Alolan Marowak PvP IV Deep-Dive

Pokemon GO has enabled players to temporarily evolve Cubone into Alolan Marowak, until May 31st 2022, as part of their Alola to Alola Event. In addition, Alolan Marowak will know the exclusive move Shadow Bone when evolved. This opportunity gives players access to better PvP IVs for an Alolan Marowak, as well as access to Shadow Bone Alolan Marowak, Return Alolan Marowak, and Shadow Alolan Marowak. To help players best take advantage of this situation, we put together the Alolan Marowak PvP IV Deep Dive, cataloging and highlighting both normal and Shadow Alolan Marowak’s most relevant Breakpoints for Great League PvP.

This guide discusses the hidden true stats of Pokemon in Pokemon GO. In order to see these true stats you need to use an IV checking app (CalcyIV, Pokegenie) or an IV checking website (GOStadium, PvPIVs.com, or PvPoke itself). To make things simple, the guide also features PvP IV tables. 

If you’re not familiar with PvP IVs, check out this PvP IVs Simplified video.

Before we get into the IVs, let’s go over some basics for Alolan Marowak in Great League PvP. 

Fire Spin vs Hex

Alolan Marowak can learn the Fast Moves Fire Spin and Hex. In general, Fire Spin is preferred as it can chunk down Steel, Grass, Bug, and Ice-type opponents while also improving its poor Normal and Dark-type matchups. Fire Spin will also be the focus of this Deep Dive. Hex is useful in some specific scenarios or Cup formats, but usually Fire Spin is the bread and butter.

Shadow Bone vs Shadow Ball

On paper, Shadow Ball (100 Damage, 55  Energy, 1.81 DPE) appears to be a higher value move than Shadow Bone (75 Damage, 45 Energy, 1.66 DPE). However, Shadow Bone comes 1 Fire Spin earlier than Shadow Ball and has roughly the same even matchup wins as Shadow Ball. This 1 turn advantage means Alolan Marowak can reach 2 Shadow Bones at the same time it could reach a Bone Club + Shadow Ball. While 1 Fire Spin doesn’t sound like much, Fire Spin is a slow enough Fast move (3 turns) that it could easily make the difference between just KOing an opponent or getting KO’d yourself. To add, Shadow Bone has a 20% chance to drop the opponent’s Def by 1 stage, which could turn the tides of battle. 

What’s unfortunate about Shadow Bone is that it’s an event exclusive move. This means you’d have to use an Elite TM on Shadow Alolan Marowak later if it still has Frustration. You’d also have to use an Elite TM on Purified Alolan Marowak to get the Return + Shadow Bone combo. For a budget/poor IV Alolan Marowak, it’s not worth the Elite TM, but on a good Alolan Marowak it absolutely could be. 

Bone Club, Fire Blast, and Return

Bone Club is Alolan Marowak’s 2nd Charge Move of choice. It’s a relatively low value move (40 Damage, 35 Energy, 1.14 DPE) but the early activation and Ground-type coverage makes it useful enough. Fire Blast is a spicy option that could pack a surprise for Dark and Normal-type Pokemon. Its 140 Damage and 1.75 DPE looks appealing, but the steep 80 Energy Cost often makes it less useful than Alolan Marowak’s other Charge Moves. Even if you don’t have Fire Blast on your Alolan Marowak, sometimes charging to 80 Energy is worthwhile, just to draw out a shield. Flame Wheel can also see some play too as a lower energy (55) cost Fire-type option, but its low base damage (60) makes it less appealing. 

Then finally there’s Return. Return is the same idea as Fire Blast (a neutral nuke for big Dark/Normal-types) but has significantly less impact due to the lack of STAB. The lower energy cost (70) is a draw, but given that Alolan Marowak would require an Elite TM to pair with Shadow Bone when Fire Blast doesn’t, puts it further behind in value. 

Normal vs Shadow Alolan Marowak

The normal vs Shadow situation for Alolan Marowak is akin to Nidoqueen. Shadow Alolan Marowak has significantly more wins and advantages over the normal. The normal still has value and can shift expectations with its added bulk, but if you have a good IV Shadow Alolan Marowak you’ll want to use that. 

The tables below feature the IV spreads that meet some of the more important stat checks highlighted in the article. Given the large number of Breakpoints, it’s important to review their respective sections to make sure you’re getting what you want out of your Alolan Marowak. Higher Atk weights than what are highlighted below, for example, could prove to be more useful than extra Def or HP.

Non-Shadow Alolan Marowak

• 109.29 Atk, 147.5 Def, 123 HP
• Bulk focus (0 Atk, 147.5 Def, 123 HP)

Shadow Alolan Marowak

• Atk weight with minimum bulk (110.85 Atk, 141.49 Def, 122 HP)
• Atk weight with premium bulk (110.85 Atk, 144.75 Def, 124 HP)
• Bulk Focus (0 Atk, 144.75, 124 HP)
• Note: Due to the large number of Breakpoints, it’s important to review the Shadow Alolan Marowak section for more context

Non-Shadow Alolan Marowak has some straightforward stat goals in the Great League. In general, Alolan Marowak wants 109.29-110.46 Atk, at least 147.5 Def (147.87 is a bit better), and 123 HP. 

Having roughly 109.29-110.46 Atk can give Alolan Marowak a significantly more consistent Shadow Walrein matchup, more Drifblim consistency, and decent Charge Move Priority (CMP) potential against Trade IV Scrafty. Pushing higher to 111.65 Atk gives more consistent Meganium and Galvantula matchups, while also offering CMP potential on Walrein. 

As for Alolan Marowak’s bulk, 147.5+ Def can better enable the Froslass 0-0 shield scenario and can make the Dewgong 2-2 more consistent. At least 147.87 Def with 123 HP may enable the Bastiodon 2-1 shield scenario (you spend 2 shields, they spend 1 shield). There is also a bulk check for the Walrein 1-0, but you’ll have to check the matchup against your specific Def/HP weight on PvPoke due to the volatility of Charge Move Breakpoints. 

In the Great League, Shadow Alolan Marowak has a rather exhaustive list of relevant Fire Spin Atk Breakpoints coupled with some mild Def and HP checks. In general, 110.85-111.85 Atk, 143.05-144.75 Def, and 122-124 HP appears to be the sweet spot for most matchups. Given the volatility of Shadow Pokemon IVs (because we get so few), it’s up to you to pick and choose which Breakpoints best suit your needs for Shadow Alolan Marowak. The utility of these Breakpoints are cataloged below. 

Atk Breakpoints, based on Rank 1 stat product opponents unless stated otherwise

• 108.68, Talonflame 1-1 potential (Charge Move timing and IV dependant)
  • 110.85 can better secure this 1-1 with 2 extra Shadow Bone damage

• 108.71, Araquanid 1-2 potential and general consistency
  • Bubble Beam turns Fire Spins damage from 5>4>4>3 to 5>4>4>4
• 108.77, Mandibuzz with no apparent matchup changes
  • Could help avoid a Foul Play in uneven scenarios

• 108.88, Alolan Raticate 1-1
• 109-111, Scrafty CMP potentiating 0-0 and 2-2
  • 111 is based on the R1 Best Friend Trade floor (5/15/13)
  • Egg Hatch IVs take Scrafty to 112.75+ Atk
• 109.29-110.46, Walrein 1-1 potential with no baiting on either side
  • Potential CMP at 111.4+ Atk
• 109.44, Wigglytuff consistency
• 109.49, Lapras 2-2
• 109.96-111.75, Cofagrigus CMP
  • 111.75 based on higher Atk stats from our Cofagrigus PvP IV Deep Dive
• 109.99-111.23, Trevenant with no apparent matchup changes
  • Could help in uneven or unusual scenarios like tanking Seed Bomb
• 110.02-110.7, Shadow Drapion 1-1
• 110.25, Vigoroth with no apparent matchup changes
  • Based on slightly Def weight Vigoroth (0/15/10)
• 110.64, Venusaur with no apparent matchup changes
• 111.32, Toxicroak clipping them from reaching an extra Mud Bomb
• 111.57+, Registeel consistency
  • Based on a reasonable Def range of Registeel Trade IVs
  • The Breakpoint could be as high as 113 Atk
• 111.85, Drapion 2-1 potential
• <112.84, Charm Alolan Ninetales consistency
  • Will likely have lower Def than the Rank 1

Def Breakpoints, based on Rank 1 stat product opponents unless stated otherwise

• 140.6+, Vigoroth, probably the most important of the Def checks
  • 141.16 and 141.49 encompass the Atk weights of the Top 20 SP Vigoroth Atk stats
• 141.95+, Bastiodon 1-0 potential with 122 HP
• 142.13+, Pelipper 1-0 potential
• 143.05+, Trevenant 1-1
  • Based on the recommended Atk weight from our Trevenant PvP IV Deep Dive
• 144.79+, Shadow Nidoqueen 2-2
  • Based on the recommended Atk weight from our Shadow Nidoqueen PvP IV Deep Dive
• 149.7-152++, Galarian Stunfisk 2-2 potential
  • Likely unchaseable (unless you have Tho’s Shadow Alolan Marowak)

HP and Def/HP ratio matchups

• 122, Cofagrigus 2-2 potential
• 124, Charm Alolan Ninetales 1-2 potential
• Registeel 1-1, 1-2 (check matchup on PvPoke)
• Alolan Raticate 2-2 (check matchup on PvPoke)

The relatively low bulk checks makes getting a functional Shadow Alolan Marowak fairly achievable. The variety of Atk Breakpoints and CMP potential in other common meta matchups can provide some difficulty in getting a more optimal iteration though. To that end, having multiple Shadow Alolan Marowak at differing stat weights could be ideal. Similar goes for normal Alolan Marowak, which has higher bulk checks but relatively better IV control.

It’s exciting that Pokemon GO is giving players the opportunity to have more control over their Alolan Marowak IVs with this event. However, due to needing an additional event to remove Frustration from Shadow Pokemon, differing spawn volumes, and schedule conflicts, some players still have more opportunities than others. After this event, it is uncertain if/when players will be allowed to take advantage of evolving an Alolan Marowak or Shadow Alolan Marowak ever again. It would be nice if there was more communication and consistency regarding such exclusive Pokemon, especially considering Pokemon GO now has official tournaments through Play Pokemon. 

Anyways, Shadow Alolan Marowak is here. Hope you got the good IVs for it!