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![[Image: mawile-mega.gif]](http://www.pokestadium.com/sprites/xy/mawile-mega.gif)
(VGC) Mega Mawile - Attack (Physical Attacker)
Typing: Steel / Fairy
Base Stats: HP: 50 / Attack: 85 / Defense: 85 / Sp.Atk: 55 / Sp.Def: 55 / Speed: 50
Mega Stats HP: 50 / Attack: 105 / Defense: 125 / Sp.Atk: 55 / Sp.Def: 95 /Speed: 50
Weaknesses: Fire, Ground [ All x1/2 ]
Immunity: Dragon, Poison, [x0]
Resistance: Bug [x1/4]; Normal, Flying, Rock, Grass, Psychic, Ice, Dark, Fairy [ all x1/2 ]
Neutral: Fighting, Ghost, Steel, Water, Electric
Style: Attack
Variant: Physical Attacker
ABILITIES
Intimidate: Reduces the attack stat of opposing Pokemon by one stage. Pokemon with Hyper Cutter, Clear Body, White Smoke, or A Substitute intact won't receive the drop.
Hyper Cutter: Prevents the Attack stat from being dropped with the exception of self reducing moves like Superpower.
Sheer Force (Hidden Ability):
Huge Power (MEGA): Doubles the attack stat of the user.
OVERVIEW
By the end of VGC 2014, Mega Mawile was the premier Mega Evolution of choice due to the significant buffs it received with improved stats, incredibly amazing duel-abilities combination in Intimidate (Pre-Mega) and Huge Power, arguably the best typing in the game in Steel/Fairy. In tandem with its base 105 attack and Huge Power, Mega Mawile has the HIGHEST attack in the VGC format (and in game) along with perfect coverage just by using its STAB Fairy/Steel moves along with Dark coverage. No Pokemon was safe from Mega Mawile. Practically any attack from Mega Mawile will either chunk, if not faint the targets due it astronomical sheer power in attack. Now turn to this VGC 2015 season and Mega Mawile finds itself struggling to maintain viability with the format getting "bulkier" as a result to most legendaries like Landorus-T and Cresselia now allowed. New and old threats such as Landorus-T, Defiant/Competitive users (Bisharp/Milotic), Arcanine, and its great nemesis Heatran have made it easier to check the metal fairy. To make matters worse, Mega Mawile finds itself unable to take powerful neutral and resisted hits given its low HP stat. This doesn't necessary mean Mawile isn't a good Mega to run, rather player have to be more cautious about using Mawile as a pivot switch to spread its Intimidate drops more carefully unlike last season. Despite the notable power creep from VGC 2014 to VGC 2015, Mawile still stands out as one of the top Megas to watch out for, especially how it can operate well under Trick Room, Rain, and even Tailwind. To sum it up, Mega Mawile is just a wrecking ball .... seriously, either you wreck Mega Mawile, or it wrecks your entire team.
Movesets
-Speedy "Tailwind" Mega Mawile-
Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 140 HP / 204 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Protect
Milestones
- Speed creeps against Standard 76 or below Spe Neutral Sylveon
- Survives Earth Power from 252+ Heatran 100% of the time (82.5 - 97.9%).
- Play Rough always knock out 4 HP Bisharp while Iron Head OHKOs fully physically defensive Eviolite Clefairy 100% of the time.
- Under Tailwind, outspeeds Mega Lucario and Serperior by a couple of points. (Outspeeds 113 base speed and below)
- With 204 Spe evs Mega Mawile can outspeed Greninja, Tornadus-T and Mega Salamence under Tailwind.*
- After one Icy Wind drop, outs positive base 71 speed and Pokemon with and exact speed of 135 or below.
One immediate standout about Mega Mawile is its ridiculously high attack stat as it can virtually 2HKO or possible OHKO the majority of the Pokemon in the game. This Mega Mawile set sacrifices a considerable amount of bulk and power for a little bit of speed meant to take advantage of its team's speed control options, such as Tailwind, Thunder Wave, or even Icy Wind to an extend. The 204 Attack investment is a important benchmark as Mega Mawile can immediately OHKO threats like Bisharp, Evolite Clefairy, Mega Salamence, Offensive AV Ludicolo, while 2HKO with the appropriate STAB moves. Once Mawile gets a Tailwind boost, it can immediately outspeed common Pokemon such as Terrakion, Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Metagross, Thundurus, Garchomp, Mega Lucario and Serperior. Thunder Wave is another great support option, especially from Zapdos, Cresselia, or Prankster Thundurus has it alleviates Mega Mawile's low speed to maintain its immediate offensive pressure against its opponents. The only issue with this "Talwind" Mega Mawile set is how it needs a significant amount of speed investment to outpace only a handful of standard threats around the base 113 or below with the Tailwind effect. This makes "Tailwind" Mega Mawile set vulnerable to strong neutral hits and easily knocked out with powerful Fire and Ground hits. Play Rough is Mega Mawile's strongest attack as it immediately knock out any Dark, Dragon, or Fighting type Pokemon it comes across, with the 10% chance of reducing the target's attack by one stage, and the same 10% chance of missing. Iron Head is arguably the safest move it can use against Ice types, Rock types, Fairy types, or a weaken Pokemon given it has a 100% chance to hit. In addition, Iron Head has a 30% chance to flinch, which can be deadly especially if Mega Mawile has proper speed control support to outspeed its opponents. Sucker Punch is Mega Mawile's best Dark priority move as it deal a great deal of damage against Metagross, Aegislash, Lati@s, both Gengar forms, Gothitelle, Cresselia, and any weaken target.
(Note: I mentioned this 204 Spe benchmark which I used for Mega Mawile in the past with the exact EVs spread being 60 HP / 244 atk / 204 Spe. This is the one of the sample sets LightCore mentioned in a NB forum post, except I added just one more speed point to outspeed Greninja for the heck of it.
-Trick Room Mega Mawile-
Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Atk / 52 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Play Rough
- Iron Head / Fire Fang
- Sucker Punch / Rock Slide
- Protect
-Attack milestone same as above
-Survives 252 SpA+ Heat Wave from Heatran (84 - 99.3%) and from 44 SpA+ Charizard Y 15/16 of the time
-Thunderbolt from 96 SpA (or less) Thundurus is a 3HKO.
-Outspeeds anything with a 50 base speed or greater in Trick Room.
Trick Room Mega Mawile still puts in a ton of work now that Trick Room teams are virtually back in full form. What makes Trick Room Mega Mawile overall more consistent than the other two sets given the fact that Mega Mawile doesn't even speed investment while allocating other EVs to its attack or defenses. Thanks to Trick Room's speed reversing effects, Mega Mawile suddenly becomes the "fastest" and deadliest Trick Room sweepers on the field which few Pokemon are capable of beating. As mention from the previous set, Mega Mawile doesn't have to run a full of attack investment in the first place, however you want to utilize Trick Room turns to its fullest so a high attack benchmark is needed. The same 204 attack investment is opted considering Life Orb Bisharp remains as a one of the best checks to Trick Room setters (Cresselia, Gothitelle, Jellicent). In this worse case scenario, Mega Mawile can hopefully knock out a +1 Life Orb Bisharp in before it can do further damage with that Defiant boost*. The moveset is pretty much standard as before except with some considerations in place of Sucker Punch and Iron Head. Rock Slide is a great coverage option for Fire Pokemon, notably to catch off Mega Charizard Y and Talonflame while chunking at good portion of HP against other Flying Pokemon. Fire Fang is another coverage move Mega Mawile can use to hit Steel types like Scizor, Ferrothorn, Metagross, and opposing Mawiles for for hard super effective damage which neither its main STABs options could do. Sucker Punch can still be used to finish off weaken targets, though their's a good chance the opponent might just spam status or priority moves to block Sucker Punch, since it requires the target to make an attack. Defensively, this set is only optimized to take at least three Thunderbolts from defensive Thundurus while survives a max special attack Heatran's Heat Wave 100% of the time.
*(Note: If there's a Bisharp in Team Preview, almost never lead with Intimidate Mawile +Trick Room Setter since Bisharp can single-handedly beat many Trick Room Pokemon after a +1 attack boost with Iron Head, Sucker Punch, and Knock Off. Try to get in Mawile before the opponent has Bisharp on the field to get the Defiant boost, and -this applies to Milotic as well-)
-Tank Mega Mawile-
Mawile-Mega @ Mawilite
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Atk / 52 Def / 60 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch / Rock Slide
- Iron Head / Fire Fang
- Protect
Milestones:
-Guaranteed OHKO on Life Orb Bisharp with one recoil damage. (91.4 - 108.5%) [Small Benchmark]
-Survives Life Orb 252 neutral Garchomp's Earthquake 100% of the time. (84.7 - 99.3%)
-Iron Head 2HKOs 252 HP / 60 Def Mega Kangaskhan 100% of the time. (50.9 - 59.9%)
-Iron Head always OHKOs fully physically defensive 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable (100.9 - 118.8%) [Benchmark]
-Iron Head always OHKOs 252 HP / 208+ Def Eviolite Clefairy 100% of the time (101.6 - 119.7%) [Benchmark]
-Play Rough knocks out Scarf 4 HP Politoed 7/8th of the time. (97.5 - 115.6%)
-Play Rough knocks out fast Assault Vest 108 HP / 0 Def Ludicolo 100% of the time. (101.1 - 119.5%)
-Survives 252 SpA+ Heat Wave from Heatran. (84 - 99.3%)
-Survives 44 SpA+ Heat Wave from Charizard Y 100% of the time without sun. (84 - 99.3%)
This Mega Mawile set is meant to take some punishing attacks while OHKOing certain targets such as physically defensive Clefable, 252 HP 208+ Def Eviolite Clefairy, and Life Orb Bisharp after its takes recoil. Defensive investment were taken from old benchmarks from VGC 2014 such as surviving a Life Orb Earthquake from Garchomp, and 252 SpA+ Heatran and 44 SpA+ Charizard Y's Heat Wave without sun. Otherwise this old Mega Mawile set still gets the job, provided it receives proper team support and isn't targeted frequently. Play Rough and Iron Head are Mega Mawile's best STAB attacks to deal massive damage against its targets. Sucker Punch gives Mega Mawile both Dark coverage and priority to makeup for its rather poor speed. Rock Slide can be opted in case Mega Mawile can knock out both Charizard and Talonflame on the switch while dealing a considerable amount to Fire types Pokemon. Fire Fang is another coverage attack which allows Mega Mawile to handle Steel threats such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, Aegislash, Mega Metagross, and even opposing Mega Mawiles. With these moveslots in mind, Mega Mawile doesn't have a ton of speed investment in mind so speed control is extremely crucial for Mega Mawile's success. Thunder Wave support is honestly the best from of speed control for semi-bulky Mega Mawile given how it doesn't that many speed tier goal aside from hopefully winning the base 50 speed creep wars. Trick Room can still work for Mega Mawile given its slow enough even with a neutral nature to outpace the majority of the VGC format, bar opposing Trick Room Pokemon.
Other Options
Here are some other options I wanted to listed for Mega Mawile since that's not the only way to run it, though I'd admit it isn't the widest movepool.
Knock Off: As the name implies, Knock Off is a powerful utility Dark move with a 97.5 base power due to nearly all Pokemon holding an item in competitive play. Its an excellent Dark type alternative for Trick Room Mawile given how powerful it can already hit with its Sucker Punch moves. Keep in mind this comes at a cost of forgoing its shaky priority in Sucker Punch for more damage output and the ability to remove items.
Ice Punch: Probably the only good coverage attack after Knock Off, Ice Punch (Base 75 attack) helps Mega Mawile beat the Genies trio, Mega Salamence, any vitualy anything else not weak to Ice. Even if its attack is at -1 drop, Mega Mawile can still get the KOs on both Landorus-T and Mega Salamence which practically few physical attacks can do. Honestly aside from hitting Ground, Flying, Grass, and Dragon types for super effective damage, Mega Mawile is better off attacking targets with its STAB options for better consistency.
Thunder Punch: Akin to the other two "Elemental Punches", Thunder Punch can help Mega Mawile hit Water and Flying Pokemon like Gyarados, Suicune, Charizard, Talonflame, etc.
Substitute: At the cost of 1/4 of its health, Mega Mawile can setup a decoy to prevent itself from receiving Intimidate drops, status inflicting moves (Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Swagger), and most direct damaging moves (exception being multiple hit and sound-based moves). Substitute is one of the best utility moves to run on Mega Mawile as it can potentially fire off attacks without even taking damage majority of the time. The only issue is Mega Mawile will be forced to drop either 3 of its attacking moves to run an effective Substitute attacker.
Sword Dance If you thought Mega Mawille could not get any stronger, Sword Dance can be used to increase its attack by two stages, essentially doubling its already massive attack. For this potential moveset choice, its needs redirection support considering Mega Mawile will only have two attacks to abuse with a +2 Sword Dance boost (Sucker Punch likely being on of them). Togekiss and Amonnguss can help redirect some attacks, but cannot stop super effective spread damage such as Earthquake or Heat Wave from hitting Mega Mawile hard.
Focus Punch: Coming off at a base 150 attack power, Focus Punch is Mega Mawile's strongest, yet unreliable Fighting STAB option aside from Brick Break. Focus Punch is an incredibly poweful attack yet Mega Mawile needs proper redirection support from the likes of Amoonguss, or even Togekiss for it to get a powerful attack off.
Team Options
Trick Room: Given how slow and frail Mega Mawile can be at times, it absolutely needs a good amount of team support like speed control, typing synergy, and/or even offensive support (Helping Hand/Trick Room) for Mawile to do well in this format. Fortunately for Mega Mawile, Trick Room just about fits this description and even synergies well with certain TR based Pokemon like Cresselia, Gothitelle, Jellicent, Sylveon, Heatran etc. Cresselia is arguably Mega Mawile's best partner to pair with Trick Room has it can provide Mega Mawile with this field condition as well as Helping Hand to boost Mega Mawile's attack into frightening KO range. Cresselia is a great Pokemon to facing against most threats, such as "Double Genie" (Thundurus and Landorus-T) who can beat Mega Mawile with their strong STAB options. Gothitelle has always been a great partner with Mega Mawile thanks to having access to Trick Room, Helping Hand/Tickle support, and the notorious Shadow Tag ability, which prevents most Pokemon from switching out. Jellicent is another great partner for Mega Mawile as it also has access to Trick Room, Will-O-Wisp to burn physical attackers, and deal with Fire types and Ground types Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Heatran reasonably well. Sylveon is a great Trick Room partner with Mega Mawile has Pixilate boosted Hyper Voice can soften up either targets so Mawile effectively sweep the following turns. Heatran is another offensive partner for Mega Mawile as it can come in on any Fire type attack and do enough spread damage with Heat Wave so Mawile can finish up the battle.
Rain Teams: Mega Mawile has seen a great amount of usage in rain teams in late 2014 and even 2015 for their ability to cover Mawile's Fire and Ground weaknesses while the Steel/Fairy itself provides necessary Intimidate support and stronger offensive presence rain teams already exhibit. Politoed is an great partner (kinda obvious right?) for Mega Mawile as it provides the rain so Fire type moves are cut in half, as well as Helping Hand support to let Mega Mawile hit incredibly harder than before. Another notable fact regarding Politoed is its ability to take on Fire and Ground type Pokemon well as any rain boosted Scalds will inflict massive damage to threats like Heatran and Landorus-T. If necessary, Politoed can provide Mega Mawile with some speed control with Icy Wind so it can outspeed at least mid speed tier targets like Suicune and Mega Venusaur. Ludicolo is another partner for Mega Mawile as it can deal with most Fire and Ground type Pokemon with Rain boosted Scald and beat several water Pokemon who threaten Mawile. Dragon Pokemon who function well in rain such as Hydreigon, Kingdra, and Lati@s form a great offensive synergy with Mega Mawile as they can take Fire type hits while Mawile in turn deals with Fairy and opposing Dragon Pokemon. Other Water Pokemon such as Milotic, Swampert, Gyarados, Gastrodon, Jelllicent, Rotom-W, etc can help Mega Mawile deal with its Fire and Ground type Pokemon with their STAB options.
Tailwind and other Speed Control: Most speedy Mega Mawile sets require much more support than their Trick Room and Rain counterparts for the opportunity cost of getting surprise KOs with speed control. To start off, Tailwind Mega Mawile can run enough speed (204 Spe evs) so it can outspeed Greninja, Terrakion, and Mega Salamence, all of which Mawile can effectively knock out with a Play Rough. Tailwind partners such as Zapdos, Suicune, Talonflame, Togekiss, Lati@s, Hydreigon, etc can help setup the field condition while providing necessary offensive pressure alongside Mega Mawile. Both Zapdos and Suicune deserve special mentions as thanks to their defensive stats can setup multiple Tailwinds per battle. Thunder Wave is another form of speed control Mega Mawile appreciates as it outspeed paralyzed targets without allocating most of its EV points to speed. Pokemon like Thundurus, Zapdos, Cresselia, and even Rotom-W come to mind as the best paralysis spreaders in the VGC format game due to their great defensive typing, overall bulky, and/or amazing utility (Prankster).
Build Calculations
All the Mega Mawile damage/defensive calculations are here since I've included most benchmark damage calculations rather than other random calculations. Likewise, do note I'm only going to post relevant damage calculations (aka Iron Head on 4 HP Mega Kangaskhan or Mega Salamence with one Intimidate drop), and not something rather obscure in the VGC scene. Since two builds have the same attack investment, I'm only going to post one build have a "see above section". Anyone can always use Nugget Bridge or Showdown Damage Calculator to calculate other custom spreads, check for sure if you not so sure about a damage/defensive calculations. If I'd happen to make a mistake, I'll gladly correct myself and credit you. Speedy Mega Mawile
Trick Room Mega Mawile
Tank Mega Mawile
Checks and Counters
There are several ways to neutralize Mega Mawile so click the "SPOILER" section to see what Pokemon and strategies are the best to handle the Steel/Fairy Mega.
Closing Thoughts
Mega Mawile is still an legitimate threat in the VGC meta with its incredibly high attack stat thanks to Huge Power and defensive nature with a great pre-Mega ability in Intimidate and Steel/Fairy typing. While its lost the title of "Best Mega" following the transition to the VGC 2015 format with new threats such as Heatran, Landorus-T, Arcanine, etc, just do a simple damage calc from Showdown or Nugget Bridge and see otherwise. Just about 204 attack investment, Mega Mawile still 2HKOs the entire game with the proper moves: Play Rough and Iron Head for STAB, and Sucker Punch, Fire Fang, and Rock Slide for coverage. With that in mind, Mega Mawile is a Mega Evolution that hasn't fallen out of place, rather with proper team support can beat a vast majority of Pokemon with its sheer power.
