Countering Mawile in Pokemon GO

Mawile, the Deceiver Pokemon, was added to Pokemon GO with the rest of the Pokemon from the Hoenn region. Being a pure Steel type when originally debuting back in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Mawile has received a buff in the addition of the Fairy typing in Pokemon X and Y and every other Pokemon game since.

Mawile's excellent defensive typing of Steel and Fairy can prove quite troublesome for most players. Due to the current state of Pokemon GO's metagame being dominated by Steel-type Pokemon, players are certain to run into a Mawile at some point.

Knowing how to counter Mawile may just be the deciding factor for winning or losing a battle. Learning everything from Mawile's stats to the few weaknesses of its types can be very helpful when going against it.

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Mawile in Pokemon GO: Strengths and weaknesses

Mawile's biggest strength in Pokemon GO is its incredible defensive typing. Adding the Fairy-typing to a Steel-type Pokemon covers its most common weakness, Fighting. Mawile is also one of the few Pokemon to directly receive a buff back in 2019. This buff gave Mawile a plethora of new coverage options in Fire Fang, Ice Fang, and Power-Up Punch. Having Power-Up Punch also means that Mawile has a way to boost its attack stat.

Luckily, this is where Mawile's strengths in Pokemon GO end. Mawile's usage is solely granted thanks to its typing, as the rest of its stats are very lackluster, with the highest being 155 in attack. Mawile also has a defense stat of 141 and a stamina stat of 137, making it incredibly frail.

Another significant weakness of Mawile's in Pokemon GO is its lack of a powerful, fast attack. While it does have useful coverage in Ice Fang as it protects against Ground-types, Mawile lacks the option of having a Steel or Fairy-type fast attack to deal good damage with. While this gives Mawile unpredictability, it makes Mawile lack consistent and reliable power.

While Mawile's typing is incredible defensively, it still has two weaknesses: Fire and Ground-type attacks. A Pokemon like Excadrill can easily take care of Mawile even with Ice Fang, as it can simply overpower Mawile before it has the chance to deal any serious damage. Even better, a Pokemon like Arcanine or Rapidash completely checks Mawile. It has no moves that deal any super-effective damage to them and lacks the attack stat to deal any severe damage with neutral attacks.

While Mawile in Pokemon GO can appear daunting to some players, battling one is an entirely different story. Players facing Mawile only have to worry about if they currently have a Dragon-type Pokemon on the field and cannot switch them out.