There have been many leaks since the reveal ofPokemon Legends: Z-Alast year, including new Mega Evolutions and lots of story spoilers, such as the possible return of Lysandre and his telepathic connection to Zygarde. Some rumors are more credible than others, and some leaks have already been debunked, like the fact that Zeraora would get a Mega Evolution inPokemon Legends: Z-A. Still, new Mega Evolutions are a given, and the current list of leaked critters includes 26 of them, and players will supposedly see Megas for thePLZAstarters as well as Gen 6 starters. Mega Meganium is among them, and while it’s bound to get a big buff, it may pay a price too high for it.
According to the leaks, only four of the 26new Mega Evolutions inPokemon Legends: Z-Awill get a secondary type or new type combination. For example, Mega Feraligatr will allegedly be Water/Dragon, which is in line with the treatment Sceptile and Ampharos got in the past, whereas Meganium is allegedly gaining Fairy as a secondary type. A Grass/Fairy Meganium would be interesting to see, both in battle and in terms of design, and it would get both a major boon and a massive curse.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Leaked Mega Meganium is About to Be Buffed, With an Asterisk Attached
Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Mega Meganiumbeing Grass/Fairy is great because it can finally do some damage, considering it has always been considered the weakest Gen 2 starter, especially on the offensive side of things. Grass on its own is not an amazing type for attacking, or rather, it can be when accompanied by other powerful STAB moves of different types to cover for its shortcomings. Fairy is a great STAB type to add to the mix for Meganium, as it’s super-effective against Fighting, Dark, and Dragon in addition to Ground, Rock, and Water from Grass.
One ofMeganium’s weaknesses inPokemongameshas always been that it used to set up screens, like Reflect and Light Screen, but this mechanic may not be great for a more dynamic title likePokemon Legends: Z-A, which drops the turn-based battles in favor of real-time strategy and dodging moves. As such, Mega Meganium is bound to have some more offensive power, and Fairy could go a long way here. However, the addition of Fairy as a secondary type has some consequences that are hard to ignore, like a 4x weakness, even if this type combination has two more resistances and one immunity compared to Grass.
2x vs. Flying, Poison, Bug, Fire, and Ice
0.5x vs. Ground, Water, Grass, and Electric
2x vs. Ground, Rock, and Water, 0.5x vs. Flying, Poison, Bug, Steel, Fire, Grass, Dragon
Grass/Fairy
4x vs. Poison, 2x vs. Flying, Fire, Ice, and Steel
0.5x vs. Fighting, Ground, Water, Grass, Electric, and Dark, 0x vs. Dragon
2x vs. Fighting, Ground, Rock, Water, Dragon, and Dark, 0.5x vs. Poison, Steel, and Fire
Why The Leaked Mega Meganium May Struggle in PLZA
As much as all the offensive and defensive changes benefit Meganium, provided that its leaked Mega is indeed true, a 4x weakness to poison can be very problematic for a few reasons. For starters, neither Grass nor Fairy can deal effective damage againstPoison-type Pokemon, and more importantly, Meganium has a middling Speed stat at base, which may make it more susceptible to fast attackers with Poison moves, even if they’re not STAB moves.
Meganium’s bulk is unlikely to save it against powerful Poison attacks with Fairy as a secondary type. On top of that, threeleaked Mega Evolutions inPokemon Legends: Z-Ahave Poison as one of their types, and several returning Megas do too, meaning it’s likely that players will have to have some form of counter to them if they plan on using Meganium in the Z-A battle royale. This remains to be seen at the moment, but it’s very likely that all new Megas will be used in the battle royale, and Mega Meganium may have a hard time with some of them.
