Melmetal
PvE Analysis
Melmetal has the unique honors of being the first Pokemon from the main series generation 8 to be featured in Go, the first legendary/mythic to debut outside of the main series, the first Mythic pokemon to actually evolve, and the first legendary/mythic that can be placed as a defender as a gym alongside its pre-evolution, Meltan. Despite all of these honors, just how does Melmetal stack up in the Pokemon Go metagame? Not very well. With Melmetal's pure Steel-typing and lack of a Steel-type fast move, paired with Thunderbolt or the awful Flash Cannon, make it a poor option for raids.
Double Iron Bash has finally been released, and it has excellent parameters. However, Melmetal's average ATK stat and access to only Thunder Shock as a fast attack diminishes its potential as a Steel attacker. It can work as a budget option for those without Metagross, but the performance difference between the two Steel titans is rather overwhelming.
Best PvE Offensive Moveset
Any | Best |
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- Thunder Shock is Melmetal's only fast move.
- Thunderbolt and Rock Slide pair well with Thunder Shock.
- Double Iron Bash* is an excellent move, but Melmetal lacks the Attack stat and Fast Attack synergy to make good use of it.
- Flash Cannon provides STAB damage but does poor damage.
- Hyper Beam does little to help Melmetal.
- Superpower doesn't have much use here.
Best PvE Defensive Moveset
Thunder Shock + Double Iron Bash | Best |
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- Thunderbolt is okay, but it leaves Melmetal easily walled by Ground Types in particular.
- Double Iron Bash* is a 3 bar move with a fairly early damage window and decent power, making it an excellent move on defense.
- Superpower is decent as an alternative move, but is easily dodged.
- Rock Slide is very likely going to be resisted by common Fighting-type attackers.
- Flash Cannon and Hyper Beam are one-bar moves that are too slow to access.
PvP Analysis
Thunder Shock + Rock Slide or Double Iron Bash* and Superpower |
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Thunder Shock is the one and only fast move available to Melmetal.
Rock Slide is Melmetal's primary move of choice. It's cheap, spammy, and has great offensive coverage. Double Iron Bash is an alternate option, providing STAB and even more spamminess at the expense of some coverage. Pair either move with Superpower for a big hit against other Steel-types.
Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, and Hyper Beam are all outclassed by those moves, although Flash Cannon can be used to land a surprise, extremely heavy hit against Zacian. If you were to use Rock Slide/Thunderbolt, you should use Probopass instead. Flash Cannon and Hyper Beam just aren't that valuable.
Great League | |
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Melmetal held an incredibly strong niche early in PvP. However, with the release of more and more powerful Steel-types, it has fallen out of favor. Still, though, the combination of Rock Slide and Superpower gives it solid coverage against relevant meta Pokémon. Other Pokémon can just do Melmetal better in open format. | |
Ultra League | |
Melmetal is better in Ultra League than Great League. It's a powerful Steel-type, often functioning like Budget Registeel. However, unlike Registeel, Melmetal can hit Pokémon like Charizard and Gyarados for Super Effective damage with Rock Slide. | |
Master League | |
Melmetal's Steel-typing and solid bulk allows it to be a stalwart backbone to many teams in the Master League. It primarily functions as an answer to Dialga, Lugia, and Togekiss. Melmetal is also no slouch offensively, having slightly higher ATK than Togekiss and Giratina-O, alongside extremely spammy charge moves that have great coverage combined. Although Melmetal may not exactly win some of these matchups, it can threaten Ho-Oh, Yveltal, Excadrill, Snorlax, and Zarude super effectively, allowing it to function as a check when combined with its spamminess. Melmetal's excellent bulk and numerous resistances grants it a lot of freedom when it comes to overcharging, and can easily store charge moves while switching out to search for better targets to unleash them on. Melmetal's primary counters are Ground-types like Groudon and both formes of Landorus. It also struggles heavily against Giratina-O, who simply deals much more damage to it thanks to Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball being very powerful moves. Zacian is also a major threat as it threatens both Melmetal and the Dragon- or Dark-type Pokemon that Melmetal likes to partner with. |