Ginger Princess
Girl moding so hard rn
[OVERVIEW]
Mega Gardevoir is an admirable offensive nuke in the 1v1 metagame, able to set up on and one-shot several bulky Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Tapu Lele, and Zygarde-C with a Pixilate-boosted Hyper Beam. In addition, Mega Gardevoir also has access to tools such as Hyper Voice to provide coverage against Substitute users, as well as access to utility options in the form of Will-O-Wisp and Calm Mind, which can be very useful in breaking through physically offensive threats such as Dragonite, Donphan, and Golem and bulkier special attackers such as Tapu Lele, Primarina, and Tapu Fini. Before Mega Evolving, the ability Trace allows Gardevoir to acquire the ability of its foe, which is indispensable against certain Pokemon such as Dragonite and Mega Gyarados. Unfortunately, its naturally poor defenses leaves Mega Gardevoir quite vulnerable to faster physical attackers that populate the metagame, such as Mega Lopunny, Garchomp, Mega Pinsir, and Choice Scarf Haxorus. It also has a terrible matchup against most of the Steel-types in the metagame, which all resist both Mega Gardevoir's Fairy- and Psychic-type STAB moves, such as Mega Metagross, Magearna, and Mega Mawile.
[SET]
name: Speedy Bulky
move 1: Hyper Beam
move 2: Calm Mind
move 3: Hyper Voice / Psyshock
move 4: Will-O-Wisp
item: Gardevoirite
ability: Trace
nature: Timid
evs: 240 HP / 16 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Hyper Beam is Mega Gardevoir's main offensive tool, able to obliterate almost anything it touches super effectively in a single shot, such as Dragonite after Multiscale is broken, Mega Altaria, Kommo-o, and Mega Sableye, as well as knock out many frailer neutrally effective threats, such as offense Landorus-T, Porygon-Z, and Vivillon. Beware of the recharge after using Hyper Beam, so only use it once a KO is guaranteed. Calm Mind allows Mega Gardevoir to safely obtain the offensive capabilities needed in order to beat specially defensive threats such as bulky Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini, Primarina, Mega Blastoise, and Manaphy. It also allows Mega Gardevoir to improve its Special Defense while maintaining offensive pressure, which helps against all of the aforementioned threats. Hyper Voice allows Mega Gardevoir to hit past Substitutes from Pokemon such as Torrent Greninja, Serperior, and Jumpluff. Psyshock is Mega Gardevoir's Psychic-type STAB option, allowing it to hit Poison-types such as Mega Venusaur super effectively, as well as hitting Fire-types such as Rotom-H and Mega Charizard Y for neutral damage. Psyshock also has the added benefit of being a special attack that hits physically, which is essential in beating opposing bulky Calm Mind and Reflect users such as Waterium Z Tapu Fini and Clefable. Will-O-Wisp serves as a way to improve Mega Gardevoir's subpar physical bulk by halving the foe's Attack. This is indispensable in beating Pokemon such as Dragonite, Mega Tyranitar, Donphan, Golem, and non-Choice Scarf Sawk.
Set Details
========
240 HP EVs allow Mega Gardevoir to take a Hyper Beam from Choice Scarf Modest Porygon Z, along with improving Mega Gardevoir's general physical bulk in the process. Maximum Speed is run to allow Mega Gardevoir to outspeed Pokemon like non-Choice Scarf Haxorus, as well as anything slower, such as Tapu Lele and Vivillon. It also gives you a chance to beat other base 100 Speed Pokemon, like Mega Charizard Y and opposing Mega Gardevoir. The leftover 16 EVs go into Defense, improving Mega Gardevoir's chances against Poison Jab from Choice Scarf Haxorus and a Fake Out into Ice Punch from Mega Medicham. Mega Gardevoir is powerful enough as is to not require investment into Special Attack. Gardevoir runs Trace before Mega Evolving, allowing it to copy very useful abilities for certain matchups, such as Multiscale against Dragonite, Intimidate against Mega Gyarados and Landorus-T, and Volt Absorb against Electrium Z Zeraora.
Usage Tips
========
Mega Gardevoir should simply attack threats it can OHKO immediately or 2HKO before being knocked out, such as Porygon-Z, Zygarde-C, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Sableye, not wasting time going for overkill with Calm Mind, if it can avoid it. For slower physical attackers that Mega Gardevoir cannot immediately OHKO, such as Dragonite, Mega Tyranitar, and Rhyperior, as well as Sturdy users such as Donphan, Golem, and Sawk, immediately use Will-O-Wisp to disable their respective abilities, nullify their Attack, and put them in range of Hyper Beam the next turn. For slower special attackers that Mega Gardevoir can't immediately OHKO, such as Mew, Tapu Lele, and Primarina, use Calm Mind immediately in order to prevent them from fatally damaging you while increasing its Special Attack enough to OHKO them with Hyper Beam. Some Pokemon, like Tapu Lele and Mew, can have Calm Mind of their own; if they use that, use Hyper Voice into Hyper Beam or Psyshock after one Calm Mind against Tapu Lele and two for Mew to 2HKO them. Tapu Fini is a noteworthy matchup. It runs either Tapunium Z and Brine or its own Calm Mind in order to attempt to maintain its position against special setup Pokemon. Against the former variant one of two scenarios can occur; either Tapu Fini is offensive and thus will KO Mega Gardevoir with Brine turn 2, in which case the solution is to use Calm Mind turn 1 and use Hyper Beam after, or Tapu Fini will be specially defensive, in which case Mega Gardevoir can set up Calm Mind both turns and then OHKO with Hyper Beam turn 3. The same scenario with Tapu Lele plays out against Calm Mind Tapu Fini, although since Tapu Fini cannot learn Psyshock of its own, it is safe to boost alongside Tapu Fini, at which point you can either knock it out with Hyper Voice into Hyper Beam after you both reach +6 Special Attack and Special Defense, or Psyshock after getting to +2 to 2HKO. Mega Gyarados is a special case; while it may seem like a safer option to use Will-O-Wisp, this is actually not the optimal play, as this will risk a miss. Simply use Hyper Voice or Psyshock turn 1 and Hyper Beam after; this covers every single play a standard Mega Gyarados can make, as Hyper Beam OHKOes if they Mega Evolve. Against faster threats, such as Pheromosa and Mega Medicham, attacking immediately is usually the best course of action. Against Substitute users like Greninja and Serperior, attacking with Hyper Voice will be enough, either OHKOing or 2HKOing them before they can defeat you.
Team Options
========
Mega Gardevoir is susceptible to Steel-, Poison-, and Fire-type Pokemon, making Ground-types generally great options for teammates. Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Zygarde-C, Krookodile, Garchomp, and Excadrill, given the right individual sets, can all beat several prominent threats to Mega Gardevoir, such as Heatran, Magearna, Magnezone, and Mega Metagross. For most of these, Groundium Z should be run, although Pokemon like Landorus-T and Garchomp have a little leg room and can afford to run Choice items. Besides Ground-types, Fire-types with positive matchups against special attackers and other Fire-types work well with Mega Gardevoir. In particular, specially defensive Mega Charizard X can provide the backbone necessary to handle faster threats such as most Steel-types, Mega Charizard Y, Gunk Shot Greninja, Naganadel, Meloetta, and faster physical threats that can obliterate Mega Gardevoir, such as Mega Lopunny and Mega Pinsir. Heatran is also notable, as it can effectively check Mega Charizard X, Togekiss, and Mega Aggron. In return, Mega Gardevoir patches up the weaknesses these Pokemon share with bulky special attackers, like Tapu Fini, Tapu Lele, Primarina, and Mega Venusaur.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Icy Wind, in tandem with moves like Hyper Beam, Focus Blast or Hidden Power Ground, and Taunt, is an excellent speed control option that is useful in reliably taking down Pokemon like stall Deoxys-S and Crustle. Most of these Pokemon, while weak to a standard Hyper Beam from Mega Gardevoir, have ways to get around this through moves and abilities, but by lowering their Speed, Mega Gardevoir can prevent any kind of counterplay on their end. Running Icy Wind + Hidden Power Ground or Focus Blast also enables Mega Gardevoir to lure and beat the ever-present Magnezone. Run Hidden Power Ground for consistency against Magnezone and Focus Blast if you want to be able to potentially knock out other Pokemon such as Heatran and Mega Aggron. Note that Mega Gardevoir must have at least 321 Speed, or 224 Speed EVs with a Timid nature, in order to outspeed Magnezone after Icy Wind every time, after being potentially hit by Zap Cannon. However, this sacrifices the raw power gained through Hyper Beam, which is important against Pokemon such as Porygon-Z, Landorus-T, and Incineroar. Mega Gardevoir can use other utility options such as Encore and Taunt, which both serve in essence to break down stall or bulky Pokemon such as Mega Slowbro, Jumpluff, and Porygon2 by preventing them from either setting up or recovering from damage dealt by Mega Gardevoir. Laser Focus along with Calm Mind allows Mega Gardevoir to blast through opposing Calm Mind users that Psyshock cannot reliably defeat, such as Magearna, Meloetta, and opposing Mega Gardevoir, as well as poke a hole through stall Pokemon such as Clefable and stall Necrozma. Mega Gardevoir can run a more defensive set using 120 HP / 252 Def / 136 Spe EVs with a Timid nature and Protect, Hyper Voice, and Psyshock in order to beat Pokemon like Mega Lopunny, Mega Blaziken, and Choice Band Garchomp, as well as being able to outspeed base 85 Speed Pokemon like Tapu Fini.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Steel-types**: Steel-type Pokemon unfortunately resist both of Mega Gardevoir's STAB options and simultaneously hit it back with powerful and unresisted or super effective damage. Beware of Pokemon such as Mega Metagross, Mega Mawile, Genesect, Mega Aggron, Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Jolly Kartana.
**Fast Physical Threats**: While Mega Gardevoir can take advantage of Will-O-Wisp to neutralize the damage dealt by slower, bulkier physical Pokemon, it will have a hard time dealing with most faster physical attackers that it encounters, as the damage dealt by the initial attack will often be too much for Mega Gardevoir to contend with. Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X, Groundium Z Garchomp, Choice Scarf Haxorus, Mega Pinsir, and Victini will easily punch a hole into Mega Gardevoir.
**Fast Poison-types**: Mega Gardevoir is weak to super effective Poison-type damage, so Pokemon like Naganadel, Nihilego, and Gunk Shot Greninja with reasonable Attack will be able to OHKO Mega Gardevoir.
**Exceptionally Specially Defensive Pokemon**: While Mega Gardevoir does have the ability to boost its Special Attack enough to allow it to beat most naturally specially defensive Pokemon, there are a few exceptions that are able to beat Mega Gardevoir before Mega Gardevoir can beat them. Z-Thunder Wave Togekiss can tank a Hyper Beam from speedy bulky Mega Gardevoir and follow up with Thunder Wave followed by Air Slash, and Meloetta will be able to set up Calm Mind alongside Mega Gardevoir while also being able to naturally tank Hyper Beam and take little damage from Psyshock, unlike Tapu Lele.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Osra, 239997], [Chickenpie2, 305552], [Freddy Kyogre, 321529]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [deetah, 297659]]
Mega Gardevoir is an admirable offensive nuke in the 1v1 metagame, able to set up on and one-shot several bulky Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Tapu Lele, and Zygarde-C with a Pixilate-boosted Hyper Beam. In addition, Mega Gardevoir also has access to tools such as Hyper Voice to provide coverage against Substitute users, as well as access to utility options in the form of Will-O-Wisp and Calm Mind, which can be very useful in breaking through physically offensive threats such as Dragonite, Donphan, and Golem and bulkier special attackers such as Tapu Lele, Primarina, and Tapu Fini. Before Mega Evolving, the ability Trace allows Gardevoir to acquire the ability of its foe, which is indispensable against certain Pokemon such as Dragonite and Mega Gyarados. Unfortunately, its naturally poor defenses leaves Mega Gardevoir quite vulnerable to faster physical attackers that populate the metagame, such as Mega Lopunny, Garchomp, Mega Pinsir, and Choice Scarf Haxorus. It also has a terrible matchup against most of the Steel-types in the metagame, which all resist both Mega Gardevoir's Fairy- and Psychic-type STAB moves, such as Mega Metagross, Magearna, and Mega Mawile.
[SET]
name: Speedy Bulky
move 1: Hyper Beam
move 2: Calm Mind
move 3: Hyper Voice / Psyshock
move 4: Will-O-Wisp
item: Gardevoirite
ability: Trace
nature: Timid
evs: 240 HP / 16 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Hyper Beam is Mega Gardevoir's main offensive tool, able to obliterate almost anything it touches super effectively in a single shot, such as Dragonite after Multiscale is broken, Mega Altaria, Kommo-o, and Mega Sableye, as well as knock out many frailer neutrally effective threats, such as offense Landorus-T, Porygon-Z, and Vivillon. Beware of the recharge after using Hyper Beam, so only use it once a KO is guaranteed. Calm Mind allows Mega Gardevoir to safely obtain the offensive capabilities needed in order to beat specially defensive threats such as bulky Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini, Primarina, Mega Blastoise, and Manaphy. It also allows Mega Gardevoir to improve its Special Defense while maintaining offensive pressure, which helps against all of the aforementioned threats. Hyper Voice allows Mega Gardevoir to hit past Substitutes from Pokemon such as Torrent Greninja, Serperior, and Jumpluff. Psyshock is Mega Gardevoir's Psychic-type STAB option, allowing it to hit Poison-types such as Mega Venusaur super effectively, as well as hitting Fire-types such as Rotom-H and Mega Charizard Y for neutral damage. Psyshock also has the added benefit of being a special attack that hits physically, which is essential in beating opposing bulky Calm Mind and Reflect users such as Waterium Z Tapu Fini and Clefable. Will-O-Wisp serves as a way to improve Mega Gardevoir's subpar physical bulk by halving the foe's Attack. This is indispensable in beating Pokemon such as Dragonite, Mega Tyranitar, Donphan, Golem, and non-Choice Scarf Sawk.
Set Details
========
240 HP EVs allow Mega Gardevoir to take a Hyper Beam from Choice Scarf Modest Porygon Z, along with improving Mega Gardevoir's general physical bulk in the process. Maximum Speed is run to allow Mega Gardevoir to outspeed Pokemon like non-Choice Scarf Haxorus, as well as anything slower, such as Tapu Lele and Vivillon. It also gives you a chance to beat other base 100 Speed Pokemon, like Mega Charizard Y and opposing Mega Gardevoir. The leftover 16 EVs go into Defense, improving Mega Gardevoir's chances against Poison Jab from Choice Scarf Haxorus and a Fake Out into Ice Punch from Mega Medicham. Mega Gardevoir is powerful enough as is to not require investment into Special Attack. Gardevoir runs Trace before Mega Evolving, allowing it to copy very useful abilities for certain matchups, such as Multiscale against Dragonite, Intimidate against Mega Gyarados and Landorus-T, and Volt Absorb against Electrium Z Zeraora.
Usage Tips
========
Mega Gardevoir should simply attack threats it can OHKO immediately or 2HKO before being knocked out, such as Porygon-Z, Zygarde-C, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Sableye, not wasting time going for overkill with Calm Mind, if it can avoid it. For slower physical attackers that Mega Gardevoir cannot immediately OHKO, such as Dragonite, Mega Tyranitar, and Rhyperior, as well as Sturdy users such as Donphan, Golem, and Sawk, immediately use Will-O-Wisp to disable their respective abilities, nullify their Attack, and put them in range of Hyper Beam the next turn. For slower special attackers that Mega Gardevoir can't immediately OHKO, such as Mew, Tapu Lele, and Primarina, use Calm Mind immediately in order to prevent them from fatally damaging you while increasing its Special Attack enough to OHKO them with Hyper Beam. Some Pokemon, like Tapu Lele and Mew, can have Calm Mind of their own; if they use that, use Hyper Voice into Hyper Beam or Psyshock after one Calm Mind against Tapu Lele and two for Mew to 2HKO them. Tapu Fini is a noteworthy matchup. It runs either Tapunium Z and Brine or its own Calm Mind in order to attempt to maintain its position against special setup Pokemon. Against the former variant one of two scenarios can occur; either Tapu Fini is offensive and thus will KO Mega Gardevoir with Brine turn 2, in which case the solution is to use Calm Mind turn 1 and use Hyper Beam after, or Tapu Fini will be specially defensive, in which case Mega Gardevoir can set up Calm Mind both turns and then OHKO with Hyper Beam turn 3. The same scenario with Tapu Lele plays out against Calm Mind Tapu Fini, although since Tapu Fini cannot learn Psyshock of its own, it is safe to boost alongside Tapu Fini, at which point you can either knock it out with Hyper Voice into Hyper Beam after you both reach +6 Special Attack and Special Defense, or Psyshock after getting to +2 to 2HKO. Mega Gyarados is a special case; while it may seem like a safer option to use Will-O-Wisp, this is actually not the optimal play, as this will risk a miss. Simply use Hyper Voice or Psyshock turn 1 and Hyper Beam after; this covers every single play a standard Mega Gyarados can make, as Hyper Beam OHKOes if they Mega Evolve. Against faster threats, such as Pheromosa and Mega Medicham, attacking immediately is usually the best course of action. Against Substitute users like Greninja and Serperior, attacking with Hyper Voice will be enough, either OHKOing or 2HKOing them before they can defeat you.
Team Options
========
Mega Gardevoir is susceptible to Steel-, Poison-, and Fire-type Pokemon, making Ground-types generally great options for teammates. Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Zygarde-C, Krookodile, Garchomp, and Excadrill, given the right individual sets, can all beat several prominent threats to Mega Gardevoir, such as Heatran, Magearna, Magnezone, and Mega Metagross. For most of these, Groundium Z should be run, although Pokemon like Landorus-T and Garchomp have a little leg room and can afford to run Choice items. Besides Ground-types, Fire-types with positive matchups against special attackers and other Fire-types work well with Mega Gardevoir. In particular, specially defensive Mega Charizard X can provide the backbone necessary to handle faster threats such as most Steel-types, Mega Charizard Y, Gunk Shot Greninja, Naganadel, Meloetta, and faster physical threats that can obliterate Mega Gardevoir, such as Mega Lopunny and Mega Pinsir. Heatran is also notable, as it can effectively check Mega Charizard X, Togekiss, and Mega Aggron. In return, Mega Gardevoir patches up the weaknesses these Pokemon share with bulky special attackers, like Tapu Fini, Tapu Lele, Primarina, and Mega Venusaur.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Icy Wind, in tandem with moves like Hyper Beam, Focus Blast or Hidden Power Ground, and Taunt, is an excellent speed control option that is useful in reliably taking down Pokemon like stall Deoxys-S and Crustle. Most of these Pokemon, while weak to a standard Hyper Beam from Mega Gardevoir, have ways to get around this through moves and abilities, but by lowering their Speed, Mega Gardevoir can prevent any kind of counterplay on their end. Running Icy Wind + Hidden Power Ground or Focus Blast also enables Mega Gardevoir to lure and beat the ever-present Magnezone. Run Hidden Power Ground for consistency against Magnezone and Focus Blast if you want to be able to potentially knock out other Pokemon such as Heatran and Mega Aggron. Note that Mega Gardevoir must have at least 321 Speed, or 224 Speed EVs with a Timid nature, in order to outspeed Magnezone after Icy Wind every time, after being potentially hit by Zap Cannon. However, this sacrifices the raw power gained through Hyper Beam, which is important against Pokemon such as Porygon-Z, Landorus-T, and Incineroar. Mega Gardevoir can use other utility options such as Encore and Taunt, which both serve in essence to break down stall or bulky Pokemon such as Mega Slowbro, Jumpluff, and Porygon2 by preventing them from either setting up or recovering from damage dealt by Mega Gardevoir. Laser Focus along with Calm Mind allows Mega Gardevoir to blast through opposing Calm Mind users that Psyshock cannot reliably defeat, such as Magearna, Meloetta, and opposing Mega Gardevoir, as well as poke a hole through stall Pokemon such as Clefable and stall Necrozma. Mega Gardevoir can run a more defensive set using 120 HP / 252 Def / 136 Spe EVs with a Timid nature and Protect, Hyper Voice, and Psyshock in order to beat Pokemon like Mega Lopunny, Mega Blaziken, and Choice Band Garchomp, as well as being able to outspeed base 85 Speed Pokemon like Tapu Fini.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Steel-types**: Steel-type Pokemon unfortunately resist both of Mega Gardevoir's STAB options and simultaneously hit it back with powerful and unresisted or super effective damage. Beware of Pokemon such as Mega Metagross, Mega Mawile, Genesect, Mega Aggron, Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Jolly Kartana.
**Fast Physical Threats**: While Mega Gardevoir can take advantage of Will-O-Wisp to neutralize the damage dealt by slower, bulkier physical Pokemon, it will have a hard time dealing with most faster physical attackers that it encounters, as the damage dealt by the initial attack will often be too much for Mega Gardevoir to contend with. Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X, Groundium Z Garchomp, Choice Scarf Haxorus, Mega Pinsir, and Victini will easily punch a hole into Mega Gardevoir.
**Fast Poison-types**: Mega Gardevoir is weak to super effective Poison-type damage, so Pokemon like Naganadel, Nihilego, and Gunk Shot Greninja with reasonable Attack will be able to OHKO Mega Gardevoir.
**Exceptionally Specially Defensive Pokemon**: While Mega Gardevoir does have the ability to boost its Special Attack enough to allow it to beat most naturally specially defensive Pokemon, there are a few exceptions that are able to beat Mega Gardevoir before Mega Gardevoir can beat them. Z-Thunder Wave Togekiss can tank a Hyper Beam from speedy bulky Mega Gardevoir and follow up with Thunder Wave followed by Air Slash, and Meloetta will be able to set up Calm Mind alongside Mega Gardevoir while also being able to naturally tank Hyper Beam and take little damage from Psyshock, unlike Tapu Lele.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Osra, 239997], [Chickenpie2, 305552], [Freddy Kyogre, 321529]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [deetah, 297659]]
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