Z-A Starter Mega Evolution the Short End of the Stick

In competitive Pokemon battles, Abilities can make or break a mon’s utility, with the potential to completely outclass its competitors depending on how the Ability synergizes with the rest of the Pokemon’s kit. When a Pokemon Mega-Evolves, it often gains a new, unique Ability that can make it even more powerful than before, such as Mega Kangaskhan getting the overpowered Parental Bond Ability, or Mega Blaziken’s Speed Boost. Pokemon Legends: Z-A introduced 45 new Mega Evolutions that don’t have Abilities yet, so there is still a lot of mystery surrounding which new Megas will carve out a spot in the Pokemon Champions meta.

Mega Emboar Has a Far Worse Ability in Pokemon Champions Than the Other Legends: Z-A Starters

Despite the popularity of Mega Emboar among Pokemon Legends: Z-A fans, the critter suffers from having the worst ability out of all the Legends: Z-A starters in Pokemon Champions. Prior to the reveal of the Legends: Z-A starters’ Mega Evolution Abilities, the original Kalos starter Megas had their abilities revealed, with Mega Chesnaught having Bulletproof, Mega Delphox having Levitate, and Mega Greninja having Protean. All of these Abilities are fairly strong, so there was hope that the Legends: Z-A starter trio would all get the same treatment. However, there is a clear odd Pokemon out in this line-up, with Mega Emboar having a significantly less useful Ability than Mega Meganium and Mega Feraligatr.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Starter Mega Evolution Abilities in Champions Explained

• Mega Meganium — Mega Sol: Allows the Pokemon use moves as if the weather were harsh sunlight.
• Mega Emboar — Mold Breaker: Effects of the opposing Pokemon’s Ability are ignored if possible.
• Mega Feraligatr — Dragonize: Normal-Type moves become Dragon-Type with a 20% damage boost.

Both Mega Meganium and Mega Feraligatr are getting brand-new Abilities in Pokemon Champions that are so far unique to these mons. Mega Meganium’s Mega Sol Ability essentially allows it to use moves as if harsh sunlight were active, meaning it can use Solar Beam in a single turn without having to set up sunlight with Sunny Day or the Drought Ability. Mega Feraligatr’s new Ability Dragonize may be even better, allowing the critter to use Normal-Type attacks as if they were Dragon-Type for STAB damage, making something like Double-Edge or Giga Impact hit like a truck.

By comparison, Mega Emboar’s Mold Breaker Ability is very underwhelming. Not only is it an Ability that already exists and is found on multiple other Mega Evolutions, but it’s not even that strong of an Ability for competitive battles either. Mold Breaker lets a Pokemon ignore certain Abilities the opponent has when they attack, such as Earthquake being able to hit opponents with Levitate. While this Ability can be decent situationally, its utility is far lower than the Abilities of Mega Meganium and Mega Feraligatr.

Why Mega Emboar Won’t Be Worth Using in Pokemon Champions

Since only one Mega Evolution can be used on a team in traditional competitive Pokemon battle formats, it likely won’t be worth wasting that slot on Mega Emboar in Pokemon Champions. Both of Emboar’s non-Mega Abilities are better than Mold Breaker. Blaze is the default Ability for Fire-Type starters, but it does boost the power of the user’s Fire-Type moves when below one-third of their HP. Reckless is the other Ability Emboar can have, and it increases the power of moves that deal recoil damage, like Flare Blitz, by 20%. Both of these Abilities affect Emboar itself regardless of the opposing Pokemon’s status, making them more useful than Mold Breaker.

Other Mega Evolutions with Mold Breaker

• Mega Gyarados
• Mega Ampharos

Two other Mega Evolutions already have Mold Breaker as their Abilities, but have mixed results in competitive Pokemon battles. Ampharos was never that viable as a competitive Pokemon and getting Mold Breaker when it Mega-Evolves doesn’t do the critter many favors. However, Mega Gyarados is somewhat viable as a competitive Pokemon, since it has Intimidate as its non-Mega Ability, which lets it lower the opponent’s Attack stat when switched in before Mega-Evolving and gaining Mold Breaker after Intimidate loses its usefulness. Mega Gyarados also loses its 4x weakness to Electric-Type moves when it swaps the Flying Type for the Dark Type, making Mega Gyarados a solid competitive option.

When Meganium Mega-Evolves, it gains a massive boost to its Special Attack, taking it from an unimpressive mon to a real competitive threat. With Mega Sol as its Ability, Mega Meganium’s main damage-dealing attack should be Solar Beam, since it won’t have to wait a turn to charge the attack. Mega Meganium can boost its Special Attack to get even more power out of Solar Beam with Work Up or get lucky with Ancient Power’s omni-boost side effect. Grassy Terrain is another solid option for Mega Meganium since it boosts the damage of Grass-Type attacks while active.

Mega Feraligatr is already a Physical powerhouse, and its Dragonize Ability in Pokemon Champions could give it sweeping potential. Aside from fantastic Water and Dragon-Type STAB moves like Liquidation and Outrage, Mega Feraligatr can deal serious damage with Double-Edge as well, since Dragonize will change it from a Normal-Type move to a Dragon-Type one. Feraligatr also has access to Dragon Dance, which can boost both its Attack and Speed stats and set up an offensive sweep.