Hey Trainers! With Beldum being featured in the upcoming August Community Day Classic, we thought it would be a nice opportunity to take a look at how Metagross with its exclusive move Meteor Mash stacks up in the current…meta (I will try and refrain from making this pun too much, but no promises).
Metagross is an extremely powerful Steel / Psychic Pokémon originally discovered in the Hoenn region, and is my personal favorite Pokémon. It is the signature Pokémon of Steven Stone, the champion of the Hoenn region, and it has one of the best Shiny variants in the game!
Metagross is a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, a fan-made title that only a select few Pokémon fall under. To keep it simple, Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon have a total of 600 base stats in the main series game, putting them on par with Legendary Pokémon despite not actually being Legendaries. Even among other Pseudo-Legendaries, Metagross stands out for two reasons. First off, it is from the only region to have more than one Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, the other being Salamence. More importantly, it is the only Pseudo-Legendary that isn’t a Dragon type, giving it a unique roll to fill in the franchise as a whole.
Metagross was also gifted with a Mega Evolution in Generation 6, which we will be discussing later in this article. For now, though, let’s take a look at how Metagross with Meteor Mash stacks up in the current PVE meta!
Metagross Stats and Moves in Pokémon GO
Metagross SteelPsychic | |||||||||
Max CP at Level 40 3791 | Max CP at Level 50 4286 | |||||||||
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ATK 257 | DEF 228 | HP 190 | |||||||
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As you can see, Metagross’s stats are no joke! It’s stats translated extremely nicely to Pokémon GO, with high Attack and Defense and respectable HP. As far as stats go, it doesn’t get much better!
Additonally, Metagross’s typing is also extremely solid. Steel types in general have an incredible defensive matchup spread, which actually pair very nicely with Psychic. As a fun fact, prior to Generation 6, Steel types actually resisted Ghost and Dark, meaning Metagross was only weak to Ground and Fire, although this obviously isn’t the case anymore. Regardless, being able to resist a whopping 10 types isn’t anything to scoff at.
So Metagross has overall great stats and solid typing. But what about its moves?
Fast Moves | Charge Moves |
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**indicates a legacy move, requiring an Elite TM or special event to learn
The movepool is extremely solid as well! Metagross managed to secure itself a full STAB moveset for both its Steel and Psychic typing, and Earthquake is a nice coverage option. While its STAB moves certainly aren’t the best ones available, it at least managed to avoid joining the plethora of Pokémon with great stats but weren’t given a full STAB moveset.
As you can probably tell, Metagross is extremely solid all around. So how does it measure up with access to Meteor Mash?
Meteor Mash Metagross
Metagross’s Community Day move, Meteor Mash, was previously a signature move that only Metagross received. This is no longer true in either the main series nor Pokémon GO, but this doesn’t mean that it is any less powerful! Let’s take a look at where Metagross stacks up against other Steel type attackers in the current meta:
If you’d like to take a full list of the top Steel type attackers in Pokémon GO, you can find the list here, but I’ve attached the top 12 attackers above. As you can see, Metagross with Meteor Mash already sits near the top of the meta in both DPS and TDO. Up until recently, it was only outclassed by its Shadow variant! It is currently outclassed by Dusk Mane Necrozma, which is extremely difficult to obtain, and even then is only available in limited quantities due to the exclusiveness of the Solgaleo that is required to fuse with Necrozma. If you’re looking for Steel type attackers, Metagross is the way to go!
Something to note is the nature of Steel type Pokémon, both in general as well as specifically in Pokémon GO. Steel types tend to be defensive by nature, with many Steel type Pokémon designed to take advantage of the typing’s amazing defensive spread. There are very few Steel types that are designed to be offensive threats, and the most notable among them, such as Lucario and Excadrill, are extremely frail.
Additionally, there is a very limited list of Steel type fast moves in Pokémon GO, which is evident even in the short list attached above. 3/12 of the top attackers don’t even have a full Steel type moveset, which makes a huge difference in the PVE scene. Some of the best Steel types in the game, such as Kartana, are crippled by the fact that they didn’t receive a full STAB moveset.
On top of that, Metagross’s Shadow form is also available. Shadow Beldum has been available through various different methods, and it is definitely worth evolving to get Meteor Mash. Its DPS gets significantly higher thanks to the Shadow boost giving a percent increase to its already high Attack stat, and it still has enough bulk to take a few resisted hits.
Metagross is one of the lucky few Steel types. that managed to circumnavigate all of these limitations. It has been easily accessible in the past, and will be again during its Community Day Classic this weekend. It has both the offensive and defensive stats to be effective all around. It got access to Bullet Punch, easily the best Steel fast move in the game. Its only limiting factor was only having access to the mediocre charged move of Flash Cannon, but Meteor Mash solved that problem.
Make no mistake: if you don’t already have a team of Meteor Mash Metagross, then make sure you evolve a few during the Community Day Classic!
Looking Ahead: Mega Metagross
For those who are unfamiliar with the main series or anime, Metagross actually has a Mega Evolution that has yet to be released in Pokémon GO!
Mega Metagross was the start of the more powerful Pokémon getting arguably unnecessary Mega Evolutions, although you won’t hear me complaining about this thing’s existence! After Mega Evolving, it gets an increase of 43 to its Attack stat and a whopping 61 Defense to go with it!
With that being said, let’s see how Mega Metagross with Meteor Mash (say that five times fast!) will stack up against the current Steel type attackers:
Unsurprisingly, this thing is going to be incredibly powerful!
On paper, it doesn’t outperform Dusk Mane Necrozma. However, something to consider is that Mega Metagross will be giving the passive Mega Evolution bonuses as well. A Mega Evolution boosting other Pokémon of the same typing in a raid can be a major assist! This alone boosts Mega Metagross to the top of the list in my opinion. It easily outclasses all existing Steel Mega Evolutions, including the newly released Mega Lucario. None of them can even hold a candle to regular Metagross, although this isn’t taking into consideration their passive Mega Evolution bonuses. The increase to Attack, but more importantly the significant increase to Defense, makes Mega Metagross even harder to remove, allowing it to dish out even more damage!
Like I said before, if you don’t have at least one strong Metagross on your roster, then I would highly recommend this weekend’s Community Day!
Metagross as a Psychic Type Attacker
For another final short analysis, let’s quickly take a look at Metagross and Mega Metagross as Psychic type attackers.
Metagross’s best Psychic type move set is Zen Headbutt and Psychic. While this is far from the best possible moveset, it is still useable. Let’s take a look at regular, Shadow, and Mega Metagross compared against the current Psychic type attacker roster, including the other existing Psychic type Mega Evolutions:
As you can see, this list is a bit less exciting. Shadow and regular Metagross have dropped off significantly. Mega Metagross certainly isn’t a bad Pokémon, it just isn’t as dominant here as it is amongst the Steel types. Zen Headbutt is just not great, dealing not that much damage and being pretty slow. It’s the same thing holding back Mega Latios and Mega Latias, as you can see in the comparison.
Something to note, however, is Mega Metagross’s typing. As mentioned previously, the Steel type has an amazing defensive spread, most of which aren’t affected by the Psychic type defensively. These additional defensive matchups could make Mega Metagross more viable against certain opponents than the other Psychic type Megas. The ones that come to mind are the Poison type Legendary Pokémon that will be added in the future, such as the Loyal Three from Paldea/Kitakami. The Psychic typing is powerful offensively, and the Steel type gives it a 4x resistance to their moves defensively.
While it isn’t topping the list, there will be cases where Mega Metagross will be your best option to use!
How Future Proof is Metagross?
Pokémon GO, as wild as it is to say, is a resource management game. If we’re going to invest our hard earned Stardust, then that Pokémon better make a pretty big difference in my roster. So how do Metagross and Mega Metagross match up against future contenders?
First, let’s look at the Steel variant with Bullet Punch and Meteor Mash. Of the unreleased Pokémon/Forms, the most powerful and comparable option would be Mega Lucario. As mentioned previously, Meteor Mash is no longer Metagross’s signature move. While in Pokémon GO only Clefable and Rock Star Pikachu can learn it, there is a much more expansive list of Pokémon that can learn it in the main series, and Lucario is one of them. Let’s see how a theoretical Bullet Punch/Meteor Mash Mega Lucario would match up against Mega Metagross:
As you can see, it’s kind of close, but Mega Lucario falls short of Mega Metagross even with the upgraded move. This surprised me at first, but Mega Metagross’s defensive profile more than explains the gap in TDO.
There are definitely other powerful Steel types to come, but again this isn’t even considering the passive Mega Evolution benefits. Other than Mega Metagross, we have received all of the Steel Mega Evolutions except for Mega Mawile, which greatly suffers without access to its main series Ability and also doesn’t have a full Steel moveset. Once it is released, Mega Metagross will be the near de facto Steel type Mega Evolution!
As far as its Psychic typing goes, it’s a bit trickier here. As mentioned previously, Zen Headbutt kinda sucks. What’s more, it will have to compete against the likes of Mega Mewtwo X and Y for the crown, both of which are on the same level as the Primal Reversions and Mega Rayquaza. As such, I figured we’d give Mega Metagross a fighting chance (I definitely don’t play favorites here).
This can be done through a recent addition to Metagross’s learnset in the main series: Psycho Cut. This is a huge upgrade over Zen Headbutt and will turn it into a respectable attacker (relative to its stats). Let’s see if it helps:
Unfortunately for my favorite child, it’s not even really close. The Mega Mewtwo duo are just absurdly powerful, and paired with their signature move they are going to be unstoppable. Psycho Cut does increase its effectiveness, it isn’t by much, and the Zen Headbutt set isn’t even worth mentioning. Again, its defensive Steel typing may benefit in certain matchups, but overall as a Psychic type it falls… way more than just short of the crown.
In conclusion, Metagross has already been and will always continue to be outclassed by other Psychic types, but as a Steel type it will be extremely relevant for the foreseeable future. Again, if this isn’t enough to convince you to then I don’t know what will!
Conclusion
Metagross was introduced with Meteor Mash all the way back in 2018, and today’s analysis shows us that it is still relevant to this day and will be for the foreseeable future, especially once its Mega Evolution is released. This is one of the better Community Day Classic’s we’ve had recently, so be sure to evolve at least a few Meteor Mash Metagross if if you don’t have some already, and a few of those gorgeous silver and gold Shinies won’t hurt either! Best of luck Trainers!