[OVERVIEW]
Mega Blastoise is RU's best spinner by far, giving it an important place on many offensive and balanced teams. Its high Special Attack and excellent Mega Launcher-boosted coverage make it a pain for offensive teams to switch into, and between the switches its prowess forces and the passive walls that teams often use to check it, it finds many opportunities to spin. Having Dark Pulse to keep Ghost-types from safely spinblocking and outspeeding common Water-weak Stealth Rock setters in Mega Steelix, Nidoqueen, and Rhyperior make its job even easier. Its good natural bulk enables it to take at least one strong neutral hit to deal massive damage back or do one last spin. Mega Blastoise's greatest flaw is its complete lack of recovery; this issue combined with its susceptibility to all forms of entry hazards and status leads to it inevitably getting worn down. Its average Speed tier renders it easy to offensively pressure, especially since switching in to spin several times will put it in KO range of many faster attackers. Milotic, one of the best and most common Pokemon in the metagame, always walls it, and other prevalent walls like Registeel, Snorlax, Porygon2, Cresselia, and Bronzong can stop it depending on its coverage. It also faces some competition from Milotic as a Water-type, as Milotic has recovery to consistently check many foes.
[SET]
name: Offensive Spinner
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Scald / Hydro Pump
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Dark Pulse / Aura Sphere
item: Blastoisinite
ability: Rain Dish
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
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Rapid Spin provides invaluable support for offensive teams, which often have at least one Stealth Rock-weak Pokemon and prefer to keep entry hazards they have set intact. Scald is a reliable STAB move that can punish physical attackers with a burn. Hydro Pump can be used for more power, though it does not make any important KOs possible, has exploitable PP, and is inaccurate. Ice Beam is vital coverage for the tier's many Grass-, Dragon-, and Flying-types. Dark Pulse punishes Ghost-types trying to spinblock Mega Blastoise and threatens Cresselia and Bronzong. Aura Sphere can be used instead to pressure the likes of Snorlax, Registeel, Umbreon, and Porygon2.
Set Details
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Maximum Special Attack and Speed investment grants Mega Blastoise optimal offensive presence. A Timid nature is particularly important for outspeeding Nidoqueen, unboosted Tyrantrum, and Decidueye. The choice of pre-Mega ability is not likely to matter. However, Rain Dish provides a tiny amount of recovery against the occasional rain user, while Blastoise's Torrent-boosted STAB moves are slightly stronger than Mega Blastoise's.
Usage Tips
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Conserving Mega Blastoise's HP is important if you need it to spin repeatedly, so it should prioritize switching in for free or on particularly weak attacks. For example, it can switch in on the likes of Mega Steelix, Nidoqueen, Rhyperior, and, if it has Dark Pulse, Bronzong as they set Stealth Rock to threaten them out and immediately undo their work. Due to this necessary conservation of HP, you will often have to evaluate whether getting Mega Blastoise hit by a strong move to spin or attack is worth making future spinning much more difficult. When attacking, Mega Blastoise's potent coverage can make correct predictions quite rewarding. Such predictions include using Ice Beam on Grass-types expecting to switch in on a Water-type move and decimating aggressively played Ghost-types with Dark Pulse. Hitting a special wall like Snorlax or Cresselia with super effective coverage as it switches in usually fails to outright KO it, but does force it to recover, giving you free turns. Though walls that Mega Blastoise lacks coverage for force it out eventually, it can use these walls' passive nature to safely spin. Mega Blastoise is prone to getting its time cut short by Toxic at some point in a battle, so it might actually be preferable to burn it by switching into moves like Scald.
Team Options
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Mega Blastoise is a good addition to any team that features offensive Rock-weak Pokemon, including those mentioned here. Salazzle, Moltres, and Yanmega can switch in on STAB Grass-type moves aimed at Mega Blastoise and threaten those moves' users out. Ground-types such as Nidoqueen, Rhyperior, and Gligar block Volt Switch, which is often used against Mega Blastoise. Wallbreakers like Escavalier and Vanilluxe benefit from the removal of annoying entry hazards and break through common cores that hinder Mega Blastoise. Gardevoir and Shaymin are Choice Scarf users that make up for Mega Blastoise's problematic Speed and give it another chance to put in work by using Healing Wish. Mega Blastoise isn't a safe switch-in to the tier's top Fire-types in Salazzle and Moltres due to their secondary STAB moves, so more reliable checks to them like Aerodactyl and Rindo Berry Rhyperior might be wise choices. Swellow and Aerodactyl have a particularly good matchup against offense, which Mega Blastoise tends to get overloaded by. Having a defensive backbone like Snorlax + Cresselia to fall back on takes a lot of pressure off Mega Blastoise, though not all offensive teams can afford such a core.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Using Toxic over Dark Pulse or Aura Sphere with Water Pulse as the STAB move can annoy walls that are better to poison than burn like Milotic, Mandibuzz, Porygon2, and Cresselia, but eliminating coverage has obvious problems, and Milotic often runs Refresh, so the best Toxic can do is force such a Milotic to waste a turn. Dropping Rapid Spin to run both Dark Pulse and Aura Sphere makes Mega Blastoise an attacker that is much harder to wall, but Milotic is still a counter to it, ditching Rapid Spin eliminates its utility, and there are many other Pokemon that are similarly effective at wallbreaking.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Special Walls**: Milotic has enough natural Special Defense to always take little damage from any of Mega Blastoise's attacks and wear it down with Scald. If Mega Blastoise lacks Aura Sphere, Snorlax, Registeel, Porygon2, and Umbreon are just as effective at stalling it out. Similarly, forgoing Dark Pulse makes Cresselia and Bronzong surefire counterplay. Note that only Bronzong is actually even 2HKOed by super effective coverage; the rest can stall with recovery or Protect if Mega Blastoise has been poisoned, though Cresselia risks flinching from Dark Pulse and Porygon2 might get 2HKOed after Stealth Rock. Specially defensive Mandibuzz takes Ice Beam well enough to stall with Roost, but getting frozen is a very real possibility and it cannot do much back if without Toxic.
**Grass-types**: Virizion, Shaymin, and Roserade can switch in on any attack bar Ice Beam and force Mega Blastoise out, though Roserade dislikes Dark Pulse as well. Virizion is a particular problem because its Justified punishes the use of Dark Pulse and because it can set up with Swords Dance by forcing a switch or taking Ice Beam once. Mega Abomasnow is slower than Mega Blastoise and would rather not switch in on Dark Pulse or take Aura Sphere, but it can easily OHKO.
**Electric-types**: Rotom-C and Rotom-H use Volt Switch on Mega Blastoise to simultaneously deal massive damage and switch to a teammate that can better take Mega Blastoise's attacks. Galvantula outspeeds and OHKOes Mega Blastoise with Thunder, making its Sticky Web difficult to permanently remove. In a pinch, a healthy Mega Ampharos can take Ice Beam and OHKO back.
**Residual Damage**: Mega Blastoise has no way to recover health, meaning that switching into entry hazards several times will certainly put it in KO range of many faster attackers' moves. It also has no practical method of avoiding Toxic from the Pokemon that can wall it, like Registeel and Bronzong, and from Stealth Rock setters like Mega Steelix.
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