Megas For All (Read the whole 1st post and check current slate)

[MEcho]

Bisharp is the most viable of the four right now, and as such it doesn't need a lot of improvement. It should probably be taken in a different way. I was thinking about adding a lot of speed, but I'm really not sure about what else. Dark/Steel is a great defensive type, boasting 11 resistances and only 3 weaknesses, so an increase in bulk would really help a rather frail Bisharp take hits better. Swordsman sounds like a great idea, but if I'm correct, no Steel-type attacking move is affected by it, and I'm pretty sure only Night Slash is its only Dark-type move benefitted by it. It seems like a great idea flavor-wise, but it isn't really that helpful and probably worse than Defiant.

Druddigon definitely needs another type. I was thinking maybe Dragon/Fire, as Druddigon needs to keep his body temperature warm in order to stay mobile. It also gives Druddigon an immunity to Will-o-Wisp, which is very important for a slow, bulky attacker like him. Fire is also a good defensive type when paired with Dragon, as it removes two of Dragon's three weaknesses, and Dragon removes Fire's weakness to water. Druddigon also has a couple Fire moves already, but I think adding another stronger physical Fire-type attack would be best. As for ability, I'm not sure. Druddigon has lots of coverage moves with low base power, so maybe an ability that can boost a lot of them like Tough Claws or Strong Jaw (although Tough Claws makes it a lot like MegaZard X).

Bouffalant is totally getting Rock Head Head Smash. It's just dying for it, what with its ability to derail a train with just its head, and this quote from its Black Pokedex entry: "Their fluffy fur absorbs damage, even if they strike foes with a fierce headbutt." This implies that even after hitting someone or something at full force with its head, it feels no repercussions whatsoever. Bouffalant's moves are very high-power, so missing out on the extra boost from Reckless won't be too much of a deal, especially with Head Smash. In fact, with its increased survivability, Bouffalant can take advantage of its already good 95/95/95 defenses. (Mew King basically said this already but I was typing this before he posted so)

 

[GG Unit]

If you're trying to make a Mega Bouffalant that abuses Rock Head + recoil moves, better check the spreadsheet first and see if there's a way to make it not outclassed by Emboar or Rampardos, who have better STAB and higher BSTs. Gonna go out on a limb and guess that Mega Rampardos with Rock Head, Flare Blitz, Dragon Dance, and Wild Charge will be one of the ones to revisit at the end though.

 

[Mega Mantine]

Wild Charge is one or those moves that a lot of things learn by TM so it's fine.

But Flare Blitz has so far been exclusive to Fire types. It should stay that way as there's no real reason for Rampardos and Bouffalant to get it.

 

[JayHankEdLyon]

Good call on the birds, somehow slipped my mind. But regardless, changing primary typings on non birds should really be revisited, and certainly not implemented on Golurk.

Wild Charge is one or those moves that a lot of things learn by TM so it's fine.

But Flare Blitz has so far been exclusive to Fire types. It should stay that way as there's no real reason for Rampardos and Bouffalant to get it.

Bouffalant already gets Wild Charge. And as per Flare Blitz, yet another reason why our absurd Mega Durant needs to be changed.

Honestly I say we put it back up on the slate, particularly as its current status really hinders what our Heatmor can do if we want to keep flavor.

 

[Dilasc]

Maybe give it Wood Hammer? It's afro looks like a shrubbery anyway.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

Good call on the birds, somehow slipped my mind. But regardless, changing primary typings on non birds should really be revisited, and certainly not implemented on Golurk.

Bouffalant already gets Wild Charge. And as per Flare Blitz, yet another reason why our absurd Mega Durant needs to be changed.

Honestly I say we put it back up on the slate, particularly as its current status really hinders what our Heatmor can do if we want to keep flavor.

Mega Durant could just use a different ability that gives it effectively the same thing. We have Fire Absorb that Arcanine has. We can bring it back to Steel/Bug and give it that

 

[JayHankEdLyon]

Mega Durant could just use a different ability that gives it effectively the same thing. We have Fire Absorb that Arcanine has. We can bring it back to Steel/Bug and give it that

The issue isn't even Flash Fire, it's that Durant somehow gets Flare Blitz now (which means regular Durant also gets it). In any case, a fire-immunity ability basically forces Heatmor to have Mold Breaker if it wants to keep its flavor rivalry/superiority over Durant (I guess we could make Heatmor worse than Durant now but god is it not bad enough already)?

 

[Darth Manaphy]

The issue isn't even Flash Fire, it's that Durant somehow gets Flare Blitz now (which means regular Durant also gets it). In any case, a fire-immunity ability basically forces Heatmor to have Mold Breaker if it wants to keep its flavor rivalry/superiority over Durant (I guess we could make Heatmor worse than Durant now but god is it not bad enough already)?

I think the reason he gave it Flare Blitz was to give it some attack to abuse Flash Fire with...but ehh...

And I really do think we should give Heatmor Mold Breaker.

 

[AM]

Mega Bisharp and Golurk very nice. Bisharp is already a pretty viable OU mon so it's tough to say what it improvements can be made. Maybe a new concept around it possibly. Golurk could use some improvements overall. It's kind of weird in terms of what it actually accomplishes which made it fall under NU so might try some things out.

Bouffalant I have no idea how to go about doing that one and as for Druddigon it can go in a handful of different directions, which is always nice to see.

 

[nightsitter]

Agreed, exchange Mega Durant's Flash Fire for Fire Absorb and take away Flare Blitz. Also, I've been saying it from the start: Mega Heatmor needs Mold Breaker

 

[Darth Manaphy]

I think we should make it the rule that Mega Heatmor gets Mold Breaker just to counter Mega Durant. (Yay, Arms Race!)

 

[clapyourhands]

Fire Absorb/Heatproof and Mold Breaker are perfect, and we've had those decided for months in advance anyways if I recall (the condition we gave for Durant to keep a Fire-immune/resist ability was to give Heatmor Mold Breaker); it's like that evolution montage from Futurama if anyone even knows what I'm talking about. We could make Heatmor Fire/Water (steampunk, steam englne, etc.), since we've somehow managed to make it this far without a steam-based Mega.

 

[JayHankEdLyon]

Fire Absorb/Heatproof and Mold Breaker are perfect, and we've had those decided for months in advance anyways if I recall (the condition we gave for Durant to keep a Fire-immune/resist ability was to give Heatmor Mold Breaker); it's like that evolution montage from Futurama if anyone even knows what I'm talking about. We could make Heatmor Fire/Water (steampunk, steam englne, etc.), since we've somehow managed to make it this far without a steam-based Mega.

It's cool and all just for that, but how could we make 584 BST Heatmor viable beyond fighting Durant if it's stuck with something as mundane as Mold Breaker? I only bring it up now because Heatmor's the next slate and now is our last chance to put Durant back on the slate at the same time as Heatmor.

In any case, I'll spoil what I'm thinking for Bouffalant because despite early discussion requests from others, it looks like we're stuck on recoil, which I think is a little boring. I'm thinking, what does Bouffalant, or any buffalo for that matter, do best? They charge. Even if they start as slow and lumbering, once they get running they can't be stopped.

My Mega Bouff is around the same low speed as normal, investing in its attack and bulk to be nice and tanky. But, just as a buffalo gains momentum as it charges, Bouffalant gets faster and faster through Speed Boost. Unlike current Speed Boosters, it takes more than one turn to really get going, being slow at first. But thanks to the likes of Swords Dance and its marvelous survivability (I'm also giving it Bulk Up to combine both attributes), it can go from being a traditional tank to a speedy powerhouse as it stays in play.

I think that's way cooler than yet another recoil move abuser.

 

[Darth Manaphy]

Well, if we make it Fire/Water, I can see giving it Scald and Aura Sphere.

We can also give it Flare Blitz and Slack Off and make it a Curse Sweeper

 

[Dilasc]

I like the idea of a Dry Skin Fire/Ground type, Ant eaters do have to dig sometimes to get their quarry.

 

[JayHankEdLyon]

I like the idea of a Dry Skin Fire/Ground type, Ant eaters do have to dig sometimes to get their quarry.

Camerupt desperately needs Water Absorb, both for excellent flavor as a camel and because it makes Fire/Ground terrific defensive typing.

This makes me hesitant to do the same for another mon.

 

[Dilasc]

That's why I said Dry Skin. In an odd twist, you'd have a fire type poorly suited to sun. Not to mention, it learns Rain Dance meaning the ability has a bit of a double edge to it if you use on rain teams.

 

[GG Unit]

If you really want to beat Durant with Heatmor that badly, you can use Gastro Acid on it first. Otherwise that thing isn't sniffing OU with Mold Breaker.

It'll be hard making a Mega Bisharp that's not just a better version of regular because you can still fish for a Defiant boost before Mega Evolving, and if a Latios predicts correctly and hits it with Surf or something you can then evolve, gain enough bulk to avoid being 2HKOed, and take it out.

 

[Mega Mantine]

Maybe give it Wood Hammer? It's afro looks like a shrubbery anyway.

So far only Grass types (and Sudowoodo, for reasons) get it, so I think it's the same case as Flare Blitz. It's a shame that Submission isn't any good, but at least Head Smash is an option.

On the subject of Mega Durant, it's just so wrong. We should really reopen it, there's no real reason it should get Flash Fire as that goes against flavor and basically only leaves one mediocre option open to Heatmor.
It actually makes more sense for Durant drop the Steel typing, as Durant supposedly covers itself in steel armor to protect itself from Heatmor (obviously it doesn't work).

 

[zerobreaker000]

It'll be hard making a Mega Bisharp that's not just a better version of regular because you can still fish for a Defiant boost before Mega Evolving, and if a Latios predicts correctly and hits it with Surf or something you can then evolve, gain enough bulk to avoid being 2HKOed, and take it out.

Easy, just decrease its bulk instead. Probably have to dump some stats in Sp.Atk.

 

[AM]

Yeah Bisharp is kind of a tough cause it's one of those cases where you don't want it to totally outclass regular bisharp, at the same time not making it broken as all hell.

 

[JayHankEdLyon]

Yeah Bisharp is kind of a tough cause it's one of those cases where you don't want it to totally outclass regular bisharp, at the same time not making it broken as all hell.

I honestly think it'll be fine, considering Bisharp's greatness is based on the buff of Dark-types (both offensively, as they no longer resist steel, and defensively, as they resist the newly-great Dark and Ghost types) and Defiant. All we have to do for it to have a different role is to not give it Defiant.

There are two roads to go here. One route we can take is to plan for Defiant to be used, and make this a mega that remains regular Bisharp as long as an anti-Defogger is needed, then switches once that threat is neutralized. The other is to shape Mega Bisharp in a way that the only effective use would mean not using the optimal moveset for anti-Defog Bisharp. Swordsmaster is a great choice for the second route, as it makes moves like Night Slash, Psycho Cut, and X-Scissor (which should totally count under Swordsmaster) hit much harder than moves like Pursuit and Sucker Punch. On that note, may I make a suggestion about Swordsmaster (yes, it's called Swordsman now, but this really oughtta be gender-neutral): rather than giving a clean 50% boost to blade-like techniques, why not make the ability cause all moves with a boosted crit rate to always critically hit? That way we still get the same sorts of moves getting the same boost, but in a way that bypasses defenses and offensive debuffs like Intimidate, as a good sword master should do. Just food for thought.

Regardless, despite some murmurs of worries in this discussion, I'm very interested in the former option: a Bisharp that holds off on mega evolving until the optimal moment. The standard Defog-counter Bisharp uses many a STAB move, from the aforementioned Pursuit and Sucker Punch to Iron Head to deal with Fairies. Thus, you could go with Adaptability with non-broken stat boosts to really amp up Bisharp's power, at the expense of its ability to block Defog. That way Bisharp can pick and choose its role in a battle, or do both with a good enough master, using the same moveset.

I honestly don't know which route I'd rather go for. Guess I better decide by submission time.

Either way, I'm excited to see what road people take Bisharp. Unless they take it in a road that includes Defiant but with better stats. That would be so dumb.

 

[Dilasc]

The obvious choice is to evolve it as it should be Pawn>Bishop>Rook... so defensively then?

 

[JayHankEdLyon]

The obvious choice is to evolve it as it should be Pawn>Bishop>Rook... so defensively then?

Except that only the English names use the chess motif, so that shouldn't be taken into account; Bisharp is actually based visually off a feudal Japanese road bandit, which fits the flavor of its steel armor and its dark (or "evil") methodology. The original name is Kirikizan, based off "to mince" and "to cut/slay." We oughtn't base our flavor on what the translation team makes of the original intent; otherwise, for instance, Mr. Mime would have to always be male.

(I say with with the utmost respect for the translation team, of course; my dream job growing up, and honestly still now, would be naming pokemon. There's some killer wordplay involved.)

 

[clapyourhands]

Heatmor could use Heat Seek--the current holder, Heatran, doesn't learn Inferno, but Heatmor can. With some Defense and Special Attack, it could take advantage of Inferno's guaranteed burn and 100-BP to become a rather unique physical tank-special attacker sort of thing. A different typing might help it stand out a bit more, too (just not Fire/Steel if we indeed go the Heat Seek route, as we don't need an inferior Heatran. Fire/Water or something alone those lines, perhaps.)

EDIT: Mega Lopunny confirms that yeah, we really aren't safe from making Megas even with Pokemon from non-Hoenn regions.