OU Alolan Muk

earl

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Muk-Alola [QC 3/3] [GP 2/2]
[OVERVIEW]
Alolan Muk acts as a great special pivot with its high HP and Special Defense, allowing it to check threats such as Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, and Greninja. This is compounded by its access to a STAB Pursuit, which allows Alolan Muk to effectively trap and KO Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, and Mega Alakazam. Even when Alolan Muk is not using Pursuit, Poison Touch allows it to easily spread poison and cripple bulky switch-ins, further punishing switches. However, Alolan Muk's passivity and weakness to physical attacks invites in powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Mawile, Landorus-T, and Zygarde. Alolan Muk can absorb Toxic Spikes, but it is otherwise vulnerable to entry hazard damage and lacks any recovery, hurting Alolan Muk in its pivoting role. Lastly, Alolan Muk is outsped by the majority of the tier, meaning it will almost always have to take a hit before moving.

[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Rock Slide
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Knock Off is a powerful, spammable attack that carries the benefits of removing items and potentially poisoning targets. It also has the benefit of scouting Z-Crystals on Pokemon such as Celesteela, Landorus-T, and Garchomp. Pursuit traps and removes powerful Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mega Alakazam, Latios, Tapu Lele, and Gengar. Poison Jab is a reliable STAB move and has a nice 51% poison chance when combined with Poison Touch. Rock Slide allows Alolan Muk to better check Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y and is preferred over Stone Edge for its higher accuracy.


Set Details
========

136 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allow Alolan Muk to OHKO Tapu Lele with Poison Jab, while 4 Speed EVs enable it to outspeed Chansey. The rest of Alolan Muk's EVs are placed into HP and Special Defense, allowing it to pivot into more special attacks. Assault Vest increases Alolan Muk's special bulk even further while having little drawback due to Alolan Muk's poor support movepool. Poison Touch is the preferred ability, as the other two options are completely useless on this set.

Usage Tips
========

Optimally, Alolan Muk should come in on a Psychic- or Ghost-type and proceed to trap and KO it with Pursuit. While Alolan Muk does not take large amounts of damage from neutral special attacks, it is generally not recommended to switch Alolan Muk into them, as it has no form of recovery, and this wears it down quickly. Try to switch Alolan Muk in on attacks it resists or is immune to, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic and Gengar's Sludge Wave. In addition, Alolan Muk should generally avoid physical attackers due to its low Defense stat. If there is no reason to use any of Alolan Muk's other moves, Knock Off should be spammed due to its utility and lack of immunities.

Team Options
========

Offensive Pokemon weak to Psychic and Ghost such as Nihilego and Keldeo enjoy Alolan Muk's ability to easily trap and eliminate Pokemon of these types. Fighting-type Pokemon in particular, such as Keldeo and Terrakion, can easily dispose of Steel-types while additionally acting as lures for Alolan Muk's Pursuit targets. Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk, as it easily deals with Ground-type Pokemon while setting Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a small amount of passive recovery. Trappers such as Dugtrio and Magnezone can be utilized to help remove Steel-types. These Pokemon should not be run just to help Alolan Muk, however, as its pivoting role does not require its checks and counters to be completely removed. Pokemon immune to Ground-type attacks such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T can use Alolan Muk's weakness to the type as a free switch in opportunity. Lastly, Wish users such as Alolomola, Clefable, and specially defensive Jirachi can pass Wishes to Alolan Muk to keep it healthy throughout the match.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Fire Blast can be run instead of Rock Slide to better deal with Steel-types such as Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Mega Scizor; however, this is generally not recommended, as Alolan Muk's other moves are very valuable. Shadow Sneak can be used to pick off weakened targets but hits for very little damage. Clear Smog can be run in place of Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB move for its ability to stop setup sweepers but hits for basically no damage.


Checks and Counters
===================

**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio is particularly troublesome for Alolan Muk, as its trapping abilities coupled with Earthquake easily remove Alolan Muk from play.

**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp threaten Alolan Muk with their Ground-type STAB moves, take little damage from any of Alolan Muk's attacks, and can use Alolan Muk as setup fodder. They must be wary of Poison Touch, however.

**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Mega Scizor, and Mega Mawile easily check Alolan Muk lacking Fire Blast. Steel-type Mega Pokemon get a special mention for not even fearing the initial Knock Off from Alolan Muk.

**Magearna**: Z-Move Magearna variants cannot have their item removed with Knock Off and easily set up on or KO Alolan Muk with a bit of prior damage or Z-Move use.
 
Last edited:

earl

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This boy is ready for QC! Excuse any formatting errors (if there are any) because I wrote quite a bit of this on mobile and need to get to my computer to format it properly.
 

PK Gaming

Persona 5
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Overview

Access to a STAB pursuit allows Muk to effectively trap and KO Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, and Mega Alakzam.
Keep in mind it does around 60% to Tapu Lele switching out, so you should mention Latios instead.

* Ground-Type attacks easily KO or force out Alolan Muk, while the best Alolan Muk can do in return in Knock Off on the switch.
I'd change this, since it's obvious. Instead, harp on how passive Alolan Muk is, since it gives dangerous Pokemon like Mega Mawhile, Mega Zard, etc an opening to wreak havoc.

Assault Vest

* Pursuit traps and removes powerful Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Tapu Lele, Latios, and Gengar.
See above.

I'm not convinced that Rock Slide is worth a slot on the main set.

Usage Tips

The 1st and last line are too similar to each other. Merge them together.
You should mention double switching, since you can switch in a Pokemon that draws in Psychic or Ghost-types then immediately double back to Muk in order to trap them.

Team Options

Offensive Pokemon weak to Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Nihilego, Mimikyu, and Keldeo enjoy Alolan Muk's ability to easily trap and eliminate Pokemon of these types.
Nitpick, but Mimikyu doesn't need Muk as a partner. Its ability coupled with Shadow Sneak make it pretty effective at taking on Ghost-type Pokemon.
 

Gary

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Muk-Alola @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Poison Jab
- Rock Slide

The main set should look like this. The EV spread is to give Muk some power behind its STABs as well as OHKO Lele with Poison Jab. The Speed EVs are for Chansey, and the rest is put into its bulk. Poison Jab is way better than Gunk because combined with Poison Touch, it's basically a 60% chance to Poison, which is extremely useful for wearing down fatter mons. Rock Slide is absolutely mandatory in the current metagame and it shouldn't be slashed with anything. AV Muk is one of the most consistent checks to Volcarona in the tier with the move, as well as Zard-Y, so there is no reason not to run it over more niche options such as Fire Blast and Sneak. Move both Sneak and Fire Blast to OO.

Tag me when you implement this and I'll give you an actual check.
 

Gary

Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
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Muk-Alola [QC 0/3] [GP 0/2]
[OVERVIEW]
* Alolan Muk acts as great special pivot with it's high HP and Special Defense, allowing it to check Volcarona, Mega Charizard-Y, and Greninja alongside a typing that grants it only one weakness, Ground. (this is something that isn't really worth mentioning because it's pretty easy to figure out)
* Access to a STAB pursuit allows Muk to effectively trap and KO Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, and Mega Alakazam.
* A highly spammable attack in STAB Knock Off, which carries a nifty 30% poison chance courtesy of Poison Touch, allowing Alolan Muk to cripple switch-ins. (Instead of Knock Off, talk more about its Poison Touch ability and how useful it can be vs bulkier threats)
* Alolan Muk's passivity and weakness to physical attacks invites in powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Mawile, Mega Charizard, Landorus-T and Zygarde.
* While Muk-Alola can absorb Toxic Spikes, it is otherwise vulnerable to hazard damage and lacks any recovery, hurting Alolan Muk in it's pivoting role.
*Outsped by most the majority of the metagame, which often forces it to take more damage


[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1:Knock Off
move 2:Pursuit
move 3:Poison Jab
move 4:Rock Slide
item:Assault Vest
ability:Poison Touch
nature:Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Knock Off is a powerful, spammable attack that carries the benefits of removing items and potentially poisoning targets.
* Pursuit traps and removes powerful Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mega Alakazam, Latios, Tapu Lele and Gengar.
* Poison Jab is a reliable poison STAB, and has a nice 51% poison chance when combined with Poison Touch
* Rock Slide allows Muk to better check Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y.


Set Details
========

* 136 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allows Alolan Muk to OHKO Tapu Lele with Poison Jab.
* 12 Speed EVs enables Alolan Muk to outspeed Chansey.
*The rest of Alolan Muk's EVs are placed into HP and Special Defense, allowing it to pivot into more special attacks.
* Assault Vest increases Alolan Muk's special bulk even further while having little drawback due to Alolan Muk's weak support movepool.
* Poison Touch is the preferred ability as the other two options are completely useless on this set.

Usage Tips
========

* While Alolan Muk does not take large amounts of damage from neutral special attacks it is generally not recommended to switch Alolan Muk in to them, as Alolan Muk has no form of recovery and this wears it down quickly. Try to switch Alolan Muk in on attacks it withers resists or isn't immune to, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic or Gengar's Sludge Wave respectively
* Never switch Alolan Muk in on physical attacks, even if resisted, as Alolan Muk has no business coming in on physical attackers in the first place. (eh the reasoning for this is kind of shaky. Just mention how it should avoid switching directly into physical attacks if possible, no need to stress it as much)
* If the target is not predicted to switch out Knock Off should almost always be the attack of choice. (worded kind of poorly, just mention how Knock Off is the best option to spam if there's no reason to go for any of its other moves)
* Optimally Alolan Muk should come in on a Psychic- or Ghost-type and proceed to trap and KO it with Pursuit.

Team Options
========

* Offensive Pokemon weak to Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Nihilego and Keldeo and Mega Medicham respectively enjoy Alolan Muk's ability to easily trap and eliminate Pokemon of these types.
* Fighting-type Pokémon such as Keldeo and Terrakion can easily dispose of Steel-types while additionally acting as lures for Alolan Muk's pursuit targets.
* Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk as it easily deals with Ground-type Pokemon while setting Grassy Terrain which both weakens Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a small amount of passive recovery.
* Trappers such as Dugtrio and Magnezone can be used to help remove Steel-types. These Pokemon should not be ran just to help Alolan Muk, however, as it's pivoting role does not require it's checks to be completely removed.
* Pokemon immune to Ground-type attacks such as Rotom-Wash and Landorus-Therian can use Alolan Muk's weakness to the type as a free switch-in.
* Wish users such as Alolomola and specially defensive Jirachi can pass wishes to Alolan Muk to keep it healthy throughout the match.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

* Fire Blast can be ran to better deal with Steel-Types such as Mega Mawile and Mega Scizor, however this is generally not recommended as Alolan Muk's other moves are very valuable.
* Shadow Sneak can be ran to pick off weakened targets, but hits for very little damage.
* Brick Break allows Alolan Muk to hit some particular Steel-types such as Bisharp harder but is generally outclassed by Fire Blast due to leaving Alolan Muk walled by Mega Scizor and Celesteela
* Air Balloon basically garuntees a Knock Off for Alolan Muk but otherwise makes Muk significantly worse at it's job of being a specially defensive pivot.
* Clear Smog can be ran in place of Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB for it's ability to stop set-up sweepers but hits for basically no damage.


Checks and Counters
===================

**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio is particularly troublesome for Alolan Muk as it's trapping abilities coupled with Earthquake easily remove Alolan Muk from play. It cannot directly switch into Alolan Muk if it has Shadow Sneak, however. (Duggy should never hard switch into Muk anyway because of Poison Touch)

**Ground-types**: Ground-type such as Landorus-Therian, Zygarde and Garchomp threaten Alolan Muk with their Ground STABs, take little damage from any of Alolan Muk's attacks, and can use Alolan Muk as set-up fodder. They must be wary of Poison Touch, however.

**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Mega Scizor, and Mega Mawile easily check Alolan Muk lacking Fire Blast. Steel-type Mega Pokemon get a special mention for not even fearing the initial Knock Off from Alolan Muk. Mega Metagross doesn't even get 2HKOed by a super effective Knock Off unless the more offensive EV spread is run alongside rocks, and Muk is easily OHKOed after just about 25% prior damage. (Mega Meta is still a pretty mediocre answer ot Muk regardless so I wouldn't bother mentioning it)

**Burn**: Alolan Muk must be wary of Scald or Will-O-Wisp as the halved attack and chip damage makes Alolan Muk much less effective at pursuit trapping and wears it down much quicker.


QC 1/3



 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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Also mention that Knock Off can scout for Z Crystals and Mega Evolutions - this is great information when a player switches into their Landorus-T or Garchomp into Alolan Muk. Same to an extent with Celesteela.

When you write this up be sure to differentiate between its and it's. Remember that it's = it is (It's a good idea to use Alolan Muk as its typing and great special bulk help it check some offensive threats).

Also add Magearna to C&C. With a Z Crystal Magearna is not even phased by Alolan Muk outside of Fire Blast and, after some wear and tear or use of Z Move, can bypass Alolan Muk.

Seems good for write-up otherwise.

2/3
 

p2

Banned deucer.
you mention jirachi and alo for wishpassing in to, add clef too

is burn really worth a section in c&c, what is muk often pivoting into thats firing off scalds and wisps anyway, gengar still gets fucked up even if its wisp. i don't see much point in this section as status is usually self explanatory and obvious anyway.

3/3
 

Fireflame

Silksong when
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Remove Add Comments (AC)= add comma (RC)= remove comma (AH)= add hyphen (RH)= remove hyphen
[OVERVIEW]
Alolan Muk acts as a great special pivot with its high HP and Special Defense,(AC) allowing it to check threats such as Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, and Greninja. This is compounded by its access to a STAB Pursuit,(AC) which allows Alolan Muk to effectively trap and KO Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, and Mega Alakzam. Even when Alolan Muk is not using Pursuit, Poison Touch allows Alolan Muk it to easily spread poison and cripple bulky switch-ins, further punishing switches. However, Alolan Muk's passivity and weakness to physical attacks invites in powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Mawile, Landorus-Therian Landorus-T, and Zygarde. Muk-Alola Alolan Muk can absorb Toxic Spikes, but it is otherwise vulnerable to entry hazard damage and lacks any recovery, hurting Alolan Muk in it's its pivoting role. Lastly, Alolan Muk is outsped by the majority of the tier, meaning it will almost always have to take a hit before moving.

[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Rock Slide
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Adamant
(spacing issues for all of these)

evs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Knock Off is a powerful, spammable attack that carries the benefits of removing items and potentially poisoning targets. It also has the benefit of scouting Z-Crystals on Pokemon such as Celesteela, Landorus-Therian Landorus-T, and Garchomp. Pursuit traps and removes powerful Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mega Alakazam, Latios, Tapu Lele, and Gengar. Poison Jab is a reliable poison STAB move,(RC) and has a nice 51% poison chance when combined with Poison Touch. Rock Slide allows Alolan Muk to better check Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y,(RC) and is preferred over Stone Edge for it's its higher accuracy.


Set Details
========

136 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allows allow Alolan Muk to OHKO Tapu Lele with Poison Jab, while 4 Speed EVs enables enable Alolan Muk to outspeed Chansey. The rest of Alolan Muk's EVs are placed into HP and Special Defense, allowing it to pivot into more special attacks. Assault Vest increases Alolan Muk's special bulk even further while having little drawback due to Alolan Muk's weak support movepool. Poison Touch is the preferred ability,(AC) as the other two options are completely useless on this set.

Usage Tips
========

Optimally,(AC) Alolan Muk should come in on a Psychic- or Ghost-type and proceed to trap and KO it with Pursuit. While Alolan Muk does not take large amounts of damage from neutral special attacks,(AC) it is generally not recommended to switch Alolan Muk into them, as Alolan Muk it has no form of recovery,(AC) and this wears it down quickly. Try to switch Alolan Muk in on attacks it resists or is immune to, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic or and Gengar's Sludge Wave,(RC) respectively (not really necessary). In addition,(AC) to this Alolan Muk should generally avoid physical attackers due to its low Defense stat. If there is no reason to use any of Alolan Muk's other moves,(AC) Knock Off should be spammed due to its utility and lack of immunities.

Team Options
========

Offensive Pokemon weak to Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Nihilego and Keldeo enjoy Alolan Muk's ability to easily trap and eliminate Pokemon of these types. Fighting-type Pokemon in particular,(AC) such as Keldeo and Terrakion,(AC) can easily dispose of Steel-types while additionally acting as lures for Alolan Muk's Pursuit targets. Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk,(AC) as it easily deals with Ground-type Pokemon while setting Grassy Terrain,(AC) which both weakens Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a small amount of passive recovery. Trappers such as Dugtrio and Magnezone can be utilized to help remove Steel-types. These Pokemon should not be ran just to help Alolan Muk, however, as it's its pivoting role does not require its checks and counters to be completely removed. Pokemon immune to Ground-type attacks such as Rotom-Wash Rotom-W and Landorus-Therian Landorus-T can use Alolan Muk's weakness to the type as a free switch-in switch in opportunity. Lastly, Wish users such as Alolomola, Clefable, and specially defensive Jirachi can pass Wishes to Alolan Muk to keep it healthy throughout the match.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Fire Blast can be ran instead of Rock Slide to better deal with Steel-types such as Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Mega Scizor,(RC);(SC) however,(AC) this is generally not recommended,(AC) as Alolan Muk's other moves are very valuable. Shadow Sneak can be used to pick off weakened targets,(RC) but hits for very little damage. Clear Smog can be ran in place of Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB move for it's its ability to stop set-up setup sweepers but hits for basically no damage.


Checks and Counters
===================

**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio is particularly troublesome for Alolan Muk,(AC) as its trapping abilities coupled with Earthquake easily remove Alolan Muk from play.

**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Landorus-Therian Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp threaten Alolan Muk with their Ground STABs STAB moves, take little damage from any of Alolan Muk's attacks, and can use Alolan Muk as set-up setup fodder. They must be wary of Poison Touch, however.

**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Mega Scizor, and Mega Mawile easily check Alolan Muk lacking Fire Blast. Steel-type Mega Pokemon get a special mention for not even fearing the initial Knock Off from Alolan Muk.

**Magearna**: Z-Move varients of Magearna variants cannot be Knocked Off and easily set up on or KO Alolan Muk with a bit of prior damage or Z-Move use.
GP 1/2
 
add remove comments
[OVERVIEW]
Alolan Muk acts as a great special pivot with its high HP and Special Defense, allowing it to check threats such as Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, and Greninja. This is compounded by its access to a STAB Pursuit, (AC) which allows Alolan Muk to effectively trap and KO Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, and Mega Alakzam Mega Alakazam. Even when Alolan Muk is not using Pursuit, Poison Touch allows it to easily spread poison and cripple bulky switch-ins, further punishing switches. However, Alolan Muk's passivity and weakness to physical attacks invites in powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Mawile, Landorus-T, and Zygarde. Alolan Muk can absorb Toxic Spikes, but it is otherwise vulnerable to entry hazard damage and lacks any recovery, hurting Alolan Muk in its pivoting role. Lastly, Alolan Muk is outsped by the majority of the tier, meaning it will almost always have to take a hit before moving.

[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Rock Slide
item: Assault Vest
ability: Poison Touch
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 136 Atk / 120 SpD / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Knock Off is a powerful, spammable attack that carries the benefits of removing items and potentially poisoning targets. It also has the benefit of scouting Z-Crystals on Pokemon such as Celesteela, Landorus-T, and Garchomp. Pursuit traps and removes powerful Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Mega Alakazam, Latios, Tapu Lele, and Gengar. Poison Jab is a reliable STAB move and has a nice 51% poison chance when combined with Poison Touch. Rock Slide allows Alolan Muk to better check Volcarona and Mega Charizard Y and is preferred over Stone Edge for its higher accuracy.


Set Details
========

136 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allow Alolan Muk to OHKO Tapu Lele with Poison Jab, while 4 Speed EVs enable Alolan Muk it to outspeed Chansey. The rest of Alolan Muk's EVs are placed into HP and Special Defense, allowing it to pivot into more special attacks. Assault Vest increases Alolan Muk's special bulk even further while having little drawback due to Alolan Muk's weak poor ("weak" makes it sound like the moves in its support movepool have low base power) support movepool. Poison Touch is the preferred ability, as the other two options are completely useless on this set.

Usage Tips
========

Optimally, Alolan Muk should come in on a Psychic- or Ghost-type and proceed to trap and KO it with Pursuit. While Alolan Muk does not take large amounts of damage from neutral special attacks, it is generally not recommended to switch Alolan Muk into them, as it has no form of recovery, and this wears it down quickly. Try to switch Alolan Muk in on attacks it resists or is immune to, such as Tapu Lele's Psychic and Gengar's Sludge Wave. In addition, Alolan Muk should generally avoid physical attackers due to its low Defense stat. If there is no reason to use any of Alolan Muk's other moves, Knock Off should be spammed due to its utility and lack of immunities.

Team Options
========

Offensive Pokemon weak to Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon Psychic and Ghost (nitpicky but the last bit of the sentence implies you're talking about the types here, not Pokemon of those types) such as Nihilego and Keldeo enjoy Alolan Muk's ability to easily trap and eliminate Pokemon of these types. Fighting-type Pokemon in particular, such as Keldeo and Terrakion, can easily dispose of Steel-types while additionally acting as lures for Alolan Muk's Pursuit targets. Tapu Bulu is a great teammate for Alolan Muk, as it easily deals with Ground-type Pokemon while setting Grassy Terrain, which both weakens Earthquake and provides Alolan Muk with a small amount of passive recovery. Trappers such as Dugtrio and Magnezone can be utilized to help remove Steel-types. These Pokemon should not be ran run just to help Alolan Muk, however, as its pivoting role does not require its checks and counters to be completely removed. Pokemon immune to Ground-type attacks such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T can use Alolan Muk's weakness to the type as a free switch in opportunity. Lastly, Wish users such as Alolomola, Clefable, and specially defensive Jirachi can pass Wishes to Alolan Muk to keep it healthy throughout the match.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Fire Blast can be ran run instead of Rock Slide to better deal with Steel-types such as Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Mega Scizor; however, this is generally not recommended, as Alolan Muk's other moves are very valuable. Shadow Sneak can be used to pick off weakened targets but hits for very little damage. Clear Smog can be ran run in place of Alolan Muk's Poison-type STAB move for its ability to stop setup sweepers but hits for basically no damage.


Checks and Counters
===================

**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio is particularly troublesome for Alolan Muk, as its trapping abilities coupled with Earthquake easily remove Alolan Muk from play.

**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp threaten Alolan Muk with their Ground Ground-type STAB moves, take little damage from any of Alolan Muk's attacks, and can use Alolan Muk as setup fodder. They must be wary of Poison Touch, however.

**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Celesteela, Skarmory, Mega Scizor, and Mega Mawile easily check Alolan Muk lacking Fire Blast. Steel-type Mega Pokemon get a special mention for not even fearing the initial Knock Off from Alolan Muk.

**Magearna**: Z-Move Magearna variants cannot be Knocked Off have their item removed with Knock Off and easily set up on or KO Alolan Muk with a bit of prior damage or Z-Move use.

GP 2/2
 

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