Farewell and adieu, chief
Mega Sharpedo - Water / Dark
Mega Sharpedo is a shiny new toy that falls into the ancient relic role known as the late-game cleaner. Though known for paper thin defenses, it's equally known for decent Speed and attacking stats and useful abilities in Speed Boost and Strong Jaw, combining for dangerous sweeping potential. Additionally, Water/Dark dual-STAB offers good neutral coverage in the OU metagame and its movepool complements this coverage nicely. Mega Sharpedo is best suited to wait in the wings while its counters are weakened/eliminated and bring home the win for its team.
Sets Used
I've seen a wide variety of sets for Mega Sharpedo and after testing its options extensively, I feel these are the most optimal, which will require a lot of explaining in the Sub set's case. But as far as other options, mixed Mega Sharpedo sounds really cool but I've found little reason to use it over physical, since the only benefits are better dealing with Hippo and Bisharp with Hydro Pump and dodging chip damage from defensive Lando-T and Tank Chomp with Ice Beam. Special is in a similar vein, as it only nukes MSlowbro, Cofag and Cress and receives no boosts to its moves. Physical also give you more coverage options over both sets.
E F - E F (Sharpedo-Mega) @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
- Substitute
- Crunch
- Ice Fang / Poison Jab / Zen Headbutt
- Waterfall
Strong Jaw-boosted Crunch is your main STAB and is pretty spammable. The boost to Ice Fang is enough for Mega Sharpedo to OHKO Garchomp, Landorus-T, Gliscor and Breloom as well as guaranteeing an OHKO on Serperior after SR, which is preferred for cleaning late-game. Crunch's damage is similar to Ice Fang's on other Ice-weaks; chip damage on these targets can be enough to make either Poison Jab or Zen Headbutt a weak, but decent alternative to hit Azu and Clef or Keldeo, MVenusaur and MLopunny, respectively. Waterfall is preferred to hit Rock-types, Talon and Heatran, though Earthquake is worth a mention. It offers similar coverage while trading a few targets for hitting Electric-types harder, Bisharp and Klefi.
Jolly is worth a strong mention. Mega Sharpedo generally appreciates the power Adamant brings, but Jolly's speed can be pretty clutch, outspeeding ScarfChomp and everything slower at +1. This means the average Scarfer can't come in and break Sharpedo's Sub and revenge kill/cripple it with a teammate. Also since Mega Sharpedo is usually on HO teams, the goal of passive damage these teams aim for can often make Jolly a better option in the long run.
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
- Substitute
- Crunch
- Ice Fang / Poison Jab / Zen Headbutt
- Waterfall
Strong Jaw-boosted Crunch is your main STAB and is pretty spammable. The boost to Ice Fang is enough for Mega Sharpedo to OHKO Garchomp, Landorus-T, Gliscor and Breloom as well as guaranteeing an OHKO on Serperior after SR, which is preferred for cleaning late-game. Crunch's damage is similar to Ice Fang's on other Ice-weaks; chip damage on these targets can be enough to make either Poison Jab or Zen Headbutt a weak, but decent alternative to hit Azu and Clef or Keldeo, MVenusaur and MLopunny, respectively. Waterfall is preferred to hit Rock-types, Talon and Heatran, though Earthquake is worth a mention. It offers similar coverage while trading a few targets for hitting Electric-types harder, Bisharp and Klefi.
Jolly is worth a strong mention. Mega Sharpedo generally appreciates the power Adamant brings, but Jolly's speed can be pretty clutch, outspeeding ScarfChomp and everything slower at +1. This means the average Scarfer can't come in and break Sharpedo's Sub and revenge kill/cripple it with a teammate. Also since Mega Sharpedo is usually on HO teams, the goal of passive damage these teams aim for can often make Jolly a better option in the long run.
Chiefy (Sharpedo-Mega) @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
- Protect
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Waterfall
Though it's lost a lot of its luster in this meta, the classic cleaning set can still function, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it. There's just so many ways of halting this set's sweep these days, but it is the best way to guarantee a Speed Boost if it's paramount. Zen Headbutt is decent for Keldeo and MLopunny but I wouldn't recommend the coverage moves from the Sub set too strongly either because even with an Adamant nature, the moves are so weak that you still need a Sub to beat their respective targets consistently unless they're severely weakened. I guess Hydro Pump could be of more use on this set if you desire a mixed attacker.
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
- Protect
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Waterfall
Though it's lost a lot of its luster in this meta, the classic cleaning set can still function, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it. There's just so many ways of halting this set's sweep these days, but it is the best way to guarantee a Speed Boost if it's paramount. Zen Headbutt is decent for Keldeo and MLopunny but I wouldn't recommend the coverage moves from the Sub set too strongly either because even with an Adamant nature, the moves are so weak that you still need a Sub to beat their respective targets consistently unless they're severely weakened. I guess Hydro Pump could be of more use on this set if you desire a mixed attacker.
How I Went About Building with Mega Sharpedo
Sharpedo-Mega @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Waterfall
Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Foul Play
Landorus-T @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Roost
Thundurus @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot
- Taunt
A HO mon like Mega Sharpedo screams for hazard stacking, so I went for Klefki and Lum SD Lando as suitable HO hazard setters. I added Bulky SD Talon to threaten the tier's common priority users, Keldeo and also act as a secondary wincon. I then added LO Hydreigon as a stupid powerful wallbreaker that weakened Sharpedo's checks and counters via Dark spam. Finally, I chose Taunt Thundurus to break down bulky Waters, Hippo and stallbreak a bit.
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Waterfall
Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Flash Cannon
- Foul Play
Landorus-T @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Roost
Thundurus @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Grass Knot
- Taunt
A HO mon like Mega Sharpedo screams for hazard stacking, so I went for Klefki and Lum SD Lando as suitable HO hazard setters. I added Bulky SD Talon to threaten the tier's common priority users, Keldeo and also act as a secondary wincon. I then added LO Hydreigon as a stupid powerful wallbreaker that weakened Sharpedo's checks and counters via Dark spam. Finally, I chose Taunt Thundurus to break down bulky Waters, Hippo and stallbreak a bit.
Findings
(+)
Sharpedo definitely surprised me in many instances with its power and sweeping ability when it gets an opportunity. Crunch is very spammable and it does some neat things like OHKO Mega Latias, Excadrill, Thundurus, Raikou and Tornadus-T. Substitute definitely makes Mega Sharpedo much more usable in this meta as it covers a lot of its flaws. It's a more useful move in Mega Sharpedo's moveset in case it is forced to Mega-evolve, making it less reliant on Speed Boost. This means it can still afford to protect itself and be used as a hit and run attacker in a worst case scenario better than a Protect set can. Substitute shields Mega Sharpedo from Prankster Thunder Wave and Intimidate, two of the biggest threats to its success, and offers away around bulkier foes such as Kyurem-B and Rotom-W, priority revenge-killers such as Talonflame and Breloom and status-reliant defensive foes such as Mew, Mega Sableye and Slowbro. Though situational, Sub is also a feasible way to acquire multiple speed boosts if needed against high Speed weather sweepers without having to go for a double Protect.
(-)
Substitute does an ample job covering Mega Sharpedo's flaws, but it can't cover all of them, and the biggest one is just in the Mega's design. While Speed Boost is a great ability, its only available before Mega-evolving, essentially meaning you only have one window to boost your Speed before attempting a sweep. Its low defenses and a good, not great speed tier further heap the pressure on Mega Sharpedo to pull off a flawless setup. And this is really the only reason Protect sets have any merit because its a sure +1. Sharpedo's even worse pre-Mega defenses and base 95 Speed can also leave it outpaced and KO'd in some situations where its not safe to set up a Substitute, especially with an Adamant nature. Even successful setups can be thwarted by offensive teams that naturally carry a few ways of dealing with Mega Sharpedo, including Scarfers, Prankster and Intimidate mons, priority users and bulky threats that a given Mega Sharpedo set misses coverage on. Obviously these threats being present late in a game is dictated by game flow and match-up but it's not always possible to kill everything that threatens Mega Sharpedo before it's forced in. Match-up--while we're on the subject--is also an issue: it fairs better against offensive teams, whereas fat teams really give it trouble as I quickly found out playing on the suspect ladder. Dark resists and naturally bulky Pokemon can often prey on Mega Sharpedo's lack of power behind its coverage moves and wall it, use it as setup fodder or just outright KO it. This is even more prevalent when you don't get/lose hazards on your opponent's side of the field.
Is the Meta in Favor of Mega Sharpedo?
Overall, no it's not. It's more match-up based than Volcarona and the sheer number of things that can cut its sweep short just a lot to deal with, no matter how skilled a player you are. But I was really surprised how well it cleaned and functioned in such a fast paced meta with its flaws and is definitely niche. It does shine when it pulls it off, but it's just not necessary to run dedicated cleaners these days. The very things that threaten it the most can do a comparable clean up job without dealing with Mega Sharpedo's issues or needing a Mega Stone. This mon is really fun to use though and can be a terror if not prepared for.
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