Malamar

Malamar sits at 0.49% usage and rank 102 in singles, firmly in the fringe tier. Suction Cups is locked in at 97.5%, and the moveset is almost entirely utility: Baton Pass, Double Team, Substitute and Taunt together account for 87.5% of all slots, with offensive options like Knock Off and Reflect making up only 3.6%. The role is that of a long-game Baton Pass conduit that shrugs off forced switches and hands accumulated boosts to a teammate, not a frontline fighter.

Playstyle：In singles the loop is Substitute into utility moves into Baton Pass. Suction Cups nullifies Roar and Whirlwind, the substitute absorbs one probe, Taunt shuts down opposing disruption, and Double Team stacks evasion. Sitrus Berry at 61.8% and Leftovers at 38.1% split the sustain game: Sitrus survives a single big hit and heals immediately for fast-paced squads, while Leftovers slowly bleeds back HP to drag out Substitute and Double Team cycles. Bold 32/0/32/0/2/0 leads at 61.9%, dumping 32 points into Defence to tank physical attackers and leaving only 2 in Speed, essentially conceding the turn order; Calm 32/0/9/0/25/0 covers 28.3% of sets and shifts bulk to the special side. The 73 base Speed is the obvious weakness, and the whole line folds if the opponent plays cleanly.

Malamar drops to 0.19% usage and rank 146 in doubles, still fringe but built on a completely different premise from singles. Contrary is locked in at 100%, the inverse of singles' 97.5% Suction Cups. The moveset centres on Superpower at 24.5%, Trick Room at 21.9% and Knock Off at 19.2% with Protect at 8.4%, framing it as a slow Trick Room sweeper that flips stat drops into boosts.

Playstyle：Doubles play revolves around Trick Room: under it, Malamar's 73 base Speed becomes the fastest on the field, and Contrary converts the Attack and Defence drops from Superpower into permanent gains, with Roseli Berry at 40% patching the Fairy weakness and offering some relief against Ground, the other 2x/4x threat. Brave 32/32/0/0/2/0 covers 34.5% of sets and Brave 32/32/1/0/1/0 another 30.9%, both dumping 32 points into Attack for maximum physical output and leaving Speed at 0 or 1; Adamant 32/32/0/0/2/0 accounts for 9.6% and goes the same way. The Fairy 2x and Bug 4x weaknesses are a constant liability in doubles where those types appear on many common partners and switch-ins.

Mega Malamar sits at 0.14% usage and rank 150 in singles — a fringe pick at best. Its value comes entirely from Contrary turning Superpower's Attack drops into boosts and enabling free Baton Pass switches, a unique mechanic the meta has no answer to if unprepared. But 73 Speed means it almost always moves last, Fairy hits its Psychic STAB for double damage with no workaround, and committing to Superpower leaves it sitting on a 4x Bug weakness. It is a cold-card that punishes unfamiliar opponents, not a reliable core.

Playstyle：91.6% run Careful 32/32/2/0/0/0, a physically defensive spread that lets it absorb hits while keeping enough Speed to act. Superpower 25.0%, Knock Off 24.8%, Psycho Cut 23.8%, and Taunt 22.9% cluster within two percentage points — this is a utility disruptor, not a wallbreaker. Superpower snowballs with Contrary, Knock Off strips item-dependent foes, Psycho Cut covers boost-sweepers that ignore Taunt, and Taunt shuts down Trick Room and recovery. Baton Pass at 2.1% and Topsy-Turvy at 1.0% are low-frequency alternatives along the same axis — passing Contrary boosts out, or flipping a foe's boosts negative. It bets on the opponent reacting one turn too late.

In doubles, Mega Malamar sits at 0.19% usage, rank 143. Its doubles value is as a Trick Room attacker: 11.3% carry Trick Room alongside Trick Room partners like Maushold, Incineroar, and Whimsicott, forming a coherent room core. It doubles as a Contrary boost sponge — 6.8% run Psych Up to copy ally stat changes, and Stored Power at 4.5% becomes a real nuke once stages stack.

Playstyle：Doubles spreads are split three ways: Sassy 32/0/2/0/32/0 at 23.4% (the slow Trick Room wall), Adamant 30/28/4/0/4/0 at 10.7% (standard physical attacker), and Brave 28/32/0/0/6/0 at 8.5% (a slower Adamant variant). Superpower 24.9% leads doubles usage for the same Contrary snowball reason as singles. Knock Off 16.4% matters more in doubles where item dependence is denser. Protect 15.1% is near-mandatory in doubles, giving it a free turn to absorb a hit or protect an ally. Rest 6.8% and Psych Up 6.8% are both niche but represent different philosophies: Rest prevents wear-down losses, Psych Up steals ally boosts. Psycho Cut 5.1% and Stored Power 4.5% together fail to reach even 10%, and both Psychic-type options are clearly suboptimal in doubles.