The sixth generation of the Pokémon franchise introduced an intriguing and very useful new mechanic in Mega Evolution, changing the competitive meta completely. All too often, Pokémon that we love due to their interesting concepts or fantastic designs simply cannot perform in the treacherous OverUsed tier and certainly not in Ubers. Mega Evolution changes all that however, providing a path to a second chance for many Pokémon, allowing them to gain not only a new design but a massive boost in their power seeing their competitive viability soar. Often this catapults Pokémon from the depths of NU or PU into the higher tiers such as with Altaria or Mawile.

Despite being such a wonderful addition to gameplay however, many of our favourites are yet to receive a Mega of their own. The Make-a-Mega project on the PokéCommunity aims to change this by creating a hypothetical new Mega form for one of the left out Pokémon. We begin by selecting a Pokémon to improve, then as the competitive community make changes to its typing, stats and ability PC’s talented artists create a stunning new appearance to match. In the last installment of this series we fixed Lapras’ flaws giving it a powerful Mega that could function as both a wall and a wall-breaker. This time the community has decided to turn their sights on Weezing.

A very uniquely designed Pokémon with a brilliant defensive type, Weezing has a lot of potential. Sadly however, a number of detracting factors leave the strange Pokémon severely outclassed by other Poison types such as Gengar, Venusaur and Scollipede. Floating around in the unfortunately low tier of NU, Weezing is in dire need of a Mega evolution.

The Original

“I can take your breath away…”

#110 Weezing
Classification: Poison Gas Pokémon
Type: Poison
Ability: Levitate

Base Stats
HP: 60
Atk: 90
Def: 120
Sp. Atk: 85
Sp. Def: 70
Spe: 60

Judging by its fantastic defensive typing and equally impressive physical defense – not to mention its incredibly useful ability and expansive movepool – you’d think Weezing might be quite formidable and under the right conditions it does have its uses. Unfortunately though, Weezing has many detracting factors that its positives fail to compensate for.

It’s obvious from the get-go that Weezing is originally intended as a defensive Pokémon. Its great typing leaves it with only one weakness (Psychic) under most conditions in combination with its Levitate ability, which mitigates the Poison type’s weakness to the threatening Ground type. Furthermore, Weezing also resists Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Grass and Poison. An enormous physical Defense allows Weezing to capitalise on this typing, especially against common physical Fighting threats. Unfortunately however, Weezing has low Special Defense and Hit Points allowing dangerous Special Sweepers to plow through it and just about any Psychic Pokémon to defeat it with ease. This is exasperated by Weezing’s lack of recovery and slow speed forcing it to take hits that it can’t heal from.

Offensively, Weezing’s Attack is a somewhat workable base 90 whilst its Special Attack and Speed are noticeably lacking. This is unfortunate for Weezing as its expansive movepool is filled with potent Special attacks such as Sludge Bomb, Thunderbolt or Fire Blast and its poor Special Attack and Speed simply do not allow it to make effective use of these. Weezing’s movepool also contains a mass of potent status moves that can pressure an opponent, however its poor Speed once again prevents it from making effective use of these.

Weezing possesses a wide movepool supported by a lack of weaknesses, a good number of resistances and a hefty Defense stat. Sadly though, this Pokémon’s otherwise pitiful stats prevent it from taking advantages of its strengths and rendering it ineffective both offensively and Defensively.

New and Improved

Mega Weezing
Type: Poison/Fire
Ability: Levitate

Base Stats
HP: 60
Atk: 90
Def: 120
Sp. Atk: 115 (+30)
Sp. Def: 90 (+20)
Spe: 110 (+50)

Prior to the introduction of our Mega Evolution, Weezing was unable to make the most of its great typing, physical defense or movepool thanks to less-than-satisfactory stats in other areas. With our Mega Evolution, Weezing becomes a powerful anti-meta Pokémon that puts pressure on many common threats.

Defensively, little has changed for Mega Weezing. Its base 120 physical Defense remains unchanged, but is already high enough to allow Weezing to take shots from all but the most fearsome physical threats with ease. Unlike the normal Weezing however, Mega Weezing has a base 90 Special Defence. Whilst this is by no means high, it is a vast improvement on the original as it provides it with enough Special bulk to survive most neutral Special Attacks. The biggest defensive change for our Mega is the addition of the Fire type. This leaves Mega Weezing with a total of eight resistances with three of those being 4x resistances. This surge in resistances is accompanied only by two further weaknesses to Rock and Water with the otherwise 4x super-effective Ground being made redundant by Mega Weezing retaining levitate. Mega Weezing can check and take hits from dangerous physical Pokémon such as Victini, Weavil or Scizor and even some notable Special attackers such as Serperior.

The biggest changes to Mega Weezing come offensively. Previously, Weezing’s Special Attack and Speed were far too low to allow it to really take advantage of its broad Special movepool. Now with a base 115 Special Attack and 110 Speed, Weezing sits in the same Speed tier as sweepers like Latios/Latias, Gengar and Mega Metagross. The boost in power allows Weezing to hit relatively hard with very strong Sludge Waves or Fire Blasts, a STAB combination that allows Weezing to hit six types super-effectively, including Steel that was previously immune to STAB attacks from Weezing. It can also cover its weaknesses with strong coverage moves in Dark Pulse and Thunderbolt that take advantage of Mega Weezing’s newfound attacking power. It’s third weakness, Rock, tends to have low Special Defense also which allows Mega Weezing to hit many Rock-types hard with neutral damage. This offensive power can also be supported with powerful Status moves such as Toxic and Will-O-Wisp which can cripple threats and walls to Weezing switching in and leave them easier to deal with in the future.

Despite its newly gained power, Mega Weezing does have flaws. First and foremost is a newly gained Stealth Rock weakness that deals nasty damage to Mega Weezing every time it switches in – a problem made worse by a lack of recovery that cause Weezing to require clerical support. Mega Weezing’s weaknesses are also extremely common which makes it difficult for it to switch into other Pokémon if your predictions aren’t good, wide coverage or not.

With this new Mega Evolution, Weezing can rise up from obscurity to become a dangerous anti-meta Pokémon. Despite its noteworthy weaknesses, Mega Weezing is fast enough to run with the likes of Gengar and powerful enough to keep Raikou company. It can cause havoc against common frail offensive Pokémon and bulky walls alike with a combination of wide coverage, speed and power and nasty status moves. Mega Weezing has flaws, but those flaws keep it balanced and don’t prevent its strengths from shining in the slightest. Plus, it looks damn good too.

Edited by bobandbill and Sylphiel.
Cover image by Rivvon.