- Ability – Contrary
- Stats – HP (252), Attack (252), Defence (4)
- Nature – Adamant/Brave
- Item – Lum Berry
- Moveset – Psycho Cut (stab), Knock Off (stab), Superpower, Protect/Topsy-Turvy
Strength
The only reason you want to use this jelly penguin is for its Contrary ability. Oh, the opponent has Intimidate? Throw that thing in there and it will get an Attack boost by one stage. Not only that, it will automatically increase any stat by a stage if it gets hit by a move that decreases any of the stats. For example, if it gets hit by Icy Wind then it will boost its Speed instead of being nerfed and so on. I think if you can set up a partner that can spam stat reduction moves like Baby-Doll Eyes or Fake Tears, you can really abuse this ability to the max and set terror.
Pumping the Speed stat is alright I guess but it's more beneficial with HP so that it can benefit from Superpower's Defence boost, as for its nature this is a tricky one because there are times you won't be able to pull off a Trick Room safely, so in this case, I went with Adamant nature.
In addition, Dark/Psychic typing is truly unique and it's only weak to Bug and Fairy.
Weakness
That being said though, the weakness to Bug is actually x4 and it hurts really bad. Although Bug-type moves are not that common, but U-Turn is and a lot of fast Pokemon such as Thunderous and Talonflame are known for using U-Turn. So know thy enemy, because sometimes you can get caught off guard.
The second problem is facing Fairies, Superpower and Knock Off aren't gonna do a scratch on a Fairy-type Pokemon and your only chance is using Psycho Cut which does subliminal damage when crit is not coming out. Strong Special Attackers are a threat too since its Special Defence are just average
Malamar users don't really need to be afraid of an Unaware Pokemon, since only two Pokemon use that ability - Clefable (basically an anti-Malamar, although trainers would rather use Magic Guard ability) and Quagsire (a rarity).
Oh yeah, Lum Berry is a must have to cure burn status as it's a popular target for Will o' Wisp users.
Moveset
To make the best out of Contrary, Superpower is a must have as it will certainly boost both Attack and Defence by 1 stage. In a long-term battle, it will become a powerful physical tanker and attacker due to its respectable HP, Attack and Defence stats.
Psycho Cut is its main stab move for obvious reasons. And Knock Off was chosen over Night Slash because thanks to the Gen-6 move mechanic improvement, making it one of the best opening Dark-type moves to have in the metagame; not only you get to 'knock off' important items from your opponent, it's also great on targeting Psychic and Ghost-type Pokemon who plans to use Trick Room as generally, their Defences are quite low.
There is one more move that is worth mentioning too, which is its signature move Topsy-Turvy. Topsy-Turvy is a very interesting move because it’s designed to troll players who attempt to set up. For example, if you meet an opponent who does Sword Dance; using Topsy-Turvy on it will reverse the effect, meaning it will become -2 instead of +2. I've used Topsy-Turvy a couple of times and it should never be underestimated, when used effectively it can turn the tide of the game. It should be also noted that it can reverse your allies’ stat change as well, such as Draco Meteor users #winkwink but then again, I like to play safe so I prefer Protect.
Closing thoughts
Malamar is definitely a decent Pokemon that can be used in any kind of team build like Trick Room or a mixed Doubles (better for a mixed Doubles from my experience), and I have a lot of fond memories using it. One of its greatest wins was using Topsy_Turvy on a Mega Mawile who already used Sword Dance, it couldn't switch out due to the lack of partners, so I just Superpowered it into oblivion and became ridiculously strong. Ah, glorious.
So Malamar, I choose you! Glhf!
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