Mega Corner

Metagross, The Iron Leg Pokémon. This form results from one Metagross, one Metang, and two Beldum linking up. Mega Evolution stimulated its brain. It emerged as a ruthless Pokémon that will clutch at any means of ensuring its victories. Its intellect surpasses its previous level, resulting in battles so cruel, they’ll make you want to cover your eyes. When it knows it can’t win, it digs the claws on its legs into its opponent and starts the countdown to a big explosion.

Overview

Mega Metagross is one of the best Mega Evolutions in the whole game. Its combination of power, bulk and speed makes it an incredibly threatening offensive powerhouse that can easily plow through most teams with the right coverage moves. While Steel/Psychic might not be a perfect defensive typing, Mega Metagross amazing defenses allows it to switch into many attacks and even take super-effective moves. Its ability, Tough Claws, allows it to raise the power of its physical contact moves and take advantage of its massive movepool to make it a top metagame threat. However, while Mega Metagross doesn't really has a lot of flaws, it can't cover every threat with one set and it suffers massively from 4 moveslot syndrome. Nevertheless Mega Metagross is a fantastic Pokemon that can easily be able to pressure its foes when played correctly, which is why many competitive players prepare for it.
Positives
Sky high Attack allows Mega Metagross to be a top threat in the game. A base 145 base Attack is an incredibly high stat that allows Mega Metagross to dish out incredible amount of damage.
Regular Metagross has a great ability on Clear Body allowing it to protect itself from Intimidate's lowering effects before triggering the Mega Evolution at a more appropriate time. Tough Claws is a huge offensive ability for Mega Metagross considering its impressive physical movepool: Meteor Mash, Zen Headbutt, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Brick Break, Stomping Tantrum, Bullet Punch and the list goes on… These moves gain a x1.3 boost thanks to this ability.
80/150/110 defenses make Mega Metagross incredibly bulky allowing it to take hits throughout the match and even allowing it to eat STAB super-effective attacks. Just to give you an idea: neutral 252 Atk Landorus Therian's Earthquake fails to OHKO at full health.
Mega Metagross has been blessed with a base 110 Speed making it incredibly fast and able to take down threats like Garchomp before they have a chance to move. Thanks to the new Mega Evolution mechanics of Gen 7, Mega Metagross gains the full benefits of its Speed the same turn it transforms.
Mega Metagross is one of the few Pokemon to take a benefit from all the Island Guardian terrain effects: Grassy Surge allows it to tank Ground attacks and even recover some HP, Electric Surge boosts the power of its Thunder Punch allowing it to 2HKO Skarmory & Celesteela, Psychic Surge boosts the power of its STAB Zen Headbutt to ridiculous levels and Misty Surge protects it from status ailments. Negatives
Mega Metagross is susceptible to be revenged killed by Ghost- and Dark-types. Pokemon like Mimikyu, Aegislash and Bisharp can dispatch Mega Metagross with STAB Shadow Sneak or STAB Sucker Punch.
While Mega Metagross has weaknesses to Ground and Fire attacks as well and Mega Metagross may have the moves to deal with them, any Pokemon that is able to outspeed it and threaten it with a super-effective STAB move will scare Mega Metagross.

Abilities

Tough Claws: Increases the power of moves that make physical contact by 30% - A very solid ability as much of Metagross' movepool makes physical contact

Movesets

Quad-Core CPU

- Meteor Mash / Iron Head
- Zen Headbutt / Thunder Punch
- Earthquake / Hammer Arm / Stomping Tantrum
- Ice Punch / Bullet Punch / Pursuit
Item Attached: Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws (Clear Body on Metagross)
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Meteor Mash is Mega Metagross's preferred STAB move of choice as it allows it to raise its Attack stat one stage while denting very hard any Pokemon that does not resist the move. Iron Head is a 2nd option to hit foes 100% accurately while having a 30% chance of flinching the opponent's Pokemon. When it comes to choosing Mega Metagross's coverage moves, it truly depends on what you want it to hit: Zen Headbutt is a secondary STAB that allows Mega Metagross to obliterate Mega Venusaur and Keldeo while getting boosted to obscene levels with Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain. Thunder Punch ravages Tapu Fini and Gyarados and it becomes an incredibly powerful move capable of 2HKO-ing Skarmory and Celesteela with the boost of Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain. Stomping Tantrum is almost just as powerful as Earthquake, however, if the opponent switches a Pokemon that makes one of Mega Metagross's moves have no effect (Ex: Alolan Marowak switching into Thunder Punch), it doubles its power making it very threatening for it. On the other hand, Hammer Arm lets Mega Metagross destroy Tyranitar while smacking Ferrothorn at the cost of reducing its very good Speed to one stage. Earthquake deserves a special mention as it allows Mega Metagross to 2HKO Aegislash without weakening itself on the process. On the last slot, Ice Punch is preferred for its ability to obliterate Landorus-Therian, Zygarde and Mega Salamence. Bullet Punch is an excellent priority move that still gets boosted by Tough Claws and makes it harder to get Mega Metagross revenge-killed. Pursuit is also an option on the last slot to badly wound any Psychic type like Latios trying to escape its claws. If no other Pokemon is using Stealth Rock, its worth mentioning that Mega Metagross can also set up the hazard as it already forces a lot of switches.

Max Attack & Speed lets Mega Metagross take advantage fully of its incredible offensive potential. The rest is dumped on Defense as it allows Mega Metagross to take physical attacks much better.

Clear Body is the preferred pre-Mega ability as it allows Mega Metagross to remain un-evolved to prevent Intimidate users from lowering its Attack. There is no real benefit from using Light Metal, so don't even think about it. Once it Mega Evolves, Mega Metagross gains Tough Claws which grants a x1.3 boost to all physical moves that make contact as its only ability.

Core 4 Overclock

- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake / Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
Item Attached: Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws (Clear Body on Metagross)
EVs and Nature:
80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature

Agility makes Mega Metagross even more threatening being able to outspeed any relevant threat after a single Speed boost. Meteor Mash is the preferred move on this set, not only because of its decently high power, but because it allows Mega Metagross to increase its chances of sweeping with an Attack boost in case it happens. Earthquake is the preferred move on this set mostly because it won't force contact and it still damages Magnezone, Tyranitar, Bisharp and Magearna incredibly hard. Due to the lack of coverage on this set, it makes Stomping Tantrum unappealing for a sweeping set. Zen Headbutt is an option on the second slot to destroy Keldeo and Mega Venusaur. The last slot depends on what you want to cover. Ice Punch is needed to be able to break through Pokemon like Landorus-Therian, Gliscor, Zygarde and Dragonite. Thunder Punch is an option to stop Mega Gyarados and Suicune from denying a potential sweep.

176 Speed EVs allows Mega Metagross to outspeed neutral base 100s. After an Agility boost, it will outspeed any relevant Choice Scarf user (Any Scarfer below 400 Speed). Max Attack is used to bolster its damage output and the rest is dumped in HP to add some extra bulk. Jolly nature is also another option in case you prefer to outspeed certain targets before an Agility boost. However, this makes Mega Metagross weaker due to the lack of an extra coverage move.

Other Options

· Mega Metagross can use Brick Break without the issue of having its Speed reduced by Hammer Arm. However, the move is incredibly weak as it fails to guarantee the 2HKO on Ferrothorn.
Grass Knot is worth mentioning as it can 2HKO Slowbro and Mega Slowbro even with a -SpA nature thanks to the extra boost it receives from Tough Claws. Other than that, it achieves very little and it is usually a wasted moveslot on Mega Metagross.
Mega Metagross can use a Substitute + Hone Claw set to avoid status while raising its stats. However, the set's disadvantage comes from the fact that it misses crucial coverage which leaves it walled by many other Pokemon.

VGC & Double Battle Options

Metagross comes out as one of the strongest Mega Evolution choices in Doubles due to its fantastic stats and coverage. While Steel/Psychic suffers from many serious weaknesses to common threats in Doubles, the combination of its abilities, coverage, and typing make it very easy to gear Metagross to whatever its team needs it to handle. The prominence of the Island Guardians only helps it out as all of them provide useful support and utility that make Metagross even more difficult to take down without proper answers, Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain being the most notable for protecting it from priority while making one of its weaker STAB moves into a nuke. However, Metagross suffers even more from being unable to cover all relevant threats due to being forced to devote one slot to Protect, and often being locked into running Stomping Tantrum and Ice Punch to cover Incineroar and Landours-Therian. Mega Metagross is a threat that suffers from numerous flaws that you would expect to keep it down, but despite that it remains a top tier threat that you should always account for while building a team.

Magestic Mordred

- Iron Head
- Stomping Tantrum
- Ice Punch / Zen Headbutt
- Protect
Item Attached: Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature

Unlike in Singles formats, Mega Metagross tends to be a lot more streamlined in set options for Doubles. While this ultimately makes it a far easier threat to deal with, this doesn't change the fact that Mega Metagross is a dangerous powerhouse. Iron Head is the only option for a primary Steel-type STAB here and while you might think otherwise, this is not solely because Iron Head can flinch. Meteor Mash does not provide any useful damage benchmarks at the cost of being able to miss, and a miss in Doubles tends to be far more damaging than it is in Singles, so as tempting as the Attack boost might be it's never worth it. Stomping Tantrum allows Metagross to deal with Steel-types, as well as Incineroar which is a huge problem for it otherwise. Ice Punch allows Metagross to deal with Landorus-Therian and Mega Salamence effectively even after a single Intimidate drop. However, Zen Headbutt tends to be more useful if Metagross is being used alongside Tapu Lele due to the incredible power of Psychic Terrain. Protect is necessary as it tends to be in Doubles, this really shouldn't need an explanation but on such a fast and powerful tank like Metagross this isn't something you should ever drop.

Maximum Attack and Speed investment is listed because you can never go wrong with a simple offensive spread, but Metagross can be as bulky as you need it to be as well. Investing in enough bulk to survive attacks such as Mega Gengar Shadow Ball is not unheard of, though it doesn't need to be so bulky in most cases. Jolly is the preferred nature due to the value of its base 110 Speed tier, though Adamant becomes a more appealing choice on bulkier spreads or teams with exceptional speed control support. Metagrossite is obviously mandatory as regular Metagross isn't worth running over its Mega, while Clear Body is the ideal ability to shield it from the omnipresent Intimidate users before it Mega Evolves.

Other Options

- Bullet Punch is a viable option over Ice Punch to provide useful priority to pick something off in a pinch, though making room for this is often not worth the trouble due to the limited coverage slots.
- Hammer Arm can work surprisingly well on a team with a Trick Room mode and does more damage to Incineroar than Stomping Tantrum while dealing with Ferrothorn. However, this tends to be a fairly niche option and Ferrothorn is often better left to its teammates to handle.
- Metagross has access to Ally Switch, and you know what that means. Metagross hardly has the slot to make room for this but if for some reason you can fit Ally Switch onto its moveset, it can definitely bring you out of a difficult situation with careful timing.
- Incineroar is always a good teammate for anything and Metagross is no exception, Fake Out support with Fire/Dark coverage is always useful. Tapu Lele is an invaluable partner if you wish to make use of Zen Headbutt, as Psychic Terrain makes it a very dangerous threat to everything except Dark-types and very bulky Steel-types. Metagross also benefits greatly from the popular Tapu Fini + Zapdos combo as well, as they cover most of Metagross's weaknesses while providing fantastic speed control options.

Countering Mega Metagross

Mega Metagross does not have a lot of counters thanks to its incredible bulk and coverage moves, allowing it to heavily damage the Fire-, Dark-, Ghost- and Ground-types that pester it.

Curse Mega Scizor is the closest thing Mega Metagross has to a true counter. Thanks to its sky high base 140 Def along with the fact that none of its coverage moves can hit Mega Scizor super-effectively, it becomes set-up fodder for the red bug. The combination of Curse and Roost will pretty much nullify Mega Metagross's desperate attempts to hurt Mega Scizor unless it runs the very rare Hidden Power Fire.

Outside Mega Scizor, countering Mega Metagross depends solely on the moves your opponent uses and the support it has: Ferrothorn is able to wall it if it doesn't run Hammer Arm thanks to its great bulk and Leech Seed allowing it to replenish HP while hurting Mega Metagross thanks to its Iron Barbs. Celesteela comes close, however, if Mega Metagross runs Thunder Punch under Electric Terrain, it will be 2HKO'd by it. Aegislash will wall any Mega Metagross without Earthquake and it can use it as set-up fodder or even destroy with Shadow Ball. Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Heat can switch into anything except Zen Headbutt and both have the ability to cripple it with Will-O-Wisp. Quagsire is not 2HKO'd by any of Mega Metagross moves, but it will be heavily pressured to recover lost health on the process. Also, if the Mega Metagross's Zen Headbutt is boosted by Psychic Terrain, it will dispatch Quagsire very easily. Static Zapdos is something that can threaten Mega Metagross and discourage from staying despite the fact that it can be 2HKO'd by Ice Punch. If using Static, Mega Metagross is at risk of being paralyzed which pretty much neuters it throughout the match. Bisharp, Mimikyu and Aegislash are able to revenge kill Meta Metagross thanks to their STAB Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch, however, because of Mega Metagross's bulk, it has to be significantly weakened for the KO. Mimikyu's Disguise deserves a special mention as it can act as an emergency check for Mega Metagross. Choice Scarf Blacephalon is one of the few Scarfers able to get past its bulk thanks to its powerful STAB Fire Blast paired with its insanely high Special Attack. On the same boat, Mega Gengar's access to Shadow Tag, sky high Special Attack and higher Speed allows it to trap Mega Metagross and revenge kill it with Shadow Ball. However, due their frailty, Blacephalon and Mega Gengar need to be careful when switching into Mega Metagross.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in Game

Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in Game

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Evolve Metang

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Colosseum/XD:
Snagged from Cipher Nascour in Realgam Tower Colosseum ( Colosseum)
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (XD)

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Metang

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Metang

Black/White:
Giant Chasm

Black 2/White 2:
Giant Chasm

X/Y:
Evolve Metang

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Evolve Metang

Sun/Moon:
Evolve Metang

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Evolve Metang