Metagross (Full Revamp) (QC 3/3)

• Using Metagross increases your manliness
• Clear Body is an awesome ability
• Smashing 135 Atk and 130 Def; making it capable of taking and dishing out physical attacks with a modest 80 HP and 90 SpD
• Steel/Psychic is only vulnerable to two weaknesses - one of them possibly weakened thanks to Drizzle's dominance in the OU metagame
• Wide enough movepool to take advantage of many different sets
• Mediocre STABs, 70 base Spe, four moveslot syndrome, and weaknesses that are fairly common hamper its usage

• Arguably Metagross's best set in the OU metagame since its bulk and typing allows it to lay Stealth Rock with fair ease.
• Meteor Mash is Metagross's primary STAB move thanks to its high base power and off-chance to raise Atk.
• With Pursuit Metagross is able to check Latios, Latias, Gengar, and Celebi. Be careful about Celebi carrying Earth Power or Hidden Power Fire.
• Earthquake keeps Jirachi, Tentacruel, and Heatran from ruining Metagross's fun. Hammer Arm can be used to smash Ferrothorn and is Metagross's second best way to hit Rotom-W (the first being STAB Zen Headbutt).
• Leftovers are used primarily to keep Metagross healthy while doing its duties. Other item options listed in Additional Comments.

• If you're wishing for more Attack, you can switch back to 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe.
• 60 EVs can be used to outspeed 0 Speed Heatran - thus giving Metagross the jump against Heatran and KOing it with Earthquake. Metagross can survive a Lava Plume with this EV spread and Earthquake it back, though.
• Occa Berry can be used to mitigate Heatran's Lava Plume (or prevent Metagross from dying to Fire Blast). If paired with Rock Slide, it can also prevent Volcarona from setting up and sweeping Metagross.
• With Shuca Berry and Ice Punch, Metagross can survive a Life Orb Landorus Earthquake (in Sandstorm) most of the time (81.6% - 96.4%) and KO it back with Ice Punch. Ice Punch also lets Metagross hit Dragonite, Haxorus, and Salamence locked into Outrage. For an added bonus, +2 LO Salamence fails to KO Metagross (57.1% - 67.6%), making Metagross a reliable check in that scenario. Gliscor is also deterred from switching into Metagross. This should only be considered if Metagross isn't being used to Pursuit Pokemon or you have solid checks to Calm Mind Jirachi.
• Air Balloon can be used instead of Shuca Berry to give Metagross a temporary immunity. Bear in mind that the Balloon pops if Metagross takes an attack.
• Normal Gem + Explosion can be considered instead to nearly KO Gliscor switch-ins (84.2% - 99.2% if Metagross runs max Atk) and KO Rotom-W switch-ins, though Explosion might be a bad idea since Metagross attracts Jellicent as it is.
• Lum Berry isn’t a terrible option since it allows Metagross to stay into Tentacruel easier thanks to preventing Scald burning Metagross at least once.
• Life Orb can be used to add juice behind Metagross's attacks, but the lack of Leftovers and Life Orb recoil make taking attacks seem a little harder to accomplish.
• Bullet Punch is an option to let Metagross revenge kill threats such as Mamoswine and Weavile. Unfortunately, it just doesn't hit very hard even behind that awesome 135 Atk stat and STAB factored in (4 HP Mamo takes 49.9% - 58.7% for example with max Atk Metagross).
• Skarmory and Forretress can set up with impunity while Metagross is out. As an added bonus, Forretress can simply spin away Metagross’s Stealth Rock.
• Donphan can switch into Metagross while being able to spin away Stealth Rock, set up its own rocks, or slam Metagross with STAB Earthquake.
• LO Starmie does 53.6% - 63.5% outside of the rain and does 80.2% - 94.8% in the rain. Metagross can leave Starmie severely crippled or even KOed if Sandstorm and Stealth Rock is in play, though.
• Bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon and Jellicent can take repeated Hammer Arms and Earthquakes and burn with Scald / Will-O-Wisp. Rain boosted Scalds make the situation a little worse.
• Volcarona resists Metagross’s moveset fairly well, though Offensive Volcarona can’t set up on Occa Metagross if Stealth Rock is in play as Earthquake does 60% damage minimum. It is very possible for Bulky Volcarona to set up on Metagross, though, as Earthquake maxes out at 38%.
• Gliscor doesn’t like taking Meteor Mash too much nor does it like thinking about taking Ice Punch in the face, but Meteor Mash isn’t 3HKOing any defensive Gliscor without an Attack boost while Earthquake is at worst a 3HKO.
• While not a counter, Thundurus-T can come into Metagross and set up Nasty Plot while being able to take an unboosted Meteor Mash. Choice Specs Thunder can OHKO Metagross unless it invests in SpD.
• Celebi is a great partner for Metagross as, with Hidden Power Fire, can handle Skarmory and Forretress while making Donphan and bulky Water-types less of a hassle. Tinkerbell doesn’t like the thoughts of Substitute, but if Celebi carries Psychic instead Gliscor shouldn’t be a problem whatsoever. Thunder Wave support helps alleviate Metagross’s Speed woes against offensive Pokemon such as Tornadus-T.
• If you’re playing with Metagross in the rain, Tornadus-T and Thundurus-T can shred most of these Pokemon with their STABs while possibly switching in freely thanks to their Earthquake immunity. If you’re using Tornadus-T, it needs Focus Blast for Skarmory.
• Choice Scarf Terrakion can revenge kill +1 Volcarona and can put some dents on some of the bulky Water-types.
• Rotom-W compliments nicely with Metagross – Rotom-W takes away some of the bulky Water-type’s pain while taking Metagross’s weaknesses and resisting Fire and immune to Earthquake. Meanwhile, Rotom-W appreciates Metagross’s easier handling with Grass-types such as Celebi that lack Earth Power or Hidden Power Fire.
• Possible additions – Wish support (Vaporeon, Latias), other entry hazards (Deoxys-D, Ferrothorn, Froslass), and spin-blocking (Jellicent, Sableye).

• Choice Band Metagross still hits like a nuke this generation.
• STAB Meteor Mash is Metagross’s primary STAB. The chance of raising Attack (though rare) makes taking it even scarier.
• Bullet Punch, while comparatively weak to Scizor’s is Metagross’s best way of bypassing its Speed woes. This also allows Metagross to double up with utility as a revenge killer for faster Pokemon such as Terrakion and Mamoswine.
• Hammer Arm is the main choice this time for hitting Jirachi as well as being able to beat Skarmory one-on-one. If Skarmory Roosts, it’s taking 62.9% - 74.3%.
• Zen Headbutt does nicely to beat Conkeldurr and bulky Water-types such as Jellicent and Rotom-W. It’s also Metagross’s best move, aside from Rock Slide, to throw Volcarona switch-ins off.
• Pursuit is a good option to improve Choice Band Metagross’s utility value – if opting to use it, max HP is recommended instead of the given spread.
• ThunderPunch is an option to 2HKO Slowbro and retains a 2HKO on Skarmory. This makes handling Gastrodon a bit harder, though.
• The given Speed EVs gives Metagross 200 Speed – enough to outrun Defensive Gyarados.

• Ice Punch can be used if being stopped by Gliscor is a big deal for Metagross. This also gives Metagross a more reliable option to hit Dragon-types locked into Outrage.
• While the Explosion nerf stinks, it still can leave massive dents on Pokemon that don’t resist it.
• Trick can be used, but Metagross wants as much muscle as possible and the move is better served on a set with Choice Scarf.
• Slowbro is probably one of the best counters to Metagross, as it only fears ThunderPunch. Pursuit does mediocre damage unless Slowbro switches out. Regenerator also makes tackling Slowbro a lot more difficult. Even if Metagross is locked into ThunderPunch, Slowbro can switch out and regain most of its health back.
• Bulky Steel- and Water-types can still switch into predicted Meteor Mashes and Bullet Punches and take advantage of the situation quickly with their entry hazards / STAB Scalds / Will-O-Wisp. Heatran can easily incinerate Metagross with Fire Blast.
• This set is very susceptible to being revenge trapped by Magnezone, Magneton, Dugtrio, and Wobbuffet. Do whatever it takes to take these Pokemon out and prevent them from stopping Metagross.
• Hazard support, especially Stealth Rock, is important to help Metagross keep the pain train going.
• Celebi makes an awesome partner once again. It handles Slowbro and other bulky Water-types nicely thanks to STAB Leaf Storm or STAB Grass Knot. While Heatran can still prove to be a problem, Earth Power can be used to prevent Heatran from ruining Metagross’s day. Psychic can also be used to prevent Substitute + Protect Gliscor from going very far as well as hitting Pokemon that could set up on Metagross such as Bulk Up Conkeldurr.
• Rotom-W is another great partner since it cripples bulky Water-types as well as most Steel-types thanks to its great dual STABs. Being immune to Earthquake is another huge plus.
• Hydreigon is a nice offensive pairing. While Fire Blast can possibly be nerfed in the rain, Hydreigon carries two powerful STABs that rip through most of Metagross’s issues. In return, Hydreigon handles the faster, frailer Pokemon that threaten Hydreigon as well as taking Ice-type attacks. Surf can also be used if you’re pairing Metagross and Hydreigon with a rain team.
• While an awkward pairing, Magnezone can trap some of the troublesome Steel-types that plague Metagross’s stampede while handling bulky Water-types nicely.

• Jolly gives way to outspeeding Scarf Terrakion and neutral nature Venusaur after an Agility.
• Combined with Metagross’s awesome resistances to most priority attacks (bar Aqua Jet and Mach Punch), this makes Metagross very scary to handle if the opponent isn’t careful and running a fully offensive team.
• Meteor Mash is Metagross’s primary STAB option to hit Tyranitar, Mamoswine, Landorus, Thundurus, and the Lati twins for the best possible damage.
• Earthquake prevents Heatran and Jirachi from stopping the sweep.
• Zen Headbutt nails Thundurus-T, Rotom-W, Virizion and Keldeo-R while preventing Conkeldurr from setting up Bulk Ups.
• ThunderPunch is only listed because it hits Starmie and Slowbro harder than Zen Headbutt. The former is the only real noteworthy one since it can take an Earthquake and smash Metagross with Life Orb Hydro Pump since Slowbro and Skarmory pretty much “stop” Metagross’s sweep.
• Metagross isn’t a bad receiver of Baton Pass boosts such as Shell Smash, Swords Dance, or Substitute. If you’re Baton Passing Shell Smash, Agility can be removed for both Zen Headbutt and Thunderpunch. If you’re passing Agility to Metagross, Hone Claws isn’t a bad option. Hone Claws has the added benefit of making Zen Headbutt and Meteor Mash’s accuracy 100%.

• Ice Punch is only noteworthy because Gliscor can be a major pain for a team to take out. It does have a negative side effect of leaving Keldeo-R without being hit by a SE attack as well as being equal to Meteor Mash’s base power if Meteor Mash hits neutral or Ice Punch hits for x2 SE damage. Don’t bother with other attacks aside from the ones listed here, and only use ThunderPunch over Zen Headbutt if you’re completely desperate with hitting bulky Water-types during the sweep or Starmie.
• Don’t even bother with other item options. While Lum Berry is nice for removing paralysis or burns, Air Balloon helps Metagross bypass its Ground-type weakness, and Shuca Berry allows Heatran to take an emergency Fire-type attack, Life Orb is too necessary for power since Metagross doesn’t have the option to go Adamant. While Adamant nature sounds VERY appealing with Jolly’s noticed power drop, an Agility still has Metagross slower than base 95s with a positive Speed nature and a Choice Scarf.
• Bulky Steel-types and bulky Water-types really prove to be a pain to this Metagross. This is emphasized heavily because this Metagross is attempting to sweep teams. In fact, any teams that have considerable amounts of bulk (i.e. Stall teams) are going to give Metagross hell.
• Gliscor, once again, sticks out its tongue at Metagross as this is the least flexible set to run Ice Punch with. Slowbro and Skarmory carry the award for “biggest blocks” to this Metagross set; especially without ThunderPunch.
• This set desperately needs entry hazards to help clear the way for the Metagross Meteor SMashing Express. A spinblocker will also be necessary to keep the hazards on the field.
• Celebi is great for handling bulky Water-types with relative ease. It can also set up Stealth Rock.
• Hydreigon can prove to be beneficial to Metagross since it’s an impressive wall-breaker on its own.
• Rotom-W can cripple a lot of physical Steel-types such as Scizor with Will-O-Wisp, thus helping create more setup fodder for Metagross. Being able to handle bulky Water-types and most Steel-types is a huge plus.
• When it comes to setting up Spikes Deoxys-D is probably your best bet. It doesn’t share the nasty weaknesses that Metagross, Hydreigon, and Rotom-W suffer from and can also set up Stealth Rock if necessary. As an added bonus, it can run Hidden Power Fire / Thunderbolt to take care of Ferrothorn or Skarmory. Superpower can also be used to dent Ferrothorn enough to start up Metagross’s sweep. Being Pursuit-bait is kind of an advantage here since it lets Metagross set up Agility easier; assuming they’re Choice-locked or Weavile of course.
• Magnezone can prove to be a huge help for Metagross since it traps the nasty Steel-types that otherwise nerf this set even harder. In fact, trappers in general aren’t a bad idea to carry for Metagross’s team since it can help make sweeps easier by removing most of the problematic Pokemon. Wobbuffet has an added bonus of using Encore to lock a Pokemon onto a move that Metagross can, more than likely, set up on.

• Takes an interesting twist with Metagross and allows it to beat some of its counters.
• Hidden Power Fire handles most of the Steel-types that love switching into Metagross. It 2HKOes Skarmory and Ferrothorn while OHKOing Forretress and Scizor after Stealth Rock.
• Grass Knot handles Jellicent, Slowbro, and Hippowdon for a 2HKO.
• Zen Headbutt helps knock around Conkeldurr and Tentacruel while providing Metagross’s best option around Rotom-W.
• Earthquake can be used to eliminate Heatran and Jirachi.
• Speed EVs prevent Metagross from being outsped by Wobbuffet.

• You can remove Attack EVs and place more into Speed to outrun Special Defensive Heatran. 60 is the minimum necessary to outspeed 0 Speed Heatran.
• Ice Punch can be used instead of Zen Headbutt to hit Gliscor, but you lose to Rotom-W or become more susceptible to Heatran switch-ins without Earthquake. Choose wisely!
• Expert Belt can be used instead of Life Orb if you want to keep Metagross’s durability up.
• Heatran or Rotom-W will really hamper this set. Gliscor can too without Ice Punch, and lack of Zen Headbutt or Earthquake makes Tentacruel also a Pokemon that can laugh at Metagross.
• Tyranitar or Hydreigon can handle Heatran well enough while Celebi handles Rotom-W nicely. Tyranitar gets the added bonus of keeping Hidden Power Fire’s base power intact.

• Gravity is gravy for letting Earthquake hit Skarmory, Rotom-W, and Bronzong while fixing Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt’s accuracy.
• Trick can be utilized on either Choice Band or Choice Scarf, but Choice Scarf Metagross is rather mediocre since it loses to Jolteon by a single point and requires a Jolly nature to be effective. You can also Trick Iron Ball, but do bear in mind that it only removes Levitate, not Flying-type, from Pokemon.
• Hone Claws was briefly mentioned on the Agility set to use if a Pokemon is passing an Agility to Metagross. While it fixes Metagross’s accuracy and Attack issue, it certainly doesn’t fix its Speed issue. Be sure to have Thunder Wave / Thunder / Body Slam support if you use this option.
• Rock Slide
• Rest+Sleep Talk is best left to Pokemon that have the coverage moves. The new sleep mechanics hinder the viability of this set even more.
• Reflect+Light Screen is best left to other Pokemon such as Xatu and Espeon who can block Taunt.
• Magnet Rise sounds cool until you realize Metagross already suffers more than enough from four moveslot syndrome.
• If you’re really annoyed by Meteor Mash, you can choose two options. The first is using Iron Head, which has a considerable power drop. The second is Gyro Ball, which forces Metagross to use an Iron Ball and make it considerably slow.
• Block and Explosion w/Normal Gem can be used for a trapping Metagross.
• It can Calm Mind, but it’s too slow to really take advantage of it and severely lacks coverage moves to compliment the boosts. While STAB Flash Cannon and Psyshock / Psychic sound appealing, the only other options are Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, Icy Wind, Signal Beam, and Hidden Power. Aside from Hidden Power, a lot of Steel-types stop it cold too easily.

• Slowbro probably stands as the ultimate counter – the worst it takes is a Choice Band ThunderPunch, and even then Regenerator can make the damage mostly look like a scratch. Slowbro can cripple Metagross with Thunder Wave or fire repeated Scalds for the chance of burning it. Fire Blast can also be used to severely damage Metagross.
• Skarmory definitely stands as a major threat to Metagross since it stops most of its sets while being able to set up hazards. To be fair, it can’t do much back since STAB Brave Bird has to pierce 80 HP / 130 Def and Metagross resists the attack. Whirlwind can stop Agility Metagross from sweeping the team.
• Gliscor can stop just about any set since it’s the only reason Ice Punch is really used on Metagross. With a powerful combination of Substitute, Protect, and Poison Heal Gliscor is hard for Metagross to take down without Ice Punch’s assistance. Choice Band Meteor Mash can clock in over 50% on Gliscor, though, so Gliscor does need to be careful if it lacks Roost.
• Rotom-W returns as twice the bugger that it originally was. Thanks to its typing switch, Metagross can hit Rotom-W with Hammer Arm. The bad news is that the typing switch and the dominant weather of rain make STAB Hydro Pump and STAB Thunder or Thunderbolt painful for Metagross to take. If that wasn’t enough, Will-O-Wisp can completely freeze any chance of Metagross carrying out a sweep. Zen Headbutt can be painful for Rotom-W to face, though, so bear that in mind.
• Heatran, while it can’t switch into Earthquake and Hammer Arm, can prove to be troublesome to Metagross. It can burn Metagross with Will-O-Wisp or STAB Lava Plume, or go for the kill on offensive sets with STAB Fire Blast.
• The trapping squad (Magnezone, Magneton, Dugtrio, Wobbuffet) can prove to be a huge nuisance to Metagross; especially Choice Metagross.
• Donphan can at least withstand a Meteor Mash from something not named the Choice Band set and scare it off with STAB Earthquake. Watch out for that nasty Grass Knot!
• Other bulky Water- and Steel-types can be a major pain to Metagross pending on its move choices. Rain-boosted Scalds can be annoying for Metagross to take; especially when there’s a 30% chance for Metagross to halve its Attack. Jellicent can Will-O-Wisp Metagross and use Recover to help keep itself alive. Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Forretress can set up their entry hazards to further annoy Metagross’s team. Ferrothorn can be a major drag with Leech Seed and the occasional Thunder Wave.
• Sun teams, while partially beneficial to Metagross as it reduces Scald’s base power and boosts Hydreigon’s Fire Blast, can prove to be an absolute nightmare for Metagross. They commonly carry Heatran, Ninetales can threaten you with its STAB Flamethrower / Fire Blast boosted in sunlight, and Venusaur can cripple Metagross with Sleep Powder while setting up Growth.
• Don’t think sand teams aren’t that damaging to Metagross yet – Sandslash can at least revenge kill a lot of offensive Metagross sets as Jolly Earthquake does 93.4% - 109.9% to Agility, Choice Scarf, and Mixed Metagross. Landorus also gets a boost to its Earthquake thanks to Sand Force. Note that Agility can outspeed Sandslash most of the time if Mettagross has set up.
• Metagross's low Speed makes it easier to revenge kill. Just watch out for the usual Speed creep / Choice Scarf / Agility sets which do pack a lot of Speed.
• Max HP / max Def Impish Hippowdon can take most abuse from Metagross and either Slack Off the damage or threaten Metagross with STAB Earthquake.

• No slash for Trick on the Band set?
• I really really really think we should get rid of the Trick+Iron Ball set. It is relying on a mechanic flaw that is on the simulators. I posted the link in Harsha's thread but I guess I will post it again here. Just Ctrl+F Iron Ball. If anything Gravity should be the move used not Trick with Iron Ball.
• Possibly make an all-out-attacking set without SR or CB that isn't OO. I always found that to be its best set with a type resist berry :s

frogoholic101 said:

Is there any scope for a Gravity set? Metagross gets EQ/Meteor Mash/DynamicPunch, all of which really like grounded flying types and better accuracy. It has the Atk stat to use them, too.

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