Colonel M
I COULD BE BORED!
Bert's Wrath:
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk stands as a solid Fighting-type with many unique traits that separate it from its brethren such as access to Mold Breaker, Sturdy, and diverse coverage options and a solid Speed tier. Mold Breaker helps Sawk hit Pokemon with Levitate such as Weezing and Rotom when it is locked into Earthquake, while Sturdy lets Sawk become an emergency check to dangerous threats such as Shell Smash Barbaracle. Sawk should be used for these perks, as it faces competition from other offensive Fighting-types such as Machamp, Virizion, and Hitmonlee.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Ice Punch
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Close Combat is Sawk's main move to pummel its foes with thanks to its perfect accuracy, high Base Power, and rather small drawback. Knock Off allows Sawk to take advantage of many of its switch-ins by removing items such as Eviolite from Golbat and Scyther as well as activating Colbur Berry from various Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon. Knock Off is also a great attack to scout out Pokemon that have Z-Crystals. Earthquake in combination with Mold Breaker lets Sawk hit Toxicroak, Rotom, and Weezing. Ice Punch rounds out the set by hitting Grass-types that resist Close Combat such as Whimsicott and Vileplume, as well as hitting Flying-types that may carry Colbur Berry such as Sigilyph and Xatu. Stone Edge is viable over Ice Punch to hit Flying-types harder than Ice Punch while also catching Accelgor.
Set Details
========
Maximum Speed investment with a Choice Scarf and a Jolly nature lets Sawk hit 442 Speed, allowing it to outspeed Sceptile and +2 Turtonator. From there, maximizing Attack is the most optimal choice to increase Sawk's power. Mold Breaker is the preferred ability thanks to it letting Sawk bypass Levitate when it is locked into Earthquake. Sturdy is a potential option if Sawk's team desperately requires it to be an emergency answer to setup sweepers, but the inability to touch Weezing and Colbur Berry Rotom can be rather annoying.
Usage Tips
========
Choice Scarf Sawk is used as a revenge killer as well as a potential option to clean up late-game if problematic Pokemon are removed from the field. Close Combat should be the primary attack to use due to its small drawbacks and STAB-boosted power. If Sawk is sent out early-game, Knock Off can be used instead to pressure switch-ins while removing their coveted items. Thanks to Mold Breaker, Earthquake can be a fairly safe attack to lock into if the opponent only has Pokemon with Levitate as their best answer.
Team Options
========
Choice Band Dark-types such as Sneasel and Drapion have excellent synergy with Sawk, as Sawk draws in a lot of Psychic- and Ghost-types and can use Knock Off to remove Colbur Berry to make it easier for them to Pursuit trap these threats. Sneasel is one of the best partners with Sawk, as it applies more pressure to faster Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Meloetta, Sigilyph, and Mismagius in comparison to Drapion. Drapion is still a fairly solid option though, as its superior bulk helps it switch into Sawk checks such as Vileplume and Golbat more easily. Entry hazards increase Sawk's capability of pressuring its checks and counters. Omastar is a great suicide lead that can lay both Stealth Rock and Spikes while also having Shell Smash to quickly apply offensive pressure in the early-game. Garbodor and Accelgor are also solid options to lay Spikes, though other Pokemon will have to assist with laying Stealth Rock. Powerful setup sweepers such as Virizion and Delphox break through bulkier teams to help Sawk clean up more efficiently late-game. Ghost-types such as Mismagius and Rotom are great assets to deter Rapid Spin. Mismagius provides a deadlier offensive presence with Nasty Plot, while Rotom can help Sawk switch in more easily with Volt Switch. Speaking of Volt Switch, Rotom-C is also a solid teammate that can get Sawk in more easily while being able to bypass a lot of Sawk's headaches such as Flying-types and Slowbro.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Zen Headbutt
item: Choice Band
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
With Choice Band, Close Combat is a very powerful attack to spam—even Pokemon that resist Close Combat such as Whimsicott take a tremendous amount of damage from the attack. Knock Off severely punishes switch-ins that covet their items or resist Close Combat such as Eviolite Golbat or Colbur Berry Sigilyph. Poison Jab lets Sawk bypass Fairy-types such as Whimsicott, Aromatisse, and Granbull more easily, while Zen Headbutt completes the set by nailing Poison-types such as Golbat, Toxicroak, and Weezing. Another option is removing Poison Jab and Zen Headbutt for Stone Edge and Earthquake, though mixing the moves is not recommended. Stone Edge does greater damage to Flying- and Bug-types such as Scyther and Golbat, while Earthquake hits Garbodor and Drapion harder than Zen Headbutt.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack EVs with a Choice Band are preferred to give Sawk a large spike in power. Maximum Speed investment with a Jolly nature allows Sawk to outspeed positive-Speed natured threats such as Absol, Medicham, and Vanilluxe. Sturdy is the preferred ability, as it lets Sawk take one attack from full health and retaliate. This lets Sawk become a powerful check to boosted threats such as Barbaracle and Virizion. Adamant is a potential option over Jolly if outspeeding the listed threats above is of no concern. Adamant gives Sawk an even greater power spike with the potential to OHKO specially defensive Golbat with Stone Edge.
Usage Tips
========
Choice Band Sawk is used as an early- and mid-game breaker. Provided there are no Ghost-types, Close Combat is a fairly safe move to lock into that will still place a dent on Pokemon that resist the attack. The defensive drawback is of little concern so long as Sturdy remains intact. Knock Off is a fairly safe attack for Sawk to use, as it can catch a lot of Sawk's potential switch-ins and severely punish them while scouting for potential Z-Crystal users. Keeping Sturdy intact lets Sawk revenge kill dangerous threats while also allowing it to go toe-to-toe with some of its defensive checks. Specially defensive Golbat, for example, will KO itself if it steps into Stealth Rock, switches into Zen Headbutt or Stone Edge, and uses Brave Bird. Sturdy's upkeep is of utmost importance in some matchups, though bear in mind that hail matchups sometimes make it a little more difficult to keep Sturdy intact.
Team Options
========
Various late-game sweepers such as Virizion, Delphox, and Choice Specs Sceptile appreciate the dents that Choice Band Sawk provides for them while beating their lured-in checks and counters such as various Ghost-types for Virizion and Golbat for Sceptile. Golbat is an excellent teammate thanks to its defensive utility and access to Defog. Golbat can switch into various Fairy-type Pokemon such as Whimsicott and cripple physically defensive Pokemon such as Eviolite Rhydon and Quagsire with Toxic. Though Golbat can switch into various Poison-types such as Vileplume, it must beware of Knock Off users such as Drapion and Toxicroak. Other Defog users or Rapid Spin users such as Braviary, Kabutops, and Hitmonlee are great options to help preserve Sturdy for Sawk. Dark-types such as Weavile and Drapion still have fairly good synergy with Choice Band Sawk, as they can Pursuit trap some Psychic- and Ghost-type threats after they have been severely dented and deprived of their Colbur Berries. Skuntank is another option that can also Defog away entry hazards. Volt Switch from Rotom and Rotom-C can help Sawk switch in more easily while punishing various Flying-type switch-ins that Sawk may run into. Uxie is a potential U-turn partner that can provide Stealth Rock support as well. Steelix and Ferroseed take on a lot of Sawk's more problematic foes, namely Poison- and Fairy-types, while being able to lay entry hazards onto the field. Ferroseed can cripple threats with Thunder Wave or Leech Seed, while Steelix has Toxic to punish bulky Water-types.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Expert Belt lets Sawk bluff Choice sets while giving it the freedom to switch moves when necessary. Taunt is a viable option on non-Choice sets to prevent the foe from recovering health or crippling Sawk and its teammates. Z-Crystals, most notably Rockium Z and Darkinium Z, can be used to give Sawk extra protection from Knock Off while punishing some of its common switch-ins. When using Darkinium Z, remember to use Knock Off to remove Colbur Berry first before using the Z-Move. Toxic can be used on the Choice Scarf set to punish bulkier switch-ins such as Slowbro and Uxie. Double Kick is an option to break through suicide leads such as Omastar, Kabutops, and Aurorus.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types need to be careful of some of Sawk's coverage moves, but they are often the best switch-ins to Sawk, as they resist both Close Combat and Knock Off. Whimsicott, Aromatisse, and Granbull can shrug off the majority of Sawk's arsenal. Granbull gets a special mention, as Intimidate further weakens Sawk's attacks. All three fear Poison Jab from Sawk though, and Whimsicott also needs to be careful of Ice Punch.
**Flying-types**: Scyther and Golbat are two big Flying-types that have Eviolite to back up their bulk, though both need to be cautious of switching into Knock Off, Ice Punch, or Stone Edge, and Golbat must additionally avoid Zen Headbutt. Scyther can set up Swords Dance on Sawk locked into Close Combat and KO it with STAB Aerial Ace. Golbat can use its ridiculous bulk to use Roost, clear away hazards with Defog, or KO Sawk with STAB Brave Bird. Choice Scarf Braviary and Dodrio can also threaten Choice Band Sawk thanks to their higher Speed and STAB Brave Bird.
**Psychic-types**: Slowbro, Slowking, Xatu, Sigilyph, and Uxie can switch into the majority of attacks that Sawk throws with the exception of Knock Off, which all of these Pokemon bar Slowbro need to be extra careful of. Slowbro is never 2HKOed by Knock Off barring extremely rare critical hit circumstances. All of these Pokemon threaten Sawk with either STAB Psychic or Psyshock.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-types such as Jellicent and Spiritomb can be rather problematic for Sawk, as they prevent it from spamming STAB Close Combat. Spiritomb either takes neutral damage or is flat out immune to any attack Sawk throws at it, but Jellicent needs to be extra careful of Choice Band-boosted Knock Off, as it will 2HKO.
**Poison-types**: Toxicroak, Vileplume, Garbodor, and Weezing can be rather annoying for Sawk to face, though they are not huge fans of Zen Headbutt and Mold Breaker Earthquake. Toxicroak does risk a Speed tie, though it can survive one hit that isn't Earthquake or Zen Headbutt while retaliating back with STAB Gunk Shot. Vileplume can check Sawk with Sleep Powder or by recovering its lost health with Moonlight or STAB Giga Drain. With Weak Armor, Garbodor can take advantage of Sawk's Close Combat to greatly improve its Speed while severely denting Sawk with STAB Gunk Shot. Weezing can tank almost anything that Sawk throws at it, cripple it with Will-O-Wisp, and use Sawk as a health fountain with Pain Split.
[OVERVIEW]
Sawk stands as a solid Fighting-type with many unique traits that separate it from its brethren such as access to Mold Breaker, Sturdy, and diverse coverage options and a solid Speed tier. Mold Breaker helps Sawk hit Pokemon with Levitate such as Weezing and Rotom when it is locked into Earthquake, while Sturdy lets Sawk become an emergency check to dangerous threats such as Shell Smash Barbaracle. Sawk should be used for these perks, as it faces competition from other offensive Fighting-types such as Machamp, Virizion, and Hitmonlee.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Ice Punch
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Close Combat is Sawk's main move to pummel its foes with thanks to its perfect accuracy, high Base Power, and rather small drawback. Knock Off allows Sawk to take advantage of many of its switch-ins by removing items such as Eviolite from Golbat and Scyther as well as activating Colbur Berry from various Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon. Knock Off is also a great attack to scout out Pokemon that have Z-Crystals. Earthquake in combination with Mold Breaker lets Sawk hit Toxicroak, Rotom, and Weezing. Ice Punch rounds out the set by hitting Grass-types that resist Close Combat such as Whimsicott and Vileplume, as well as hitting Flying-types that may carry Colbur Berry such as Sigilyph and Xatu. Stone Edge is viable over Ice Punch to hit Flying-types harder than Ice Punch while also catching Accelgor.
Set Details
========
Maximum Speed investment with a Choice Scarf and a Jolly nature lets Sawk hit 442 Speed, allowing it to outspeed Sceptile and +2 Turtonator. From there, maximizing Attack is the most optimal choice to increase Sawk's power. Mold Breaker is the preferred ability thanks to it letting Sawk bypass Levitate when it is locked into Earthquake. Sturdy is a potential option if Sawk's team desperately requires it to be an emergency answer to setup sweepers, but the inability to touch Weezing and Colbur Berry Rotom can be rather annoying.
Usage Tips
========
Choice Scarf Sawk is used as a revenge killer as well as a potential option to clean up late-game if problematic Pokemon are removed from the field. Close Combat should be the primary attack to use due to its small drawbacks and STAB-boosted power. If Sawk is sent out early-game, Knock Off can be used instead to pressure switch-ins while removing their coveted items. Thanks to Mold Breaker, Earthquake can be a fairly safe attack to lock into if the opponent only has Pokemon with Levitate as their best answer.
Team Options
========
Choice Band Dark-types such as Sneasel and Drapion have excellent synergy with Sawk, as Sawk draws in a lot of Psychic- and Ghost-types and can use Knock Off to remove Colbur Berry to make it easier for them to Pursuit trap these threats. Sneasel is one of the best partners with Sawk, as it applies more pressure to faster Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Meloetta, Sigilyph, and Mismagius in comparison to Drapion. Drapion is still a fairly solid option though, as its superior bulk helps it switch into Sawk checks such as Vileplume and Golbat more easily. Entry hazards increase Sawk's capability of pressuring its checks and counters. Omastar is a great suicide lead that can lay both Stealth Rock and Spikes while also having Shell Smash to quickly apply offensive pressure in the early-game. Garbodor and Accelgor are also solid options to lay Spikes, though other Pokemon will have to assist with laying Stealth Rock. Powerful setup sweepers such as Virizion and Delphox break through bulkier teams to help Sawk clean up more efficiently late-game. Ghost-types such as Mismagius and Rotom are great assets to deter Rapid Spin. Mismagius provides a deadlier offensive presence with Nasty Plot, while Rotom can help Sawk switch in more easily with Volt Switch. Speaking of Volt Switch, Rotom-C is also a solid teammate that can get Sawk in more easily while being able to bypass a lot of Sawk's headaches such as Flying-types and Slowbro.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Zen Headbutt
item: Choice Band
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
With Choice Band, Close Combat is a very powerful attack to spam—even Pokemon that resist Close Combat such as Whimsicott take a tremendous amount of damage from the attack. Knock Off severely punishes switch-ins that covet their items or resist Close Combat such as Eviolite Golbat or Colbur Berry Sigilyph. Poison Jab lets Sawk bypass Fairy-types such as Whimsicott, Aromatisse, and Granbull more easily, while Zen Headbutt completes the set by nailing Poison-types such as Golbat, Toxicroak, and Weezing. Another option is removing Poison Jab and Zen Headbutt for Stone Edge and Earthquake, though mixing the moves is not recommended. Stone Edge does greater damage to Flying- and Bug-types such as Scyther and Golbat, while Earthquake hits Garbodor and Drapion harder than Zen Headbutt.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack EVs with a Choice Band are preferred to give Sawk a large spike in power. Maximum Speed investment with a Jolly nature allows Sawk to outspeed positive-Speed natured threats such as Absol, Medicham, and Vanilluxe. Sturdy is the preferred ability, as it lets Sawk take one attack from full health and retaliate. This lets Sawk become a powerful check to boosted threats such as Barbaracle and Virizion. Adamant is a potential option over Jolly if outspeeding the listed threats above is of no concern. Adamant gives Sawk an even greater power spike with the potential to OHKO specially defensive Golbat with Stone Edge.
Usage Tips
========
Choice Band Sawk is used as an early- and mid-game breaker. Provided there are no Ghost-types, Close Combat is a fairly safe move to lock into that will still place a dent on Pokemon that resist the attack. The defensive drawback is of little concern so long as Sturdy remains intact. Knock Off is a fairly safe attack for Sawk to use, as it can catch a lot of Sawk's potential switch-ins and severely punish them while scouting for potential Z-Crystal users. Keeping Sturdy intact lets Sawk revenge kill dangerous threats while also allowing it to go toe-to-toe with some of its defensive checks. Specially defensive Golbat, for example, will KO itself if it steps into Stealth Rock, switches into Zen Headbutt or Stone Edge, and uses Brave Bird. Sturdy's upkeep is of utmost importance in some matchups, though bear in mind that hail matchups sometimes make it a little more difficult to keep Sturdy intact.
Team Options
========
Various late-game sweepers such as Virizion, Delphox, and Choice Specs Sceptile appreciate the dents that Choice Band Sawk provides for them while beating their lured-in checks and counters such as various Ghost-types for Virizion and Golbat for Sceptile. Golbat is an excellent teammate thanks to its defensive utility and access to Defog. Golbat can switch into various Fairy-type Pokemon such as Whimsicott and cripple physically defensive Pokemon such as Eviolite Rhydon and Quagsire with Toxic. Though Golbat can switch into various Poison-types such as Vileplume, it must beware of Knock Off users such as Drapion and Toxicroak. Other Defog users or Rapid Spin users such as Braviary, Kabutops, and Hitmonlee are great options to help preserve Sturdy for Sawk. Dark-types such as Weavile and Drapion still have fairly good synergy with Choice Band Sawk, as they can Pursuit trap some Psychic- and Ghost-type threats after they have been severely dented and deprived of their Colbur Berries. Skuntank is another option that can also Defog away entry hazards. Volt Switch from Rotom and Rotom-C can help Sawk switch in more easily while punishing various Flying-type switch-ins that Sawk may run into. Uxie is a potential U-turn partner that can provide Stealth Rock support as well. Steelix and Ferroseed take on a lot of Sawk's more problematic foes, namely Poison- and Fairy-types, while being able to lay entry hazards onto the field. Ferroseed can cripple threats with Thunder Wave or Leech Seed, while Steelix has Toxic to punish bulky Water-types.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Expert Belt lets Sawk bluff Choice sets while giving it the freedom to switch moves when necessary. Taunt is a viable option on non-Choice sets to prevent the foe from recovering health or crippling Sawk and its teammates. Z-Crystals, most notably Rockium Z and Darkinium Z, can be used to give Sawk extra protection from Knock Off while punishing some of its common switch-ins. When using Darkinium Z, remember to use Knock Off to remove Colbur Berry first before using the Z-Move. Toxic can be used on the Choice Scarf set to punish bulkier switch-ins such as Slowbro and Uxie. Double Kick is an option to break through suicide leads such as Omastar, Kabutops, and Aurorus.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types need to be careful of some of Sawk's coverage moves, but they are often the best switch-ins to Sawk, as they resist both Close Combat and Knock Off. Whimsicott, Aromatisse, and Granbull can shrug off the majority of Sawk's arsenal. Granbull gets a special mention, as Intimidate further weakens Sawk's attacks. All three fear Poison Jab from Sawk though, and Whimsicott also needs to be careful of Ice Punch.
**Flying-types**: Scyther and Golbat are two big Flying-types that have Eviolite to back up their bulk, though both need to be cautious of switching into Knock Off, Ice Punch, or Stone Edge, and Golbat must additionally avoid Zen Headbutt. Scyther can set up Swords Dance on Sawk locked into Close Combat and KO it with STAB Aerial Ace. Golbat can use its ridiculous bulk to use Roost, clear away hazards with Defog, or KO Sawk with STAB Brave Bird. Choice Scarf Braviary and Dodrio can also threaten Choice Band Sawk thanks to their higher Speed and STAB Brave Bird.
**Psychic-types**: Slowbro, Slowking, Xatu, Sigilyph, and Uxie can switch into the majority of attacks that Sawk throws with the exception of Knock Off, which all of these Pokemon bar Slowbro need to be extra careful of. Slowbro is never 2HKOed by Knock Off barring extremely rare critical hit circumstances. All of these Pokemon threaten Sawk with either STAB Psychic or Psyshock.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-types such as Jellicent and Spiritomb can be rather problematic for Sawk, as they prevent it from spamming STAB Close Combat. Spiritomb either takes neutral damage or is flat out immune to any attack Sawk throws at it, but Jellicent needs to be extra careful of Choice Band-boosted Knock Off, as it will 2HKO.
**Poison-types**: Toxicroak, Vileplume, Garbodor, and Weezing can be rather annoying for Sawk to face, though they are not huge fans of Zen Headbutt and Mold Breaker Earthquake. Toxicroak does risk a Speed tie, though it can survive one hit that isn't Earthquake or Zen Headbutt while retaliating back with STAB Gunk Shot. Vileplume can check Sawk with Sleep Powder or by recovering its lost health with Moonlight or STAB Giga Drain. With Weak Armor, Garbodor can take advantage of Sawk's Close Combat to greatly improve its Speed while severely denting Sawk with STAB Gunk Shot. Weezing can tank almost anything that Sawk throws at it, cripple it with Will-O-Wisp, and use Sawk as a health fountain with Pain Split.
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