Leading with Marowak?

Arceus

Marowak is a very interesting Pokemon. Like Pikachu, it posses a species-specific item that affects stats. It's called Thick Club, a femur bone that doubles the attack stat of either a Marowak or a Cubone when held. This gives Marowak a higher attack stat than Attack Form Deoxys and when combined with a Swords Dance it's very intimidating. I'm wondering if I can lead with it.

Marowak @ Thick Club
Rock Head // Adamant
252 ATK // 252 DEF // 4 SDEF
-- Swords Dance
-- Earthquake
-- Double-Edge
-- Rock Slide

Rock Slide is for annoying Skarmory and other fliers such as Zapdos. My main concern is keeping it alive long enough to sweep with it, and I need suggestions on EV spreads. Can anyone help me?

EDIT // Marowak is too slow for leading, so I'm not going to lead with him. Earthquake is apparently physical, so I'm going with that over Bonemerang. Any other suggestions?

EDIT II // I'm dumb. It's Pikachu, not Raichu. My apologies.
 
adman2

adman2

Notorious For Serpents said:
Marowak is a very interesting Pokemon. Like Raichu, it posses a species-specific item that affects stats. It's called Thick Club, a femur bone that doubles the attack stat of either a Marowak or a Cubone when held. This gives Marowak a higher attack stat than Attack Form Deoxys and when combined with a Swords Dance it's very intimidating. I'm wondering if I can lead with it.

Marowak @ Thick Club
Rock Head // Adamant
252 ATK // 252 DEF // 4 SDEF
-- Swords Dance
-- Bonemerang
-- Double-Edge
-- Rock Slide

My strategy is to Swords Dance on the first turn. Rock Slide is for annoying Skarmory and other fliers such as Zapdos, and Bonemerang goes over Earthquake because Earthquake is Special Attack. My main concern is keeping it alive long enough to sweep with it, and I need suggestions on EV spreads. Can anyone help me?
Click to expand...
Gyarados and Weavile are common leads, and you should save Marowak for later in the battle because of this. EV it in Speed, and Baton Pass it Speed if you can.
 

ihcati

I wouldnt really Swords Dance on turn 1, you will be met with a wall straight up. Also, Specsmence and Gyarados will both OHKO, and are both common leads, so I probably wouldnt lead with it.
 

pooch

This is too slow to work, really. If Marowak could hold the Thick Club and Focus Sash/Salac berry at the same time, you'd have a chance. But with 45 base speed, you'll be taking 2 hits before you get a shot off, and you're unlikely to survive both.
 
gabriel

gabriel

It's slow and is OHKOed (sometimes 2KOed) by every commom leader. A terrible leader. Try him as a late-game sweeper and Agility support.
 
gabriel

gabriel

I'd suggest Jolteon. It's fast enough to finish a lot of things with STABed Tbolt and can also work as an Electric resistance. SR rapes Ninjask.
 
ΩDonut

ΩDonut

don't glaze me bro
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Before anyone thinks otherwise, it is Pikachu that makes use of the Light Ball, not Raichu as the OP said.
 
Firestorm

Firestorm

I did my best, I have no regrets!
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If you want to try sweeping early, why not use Ninjask as a lead? You could Protect, Substitute and maybe Swords Dance before passing to Marowak.
 

Lemmiwinks MkII

If you ask me, I think Marowak is best abused under Trick Room, using Uxie as the safe set-up Pokemon with Trick Room followed by U-Turn. This allows you to keep the attack boost with Brave and no need to worry about PHazers. This is just my preference, however, I'm not saying speed passing can't still work.
EDIT: I forgot to mention this also allows you to buff up HP and Defense with the spare EVs.
 

Dragontamer

I like the idea of ninjask... but I admit that I haven't used one yet.

Focus Sash Ninjask uses protect first turn, Swords Dance second, and then switches out. Passing +2 speed and +2 attack. I think it carries X-Scissor because it supposedly can OHKO some popular pokemon after a swords dance, so on the 3rd turn you might be able to get one in.

Course, the problem is sandstorm, hail, etc. etc.

Normal Ninjask focuses on substitutes and passing speed. I'm not exactly sure how standard ninjask works either.
 

Arceus

I like the idea of Zapdos, considering it's higher stats. I've seen Rock Slide and Stone Edge used so often in movesets I'm not really going to consider Shedinja, who automatically gets killed by them. Thankfully, Mekkah has come up with a BP Zapdos moveset.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Pressure // Modest
252 HP // 132 DEF // 40 SPD // 84 SPATK
-- Agility
-- Thunderbolt
-- Baton Pass
-- Hidden Power Ice

I chose Thunderbolt for accuracy and HP Ice as a Dragon killer. I think my basic idea now is to use Agility first turn, Baton Pass second turn, and then sweep with Marowak. However, I AM worried about Marowak's ability to take a hit. Should I use TWave instead of HP Ice // Thunderbolt to help disable my enemies or force a switch as Marowak is moving in?
 

Wake

Well, if you really want to make your opponent mad / scoop, you can always Ninjask.

Ninjask @ Liechi Berry
Trait: Speed Boost
252 HP / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Silver Wind

I guess? lmao
 

Taishaku

Marowak is most often seen in BP Chains. Pass a bunch of Agility or Double Team with Swords Dance to him and he singlehanded sweeps the opposition.
 
133tSneasel

133tSneasel

Why don't people use Girafarig? it can Calm Mind, and Agility Baton Pass. plus it can attack, it's immune to Ghost attacks, and has okay stats.
 
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