[OVERVIEW]
Mega Charizard Y is an excellent offensive presence in the 1v1 metagame, able to obliterate all but the most specially defensive Pokemon with its sun-boosted Blast Burn, including foes such as Mew, Tapu Lele, and Mega Gardevoir. It also has access to excellent coverage and utility options in the form of Solar Beam and Air Slash, allowing it to beat many Pokemon that Fire-types traditionally struggle with, such as Guardian of Alola Tapu Fini, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Swampert, as well as Flame Charge to beat faster Substitute users, such as Jumpluff and Flail Mega Lopunny. Mega Charizard Y's Drought ability also serves to weaken the Water-type moves dealt out by several prominent Water-types in the metagame, notably enabling it to tank Choice Specs Greninja's Hydro Cannon after moderate investment. Unfortunately, Mega Charizard Y suffers from a 4x weakness to Rock-type moves, with Pokemon such as Mega Tyranitar, Mega Diancie, and Crustle easily crushing it. Furthermore, Mega Charizard Y, unlike its X counterpart, has no viable way of boosting its main offensive stat, meaning that Mega Charizard Y has no effective way to break sufficiently bulky Special Defense boosters like Meloetta and stall Deoxys-S, as well as being susceptible to generally specially defensive walls like Chansey.
[SET]
name: Bulky Offense
move 1: Blast Burn
move 2: Solar Beam
move 3: Flame Charge
move 4: Air Slash
item: Charizardite Y
ability: Solar Power
nature: Timid
evs: 116 HP / 168 SpA / 8 SpD / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Blast Burn is Mega Charizard Y's most powerful move, as well as one of the most powerful moves in the metagame, able to neutralize almost any Pokemon it can hit super effectively, such as Magearna, Mega Metagross, Aegislash, and Celesteela, as well as frailer Pokemon that resist Fire-type damage, such as Naganadel. Beware of its recharge after usage, Blast Burn's biggest downside. Solar Beam is Mega Charizard Y's best coverage option, allowing it to hit several Water-type Pokemon, such as Guardian of Alola Tapu Fini, Calm Mind Mega Slowbro, and Mega Swampert. Flame Charge is a utility option that gives Mega Charizard Y a way to beat the common sleep inducer Jumpluff, alongside giving an extra bit of chip damage against faster threats such as Greninja, Substitute Mega Metagross, and Naganadel. Air Slash is Mega Charizard Y's secondary STAB option, used primarily to get a Pokemon in range of Blast Burn or break a Substitute from an opposing Pokemon that resists Solar Beam, such as Mega Venusaur and specially offensive Mega Altaria. It also has a noticeable 30% chance to make an opposing Pokemon flinch, which can be useful as a last-ditch effort against Pokemon such as Mega Aggron, Magnezone, specially defensive Tapu Lele, and Kommo-o. However, this is by no means a reliable strategy and should only be used if there is no other option in order to win. Will-O-Wisp can also be used to cut the Attack of bulky Mega Gyarados, removing its immediate offensive presence, alongside beating certain Sturdy Pokemon like non-Rockium Z or Choice Band Avalugg and FEAR Aron. You can also choose to run Hidden Power Electric, which, along with Solar Beam, always 2HKOes offensive Mega Gyarados and forces a mind game with bulky Mega Gyarados; this only has use against Mega Gyarados, however.
Set Details
========
116 HP and 8 Special Defense EVs allow Mega Charizard Y to tank attacks like Choice Specs Hydro Cannon from Greninja, Choice Specs Draco Meteor from Naganadel, and Fake Out + Genesis Supernova from Mew, as well as take a burned Avalugg's Stone Edge. Mega Charizard Y also runs 216 Speed EVs with a Timid nature in order to outspeed base 95 Speed Pokemon such as Tapu Lele as well as slower Pokemon such as non-Choice Scarf Landorus-T, non-Choice Scarf Z Porygon-Z, and Vivillon. The rest goes into Special Attack, in order to improve Mega Charizard Y's matchups against bulkier Pokemon such as Mega Sableye and Mega Slowbro.
Usage Tips
========
Mega Charizard Y is a keystone of hyper offense playstyle in the 1v1 metagame, able to obliterate most Pokemon that Blast Burn hits super effectively or even neutrally as long as they aren't overly specially defensive. Against Pokemon that fall under those criteria, such as Magearna, non-Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, non-specially defensive Tapu Lele, Celesteela, and Aegislash, immediately use Blast Burn. Even against Pokemon that Mega Charizard Y hits neutrally with Blast Burn and super effectively with Solar Beam and Air Slash, such as Krookodile and bulky Volcarona, sun-boosted Blast Burn will still do more. Against faster Pokemon Mega Charizard Y cannot immediately knock out, such as Mew, Naganadel, Jumpluff, Mega Gardevoir, and Substitute Mega Metagross, use Flame Charge to not only deal chip damage to the opposing Pokemon but also break any potential Substitute. Choice Specs Greninja should be mentioned specifically, as although its strongest move is Hydro Cannon, and it's initially a Water-type Pokemon, it can transform into an Ice-type with Protean Ice Beam to avoid lethal damage from Solar Beam. Using Flame Charge turn one, followed up by either Solar Beam or Blast Burn, will allow Mega Charizard Y to react to every play an opposing Greninja can make and avoid any mind games. Against Pokemon that can normally take a Blast Burn, such as Mega Venusaur, non-Substitute Primarina, and Tapu Fini, Mega Charizard Y's coverage moves of Air Slash and Solar Beam come into play. For Pokemon like Mega Venusaur and specially offensive Mega Altaria, spam Air Slash. Air Slash's absurd 30% flinch chance, combined with Mega Charizard Y's excellent Special Attack, and either Mega Charizard Y's resistance to Mega Altaria's Fairy-type attacks or Mega Venusaur's weakness to Air Slash will ensure that Mega Charizard Y will waste the recovery options and get them into range of Blast Burn through flinches. Against Water-type Pokemon, like Mega Swampert and Tapu Fini, simply go for the OHKO or 2HKO using Solar Beam. Bulky Mega Gyarados reliably beats variants of Mega Charizard Y not running Hidden Power Electric or Will-O-Wisp, and Mega Gyarados still usually beats it even with those moves, so do not use it as your Mega Gyarados answer.
Team Options
========
Mega Charizard Y is naturally weak to several Rock-, Electric-, and Dragon-type Pokemon, such as Mega Tyranitar, Magnezone, and Zygarde, alongside Mega Gyarados; this makes it fit extraordinarily well with a standard Fire / Water / Grass core, which can fill in its deficits using Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Mega Gyarados, Mega Venusaur, and Jumpluff. In return, these Pokemon appreciate Mega Charizard Y's positive matchup against all other Grass-type Pokemon as well as common Steel-type Pokemon such as Magearna and Genesect. Mega Charizard Y also works well with Ground- and Dragon-type Pokemon that can beat back the aforementioned Rock- and Electric-type Pokemon, as well as opposing Fire-type Pokemon like Heatran, Victini, and Incineroar. Pokemon such as Zygarde, bulky Donphan, Kommo-o, and Dragonite can beat all of these threats. In return, Mega Charizard Y threatens Ice-type Pokemon or Pokemon wielding Ice-type moves, such as Greninja, Genesect, Kyurem, Avalugg, and Alolan Ninetales, and bulky Water-types like Tapu Fini and Mega Blastoise. Mega Charizard Y also has issues against specially defensive stall Pokemon, such as Amnesia Mega Slowbro, Stored Power Necrozma, Porygon2, and Chansey. Because of this, stallbreakers such as Taunt + Crunch Mega Gyarados, Mega Heracross, and Vivillon all make excellent partners to Mega Charizard Y, which can, in return, beat threatening Pokemon to them such as Mega Metagross and Mega Gardevoir.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Mega Charizard Y can run a bulky offense spread of 124 HP / 68 Def / 108 SpA / 208 Spe and a Modest nature with Will-O-Wisp in order to beat every variant of Mega Gyarados, not just bulky Mega Gyarados, by using Will-O-Wisp turn one, Solar Beam turn two, and Blast Burn turn three. However, this strategy is hardly consistent thanks to the accuracy of Will-O-Wisp and Blast Burn and Waterfall's chance to flinch. Alongside this downside, this set will also lose against speedier threats like fast Tapu Lele, Normalium Z Porygon-Z, and Vivillon. Mega Charizard Y can also run 208 HP / 116 SpD / 184 Spe in order to survive a Modest Hyper Beam from Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, allowing it to beat all sets. However, the loss of Special Attack is noticeable, especially in important matchups against Mega Slowbro, Mega Sableye, and maximum HP Tapu Lele. Mega Charizard Y can also run Counter alongside maximum HP and Defense in order to lure and take out traditional Charizard answers, such as Haxorus and Choice item Dragonite. Be aware that Counter will not reliably beat non-Choice item users, however, as they will be able to play mind games and set up. Rock Tomb can be run in order to beat opposing non-Rock Tomb Mega Charizard Y. However, this is by no means a foolproof strategy, as an opposing Mega Charizard Y can also run Rock Tomb to beat your Mega Charizard Y. Fire Blast can be run in order to utilize a powerful Fire-type move without the cost of recharge through Blast Burn. However, the Base Power lost is noticeable, leaving Mega Charizard Y unable to catch the OHKO against Pokemon such as Mew, Choice Specs Necrozma, and Choice Scarf Togekiss. Substitute can be run in order to bait out Head Smash Donphan and Aggron, two Sturdy users that can OHKO Mega Charizard Y if they can land their attack. By using Substitute on a Head Smash, the recoil taken will break their Sturdy, allowing Mega Charizard Y to OHKO them with Blast Burn.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Rock-type Moves**: Mega Charizard Y is severely crippled by any kind of Rock-type move. Even a Rock Tomb from any Pokemon invested in Attack, such as Sawk, will threaten to OHKO it. Beware of Pokemon such as Mega Tyranitar, Hidden Power Rock Naganadel, Crustle, Donphan, and Aggron, which can all take a hit from Mega Charizard Y and OHKO back with a Rock-type move, regardless of STAB or if they are burned.
**Specially Defensive Pokemon**: As Mega Charizard Y cannot boost its Special Attack, it is hugely vulnerable to Pokemon that can either tank a Blast Burn and threaten it back or neutralize its power with moves like Amnesia and Confide while healing off the damage dealt. Pokemon like Meloetta, specially defensive Tapu Lele, Chansey, and Porygon 2 can all outlast Mega Charizard Y.
**Bulky Fire- and Dragon-type Pokemon**: Fire- and Dragon-type Pokemon unfortunately resist Mega Charizard Y's STAB Blast Burn, as well as its main coverage move Solar Beam, and will usually shrug off Air Slash. Pokemon like Naganadel, which cannot take Flame Charge followed by Blast Burn, and non-Dragon Dance Mega Altaria, which cannot do enough damage and will waste its recovery against Air Slash, are the exception, not the rule, and Mega Charizard Y will be constantly threatened by Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X, Incineroar, Heatran, Victini, Dragonite, Garchomp, Kommo-o, and Zygarde.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Osra, 239997], [Freddy Kyogre, 321529 ], [Chickenpie2, 305552]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [deetah, 297659]]
Mega Charizard Y is an excellent offensive presence in the 1v1 metagame, able to obliterate all but the most specially defensive Pokemon with its sun-boosted Blast Burn, including foes such as Mew, Tapu Lele, and Mega Gardevoir. It also has access to excellent coverage and utility options in the form of Solar Beam and Air Slash, allowing it to beat many Pokemon that Fire-types traditionally struggle with, such as Guardian of Alola Tapu Fini, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Swampert, as well as Flame Charge to beat faster Substitute users, such as Jumpluff and Flail Mega Lopunny. Mega Charizard Y's Drought ability also serves to weaken the Water-type moves dealt out by several prominent Water-types in the metagame, notably enabling it to tank Choice Specs Greninja's Hydro Cannon after moderate investment. Unfortunately, Mega Charizard Y suffers from a 4x weakness to Rock-type moves, with Pokemon such as Mega Tyranitar, Mega Diancie, and Crustle easily crushing it. Furthermore, Mega Charizard Y, unlike its X counterpart, has no viable way of boosting its main offensive stat, meaning that Mega Charizard Y has no effective way to break sufficiently bulky Special Defense boosters like Meloetta and stall Deoxys-S, as well as being susceptible to generally specially defensive walls like Chansey.
[SET]
name: Bulky Offense
move 1: Blast Burn
move 2: Solar Beam
move 3: Flame Charge
move 4: Air Slash
item: Charizardite Y
ability: Solar Power
nature: Timid
evs: 116 HP / 168 SpA / 8 SpD / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Blast Burn is Mega Charizard Y's most powerful move, as well as one of the most powerful moves in the metagame, able to neutralize almost any Pokemon it can hit super effectively, such as Magearna, Mega Metagross, Aegislash, and Celesteela, as well as frailer Pokemon that resist Fire-type damage, such as Naganadel. Beware of its recharge after usage, Blast Burn's biggest downside. Solar Beam is Mega Charizard Y's best coverage option, allowing it to hit several Water-type Pokemon, such as Guardian of Alola Tapu Fini, Calm Mind Mega Slowbro, and Mega Swampert. Flame Charge is a utility option that gives Mega Charizard Y a way to beat the common sleep inducer Jumpluff, alongside giving an extra bit of chip damage against faster threats such as Greninja, Substitute Mega Metagross, and Naganadel. Air Slash is Mega Charizard Y's secondary STAB option, used primarily to get a Pokemon in range of Blast Burn or break a Substitute from an opposing Pokemon that resists Solar Beam, such as Mega Venusaur and specially offensive Mega Altaria. It also has a noticeable 30% chance to make an opposing Pokemon flinch, which can be useful as a last-ditch effort against Pokemon such as Mega Aggron, Magnezone, specially defensive Tapu Lele, and Kommo-o. However, this is by no means a reliable strategy and should only be used if there is no other option in order to win. Will-O-Wisp can also be used to cut the Attack of bulky Mega Gyarados, removing its immediate offensive presence, alongside beating certain Sturdy Pokemon like non-Rockium Z or Choice Band Avalugg and FEAR Aron. You can also choose to run Hidden Power Electric, which, along with Solar Beam, always 2HKOes offensive Mega Gyarados and forces a mind game with bulky Mega Gyarados; this only has use against Mega Gyarados, however.
Set Details
========
116 HP and 8 Special Defense EVs allow Mega Charizard Y to tank attacks like Choice Specs Hydro Cannon from Greninja, Choice Specs Draco Meteor from Naganadel, and Fake Out + Genesis Supernova from Mew, as well as take a burned Avalugg's Stone Edge. Mega Charizard Y also runs 216 Speed EVs with a Timid nature in order to outspeed base 95 Speed Pokemon such as Tapu Lele as well as slower Pokemon such as non-Choice Scarf Landorus-T, non-Choice Scarf Z Porygon-Z, and Vivillon. The rest goes into Special Attack, in order to improve Mega Charizard Y's matchups against bulkier Pokemon such as Mega Sableye and Mega Slowbro.
Usage Tips
========
Mega Charizard Y is a keystone of hyper offense playstyle in the 1v1 metagame, able to obliterate most Pokemon that Blast Burn hits super effectively or even neutrally as long as they aren't overly specially defensive. Against Pokemon that fall under those criteria, such as Magearna, non-Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, non-specially defensive Tapu Lele, Celesteela, and Aegislash, immediately use Blast Burn. Even against Pokemon that Mega Charizard Y hits neutrally with Blast Burn and super effectively with Solar Beam and Air Slash, such as Krookodile and bulky Volcarona, sun-boosted Blast Burn will still do more. Against faster Pokemon Mega Charizard Y cannot immediately knock out, such as Mew, Naganadel, Jumpluff, Mega Gardevoir, and Substitute Mega Metagross, use Flame Charge to not only deal chip damage to the opposing Pokemon but also break any potential Substitute. Choice Specs Greninja should be mentioned specifically, as although its strongest move is Hydro Cannon, and it's initially a Water-type Pokemon, it can transform into an Ice-type with Protean Ice Beam to avoid lethal damage from Solar Beam. Using Flame Charge turn one, followed up by either Solar Beam or Blast Burn, will allow Mega Charizard Y to react to every play an opposing Greninja can make and avoid any mind games. Against Pokemon that can normally take a Blast Burn, such as Mega Venusaur, non-Substitute Primarina, and Tapu Fini, Mega Charizard Y's coverage moves of Air Slash and Solar Beam come into play. For Pokemon like Mega Venusaur and specially offensive Mega Altaria, spam Air Slash. Air Slash's absurd 30% flinch chance, combined with Mega Charizard Y's excellent Special Attack, and either Mega Charizard Y's resistance to Mega Altaria's Fairy-type attacks or Mega Venusaur's weakness to Air Slash will ensure that Mega Charizard Y will waste the recovery options and get them into range of Blast Burn through flinches. Against Water-type Pokemon, like Mega Swampert and Tapu Fini, simply go for the OHKO or 2HKO using Solar Beam. Bulky Mega Gyarados reliably beats variants of Mega Charizard Y not running Hidden Power Electric or Will-O-Wisp, and Mega Gyarados still usually beats it even with those moves, so do not use it as your Mega Gyarados answer.
Team Options
========
Mega Charizard Y is naturally weak to several Rock-, Electric-, and Dragon-type Pokemon, such as Mega Tyranitar, Magnezone, and Zygarde, alongside Mega Gyarados; this makes it fit extraordinarily well with a standard Fire / Water / Grass core, which can fill in its deficits using Pokemon such as Tapu Fini, Mega Gyarados, Mega Venusaur, and Jumpluff. In return, these Pokemon appreciate Mega Charizard Y's positive matchup against all other Grass-type Pokemon as well as common Steel-type Pokemon such as Magearna and Genesect. Mega Charizard Y also works well with Ground- and Dragon-type Pokemon that can beat back the aforementioned Rock- and Electric-type Pokemon, as well as opposing Fire-type Pokemon like Heatran, Victini, and Incineroar. Pokemon such as Zygarde, bulky Donphan, Kommo-o, and Dragonite can beat all of these threats. In return, Mega Charizard Y threatens Ice-type Pokemon or Pokemon wielding Ice-type moves, such as Greninja, Genesect, Kyurem, Avalugg, and Alolan Ninetales, and bulky Water-types like Tapu Fini and Mega Blastoise. Mega Charizard Y also has issues against specially defensive stall Pokemon, such as Amnesia Mega Slowbro, Stored Power Necrozma, Porygon2, and Chansey. Because of this, stallbreakers such as Taunt + Crunch Mega Gyarados, Mega Heracross, and Vivillon all make excellent partners to Mega Charizard Y, which can, in return, beat threatening Pokemon to them such as Mega Metagross and Mega Gardevoir.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Mega Charizard Y can run a bulky offense spread of 124 HP / 68 Def / 108 SpA / 208 Spe and a Modest nature with Will-O-Wisp in order to beat every variant of Mega Gyarados, not just bulky Mega Gyarados, by using Will-O-Wisp turn one, Solar Beam turn two, and Blast Burn turn three. However, this strategy is hardly consistent thanks to the accuracy of Will-O-Wisp and Blast Burn and Waterfall's chance to flinch. Alongside this downside, this set will also lose against speedier threats like fast Tapu Lele, Normalium Z Porygon-Z, and Vivillon. Mega Charizard Y can also run 208 HP / 116 SpD / 184 Spe in order to survive a Modest Hyper Beam from Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, allowing it to beat all sets. However, the loss of Special Attack is noticeable, especially in important matchups against Mega Slowbro, Mega Sableye, and maximum HP Tapu Lele. Mega Charizard Y can also run Counter alongside maximum HP and Defense in order to lure and take out traditional Charizard answers, such as Haxorus and Choice item Dragonite. Be aware that Counter will not reliably beat non-Choice item users, however, as they will be able to play mind games and set up. Rock Tomb can be run in order to beat opposing non-Rock Tomb Mega Charizard Y. However, this is by no means a foolproof strategy, as an opposing Mega Charizard Y can also run Rock Tomb to beat your Mega Charizard Y. Fire Blast can be run in order to utilize a powerful Fire-type move without the cost of recharge through Blast Burn. However, the Base Power lost is noticeable, leaving Mega Charizard Y unable to catch the OHKO against Pokemon such as Mew, Choice Specs Necrozma, and Choice Scarf Togekiss. Substitute can be run in order to bait out Head Smash Donphan and Aggron, two Sturdy users that can OHKO Mega Charizard Y if they can land their attack. By using Substitute on a Head Smash, the recoil taken will break their Sturdy, allowing Mega Charizard Y to OHKO them with Blast Burn.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Rock-type Moves**: Mega Charizard Y is severely crippled by any kind of Rock-type move. Even a Rock Tomb from any Pokemon invested in Attack, such as Sawk, will threaten to OHKO it. Beware of Pokemon such as Mega Tyranitar, Hidden Power Rock Naganadel, Crustle, Donphan, and Aggron, which can all take a hit from Mega Charizard Y and OHKO back with a Rock-type move, regardless of STAB or if they are burned.
**Specially Defensive Pokemon**: As Mega Charizard Y cannot boost its Special Attack, it is hugely vulnerable to Pokemon that can either tank a Blast Burn and threaten it back or neutralize its power with moves like Amnesia and Confide while healing off the damage dealt. Pokemon like Meloetta, specially defensive Tapu Lele, Chansey, and Porygon 2 can all outlast Mega Charizard Y.
**Bulky Fire- and Dragon-type Pokemon**: Fire- and Dragon-type Pokemon unfortunately resist Mega Charizard Y's STAB Blast Burn, as well as its main coverage move Solar Beam, and will usually shrug off Air Slash. Pokemon like Naganadel, which cannot take Flame Charge followed by Blast Burn, and non-Dragon Dance Mega Altaria, which cannot do enough damage and will waste its recovery against Air Slash, are the exception, not the rule, and Mega Charizard Y will be constantly threatened by Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X, Incineroar, Heatran, Victini, Dragonite, Garchomp, Kommo-o, and Zygarde.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Osra, 239997], [Freddy Kyogre, 321529 ], [Chickenpie2, 305552]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [deetah, 297659]]
Last edited:
