Mamoswine, the Twin Tusk Pokémon. A frozen Mamoswine was dug from ice dating back 10,000 years. This Pokémon has been around a long, long, long time. A frozen one was dug up from soil dating back 10,000 years. It woke up, to much amazement.
Overview
Ever since its introduction in fourth generation, Mamoswine brings the offensive potential of its typing to full fruition. Ice and Ground are already fantastic offensive STABs to have in the first place and together are incredibly complimentary, with Ice striking down the Ground immune Flying types and resistant Grass types, while Ground STAB ruins the Ice resistant Fire and Steel types. Altogether the two types hit over half the type chart for super effective with very few type/ability combinations able to safely resist it. Something many opponents would love to given Mamoswine’s massive base 130 Attack means taking an unresisted hit a risk affair. Mamoswine is also quite fast for an Ice type, sitting at a solid base 80 with STAB priority Ice Shard and Trailblaze doing wonders in patching it up.
Despite the terror of Mamoswine’s its defenses lend credence to a possible extinction. Ice-Ground for all of its fearsome offensive potential boasts only a resistance to Poison and immunity to Electric to contrast a whopping six weaknesses. If it wasn’t for the possibility of Thick Fat, Mamoswine would be all but devoid of defensive utility. Mamoswine’s defensive stats don’t paint a pretty picture either. While Base 110 HP with 80 Defense is quite solid, Mamoswine still goes down quickly due to its lack of resistances. 60 Special Defense however, completely undercuts what little bulk Mamoswine could claim to have. With all these issues, a merely average base 80 Speed leaves Mamoswine looking quite exposed to offensive staples if not running measures to address its Speed. These flaws don’t negate Mamoswine’s excellence and if freezing offense is what you desire, Mamoswine can muscle through the greatest of walls and storms.
Positives
Base 130 Attack is immense, allowing Mamoswine to hit incredibly hard from the word go.
Base 110 HP and 80 defense offers Mamoswine some decent physical bulk.
Ice-Ground typing is near peerless offensively, with absurdly wide coverage and no common resistances.
Negatives
Ice-Ground typing is near worthless defensively with only an immunity to speak of contrasting a whopping 6 weaknesses.
Base 60 Special Defense is quite bad, further worsening Mamoswine’s defensive woes.
Base 80 speed is rather poor against offensive threats.
Movesets
Mammoth Offense
-Earthquake
-Icicle Crash
-Stone Edge
-Ice Shard
Ability: Thick Fat
Item: Choice Band
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
This set takes Mamoswine’s power to its logical conclusion, bulldozing over every wall in its path with overwhelming power thanks to Mamoswine’s insane STABs, Attack and the immediate boost of Choice Band. Earthquake is primary STAB for its higher initial power and reliability it is great at ripping holes into anything that doesn’t resist it, while completely removing defensive staples like Fezandipiti, Skeledirge, Cobalion and Toxapex, as well as other sturdy attackers like Metagross, and Tyranitar. Icicle Crash, while slightly unreliable, is wonderful for punishing would be Flying and Grass switch ins looking to absorb an Earthquake like Salamence, Hydrapple, Zarude, Thundurus-Therian, and Galarian-Zapdos. The wide range of coverage these moves boast together ensures few safe switch ins, putting an opponent in a position where they must make a good prediction or sacrifice something. Stone Edge further compounds the pressure, handling the rare Ice resistant Bug types like Araquanid as well as Rotom-Wash which are some of the few Pokémon that can stomach Mamoswine’s terrifying STAB combination. Being the best option for muscling through Avalugg is a nice bonus. Ice Shard is last but certainly not least, giving Mamoswine valuable utility against normally faster offensive targets, allowing it to pick up crucial knockouts and maintain momentum even against more offensive teams.
Tera Types:
With how horrendous Ice-Ground is defensively, Mamoswine is unsurprisingly rather Tera hungry, terastalizing to survive otherwise lethal blows. What may be surprising is that Choice Band Mamoswine prefers to offensively Terastalize to Ice. This greatly helps Mamoswine, making Icicle Crash incredibly difficult to switch into unlike the much more easy to play around Earthquake as well as push Ice Shard to dangerous levels. With a boosted Icicle Crash, even targets as bulky as Skarmory and Corviknight are guaranteed to be2HKOd as well as Air Balloon Steel types like Gholdengo and Revavroom. With the base power and Terastalization boost, Ice Shard hits absurd levels of power as well 2HKOing even neutral targets like Excadrill, Gyarados, and Kleavor. Other Tera types are more defensive in nature. Tera Ghost is popular for the Fighting and Normal immunities it supplies, prevent Mamoswine from being outprioritized with its Ice Shard as well as blocking Rapid Spin. Tera Grass pairs wonderfully with Thick Fat, leaving Mamoswine with relatively uncommon weaknesses to Bug, Poison and Flying while gaining a bevy of valuable resistances, including to opposing Grass and Water types that threatened it before.
EVs and Items:
As with many Choice attackers, Max Speed and Attack are recommended for Mamoswine. Mamoswine needs to hit as hard as possible while outspeeding as many Pokémon as possible. While the speed boost from Jolly is attractive, without Adamant, Mamoswine can’t guarantee the OHKO on Toxapex, while the roll against Sinistcha and offensive Excadrill are very much in their favor. To say nothing of missing the potential 2HKO on Skarmory. With Jolly the only things Mamoswine meaningfully outruns are Jolly Metagross and Adamant Slitherwing. Choice Band is the name sake of the set and is a large part of what makes Mamoswine so deadly, with the instant power boost making Mamoswine’s hits impossible to ignore.
Partners:
While Mamoswine is fantastic are compromising opposing walls through sheer power, its many weaknesses often require robust allies to tank what Mamoswine can’t. Latios makes an excellent partner in this regard, resisting everything Mamoswine is weak to except Steel, making it a good pivot option when Mamoswine needs to get out of there, while adoring Mamoswine’s ability to bust through common sponges like Tyranitar and Assault Vest Tornadus-Therian.
One of the more difficult aspects of Mamoswine is getting it in safely given its non-existent defensive profile. Pivots like the aforementioned Latios as well as Keldeo and Fezandipiti are fantastic in this regard. Keldeo resists Water and Steel and can draw in Electric attackers like Sandy Shocks or Thundurus-Therian that provide one of the few ins that Mamoswine can exploit. Fezandipiti conversely is a generally good pivot with Toxic Chain great for compromising Rotom-Wash and Avalugg, some of the few walls that can reliably tank Mamoswine’s hits.
Physical attackers like Revavroom, Lokix and Maushold all value Mamoswine’s ability to draw in and compromise physical walls they can’t break through like Skarmory, while they are the fast attackers needed to come in to revenge knock out whatever took Mamoswine down.
Other Options:
Knock Off remains an excellent move that is fantastic damage and disruption all in one package.
If running an item that allows for move flexibility, Smack Down is a cute technique that can punish Skarmory or Rotom-Wash switching in, exposing them to Mamoswine’s deadly Earthquake.
Oblivious is a valuable option for nullifying the effects of Intimidate, though Mamoswine is truly starved for resistances otherwise without Thick Fat.
Doubles and VGC Options
Mamoswine’s history in doubles is difficult to talk about without mentioning the world cup under its belt. Sadly, that was back in the fifth generation before rampant power creep truly took hold and Mamoswine was uniquely strong for that particular format due to the domination of Tornadus, Thundurus and Landurus. Not to say that Mamoswine’s offense still isn’t valued. Ice and Ground’s uniquely wide coverage deals with numerous prominent threats in Doubles like Incineroar, Gholdengo, Ursaluna-Bloodmoon, Dragonite, Rillaboom, and Archaludon just to name a few. Add in an immunity to Intimidate thanks to Oblivious and Mamoswine’s power is just as hard to resist as it was that long ago. However, Mamoswine’s nonexistent defensive profile and poor Special Defense make it laughably easy to remove. An awkward base 80 Speed falls short of other staples like Rillaboom and Archaludon, who while not usually running max Speed, still mandate speed investment or support. This exasperates Mamoswine’s bulk issues since it cannot fully invest in defenses due to this speed requirement. To say nothing of Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain ruining Mamoswine’s Earthquake, or Calyrex-Ice Rider wholly outclassing Mamoswine in restricted formats.
Turbo Shrimp
-Icicle Crash
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Ice Shard
Ability: Choice Scarf
Item: Life Orb
Tera Type: Ghost/Ground
EVs and Nature:
4 HP /252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
Choice Scarf Mamoswine is a terrifying attacker, having addressed its poor speed and with its immunity to Intimidate is more than capable of laying waste to anything in its path. Icicle Crash is quite amazing at this, downing fearsome Dragon types like Dragapult, Garchomp, Hydreigon that often form a team’s offensive backbone while defensive pieces like Amoonguss, Rillaboom, and Sinistcha want nothing to do with Mamoswine’s primary Ice STAB either. Mamoswine boasts one of the strongest non-restricted Earthquakes in the game, the STAB boost doing a lot to make up for the attack drop and allowing Mamoswine to quickly spread damage. Rock Slide is another doubles staple and one Mamoswine will happily wield, synergizing nicely with Choice Scarf to nab a lot of critical flinches. Ice Shard, while seemingly redundant with Choice Scarf is still valuable in placing the hurt on frail speedsters with Speed support such as Unburden Sneasler, Scarf Garchomp, and more, allowing Mamoswine to pick up knock outs when needed.
Max Speed and Attack investment are recommended. Adamant is preferred for power while still allowing Mamoswine to outspeed neutral natured Dragapult without resorting to Ice Shard and thus by extension, nearly every unboosted threat. Tera Ghost is preferred for shoring up Mamoswine’s matchup against Incineroar and Rillaboom, preventing their super effective STABs from OHKOing it and preventing Fake Out cycling from suppressing Mamoswine on top of preventing Sneasler from annihilating Mamoswine with Close Combat. Tera Ground for boosting Ground STAB is also quite attractive, allowing Earthquake to OHKO all but the physically bulkiest of Incineroars while enabling High Horsepower to cleave right through Archaludon and Torkoal.
Preferred Partners:
For sets running Earthquake, having a partner unaffected by Ground attacks is imperative for Mamoswine to use its Ground STAB without knocking out its partner. Kilowattrel is an excellent example of this, able to run Discharge for double spread spam on top of threatening the Grass, Water and Fighting types that give Mamoswine trouble. Pelipper is another good partner, addressing Mamoswine’s Fire weakness and rain teams like Mamoswine for its excellent matchup into opposing Archaludon.
High Horsepower is a strong alternative to Earthquake that doesn’t hit allies or get weakened by Grassy Terrain, while OHKOing frailer Incineroar from the get go.
Icicle Spear and Loaded Dice is a more reliable Ice STAB option that can break through the Focus Sash users like Sneasler, and Whimsicott.
If not running a Choice item, Protect is a solid option for the endless utility it provides in Doubles..
Countering Mamoswine
Mamoswine’s overwhelming power is absurdly difficult to keep in check, though the same cannot be said about its defenses.
Checking Banded Mamoswine defensively is as herculean a task as challenging an actual mammoth, thanks to Mamoswine’s absurd coverage with its STABs alone. Physically defensive Rotom-Wash is possibly the best option, being immune to Earthquake, resistant to Icicle Crash and merely 3HKO’d by Stone Edge, while threatening an OHKO back with Hydro Pump or simply ruining Mamoswine with Will-O-Wisp. Avalugg also does well, only fearing Stone Edge which is still a 3HKO while solidly 2HKOing with Body Press. Air Balloon Steel types like Gholdengo and Revavroom can also work given their resistance to Ice and able to freely pivot onto Earthquake but need that Balloon intact to safely pivot in. Otherwise, bulky Water types like Dondozo, Alomomola and Slowbro also do quite well though are still 3HKO’d by Banded Earthquake.
Most of these checks also work against non-Banded Mamoswine, though Rotom-Wash must be wary of the rare Smack Down, though the Air Balloon Steel types do much worse when Mamoswine can switch moves.
Checking Mamoswine offensively is a far simpler task given its unimpressive speed, horrendous special bulk and laundry list of weaknesses. Speedy oriented Water types are particularly troublesome given their resistance to Ice Shard. Keldeo, Greninja, and Manaphy are shining offensive examples that crush Mamoswine as does Timid Specs Basculegion. Other attackers like Ogerpon-Cornerstone, Zarude, Latios, and Galarian-Zapdos also outrun and OHKO, but want nothing to do with Ice Shard and thus require Terastalization to make up the difference. This is of course, assuming a healthy Mamoswine. Any chip damage from Spikes and/or Stealth Rock, and the list expands immensely to the point there are too many to list.
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:
Evolve Piloswine
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Piloswine
Black/White:
Giant Chasm
Black 2/White 2:
Giant Chasm
X/Y:
Evolve Piloswine
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Trade from X/Y
Sun/Moon:
Evolve Piloswine
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Evolve Piloswine
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Slippery Slope
Max Raid Battles: Stony Wilderness, Slippery Slope, Snowslide Slope, Frigid Sea
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Evolve Piloswine
Legends: Arceus:
Alabaster Icelands: Avalugg's Legacy or nearby
Alabaster Icelands: Massive Mass Outbreak
Scarlet/Violet:
Evolve Piloswine
Tera Raid Battles: 5 Star Raid Battles, 6 Star Raid Battles
Legends: Z-A:
Not in game
Anime Appearences
