[Overview]
Melmetal, as the embodiment of a traditional tank role in SS OU, holds a strong and flexible role as a defensive stonewall and simultaneously a dangerous offensive threat. While its pure Steel typing makes it an ideal answer to Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Clefable, its high natural bulk and capacity to dish out huge damage gives it the option to trade with otherwise polarizing threats like Bisharp, Weavile, and Dragapult in a pinch. It finds itself often used in the Steel-type slot of bulky offense and balance teams to solidify offensive matchups while adding to the attack itself. The central aspect of its offensive assault is its signature Iron Fist-boosted STAB Double Iron Bash, capable of OHKOing or 2HKOing any non-resistant Pokemon while its decent coverage for the common Water- and Steel-type switch-ins, as well as utility options in Toxic, or often Thunder Wave, helps it wallbreak more easily. Its high flinch chance can often grant it more opportunities to break past slower walls too. Unfortunately, Melmetal's lack of reliable recovery, vulnerability to chip damage, and slowness can sometimes limit it; it often requires lots of support from its teammates in tackling its main checks in Ferrothorn, Slowbro, and Zapdos.
[SET]
name:
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Earthquake / Superpower
move 3: Toxic / Thunder Punch
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
On Leftovers sets, Melmetal can run either a Toxic + 2 Attacks set, centered around using Toxic to wear down non-Steel-type checks while teammates answer Ferrothorn and Corviknight, or a 3 Attacks set using Thunder Punch to wallbreak for itself and benefit from slightly less annoyance against Corviknight and Urshifu-R. It's worth noting that non-Toxic Melmetal is walled by Zapdos and easily punished by Static, making it generally an inferior wallbreaking option. Either way, both sets use Protect with Leftovers to recover as much as possible while scouting opposing Choice-locked Pokemon like Kartana, Dragapult, and Tapu Lele. Protect and Toxic especially have immense synergy in stacking Toxic damage while recovering with Leftovers, but can be easily taken advantage of if used passively. Earthquake, or sometimes Superpower (exclusively on 3 Attacks sets) to target Ferrothorn or the rare Air Balloon Magnezone, targets common Double Iron Bash resists like Toxapex, Heatran, and opposing Melmetal. This EV spread outspeeds Toxapex, letting Melmetal outspeed and 2HKO or fish for a Double Iron Bash flinch against it, while maximizing Special Defense to most easily take hits from Tapu Lele, Dragapult, and Clefable.
Magnezone is one of Toxic Melmetal's best partners because it removes Melmetal's main obstacles in Ferrothorn and Corviknight. Melmetal always has a Water-type teammate, usually Slowbro or Toxapex, to help cover its defensive weaknesses against Fighting- and Fire-types like Urshifu-R and Victini. Slowbro can run Colbur Berry to counter Weavile while giving Melmetal unique Future Sight support and free switches via Teleport, while Toxapex absorbs Shadow Ball from Dragapult and can Knock Off, Scald burn, or Toxic some common Melmetal checks that might stay in like Ferrothorn, Slowbro, and Zapdos. These defensive cores are usually rounded out by Landorus-T and Tornadus-T, who solidify matchups against Electric-types, like Tapu Koko and Zeraora, and Grass-types, like Kartana and Ferrothorn, respectively. Because of Melmetal's defensive strengths as a Steel-type, bulky offense can afford to abuse offensive Air Balloon Heatran's wallbreaking power with less fear of being overwhelmed by Tapu Lele or Weavile. Balance and semistall teams can sometimes use Wish Clefable or Chansey to support Melmetal as a sole win condition, improving its longevity issues and taking advantage of its strong matchups against offense.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[airfare, 513717]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2], [username3, userid3]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
Melmetal, as the embodiment of a traditional tank role in SS OU, holds a strong and flexible role as a defensive stonewall and simultaneously a dangerous offensive threat. While its pure Steel typing makes it an ideal answer to Fairy-types like Tapu Lele and Clefable, its high natural bulk and capacity to dish out huge damage gives it the option to trade with otherwise polarizing threats like Bisharp, Weavile, and Dragapult in a pinch. It finds itself often used in the Steel-type slot of bulky offense and balance teams to solidify offensive matchups while adding to the attack itself. The central aspect of its offensive assault is its signature Iron Fist-boosted STAB Double Iron Bash, capable of OHKOing or 2HKOing any non-resistant Pokemon while its decent coverage for the common Water- and Steel-type switch-ins, as well as utility options in Toxic, or often Thunder Wave, helps it wallbreak more easily. Its high flinch chance can often grant it more opportunities to break past slower walls too. Unfortunately, Melmetal's lack of reliable recovery, vulnerability to chip damage, and slowness can sometimes limit it; it often requires lots of support from its teammates in tackling its main checks in Ferrothorn, Slowbro, and Zapdos.
[SET]
name:
move 1: Double Iron Bash
move 2: Earthquake / Superpower
move 3: Toxic / Thunder Punch
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Iron Fist
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 244 SpD / 12 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
On Leftovers sets, Melmetal can run either a Toxic + 2 Attacks set, centered around using Toxic to wear down non-Steel-type checks while teammates answer Ferrothorn and Corviknight, or a 3 Attacks set using Thunder Punch to wallbreak for itself and benefit from slightly less annoyance against Corviknight and Urshifu-R. It's worth noting that non-Toxic Melmetal is walled by Zapdos and easily punished by Static, making it generally an inferior wallbreaking option. Either way, both sets use Protect with Leftovers to recover as much as possible while scouting opposing Choice-locked Pokemon like Kartana, Dragapult, and Tapu Lele. Protect and Toxic especially have immense synergy in stacking Toxic damage while recovering with Leftovers, but can be easily taken advantage of if used passively. Earthquake, or sometimes Superpower (exclusively on 3 Attacks sets) to target Ferrothorn or the rare Air Balloon Magnezone, targets common Double Iron Bash resists like Toxapex, Heatran, and opposing Melmetal. This EV spread outspeeds Toxapex, letting Melmetal outspeed and 2HKO or fish for a Double Iron Bash flinch against it, while maximizing Special Defense to most easily take hits from Tapu Lele, Dragapult, and Clefable.
Magnezone is one of Toxic Melmetal's best partners because it removes Melmetal's main obstacles in Ferrothorn and Corviknight. Melmetal always has a Water-type teammate, usually Slowbro or Toxapex, to help cover its defensive weaknesses against Fighting- and Fire-types like Urshifu-R and Victini. Slowbro can run Colbur Berry to counter Weavile while giving Melmetal unique Future Sight support and free switches via Teleport, while Toxapex absorbs Shadow Ball from Dragapult and can Knock Off, Scald burn, or Toxic some common Melmetal checks that might stay in like Ferrothorn, Slowbro, and Zapdos. These defensive cores are usually rounded out by Landorus-T and Tornadus-T, who solidify matchups against Electric-types, like Tapu Koko and Zeraora, and Grass-types, like Kartana and Ferrothorn, respectively. Because of Melmetal's defensive strengths as a Steel-type, bulky offense can afford to abuse offensive Air Balloon Heatran's wallbreaking power with less fear of being overwhelmed by Tapu Lele or Weavile. Balance and semistall teams can sometimes use Wish Clefable or Chansey to support Melmetal as a sole win condition, improving its longevity issues and taking advantage of its strong matchups against offense.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[airfare, 513717]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2], [username3, userid3]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
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