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General Mega Evolution Thread

I've been actually using CroBro on a full stall team, and it really does not work out for me. I think its best set will be something like this:

(Slowbro) @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Toxic / Thunder Wave
- Grass Knot / Psyshock / Ice Beam
- Slack Off

This set allows you to beat almost every physical attacker in the meta. The choice of status move is largely up to preference. The third move lets you choose between countering Gyarados/Conkeldurr/Salamence. Often I'm underwhelmed by CroBro because the only times you get to set up are when special attackers are gone - and you could simply just wall everything else with just normal megabro. CroBro is very good on paper, but just is bad in practice.

I would disagree - CroBro is frighteningly effective, it's just not a "full stall" sort of mon as you lack the necessary momentum to give it setup opportunities. Semi Stall or Bulky Offense would be a much better home for it.
 
Curious what you all think of the mega Lati twins?

I saw a really cool SubCM Mega Latias posted on Smogon and it looked incredibly annoying because the bulk is huge. CM/Sub/Roost/Stored Power was the set. Obviously they acknowledged that Dark-types needed to be handled first, but the replays showed it setting up on lots of stuff.

Tbh, Mega Latias always looked the better of the Mega Eons just because the bulk upgrade was huge, while Latios didn't get much of an improvement.
 
So Cofagrigus seems like it'll be a good check to some of the new Megas, especially ones that rely on -ate Abilities. Lopunny can only hit it with its STABS once, Salamence loses physical Flying STAB after hitting it, Pidgeot loses 100% accurate Hurricane, and Sableye and Sceptile will be open to status moves (Thunder Wave in Sceptile's case). Tough Claws and other such abilites won't be quite as effected but it'll be nice to stop that little boost.
 
Mummy is only activated on contact, so it won't affect Mega Pidgeot unless it U-turns, but then you'll be switching out due to U-turn anyway, which removes Mummy. I'm sure Mega Pidgeot can probably 2HKO Cofagrigus with Hurricane anyway, but I haven't checked. (Same with Mega Sceptile + Sableye not activating Mummy unless they are using some contact move, barring the U-turn part.) But on the whole Mummy really does screw over a lot of Megas in general because a lot rely on their abilities to be effective. Mega Beedrill won't like Mummy either, but again, it's mostly going to be spamming U-turn so it won't be bothered by it 99% of the time. Most physical attackers shouldn't really try to take on Cofagrigus by themselves though to be honest, and Megas are no exception unless it's a guaranteed kill, because they'll just end up burnt in most situations.
 
Right, I forgot about Mummy being contact-only. But it'll be a good option to keep on hand in case of the physical ones, especially Mega Lopunny. Just having it alive on your team is going to give you a good degree of control over the battle.
 
Hi. I'm Goddess Briyella from Smogon University, and I wanted to post here. ♥

Mega Salamence is definitely getting banned from OU. Dragon Dance combined with that kind of bulk, Speed, and power as well as Aerilate is way too much for standard play. Steel-types can't even wall it because it has access to Earthquake and Fire Blast, and Fairy-types will be destroyed by its Aerilate-boosted Return or Double Edge after Dragon Dance boosts. It also gets Iron Tail for anyone adventurous enough to try OHKOing Fairy-types without requiring multiple setup turns. Don't forget that Mega Salamence will be able to run viable special sets as well; it has Draco Meteor as well as Aerilate-boosted Hyper Voice, which hits through Substitute now as well. This is probably going to raise hell even in Ubers, where it will compete with Rayquaza for a teamslot; Rayquaza obviously has several advantages over Salamence, but it's important to note that Mega Salamence fits into a better Speed tier before setup.

Mega Beedrill is really going to hurt things with Adaptability U-turn off 150 base Attack, but Stealth Rock will severely limit its switch-ins and priority will also take it out easily. It will likely rise to UU and then end up in BL; there's no way it's going to last in OU as long as Scizor exists there, which walls all of Beedrill's moves (especially its STABs) and OHKOes back with Bullet Punch after Stealth Rock damage. And then there's Talonflame, which totally annihilates it. There's no way Beedrill will be a defining force in OU at all.

Mega Sharpedo is definitely going to leave RU and will likely end up in UU and potentially banned to BL. It's one of the only Megas that can benefit from their original form's ability right away, at the cost of a moveslot for Protect, which standard Sharpedo already ran anyway. It will get Poison Fang to use for Azumarill switch-ins, but that will require excellent prediction and will only be used for high levels of play, mainly because the average player is probably not going to make Sharpedo their Mega for an OU team.

Mega Camerupt is probably the worst Mega we've ever had. Sheer Force means that none of its Fire-type attacks will ever burn anything. Fire/Ground STABs are walled by a good bit of Pokemon, and a physical coverage move in Rock Slide can only compensate for that so much. Camerupt's movepool is really horrible, and a lot of players are talking about wanting to use Flash Cannon with it, but STAB Fire Blast on a neutral target does considerably more than Flash Cannon against a Steel-weak target, making it irrelevant unless the 15% miss chance from Fire Blast really bothers you. This will likely cause a huge shakeup in NU simply due to its high stats, but I honestly don't think it will be leaving the tier, making this quite possibly NU's first Mega.

Mega Altaria has really good resistances but also has really mediocre stats, similar to Mesprit. It gets good coverage moves in Earthquake and Fire Blast for hitting Steel-types, and it gets Dragon Dance for boosting its physical sweeping ability, but it's still going to get punked around by Amoonguss no matter what. It can use Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice with Draco Meteor on a special set, but it doesn't have a move to boost its special stats, so this is limited as well. Mega Altaria will be pretty good as a cleric, but will be outclassed by other clerics such as Aromatisse and Audino simply because they can pass Wish recovery to teammates and Mega Altaria cannot. I'm predicting this to end up in RU and it probably won't go higher than that, and even then, it will be outclassed despite its solid stats and amazing resistances.

Mega Sceptile's typing change trades a weakness to Fire for a weakness to Dragon and Fairy as well as having its Ice weakness amplified, which is not really worth it, especially considering that Sceptile does not get Draco Meteor to use with its new Dragon STAB. Its special sweeping potential is obviously very high, having base 145 Special Attack and Speed, but it's still going to be limited with what it can hit, and the lack of U-turn really hurts it and prevents it from getting momentum from forced switches or nuking something with Leaf Storm and pivoting out to nullify its own Special Attack drop. A Swords Dance set with Earthquake might be okay, but we'll have to see. I'm pretty sure this is going to be UU and potentially banned to BL, but won't make it in OU.

Mega Swampert's great bulk and lack of weaknesses makes it able to set up Rain Dance by itself so that it can use its massive 150 base Attack power to sweep with doubled Speed. It gets Ice Punch for nailing the Grass-types that wall its STAB moves, but the prevalence of Mega Venusaur (with Thick Fat) in OU will naturally mean that Mega Swampert won't be very successful there, despite OU's lack of a real rain presence (since Politoed dropped to wear Drizzle is illegal). This might end up in UU, and BL at the highest, but that's about it. This is one of the less interesting Megas, though, as it didn't gain anything unique.

Mega Audino is getting a lot of early hate because of its Healer ability, which is totally useless in Single Battles, and as such, many players will prefer to use regular Audino as a team supporter because it doesn't take up a Mega spot and because it also has Regenerator, a far more useful ability for a Wish passer and cleric. This will be the best Knock Off shield in the lower tiers, hands down, only facing competition with Mega Altaria because it can heal itself instantly with Roost and not have to wait a turn for Wish and use another moveslot for Protect (being able to heal teammates as well usually makes this worth it, however). I don't see this going any higher than UU, and it will be great for stall teams that want a bulky team supporter and Knock Off shield for their team. Even despite Mega Audino's useless ability, it's not like stall teams will need their Mega slot for anything else. Its actual performance in Doubles is yet to be determined, but it doesn't seem that it will be overly great there for now.

Mega Lopunny's typing change causes it to pick up resistances to Bug, Rock, and Dark, which are good especially for their Stealth Rock and Knock Off resistance (in addition to the Mega stone not boosting Knock Off's damage), but it also gains weaknesses to Psychic, Flying, and Fairy. The Scrappy ability and addition to High Jump Kick to its arsenal makes it the first user of the move to be able to fearlessly use the move without having to worry about any Ghost-types on the opposing team switching-in. It will also annihilate Doublade regardless of its typing, which is very significant. This thing will destroy the entirety of NU and RU for certain, as it has unresisted coverage against everything and even gets Ice Punch for Gligar. The best check for this in the lower tiers that I can think of will be Intimidate Qwilfish. It also gets very good support options, including but not limited to Thunder Wave, Healing Wish, Baton Pass, Encore, and Cosmic Power. I think this will probably end up in UU and potentially BL. Talonflame will keep it from getting too crazy in OU, as is the case with Mega Beedrill and Sceptile.

Mega Gallade will inevitably be compared with Mega Medicham, and the two have very defining advantages over each other. Mega Medicham has higher initial power, courtesy of Pure Power, but Mega Gallade has better bulk and hits a better Speed tier. Mega Gallade's Close Combat is also a much more reliable STAB attack than Mega Medicham's High Jump Kick, and it also has access to Earthquake, Knock Off, and Leaf Blade, whereas Medicham does not. Another important difference is that Mega Gallade has Swords Dance, which Medicham lacks. I'm pretty sure that Mega Gallade will be used more than Mega Medicham and cause it to drop to BL2, because of the aforementioned advantages. We'll have to see for sure, but it's definitely leaving RU.

Mega Sableye is what a lot of people have wanted for a while: a bulky Magic Bouncer. This one just also happens to only have one weakness that isn't 4x, which is pretty incredible. Many people will obviously prefer regular Sableye, especially in Doubles, mainly because it can burn things with priority Will-O-Wisp, but Mega Sableye will probably be able to reliably run a physically defensive Calm Mind set with Recover and Dark Pulse/Shadow Ball. It's slow, but it cannot be Taunted or phazed with Roar/Whirlwind, and Circle Throw doesn't affect it, so it'll be pretty hard to phaze once it gets going unless the opponent has a Pokemon with Red Card (one-time use) or Dragon Tail and gets a chance to use it. I think this will end up in UU, and the regular version will still have usage there as well.

Mega Slowbro is going to really annoy OU for sure. Its physical bulk is ridiculously high and the Mega stone makes Knock Off not hurt as much as it should, which is key. It's likely going to run a Crocune-esque set (Scald/Rest/Sleep Talk/Calm Mind), and Slack Off is an option that works too, but a bulky Pokemon like Mega Slowbro is likely to be targeted by Toxic, which will beat a variant that uses Slack Off over Rest. Shell Armor is especially incredible for a bulky setup Pokemon, as critical hits will never ruin it. Don't forget Mega Slowbro's massive 130 base Special Attack either; it's going to be seriously hurting things after Calm Mind boosts. Interestingly, Water Absorb Cacturne totally walls this thing while taking no damage at all from it, even if it drops a move for Psychic/Psyshock, and can set up Swords Dance and/or Substitute to take advantage of Slowbro's inability to affect it. This is going to be OU for sure.


I'll post more on the others later. :)
 
Curious what you all think of the mega Lati twins?

I saw a really cool SubCM Mega Latias posted on Smogon and it looked incredibly annoying because the bulk is huge. CM/Sub/Roost/Stored Power was the set. Obviously they acknowledged that Dark-types needed to be handled first, but the replays showed it setting up on lots of stuff.

Tbh, Mega Latias always looked the better of the Mega Eons just because the bulk upgrade was huge, while Latios didn't get much of an improvement.

Haven't used it, but I did see aim using it (and I mean this specific set), and the impression is: this thing is getting quickbanned upon ORAS release
 
Curious what you all think of the mega Lati twins?

I saw a really cool SubCM Mega Latias posted on Smogon and it looked incredibly annoying because the bulk is huge. CM/Sub/Roost/Stored Power was the set. Obviously they acknowledged that Dark-types needed to be handled first, but the replays showed it setting up on lots of stuff.

Tbh, Mega Latias always looked the better of the Mega Eons just because the bulk upgrade was huge, while Latios didn't get much of an improvement.

Haven't used it, but I did see aim using it (and I mean this specific set), and the impression is: this thing is getting quickbanned upon ORAS release

Nah, I watched the vid too and there's a lot that just plain shuts it down - Dark types like MSableye (who also can't be trapped and eliminated by Dugtrio or Magnezone like Bisharp would be) can just set up on it, for instance. And in that third match Latias didn't even get to MEvolve because the team was just too harsh against it - SubCM MLatias is very matchup reliant.
 
Curious what you all think of the mega Lati twins?

I saw a really cool SubCM Mega Latias posted on Smogon and it looked incredibly annoying because the bulk is huge. CM/Sub/Roost/Stored Power was the set. Obviously they acknowledged that Dark-types needed to be handled first, but the replays showed it setting up on lots of stuff.

Tbh, Mega Latias always looked the better of the Mega Eons just because the bulk upgrade was huge, while Latios didn't get much of an improvement.

Haven't used it, but I did see aim using it (and I mean this specific set), and the impression is: this thing is getting quickbanned upon ORAS release

Nah, I watched the vid too and there's a lot that just plain shuts it down - Dark types like MSableye (who also can't be trapped and eliminated by Dugtrio or Magnezone like Bisharp would be) can just set up on it, for instance. And in that third match Latias didn't even get to MEvolve because the team was just too harsh against it - SubCM MLatias is very matchup reliant.

Yeah, but they only shut down that particular set. It can and will run other sets, and with these stats it can go both offensive and defensive and ultimately give zero damns about everything not named AV Bisharp (and even it won't be able to switch into an EQ or something, which is, with the Atk buff, no longer exclusively a Heatran lure, but a lure for any Steel bar Skarm and Ferro)
This thing is just so damn versatile, and with these stupidly high stats it just has no place other than Ubers
 
With the ORAS metagame coming out, how do you think the new Megas will affect the placement of the existing Megas?

I'm particularly interested in Charizard X/Y and Venusaur.
 
With the ORAS metagame coming out, how do you think the new Megas will affect the placement of the existing Megas?

I'm particularly interested in Charizard X/Y and Venusaur.

Mega Medicham is gonna be kicked downstairs because Mega Gallade exists now. I think that's probably the most drastic change.
 
Venusaur will probably drop a little (not from OU, just in usage), just because there's more options for the Mega slot and a few new Megas it really doesn't like (Mence, Gallade, Metagross, Latias/Latios), but it'll be fine for the most part. It takes on some of the other new Megas like Altaria, Lopunny, Swampert etc, which is good for it that it doesn't totally lose out.

Charizard doesn't like Salamence being in the tier, giving it competition as that Dragon Dancer. Once Salamence goes Charizard will do fine imo.

Smogon has just put up the thread for ORAS rankings: Other - XY OU Viability Ranking Thread (ORAS Version) - S and A+ ranks discussion | Smogon Forums

It's going to change a lot, of course, as they seem to just be preliminary rankings for the new Megas + the rest of the list is in its OU state.

Here's the rundown for the new Megas:

Mega Beedril: B
Mega Pidgeot: C-
Mega Slowbro: A
Mega Steelix: D
Mega Sceptile: A-
Mega Swampert: B+
Mega Sableye: A-
Mega Sharpedo: B-
Mega Camerupt: B
Mega Altaria: A
Mega Glalie: C
Mega Salamence: S
Mega Metagross: A+
Mega Latias: A
Mega Latios: B
Mega Lopunny: A
Mega Gallade: A+
Mega Audino: D
Mega Diancie: A

Barring Steelix and Audino they're doing alright for themselves. Glalie and Pidgeot in C is p cool because previously they were trash in NU so C in OU is something. I personally think Pidgeot could move up to C and Glalie to C+ but whatever, doesn't matter too much to me. Seeing Lopunny, Altaria and Sceptile (also Beedrill in B oh boy. Camerupt in B too!!!! I love camel) so high is great though, finally more NU mons being brought into the spotlight.

Edit: Oh and yeah, remember all these months I've been hyping Altaria. I wasn't wrong was I ;)
 
I'm pretty sure Audino and Steelix will drop off the list once the meta settles, but all the other megas do deifnitely have niches in OU.
 
Venusaur will probably drop a little (not from OU, just in usage), just because there's more options for the Mega slot and a few new Megas it really doesn't like (Mence, Gallade, Metagross, Latias/Latios), but it'll be fine for the most part. It takes on some of the other new Megas like Altaria, Lopunny, Swampert etc, which is good for it that it doesn't totally lose out.

Mence will leave the tier soon enough. I imagine Venu might see a small rise once it does.

Here's the rundown for the new Megas:

Mega Beedril: B
Mega Pidgeot: C-
Mega Slowbro: A
Mega Steelix: D
Mega Sceptile: A-
Mega Swampert: B+
Mega Sableye: A-
Mega Sharpedo: B-
Mega Camerupt: B
Mega Altaria: A
Mega Glalie: C
Mega Salamence: S
Mega Metagross: A+
Mega Latias: A
Mega Latios: B
Mega Lopunny: A
Mega Gallade: A+
Mega Audino: D
Mega Diancie: A

I gotta say, I'm surprised (pleasantly so) that Sceptile is ranked above Swampert. Not so much in Smogon, but I have been seeing a lot of people hyping MPert and doubting the power of MTile.

I'm also surprised at Sableye's and Camerupt's placements, and I was expecting Slowbro in A+. Wow it seems I've been out of the competitive field for too long.
 
I gotta say, I'm surprised (pleasantly so) that Sceptile is ranked above Swampert. Not so much in Smogon, but I have been seeing a lot of people hyping MPert and doubting the power of MTile.

I'm also surprised at Sableye's and Camerupt's placements. Wow it seems I've been out of the competitive field for too long.

Yeah Swampert was a bit overhyped imo. It's definitely good, but not as good as everyone was expecting when the stats were found.

I can see Sableye moving up eventually tbh, it's annoying + really good. Camerupt hits like a nuke and it has a great STAB combo, barring the Speed + Water weakness it's a decent Mega.
 
Beedrill ranked B in viability rankings
Never thought I'd see the day :D
 
I just wanted to say that I really love the designs of MBeedrill and MPidgeot

Especially Pidgeot
Very pretty :3
 
I didn't think Mega Gallade would be that good, is it really that good? I would have thought Diancie would have done much better for itself.
 
I didn't think Mega Gallade would be that good, is it really that good? I would have thought Diancie would have done much better for itself.

It really is. Gallade has STAB CC's that 2HKO most Pokémon that don't resist it. Zen Headbutt can 2HKO Clefable the usual switch-in. Gallade also has a wide variety of offensive coverage such as the elemental punches, Leaf Blade, and Shadow Sneak. It can also run a decent defensive set with WoW and Drain Punch. It's really a great all around Mega.
 
B Viability. Wow, I'm happy Mega Camerupt is getting the love it is. I didn't like it at first but I've started warming up (eh? eh?) to it, and now it's one of my favorite new Megas. It's just too bad it doesn't get a better physical STAB then Flame Charge.
 
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