Melmetal, The Hex Nut Pokémon. At the end of its life-span, Melmetal will rust and fall apart. The small shards left behind will eventually be reborn as Meltan. Centrifugal force is behind the punches of Melmetal's heavy hex-nut arms. Melmetal is said to deliver the strongest punches of all Pokémon. In a distant land, there are legends about a cyclopean giant. In fact, the giant was a Melmetal that was flooded with Gigantamax energy. It can send electric beams streaking out from the hole in its belly. The beams' tremendous energy can vaporize an opponent in one shot.
Overview
Melmetal is one of the most overcentralizing Pokémon on Singles thanks to its solid typing, stats and excellent movepool. With Double Iron Bash, it's signature move, Melmetal can break through Substitute and Focus Sash easily while providing a solid STAB to use along its excellent coverage options and excellent Attack stat. It's gargantuan HP and solid defenses allows it to stand out as a solid tank capable of checking threats such as Dragonite, Gyarados, Clefable and Rillaboom.
Even with all these great qualities, its poor Speed means it will usually need to be healthy to tank an attack and do damage, making it more vulnerable to burns, chip damage and reducing its overall effectiveness. Its special bulk is quite poor, allowing many strong special attackers such as Volcarona, Heatran and Nidoking to easily take it out with their super effective STAB attacks. Despite these shortcomings, Melmetal is still a very strong Pokémon to use and one of the best Steel types on the game.
Positives
A gargantuan base 135 HP and 143 Defense makes Melmetal extremely bulky from the physical side which means that he can even eat super-effective STABs on a pinch. Coupled with its Steel type, this makes Melmetal a reliable Pokémon to use against physical sweepers such as Dragonite.
It's fantastic base 145 Attack along with a solid STAB in Double Iron Bash and coverage options such as Earthquake, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch and Superpower makes it hard to switch into as Pokémon such as Landorus-Therian and Cinderace must think twice before switching into it.
Iron Fist is a good ability that not only powers up its STAB move of Double Iron Bash, but it also makes moves like Thunder Punch and Ice Punch even stronger.
Due to Melmetal's stat distribution, it can fulfill plenty of roles with the right moves. It also gets access to moves such as Thunder Wave and Toxic which allows it to effectively support its team.
Negatives
It's Special Defense is lackluster and while it can take some hits with some investment, it's poor special bulk means that Melmetal will easily be overwhelmed by stronger special STABs from the likes of Volcarona, Nidoking and Heatran.
Its slow Speed means that Melmetal will usually have to take a hit and without any reliable way of recovering its lost HP, it means that it can easily be chipped down to the point where a sweeper such as Hydreigon or Celebi can overwhelm it with super-effective special moves.
Bulky walls like Hippowdon and Swampert are usually big trouble for Melmetal as it struggles to break past them and it usually force it to rely on a niche option such as Toxic to deal with them.
Due to Double Iron Bash's dual hit nature, Ferrothorn can easily punish this move thanks to Iron Barbs. Pokémon like Zapdos and Volcarona can also cause trouble thanks to their abilities (Static and Flame Body) triggering upon contact.
Movesets
KING OF THE IRON FIST
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Thunder Punch / Ice Punch / Toxic
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs and Nature:
32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
When coupled with the raw power of a Choice Band, Double Iron Bash strikes twice and hard, which allows it to take out many Pokémon with defensive abilities such as Mimikyu and Dragonite, as well as effectively hit Substitute users such as Kyurem. Earthquake allows Melmetal to pulverize Cinderace and Heatran while being able to destroy Aegislash without triggering King's Shield ability. Superpower is the most important move on this set as it allows Melmetal to crush Ferrothorn into smithereens without being punished continuously due to Iron Barbs. Thunder Punch rounds up the coverage allowing Melmetal to hit Slowbro for super-effective damage while still retaining coverage on Toxapex. Ice Punch is another option that allows Melmetal to nail Garchomp and Landorus-Therian on the switch while hitting Zapdos harder than its other moves. Toxic is a viable option allowing Melmetal to put walls such as Hippowdon and Swampert on a timer.
DYNAMAX:
While Melmetal gains a new Gigantamax form that allows it to use G-Max Meltdown instead of Max Steelspike. This move makes opponents incapable of using the same move twice in a row which may open up opportunities for Melmetal against Pokémon such as Garchomp or Volcarona that may rely on a single STAB to harm it. However, this is generally inferior compared to Max Steelspike as Melmetal will usually be slower than its opponent and it gains much more from gaining the Defense boost from Steelspike rather than using a Torment on steroids.
EVs and Items:
224 Speed allows Melmetal to outspeed min Speed Tyranitar and Clefable, allowing Melmetal to mash them with Double Iron Bash before they hit it. Max Attack is needed to dish out as much damage as possible while the rest goes into HP for a slight increase in overall bulk. A Choice Band is the item of choice as it allows Melmetal to wallbreak past Pokémon such as Toxapex and Hippowdon.
Partners:
Melmetal appreciates partners that allows it to pivot safely without being harmed. Slowbro is a great Pokémon that resists Fire and Fight while having great physical bulk. Thanks to Teleport, it can regain momentum and pivot safely. Future Sight is also a move that combines well with Melmetal as it allows it to pressure its common switch-ins such as Swampert, Buzzwole and Toxapex. Landorus-Therian not only offers pivoting via U-turn but with access to Stealth Rock, it can lay down hazards allowing Melmetal to break through the opponent's team more easily. Cinderace and Urshifu Rapid Strike are excellent partners capable of dealing with Ferrothorn who is a mayor annoyance against Melmetal. Clefable deserves a mention as it can provide Wish support for Melmetal allowing it to recover any lost health.
MISHIMA ZAIBATSU
- Double Iron Bash
- Earthquake
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
Item Attached: Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
While this set lacks the wall-breaking power of the Choice Band set, it exchanges firepower in return for resilience. With an Assault Vest, Melmetal becomes a reliable check against strong special attackers such as Magearna, Latios and Hydreigon allowing it to beat these threats 1-v-1. Double Iron Bash is still the best STAB Melmetal can use and while it won't get through physical tanks like Hippowdon, it does respectable damage to anything that does not resist it. Earthquake is the best coverage move Melmetal can use. Thanks to the Assault Vest, it can survive Heatran's Fire Blast on a pinch and KO it with Earthquake. Thunder Punch allows Melmetal to hit Tapu Fini harder and Ice Punch allows Melmetal to punish Landorus-Therian on the switch. While it may be tempting to run Superpower with this set, it isn't recommended as Ferrothorn can still recover the lost health and it will just get Melmetal hurt since it won't be able to 2HKO it without extra power.
DYNAMAX:
While Melmetal gains a new Gigantamax form that allows it to use G-Max Meltdown instead of Max Steelspike. This move makes opponents incapable of using the same move twice in a row which may open up opportunities for Melmetal against Pokémon such as Garchomp or Volcarona that may rely on a single STAB to harm it. However, this is generally inferior compared to Max Steelspike as Melmetal will usually be slower than its opponent and it gains much more from gaining the Defense boost from Steelspike rather than using a Torment on steroids.
EVs and Items:
The Special Defense investment combined with an Assault Vest allows Melmetal to be as bulky as possible from the special side allowing it to switch more easily against Pokémon such as Latios and Magearna. Max Attack is still required as otherwise Melmetal needs all the power it can get to harm the Pokémon it is supposed to check.
Partners:
Due to this set's nature, this Melmetal set often pivots more and it requires any additional support it can get to recover its lost HP. This makes Pokémon like Clefable valuable as it can provide Wish support allowing it to recover its lost health. Pokémon like Slowbro and Slowking are great partners allowing this Melmetal set to pivot into special attackers such as Latios while they can deal with Cinderace and Landorus-Therian. Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Heat can also pivot Melmetal safely via Volt Switch while having great synergy with it thanks to their immunity to Earthquake with Levitate. Landorus-Therian deals with Excadrill and also allows it pivot safely via U-turn. Tapu-Fini is worth mentioning as thanks to Misty Terrain, it prevent Melmetal from getting burned while being able to take on both Urshifu formes.
Other Options:
Melmetal can also fit in Protect and Leftovers allowing it to act as a more offensive pivot while being able to recover some of its lost HP.
Melmetal can also use an Acid Armor and Body Press set effectively thanks to its gargantuan Defense stat, allowing it to get past most of its usual checks like Excadrill and Landorus-Therian. However, since the set is extremely dependant on setting up, it gets shut down by Toxapex very quickly.
Countering Melmetal
Pokémon like Heatran and Volcarona who can exploit Melmetal's weaker Special Defense are capable of getting rid of it with their STAB moves. While Heatran has to watch out for Earthquake and Volcarona needs to avoid Thunder Wave or Toxic, both of them do an amazing job on checking it. On a similar vein, Nidoking is capable of OHKOing Melmetal thanks to Sheer Force and Life Orb's boosting its STAB Earth Power.
Bulky Water types such as Swampert and Toxapex do a great job on checking Melmetal and they threaten it either with the risk of a Scald burn, or in Swampert's case, getting hit hard by its STAB Earthquake. Despite this, Toxapex needs to avoid Earthquake as otherwise the Choice Banded set will crush it into oblivion. Swampert's lack of recovery is also a big issue when checking Melmetal.
Since Melmetal will mainly be clicking Double Iron Bash, Pokémon that resist Steel and can tank it such as Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Skarmory are bothersome; however, they do need to be careful of Melmetal's coverage moves such as Superpower and Thunder Punch.
Finally, burn is a severly crippling status ailment for Melmetal as otherwise it will be rendered as deadweight since it will lose all of its power while being unable to recover lost health due to the burn.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game
Black/White:
Not in game
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game
X/Y:
Not in game
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Not in game
Sun/Moon:
Not in game
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Not in game
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Transfer from Pokémon GO
Sword/Shield:
Transfer from Pokémon GO
Anime Appearences
