Forgotten Pokémon That Desperately Need Mega Evolutions

Introduction

You know what this is about. You forgot these Pokémon existed, didn't you? Generation VI has introduced a way for Pokémon to receive improvements that may drastically alter their viability. Some Pokémon that were already good received it, and some that weren't so good became great because of it. This gift is Mega Evolution. There are a handful of Pokémon that have good things going for them but are held back by other important factors and could really use one of these to give them that push they need to give them more usage in competitive battling. This article will cover some of the forgotten Pokémon that desperately need Mega Evolutions to awaken their true potential.

Rapidash

Rapidash is an unfortunate case of a Fire-type that has been cursed with poor usage in competitive play since its inception in the very first generation of Pokémon. Its good Attack and Speed stats, in combination with powerful coverage moves, would seem to provide players with good reasons to choose Rapidash for a spot on a team. Fire-types in general were not very good choices in RBY, and the same was true in GSC despite their offensive and defensive advantage against the newly introduced Steel type of that era. Rapidash was hopelessly outclassed by Blaziken, Arcanine, Houndoom, and other Fire-types in ADV, and not even the physical/special split that DPP brought, along with Flare Blitz as a high-powered Fire-type attack for Rapidash's greater offensive stat, was enough to pull Rapidash out from the depths of obscurity. BW gave it awesome coverage moves in Megahorn and Wild Charge, and XY gave it a brand new resistance to moves of the new Fairy type. With a total of six resistances, good power and Speed, and access to Morning Sun for recovery, why is Rapidash not seeing use even now? Well, when it's said that Rapidash is outclassed in its role, it's a lot deeper than just that simple statement. In the physical Fire-type offense department, there's the ubiquitous Talonflame and Mega Charizard X. In the "hit like a truck" Fire-type offense department, there's Darmanitan. In the bulky Fire-type offense department, there's Arcanine and Entei. In the versatile Fire-type department, there's Infernape. Literally anything Rapidash can do is done better by something else, regardless of how unique some might like to see it as. In addition, Rapidash's most reliable attacks will end up being its downfall more often than not, as the recoil from Flare Blitz and Wild Charge adds up; Rapidash's rather low HP stat doesn't help it there and neither do its middling defenses when it comes to taking retaliatory attacks after having taken damage from its own.

Rapidash's main issues are subpar stats in comparison to other physically inclined Fire-types, no real stand-out ability, and the fact that it has to damn near kill itself to be able to hurt things, which is especially troubling when considering the prevalence of Stealth Rock. It can be safely assumed that the only saving grace Rapidash might have in store is a Mega Evolution that remedies these problems. Perhaps a new secondary typing could give Rapidash the edge it needs to stand out among the wildfire of already existing Fire-types, and an ability that prevents it from making any meaningful attack a kamikaze might be ideal as well. Something like Magic Guard would put a stop to Stealth Rock damage and move recoil altogether, and would be perfect along with a Mega Evolution to save it from its cursed fate as the forgotten fire horse.

Dewgong

Dewgong is a Pokémon that has dwelled among the depths of forgotten creatures since Pokémon began. Unlike Rapidash, however, it doesn't really have anything good going for it as far as offense goes, and while its bulk is decent, its Ice typing grants it a handful of unwanted weaknesses, which includes a crippling weakness to Stealth Rock. Its Water / Ice typing has been redone many times throughout the generations, and it is outclassed both offensively and defensively by other Pokémon with this same typing. In RBY, Dewgong's best options were Surf, Blizzard, and Body Slam, but Lapras had superior bulk and access to Hydro Pump, making Dewgong essentially useless despite it having higher Special than Lapras. When GSC rolled around, this remained the case, except for the fact that Dewgong had Encore added to its movepool, which was useful for locking enemies into Curse or other setup moves. Unfortunately, when Dewgong's Special stat was split in this generation, its Special Attack became a meager base 70, which made Dewgong even less effective than it already was. ADV introduced Walrein, another Water / Ice Pokémon that was better than Dewgong in just about every way possible, which only contributed further to Dewgong's lack of viability. DPP gave Dewgong the Hydration ability to use with Rest, which fully restores its health and status and immediately wakes it up if it's raining; this was a pretty solid niche that allowed Dewgong to stall and beat Pokémon under permanent rain by using Perish Song, trapping foes with Whirlpool, and continuously recovering and using Protect. However, just when it had a good thing going, Lapras was given Hydration as a hidden ability in BW, making it a more viable Perish Trapper with its superior bulk and making Dewgong completely irrelevant yet again. XY hasn't brought Dewgong anything notable to help pull it out of the pit of obscurity it can't seem to escape from, but it did bring Freeze-Dry to Lapras, which sealed the deal on Dewgong's viability just about anywhere this generation.

Dewgong is pretty horrible now, sure, but it's had a really rough journey. It could really use some improvements to make it stand out... something that only a Mega Evolution can provide at this point. Because Dewgong has a horn on its head like other Lightning Rod carriers, Mega Dewgong with Lightning Rod and a higher Special Attack stat is certainly conceivable and would allow Dewgong to switch effortlessly into Thunder Wave and Volt Switch for a nice Special Attack boost and then retaliate with boosted STAB attacks. Alternatively, Refrigerate might seem like a somewhat obvious or overdone option for Ice-types, but Mega Dewgong with increased Attack and Refrigerate would have a solid niche with Fake Out, which would score huge chunks of free damage, as well as get the jump on the likes of plenty of Ice-weak Pokémon like Gliscor, and then Mega Dewgong could finish them with Ice Shard if necessary before they could even move. It can be safely assumed that a Mega Evolution is the only way Dewgong is going to see any usage at all in Generation VI or in future generations to come.

Noctowl

If darkness could be likened to low usage, Noctowl can certainly be called the night owl it appears to be. Noctowl is unique as one of those generic birds whose first forms are found near the beginning of the games they are found in; it is the only one that can only be found at night and also remains the only one to have special bulk as its most prominent trait. Noctowl has also always been gifted with an assortment of tricky status and support moves that the other generic birds don't have access to, including but not limited to Confuse Ray, Night Shade, and dual screens. The best Noctowl could do in GSC was run a Curse set with Return and Rest, and Hypnosis was used to incapacitate potential counters. In ADV, Noctowl received Psychic as an attacking option, but it wasn't overly helpful for it, especially considering that it already had Flying-type STAB for Fighting-types in the first place; it also got Feather Dance to sharply cut the Attack power of its targets, but many other birds gained this as well, so it wasn't a huge addition for Noctowl. DPP gave Noctowl a reliable recovery move in Roost to complement its good special bulk, but every single bird and almost every Flying-type also got this move. A rare and fantastic move Noctowl got in DPP, though, was Psycho Shift, which allowed it to not only remove status from itself, but also confer that status onto a target. It was in this generation that Noctowl actually had a somewhat decent niche and could actually be used as a Grass-type counter in a core with Milotic in DPP UU, with Noctowl resisting the Grass-type moves aimed at Milotic and also absorbing sleep-inducing moves with its Insomnia ability, and with Milotic handling the physically bulky Rock- and Steel-types that walled Noctowl. The changes that came with BW left Noctowl's most viable approach to be that of a simple Toxic stall set that could also utilize Whirlwind for shuffling teams through entry hazards and preventing setup, but even that was subpar for it. Even gaining Hyper Voice as a special STAB attack and Tinted Lens as a hidden ability wasn't enough to give it more use as an attacker; the lack of Calm Mind really hurt it in this regard. Unfortunately, XY was not very kind to Noctowl and did not give it anything worth using except the newly buffed Defog, which has more viable users.

Noctowl's usage would probably be a completely different story if it had Calm Mind; combine that with Roost, Hyper Voice, Shadow Ball, and the Tinted Lens ability, and it could snowball into a monster, at least in the lower tiers, though it would be susceptible to status ailments such as paralysis and poison if it doesn't have Psycho Shift or Magic Coat. Since it's obvious that the developers didn't intend for Noctowl to be used as a bulky setup sweeper in this way, it's stuck relying on defensive and supportive tactics, which could be made more effective with the right Mega Evolution. With increased bulk, especially on the physical side, Noctowl would be able to better perform its duties. It could really use something like Magic Bounce as well (that is probably the best possible ability Mega Noctowl could receive), to allow it to deflect entry hazards and status moves. Its advantage over Xatu as a Magic Bouncer would be that it can take Ghost- and Dark-type hits with ease, most notably Knock Off, something highly relevant that Xatu obviously has trouble dealing with. A Mega Evolution like that would definitely bring Noctowl out of the darkness and into some spotlight for a change.

Ledian

In terms of move options, Ledian is probably the most versatile Bug / Flying type Pokémon that has ever been created. It has been supplied with tons of cool moves in just about every generation; its sheer overflow of varied coverage attacks, support options, setup moves, and the ability to pass boosts would seem to give it a huge amount of sets and make it quite unpredictable in battle. However, it unfortunately has other problems that prevent its huge movepool from being useful at all, including severely lacking offensive stats and a horrible defensive typing. Probably the most odd thing about Ledian that anyone could notice when it was introduced in GSC was its access to Dynamic Punch, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch, moves that were previously inconceivable for bug-based Pokémon to have. Regrettably, Ledian's offensive stats (especially its Attack) were much too low to make use of these moves, and both of its STABs were physical, so it was stuck using the more supportive options it was given, which where dual screens and the means to pass Agility boosts to teammates via Baton Pass, but it wasn't really stellar at doing those things either. It also got a handful of other random moves for its typing, including Dig, Rollout, and Solar Beam, but again, it just couldn't make good use of them. ADV brought Ledian Swords Dance as well as Aerial Ace and Silver Wind as physical STAB attacks, but due to Ledian's pitiful base 35 Attack, it was much better off attempting to pass its Swords Dance boosts to a comrade rather than trying to use them itself. It also got Brick Break and Focus Punch in this generation, both of which were useless to it for the same reason. Ledian had a lot of changes and additions in DPP, none of which were actually helpful for it. The physical/special move split meant that Ice Punch and Thunder Punch came off its worse attacking stat, along with new punching moves in Mach Punch and Drain Punch and a utility move in Knock Off, which were equally useless for it. It got a welcome strong special STAB attack in Bug Buzz as well as the Ghost-type Ominous Wind, but so did every other one of its Bug / Flying type friends, and many of them even had Shadow Ball as a better option. The only remotely usable moves that Ledian got in DPP besides Bug Buzz were Roost and U-turn, but the introduction of Stealth Rock in the same generation really screwed that for it, as Ledian literally loses half its maximum health just by entering battle when Stealth Rock is on the field. Encore and Focus Blast helped it stand out a bit from the other winged bugs, but it wasn't enough to really make a difference. Ledian getting Iron Fist as a hidden ability in BW was a huge slap in the face, because there's no way a 20% boost to its punching moves could ever salvage the fact that they're coming off such an unacceptable Attack stat, and the only other notable thing it got was Acrobatics, which it cannot use effectively at all. XY brought nothing to Ledian except a buffed Knock Off that has much better users, but it did bring Sticky Web to Masquerain as well as Ledian's GSC counterpart Ariados, which only made choosing Ledian for a team even less justifiable even in the lower tiers.

It's almost infuriating how much wasted potential is embodied by this Pokémon. If only it had more Attack power to go with its awesome physical movepool, and if only it could actually make sensible use of the Iron Fist boost on all its punching attacks, then this would be a totally different story. Since its design and movepool obviously suggest that it's a fighter at heart, a sensible Mega Evolution for Ledian could actually include a welcome typing change to Bug / Fighting, while retaining Iron Fist and having a massive increase to its Attack. This would remove Ledian's huge weakness to Stealth Rock and would also allow the many offensive gifts it was given to actually be worth something. It would face competition from Heracross and its Mega Evolution, no doubt, but this kind of Mega Ledian would also have key advantages over it, including access to U-turn and recovery in Roost and Drain Punch. It would also have Mach Punch as strong priority, as well as Ice Punch for a nice frigid hit against the likes of Landorus and Dragon-types, two more things that Mega Heracross lacks. Over the generations, Ledian has had it rough, and it is unquestionable that nothing would be more redeeming for Ledian than a good Mega Evolution to finally make it viable.

Sunflora

Upon seeing the ability Chlorophyll, one may cry out, "sun sweeper!". Alas, that is not the fate of our dear Sunflora, whose terrible base 30 Speed cannot be saved by such a marvelous ability. Throughout the generations, Sunflora's usability has declined to become part of the depths of NU, where it is even eligible for PU battles. Originally, in GSC, where it was introduced, having no ability, Sunflora was meant to set up by utilizing either Curse or Growth. With such a shallow movepool, it was typically forced to run a mixed moveset. RSE brought us abilities and introduced Chlorophyll. With this, multiple other Grass-types rose in usage, such as Exeggutor, Jumpluff, Victreebel, Vileplume, and the newly introduced Shiftry, as Chlorophyll allowed them to become much more reliable sun sweepers, or outspeed and status the opposing Pokémon. These Pokémon all had salvageable Speed from the start, and with Chlorophyll, allowed them to all get a head start over most other Pokémon at the time. From there on, it was all downhill for Sunflora, as the best it could claim was a slightly higher Special Attack stat and movepool. With BW, Sunflora was at least blessed with permanent weather, allowing it to fire off Solar Beams if it got sun up, but still was slower than most Pokémon and was rather fragile too. XY took permanent weather away, leaving Sunflora completely in the dust and unable to compete with all the other prominent special attackers which utilize weather in a more viable fashion, or don't need it at all. All of Sunflora's competitors in RSE have fallen back in XY but still hold their own much better than Sunflora, mostly by using utility moves, like Defog for Shiftry and Leech Seed and Substitute for both Exeggutor and Jumpluff. Other Grass-types in NU such as Gogoat and Sawsbuck can set up without sun, and thus our poor sunflower friend cannot stand out among the plethora of other Grass-types even in the lower tiers.

An inability to use its wonderful ability, Chlorophyll, and horrendous defensive stats leaves Sunflora in a hideous position, which can only be cured by a much higher Speed stat and more bulk to ensure it's not dependent on a Focus Sash to save it for yet another turn. A Mega Evolution is just the remedy Sunflora needs to boost its sad stats, as it has just the right movepool of Solar Beam, Earth Power, Hidden Power Fire, Sunny Day and Synthesis to become the righteous sun sweeper it aspires to be if given better attributes to complement these moves. A Grass / Fire type Mega Sunflora with improved bulk, higher Special Attack, and the Drought ability would mark the ultimate comeback for the forgotten GSC flower and give it a huge advantage in sunlight that none of its historically superior Grass-type friends could even come close to. Synthesis under sun would heal back huge amounts of health right off the bat, eliminating its longevity issue, and Grass / Fire is actually not a bad typing, being only weak to Flying, Rock, and Poison. It unfortunately doesn't get any Fire-type moves to use with such a typing, but that would ensure that Sunflora doesn't become too problematic with both of its STABs being supported automatically by its ability; STAB Hidden Power Fire is practically Flamethrower anyway, and sun would boost that even further.

Octillery

Octillery, a Pokémon that had a decent start in GSC, with a niche of having three powerful coverage moves (Surf, Flamethrower, and Ice Beam) along with Return, made for a decent mixed attacker. Base 105 Attack and Special Attack was good enough to give it use in OU at the time. In ADV, Octillery dropped to NU, but its flexibility allowed it to be used in higher tiers. An expanded movepool allowed Octillery to take advantage of even more physical moves, such as Hidden Power Fighting/Ground and Sludge Bomb (which were physical at the time). Thunder Wave also proved to be handy, as Octillery's absolutely horrendous base 45 Speed meant that it wouldn't be able to outspeed much without the assistance of paralysis. The physical/special split hurt Octillery to a degree; with no more legitimate use for its Attack stat, it went purely special, but that also allowed it to abuse Choice Specs. Fast forward to BW and Octillery lies in the depths of NU; while it was always in NU, it did not prove viable enough then to stray out of the tier because of a high amount of competition from other Water-types which were much faster and could abuse rain. Octillery received no support from BW's addition of permanent weather except for a boost to its Water-type moves, when it actually really just needed more Speed. Simipour and Swanna were much speedier alternatives that had niches as revenge killers and rain setters, respectively. Nowadays, in XY, Octillery's lackluster Speed prevents it from become the amazing sweeper it has the potential to be, along with frailty only allowing it to last one or two hits.

It's safe to say that, with Moody banned at Smogon, Octillery's only chance at scoring some usage is a good Mega Evolution. Sheer Force would add a nice boost to Octillery's moves in a similar vein to Mega Camerupt, but Octillery has a much more colorful movepool and would therefore make much better use of it. Regenerator would also make flavor sense for it and would allow it more staying power if it has to switch out after nuking something. To expedite its wallbreaking capabilities, a boost in Special Attack would allow it to KO almost anything that is weak to one of its coverage moves as well as potentially 2HKO a lot of Pokémon that take neutral damage from them. Increased defenses wouldn't hurt it either, to allow it a better chance against Pokémon that it can't take out in less than a couple of hits. All in all, Octillery is an interesting Pokémon for certain, but would have a much brighter future with a Mega Evolution in store.

Delcatty

Delcatty is a Pokémon that has a wide and varied movepool, which is typical of Normal-types, but also has extremely underwhelming stats all the way across the board. It has some rare and unique traits, though none are particularly redeeming for it. This Pokémon is actually so bad that it isn't even used on joke teams in the lowest of tiers, which has been the case for as long as it has existed. When it was first introduced in Generation III, Delcatty immediately found itself in the lowest standings possible for competitive battling despite its varied move options. The best it could do in ADV was run a Calm Mind set with Baton Pass in an awkward attempt to pass boosts to a teammate. It also had Wish, Heal Bell, and Thunder Wave as good support options, but there existed much better users of all of those moves, and so Delcatty was easily outclassed in a support role, which continued to be the case in future generations and still remains. Assist was a fun, rare move that gave it access to every move on its team, though the randomness of it made it rather unreliable, as you'd never know what to expect when using it. Additionally, with only Cute Charm as an ability, it had nothing going for it at all in the competitive scene. DPP gave Delcatty the exclusive and never-before-seen Normalize ability, which makes all of Delcatty's moves become Normal-type. This might seem awesome at first when considering that any attack used with this ability becomes boosted by STAB; however, after further contemplation, you'll realize that it makes Delcatty totally walled by Rock- and Steel-types and unable to damage Ghost-types at all, while also causing Delcatty to never be able to get super effective hits on top of that. The most notable benefits Normalize provided were decently strong priority in STAB Normal-type Sucker Punch and the ability to paralyze Ground-types with Thunder Wave. Charge Beam was a fun addition for Delcatty in DPP to use with Normalize and Baton Pass, and Assist made Delcatty able to convert any random move from its team's movesets into a STAB move, but apart from those things, the ability proved to be rather detrimental in the vast majority of cases. Delcatty got the rare Wonder Skin as a hidden ability in BW, which makes all status moves aimed at it have an accuracy of only 50%. It also received Hyper Voice this generation, which was the best special Normal-type move in existence at the time that didn't have a drawback, but even with that added to its arsenal, it was not near enough to save it from its pitiful viability. Delcatty is a unique Pokémon in a lot of ways but has always been horrible in battle, and unfortunately, XY brought nothing useful to it other than Play Rough to hit Fighting-types with, but they can be expected to beat Delcatty regardless. It did get Cosmic Power, which might be useful on a Baton Pass set if it could actually stick around long enough to get some boosts under its belt.

Other feline Pokémon such as Persian and Purugly are considered poor, but at least they have respectable Speed stats as well as Taunt and U-turn to allow them to prevent setup and status moves as well as pivot in battle. Delcatty's main issue is its unacceptable stats, which are so bad that they will likely require a superficial increase from an ability to make them worthwhile. If Delcatty were to receive a Mega Evolution with increased Attack and Speed stats, Pure Power would help it out a lot, and would allow it to bring the pain in lower tiers with STAB Body Slam, Play Rough, Zen Headbutt, and priority in Sucker Punch. However, since Delcatty has a huge array of support options, a Mega Evolution with increased defenses and the rare Fur Coat ability would surely be able to tank hits long enough to actually utilize Wish and Heal Bell to assist its team, as well as gather boosts from Calm Mind or Cosmic Power and have the option of passing that to a teammate. One thing is certain, though: a Mega Evolution is the only way Delcatty will find any use at all in generations to come. It needs one desperately.

Mothim

Mothim is a winged bug that evolves from the very strange Burmy if its gender is male. Because its female evolution is a lot more unique in that it has three different forms that are dependent on the last environment Burmy battles in before evolution, Mothim is sort of just off to the side and by itself as a generic Bug / Flying type, of which there are so many that it has a hard time standing out. When it was first released in DPP, Mothim's good attacking stats on both ends were awesome for it, but its offensive presence was seriously let down by its subpar Speed, and so it ended up in a nest at the bottom of the competitive scene along with Beautifly, Butterfree, and Masquerain. Mothim's decent Attack stat could be used with U-turn and its middling Speed for solid damage and momentum, but its poor typing and defenses made it a bad idea to make it take a hit before pivoting out, and Scyther was easily a better candidate for this role. Butterfree got Compound Eyes to use with its status moves to make it somewhat useful, while Mothim's only advantage was getting Air Slash as a STAB attack, which wasn't really redeeming for it due to its low Speed. In BW, Mothim got great gifts in the Tinted Lens ability and Quiver Dance as a setup move. The only problem there was that Volcarona, a far superior user of Quiver Dance, was introduced in the same generation, and the move was also given to every other butterfly and moth-esque Pokémon as well, causing Venomoth to outclass it as a carrier of both Quiver Dance and Tinted Lens and only further burying Mothim in the pit of nonviability despite its improvements. BW brought Venoshock as a strange addition to Mothim's movepool, a move typically only available to Poison-types, which could be used with a team that utilized Toxic Spikes; however, Mothim's poor defenses and disappointing Speed made it a very poor user of this tactic. It also got Acrobatics in BW, a move that Scyther did not receive, and even though Mothim's decent 94 base Attack would have been nice to use with it, the fact that Acrobatics wasn't compatible with Quiver Dance and that Mothim had to be itemless for its damage to be worthwhile made it less than ideal. XY gave nothing worth using to Mothim but gave Sticky Web to Masquerain and introduced Vivillon with Compound Eyes + Hurricane, so it is likely to continue suffering the fate of not even being able to reach mediocrity as a Bug / Flying type in competitive battling.

Wormadam is pretty bad, but at least it can claim being a unique evolution that gives it three different forms based on Burmy's environment. Mothim, on the other hand, is incredibly bland, plain, severely outclassed, has nothing it can really use to make it stand out, and is often forgotten about for all of these reasons. A Mega Evolution is likely Mothim's only chance at getting some much needed attention from here on out. Increased Special Attack and Speed would be excellent for it and would complement its ability to set up with Quiver Dance very well. Color Change or Protean would make sense flavor-wise on Mothim, since it evolves from a Pokémon that alters forms depending on the environments it battles in, though Protean would really only help one attack (likely Psychic, Shadow Ball, or Hidden Power) since it already has STAB on both Bug Buzz and Air Slash. A unique ability that would help Mega Mothim competitively is Simple, which would allow it to practically get a Geomancy boost from Quiver Dance without the charge-up turn. That would surely command respect among its Bug- and Flying-type brethren and give it a certain reason to find higher usage, even with its disadvantages taken into account.

Lumineon

It doesn't take a long history of being buried into obscurity for it to be safely stated that Lumineon is a forgotten Pokémon. Another Pokémon that has a weather based ability, in this case, Swift Swim. With easy access to rain via Rain Dance, there's also a convenient way to boost its Water-type moves. Swift Swim isn't the only option for Lumineon as it appears, because it has Storm Drain, which allows it to soak up Water-type moves to give it a boost in Special Attack. Not bad, eh? But with Lumineon's substandard stats and a shallow movepool, there's not much Lumineon can do. While base 91 Speed along with Swift Swim isn't bad, it's certainly not the best, being outclassed by Floatzel, who also has a much better physical movepool to work with to go along with Swift Swim. Other Water-types can simply hit much harder, as with base 69 offenses, Lumineon isn't going to OHKO most things. In DPP, Gorebyss, Huntail, Crawdaunt, Kingler, Milotic, Omastar, and Slowking could hit faster or with much with more power, and several of those didn't even need rain to be powerful, unlike Lumineon, which relies on it to do a mediocre job at best. In BW came permanent weather, which, while helping Lumineon, increased its amount of level from other Pokémon. Politoed could no longer give rain support to Lumineon, as it rose to OU. Lumineon struggled to find usage, with Pokémon from previous generations becoming major threats as well as the introduction of Carracosta, which became a huge threat with Shell Smash while Lumineon was stuck with a not-so-great physical movepool. The best thing that it did was set up Rain Dance and Tailwind, which was actually not bad, but with Lumineon's subpar defenses, it was difficult to get both up to support the team. Now in XY, Lumineon’s best moments have gone and it's stuck with nothing special. While it still can play around with Rain Dance and Tailwind, it doesn't have permanent weather to continue supporting the team after it has fainted. As a unique user of the improved Defog, it also falls short due to its other issues preventing it from being as useful as it could be for it.

In order for Lumineon to succeed in XY, it needs to have an ability to support a more utility-based and defensive role. Lumineon typically uses Toxic to aid its subpar movepool. If Lumineon was given Prankster, it would be able to get up Tailwind and/or Rain Dance with ease and status the opposing Pokémon as well, providing a sturdy utility Water-type which the NU metagame lacks. Regenerator is also something it would be able to use well, as it would allow it to gain health back while pivoting with U-turn for momentum, and this could allow Lumineon to switch out of a Grass-type while dealing super effective damage and then bringing in something to finish dealing with it. A Mega Evolution could ideally boost Lumineon's lackluster defenses, which it will need to last long enough to bring the full support from Rain Dance and Tailwind that an offensive rain team would benefit from.

Conclusion

If Glalie, Beedrill, and Pidgeot have taught us anything, it's that any Pokémon, no matter how terrible it is, can be made more viable with the right Mega Evolution. Pinsir, Mawile, and Kangaskhan rose from the depths of NU to destroy OU as a result of such a gift. So, before you write off a nonviable or outclassed Pokémon as something nobody will ever use or find interesting, remember that a Mega stone may come to it and change everything.

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