rip klinklang
+ Ground typing replacing Normal:
I'm on the fence about this. On one hand, you have a bulky Ground type with either an immunity to Grass for Mega Venu and Serperior, or Thick Fat to take on Fire and Ice types. On the other hand, Hippowdon already handles most things Miltank would be an answer to, but with better overall bulk, more attack, and Whirlwind. I guess the speed is nice, but I can't see this being a big enough buff to make it viable in OU, but I've been convinced otherwise before.
+ Poison / Dark-typing and Regenerator:
Alright, since this is my submission, I will try and not show bias, except post my reasoning as to why I feel this would make Muk OU viable.
Muk is actually a pretty interesting Pokemon, at least stat wise with 105/75/100 bulk, but its typing and speed lets it down a lot. However, let's try and make this thing better with the Dark typing, letting it gain an immunity to Psychic, and resistances to Dark and Ghost, with the trade off of being neutral to Fighting and Bug, as well as Fairy, but I would say it is a fair trade. With its new typing, it now checks threats like Hoopa-U, Mega Alakazam, Mega Gardevoir, Gengar, and with its already large special bulk, you still check shit like Clefable, Raikou, Manectric, Serperior, etc. But while that is nice and all, a lack of recovery sucks, so why not give the pile of goo Regenerator, which helps it stay healthy in long battles, but lets it viably run Assault Vest, allowing it to better check special attackers. Here's the set I was doing the calcs with.
Muk @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 116 HP / 220 Atk / 172 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Brick Break
- Poison Jab
- Ice Punch / Fire Punch / Payback
EVs are a bit weird, but they allow you to always live 2 Mega Gard's Hyper Voice after rocks, while mantaining as much power as you can, plus it allows you to take on most Hoopa-U's. Gunk Shot off of 105 attack actually hits really hard, 2HKOing basically anything that doesn't resist it, and OHKOing a lot of offensive threats like Tornadus-T and Starmie. Brick Break is there to hit T-Tar, Bisharp, and Heatran, as well as other Steel types if you don't have Fire Punch. Poison Jab is there for accurate Poison STAB, so you don't have to risk misses on weakened Fairies and Grasses, which still hits decently hard. Final slot is a toss-up, Ice Punch hits Garchomp and Lando, while Fire Punch hits Scizor and Metagross, and Payback is neat for 1v1 situations against things like Gengar.
Of course Muk still has flaws, with its speed being pretty crappy, slight 4MSS, and average physical bulk, but overall, I feel this thing would be a solid addition to OU.
+ Fairy typing and Sand Stream:
Holy fuck would this be annoying. Now its insanely bulky, both physically and specially, and with its new typing it now counters Zard-X, Mega Lopunny, Mega Pinsir, Weavile, etc. It however gains a 4x weakness to Steel, and it has no Fairy STAB, having to rely on Stone Miss to attack, plus no reliable recovery makes it not too hard to wittle down. However, I can still see this thing being very difficult to take down if you lack a Bisharp or a Scizor, so this will probably get my vote since I don't want to be a dick and vote for my own thing.
+ Guts:
An interesting status-absorber. I assume this would be ran with AV to act as a Scald deterent, or as a counter to non-Fire move Clefable that punishes the use of the dreaded yellow magic, which combined in one team-slot is something I'm sure a lot of people would find really valuable. Guts boosted Megahorn I could only imagine hurt like holy hell, however a lack of recovery and super crappy speed hold it back a bit. However still pretty solid.