Mawile in SoulGold: Huge Power at 75, then Mega Mawile hits twice

Mega Mawile is the hardest-hitting thing I’ve ever put in a slot with 50 base Speed. Huge Power doubles its Attack, and from Lv 75 Dual Strike makes every single-target attack hit a second time. You get it early, too. The Fairytite is a gift on Route 30.

Why Mawile is broken

Huge Power doubles the power of physical moves. On Mega Mawile that’s the ability itself, so it works at every level, on a 105 base Attack. Dual Strike is a custom innate that uses the same code as Parental Bond. Single-target attacks hit twice, and the second hit does 25% of the first.

Dual Strike follows Parental Bond’s rules. Status moves don’t double, two-turn moves don’t double, and a spread move that hits two or more targets doesn’t double either. On Hard, where the big fights are doubles, aim at one target.

Strong Jaw comes at Lv 95. It boosts biting moves by 50%. That’s the same size as STAB, and it stacks with STAB, but it isn’t STAB. Mawile’s bites (Crunch, the three Fangs, Psychic Fangs) are all off-type, so Strong Jaw gives them STAB-sized power without making them STAB.

Here’s the ladder for both forms:

• Base Mawile ability: Hyper Cutter, Intimidate, or Sheer Force (hidden).
• Base Mawile innates: Huge Power at 75, Consume at 85, Strong Jaw at 95.
• Mega Mawile ability: Huge Power, at every level.
• Mega Mawile innates: Dual Strike at 75, Consume at 85, Strong Jaw at 95.

Consume heals half your max HP for each foe you knock out. On something that hits this hard, that triggers a lot.

The Mega Mawile set

Move	Why
Play Rough	Fairy STAB. Learned at Lv 48, or TM98 from the Rinto Village Mart.
Iron Head	Steel STAB. Learned at Lv 36, or from the Olivine City tutor.
Sucker Punch	Priority to pick off faster threats. Learned at Lv 20 or as an egg move.
Power-Up Punch	Fighting coverage that raises Attack. Egg move only, from the Blackthorn City egg-move tutor.

Swords Dance from the Olivine tutor is the swap if you’d rather set up in one big turn. Fire Fang, Thunder Fang and Ice Fang are all tutor moves too. I’d add one of them once Mawile hits 95 and Strong Jaw is on. Fire Fang is the one I used, because Steel types otherwise sit on Play Rough. Crunch (Lv 28 or the tutor) is the other bite.

The Olivine City tutor is in the top-right house and costs 44,444 once. The Blackthorn City egg-move tutor costs 88,888 once. After paying, you teach moves from the summary screen.

Item: Fairytite. Mega Mawile needs it held, so the item slot is spoken for.

Nature and EVs: Adamant, 252 HP, 252 Attack, 4 Defense. I don’t put a single EV in Speed. At 50 base Speed it’s slow either way, so I’d rather it take a hit and then swing. Mints are at the Olivine beach café.

That 50 Speed is why I put Mega Mawile on my Trick Room team. If you build one, the Trick Room team guide has where it fits.

Where to catch Mawile

Mawile doesn’t evolve, so you catch it and Mega Evolve it.

Where	Level	Rate
Mt Mortar 2F	30 to 32	15%
Mt Mortar 1F South, 1F North, B1F	21 to 28	5%
Union Cave B1F	10 to 13	2%
Cliff Edge Cave (Rock Smash)	28 to 31	1%

Go to Mt Mortar 2F. It’s three times the rate of anywhere else. I spent a whole evening in Union Cave before I knew that. A wild Mawile can also hold an Iron Ball, rarely.

Here’s the full build:

1. Pick up the Fairytite from Mr. Pokémon’s house on Route 30. It’s a gift.
2. Get the Mega Ring from Prof. Oak after the Team Rocket takeover in Goldenrod.
3. Catch Mawile on Mt Mortar 2F.
4. Buy TM98 Play Rough at the Rinto Village Mart, or level Mawile to 48.
5. Pay the Olivine City tutor for Iron Head and the Fangs.
6. Pay the Blackthorn City egg-move tutor and teach Power-Up Punch. Sucker Punch is there too if you skipped it on the way up.
7. Give it the Fairytite and Mega Evolve on turn one.

The Fairytite isn’t Mawile-only. It also works for Clefable, Gardevoir, Altaria, Eternal Floette and Diancie, so pick which one gets it on your team.

When Mawile comes online

Mega Mawile’s Huge Power is on from the moment you Mega Evolve, at any level. That makes it a strong pick for the main story too, long before any innate matters.

Dual Strike needs Lv 75, and Strong Jaw needs 95. Base Mawile has to wait until 75 for Huge Power, which is why I’d always run the Mega. Title Defense challengers and the Elite Four rematches are Lv 85, so take Mega Mawile in at 85 and you have Huge Power, Dual Strike and Consume.

In the Battle Tower, Factory, Pyramid and Battle Café challenges, every innate is on at any level. Mega Evolution works there too, so a Lv 50 Mega Mawile in Classic mode has Huge Power and Dual Strike from the first battle. The two exceptions are the Battle Pyramid and the Rocket Arcade, which take your held items away, so no Mega Stone and no Mega. The only Mega you can run in those two is Mega Rayquaza in Chaos mode, because it needs no stone.

What beats Mawile

• Fire and Ground moves. Steel/Fairy takes double from both, and Mega Mawile’s 50 HP doesn’t hide it. Watch for Earthquake users in doubles.
• Intimidate and burns. Everything here runs off its Attack. A burn or two Intimidates cut the damage hard. Switch out and come back to reset the Intimidate drops.
• Priority blockers. Psychic Terrain, Dazzling, Queenly Majesty and Armor Tail stop Sucker Punch, and a faster ‘mon can then hit you first.
• Doubles spread. Spread moves that hit both foes don’t get the second hit. In Hard mode’s doubles, single-target moves do the work.

Head to Route 30 for the Fairytite first, then go catch your Mawile on Mt Mortar 2F.