"It hurts all nearby grounded opponents. If you stay too close to it, it’ll bury you in the ground."
-- An Introduction. Who is Metagross? --
Metagross is a very special pokemon. They are a large blue robot with four legs and a face resembling that of a large man. In adv, it was an incredible progress maker with explosion, and had a great niche of blowing past its checks with meteor mash attack raises. I know nothing about gen 4, but I think it was pretty good there as well. In gen 5, it fell off majorly when explosion's power was cut in half, and rain offense hurt the consistency of bulky steels. It came back in a big way in gen 6 with its mega, but in gen 7 it was banned, and its base form fell to even greater depths. In gen 8, it lanquished in mediocrity, feeling the full effect of dark and ghost spam becoming more reliable, inadvertently making the part-psychic typing a liability for tons of mons. In gen 9, Metagross loses to 4/5 of the top mons in OU, and is outclassed in nearly every niche it could want. Still though, it gained a few really nice tools this gen, so there are sets worth exploring for when it inevitably falls to a lower tier.
-- An overview. What can Metagross do? --
Abilities: Clear Body, Light Metal (hidden)
Viable move options:
-- Offensive Options --
Heavy Slam (New)
Bullet Punch
Meteor Mash
Hard Press (New)
Steel Beam
Psychic Fangs (New)
Zen Headbutt
Future Sight
Psychic Noise (New)
Earthquake
Stomping Tantrum
Bulldoze
Ice Punch
Supercell Slam (New)
Thunder Punch
Stone Edge (New)
Knock Off (New)
Body Press
Focus Punch (New)
Brick Break
Tera Blast
-- Setup Options --
Iron Defense
Hone Claws
Trailblaze (New)
Agility
Reflect
Light Screen
Psych Up
-- Utility Options --
Stealth Rock
Trick
Steel Beam
Explosion
Icy Wind
Mud Slap
--- So What Changed? ---
Metagross has always been short on tools, and this gen has been a blessing for it. Having to rely on the poor accuracy of Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt has always made it awkward and inconsistent as an offensive threat. While its stats and ability are nice, it has always fallen into an unfortunate rut where it fails to make progress against its checks. Recieving Heavy Slam, Psychic Fangs, and Knock Off are perhaps the three best offensive tools it could have asked for, and it helps lend merit to a very simple choice band set.
Bulky Attacker
Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Psychic Fangs / Earthquake / Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Trick
This set strives to make the most of its strong steel stab, leveraging its huge weight class with Heavy Slam while also providing a good amount of utility with its other moves. Fangs helps against screens, as well as certain meta-dependant checks such as Toxapex and Great Tusk. Knock off provides a decent amount of power, crippling any switchins when it's able to threaten what's in front of it. Trick increases this utility further, rounding out the set's usefullness into unfavorable matchups.
PhysDef
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Knock Off
- Iron Defense
- Stealth Rock
While admittedly not having as strong a niche as the CB set, this still has merit in a meta where it isn't worrying about spikes chip and sballs as much. For an OU environment, however, this set outspeeds and beats kingambit, while providing more utility with Knock Off and Rocks.
Lead (heat :3)
Metagross @ Custap Berry / Light Clay
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steel Beam
- Future Sight / Reflect
- Knock Off / Light Screen
- Stealth Rock
A truly strange set, almost completely outclassed by a mon who rhymes with Ryan Brown, who's able to ohko sashed glimmoras and ribombees in the lead slot with its signature move. There's plenty room to optimize here, and this may even be effective in a meta where Metagross is viable, and you're able to bluff with this set. A steel beam rocks lead could potentially set the tempo with future sight before sacrificing itself, but a screens set is also an option. Definitely the most iffy of these three options, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
Have fun with Metagross! Share any innovations you can come up with below. This is a cool mon that has a ton of potential in lower tiers with its new tools!
-- An Introduction. Who is Metagross? --
Metagross is a very special pokemon. They are a large blue robot with four legs and a face resembling that of a large man. In adv, it was an incredible progress maker with explosion, and had a great niche of blowing past its checks with meteor mash attack raises. I know nothing about gen 4, but I think it was pretty good there as well. In gen 5, it fell off majorly when explosion's power was cut in half, and rain offense hurt the consistency of bulky steels. It came back in a big way in gen 6 with its mega, but in gen 7 it was banned, and its base form fell to even greater depths. In gen 8, it lanquished in mediocrity, feeling the full effect of dark and ghost spam becoming more reliable, inadvertently making the part-psychic typing a liability for tons of mons. In gen 9, Metagross loses to 4/5 of the top mons in OU, and is outclassed in nearly every niche it could want. Still though, it gained a few really nice tools this gen, so there are sets worth exploring for when it inevitably falls to a lower tier.
-- An overview. What can Metagross do? --
Abilities: Clear Body, Light Metal (hidden)
Viable move options:
-- Offensive Options --
Heavy Slam (New)
Bullet Punch
Meteor Mash
Hard Press (New)
Steel Beam
Psychic Fangs (New)
Zen Headbutt
Future Sight
Psychic Noise (New)
Earthquake
Stomping Tantrum
Bulldoze
Ice Punch
Supercell Slam (New)
Thunder Punch
Stone Edge (New)
Knock Off (New)
Body Press
Focus Punch (New)
Brick Break
Tera Blast
-- Setup Options --
Iron Defense
Hone Claws
Trailblaze (New)
Agility
Reflect
Light Screen
Psych Up
-- Utility Options --
Stealth Rock
Trick
Steel Beam
Explosion
Icy Wind
Mud Slap
--- So What Changed? ---
Metagross has always been short on tools, and this gen has been a blessing for it. Having to rely on the poor accuracy of Meteor Mash and Zen Headbutt has always made it awkward and inconsistent as an offensive threat. While its stats and ability are nice, it has always fallen into an unfortunate rut where it fails to make progress against its checks. Recieving Heavy Slam, Psychic Fangs, and Knock Off are perhaps the three best offensive tools it could have asked for, and it helps lend merit to a very simple choice band set.
Bulky Attacker
Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Psychic Fangs / Earthquake / Bullet Punch
- Knock Off
- Trick
This set strives to make the most of its strong steel stab, leveraging its huge weight class with Heavy Slam while also providing a good amount of utility with its other moves. Fangs helps against screens, as well as certain meta-dependant checks such as Toxapex and Great Tusk. Knock off provides a decent amount of power, crippling any switchins when it's able to threaten what's in front of it. Trick increases this utility further, rounding out the set's usefullness into unfavorable matchups.
PhysDef
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Knock Off
- Iron Defense
- Stealth Rock
While admittedly not having as strong a niche as the CB set, this still has merit in a meta where it isn't worrying about spikes chip and sballs as much. For an OU environment, however, this set outspeeds and beats kingambit, while providing more utility with Knock Off and Rocks.
Lead (heat :3)
Metagross @ Custap Berry / Light Clay
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steel Beam
- Future Sight / Reflect
- Knock Off / Light Screen
- Stealth Rock
A truly strange set, almost completely outclassed by a mon who rhymes with Ryan Brown, who's able to ohko sashed glimmoras and ribombees in the lead slot with its signature move. There's plenty room to optimize here, and this may even be effective in a meta where Metagross is viable, and you're able to bluff with this set. A steel beam rocks lead could potentially set the tempo with future sight before sacrificing itself, but a screens set is also an option. Definitely the most iffy of these three options, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
Have fun with Metagross! Share any innovations you can come up with below. This is a cool mon that has a ton of potential in lower tiers with its new tools!
