Am I the only one who thinks Mega Medicham isn't strong enough for A tier?
Don't get me wrong, Mega Medicham is a huge buff from regular Medicham (HUGE buff to base attack 60 - 100, speed up from 80 - 100 and small defenses/sp att buffs. Attack reaches 598 with a NEUTRAL nature. Gets the most powerful physical fighting type move in Hi Jump Kick too.)
I understand ON PAPER that this thing seems stupidly good. The main flaws I have noticed (through playing with it myself & just based of other people opinions) is that it gets DESTROYED by the really prominent priority moves in OU and the fact that base 100 (while not slow by any means) isn't as fast as it once was.
Firstly, let's talking about my nigga Talonflame. This Pokemon is EXTREMELY common at the moment (and for good reason.) ANY Talonflame will outspeed & OHKO with Brave Bird. Talonflame's with zero hp/def investment still live a Jolly Mega Medicham Hi Jump Kick (252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Talonflame: 234-276 (78.5 - 92.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) and threaten either the OHKO with Brave Bird or just U-Turn for momentum. Or you could take the safer path and just sacrifice something then threaten the OHKO with Talonflame.
Secondly, let's just talk about the really common Scarfed Genesect. When you thinkof this poke, the first thing that comes to mind is U-Turn. Let's just do some calcs. Assuming people are using the 'standard' Mega Medicham EVs (they run 4 sp def evs), you will get the +1 attack on the Genesect switch in. U-Turn places a HUGE dent into Mega Medicham (+1 252 Atk Genesect U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Medicham: 186-220 (71.2 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.) If they are using the most common set atm (sub + 3 attacks), after a sub there is a decent chance to OHKO it. Pretty much if it has taken any hit (or missed a Hi Jump Kick or 3 layers of Spikes + SR), Genesect can switch in and either kill it or get switch advantage.
Finally, let's talk about priority. The three most used pokes at the moment with priority are Genesect, Aegislash & Mega Lucario. We have already been over Talonflame, next up is Aegislash. This thing is a huge problem at the moment. I would say the most common set at the moment is the wallbreaker set. This set runs 252/252 att/spatt & a Quiet nature (normally LO too) with a set of Shadow Ball/Shadow Sneak/Sacred Sword/either Iron Head or King's Shield. Shadow Ball will obviously OHKO Mega Medicham, but the main threat to Mega Medicham is Shadow Sneak. 252 Atk Life Orb Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Medicham: 218-260 (83.5 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. I don't think anything else has to be said. Shadow Seak almost OHKO's it with a neutral nature (has a 43.8 % chance to OHKO with a +att nature), any prior damage and it's dead. Mega Medicham can't do anything back either (252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham Fire Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 192-228 (73.5 - 87.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Zero chance to OHKO unless it has a bulk up boost.) It's even worse for Medicham if Aegislash is carrying King's Shield. Lastly is Mega Lucario. I would go as far to say as Mega Lucario is the best Pokemon in OU at the moment. It has access to three viable priority moves (Extreemspeed, Bullet Punch & Vacuum Wave.) Extreemspeed & Bullet Punch both almost OHKO after an SD (82.7 - 97.7%.) But ontop of that, either of the Mega Lucario sets (special or physical) can outspeed & OHKO with a coverage move after an SD or NP.
tl;dr: this thing gets smashed by priority and common pokes. even if it has a stupid high att stat, I don't think it's good enough for A tier. Pretty much anything faster can shit on it and laugh at it's priority bullet punch (if someone wants to run it for some random ass reason.)
Talonflame doesn't counter, only revenge kills. Medicham can OHKO with Thunder Punch or Rock Tomb, but doesn't even need those moves: Psycho Cut does so much damage that Talonflame won't survive the recoil damage, and you can switch to anything bulky to prevent the OHKO. Furthermore, Talonflame shits on a TON of Pokemon, such a S-Rank Venusaur, and it checks a lot of fellow A-Rank Pokemon like Greninja, Mega Pinsir, Excadrill, etc. Being OHKOed by
the best revenge killer in the entire game is not a disqualification from being A-Rank.
Medicham can easily be built to cause Download to give a SpA boost, seriously just switch 4 EVs, people who put them in SpD are stupid (less than half of the Medichams on the ladder even have HJK, and a third have Fake Out, please do not use them as a basis for Medicham's viability.) In this case, max attack Hasty Genesect's U-Turn does a maximum of 56%, and whatever he switches to gets a HJK to the face. If it instead has 252 SpA EVs, it can do considerable damage with a coverage move (up to 72%) but gets OHKOed by HJK.
Due to an absurdly powerful attack in HJK that OHKOs nearly everything that doesn't resist, access to all elemental punches, and a decent secondary STAB, Aegislash is literally the only good counter to Medicham: and it barely even does that. Of the UU banlist, Clefable and Sableye are the only other ones that can counter it in OU (UU has a few, too), and they just
barely miss being 2HKOed. They're also just barely in OU. So, realistically, the only OU counter is Aegislash, that's it. One Pokemon. And, if Medicham has Fire Punch, it's capable of severely damaging Aegislash on the switch. However, due to King's Shield and Shadow Sneak, and the possibility of Weakness Policy, I agree, Aegislash is something I would not stay in on.
Asking something to be able to take an attack from +2 Mega Lucario, one of the fastest and most deadly sweepers in the game, is a little too much. Mega Medicham is not a tank, no one thinks this.
Mega Medicham is also not a sweeper, but a wallbreaker. With zero boosts,
nothing (important) can wall it. With a set of HJK, Psycho Cut/Zen Headbutt, Thunder Punch, and Ice Punch, Mega Medicham can OHKO or 2HKO the entire metagame, with the exception of Aegislash (2HKOed by Fire Punch), Sableye, and Clefable (
calcs here.) Medicham's job is not to sweep but to smash any walls or defensive cores, making the rest your team's job easier.
Of UU Pokemon, Slowbro barely misses a 2HKO from Thunder Punch. Cofagrigus barely misses a 2HKO from Psycho Cut (which is not a contact move, and does not activate Mummy.) The only Pokemon capable of walling Mega Medicham are completely irrelevant things like Cresselia and Dusclops.
