Lets talk about the Mega elephant in the OU room, but only by technicality, Mega Garchomp.
Mega Garchomp is an interesting mon, its one of the few megas seen as a worse version of their non mega, and as such it sees very little usage, especially when there are many other megas that can hit much harder physically, while still being faster (namely mega medicham). However I do not think that Mega Chomp's strong point is the raw power, but instead it is the breaking potential it has.
Mega Garchomp is an interesting mon, its one of the few megas seen as a worse version of their non mega, and as such it sees very little usage, especially when there are many other megas that can hit much harder physically, while still being faster (namely mega medicham). However I do not think that Mega Chomp's strong point is the raw power, but instead it is the breaking potential it has.
Before I go about saying Mega Garchomp is good, I am first going to ask a question. What makes a mon good? Now there are a lot of answers that might come to mind, such as raw power, or sheer bulk, but I think we should take a closer look at some of the best mons in the meta right now.
The head honcho of OU himself: Landorus T
now what does Landorus do that makes him the most used mon in the meta by a wide margin. its not one singular set, or the sheer power, but instead its just how much Landorus can do. It can be scarf for a fast pivot and late game cleaner, it can be fly z for a nuke to get past some mons that wall scarf landorus, it can be a support landorus with rocks or defog to ease the pressure off of other mons, it can be defensive landorus, custap, sash, or ever some wierder options like rockinium z. and double dance. All of these sets have something in common, they are not the best set for that exact role. "Why run defensive lando when gliscor exists?" a new player might ask? my personal answer has been not for the bulk, but for the other 2 moves you have remaining after sr/defog, and eq. gliscor plays very linearly, and the second it comes in, you know exactly whats going to happen. its gonna either get up or get rid of rocks, toxic you, and then roost/eq until its forced out. Lando has a bit more mystery around it. You cant go around bringing in a tangrowth on to lando early on if you dont know it isnt z fly, and you cant risk clicking hydro pump with your greninja if you dont know for sure it isnt scarf u turn. It can do so much, that it doesnt need raw power to get to S rank, instead it is S rank because how you can tailor it exactly for your team, making it great glue for a team
The Perfect Storm: Heatran
Heatran is a similar story to Landorus, in that the strongest part of tran is not its sheer power, but its the number of things it can do. With just one set, A Heatran can trap a mon, get rocks up, and get past the normal checks and counters it runs into such as landorus. This mon is the definition of glue, as it provides so much support that it can be slotted onto almost every team in OU. While Heatran is arguably the worst of the S rank mons, it still has several sets and is still calced for as a benchmark for some mons, for me personaly I always be sure my tankchomp can outspeed timid heatran so I dont get blown back by HP ice, or get needlessly toxiced. All of this lets heatran be so versitile that it deserves its spot at S
If you guess wrong you loose: Magerna
I hate playing against this mon. It has 3 main sets, but in those sets there is so much variation that it is impossible to truly know what you are facing until it is far too late. First Assault vest. Assault vest it the most splashable set because of how much it does. it eats hits from weaker mons, it acts as a pivot, it can sweep if the team is chipped, it has coverage for whatever your team is weak to, this set does it all. While normally this wouldn't be a problem for most teams, it becomes a problem when you look at its next set, shift gear. Shift gear, if not played around, sweeps teams after one boost. You need to play around shift gear, as even a little chip to your check could allow Magerna to win just by using its z move and then sweeping. This creates a guessing game where you need to play around shift gear until you know its assault vest, because if you play like its assault vest and a shift gear comes up late game, you might as well just start searching for another battle. This wouldnt be so bad, if it weren't for the coverage it possesses. Tbolt, ice beam, focus blast, fleur cannon, energy ball or shadow ball even. all of these moves can blow back a potential check on the switch, with there being no true checks for magerna, only soft checks, save some weird spdef mega camerupt. This creates another mon that can be tailor made to a team, making more great glue.
The more Linear Mons:
Ash Gren and Pex
Im not going to spend as much time, as I believe these mons are the exception and not the rule. they both have one set that just does what it does so well that they deserve S rank, with ash gren an effective 60 bp priority stab move coming off of 600 spa if your specs is just too hard to dance around, and the other stab being dark pulse only helps with its breaking, but It really needs support to get in and it get past common checks like bulu or tangrowth. Pex on the other hand is a very linear mon. step 1, get in, step 2 get up tspikes, step 3 wall most of the meta. while the argument could be made that tspikes/spikes are support for their team, Pex and gren differ from every other mon on the viability rankings in that they are not anywhere near as splash-able, and only fit on certain builds.
Okay, so now that we figured out what the best mons in the meta do to make themselves good, what is something most of them have in common? versatility. They all can play several roles on a team. now lets look at mega chomp again. what does it do? it can set up rocks, and then be an extremely hard to switch into mon, with draco, eq, and fire blast. Looking at common walls.
So now we know that Mega garchomp is good at breaking common stall picks, we have to ask ourselves, is this worth the mega spot over other hard hitters? mega medicham also gives balance/stall a hard time, so why chomp? Mega chomp gives you a few things, one, if you have a tyranitar, you dont even look like chomp could be the mega, with ttar being the more obvious choice, and 2, mega chomp's ability, sand force. this gives Mega chomp a Life orb boost on its EQs and if you are running stone edge, its stone edges. This only amplifies the hard to switch into nature of this mon, with next to nothing being able to switch into it throughout the game. So with all this hyping it up, there has to be some downside, right?
now what does Landorus do that makes him the most used mon in the meta by a wide margin. its not one singular set, or the sheer power, but instead its just how much Landorus can do. It can be scarf for a fast pivot and late game cleaner, it can be fly z for a nuke to get past some mons that wall scarf landorus, it can be a support landorus with rocks or defog to ease the pressure off of other mons, it can be defensive landorus, custap, sash, or ever some wierder options like rockinium z. and double dance. All of these sets have something in common, they are not the best set for that exact role. "Why run defensive lando when gliscor exists?" a new player might ask? my personal answer has been not for the bulk, but for the other 2 moves you have remaining after sr/defog, and eq. gliscor plays very linearly, and the second it comes in, you know exactly whats going to happen. its gonna either get up or get rid of rocks, toxic you, and then roost/eq until its forced out. Lando has a bit more mystery around it. You cant go around bringing in a tangrowth on to lando early on if you dont know it isnt z fly, and you cant risk clicking hydro pump with your greninja if you dont know for sure it isnt scarf u turn. It can do so much, that it doesnt need raw power to get to S rank, instead it is S rank because how you can tailor it exactly for your team, making it great glue for a team
The Perfect Storm: Heatran
Heatran is a similar story to Landorus, in that the strongest part of tran is not its sheer power, but its the number of things it can do. With just one set, A Heatran can trap a mon, get rocks up, and get past the normal checks and counters it runs into such as landorus. This mon is the definition of glue, as it provides so much support that it can be slotted onto almost every team in OU. While Heatran is arguably the worst of the S rank mons, it still has several sets and is still calced for as a benchmark for some mons, for me personaly I always be sure my tankchomp can outspeed timid heatran so I dont get blown back by HP ice, or get needlessly toxiced. All of this lets heatran be so versitile that it deserves its spot at S
If you guess wrong you loose: Magerna
I hate playing against this mon. It has 3 main sets, but in those sets there is so much variation that it is impossible to truly know what you are facing until it is far too late. First Assault vest. Assault vest it the most splashable set because of how much it does. it eats hits from weaker mons, it acts as a pivot, it can sweep if the team is chipped, it has coverage for whatever your team is weak to, this set does it all. While normally this wouldn't be a problem for most teams, it becomes a problem when you look at its next set, shift gear. Shift gear, if not played around, sweeps teams after one boost. You need to play around shift gear, as even a little chip to your check could allow Magerna to win just by using its z move and then sweeping. This creates a guessing game where you need to play around shift gear until you know its assault vest, because if you play like its assault vest and a shift gear comes up late game, you might as well just start searching for another battle. This wouldnt be so bad, if it weren't for the coverage it possesses. Tbolt, ice beam, focus blast, fleur cannon, energy ball or shadow ball even. all of these moves can blow back a potential check on the switch, with there being no true checks for magerna, only soft checks, save some weird spdef mega camerupt. This creates another mon that can be tailor made to a team, making more great glue.
The more Linear Mons:
Im not going to spend as much time, as I believe these mons are the exception and not the rule. they both have one set that just does what it does so well that they deserve S rank, with ash gren an effective 60 bp priority stab move coming off of 600 spa if your specs is just too hard to dance around, and the other stab being dark pulse only helps with its breaking, but It really needs support to get in and it get past common checks like bulu or tangrowth. Pex on the other hand is a very linear mon. step 1, get in, step 2 get up tspikes, step 3 wall most of the meta. while the argument could be made that tspikes/spikes are support for their team, Pex and gren differ from every other mon on the viability rankings in that they are not anywhere near as splash-able, and only fit on certain builds.
Okay, so now that we figured out what the best mons in the meta do to make themselves good, what is something most of them have in common? versatility. They all can play several roles on a team. now lets look at mega chomp again. what does it do? it can set up rocks, and then be an extremely hard to switch into mon, with draco, eq, and fire blast. Looking at common walls.
Ferrothorn :
252+ SpA Garchomp-Mega Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 232+ SpD Ferrothorn: 332-392 (94.3 - 111.3%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery. This thing is not switching in, ever. if it does then its going to be outsped and bopped. furthering this, if you save your mega until a ferro switches in thinking your rockium z and cant touch it, you can get rid of a very common and hard to deal with wall for your team.
The big Pex:
4 Atk Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Toxapex: 236-282 (77.6 - 92.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery Even off 2 min rolls and a recover spam, pex is 3hkoed off of an eq, and if it comes in with rocks up there is about a 37% chance pex just drops.
Chancy:
4 Atk Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 228-268 (32.4 - 38.1%) -- 96.6% chance to 3HKO. Okay Ill give you this, chancy needs its eviolite gone, but otherwise walls mega Garchomp, however assuming you knock it off somehow 4 Atk Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Chansey: 340-402 (48.3 - 57.1%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO. Chancy cannot safely switch in, as it is slower and will get 2hkoed.
Gliscor:
252+ SpA Garchomp-Mega Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 244 HP / 76 SpD Gliscor: 382-451 (108.5 - 128.1%) -- possible KO in 2 turns after Poison Heal. what that means is, if gliscor switches into a draco, it is dead unless it, by some magic, is faster and gets off a roost. this is another common wall that cannot switch in.
Reuniclus:
252+ SpA Garchomp-Mega Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Reuniclus: 380-448 (89.6 - 105.6%) -- 62.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery. This is the 4th common stall/balance pick that simply cannot switch into mega chomp without risking dropping, especially if it is chipped at all by either rocks or a previous attack depending on ability.
The big Pex:
Chancy:
4 Atk Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 228-268 (32.4 - 38.1%) -- 96.6% chance to 3HKO. Okay Ill give you this, chancy needs its eviolite gone, but otherwise walls mega Garchomp, however assuming you knock it off somehow 4 Atk Garchomp-Mega Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Chansey: 340-402 (48.3 - 57.1%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO. Chancy cannot safely switch in, as it is slower and will get 2hkoed.
Gliscor:
Reuniclus:
So now we know that Mega garchomp is good at breaking common stall picks, we have to ask ourselves, is this worth the mega spot over other hard hitters? mega medicham also gives balance/stall a hard time, so why chomp? Mega chomp gives you a few things, one, if you have a tyranitar, you dont even look like chomp could be the mega, with ttar being the more obvious choice, and 2, mega chomp's ability, sand force. this gives Mega chomp a Life orb boost on its EQs and if you are running stone edge, its stone edges. This only amplifies the hard to switch into nature of this mon, with next to nothing being able to switch into it throughout the game. So with all this hyping it up, there has to be some downside, right?
Okay the obvious one is the speed. you loose out on a huge speed bench mark, and suddenly that Mega Medicham that you normally quake beats you, along with a mew ice beam, and a victini V-create. You also use up your mega, so mons that would love to be partners with this, like mega mawile, cannot be. The power gained on the physical side is just not worth it, as Life orb hits harder if sand is not up. Okay, so we know its downsides, now what is it good at? well it, along with hoopa-u and mega diance, is one of the few viable mixed attackers, and that is something that is far more relevant then most people give it credit for. Skarm cant beat it 1v1 and chancy cant if the item is knocked off.
So Now we know what the problems this mon faces is, how can we patch that up?. the biggest one is good speed control. Serp makes a great partner as serp appreciates walls being weakened by mega chomp, and mega chomp appreciates the glare support provided. Sticky web setters such as araquanid also help slow down the enemy team for mega chomp to start punching holes. You could also make the argument for trick room, but the lowest it gets is 170 speed which is not slow enough.
So Now we know what the problems this mon faces is, how can we patch that up?. the biggest one is good speed control. Serp makes a great partner as serp appreciates walls being weakened by mega chomp, and mega chomp appreciates the glare support provided. Sticky web setters such as araquanid also help slow down the enemy team for mega chomp to start punching holes. You could also make the argument for trick room, but the lowest it gets is 170 speed which is not slow enough.
Mega Chomp
B-> B+ due to its hard to switch into nature, and its ability to break most balance/stall teams in half.