Can confirm that Protect has 8 PP total.
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Pet Mod Legends Z-A OU
- Thread starter dhelmise
- Start date
This probably applies to all protection moves
According to Wolfe Glick, Gengar lost Encore and Incineroar lost Knock Off in the preview build he played. Don't know if this will apply for long term or if moves will be added to Pokémon over time
Protect being reduced to 8 PP is good news. No need for a mostly uninteractive niche move that's only here to abuse Poison Heal, it also nerfs Pressure Protect stall from Kyurem/Suicune.
We probably don't have to update all move PP for the ZA-OU format, it's not a big deal and will cause more confusion to a temporary meta.
Do we know if ranked Singles battles in Champions are only BSS, or if 6v6 is available? Same for private battles.
We probably don't have to update all move PP for the ZA-OU format, it's not a big deal and will cause more confusion to a temporary meta.
Hopefully Champions will finally make it so mons stop losing or gaining random key moves every other game and dlc. playing different gens sucks when you have to remember what moves every mon has every gen.
Do we know if ranked Singles battles in Champions are only BSS, or if 6v6 is available? Same for private battles.
None of them had the option to look in the Private Battles menu, and ranked battles are either 3v3 Battle Stadium or 4v4 Doubles
I'm a little concerned about this personally & I haven't seen ppl talk abt it:
Apparently Night Shade now does a fixed 50 damage. To me this leaves open 2 possibilities:
-They changed the way the move works. Now it's a fixed damage move not reliant on level, which may or may not have implications for moves like Seismic Toss, which are important for Pokemon like Chansey.
-They only have support for lvl 50. This would be a shame and take away some underlevelling strats like slower Alo Flip Turn but also change damage rolls significantly (though I assume showdown would just still run lvl 100 Idk)
I'm not really a singles player (mostly a VGC player but I watch singles tours) so this change doesn't affect me but I wanted to know if anyone else noticed this & if they have some other takes on it?
Edit: Idk if this would be the right place to post this LOL
-They changed the way the move works. Now it's a fixed damage move not reliant on level, which may or may not have implications for moves like Seismic Toss, which are important for Pokemon like Chansey.
-They only have support for lvl 50. This would be a shame and take away some underlevelling strats like slower Alo Flip Turn but also change damage rolls significantly (though I assume showdown would just still run lvl 100 Idk)
I'm not really a singles player (mostly a VGC player but I watch singles tours) so this change doesn't affect me but I wanted to know if anyone else noticed this & if they have some other takes on it?
Edit: Idk if this would be the right place to post this LOL
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My bet is that they're fixing levels to 50. Though that would mean they'd most likely streamline movesets so mons can learn moves they normally learn after lvl 50.
As for the underleveling stats, this is most likely gone as well... which is a good thing if you ask me. It shouldn't really be a thing anyway, and it looks like they're purposefully removing techs like these as they completely cut IVs out of the game, so no 0 IVs shenanigans for Trick Room or Gyro Ball stuff. Personally, I like it, it doesn't really bring much depth, stuff like "who's gonna lower their level the lower" isn't really what I'm looking for in competitive mons.
PP nerfs aren't all that impactful tbh. Besides that one time where a player intentionally used less PP on Sucker Punch to beat Chien-Pao, VGC matches barely last a few turns so running out of PP almost never happens.
This might affect singles a little bit more, but besides buffing Pressure, Lunar Dance, and Leppa Berry, it kind of even things out with a slight favor towards Stall teams. Stall has less Recovers and Soft Boils, but all attackers have less attacks in general, and Stall can still spam Regenerator. But overall this doesn't have much impact.
This might affect singles a little bit more, but besides buffing Pressure, Lunar Dance, and Leppa Berry, it kind of even things out with a slight favor towards Stall teams. Stall has less Recovers and Soft Boils, but all attackers have less attacks in general, and Stall can still spam Regenerator. But overall this doesn't have much impact.
more stuff. Mega analysis things for Meganium and Feraligatr.
don't take this as gospel, i AM a bit silly when it comes to analysis. for example the SD Meganium set.
might analyze Froslass and Dragonite next
don't take this as gospel, i AM a bit silly when it comes to analysis. for example the SD Meganium set.
With a surprisingly solid type combo and an incredibly useful ability, Mega Meganium is shaping up to be the most useful of the Z-A Starter megas. Which is an inherently funny prospect with how infamous Meganium is for being.. bad. to put it lightly.
Mega Meganium's stats paint it as a bulky tank, able to take and dish out offense. But Mega Meganium makes a niche for itself with its new ability, Mega Sol, which provides all of its moves the buffs they would get under Sun, meaning that it has a 100 BP, always presumably Fire-type Weather Ball, an instant-fire Solar Beam, and most importantly, a buffed Synthesis. Under Sun, Synthesis now recovers 66% of HP instead of the regular 50%, making Mega Meganium's already pretty solid defensive stats more impressive than they seem.
One of the more important things to consider when talking about Mega Meganium is the fact that it doesn't learn Growth, meaning that unless you want to click Work Up or go physical with Swords Dance, You won't have a way to boost your offensive stats. But who knows, maybe Meganium will get Growth some day.
The main thing that makes Mega Meganium's sets proper is the addition of Earth Power to its learnset, meaning its special sets are free to use the coveted Ground coverage, allowing Mega Meganium to hit the many Poison and Fire types that would normally wall its Grass, Fairy, and Fire moves.
Sovlful (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Weather Ball / Dazzling Gleam
- Synthesis
- Solar Beam
- Earth Power
This is what i'd deem the "primary set" for Mega Meganium, featuring its strong Solar Beam, incredibly useful coverage in Weather Ball, and Earth Power. Funnily enough, for Mega Meganium, the Fairy-type has more use as a defensive addition more than something offensive, Mainly due to Meganium not really having the coverage to pull of the strong Fairy / Ground combo, and also because its only strong fairy move is the rather paltry Dazzling Gleam. This set follows the classic idea of a tanky special attacker, with the EVs allowing it significantly more leeway when it comes to tanking neutral moves. Though, if you really wanted to, you can invest in Speed on this set to get the jump on some slower targets that might enjoy having some speed invested.
The idea of this set is simple: Hit hard with STAB Solar Beam, and then smack the things that resist Solar Beam with a strong Weather Ball and equally as potent Earth Power, Especially Heatran, as it can easily come in, not only on your Grass and Fairy STAB but also your boosted Weather Ball with Flash Fire. Weather Ball also allows you a niche in hitting Corviknight as a Grass-type without necessitating the use of Scovillain or just neutral moves.
252+ SpA Meganium-Mega Weather Ball (Fire, 100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 292-344 (73.1 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Corviknight's matchup against you is surprisingly bad, as it is unable to switch in on you when running the physdef set, even if you click Solar Beam on the switch-in, as it is naturally much slower than you.
If you wanted to, you could slot Dazzling Gleam over Weather Ball or Earth Power, maybe even Synthesis or Solar Beam as Dazzling Gleam lets you strike the Fighting, Dragon, and Dark types in the metagame harder, and in the case of replacing Solar Beam or Synthesis, allows you functionally unresisted offense, but they all come with their downsides.
Dazzling Gleam over Weather Ball leaves you bodied by Corviknight and Skarmory,
Dazzling Gleam over Earth Power makes the Poison-types less hesitant when it comes to switching in onto you, and allowing one in for free isn't that good of a thing, particularly when you consider Glowking, as it can simply heal on you and pivot with Chilly Reception.
Dazzling Gleam over Synthesis, while it does mean you can hit on all fronts, makes you significantly weaker to both chip and regular damage as a whole, and sponging damage is important to Mega Meganium's playstyle. Mega Meganium isn't nearly fast enough to be delegated to an all-out-offensive set.
Dazzling Gleam over Solar Beam heavily cuts into your damage output, and most importantly, leaves you somewhat dumpstered against Rotom-Wash as you now can't hit it effectively.
Surprise! (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Hasty Nature
- Swords Dance
- Solar Blade
- Knock Off / Weather Ball
- Earthquake
Now, for a somewhat less proper set, but still worth considering in its own right. The main draw of Physical / Mixed Mega Meganium is the allure of Swords Dance, and stronger Grass and Ground moves. You can easily tech on Weather Ball to surprise the Corviknights and Skarmories who think they'd wall you, or the more utility-based option of Knock Off, another thing it has over Special Meganium, allowing a very useful trait in Item removal. You are able to run this set similarly to the base set, but it's hard to fit Synthesis into this set, it carries a lot of the same problems as other setup, which is primarily Meganium's heavy case of 4MSS
4 SpA Meganium-Mega Weather Ball (100 BP, Fire) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 224-264 (56.1 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Plante (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Sp. Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Synthesis
- Solar Beam
- Knock Off
- (Free Slot, put whatever your team would prefer here.)
With the buffed Synthesis, a Support set does seem pretty useful, carrying the listed move, along with Solar Beam and Knock Off. Knock Off's Item removal is actually very interesting in tandem with Mega Meganium's other useful traits
I project that Mega Meganium will be around UU, the weaknesses are a bit too prominent for it to become OU Proper, but it will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in a lower tier.
Mega Meganium's stats paint it as a bulky tank, able to take and dish out offense. But Mega Meganium makes a niche for itself with its new ability, Mega Sol, which provides all of its moves the buffs they would get under Sun, meaning that it has a 100 BP, always presumably Fire-type Weather Ball, an instant-fire Solar Beam, and most importantly, a buffed Synthesis. Under Sun, Synthesis now recovers 66% of HP instead of the regular 50%, making Mega Meganium's already pretty solid defensive stats more impressive than they seem.
One of the more important things to consider when talking about Mega Meganium is the fact that it doesn't learn Growth, meaning that unless you want to click Work Up or go physical with Swords Dance, You won't have a way to boost your offensive stats. But who knows, maybe Meganium will get Growth some day.
The main thing that makes Mega Meganium's sets proper is the addition of Earth Power to its learnset, meaning its special sets are free to use the coveted Ground coverage, allowing Mega Meganium to hit the many Poison and Fire types that would normally wall its Grass, Fairy, and Fire moves.
Sovlful (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Weather Ball / Dazzling Gleam
- Synthesis
- Solar Beam
- Earth Power
This is what i'd deem the "primary set" for Mega Meganium, featuring its strong Solar Beam, incredibly useful coverage in Weather Ball, and Earth Power. Funnily enough, for Mega Meganium, the Fairy-type has more use as a defensive addition more than something offensive, Mainly due to Meganium not really having the coverage to pull of the strong Fairy / Ground combo, and also because its only strong fairy move is the rather paltry Dazzling Gleam. This set follows the classic idea of a tanky special attacker, with the EVs allowing it significantly more leeway when it comes to tanking neutral moves. Though, if you really wanted to, you can invest in Speed on this set to get the jump on some slower targets that might enjoy having some speed invested.
The idea of this set is simple: Hit hard with STAB Solar Beam, and then smack the things that resist Solar Beam with a strong Weather Ball and equally as potent Earth Power, Especially Heatran, as it can easily come in, not only on your Grass and Fairy STAB but also your boosted Weather Ball with Flash Fire. Weather Ball also allows you a niche in hitting Corviknight as a Grass-type without necessitating the use of Scovillain or just neutral moves.
252+ SpA Meganium-Mega Weather Ball (Fire, 100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 292-344 (73.1 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Corviknight's matchup against you is surprisingly bad, as it is unable to switch in on you when running the physdef set, even if you click Solar Beam on the switch-in, as it is naturally much slower than you.
If you wanted to, you could slot Dazzling Gleam over Weather Ball or Earth Power, maybe even Synthesis or Solar Beam as Dazzling Gleam lets you strike the Fighting, Dragon, and Dark types in the metagame harder, and in the case of replacing Solar Beam or Synthesis, allows you functionally unresisted offense, but they all come with their downsides.
Dazzling Gleam over Weather Ball leaves you bodied by Corviknight and Skarmory,
Dazzling Gleam over Earth Power makes the Poison-types less hesitant when it comes to switching in onto you, and allowing one in for free isn't that good of a thing, particularly when you consider Glowking, as it can simply heal on you and pivot with Chilly Reception.
Dazzling Gleam over Synthesis, while it does mean you can hit on all fronts, makes you significantly weaker to both chip and regular damage as a whole, and sponging damage is important to Mega Meganium's playstyle. Mega Meganium isn't nearly fast enough to be delegated to an all-out-offensive set.
Dazzling Gleam over Solar Beam heavily cuts into your damage output, and most importantly, leaves you somewhat dumpstered against Rotom-Wash as you now can't hit it effectively.
Surprise! (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Hasty Nature
- Swords Dance
- Solar Blade
- Knock Off / Weather Ball
- Earthquake
Now, for a somewhat less proper set, but still worth considering in its own right. The main draw of Physical / Mixed Mega Meganium is the allure of Swords Dance, and stronger Grass and Ground moves. You can easily tech on Weather Ball to surprise the Corviknights and Skarmories who think they'd wall you, or the more utility-based option of Knock Off, another thing it has over Special Meganium, allowing a very useful trait in Item removal. You are able to run this set similarly to the base set, but it's hard to fit Synthesis into this set, it carries a lot of the same problems as other setup, which is primarily Meganium's heavy case of 4MSS
4 SpA Meganium-Mega Weather Ball (100 BP, Fire) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 224-264 (56.1 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Plante (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Sp. Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Synthesis
- Solar Beam
- Knock Off
- (Free Slot, put whatever your team would prefer here.)
With the buffed Synthesis, a Support set does seem pretty useful, carrying the listed move, along with Solar Beam and Knock Off. Knock Off's Item removal is actually very interesting in tandem with Mega Meganium's other useful traits
I project that Mega Meganium will be around UU, the weaknesses are a bit too prominent for it to become OU Proper, but it will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in a lower tier.
Mega Feraligatr is a rather simple Pokemon on the surface, It's visually a Dragon Dance sweeper in a somewhat differing manner to the other Dragon Dancing sweeper threats, but Mega Feraligatr does carry a pretty interesting amount of benefits and differences due to how its built. Including its incredible Water / Dragon typing and signature ability Dragonize, which functions similarly to Aerilate or Pixilate, but changes normal moves to Dragon. Mega Feraligatr carries some incredible stats, including a massive 160 Attack stat and functional 85/125/93 defenses. Though one would quickly take note of its 78 Speed, a fair bit lower than the rest of the OU sweepers. It may seem somewhat out of its league, but Mega Feraligatr is much more nuanced.
Rushdown (Feraligatr-Mega) @ Feraligite
Ability: Dragonize
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return / Double-Edge (Facade?)
- Earthquake (other coverage is fine)
- Liquidation
This Mega Feraligatr set does what many would want it to do, set up and sweep with Dragon Dance, I find Jolly a bit more useful than Adamant, as the speed increase is significantly more important for Mega Feraligatr. Its Attack stat is already high enough to suffice and Adamant prevents you from outspeeding a significantly higher amount of targets at +1, leaving you prone to being Revenge-Killed by every Pokemon with higher than 125 Speed, most prominently Mega Garchomp Z, Greninja-Mega, and Zeraora. Your Dragon "STAB" slot is pretty free, with Return being a low risk high reward option, Double-Edge being a nuclear option, ensuring NOTHING lives after a Dragon Dance and Facade, which is more fringe of a choice, but can carry the nuclear offense of Double-Edge without the recoil, and the functionality of Return.
Jaws Of Carnage (Feraligatr-Mega) @ Feraligite
Ability: Dragonize
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Return / Body Slam
- Earthquake / Flip Turn / Other Coverage
Now, while I was in Lobby discussing the ZA Starter's megas, something fun was brought up in regards to Mega Feraligatr; Running it as if it was Crawdaunt. The prospect of using it as a breaker seems much more natural, especially with the awkward speed tier of base Feraligatr staying (78 Speed), but instead of trying to boost its speed, This set decides to boost up its massive Attack stat more with Swords Dance, and utilize priority STAB Aqua Jets to snipe targets that are heavily weakened by its beefy Dragonize-boosted Returns, or to even disrupt and paralyze with a couple lucky Dragonize Body Slams, With this set, your final slot is much free-er, as you aren't burdened with the one-try nature of proper Setup Sweeping. So you can go with Earthquake to snipe steels, or Flip Turn, which can take advantage of switches and other pivots, or any other form of coverage. It depends on what you'd want your Feraligatr to do in your last slot.
Feraligatr is also likely to be UU too, with a pretty interesting niche on heavier offense teams who would enjoy the strength of this Pokemon.
Rushdown (Feraligatr-Mega) @ Feraligite
Ability: Dragonize
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return / Double-Edge (Facade?)
- Earthquake (other coverage is fine)
- Liquidation
This Mega Feraligatr set does what many would want it to do, set up and sweep with Dragon Dance, I find Jolly a bit more useful than Adamant, as the speed increase is significantly more important for Mega Feraligatr. Its Attack stat is already high enough to suffice and Adamant prevents you from outspeeding a significantly higher amount of targets at +1, leaving you prone to being Revenge-Killed by every Pokemon with higher than 125 Speed, most prominently Mega Garchomp Z, Greninja-Mega, and Zeraora. Your Dragon "STAB" slot is pretty free, with Return being a low risk high reward option, Double-Edge being a nuclear option, ensuring NOTHING lives after a Dragon Dance and Facade, which is more fringe of a choice, but can carry the nuclear offense of Double-Edge without the recoil, and the functionality of Return.
Jaws Of Carnage (Feraligatr-Mega) @ Feraligite
Ability: Dragonize
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Return / Body Slam
- Earthquake / Flip Turn / Other Coverage
Now, while I was in Lobby discussing the ZA Starter's megas, something fun was brought up in regards to Mega Feraligatr; Running it as if it was Crawdaunt. The prospect of using it as a breaker seems much more natural, especially with the awkward speed tier of base Feraligatr staying (78 Speed), but instead of trying to boost its speed, This set decides to boost up its massive Attack stat more with Swords Dance, and utilize priority STAB Aqua Jets to snipe targets that are heavily weakened by its beefy Dragonize-boosted Returns, or to even disrupt and paralyze with a couple lucky Dragonize Body Slams, With this set, your final slot is much free-er, as you aren't burdened with the one-try nature of proper Setup Sweeping. So you can go with Earthquake to snipe steels, or Flip Turn, which can take advantage of switches and other pivots, or any other form of coverage. It depends on what you'd want your Feraligatr to do in your last slot.
Feraligatr is also likely to be UU too, with a pretty interesting niche on heavier offense teams who would enjoy the strength of this Pokemon.
might analyze Froslass and Dragonite next
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That's still the case with Jolly, though. Jolly Mega Gatr is slower than any 142 base Speed (Mega Greninja and Dragapult) and up. If anything, I imagine Swords Dance might be a better fit for Gatr than Dragon Dance since 78 is a tad too slow for it (and it's already the more popular setup move on base Gatr). I also hope Champions give it Quick Attack, as having a Dragon priority boosted by its ability would be a great of dealing with those Pokémon (and Extreme Speed isn't happening, let's be real...at least I assume so).
Feraligatr @ Feraligite
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Body Slam/Facade
- Waterfall/Liquidation
- Aqua Jet
This is probably the ideal Sword Dance set for Mega Feraligatr in the main game since Return is likely still no returning.
Body Slam has the added benefit of paralyzing your opponent, which helps Feraligatr as its pretty slow otherwise, and paralysis pairs well with Waterfall's flinch chance, giving Mega Feraligatr a 40% chance to get a free turn, which could help break past walls. And of course Aqua Jet for immediate priority to KO fast frail Pokemon before they hit you.
Alternatively Facade and Liquidation can be used. Facade punishes Scald, Toxic, and Thunder Wave with one of the single strongest Dragon attacks in the series. Facade also prevents Feraligatr from becoming fodder when it switches into a Flamethrower and you get burned because the game hates you. Liquidation is better in this case since you don't get paralysis chance and Def drops are still nice.
Champions took Encore out of Gengar's movepool, I guess because it's too cancerous when combined with Mega Gengar's Shadow Tag + Disable shenanigans
It also took Knock Off away from Incineroar, but that's not relevant to this meta
EDIT: Champions has also altered Mega Evolution so that it now occurs before the opponent switches
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Serebii confirmed all Pokémon are fixed at Level 50, hence Night Shade/Seismic Toss only doing 50 damage
Its more useful the Raw Power, like Reckless. Rotom Heat for example is OHKO for Head Smash anyway vs Emboar. Or Magic Guard vs Stall is good to
Would the Mega Evolution change mean that you intimidate a Pokemon before they switch out? I’m pretty sure that would nerf Mega Manectric.
The extra bulk helps you set up!more stuff. Mega analysis things for Meganium and Feraligatr.
don't take this as gospel, i AM a bit silly when it comes to analysis. for example the SD Meganium set.
With a surprisingly solid type combo and an incredibly useful ability, Mega Meganium is shaping up to be the most useful of the Z-A Starter megas. Which is an inherently funny prospect with how infamous Meganium is for being.. bad. to put it lightly.
Mega Meganium's stats paint it as a bulky tank, able to take and dish out offense. But Mega Meganium makes a niche for itself with its new ability, Mega Sol, which provides all of its moves the buffs they would get under Sun, meaning that it has a 100 BP, always presumably Fire-type Weather Ball, an instant-fire Solar Beam, and most importantly, a buffed Synthesis. Under Sun, Synthesis now recovers 66% of HP instead of the regular 50%, making Mega Meganium's already pretty solid defensive stats more impressive than they seem.
One of the more important things to consider when talking about Mega Meganium is the fact that it doesn't learn Growth, meaning that unless you want to click Work Up or go physical with Swords Dance, You won't have a way to boost your offensive stats. But who knows, maybe Meganium will get Growth some day.
The main thing that makes Mega Meganium's sets proper is the addition of Earth Power to its learnset, meaning its special sets are free to use the coveted Ground coverage, allowing Mega Meganium to hit the many Poison and Fire types that would normally wall its Grass, Fairy, and Fire moves.
Sovlful (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Weather Ball / Dazzling Gleam
- Synthesis
- Solar Beam
- Earth Power
This is what i'd deem the "primary set" for Mega Meganium, featuring its strong Solar Beam, incredibly useful coverage in Weather Ball, and Earth Power. Funnily enough, for Mega Meganium, the Fairy-type has more use as a defensive addition more than something offensive, Mainly due to Meganium not really having the coverage to pull of the strong Fairy / Ground combo, and also because its only strong fairy move is the rather paltry Dazzling Gleam. This set follows the classic idea of a tanky special attacker, with the EVs allowing it significantly more leeway when it comes to tanking neutral moves. Though, if you really wanted to, you can invest in Speed on this set to get the jump on some slower targets that might enjoy having some speed invested.
The idea of this set is simple: Hit hard with STAB Solar Beam, and then smack the things that resist Solar Beam with a strong Weather Ball and equally as potent Earth Power, Especially Heatran, as it can easily come in, not only on your Grass and Fairy STAB but also your boosted Weather Ball with Flash Fire. Weather Ball also allows you a niche in hitting Corviknight as a Grass-type without necessitating the use of Scovillain or just neutral moves.
252+ SpA Meganium-Mega Weather Ball (Fire, 100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 292-344 (73.1 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO. Corviknight's matchup against you is surprisingly bad, as it is unable to switch in on you when running the physdef set, even if you click Solar Beam on the switch-in, as it is naturally much slower than you.
If you wanted to, you could slot Dazzling Gleam over Weather Ball or Earth Power, maybe even Synthesis or Solar Beam as Dazzling Gleam lets you strike the Fighting, Dragon, and Dark types in the metagame harder, and in the case of replacing Solar Beam or Synthesis, allows you functionally unresisted offense, but they all come with their downsides.
Dazzling Gleam over Weather Ball leaves you bodied by Corviknight and Skarmory,
Dazzling Gleam over Earth Power makes the Poison-types less hesitant when it comes to switching in onto you, and allowing one in for free isn't that good of a thing, particularly when you consider Glowking, as it can simply heal on you and pivot with Chilly Reception.
Dazzling Gleam over Synthesis, while it does mean you can hit on all fronts, makes you significantly weaker to both chip and regular damage as a whole, and sponging damage is important to Mega Meganium's playstyle. Mega Meganium isn't nearly fast enough to be delegated to an all-out-offensive set.
Dazzling Gleam over Solar Beam heavily cuts into your damage output, and most importantly, leaves you somewhat dumpstered against Rotom-Wash as you now can't hit it effectively.
Surprise! (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Hasty Nature
- Swords Dance
- Solar Blade
- Knock Off / Weather Ball
- Earthquake
Now, for a somewhat less proper set, but still worth considering in its own right. The main draw of Physical / Mixed Mega Meganium is the allure of Swords Dance, and stronger Grass and Ground moves. You can easily tech on Weather Ball to surprise the Corviknights and Skarmories who think they'd wall you, or the more utility-based option of Knock Off, another thing it has over Special Meganium, allowing a very useful trait in Item removal. You are able to run this set similarly to the base set, but it's hard to fit Synthesis into this set, it carries a lot of the same problems as other setup, which is primarily Meganium's heavy case of 4MSS
4 SpA Meganium-Mega Weather Ball (100 BP, Fire) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 224-264 (56.1 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Plante (Meganium-Mega) @ Meganiumite
Ability: Leaf Guard
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Sp. Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Synthesis
- Solar Beam
- Knock Off
- (Free Slot, put whatever your team would prefer here.)
With the buffed Synthesis, a Support set does seem pretty useful, carrying the listed move, along with Solar Beam and Knock Off. Knock Off's Item removal is actually very interesting in tandem with Mega Meganium's other useful traits
I project that Mega Meganium will be around UU, the weaknesses are a bit too prominent for it to become OU Proper, but it will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in a lower tier.
Mega Feraligatr is a rather simple Pokemon on the surface, It's visually a Dragon Dance sweeper in a somewhat differing manner to the other Dragon Dancing sweeper threats, but Mega Feraligatr does carry a pretty interesting amount of benefits and differences due to how its built. Including its incredible Water / Dragon typing and signature ability Dragonize, which functions similarly to Aerilate or Pixilate, but changes normal moves to Dragon. Mega Feraligatr carries some incredible stats, including a massive 160 Attack stat and functional 85/125/93 defenses. Though one would quickly take note of its 78 Speed, a fair bit lower than the rest of the OU sweepers. It may seem somewhat out of its league, but Mega Feraligatr is much more nuanced.
Rushdown (Feraligatr-Mega) @ Feraligite
Ability: Dragonize
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return / Double-Edge (Facade?)
- Earthquake (other coverage is fine)
- Liquidation
This Mega Feraligatr set does what many would want it to do, set up and sweep with Dragon Dance, I find Jolly a bit more useful than Adamant, as the speed increase is significantly more important for Mega Feraligatr. Its Attack stat is already high enough to suffice and Adamant prevents you from outspeeding a significantly higher amount of targets at +1, leaving you prone to being Revenge-Killed by every Pokemon with higher than 125 Speed, most prominently Mega Garchomp Z, Greninja-Mega, and Zeraora. Your Dragon "STAB" slot is pretty free, with Return being a low risk high reward option, Double-Edge being a nuclear option, ensuring NOTHING lives after a Dragon Dance and Facade, which is more fringe of a choice, but can carry the nuclear offense of Double-Edge without the recoil, and the functionality of Return.
Jaws Of Carnage (Feraligatr-Mega) @ Feraligite
Ability: Dragonize
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Return / Body Slam
- Earthquake / Flip Turn / Other Coverage
Now, while I was in Lobby discussing the ZA Starter's megas, something fun was brought up in regards to Mega Feraligatr; Running it as if it was Crawdaunt. The prospect of using it as a breaker seems much more natural, especially with the awkward speed tier of base Feraligatr staying (78 Speed), but instead of trying to boost its speed, This set decides to boost up its massive Attack stat more with Swords Dance, and utilize priority STAB Aqua Jets to snipe targets that are heavily weakened by its beefy Dragonize-boosted Returns, or to even disrupt and paralyze with a couple lucky Dragonize Body Slams, With this set, your final slot is much free-er, as you aren't burdened with the one-try nature of proper Setup Sweeping. So you can go with Earthquake to snipe steels, or Flip Turn, which can take advantage of switches and other pivots, or any other form of coverage. It depends on what you'd want your Feraligatr to do in your last slot.
Feraligatr is also likely to be UU too, with a pretty interesting niche on heavier offense teams who would enjoy the strength of this Pokemon.
The humble shell smash mega blastoise with dragon pulse:
Froslass retains Nasty Plot from Z-A in Champions, but it seems Greninja doesn't
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Greninja actually has never learned nasty plot.
In Z-A it did, same for Froslass
Seems like Mega Greninja was really Ass Greninja this entire time. I don’t know why GameFreak had a sudden hatred for Greninja.
This was all a preview build, we have to wait and see. A full datamine would help
man what are the odds unreleased megas get leaked ahead of time from the game files