Looking at M-Zebstrika

Battle Simulator Meta Discussion
1

Looking at regular Zebstrika, and you know why it’s in PU. It has a lackluster movepool that is extremely limited in both of its offensive stats, being only remotely usable in its worse offensive stat.

Now when I saw that Zebstrika got a Mega in insurgence, I hoped it would be a new light for it to shine with. It got its attack all the way up to 130, and its speed became high enough for it to outspeed every single unboosted pokemon in the game (apart from a +speed Speed Deoxys, but who uses that?). It also got a minor boost in its defense up to 78, and its special defense became decent going up to 98.

And then its ability… Multiscale. A weird choice, but it seems to allow Zebstrika to tank atleast 1 hit and perhaps set up with this breathing room.

A proposed set for Zebstrika would be:

4Hp, 252Attack, 252Speed. (pretty standard here, just not for a zebstrika).

  • Play Rough
  • Wild Charge
  • Flame Charge
  • Livewire

Play Rough and Wild Charge are there for stab, they give decent offensive coverage, and it can take care of dragons for your team. Flame Charge is there so after using it without a real risk (because of Multiscale) you’ll outspeed all of your opponents, also, it works well against Ferrothorn and Scizor. Livewire because a physical Zebstrika really has no other moves that it can use, perhaps Return or Double-Edge, but you already have 2 moves that do more damage than those, and you don’t gain any coverage from it. I’d love to see it get anything other than Wild Charge as an offensive move, as it pretty much wastes your Multiscale boost, but hey, that’s all we have.

The movepool didn’t get any better, at all really. It now has stab Play Rough, which is very good. Aside from that, it really doesn’t have anything new going for it that the old zebstrika couldn’t do. It got really good stat boosts, but ultimately it just doesn’t have moves to go with it at all. The boost in Attack initially looks good, but there is a reason why all regular Zebstrika are running with a special set.

The boost to defense also only works soso. It helps you set up a Flame Charge, but it doesn’t have any other moves that benefit from it in terms of setting up. If it got Swords Dance or maybe Dragon dance it would work pretty well, but it doesn’t. It also lacks any type of recovery to make use of Multiscale more than once, which makes it much less effective.

All in all, Mega Zebstrika brought nothing worthwhile to the table. It has an interesting typing with fairly good offensive potential, but mostly against pokemon that are already slower than it anyway. It now outspeeds things like M-Salamence, which is nice. But in the end, it would’ve appreciated a specially offensive boost so much more, as it actually has a handful of moves to use with that.

It gets completely shutdown by M-Aggron, M-Venusaur, Heatran, Lando-T, and it doesn’t really have anything you cannot predict (it has only 2 good offensive moves, which are both very predictable) and the Mega Slot is probably better given to something like M-Charizard or anything else really. It’s gonna perform pretty well in lower tiers, even if its predictable, its stats are still pretty intimidating, packing a punch and being hard to dent (atleast initially), but in OU it gets shutdown by very common walls and probably won’t gain any real momentum.

Anything I missed? Do you disagree? Leave it below.

4 Likes
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I agree. And with the system of tiering the developers are trying to implement, I think it can go around BL2 (If it is in this state) and I agree with you about it’s most suitable moveset.

Moveset. Also, IMO, I think it should get access to Bolt Strike (To those saying it’s a legendary’s signature move, D.Venusaur. Your opinion is irrelevant) to make use of the multiscale (Or make a new attack [A physical electric move of course]]) and it will allow the multiscale be used a bit more relevant and perhaps a more stronger physical fire attack such as, heck, even flame wheel will be better than flame charge, as it does more damage.

Ability Multiscale IS a good ability, but an -ate ability such as pixelate (or an -ate ability for electric types) would of let thrash (120 base attack with confusion after 2-5(?) attacks), return (102 base attack with full happiness) or Double Edge (120 Base attack with 33.3% recoil) come in more useful and make use of it’s high physical attack.

… Or not. If you think my opinion is irrelevant, feel free to comment about my comment :stuck_out_tongue:

3

I still think they should’ve gone the special route with Zebstrika, but it definetely needs an electric move that doesn’t immediately messes up its ability. A new move would not be disliked, as all good physical electric moves have recoil to them (those that aren’t signature moves), which is a shame.

Perhaps give it access to Recover to have it get more use out of Multiscale, or something that allows it to set up (Swords Dance, Dragon Dance etc.) which would probably make it a whole lot better. Let’s hope they are not gonna leave this thing to be weird and unusable.

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I would definitely agree in giving Mega Zebstrika pixilate. Add Double-Edge or Return to the moveset and you’ve got youself a VERY dangerous OU threat. It probably won’t make it to Ubers because it will get completely destroyed by extreme speed or any other form of revenge killing.

1 Like
5

You can get Double Edge and Return on Zebstrika :sweat_smile: Double Edge by Breeding and Return via TM

6

But it wouldn’t be worth it unless they give it pixliate

7

Yup.

8

Honestly just replace it with the one in this

9

I think that the idea behind this version of Mega Zebstrika might be as the ultimate one-for-one plus. Mega Zebstrika’s multiscale means it pretty much always gets a set up move off. Flame charge, as mentioned, is an option.

But it also gets charge, which turns Wild Charge into a one-time 180 base power STAB move. Off of Mega Zebstrika’s high attack and speed, that will KO all but the bulkiest targets unless they resist it. Afterwards, it can exploit its high speed to set up a livewire, cripple an opponent with thunder wave, or get some chip damage in with wild charge or play rough before it goes down.

In short, it drops something troublesome nearly all of the time, then gives you a little bonus before it goes. More or less the same thing Mega Blastoise does, minus some coverage but plus live wire and the ability to dunk Mega Sableye and assault vest Goodra with a really fast STAB play rough. Mega Zebstrika isn’t something that every, or even most teams want. But if your team absolutely, no questions asked needs to get rid of something that’s allergic to fairies or not resistant to electricity, Mega Zebstrika will do that and a little more besides.

10

To be fair, Charge would make Wild Charge a monster of a move. There is just one problem, stealth rocks, entry hazards, all that crud will ruin that strategy, especially since Zebstrika has 0 recovery options. Not to mention that if the enemy has anything that is immune to it (lightningrod, a ground type, not uncommon in any tier) the plan falls apart. It is so difficult to properly set up, but is powerful when succeeding. Multiscale isn’t something you can rely on consistently without a recovery move however, something Zebstrika lacks.

It’s so situational that I cannot see it in a viable team option in OU, A batonpasser is pretty much required if you want any type of proper setup, charge is too unreliable imo. Zebstrika will probably work well as a revenge killer aswell, but will have trouble competing with other options because of its extremely shallow movepool

Maybe UU will be its spot because of the more water oriented teams, but I don’t see it going anywhere but BL2 or BL3.

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I’m not saying charge solves all it’s problems.

I’m also not trying to claim that stealth rocks isn’t a monstrously un-fun move that should be banned on every level of play.

I’m just pointing out that it’s a useful option that, in casual battle spot and similar formats where entry hazards are only found on teams with a use for them beyond warping the meta, can give Mega Zebstrika viability.

As I said, Mega Zebstrika is a highly specialized, niche Pokemon that most teams won’t want to run. It does exactly one thing, and does it very, very well, but requires a little team support, a lot of strategy, and a good sense of timing to use effectively.

12

Agreed. MZebstrika has a niche, but sadly it probably won’t see any use because of how extremely situational it is. Personally I’d prefer it if they redid the mon entirely, make it anything but this haha.