Metagross

Steel/Psychic · Clear Body · A tier · base 80/135/130/95/90/70 · the premier physical breaker and Explosion enabler of momentum offense — a 135-Attack steel hammer that boosts its own STAB with Meteor Mash, then trades its life to delete a wall and open the door for the rest of your team. If Tyranitar is the gravity well, Metagross is the wrecking ball you swing through the hole.

Format role

Metagross is the cleanest “press the button, win a trade” piece in the format. A base-135 Attack on a 80/130 physical body means it walks into the tier’s defensive backbone, punches, and either KOs outright or Explosions the wall off the field — and Explosion in Gen 3 halves the target’s Defense before damage, so even fat Skarmory and Suicune are not safe behind their physical bulk. Its typing is excellent for an attacker that has to switch in: Steel/Psychic resists ten types and is immune to Poison, so it pivots into Rock Slides, Dragon Claws, and Body Slams that would maul a frailer breaker.

That defensive profile has two glaring holes — Fire (2×) and Ground (2×) — and 70 base Speed is firmly mediocre, so Metagross is not a wall and not a fast cleaner by default. It is a breaker: come in on a resisted hit, force a 50/50, and convert. The Agility set turns the Speed problem into a late-game win condition; the Choice Band set turns the power into a guaranteed dent. Either way, this is a piece that wants the game fast and violent — exactly the aggressive-offense shell it belongs in.

The site embeds a TypeProfile widget above this section — use it to eyeball the full Steel/Psychic resist sheet while you read the calcs below.

Sets

All three sets run Clear Body (its only relevant ability — and a quiet bonus, since it blocks Salamence/Gyarados Intimidate and Skarmory-adjacent stat drops, keeping that 135 Attack honest). Adamant is standard; the EV split decides the job.

Choice Band (the premier breaker)

Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
Adamant Nature
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

The flagship aggressive set. Choice Band is the only Choice item in Gen 3 (no Scarf, no Specs), and it multiplies that 135 Attack to terrifying levels. Every move is a physical type — Steel, Normal, Ground, Rock — so all four benefit from the Band; this is exactly the discipline a CB set demands. Meteor Mash is the spammable STAB with a 20% Attack-raise rider that lets it snowball mid-break. Earthquake is the bread-and-butter coverage that nails the Steels and Rocks that resist Mash. The last slot is Rock Slide (over Hidden Power Bug), the coverage that punishes Flyers. Explosion is the payload: a Band-boosted Explosion off 135 Attack, with the target’s Defense halved, OHKOs or near-OHKOs the entire defensive core — and crucially it threatens Skarmory, the wall that otherwise laughs at Meteor Mash. The 252-Attack max-power core is split with 128 HP for bulk and 128 Speed to creep slower base-70s and uninvested base-80/85 walls.

Agility (the self-contained sweeper)

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Adamant Nature
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion

“AgiliGross” — the late-game win condition. One Agility doubles Speed, vaulting Metagross past the entire unboosted tier (it outruns Aerodactyl, Jolteon, Starmie, and Dragon-Dance Tyranitar at +0). The spread runs max Attack with 88 Speed — just enough that one Agility clears the field — and dumps the remaining 168 EVs into HP so it survives the chip on the way to setting up. From there, 135-Attack Meteor Mash + Earthquake sweeps, with Explosion as the failsafe to take one more thing down if it gets walled or revenged. Lum Berry (over Leftovers) shrugs off a Thunder Wave paralysis or a Will-O-Wisp burn on the setup turn — paralysis would otherwise cut Metagross’s Speed to a quarter and end the sweep before it starts. Hold this in the back, weaken the faster checks, then click Agility when the coast is clear.

Bulky Attacker (the no-lock-in breaker)

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Atk / 80 Def
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Explosion

The non-Choice breaker — maximum bulk, no lock-in. 252 HP plus 80 Defense turns the 80/130 frame into a genuine wall-tank that pivots into resisted physical hits all game, while 176 Attack keeps Meteor Mash and Earthquake hitting hard. Leftovers (not a Choice item) means the freedom to switch moves, so it never gets trapped predicting. Protect scouts Choice-locked attackers and Dugtrio, banks a Leftovers tick, and lets you stall a turn before deciding whether to attack or detonate. Same Explosion finisher, but you choose when to blow up. This is the flexible momentum piece: it tanks a hit, fires STAB + coverage, and either KOs or booms to bring in a teammate for free.

What it does

Metagross is an offense enabler first, a sweeper second. Its job on an aggressive team is to remove a specific obstacle so the rest of your squad can close — and it has two ways to do that.

The break. Choice Band Metagross switches into something it resists (a Salamence Rock Slide, a Snorlax Body Slam, an Aerodactyl Rock Slide), then forces the opponent into a no-win read. Meteor Mash is super-effective on Tyranitar (Steel hits Rock/Dark 2×) and Aerodactyl (Steel hits Rock/Flying 2×), so it muscles past two of the tier’s nastiest leads. Earthquake punishes the Steels — it OHKOs Magneton (Ground is 4× on Electric/Steel) and bullies Jirachi (Ground 2× on Steel/Psychic) — but it does nothing to Gengar, whose Levitate makes it immune to Earthquake (0×); pressure Gengar with neutral Meteor Mash instead. Rock Slide turns Charizard (Rock 4× on Fire/Flying) and Zapdos (Rock 2× on Electric/Flying) into free kills.

The boom. When Metagross meets a wall it can’t break with neutral attacks, it detonates. Explosion halves the defender’s Defense and then deals damage off 135 Attack (Band-boosted on the CB set) — this is the line that OHKOs Skarmory, the single most important trade in the format for an offense trying to clear Spikes-stacking walls. It also reliably takes down Suicune, Blissey (Normal is neutral to Steel/Explosion, but the halved Defense + raw power gets there), and bulky Waters. The value isn’t just the kill — it’s the free switch you get afterward, dropping your Salamence or Dugtrio onto the field with full momentum. On aggressive offense, an even trade where you also gain tempo is a winning trade.

The sweep. AgiliGross is the cleanup mode. Once the opponent’s faster revenge-killers (Aerodactyl, Starmie, Jolteon, Dugtrio) are gone or chipped, a single Agility makes Metagross faster than everything, and 135-Attack Meteor Mash + Earthquake leaves almost nothing alive that can take two hits. Meteor Mash’s Attack boosts compound the longer it’s in. This is why Metagross is a self-contained win condition, not just a pivot — the same mon that breaks early can sweep late.

A note on the Steel resistances most players get wrong: in Gen 3, Steel resists both Dark and Ghost (0.5× each). Metagross’s Psychic half is hit super-effectively by both (Tyranitar’s Crunch is Dark, Gengar’s Shadow Ball is Ghost-and-physical), so the net effect on Metagross is neutral — 0.5 × 2 = 1×. Crunch does not OHKO Metagross out of the box, and Metagross can stomach one and Earthquake/Mash back. Do not treat it as a Dark/Ghost weakness; it isn’t one.

Load-bearing interactions

These are the matchups that decide whether Metagross gets to do its job. Effectiveness multipliers are computed against the Gen-3 chart; see the calc reference for damage mechanics.

Explosion vs Skarmory — the headline trade. Explosion halves Skarmory’s Defense before the hit lands; off a Choice Band 135 Attack, that is a high-roll-to-guaranteed OHKO on standard physically-defensive Skarmory. This is the cleanest way an offense removes the tier’s defining Spikes wall without Magneton trapping it — and the two methods stack (trap or boom). Meteor Mash itself is resisted (Steel 0.5× into Steel/Flying), so do not try to break Skarmory with Mash; that’s the boom’s whole reason for existing.
Earthquake vs Magneton — 4× delete. Ground hits Electric/Steel for 4×; Magneton, the Steel-trapper that hard-walls Meteor Mash (Steel 0.25× into Electric/Steel) and threatens to trap Metagross itself, gets blown away first if Metagross moves. The catch: Magneton’s job is to come in on Mash and trap, so respect the matchup — lead with EQ if you read the switch.
Meteor Mash vs Tyranitar — 2× into the gravity well. Steel is super-effective on Rock/Dark; CB Meteor Mash is a heavy 2HKO into Tyranitar and can outright KO the offensive Lum-DD spread. Earthquake is also 2× on TTar (Ground hits Rock 2×), so Metagross has two super-effective buttons into the format’s #1 threat.
Rock Slide vs Charizard / Zapdos / Aerodactyl / Salamence. Rock is 4× on Charizard (Fire/Flying) and 2× on Zapdos, Aerodactyl, and Salamence — the coverage that lets Metagross check the tier’s Flyers and revenge a weakened Dragon-Dance Mence (note Salamence is immune to Earthquake via Flying, so Rock Slide is your only damage there).
What beats Metagross back. It is weak to Ground (2×) and Fire (2×): Dugtrio traps and OHKOs with Earthquake, Swampert/Salamence Earthquake (Mence’s EQ is the threat, not its body), and any Fire Blast (e.g. from Charizard) two-shots it. Surf and Thunderbolt are only neutral (Water and Electric are 1× into Steel/Psychic), so bulky Waters tank and retaliate rather than threatening a clean OHKO. Its 70 Speed means almost every offensive mon in the tier moves first.

Counters & checks

Nothing “walls” Metagross cleanly because of Explosion — anything that stops the attacker still risks trading itself for the boom. The real answers are the things that beat it without eating the detonation, or that revenge it before it sets up.

Dugtrio — the hardest stop. Arena Trap means Metagross can’t switch out, and Choice Band Earthquake (Ground 2× on Steel/Psychic) OHKOs it. The one piece that answers AgiliGross and CB Metagross outright, as long as Metagross is in EQ range. This is the reason aggressive teams pair Metagross with hazard/pressure to keep Dugtrio honest.
Skarmory — walls Meteor Mash (Steel 0.5×) and phazes with Roar… but is the textbook Explosion victim. It “checks” the Mash-only variant and folds to the boom. A Skarmory player must respect that staying in to Spike can cost the wall, and standard Skarmory carries no Fire move to punish the switch-in.
Bulky Waters — Suicune / Milotic. They take a non-Explosion hit (Meteor Mash is resisted 0.5× by Suicune’s Water typing; EQ and Rock Slide are neutral), Surf back, and Roar/recover. But they too die to a Band Explosion if Metagross commits, so they “check” rather than counter.
Forretress — resists Meteor Mash (Steel 0.5× into Bug/Steel) and survives, but takes neutral Earthquake and is itself blown up by Explosion; a mutual-destruction matchup that usually favors the offense gaining tempo.
Faster revenge killers — Aerodactyl, Starmie, Jolteon. None of these switch in (Aero fears Rock Slide/Meteor Mash, Starmie/Jolteon are frail), but all outspeed the non-Agility sets and force chip math. Against AgiliGross they must already be on the field, because +Agility Metagross outruns them.
Ground coverage in general. Anything packing Earthquake that survives a hit (Swampert, Claydol, opposing Tyranitar at full) pressures Metagross’s 2× Ground weakness.

★ Offense angle

On aggressive offense, Metagross is the slot that guarantees you break the SkarmBliss wall, and the trade that hands you momentum for free. Build around two ideas: use the boom as a tempo engine, and save Agility for the kill.

Concrete lines:

Lead the trade to clear your win condition’s checks. CB Metagross’s Explosion-OHKOs-Skarmory line is the single most reliable way to remove the Spikes wall that otherwise grinds your offense down. Boom Skarmory early, bring in your sweeper for free on the same turn — you’ve removed the wall and gained the switch. This is why Metagross sits on so many Tyranitar + Salamence DD cores: it pre-clears the Steel that walls their Rock Slide / Dragon Claw spam (see common cores).
Pair it with Magneton for a Steel double-team. Magneton traps and removes Skarmory/Forretress; Metagross blows up the bulky Water or Blissey behind them. Between trapping and Explosion you can dismantle an entire defensive core in two turns — the engine of the DragMag / special-spikes offense builds.
Hold AgiliGross as the closer. Don’t show Agility early. Spend the early game forcing trades and chipping the opposing Aerodactyl/Starmie/Dugtrio with the rest of your team; once they’re gone, one Agility and Metagross outruns the field. Lum Berry insures the setup turn against a desperation Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp — paralysis (Speed to 1/4) is the only thing that re-walls a +Agility Metagross.
Cover its weaknesses, not its checks. Metagross dies to Ground and Fire and gets trapped by Dugtrio. A Levitate or Flying teammate (Salamence, Claydol, Gengar) and your own Dugtrio answer keep the slot alive long enough to detonate at the right moment.

Breaking their Metagross with your offense: out-speed and OHKO it before it sets up. Lead Dugtrio to trap-and-EQ, bring a Fire Blast to the 2× weakness, or simply force it into a position where Explosion is its only out and then sack the right piece. Never let it sit in front of your Skarmory — that’s exactly the trade it wants.

Top teammates & cores

Metagross + Tyranitar (DDTar offense). The classic spine of aggressive ADV: TTar’s Sand chips, its CB/DD set breaks, and Metagross’s Explosion clears the Steel that walls both. See the DDTar offense sample team.
Metagross + Magneton. The Steel-removal package — trap one wall, boom the other. Magneton deletes Skarmory/Forretress; Metagross detonates the bulky Water or Blissey, opening a clean field for a sweeper.
Metagross + Salamence / Dragon-Dance breakers. Metagross removes the Steels and bulky Flyers’ checks; the DD breaker cleans up the softened backbone. Each covers the other’s walls.
Metagross + a spinner (Claydol / Starmie). Keeps hazards off your side so Metagross can keep switching into resisted hits to break — momentum offense wants its breaker healthy.