Gen 5 Mantine [QC 1/1] [GP 0/1]

[Akir]

[OVERVIEW]

Mantine is a Pokemon with many wonderful things going for it on paper. Excellent defensive typing that can switch into Monferno and Swanna, a great defensive ability with Water Absorb, and supremely high SpDef all suggest a Pokemon that would find a niche in BW PU as a sought-after wall. Weakness to Stealth Rock and 4x weakness to Electric, lack of recovery outside of Rest and Leftovers, notable passiveness, and a mediocre support movepool unfortunately keep Mantine from achieving any true potential.

[SET]
name: Wall
move 1: Rest
move 2: Sleep Talk
move 3: Scald
move 4: Toxic / Hidden Power [Electric] / Air Slash
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Calm
evs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpDef

[SET COMMENTS]
Rest is for healing off any damage and status, and Sleep Talk is for making sure Mantine isn't too passive while Resting. Scald is the go-to STAB option for inflicting Burn, and the fourth moveslot has multiple options. Toxic is good for additional chip damage that want to be worn down more than what a Burn can achieve, but can be redundant with Scald's Burn. Hidden Power [Electric] is also a good pick for properly countering Water-types that Mantine wants to switch into such as Swanna and Golduck, and Air Slash is good as an alternate STAB for hitting Grass-types that may switch in such as Maractus or Vileplume. The EVs are to avoid a 2HKO from Life Orb Swanna's Hurricane, with the rest of the investment thrown into Defense to better take hits from threats like Monferno or Mawile.

Stealth Rock is a huge factor into whether or not Mantine can safely switch in to attacks. As such, hazard control like Tentacool or Natu are important partners to consider to make sure Stealth Rock doesn't ruin Mantine's ability to tank hits from Swanna or Monferno. Mantine also folds from Electric- or Rock-type attacks from common threats like Zebstrika or Rampardos, so a switch-in like Stunfisk or Torterra can also make for good partners. Mantine does have excellent role compression for being a switch-in for Monferno, Swanna, and Simisear, so teammates such as Bronzor, Marowak, or Vileplume also really appreciate having Mantine on the team. Mantine does heavily struggle with keeping itself healthy as well, so partners like Audino who can pass Wish or Vileplume who can heal status with Aromatherapy are also good partners. Physically defensive partners such as Bronzor or Vileplume also pair well with Mantine, as they can absrb the physical attacks pointed at Mantine while Mantine takes all of the special attacks and spread Burn.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/akir.231726/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bella.567483/
Grammar checked by:

 

[Bella]

[OVERVIEW]

Mantine is a Pokemon with many wonderful things going for it on paper. Excellent defensive typing that can switch into Monferno and Swanna, a great defensive ability with Water Absorb, and supremely high SpDef all suggest a Pokemon that would find a niche in BW PU as a sought-after wall. Weakness However, weakness to Stealth Rock, lack of recovery outside of Rest and Leftovers, and a mediocre support movepool unfortunately keep Mantine from achieving any true potential.
(Maybe potentially mention its crippling weakness to Electric-type attacks and its relative passivity too.)
[SET]
name: Wall
move 1: Rest
move 2: Sleep Talk
move 3: Scald
move 4: Toxic / Hidden Power [Electric] / Air Slash
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Calm
evs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpDef

[SET COMMENTS]
Rest is for healing off any damage and status, and Sleep Talk is for making sure Mantine isn't too passive while Resting. Scald is the go-to STAB option for inflicting Burn, and the fourth moveslot has multiple options. Toxic is good for additional chip damage that want to be worn down more than what a Burn can achieve, but can be redundant with Scald's Burn. Hidden Power [Electric] is also a good pick for properly countering Water-types that Mantine wants to switch into such as Swanna and Golduck, and Air Slash is good for hitting Grass-types that may switch in such as Maractus or Vileplume. (Mention how it allows Mantine to have an alternative STAB which can be situtationally useful) The EVs are to avoid a 2HKO from Life Orb Swanna's Hurricane, with the rest of the investment thrown into Defense to better take hits from threats like Monferno or Mawile.

Stealth Rock is a huge factor into whether or not Mantine can safely switch in to attacks. As such, hazard control like Tentacool or Natu are important partners to consider to make sure Stealth Rock doesn't ruin Mantine's ability to tank hits from Swanna or Monferno. Mantine also folds from Electric- or Rock-type attacks from common threats like Zebstrika or Rampardos, so a switch-in like Stunfisk or Torterra can also make for good partners. Mantine does have excellent role compression for being a switch-in for Monferno, Swanna, and Simisear, so teammates such as Bronzor, Marowak, or Vileplume also really appreciate having Mantine on the team. Mantine does heavily struggle with keeping itself healthy as well, so partners like Audino who can pass Wish or Vileplume who can heal status with Aromatherapy are also good partners.
(Maybe mention PsyDef walls like Plume or whatever it can make a pretty stellar defensive backbone with. Also mention that since the chance of a Scald Burn can deter Physical Attackers like Maro or Shiftry coming in, Pokemon checked by these two and others like having mantine around to spread burn / tox on them)
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/akir.231726/]]
- Quality checked by: [[name, id], [name, id]]
- Grammar checked by: [[name, id]]

Pretty simple mon to write about, 1/2!
GP Team