The Official Glyx
Banned deucer.
[OVERVIEW]
Meloetta acts as an incredible balance breaker, being capable of breaking through a wide variety of the metagame's best offensively and defensively built threats. With its considerable bulk and power, Meloetta can take out several offensive threats like Mega Charizard X and Y, Greninja, Porygon-Z, Mega Gardevoir, and Garchomp without fear of being KOed. Meloetta's Normal and Psychic typing complement each other quite nicely, with its Normal half benefiting from the presented neutrality to Fighting-type attacks from the likes of Haxorus, Choice Band Kartana, Mega Lopunny, and special Pheromosa and the Psychic half gaining a complete immunity to Ghost-type attacks from the likes of Normalium Porygon-Z, Aegislash, Blacephalon, and Mega Gengar. Additionally, Meloetta uses its variety of setup moves between Z-Celebrate, Calm Mind, and Laser Focus to break through top-tier defensive threats like Magearna, Kee Berry Mew, Zygarde, Mega Altaria, and Mega Venusaur. Sadly, though, Meloetta is mostly limited to using its STAB moves, meaning it is very easily walled by Pokemon that resist them like Mega Metagross, Celesteela, Mega Sableye, Ferrothorn, and Registeel. In addition, Meloetta's relatively low Defense leads to issues against some of the more powerful physical attackers of the metagame like Choice Band Victini, Mega Mawile, Sawk, and Mega Medicham. Ultimately, due to the bulky offensive nature of 1v1, Meloetta often struggles to pick up KOs against many Pokemon like specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Mega Gyarados, Kyurem, and Mega Swampert that are competently built to withstand its attacks and take advantage of Meloetta's need to set up in order to even have a chance at dealing with them.
[SET]
name: come on! (Z-Celebrate)
move 1: Celebrate
move 2: Hyper Beam
move 3: Laser Focus
move 4: Psychic / Psyshock
item: Normalium Z
ability: Serene Grace
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 12 SpA / 16 SpD / 100 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Celebrate is used alongside Normalium Z to boost all of Meloetta's stats, which aids it in reliably handling threats like offensive Mega Charizard X, Kommo-o, and Serperior. Hyper Beam is Meloetta's main damage-dealing move and can either be used alongside Normalium Z to become Breakneck Blitz or after Z-Celebrate to hit even harder than Breakneck Blitz! Using it as Breakneck Blitz also mitigates the need to recharge on the following turn, which is useful for 2HKOing offensive Magnezone. Laser Focus is an important stallbreaking tool that Meloetta uses to deal with Special Defense boosters like Mega Gardevoir, Kee Berry Mew, Clefable, and Deoxys-S. Psychic is Meloetta's secondary STAB move that is helpful for hitting Ghost- and Rock-types like Aegislash, Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Diancie that resist or are immune to Hyper Beam in addition to breaking potential Substitutes from Pokemon like Zygarde, Landorus-T, Garchomp, Primarina, and Serperior without being forced to recharge. Psyshock is an alternative Psychic-type STAB move that performs the same role but deals physical damage in the interest of aiding matchups against Nihilego and Mirror Coat Avalugg at the expense of being unable to break Zygarde's Substitute.
Set Details
========
248 HP and 132 Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand the combination of Fake Out and Giga Impact from Jolly Mega Lopunny. 100 Speed EVs ensure that Meloetta outpaces Timid Magnezone and Serperior after using Z-Celebrate. 16 Special Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand a Blast Burn from Timid Mega Charizard Y. Lastly, 12 Special Attack EVs with a Modest nature ensure that Meloetta KOes offensive Magnezone with the combination of Breakneck Blitz and Hyper Beam. Normalium Z grants Meloetta the ability to use any of Z-Celebrate, Breakneck Blitz, and Z-Laser Focus.
Usage Tips
========
You want to think your moves through carefully when using Meloetta. You will be using Normalium Z in just about every matchup, with several variances in how you go about using it. Usually, you will be using Z-Celebrate against opposing Pokemon that you need the boosts against like offensive Mega Charizard, Porygon-Z, Kee Berry Mew, Zygarde, Kommo-o, Serperior, and Tapu Fini. Pokemon like these all mandate that you outspeed them, tank their attacks, overpower them, or any combination of the three, which is why you lead with Z-Celebrate against them. The next most common case is when you'd just go for the KO as soon as possible with Breakneck Blitz against Pokemon like Greninja, offensive Magnezone, Mega Blaziken, Haxorus, Kartana, and Mega Lopunny, as these Pokemon would simply overwhelm Meloetta if you went for Z-Celebrate. Laser Focus is to be used sparingly and only for fringe cases against Special Defense boosters that Psyshock can't handle like Mega Gardevoir, opposing Meloetta, Kee Berry Mew, Clefable, Stored Power Necrozma, and stall Deoxys-S. Against all of these threats besides Clefable and Deoxys-S, you'd need to use Z-Celebrate followed by Laser Focus, as a critical hit from +0 Breakneck Blitz isn't as reliable at KOing these as a +1 critical hit from Hyper Beam, in addition to needing to outspeed Mew and Mega Gardevoir. Against stall Deoxys-S, you should use Z-Laser Focus to bypass any potential Special Defense boosts followed by Hyper Beam, as Deoxys-S is fast enough to outspeed +1 Meloetta and would prevent it from using normal Laser Focus with Taunt. The Psychic-type moves are typically only to be used for the sake of breaking Substitutes from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Serperior. Against Landorus-T and Garchomp, in particular, you need to be wary of the possibility that they use Rock Tomb to make Meloetta slower once again after it uses Z-Celebrate, as this means they can just use Substitute again to block its Hyper Beam, while a +1 Psychic-type move isn't guaranteed to KO them at 75%. Against Porygon-Z, it's best to start with Z-Celebrate, as this will ensure Meloetta survives any combination of attacks from Choice Scarf variants in addition to allowing it to outspeed Normalium Z sets in the event that they attempt to KO Meloetta with Breakneck Blitz instead of using Z-Conversion. If Porygon-Z transforms into a Ghost-type, it should be easy to take it down with Meloetta's Psychic-type moves, though it may be necessary to use Laser Focus if Meloetta is equipped with Psyshock in place of Psychic, as many Normalium Z Porygon-Z sets are built with a lot of Defense EVs. If Porygon-Z transforms into any other type, a Laser Focus followed by a Hyper Beam should be sufficient to blast it away, while it fails to KO Meloetta with anything other than Dark Pulse.
Team Options
========
Meloetta appreciates backup from the various Ground-types like Zygarde, Landorus-T, Donphan, Garchomp, and Krookodile that cover the Steel- and Rock-types that resist its STAB attacks. In turn, Meloetta handles the Water-types that threaten these Pokemon like non-Crunch Mega Gyarados, Choice Specs Greninja, Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Manaphy. Physically bulky Pokemon like Mega Metagross, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Aggron all serve to handle the powerful physical attackers like Dragonite, Mega Mawile, and Mega Medicham that would otherwise overwhelm Meloetta, while it returns the favor by covering special attackers like Mega Charizard Y, Choice Specs Greninja, Porygon-Z, Aegislash, and Kommo-o. Particular Pokemon like Kommo-o, Primarina, Mega Altaria, Mega Blaziken, and Pheromosa act quite nicely as partners for Meloetta on account of their resistances to the Bug- and Dark-type attacks that threaten it. Meanwhile, Meloetta covers particular threats to them like Tapu Lele, Mega Gardevoir, Tapu Fini, and opposing Mega Altaria.
[SET]
name: Calm Mind + Laser Focus
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Laser Focus
move 3: Uproar / Hyper Beam
move 4: Psyshock / Hyper Beam
item: Normalium Z
ability: Serene Grace
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 148 Def / 40 SpA / 16 SpD / 56 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Calm Mind aids Meloetta in beating Type: Null and Manaphy. Laser Focus is used alongside Calm Mind to bypass Special Defense boosts in order to take on Magearna and Stored Power Necrozma. Uproar is Meloetta's base move for Breakneck Blitz, in addition to being a useful regular move for going through Torrent Greninja's, Jumpluff's, Serperior's, and Whimsicott's Substitute. Psyshock is Meloetta's secondary STAB attack and allows it to deal damage to Ghost-types like Aegislash and Mega Gengar in addition to aiding matchups against Nihilego and Mirror Coat Avalugg by dealing physical damage. Hyper Beam can be used in place of Uproar or Meloetta's Psychic-type STAB move for the extra damage against certain threats like Mega Slowbro, Magnezone, Registeel, and stall Deoxys-S, but this sacrifices either the ability to bypass Substitutes or the ability to deal with Ghost- and Rock-types.
Set Details
========
248 HP and 16 Special Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand a Blast Burn from Timid Mega Charizard Y. 56 Speed EVs ensure that Meloetta outpaces neutral-natured Magearna. 40 Special Attack EVs with a Modest nature ensure that Meloetta gets the OHKO with Breakneck Blitz from Uproar against offensive Mega Charizard X, Landorus-T, and Mega Lopunny. 148 Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand the combination of Fake Out and Giga Impact from Jolly Mega Lopunny, as well as giving it the best odds it can get for withstanding the combination of Tectonic Rage + Ice Shard from Donphan. Normalium Z grants Meloetta the ability to use either Breakneck Blitz or Z-Laser Focus.
Usage Tips
========
You want to be very selective with how you go about using Meloetta, as different matchups have different ways that they are ideally played out. Breakneck Blitz should only be used immediately against particular Pokemon that aren't naturally specially defensive like offensive Mega Charizard X, Greninja, Porygon-Z, Landorus-T, Haxorus, Kartana, and Naganadel. Calm Mind is necessary for breaking through bulkier threats like Magearna, Tapu Lele, opposing Meloetta, Aegislash, Primarina, Heatran, Mega Venusaur, Necrozma, Porygon2, and Type: Null. Mega Charizard Y only requires a single use of Calm Mind before Meloetta can OHKO it with Breakneck Blitz; setting up any further only gives them more opportunities to land Air Slash flinches. Against Magearna, in particular, Meloetta only needs to set up to +3 before using Laser Focus followed by Breakneck Blitz. Setting up further only gives Magearna more chances to land critical hits or outright KO Meloetta.
Team Options
========
Meloetta appreciates assistance from physical attackers and stallbreakers like Taunt Mega Gyarados, Choice Band Garchomp, Mega Mawile, Taunt Mega Tyranitar, and Mega Blaziken that threaten the specially defensive Pokemon Meloetta fails to pressure offensively. In turn, Meloetta covers the bulky offense threats like Zygarde, Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Krookodile. Meloetta welcomes Pokemon like Z-Move Dragonite, Zygarde, Kommo-o, Mega Altaria, and Donphan that either completely wall or break down the Sturdy users that overpower it. Meloetta returns the favor by handling threats like Magearna, Greninja, Tapu Lele, Clefable, and Necrozma. Prominent Dark-types like Mega Tyranitar, Incineroar, Krookodile, and Scrafty cover Meloetta's problem with Pokemon that are immune to its STAB attacks, in addition to handling various other threats. Meanwhile, Meloetta covers their backs by handling Fairy-type threats like Magearna, Tapu Lele, Mega Gardevoir, Primarina, and Mega Altaria.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Meloetta can alternatively use a Choice Specs set that takes advantage of its immediate power and access to a wide variety of coverage moves like Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Thunderbolt, and Hidden Power Fire that enable it to power through foes that its Normalium Z sets can't handle, like specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Mega Slowbro, Mega Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Incineroar, at the expense of no longer being able to set up and having to move many bulk EVs to Special Attack. Hyper Voice is an alternative to Uproar that deals the same damage and allows Meloetta to freely choose a move after its use, but it isn't capable of blocking stall threats like non-Flame Charge Type: Null and some Mega Slowbro from using Rest.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Type Resistances**: With Meloetta being so reliant on its STAB attacks, it is left susceptible to Pokemon that resist them like Mega Metagross, Celesteela, Mega Tyranitar, Mega Aggron, Ferrothorn, and Jirachi or just resist Normal-type moves and are able to deal with the damage from its Psychic-type attacks like Gigalith, Mega Lucario, Alolan Marowak, and Rhyperior. Mega Sableye in particular is immune to both of Meloetta's STAB attacks. Plasma Fists Zeraora negates Normal-type attacks and is able to withstand Meloetta's Psychic-type attacks long enough for it to KO first.
**Overwhelming Offense**: While Meloetta does its best to withstand what it can, there are still a plethora of Pokemon that either outright KO it or set up to do so, like Dragonite, Mega Mawile, Choice Band Victini, Grassium Z Kartana, Choice Band Archeops, Mega Medicham, and Tapu Bulu.
**Super Effective Attacks**: On top of Meloetta's frailty, it also suffers from its weaknesses to Bug- and Dark-types that Pokemon like Genesect, Volcarona, Crunch Mega Gyarados, Hoopa-U, and Incineroar take advantage of.
**Specially Bulky Foes**: Mega Charizard X, Mega Blaziken, and Kyurem can invest into their special bulk in order to withstand Meloetta's attacks and ensure the win. Other Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Z-Thunder Wave Togekiss, Registeel, Mega Scizor, Chansey, and Umbreon beat Meloetta by setting up to raise their Special Defense or lowering its Special Attack and eventually stalling it out.
**Sturdy Users**: Pokemon with the ability Sturdy like Crustle, Sawk, Magneton, Carracosta, and Golem all threaten Meloetta by being able to withstand a single attack from it and proceed to KO it.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Rosa, 239997]]
- Quality checked by: [[Alakazam, 276708], [Nalei, 302951], [pqs, 425798]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Rabia, 336073]]
Meloetta acts as an incredible balance breaker, being capable of breaking through a wide variety of the metagame's best offensively and defensively built threats. With its considerable bulk and power, Meloetta can take out several offensive threats like Mega Charizard X and Y, Greninja, Porygon-Z, Mega Gardevoir, and Garchomp without fear of being KOed. Meloetta's Normal and Psychic typing complement each other quite nicely, with its Normal half benefiting from the presented neutrality to Fighting-type attacks from the likes of Haxorus, Choice Band Kartana, Mega Lopunny, and special Pheromosa and the Psychic half gaining a complete immunity to Ghost-type attacks from the likes of Normalium Porygon-Z, Aegislash, Blacephalon, and Mega Gengar. Additionally, Meloetta uses its variety of setup moves between Z-Celebrate, Calm Mind, and Laser Focus to break through top-tier defensive threats like Magearna, Kee Berry Mew, Zygarde, Mega Altaria, and Mega Venusaur. Sadly, though, Meloetta is mostly limited to using its STAB moves, meaning it is very easily walled by Pokemon that resist them like Mega Metagross, Celesteela, Mega Sableye, Ferrothorn, and Registeel. In addition, Meloetta's relatively low Defense leads to issues against some of the more powerful physical attackers of the metagame like Choice Band Victini, Mega Mawile, Sawk, and Mega Medicham. Ultimately, due to the bulky offensive nature of 1v1, Meloetta often struggles to pick up KOs against many Pokemon like specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Mega Gyarados, Kyurem, and Mega Swampert that are competently built to withstand its attacks and take advantage of Meloetta's need to set up in order to even have a chance at dealing with them.
[SET]
name: come on! (Z-Celebrate)
move 1: Celebrate
move 2: Hyper Beam
move 3: Laser Focus
move 4: Psychic / Psyshock
item: Normalium Z
ability: Serene Grace
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 12 SpA / 16 SpD / 100 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Celebrate is used alongside Normalium Z to boost all of Meloetta's stats, which aids it in reliably handling threats like offensive Mega Charizard X, Kommo-o, and Serperior. Hyper Beam is Meloetta's main damage-dealing move and can either be used alongside Normalium Z to become Breakneck Blitz or after Z-Celebrate to hit even harder than Breakneck Blitz! Using it as Breakneck Blitz also mitigates the need to recharge on the following turn, which is useful for 2HKOing offensive Magnezone. Laser Focus is an important stallbreaking tool that Meloetta uses to deal with Special Defense boosters like Mega Gardevoir, Kee Berry Mew, Clefable, and Deoxys-S. Psychic is Meloetta's secondary STAB move that is helpful for hitting Ghost- and Rock-types like Aegislash, Z-Conversion Porygon-Z, and Mega Diancie that resist or are immune to Hyper Beam in addition to breaking potential Substitutes from Pokemon like Zygarde, Landorus-T, Garchomp, Primarina, and Serperior without being forced to recharge. Psyshock is an alternative Psychic-type STAB move that performs the same role but deals physical damage in the interest of aiding matchups against Nihilego and Mirror Coat Avalugg at the expense of being unable to break Zygarde's Substitute.
Set Details
========
248 HP and 132 Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand the combination of Fake Out and Giga Impact from Jolly Mega Lopunny. 100 Speed EVs ensure that Meloetta outpaces Timid Magnezone and Serperior after using Z-Celebrate. 16 Special Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand a Blast Burn from Timid Mega Charizard Y. Lastly, 12 Special Attack EVs with a Modest nature ensure that Meloetta KOes offensive Magnezone with the combination of Breakneck Blitz and Hyper Beam. Normalium Z grants Meloetta the ability to use any of Z-Celebrate, Breakneck Blitz, and Z-Laser Focus.
Usage Tips
========
You want to think your moves through carefully when using Meloetta. You will be using Normalium Z in just about every matchup, with several variances in how you go about using it. Usually, you will be using Z-Celebrate against opposing Pokemon that you need the boosts against like offensive Mega Charizard, Porygon-Z, Kee Berry Mew, Zygarde, Kommo-o, Serperior, and Tapu Fini. Pokemon like these all mandate that you outspeed them, tank their attacks, overpower them, or any combination of the three, which is why you lead with Z-Celebrate against them. The next most common case is when you'd just go for the KO as soon as possible with Breakneck Blitz against Pokemon like Greninja, offensive Magnezone, Mega Blaziken, Haxorus, Kartana, and Mega Lopunny, as these Pokemon would simply overwhelm Meloetta if you went for Z-Celebrate. Laser Focus is to be used sparingly and only for fringe cases against Special Defense boosters that Psyshock can't handle like Mega Gardevoir, opposing Meloetta, Kee Berry Mew, Clefable, Stored Power Necrozma, and stall Deoxys-S. Against all of these threats besides Clefable and Deoxys-S, you'd need to use Z-Celebrate followed by Laser Focus, as a critical hit from +0 Breakneck Blitz isn't as reliable at KOing these as a +1 critical hit from Hyper Beam, in addition to needing to outspeed Mew and Mega Gardevoir. Against stall Deoxys-S, you should use Z-Laser Focus to bypass any potential Special Defense boosts followed by Hyper Beam, as Deoxys-S is fast enough to outspeed +1 Meloetta and would prevent it from using normal Laser Focus with Taunt. The Psychic-type moves are typically only to be used for the sake of breaking Substitutes from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Serperior. Against Landorus-T and Garchomp, in particular, you need to be wary of the possibility that they use Rock Tomb to make Meloetta slower once again after it uses Z-Celebrate, as this means they can just use Substitute again to block its Hyper Beam, while a +1 Psychic-type move isn't guaranteed to KO them at 75%. Against Porygon-Z, it's best to start with Z-Celebrate, as this will ensure Meloetta survives any combination of attacks from Choice Scarf variants in addition to allowing it to outspeed Normalium Z sets in the event that they attempt to KO Meloetta with Breakneck Blitz instead of using Z-Conversion. If Porygon-Z transforms into a Ghost-type, it should be easy to take it down with Meloetta's Psychic-type moves, though it may be necessary to use Laser Focus if Meloetta is equipped with Psyshock in place of Psychic, as many Normalium Z Porygon-Z sets are built with a lot of Defense EVs. If Porygon-Z transforms into any other type, a Laser Focus followed by a Hyper Beam should be sufficient to blast it away, while it fails to KO Meloetta with anything other than Dark Pulse.
Team Options
========
Meloetta appreciates backup from the various Ground-types like Zygarde, Landorus-T, Donphan, Garchomp, and Krookodile that cover the Steel- and Rock-types that resist its STAB attacks. In turn, Meloetta handles the Water-types that threaten these Pokemon like non-Crunch Mega Gyarados, Choice Specs Greninja, Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Manaphy. Physically bulky Pokemon like Mega Metagross, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Aggron all serve to handle the powerful physical attackers like Dragonite, Mega Mawile, and Mega Medicham that would otherwise overwhelm Meloetta, while it returns the favor by covering special attackers like Mega Charizard Y, Choice Specs Greninja, Porygon-Z, Aegislash, and Kommo-o. Particular Pokemon like Kommo-o, Primarina, Mega Altaria, Mega Blaziken, and Pheromosa act quite nicely as partners for Meloetta on account of their resistances to the Bug- and Dark-type attacks that threaten it. Meanwhile, Meloetta covers particular threats to them like Tapu Lele, Mega Gardevoir, Tapu Fini, and opposing Mega Altaria.
[SET]
name: Calm Mind + Laser Focus
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Laser Focus
move 3: Uproar / Hyper Beam
move 4: Psyshock / Hyper Beam
item: Normalium Z
ability: Serene Grace
nature: Modest
evs: 248 HP / 148 Def / 40 SpA / 16 SpD / 56 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Calm Mind aids Meloetta in beating Type: Null and Manaphy. Laser Focus is used alongside Calm Mind to bypass Special Defense boosts in order to take on Magearna and Stored Power Necrozma. Uproar is Meloetta's base move for Breakneck Blitz, in addition to being a useful regular move for going through Torrent Greninja's, Jumpluff's, Serperior's, and Whimsicott's Substitute. Psyshock is Meloetta's secondary STAB attack and allows it to deal damage to Ghost-types like Aegislash and Mega Gengar in addition to aiding matchups against Nihilego and Mirror Coat Avalugg by dealing physical damage. Hyper Beam can be used in place of Uproar or Meloetta's Psychic-type STAB move for the extra damage against certain threats like Mega Slowbro, Magnezone, Registeel, and stall Deoxys-S, but this sacrifices either the ability to bypass Substitutes or the ability to deal with Ghost- and Rock-types.
Set Details
========
248 HP and 16 Special Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand a Blast Burn from Timid Mega Charizard Y. 56 Speed EVs ensure that Meloetta outpaces neutral-natured Magearna. 40 Special Attack EVs with a Modest nature ensure that Meloetta gets the OHKO with Breakneck Blitz from Uproar against offensive Mega Charizard X, Landorus-T, and Mega Lopunny. 148 Defense EVs allow Meloetta to withstand the combination of Fake Out and Giga Impact from Jolly Mega Lopunny, as well as giving it the best odds it can get for withstanding the combination of Tectonic Rage + Ice Shard from Donphan. Normalium Z grants Meloetta the ability to use either Breakneck Blitz or Z-Laser Focus.
Usage Tips
========
You want to be very selective with how you go about using Meloetta, as different matchups have different ways that they are ideally played out. Breakneck Blitz should only be used immediately against particular Pokemon that aren't naturally specially defensive like offensive Mega Charizard X, Greninja, Porygon-Z, Landorus-T, Haxorus, Kartana, and Naganadel. Calm Mind is necessary for breaking through bulkier threats like Magearna, Tapu Lele, opposing Meloetta, Aegislash, Primarina, Heatran, Mega Venusaur, Necrozma, Porygon2, and Type: Null. Mega Charizard Y only requires a single use of Calm Mind before Meloetta can OHKO it with Breakneck Blitz; setting up any further only gives them more opportunities to land Air Slash flinches. Against Magearna, in particular, Meloetta only needs to set up to +3 before using Laser Focus followed by Breakneck Blitz. Setting up further only gives Magearna more chances to land critical hits or outright KO Meloetta.
Team Options
========
Meloetta appreciates assistance from physical attackers and stallbreakers like Taunt Mega Gyarados, Choice Band Garchomp, Mega Mawile, Taunt Mega Tyranitar, and Mega Blaziken that threaten the specially defensive Pokemon Meloetta fails to pressure offensively. In turn, Meloetta covers the bulky offense threats like Zygarde, Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Krookodile. Meloetta welcomes Pokemon like Z-Move Dragonite, Zygarde, Kommo-o, Mega Altaria, and Donphan that either completely wall or break down the Sturdy users that overpower it. Meloetta returns the favor by handling threats like Magearna, Greninja, Tapu Lele, Clefable, and Necrozma. Prominent Dark-types like Mega Tyranitar, Incineroar, Krookodile, and Scrafty cover Meloetta's problem with Pokemon that are immune to its STAB attacks, in addition to handling various other threats. Meanwhile, Meloetta covers their backs by handling Fairy-type threats like Magearna, Tapu Lele, Mega Gardevoir, Primarina, and Mega Altaria.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Meloetta can alternatively use a Choice Specs set that takes advantage of its immediate power and access to a wide variety of coverage moves like Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Thunderbolt, and Hidden Power Fire that enable it to power through foes that its Normalium Z sets can't handle, like specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Mega Slowbro, Mega Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Incineroar, at the expense of no longer being able to set up and having to move many bulk EVs to Special Attack. Hyper Voice is an alternative to Uproar that deals the same damage and allows Meloetta to freely choose a move after its use, but it isn't capable of blocking stall threats like non-Flame Charge Type: Null and some Mega Slowbro from using Rest.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Type Resistances**: With Meloetta being so reliant on its STAB attacks, it is left susceptible to Pokemon that resist them like Mega Metagross, Celesteela, Mega Tyranitar, Mega Aggron, Ferrothorn, and Jirachi or just resist Normal-type moves and are able to deal with the damage from its Psychic-type attacks like Gigalith, Mega Lucario, Alolan Marowak, and Rhyperior. Mega Sableye in particular is immune to both of Meloetta's STAB attacks. Plasma Fists Zeraora negates Normal-type attacks and is able to withstand Meloetta's Psychic-type attacks long enough for it to KO first.
**Overwhelming Offense**: While Meloetta does its best to withstand what it can, there are still a plethora of Pokemon that either outright KO it or set up to do so, like Dragonite, Mega Mawile, Choice Band Victini, Grassium Z Kartana, Choice Band Archeops, Mega Medicham, and Tapu Bulu.
**Super Effective Attacks**: On top of Meloetta's frailty, it also suffers from its weaknesses to Bug- and Dark-types that Pokemon like Genesect, Volcarona, Crunch Mega Gyarados, Hoopa-U, and Incineroar take advantage of.
**Specially Bulky Foes**: Mega Charizard X, Mega Blaziken, and Kyurem can invest into their special bulk in order to withstand Meloetta's attacks and ensure the win. Other Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Z-Thunder Wave Togekiss, Registeel, Mega Scizor, Chansey, and Umbreon beat Meloetta by setting up to raise their Special Defense or lowering its Special Attack and eventually stalling it out.
**Sturdy Users**: Pokemon with the ability Sturdy like Crustle, Sawk, Magneton, Carracosta, and Golem all threaten Meloetta by being able to withstand a single attack from it and proceed to KO it.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Rosa, 239997]]
- Quality checked by: [[Alakazam, 276708], [Nalei, 302951], [pqs, 425798]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Rabia, 336073]]
Last edited:
