ZA Starter Mega Evolution the short end of the stick

In competition Pokémon battles, Abilities can make or break a mon's utility, with the potential to completely outclass its competitors depending on how the ability interacts with the rest of the Pokémon'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 gaining the overwhelmed Parental Bond Ability, or Mega Blaziken's Speed ​​Boost. Pokemon Legends: ZA introduced 45 new Mega Evolutions that don't have abilities yet, so there's still a lot of mystery surrounding which new Megas will make a place in Pokemon champion meta.

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Mega Emboar has a much worse ability in Pokemon Champions than the other Legends: ZA Starters

Despite the popularity of Mega Emboar among Pokemon Legends: ZA fans, the animal suffers from having the worst ability of all Legends: ZA starts in Pokemon champion. Before the disclosure of Legends: ZA 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 quite strong, so there was hope that Legends: ZA the starting trio would all receive the same treatment. However, there is one distinct Pokémon oddity in this line-up, with Mega Emboar having a significantly less useful ability than Mega Meganium and Mega Feraligatr.

Pokemon Legends: ZA's Starter Mega Evolution Abilities in Champions Explained

• Mega Meganium — Mega Sol: Allows Pokémon to use moves as if the weather were harsh sunlight.

• Mega Emboar — Mold Breaker: The effects of the opponent's Pokemon's ability are ignored if possible.

• Mega Feraligatr — Dragonize: Normal-Type moves become Dragon-Type with a 20% damage increase.

Both Mega Meganium and Mega Feraligatr get brand new abilities Pokemon champion which are so far unique to these mons. Meganium's Mega Sol Ability basically lets it use moves as if Bright Sunlight was active, meaning it can use Solar Beam in a single turn without having to set Sunlight with Sunny Day or Drought Ability. Mega Feraligatr's new Ability Dragonize can be even better, allowing the beast to use normal attacks as if they were Dragon-Type for STAB damage, making something like Double-Edge or Giga Impact hit like a truck.

In comparison, Mega Emboar's Mold Breaker Ability is very underwhelming. Not only is it an ability that already exists and is on several other Mega Evolutions, but it's not even that strong of an ability for competitive battles either. Mold Breaker allows a Pokemon to 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 much lower than that of Mega Meganium and Mega Feraligatr.

Why Mega Emboar won't be worth using in Pokemon Champions

Because only one Mega Evolution can be used on a team in traditional competitions Pokémon battle format, it probably won't be worth wasting that spot on Mega Emboar Pokemon champion. Both of Emboar's non-Mega Abilities are better than Mold Breaker. Blaze is the default ability for Fire-Type starters, but it increases the power of the user's Fire-Type moves when they are below a third of their HP. Reckless is the other Ability Emboar can have, and it increases the power of moves that deal knockback damage, such as Flare Blitz, by 20%. Both of these abilities affect Emboar itself regardless of the opposing Pokémon's status, making them more useful than Mold Breaker.

Second 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 competition Pokémon battles. Ampharos was never that viable as a competitive Pokemon and getting Mold Breaker when it Mega-Evolves doesn't do the beast many favors. However, Mega Gyarados is somewhat viable as a competitive Pokemon, as it has Intimidate as its non-Mega Ability, allowing it to lower the opponent's Attack stat when plugged in before Mega-Evolving, and gain Mold Breaker after Intimidate loses its usefulness. Mega Gyarados also loses its 4x weakness to Electric-Type moves when it trades the flying-type for the dark-type, making Mega Gyarados a solid competitive option.

When Meganium Mega-evolves, it gets a huge boost to its special attack, taking it from an unimpressive moon to a real competitive threat. With Mega Sol as an ability, Mega Meganium's main damaging attack should be Solar Beam, as it doesn't need to wait a turn to charge the attack. Mega Meganium can boost her 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 as it increases the damage of grass type attacks while active.

Mega Feraligatr is already a physical powerhouse and its Dragonize Ability i Pokemon champion can give it sweeping potential. Aside from great Water and Dragon-Type STAB moves like Liquidation and Outrage, Mega Feraligatr can also deal serious damage with Double-Edge, as Dragonize will change it from a Normal-Type move to a Dragon-Type. Feraligatr also has access to Dragon Dance, which can increase both attack and speed stats and create an offensive sweep.