mega Charizard Y.

:t303:
Mawile is the Dragon type counter on my team. Play Rough can OHKO all dragon types. Iron Head allows Mawile to counter Rock and Ice types. Ice Punch and Thunder Punch help to bring down Flying types, as well as countering other prominent types. I excluded Sucker Punch ftom the moveset in return for the coverage provided by the elemental punches. The held item is Mawilite in order to allow Mawile to Mega Evolve. Intimidate lowers the foes attack; and Mega Mawile's ability Huge Power doubles Mawile's own attack. This allows Mawile to be a very threatening physical attacker.

:t260:
Swampert is the second 'tank'. It's movepool can counter many types of pokemon and has good defence stats. Aqua Tail and Earthquake are the basic STAB moves for Swampert. Ice Punch can help to deal with Dragon types while Hammer Arm counters Normal types. Zoom Lens allows Swampert to minimise the chance of Hammer Arm or Aqua Tail missing due to low accuracy.

:t359:
Absol is the revenge killer. Sucker Punch allows him to hit most foes first, regardless of speed. Night Slash and Psycho Cut both have high crit ratios, which combined with Super Luck and Scope Lens guarantees them to be crits. This basically gives both moves a base power of 105. Super Luck and Scope Lens also increase the crit ratio of Absol's other moves. Aerial Ace is to counter bug types.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my team and I eagerly await your critique.

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?

Age 29
Male
Canada
Seen July 31st, 2020
Posted May 30th, 2020
12,958 posts
12.7 Years
Knock Off is a viable option for Machamp because not only does it get a significant power buff, it also gets a further buff when the opponent is holding an item before knocking the item away:
-Dynamic Punch
-Bullet Punch
-Knock Off
-Stone Edge/Ice Punch/Earthquake
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 212 HP/252 Atk/44 Spe
Item: Choice Band/Life Orb
Ability: No Guard

I'm a bit iffy on Muk, tbh. Assault Vest did it some favors, though. You're better off using 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def, as your current spread is inefficient, and this spread makes it better at taking hits on both sides in general. That, and Assault Vest covers its uninvested Special Defense already.

Swampert took a hit in usefulness in the Gen IV-V shift because of the power creep, but it still works. Going for HP is still more effective; also Zoom Lens is a terrible item to use, since it relies on the user moving before the opponent (which may cause the user to take an otherwise fatal hit in the process) and most, if not all, its moves are accurate enough already:
-Waterfall
-Earthquake
-Ice Punch
-Superpower/Hammer Arm/Stone Edge
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 208 HP/252 Atk/4 SDef/44 Spe
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Torrent

Aerial Ace doesn't give Salamence much coverage. The same applies for Shadow Claw:
-Outrage/Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang
-Aqua Tail
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Choice Band/Choice Scarf/Life Orb

Mawile has better coverage options than Ice and Thunder Punch. Play Rough already covers Dragons and it also has access to Sucker Punch:
-Play Rough
-Iron Head
-Fire Fang (important for dealing with Steels like Aegislash)
-Sucker Punch
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 132 HP/252 Atk/124 Spe (outspeeds min Speed Azumarill, Aegislash and Scizor)
Item: Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate

Absol is only good in its Mega form. While Scizor also gained a Mega Evolution as well in Gen VI, it can perform just fine without it. It also fills Absol's revenge killing duties without competing for a Mega slot with Mawile. Tl;dr, replace Absol with Scizor:
-U-turn
-Bullet Punch
-Brick Break
-Pursuit/Quick Attack
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 SDef
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Technician

or
-U-turn
-Bullet Punch
-Pursuit
-Brick Break
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 248 HP/112 Atk/148 SDef
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Technician

Other physical attackers to consider include Diggersby, Excadrill, Azumarill, Crawdaunt and Tyrantrum.

Diggersby:
-Return
-Earthquake
-Wild Charge
-U-turn
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power

or
-Return
-Earthquake
-Quick Attack
-Wild Charge/U-turn
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power

Excadrill:
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin (can clear entry hazards on your side of the field in a pinch; it's still classed as an offensive move)
-Shadow Claw
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb/Air Balloon/Assault Vest
Ability: Mold Breaker

Azumarill:
-Play Rough
-Aqua Jet
-Superpower
-Waterfall/Return
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 212 HP/252 Atk/44 Spe
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power

Crawdaunt:
-Crab Hammer
-Knock Off
-Aqua Jet
-Crunch/Superpower
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Adaptability

Tyrantrum:
-Head Smash/Stone Edge
-Dragon Claw/Fire Fang
-Ice Fang
-Earthquake
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Choice Band