I still miss Mega Metagross!
[SET]
Metagross @ Assault Vest / Weakness Policy
name: Bulky Offense
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Atk / 44 Def
Tera Type: Water / Ground / Steel
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Psychic Fangs
- Earthquake / Knock Off
- Ice Punch / Knock Off
[SET COMMENTS]
* Good bulk, priority, and Clear Body stopping common Attack debuffers like Flutter Mane and Dragonite from easily setting up gives Metagross a niche over Scizor, despite the irritating weakness to Flutter Mane's Shadow Ball.
* **Psychic Fangs**: Despite the iffy coverage, Psychic Fangs is a great STAB attack for having a high chance of OHKOing offensive Urshifu-R and nullifying Aurora Veil from the troublesome Alolan Ninetales.
* **Earthquake**: Earthquake provides fantastic coverage against most Steel-types like Gholdengo and Archaludon, although it misses out on Corviknight and Tera Steel Latias.
* **Ice Punch**: Ice Punch chills Landorus-T, Dragonite, and Garchomp to the bone, all of which are common Metagross checks otherwise.
* **Knock Off**: Knock Off gives Metagross some useful utility, particularly against Porygon2's Eviolite and Assault Vest holders that may switch in like Ursaluna-B. It's also good coverage against Gholdengo.
* **EV Spread**: This spread survives Adamant Landorus-T's Earthquake and Timid Choice Specs Flutter Mane's Shadow Ball.
Other Options
========
* **Alternate Steel-type STAB Moves**: Hard Press can be used to OHKO Flutter Mane, but the poor coverage can make it difficult to justify. Meteor Mash doesn't even have to worry about the target being at full HP, and the Attack boost can be dangerous, but the accuracy is an issue.
* **Grass Knot**: Grass Knot smacks Ursaluna-B and Dondozo for far more damage than Metagross's physical attacks do, although it's a difficult move to fit in.
Tera Types
======
* **Tera Dependency - Medium**: Despite Metagross's typing being decent in a vacuum, the Ghost and Dark weaknesses are a big enough problem to often justify Terastallization.
* **Water**: Tera Water stops Tera Water Urshifu-R from breaking through Metagross, and it even helps against Choice Specs Chi-Yu if it's locked into a Fire-type attack. It also cushions Metagross from Ogerpon-H's Ivy Cudgel, although Horn Leech will now easily 2HKO.
* **Ground**: Tera Ground gets rid of Metagross's troublesome Dark, Ghost, and Ground weaknesses and powers up Earthquake enough to put offensive Archaludon into the KO range of Bullet Punch. Thanks to Metagross's original typing, it can also shock Raging Bolt's attempts to revenge kill.
* **Steel**: Buffing up Bullet Punch is helpful for cleaning up weakened teams, with most offensive Flutter Mane in particular now being OHKOed by it. While it doesn't OHKO Chien-Pao, removing the Dark weakness means any that lack an offensive item will fail to 2HKO Tera Steel Metagross with Sucker Punch.
* **Dark**: Tera Dark works nicely with Knock Off, OHKOing offensive Gholdengo and giving Metagross important resistances to Ghost and Dark.
Items
========
* **Assault Vest**: Assault Vest is Metagross's best tool for tanking hits, ensuring foes like Flutter Mane and Raging Bolt won't easily cleave through it.
* **Weakness Policy**: Weakness Policy is a high-risk, high-reward approach to Metagross, taking advantage of its great physical bulk to turn the tables on common physical attackers and sweep late-game with Bullet Punch, like against Chien-Pao's Sucker Punch and Landorus-T's Earthquake.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theorymon.29010/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/photon.516307/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ut.523866/
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