What Mega Evolution changes
Steelix, number 208 in the National Dex and a Johto Pokémon,
holds Steelixite to become Mega Steelix,
taking its total from 510 to 610. The biggest single gain is 40 Attack, followed by 30 Defense. Nothing goes down — HP, Sp. Atk and Speed stay exactly where they were.
The typing does not change — it is Steel and Ground before and after — so the Mega is the same defensive problem as the base form, only bigger. Mega Evolving replaces Rock Head, Sturdy and Sheer Force with Sand Force.
What gets through
As Steel and Ground, 4 of the eighteen attacking types get through for extra damage. It resists 8 and is outright immune to 2. The full board is above; the short version is that the
types listed under ×2 and ×4 are the ones worth planning around.
On the Regulation M-B ladder
Mega Steelix is played on 0.12% of teams in the Regulation M-B VGC
ladder, which puts it 180th of the 282 Pokémon with enough games to
measure. The move almost every one of them carries is Heavy Slam at 83%.
The Champions module tiers it UU.
Those figures come from Smogon's published usage statistics rather than from anything measured
here, and they describe what the ladder plays, not what is strongest.
What threatens it
Smogon publishes no head-to-head checks-and-counters data for doubles formats, so this list is
computed, not measured: these are the most-played Regulation M-B Pokémon carrying
a damaging move of a type Mega Steelix takes extra damage from.
- Incineroar — Flare Blitz (Fire, ×2), on 91.2% of its sets
- Garchomp — Earthquake (Ground, ×2), on 85.7% of its sets
- Charizard-Mega-Y — Heat Wave (Fire, ×2), on 99.2% of its sets
- Basculegion — Aqua Jet (Water, ×2), on 96.6% of its sets
- Sneasler — Close Combat (Fighting, ×2), on 99.7% of its sets
- Staraptor-Mega — Close Combat (Fighting, ×2), on 100% of its sets
Where it sits among the Megas
Of the 91 Mega forms in the dex, Mega Steelix is 46th by base
stat total. Its best stat is Defense at 230, which is 2nd
among Megas; its worst is Speed at 30, 88th.
One other Mega shares the Steel and Ground typing and therefore this exact matchup board: Mega Excadrill.
The unevolved Steelix is itself on 0.01% of teams.
Putting it on a team
A Mega slot is a commitment: the stone occupies the held item, so whatever Mega Steelix would have
wanted from an item, it does not get. Drop it into the
team builder to see what the rest of the six then have to cover,
or take it to the damage calculator to find out whether those
125 points of
Attack actually change a
knockout.
