Pet Mod Megas for All v7 - Kalos concluded! | Please read the first post! | Fully playable through Kalos Slate 10!

Turtlek · Nov 12, 2022

So I figured out of Escavalier looking to a knight jousting, so I figured out this:
a knight whose interest is just tackling again and again ´til thé end.

New moves: Zing Zap because it is spiky, Gyro Ball because it is round and metallic, Recover because Shelmet get it so there is no reason, Leech Life because it’s a bug.

Ability: Fierce Assaults
When the same move is used multiple times on the same opponent, it’s power is increased. Something like:
x1
X1.3
X1.5
X1.8
X2
It would allow Escavalier to break through many walls since it can’t be.

Stats:
Attack:195 (+69)
Def: 140 (+35)
SpAtk: 40 (-20)
SpDef: 140 (+35)
Speed: 1 (-19)
Can break through everything with it’s ability except set-up stallers like Iron Défense Steels, still walled by Ferrothorn because it is too slow.

Calcs:
252+ Atk Escavalier Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 168+ Def Corviknight: 137-162 (34.2 - 40.5%) -- 44% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
After a Swords Dance, it doesn’t need its ability but that’s rash Damage.

252+ Atk Escavalier Zing Zap vs. 248 HP / 212+ Def Corviknight: 190-224 (47.6 - 56.1%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO

252+ Atk Escavalier Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 234-276 (66.4 - 78.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Escavalier Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 147-173 (37.3 - 43.9%) -- 100% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
This is an exemple where Ability is useful. Escavalier normally lose against Quagsire but if it avoids Scald burn it makes more damage than Slack Off heals.

Dex Entries:
Sword: The rumor says that it once made a hole through a mountain because he didn’t like his

Shield: The armor of Escavalier is now as hard as it was used as cannons.

So I decided to do Paradox Mienshaos and pretend they are megas.
New Moves: Vacuum Wave, Air Slash, Flash Cannon, Dragon Pulse, Outrage

:Mienshao:

Past Mienshao is based on the Cavemen representations. Its ability is Short View.
Mienshao gains a +1 boost in attacking stats when it switches in, but all of its attacks now have the secondary effect of lowering Mienshao's attacking stats by one stage after attacking, even if the target is immune. It is now Dragon Fighting due to his savageness.

Dex Entry:
X: It is drawn on the walls of a cave in the south of Kalos.
Y: Nobody knows what material his clothes are made with.

Stats:
155 Atk (+30)
60 Def
145 SpAtk (+50)
60 SpDef
125 Speed (+20)

In fact, I just put so much SpAtk to balance because it would be too OP if not, since it has a veeery great special movepool. (It's ironic. It learns 3 types)
This playstyle is just constantly going on the field to cripple the opposing team and gain momentum with U-Turn.
Mienshao is really weak to Reg-Cores due to its ability.

Calcs:
For the physical sets:
+1 252 Atk Mienshao Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Clefable: 304-358 (77.1 - 90.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Mienshao Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Unaware Clefable: 204-240 (51.7 - 60.9%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Mienshao Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 168+ Def Corviknight: 250-295 (62.5 - 73.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Mienshao Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 96-114 (31.5 - 37.5%) -- 89.1% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Mienshao Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 120-142 (39.4 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

For the special sets:
+1 252 SpA Mienshao Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 195-230 (64.1 - 75.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Mienshao Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 330-388 (82.5 - 97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mienshao Dragon Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 111-132 (36.5 - 43.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

:mienshao:

Future Mienshao is based on futurist bounty-hunter in the line of T-800. Its ability is Hunter Lens, a modification of Tinted Lens. It multiplies resisted hits damage by 3 and super-effective damage by 0.75. To be clear, not very effective now does 1.5 and super effective too. It is now Steel/Fighting type due to it being hum, a bot.

Dex Entry:
X: The rumor says it comes from a hole in a strange region where people put pine-apple on their pizze.
Y: His cry sounds like: Salakonol? Scientists are looking for the meaning of this sound.

Stats:
105 Atk (-20)
65 Def (+5)
175 SpAtk (+80)
65 SpDef (+5)
135 Spe (+30)

Calcs:
252 SpA Mienshao Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 249-294 (62.2 - 73.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mienshao Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 277-327 (38.7 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Mienshao Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 264-312 (86.8 - 102.6%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Mienshao Vacuum Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Weavile: 276-328 (98.2 - 116.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO

DrPumpkinz · Nov 12, 2022

Mega Haxorus Black
Type: Dragon / Steel
Ability: Long Reach
Stats:

~~HP: 76~~

~~Att: 167 (+20)~~

~~Def: 115 (+25)~~

~~SpA: 90 (+30)~~

~~SpD: 90 (+20)~~

~~Spe: 102~~ ~~(+5)~~

Mega Haxorus White
Type: Dragon / Ground
Ability: Own Tempo
Stats:

~~HP: 76~~

~~Att: 167 (+20)~~

~~Def: 100 (+10)~~

~~SpA: 90 (+30)~~

~~SpD: 130 (+60)~~

~~Spe: 77~~ ~~(-20)~~

Haxorus was the first Pokemon to be designed for Gen 5, a gen so committed to having two versions that it broke the tradition of having a third definitive version and had a pair of sequels instead. It's highlighted in-game as the ace of the final gym, a gym that's visually themed around a black dragon and a white dragon that flip between versions, wielded by a gym leader who changes depending on the version, found in a town that changes depending on the version. It's also a heavily marketed draconic Pokemon whose shiny is black with red highlights, making it sort of the Charizard of Unova.

Additionally, it's very tricky to balance. Its stats are on the verge of busted with its sky-high Attack and almost-but-not-quite-good Speed, and its abilities are all kinda mediocre so giving it a good ability risks pushing it over the edge. You could give it a new type, but just giving it a new type isn't really enough to make it interesting, but you can't give it too many interesting things without breaking it.

It's for these reasons both flavor and pragmatic that I've decided to give Haxorus two mega forms. Individually, neither form is too over the top (I hope), but the ambiguity of which mega your opponent is using allows for mind games on the turn Haxorus mega evolves. Their abilities enable some neat things, but nothing crazy.

Mega Haxorus Black is futuristic, fancy. Its Long Reach ability lets it attack without having to deal with stuff like Flame Body or Rocky Helmet (is stuff like that common in doubles? if so, Hax B extra appreciates it there since Breaking Swipe hits both opponents). Long Reach also plays into its theming, both in the sense that advances in technology allow for people to communicate over long distances without ever coming into contact, and also because Mega Haxorus Black probably has a sick-ass lightsaber axe or something.

Mega Haxorus White is more down to earth, more traditional. Instead of being swept up in the fast-paced technological world, it does things at its own pace, at its own tempo. Speaking of which, Own Tempo allows for an easier time sweeping late-game once the Fairies and Steels are out of the way, as it allows Mega Haxorus White to spam Outrage without having to deal with being confused.

Mega Haxorus
Type: Dragon
Ability: Water Veil
Stats:

HP: 76

Att: 167 (+20)

Def: 100 (+10)

SpA: 90 (+30)

SpD: 110 (+40)

Spe: 97

Mega Haxorus's blade has been whet and wet.

As a physically offensive Dragon-type, Mega Haxorus makes excellent use of Water Veil. Its good SpDef and Water resistance let it switch into Scalds all day long, and because it's not a Water-type like other Water Veil users, its STAB won't be resisted by Scald users.

SimpyShrimp · Nov 12, 2022

Mega Haxorus
(collaboration with Lysio and NANI)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Dragon
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Ability: Steelbreaker
- This Pokémon's attacks are critical hits if the target is a Steel-type Pokémon.
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Stats:
HP: 76
Attack: 127(-20)
Defense:110(+20)
Special Attack:110(+50)
Special Defense: 110(+40)
Speed: 107(+10)
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Descriptions:

So ok, let's check some Haxorus's Dex entries:

So apparently, Gamefreak likes to mention 2 things about Haxorus: its tusk and its kind-hearted nature. About its tusks, Gamefreak mentions that its tusks are sharp, sharp enough to cut through steel beams. Seems familiar, does it? We have one Steelbreaker Mega in M4A National Dex, Mega Drapion. However, Mega Drapion is no longer available in M4A Kalos. If we have to pick one of the obvious choices for another Steelbreaker Mega, it should be Haxorus. That's all for its flavor.

Next off, to its competitive design. Haxorus on its own is not a top-tier mon in all metagame, but it's a decent mon at least. Having 147 attack stat, 97-speed tier(which is not horrible but not so good either). Steelbreaker always critically hits steel type pokemons. Haxorus on its own isn't weak to steel type either, having both Close Combat and Earthquake. This seems like an unstoppable monster, right?

It's an unstoppable monster until you see its stat spread. Losing 20 points in Attack and dumping 50 points of stats into special attack is quite a nerf for this thing. It does gain more bulk tho, with 110 in both Defense and Special Defense, and being a little bit faster, having 107 in speed, I can safely say this thing is not overpowered, at least by the time i made this post.
So how to use this bad boy? Use it the same way as the way you use base Haxorus. You may either sword dance and slowly breaking through walls with amazing coverage, or dragon dance and sweep the way to victory.

Mega Escavalier

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Type: Bug/ Steel
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Ability: Cavalry
- Every time the user KO a target, copy its speed stat
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Stats:
HP: 70
Attack: 145(+10)
Defense:125(+20)
Special Attack:110(+50)
Special Defense: 125(+20)
Speed:20
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Moves: Infestation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptions:

Its dex entry once mentioned:

Which is technically untrue in competitive tho. However, we can make it "fast" for its mega evolution. This thing based cavalry, and what does cavalry has? HORSE . Escavalier however, does not have anything to mount. So for its mega evolution, i grant this thing the ability "cavalry", which allows this thing to get fast by killing a fast pokemon. Just imagine Mega Escavalier riding on fainted pokemon's bodies, which would be stupid as hell :)

Competitively, this thing is quite neat as a Mega Evolution. When it kills a high-speed pokemon, it steals that high speed and the replacement for the fainted pokemon will face this monster. However, if this thing kills something like a Ferrothorn or a Stakataka, this ability technically does nothing. In trick room, it's just vice versa. It seems cool at first when you get to steal the speed stat of your opponent, but that speed stat is going to change every time you kill each mon, and you can't really control what pokemon you get to kill. For example, you face something like an Alakazam for example. You might kill it easily with your bug type moves, or just simply knock the Alakazam off, but there is nothing that guarantees you that you get to kill that Alakazam, and not kill that Ferrothorn the switched in.

About the mon on its own, well it seems like a better version of its base form. Higher attack and defense stat, and the rest of the stat get to dump into the special attack that it will probably never use. Just sword dance, and see what will happen next.
p/s: Ok I forgot that this thing has pursuit, so technically it can trap some mon and kill them with its pursuit

Turtlek · Nov 12, 2022

I was looking at Haxorus tusks, and I have seen a violin archet. So I did this:

Mega-Haxorus @ Draconic Archet
Type: Dragon, Normal
Ability: Final Riff
If this Pokémon is the last of the team, it gains a x1.3 boost in all stats.
Stats:
147/90/60/70/97

100/110/147/90/117

New Moves: Hyper Voice (Boomburst?), Fire Blast. I would want to give it Kommo-O’s move but I an not sure if I can.

It’s basically made to sweep epically when you are going to lose.

okispokis · Nov 14, 2022

Haxorus-Mega
Type: Dragon/Steel
Ability: Mold Breaker/Rivalry/Unnerve->Territorial (If a Pokemon with a matching type is active when the user switches in, user gains +1 Speed.)
Stats
HP: 76
Atk: 162 (+15)
Def: 125 (+35)
SpA: 90 (+30)
SpD: 90 (+20)
Spe: 97
New Moves: None!

Born in an era where Dragons ruled the world, Haxorus' Mega evolution makes it the Dragon that bullies other Dragons. Seeing the presence of these other Dragons, namely the quartet of Garchomp, Dragonite, Salamence and Hydreigon, Mega Haxorus' Territorial nature in the face of these rivals boosts its reaction speed, allowing it to at least tie these Dragons when they're at +1 (ie after Dragon Dance/Scale Shot/Scarf). Hax can use this to either set up itself with Swords Dance or threaten a revenge kill on its fellow Dragons, also gaining some opportunities thanks to its new Steel typing providing additional resistances and ensuring opposing Dragon STAB doesn't just end it (also means it gets +1 against Steels, but that doesn't affect those match-ups much); these resistances also mean it's not exactly dead weight if you don't proc the ability. Sure, you don't have a reliable Steel STAB, but Posion Jab has you covered versus Fairy, Close Combat slices through Steel and you still have STAB Scale Shot or Dragon Claw to decimate your fellow Dragons. Mega Haxorus excels as a revenge killer and late-game cleaner, and as such appreciates pivot support to help get it in safely and preserve HP since Hax, while bulky, is not necessarily invincible.

:ss/Mienshao:

Mienshao-Mega
Type: Fighting
Ability: Reckless/Regenerator/Inner Focus-> No Guard
Stats
HP: 65
Atk: 125
Def: 90 (+30)
SpA: 125 (+30)
SpD: 100 (+40)
Spe: 105
New Moves: +Thunder, Thunderbolt

With combos that "can't be stopped", No Guard sounded like a solid ability for Mienshao, pairing nicely with STAB High Jump Kick and Focus Blast, the latter's infamous accuracy woes previously making it unideal as special STAB. Shao's special potential has also always been held back by its lack of special coverage, so to sweeten the pot and encourage a special/mixed set I drew upon Mienshao's much reputed speed to give it Thunder (and Tbolt since Thunder with no Tbolt is weird flavorwise), granting it another low-accuracy option for the special side which smacks many Flying types and Slowbro for pure special sets, spreads paralysis for offensive teammates and means Shao actually has enough special options to justify a Calm Mind set with Focus Blast and HP of your choice. Of course, Shao can still make use of its good physical options like U-turn, Knock Off, Poison Jab and 100% Stone Edge to prevent special walls from getting too comfortable; U-turn in particular lets it keep up momentum and potentially bring in a scary offensive partner after scoring a Thunder paralysis.

:ss/Escavalier:

Escavalier-Mega
Type: Bug/Steel
Ability: Overcoat/Shell Armor/Swarm-> Plunderer (User's contact moves heal an additional 25% of damage dealt).
Stats
HP: 70
Atk: 155 (+20)
Def: 130 (+25)
SpA: 80 (+20)
SpD: 130 (+25)
Spe: 30 (+10)
New Moves: +Leech Life

Despite its image as a classic knight, Escavalier's image is a facade, having stolen its armor and title from Shelmet to fulfill its own ambitions; with the influence of Mega energy, Escavalier's desire for power and glory has utterly corrupted it, the noble facade of this false knight giving way to a desire to plunder and abuse its power for its own benefit.

With Plunderer, Escavalier's vast variety of contact options lets it constantly keep itself healthy, making its need to tank hits due to low speed less of a burden. Newfound Leech Life now heals 75% damage dealt, while Megahorn trades it some of that healing for raw power; the similarly strong Close Combat lets it smash through Steel types which shrug off its STAB; STAB Iron Head means that Fairy types cannot wall it; Knock Off can let it soften walls; Pursuit means it can heal on a switch without having to worry about contact triggers and resistances; one could even run the gimmicky Razor Shell to further break walls and threaten more healing off of its current target. Mega Esca's natural bevy of resistances and solid mixed bulk mean it can stomach plenty of hits before Plunderer, letting it potentially take on a more defensive spread to set up an extra Swords Dance or even spec into a stallbreaker role with options like Taunt, Toxic and Infestation (though wouldn't recommend all those on one set). There is truly little to stop this false knight- unless you have a match on you.

Band · Nov 16, 2022

I'm kinda new to this (only other submission I made was pretty busted lmao) so lmk please if these need any fixes! This was really fun to make btw.

Mega Mienshao
:bw/mienshao:

New Ability: Inner Focus/Regenerator/Reckless -> No Guard: Ensures that attacks by or against the Pokémon will land.
Type: Fighting / Psychic

New stats:
HP: 65
Atk: 145 (+20)
Def: 80 (+10)
SpAtk: 135 (+40)
SpDef: 80 (+10)
Spe: 125 (+20)
(BST) 610

New moves: Psychic, Psyshock, Zen Headbutt, Power Gem
Description: Due to Mienshao's already high Attack and incredible ability in Regenerator, it can still act as a potent pivot with U-turn and Knock Off, but when it mega evolves, it can now act as fast mixed offensive attacker, with 100% accurate High Jump Kick, Zen Headbutt, Stone Edge, and even less popular moves like Bounce, Mega Kick, and Blaze Kick! Mienshao's OK base 95 Spa now reaches good enough levels that it can use its special movepool with 100% accurate Focus Blast and Rock-type coverage in Power Gem. I know Fighting-types getting Rock-type coverage is basically mandatory but other Psychic-types also gets Power Gem (Slowking, Starmie, Necrozma, and most recently Espeon) so I feel this is justifies so Mega Mienshao isn't stonewalled by Flying-typesif it chooses a Calm Mind set. I always wished Mienshao could use its Special Attack to greater effect, and now it can!

Mega Escavalier
:bw/escavalier:

New Ability: Overcoat/Shell Armor/Swarm -> Slippery: any boost to this Pokémon's Speed is doubled.
Type: Steel / Bug

New stats:
HP: 70
Atk: 175 (+40)
Def: 140 (+35)
SpAtk: 60
SpDef: 140 (+35)
Spe: 10 (-10)
(BST) 595

New moves: None
Description: Escavalier still mantains its crippling 4x weakness to Fire and horrible Speed, but now it can act as a speedy wallbreaker at the cost of running Agility as a setup move, making it hit 390 Speed after a single use. The bulk is good enough to let it boost safely, but I'm thinking maybe I minmaxed this one a little bit too much lol. Anyways, it already has Razor Shell for Fire-types so no coverage is needed.

Mega Haxorus
:bw/haxorus:

New Ability: Rivalry/Mold Breaker/Unnerve -> Swift Swim: boosts the Pokémon Speed stat in rain.
Type: Dragon / Water

New stats:
HP: 76
Atk: 170 (+23)
Def: 118 (+28)
SpAtk: 95 (+35)
SpDef: 95 (+25)
Spe: 86 (-11)
(BST) 640

New moves: Liquidation, Hydro Pump
Description: Now that Garchomp of all Dragons gets Liquidation and Salamence and Dragapult also get Hydro Pump, justifying these moves on Mega Haxorus is fine. Haxorus now functions as a devastating rain wallbreaker, boasting an incredible defensive typing and obscene Attack with usable Special Attack that is compensated by the low accuracy or lack of power of its moves and Haxorus' loss in Speed. For a comparison, Haxorus hits as hard as Kingdra under rain but so it doesn't get outclassed by it, I made its Speed one point higher.

zxgzxg · Nov 16, 2022

hello everyone

:ss/mienshao:

Mega Mienshao

Type:

--->

Ability: Inner Focus / Regenerator / Reckless ---> Fur Coat

Stats:

HP: 65

ATK: 145 (+20)

DEF: 60 (+0)

SPA: 135 (+40)

SPD: 120 (+60)

SPE: 85 (-20)

BST: 610 (+100)

Movepool Additions: Heal Bell, Moonblast, Play Rough

Description: THE Knock absorber. I noticed a lack of bulky Fairies so I thought adding one would be nice. Fur Coat immediately calls defensive sets to mind, but the mon can do a lot of things: Bulky SD, Bulky CM, Cleric, it's all there. No recovery kinda sucks, but Fur Coat + Rocks resistance + Drain Punch should keep Mienshao alive for long enough.

Flavor: It's long fur, whiskers, and tail have elongated into ribbon-like appendages and twirl enchantingly around Mienshao. When it attacks, all five of these ribbons rush towards its target.

Mega Haxorus

Type:

--->

Ability: Rivalry / Mold Breaker / Unnerve ---> Blind Rage | This Pokemon's physical moves have x0.8 accuracy and this Pokemon ignores its own stat changes.

Stats:

---

HP: 76

ATK: 197 (+50)

DEF: 90 (+0)

SPA: 100 (+40)

SPD: 70 (+0)

SPE: 107 (+10)

BST: 640 (+100)

---

Movepool Additions: ---

Description: 197 attack??? That's insane!?!?!?! until you realize you can no longer SD or DD up (you can but like why) or hold a boosting item. Instead, it has new attacking option in Draco Meteor, which can help snipe physical walls that otherwise wall Hax. Also it's anti-Intim tech which is pretty cool for the VGCers.

Bloopyghost >:)

Flavor: Mega Haxorus's giant axe tusks and scaly armor now obscure its vision. It attacks violently at the sign of any sort of danger. In older times, Mega Haxorus would be used to execute the worst of criminals.

Gekokeso · Nov 16, 2022

Mega Escavalier
New Ability: Anger Shell ( When the user's Hit Points drop to 50% or lower, the user's Defense & Special Defense are dropped by 1 stage but the user's Attack, Sp. Attack and Speed are increased by 1 stage )
Type: Bug / Steel
New stats:
HP: 70
Attack: 135 -> 155 (+20)
Defense: 105
Special Attack: 60 -> 100 (+40)
Special Defense: 105
Speed: 20 -> 60 (+40)
(BST) 595
New moves: Leech Life.

When mega evolving, Escavalier shatters its armor shell, greatly increasing its speed. The parts it breaks from its shell get absorbed by its lances to become sharper, allowing it to retaliate faster against upcoming attacks. Escavalier also seems to become as territorial as it was when it was a Karrablast. Anger Shell is the ability of Klawf from Scarlet and Violet, admitedly it might be missing some context on how it actually works but last i saw it acts like Berserk.

Escavalier needs to establish itself in this meta with a niche that is sufficienty good enough so that it doesn't get outclassed by regular scizor and i felt like the most fun way of doing this was by capitalising on its biggest advantage over Scizor: its damage output. With some rather insanely good coverage in Knock Off and Close Combat, Escavalier gets to always capitalise on the damage and speed boost it obtains from managing its health well. It can vary between Agility sets, Swords Dance sets, or All-out attacker sets, all which remain balanced due to the mon's 4mss. It also gains leech life, in order to drain enough HP once it gets the Anger Shell boost in order to get back past the half HP benchmark in order to farm more Anger Shell boosts. Speed tier is such that it can outspeed base 110s with speed investing and a timid nature, although that hamper its offensive potential. Should also be vulnerable to scarfers as well.

Bloopyghost · Nov 17, 2022

man, these haxorus subs just don't have enough attack, if only if there was a sub that-*

Mega Haxorus
Mega Stone: Haxorite
Type:

New Ability: Breaking Blades - This Pokemon's contact moves lower its own Attack and the target's Attack by one stage if they are successful.

Stats: 76 HP / 192 Atk (+45) / 130 Def (+40) / 70 SpA (+10) / 70 SpD / 102 Spe (+5) / 640 BST

New Moves: N/A
Description: That's what I'm talking about. This thing would have the highest Attack stat out of any mon. Ever. Even in this mod, beating out record-holders Mega Conk and Mega Archeops. And it gets a big boost in Speed and Defense? And its custom ability lowers the target's Attack if it attacks??? Surely this is a broke Mega and I haven't learned anything from my Mega Wailord sub from 8 months ago right??? Well, you prolly noticed the caveat. Breaking Blades lowering Mega Haxorus' own Attack every time it lands a hit (aside from EQ since that's not contact) means it cannot use SD or DD very effectively, nor can it just click buttons.

What we have here is an odd mixture of a hit-and-run wallbreaker and a bulky tank. Mega Haxorus' high Speed means it can outpace a good number of mons, smack em, drop their Attack and then proceed to eat their own attacks thanks to the Attack drop and its high Defense. But Mega Haxorus won't want to stick around since its next attack will deal less damage. This results in a unique playstyle few other mons can replicate; a mix of power, bulk and speed with major flaws that must be worked around. Do note that Mega Haxorus' Special Defense is unchanged, leaving it stuck with mediocre special bulk.

Since Breaking Blades interacts with Dual Chop hitting twice, choosing between it and Dragon Claw is largely up to preference. Dragon Claw deals more damage and is more consistent, while Dual Chop can drop the target's Attack twice in exchange for dropping Haxorus' own Attack twice.

If you're curious, despite Mega Haxorus' titanic Attack, it actually does less damage than base Haxorus equipped with a Life Orb:
252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Scale Shot (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 120-144 (30.5 - 36.6%) -- approx. 65.9% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Haxorus-Mega Scale Shot (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 111-135 (28.2 - 34.3%) -- approx. 0.4% chance to 3HKO

So while base Haxorus can actually output more damage with a boosting item and properly use set-up, Mega Haxorus' higher Speed and physical tankiness can be a stronger asset depending on your team's needs. Breaking Blades is also just fun with First Impression, if you can't revenge-kill them then make sure they're not killing you in return. In regards to VGC, Breaking Blades synergizes very well with Breaking Swipe, as Breaking Swipe lets you lower the Attack stats of two mons by two stages for the price of just one Attack drop for Mega Haxorus. This lends it further utility, letting it rlly control the stage against physical attackers.

Mega Mienshao
Mega Stone: Mienite
Type:

New Ability: Multiscale

Stats: 65 HP / 135 Atk (+10) / 90 Def (+30) / 115 SpA (+20) / 100 SpD (+40) / 105 Spe / 610 BST

New Moves: Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse
Description: The Chinese long is a common symbol used in Kung Fu, so I made my Mega Mienshao Dragon-type. Instead of going full breaker, I wanted to aim for another fast tank, tho in a more conventional way than my Mega Haxorus. I thought abt keeping Regen, and while that would make for a good mon no matter what I'd do, I decided to get a bit more creative and start thinking abt abilities that could not only interact with Regen pre-Mega but also fit my weird Dragon flavor. Naturally I settled on Multiscale.

Here's the gameplan I envision here, Mienshao would stay in base form early-game to not only keep itself healthy through Regen but to also soften up its checks using U-Turn. Once its checks are sufficiently weakened and it's at full HP, then Mienshao would Mega to gain more power and much more bulk. 65/90/100 bulk is not at all impressive no; but combined with Mega Mienshao's useful resistances and Multiscale, it can stomach a variety of hits and then proceed to threaten the opponent with its great offensive stats and coverage. Mienshao also has Drain Punch to maintain its HP and regain Multiscale. I unfortunately don't have the time to workshop optimal EV spreads (esp since I'm not familiar enough with the meta), but I can see either full offensive spreads or bulkier spreads that drop power working for this.

i dunno what to draw for this, just imagine it with more spikes or smth lol
Mega Escavalier
Mega Stone: Escavalite
Type:

New Ability: Analytic

Stats: 70 HP / 155 Atk (+20) / 125 Def (+20) / 80 SpA (+20) / 125 SpD (+20) / 40 Spe (+20) / 595 BST

New Moves: Leech Life
Description: I'm admittedly phoning this one in as you can tell. It's a tank with Analytic, not much more to it than that. Fantastic Attack, bulk and coverage should make this a solid bulky breaker that can pose a threat to faster mons while heavily punishing switches for slower mons thanks to Analytic. Leech Life works rlly well on this type of build and it offers a consistent Bug STAB compared to Megahorn.

*edit: can't believe you would do this to me zxg

Eeveekid10 · Nov 17, 2022

Pls wait for descriptions

Mienshao @ Mienite

Type: Fighting / Psychic

Ability: Levitate

HP: 65

Atk: 125-->130(+5)

Def: 60-->90(+30)

SpAtk: 95-->125(+30)

SpDef: 60-->90(+30)

Speed: 105-->110(+5)

New Moves: Psychic, Bullet Punch

Too much meditation

Haxorus @ Haxite

Type: Dragon / Rock

Ability: Own Tempo(I actually wanted to reserve that but I did a typo and pumpkin took it, but he rejected that idea soo uhhh.....I can still collab if you want?)

HP: 76

Atk: 147-->170(+23)

Def: 90-->70(-20)

SpAtk: 60-->134(+74)

SpDef: 70

Speed: 97-->110(+13)

New Moves: Stealth Rocks, Rock Slide

Escavalier @ Escavite

Type: Bug/Steel

Ability: Knighted- Has an attack/spattack increase of +1 if an ally attacks it.

HP: 70-->70

Atk: 135-->130(-5)

Def: 105-->120(+15)

SpAtk: 60-->110(+50)

SpDef: 105-->120(+15)

Speed: 20-->30(+10)

New Moves:
Earth Power, Body Press, Recover, Spikes, (Iron defense if it doesnt learn it)

Look its a knight-

Edited things but still wait for descriptions

The Damned · Nov 18, 2022

Ugh. I yet exist (and still need sleep), but I figured I try to quickly post this now since I won't have time ~~tomorrow~~ today at this point. Also figured I might as well "celebrate" Gen 9's release by trying for once even though I can't say I particularly like any of these following designs, especially since Haxorus-Mega is so easy to accidentally break. [/will check PMs and stuff on Saturday yadda yadda since I do really need to get to sleep given all I have to do tomorrow morning]

:sm/escavalier:

Escavalier-Mega
Type: Bug/Steel [no change]
Ability: Swarm/Shell Armor/Overcoat => Lightning Lance (the ability~~: the movie: the experience~~): This Pokémon draws in Electric moves to raise its Attack by 1 stage; Electric immunity. {a.k.a. Lightning Rod for physical Attack}

Stats:
HP: 070 => 070 (+00)
Atk: 135 => 170 (+35)
Def: 105 => 130 (+25)
SpA: 060 => 060 (+00)
SpD: 105 => 130 (+25)
Spe: 020 => 035 (+15)

Added Moves: Lunge (seriously how does it not get this already?), Wild Charge

Description: I normally would like to avoid abilities that are so close to already existent ones, but Lightning Rod wouldn't work here given Escavalier's special movepool is garbage, Motor Drive both makes no sense and is actively detrimental to Gyro Ball (and Trick Room) usage, and Volt Absorb would make this obnoxiously bulky even without any other method of healing behind Rest (which is why it's not getting Leech Life). So Lightning Lance (the ability) it is since I wanted both to make a Volt-Turn strategy deterrent (that bodies Tapu Koko's STABs in metas where Tapu Koko exists) that wasn't a Ground type and to try to be more mindful of Doubles for once despite the fact that I still never play any version of that format at present. There's really not much else to say about this beyond its Speed got slightly raised to where it is so that it can murder any form of the Slow-siblings with its STABs (or Wild Charge) before they can Teleport out in my attempt to hate on as many pivoting moves as possible. [/fist-shaking at Flip Turn and the others]

:sm/haxorus:

Haxorus-Mega
Type: Dragon => Dragon/Fairy
Ability: Rivalry/Mold Breaker/Unnerve => Misty Surge

Stats:
HP: 076 => 076 (+00)
Atk: 147 => 180 (+33)
Def: 090 => 115 (+25)
SpA: 060 => 060 (+00)
SpD: 070 => 110 (+40)
Spe: 097 => 099 (+02)

Added Moves: Play Rough

Description: Similar to the above, I really don't care for Terrains even after their nerf (though I'll use them), but of all of the Terrains, Misty Terrain is easily the weakest and mildest to safely reintroduce as an automatically set one. It also serves to simultaneously make Haxorus-Mega more of a team player whether in Singles or Doubles as well as intentionally, briefly leash the power of its Dragon type attacks given it essentially halves the powers of those as long as Terrain is up, which is attention given how high said Atk for its Speed (and access to Dragon Dance and non-Dragon coverage). Being able to actually use a Dragon's Water resistance without worrying about Scald burns would be nice (and DrPumpkinz already claimed Water Veil). Misty Surge and Fairy type are also weirdly on flavor too given the Pokédex entries for Haxorus tend to simultaneously highlight its unexpected kindness and its fierce territorial nature, with Misty Terrain serving as an effective territory marker. Besides that though? This design is simultaneously--yes, I will use that word thrice in a row--a "replacement" to Altaria-Mega while being different enough from it to to still have merit even in metas where they might both exist as well as a grand "screw you" to Hydreigon and its trolling Haxorus's Speed ever since their joint debut. (Yes, I know that First Impression technically already does that now, but it does nothing to stop Hydreigon from just coming in afterward and revenging poor Haxorus, especially if it's Scarf Hydreigon.)

I will concede that becoming Fairy somewhat goes against the anti-Steel aspects also brought up repeatedly in the same Pokédex entry, but so would becoming Rock (or Ice) like some other people are already doing. Haxorus already gets excellent coverage for all Steel types anyway, which is just another reason its Atk power needs to be held back a little, even if it's by itself and temporarily, without going full-blown Truant or Defeatist on the poor thing. It's suffered mediocrity enough.

:sm/mienshao:

Mienshao-Mega
Type: Fighting => Fighting/Flying
Ability: Inner Focus/Regenerator/Reckless => Like the Wind: This Pokémon is immune to direct wind moves and Flying moves. {So worded to still allow it to benefit from Tailwind and be explicitly clear about such a thing.}

Stats:
HP: 065 => 065 (+00)
Atk: 125 => 140 (+15)
Def: 060 => 110 (+50)
SpA: 095 => 100 (+05)
SpD: 060 => 060 (+00)
Spe: 105 => 135 (+30)

Added Moves: Air Cutter, Circle Throw

Description: Due to the inspiration brought by seeing a certain Gen 9 mon a day early

(thank you Brambleghast, though I have no idea what Game Freak's fetish for Grass/Ghost mons being only physically oriented is--sigh)

, I got the inspiration for this largely just trying to justify its new ability. Its Pokédex entries rather generically focus on the sheer speed of its strikes but making Fighting type Regieleki would be...stupid even if it's relegated to a Mega, and I personally find Unseen Fist too obnoxious to want to use. So I decided to try to fill a general niche in the form of a (physically) "bulky" Flying resist--well, immunity--that isn't Steel or Rock and thus likely also hideously slow or, in the case of Rock, riddled with myriad weaknesses since Electric types are basically all the inverse of that: "resistant" to Flying but generally flimsy enough to be 2HKO'd by strong Flying attacks anyway. I also just wanted a bulky Fighting/Flying type that wasn't some set-up machine by default like how Hawlucha is, which this hilariously somewhat checks even without Circle Throw (which allows it to play a bit of a mind-game with U-Turn). (I admittedly wanted to go with Storm Throw instead, which make it good at revenging set-up mons, but that would probably be a bit too good even ignoring its access to Swords Dance.)

Have a good weekend everyone. [/collapses into bed]

BlueRay · Nov 18, 2022

Hi!

BlueRay here. I'm just here to announce that slate 3 is now closed. Any submission that comes after this will be dismissed. With the exception of Kero's and Paul's submissions since they let me know in advance.

KeroseneZanchu · Nov 18, 2022

Mega Escavalier
Type: Bug/Steel
Mega Stone: Excalibite

Ability: Executioner

Stats:
HP - 70 (+0)
ATK - 155 (+20)
DEF - 145 (+40)
SPA - 60 (+0)
SPD - 145 (+40)
SPE - 20 (+0)

New Moves: Pin Missile

Description:

Dex Entry: Escavalier's armor becomes corrupted with the power of Mega Energy, a testament to its stolen nature. The dark steel betrays its plunder, and Escavalier's greed is augmented with wrath.

This one is quite simple, but also (I hope) quite effective. As previously explored, Executioner as an ability pairs well with multi-hit moves, due to any of the latter hits being boosted if a former hit got the enemy below half. This, combined with 155 base attack, solid bulk, and Swords Dance access, makes Escavalier quite an efficient breaker. In addition, Mega Escavalier has access to Fell Stinger, a usually unviable move that has a deadly potency when it suddenly comes with 75 base power rather than a measly 50. However, with its low speed, one would have to reach for Trick Room teams if they wanted to turn that menace into a sweeper, which keeps Escavalier from running away (ba dum tss) with its newfound ruthlessness.

Mega Haxorus
Type: Dragon
Mega Stone: Haxorite

Ability: Steelworker

Stats:

HP - 76 (+0)
ATK - 110 (Swapped +50)
DEF - 105 (+15)
SPA - 147 (Swapped)
SPD - 85 (+5)
SPE - 117 (+20)

New Moves: Dragon Rush

Description:

Dex Entry: To no one's surprise, the formidable iron-like tusks monopolized Haxorus' Mega Energy, growing them to sizes rivalling motorcycles. In this state, their consistency actually converts to true titanium, and sharp enough to cut diamonds.

Steel-type Haxorus is a very popular design idea, and it's no mystery why. It's a potent type combo and Haxorus' tusks are the perfect flavor. However, in this meta, actually having a Dragon/Steel Haxorus is going to be a tough balancing act. I decided to make this easier by instead going with Steelworker, which makes perfect sense not only mechanically but flavorfully, since it's merely attacking with metal and isn't metal in and of itself. This means that Haxorus has access to Steel STAB to contest Fairies and Ice types, but still remains vulnerable - creating counterplay and switching hazards on both sides of the field. In addition, it doesn't come with the truckload of free additional resistances, and players who go too hard into setup will have to face the repercussions of Toxic.

Speaking of setup, I made an effort to incentivize Haxorus away from Dragon Dance - with its boosted speed tier, there are less things that it needs to outspeed in the first place, but certain key mons like Weavile still do, as well as a whole range of Scarfers. More significantly, its only source of Steel STAB is the unreliable 75% accuracy Iron Tail, and the equally inaccurate Dragon Rush has been added as a new and less-crippling Dragon STAB than Outrage, which gives it a lot of reason to want to utilize Hone Claws. Plus, with its much greater starting Special stat, it has room to try mixed sets with Hone Claws, Iron Tail, (Draco Meteor/Dragon Rush), and Focus Blast. Not that I expect them to be its best set or anything more than potential counter-meta, due to the existence of Earthquake and Close Combat.

Mega Mienshao
Type: Fighting/Ghost
Mega Stone: Mienshite

Ability: Prankster

Stats:
HP - 65 (+0)
ATK - 145 (+20)
DEF - 90 (+30)
SPA - 125 (+30)
SPD - 90 (+30)
SPE - 95 (-10)

New Moves: Shadow Ball

Description:

Dex Entry: Mega Mienshao's speed and grace as reached a transcendental peak, letting it become one with its own spirit. During Mega Evolution, Mienshao is even capable of astral projection, attacking foes from places not even the most centered of minds can comprehend.

Okay, so Mienshao makes an absolutely BONKERS Prankster user, and an insanely cool mixed attacker. I learned this first-hand playing EVO with Mienshao-Yaoguai (credits to Hema for that!), but that was at a much lower power level than we have here, so rather than trying to translate directly, I'm adapting the idea into something that can flourish here because I believe it has more than enough potential to.

As literally everyone knows, Fighting/Ghost is the most potent STAB combination any mon could have - however, in order to fully abuse this, Mienshao has to dedicate itself to splitting its attacking side. Mienshao has no physical Ghost STAB, not even Shadow Claw - however, it does now have Shadow Ball. This means if you plan to use the new Ghost type for anything but Normal and Fighting immunity, you have to be at least partially special. Well, what's stopping you from just going full-special, then? After all, it does have Aura Sphere - Close Combat and Hi Jump Kick are much stronger, for sure, but it already has to work with the 80 BP Shadow Ball, so Aura Sphere wouldn't be too much of an issue. Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, Calm Mind, Reflect could work just fine, no? That's right, it could, but if you want to draw out its true potential, you'll need to take along Drain Punch. You see, Mega Mienshao's true strength comes from being able to set up both Bulk Up and Calm Mind at Prankster priority, being able to augment Mienshao's frail-to-mediocre bulk before it matters. However, it still takes good damage early, and it takes time to set up, so with Mienshao's stronger starting physical attack and low-HP-to-high(er)-defenses spread, the leeching from Drain Punch is invaluable to making this a menace. Between the longevity and unwallable split attacks, this Pokemon's limits are only dictated by how well you can play.

In addition to priority Bulk Up, Calm Mind, and Reflect, it also has the insanely useful Prankster Taunt, preventing the opponent from using Toxic, Haze, or even their own Taunt trying to stop you. Finally, Prankster Me First - a move that sounds like just a gimmick, and might be, but could be much more. After all, with high attack on both physical and special sides, along with the 1.5x power boost (effectively recreating STAB), Mega Mienshao can competently use any move the opponent carries. At Prankster priority, this means than any enemy Ghost-type who may be faster than it is entirely denied a revenge-kill, because then its Ghost move is simply being regurgitated back at it, but first, and stronger. This is also important with the impending threat of Haxorus - any winning Haxorus that isn't Dragon/Steel or Dragon/Fairy will have to contend with Mienshao - no amount of DDances can spare Haxorus from a priority pseudoSTAB Outrage from an attack just as high as it has.

Finally, the type combo works here for much more than crazy STAB combos. The bane of all Prankster users is Dark-types, since they innately block the ability. Now, while its setup options are unaffected, Taunt, Me First, and possibly Toxic are all hindered by it - or they would be, if Mienshao's Fighting STAB didn't prevent every Dark type from ever daring to switch in on it. In addition, between Fighting rendering Ghost's Dark weakness as a neutrality, and Mega Stones blocking Knock's boost, Mega Mienshao effectively has a resistance to the most relevant Dark move there is, despite being a Ghost type. This means that, while a bit too frail to blindly switch in on Triple Axels all day, Mienshao can reliably rebuff Banded (or even Scarfed, depending on how Haxorus turns out) Weavile, which would otherwise be one of the most meta Ghost-checks there is. All in all, Mega Mienshao is a strong and very well-rounded jack of all trades, master of absolutely some. Its initial frailty and 4mss is what keeps it in check, however, preventing this potent ermine from doing quite everything, everywhere, all at once.

Paulluxx · Nov 21, 2022

IT'S COLLABIN TIME Sticky Fingaaa

Mega Mienshao
Type: Fighting/Water
Ability: Regenerator
Stats:
HP: 65
Atk: 140 (+15)
Def: 105 (+45)
SpA: 100 (+5)
SpD: 85 (+25)
Spe: 115 (+10)
New Moves: Flip Turn, Scald, Whirlpool

Concept: Wake up babe, new Weavile check just dropped When looking at Mienshao, we realized that making it a Fighting/Water type could be interesting, not only competitively, since it allows Mienshao to check foes such as Weavile in Kalos Dex and Greninja in NatDex, but also because it works as an "extension" of its design wearing water sleeves, and well, being a stoat which happens to be related to otters(Also completely unrelated but stoats are mustelids and thus related to badgers as well) helps too.

Competitive Design: At first glance, Mega Mienshao might look like just a pivot or an SD sweeper able to exploit Weavile, but it goes far beyond than that.

Offensively, Mienshao is a fast, but also suitably bulky rocks resistant pivot able to chip as well as cripple opposing checks and then exercise pressure through its 140 base Atk stab CC(or High Jump Kick if you're feeling unafraid). Mienshao can also work as an excellent setup sweeper with Swords Dance, able to break through teams but also able to switch back to get back up to a good range and try to sweep again later if needed.

Defensively Mienshao isn't a slouch either, it uses its ability to the fullest along its type and bulk to check mons such as Weavile, Tyranitar, Volcanion, and many others while providing utility through moves like Scald, Toxic, And Knock Off. Its bulk is specifically designed to be able to check Weavile. And its speed tier is in the sweet range where any investment goes a long way, so you can go fully bulky, mixed, or even fast in a vein similar to Torn.

Something great about this Mienshao is its devotion to Mienshao's base form, and its preevolution Mienfoo. Allowing access to all the sets you could run on either Pokemon viably, and boosting it to a power level that is suitable for a pretty new Mega Form.

Additions: In that we're adding a new type we wanted to give it some new tools that synergize with its old kit, Mienshao lacks a Water STAB to use with its new type, so we chose Scald and Flip turn, we want it to emphasize the pivot set and we think that its much more interesting if Mienshao still struggles to hit Gliscor, and Hippowdon. And is either forced to pivot in the case of Gliscor, or could instead use its newly improved Special Attack to run Scald and threaten to burn Hippowdon. We also have whirlpool in there as it can actually be a slightly more viable version of Taunt Whirlpool Urshifu.

Sticky Fingaaa · Nov 21, 2022

Paulluxx said:
IT'S COLLABIN TIME Sticky Fingaaa

Mega Mienshao
Type: Fighting/Water
Ability: Regenerator
Stats:
HP: 65
Atk: 140 (+15)
Def: 105 (+45)
SpA: 100 (+5)
SpD: 85 (+25)
Spe: 115 (+10)
New Moves: Flip Turn, Scald, Whirlpool

Concept: Wake up babe, new Weavile check just dropped When looking at Mienshao, we realized that making it a Fighting/Water type could be interesting, not only competitively, since it allows Mienshao to check foes such as Weavile in Kalos Dex and Greninja in NatDex, but also because it works as an "extension" of its design wearing water sleeves, and well, being a stoat which happens to be related to otters(Also completely unrelated but stoats are mustelids and thus related to badgers as well) helps too.

Competitive Design: At first glance, Mega Mienshao might look like just a pivot or an SD sweeper able to exploit Weavile, but it goes far beyond than that.

Offensively, Mienshao is a fast, but also suitably bulky rocks resistant pivot able to chip as well as cripple opposing checks and then exercise pressure through its 140 base Atk stab CC(or High Jump Kick if you're feeling unafraid). Mienshao can also work as an excellent setup sweeper with Swords Dance, able to break through teams but also able to switch back to get back up to a good range and try to sweep again later if needed.

Defensively Mienshao isn't a slouch either, it uses its ability to the fullest along its type and bulk to check mons such as Weavile, Tyranitar, Volcanion, and many others while providing utility through moves like Scald, Toxic, And Knock Off. Its bulk is specifically designed to be able to check Weavile. And its speed tier is in the sweet range where any investment goes a long way, so you can go fully bulky, mixed, or even fast in a vein similar to Torn.

Something great about this Mienshao is its devotion to Mienshao's base form, and its preevolution Mienfoo. Allowing access to all the sets you could run on either Pokemon viably, and boosting it to a power level that is suitable for a pretty new Mega Form.

Additions: In that we're adding a new type we wanted to give it some new tools that synergize with its old kit, Mienshao lacks a Water STAB to use with its new type, so we chose Scald and Flip turn, we want it to emphasize the pivot set and we think that its much more interesting if Mienshao still struggles to hit Gliscor, and Hippowdon. And is either forced to pivot in the case of Gliscor, or could instead use its newly improved Special Attack to run Scald and threaten to burn Hippowdon. We also have whirlpool in there as it can actually be a slightly more viable version of Taunt Whirlpool Urshifu.

THE ONE PIECE IS REAL

KeroseneZanchu · Nov 24, 2022

At long last,
The Review Post!

Well, here comes the most important part: the review post on time! Everything else was a piece of cake, but I'm proud of us for this. We have a few small announcements to make, too. First, slate 2 megas are now live on DH! They've been so for a couple of days, but just letting you all know for anyone who's not on the Discord (though you should be! It's a great place to be if you enjoy the mod). Second, we have some information relating to the games.

In regards to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Generation 9 as a whole, we will not be including anything from the games in the mod until December 18th, a full month after release. This gives our staff and community ample time to explore the games without forcing any spoilers down their throats, and as a result we ask nobody to include the new information in their submissions until that time. It is merely a courtesy to your peers. Exceptions will be made for select moves or abilities that were unveiled in trailers and the like before the game's release, such as Anger Shell and Shed Tail (though please nobody give anything Shed Tail for other reasons). This is also for an even more important reason: waiting for a month gives much more time for all of the new moves, abilities, and mechanics to be more thoroughly explored before we attempt to go adding them onto megas willy-nilly. This means we'll have both a more precise understanding of how new additions operate, as well as having a chance to get a feel for just how strong they really are. Then, after that, we'll be having discussions on whether or not to include movepool additions and new items, based on how heavily they will impact the Kalos Regional Dex. For M4A OU, everything will be coming regardless as per NatDex rules, but for the sake of trying to maintain order and balance, we will be deciding whether it is 'safe' to let the Kalos Regional Dex to have access to all of the new items and movepool additions they will have naturally in Gen 9. However, even if we decide not (which is hopefully not the case), we will still be allowing megas submitted after the 18th to be given moves and abilities new to gen 9 on a case-by-case basis, just like normal. And, naturally, stat changes will be followed regardless.

Finally, the review post. Those of you who have been told to make revisions have five days from today (November 29th) to make the appropriate edits or resubmissions, at which time we'll make the submission compilation and start voting.

Dead by Daylight: Disapproved.

No matter how slow or 'deceptively frail' this sub may be, no Pokemon needs 175 base attack with access to 120 Base Power STABs on both sides. After all, even if you end up being right about it not being broken due to these factors, it will be because it's too weak to get anything done - or do we need another lesson in the Rhypardos Theorem? It's hard to imagine a state where a Pokemon like this is balanced. In addition, while the little flavor line is cute, it really has nothing at all to do with base Escavalier and the whole sub seems forced around the connection of trying to give it Glacial Lance (which I discourage you doing in the first place). Disapproved.

DrPumpkinz: Approved.

This one is simple, but deceptively deep with how it works. After all, Fire as a type is a big way to counter Escavalier, and as a mega with a lot of potential, maintaining those checks is important. As it stands, dedicated Fire-type attackers can still very much deal with Mega Escavalier if they need to since it still has x2 weakness to them, but Heatproof is more than enough to stave off off-handed HP Fires, as you've already shown, which is a very important and relevant move considering Ferrothorn is already the biggest defensive threat we have. Even more importantly, with the 252 HP you've already shown, it fully avoids 2HKOs from Sylveon's Mystical Fire, and it only needs Adamant and the spare 4 EVs in attack to guarantee OHKO back with Iron Head on a 252HP Sylveon, leaving it with the full 252 to put in any stat it would like, be it defense, special defense, or just fully maxing attack anyway.

Moretto: Approved.

Weavile is broken and bleeding out, how could commit such a grisly murder in broad daylight. In seriousness, any Stamina Mega who isn't weak to TA (and even resists) in a meta where Weavile is the most potent attacker is going to be good. Not to mention the pseudo-resist of Knock off all Megas have and both Bug AND Steel STAB to force it out. I appreciate you keeping the special attack fairly low, too - Steel Stamina is very strong and letting Fire attacks, which are often special, so efficiently force it out at all points of the game does a lot to keep it in check. Approved.

I-Deepblue-I: Revision requested.

I like the concept, but this feels a bit overtuned. Like you said, this thing has Swords Dance, but its base attack is high enough that, if not for Ferrothorn, it would already cause pretty significant havoc after triggering its ability - using SD would just make it nigh unstoppable except maybe Mega Pyroar. I'm requesting a second draft - tone down its attack stat using special attack as a dump stat, it doesn't need to be any bulkier or faster, in order to its unboosted attack more easily manageable and SD necessary for full-on sweeping teams.

lavarina: Disapproval, possible revision.

The flavor and design of the mega is pretty cute, and I like the concept of this mega in theory. However, I have to say it's simply too strong to be balanced in this meta, and I doubt a change of stats could help that very much (Though, you're welcome to try and prove me wrong if you like, I'll give it another go-over before sub comps if you edit it). Water Bubble is simply a REALLY potent ability and it was designed very specifically around the one mon that has it. Water Bubble grants it effectively a base 100 no-drawback Water STAB with Razor Shell, which makes its still x2 weakness to Fire a lot harder to punish, not to mention the burn immunity. It is cool, in a way, but without mons really strong enough to get around it, it reaches a point where it just doesn't have enough weaknesses to to exploit. Chesnaught isn't nearly as good, or at least as common, as you make it out to be, and two of the best bulky waters are both weak to Bug. This means Mega Drifblim with Fire coverage is really the only check that's actually relevant, since Ferro can wall it short-term but then just becomes setup fodder for Swords Dance. Disapproved.

Turtlek: Disapproved.

Disapproved, for several optical reasons. One, the ability is entirely unwieldly - stacking power abilities are common design directions and there's no issue with them specifically, but they do need to have boosts of consistent size. Take Metronome the item, which boosts by 1.1x every time, or even Winter's Tale, our own similar custom ability. If you feel 1.1x is too low, you may try a variation that buffs it, but creating haphazard hand-picked values for each stage is not an option. Additionally, there is plenty of reason for Escavalier to not have Recover while Shelmet does. Namely, Escavalier is not a Shelmet. Escavalier doesn't evolve from Shelmet. Escavalier is a Karrablast that stole Shelmet's armor. Also, "it's spiky" is not a good reason for giving it Zing Zap, sorry. Finally, even if none of the previous optical issues existed, this thing is simply broken - way too high of an attack, and bulk, especially paired with an ability that increases its damage output the longer it stays in to fight. Not to mention it explicitly breaks our minmaxing rules by taking more than 10 points out of a stat (those 10 points of which shouldn't even be the norm, it should be an exception we approve) in order to drop its speed all the way down to 1, just to buff its other stats more.

SimpyShrimp: Approved, with some bonus notes from BlueRay:

Oh, this is a cute idea. The effects of it in practice are also rather neat, I think. Escavalier's stats make it excel at being a wallbreaker since its bulk is high enough that walls don't do more to it than it does to them - and so naturally you want to try and bring in a strong attacker to melt through it. However, doing so is risky now, since if they get too worn down on the switch-in, Escavalier might pick up a kill steal their very high speed stat. It also prevents outright sweeps because you can always send in a wall to slow it back down and get a second shot at taking it down afterwards, but at that point the damage is still done. It creates some interesting mindgames and dynamics on both sides of the field, and self-regulates its power to the point it's hard to imagine this being broken. Very happily approved.

SimpyShrimp - If you don't mind, you could change "opponent" into "target" for an even more interesting interaction, especially in VGC where the user could take out an ally to get the desired speed stat.

okispokis: Approved, also with some bonus notes from BlueRay:

I already talked about this one with you so this probably doesn't come as a surprise, but approved. The change to making contact moves draining really diversifies the possibilities of this sub quite well, and makes it engaging. Close Combat with draining is probably one of the few times I'll think Close Combat is an interesting move, and it's non-STAB to boot. It really helps it get around opposing Steels that would wall it (especially Ferro) but opens it up to counterattacks and really cuts into its longevity that it otherwise excels at unless you switch out immediately. The choice between Leech Life and Megahorn is also interesting - accuracy aside, the boosted power of Megahorn also means that, while it heals less, it's not quite as much 'less' as you'd expect - only half the healing Leech Life would give, instead of a third of it, while also giving 50% more damage. It's enough to make the choice between them rather meaningful depending on your set and team composition.

I'm a massive fan of this sub. Perhaps, if you want, you could address Counter in your description which, while niche, synergizes with the ability; it's also very interesting to see if M Escavalier can actually make use of this niche somewhat reliably.

Band: Slight revision requested.

Since you're new (welcome!) I'll go ahead and mention that while we heavily discourage 'x ability but better', doing 'x ability but worse' is often allowed when done intentionally and the ability in question is one that would be far to strong on most things (Like Simple). Thus, I don't have any issues with your submission conceptually, but I'm partially worried this might still be too strong. It has really solid bulk and a very high base attack, and it gets up to a relevant speed very quickly. In addition, unlike with Intimidate and Simple, there's relatively few ways the ability could negatively impact it since Sticky Web is rare and moves such as Electroweb/Icy Wind/etc. are usually only seen in doubles. As a result, I would like you to nerf the ability in a similar manner to how we handled Agitate, Mega Galvantula's ability - by increasing the change by a single stage, rather than wholly doubling it. This would make it just +3 with a single Agility rather than +4, and create more matchups where it will want or need to use Agility twice in order to really sweep. In addition, this isn't mandatory, but could I suggest you add Rapid Spin to this? It would be a really cool way to give the sub some extra utility and chip damage whenever it tries to come in and sweep, at the cost of only getting 2 speed stages instead of 3 - and risking yourself to being unable to boost speed against Ghost types. Again, you don't have to add that, but you will need to nerf the ability before this is approved (and if you win and it turns out to be weak, we can always re-buff it later!)

Gekokeso: Approved.

You certainly jumped at the opportunity to utilize the new abilities, but I think this one paid off rather well. Specifically, I'm accepting this one because this ability has already been revealed quite some time before the actual release of the games. That being said, a bulky Steel-type with this ability and draining could prove to be quite a powerful threat if you're not careful, so this sub already speaks for itself in terms of strength and competence. I don't think I can really say much more, personally.

Bloopyghost: Approved.

Hey, why am I the only one who didn't get to review a sub with cool art? I've been cheated twice now! Both you and Band are banned (ba dum tss) until one of you makes an Escavalier sprite or art piece >:(

In all seriousness, though, Analytic is a really great ability for a fat and hard-hitting slow mon like Escavalier, and I don't think anyone else really needs me to tell them that. I like the well-rounded stat spread you went with, because leaning too hard into either offense or defense might cause problems in their own ways, but I suppose we'll have to see it in practice. It's not a very complex sub, but when working with a kit as solid as Escavalier's, it often doesn't need to be!

Eeveekid10: Disapproved.

It's a solid direction, but I can't help but feel it's competing with Ferrothorn way too much. Iron Barbs, all the benefits that come with Steel, double Fire weak, and now you're trying to give it ID BPress and Spikes. Instant Recovery vs. Leech Seed + Leftovers is a bit different, I guess, but it really doesn't feel like it solves the problem so much as it just adds more problems. It differentiates them only in how they achieve an increasingly similar end result, while also making it glaringly obvious that this Mega would be downright outclassed if it DIDN'T have Recover. Either you need to cut the move additions and really refocus this sub into how it can really stand apart from Ferrothorn, or you need to go back to the drawing board and find a new ability entirely.

The Damned: Approved.

Disapproved due to the name of the ability, you should know better than that, smh my head. Actually though, I'm fine with this side-grade to Lightning Rod for exactly the reasons you've described. Any sub that screws over VoltTurn is a good sub in my book, and I think it's a unique application of an Electric-immunity ability that people don't often think of. Megahorn already dumpsters the slowtwins, but Wild Charge is very handy for bulky Flyings who would otherwise wall it and often carry U-Turn themselves (sadly doesn't help against Zapdos who is seemingly the most common of them but you can't win them all I guess) as well as many other Water-types like Vaporeon in the case of Flip Turn. Approved.

KeroseneZanchu: Approved.

Kero – I like how Executioner emphasizes the unique tools Bug can offer, and it rewards smart plays. Stats are well chosen on a Trick Room abuser, especially in VGC as an ally can enable this ability more easily. Still, it should still be useful in Singles; after all, Escavalier does have access to Pursuit, which naturally synergizes with Fell Stinger mindgames if you manage to position yourself well enough.

Dead by Daylight: Disapproved.

Dead by Daylight – While I appreciate the careful restrain on Mega Haxorus’s stats, I can’t help but wonder what major benefits this Pokémon gets from a secondary Psychic type and mixed offensive set. After all, Haxorus’s special movepool is fairly lacklustre, and both Psychic and Psystrike are not the kind of moves that make sense on base form. I’d recommend focusing on the natural strengths Haxorus offers and analysing them within the context of the seasonal Kalos dex.

BlueRay: Approved.

Welcome to Episode 438 of Blue's quest to make every Mega a Technician Mega. Today's subject: Haxorus! Haxorus works very well with Technician due to solving the problem of all physical Dragon STABs being rather, well, shit. That would be a solid enough reason to sub it on its own, but a True Blue Technician sub has way more than that: featuring Scale Shot, everyone's new favorite Dragon move that lets you run Swords Dance instead of D Dance (D for Dunce) and still boost Speed, now with 50% more power! Really lets you circumvent its inconsistency. And, it wouldn't be a True Blue Technician without a whole array of VGC applications, such as Breaking Swipe and Snarl - but I think he sells Bulldoze short, my friends, because 10 less BP in exchange for a speed drop has quite the application in Singles! Sweeps are less straightforward, but master class players can easily abuse a 90 Base Power Bulldoze to ignore Scale Shot in favor of broadening their coverage. If you can't use Swords Dance/Dual Chop/Bulldoze/Iron Tail, you're weak! Sorry, I don't make the rules, just the advertisements.

Beaf Cultist: Revision requested, specifically needs some flavor justifications.

Beaf Cultist – Flower Veil is a very unusual but interesting idea on Mega Haxorus. Defensively, the Grass type doesn’t really offer a lot of value to a Dragon Pokémon; in fact, it worsens Dragon’s good resistance profile. However, offensively, the Grass type is very neat to have to better handle Water and Ground Pokémon, such as Quagsire, Hippowdon, and Azumarill. Design wise, the ability underlines Haxorus’s gentle nature in a peaceful context but I’m struggling to find any link between Haxorus and flowers. Therefore, I would appreciate it if you could come up with any reasonable flavour explanation. With regard to the new move additions, I suggest removing Energy Ball since it has no competitive relevance on Haxorus due to its poor SpA stat and high preference for physical prowess.

I-Deepblue-I: Revision requested.

I-Deepblue-I – The concept behind Decelerate is certainly interesting, and I can see how the stat distribution interact with it. However, I would like to know what it is that makes Mega Haxorus a good and compelling user of this ability; it should be something that goes beyond mere stats. On another note, Mega Haxorus’s Speed should be lowered given its good bulk and role as an insane wallbreaker.

lydian: Approved.

Lydian – No worries, Mega Haxorus’s stat distribution and typing make it somewhat different from my own submission; yours tries to be a slow bulky attacker with some utility. Between Rock Slide and Breaking Swipe, your Mega Haxorus could function as an interesting and powerful spread attacker in VGC, especially when Breaking Swipe further improves its physical bulk. Flavour wise, I love your interpretation of Mega Haxorus, both the dinosaur and weapon aspect of it, thereby giving me some pre-historic, Hisuian vibes, if you will. Move wise, I would remove Stone Edge since, with Rock Tomb, Haxorus already has a strong and more reliable Rock move. It’s the same with Breloom. Almost no one runs Stone Edge on it.

DrPumpkinz: Approved.

DrPumpkinz – Water Veil is a sick and underrated ability on Mega Haxorus. It’s a cleverly chosen ability because, as a Dragon, Haxorus will naturally want to switch into Fire and Water moves—types that sometimes run Scald, Will-O-Wisp or Lava Plume. An immunity to burn makes it much easier for Mega Haxorus to switch into these moves with impunity and set-up.

SimpyShrimp, Lysio, and NANI?!: Revision requested.

SimpyShrimp, Lysio & NANI – Steelbreaker is a clever and very fitting choice on Mega Haxorus. Dragon Pokémon would love to spam powerful Dragon moves, such as Draco Meteor or Outrage. While the presence of Fairy Pokémon can be fairly annoying for Dragon Pokémon, the fact that Mega Haxorus can pressure Steel Pokémon with Dragon moves certainly helps it out offensively. I love the mixed offensive stat distribution since you have the best of two worlds in Outrage and Draco Meteor, the latter synergizing very well with Steelbreaker. I would remove Play Rough since you want to emphasize Dragon spam rather than give it a reason to run a Fairy move, which no type resists and can be situationally more appealing than a Dragon move as a result. While I’m at it, the secondary Fairy type is an incredible defensive type for Haxorus, allowing it to set up with ease, especially with those beefy stats. Right now, I would suggest you remove the Fairy type (which also emphasizes the main selling points of a mono Dragon type) or you change the stat distribution to make it more reasonable to deal with. I do not count Skarmory, Durant, and Gengar as solid counters or checks to it. Skarmory is slow and affected by Steelworker. Moreover, unless it runs the very niche Iron Head, its Body Press won’t do much due to Fighting resistance. Durant is irrelevant and redundant in a meta where Scizor exists as a mostly superior choice due to the bulk and utility it offers to a team. Gengar needs a Choice Scarf to deal with a Mega Haxorus at +1 Speed, and it’s not even guaranteed if this Ghost Pokémon will remain in the regional dex.

Turtlek: Disapproved.

Turtlek – Final Riff is a very interesting ability on a dual Dragon and Normal type. First of all, it incentives mixed offensive sets and allows you to fire off powerful Draco Meteor. Secondly, it encourages the use of spread moves, which is very neat in VGC. However, the 1.3 boost to all stats seems very unusual and artificial. After all, omni boosts grant a clean 1.5 stat boost. I assume that, for balance purposes, you wanted to go for a lower number, which is appreciated but it breaks the game design. If a Pokémon would be too overpowered by the effect of this ability, I would recommend looking for a more suitable Pokémon or for an adequate alternative to make it work on Mega Haxorus. With that being said, this submission doesn’t address the flavour part very well. Therefore, it is at risk of not meeting the necessary requirements for an approval. Unless an ability is very obvious on a Pokémon in terms of flavour, a more detailed explanation on design process would help a lot to make your submission more appealing to the voters. Therefore, I’d strongly recommend working on the flavour part of your submission, especially when Haxorus, as a primarily physical attacker, doesn’t seem to have any associations with sound. Move wise, both Boomburst and Fire Blast are to be removed. First of all, Boomburst is a powerful STAB move, especially in combination with your custom ability, making it very difficult for the opponent to deal with it. Secondly, there’s no explanation as to why Haxorus necessarily needs Fire Blast; it already has Close Combat and Focus Blast to hit Steel Pokémon. What’s more, there’s a severe lack of offensive Fire moves in Haxorus’s movepool, which seems intentional on GF’s part.

okispokis: Approved.

okispokis – Territorial is a clever name for an ability that plays well to its flavour and competitive design. I should note, however, that, currently, there’s an imbalance of trade-offs between Mega Haxorus and the other Dragon Pokémon in the Kalos dex. This is because of the speed increasement, which makes the defensive benefit of its new secondary Steel type mostly irrelevant. After all, what does it matter if Mega Haxorus can tank a Dragon move if it outspeeds any other Speed boosted Dragon Pokémon present in the regional dex anyway and avoids taking damage? Therefore, to solve this issue, I would remove 5 stat points from Mega Haxorus’s speed. That said, the secondary Steel type in tandem with the Speed boost looks fairly interesting in VGC. You are guaranteed a boost if you pair Mega Haxorus with another Dragon Pokémon, and the best part is that the former doesn’t stack an Ice weakness or a Dragon weakness.

Band: Revision requested.

Band – I appreciate how you made sure to make Mega Haxorus different from Kingdra. I should note, however, that since the seasonal Kalos dex has a much lower power level when compared to M4A NatDex, the combination of Swift Swim, dualtype, good stats, and set-up moves is simply too much to handle for the meta. If you were to remove the Water type, I would be more willing to accept this submission. This would also synergize with Rain cores much better defensively due to the resistance to Grass and Electric. Since Haxorus is more focused on land / caves, I’d be interested in seeing your flavour justification for Swift Swim.

zxgzxg: Approved.

Zxgzxg – Blind Rage is an interesting side grade to Hustle. Scale Shot, Draco Meteor, and Close Combat all share a stat drop, making Haxorus a good user of the ability. It really doesn’t have to fear too much if opposing Pokémon survive its attacks. VGC application is always nice. In order for the ability to be more similar to Hustle and promote mixed offensive sets, I would suggest that the accuracy drop should only apply to physical moves. A slight speed drop in favour of the SpA stat also can’t hurt to make it more appealing.

Bloopyghost: Approved, provided that you can appropriately adjust its speed.

Bloopyghost – The idea of a powerful, bulky mono Dragon Pokémon with potential VGC application is very appealing in my eyes; you presented your concept really well. I should note, however, that Mega Haxorus’s Speed should be lowered so that more special attackers can check it. After all, your Mega Haxorus is more meant to deal with physical attackers. On another note, the Kalos dex currently doesn’t feature any other Mega Pokémon, aside from those from the recent slate 1-2; it is unclear whether “old” Mega Pokémon will return to this dex and which one could be reasonable and beneficial there. So, if you intend to submit in the near future again, do bear that in mind.

Eeveekid10: Approved, but you need some justification for the Rock type

Eeveekid10 – Own Tempo is a very neat ability on Mega Haxorus. After all, it can finally spam Outrage without having to worry about Confusion. This easy access to a powerful Dragon move makes Mega Haxorus different from its base form, which usually runs Dragon moves on moderate power in a non Z-Move environment. I also like the fact that this Mega Haxorus is immune to Intimidate, making it more difficult for the opponent to lower its Attack and allowing you to get the best out of Outrage. That said, I wonder what purpose the new secondary Rock type serve since Outrage user usually do not want to be locked into this move in front of a Steel Pokémon. Move wise, Haxorus already learns Breaking Swipe and Rock Slide. Unless you provide a reasonable explanation as to why Haxorus needs to learn Overheat, this move should be removed; offensive Fire moves are not what defines Haxorus, which is why it barely has any access to them.

The Damned: Approved.

The Damned – Misty Surge is a very interesting choice on a dual Dragon and Fairy Pokémon since people would usually go for a neutrality to Dragon. However, since base Haxorus is a mono Dragon Pokémon, it makes sense you would want to add another type it can fall back. Flavour and role (of a temporarily status immune set up sweeper) are sufficiently explained, so, I have nothing more to say. Except this: Sleep well and take care!

KeroseneZanchu: Approved.

Kero – Steelworker is a very fitting and useful ability on Mega Haxorus; the latter is essentially a Dragon/Steel Pokémon offensive wise and retains the useful defensive qualities of a Dragon type. What's more, making use of Hone Claws + any other inaccurate moves, especially Iron Tail and Dragon Rush, is very neat in itself.

Dead by Daylight: Disapproved.

I’m unfortunately going to veto this ability. Here’s why:

252 Atk Mienshao High Jump Kick vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 182-214 (53.3 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (adjusted for 155 ATK stat).

This thing’s HJK will be 2HKOing resisted 100/100 statlines. It also gets access to u-turn and relatively strong bulk. Mienshao also gets access to agility, meaning it can boost the speed on the turn the pokemon at -1 defense switches out, and it can start throwing out strong STAB HJKs and knock offs at 634 speed. Love adding a dark type and the lore, though, so this does not need to be a complete redo. Let’s rework this ability to not be defensive intimidate, and then I think it will be good to go!

DrPumpkinz: Approved.

This one seems completely fine. Anything that endorses mixed attacking is generally fine by me. This is slightly stronger than Mega Lopunny, but less fast. Perhaps that middle range may be too strong, but lack of Scrappy or normal stab should prove enough to keep this thing strong, but balanced. Thumbs up from me!

Moretto: Approved.

Holy based recovery addition. This thing is absolutely fine. The stats are enormous across the board since everything is triple digits but HP, but 65/100/100 does not necessarily scream incredible, and this thing still gets blasted by the next flying type, fairy type, psychic etc. Definitely fair, but also very great concept!

Beaf Cultist: Some revision requested, specifically a pretty big speed nerf.

Great mega, but I’m requesting a slight change! The justification for everything being in relation to the tier is very well thought out. However, Blue pointed out that this thing does get swords dance access, and SD and 145 speed is incredibly strong. As a result, we’re requesting a drastic speed reduction. This just seems like a lot of thought went into it, and it absolutely gets the thumbs up from me if you make that change!

ry4242: Approved.

A guts mega is genius because it cannot hold a flame orb. Therefore, in order to maximize this pokemon’s effectiveness, you have to predict a status move. I love how this thing acts similar to m4a MSlowking in which staying in regen form is very beneficial, and you navigate around status very intelligently as well. Personally, I recommend getting rid of rapid spin just because it does not make sense flavor wise and seems like a pointless addition, but I won’t mandate it because it does not push this over the edge. Great concept!

lydian: Disapproved.

Focus punches on this level worry me to be honest. Mienshao gets access to substitute, and being able to guarantee a hit of focus punch is worrisome, especially with unwavering qi, stab, and 165 attack.

252 Atk Mienshao Focus Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew on a critical hit: 220-259 (64.5 - 75.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (adjusted for 165 base attack)

As you can see, your mega absolutely blasts 100/100 mew that resists. In theory, this is a great ability. However, due to the access to focus punch, I cannot allow this in good conscience, and I will be vetoing it as a result.

Turtlek: Disapproved.

We do not allow more than one mega to be bundled as a submission for a single pokemon. As a result, this is vetoed on principle. Both of them are also way too broken to be allowed anyway.

okispokis: Revision requested.

Hesitantly, I will be vetoing this pokemon. It is right on the cusp of too strong for me, with 100% accurate focus blasts and thunders being fired off with these stats, it seems very strong. However, calm mind pushes this over the edge (physical sets are strong in their own right, this thing gets bulk up and great coverage). Very hard to predict which set it will run as well. I am enforcing lowering the speed to allow for more counterplay, and recommending removing thunder as well, though that is not mandatory.

Band: Disapproval, possible revision.

Love the sprite and how everything was color coded. Unfortunately, we already had someone sub a no guard Mienshao, so I will have to veto this. Also, yours is far more stronger than okispokis’, and I vetoed that mega, so this would be vetoed either way. I think you can keep the stats and typing, and just nerf the ability and be good. Thanks!

zxgzxg: Approved.

I love how the entire concept of this pokemon is to absorb knock offs. It is perfectly balanced, as the lack of recovery makes it have a glaring weakness. However, this thing has undeniably great utility and a very strong typing as well. Approved!

Bloopyghost: Approved.

INCREDIBLE art wow! Also, great design for this mega. The stats are strong, but not overbearing. Multiscale gives this great bulk, but the defensive typing is pretty awful, and also it cannot wear HDB and therefore likely cannot keep multiscale in most games due to hazards. A great concept nonetheless, though! I love the dragon type addition and I love the art, so I approve!

Eeveekid10: Revision requested.

Regretfully, I will be saying no. 140 attack and 130 special attack alongside a speed buff is very challenging to defeat. It will be really hard to tell if Mienshao is physical or special. It does not really help that this gets access to bulk up and calm mind. I guess not having physical psychic stab is a mitigating factor, but not nearly enough to prevent this from mowing down the competition. The stats need to be toned down pretty significantly in my opinion, but the type addition and ability are good! Vetoed.

The Damned: Approved, granted you can sufficiently nerf its speed.

I’ll only allow it with a speed reduction, but I like it a lot! This thing only has bounce, aerial ace, and acrobatics that it cannot benefit from as flying stab, so the flying type addition ends up being a weakness more than a strength. The flying immunity is very valuable though, as not other pokemon in the tier will be immune to flying types. Very cool inspiration from gen 9! With all of that being said, I think this unintentionally becomes way too strong anyway because of the large speed stat and access to swords dance. I am enforcing the speed be brought down, and then we should be good to go!

KeroseneZanchu: Approved.

Wow Kero, great originality on this mega! So impressive that you came up with this yourself! Your creativity shone through with the inclusion of shadow ball, but not physical ghost stab. This was a great insight on your part! Okay I’ll stop being coy. You obviously took inspiration from Yaoguai, but I think you adapted this incredibly well to m4a. You gave excellent competitive analysis on this thing’s possibilities, which was great! The stats are very intelligently placed, with the -10 to speed being crucial to keep this thing balanced! This is obviously approved!

Paulluxx and Sticky Fingaaa: Approved.

I actually had to go back and check if there were any other Regenerator Mienshao subs and I'm kind of shocked there's not. I'm sure yours would have been pretty different regardless, but the point stands. Fighting/Water is a very flavorfully fun type to give to Mienshao and I was hooked the moment Sticky mentioned it - I'm very glad you two combined it so well with Regenerator Mienshao and really made the most of both qualities. It's also a very unique type here with all of Keldeo, Urshifu, and Mega Grapploct gone from the meta, and having to rely on utility like Flip Turn and the lower-stat Scald in order to utilize its new STAB rightly does highlight the defensive benefits its type and ability grant the mega. This is wholeheartedly approved on the condition that you write something cute about monks/Mienshao drinking tea in your sub description in order to justify Scald on base.

'Till next time.
:zangoose:

Paulluxx · Nov 24, 2022

The user currently known as KeroseneZanchu has his little pixels now but, still cannot ping everybody that needs their subs approved...

:escavalier:

: Dead by Daylight, DrPumpkinz, Moretto, I-Deepblue-I, lavarina, Turtlek, SimpyShrimp, okispokis, Band, Gekokeso, Bloopyghost, Eeveekid10, The Damned, KeroseneZanchu

:haxorus:

: Dead by Daylight, BlueRay, Beaf Cultist, I-Deepblue-I, lydian, DrPumpkinz, SimpyShrimp Lysio and NANI?!, Turtlek, okispokis, Band, zxgzxg, Bloopyghost, Eeveekid10, The Damned, KeroseneZanchu

:Mienshao:

: Dead by Daylight, DrPumpkinz, Moretto, Beaf Cultist, ry4242, lydian, Turtlek, okispokis, Band, zxgzxg, Bloopyghost, Eeveekid10, The Damned, KeroseneZanchu

:slowpoke-galar:

: Paulluxx and Sticky Fingaaa

Anyways congrats to KeroseneZanchu for getting his badge!

KeroseneZanchu · Nov 29, 2022

Voting is open!

On time yet again! At long last, subs are closed, reviews are out, review-prompted reviews are in, and the sub compilation post is here! Can we keep it up? As always, we will be using our ranked-choice voting to tally your opinions, so vote for as many subs as you enjoy! It helps to make sure our winners are as accurate as possible.

Additionally, an announcement regarding our upcoming schedule. The hiatus originally planned for the 2nd to discuss Gen 9 will instead start on the 18th, when the Gen 9 info embargo lifts. This will be a community discussion, so if you would like to take part, make sure to join the Discord at that time! We will continue slates as usual until then - again, this month is to give everyone time to play the games at their own pace without being barred from participating in M4A if they choose to avoid spoilers. In addition, it lets the generation settle a bit and we get to watch the OU Council flounder as we let them make all the hard decisions for us in the meantime!

- December 2nd - Slate 3 voting ends, Slate 4 submissions open.
- December 9th - Slate 4 submissions close, reviews begin.
- December 14th - Slate 4 reviews are released, corrections start.
- December 18th - Slate 4 corrections close, voting starts, hiatus starts, and discussion begins.
- December 21st - Slate 4 voting ends, but the hiatus is likely to extend to shortly after Christmas to give everyone the week off with their families. No date decided yet.

Now, you may be wondering what Slate 4 is at this point. I've put teasers in the Discord for both Slate 3 and Slate 4, and I plan to continue doing so for a bit of fun. Thus, many of you have already guessed:

Mega Espeon, :umbreon:

Mega Umbreon, and :sylveon:

Mega Sylveon.

If your sub isn't in this compilation, it means you either haven't edited your sub, or edits are insufficient and still do not meet our requirements. Any approvals that came with mandatory edits like small stat shifts/move removals that haven't already been edited will have that change reflected via red text in the sub here. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or another council member, or DM us on Discord. Voting will last three days - ending on Friday the 2nd, at which point our Eeveelutions slate will begin. So, without further ado, here are the subs:

Mega Escavalier
Type: Bug / Steel
Ability: Heatproof
Stats:
HP: 70Att: 155 (+20)Def: 145 (+40)SpA: 60SpD: 145 (+40)Spe: 20
Escavalier has stolen Accelgor's wet bandages to protect itself from Fire attacks.

Mega Escavalier is sort of similar to Mega Registeel, in that it's a Heatproof Steel with high mixed bulk and physical Attack. But while Registeel leaned massively in favor of defense, Mega Escavalier favors offense, and uses its bulk and resistances to tank hits while it punches holes or sets up Swords Dance. While its part Bug typing means it's still weak to Fire despite Heatproof, it's more than bulky enough to survive Hidden Power Fire from just about any special attacker.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Heatproof Escavalier-Mega: 156-188 (45.3 - 54.6%) -- 55.9% chance to 2HKO

That's Modest Specs Lele. One of the strongest special attackers around. Without any dedicated SpDef investment from Mega Escavalier. And it only does half.

Escavalier-Mega

70 / 140 (+5) / 150 (+45) / 60 / 115 (+10) / 60 (+40)
Stamina
Description: Bulky tank that has a great Attack stat and bodies phys attackers. NEEDS Wish support though.

Name: Mega-Escavalier
Typing: Bug/Steel
Ability: Speed Burst
Ability Description: When this Pokemon has more than 1/2 its maximum HP and takes damage from an attack bringing it to 1/2 or less of its maximum HP, its Speed is raised by 1 stage.
Stats:

HP: 70
ATK: 145 (+10)
DEF: 115 (+10)
SPA: 70 (+20)
SPD: 115 (+10)
SPE: 70 (+50)

New Moves: Leech Life
Description: Mega-Escavalier is a pretty interesting setup sweeper, on paper, it seems easy enough to deal with using an offensive team, on practice, one bad move around them and your team is getting 6-0'd by a +1 Speed Swords Dance boosted Escavalier, however, its lack of recovery outside of Leech Life mean it really only gets one shot at sweeping, while its STAB moves and coverage have it be walled by the ever so common flying types (notably Zapdos, who resists everything the jouster can viably run).

Mega Escavalier @ Escavalite
Type: Bug / Steel
Ability: Body of Water

(When this Pokémon uses a Water-type attack, damage is calculated using the user's Defense stat as its Attack or its Special Defense as its Special Attack. Other effects that modify the Attack and Special Attack stats are used as normal, including stat stage changes.)

Stats:
HP: 70
Att: 155 (+20)
Def: 160 (+55)
SpA: 60
SpD: 125 (+20)
Spe: 25 (+5)

New Moves: -

Thought I might try subbing for this mod again, especially when the slate is literally some of my favourite mons. I started with Escavalier first and decided to look up on it's inspiration for ideas, and unsurprisingly it's name might be inspired by Excalibur.

Spent like half an hour on reading about it, and I decided to have the Lady of the Lake (who gives King Arthur the Excalibur) as inspiration. Which essentially brings me down to Water Bubble because of her capability to do water magic. Not the best, but the Excalibur's powers are vague in the first place with only the scabbard being clear about what it does (recovers health and prevents bleeding, which uh, I doubt I can implement that).

Not only does this reduce Fire damage against, Water Bubble prevents burns that would heavily cut down MEscavalier's damage. This makes it not become setup fodder so easily, and it always appreciates no chip damage since it has no recovery at all, since being unable to hold it's usual Leftovers really takes a blow on it.

The addition of Razor Shell and the water boost from its ability gives it a way to deal with opposing Fire types easier, since Drill Run can only go so far. I debated on giving it Liquidation but decided against it. It still hits hard in SD sets regardless.

edit: it already has razor shell i'm just blind!!

I believe Escavalier has always been a good enough mon, since Bug/Steel typing is pretty good defensively despite the 4x times weakness in Fire. MEscavalier can enhance it's potential of being a hard-hitting wall at the cost of having to rely on Wish support instead of Leftovers. It's still slow, which means it can be worn down given that it's Wish supporter dies. Again, it's a great option since the A tier pokémon in this meta are weak to its STABs and coverage. Pokémon such as Chesnaught, MDrifblim, and bulky waters can still wall it easily though.

After deciding that Water Bubble was too much, I moved onto Mega Araquanid's ability, Body of Water. Tbh i don't know How did I miss that but here we are.

The defense might seem too much, but take note that this is a non-STAB, 75 BP Razor Shell. It'll need an SD for it to do real damage or even OHKO a Fire type with defensive investment that's switching in. Paired with its slow speed and lack of recovery, this keeps it fairly balanced and sees some skill in playing and predicting switches. With Fire types still being able to deal with it as long as they can switch into any move that isn't Razor Shell.

It loses one lance upon Mega Evolution, water particles surrounding the remaining one and its armor as if blessed by some sort of energy.

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Type: Bug/ Steel
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Ability: Cavalry
- Every time the user KO a target, copy its speed stat
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Stats:
HP: 70
Attack: 145(+10)
Defense:125(+20)
Special Attack:110(+50)
Special Defense: 125(+20)
Speed:20
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New Moves: Infestation
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Descriptions:

Its dex entry once mentioned:

Which is technically untrue in competitive tho. However, we can make it "fast" for its mega evolution. This thing based cavalry, and what does cavalry has? HORSE . Escavalier however, does not have anything to mount. So for its mega evolution, i grant this thing the ability "cavalry", which allows this thing to get fast by killing a fast pokemon. Just imagine Mega Escavalier riding on fainted pokemon's bodies, which would be stupid as hell :)

Competitively, this thing is quite neat as a Mega Evolution. When it kills a high-speed pokemon, it steals that high speed and the replacement for the fainted pokemon will face this monster. However, if this thing kills something like a Ferrothorn or a Stakataka, this ability technically does nothing. In trick room, it's just vice versa. It seems cool at first when you get to steal the speed stat of your opponent, but that speed stat is going to change every time you kill each mon, and you can't really control what pokemon you get to kill. For example, you face something like an Alakazam for example. You might kill it easily with your bug type moves, or just simply knock the Alakazam off, but there is nothing that guarantees you that you get to kill that Alakazam, and not kill that Ferrothorn the switched in.

About the mon on its own, well it seems like a better version of its base form. Higher attack and defense stat, and the rest of the stat get to dump into the special attack that it will probably never use. Just sword dance, and see what will happen next.
p/s: Ok I forgot that this thing has pursuit, so technically it can trap some mon and kill them with its pursuit

Escavalier-Mega
Type: Bug/Steel
Ability: Overcoat/Shell Armor/Swarm-> Plunderer (User's contact moves heal an additional 25% of damage dealt).
Stats
HP: 70
Atk: 155 (+20)
Def: 130 (+25)
SpA: 80 (+20)
SpD: 130 (+25)
Spe: 30 (+10)
New Moves: +Leech Life

Despite its image as a classic knight, Escavalier's image is a facade, having stolen its armor and title from Shelmet to fulfill its own ambitions; with the influence of Mega energy, Escavalier's desire for power and glory has utterly corrupted it, the noble facade of this false knight giving way to a desire to plunder and abuse its power for its own benefit.

With Plunderer, Escavalier's vast variety of contact options lets it constantly keep itself healthy, making its need to tank hits due to low speed less of a burden. Newfound Leech Life now heals 75% damage dealt, while Megahorn trades it some of that healing for raw power; the similarly strong Close Combat lets it smash through Steel types which shrug off its STAB; STAB Iron Head means that Fairy types cannot wall it; Knock Off can let it soften walls; Pursuit means it can heal on a switch without having to worry about contact triggers and resistances; one could even run the gimmicky Razor Shell to further break walls and threaten more healing off of its current target. Mega Esca's natural bevy of resistances and solid mixed bulk mean it can stomach plenty of hits before Plunderer, letting it potentially take on a more defensive spread to set up an extra Swords Dance or even spec into a stallbreaker role with options like Taunt, Toxic and Infestation (though wouldn't recommend all those on one set). There is truly little to stop this false knight- unless you have a match on you.

Mega Escavalier
New Ability: Anger Shell ( When the user's Hit Points drop to 50% or lower, the user's Defense & Special Defense are dropped by 1 stage but the user's Attack, Sp. Attack and Speed are increased by 1 stage )
Type: Bug / Steel
New stats:
HP: 70
Attack: 135 -> 155 (+20)
Defense: 105
Special Attack: 60 -> 100 (+40)
Special Defense: 105
Speed: 20 -> 60 (+40)
(BST) 595
New moves: Leech Life.

When mega evolving, Escavalier shatters its armor shell, greatly increasing its speed. The parts it breaks from its shell get absorbed by its lances to become sharper, allowing it to retaliate faster against upcoming attacks. Escavalier also seems to become as territorial as it was when it was a Karrablast. Anger Shell is the ability of Klawf from Scarlet and Violet, admitedly it might be missing some context on how it actually works but last i saw it acts like Berserk.

Escavalier needs to establish itself in this meta with a niche that is sufficienty good enough so that it doesn't get outclassed by regular scizor and i felt like the most fun way of doing this was by capitalising on its biggest advantage over Scizor: its damage output. With some rather insanely good coverage in Knock Off and Close Combat, Escavalier gets to always capitalise on the damage and speed boost it obtains from managing its health well. It can vary between Agility sets, Swords Dance sets, or All-out attacker sets, all which remain balanced due to the mon's 4mss. It also gains leech life, in order to drain enough HP once it gets the Anger Shell boost in order to get back past the half HP benchmark in order to farm more Anger Shell boosts. Speed tier is such that it can outspeed base 110s with speed investing and a timid nature, although that hamper its offensive potential. Should also be vulnerable to scarfers as well.

i dunno what to draw for this, just imagine it with more spikes or smth lol
Mega Escavalier
Mega Stone: Escavalite
Type:

New Ability: Analytic

Stats: 70 HP / 155 Atk (+20) / 125 Def (+20) / 80 SpA (+20) / 125 SpD (+20) / 40 Spe (+20) / 595 BST

New Moves: Leech Life
Description: I'm admittedly phoning this one in as you can tell. It's a tank with Analytic, not much more to it than that. Fantastic Attack, bulk and coverage should make this a solid bulky breaker that can pose a threat to faster mons while heavily punishing switches for slower mons thanks to Analytic. Leech Life works rlly well on this type of build and it offers a consistent Bug STAB compared to Megahorn.

Escavalier-Mega
Type: Bug/Steel [no change]
Ability: Swarm/Shell Armor/Overcoat => Lightning Lance (the ability~~: the movie: the experience~~): This Pokémon draws in Electric moves to raise its Attack by 1 stage; Electric immunity. {a.k.a. Lightning Rod for physical Attack}

Stats:
HP: 070 => 070 (+00)
Atk: 135 => 170 (+35)
Def: 105 => 130 (+25)
SpA: 060 => 060 (+00)
SpD: 105 => 130 (+25)
Spe: 020 => 035 (+15)

Added Moves: Lunge (seriously how does it not get this already?), Wild Charge

Description: I normally would like to avoid abilities that are so close to already existent ones, but Lightning Rod wouldn't work here given Escavalier's special movepool is garbage, Motor Drive both makes no sense and is actively detrimental to Gyro Ball (and Trick Room) usage, and Volt Absorb would make this obnoxiously bulky even without any other method of healing behind Rest (which is why it's not getting Leech Life). So Lightning Lance (the ability) it is since I wanted both to make a Volt-Turn strategy deterrent (that bodies Tapu Koko's STABs in metas where Tapu Koko exists) that wasn't a Ground type and to try to be more mindful of Doubles for once despite the fact that I still never play any version of that format at present. There's really not much else to say about this beyond its Speed got slightly raised to where it is so that it can murder any form of the Slow-siblings with its STABs (or Wild Charge) before they can Teleport out in my attempt to hate on as many pivoting moves as possible. [/fist-shaking at Flip Turn and the others]

Mega Escavalier
Type: Bug/Steel
Mega Stone: Excalibite

Ability: Executioner

Stats:
HP - 70 (+0)
ATK - 155 (+20)
DEF - 145 (+40)
SPA - 60 (+0)
SPD - 145 (+40)
SPE - 20 (+0)

New Moves: Pin Missile

Description:

Dex Entry: Escavalier's armor becomes corrupted with the power of Mega Energy, a testament to its stolen nature. The dark steel betrays its plunder, and Escavalier's greed is augmented with wrath.

This one is quite simple, but also (I hope) quite effective. As previously explored, Executioner as an ability pairs well with multi-hit moves, due to any of the latter hits being boosted if a former hit got the enemy below half. This, combined with 155 base attack, solid bulk, and Swords Dance access, makes Escavalier quite an efficient breaker. In addition, Mega Escavalier has access to Fell Stinger, a usually unviable move that has a deadly potency when it suddenly comes with 75 base power rather than a measly 50. However, with its low speed, one would have to reach for Trick Room teams if they wanted to turn that menace into a sweeper, which keeps Escavalier from running away (ba dum tss) with its newfound ruthlessness.

Once again, it's Technician time.
Mega Haxorus
Type: Dragon
Ability: Technician

Stats:76 HP, 157 Atk, 130 Def, 90 SpA, 90 SpD, 97 Spe

Description:
- base form usually has to contend with Dragon moves of moderate power but Technician allows it to really reap the benefits of those moves: Scale Shot, Dual Chop, Breaking Swipe (spread move for VGC)
- other moves it can take advantage of but they are mostly niche and more of use in VGC than in Singles: Bulldoze, Snarl, Low Kick

Mega Haxorus
Type:

Ability: Flower Veil
Stats:
HP: 76
Att: 177 (+30)
Def: 120 (+30)
SpA: 60
SpD: 110 (+40)
Spe: 97
Moves: +Leaf Blade

After taking a look at the M4A Kalos teambuilder, I realized that it would probably be a mistake to allow Haxorus any way of beating its current defensive checks. This being a no-Tapu meta means the available Fairies are very much not good, especially without Clef.

Wait... There's no Clef?
Then that means... the only viable Unaware option for stall is Quagsire?? And who just so happens to be the stallbreaker to end all stallbreakers? That's right! Haxorus!

Mega Haxorus focuses entirely on base Haxorus' niche of being a Stallbreaker. Much better bulk combined with the full status immunity granted by Flower Veil means it can stomach hits from and set up on many passive walls such as Gliscor, Alomomola, and Ferrothorn, and the new Grass typing means that losing Mold Breaker won't even make it break a sweat against Quagsire. Even with the Attack increase, it's still a good deal weaker than LO Haxorus, so it ends up being a bit more reliant on setting up to break key defensive mons like Scizor and Skarmory (particularly with its newfound weakness to U-Turn and Brave Bird), but I see this as a key balancing point more than a problem. Now, while it was built to handle fat teams, that's not to say that Mega Hax can't do well into offense. SD+Scale Shot sets are still extremely hard to slow down for offensive teams without an Ice Shard user (though it actually lives non-Banded Ice Shard from both Mamoswine and Weavile. lol!), and generally it can set up a lot easier than normal due to its increased bulk and newfound status immunity, plus now being able to immediate threaten mons that could check base Hax such as Azumarill.

”Its resilient tusks are its pride and joy. It licks up dirt to take in the minerals it needs to keep its tusks in top condition.”

The power of Mega Evolution flowed straight into the dormant seeds in the dirt Haxorus had eaten, causing blooms to sprout all over its body. Their roots have tarnished its prized tusks, making it absolutely furious.

Name: Mega-Haxorus
Typing: Dragon
Ability: Decelerate
Ability Description: At the end of every turn, speed lowers by one stat stage and attack goes up by one.
Stats:

HP: 76
ATK: 147 (+0)
DEF: 110 (+20)
SPA: 90 (+30)
SPD: 100 (+30)
SPE: 117 (+20)

Description: Mega Haxorus has one clear objective: They clicks Outrage, preferably while knocking down the highest amount of Pokemon possible. Couple that with Deceleration and you've got a mon that focuses on revenge killing that can also potentially run over teams that can't take them down fast enough. However, there's drawbacks, first off, they don't have great physical STAB, as you gotta pick between Dragon Claw, which is quite weak right off the bat, or Outrage, which requires a huge amount of commitment and can turn your Pokemon into a free kill if the opponent has any answers to them. Still, Mega Haxorus is basically impossible to switch into, sporting basically perfect coverage for the meta, an incredible speed tier and a nuclear STAB typing making them quite good at picking off weakened foes while putting the opposing team on a timer if they are not able to dispose of them fast enough.

Mega Haxorus

Ability - Rivalry, Mold Breaker; Unnerve ➝ Technician

HP - 76 ➝ 76
Atk - 147 ➝ 161 (+14)
Def - 90 ➝ 150 (+60)
SpA - 60 ➝ 110 (+50)
SpD - 70 ➝ 76 (+6)
Spe - 97 ➝ 67 (-30)
BST - 540 ➝ 640 (+100)

Movepool Changes - Stealth Rock, Stone Axe, Stone Edge
Competitive Corner - Mega Haxorus has plenty of options to make use of with Technician! Breaking Swipe is a drawbackless 90 BP Dragon-type STAB, Dual Chop reaches a whopping 120 BP, although it does come with a 10% chance to miss, but scarier still is Scale Shot's average of 112.5 BP along with a speed boost, provided you hit. In terms of secondary STAB, Haxorus has Rock Tomb as its disposal for yet another form of speed control, coming together on a 90BP 95Acc move, or risking Stone Edge is always an option, as is Stone Axe depending on how that move works on a non-Legends Arceus environment. The speed lowering motif continutes with Bulldoze being a reasonable 90BP option, alongside Earthquake being the slightly stronger option, as coverage to get past the Steel-types that resist this unique STAB combo. That said, hopefully Mega Haxorus is a bit balanced by it's dropoff in Speed, to make Scale Shot sweeps a bit less attainable, with it being outspeedable by anything faster than Jolly Talonflame at +1. The main problem with it though, is that since its speed boost comes alongside a strong STAB attack, it could be tricky to limit it to just one speed boost, however, unlike Dragon Dance, its Attack stat does stay the same, so it effectively needs both a Swords Dance and two Scale Shots to sweep all that easily, or to have a teammate either weaken the opposing walls, or take down the opposing scarfer / revenge killer before trying to go for a sweep, which is hopefully enough to balance this monstrosity! The relatively low Special Defense and the newly added Rock-type weaknesses should hopefully also make setting up a bit trickier.
Flavor Corner - Haxorus is very clearly based on dinosaur, extending the concept of some species having long tusks into whole ass battle axes. I decided to take this step further and tie in with the common media trope of dinosaurs coexisting with prehistoric humans, and fleshing out the axe inspiration. Mega Haxorus gets two whole stone-made axes protruding from their mouth, as if it were a caveperson just honing them à la what humans did in the stone age. This should explain Technician! As of writing this I saw another user already came up with a really cool submission with Technician also, but hopefully mine can contrast itself from theirs with the new type and the flavor justification for repeating the ability.

Mega Haxorus
Type: Dragon
Ability: Water Veil
Stats:
HP: 76Att: 167 (+20)Def: 100 (+10)SpA: 90 (+30)SpD: 110 (+40)Spe: 97
Mega Haxorus's blade has been whet and wet.

As a physically offensive Dragon-type, Mega Haxorus makes excellent use of Water Veil. Its good SpDef and Water resistance let it switch into Scalds all day long, and because it's not a Water-type like other Water Veil users, its STAB won't be resisted by Scald users.

Mega Haxorus
(collaboration with Lysio and NANI)

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Type: Dragon
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Ability: Steelbreaker
- This Pokémon's attacks are critical hits if the target is a Steel-type Pokémon.
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Stats:
HP: 76
Attack: 127(-20)
Defense:110(+20)
Special Attack:110(+50)
Special Defense: 110(+40)
Speed: 107(+10)
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Descriptions:

So ok, let's check some Haxorus's Dex entries:

So apparently, Gamefreak likes to mention 2 things about Haxorus: its tusk and its kind-hearted nature. About its tusks, Gamefreak mentions that its tusks are sharp, sharp enough to cut through steel beams. Seems familiar, does it? We have one Steelbreaker Mega in M4A National Dex, Mega Drapion. However, Mega Drapion is no longer available in M4A Kalos. If we have to pick one of the obvious choices for another Steelbreaker Mega, it should be Haxorus. That's all for its flavor.

Next off, to its competitive design. Haxorus on its own is not a top-tier mon in all metagame, but it's a decent mon at least. Having 147 attack stat, 97-speed tier(which is not horrible but not so good either). Steelbreaker always critically hits steel type pokemons. Haxorus on its own isn't weak to steel type either, having both Close Combat and Earthquake. This seems like an unstoppable monster, right?

It's an unstoppable monster until you see its stat spread. Losing 20 points in Attack and dumping 50 points of stats into special attack is quite a nerf for this thing. It does gain more bulk tho, with 110 in both Defense and Special Defense, and being a little bit faster, having 107 in speed, I can safely say this thing is not overpowered, at least by the time i made this post.
So how to use this bad boy? Use it the same way as the way you use base Haxorus. You may either sword dance and slowly breaking through walls with amazing coverage, or dragon dance and sweep the way to victory.

Haxorus-Mega
Type: Dragon/Steel
Ability: Mold Breaker/Rivalry/Unnerve->Territorial (If a Pokemon with a matching type is active when the user switches in, user gains +1 Speed.)
Stats
HP: 76
Atk: 162 (+15)
Def: 125 (+35)
SpA: 90 (+30)
SpD: 90 (+20)
Spe: 97
New Moves: None!

Born in an era where Dragons ruled the world, Haxorus' Mega evolution makes it the Dragon that bullies other Dragons. Seeing the presence of these other Dragons, namely the quartet of Garchomp, Dragonite, Salamence and Hydreigon, Mega Haxorus' Territorial nature in the face of these rivals boosts its reaction speed, allowing it to at least tie these Dragons when they're at +1 (ie after Dragon Dance/Scale Shot/Scarf). Hax can use this to either set up itself with Swords Dance or threaten a revenge kill on its fellow Dragons, also gaining some opportunities thanks to its new Steel typing providing additional resistances and ensuring opposing Dragon STAB doesn't just end it (also means it gets +1 against Steels, but that doesn't affect those match-ups much); these resistances also mean it's not exactly dead weight if you don't proc the ability. Sure, you don't have a reliable Steel STAB, but Posion Jab has you covered versus Fairy, Close Combat slices through Steel and you still have STAB Scale Shot or Dragon Claw to decimate your fellow Dragons. Mega Haxorus excels as a revenge killer and late-game cleaner, and as such appreciates pivot support to help get it in safely and preserve HP since Hax, while bulky, is not necessarily invincible.

Mega Haxorus

Type:

--->

Ability: Rivalry / Mold Breaker / Unnerve ---> Blind Rage | This Pokemon's physical moves have x0.8 accuracy and this Pokemon ignores its own stat changes.

Stats:

---

HP: 76

ATK: 197 (+50)

DEF: 90 (+0)

SPA: 100 (+40)

SPD: 70 (+0)

SPE: 107 (+10)

BST: 640 (+100)

---

Movepool Additions: ---

Description: 197 attack??? That's insane!?!?!?! until you realize you can no longer SD or DD up (you can but like why) or hold a boosting item. Instead, it has new attacking option in Draco Meteor, which can help snipe physical walls that otherwise wall Hax. Also it's anti-Intim tech which is pretty cool for the VGCers.

Bloopyghost >:)

Flavor: Mega Haxorus's giant axe tusks and scaly armor now obscure its vision. It attacks violently at the sign of any sort of danger. In older times, Mega Haxorus would be used to execute the worst of criminals.

man, these haxorus subs just don't have enough attack, if only if there was a sub that-*

Mega Haxorus
Mega Stone: Haxorite
Type:

New Ability: Breaking Blades - This Pokemon's contact moves lower its own Attack and the target's Attack by one stage if they are successful.

Stats: 76 HP / 192 Atk (+45) / 130 Def (+40) / 70 SpA (+10) / 70 SpD / 102 Spe (+5) / 640 BST

New Moves: N/A
Description: That's what I'm talking about. This thing would have the highest Attack stat out of any mon. Ever. Even in this mod, beating out record-holders Mega Conk and Mega Archeops. And it gets a big boost in Speed and Defense? And its custom ability lowers the target's Attack if it attacks??? Surely this is a broke Mega and I haven't learned anything from my Mega Wailord sub from 8 months ago right??? Well, you prolly noticed the caveat. Breaking Blades lowering Mega Haxorus' own Attack every time it lands a hit (aside from EQ since that's not contact) means it cannot use SD or DD very effectively, nor can it just click buttons.

What we have here is an odd mixture of a hit-and-run wallbreaker and a bulky tank. Mega Haxorus' high Speed means it can outpace a good number of mons, smack em, drop their Attack and then proceed to eat their own attacks thanks to the Attack drop and its high Defense. But Mega Haxorus won't want to stick around since its next attack will deal less damage. This results in a unique playstyle few other mons can replicate; a mix of power, bulk and speed with major flaws that must be worked around. Do note that Mega Haxorus' Special Defense is unchanged, leaving it stuck with mediocre special bulk.

Since Breaking Blades interacts with Dual Chop hitting twice, choosing between it and Dragon Claw is largely up to preference. Dragon Claw deals more damage and is more consistent, while Dual Chop can drop the target's Attack twice in exchange for dropping Haxorus' own Attack twice.

If you're curious, despite Mega Haxorus' titanic Attack, it actually does less damage than base Haxorus equipped with a Life Orb:
252 Atk Life Orb Mold Breaker Haxorus Scale Shot (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 120-144 (30.5 - 36.6%) -- approx. 65.9% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Haxorus-Mega Scale Shot (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 111-135 (28.2 - 34.3%) -- approx. 0.4% chance to 3HKO

So while base Haxorus can actually output more damage with a boosting item and properly use set-up, Mega Haxorus' higher Speed and physical tankiness can be a stronger asset depending on your team's needs. Breaking Blades is also just fun with First Impression, if you can't revenge-kill them then make sure they're not killing you in return. In regards to VGC, Breaking Blades synergizes very well with Breaking Swipe, as Breaking Swipe lets you lower the Attack stats of two mons by two stages for the price of just one Attack drop for Mega Haxorus. This lends it further utility, letting it rlly control the stage against physical attackers.

Haxorus @ Haxite

Type: Dragon / Rock

Ability: Own Tempo(I actually wanted to reserve that but I did a typo and pumpkin took it, but he rejected that idea soo uhhh.....I can still collab if you want?)

HP: 76

Atk: 147-->170(+23)

Def: 90-->70(-20)

SpAtk: 60-->134(+74)

SpDef: 70

Speed: 97-->110(+13)

New Moves: Stealth Rocks, Rock Slide

Haxorus-Mega
Type: Dragon => Dragon/Fairy
Ability: Rivalry/Mold Breaker/Unnerve => Misty Surge

Stats:
HP: 076 => 076 (+00)
Atk: 147 => 180 (+33)
Def: 090 => 115 (+25)
SpA: 060 => 060 (+00)
SpD: 070 => 110 (+40)
Spe: 097 => 099 (+02)

Added Moves: Play Rough

Description: Similar to the above, I really don't care for Terrains even after their nerf (though I'll use them), but of all of the Terrains, Misty Terrain is easily the weakest and mildest to safely reintroduce as an automatically set one. It also serves to simultaneously make Haxorus-Mega more of a team player whether in Singles or Doubles as well as intentionally, briefly leash the power of its Dragon type attacks given it essentially halves the powers of those as long as Terrain is up, which is attention given how high said Atk for its Speed (and access to Dragon Dance and non-Dragon coverage). Being able to actually use a Dragon's Water resistance without worrying about Scald burns would be nice (and DrPumpkinz already claimed Water Veil). Misty Surge and Fairy type are also weirdly on flavor too given the Pokédex entries for Haxorus tend to simultaneously highlight its unexpected kindness and its fierce territorial nature, with Misty Terrain serving as an effective territory marker. Besides that though? This design is simultaneously--yes, I will use that word thrice in a row--a "replacement" to Altaria-Mega while being different enough from it to to still have merit even in metas where they might both exist as well as a grand "screw you" to Hydreigon and its trolling Haxorus's Speed ever since their joint debut. (Yes, I know that First Impression technically already does that now, but it does nothing to stop Hydreigon from just coming in afterward and revenging poor Haxorus, especially if it's Scarf Hydreigon.)

I will concede that becoming Fairy somewhat goes against the anti-Steel aspects also brought up repeatedly in the same Pokédex entry, but so would becoming Rock (or Ice) like some other people are already doing. Haxorus already gets excellent coverage for all Steel types anyway, which is just another reason its Atk power needs to be held back a little, even if it's by itself and temporarily, without going full-blown Truant or Defeatist on the poor thing. It's suffered mediocrity enough.

Mega Haxorus
Type: Dragon
Mega Stone: Haxorite

Ability: Steelworker

Stats:

HP - 76 (+0)
ATK - 110 (Swapped +50)
DEF - 105 (+15)
SPA - 147 (Swapped)
SPD - 85 (+5)
SPE - 117 (+20)

New Moves: Dragon Rush

Description:

Dex Entry: To no one's surprise, the formidable iron-like tusks monopolized Haxorus' Mega Energy, growing them to sizes rivalling motorcycles. In this state, their consistency actually converts to true titanium, and sharp enough to cut diamonds.

Steel-type Haxorus is a very popular design idea, and it's no mystery why. It's a potent type combo and Haxorus' tusks are the perfect flavor. However, in this meta, actually having a Dragon/Steel Haxorus is going to be a tough balancing act. I decided to make this easier by instead going with Steelworker, which makes perfect sense not only mechanically but flavorfully, since it's merely attacking with metal and isn't metal in and of itself. This means that Haxorus has access to Steel STAB to contest Fairies and Ice types, but still remains vulnerable - creating counterplay and switching hazards on both sides of the field. In addition, it doesn't come with the truckload of free additional resistances, and players who go too hard into setup will have to face the repercussions of Toxic.

Speaking of setup, I made an effort to incentivize Haxorus away from Dragon Dance - with its boosted speed tier, there are less things that it needs to outspeed in the first place, but certain key mons like Weavile still do, as well as a whole range of Scarfers. More significantly, its only source of Steel STAB is the unreliable 75% accuracy Iron Tail, and the equally inaccurate Dragon Rush has been added as a new and less-crippling Dragon STAB than Outrage, which gives it a lot of reason to want to utilize Hone Claws. Plus, with its much greater starting Special stat, it has room to try mixed sets with Hone Claws, Iron Tail, (Draco Meteor/Dragon Rush), and Focus Blast. Not that I expect them to be its best set or anything more than potential counter-meta, due to the existence of Earthquake and Close Combat.

KeroseneZanchu · Nov 29, 2022

Mega Mienshao
Type: Fighting
Ability: Technician
Stats:
HP: 65Att: 145 (+20)Def: 75 (+15)SpA: 125 (+30)SpD: 75 (+15)Spe: 125 (+20)
I think the coolest thing about Mienshao is that despite the mismatch between its good Special Attack and garbage special movepool, it actually makes for a very effective mixed attacker thanks to Hidden Power Ice (Gen 8 should have given it Icy Wind; now it's just an extremely unoptimized physical attacker) to the point where it's probably the Pokemon I associate most with using Hidden Power Ice. Technician powers up that all-important Ice coverage, as well as boosting some other cool options like Rock Tomb, Fake Out, Aerial Ace, and Feint.

Mienshao-Mega

65 / 125 / 100 (+40) / 105 (+10) / 100 (+40) / 115 (+10)
Natural Cure
+Spikes, Recover
Description: A Fighting-type bulkymon is always fun to see and use, and this effectively does it while also being a pretty fun pivot. Natural Cure helps it stay longer alive, Spikes gives it utility to help breaking opposing teams and Recover gives it a way to sustain itself outside of natcure.

Mega Mienshao
Type:

Ability: Unseen Fist
Stats:
HP: 65
Att: 145 (+20)
Def: 90 (+30)
SpA: 105 (+10)
SpD: 90 (+30)
Spe: 115 (+10)
Moves: +Zing Zap, Volt Switch

I see no Mega Lop. Here’s a replacement. Almost every Mienshao dex entry mentions both the speed and power of its attacks. They claim it is capable of unleashing flurries of blows so quickly that they cannot even be seen. Unseen Fist is the most obvious aspect of this, while the rest is simply extrapolation. Mega Mienshao is a fast offensive pivot/breaker with a powerful STAB combination for a Lando-less meta but an unfortunately lackluster physical Electric move, meaning it won’t be quite as unwallable as MLop. Still, Swords Dance sets are a forced to be reckoned with for teams without a Gliscor, and pivot sets can be quite a pain with their unblockable U-Turns making it impossible to use Protect to scout safely.

Mienshao @ Mienshite
Type: Fighting
Ability: Guts

HP: 65
Atk: 135 (+10)
Def: 90 (+30)
SpAtk: 115 (+20)
SpDef: 90 (+30)
Speed: 115 (+10)

New moves: None

Flavor:
Ermines (Mienshao's animal inspiration) and wolverines are very closely related. Upon Mega Evolving, Mienshao becomes more aggressive and violent, as a result relying less on strategic movement and more on raw power. It seems to disregard all previous training in martial arts and evolves to more primal, beast-like instincts. It has gained immense muscle, doubling its height and more than quintupling its weight (2.8m and 180kgs). Its fur has grown rough and shaggy, turning almost as black as midnight

This hulking beast barely resembles the elegance of what was once a Mienshao. It's become almost entirely dependent on raw strength to win battles, fighting its hardest when backed into a corner.
/
Many assume that this behemoth has thrown away all strategy and instead focuses on overwhelming its opponents with raw strength. However, it carefully conserves its energy and plans when to strike at the perfect time.

Competitive:
I have always wanted to design a (good) mega that revolves around staying in its pre-mega form for extended periods of time. The problem with this, usually, is that the Pokemon doesn't have enough longevity or even reason to not mega evolve. However, Regenerator fixes this. Pre-mega, Mienshao works as normal: pivoting around, firing off Knock Offs and High Jump Kicks, etc. Even without an item, Mienshao is able to provide for its team as a supportive wrecking ball. Unfortunately, sometimes that wrecking ball will switch into a Will-o-Wisp or Scald burn, or switch onto Toxic Spikes and is more or less crippled for the rest of the match. But what if it wasn't?

With Guts, mega Mienshao can't have too much more Attack stat without getting out of hand. However, due to the loss or Regenerator it can have much more bulk. Both defenses getting +30 allow Mega Mienshao even more longevity during its rein of terror. However, the most important stat change is to Speed. Raising up to 115 may not seem like a lot, but it allows max speed Mienshao to outspeed 252 speed Weavile, Talonflame and Crobat, and allows 252 +Atk Mienshao to outspeed max speed Zapdos, Hydreigon, and Gliscor, and 252 speed Gengar.

Mega Mienshao is all about positioning and tempo. Mega too early and you've lost a vital support mon. Mega too late and your opponent will have enough resources to beat you down. It's vital to play around all the statuses being thrown around and correctly put yourself in a position to sweep. The addition of Rapid Spin lets Mienshao get rid of 2 weaknesses at once: speed and chip damage. Speed is simple, +1 Speed gives Mienshao that impossibly important boost to speed that allows it to outspeed some of its more common checks and threaten them with its myriad of coverage moves. Arguably more importantly is Mienshao's hazard removal. As its supposed to be a pseudo defensive switch-in, taking basically all of your Regenerator recovery health every time you switch in does not feel good. Rapid Spin removes those hazards until Ferrothorn or Skarmory come back in, both of whom do not want to take Close Combats or Blaze Kicks. Providing support for the team while also contributing to its own direct longevity as a support mon allows base Mienshao to thrive in its existing role and simultaneously set up its Mega to sweep.

Megas that are based around not just being a guess at team preview always provide an interesting element to a match: mind games. This won't be so prevalent now, but as more and more Mega Pokemon are added, it will become harder and harder to tell which Pokemon is the Mega, but this is especially so with Mega Mienshao. Personally I believe Mienshao to be the first Mega in Kalos to be actually relevant within the tier pre-Mega (who uses Wormadam?), and I think the will-they won't-they aspect of Mega Mienshao's design to add a lot to its viability. Your opponent will often face a dilemma: should they Will-o on the Mienshao switch in? If it's a regular Mienshao then yes definitely, it will be doing a lot less damage to their team. But what if its Mega? Then they've provided you an avenue to completely wipe the floor. What if you aren't even going to go to Mienshao in the first place? Again this won't be prevalent for now or maybe even for a long while, but eventually there will come a point where this question is asked every turn, and the wrong answer leads to failure. Think wisely.

Mienshao-Mega
Type: Fighting
Ability: Reckless/Regenerator/Inner Focus-> No Guard
Stats
HP: 65
Atk: 125
Def: 90 (+30)
SpA: 125 (+30)
SpD: 100 (+40)
Spe: 105
New Moves: +Thunder, Thunderbolt

With combos that "can't be stopped", No Guard sounded like a solid ability for Mienshao, pairing nicely with STAB High Jump Kick and Focus Blast, the latter's infamous accuracy woes previously making it unideal as special STAB. Shao's special potential has also always been held back by its lack of special coverage, so to sweeten the pot and encourage a special/mixed set I drew upon Mienshao's much reputed speed to give it Thunder (and Tbolt since Thunder with no Tbolt is weird flavorwise), granting it another low-accuracy option for the special side which smacks many Flying types and Slowbro for pure special sets, spreads paralysis for offensive teammates and means Shao actually has enough special options to justify a Calm Mind set with Focus Blast and HP of your choice. Of course, Shao can still make use of its good physical options like U-turn, Knock Off, Poison Jab and 100% Stone Edge to prevent special walls from getting too comfortable; U-turn in particular lets it keep up momentum and potentially bring in a scary offensive partner after scoring a Thunder paralysis.

Mega Mienshao

Type:

--->

Ability: Inner Focus / Regenerator / Reckless ---> Fur Coat

Stats:

HP: 65

ATK: 145 (+20)

DEF: 60 (+0)

SPA: 135 (+40)

SPD: 120 (+60)

SPE: 85 (-20)

BST: 610 (+100)

Movepool Additions: Heal Bell, Moonblast, Play Rough

Description: THE Knock absorber. I noticed a lack of bulky Fairies so I thought adding one would be nice. Fur Coat immediately calls defensive sets to mind, but the mon can do a lot of things: Bulky SD, Bulky CM, Cleric, it's all there. No recovery kinda sucks, but Fur Coat + Rocks resistance + Drain Punch should keep Mienshao alive for long enough.

Flavor: It's long fur, whiskers, and tail have elongated into ribbon-like appendages and twirl enchantingly around Mienshao. When it attacks, all five of these ribbons rush towards its target.

Mega Mienshao
Mega Stone: Mienite
Type:

New Ability: Multiscale

Stats: 65 HP / 135 Atk (+10) / 90 Def (+30) / 115 SpA (+20) / 100 SpD (+40) / 105 Spe / 610 BST

New Moves: Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse
Description: The Chinese long is a common symbol used in Kung Fu, so I made my Mega Mienshao Dragon-type. Instead of going full breaker, I wanted to aim for another fast tank, tho in a more conventional way than my Mega Haxorus. I thought abt keeping Regen, and while that would make for a good mon no matter what I'd do, I decided to get a bit more creative and start thinking abt abilities that could not only interact with Regen pre-Mega but also fit my weird Dragon flavor. Naturally I settled on Multiscale.

Here's the gameplan I envision here, Mienshao would stay in base form early-game to not only keep itself healthy through Regen but to also soften up its checks using U-Turn. Once its checks are sufficiently weakened and it's at full HP, then Mienshao would Mega to gain more power and much more bulk. 65/90/100 bulk is not at all impressive no; but combined with Mega Mienshao's useful resistances and Multiscale, it can stomach a variety of hits and then proceed to threaten the opponent with its great offensive stats and coverage. Mienshao also has Drain Punch to maintain its HP and regain Multiscale. I unfortunately don't have the time to workshop optimal EV spreads (esp since I'm not familiar enough with the meta), but I can see either full offensive spreads or bulkier spreads that drop power working for this.

Mienshao @ Mienite

Type: Fighting / Psychic

Ability: Levitate

HP: 65

Atk: 125-->130(+5)

Def: 60-->90(+30)

SpAtk: 95-->125(+30)

SpDef: 60-->90(+30)

Speed: 105-->110(+5)

New Moves: Psychic, Bullet Punch

Too much meditation

Mienshao-Mega
Type: Fighting => Fighting/Flying
Ability: Inner Focus/Regenerator/Reckless => Like the Wind: This Pokémon is immune to direct wind moves and Flying moves. {So worded to still allow it to benefit from Tailwind and be explicitly clear about such a thing.}

Stats:
HP: 065 => 065 (+00)
Atk: 125 => 140 (+15)
Def: 060 => 110 (+50)
SpA: 095 => 130 (+35)
SpD: 060 => 060 (+00)
Spe: 105 => 105 (+00)

Added Moves: Air Cutter, Circle Throw

Description: Due to the inspiration brought by seeing a certain Gen 9 mon a day early

(thank you Brambleghast, though I have no idea what Game Freak's fetish for Grass/Ghost mons being only physically oriented is--sigh)

, I got the inspiration for this largely just trying to justify its new ability. Its Pokédex entries rather generically focus on the sheer speed of its strikes but making Fighting type Regieleki would be...stupid even if it's relegated to a Mega, and I personally find Unseen Fist too obnoxious to want to use. So I decided to try to fill a general niche in the form of a (physically) "bulky" Flying resist--well, immunity--that isn't Steel or Rock and thus likely also hideously slow or, in the case of Rock, riddled with myriad weaknesses since Electric types are basically all the inverse of that: "resistant" to Flying but generally flimsy enough to be 2HKO'd by strong Flying attacks anyway. I also just wanted a bulky Fighting/Flying type that wasn't some set-up machine by default like how Hawlucha is, which this hilariously somewhat checks even without Circle Throw (which allows it to play a bit of a mind-game with U-Turn). (I admittedly wanted to go with Storm Throw instead, which make it good at revenging set-up mons, but that would probably be a bit too good even ignoring its access to Swords Dance.)

Mega Mienshao
Type: Fighting/Ghost
Mega Stone: Mienshite

Ability: Prankster

Stats:
HP - 65 (+0)
ATK - 145 (+20)
DEF - 90 (+30)
SPA - 125 (+30)
SPD - 90 (+30)
SPE - 95 (-10)

New Moves: Shadow Ball

Description:

Dex Entry: Mega Mienshao's speed and grace as reached a transcendental peak, letting it become one with its own spirit. During Mega Evolution, Mienshao is even capable of astral projection, attacking foes from places not even the most centered of minds can comprehend.

Okay, so Mienshao makes an absolutely BONKERS Prankster user, and an insanely cool mixed attacker. I learned this first-hand playing EVO with Mienshao-Yaoguai (credits to Hema for that!), but that was at a much lower power level than we have here, so rather than trying to translate directly, I'm adapting the idea into something that can flourish here because I believe it has more than enough potential to.

As literally everyone knows, Fighting/Ghost is the most potent STAB combination any mon could have - however, in order to fully abuse this, Mienshao has to dedicate itself to splitting its attacking side. Mienshao has no physical Ghost STAB, not even Shadow Claw - however, it does now have Shadow Ball. This means if you plan to use the new Ghost type for anything but Normal and Fighting immunity, you have to be at least partially special. Well, what's stopping you from just going full-special, then? After all, it does have Aura Sphere - Close Combat and Hi Jump Kick are much stronger, for sure, but it already has to work with the 80 BP Shadow Ball, so Aura Sphere wouldn't be too much of an issue. Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, Calm Mind, Reflect could work just fine, no? That's right, it could, but if you want to draw out its true potential, you'll need to take along Drain Punch. You see, Mega Mienshao's true strength comes from being able to set up both Bulk Up and Calm Mind at Prankster priority, being able to augment Mienshao's frail-to-mediocre bulk before it matters. However, it still takes good damage early, and it takes time to set up, so with Mienshao's stronger starting physical attack and low-HP-to-high(er)-defenses spread, the leeching from Drain Punch is invaluable to making this a menace. Between the longevity and unwallable split attacks, this Pokemon's limits are only dictated by how well you can play.

In addition to priority Bulk Up, Calm Mind, and Reflect, it also has the insanely useful Prankster Taunt, preventing the opponent from using Toxic, Haze, or even their own Taunt trying to stop you. Finally, Prankster Me First - a move that sounds like just a gimmick, and might be, but could be much more. After all, with high attack on both physical and special sides, along with the 1.5x power boost (effectively recreating STAB), Mega Mienshao can competently use any move the opponent carries. At Prankster priority, this means than any enemy Ghost-type who may be faster than it is entirely denied a revenge-kill, because then its Ghost move is simply being regurgitated back at it, but first, and stronger. This is also important with the impending threat of Haxorus - any winning Haxorus that isn't Dragon/Steel or Dragon/Fairy will have to contend with Mienshao - no amount of DDances can spare Haxorus from a priority pseudoSTAB Outrage from an attack just as high as it has.

Finally, the type combo works here for much more than crazy STAB combos. The bane of all Prankster users is Dark-types, since they innately block the ability. Now, while its setup options are unaffected, Taunt, Me First, and possibly Toxic are all hindered by it - or they would be, if Mienshao's Fighting STAB didn't prevent every Dark type from ever daring to switch in on it. In addition, between Fighting rendering Ghost's Dark weakness as a neutrality, and Mega Stones blocking Knock's boost, Mega Mienshao effectively has a resistance to the most relevant Dark move there is, despite being a Ghost type. This means that, while a bit too frail to blindly switch in on Triple Axels all day, Mienshao can reliably rebuff Banded (or even Scarfed, depending on how Haxorus turns out) Weavile, which would otherwise be one of the most meta Ghost-checks there is. All in all, Mega Mienshao is a strong and very well-rounded jack of all trades, master of absolutely some. Its initial frailty and 4mss is what keeps it in check, however, preventing this potent ermine from doing quite everything, everywhere, all at once.

IT'S COLLABIN TIME Sticky Fingaaa

Mega Mienshao
Type: Fighting/Water
Ability: Regenerator
Stats:
HP: 65
Atk: 140 (+15)
Def: 105 (+45)
SpA: 100 (+5)
SpD: 85 (+25)
Spe: 115 (+10)
New Moves: Flip Turn, Scald, Whirlpool

Concept: Wake up babe, new Weavile check just dropped When looking at Mienshao, we realized that making it a Fighting/Water type could be interesting, not only competitively, since it allows Mienshao to check foes such as Weavile in Kalos Dex and Greninja in NatDex, but also because it works as an "extension" of its design wearing water sleeves, and well, being a stoat which happens to be related to otters(Also completely unrelated but stoats are mustelids and thus related to badgers as well) helps too.

Competitive Design: At first glance, Mega Mienshao might look like just a pivot or an SD sweeper able to exploit Weavile, but it goes far beyond than that.

Offensively, Mienshao is a fast, but also suitably bulky rocks resistant pivot able to chip as well as cripple opposing checks and then exercise pressure through its 140 base Atk stab CC(or High Jump Kick if you're feeling unafraid). Mienshao can also work as an excellent setup sweeper with Swords Dance, able to break through teams but also able to switch back to get back up to a good range and try to sweep again later if needed.

Defensively Mienshao isn't a slouch either, it uses its ability to the fullest along its type and bulk to check mons such as Weavile, Tyranitar, Volcanion, and many others while providing utility through moves like Scald, Toxic, And Knock Off. Its bulk is specifically designed to be able to check Weavile. And its speed tier is in the sweet range where any investment goes a long way, so you can go fully bulky, mixed, or even fast in a vein similar to Torn.

Something great about this Mienshao is its devotion to Mienshao's base form, and its preevolution Mienfoo. Allowing access to all the sets you could run on either Pokemon viably, and boosting it to a power level that is suitable for a pretty new Mega Form.

Additions: In that we're adding a new type we wanted to give it some new tools that synergize with its old kit, Mienshao lacks a Water STAB to use with its new type, so we chose Scald and Flip turn, we want it to emphasize the pivot set and we think that its much more interesting if Mienshao still struggles to hit Gliscor, and Hippowdon. And is either forced to pivot in the case of Gliscor, or could instead use its newly improved Special Attack to run Scald and threaten to burn Hippowdon. We also have whirlpool in there as it can actually be a slightly more viable version of Taunt Whirlpool Urshifu.

Since Paul is a stupid idiot and forgot to include this, I will. Credits to Sticky Fingaaa.

'Till next time.
:zangoose:

abismal · Nov 29, 2022

1. DrPumpkinz
2. Bloopyghost
3. SimpyShrimp
4. I-Deepblue-I
5. The Damned

:haxorus:

1. Bloopyghost
2. BlueRay
3. Eeveekid10
4. KeroseneZanchu
5. I-Deepblue-I

:mienshao:

1. DrPumpkinz
2. Paulluxx & Sticky Fingaa
3. Moretto
4. KeroseneZanchu
5. zxgzxg

Paulluxx · Nov 29, 2022

Our great and powerful leader, supports Scald on Mienshao...

MIENSHAO!!!

1. Paulluxx and Sticky Fingaaa!
2. KeroseneZanchu
3. zxgzxg
4. DrPumpkinz
5. Moretto
6. Okispokis

HAXORUS!!

1. Okispokis
2. BlueRay
3. The Damned
4. KeroseneZanchu
5. I-Deepblue-I
6. DrPumpkinz

ESCAVALIER!

1. DrPumpkinz
2. Bloopyghost
3. KeroseneZanchu
4. I-Deepblue-I
5. The Damned
6. SimpyShrimp

Hematemesis · Nov 29, 2022

1) Kero
2) Paul & Sticky
3) Bloopyghost
4) Moretto

:Escavalier:

1) DrPumpkinz
2) The Damned
3) Lavarina

:Haxorus:

1) I-Deepblue-I
2) okispokis
3) BlueRay

War Incarnate · Nov 29, 2022

A thief in a hero's armor? Not the hero we need or deserve, but a hero nonetheless.

1. KeroseneZanchu
2. Gekokeso
3. Bloopyghost
4. okispokis
5. DrPumpkinz
6. I-Deepblue-I

The slumbering beasts deep in the unknown lands are dangerous. None compare to the strength of Haxorus, who no one has ever challenged and lived to tell the tale.

1. BlueRay
2. KeroseneZanchu
3. DrPumpkinz
4. lydian
5. Simpyshrimp/Lysio/NANI?
6. The Damned
7. zxgzxg
8. Bloopyghost

People say she's the greatest martial artist in the land. And that's true. She knows all the forms and knows how to use them. But she's also so much more. I couldn't write it in this entry even if I wanted to.

1. KeroseneZanchu
2. Paulluxx & SF
3. DrPumpkinz
4. Bloopyghost
5. The Damned
6. zxgzxg
7. okispokis

shinxthe17! · Nov 29, 2022

no one:
literally no one:
m4a subs this slate: t e c h n i c i a n

:escavalier:

1) Bloopyghost
2) DrPumpkinz
3) The Damned
4) okis
5) Kero

if i had a nickel for every time someone subbed Technician Haxorus, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice.
:haxorus:

1) Shrimp, Lysio and Nani
2) Beaf Cultist
3) lydian
4) Kero
5) The Damned

:mienshao:

There's a lot of good shit here, wp to the subbers
1) Paul and Sticky (this one may actually be a huge addition to M4A Natdex in the future)

i'm not sure if paul and sticky are aware of this, but this mienshao also does an insane job covering magma storm heatran with drain punch. perhaps a mixed set (scald, knock, flip, drain) would work wonders against the big 3 of natdex?

2) Kero (this one, too, has a ton of potential)
3) DrPumpkinz
4) Moretto
5) zxgzxg
6) ry
7) Bloopyghost
8) The Damned

once again unable to come up with any ideas this slate, which is sad, but with 3 potentially really good Eeveelutions on the table, and with my newfound knowledge of the M4A metagame, I might spur something up :eyes:

Bloopyghost · Nov 29, 2022

1. KeroseneZanchu
2. Bloopyghost (SV)
3. Gekokeso
4. DrPumpkinz
5. I-Deepblue-I

:haxorus:

1. BlueRay
2. Bloopyghost (SV)
3. okispokis

:mienshao:

1. Paulluxx and StickyFingaa
2. KeroseneZanchu
3. Bloopyghost (SV)
4. DrPumpkinz
5. zxgzxg

Pet Mod Megas for All v7 - Kalos concluded! | Please read the first post! | Fully playable through Kalos Slate 10!

Turtlek

DrPumpkinz

SimpyShrimp

Turtlek

okispokis

Band

scatters things often

zxgzxg

scrabble

Gekokeso

Bloopyghost

guging

Eeveekid10

Whether to uturn or eq the heatran?

The Damned

BlueRay

KeroseneZanchu

Banned deucer.

Paulluxx

[Regional Manager of Big Shifu]

Sticky Fingaaa

KeroseneZanchu

Banned deucer.

Paulluxx

[Regional Manager of Big Shifu]

KeroseneZanchu

Banned deucer.

KeroseneZanchu

Banned deucer.

abismal

Paulluxx

[Regional Manager of Big Shifu]

Hematemesis

War Incarnate

shinxthe17!

Bloopyghost

guging

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