Pokémon Metagross

[ViZar]

Metagross

Base Stats: 80 HP / 135 Atk / 130 Def / 95 SpA / 90 SpD / 70 Spe
Abilities: Clear Body | Light Metal (HA)

All Moves

Level Up Moves:
[Evolve] Hammer Arm
[00] Hammer Arm
[00] Confusion
[00] Metal Claw
[00] Bullet Punch
[00] Tackle
[06] Zen Headbutt
[12] Magnet Rise
[16] Flash Cannon
[26] Take Down
[34] Psychic
[42] Scary Face
[52] Meteor Mash
[62] Iron Defense
[72] Agility
[82] Hyper Beam

TMs:
[TM04] Ice Punch
[TM05] Thunder Punch
[TM08] Hyper Beam
[TM09] Giga Impact
[TM17] Light Screen
[TM18] Reflect
[TM20] Self-Destruct
[TM21] Rest
[TM22] Rock Slide
[TM24] Snore
[TM25] Protect
[TM26] Scary Face
[TM27] Icy Wind
[TM32] Sandstorm
[TM33] Rain Day
[TM34] Sunny Day
[TM39] Facade
[TM40] Swift
[TM43] Brick Break
[TM48] Rock Tomb
[TM69] Psycho Cut
[TM76] Round
[TM81] Bulldoze
[TM97] Brutal Swing
[TM98] Stomping Tantrum

TRs:
[TR01] Body Slam
[TR10] Earthquake
[TR11] Psychic
[TR12] Agility
[TR20] Substitute
[TR22] Sludge Bomb
[TR26] Endure
[TR27] Sleep Talk
[TR33] Shadow Ball
[TR38] Trick
[TR44] Cosmic Power
[TR46] Iron Defense
[TR52] Gyro Ball
[TR69] Zen Headbutt
[TR70] Flash Cannon
[TR74] Iron Head
[TR76] Stealth Rock
[TR77] Grass Knot
[TR83] Ally Switch
[TR99] Body Press

Tutor Moves:
Expanding Force
Meteor Beam
Steel Roller

Transfer Only:
Toxic
Double Team
Aerial Ace
Explosion
Rock Polish
Psych Up
Swagger
Confide
Block
Gravity
Laser Focus
Hone Claws
Rock Smash
Power-up Punch
Cut
Strength
Fury Cutter
Mud-slap
Rollout
Headbutt
Double-Edge
Mimic
Dynamic Punch
Defense Curl

Newly Obtainable Moves (if any)

Body Press
Brutal Swing
Psycho Cut
Steel Roller
Meteor Beam
Expanding Force
Cosmic Power

Notable Moves

• Meteor Mash
• Hammer Arm
• Bullet Punch
• Magnet Rise
• Zen Headbutt
• Iron Defense
• Agility
• Ice Punch
• Thunder Punch
• Self-Destruct
• Rock Slide
• Facade
• Earthquake
• Trick
• Iron Head
• Stealth Rock
• Grass Knot
• Body Press
• Toxic
• Explosion
• Rock Polish
• Block
• Hone Claws
• Power-up Punch

Pros

1. Decent Movepool: As you can see from above, Metagross has some really good moves. It has options for an Agility, a defensive, a Choice Band set and so on.
2. Good Stats: Being a Pseudo-Legendary, Metagross has a BST of 600, which is obviously good. 80/130/90 bulk and a really good 135 base Attack stat. Its downside is its 70 base Speed.

Cons

1. Common Weaknesses: Before the Steel Nerf, Steel + Psychic was a really good typing. Psychic resisted Psychic and Steel resisted Ghost and Dark, covering each others weaknesses. However, Steel is now neutral Dark and Ghost giving Metagross a weakness to those types and in a metagame with Urshifu-S, Dragapult, Aegislash and Spectrier, those are crippling weaknesses. It also has to fear Blaziken, Cinderace, Heatran, Moltres, Victini, Volcarona, Excadrill, Hippowdon, Garchomp, both Landorus forms and Zygarde due to it’s Fire and Ground Weakness.
2. Decent at best abilities: Light Metal isn’t a really good ability, it weakens Grass Knot, a already resisted move, and Low Kick, which isn’t very common outside of Ubers. Clear Body is better, but it only really prevents Defense drops from Zapdos-Gs Thunderous Kick and Attack drops from Landorus-T, in which case Metagross can actually Ice Punch both, but outside of these two Clear Body isn’t really useful.
3. 4MSS: I mentioned before, that is has a decent Movepool, but it really suffers from 4MSS. It wants to run either Meteor Mash and Iron Head plus maybe Bullet Punch, but also wants Ice Punch for Dragons, Grounds and Flyers, Thunder Punch for Waters and Earthquake for Steels and Fires. Oh, I forgot its secondary stab Zen Headbutt, Explosion and Stealth Rock. There is also Body Press + Iron Defense and Agility for Sweeper sets. This is a problem.
4. Jirachi: Jirachi also has a 600 BST, but with lower Attack and Defense, but every other stat is higher than Metagrosses. Plus, it has a way better Ability in Serene Grace and a better move pool. Jirachi already has problems in this Metagame, so Metagross won’t stand a chance.

Potential Movesets

Choice Band
Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash / Iron Head
- Earthquake / Thunder Punch / Rock Slide / Explosion / Hammer Arm
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch / Rock Slide / Explosion / Hammer Arm
- Bullet Punch / Explosion / Trick

It checks the Fairies Magearna, Tapus and Clefable really well, although it’s outclassed on that regard by other Steels. You can run whatever you want, I prefer a strong Steel stab, Priority, Earthquake for Steels, Fires and Toxapex and Ice Punch for Landorus-T and both Zapdos forms. Thunder Punch helps against the Steel birds and Waters, Rock Slide against Rotom-H and Volcarona, Hammerarm against Darks, Steels and Normals, while Explosion can nuke things and Trick can cripple walls. Unfortunatly it's outclassed by Aegislash, Genesect, Jirachi, Melmetal and Scizor as a choiced Steel.

Iron Defense
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press / Thunder Punch / Ice Punch / Rock Slide / Earthquake / Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch / Thunder Punch / Ice Punch / Rock Slide / Earthquake / Meteor Mash
- Iron Defense
- Protect / Stealth Rock / Toxic

It's like Kommo-o and Heatran ordered on Wish. With Iron Defense it can set up on Zapdos-G since Thundourus Kick doesn't drop its Defense and that's really it. It needs protect to maximize Recovery from Leftovers and after that you only have 2 slots left and it alreaady has 4MSS. It's not really worth it since the steel birds, Celesteela, Ferrothorn and Heatran exist.

Agility
Metagross @ Weakness Policy / Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe or 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant or Naughty Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch / Rock Slide / Power-up Punch / Grass Knot
- Earthquake / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch / Rock Slide / Power-up Punch / Grass Knot
- Agility

Set up Agility and win, kind of. Look I know, that I sound like a broken record, but since its 4MSS it's gonna get forced out by any Pokémon, that you don't have Coverage against. You can't really run Hammer Arm since it drops your Speed and outside of Weakness Policy, it only has Meteor Mash and Power-up Punch to boost its Attack. Again, its outclassed by other Steels like Sand Rush Excadrill who has an instant Agility under Sand or Magearna and Genesect, who both have Shift Gear, which is better than Agility since it raises Attack too. The former doesn't really make work of the boosted Attack aside from Stored Power and the latter ... it's f*cking Genesect.

Lead
Metagross @ Focus Sash
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock

It's outclassed at that role too, because Azelf is faster and Excadrill can support it's team better, but Metagross has priority, unlike Azelf, and the same Attack stat as Excadrill and a suicide move that goes off it's superior attack. It's really simple Attack the opposing, finish it off or set rocks and attack afterwards, depends on the Match-Up.

Assault Vest
Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 196 HP / 104 Atk / 24 SpD / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch / Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake / Rockslide

This set might the best set for Metagross imo. This set checks the Tapus, Kyurem-B, Tyranitar & Magearna plus living a least on hit from Dragapult, Heatran & Landorus-T and OHKOing them with the combination of a super effective move + Bullet Punch. I still see this set outclassed by Magearna and Melmetal, but i certainly think that Metagross has a really good niche with this set.

Trapper (?)
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash / Thunder Punch / Ice Punch / Rock Slide / Hammer Arm / Earthquake / Body Press
- Zen Headbutt / Thunder Punch / Ice Punch / Rock Slide / Hammer Arm / Earthquake / Body Press
- Hone Claws / Magnet Rise / Toxic
- Block

I honestly don't know what this is. I really wanted a forth set (it were four before editing this thread) and saw Block and made this. It can trap thing like Toxapex and Amoongus and spam Zen Headbutt or run Magnet Rise to annoy Grounds, but it probably isn't worth trying. If you want a trapping Steel you can use Magnezone, who also has Magnet Rise, Iron Defense and Body Press as well as a trapping ability, or Heatran, whose trapping move is stab and does damage, has Taunt and better typing. Even Scizor with Sand Tomb might be more viable and it isn't seen anywhere.

It would be better when it drops to UU.


S/o to Chameleon & Mega-Pokebattlerz for mentioning the Agility set and LanceStern for mentioning the Assault Vest set.

 

[Chameleon]

Things don't look great for Metagross in OU, and I doubt it will remain there. An Agility + Weakness Policy set might be a fun gimmick, meshing with its high stats, weakness to Knock Off, and immunity to Intimidate. Shame it is weak to Sucker Punch and Regieleki.

Metagross @ Weakness Policy
Naughty Nature
- Zen Headbutt / Meteor Mash
- Hammer Arm / Earthquake
- Grass Knot
- Agility

Zen + Hammer gets decent hits on Ferrothorn and Corviknight, while Meteor + EQ gives neutral coverage on Psychics while still OHKO'ing Pex after rocks.

A few calcs

+2 252+ Atk Metagross Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 321-378 (100.6 - 118.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Metagross Hammer Arm vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 468-552 (121.2 - 143%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Metagross Hammer Arm vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 294-346 (83.5 - 98.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Metagross Hammer Arm vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 171-202 (42.7 - 50.5%) -- 41.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 0 SpA Metagross Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Swampert: 476-564 (117.8 - 139.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 0 SpA Metagross Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Hippowdon: 430-506 (102.3 - 120.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[Mega-Pokebattlerz]

Holy shit the slash-itis

Why run Hammer Arm on Iron Defense sets when you have Body Press? Body Press fills the same role but doesn't drop Meta's speed, and also turns the Iron Defense boosts into an offensive weapon. In fact, I think all Iron Defense sets should be running Body Press, and you should add a second setup sweeper set with Agility.

 

[ViZar]

Holy shit the slash-itis

Why run Hammer Arm on Iron Defense sets when you have Body Press? Body Press fills the same role but doesn't drop Meta's speed, and also turns the Iron Defense boosts into an offensive weapon. In fact, I think all Iron Defense sets should be running Body Press, and you should add a second setup sweeper set with Agility.

good call, didn't think about it

 

[LanceStern]

Metagross with Assault Vest is pretty brutal. It's been an MVP for me in many matches on the ladder

Adamant Nature
200 HP/140 Atk/32 SpDef/136 Speed
Meteor Mash
Bullet Punch
Earthquake
Rock Slide/Thunder Punch/Ice Punch/Zen Headbutt

Checks all of the Tapus.
Checks Genesect
Checks Heatran
Checks Garchomp
Checks Ttar, Dragapult, Landorus, Kyurem-Black etc.

You need major SpDef investment even with Assault Vest if you want to live Landorus-I earth power (my spread ain't it)
Honestly you may not need the speed investment if you don't care to outrun azumarill or mandibuzz or crawdaunt