After using Mega Medicham for a while (especially the Lucario set), I say its very good. Its very difficult to wall due the fact that Suicune is cleanly 2HKO'd by +0 Close Combat and +2 Extremespeed 1HKO so many threats (including Lando T and most -atespeeders). I'd say its as threatening as other -atespeeders.
HOWEVER, it has a few( but kinda frustrating) flaws.
1. Its MUCH frailer than other Espeeders. A Fake Out from Protean Marowak (its kinda common) does 45-54% to Mega Medicham, while to Mega Pinsir and mega Altaria, it only does around 32-39%. To Mega Glalie and Mega Lopunny, it does around 40-48%, but still below 50%. This means after it killed two pokes, Protean Marowak kills it, while the other can get at least three kills.
2. Gengar. Other Mega Extremespeeders can hit Gengar because either it got -ate or it got Scrappy. Mega Medicham? No way. Gengar is managable if you use something like Scrafty set (it has DD and Knock Off).
3. Protean users who have Shadow Sneak. Sure, your Extremespeed is faster, but its kinda frustrating when a Protean user KO your poke with Shadow Sneak and you can't revenge it with Espeed, while other Mega Extremespeeders can due to -ate and Scrappy. Protean Shadow Sneakers can also revenge the Scrafty set because it has no priority.
Overall, its good. Its main weakness is Gengar (the only relevant Ghost that is faster) and Protean users. If I would put it in viability ranking, its somewhere in A.
Mega Medi inheriting from lucario can pack bullet punch to get past gengar. Other than that this is a good illustration of its weaknesses.
So while we're waiting for a decision to made about Assist & Arena trap I'd like to go over the rankings to give my opinion, and to spure up some discussion. Keep in mind I'm mainly a stall player but I can use offence aswell
S Rank
Yup, maybe even move it up to S+ because of how amazing Landorus-T is, running so many sets and being uncounterable
A+ Rank
Move it down to A rank, it's good in theory but it's pretty easy to check. Explosion is cool but as an Ice abuser I feel it's sort of Outclassed by Mega Glalie. Also being 100% countered by Unaware Suicune is also a
It's good here
It's good here, maybe even move it up to S-, It's uncounterable and can run so many sets, it's not even funny.
A rank. It's checked by Landorus T and dies to all kinds of BB's so it's not going to be sweeping anything, Spore is nice and all but that's why it would be A rank
S (or S-) it completely destroys stall. It can set up behind a sub and start shell smashing bypassing Unaware and status. I've yet to find a check on Stall teams to use. Offense also gets destroyed by the Sucker punch set, while stall gets destroyed by Shell smash Knock off
Fine here
Fine here, discussing S- rank would be nice
A rank
A rank is fine, possibly A+ it has a lot of sets who are all good. Magic bounce, Unaware, Quiver dance, Magic guard ect
Go to A-, I don't understand why it's A. It still has the same problems only it's a good pivot, but not A rank. I expect A ranks to have atleast a couple sets, Snorlax has two who are very similar
A is fine, mostly because I don't know how it does against offence. It does nothing versus Stall lol
Possibly A+ rank, it can shell smash to great effect and it still does a ton of damage. It doesn't lack a move pool either
Move Chansey up to A+, it's so amazing. Magic bounce, Metal burst, Will o wisp and recover is a godsent. Unaware can be used as well to destroy any special attacker
Fine
Fine
Aegislash is better than Doublade. Aegislash has a special bulk which is amazing, as the meta is unpredictable as hell.
Fine
Weavile: Weavile took some convincing when I was doing the viability rankings, and the biggest thing I can tell you is to talk to me on it, because I am its biggest advocate. The main thing I feel it does so well is it absolutely rapes offensive teams. Besides being a lant check which is huge, it tears apart typical teams with its high power moves. Dark void sets get past intimidate suicune, and all kinds of pivot sets can be used as well, although the refrigerate set is by far its best. Only the stall archetype - the one that carries suicune - has a reliable counter. It revenges so many mons with its blazing speed and ice shard revenges most gale wings users, while having the power to plow many offensive teams. Its explosion gives it basically free kills when suicune isn't around to spoil its fun. Outclassed by glalie? Glalie doesn't have 125 speed to work with, and most of its sets don't explode on typical checks. Glalie also takes up a valuable mega slot and does not pack the immediate physical power that weavile does (Glalie usually wants to set up, while weavile just slaps shit with high power attacks).
Glalie-mega is one of two mons I would consider moving to S rank atm, but I really don't think its at that level. Its versatility is very noticeable, and I am keeping an eye on it.
Terrakion has extreme versatility, as shown by the number of sets on it. Contrary, Technician, Adaptability, you name it. There are many more sets it runs, but the main reason it is so high is because so many theorymons are best ran by it. Hazard stacking Terrakion is something I just theorymonned last night, and so far its proven effective. Its just too versatile and unpredictable to have in anything but A+.
Gyarados doesn't get up subs against stall. Its best in A+; stall is just not passive enough for it to be a highly effective stallbreaker. While it can destroy much of the metagame, it is SR weak, can have difficulty setting up against offense, is weak to the recent influx in espeed spam, etc. Staying in A+
Suicune for S rank is a viable discussion since its so amazing, and I'm going to figure it out. It walls so much of the metagame and is usable on a majority of less offensive teams. Will ask around on this one.
Snorlax has problems, sure, but its main issue, terrakion, is decreasing in usage of wallbreaking sets. PH Snorlax is so famous for being ridiculously hard for offensive teams to handle. Its very bulky, has a great source of recovery, and has immense offensive presence. Facade does tons of damage even uninvested for such a bulky mon, and it also runs swords dance. Knock off helps it even more against offense, since many of those threats rely on their items to be fully effective. I favor it staying in A for now, although I'm open to other options.
Mega Metagross actually misses some important KOs after a shift gear without an adamant nature, and its forced to run hasty on that set. Can you refresh my memory on its SS set please?
Chansey may be moving DOWN soon. Its extremely passive for this metagame without metal burst, since it can no longer inherit from sable-mega, and becomes setup bait when not on its unaware set. The unaware set has a good movepool, but again, lacks the offensive presence to be useful enough to deter switches for stall. Its staying in A for now, and may move down due to the passivity in the future.
Doublade? uhh.....Aegislash has one viable moveset: its own. Otherwise, its COMPLETE lack of ANY offensive presence renders it almost useless against the power of the tier.
Its simple: In this metagame, you can't beat offense by passively doing damage, because you will get overpowered; you have to use offensive presence to threaten offensive mons immediately while tanking their attacks. This is why we are seeing mons like AV Regen Entei on stall teams.
On another note, I have some questions I was hoping some of you could answer. Most answers will of course be different, so I'm just curious about people's answers:
- What's the best physical wall?
- What's the best special wall?
- What's the best wall in general?
- Thoughts on Arena Trap?
- What's the best wall breaker?
- What's the best set-up sweeper?
- What's the best Protean abuser?
- Thoughts on Final Gambit?
- What's a really underrated set?
- What should be used less often/is outclassed by something else?
1. Suicune
2. There isn't a true special wall, but Cresselia is probably the best one.
3. Suicune, again. Checking 90% of the metagame and countering about 60 is pretty damn good imo.
4. Not going there again.
5. Wallbreaker, not stallbreaker...Probably T-Tar or Mega Zard X.
6. So few of them...maybe Gyarados-Mega or setup Lant
7. Azelf
8. I would rather use lures than arena trap.
9. Excadrill (from luc-mega)
10. Aegislash (outclassed by doublade)
Edit:
updated viability rankings, let me know if I missed anything.
Salamence placed in A-
Ursaring B- to B+
Mamoswine B to B+
Throh placed in B
Entei B- to B