I have rehabilitated another shitmon
As we approach the end of UWL, I'd like to share one mon that has pleasantly surprised me.
Last time I wrote about Ice Arceus - that thing I had and still has potential but I overcooked with that. It's only fitting that we now talk about a mon that probably about 6 months ago I had firmly at the very bottom of C- rank sitting alongside buddy Heracross. That mon is big Metagross!
So to be fair, I had some ideas of Metagross coming over the last year and one of them I managed to bring to tours. It had mixed success (will talk about it when we get into the sets). Historically, Metagross was actually rated pretty highly back in 2009-2010 era, when it was firmly a decent Steel that can be used switch into Dragon moves and then do a big hit afterward. It was even a decent SR lead for a time. Popular sets back then were fattish lead or fattish support with SR/Meteor Mash/Boom + either Bullet Punch or Earthquake and CB. Agility was seen from time to time but even then most people didn't rate Agility very highly, although you could still use it and get results with it.
HISTORICAL METAGROSS SETS
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Bullet Punch / Earthquake / Pursuit
Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Explosion
Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD / 208 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
With the rise of Bronzong, pretty much all bulky Steel-types with the exception of Forretress kind of took a back seat in standard DPP Ubers, and Skarmory being much better in Farceus. All offensive Steels, to be quite frank, kind of suck in DPP Ubers in general, and Metagross was kind of seen (and probably should still be seen) as the worst of the bunch.
I think Agility is potentially still barely clinging to viability currently - it's still being used here and there (with Rock Polish, which is dumb because why wouldn't you want an extra 16 PP?). Seldanna suggested using Ice Punch instead of Meteor Mash since Mash isn't that strong unboosted so you may as well try to score super effective moves anyway, and Ice Punch and EQ actually work pretty well in terms of coverage. Something like Agility/Ice Punch/Earthquake/Explosion @ Expert Belt with above spread can probably work okay.
There was a discussion earlier last year around UWC on lead Metagross sets and I came up with the idea of using Sash Metagross, which for the current metagame I think is probably one of the best ways to use Metagross as a lead. Previously I was thinking of stuff like Custap lead but this was at the height of lead Ogre so it was not going to live a Water Spout or Hydro Pump. This is why I decided to use Sash Metagross.
TRANSITION FOR METAGROSS
Metagross @ Focus Sash
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 68 SpA / 188 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This set specifically works for me and my tendencies so I can imagine it doesn't work as well for others. Seeing as Deo-S leads are a bit of a preference for me, people like using TTar, Deo-A, Froslass, maybe Darkrai leads against me. To be fair, this set doesn't help with Darkrai, but it nails all three of the others. This Metagross is usually followed up with a back Deo-S so it gets a bit more of a neutral matchup ideally.
You will find that the lead algorithm for this is actually really straightforward. Basically - does Metagross beat the opposing mon with the above set? If yes, attack it (so like Mash for TTar, Bullet Punch twice for Froslass and Deo-A). If not, just blow up. It's really good to trade quickly with something like a Kyogre lead or a Ho-oh because essentially, Metagross is a very expendable mon on Deo-S HO, whereas whatever you're trade it with tend to be much more valuable. HP Fire is there so you can 2HKO Forretress which otherwise will set up way too many hazards on you. It's already kind of annoying that you're conceding 1 layer of Tspikes to both Forry and Tentacruel but such is life I guess. It also doesn't anti-lead Deo-S any more like it used to - like Froslass, 252 HP Deo-S and fatter Scarf Deo-S now avoids getting 2HKOed by Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch when you used to smash it. Everything else like vs Ho-oh/Kyogre/Ray/Hariyama etc just click the big boom button.
This lead has a 1-1 record for me in tours currently, it lost to London Beats who led Tentacruel and got up that important layer of Tspikes, and won against Mimikyu Stardust against a Froslass lead then blew up on a mixed Dialga which is the perfect illustration on how this Metagross is supposed to be used.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ubers-748011 (London game)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ubers-809447 (Mimikyu game)
THE NEW FACE OF METAGROSS:
Now the above set is a bit of a specific set to me, I feel. What I think Metagross's current best set is as a Scarfer. The biggest downside to Scarf Metagross is the fact that it's still outsped by Mewtwo, which is something you'll have to keep in mind, however as a "Draco switch-in" that can come in once and aim to make a bit of progress this one isn't bad. In regular Ubers it's okay but Farceus is where this shines the most, because it can soft check Ekiller and Fightceus as well.
Metagross @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake / Zen Headbutt
- Trick
There's a surprising number of things you can do with this. Firstly, that lead set I have above - you can replace it with Scarf Metagross too to patch up the Tentacruel matchup. Jolly Earthquake unfortunately has a low chance of OHKOing standard lead Tentacruel (44%) and it would be a shame to blow up on it or use Adamant - you'll lose the MU vs Darkrai entirely. Instead, you can use Zen Headbutt to take care of Tentacruel provided you don't miss (which will always OHKO unless they run some seriously weird dark arts with max Def or something). In exchange though, you will now totally lose the MU vs Forretress and the most you can do to it is Trick but you'll still get a face full of hazards that way, and even worse if they're Mail. You also lose to ScarfOgre now although that's not super common. If you're using this at the back, use EQ because it's better coverage in general.
In Farceus though, I feel this is like this is in the running for best Steel-type Scarfer (not much competition tbh). Definitely run Zen Headbutt in Farceus. Jirachi is still faster and can revenge DD Ray and sort of check Mewtwo but you need to not be unlucky (odds of Rachi winning are still good), but Metagross is much more of a solid check to Ekiller, which is pretty huge. Granted, you need to blow up to kill it if it's healthy, but at least you have that, and if you've got Spikes and Rocks up and you've chipped it a bit you might be able to kill with Meteor Mash. On top of this, you can also pressure Fightceus with Zen Headbutt.
Other things that favour Metagross in Farceus are Lati twins and Garchomp being more potent and Skarm being more common so you can Trick them. Being able to at the least blow up on every Farceus form not named Ghostceus helps too. Dialga being slightly less potent is also good. Mewtwo is relatively uncommon currently which is good for Scarf Metagross but there should be no reason for this to be the case though... (if anything Mewtwo should be better because of how common Fightceus is)
In terms of standard - you're trying to combine a Dragon resist and Speed control. I tend to use this on HO teams that only need like 1 switch-in for the game. The ideal is that you can kill something and then blow up later, but sometimes coming in and blowing up on a Lati straight away is fine. Remember the fact you can't outspeed Mewtwo so plan your team accordingly.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a pic of where I currently think Metagross is at (in Standard) - no longer bottom of C-, but a little bit more respectable at bottom of C+. In Farceus I'd even put in like B tier imo. There are definitely worse mons that Metagross at the moment. Also feel free to fight me re: the placement of all the other mons. 😏
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