OU Spotlight: Mega Metagross

By Amoonguss.
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art

Art by Ssensenh.

Introduction

Appearing in ADV as the Generation's pseudo-legendary, Metagross has always proven to be an amazing Pokémon thanks to its immense offensive presence combined with surprising durability and a great typing.

As of late, Mega Metagross has been dominating in the Sun and Moon OU tier and is often considered to be one of the best Pokémon in the metagame. Sun and Moon aren't the only games where Metagross is amazing; it was very prominent ADV and DPP, though it fell to UU in XY. But then came Mega Metagross, which proved to be a fearsome threat with a monstrous base 145 Attack stat, a menacing base 110 Speed stat, and amazing coverage options. It is also very durable and difficult to OHKO; to put this into perspective, it can survive a an Earthquake from Choice Scarf Landorus-T if at full health. Since then, Metagross has only gotten better with the new Mega Evolution mechanics granting it its amazing base 110 Speed instantly, provoking a surge in usage, and it has shown no intention to drop to lower tiers. It also matches up very well in the current metagame, being able to beat common threats such as Tapu Lele easily.

Metagross's qualities

Metagross sports a great offensive typing in this metagame, Steel / Psychic, and fantastic coverage in Hammer Arm and Earthquake to deal with Steel-types, such as Ferrothorn and Heatran, which resist both his STAB moves. It also gets Thunder Punch and Ice Punch to hit the likes of Celesteela and Landorus-T, all of which would hard wall it otherwise. Its Steel typing is also greatly useful thanks to its effectiveness against Fairy-types, while its secondary Psychic typing benefits from Psychic Terrain, enabling it to pick off very obnoxious Pokémon such as Mega Venusaur and Toxapex.

Alongside its great Attack stat, Mega Metagross boasts one of the best offensive abilities in the game, Tough Claws, which multiplies the power of contact moves by 1.3x. It's also good to note that its pre-Mega forme possesses Clear Body, which means its Attack or Speed can't be lowered before it Mega Evolves; this comes in very handy, for example, the turn a Landorus-T comes in or when your opponent is running Sticky Web, all while acquiring the Tough Claws boost on the same turn. When it comes to eating a hit or two, Mega Metagross can certainly do that; with its nice typing, it can switch into the likes of Latios, Tapu Lele, and Mega Pinsir.

Sets

All-out Attacker

Metagross-Mega

Mega Metagross's main purpose is to put dents in the opponent's team, and this is by far the best set to do so. The given EVs maximize its offensive potential, putting it in an amazing Speed tier, outpacing the likes of an unboosted Charizard, Mega Pinsir, Garchomp, and Tapu Lele. A Jolly nature is usually preferred to outpace these threats. It has incredible coverage to support its offensive capabilities, and the Stealth Rock resistance helps it a lot when switching into moves and can let it double in a lot more freely. One of the biggest upsides to Mega Metagross is not needing particular prediction due to its sheer power, with even resisted hits doing a ton, although predicting a switch-in could still be devastating for your opponent. Say they have a Landorus-T and a Rotom-W as their way of beating Mega Metagross, and you are running Ice Punch and Zen Headbutt. Ice Punch + Zen Headbutt will never knock out Rotom-W from full health, which can give them the chance to burn your Mega Metagross, neutering it. However, two Zen Headbutts will easily knock out specially defensive Rotom-W, and even just one will take off a nice 41-49% from physically defensive variants. But the opponent can always go Landorus-T on the Zen Headbutt, taking only 17% and more importantly lowering Mega Metagross's Attack by one stage. This makes it so Rotom-W can now easily take two Zen Headbutts and either burn Mega Metagross with Will-O-Wisp or Volt Switch out for momentum. If you can predict the Landorus-T switch-in correctly, it and Rotom-W won't become so much as a threat to Mega Metagross. Prediction is also nice against foes that can take advantage of Mega Metagross like Celesteela, which can annoy Mega Metagross with Leech Seed + Flamethrower, or Skarmory, which can set Spikes up.

Tapu Lele + Mega Metagross is one of the best cores, as Tapu Lele provides Psychic Terrain support that greatly increases the power of Zen Headbutt. Tapu Lele can also hit many threats to Mega Metagross such as Mega Scizor, Skarmory, and Celesteela with a Psychic Terrain-boosted Psychic, weakening them for Mega Metagross, or it can lure them in and hit them with coverage moves such as Hidden Power Fire or Thunderbolt. Magnezone is also a fantastic partner for Mega Metagross. The most important thing Magnezone provides is the ability to trap Steel-types, allowing Mega Metagross to run another coverage move than Hammer Arm. Heatran can also get rid of Steel-types while also providing Stealth Rock support. Landorus-T is another Stealth Rock setter that works well with Mega Metagross, as it can act as a Ground switch-in and get off a slow U-turn into Metagross. Mega Metagross also works well with Pokémon such as Keldeo and Gastrodon that have trouble dealing with Latios and Alakazam, as it has the ability to either Pursuit trap them or just KO them with Ice Punch and Bullet Punch, respectively. Spikes also complement Mega Metagross wellwith the ability to weaken most grounded Mega Metagross switch-ins, mainly Ferrothorn and bulky Mega Scizor.

Metagame Trends

Metagross works best on offense. One of its biggest assets for offense is that it can actually take a hit, which most Pokémon on this type of teams can't do. Also, with its amazing coverage it becomes very hard to switch into, or even beat for that matter. VoltTurn support proves to be stellar with Mega Metagross, as Pokémon like Tapu Koko can lure in Amoonguss, which Mega Metagross takes advantage of, potentially giving you a free KO.

While on the topic of metagame trends, it's important to note Pokémon that can beat Mega Metagross. Starting off with switch-ins; bulky Steel-types such as Mega Scizor, Celesteela, and Skarmory can all switch in and take all its coverage moves with ease— Celesteela and Skarmory fear Thunder Punch on the switch in, though. Rotom-W is nice to switch into Meteor Mash and coverage moves while being able to cripple Mega Metagross with a Will-O-Wisp burn. Fortunately, Zen Headbutt 2HKOes Rotom-W, meaning it's not that reliable of a switch-in. Quagsire is also not 2HKOed by any STAB or coverage move (excluding Grass Knot) and can set up on Mega Metagross with Curse. On offensive teams, Pokémon that can directly switch in aren't usually needed; those that can pressure it offensively are preferable. One of the best examples is Greninja; thanks to its strong Dark STAB + Life Orb, it can easily pick off a Mega Metagross even at full HP. Landorus-T and Dugtrio can both scare Mega Metagross out with a powerful Earthquake, while the former has the option to prevent it from switching via Arena Trap. Mega Alakazam can also offensively pressure Mega Metagross with a strong Shadow Ball, but it fears priority in Bullet Punch. Mega Metagross's popularity stems from the Core 4, or the core of Landorus-T, Greninja, Tapu Lele, and of course itself.

Get out there!

Metagross is one of the best Pokémon in SM OU, and thanks to its amazing coverage, Speed tier, and Attack stat it works well on many types of offensive teams. Be sure to try it out if you haven't already!

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