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Analysis written by Quantum Tesseract.
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Charizard Mega Charizard Y

Overview

An excellent ability in Drought powers up Fire-type attacks and turns Mega Charizard Y into a powerful attacker while allowing it to take on many Water-type Pokemon and, alongside a sky-high Special Attack stat, allows it to deal with many common walls as well as OHKO almost all offensive threats. A decent Fire / Flying typing grants it resistances to common types such as Fairy and Steel, whereas an excellent co mega-evolution in Mega Charizard X makes it highly unpredictable; particularly at Team Preview; as Rock-type Pokemon are the only reliable answers to both. Its solid movepool, which includes high-powered attacks that take advantage of drought such as Blast Burn, Flamethrower, and Solar Beam, allow Mega Charizard Y to hit most Pokemon for heavy damage. However, its only decent Speed stat allows many fast threats and all Choice Scarf users to outspeed it, and a low Defense stat stops it from reliably getting off hits versus faster Pokemon. Its weaknesses to Electric and Rock allow Pokemon such as Tapu Koko and Crustle to take it out, further decreasing its ease of use.

Sun Attacker

Set Comments

Moves

Blast Burn is Mega Charizard Y's most powerful Fire-type attack, allowing it to take out most Pokemon in a single move, but it prevents Mega Charizard Y from moving, should it fail to KO. Solar Beam, however, is a powerful coverage attack that hits the Rock- and Water-types such as Mega Gyarados that resist Fire-type attacks. Ancient Power hits opposing Fire-type Pokemon, particularly other Mega Charizard, for solid damage, and it allows Mega Charizard Y to potentially take them on. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers and does damage every turn, allowing Mega Charizard Y to break Sturdy and avoid low KO chances. Air Slash allows Mega Charizard Y to fish for flinches in the hopes of beating Pokemon such as Crustle and Golem, whereas Flamethrower is a secondary Fire-type attack that lets Mega Charizard Y wear down bulky foes such as Umbreon into Blast Burn KO range and to reliably break Substitutes.

Set Details

252 Speed EVs and a Timid nature maximize Mega Charizard Y's Speed and allow it to outspeed top Pokemon such as Kyurem-B, Tapu Lele, and Mimikyu, and 252 Special Attack EVs increase Mega Charizard Y's damage output, allowing it to hit as hard as possible. A Modest nature is another option to increase Mega Charizard Y's power, but making the most of its Speed tier is generally more advantageous. Drought summons the sun, which boosts Mega Charizard Y's Fire-type attacks and weakens Water-type attacks from Pokemon such as Greninja.

Usage Tips

Pick Mega Charizard Y when you predict that your opponent will send out slower offensive Pokemon such as Tapu Lele or Magearna. Unless the coverage also hits super effectively, Fire-type attacks are generally more powerful even versus resistances such as Gyarados, so ensure that you have a good reason to use those moves with Mega Charizard Y. Avoid clicking Blast Burn freely, as Substitute users such as Whimsicott and Pokemon with surprise bulk investment can take advantage of the free turn provided.

Team Options

Pokemon that can take on Chansey, such as Swords Dance Kartana and Psyshock Tapu Lele, are handy to take that on and prevent it from being safely chosen to wall Mega Charizard Y. As Mega Charizard Y has a mediocre Speed tier, fast Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Garchomp and Mega Metagross are handy to take on threats like Mega Pinsir and Choice Scarf Kyurem-B. Mega Gyarados is a good partner, as it takes on Pokemon such as Kyurem-B, Golem, and Crustle; in return, Charizard handles the likes of Mega Venusaur and Mega Sableye. Electric answers such as Donphan, Golem, and Garchomp are useful to take on Pokemon such as Magnezone and Tapu Koko, which will otherwise OHKO Charizard.

Strategy Comments

Other Options

Bulkier spreads can be used to live specific attacks such as Kyurem-B's Outrage but come at the cost of power or the ability to outspeed top picks such as Tapu Lele. Such spreads may also run Counter to take out the faster attackers that it now survives hits from, but faster Pokemon usually lack the bulk to survive Mega Charizard Y's attacks anyway. Roost allows Mega Charizard Y to recover off of weaker attacks, particularly alongside Will-O-Wisp. Focus Blast is a secondary option to allow Mega Charizard Y to hit Heatran but is otherwise inferior to the above options. Overheat is another option that has similar power to Blast Burn but lacks the immobile turn; however, the decrease in Special Attack means that Mega Charizard Y often still will not be able to KO Pokemon that survive. Dragon Pulse hits Dragon-type Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X and Garchomp hard and prevents them from walling Mega Charizard Y. Substitute may be used to avoid status moves such as Toxic and Leech Seed, but Mega Charizard Y's already mediocre bulk is greatly harmed should they be able to break it.

Checks and Counters

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