Pokémon VGC mega tier List
Hey guys I decided to make a tier list of the megas to help trainers (particularly new trainers) choose their mega. Each mega will have a very brief description of why its where it is and will hopefully give you some ideas for whether you want to run it or not. Pokémon are divided into 7 tiers (M-6) m being the best and 6 being the worst and while every mega can be used higher rated megas are likely to find success more often/more easily. So if you’re a new player I recommend staying at tier 2+ all of these Pokémon are usable without requiring trickier team comps or difficult team builds. The order within a tier is irrelevant but as a soft rule the stronger 1s tend to be near the top of each list but this is not 100% true and will likely change as the meta shifts.
I will try to update the list as the meta shifts but for the most part unless we see any dramatic changes in the meta not much is likely to change. If you think I have a mega in the wrong place let me know and explain why, do not post saying “M alakazam shud be tier 1 cuz he has many spoons” as I will ignore or delete such posts but feel free to give reasons backing up such opinions and explain why you think his weaknesses do not prevent him from being moved up etc. It is very unlikely I got all megas in the right tier 1st time, seeing as I’ve only used like 20 of them.
Note: I will add descriptions for all the megas over the next day or 2 after all I am write about 100 words each which after all 44 megas = 4400 words…
M-Tier (Meta Tier):
I’m calling this tier the meta tier as these are the most regularly used Mega Pokémon all being present in the top 12. However if the meta changes and these Pokémon drop out of that list they would all be considered top tier 1 picks at worst. Having huge strengths and almost no or very few workable flaws these are the megas you should be looking at 1st for your team and you should have answers to these guys in your team.
Kangaskhan:
No surprise here she pretty much rules the meta currently and I don’t think she’s going anywhere unless she gets banned as she fits into so may team comps insanely well. With good coverage options a fast fake out and great bulk it really is a jack of all trades mega that excels at all roles it can perform.
Salamence:
Can run both physical and special sets with great coverage and aerilate boosted attacks, not to forget he gets decent bulk with the mega form as well and an incredible speed stat at 120 leading to one of the most difficult to predict megas with the only guaranteed thing being its purpose to make your foe suffer.
Charizard Y:
The core sun team member returned to vgc 15 as strong as it was in 14 but with the insane power of his sun boosted fire attacks and phenomenal special attack stat it shouldn’t have caught too many people by surprise. While weak to rockslides he’s able to take 1 with the right investment and can deal with many of the bulky water types in the meta that normally wall fire types thanks to drought solarbeam.
Gardevoir:
As the fairy/steel/dragon core spread gardevoirs popularity rose and oras let her get pixilate boosted hyper voice with a huge special attack stat to back it up. While her speed tier is meh at 1st glance it lets her run several speed control types ranging from trick room to tailwind. With hp ground dealing with many steel types a set of hidden power ground, hyper voice and psyshock will let her hit most pokemon in the meta hard including many of her common weaknesses such as Aegislash and Heatran.
Tier 1:
These picks are the very Strong picks that have few flaws and are generally meta independent allowing them to be strong regardless of the meta that said when the meta favours them these Pokémon can all be monsters that can obliterate entire teams if they are not prepared to deal with them.
Metagross:
An amazing mega capable of hitting a range of threats hard with clear body can dodge intimidates etc before going mega and gets a huge speed boost from the mega along with tough claws letting this behemoth and heaviest non legend Pokémon in the game really do some damage. With solid coverage good speed and fantastic attack he would certainly be M tier if not for Landurous presumably dissuading people from using him.
Gengar:
A mega I’m sure many people hate due to perish trap teams. But in addition to perish trap teams gengar has a strong offense and with the ability to lock foes into poor match-ups it can be a great Pokémon to punish the foe for misplaying. Bit fragile but this mega is certainly capable of ripping an unprepared team apart. Since I kind of have to mention it this Pokémon also is the core member of almost all perish trap teams, so if you want to run perish trap you better have a very good reason to not be picking this guy and a mega.
Venusaur:
Incredibly bulky mega that is very hard to ko without flying or psychic type moves due to think fat. Leech seed/synthesis + sleep power is going to make people want to rage and giga drain and sludge bomb let you hit a surprisingly good number of the meta relatively hard. Overall Venusaur is a wall that is going to frustrate your opponent and let your other Pokémon clean up the battle for you.
Mawile:
Quite bulky, fantastic typing, huge power and it’s cute. Mega Mawile can be run both insane and outside of trick room which helps it immensely, in addition to this sucker punch gives it a means of priority. Also with intimidate or hyper cutter pre mega evolving you can either cut your foes attack or be immune to intimidates yourself. Sadly she’s a bit 1 dimensional but she does her job well and a team that can’t deal with her quickly won’t be able to as she can break through some of the strongest walls in just one or 2 turns even without super effective hits.
Tier 2:
Most of these pokemon are still strong picks but they suffer due to flaws that make them more reliant on the meta or a specific set-up move to function. Overall you’re not going to suffer much running these pokemon and you mostly do not need to prepare specific answers to them but they are pretty strong threats.
Gallade: (down from tier 1)
Probably one of the most underestimated megas in the game in my opinion this guy gets nearly every coverage option he could want allowing him to get coverage tailored to your team’s needs. Most commonly running ice punch, psyco cut and close combat he is able to hit a huge amount of the meta for super effective damage including Kangaskhan, Thundurous, Landurous and Heatran. Not to mention his ability makes him have a fantastic match-up into Kangaskhan as he can’t be flinched. His role is really a janitor for your team while other megas lead the charge Gallade comes in near the end once you remove his kryptonite’s commonly in the form of Sylveon, Talon and his little sister Gardevoir. :P
Alakazam:
I debated making alakazam tier 1 but decided he just doesn’t always deliver in the same way as others in that tier mostly due to his ability trace which could be awesome and get parental bond or could get truant and actually make your mega useless. It’s kind of dependent on your foe. That said he has almost unmatched speed with only Ninjask out speeding him and a special attack stat that is even higher, sadly he is very frail. With his fantastic coverage and speed he becomes very good at blowing a hole in the foe for the rest of the team to clean up the survivors.
Sceptile:
Similar to Alakazam but less coverage but lighting rod meaning you can protect your team water types and make use of discharge users to boost your own megas special attack while dealing damage. With awesome speed and special attack along with no longer being weak to fire make this grass dragon type a mega to watch out for. Just watch out for any ice type attacks or Sceptile will be dead almost as fast as he moves.
Blastoise:
Another underrated mega capable of taking hits while blowing many other Pokémon out of the water. Mega launcher gives you some very powerful moves and when coupled with water spout being a strong stab option if you get tailwind support to let you move 1st you’re all set to destroy many people. He also gets fake out and decent coverage meaning you can not only take hits but most definitely dish out some big hits back
Swampert:
Under rain Swampert becomes possibly the strongest mega in the game having reasonable bulk and only being weak to grass means he is certainly threatening with 150 attack. That said outside of rain he’s pretty lacking as a result he ends up being tier 2 as running outside of a rain team is pretty much impossible. Stab earthquake and waterfall let him hit hard on a lot of Pokémon in addition ice punch/superpower rounds out his set nicely.
Camerupt:
Just like Swampert being unmatched in rain this guy is unmatched in trick room with only 20 base speed and sheer force, stab heat wave you can score high damage even on some Pokémon that resist it. Sadly though he just doesn’t survive outside of trick room and has several common weaknesses but his offensive power in trick room is so strong I feel he deserved this spot in tier 2. He also has alright bulk like most slow Pokémon just don’t let him take powerful ground attacks or any water attacks and he should be fine. Other downsides include him being a team magma supporter having tattooed his head with an M….
Tier 3:
The megas in tiers 3 + 4 are still potential megas you could take all the way to the top but they have serious issues/flaws that mean they are going to need a specific set of requirements that you have to meet in teambuilding and/or in game. Some of these megas are strong but just lack key elements they need to do well meaning they are just outclassed by those higher on the tier list. Mostly these pokemon are the middle ground of mega’s they are by no means bad but they are not the best. Tier 3’s are slightly better than 4’s but not by much and the main reason I had 2 tiers here was to spilt these to make the tiers a little smaller and easier to digest.
Tyranitar:
Capable of controlling the weather making this mega pretty great for a sand team he gets hurt a bit due to gaining attack making the special build less appealing but since he got access to more of his physical coverage options in ORAS that’s not a big issue except from intimidates and burns. Solid defensive buff also lets him function better just be wary as his weaknesses still rip him to shreds especially his 4x weakness to fighting.
Garchomp:
This mega was so close to being tier 1 but then someone at gamefreak reduced his speed to 92 and then he got left in an awkward spot where he needs both speed control and sand to be fully effective which put quite heavy teambuilding restrictions on you but once this guy is set up nothing is stopping him from ripping huge holes in your opponents team and tanking hits quite well was well. He is really a huge powerhouse it’s just getting him going which is the issue especially when fairy and ice moves abound in the current meta.
Lucario:
Definitely a mega that has offensive pressure and enough speed to back that up but sadly he just lacks bulk and while he’ not fast enough to survive in a meta with scarf lando. That said he’s got decent physical, special or even mixed sets. If legends get banned mega lucario will be a big benefactor of it and while he still would have many issues due do a speed stat that sadly lets him get out sped by many Pokémon that ko him
Houndoom:
With solar power Houndoom has one of the hardest hitting heat waves in the game even stronger than Charizard Y it also gets very strong dark type stab. Sadly Landorous causes huge issues especially when sun is almost essential to get this guy working well. Overall if not for the constraints of teambuilding Houndoom could be a huge threat but sadly getting reliable sun without Charizard Y is very difficult to team build well.
Heracross:
An awesome Pokémon in trick room but outside of that Heracross is basically very similar to mega Mawile but without intimidate or priority. The 4 time weakness to flying also makes talonflame the absolute bane of heracross both inside and out of trick room and psychic and fairy weaknesses are certainly not helping him. Proberbly one of the best megas outside of the top couple to tiers if you can clear out the huge number of weaknesses he has as well as avoiding intimidate and burn which cripple him.
Medichamp: (up from tier 4)
very similar to gallade but less speed and no inner focus mean he's relegated to being a slightly harder hitting brother. And by slightly i really mean slightly as medichamps strongest reliable fighting move is drain punch basically 150 base power with pure power, gallade gets close combat 120 base power and has an extra 65 base attack. That said medichamp does get fake out which is nice, all elemental punches and priority with bullet punch. he's a strong pick but he's really only more powerful than gallade when hitting with non fighting moves and in that medichamp can access better support moves than gallade.
Lopunny: (up from tier 4)
Lopunny has a solid move pool a variety of options solid speed and attack with fake out support. Problem is she needs to run protect due to how frail she is meaning either you take both stabs, fake out + protect or you give up on fake out. Also she has move pool issues only getting the elemental punches ad solid coverage options but her biggest move pool issue being not getting double edge or a strong high damage fighting type move that is not a high risk move. While still workable this means she can miss KO's that other megas can get.
Ampharos:
Another trick room mega with access to cotton guard meaning it can get insanely bulky in just one turn stab dragon pulse and thunderbolt 165 base special attack. Mold breaker is a bit of a weird ability for Ampharos but it helps rarely I guess and it’s not a big negative so it’s workable. Hidden powers allow for varying coverage options. If he was still pure electric typing he would be a true monster but since he’s weak to fairy, dragon, ice and ground most teams have several coverage options they can use to shut down Ampharos.
Aerodactyl:
Very fast and hitting relatively hard mega Aerodactyl mostly causes disruption for a foe with rock slide flinches and more reliably with sky drop taking one Pokémon out the game temporarily. Sadly he is on the frail side and struggles to ko bulkier Pokémon as his attack is only 135 meaning unless he hits super effective he’s not likely to be scoring ko’s without some chip damage going on the target 1st. Lastly a weakness to steel type moves in addition to an electric weakness means he can be dropped by many common steel types in the meta especially scizor and metagross who both can carry priority.
Gyarados:
The winning mega from 2014 is still as strong as he was but with Thunderous making his return to the format Gyarados struggles to get going being weak to the genie’s stab in addition to not being able to get set –up for his dragon dance tactic due to the taunt. That said he builds into teams rather well and if he does ever manage to get 2 dragon dances off the game is likely to be his to clean.
Charizard X:
Similar story to Gyarados but its Landorous who messes Charizard X over with intimidate and earthquake/rock slide threatening it’s hard to get safe dragon dances that said if you do the game could well be over as once Charizard X is powered up not many Pokémon can swap in to stab fire moves especially when he can be carrying either earthquake/dragon claw as a secondary move to put the hurt on those that resist his flare blitz.
Tier 4:
As I said above the lower half of the middle group still very usable but you need to be wary of their weaknesses.
Latias
Steelix
Slowbro
Altaria
Glalie
Manetric
Pinsir
Abomasnow
Tier 5:
While these mega’s are not necessarily terrible nearly any VGC team could beat them using these megas is going to give you a disadvantage. Others in this tier are just surpassed by their non-mega forms and as a result are pretty poor choices as megas even though the megas might still be pretty good.
Sharpedo
Latios
Scizor
Aggron
Absol
Pidgeot
Sableye (up from tier 6)
Tier 6:
Almost all these Pokémon offer nothing more than their non-mega versions in the cases where they do they are not worth the mega stone as there are other stronger Pokémon that do the job of these megas better. While it is possible to make these megas work they are rarely going to be anything more than gimmick strategies.
Beedrill:
Fantastic attack and speed but it will faint to a light breeze + it can miss key ko’s barely gets out sped by scarf Landorous. Any spread moves are disastrous for Beedrill. If you want to run him you going to have to use him as an assassin to ko the specific Pokémon you need to ko. Problem is its almost certainly going to be a 1 for 1 at best and if they switch out/protect they will down your mega so easily that if you blink you’ll probably miss it.
Audino:
To be honest here Audino’s mega gave it everything it could have wanted from the mega with more defences to match its insane health but sadly Audino is held back by being a support Pokémon with no recovery move, which is workable if you are not a mega as you can take sitrus or leftovers but Audino can’t. as a result Audino is basically just a worse version of bulky Pokémon like Suicune or Crescellia and since these Pokémon don’t require you mega they are much better choices. Basically a wasted mega choice unless Audino gets reliable recovery.
Blaziken:
Definitely a candidate for being the worst mega in VGC 15, completely outclassed by its life orb non mega variant which does the same or more damage at the cost of recoil and has 20 less base speed which when you out speed scarf Landorous after a single speed boost anyway is a bit of a moot point. Like really the only reason I can think you would want to use this guy is because he looks cooler than normal Blaziken. Otherwise I think the life orb variant is better in every way as the speed boost ability was not an upgrade to a hidden ability regular Blaziken and the extra damage frankly is not good enough to warrant the mega stone over a life orb.
Banette:
Possibly the worst mega game freak designed it doesn’t synergise well at all, I mean 165 attack is sweet but poor defences and middling speed mean you stuck in a place that’s horrible. In my opinion his most viable tactics are a tailwind/tr team using him with phantom force etc but then you don’t get good use of his ability prankster. But if you want to make use of prankster I feel you just skill swap it to an ally who can make good use of it before sucker punching/destiny bonding to take 1 down before you die.
Hey guys I decided to make a tier list of the megas to help trainers (particularly new trainers) choose their mega. Each mega will have a very brief description of why its where it is and will hopefully give you some ideas for whether you want to run it or not. Pokémon are divided into 7 tiers (M-6) m being the best and 6 being the worst and while every mega can be used higher rated megas are likely to find success more often/more easily. So if you’re a new player I recommend staying at tier 2+ all of these Pokémon are usable without requiring trickier team comps or difficult team builds. The order within a tier is irrelevant but as a soft rule the stronger 1s tend to be near the top of each list but this is not 100% true and will likely change as the meta shifts.
I will try to update the list as the meta shifts but for the most part unless we see any dramatic changes in the meta not much is likely to change. If you think I have a mega in the wrong place let me know and explain why, do not post saying “M alakazam shud be tier 1 cuz he has many spoons” as I will ignore or delete such posts but feel free to give reasons backing up such opinions and explain why you think his weaknesses do not prevent him from being moved up etc. It is very unlikely I got all megas in the right tier 1st time, seeing as I’ve only used like 20 of them.
Note: I will add descriptions for all the megas over the next day or 2 after all I am write about 100 words each which after all 44 megas = 4400 words…
M-Tier (Meta Tier):
I’m calling this tier the meta tier as these are the most regularly used Mega Pokémon all being present in the top 12. However if the meta changes and these Pokémon drop out of that list they would all be considered top tier 1 picks at worst. Having huge strengths and almost no or very few workable flaws these are the megas you should be looking at 1st for your team and you should have answers to these guys in your team.
Kangaskhan:
No surprise here she pretty much rules the meta currently and I don’t think she’s going anywhere unless she gets banned as she fits into so may team comps insanely well. With good coverage options a fast fake out and great bulk it really is a jack of all trades mega that excels at all roles it can perform.
Salamence:
Can run both physical and special sets with great coverage and aerilate boosted attacks, not to forget he gets decent bulk with the mega form as well and an incredible speed stat at 120 leading to one of the most difficult to predict megas with the only guaranteed thing being its purpose to make your foe suffer.
Charizard Y:
The core sun team member returned to vgc 15 as strong as it was in 14 but with the insane power of his sun boosted fire attacks and phenomenal special attack stat it shouldn’t have caught too many people by surprise. While weak to rockslides he’s able to take 1 with the right investment and can deal with many of the bulky water types in the meta that normally wall fire types thanks to drought solarbeam.
Gardevoir:
As the fairy/steel/dragon core spread gardevoirs popularity rose and oras let her get pixilate boosted hyper voice with a huge special attack stat to back it up. While her speed tier is meh at 1st glance it lets her run several speed control types ranging from trick room to tailwind. With hp ground dealing with many steel types a set of hidden power ground, hyper voice and psyshock will let her hit most pokemon in the meta hard including many of her common weaknesses such as Aegislash and Heatran.
Tier 1:
These picks are the very Strong picks that have few flaws and are generally meta independent allowing them to be strong regardless of the meta that said when the meta favours them these Pokémon can all be monsters that can obliterate entire teams if they are not prepared to deal with them.
Metagross:
An amazing mega capable of hitting a range of threats hard with clear body can dodge intimidates etc before going mega and gets a huge speed boost from the mega along with tough claws letting this behemoth and heaviest non legend Pokémon in the game really do some damage. With solid coverage good speed and fantastic attack he would certainly be M tier if not for Landurous presumably dissuading people from using him.
Gengar:
A mega I’m sure many people hate due to perish trap teams. But in addition to perish trap teams gengar has a strong offense and with the ability to lock foes into poor match-ups it can be a great Pokémon to punish the foe for misplaying. Bit fragile but this mega is certainly capable of ripping an unprepared team apart. Since I kind of have to mention it this Pokémon also is the core member of almost all perish trap teams, so if you want to run perish trap you better have a very good reason to not be picking this guy and a mega.
Venusaur:
Incredibly bulky mega that is very hard to ko without flying or psychic type moves due to think fat. Leech seed/synthesis + sleep power is going to make people want to rage and giga drain and sludge bomb let you hit a surprisingly good number of the meta relatively hard. Overall Venusaur is a wall that is going to frustrate your opponent and let your other Pokémon clean up the battle for you.
Mawile:
Quite bulky, fantastic typing, huge power and it’s cute. Mega Mawile can be run both insane and outside of trick room which helps it immensely, in addition to this sucker punch gives it a means of priority. Also with intimidate or hyper cutter pre mega evolving you can either cut your foes attack or be immune to intimidates yourself. Sadly she’s a bit 1 dimensional but she does her job well and a team that can’t deal with her quickly won’t be able to as she can break through some of the strongest walls in just one or 2 turns even without super effective hits.
Tier 2:
Most of these pokemon are still strong picks but they suffer due to flaws that make them more reliant on the meta or a specific set-up move to function. Overall you’re not going to suffer much running these pokemon and you mostly do not need to prepare specific answers to them but they are pretty strong threats.
Gallade: (down from tier 1)
Probably one of the most underestimated megas in the game in my opinion this guy gets nearly every coverage option he could want allowing him to get coverage tailored to your team’s needs. Most commonly running ice punch, psyco cut and close combat he is able to hit a huge amount of the meta for super effective damage including Kangaskhan, Thundurous, Landurous and Heatran. Not to mention his ability makes him have a fantastic match-up into Kangaskhan as he can’t be flinched. His role is really a janitor for your team while other megas lead the charge Gallade comes in near the end once you remove his kryptonite’s commonly in the form of Sylveon, Talon and his little sister Gardevoir. :P
Alakazam:
I debated making alakazam tier 1 but decided he just doesn’t always deliver in the same way as others in that tier mostly due to his ability trace which could be awesome and get parental bond or could get truant and actually make your mega useless. It’s kind of dependent on your foe. That said he has almost unmatched speed with only Ninjask out speeding him and a special attack stat that is even higher, sadly he is very frail. With his fantastic coverage and speed he becomes very good at blowing a hole in the foe for the rest of the team to clean up the survivors.
Sceptile:
Similar to Alakazam but less coverage but lighting rod meaning you can protect your team water types and make use of discharge users to boost your own megas special attack while dealing damage. With awesome speed and special attack along with no longer being weak to fire make this grass dragon type a mega to watch out for. Just watch out for any ice type attacks or Sceptile will be dead almost as fast as he moves.
Blastoise:
Another underrated mega capable of taking hits while blowing many other Pokémon out of the water. Mega launcher gives you some very powerful moves and when coupled with water spout being a strong stab option if you get tailwind support to let you move 1st you’re all set to destroy many people. He also gets fake out and decent coverage meaning you can not only take hits but most definitely dish out some big hits back
Swampert:
Under rain Swampert becomes possibly the strongest mega in the game having reasonable bulk and only being weak to grass means he is certainly threatening with 150 attack. That said outside of rain he’s pretty lacking as a result he ends up being tier 2 as running outside of a rain team is pretty much impossible. Stab earthquake and waterfall let him hit hard on a lot of Pokémon in addition ice punch/superpower rounds out his set nicely.
Camerupt:
Just like Swampert being unmatched in rain this guy is unmatched in trick room with only 20 base speed and sheer force, stab heat wave you can score high damage even on some Pokémon that resist it. Sadly though he just doesn’t survive outside of trick room and has several common weaknesses but his offensive power in trick room is so strong I feel he deserved this spot in tier 2. He also has alright bulk like most slow Pokémon just don’t let him take powerful ground attacks or any water attacks and he should be fine. Other downsides include him being a team magma supporter having tattooed his head with an M….
Tier 3:
The megas in tiers 3 + 4 are still potential megas you could take all the way to the top but they have serious issues/flaws that mean they are going to need a specific set of requirements that you have to meet in teambuilding and/or in game. Some of these megas are strong but just lack key elements they need to do well meaning they are just outclassed by those higher on the tier list. Mostly these pokemon are the middle ground of mega’s they are by no means bad but they are not the best. Tier 3’s are slightly better than 4’s but not by much and the main reason I had 2 tiers here was to spilt these to make the tiers a little smaller and easier to digest.
Tyranitar:
Capable of controlling the weather making this mega pretty great for a sand team he gets hurt a bit due to gaining attack making the special build less appealing but since he got access to more of his physical coverage options in ORAS that’s not a big issue except from intimidates and burns. Solid defensive buff also lets him function better just be wary as his weaknesses still rip him to shreds especially his 4x weakness to fighting.
Garchomp:
This mega was so close to being tier 1 but then someone at gamefreak reduced his speed to 92 and then he got left in an awkward spot where he needs both speed control and sand to be fully effective which put quite heavy teambuilding restrictions on you but once this guy is set up nothing is stopping him from ripping huge holes in your opponents team and tanking hits quite well was well. He is really a huge powerhouse it’s just getting him going which is the issue especially when fairy and ice moves abound in the current meta.
Lucario:
Definitely a mega that has offensive pressure and enough speed to back that up but sadly he just lacks bulk and while he’ not fast enough to survive in a meta with scarf lando. That said he’s got decent physical, special or even mixed sets. If legends get banned mega lucario will be a big benefactor of it and while he still would have many issues due do a speed stat that sadly lets him get out sped by many Pokémon that ko him
Houndoom:
With solar power Houndoom has one of the hardest hitting heat waves in the game even stronger than Charizard Y it also gets very strong dark type stab. Sadly Landorous causes huge issues especially when sun is almost essential to get this guy working well. Overall if not for the constraints of teambuilding Houndoom could be a huge threat but sadly getting reliable sun without Charizard Y is very difficult to team build well.
Heracross:
An awesome Pokémon in trick room but outside of that Heracross is basically very similar to mega Mawile but without intimidate or priority. The 4 time weakness to flying also makes talonflame the absolute bane of heracross both inside and out of trick room and psychic and fairy weaknesses are certainly not helping him. Proberbly one of the best megas outside of the top couple to tiers if you can clear out the huge number of weaknesses he has as well as avoiding intimidate and burn which cripple him.
Medichamp: (up from tier 4)
very similar to gallade but less speed and no inner focus mean he's relegated to being a slightly harder hitting brother. And by slightly i really mean slightly as medichamps strongest reliable fighting move is drain punch basically 150 base power with pure power, gallade gets close combat 120 base power and has an extra 65 base attack. That said medichamp does get fake out which is nice, all elemental punches and priority with bullet punch. he's a strong pick but he's really only more powerful than gallade when hitting with non fighting moves and in that medichamp can access better support moves than gallade.
Lopunny: (up from tier 4)
Lopunny has a solid move pool a variety of options solid speed and attack with fake out support. Problem is she needs to run protect due to how frail she is meaning either you take both stabs, fake out + protect or you give up on fake out. Also she has move pool issues only getting the elemental punches ad solid coverage options but her biggest move pool issue being not getting double edge or a strong high damage fighting type move that is not a high risk move. While still workable this means she can miss KO's that other megas can get.
Ampharos:
Another trick room mega with access to cotton guard meaning it can get insanely bulky in just one turn stab dragon pulse and thunderbolt 165 base special attack. Mold breaker is a bit of a weird ability for Ampharos but it helps rarely I guess and it’s not a big negative so it’s workable. Hidden powers allow for varying coverage options. If he was still pure electric typing he would be a true monster but since he’s weak to fairy, dragon, ice and ground most teams have several coverage options they can use to shut down Ampharos.
Aerodactyl:
Very fast and hitting relatively hard mega Aerodactyl mostly causes disruption for a foe with rock slide flinches and more reliably with sky drop taking one Pokémon out the game temporarily. Sadly he is on the frail side and struggles to ko bulkier Pokémon as his attack is only 135 meaning unless he hits super effective he’s not likely to be scoring ko’s without some chip damage going on the target 1st. Lastly a weakness to steel type moves in addition to an electric weakness means he can be dropped by many common steel types in the meta especially scizor and metagross who both can carry priority.
Gyarados:
The winning mega from 2014 is still as strong as he was but with Thunderous making his return to the format Gyarados struggles to get going being weak to the genie’s stab in addition to not being able to get set –up for his dragon dance tactic due to the taunt. That said he builds into teams rather well and if he does ever manage to get 2 dragon dances off the game is likely to be his to clean.
Charizard X:
Similar story to Gyarados but its Landorous who messes Charizard X over with intimidate and earthquake/rock slide threatening it’s hard to get safe dragon dances that said if you do the game could well be over as once Charizard X is powered up not many Pokémon can swap in to stab fire moves especially when he can be carrying either earthquake/dragon claw as a secondary move to put the hurt on those that resist his flare blitz.
Tier 4:
As I said above the lower half of the middle group still very usable but you need to be wary of their weaknesses.
Latias
Steelix
Slowbro
Altaria
Glalie
Manetric
Pinsir
Abomasnow
Tier 5:
While these mega’s are not necessarily terrible nearly any VGC team could beat them using these megas is going to give you a disadvantage. Others in this tier are just surpassed by their non-mega forms and as a result are pretty poor choices as megas even though the megas might still be pretty good.
Sharpedo
Latios
Scizor
Aggron
Absol
Pidgeot
Sableye (up from tier 6)
Tier 6:
Almost all these Pokémon offer nothing more than their non-mega versions in the cases where they do they are not worth the mega stone as there are other stronger Pokémon that do the job of these megas better. While it is possible to make these megas work they are rarely going to be anything more than gimmick strategies.
Beedrill:
Fantastic attack and speed but it will faint to a light breeze + it can miss key ko’s barely gets out sped by scarf Landorous. Any spread moves are disastrous for Beedrill. If you want to run him you going to have to use him as an assassin to ko the specific Pokémon you need to ko. Problem is its almost certainly going to be a 1 for 1 at best and if they switch out/protect they will down your mega so easily that if you blink you’ll probably miss it.
Audino:
To be honest here Audino’s mega gave it everything it could have wanted from the mega with more defences to match its insane health but sadly Audino is held back by being a support Pokémon with no recovery move, which is workable if you are not a mega as you can take sitrus or leftovers but Audino can’t. as a result Audino is basically just a worse version of bulky Pokémon like Suicune or Crescellia and since these Pokémon don’t require you mega they are much better choices. Basically a wasted mega choice unless Audino gets reliable recovery.
Blaziken:
Definitely a candidate for being the worst mega in VGC 15, completely outclassed by its life orb non mega variant which does the same or more damage at the cost of recoil and has 20 less base speed which when you out speed scarf Landorous after a single speed boost anyway is a bit of a moot point. Like really the only reason I can think you would want to use this guy is because he looks cooler than normal Blaziken. Otherwise I think the life orb variant is better in every way as the speed boost ability was not an upgrade to a hidden ability regular Blaziken and the extra damage frankly is not good enough to warrant the mega stone over a life orb.
Banette:
Possibly the worst mega game freak designed it doesn’t synergise well at all, I mean 165 attack is sweet but poor defences and middling speed mean you stuck in a place that’s horrible. In my opinion his most viable tactics are a tailwind/tr team using him with phantom force etc but then you don’t get good use of his ability prankster. But if you want to make use of prankster I feel you just skill swap it to an ally who can make good use of it before sucker punching/destiny bonding to take 1 down before you die.
Evilsabre
Winning a Pokemon battle is not so much about being a step ahead of your opponent but rather being 2 steps behind them
Winning a Pokemon battle is not so much about being a step ahead of your opponent but rather being 2 steps behind them
