Community POTW #066

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and this is the second week of our 25th anniversary celebration!

This week, it's Mewtwo!

Mewtwo #150 - Serebii.net Pokédex

Mewtwo Pokémon Serebii.net Pokédex providing all details on moves, stats, abilities, evolution data and locations for Pokémon Sword & Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

www.serebii.net

 

[Pokemon Power]

Who's gonna be in the spotlight for week 3? Pikachu? Charizard?

 

[Mestorn]

"We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon...and we succeeded." -Dr. Fuji
The Pokémon, the myth, the legend, Mewtwo is a force of nature that was truly the strongest in Gen I, though years of power creep have dethroned it from the very top. Make no mistake, Mewtwo can and will destroy you given a chance.

The End of All Things
Mewtwo
Ability: Pressure/Unnerve
Item: Life Orb/Focus Sash/Heavy Duty Boots
-Nasty Plot
-Psystrike
-Shadow Ball
-Aura Sphere/Fire Blast/Ice Beam
Nature: Modest (+SATK, -ATK) or Timid (+SPE, -ATK)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SATK/252 SPE

...begins with a Nasty Plot. A simple boosting Mewtwo, one Nasty Plot guarantees Mewtwo (Timid Life Orb) 1 or 2HKOs everything in the game depending on its coverage. Psystrike is an absolute nuke, being a STAB move that targets Defense (so no Assault Vest, Blissey or Kyogre will save you) sitting at a base 100 before STAB. Shadow Ball is a hard recommend as the games Mewtwo runs around in tend to be infested with Psychic types that can stomach a Psytrike easily, but if you are in a metagame where Psychic types are not as prevalent, there are several other options. Aura Sphere hits Dark types like Tyranitar and Darkrai hard, while Fire Blast melts Steels (mainly Zacian Crowned) and Ice Beam just has fantastic coverage against many Flying and Dragon pokémon.

Mewtwo's base 130 speed is only beaten out by a select group of Pokémon: (Calyrex-Shadow, Zen G-Darmanitan, Dragapult Pheremosa, Regieleki, Zacian [both Crowned and Uncrowned], and Zamazenta) so once Mewtwo gets going, it is very hard to stop. This speed also gives Mewtwo some added utility as a revenge killer before it is time to sweep.

Item is up to preference. Life Orb enables Mewtwo to nab those needed KOs, Focus Sash ensures that Mewtwo will live to setup, while Heavy Duty Boots prevents entry Hazards from chipping/slowing Mewtwo.

Nature and EVs are standard Sweeper Array, maximizing offense and speed.

Dynamax
Mewtwo can easily abuse Dynamax, as a Max Mindstorm setting up Psychic terrain protects Mewtwo against priority as well as boosting its Psychic STAB to levels so ludicrous that words fail to explain them. The added bulk is also appreciated and Mewtwo's above average Base 101 HP becomes significantly bulkier after a Dynamax to the point that only Specs Calyrex-Shadow Rider threatens the OHKO from full health. However, Mewtwo's other moves offer little benefit to Mewtwo directly, so more often than not you will be spamming Max Mindstorm or the appropriate coverage move.

Mewtwo heads are better than One
Mewtwo
Ability: Unnerve
Item: Life Orb/Twisted Spoon
-Expanding Force
-Aura Sphere
-Fire Blast/Shadow Ball/Ice Beam
-Taunt/Protect
Nature: Modest (+SATK, -ATK) or Timid (+SPE, -ATK)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SATK/252 SPE

Pair Mewtwo up with a Psychic Terrain setter like Tapu Lele or Indeedee-F, and watch as Mewtwo lays waste with the 3rd strongest Expanding Force in the game to the opposing team with Psychic Terrain protecting it from Prankster and other priority attempts. Aura Sphere is the hard recommend here as Incineroar, Tyranitar and Urshifu Single Strike are very popular and can be expected to be seen. Coverage move is up to preference on who you want/need to hit. Mewtwo has a very fast Taunt that is great for stopping Protect/Wide Guard and other forms of disruption/setup, while Protect is simply great in doubles.

Unnerve is the ability of choice here as berries are far more prevalent in VGC and preventing a healing berry from going off is the difference between nabbing a KO or letting that pokémon survive and setup.

Other Options
Focus Blast -Wherever I suggested Aura Sphere, Focus Blast is also an acceptable option if you are fine living with the miss chance.
Flamethower -An option whenever Fire Blast is mentioned, though the power drop is noticeable
Trick -Mewtwo can pull of a classic Trick/Choice item set to great effect. Use Scarf to get the drop on Pokémon that would naturally outspeed it or Specs to blow holes open in the opposing team, then send it off to a wall to ruin it.
Hurricane -Popular option for giving Mewtwo a wicked Max Airstream, but does not provide much coverage outside of hitting Urshifu-Single hard.

 

[BillyBobJoe]

Is it a good idea to run both Psystrike and Psychic (or some other psychic attack)? That way, you have a STAB attack that targets physical and special defense. Just curious

 

[Mestorn]

Is it a good idea to run both Psystrike and Psychic (or some other psychic attack)? That way, you have a STAB attack that targets physical and special defense. Just curious

Depends on how confident you are with your coverage options. Psychic is resisted by Psychic and Steel and Resisted by Dark. While you can cover most Steels and Darks with Aura Sphere/Focus Blast and Psychics with Shadow Ball, you would be forced to go for an all out attacking set, or sacrifice valuable coverage, which increases the risk of you getting walled, so generally not recommended on the Nasty Plot set, but certainly an option.

I should note when running calculations, Unaware Quagsire actually tanks Psystrike quite well since Quagsire's DEF is decent, while it can't stomach Psychics the same way. So there is justification for running Psychic. Its just that being walled out by Kyogre, Chansey and Blissey is never fun.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Quagsire is such an irrelevant threat in the formats you're likely to see Mewtwo in that I don't think it nearly justifies running dual STAB for it. I've seen dual STAB used exactly once in Gen 7 used on a Specs Mewtwo that was on a team full of unusual sets. The justification was that it 2HKOs Primal Groudon, which Psystrike fails to do. Primal Groudon is no longer a relevant threat and normal Groudon doesn't like to take pretty much any special attack Mewtwo carries, especially when backed up by a Nasty Plot boost, so I really don't see the reason to run dual STAB in the modern metagame (or debatably ever).

 

[Aminith]

Mewtwo is a classic legendary Pokémon that is easily recognizable. Mewtwo also however has slated itself as a offensive powerhouse due to its massive movepool and good offensive stats. The only caveat's to Mewtwo is that it is a legendary Pokémon which means that it can only be used in select times's the official format, and that its speed stat of 90 is bad when compared to the other myraid of other legendary Pokémon. Nonetheless Mewtwo remains a very effective offensive option that can deal with most pokemon due to its coverage options.

Sets
Mewtwo @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psystrike/Expanding Force
- Protect/Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower

This is a solid offensive set for Mewtwo. Psysrike is used as the main stab move due to its lack of drawbacks and the fact that it uses the defense of the target to calculate damage. Expanding force can however be used over Psystrike if you plan on setting up psychic terrain, which turns expanding force into a double targeting move while also doubling its base power. Protect can be used in a doubles scenario to provide protection for Mewtwo, otherwise Ice Beam can be used as an extra coverage option. Thunderbolt and Flamethrower both serve as coverage for the common water and steel types respectively, that are rampant in the current format and should be used accordingly. Unnerve is the preferred ability over pressure because of the fact that it could prevent a super effective berry from activating from a coverage move. The life orb is used to raise the power of Mewtwo's moves at the cost of some of its health.

Other option/Threats

You can run a physical set using Zen Headbutt, Fire Punch or earthquake, Ice Punch, and Thunder punch, This is overshadowed however by the superiority of the special oriented Mewtwo. The biggest threat hands down for mewtwo is Incineroar. Incineroar is resistant to most of the coverage moves used by Mewtwo due to the lack of a special ground type move, Incineroar will also dampen the power of the physical set due to intimidate. Since Mewtwo is a legendary Pokémon it will only be available at the same time as other legendary Pokémon, chief among them of course being Zacian. Behmoth Blade from Zacian-crowned has a flat 50% chance of knocking out Mewtwo in one hit at plus one attack, and that's not even a super effective attack, crunch from Zacian-crowned has a 87.5% chance of knocking out Mewtwo in one hit. Zacian-crowned is of course faster than Mewtwo as well and will go first naturally.