B+ -> BMewtwo is able to yield decent results when it is paired with Webs and a Life Orb, however, these requirements are rather strict even for a B-Rank Pokemon. Without Webs, Mewtwo quickly becomes overwhelmed by the Speed-Crept Meta, and if it is running Boots, it can often find itself struggling to deal enough damage to actually make the progress it wants in the Tier. Ho-Oh in particular can be a troublesome matchup for non LOrb Mewtwo, as it will almost never have the power to break through it without Nasty Plot--which it often cannot afford to run, or Power Gem, which it definitely cannot run. Furthermore, despite the ubiquity of Eternatus seeming to be prospective for Mewtwo in a vacuum, its inability to actually OHKO Etern under most circumstances results in the Matchup being only slightly positive for Mewtwo, at best.
If Eternatus is chipped, Mewtwo will be more effective, but even then, invested Etern sets have a 25% chance of surviving even after a round of Spikes/Stealth Rock
252 SpA Mewtwo Psystrike vs. 168 HP / 0 Def Eternatus: 390-458 (84.2 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Eternatus Dynamax Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mewtwo: 211-250 (59.7 - 70.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Eternatus Meteor Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mewtwo: 254-299 (71.9 - 84.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
While even Defensive Etern sets with no investment still have a chance at 2HKO'ing Mewtwo
0 SpA Eternatus Dynamax Cannon vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mewtwo: 162-192 (45.8 - 54.3%) -- 52.3% chance to 2HKO
If the Eternatus is fully offensive and is running Max Speed, the situation becomes even worse for obvious reasons, which is especially problematic given that Mewtwo's relative lack of power paradoxically forces it to interact (and by extension, potentially sustain damage) more due to its main utility being to weaken Teams for the threats that are actually good, making this matchup more favorable for Eternatus in actual games than the calcs alone represent.
I would also like to take a moment to talk about the myth of Mewtwo's "coverage": Yes, Mewtwo has a large number of moves, quantitatively, but a large number of those moves are mostly fluff (Realistically, Mewtwo is never going to use Brick Break/Psycho Cut/Guard Swap), and even many of its ostensibly "good" Moves (Agility, Chilling Water, Icy Wind) are terrible on it, specifically, since it lacks the bulk (and in Agility's case, a number of things) to make them work. Yes, Mewtwo has BoltBeam/Flamethrower coverage, but even Rayquaza possesses these exact same coverage options, in addition to an actually decent Typing and better Setup Moves in the form of Swords Dance (on account of ESpeed), and Dragon Dance. In retrospect, having decent coverage was never really a property of Mewtwo so much as a quality of many Legendaries. Mewtwo's role used to be having the standard suite of viable coverage Moves while also being fast, but in a post Gen 8 Franchise, I believe that the main reason that Mewtwo became so heavily associated with coverage stemmed mostly from the vestigial acknowledgment of its time in the earliest Generations when this was actually the case, as well as the fact that Mewtwo's unviable STAB almost necessarily forces one to look outward, which accentuated what would have been an otherwise unremarkable quality of its.
Especially in the "modern" Generations: What is far more important than Type Coverage, is Situation Coverage. In Gen 8, Sub/Seed accomplished far more for Calyrex-Shadow than any of Mewtwo's coverage moves have benefitted it in any Generation, since this was all that Caly realistically needed to brute-force the few Dark-Types that were capable of standing up to it (Snarl, notwithstanding). In this Gen, Lunala also has better "Coverage" than Mewtwo, since Moongeist Beam/Meteor Beam/Moonblast on a Ghost-Type with Shadow Shield is all that it realistically needs to terrorize the Tier. Zacian-Crowned and Koraidon have Substitute/Dual Wingbeat, respectively, to beat Ribombee; Glimmora has Mud Shot for Speed Control, and Dazzling Gleam/Power Gem to land cheap-shots on Koraidon/Ho-Oh, respectively. Ribombee can set Tailwind/Force Paralysis to frustrate threats that could otherwise deal with Hazards in general, but aren't teched to stop it, specifically. Flutter Mane has Taunt to ensure you can't set up Statuses/Hazards to position around it if they don't want you to, etc. Since Mewtwo doesn't actually have a decent Foundation to work off of, however (poor Typing, outdated stats, and no Ability), the concept of Situation Coverage cannot even apply to it to begin with. Mewtwo's manifold auxiliary moves only barely make it functional; For the best Pokemon, what moves they do have make them uncounterable.
Final Calcs
Without a Life Orb
252 SpA Mewtwo Psystrike vs. 168 HP / 0 Def Eternatus: 390-458 (84.2 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mewtwo Psystrike vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Koraidon: 330-390 (96.7 - 114.3%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
Psystrike doesn't even have a guaranteed OHKO against a nigh-uninvested Koraidon. There have been games where even a disadvantaged Korai ended up surviving and K.O.'ing the Mewtwo as a result
252 SpA Mewtwo Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zacian-Crowned: 240-284 (73.8 - 87.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
An example of Mewtwo's farcical "coverage" not being as effective in practice. Compare this to Kyogre, who doesn't need the same degree of coverage due to possessing a powerful STAB that is boosted by Rain (252 SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zacian-Crowned in Rain: 267-315 (82.1 - 96.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO)
With a Life Orb
252 SpA Life Orb Mewtwo Psystrike vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Kyogre: 263-309 (77.1 - 90.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
While 90% may seem good in a vacuum, that is only applicable for the highest roll, and any additional bulk on Kyogre's part will degrade the calcs even further. This also means that Mewtwo auto-loses against a healthy Kyogre as SpA-Neutral Origin Pulse already borders on an OHKO even before taking the LOrb Chip into account (252 SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mewtwo in Rain: 325-384 (92 - 108.7%) -- 50% chance to OHKO)
252 SpA Life Orb Mewtwo Power Gem vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Ho-Oh: 354-421 (85.3 - 101.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
Mewtwo should realistically never run Power Gem, but even if it did...
252 SpA Life Orb Mewtwo Focus Blast vs. 200 HP / 0 SpD Arceus: 330-390 (76.5 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
If Mewtwo predicts a Swords Dance, it can try using Focus Blast to wear it down before switching into a Ghost, but otherwise Mewtwo loses the 1v1, and doesn't accomplish anything that couldn't be performed better by Zacian/Necrozma + the Free Slot opened up by not running Mewtwo
252 SpA Life Orb Mewtwo Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zacian-Crowned: 312-369 (96 - 113.5%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
With a Life Orb, Mewtwo finally manages to hit harder than even Modest Kyogre, however you also have a very real chance of missing, and are in direct line-of-fire for Zacian's Blade, which Kyogre notably resists. Mewtwo needs a Life Orb and Webs to have a chance to do what Kyogre also has a chance to accomplish with the relatively more lenient Scarf + Modest (the latter of which is not even needed if it is healthy enough to click Spout)
252 SpA Life Orb Mewtwo Psystrike vs. 240 HP / 252+ Def Arceus-Water: 153-181 (34.6 - 41%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
I don't think this one needs any further explanation.
None of this is to say that Mewtwo is an unviable Pokemon; If anything, this may be the first Tier where Mewtwo's viability has actually appreciated (Base Mewtwo was a non-factor in Gen 7, and severely outclassed in Gen 8), but many of the people talking about Mewtwo's viability are theorymonning about its potential, but aren't actually using it. Currently, Mewtwo's usage among high Ladder Players sits in the single-digits (Just under 4%), which is lower than many Pokemon that are--at least ostensibly, ranked lower than it (such as Glimm, Dirge, Corviknight, Hatterene, Pao, Groudon, etc.). If anyone can provide tangible examples of Mewtwo both being in a High-Ladder or Tour scenario, and actually accomplishing something that would justify its place in said game(s), I would appreciate it. Someone from a Page back brought to my knowledge a Mewtwo that was used in the Finals of a Tour, but within the actual match, it largely just flailed around aimlessly as it got cycle-stalled to death, while Lunala was able to deal with the problem far more efficiently. Here's the Link to the Tour match if anyone is interested.
If you genuinely like Mewtwo as a Pokemon, there is nothing stopping you from using it, however, when comparing it to the current (as of Typing) line-up of (
), I do not want hopeful players to get the wrong idea of what Mewtwo is actually capable of. All of these Pokemon either have incredible Typing(s), niches, or both, while High-Level Players notably don't seem to believe the same applies for Mewtwo in practice, as Tina is currently sitting in the Top 10 on one of the High-Ladder Usage Stats for last month, while Mewtwo doesn't even cut the Top 30. On a somewhat tangential note, I could see potentially rising to A-. On the surface, Power Creep makes it look like a Support Pokemon masquerading as a Legendary, but it is actually a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: It is bulkier than god (literally), and just as powerful, while also having a good Typing which forces troublesome 50/50s for anything attempting to deal with it. Furthermore, Lure sets have been trending on the Ladder recently, which allows it to push its offensive stats to their limit to punish and destabilize Teams that forgot what made it an Uber in the first place. It is just as annoying to deal with as any other Support Pokemon, but can absolutely not be treated the same way as them, as it is far more dangerous. I don't think Mewtwo quite manages to match that level of prominence, or that of any of the other B+ Tiers, for that matter.
Last edited:
-> A they dont fit on as many teams or do as much per game as ogre, hooh, zac c, fairy
-> A+ Webs ho is not as dominant now, his best team. and you dont use it on every team as much now cuz no mira
-> A- anything that makes korai not your scarfer is OP
/ 
-> B+ best ho style along ribom; both B+
-> B very good vs HOs, both often give an emergency out vs korai or something. good vs tings too
B -> B- 
: A+ (1) --> S (2)
: A- (1) --> A (3)
: A- (4) --> A (4)
: B- --> B
: C+ --> B-
: C --> C+
: C --> C+
: C --> C+
: C --> C+
: D --> C+
: D --> C-
: D --> C-
: UR --> C-
: UR --> C-
: UR --> C-
: A (1) --> A- (1)
: A (4) --> A- (2)
: C+ --> C
: C+ --> C
: C --> C-
: C- --> UR
The set’s Rocks/Spin/Toxic/Roar. You aren’t using it for damage, rather its utility