Overview
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Salamence's Mega Evolution is a dominant force in the metagame and the very definition of an offensive Flying-type. With Aerilate, powerful moves such as Double-Edge and Hyper Voice become boosted STAB moves which are powerful enough for Salamence to sometimes forgo coverage moves. Its stats are phenomenal (notably its outstanding base 120 Speed, allowing it to outspeed the majority of the metagame), it has a decent movepool, and its bulk is excellent, especially considering it has Intimidate before Mega Evolving and good resistances to the popular Fire / Water / Grass defensive core. The only problems Mega Salamence faces are its weaknesses to Ice- and Fairy-type moves, defensive Steel-types that easily tank its STAB moves, and common methods of speed control.
Physical
########
name: Physical
move 1: Double-Edge / Return
move 2: Dragon Dance
move 3: Earthquake / Roost / Dragon Claw
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly / Adamant
Moves
========
Double-Edge and Return are two high-powered Normal-type moves that are converted to Flying-type STAB moves and boosted by 30% thanks to Aerialate. Double-Edge hits harder and can pick up key KOs, such as against Sylveon, but it causes recoil damage, while Return is the safer option but can miss out on these KOs without a Dragon Dance boost. Dragon Dance makes Mega Salamence a much more threatening Pokemon, as it effectively gives Mega Salamence its own speed control and helps turn 2HKOs into OHKOs, notably against big metagame threats such as Mega Kangaskhan and Pokemon EVed to survive unboosted attacks. Protect prevents Mega Salamence from being KOed prematurely or hit with moves such as Icy Wind while a partner takes care of the threat. It also allows Mega Salamence to Mega Evolve safely.
The third slot is mainly filler. Earthquake is purely for Heatran and other Steel-types, which tank Double-Edges with ease, but is normally rather weak without a boost. Roost is for the defensive player who would prefer to keep Mega Salamence healthy as it accumulates Dragon Dance boosts or Double-Edge recoil, and it comes with the added bonus of temporarily lessening Mega Salamence's Ice weakness and removing its Rock weakness. Dragon Claw is useful only by virtue of not causing recoil and for hitting Electric-types for neutral damage.
Set Details
========
A Jolly nature is preferred to take advantage of Mega Salamence's wonderful Speed tier and to not be outpaced by the likes of Terrakion and Gengar. Adamant Mega Salamence has better damage output, but be sure to compensate against fast Pokemon by either Dragon Dancing or using attacks such as Icy Wind.
Defensively, you can build your Mega Salamence to survive many heavy hits, especially when combined with Roost recovery. Running 100 HP EVs is all it takes to survive Mega Mawile's Play Rough after Intimidate, so you should try tinkering with damage calculations if using Return to make your Mega Salamence more resilient against team-specific threats. Double-Edge makes defensive investment go to waste, however.
Usage Tips
========
Try to manage when you Mega Evolve Salamence. Weigh the benefits of having Intimidate and better stats before Mega Evolving Salamence. Often, it will be best to just fire off Mega Salamence's powerful STAB Return or Double-Edge purely for damage output. Dragon Dance should be used to capitalize off of predicted Protects, switches, or weak hits to gain momentum. Of course, with redirection or Fake Out it's much easier to boost and sweep, though centering a team around ensuring Dragon Dance setups will make the team inflexible and less consistent as a result.
Team Options
========
Redirection is, as always, a great asset in double battles. Clefairy and Clefable are the best Follow Me users to pair with Mega Salamence typing-wise, though depending on the rest of your team, Amoonguss and Togekiss might be better options despite sharing weaknesses with Mega Salamence. Fake Out is great in general as well, and even though Pokemon such as Hariyama, Scrafty, and Infernape don't help with Mega Salamence's Fairy matchup, they can remove Steel-types that would otherwise wall Mega Salamence as well as provide Fake Out support.
Wide Guard also helps keep attacks away from Mega Salamence, as it can block many common super effective attacks such as Rock Slide, Hyper Voice, and Icy Wind. Swampert and Aegislash are the most common and effective users, and they have good defensive and offensive synergy with Mega Salamence as well.
Removing Steel-types is very important for Mega Salamence. While Heatran can be taken care of with Mega Salamence's Earthquake, Mega Salamence still has issues with other Steel-types such as Mega Metagross, Aegislash, and Mega Mawile. Fire-types such as Arcanine, Rotom-H, and Heatran as well as Fighting-types such as Terrakion and Lucario can break through many Steel-types with their powerful STAB moves. Lucario can also provide Follow Me support. Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Excadrill, and Garchomp also pair well with Mega Salamence because of its immunity to their STAB Earthquake. Be careful of overlapping Ice weaknesses, however.
Mixed
########
name: Mixed
move 1: Double-Edge
move 2: Hyper Voice
move 3: Draco Meteor
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 20 Atk / 236 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive
Moves
========
Double-Edge is for heavy physical hits against a single target, and thanks to Aerilate it still does plenty of damage even without maximum Attack investment. Draco Meteor deals with other Dragon-types that might threaten Mega Salamence, and it can finish off bulkier weakened Pokemon such as Suicune. Hyper Voice is great for damaging multiple Pokemon and weakening opposing teams for later in the game. Protect allows Salamence to Mega Evolve more safely and avoid dangerous Ice Beams and other such attacks.
Set Details
========
The EVs maximize Speed and allow Mega Salamence to OHKO 252 HP / 252 Def Relaxed Amoonguss with Double-Edge, with the rest poured into Special Attack to get the most damage output from Hyper Voice and Draco Meteor.
Usage Tips
========
This Mega Salamence is great for getting as much damage off as possible, in similar vein to Talonflame but with a multi-target move in Hyper Voice and much better bulk. The beauty of this set is that Mega Salamence can stay in after a Draco Meteor and continue dealing damage or still deal noticeable damage after multiple Intimidates. As such, don't be pressured to switch out after Mega Salamence uses Draco Meteor like you would when using Hydreigon or Latios. Try not to switch it in recklessly either, because chip damage and Double-Edge recoil can add up quickly.
Because Hyper Voice has perfect accuracy and doesn't harm Mega Salamence's teammates, it's a very safe move to throw out if you don't want Mega Salamence to take Double-Edge recoil.
Try to manage when you Mega Evolve Salamence. Weigh the benefits of having Intimidate and better stats before Mega Evolving Salamence. With this set, you should probably Mega Evolve it earlier, as its main focus is dealing as much damage as possible without setting up.
Team Options
========
Helping Hand support is greatly appreciated with this set to get key KOs, such as Double-Edge against Sylveon and Mega Kangaskhan, and to boost Hyper Voice's damage output. Clefairy, Clefable, and Cresselia are bulkier Helping Hand users that can provide other support as well, namely Follow Me and speed control. Speed control in general is nice to keep opposing speed control in check, but it isn't overly necessary otherwise thanks to Mega Salamence's natural Speed. Having Wide Guard users to check Sylveon, Rock Slide and Icy Wind users is nice as well, and Swampert and Aegislash do a very good job at using it.
Offensively, make sure you have checks to Steel-types at the ready. Terrakion, Heatran and Mold Breaker Excadrill (notable for taking care of Rotom-W as well) are all good picks, especially considering they have STAB multi-target moves of their own to safely spam alongside Mega Salamence's Hyper Voice.
Other Options
########
Salamence doesn't have many more worthwhile options. Using regular Salamence with a Choice Scarf or Choice Specs was a popular choice in previous VGC seasons (both using specially based sets), but these sets are now outclassed by other Dragon-types, most notably Hydreigon; however, if Intimidate is important enough, Choice Salamence certainly isn't a terrible option. Tailwind helps the team out more than Dragon Dance, though again Salamence is outclassed in a Tailwind-setting role by Zapdos, Suicune, and Talonflame. Rock Slide or Stone Edge help against Fire-types that threaten burns. Substitute helps Salamence avoid crippling status and acts as a second Protect against big attacks (though it doesn't block Hyper Voices from Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon).
Mega Salamence could replace Draco Meteor with a coverage move such as Fire Blast on the mixed attacking set. Outside of hitting Steel-types harder it's rather weak though, but still worthwhile if certain Steel-types are particularly troublesome.
Checks & Counters
########
**Ice-type Moves**: Ice-type moves in general, particularly Ice Beam and Hidden Power Ice, nail Salamence due to its 4x Ice weakness. Most Pokemon with a relatively high Special Attack such as Politoed, Clefable, and Suicune can OHKO most Mega Salamence variants, especially if it has taken Double-Edge recoil. Abomasnow, Weavile, and Mamoswine are notable Ice-types that can threaten Mega Salamence with Ice Shard or other STAB moves, though it can be EVed to survive Ice Shard before or after an Intimidate. Other notable Ice-type move users include Mega Metagross, Gyarados, Swampert, Greninja, Ludicolo, and Cresselia. Follow Me users paired with Salamence can foil any plans to pick up a quick KO with Ice Beam, though.
**Fairy-types**: Sylveon and Mega Mawile are by far the most common offensive Fairy-types. Sylveon might not take Double-Edge too well, but it can bypass Follow Me with Hyper Voice. Mega Mawile can tank unboosted Double-Edges and OHKO less bulky Mega Salamence variants, but it can have its attacks redirected and is vulnerable to Intimidate.
**Speed Control**: Trick Room and Thunder Wave completely foil any plans Mega Salamence has to set up Dragon Dances and power through teams. Jellicent and Cresselia can set up Trick Room and threaten to use Ice Beam, while Thundurus and Rotom-W can tank Double-Edges because of their typing and use Thunder Wave. Icy Wind takes advantage of Salamence's 4x Ice weakness to deal massive damage while taking away its Speed advantage, and Tailwind helps Pokemon such as Zapdos hit Salamence with Hidden Power Ice or similar moves.
**Steel-types**: While Steel-types can be hit super effectively by Earthquake or the rare Fire Blast, these moves still aren't that threatening. Heatran, Aegislash, Mega Mawile, and Mega Metagross can switch in on Salamence and threaten to set up or OHKO it, while it has to set up multiple Dragon Dances if it wants to leave a dent with Double-Edge or Return.
**Intimidate and Burns**: Mega Salamence practically depends on physical moves to deal the most damage. Therefore, reducing its Attack stat is a great way to make Mega Salamence's threatening aspects more manageable. Good Intimidate users include Arcanine, Gyarados, Landorus-T, and Mega Manectric, while good Will-O-Wisp users include Gengar, Rotom-W, Rotom-H, and Sableye. Entei can fish for burns thanks to Sacred Fire's 50% burn chance as well, as can Scald users on a potential Salamence switch-in.
########
Salamence's Mega Evolution is a dominant force in the metagame and the very definition of an offensive Flying-type. With Aerilate, powerful moves such as Double-Edge and Hyper Voice become boosted STAB moves which are powerful enough for Salamence to sometimes forgo coverage moves. Its stats are phenomenal (notably its outstanding base 120 Speed, allowing it to outspeed the majority of the metagame), it has a decent movepool, and its bulk is excellent, especially considering it has Intimidate before Mega Evolving and good resistances to the popular Fire / Water / Grass defensive core. The only problems Mega Salamence faces are its weaknesses to Ice- and Fairy-type moves, defensive Steel-types that easily tank its STAB moves, and common methods of speed control.
Physical
########
name: Physical
move 1: Double-Edge / Return
move 2: Dragon Dance
move 3: Earthquake / Roost / Dragon Claw
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly / Adamant
Moves
========
Double-Edge and Return are two high-powered Normal-type moves that are converted to Flying-type STAB moves and boosted by 30% thanks to Aerialate. Double-Edge hits harder and can pick up key KOs, such as against Sylveon, but it causes recoil damage, while Return is the safer option but can miss out on these KOs without a Dragon Dance boost. Dragon Dance makes Mega Salamence a much more threatening Pokemon, as it effectively gives Mega Salamence its own speed control and helps turn 2HKOs into OHKOs, notably against big metagame threats such as Mega Kangaskhan and Pokemon EVed to survive unboosted attacks. Protect prevents Mega Salamence from being KOed prematurely or hit with moves such as Icy Wind while a partner takes care of the threat. It also allows Mega Salamence to Mega Evolve safely.
The third slot is mainly filler. Earthquake is purely for Heatran and other Steel-types, which tank Double-Edges with ease, but is normally rather weak without a boost. Roost is for the defensive player who would prefer to keep Mega Salamence healthy as it accumulates Dragon Dance boosts or Double-Edge recoil, and it comes with the added bonus of temporarily lessening Mega Salamence's Ice weakness and removing its Rock weakness. Dragon Claw is useful only by virtue of not causing recoil and for hitting Electric-types for neutral damage.
Set Details
========
A Jolly nature is preferred to take advantage of Mega Salamence's wonderful Speed tier and to not be outpaced by the likes of Terrakion and Gengar. Adamant Mega Salamence has better damage output, but be sure to compensate against fast Pokemon by either Dragon Dancing or using attacks such as Icy Wind.
Defensively, you can build your Mega Salamence to survive many heavy hits, especially when combined with Roost recovery. Running 100 HP EVs is all it takes to survive Mega Mawile's Play Rough after Intimidate, so you should try tinkering with damage calculations if using Return to make your Mega Salamence more resilient against team-specific threats. Double-Edge makes defensive investment go to waste, however.
Usage Tips
========
Try to manage when you Mega Evolve Salamence. Weigh the benefits of having Intimidate and better stats before Mega Evolving Salamence. Often, it will be best to just fire off Mega Salamence's powerful STAB Return or Double-Edge purely for damage output. Dragon Dance should be used to capitalize off of predicted Protects, switches, or weak hits to gain momentum. Of course, with redirection or Fake Out it's much easier to boost and sweep, though centering a team around ensuring Dragon Dance setups will make the team inflexible and less consistent as a result.
Team Options
========
Redirection is, as always, a great asset in double battles. Clefairy and Clefable are the best Follow Me users to pair with Mega Salamence typing-wise, though depending on the rest of your team, Amoonguss and Togekiss might be better options despite sharing weaknesses with Mega Salamence. Fake Out is great in general as well, and even though Pokemon such as Hariyama, Scrafty, and Infernape don't help with Mega Salamence's Fairy matchup, they can remove Steel-types that would otherwise wall Mega Salamence as well as provide Fake Out support.
Wide Guard also helps keep attacks away from Mega Salamence, as it can block many common super effective attacks such as Rock Slide, Hyper Voice, and Icy Wind. Swampert and Aegislash are the most common and effective users, and they have good defensive and offensive synergy with Mega Salamence as well.
Removing Steel-types is very important for Mega Salamence. While Heatran can be taken care of with Mega Salamence's Earthquake, Mega Salamence still has issues with other Steel-types such as Mega Metagross, Aegislash, and Mega Mawile. Fire-types such as Arcanine, Rotom-H, and Heatran as well as Fighting-types such as Terrakion and Lucario can break through many Steel-types with their powerful STAB moves. Lucario can also provide Follow Me support. Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Excadrill, and Garchomp also pair well with Mega Salamence because of its immunity to their STAB Earthquake. Be careful of overlapping Ice weaknesses, however.
Mixed
########
name: Mixed
move 1: Double-Edge
move 2: Hyper Voice
move 3: Draco Meteor
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 20 Atk / 236 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive
Moves
========
Double-Edge is for heavy physical hits against a single target, and thanks to Aerilate it still does plenty of damage even without maximum Attack investment. Draco Meteor deals with other Dragon-types that might threaten Mega Salamence, and it can finish off bulkier weakened Pokemon such as Suicune. Hyper Voice is great for damaging multiple Pokemon and weakening opposing teams for later in the game. Protect allows Salamence to Mega Evolve more safely and avoid dangerous Ice Beams and other such attacks.
Set Details
========
The EVs maximize Speed and allow Mega Salamence to OHKO 252 HP / 252 Def Relaxed Amoonguss with Double-Edge, with the rest poured into Special Attack to get the most damage output from Hyper Voice and Draco Meteor.
Usage Tips
========
This Mega Salamence is great for getting as much damage off as possible, in similar vein to Talonflame but with a multi-target move in Hyper Voice and much better bulk. The beauty of this set is that Mega Salamence can stay in after a Draco Meteor and continue dealing damage or still deal noticeable damage after multiple Intimidates. As such, don't be pressured to switch out after Mega Salamence uses Draco Meteor like you would when using Hydreigon or Latios. Try not to switch it in recklessly either, because chip damage and Double-Edge recoil can add up quickly.
Because Hyper Voice has perfect accuracy and doesn't harm Mega Salamence's teammates, it's a very safe move to throw out if you don't want Mega Salamence to take Double-Edge recoil.
Try to manage when you Mega Evolve Salamence. Weigh the benefits of having Intimidate and better stats before Mega Evolving Salamence. With this set, you should probably Mega Evolve it earlier, as its main focus is dealing as much damage as possible without setting up.
Team Options
========
Helping Hand support is greatly appreciated with this set to get key KOs, such as Double-Edge against Sylveon and Mega Kangaskhan, and to boost Hyper Voice's damage output. Clefairy, Clefable, and Cresselia are bulkier Helping Hand users that can provide other support as well, namely Follow Me and speed control. Speed control in general is nice to keep opposing speed control in check, but it isn't overly necessary otherwise thanks to Mega Salamence's natural Speed. Having Wide Guard users to check Sylveon, Rock Slide and Icy Wind users is nice as well, and Swampert and Aegislash do a very good job at using it.
Offensively, make sure you have checks to Steel-types at the ready. Terrakion, Heatran and Mold Breaker Excadrill (notable for taking care of Rotom-W as well) are all good picks, especially considering they have STAB multi-target moves of their own to safely spam alongside Mega Salamence's Hyper Voice.
Other Options
########
Salamence doesn't have many more worthwhile options. Using regular Salamence with a Choice Scarf or Choice Specs was a popular choice in previous VGC seasons (both using specially based sets), but these sets are now outclassed by other Dragon-types, most notably Hydreigon; however, if Intimidate is important enough, Choice Salamence certainly isn't a terrible option. Tailwind helps the team out more than Dragon Dance, though again Salamence is outclassed in a Tailwind-setting role by Zapdos, Suicune, and Talonflame. Rock Slide or Stone Edge help against Fire-types that threaten burns. Substitute helps Salamence avoid crippling status and acts as a second Protect against big attacks (though it doesn't block Hyper Voices from Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon).
Mega Salamence could replace Draco Meteor with a coverage move such as Fire Blast on the mixed attacking set. Outside of hitting Steel-types harder it's rather weak though, but still worthwhile if certain Steel-types are particularly troublesome.
Checks & Counters
########
**Ice-type Moves**: Ice-type moves in general, particularly Ice Beam and Hidden Power Ice, nail Salamence due to its 4x Ice weakness. Most Pokemon with a relatively high Special Attack such as Politoed, Clefable, and Suicune can OHKO most Mega Salamence variants, especially if it has taken Double-Edge recoil. Abomasnow, Weavile, and Mamoswine are notable Ice-types that can threaten Mega Salamence with Ice Shard or other STAB moves, though it can be EVed to survive Ice Shard before or after an Intimidate. Other notable Ice-type move users include Mega Metagross, Gyarados, Swampert, Greninja, Ludicolo, and Cresselia. Follow Me users paired with Salamence can foil any plans to pick up a quick KO with Ice Beam, though.
**Fairy-types**: Sylveon and Mega Mawile are by far the most common offensive Fairy-types. Sylveon might not take Double-Edge too well, but it can bypass Follow Me with Hyper Voice. Mega Mawile can tank unboosted Double-Edges and OHKO less bulky Mega Salamence variants, but it can have its attacks redirected and is vulnerable to Intimidate.
**Speed Control**: Trick Room and Thunder Wave completely foil any plans Mega Salamence has to set up Dragon Dances and power through teams. Jellicent and Cresselia can set up Trick Room and threaten to use Ice Beam, while Thundurus and Rotom-W can tank Double-Edges because of their typing and use Thunder Wave. Icy Wind takes advantage of Salamence's 4x Ice weakness to deal massive damage while taking away its Speed advantage, and Tailwind helps Pokemon such as Zapdos hit Salamence with Hidden Power Ice or similar moves.
**Steel-types**: While Steel-types can be hit super effectively by Earthquake or the rare Fire Blast, these moves still aren't that threatening. Heatran, Aegislash, Mega Mawile, and Mega Metagross can switch in on Salamence and threaten to set up or OHKO it, while it has to set up multiple Dragon Dances if it wants to leave a dent with Double-Edge or Return.
**Intimidate and Burns**: Mega Salamence practically depends on physical moves to deal the most damage. Therefore, reducing its Attack stat is a great way to make Mega Salamence's threatening aspects more manageable. Good Intimidate users include Arcanine, Gyarados, Landorus-T, and Mega Manectric, while good Will-O-Wisp users include Gengar, Rotom-W, Rotom-H, and Sableye. Entei can fish for burns thanks to Sacred Fire's 50% burn chance as well, as can Scald users on a potential Salamence switch-in.
Physical Mega
########
name: Physical Mega
move 1: Double Edge / Return
move 2: Dragon Dance
move 3: Earthquake / Roost / Dragon Claw
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly / Adamant
Moves
========
- double edge/return are your main attacks. they can also be your only attacks since they're so strength!!
- dd for opportunistic boosts
- third slot is filler
- EQ for heatran/steels that otherwise wall mence
- roost to complement megamence's bulk, helps it take ice beams as well. best when you wanna set up dragon dance.
- dclaw for electrics that otherwise wall you, and secondary STAB when you dont wanna take recoil
- protect to get speed boost from mega, avoid double targeting
Set Details
========
- jolly for that great speed tier, adamant to pick up OHKOs with double edge (like against sylveon)
- 100 HP EVs lives mega mawile play rough at -1, along with some HP ices, such as timid mega manectric (?)
Usage Tips
========
- don't actively try to set up dragon dances unless you have dedicated support. try to predict double protects or your opponent not targeting mence in anticipation of it protecting first turn.
- use double edge a lot. or return. return works best with a setup mentality though.
- manage when you mega evolve. sometimes it's better to stay unevolved to keep intimidate and sometimes it's better to get the speed and defense boost.
Team Options
========
- redirection: clefairy/fable, amoonguss, togekiss
- fake out: infernape, scrafty, hariyama
- wide guard: swampert, aegislash (for hyper voices and rock slides)
- steel removal: fake outers, heatran, terrakion, mold breaker excadrill
Mixed Mega
########
name: Mixed Mega
move 1: Double Edge
move 2: Draco Meteor
move 3: Hyper Voice
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 20 Atk / 236 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive
Moves
========
- dedge for attacking physically (still does a lot even when not totally invested)
- dmeteor for dragon STAB that chunks stuff easily
- hyper voice for STAB spread move that does good damage
- protect to get speed boost from mega, avoid double targeting
Set Details
========
- evs: (ohkos max/max relaxed shroomer) (max speed to take advantage of its speed tier) (rest in spA for hyper voice)
- this mence doesn't really have room for fire blast n stuff.
Usage Tips
========
- use this mence to chunk things early game or clean up with hyper voice spread damage. keep damage off it by not switching it in recklessly.
- manage when you mega evolve. sometimes it's better to stay unevolved to keep intimidate and sometimes it's better to get the speed and defense boost. mega evolving early is probably best with this set though.
Team Options
========
- clefairy/clefable for redirection AND helping hand
- cress, gothitelle, sylveon for more helping hand support (important to get quick KOs)
- wide guard: swampert/aegislash
- steel removal: heatran, terrakion, mold breaker excadrill
-speed control is appreciated, but rarely necessary. besides playing around your opponent's speed control.
Other Options
########
- choice specs/scarf
- tailwind
- heat wave
- substitute
Checks & Counters
########
**Ice-type moves**: ice beams (ludi+poli, suicune, cresselia, swampert, clefable, greninja), ice punch/fang (gyarados, megagross), BLIZZARD (abomasnow) also mamoswine
**Fairy-types**: mega mawile, sylveon. basically the only two attacking fairies atm.
**Speed Control**: icy wind (cress, suicune, gengar), trick room (cresselia, jellicent), thunder wave (rotom-w, thundurus), tailwind (talonflame, suicune, zapdos)
**Steel-types**: only if no EQ and/or fire blast. heatran, aegislash, megagross, klefki
**Intimidate and burns**: Arcanine, gyarados, landorus-t, mega manectric. rotom-w/h, sableye
########
name: Physical Mega
move 1: Double Edge / Return
move 2: Dragon Dance
move 3: Earthquake / Roost / Dragon Claw
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly / Adamant
Moves
========
- double edge/return are your main attacks. they can also be your only attacks since they're so strength!!
- dd for opportunistic boosts
- third slot is filler
- EQ for heatran/steels that otherwise wall mence
- roost to complement megamence's bulk, helps it take ice beams as well. best when you wanna set up dragon dance.
- dclaw for electrics that otherwise wall you, and secondary STAB when you dont wanna take recoil
- protect to get speed boost from mega, avoid double targeting
Set Details
========
- jolly for that great speed tier, adamant to pick up OHKOs with double edge (like against sylveon)
- 100 HP EVs lives mega mawile play rough at -1, along with some HP ices, such as timid mega manectric (?)
Usage Tips
========
- don't actively try to set up dragon dances unless you have dedicated support. try to predict double protects or your opponent not targeting mence in anticipation of it protecting first turn.
- use double edge a lot. or return. return works best with a setup mentality though.
- manage when you mega evolve. sometimes it's better to stay unevolved to keep intimidate and sometimes it's better to get the speed and defense boost.
Team Options
========
- redirection: clefairy/fable, amoonguss, togekiss
- fake out: infernape, scrafty, hariyama
- wide guard: swampert, aegislash (for hyper voices and rock slides)
- steel removal: fake outers, heatran, terrakion, mold breaker excadrill
Mixed Mega
########
name: Mixed Mega
move 1: Double Edge
move 2: Draco Meteor
move 3: Hyper Voice
move 4: Protect
ability: Intimidate
item: Salamencite
evs: 20 Atk / 236 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive
Moves
========
- dedge for attacking physically (still does a lot even when not totally invested)
- dmeteor for dragon STAB that chunks stuff easily
- hyper voice for STAB spread move that does good damage
- protect to get speed boost from mega, avoid double targeting
Set Details
========
- evs: (ohkos max/max relaxed shroomer) (max speed to take advantage of its speed tier) (rest in spA for hyper voice)
- this mence doesn't really have room for fire blast n stuff.
Usage Tips
========
- use this mence to chunk things early game or clean up with hyper voice spread damage. keep damage off it by not switching it in recklessly.
- manage when you mega evolve. sometimes it's better to stay unevolved to keep intimidate and sometimes it's better to get the speed and defense boost. mega evolving early is probably best with this set though.
Team Options
========
- clefairy/clefable for redirection AND helping hand
- cress, gothitelle, sylveon for more helping hand support (important to get quick KOs)
- wide guard: swampert/aegislash
- steel removal: heatran, terrakion, mold breaker excadrill
-speed control is appreciated, but rarely necessary. besides playing around your opponent's speed control.
Other Options
########
- choice specs/scarf
- tailwind
- heat wave
- substitute
Checks & Counters
########
**Ice-type moves**: ice beams (ludi+poli, suicune, cresselia, swampert, clefable, greninja), ice punch/fang (gyarados, megagross), BLIZZARD (abomasnow) also mamoswine
**Fairy-types**: mega mawile, sylveon. basically the only two attacking fairies atm.
**Speed Control**: icy wind (cress, suicune, gengar), trick room (cresselia, jellicent), thunder wave (rotom-w, thundurus), tailwind (talonflame, suicune, zapdos)
**Steel-types**: only if no EQ and/or fire blast. heatran, aegislash, megagross, klefki
**Intimidate and burns**: Arcanine, gyarados, landorus-t, mega manectric. rotom-w/h, sableye
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