I never thought I would ever be posting here again, but I feel it is necessary here to actually make a case for Mega Camerupt, because I truly think you're severely underestimating how good this mon could actually be.I definitely agree in the fact that neither of these megas will be particularly relevant at all. I'll start with Mega Banette:
It should be rather obvious why Mega Banette will see next to no relevance on Ghost teams. Mega Sableye is simply too important for Ghost teams to pass up, and by foregoing Mega Sableye, you end up losing not only a Dark switch in, but a consistent form of hazard prevention and an incredible utility option. Due to the Prankster nerf in Gen 7, Mega Banette's only use in the Dark matchup will be as a suicide mon with Destiny Bond, which isn't very helpful in comparison to Mega Sableye being able to Will-O-Wisp and cripple Tyranitar, Alolan Muk, and Bisharp. So as Darklatias92 said, Mega Sableye will always be preferred over Mega Banette.
I tried testing with Mega Camerupt for a bit, hoping that it would be a nice asset for Ground teams due to easily tearing through threats like Celesteela and Ferrothorn, while also aiding in the Grass and Ice matchups. However, Mega Camerupt just isn't all that great. Landorus and Nidoking perform the special wallbreaking role far better due to aiding in the same Grass and Steel matchups, while also having decent to beneficial speed tiers(Nidoking being decent and Landorus being beneficial) and offering a lot of further coverage, with Nidoking having access to strong Poison STAB to check Clefable and Azumarill, as well as Ice Beam and even Thunderbolt in order to get past Mantine. Landorus has the same Poison coverage in Sludge Wave, while also checking Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona with Rock Slide and having Focus Blast to nail the Steel types that it isn't able to hit with Earth Power. Mega Camerupt definitely still has its desirable traits in its Fire STAB, Grass and Ice neutralities, and good bulk. But that piss poor Speed tier holds it back so much. Mega Steelix and/or Mega Garchomp are better uses of the Mega slot on Ground teams anyway, with Mega Steelix opening a moveslot for Hippowdon while also being able to switch into Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu, and Mega Garchomp being a decent wallbreaker under sand. I won't go too in-detail about how it'll stand on Fire teams, since it's obvious that the Mega Charizards will always be preferred over it. The only way it could particularly fit on a Fire team is if it's TR Fire with Chandelure and Victini, but even that's more of a meme build.
I'll start off with why it was a good mega choice in Generation 6. At the time Ground was (and to an extent still is) lacking in the special walbreaker department outside of Landorus-I (Nidoking can oftentimes be more or less underwhelming in actuality because it's lacking in power in general. Sheer Force and its arsenal of coverage do remedy this a little, but neutral base 85 Special Attack is nothing to brag about since this makes it avoid some crucial 2KO's and OHKOs). When people began using Mega Camerupt, including myself, while it did need a fair amount of team support, a lot of us realized thanks to a base 145 Special Attack, alongside Sheer Force and strong STABs, this thing hits like a truck. Very little can actually switch into it and not get 2KO'd, and the strong Fire coverage can be highly appreciated since it gives a very solid answer to Grass, Ice, while hitting a very large majority of the meta neutrally (the only real concern being Water, I really don't think I'd need to count Rock given Ground plows through that pretty easily). Secondly, it is a very solid Burn absorber, so you can easily switch it into most burn inducers and threaten them substantially (great examples being Torkoal w/ Lava Plume, Sableye, Mew, and honestly anything without scald); this is a great thing to consider due to the fact most Ground mons are Physical Attackers and don't appreciate the momentum drain once they are burnt (the damage wearing them down at a decent pace, as well as attack being halved). Thirdly, this is really more of a quirk if anything that you could probably go without this gen, but it made to be a great lure for a variety of threats (great exmaples being Gyarados on Flying, Azumarill, etc), and it wasn't very difficult to surprise burn them on the expected switchin.
Now, Generation 7 proves to be a lot more offense oriented as I've found compared to the widespread Balance in the previous metagame, however there are quite a few of the new threats introduced that Mega Camel is able to relatively easily check (due especially to not only its bulk, but the neutralities its Fire/Ground typing provides). Tapu Koko can be finicky due to the fact it oftentimes runs Grass Knot and Hidden Power Ice. While that itself is not super threatening, the speed tier it holds is, meaning it has the ability to put a major dent on Hippowdon on the switch with Grass Knot, it has the ability to revenge kill Garchomp and both Landorus's with HP Ice, and you can't easily send in Seismitoad/Gastrodon in either due to the 4x Grass weakness. That being said, you're only real checks are either Excadrill or if you decide to run a scarfer above Tapu Koko's speed tier. Mega Camerupt is easily able to not only switch in onto it, but make switching out substantially harder (Fire Blast alone is able to put in a good chip of damage against Rotom-W or Azumarill respectively, and if they're out early, almost nothing is able to tank a Fire Blast effectively). That gives you a lot of offensive pressure in your favor, and get the momentum turning towards your side.
252+ SpA Sheer Force Camerupt-Mega Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 131-155 (43.2 - 51.1%) -- 59% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Sheer Force Camerupt-Mega Fire Blast vs. 88 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 167-197 (46 - 54.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
(The Azumarill calc does not include if Light Screen is set by Klefki, however you're just as easily able to Will-O-Wisp it on the switch and seriously weaken it, give Tapu Koko will more than likely not be sacked)
Magearna also proves to be quite troublesome for Ground teams, especially regarding trick room as there's now no real way to revenge kill it once that's set up. Ice Beam and Z-Fluer Cannon is able to shred various holes and is very hard to tank unless your Hippowdon or Seismitoad are at full health (which by late game you can assume probably not). Camerupt is not only able to tank Magearna at +1 and avoid an OHKO (for an additional tibit, it's also able to tank up to +3 Fluer Cannon, with a 12.5% chance to live after SR, and a +1 Z-Fluer Cannon with less than a 3rd of a chance to OHKO after SR. I doubt you'd let Magearna get to that point with Mega Camerupt on your team, but regardless nice to know), it is additionally able to abuse Trick Room itself to its own advantage! This can immediately put serious pressure on an opposing Steel or Fairy team, or it could alternatively prevent them from even bothering setting it up given it opens up a huge advantage for you if they do.
Celesteela has proven to be arguably the biggest pain in the backside this generation for Ground, thanks to its immense bulk (being able to avoid a 2KO from both common Landorus-I and Nidoking sets), and its able to put massive dents into your team before you can actually kill it (which may not even happen once your wallbreakers are out). Camerupt proves to be the godsent answer in order to effectively check it!
0 Atk Celesteela Earthquake vs. 168 HP / 0 Def Camerupt-Mega: 146-172 (45.2 - 53.2%) -- 28.9% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Sheer Force Camerupt-Mega Fire Blast vs. 192 HP / 64 SpD Assault Vest Celesteela: 344-408 (89.8 - 106.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
Ground now has an official answer to something that was once able to sweep it with the team support steel provided (namely Heatran, Skarmory and/or Ferrothorn), and in return it's able to pack a massive punch back, or if not at the very least take out Heatran's Balloon.
Alongside that, it still retains its reliability as a Special Wallbreaker, where it holds true very little can effectively switch into this. landorus-T sticks out as the best partner you could give it besides a Water Absorber (which is a given already), thanks to the introduction of Z-Moves the Double Dance set is able to be abused a lot more, and with Z-Stone Edge you're able to get a 1 time powerful attack to break most things that would otherwise stop your sweep. It appreciates the burn absorbing Camerupt is able to provide, as well as its ease to break most common walls currently in the metagame. Mamoswine also works quite well with it, since it's priority comes quite in handy for things Camerupt hasn't quite killed (which is a semi-rare occurrence) and it helps alieviate the Dragon matchup significantly. Aside from the fact Camerupt will be useless against Water and its underwhelming speed, I believe it's actually pretty hard to pass up the power and its various quirks its able to provide that Mega Garchomp nor Mega Steelix (and if you want to count Dual Coat Mixed Mega Swampert) otherwise can't. Despite the very offensive flow of the current metagame, its bulk (which includes its typing) actually works very well for it surprisingly.
Take it while you have it, because after this I'll probably just remain lurking again in all honesty, but I felt compelled to really explain why this thing should be given a fair chance and why it could actually be improved compared to last generation. Not to shoot you down by any means smub, but I do think you are highly underestimating what Mega Camerupt could bring to the table. All in all it could actually be a wonderful and very refreshing addition to Ground teams in general. Here's a set I would reccomend:
Camerupt-Mega @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 168 HP / 252 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature / Rash Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Rock Slide / Ancient Power
- Will-O-Wisp / Substitute /Stealth Rock
Thanks!
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