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A monoid in the category of endofunctors
[OVERVIEW]
Having near-exclusive access to Unaware allows Pyukumuku to carve a niche for itself on stall teams by shutting down setup attackers. This ability combined with Pyukumuku's monstrous natural bulk allows it to shut down both physical and special setup attackers. Its niche over Quagsire is exchanging the ability to deal direct damage for the ability to take significantly less damage from neutral hits, and this allows it to function exceptionally well on stall builds that aim to take advantage of a large number of Protect users to stall for Toxic damage and PP as well as certain entry hazard stacking stall teams. However, the competition it faces from both Ditto and the aforementioned Quagsire is a notable consideration when building stall teams, which face a lot of issues in the current metagame due to the sheer number of very powerful wallbreakers like Meloetta. In addition, its inability to deal any direct damage outside of Counter and Bide makes it very vulnerable to Taunt.
[SET]
name: Unaware Wall
move 1: Recover
move 2: Toxic
move 3: Soak
move 4: Protect / Counter
item: Leftovers
ability: Unaware
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpD
ivs: 0 Atk
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
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Recover allows Pyukumuku to restore its health reliably, which is important both for stalling Pokemon out with Toxic and for taking on setup attackers consistently. Toxic gives Pyukumuku some offensive presence, allowing it to spread poison across the opposing team and put Steel- and Poison-types on a timer in tandem with Soak. In addition to this, Soak can be used to remove the STABs of various Pokemon, helping Pyukumuku take them on. Protect is the preferred fourth move, as it helps Pyukumuku stall for PP, Toxic damage, and Leftovers recovery, which in turn increases its consistency at stalling. However, Counter is also an option to allow it to increase the speed with which it removes physical attackers, most notably being useful versus Poison-types like Drapion and Garbodor, which can otherwise cause issues for Pyukumuku when paired with a second Poison- or Steel-type Pokemon to nullify Soak's usefulness by absorbing Toxic in their stead, as well as Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary to a lesser extent.
Set Details
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The listed EV spread aims to maximize physical bulk, aiming for a jump point in Defense instead of investing fully, which, in turn, allows it to beef up its Special Defense stat slightly in order to take on special attackers like Calm Mind Meloetta with more consistency. More specially defensive spreads are also options if you need Pyukumuku to take on other special setup sweepers more consistently. Unaware allows Pyukumuku to shut down setup attackers with ease, being preferred over Innards Out due to it encouraging longevity to take on multiple setup Pokemon in a game rather than just one. Leftovers allows Pyukumuku to restore HP passively throughout the match, which is useful when stalling Pokemon out and is preferable to recovery berries due to the large number of turns Pyukumuku tends to stay on the field.
Usage Tips
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Switch Pyukumuku in on physical attackers that struggle to break it as well as setup sweepers. Ensure that Pyukumuku is as healthy as possible at all times by regularly using Recover, frequently healing it using Wish, avoiding taking Toxic wherever possible, and always ensuring that you clear said status from it as soon as possible with a cleric; that said, it may be worth leaving a potential burn active to prevent it from being hit with Toxic. Toxic should be used a lot, but make sure to try and catch Poison- and Steel-types with Soak as they switch in so that they don't have a spare turn before being hit with Toxic. When stalling an opponent out, you should alternate between Soak and Toxic in no discernible pattern until Pyukumuku is forced to use Recover. That said, if Pyukumuku carries Protect, it is better to alternate between that and said moves in order to condition your opponent, potentially aiming to catch them with a stray Toxic as they switch out expecting a Protect.
Team Options
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Defog users like Golbat are immensely useful for their ability to clear entry hazards, which prevents them from pressuring stall due to its tendency to switch a lot; similarly, grounded Poison-types like Drapion are also useful for their ability to clear Toxic Spikes for Pyukumuku. Conversely, Stealth Rock and Spikes from users like Steelix, Garbodor, and Ferroseed are useful for their ability to pressure switches, which capitalizes on Pyukumuku's tendency to force a lot of them. Similarly, Toxic Spikes users like Weezing, specially defensive Drapion, and the aforementioned Garbodor are useful to help spread poison across the opposing team, as are other Toxic users like Steelix and Golbat. Clerics like Aromatisse and Miltank are useful for their ability to clear Toxic from Pyukumuku, allowing it to continue stalling later in the match, and Wish users like Audino and the aforementioned Aromatisse help to keep Pyukumuku healthy throughout the match. Pursuit users like Drapion, Spiritomb, and Sneasel can trap and eliminate threats to stall such as Meloetta and Mismagius, with the former in particular causing issues for Pyukumuku teams due to its access to Taunt alongside Nasty Plot, allowing it to turn Pyukumuku into a liability.
Bulky setup sweepers like Calm Mind Spiritomb, Calm Mind Slowbro, and Bulk Up Braviary can function as win conditions for stall teams. Specially bulky Pokemon like Golbat and Togetic can help cover the special attackers that Pyukumuku covers less consistently. Similarly, stops to Grass-types like Golbat, specially defensive Drapion, and Sap Sipper Miltank are useful to help take on Grass-types like Sceptile and Lilligant.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Mental Herb is an option that allows Pyukumuku to use Toxic against Taunt users like Mismagius. Bide is an alternative to Counter that covers both physical and special attackers, but the locking effect makes it easy to take advantage of by Pokemon that can OHKO Pyukumuku, such as Rotom-C and Sceptile. Purify is a gimmick that allows Pyukumuku to clear burns and regular poison from foes while also healing Pyukumuku by 50% of its max HP in the process, allowing it to use Toxic versus them and severely limit Machamp's capabilities after its Flame Orb has been knocked off.
Innards Out alongside 0 IVs in both defenses and a Hasty or Naive nature is a gimmick that allows Pyukumuku to function on offensive teams as a means of removing or severely weakening dangerous Pokemon like Sceptile. However, the set is useless outside of being death fodder, meaning that games where it is used are functionally five versus six. In addition, its low base HP means it often fails to OHKO a lot of Pokemon, and its high defenses mean that it often isn't OHKOed from full health regardless. Furthermore, the uselessness of Unaware sets on offense makes it obvious on team preview, and as such it is easy to play around.
Checks and Counters
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**Taunt and Substitute**: Taunt users like Mismagius, Golbat, Sableye, and Weezing are capable of completely shutting Pyukumuku down on the spot due to its lack of access to direct attacking moves. Substitute blocks Pyukumuku's attempts to hit something with Toxic and consequently renders it useless due to having no way to damage Substitutes outside of the unreliable Counter.
**Multiple Toxic Immunities**: Stacking multiple Posion- and Steel-types onto one team makes using the Soak + Toxic combination much more dependent on mindgames, shutting down Pyukumuku's ability to have any offensive presence.
**Grass- and Electric-types**: Strong Grass-types like Lilligant, Rotom-C, Virizion, and Sceptile are capable of severely denting Pyukumuku with their super effective STAB attacks. Similarly, strong Electric-types like Rotom and the aforementioned Rotom-C pose as major threats to Pyukumuku.
**Strong Special Attackers**: Strong neutral hits from special attackers like Meloetta, Sigilyph, Nasty Plot Toxicroak, and Vivillon take advantage of Pyukumuku's lower Special Defense to deal heavy damage to it.
**Super Effective Coverage**: Pokemon like Emboar, Vivillon, and Magmortar commonly carry Grass- or Electric-type coverage moves,which allow them to hit Pyukumuku super effectively. Vanilluxe and Aurorus have access to STAB Freeze Dry, which allows them to eliminate Pyukumuku without worrying about their stronger Ice-type STAB moves being taken advantage of.
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