I think Marowak is an easy Pokemon to evaluate from a theoretical perspective. It’s a mediocre attacker, with a decent STAB backed by a poor Attack stat. Its mono-Ground typing and decent physical bulk give it some defensive utility, but its special bulk is disastrously bad. Its movepool gives it some decent attacking options, but unfortunately it struggles to find value in them as it’s a poor mixed attacker, while it doesn’t have any other support options. My theoretical analysis labels it a bad, unviable Pokemon, but a clear step above dregs like Golbat and Beedrill.
But of course, theory can only get you so far, so I sought to test Marowak. I was actually looking forward to it, as Marowak’s potential defensive utility sets it apart from every other trashmon I’ve tested thus far. Specifically, as a mono-Ground type it can take on Rhydon, while its Ground immunity comes in handy against Electrics. There are of course caveats to that, in that its matchups against them are generally more dicey than you’d like, but it still helps a lot.
As for what it does offensively, it’s nothing special. STAB EQ is nice, even though Marowak’s ATK leaves a lot to be desired. It also has some mixed attacking options, though its abysmal Special stat limits their damage output. It also doesn’t have a way to hit Starmie effectively, as its EQs are Recovered off and the only other threat it poses is potential Body Slam paralysis. So what did my team look like, now that I finally was testing a Pokemon that offers defensive utility?
Teambuilding
Firstly, Marowak’s set. Earthquake, Body Slam and Blizzard are obvious choices here. Body Slam gives you the potential to paralyse, most notably against Starmie. Blizzard is your best damaging option against Exeggutor and Zapdos, so is an easy addition. Earthquake is also an easy choice, although Marowak does have the option of using Bonemerang, which is less accurate but hits twice for the same total power. This would actually be a neat selling point, except a single Bonemerang hit is insufficient to break a Rhydon Substitute which is the main use case for a multi-hit move. This makes EQ objectively superior.
As for Marowak’s last slot, I found that surprisingly tricky. There are a few options:
- Counter. This is by far the most potent remaining move in Marowak’s arsenal, however many Counter targets have ways around it, for instance Tauros can just use Blizzard. This relegates it purely to catching Hyper Beams and walling mono-Lax
- Fire Blast. This might seem tempting, but its only actual use case is against Articuno. Bugs aren’t relevant, Grass types are hit by Blizzard anyway, and the only Ice types hit super effectively are Jynx and Articuno, with the former being hit harder by EQ.
- Substitute. This tends to appear on the sets Ground types in RBY, and there’s no reason Marowak can’t use it either. However, I wasn’t able to find any specific scenarios where it benefits from Substitute, as most Pokemon can easily break its Subs.
- Bubble beam. This move may seem like a joke, but I genuinely think it’s one of Marowak’s better options, for one simple reason; it’s much better than Blizzard at 2HKOing Rhydon (93.8% chance vs 17.3%).
- Headbutt. I considered this because it could potentially be useful against paralysed opponents due to its flinch chance. However I dismissed this option as it’s way too weak for a strategy as unreliable as ParaFlinch to be worth it
- Leer or Tail Whip. These are niche options on Rhydon, so it makes sense to consider them here… except it’s also worth considering that Marowak’s competition includes Sandslash, which has Swords Dance, a FAR better option serving a similar purpose.
I initially decided Bubble beam would be best, as I was unimpressed by all other options. Bubble beam is effective within its use case, but absolutely terrible otherwise, giving basically anything not named Rhydon a free switch in. I eventually tried Counter as well- I was inspired by Tarvold’s review of Nidoqueen, figuring that Counter could give Marowak an extra dimension of utility. Ultimately I ended up sticking with Bubble beam though.
I paired Marowak with Zapdos, on the basis that it could exploit many of Marowak’s checks, while Marowak in turn can help vs some of Zapdos’ checks like Rhydon and Jolteon. This was of course, paired with the 3 Normals. I also decided on Starmie in the lead slot, with Blizzard/Thunderbolt coverage- if available it can help vs physical attackers and Water types.
Tauros is standard, while Lax is Reflect/IB. I considered different coverage for Tauros but decided it wasn’t worth it, while Ref/IB is just an insanely solid Lax set. I run that Lax set too much tbh, it’s probably a bad habit (and it’s also exploitable if you’re counterteaming me). Chansey meanwhile is Sing/Seismic Toss. I opted for SToss over Ice Beam as SToss’ consistent damage means I don’t have to depend entirely on Zapdos against Water types.
That all gives me the team below. As always, you can find the importable here.
Results
The first thing I mentioned in this post is that I think Marowak is easy to evaluate, and honestly, I think I was dead on in my evaluation of it. It has some defensive utility, most notably against Electrics and Rhydon. One thing I overlooked is that it’s also decent into Gengar, and I would often use it as sleep fodder that that could heavily punish a miss. This tournament match against a fairly new player represents an idealised scenario where they also didn’t have an EQ resistance backing up Gengar.
However in most scenarios it struggles to achieve anything offensively, as its attacking power is mediocre and it has no other support options. This is especially notable in 2024, as both Exeggutor and Starmie maintain an exceptionally high usage rate in high level play. Marowak is bad, unfit for serious usage, but it’s also not remotely close to the bottom of the barrel.
I mentioned testing Counter Marowak and swapping back to Bubble Beam, and I’d like to clarify that. Bubble Beam is fairly simple, it has a valid use case against Rhydon, however the downside is that its damage is negligible vs everything else, making switching in trivial. My results with Counter though, were disastrous.
With low HP and solid DEF, Marowak is a terrible Counter user (if Snorlax Body Slam deals 31% with Body Slam, Counter will only deal 39% to Lax). Furthermore, the plan to switch into Hyper Beams cost me numerous games, as it’s an absurdly high risk strategy with limited application. Tauros is the only Pokemon that you If the opponent misses or they Body Slam instead, Marowak is likely dying. Its defensive flaws, plus the damage it likely took switching in, make it easy pickings for Tauros. People also seem to expect Marowak to try to absorb Hyper Beams, leading to countless wrong reads with this strategy, far more than I’d normally expect.
Another thing that’s worth noting is that many of Marowak’s defensive niches aren’t quite as ideal as you’d like. For Rhydon this is obvious- Marowak doesn’t resist Earthquake and consequently gets 3HKO’d, meaning it can only reliably switch in once. It still helps a lot, as it outspeeds Rhydon and deals significant damage, meaning even if prior chip damage means it dies before Rhydon, it can at least set up for a revenge kill.
Similarly, Marowak usually doesn’t actually beat Zapdos. Zapdos is faster and has an 85.9% chance to 4HKO with Drill Peck, while Marowak has a guaranteed 4HKO with Blizzard. However Marowak can usually switch in for free, and will generally trade with Zap while setting up for a revenge kill. Even if it lives, it likely won’t be good for much.
As you can expect, most of my battles where I got value out of Marowak featured it being a solid check to opposing Electrics, however it struggled to deal substantial damage in return. On my personal viability rankings, I have it placed below Venomoth, but in roughly the same tier.
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