Mudsdale, The Draft Horse Pokémon. It spits a mud that provides resistance to both wind and rain, so the walls of old houses were often coated with it. Its heavy, mud-covered kicks are its best means of attack, and it can reduce large trucks to scrap without breaking a sweat. It remains calm and unmoving no matter the situation. It mixes dirt with the saliva in its mouth to make a special kind of mud. It can trudge mountain roads without rest for three days and three nights, all the while dragging a 10-ton load.
Overview
Adding to the criminally short list of horse Pokemon, Mudsdale has the stats and importantly the ability to be a powerhouse in the lower tiers. With some solid bulk and Stamina combined with a Ground typing and high Attack to threat targets, Mudsdale is a Pokemon to always consider in lower tiers while teambuilding.
Positives
Bulky Pivot - Stamina combined with 100 base Health and Defense makes Mudsdale a potent Pokemon for more balanced and offensive teams. Mudsdale is also one of the best Stealth Rock setters in lower tiers due to this fact, and its decent 85 Special Defense allows Mudsdale to go head to head with a lot of hazard control Pokemon. Finally 125 base Attack is nothing to scoff at as even uninvested and with STAB on Earthquake, Mudsdale can catch Pokemon off guard with its potent damage.
Negatives
Lack of Recovery - A lack of recovery is one of the major issues that holds Mudsdale back from being a Pokemon that can box up higher tiers. This combined with Stamina needing to be hit with a move to activate makes it hard for Mudsdale to truly shine as a pivot or wall, as it has to lean on recovery through Leftovers. This with Mudsdale being slow compared to a Ground pivot such as Landorus Therian means it will always get hit by offensive threats possibly twice and can be outpaced by other walls, thus leaving it vulnerable to Toxic
Abilities
Inner Focus - Prevents flinching - Overall sub par especially when Stamina is an option in Singles at least, this has more use in Doubles with Fake Out being common but it's still not very worthwhile.
Own Tempo - Prevents Confusion - Confusion isn't really common in Singles and as such is sub par
Stamina - Raises Defense by 1 stage when hit with a move - This is a great ability overall and helps Mudsdale be a great pivot especially with physical threats, making it fairly reliable to switch into these threats.
Movesets
Defensive
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock
-Rock Slide / Protect
-Toxic
Item Attached: Leftovers / Figy Berry
Ability: Stamina
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpDef
Impish Nature
With Earthquake as your primary attack due to STAB, Mudsdale can pressure out a lot of other bulky Rock and Steel threats such as Silvally, and can look for switch ins against Pokemon such as Skuntank with relative ease. Stealth Rock allows Mudsdale to support the team with the pressure it brings and its ability to sponge hits well. Rock Slide enters as a second attacking option but Protect can take the spot to stall for Leftovers or pair with Toxic. Toxic takes the last slot as an option to cripple bulky water types and flying types that Mudsdale loses to without Rock Slide.
Mudsdale prefers a fully defensive spread so that it can reliably tank hits from as many threats as possible, with an Impish nature helping its physical bulk further. Leftovers is also necessary since it lacks recovery otherwise.
Other Options
Choice Band - With high attack and a tendency to be bulky, Choice Band Mudsdale can be a rough surprise for the opponent as their switch-in is 2HKOed.
Possible Partners
Bulky Waters - With its good bulk and Electric immunity, bulky waters such as Jellicent and Poliwrath are great options. Jellicent makes a more balanced core with Mudsdale but can help its overall bulk with Will-O-Wisp and Scald to burn threats or spread some Toxic that Protect Mudsdale can abuse. Poliwrath is a more bulky offensive option as it gets a free switch into Water-types with Water Absorb to heal and abuse items such as Assault Vest or Choice Band well.
Countering Mudsdale
Abomasnow - Never did I think Abomasnow would end up here but it checks Mudsdale very well. Grass typing to gain resistance to Earthquake and solid 92 in each Attack stat combined with insane coverage makes it a potent, albeit niche threat. Abomasnow's Snow Warning also gives it access to Blizzard which not much wants to eat. It does need to watch out for the occasional Rock-type coverage but without investment this won't hurt Abomasnow too bad, especially if it's running Giga Drain to heal it off anyway.
Rotom Frost - Similar to Abomasnow but with an immunity to Earthquake due to Levitate, Rotom Frost can KO Mudsdale with Blizzard. It is a bit more unreliable though due to not having Snow Warning to buff Blizzard's accuracy.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game.
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game.
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game.
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game.
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game.
Black/White:
Not in game.
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game.
X/Y:
Not in game.
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Not in game.
Sun/Moon:
Poni Wilds
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Route 12, Blush Mountain, Poni Wilds
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game.
Animé Appearences