Mewtwo, The Genetic Pokémon. Created from the DNA of Mew, this Pokémon is a dangerous combination of overwhelming power and a savage heart. The research efforts of a certain scientist ultimately resulted in this Pokémon. Its powers are dedicated to battling.
Overview
Mewtwo, the original overpowered legendary makes a return to Sword and Shield in terrifying style. While the loss of its Mega Evolutions hurt, Mewtwo’s new gift in Nasty Plot allows it to lay waste to the entire game. However, with each generation, new, stronger threats rise to challenge and even outclass it. Mewtwo’s incredible movepool and the stats to abuse it still make Mewtwo the legendary force it was all those years ago.
Positives
Base 154 Special Attack is just nuts. At the 5th highest Special Attack available in the game, whatever Mewtwo hits is going to be reeling.
Base 130 Speed is stupidly fast, allowing Mewtwo to get the jump on most Pokémon
Mewtwo has a wide and varied movepool, including its signature Psystrike that makes walling it with conventional special walls incredibly difficult./>
Negatives
Base 90 Defenses are comparatively poor for the tier of power Mewtwo is found in. It doesn’t take much to force Mewtwo to go down.
Pure Psychic is a horrible defensive typing and being weak to Knock Off is worse than ever due to the loss of Megastones.
Lackluster abilities that are only situational at best.
It misses both of its Mega Evolutions.
Movesets
The Final Plan
-Nasty Plot
-Psystrike
-Shadow Ball/Focus Blast/Fire Blast
-Focus Blast/Fire Blast/Ice Beam
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Pressure/Unnerve
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Nasty Plot enables Mewtwo to boost its Special Attack to utterly insane levels that allow it to muscle past near anything. Psystrike is STAB of Choice, being a Base 100 STAB Special attack that targets an opponent’s Defense, preventing dedicated Special Sponges like Blissey from tanking Mewtwo’s attacks. Coverage moves are up to personal preference and what coverage your team is lacking. Shadow Ball hits opposing Psychic types who resist Mewtwo’s STAB, especially Calyrex Shadow and Shadow Shield Lunala. Focus Blast has perfect neutral coverage with Psystrike and hits many Dark types hard, especially Tyranitar. Fire Blast melts Steel types like Zacian Crowned and Necrozma Dusk Mane. Ice Beam hits Yvetal and Zygarde complete hard.
DYNAMAX:
Mewtwo’s above average HP makes it fairly bulky when Dynamaxed enabling it to take hits well, which can be good for sealing the sweep after setting up. Max Mindstorm is especially potent on Mewtwo, setting up a Psychic Terrain to protect Mewtwo from priority while boosting its Psychic STAB even further. Please note that a Max Knuckle Focus Blast actually drops in power, so do make sure all of your opponents Dark typed checks are weakened or removed before going for the Dynamax. If running Hurricane, that becomes a valuable Speed boosting Max Airstream, which can be enough to seal in a sweep.
EVs and Items:
Max Special Attack and Speed are mandatory to maximize its wallbreaking potential. Life Orb increases its damage output while keeping versatility.
Partners:
Sticky Web -Mewtwo is outsped by some very important targets it can otherwise OHKO, so Sticky Web support from the likes of Ribombee and Galvantula can make or break the difference between a sweep or having Mewtwo easily KOd.
Yveltal -Solidly counters most Psychic and Ghost types and serves as a hard wall for Dark types, in addition to Defog support. Yvetal greatly enables Mewtwo to function.
Urshifu Single -Dark Fighting type that counters most of what troubles Psychic types (Dark, Psychic and Ghost), and has Sucker Punch for faster targets like Calyrex-Shadow and Regieleki.
The Final Plan
-- Psystrike/Expanding Force
- Protect/Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
EVs and Nature:
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
This is a solid offensive set for Mewtwo. Psysrike is used as the main stab move due to its lack of drawbacks and the fact that it uses the defense of the target to calculate damage. Expanding force can however be used over Psystrike if you plan on setting up psychic terrain, which turns expanding force into a double targeting move while also doubling its base power. Protect can be used in a doubles scenario to provide protection for Mewtwo, otherwise Ice Beam can be used as an extra coverage option. Thunderbolt and Flamethrower both serve as coverage for the common water and steel types respectively, that are rampant in the current format and should be used accordingly. Unnerve is the preferred ability over pressure because of the fact that it could prevent a super effective berry from activating from a coverage move. The life orb is used to raise the power of Mewtwo's moves at the cost of some of its health.
Other Options
Choice Specs/Choice Scarf -Mewtwo can easily run a Choiced set. Its movepool has a wide variety of coverage moves and can even trick the Choice Item onto a Wall to hinder it.
Hurricane -Great on dedicated Dynamax sweeper sets due to the speed boost from Max Airstream, but coverage is poor otherwise.
Taunt/Substitute -Mewtwo makes for a fast taunter and can stop setup attempts before they happen. Substitute enables Mewtwo to scout for switches and eases the prediction for finding a moment to Nasty Plot
Physicla - You can run a physical set using Zen Headbutt, Fire Punch or Earthquake, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch, This is overshadowed however by the superiority of the special oriented Mewtwo.
Countering Mewtwo
Zacian Crowned is as close as you can get to a counter for Mewtwo, easily able to outspeed and OHKO while not being OHKOd by anything short of a Fire Blast or Nasty Plot Boosted Focus Sash. However, even Life Orb Fire Blast threatens the OHKO and Mewtwo can hinder Zacian if it is a defensive variant with Will-o-Wisp.
Calyrex Shadow Rider easily outspeeds and OHKOs Mewtwo with Astral Barrange and not being KOd back on the switch bar Shadow Ball or a Boosted Fire Blast.
Tyranitar easily tanks any move except Focus Blast while under Sandstream and threatens back with a one to two hit KO.
Yveltal counters any set not running Ice Beam or a +2 Focus Blast and can easily KO with a Dark STAB, especially Sucker Punch, which bypasses Mewtwo’s speed.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Cerulean Cave
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Trade from Red/Blue/Yellow
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Cerulean Cave
Colosseum/XD:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Trade from HeartGold/SoulSilver
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Cerulean Cave
Black/White:
Transfer from Generation IV
Black 2/White 2:
Transfer from Generation IV
X/Y:
Unknown Dungeon
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Trade from X / Y
Sun/Moon:
Trade from Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Ultra Space Wilds
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Cerulean Cave
Sword/Shield:
Dynamax Adventures
Anime Appearences