doombotmecha Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 At first glance, Mawile seems thoroughly unimpressive. It has an excellent fairy/steel typing but an abysmal 380 bst, and it needs to be bred or use a move relearned to get its stab moves before level 45-49, right at the end of it's level up list. And yet, it's relatively late in the game for its apparent power. In Reborn, it is first available after the orphanage escape, after Shelly's gym battle, at level cap 40. In Rejuvenation, Mawile is available after the jailbreak arc, around level cap 45. I just thought this was something about being sentimental, since at least in Rejuvenation's case Mawile has story significance, but then I found it in someone's signature for their rejuv team. Is Mawile actually more useful than I had thought? Or should it, at least in reborn's case, be available earlier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autumn Zephyr Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 On it's own, mawile does have a few traits of note. The Steel/Fairy Typing is incredible, boasting two immunities and seven resistances, in exchange for a meager two double weaknesses. In combination with its access to Intimidate, it proves to be capable of taking a bit more damage than one would expect, and the Intimidate proc. is often useful for other team members' survivability to boot. It can serve as a solid enough Baton Pass slow pivot, throwing Seed boosts and Iron Defenses/Stockpiles to a stronger ally while the enemy is Intimidated, further disrupt foes with Taunt or its wide variety of stat-reducing techniques, and slip in some cheap damage with Sucker Punch and/ore Metal Burst- all without even taking TMs or MTs into consideration. Talk about an impressive toolbox! It is, however, incredibly held back by its body- it's two highest stats are at a pathetic base 85, and its Special bulk is practically nonexistent, making it difficult to actually get more use from it than just Intimidating something in the average battle. It's this sad stat spread that allows games like Rejuvenation to give the player access to it so early, while its incredible toolbox is what lets people willing to put up with it get some actual mileage out of it anyway. On the flipside, a lot of modern games don't even look at base mawile- after all, most players will likely pick it up for its (almost literally) ungodly powerful Mega Evolved state. Mega Mawile trades the one-time-use Intimidate for a constant passive that doubles its real Attack stat, making it one of the hardest hitting critters in the game unboosted, while simultaneously gaining +40 to both of its base Defenses for a massive boost to durability to boot. The massive offensive boost also brings the fact that Steel/Fairy is actually a reasonable enough Type combination for attacks to light as well, and mawile's access to Sucker Punch goes from being chip damage in its base state to being its answer to those silly Fire and/or Steel Types who think they might be able to take advantage of their resistances to its STAB attacks. The rest of the world's saving grace against the thing is that it can only learn Swords Dance via TM, but hiding that away does mean that a lot of other pokemon can't garner enough muscle to push through it either. You would've been either laughed at (or asked what pokemon you're even talking about) if you tried to tell anyone that mawile would one day be able to go toe-to-toe with a handful of Ubers a decade ago, and yet here we are. It's still kinda surreal, to be honest... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 3 hours ago, Autumn Zephyr said: You would've been either laughed at (or asked what pokemon you're even talking about) if you tried to tell anyone that mawile would one day be able to go toe-to-toe with a handful of Ubers a decade ago, and yet here we are. It's still kinda surreal, to be honest... Not just going toe to toe, but Mega Mawile itself was Uber during XY. Then SM came out with new threats for Mawile to carry coverage on, Volcarona became popular again, and we had more answers to Xerneas added with Solgaleo and Necrozma Duskmane. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doombotmecha Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 @Autumn Zephyr That's a great help. Mawile does have a lot of good tools for how bad it's stats are. I'll definitely pick it up when I next play rejuvenation. As a massive steel type fan, I actually really adore Mega Maw for really making something out of Mawile's amazing typing and design. I also really really love it's play pattern as a super slow Pokemon that uses Sucker Punch to KO before anyone can act. Ofc, I wouldn't expect one of the game's strongest non-legendary megas to be available in Reborn, except maybe at the very very end. Using mega-maw to take down Lin's Pulse Fuck You (or whatever her real ace is) would be sick, but totally unnecessary. @Vinnie true, powercreep comes for us all. DM Necro really did a number on the metagame, didn't it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicocchi Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 @doombotmecha Being a huge Mawile fan (base and mega), I find that despite its low base stats it can put in some real damage with Sheer Force Iron Head and Play Rough. Giving up Intimidate isn't great, and you lose out on flinches (which sucks) and attack drops (which sucks less) but they become 104 and 117 base power moves respectively. Pair that with STAB and super effectiveness and you're gonna pick up some KOs. With some support in the form of Sticky Webs or Tailwind to mitigate its low speed, or using seeds/Baton Pass to get some stat boots going it can certainly sweep some fights. So in addition to being the toolbox Autumn Zephyr went over, it can function as an offensive Pokémon. Though there are probably better options, it's good to keep in mind if you're doing restricted runs, or if just really want it to use it like that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefendMyBase Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 It's been decent ever since it gained the fairy typing but with the amount of sheer dmg this game has, unless you don't have a fairy or steel type, there really isn't a point in the game where it is a better option to put on the your main team aside from replacing a member to have an advantage over a gym or boss fight. Although, because you can make any mon good in this game, it still can be used on your main team as long as you are able capitalized on it's great abilities. Once its mega comes out, then i can see it being an amazing addition to any main roster. At this point in the game, I just think that there are way better options for steel or fairy types. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicocchi Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 @DefendMyBase Mega Mawile is available, although very late into the game. Spoiler You need 16 badges, then talk to a person in Agate after catching 400 Pokémon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doombotmecha Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 @Nicocchi wait, really?! Man, I guess I'd better get my 'dex on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seel The Deal Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 As someone partway through a mono-Fairy run (just post-Noel, procrastinating on the Aventurine Forest sticker) Mawile has been pretty much essential to breaking down special walls and taking hits from common Poison and Steel types. It isn't the best but if you pick your battles carefully it can do pretty good work surprisingly often. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnie Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 22 hours ago, doombotmecha said: @Vinnie true, powercreep comes for us all. DM Necro really did a number on the metagame, didn't it? DM Necro is awesome though, I love it's defensive set. It's an amazing and welcome Xerneas check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doombotmecha Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 True. who knew giving up an item for a 1-time 1-turn +2 boost to all stats would be overpowered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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