Can Melmetal Be Good for Something?

Gym: I’m not epileptic but using Melmetal is just epilepsy, the movement is just so stupid and jerky it makes my eyes hurt

Raids: I’m predicting two uses for it but only ever used it for one:

1. Articuno: with rock slide it should close the gap slightly to metagross levels of dps, but good luck reaching rhyperior, SE Ttar or rampardos. Now, it does resist ice, unlike the 3 I just mentioned.

2. Blizzard kyogre: I did some spreadsheet calcs earlier and if I recall, this thing is 77% of Raikou DPS. So that’s just about a bit higher than shadow ball mewtwo (73% ish) but with the bonus of resisting ice.

But seriously though the lack of stab hurts it big. Not to mention both quick and chArge moves sans flash cannon lack it.

With Thunder Shock/Rock Slide, it's not that bad in PvP master league.

Melmetal isn't terrible, it's just that there are others who do what it does substantially better. Its stats are good, but lacking electric STAB means it will often be outclassed (e.g. Raikou, Zapdos, Electivire). When weighed against how hard it can be for some to obtain, it struggles to stand out.

I use Melmetal exclusively for PvP, where its coverage, stats, and relatively cheap charge moves shine. It's at its strongest in the Master League and is one of the best Pokemon there, although the recent release of Dialga pushes it down a bit.

Hopefully GP will update some of the pages for Mons at some point to reflect their viability in PvP. Heck, the write-up on Giratina's page makes it out to be hot garbage (which it is in PvE), but it dominates the ultra league in PvP. Melmetal is pretty good across all three leagues, so if you're willing to invest in it (and you care about PvP), it will serve you well.

Apart from that, it doesn't have a ton of uses in the gym/raid meta. As a gym attacker, it's decently bulky, but not the fastest at clearing out gyms. As a defender, it's held back by thunder shocks abysmally low damage output (and being yet another Mon weak to Machamp). As a raid attacker, there will always be better options, though it does have some niche uses. Against Kyogre with Blizzard, Melmetal (with TS/TB) is one of the bulkiest counters in the game.