Aggron, a total badass that you could catch early in the game in RSE, it was actually quite pathetic due to its typing. Hopefully, its Mega-Evolution changes that.
Typing: Rock-Steel is one of the worse type combinations in the game. 8 resistances and one immunity seems like a god send, especially if you consider the quad resists to Flying and Normal. Unfortunately this is complemented by a weakness to water (most common type in the game), and a 4x weakness to Fighting and Ground (two very popular attacking types).The quad weaknesses slaughter pokemon with this type combo, which generally have phenomenal DEF, but can’t use it because they are weak to the two most common physical attacking types in the game. The Rock-Steel typing is what broke Aggron in previous generations.
Mega Aggron on the other hand is a pure Steel type. While Mega Aggron has to be more cautious around Talonflame, it does have major benefits: 10 resistances and 1 immunity in exchange for the same number of weaknesses as before, but no 4x resists or weaknesses. Both of these type combos resist Stealth Rock and are immune to Toxic Spikes making them fairly viable for constant switching. The biggest loss Aggron has by Mega Evolving is that it can no longer benefit from Sandstorm’s SDEF boost.
Offensively, the Rock-Steel STAB combo is fairly good: only being commonly resisted by Steels among the monotypes, especially with rock complimenting Steel’s overall poor coverage. That and add most possessors of this type have access to Ground moves, and the combo gets that much scarier.
Stats: Aggron starts to shine in this department; having a similar stat distribution to Avalugg, but with better SDEF. Aggron has a god-like 180 DEF meaning that most physical attackers that can’t strike super effectively get stopped cold. The windy king ATK sits at an impressive 110, meaning stuff that can’t hurt it better leave or die. Unfortunately it starts going downhill from here. Base 70 HP is average and while certainly usable for walling, combined with a pathetic SDEF of 60, Aggron crumples under a special assault. Base 50 doesn’t win you any speed rewards, except in Trick Room… where there still are plenty of things that outspeed (outslow?) Aggron. Aggron’s SATK is not being mentioned for good reason.
Mega-Aggron, unsurprisingly is even better than Aggron in the stats department. With DEF boosted to 230, Mega-Aggron stands on par with Shuckle in terms of DEF and is easily the most physically defensive pokemon in the game. ATK is also buffed to 140, meaning fewer things can stop the wind king as it smashes through anything, while the bump to an average 80 SDEF partially patches up the lost sandstorm boost. Mega-Aggron’s other stats remain untouched.
Moveset: Aggron has a wide and varied moveset, but seriously, what’s with all of the special attacks? Aggron’s physical movepool contains STABs like Heavy Slam, Iron Head, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, and Head Smash giving it some variety right there based on the preferences of the trainer. Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Dragon Rush, Payback, Body Slam, Return, Double Edge and Superpower round out the false wind titan’s physical movepool. Aggron has choices in Curse, Power-up Punch and Hone Claws for boosting, or can pseudo Swords Dance with Screech. Aggron’s support movepool befits that of a wall; in addition to the standard Toxic and weather inducing moves, Aggron possesses Taunt, Thunderwave, Dragon Tail, and Steath Rock for a sparse but very strong showing. Metal Burst makes for an interesting option and can make many regret attacking Aggron.The lack of recovery hurts though.
Ability: Aggron possesses 3 abilities: Sturdy which is a general go to ability, prevent Aggron from being OHKO due to its horrid typing. Rock Head is a very popular ability to use in conjunction with Head Smash, but seeing has this only works on Aggron’s that are not going to Mega Evolve, I suspect this ability has lost popularity. Heavy Metal is for boosting the power of Heavy Slam… And vastly inferior to Rock Head.
Mega-Aggron only possesses one ability: Filter. Reduce super-effective hits by 25%? Mega-Aggron is the best possessor of this ability and makes taking it down, even more of an achievement.
The Verdict: OPEN THE FLOODGATES! With the advent of Mega Evolutions, Aggron may have finally found its place in OU as a terrifying offensive wall. But it is not invincible; a volley of Special Attacks will drown him rather quickly while an endless wave of non-resisted physical attacks will erode Aggron’s hopes of winning.
