I've been using Malamar a lot the past few days and here's what I've found:
- Trick Room is not the best option as a 4th move. It's just a little too fast to fully take advantage of it, even if a -spe nature and 0 IVs. It also means it takes an extra turn to set up.
- Topsy Turvy is great because it makes the other Pokemon more or less useless if they've set up and lets you for sure fire off a Superpower.
- Light Screen is also pretty good. You don't always have time to deploy it, but that's okay because you're not a sitting duck without it. It definitely helps it fire off a few Superpowers and before long, you're at +3 Attack and +3 Defense.
- In the counters section, you've mentioned both Fairy-types and Flying-types, but Togekiss in particular gives it some trouble.
- What do your speed EVs outrun? 160 Speed is a good option also that will outrun Adamant Tyranitar, just make sure it's not carrying a scarf or tyranitarite. Also, HP investment with your extra EVs is generally the best option, yes, but Malamar wants the Special D instead since its HP is already decent enough. Special Defense investment helps it more than HP especially since after one or two superpowers, its defense will already be quite high.
- Use Return over Frustration. They do the same thing, yes, but the default Happiness value on analyses is maxed, and all the other analyses use Return and we want to remain consistent.
- Trick Room is more niche, so make that the second set. The first set should be the most standard set for most teams that any team can use. The first set should then look like this:
Malamar @ Leftovers / Assault Vest
Ability: Contrary<br />
EVs: 252 Atk / 148 SpD / 108 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Topsy Turvy / Light Screen
in the comments, mention that Light Screen, Substitute, and Taunt are also options in the fourth slot if you use Leftovers. If you use Assault Vest, it also gets Rock Slide to hit flying types. For a bit more oomph, Life Orb is also an option, but Malamar likes being able to take a hit so it is not a highly recommended.
- Choice Scarf is also another option that can work really well if you clear out any ghosts beforehand. If you do add a choice scarf set, you could even remove Assault Vest from the first set and slash it on to the choice set, or even make Assault Vest the first choice on the new set and slash Choice Scarf as an option.
Malamar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Rock Slide
After a superpower, Malamar is effectively at +1 Attack, +1 Defense, and +1 Speed when using a choice scarf. It does lock you into one attack, but as long as you take care of any ghosts, you can keep spamming Superpower while you just get stronger and stronger with each move. Since XY allows you to see the opponent's team before the battle begins, you will be able to know if the opponent has a ghost-type pokemon waiting in the wings or not.
As I mentioned earlier, you could also remove Assault Vest from the first set and slash them here. This helps keep the first set a little more organized and the choice scarf and assault vest moves are very similar anyway. Mention in the comments that the EVs will need to be a little different if you go with that.
