Pokémon Shuffle Mega Viability Rankings V2

[Tsukuyomi56]

Think candied M-Salamence should be B-Rank and C-Rank for uncandied. Great combo potential and damage output (since you can pair with Sky Blast) but let down by a serve lack of Flying-types great at fighting disruptions. Aside from Fearow (Rock Break+) and Lugia (Eject+) you are pretty relying on Staraptor (Stabilize+) on dealing with blocks and barriers. Easy A-Rank though if the Flying-type gets better Pokemon.

 

[R_N]

Having used Mega Salamence for a bit, it is, as you might guess, pretty good.

I commented on this in the main thread I think the only thing holding it back aside from being so late in the game is lack of good support mons.

It gets the wonderful 100 AP Lugia with Eject+ and that's about it. Fearow gets 5 RMLs which is frustrating, but it also only gets Rock Break+; that's not a terrible ability but blocks are significantly more common. After that your best bet is Staraptor with a further ridiculous 10 RMLs and, ahhhh, Stabilize+. Stabilize+ is like ok but it has bad proc rates and if you're in a stage with several disruption types it's a recipe for a disaster.

I still think B or B/A is still fine, the effect is still extremely useful and salamence gets going fast, its just a shame.

 

[PokeMaster366]

I'd say that Mega Salamence after Candies belongs in the lower part of A-rank. Flying already has a good amount of coverage, and having access to Sky Blast means that Double Normal teams have lost their niche as a hard-hitting neutral type for blowing past timed stages.

If there's anything that holds MegaMence back, though, it's the lack of defensive support that Flying has right now. All the type really has going for it is Eject+ Lugia and Stabilize+ Staraptor. Outside of those, there's nothing that really stands out, and whatever types it does cover, it faces competition from other Megas with better support options (Blaziken vs. Grass/Bug, Mewtwo vs. Fighting). It would be better if disruptions weren't as common, but MegaMence is definitely useful if you're using DD on your quest for S-Ranks or trying to get the most out of the Sunday Meowth.

Overall, safely in the lower part of A-rank and even a top tier A-rank Pokemon in disruption-light stages. A perfect Mega for the Sunday Meowth, but lack of defensive support in its own type means you're not getting full use of its Flying typing very often. Definitely a solid Pokemon in the end, though.

 

[Its_A_Random]

Just clearing some things up with the above post:

"Flying already has a good amount of coverage, and having access to Sky Blast means that Double Normal teams have lost their niche as a hard-hitting neutral type for blowing past timed stages."

Double Normal is still the superior neutral option for timed stages due to better multiplier and higher base Pokémon without investment. The timed Rayquaza competition last week, even if it didn't have any skyfall, would still have Double Normal near the top, above Sky Blast, but not as high as a Pixie Power team.

"If there's anything that holds MegaMence back, though, it's the lack of defensive support that Flying has right now. All the type really has going for it is Eject+ Lugia and Stabilize+ Staraptor."

This argument goes out the window the moment you realise you don't have to run three Flying-types alongside Mega Salamence. Have your Sky Blast suite and have your fourth Pokémon be something tailored to deal with whatever bad disruption is on the stage, such as Cresselia for a barrier jungle from a Flying-type, a Talonflame for a Grass-/Bug-type with lots of blocks, you get the picture. And you won't even lose too much out of having one mon not being Flying-type, save not getting the bonus from Sky Blast.

"Outside of those, there's nothing that really stands out, and whatever types it does cover, it faces competition from other Megas with better support options (Blaziken vs. Grass/Bug, Mewtwo vs. Fighting)."

Salamence destroys Blaziken teams in terms of how strong they are vs. Grass-/Bug-types. Having an effective two-turn mega evolution thanks to Mega Boost (which can be PSB Farmed to have up to a 90% rate on a three-match, and oh, it's PSB-farmable event is available at the moment), doesn't have an effect as RNG as Mega Blaziken, and can run a non Flying-type without losing too much unlike Blaziken who loses a lot when you don't have all Fire-types. It does not even need Sky Blast to laugh at Blaziken teams.

MMY's only advantage over Salamence is Main Stage advantage and the ability to run Block Smash+ and Barrier Bash+ (and even Mind Zap) without losing much consistency. Otherwise, it is eclipsed in terms of how fast it can reliably evolve, is eclipsed in raw power, and is eclipsed when it comes to Sunday Meowth due to its heavy reliance on Mega Boost Support, and the inability to reliably run eject strats like Mence can with Lugia/Blank Slot.

Mega Salamence holds up very well against its competition and even surpasses them in some regards. The only major issue is that it comes at stage 530.

 

[R_N]

i was going to say Sky Blast has hideous activation rates but a match of 4 supposedly has 60% of going off?

i refuse to believe this. refuse

 

[Secundum]

Double Normal is still the superior neutral option for timed stages due to better multiplier and higher base Pokémon without investment. The timed Rayquaza competition last week, even if it didn't have any skyfall, would still have Double Normal near the top, above Sky Blast, but not as high as a Pixie Power team.

In Europe, every single member of the top 5 used Double Normal.
In fact, I never saw a Pixie Power team anywhere on the leaderboards at any point.

i was going to say Sky Blast has hideous activation rates but a match of 4 supposedly has 60% of going off?

i refuse to believe this. refuse

Believe it.

 

[Its_A_Random]

In Europe, every single member of the top 5 used Double Normal.
In fact, I never saw a Pixie Power team anywhere on the leaderboards at any point.

That's only because of Arceus and Kyurem-B being in the skyfall (which I forgot to add to the post) for the timed competition, and I know about the leaderboard because I am in PAL as well. If there was no prefixed skyfall, we may have seen Pixie Power as a viable option due to SE Pixie Power > Double Normal, but that's a hypothetical.

EDIT:

i was going to say Sky Blast has hideous activation rates but a match of 4 supposedly has 60% of going off?

i refuse to believe this. refuse

Then we have Pidgeotto who can take two RML's, a Skill Swapper to be a secondary Sky Blast Pokémon, and a PSB farmable main stage with PSB drop rates of 50% / 25% / 1.5625% (so a few days of hearts and you have SL5 Sky Blast with 30/80/100 activation rates without using skill boosters). It's actually worth using in conjunction with Braviary too as it means more opportunities to get Sky Blast off at higher rates.

 

[HylianGlaceon]

Just clearing some things up with the above post:

"Flying already has a good amount of coverage, and having access to Sky Blast means that Double Normal teams have lost their niche as a hard-hitting neutral type for blowing past timed stages."

Double Normal is still the superior neutral option for timed stages due to better multiplier and higher base Pokémon without investment. The timed Rayquaza competition last week, even if it didn't have any skyfall, would still have Double Normal near the top, above Sky Blast, but not as high as a Pixie Power team.

"If there's anything that holds MegaMence back, though, it's the lack of defensive support that Flying has right now. All the type really has going for it is Eject+ Lugia and Stabilize+ Staraptor."

This argument goes out the window the moment you realise you don't have to run three Flying-types alongside Mega Salamence. Have your Sky Blast suite and have your fourth Pokémon be something tailored to deal with whatever bad disruption is on the stage, such as Cresselia for a barrier jungle from a Flying-type, a Talonflame for a Grass-/Bug-type with lots of blocks, you get the picture. And you won't even lose too much out of having one mon not being Flying-type, save not getting the bonus from Sky Blast.

"Outside of those, there's nothing that really stands out, and whatever types it does cover, it faces competition from other Megas with better support options (Blaziken vs. Grass/Bug, Mewtwo vs. Fighting)."

Salamence destroys Blaziken teams in terms of how strong they are vs. Grass-/Bug-types. Having an effective two-turn mega evolution thanks to Mega Boost (which can be PSB Farmed to have up to a 90% rate on a three-match, and oh, it's PSB-farmable event is available at the moment), doesn't have an effect as RNG as Mega Blaziken, and can run a non Flying-type without losing too much unlike Blaziken who loses a lot when you don't have all Fire-types. It does not even need Sky Blast to laugh at Blaziken teams.

MMY's only advantage over Salamence is Main Stage advantage and the ability to run Block Smash+ and Barrier Bash+ (and even Mind Zap) without losing much consistency. Otherwise, it is eclipsed in terms of how fast it can reliably evolve, is eclipsed in raw power, and is eclipsed when it comes to Sunday Meowth due to its heavy reliance on Mega Boost Support, and the inability to reliably run eject strats like Mence can with Lugia/Blank Slot.

Mega Salamence holds up very well against its competition and even surpasses them in some regards. The only major issue is that it comes at stage 530.

This +1 basically. I prefer the 2 of the same + 1 of the different type setup more even.

 

[R_N]

this is an incredibly minor thing to bring up now after all this time, but the listings of notable support of mega shiny gyarados could probably deal to mention it pairs well with other SE typings. Water type has lots of overlap with other typings depending on the stage and that opens the support pool a lot. Feels like more than any other type, water is the most




splashable


when it comes to megas

e: also ttar is a 80-100 mega

 

[Secundum]

So...I think we can all agree that Mega Houndoom belongs firmly in the niche tier alongside Diance?

 

[Its_A_Random]

If it's any good: Mega Houndoom takes 16 icons to evolve and takes seven speedups for a fastest evolution speed of 9 icons... the same as Max Speedup Diancie... who also has RML's... and Mega Boost+ with Skill Swapper... yeah. If you want to speedup a barrier remover, just SS Diancie and give ten speedups to it for a potential one turn evolution.

 

[R_N]

you'll all laugh when it turns out houndoom gets 16 icons but 16 speed ups becomming the first mega to instantly evolve

 

[Exsception]

So now that we're getting Houndoom, what megas are there left to distribute? I can't think of any; aside from Winking Audino of course.

 

[R_N]

So now that we're getting Houndoom, what megas are there left to distribute? I can't think of any; aside from Winking Audino of course.

Aggron, Pinsir & Gallade

In terms of "special" pokemon that are waiting in the 3ds version we still have Winking Glalie, Winking Audino, Shiny Rayuqaza

But a recent mobile update added more garbage: Shiny Charizard, Shiny Mewtwo, Shiny Diancie, Shiny Gengar, Shiny Tyranitar, Shiny Metagross & Shiny Gardevoir

 

[Secundum]

Shiny Megazard X! Now with an X that is blocks specific! For that added X factor!

 

[R_N]

Mega Winking Glalie is awful

29 icons to mega evolve
20 speed ups available

Has mega steelix's effect

i know we have a niche rank but can we just not put that there because this is just...never worth it. no one should ever use this without speed ups and you should never use it with speed ups. Literally any other mega would appreciate those! 20 speed ups can put in a lot of work evne if you dont put it in the big spenders.

 

[Secundum]

Welcome to the F rank Winking Glalie. And we had such high hopes for you too....

Also, Mega Diance needs to go to Niche Rank with the recent buffs it got.

 

[HylianGlaceon]

F Rank for Uncandied and E for Candied, even though no one should realistically candy it.

In terms of actual usage; it has some extremely niche usage when Mega Started on Grass, Dragon, Ground and arguably on Flying types (T-Tar would be better here), but that's about it.

 

[Secundum]

We don't count Mega Starts, remember? ^^

And I think that even candied...It's still F rank.

 

[HylianGlaceon]

We don't count Mega Starts, remember? ^^

And I think that even candied...It's still F rank.

I wasn't even mentioning it or that reason. Just for practical usage.

Mewtwo Y, Banette, Rayquaza and a bunch of others still need to drop heavily if we're doing no Mega Starts considered still. Unless 33 icon Mega Rayquaza is somehow as useful as uncandied Lucario while I was away.