Muk

Muk carves a niche in the metagame as a capable bulky setup sweeper thanks to its access to Curse, managing to separate itself from other bulky setup sweepers like Spiritomb and Type: Null because of its inability to be crippled by Trick, Switcheroo, and Knock Off, courtesy of its ability Sticky Hold. Muk can also serve as a decent check to certain threatening special attackers such as Oricorio-E and Floatzel due to its high special bulk, with its typing also allowing it to absorb Toxic Spikes. Because of its high Attack, powerful STAB Gunk Shot, access to Shadow Sneak to slightly mitigate its low Speed, and expansive coverage in moves such as Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Explosion allowing it to threaten Pokemon like Mawile, Claydol, and Qwilfish, Muk is also capable of pulling off a Choice Band set, standing apart from Skuntank due to its higher Attack and Special Defense as well as its ability to more reliably switch into bulkier Pokemon such as Ferroseed and Clefairy. However, Muk still faces a decent amount of competition as both a setup sweeper and an offensive Poison-type. Curse Muk requires a lot more support to work than other bulky setup sweepers like Spiritomb, Type: Null, and Lurantis, while Skuntank tends to outperform Choice Band Muk due to its higher Speed, secondary Dark typing that allows it to threaten Ghost- and Psychic-types, and greater utility. Muk's typing isn't very good offensively, and it struggles to break through certain Steel-, Ground-, and Ghost-types like Aggron, Mudsdale, and Spiritomb because of this. Choice Band Muk is also relatively easy to exploit because of how common bulkier Pokemon like Qwilfish are. Despite Shadow Sneak slightly mitigating Muk's low Speed, it will still often have to take a hit before dishing one out in response. Finally, Muk is vulnerable to strong physical attackers like Zangoose because of its low Defense.