[Overview]
Melmetal has cemented itself as a potent threat in the OverUsed metagame thanks to it's superb bulk and offensive presence. These traits make it very versatile, enabling it to run a variety of sets to fill different teambuilding roles as either a wallbreaker, or a check to powerful offensive threats in the tier such as Tapu Lele and Dragapult. Because of this versatility, Melmetal can be an effective choice for multiple playstyles, typically bulky offense and balance. No matter the set, Melmetal's overall bulk permits it to act as a valuable anti-offense mon capable of blanket checking several setup win conditions that fail to immediately OHKO it, such as Dragon Dance Dragapult, Calm Mind Tapu Fini, Swords Dance Weavile lacking Low Kick, and Dragonite. Melmetal's main flaw lies in its Speed, where it often has to run lots of investment on offensive sets in order to outpace even slow targets such as Clefable and Corviknight. In addition, its powerful signature move Double Iron Bash is somewhat inhibited by the threat of contact damage or status and it's low 8 PP. Melmetal is also prone to being overwhelmed thanks to this low speed and lack of reliable recovery inhibiting its defensive value the more it gets chipped.
[SET]
name: Protective Pads
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Thunder Punch
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Thunder Wave
item: Protective Pads
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Adamant
evs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 104 SpD / 112 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
With Protective Pads, Melmetal is completely protected from contact damage and contact status, alleviating a significant weakness. This set takes full advantage of Melmetal's signature move Double Iron Bash, which hits twice and has an effectively 51% chance to flinch the opposing Pokemon. On its own, Double Iron Bash is tremendously powerful and heavily damages even common Melmetal pivots such as Landorus-Therian. Thunder Wave targets other standard Melmetal switch-ins such as Toxapex, Slowbro, Corviknight and Skarmory, and paired with Double Iron Bash Melmetal has high odds of rendering the opponent immobile for that turn with either a flinch or full paralysis. This enables Melmetal to pick off these annoying defensive roadblocks with Thunder Punch once they have been sufficiently weakened. Earthquake rounds out this set's coverage, enabling it to beat Steel-type targets such as Heatran after paralysis and OHKO Magnezone on the switch. The provided EV spread is fast enough to outpace uninvested Hippowdon by 2 points, avoids the 2HKO from Hippowdon's Earthquake, and survives Magma Storm from Heatran after one round of Stealth Rock.
Because this Melmetal set typically targets defensive Pokemon such as Corviknight, Skarmory, Buzzwole and Toxapex, offensive Pokemon that share similar checks such as Weavile or Urshifu-R can benefit from the pressure placed on these targets to handle both threats at once. In turn, Weavile provides Melmetal with useful Knock Off support to remove Black Sludge from targets like Toxapex, and Leftovers from targets like Ferrothorn, making them easier for Melmetal to defeat, and can keep Garchomp in check with the threat of Ice Shard, while Urshifu-R's U-Turn support can bring Melmetal in against their shared checks, though this is more useful if those targets have already been paralyzed beforehand. Hex Dragapult appreciates Melmetal spreading status alongside it, so that it can find more breaking and cleaning opportunities with Hex, and be freed to run Will-O-Wisp instead of Thunder Wave, and standard Choice Specs Dragapult also appreciates the strain Melmetal places on Toxapex and Corviknight, which are often used to blanket check it. In addition, Melmetal can be positioned via Dragapult's U-Turn against its common switch-ins such as Clefable and Blissey. This Melmetal set is walled by Zapdos and has difficulty breaking past Gastrodon, so utility Pokemon that can take advantage of them such as specially defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, Blissey, Tangrowth and Galarian Slowking, or powerful breakers that can punish them, such as Choice Band Tyranitar, Tapu Lele, and Kartana, all make solid partners and appreciate the Thunder Wave support Melmetal provides. Melmetal often finds itself forced out by powerful breakers with Fighting, Ground or Fire coverage, such as Galarian Zapdos, Buzzwole, Choice Band Kartana, Blacephalon, Heatran, and Garchomp. As such, countermeasures to these threats are appreciated. Toxapex can scout the move of choice from Galarian Zapdos or Buzzwole and chip it with Rocky Helmet, as well as provide a general Fire resist for Melmetal. Shed Shell can be used instead of Rocky Helmet to allow Toxapex to act as a situational Heatran switch-in. Buzzwole itself can make a good teammate for Melmetal, as it counters standard Scarf, Band and Swords Dance Kartana sets lacking Aerial Ace, while also providing a check to Ground-types such as Garchomp and Landorus-Therian. Zapdos also assists in taking on Fighting-type nuisances to Melmetal such as Hawlucha lacking Stone Edge in addition to the aforementioned two Fighting-types, while also threatening to Static paralyze Pokemon that Melmetal typically can't easily Thunder Wave, such as Galarian Zapdos or Urshifu-R. Landorus-Therian itself makes a solid teammate for Melmetal, as it provides a general defensive glue against Ground-types like opposing Landorus-Therian and Garchomp, while pivoting out against switch-ins like Clefable and Tapu Fini that Melmetal can take advantage of.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Thunder Punch
move 4: Ice Punch
item: Assault Vest
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Careful
evs: 128 HP / 116 Atk / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Assault Vest allows Melmetal to act as a specially defensive glue for teams that are looking to improve their matchup against some of the tier's strongest specially offensive breakers, such as Tapu Lele, Dragapult, and Moltres-Galar, in a slot that still pressures offensive threats like Arctozolt and Dragonite. With Assault Vest to boost its ordinarily middling special defense, Melmetal's massive HP stat enables it to tank even powerful super effective hits and defeat opponents like Blacephalon, Heatran, Nasty Plot Tornadus-Therian, and Nidoking in a one on one. Superpower is generally the move of choice over Earthquake because it enables Melmetal to super effectively hit a wide variety of Steel-types like Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Magnezone without sacrificing the useful BoltBeam coverage that Ice Punch and Thunder Punch provide, enabling it to hit switch-ins like Landorus-Therian, Garchomp, Corviknight, and Pelipper much harder. 12 speed EVs allows Melmetal to outspeed uninvested Toxapex by one point, while 128 HP EVs and 116 Attack EVs gives Melmetal enough bulk and immediate power to properly check the powerful offensive threats that it needs to.
Because Assault Vest Melmetal is particularly annoyed by contact damage from Iron Barbs and Steel-types that commonly carry Rocky Helmet, countermeasures to help negate this are appreciated. Magnezone is capable of trapping and removing Ferrothorn and common Rocky Helmet carriers like Corviknight and Skarmory from the battle, opening Melmetal up to attack more comfortably against the opponent's team in their absence, and make progress against the rest of their Pokemon. Knock Off support from Pokemon such as Weavile, Landorus-Therian and Kartana can remove Rocky Helmet from targets like the aforementioned Corviknight and Skarmory, as well as Slowbro, or remove Shed Shell from Steel-types to create more synergy with Magnezone. In return, Melmetal provides them with a solid switch-in against threats like Tapu Lele, Dragapult, and Weavile. This set is set-up fodder for Volcarona, so countermeasures such as Dragonite, Blissey, Choice Band Aqua Jet Urshifu-R, and Garchomp can all help alleviate this issue and give Melmetal more freedom to attack, with Garchomp and Dragonite also providing Melmetal with a Heatran switch-in. Zapdos can help cover it against powerful Fighting-Type breakers such as Buzzwole, Galarian Zapdos, and can threaten to Static paralyze Urshifu-R, while also appreciating Melmetal's ability to switch into threats like Dragapult and Tapu Lele for it. Tornadus-Therian can scout Choice Band or Scarf Kartana's option, or cover Swords Dance and Knock Off, in addition to pivoting Melmetal in against common specially defensive answers such as Blissey and Galarian Slowking, both of which Melmetal can threaten out.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Thunder Punch / Ice Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Adamant
evs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
With a Choice Band, Melmetal takes full advantage of its high base 143 attack stat and Iron Fist ability, serving as a dedicated wallbreaker. 224 speed EVs allows Melmetal to outpace Clefable. This is important because it stops the foe from knocking off Melmetal's Choice Band, paralyzing it with Thunder Wave, or hitting it with a boosted Thunder or Flamethrower in a one on one scenario. This set runs both Superpower and Earthquake to assist Melmetal when trying to make midgrounds against cores with multiple Steel-types, such as Ferrothorn and Heatran. On the other hand, Earthquake is generally safer vs Magnezone builds to avoid being trapped easily, and can serve as a midground against Toxapex. Thunder Punch gives Melmetal a strong option against would-be switch-ins like Corviknight and Skarmory, but if Melmetal is being run alongside a partner like Magnezone to remove these targets, it is free to run Ice Punch to nail Landorus-Therian with an OHKO on the switch, as well as have an option to hit Zapdos super effectively.
Melmetal needs to find opportunities to punch holes in the opponent's team early-game and mid-game, so naturally it benefits from partners that provide it with safe switch ins. Tornadus-Therian, Dragapult and Tapu Koko can force switches and use U-Turn to position Melmetal against specially defensive answers such as Blissey and Galarian Slowking. Rotom-W provides a Ground-type immunity and Heatran pivot for Melmetal, and provides a slow Volt Switch against the same specially defensive targets. Landorus-Therian provides a useful Ground-type immunity for Melmetal, can set Stealth Rock to help chip down Corviknight and Skarmory into KO range for Melmetal, and can pivot Melmetal in with U-Turn against switch-ins like Clefable and Tapu Fini. The aforementioned Magnezone traps and removes major annoyances such as Skarmory, Corviknight and Ferrothorn, all of which Melmetal enjoys being gone so that it can more comfortably make use of it's monstrously powerful Double Iron Bash. Choice Band Melmetal appreciates Future Sight support to ease prediction in breaking down defensive cores such as Toxapex, Hippowdon and Corviknight, so Slowking, Galarian Slowking, Slowbro, and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele with Future Sight all make solid teammates. Notably, Slowbro is capable of pivoting in against Pokemon that force Melmetal out, like Urshifu-R, Galarian Zapdos, Landorus-Therian, and Garchomp. Late game cleaners such as Swords Dance Weavile, Dragapult, Choice Scarf Blacephalon, Choice Scarf Kartana, and Dragonite all appreciate Melmetal's immediate power to soften up teams to close out the game.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Azure Nights, 431662]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2], [username3, userid3]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
Melmetal has cemented itself as a potent threat in the OverUsed metagame thanks to it's superb bulk and offensive presence. These traits make it very versatile, enabling it to run a variety of sets to fill different teambuilding roles as either a wallbreaker, or a check to powerful offensive threats in the tier such as Tapu Lele and Dragapult. Because of this versatility, Melmetal can be an effective choice for multiple playstyles, typically bulky offense and balance. No matter the set, Melmetal's overall bulk permits it to act as a valuable anti-offense mon capable of blanket checking several setup win conditions that fail to immediately OHKO it, such as Dragon Dance Dragapult, Calm Mind Tapu Fini, Swords Dance Weavile lacking Low Kick, and Dragonite. Melmetal's main flaw lies in its Speed, where it often has to run lots of investment on offensive sets in order to outpace even slow targets such as Clefable and Corviknight. In addition, its powerful signature move Double Iron Bash is somewhat inhibited by the threat of contact damage or status and it's low 8 PP. Melmetal is also prone to being overwhelmed thanks to this low speed and lack of reliable recovery inhibiting its defensive value the more it gets chipped.
[SET]
name: Protective Pads
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Thunder Punch
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Thunder Wave
item: Protective Pads
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Adamant
evs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 104 SpD / 112 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
With Protective Pads, Melmetal is completely protected from contact damage and contact status, alleviating a significant weakness. This set takes full advantage of Melmetal's signature move Double Iron Bash, which hits twice and has an effectively 51% chance to flinch the opposing Pokemon. On its own, Double Iron Bash is tremendously powerful and heavily damages even common Melmetal pivots such as Landorus-Therian. Thunder Wave targets other standard Melmetal switch-ins such as Toxapex, Slowbro, Corviknight and Skarmory, and paired with Double Iron Bash Melmetal has high odds of rendering the opponent immobile for that turn with either a flinch or full paralysis. This enables Melmetal to pick off these annoying defensive roadblocks with Thunder Punch once they have been sufficiently weakened. Earthquake rounds out this set's coverage, enabling it to beat Steel-type targets such as Heatran after paralysis and OHKO Magnezone on the switch. The provided EV spread is fast enough to outpace uninvested Hippowdon by 2 points, avoids the 2HKO from Hippowdon's Earthquake, and survives Magma Storm from Heatran after one round of Stealth Rock.
Because this Melmetal set typically targets defensive Pokemon such as Corviknight, Skarmory, Buzzwole and Toxapex, offensive Pokemon that share similar checks such as Weavile or Urshifu-R can benefit from the pressure placed on these targets to handle both threats at once. In turn, Weavile provides Melmetal with useful Knock Off support to remove Black Sludge from targets like Toxapex, and Leftovers from targets like Ferrothorn, making them easier for Melmetal to defeat, and can keep Garchomp in check with the threat of Ice Shard, while Urshifu-R's U-Turn support can bring Melmetal in against their shared checks, though this is more useful if those targets have already been paralyzed beforehand. Hex Dragapult appreciates Melmetal spreading status alongside it, so that it can find more breaking and cleaning opportunities with Hex, and be freed to run Will-O-Wisp instead of Thunder Wave, and standard Choice Specs Dragapult also appreciates the strain Melmetal places on Toxapex and Corviknight, which are often used to blanket check it. In addition, Melmetal can be positioned via Dragapult's U-Turn against its common switch-ins such as Clefable and Blissey. This Melmetal set is walled by Zapdos and has difficulty breaking past Gastrodon, so utility Pokemon that can take advantage of them such as specially defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, Blissey, Tangrowth and Galarian Slowking, or powerful breakers that can punish them, such as Choice Band Tyranitar, Tapu Lele, and Kartana, all make solid partners and appreciate the Thunder Wave support Melmetal provides. Melmetal often finds itself forced out by powerful breakers with Fighting, Ground or Fire coverage, such as Galarian Zapdos, Buzzwole, Choice Band Kartana, Blacephalon, Heatran, and Garchomp. As such, countermeasures to these threats are appreciated. Toxapex can scout the move of choice from Galarian Zapdos or Buzzwole and chip it with Rocky Helmet, as well as provide a general Fire resist for Melmetal. Shed Shell can be used instead of Rocky Helmet to allow Toxapex to act as a situational Heatran switch-in. Buzzwole itself can make a good teammate for Melmetal, as it counters standard Scarf, Band and Swords Dance Kartana sets lacking Aerial Ace, while also providing a check to Ground-types such as Garchomp and Landorus-Therian. Zapdos also assists in taking on Fighting-type nuisances to Melmetal such as Hawlucha lacking Stone Edge in addition to the aforementioned two Fighting-types, while also threatening to Static paralyze Pokemon that Melmetal typically can't easily Thunder Wave, such as Galarian Zapdos or Urshifu-R. Landorus-Therian itself makes a solid teammate for Melmetal, as it provides a general defensive glue against Ground-types like opposing Landorus-Therian and Garchomp, while pivoting out against switch-ins like Clefable and Tapu Fini that Melmetal can take advantage of.
[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Thunder Punch
move 4: Ice Punch
item: Assault Vest
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Careful
evs: 128 HP / 116 Atk / 252 SpD / 12 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Assault Vest allows Melmetal to act as a specially defensive glue for teams that are looking to improve their matchup against some of the tier's strongest specially offensive breakers, such as Tapu Lele, Dragapult, and Moltres-Galar, in a slot that still pressures offensive threats like Arctozolt and Dragonite. With Assault Vest to boost its ordinarily middling special defense, Melmetal's massive HP stat enables it to tank even powerful super effective hits and defeat opponents like Blacephalon, Heatran, Nasty Plot Tornadus-Therian, and Nidoking in a one on one. Superpower is generally the move of choice over Earthquake because it enables Melmetal to super effectively hit a wide variety of Steel-types like Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Magnezone without sacrificing the useful BoltBeam coverage that Ice Punch and Thunder Punch provide, enabling it to hit switch-ins like Landorus-Therian, Garchomp, Corviknight, and Pelipper much harder. 12 speed EVs allows Melmetal to outspeed uninvested Toxapex by one point, while 128 HP EVs and 116 Attack EVs gives Melmetal enough bulk and immediate power to properly check the powerful offensive threats that it needs to.
Because Assault Vest Melmetal is particularly annoyed by contact damage from Iron Barbs and Steel-types that commonly carry Rocky Helmet, countermeasures to help negate this are appreciated. Magnezone is capable of trapping and removing Ferrothorn and common Rocky Helmet carriers like Corviknight and Skarmory from the battle, opening Melmetal up to attack more comfortably against the opponent's team in their absence, and make progress against the rest of their Pokemon. Knock Off support from Pokemon such as Weavile, Landorus-Therian and Kartana can remove Rocky Helmet from targets like the aforementioned Corviknight and Skarmory, as well as Slowbro, or remove Shed Shell from Steel-types to create more synergy with Magnezone. In return, Melmetal provides them with a solid switch-in against threats like Tapu Lele, Dragapult, and Weavile. This set is set-up fodder for Volcarona, so countermeasures such as Dragonite, Blissey, Choice Band Aqua Jet Urshifu-R, and Garchomp can all help alleviate this issue and give Melmetal more freedom to attack, with Garchomp and Dragonite also providing Melmetal with a Heatran switch-in. Zapdos can help cover it against powerful Fighting-Type breakers such as Buzzwole, Galarian Zapdos, and can threaten to Static paralyze Urshifu-R, while also appreciating Melmetal's ability to switch into threats like Dragapult and Tapu Lele for it. Tornadus-Therian can scout Choice Band or Scarf Kartana's option, or cover Swords Dance and Knock Off, in addition to pivoting Melmetal in against common specially defensive answers such as Blissey and Galarian Slowking, both of which Melmetal can threaten out.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Thunder Punch / Ice Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Adamant
evs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
With a Choice Band, Melmetal takes full advantage of its high base 143 attack stat and Iron Fist ability, serving as a dedicated wallbreaker. 224 speed EVs allows Melmetal to outpace Clefable. This is important because it stops the foe from knocking off Melmetal's Choice Band, paralyzing it with Thunder Wave, or hitting it with a boosted Thunder or Flamethrower in a one on one scenario. This set runs both Superpower and Earthquake to assist Melmetal when trying to make midgrounds against cores with multiple Steel-types, such as Ferrothorn and Heatran. On the other hand, Earthquake is generally safer vs Magnezone builds to avoid being trapped easily, and can serve as a midground against Toxapex. Thunder Punch gives Melmetal a strong option against would-be switch-ins like Corviknight and Skarmory, but if Melmetal is being run alongside a partner like Magnezone to remove these targets, it is free to run Ice Punch to nail Landorus-Therian with an OHKO on the switch, as well as have an option to hit Zapdos super effectively.
Melmetal needs to find opportunities to punch holes in the opponent's team early-game and mid-game, so naturally it benefits from partners that provide it with safe switch ins. Tornadus-Therian, Dragapult and Tapu Koko can force switches and use U-Turn to position Melmetal against specially defensive answers such as Blissey and Galarian Slowking. Rotom-W provides a Ground-type immunity and Heatran pivot for Melmetal, and provides a slow Volt Switch against the same specially defensive targets. Landorus-Therian provides a useful Ground-type immunity for Melmetal, can set Stealth Rock to help chip down Corviknight and Skarmory into KO range for Melmetal, and can pivot Melmetal in with U-Turn against switch-ins like Clefable and Tapu Fini. The aforementioned Magnezone traps and removes major annoyances such as Skarmory, Corviknight and Ferrothorn, all of which Melmetal enjoys being gone so that it can more comfortably make use of it's monstrously powerful Double Iron Bash. Choice Band Melmetal appreciates Future Sight support to ease prediction in breaking down defensive cores such as Toxapex, Hippowdon and Corviknight, so Slowking, Galarian Slowking, Slowbro, and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele with Future Sight all make solid teammates. Notably, Slowbro is capable of pivoting in against Pokemon that force Melmetal out, like Urshifu-R, Galarian Zapdos, Landorus-Therian, and Garchomp. Late game cleaners such as Swords Dance Weavile, Dragapult, Choice Scarf Blacephalon, Choice Scarf Kartana, and Dragonite all appreciate Melmetal's immediate power to soften up teams to close out the game.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Azure Nights, 431662]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2], [username3, userid3]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
Last edited:
