The Next Best Thing - Sawk [Voting]

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termi

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Sawk (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 200 Atk / 252 Spd / 56 SAtk
Naughty Nature
- Close Combat
- Work Up
- Ice Punch / Earthquake / Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Grass / Ghost

mixed sawk. this set helps it take out some of its biggest nemesises (nemesi?) like Alomomola and Musharna. The slashes are just depending on what u need to beat most, so basically choose from momo and toad or mushy and missy. Still doesn't do well against weezing but w/e fuck weezing

evs and nature can be changed to whatever is best, idk what's required to get some kills
Why would you do this though, when Sawk's SpA is so pitiful that Close Combat still does vastly more damage against Momola than HP grass ever will? Even Sawk's Ice Punch damages Misdreavus more than HP ghost would, so it's completely useless to run mixed Sawk.
 

watashi

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World Defender
Sawk (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch / Stone Edge
- Substitute
- Pain Split

hits hard and can switch moves which is useful for when the opponent switches in a fighting resist that can be hit by a coverage move. when musharna comes in you can pain split it to get most of your health back. people tend to protect a lot against sawk to scout it and substitute takes advantage of that very well
 

soulgazer

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Sawk (M) @ Fist Plate
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Taunt

Close Combat, Ice Punch, and Earthquake is pretty much all Sawk need for coverage. I'm using Fist Plate over something like Expert Belt because I prefer to have a permanent boost to its STAB, which Sawk loves to spam. I also like how everyone always thinks Sawk is choiced, so they will always stay in thinking they can wall Sawk locked into Earthquake just to get KO by Close Combat or Ice Punch. Taunt is used in the 4th moveslots to give Sawk more chances to prevent entry hazards, and using Taunt on stuff like Misdreavus and Alomomola is always useful as they would usually try to Will-O-Miss or Toxic/Wish on your switch.
 
I decided to make a Sawk set from scratch (that is, without looking at the on-site sets and analysis, or the somewhat out-of-date move list) to see what it could do against the most common hazards leads. Apologies if there's already a set posted here that's too similar.



Anti-Lead Sawk

Sawk@Fighting Gem Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Ability: Mold Breaker
-Close Combat
-Taunt
-Ice Punch
-Stone Edge/Earthquake​

Close Combat is the primary cannon, Taunt stops hazards, Ice Punch stops other hazards, and Stone Edge stops some hazards and otherwise provides good neutral coverage. It has low accuracy though, so don't bet the farm on it. Earthquake does better neutral coverage and stops cockblocking by Weezing and other poison types but does less against hazard setters. Taunt won't really stop walls from walling Sawk, since you have to switch out afterwards, but it can help out an allied wallbreaker. (I'm personally a fan of sending in Lum SD Samurott on any Alomomola that stick around...)

Stealth Rock
Armaldo - Close Combat right through frailer variants. If you think it's a bulky supporter, Taunt it.
Bastiodon - Close Combat right through all variants.
Carracosta - Close Combat through all variants.
Golem - Close Combat to the moon.
Golurk - Ice Punch if you're feeling lucky about their EVs and your damage roll, otherwise Taunt will work.
Lairon - Close Combat gets the job done. Earthquake will not quite get there against max defense Lairon.
Metang - Earthquake is the move of choice here for damage, but if you want to avoid rocks, Taunt it.
Piloswine - Close Combat right on through.
Probopass - Either Close Combat or Earthquake will work.
Regirock -
If you're feeling very lucky, you can Close Combat. Otherwise Taunt will stop the rock.
Seismitoad - Close Combat will work against offensive or specially defensive sets. Otherwise you will have to Taunt.
Torkoal - Torkoal is bulky as fuck, so Earthquake if you want a 2HKO. Taunt if you hate rocks.​

Spikes
Cacturne - Ice Punch and Close Combat will both evaporate the cactus. Unless it's max defense, in which case you want CC. Taunt works either way.
Garbodor - Earthquake will 2HKO, but Taunt will be needed to avoid hazards.
Glalie - It's actually too fast to taunt without a Jolly nature, but you might miss out on some otherwise narrow KOs. If you go Adamant, this is one of only two hazards setter on this list that will do its job. Close Combat works too if you go Jolly.
Maractus - Close Combat is the best, but Ice Punch works against 252/0 variants. Taunt works too outside of sun.
Roselia - This is why we pack Ice Punch. It will work against 252/0 specially defensive Roselia. Otherwise you need Taunt.
Scolipede - It's going to get something up. KO back with Stone Edge if you have it, otherwise Taunt is the only way to stop the second layer. The only hazard setter on the list that can stop Sawk's stopping all the time.​

Toxic Spikes
Garbodor - Earthquake will 2HKO, but Taunt will be needed to avoid hazards.
Roselia - Again, this is why we pack Ice Punch. It will work against 252/0 specially defensive Roselia. Otherwise you need Taunt.
Scolipede - It's going to get something up. KO back with Stone Edge if you have it, otherwise Taunt is the only way to stop the second layer. The only hazard setter on the list that can stop Sawk's stopping all the time.
I probably missed a hazard setter or two, but I'm pretty confident Sawk can beat the rest. (I guess you need stone edge for Ariados, so keep that in mind?)

EDIT: Went with DTC's suggestion to use Fighting Gem over Band. It misses out on insta-gibbing Roselia, but you can still taunt it and Roselia won't be doing much back. 2HKO with Ice Punch if it stays in.
 
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Because Choice Band is the only way to secure a KO on a whole lot of hazard leads. It's not like Sawk really needs both of Stone Edge/Earthquake anyway, and Taunt provides a whole lot of utility. If you need Taunt, you have it. If you don't, you have a perfectly serviceable CB Sawk. You'll obviously have to put it on a team that can take his switching out afterwards. A lot of hazard leads suck at attacking, so it's not hard to take the hit from them if they stay and KO with something that can. Or set up your own hazards, or whatever. It's also the only way to stop additional hazards from some focus sash leads like Scolipede that MB Sawk can't outspeed on the second turn.

You can use Life Orb, too, if you don't care about stopping all the hazards. :confused: I'll slash it in.
EDIT: it loses too many KOs for me to get behind the set with a LO.
 
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Sawk (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge / Ice Punch / Pain Split

Generic SubToxic set. This can help cripple/get passed some of Sawk's common switch-ins, such as Alomomola and Tangela. The Steel-types that are immune to Toxic are beat down by Close Combat, whereas the Poison-types are hampered by Stone Edge (Scolipede) or Ice Punch (Vileplume, Roselia). You can use Pain Split if you want but it's not really recommended as pure Fighting coverage is pretty bad in NU.
 

Laga

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Sawk @ Life Orb
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

You could consider this a Fuck You to most hazard leads. Considering how bad NU's spinners are, I personally think that you need either CB Sawk or something with Taunt for anti-lead capabilities. Why not just combine the two (kinda)? Life Orb Sawk hits very hard, gaining a similar boost to Choice Band, whilst able to run Taunt on the same offensive set. It also has the freedom of switching moves. Considering how one of its counters, Misdreavus, is severely neutered by Taunt, this move helps for dealing with said counter as well, as it now cannot use Will-O-Wisp or Pain Split in your face. Earthquake and Ice Punch is for great coverage. Unfortunately this misses out on the Almomomola / Tangela 2HKO, but Taunt can deal with these to an extent by preventing Wish/Protect and Sleep Powder, respectively.

tl;dr: Super anti-lead Sawk because Fuk Rocks !!
 
@Infernis, if you are worried about Life Orb Close Combat losing too many KO's which Choice Band would obtain, then you should use Fighting Gem. Using Fighting Gem allows you to get the Choice Band powered Close Combat as well as being able to switch moves freely, which is obviously very nice if you want to use Taunt. I would definitely use Fighting Gem Taunt over Choice Band Taunt, or even Life Orb Taunt.
 
Huh, thought I had posted this post a while ago, guess it was just a preview.

@DTC - That's brilliant! I completely forgot about the elemental gems. If you don't mind my taking your suggestion and adding it to my set, I'll be doing so. It misses out on gibbing Roselia, but Taunt works swell for that. :toast:
 
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skylight

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Time to vote for the best set. Beware that this is the last time you'll be voting as this is the last round of Next Best Thing, so in the future you can use the np thread to discuss cool new sets for stuff, or explore stuff in Research Groups. It's been p cool that it's been able to stay active since March buuut it's passed its used by date, so~
 
Now, Infernis has 666 messages. :D. I think his set (e so that Soulgazer, it's the same for less than item) is quite good. I vote both.
 
infernis I guess since every set is just throwing taunt, toxic or both on. And subs here and there but w/e

also rip nbt the one pc++ thread to rule them all
 

termi

bike is short for bichael
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hey wait a sec why does this have to stop? I like it. :c

No I'm not gonna vote, every set sucks, fuck Sawk, yadda yadda yadda
 
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