VGC 2017 Pokemon Spotlight #2 - Alolan Marowak

Welcome back to another episode of Pokemon Spotlight, where the goal is to shine a light on a Pokemon that's doing well in the VGC 2017 format and tell you everything you need to know about it. Today, we're going to be looking at Alolan Marowak, a new Pokemon introduced in the 7th generation, which is a regional variant of Marowak. Hope you enjoy and let's begin. Also did a video based on the info in this article.

Video based on this article: here

Base Stats

Looking at its stats, Marowak is really focused more on damage and decent bulk. While 60/110/80 is pretty average, Marowak relies on its defensive typing to really take hits. A base 80 attack stat is decent, but with the Thick Club, Marowak's attack stat really goes up to an insane amount. A base 50 Sp. Attack stat is very bad as Marowak generally won't be using in special attacks. Its also very slow at base 45 so it's really going to shine under Trick Room.

Notable Moves - Here's some moves to potentially use on Marowak

1. Bonemerang - Ground type coverage move that hits twice
2. Shadow Bone - Marowak's only physical Ghost type move
3. Flare Blitz - Fire type coverage move that's useful for getting massive amount of damage
4. Protect - Blocks an attack as well as weakening any Z-Move used on Marowak
5. Will-O-Wisp - Useful to potentially burn the target to weaken physical moves
6. Earthquake - Ground type spread move if the damage/accuracy from Bonemerang feels underwhelming
7. Stone Edge / Rock Slide - Useful Rock type coverage move
8. Substitute - Useful to block an attack for Marowak at the cost of its HP
9. Perish Song - Useful for the endgame to lock it up in your favor
10. Endeavor - Turns your HP stat into a great thing to heavily damage a threat easily

Now I wanna go into 3 sample sets for Marowak. One operates under Trick Room and one operates outside of Trick Room. I got these 2 sets from trainertower.com as I highly reccommend this website. The 3rd set is more gimmicky from a video from 2016 World Champion Wolfe Glick, which is linked here that puts the other moves into perspective.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club

Ability: Lightning Rod

EVs: 252 HP / 172 Atk / 4 Def / 68 SpD / 12 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Shadow Bone

- Bonemerang

- Flare Blitz

- Protect

This Marowak primarily functions outside of Trick Room. Its goal is to go for damage with your 3 attacking moves while trying to simply overpower your opponent. The 172 Attack EVs allows Marowak to use Flare Blitz to OHKO 252 HP / 252 Def+ Celesteela 100% of the time. This means that Marowak is a reliable pick against Celesteela. The Attack EVs also allows Marowak to OHKO 252 HP / 252 Def+ Tapu Lele 100% of the time. The 252 HP / 68 SpD allows Marowak to survive both 252+ SpA Tapu Lele Psychic in the Psychic Terrain and 252+ Hidden Power [Ground] from Life Orb Xurkitree. The moves are standard, but effective allowing great neutral coverage for Marowak.

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club 

Ability: Lightning Rod

EVs: 252 HP / 188 Atk / 68 SpD

Brave Nature

IVs: 0 Spe

- Shadow Bone

- Bonemerang

- Flare Blitz

- Protect

This Marowak truly shines in Trick Room as the Brave nature and 0 IVs in speed meaning Marowak can get as slow as possible. The 188+ Atk EVs allows Marowak to OHKO 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele with Shadow Bone and 252 HP / 0 Def Celesteela with Flare Blitz. The 252 HP / 68 SpD allows Marowak to survive 252+ Psychic from Tapu Lele in the Psychic Terrain as well as Hidden Power [Ground] from Life Orb Xurkitree. You may have noticed that the defensive benchmarks are the same as these 2 are highly effective, but still good nonetheless.

Marowak-Alola @ Sitrus Berry

Ability: Cursed Body

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Bold Nature

- Will-O-Wisp

- Endeavor

- Perish Song

- Protect

This is a set created by our 2016 World Champion Wolfe Glick, which I'll link the video here. The idea is to use this Marowak as a pseudo-Perish Trap team. Ideally, you'll wanna pair this set with any Pokemon that has a trapping ability that can trap Pokemon in. Since their's no Shadow Tag users, the only way to do this is with the ability Arena Trap, which only Trapinch can do, or moves that can trap Pokemon in like Decidueye's Spirit Shackle or Dhelmise's Anchor Shot. If you can do that, then you'll wanna use Perish Song when they only have 2 Pokemon left. You can Will-O-Wisp physical attackers, use your ability to take away their moves. Endeavor is for when your HP is low and you need to weaken a Pokemon to make it easy to get rid of it. Sitrus Berry allows it to gain HP and this Marowak is 3HKO'd by -1 Earthquake from Garchomp and is a 2HKO by Earthquake from Garchomp.

Items to Consider

1. Thick Club - Doubles Marowak's attack stat
2. Sitrus Berry - Allows Marowak to gain HP (Recommended on a supportive set like the sample set #3)

(Thick Club is the best item for Marowak as you can double its attack stat, which outclasses many items like Life Orb in terms of damage where you’ll generally use Sitrus Berry on supportive sets)


Partners for Marowak - Here's some Pokemon that can help out Marowak

1. Tapu Koko - Tapu Koko can use Discharge very safely due to Marowak's Lightning Rod ability
2. Porygon2 - Porygon2 can set Trick Room to help Marowak
3. Gastrodon - Its Storm Drain ability protects Marowak from water type moves
4. Oranguru - It can set Trick Room as well as use the move Instruct to allow Marowak to repeat its move
5. Tapu Bulu - Its grass moves can handle the water types while providing Grassy Terrain to weaken Earthquake
6. Celesteela -  Can reliably switch in on the super-effective moves that threaten Marowak while Marowak's Lightning Rod ability to protect Celesteela from Electric type moves.

How to beat Marowak? - Here's some Pokemon that can handle Marowak

1. Alolan Marowak - Whichever Marowak can use Shadow Bone first can KO the other with ease
2. Garchomp - It can threaten Marowak with Earthquake or its Z-Move Tectonic Rage
3. Gastrodon - Gastrodon can threaten Marowak with Scald
4. Gyarados - It can outspeed & KO Marowak with Waterfall
5. Alolan Marowak - It can outspeed & use Knock Off Marowak to take away its Thick Club to weaken its damage
6. Arquanid - It can use Liquidation to KO Marowak with ease & underspeed it in Trick Room 
7. Kartana - If it carries Night Slash, it can KO Marowak or put it in Flare Blitz recoil range
8. Pelipper/Golduck - This duo heavily threatens Marowak with strong water moves in the Rain

   In conclusion, Marowak is a very slow Pokemon that can function both in & out of Trick Room. While it has a very limited movepool, it has the right moves it needs to. With the right support, which isn't hard to add, Marowak can be a major threat. Hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you guys next time. Check out my older content if you want to. Bye!