Malamar the Overturning Pokémon. Its hypnotic powers are dangerously strong. Anyone who falls under Malamar's control loses their memories surrounding the event. It flashes the luminescent spots on its body to hypnotize its opponents, gaining total control over them.

Overview

One of the few Pokémon to get Contrary as a regular ability, Malamar has made a name for itself with it, getting an effective Bulk Up while attacking with Superpower, applying pressure and offense in a single move. The addition of Tera Stellar gives Malamar another boosting option, Tera Stellar Tera Blast giving Malamar another way to boost with guaranteed neutral coverage. The utility of Contrary doesn’t stop there, getting an attack boost from Intimidate and an obnoxious Evasion boost from Defog make Malamar a great answer into teams relying on such Pokémon as their physical walls and hazard clearers, making it easy to snowball out of control.

Getting the chance to escalate is a different matter entirely. Malamar’s stats are subpar across the board, with only its Attack stat approaching any semblance of being good. While Malamar isn’t exactly frail, its defenses leave a lot to be desired, with no reliable recovery to speak of and a poor base typing that offers nothing. These are defenses Malamar must rely on given its mediocre speed, leaving it outran by most offensive and even some defensive threats. Furthermore, while the payoff maybe impressive, Malamar’s opening attacks are far from it, especially given its boosting moves in Superpower and Tera Stellar Tera Blast are not STAB. Despite its eldritch inspirations, Malamar is a rather textbook case in its use of Contrary and speaks to the strength of that ability that it can carry Malamar to victory.
Positives
Contrary is an insane ability allowing Malamar to setup while attacking and punish common stat dropping tactics.
Base 92 Attack is usable especially with the ease that Malamar can setup and apply pressure with Contrary.

Negatives
Psychic Dark is woeful defensively, with no resistances to speak of, and common weaknesses to Fairy and U-Turn.
86/88/75 defenses are unimpressive without boosting and Malamar lacks the reliable recovery to make the most of them.
73 Speed is awkward, leaving Malamar outran by most offensive attackers.
Power is unimpressive until Malamar accrues several boosts.

Movesets

Scarf Squid

-Superpower
-Knock Off
-Psycho Cut
-Tera Blast
Ability: Contrary
Item: Choice Scarf
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Contrary allows Malamar to fulfill a rather contradictory role such as a Choice Scarfed setup sweeper, the Choice Scarf greatly alleviating Malamar's matchup against faster opponents. Superpower is Contrary Malamar's staple attack being powerful damage and Bulk Up in a single attack, allowing Malamar to overwhelm any physical attacker that isn't explicitly immune or resistant, given enough Superpower boosts. Knock Off compliments Superpower well, being a direct answer to the Fighting immune Ghosts and resistant Psychic types while being a very good move to select in general for the disruption item removal causes, keeping opponents guessing. Psycho Cut is secondary STAB, but it really is only being used for the bulky Fighting and Poison types that could tank Knock Off and Superpower, as well as being an option to Fairy types without Terastalizing. Tera Blast is explicitly for use with Tera Stellar as a secondary boosting option with perfect neutral coverage.

Tera Type:
As with any Contrary user, Tera Stellar is a potent option as Tera Stellar Tera Blast becomes a self-setup move and fantastic neutral coverage. Even if not going for Tera Stellar Tera Blast, Tera Stellar is still fantastic for giving Malamar a one-time boost, vital for revenge knock outs with its STABs and slightly alleviating the weakness of its initial Superpower. When looking away from Tera Stellar, Malamar is still rather Tera hungry with how poor its base typing is and how its best boosting move isn't even STAB. As this set is more hit and run offensive Teras are the way to go. Tera Fighting addresses at least the issue of power, turning Superpower into a proper STAB setup move, allowing it to escalate much faster.

EVs and Items:
As for any offensive choice Scarf user, Max Speed and Attack are highly recommended for Malamar to outrun as many targets as possible and KO them in as few moves as possible. There is the question of Jolly versus Adamant however. By dropping down to a netural speed Nature, Malamar no longer outruns the base 120s-130s it normally would with a Jolly nature including Inteleon, Kilowattrel, Ribombee and Jolteon. However, with Adamant, Malamar is more likely OHKO Pawmot, and 2HKO offensive Florges with Psycho Cut and 2HKO Specs Goodra, and Alolan Exeggutor with Knock Off. Choice Scarf is the namesake for the set, offering a badly needed balm to Malamar's speed.

Partners:
: Any hazard setter loves Malamar's anti-Defog tendencies in helping maintain hazards while Malamar loves the chip damage from Hazards making it so much easier for it to get knock outs. Golurk and Palossand are notable for being both a hazard setter and a Ghost type that denies Rapid Spin, offering great role compression and luring out opposing Defog users for Malamar to exploit. Other setters like Alolan Sandslash, Rhydon, Coalossal, and Qwilfish all make for god examples. Ghost types are also an important part of the equation thanks to their ability to deny Rapid Spin, and Malamar in turn loves the Dark and Normal types that check them as fodder for Superpower.

Other Options:
Rock Slide is a decent coverage option, especially given how Flying types would like to pivot into a predicted Superpower. Switcheroo is a staple on Choiced Pokémon, being a great way to shutdown a defensive backbone that would otherwise be able to suppress Malamar.

Sleeping Nightmare

-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Superpower
-Knock Off
Ability: Contrary
Item: Leftovers
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 164 SDef / 92 Spe
Careful Nature

RestTalk Malamar excels in inevitability, getting multiple boosts with Superpower, and recovering all damage with Rest, making it very difficult for physical attackers to win in a war of attrition, and allowing Malamar to flip the tables on weaker special attackers. Rest does a lot for Malamar, recovering HP and wiping away Poison and Burns that would ruin its longevity and offense. Sleep Talk ensures Malamar isn’t completely passive during Rest turns, and given how efficient Contrary Superpower and Knock Off are, even resisted hits mean Malamar is still making meaningful progress, making the randomness of Sleep Talk less of an issue. The longevity provided by Rest goes a long way in making Malamar more threatening as well, making it far easier to get multiple Superpowers off and keeping Malamar around longer for its anti Intimidate and Defog services.

Tera Type:
Malamar’s poor base typing makes it very reliant on Terastalization to make up the difference. Given this set is walled by Fairy types, Tera Poison and Tera Steel make up a bit of the difference, preventing them from easily striking down Malamar, allowing Malamar to accrue enough boosts to muscle through. Tera Poison is generally preferred since Malamar can cover Psychic types with Knock Off, as opposed to all of Steel’s weaknesses. Both typings resisting both of Malamar’s weaknesses is also invaluable in flipping what would be a lethal blow into middling damage. Tera Fairy is also decent, given the useful resistances it boasts.

EVs and Items:
This set is meant to maximize Malamar’s special bulk, since it cannot address that with Contrary Superpower unlike its Attack and Defense. The 92 Speed EVs allows Malamar to outrun lethal special attackers in Alolan Exeggutor, Florges and Vikavolt while the extra speed makes the matchup against uninvested Milotic far more in Malamar’s favor. Leftovers is recommended for the sheer longevity; this set is meant to stick around and the extra healing from Leftovers goes a long way in reducing the number of times Malamar needs to rest. Chesto Berry is also good for an instant one time wake up, and Sitrus Berry provides good burst healing if looking for alternatives.

Partners:
: Any hazard setter loves Malamar’s anti-Defog tendencies in helping maintain hazards while Malamar loves the chip damage from Hazards making it so much easier for it to get knock outs. Golurk and Palossand are notable for being both a hazard setter and a Ghost type that denies Rapid Spin, offering great role compression and luring out opposing Defog users for Malamar to exploit. Other setters like Alolan Sandslash, Rhydon, Coalossal, and Qwilfish all make for god examples. Ghost types are also an important part of the equation thanks to their ability to deny Rapid Spin, and Malamar in turn loves the Dark and Normal types that check them as fodder for Superpower. Answers to Fairy types are vital for this set given how much Malamar struggles against them otherwise. Coalossal is a strong pick for being a Fairy resist that also sets up hazards, filling multiple roles in one team slot. Rotom Heat can perform similarly while offering utility as a slow pivot to get Malamar in safely.

Countering Malamar

While Malamar’s ability to pick up boosts while applying offensive pressure is terrifying, it is held very much in check by its poor typing and middling bulk and speed.

In general, Special Attackers are preferred over physical ones for Malamar given how easily Malamar can flip such matchups with Superpower giving a Defense boost and its greater difficulties in boosting its Special Defense. Florges is a consistent issue, naturally outrunning Malamar, or being bulky enough to tank a boosted Psycho Cut and OHKO back with Moonblast. Physcially defensive Alcremie can 2HKO with Draining Kiss, and is 3HKO’d by a +1 Psycho Cut, which it can easily outlast with said Draining Kiss. Vikavolt also possesses the requisite bulk and easily OHKOs with Bug Buzz.

While physical walls generally struggle given the rate Malamar can escalate and ignore Intimidate, physically defensive Milotic is a clear exception between Scald ruining Malamar’s offense and Haze to wipe away any boosts it picks up while wasting Superpower’s limited PP. Mudsdale is another exception matching Superpower boosts with Stamina and pHaze Malamar with Roar, but dislikes losing Leftovers to Knock Off.

Despite their weakness to Knock Off, Ghost types can do well against Malamar, denying it valuable Superpower boosts and wasting its PP, but generally require Colbur Berry to weather the first Knock Off. Palossand can outlast Malamar with Shore up while beating it down with Shadow Ball or crippling it with a Scorching Sands Burn.

Fast U-Turn users remain Malamar’s primary bane, exploiting its quadruple weakness to bug and ripping health out of it as they pivot to safety, even if it does accrue Superpower boosts. Scarf Honchkrow, Mesprit, Braviary, Passimian, Zoroark, and more all do incredible damage.

Anime Appearences

Malamar has made multiple appearances in the anime. Most notably a group of them had plans for world domination in the Kalos region # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 804 Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin! We've Come to Kalos Region! Dreams and Adventures Begin! Pics 822 A Conspiracy to Conquer! Madame X's Evil Plot! The Terrifying Malamar!! Pics 857 Facing the Grand Design! Malamar VS Inkay! A Bond That Saves the World!! Pics 937 The Right Hero for the Right Job! Attack on Lumiose Gym! The Clembot Forever!! Pics 942 Facing the Needs of the Many Farewell, Ash-Greninja! Xerosic Strikes Back!! Pics 1204 Curtain up! Fight the Fights! The Curtain Rises! The Masters Tournament!! Pics 1205 Pride of a Champion! Champions' Pride! Lance VS Diantha!! Pics 1210 TBC The Climax Begins: Ash's Masters Tournament Experience Pics