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JB
02-25-2011, 12:06 AM
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Metagross

Type: Steel/Psychic

Abilities: Clear Body - Stat-reducing moves have no effect on Metagross.
Light Metal (Dream World) - Metagross' weight is halved.

Base Stats:
HP: 80
Attack: 135
Defense: 130
Special Attack: 95
Special Defense: 90
Speed: 70

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/376.shtml

Overview
Metagross, the metal beast that he is in all of his glory, is back for another generation! Metagross is one of the finest pseudo-legendaries in the metagame with solid stats, great typing, and a very good movepool. It can be used in just about anything you can think of: stall, lead, heavy offense, bulky, you name it. Black and White doesn't bring too much for Metagross, but that also means its position in the metagame doesn't change either, which is good. It didn't get a lot of new toys this time, though. There is Light Metal, but Metagross is still pretty heavy with it on. Claw Sharpen, however, is great, making Metagross' attacks like Meteor Mash a cannon when it hits and makes it more accurate! However, with good news comes bad news. Explosion has been neutered from an outrageous 500 base power to 250, making sets with Explosion much less effective, but it is possible to work about it. With all this, Metagross is ready to go put dents into teams all over again this generation.

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Agiligross
Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)/Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)
60 HP/252 Atk/196 Spd
- Agility
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Thunderpunch/Zen Headbutt

Metagross has great stats all around...except that nagging 70 Speed, its only shortcoming. Agility is there to solve this problem and make Metagross extremely useful for sweeping. You can run Adamant if you prefer it to hit harder and Jolly if you want more speed. Earthquake is a staple move of Metagross' that can hit many things for neutral or super effective damage such as Steel types which can resist Metagross' STAB moves. Anything that Earthquake can't hit, Meteor Mash can. It has ridiculous power, but is almost as bad as Focus Blast as far as accuracy goes, even getting the nickname "Meteor Miss." The fourth slot depends on what hasn't been covered with the rest of your team. If you need coverage against Waters like Vaporeon and Gyarados, Thunderpunch can hit them pretty hard and with Agility into effect, can take them out quickly. Zen Headbutt is for an extra STAB move and the chance of flinching, which is scorned but really helpful. Life Orb makes these moves overwhelming in terms of power but a modest 10% life loss each time.

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Lead
Metagross @ Lum Berry/Occa Berry
Abilty: Clear Body
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash/Bullet Punch
- Earthquake

Metagross can also be toned into a exceptional lead with its great Defense. It can either take out weaker leads like Azelf with Meteor Mash, use Earthquake on Steel types that don't have an immunity or just finish them with Explosion, but this last move isn't the best option as the power has been halved form last generation. Stealth Rock is obviously for dishing out a small amount of damage each time a foe switches in. Explosion is very intense when backed up with Adamant and 135 Attack, promising to either OHKO or seriously hurt anything that isn't a Ghost. Now, you can either choose Meteor Mash for a very strong yet inaccurate STAB move or Bullet Punch as a great STAB priority move that can be used as a revenge kill against common threats and opposing leads that are weak against Steel and could have Focus Sash on. Earthquake is there for an accurate and bigger type covering move for the 4rd slot. Lum Berry is for curing any status ailments that enemies plan do use to hinder Metagross one time, but you could put on an Occa Berry to halve Fire moves, which would be pretty handy against leads with Fire Blast, for example.

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Mixedgross
Metagross @ Leftovers/Expert Belt
Ability: Clear Body
Quiet (+Sp. Atk, -Spd)
80 HP/124 Atk/252 Sp. Atk/52 Spd
- Meteor Mash
- Hidden Power Fire/Earthquake
- Grass Knot/Bullet Punch
- Psychic

Metagross can run both attack stats and despite its Special Attack being much lower, can prove useful as it can learn a variety of special moves to cover just about everything. Meteor Mash is there for big damage and coverage against Rock and Ice types. You can either run Hidden Power Fire to get the surprise on Forretress and Ferrothorn/Nattorei for an OHKO or Earthquake for Fire types meant to undermine Metagross. Grass Knot provides excellent damage against defensive Waters and Grounds. However, Grass Knot can be put aside for Bullet Punch if you want a speedy move and are uneasy about Meteor Mash's accuracy. Psychic fills the 4th slot for STAB and to cover anything that can somehow withstand the other 3 moves. It is very handy against Fighting types and does decent damage against Ghosts. Leftovers gives a small amount of HP to Metagross each turn, but it could make the difference. There's also the Expert Belt as an option which increases super effective hits by 30%, a noticeable boost of power.

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Bulky Sharpener
Metagross @ Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
240 HP/252 Atk/16 Spd
- Claw Sharpen
- ThunderPunch/Zen Headbutt
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake

To reiterate, Metagross can pull off just about anything, inlcluding bulkiness if need be. Its most prominent gift from Black and White is Claw Sharpen, which raises Attack AND accuracy, making its not-100%-accuracy moves like Meteor Mash more powerful and completely accurate, a deadly combo. ThunderPunch again gets to drop on bulky Water types and Zen Headbutt can be an option to deal with Fighting types that can hurt him. Meteor Mash can now be completely accurate, guaranteeing it puts holes into teams no problem. Earthquake covers against the ever-annoying Fire types that can use STAB moves to KO Metagross. The Occa Berry can help with the Fire problem and enable Metagross to survive them.

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Choice Scarf
Metagross @Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)
252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
- Meteor Mash
- ThunderPunch/Zen Headbutt
- Trick/Explosion
- Earthquake

With Choice Scarf, Metagross' Speed is increased and since it is a Choice Scarf set, Agility isn't an ideal option. Meteor Mash is for good STAB and coverage. ThunderPunch is for Waters and Zen Headbutt for bulky Ghosts and Fighting types. Now you can have either a suicidal but devastating Explosion as a last resort or Trick to free up Metagross' moves and to possibly trap enemies, but with the loss of that crucial Speed. Earthquake is for Electric types that can paralyze.

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Trick Room Gross
Metagorss @ Macho Brace
Ability: Clear Body
Brave (+Atk, -Spd)
252 HP/ 252 Atk/4 Def (0 Spe IVs)
-Gyro Ball
-Hammer Arm
-Zen Headbutt/ Ice Punch/ Thunder Punch
-Ice Punch/Thunder Punch/Claw Sharpen

If you somehow get Trick Room activated, it solves Metagross' Speed problem in another way. Gyro Ball is for STAB and good damage seeing as Metagross will be slower than most things its up against. Hammer Arm does Fighting type coverage against Steels like Excadrill and does 4x to Tyranitar and added niche of Speed lowering, making Gyro Ball more powerful. For the 3rd slot, you can have Zen Headbutt for great STAB move with flinching, Ice Punch to cover Dragons and Gliscor, or ThunderPunch for bulky Waters. You can again choose Ice Punch or ThunderPunch for the 4th slot or Claw Sharpen to increase that sweet Attack stat and increase the accuracy.

Other Options
Icy Wind: Good move on Metagross if you want to get those Dragon types. It also lowers Speed, but that might not affect them much given its low Speed it itself has.

Iron Head: Same deal with Gyro Ball being a more reliable alternative to Meteor Mash, but unlike Gyro ball it actually does decent damage and provides flinch.

Magnet Rise: Metagross can get rid of its Ground weakness with this, but it usually isn't required because Metagross has enough bulk to handle Ground moves anyways.

Psych Up: If you use this, Metagross can go on par with Dragon Dance and Curse users, but it is risky, because if they get past Metagross with the boosts, you can basically say goodbye to the rest of your team.

Reflect/Light Screen: Metagross can bump his already great Defense and good Special Defense to very tough levels, very useful on bulky sets if you can fit it in.

Psycho Shock: This can be put into a special set and has the added bonus of rendering special-blocking walls nigh useless.

Shadow Ball: Same deal with Psycho Shock, put it into a special set. However, this has the niche of lowering the enemy's Special Defense, so other special moves Metagross has can do more damage as long as the foe doesn't switch out.

Teammates
Entry hazards help Metagross considerably, with Metagross itself being able to lay out Stealth Rock. Heatran and Tyranitar can also help out by weakening Metagross' checks so Metagross can take them out easily and clear the path for a set-up or sweep. There's also Dragons that can switch in to handle Fire types, as they resist them. After Fire types are out of the game, Metagross doesn't really have much to worry about at all.

Counters
The biggest threats for Metagross are Ghosts and Steels. Although Rotom's alternate forms were very problematic back in the 4th generation, with their type switches, they don't pose as much of a threat as they don't resist as many moves along with Metagross' unpredictable movesets. Doesn't mean they have forgotten some of their tricks, however. Opposing Steel types also are a problem, as they are used to set up entry hazards that can really bother Metagross, not to mention they resist a few of its moves and since most of them have high Defense, they aren't going to be too fazed by Metagross' attacks. Magnezone is especially bad as it has access to Magnet Rise and can become immune to Earthquake, trap it with Magnet Pull since Metagross is Steel, and laugh at Metagross' other moves. These must be in check for Metagross to have no problem with whatever job it was built for.

Opinion
Metagross is awesome. There's nothing quite as cool as being a giant walking machine monster, having the IQ surpassing a supercomputer, and how it feeds: it PINS THEM DOWN WITH ITS BODY AND JUST STARTS CHOWING DOWN AT THEM!! There isn't anything below wicked about it. It pleases me so much, I always make sure to have one in my team before I beat any game that allows it. This is one of the greatest Pokemon concepts, in my opinion.

Credit to Serebii for info.
Credit to Smogon for EV spread info.
Credit to MikeDecIsHere, DDWhiscash, and lapras6666 for important edits.

MikeDecIsHere
02-25-2011, 01:27 AM
Nice job JB. Here are my thoughts:

Explosion has been SEVERELY nerfed from the last gen. Instead of it being essentially a 500 BP attack, it is only a 250 BP attack, which is a huge difference.

On the lead set, Earthquake should be the recommended option for the 4th move slot, with Explosion in the second slot. Same deal with the scarfed set, where Trick should be in front of Explosion

Other Options
-Light Screen/Reflect - Metagross has access to dual screens, which can make it a very nice support Pokemon due to its natural bulkiness.
-Ice Punch- Deserves a mention if not a move slot on almost every set minus leads, mainly due to the extremely common Gliscor and Garchomp.
-Psycho Shock- another option on the special set
-Shadow Ball- ^

overall, very nice job on this JB!

DDwhiscash
02-25-2011, 05:37 AM
I question Metagross's OU status.... The only Metagrosses I've seen are my own on rain teams with ShuckaSharpen. I'd gladly take any ridicule for clarification as to why it's OU and not UU. (Once again the lack of a BL strikes). Anyway since I experiment with Trick Room you can either add this set or other options it.

Trick Room Gross
Metagorss @ Macho Brace
Brave Nature
252 HP/ 252 Atk/4 Def (0 Spe IVs)
-Gyro Ball
-Hammer Arm
-Zen Headbutt/ Ice Punch/ Thunder Punch
-Ice Punch/Thunder Punch/Claw Sharpen

Gyro ball is your STAB move of choice hitting a lot of stuff for 150 based damage. Hammer Arm is your secondary move of choice, it also has decent coverage with Gyro Ball and helps increase the base that the move is ran off of by lowering your speed even more. Hammer Arm also helps strike opposing Steels such as Nattorei and Exadrill (Doryuuzu) and can even help exploit Tyrnanitar's 4x weakness to Fighting type moves. The next slot is a toss up. Zen Head-butt can be used to hurt any Fighting types that may try to ruin your parade. While Ice Punch can help you strike Gliscor and Dragon Types for some damage. Thunder Punch can put a dent on any bulky waters that may try to wall Metagross. In the final slot Thunder Punch and Ice Punch make a return, doing the exact same jobs they did previously. If you dislike the elemental punches, or feel as though Metagross needs extra firepower, Claw Sharpen can be used in the Final Slot. Iron Ball can also be used in conjunction with Trick to cripple defensive Pokemon.

lapras6666
02-25-2011, 08:06 AM
Wow great! One thing:
-Remember that this is gen 5, and that explosion is much weaker now.
-On the lead set, please put how you would deal with at least three of the leads from gen 5.

Also put a space beyween the @ and the item. It will be easier to read.