While we’re still awaiting news since the announcement last year on Pokémon Legends: Z-A, one thing that was teased was Mega Evolution. Like back in the age of generation six, we’ve asked members of our community to come up with their own concepts for Mega Evolutions! To start with, we have an oft-forgotten Water/Ice type who never had it easy with the likes of Lapras about: Dewgong.

As a reminder, we’re sticking to previous cases, where Megas gain 100 total to their base stats (accounting for any decreased stats!), possibly a new Ability, and of course a new design. In fact, we have two – many thanks to GalvKame and Shrew for their created designs for Mega Dewgong, and Arcaneum, bobandbill, gimmepie, RMVNZ, Rock_Salazar, and Venia Silente for writing, discussions and brainstorming.

The Original

#087 Dewgong
Classification: Sea Lion Pokémon
Type: Water/Ice
Ability: Thick Fat/Hydration/Ice Body

Base Stats
HP: 90
Attack: 70
Defence: 80
Special Attack: 70
Special Defence: 95
Speed: 70

So here is Dewgong. A Pokémon in dire need of just about any improvement, to be honest! While it’s not Magikarp levels of useless, it unfortunately fades into irrelevance for a number of reasons.

As we can see, Dewgong has been designed as a bulky Water-type Pokémon. Generally speaking, it ticks all the boxes. A good defensive stat spread of 90/80/95, a strong defensive type (Water), some good defensive Abilities and a semi-decent movepool to complement this (including moves such as Haze, Encore and Knock Off).

However Dewgong also suffers quite substantially and especially in the more modern metas, and here’s why.

Typing

As much as Dewgong DOES sport one of the best defensive types in Water, it also unfortunately is Ice type. Ice type is amazing offensively, however Dewgong doesn’t benefit from this thanks to its lackluster base 70 offensive stats.

The added Ice type removes the Fire resistance Water has and adds Rock as a weakness. This is less than ideal for a Water-type Pokémon, which normally wants to be swapping into and forcing these types out. Adding a STAB to deal with Grass types doesn’t even help, as Dewgong is too weak to really utilise this effectively.

Paired with a Stealth Rock weakness, this makes it hard for Dewgong to then make plays without being limited to one item.

The Tera mechanic can help mitigate this by turning into say Tera Water to remove the Ice type and retain STAB or turning into Steel to help combat the existing weaknesses. This is an argument that can be made for any Pokémon however and thus doesn’t really drag Dewgong out from the pits of mediocrity.

Movepool

Dewgong’s movepool does contain some fantastic moves – Haze for removing stat boosts/drops, Knock Off as an omnipresent support tool, Encore to lock up sweepers/mess up lead and stall Pokémon, Flip Turn to escape if needed – but it’s also lacking some very important tools as well.

Firstly, Dewgong only has Rest as a means of quick recovery. Compared to options such as Recover and Slack Off which have no drawbacks, Dewgong already starts off on the back foot.

Secondly no access to Taunt or Toxic (in Gen 9) makes it very hard for Dewgong to battle other bulky/stall Pokémon effectively. At best it can utilise a ‘trapping’ strategy with Whirlpool + Perish Song, but even this can be bettered by Pokémon that don’t need to use Whirlpool i.e. something that could be stopped by Water Absorb/Storm Drain.

Lastly, Dewgong doesn’t even get Aurora Veil! So it can’t even help set up Snow with Snowscape and Aurora Veil to help the team.

Base Stats

In this day and age a BST (Base Stat Total) of 475 just doesn’t cut it for a fully-evolved Pokémon most of the time. Especially not one that is as rounded as this is. As much as 90/80/95 isn’t a BAD defensive stat spread, it is far from an excellent one either. Compared to other bulky Water powerhouses, it is outclassed in every area easily.

New and Improved

Design

We’ve had two new designs made up for Mega Dewgong, after realising that the other seal-like Pokémon with a final stage in the Spheal line is more like a walrus, and retains bulky forms from the initial spherical Spheal. Instead, we wanted to lean into making it longer, more sleek, and focusing on the few distinguishing features Dewgong had – its large tail and flippers, and its rather modest-sized horn.

The design by GalvKame tends towards a narwhal in design, with a much longer horn and four fins on top of the tail. Shrew‘s design meanwhile leans into gradients for colours, which resemble the aurora borealis – think the likes of colour gradients seen on Mega Gengar, or even Galarian Ponyta and Rapidash.

The third design, by Candii & the Pokémon Repudiation development team, was originally for a new evolution of Dewgong rather than specifically a mega evolution, but fits here as well. This design also opts for a second pair of flippers and a bigger horn, and also multi-coloured flippers to boot – great minds think alike! It has two forms: north sea and south sea, based on the aurora borealis and aurora australis effects. One is more defensive and the other offensive.

Movepool

As some of Dewgong’s largest issues come from it lacking some pretty key moves, we decided to bolster its movepool a little with the following moves:

Moonlight – this both highlights our ‘aurora’ theme and also gives Dewgong a more reliable recovery option. However setting up Snow with Aurora Cast (its new Ability we created!) will make this not as good an option.
Freeze-Dry – this gives us a good special STAB option that also helps combat Water Pokémon that would otherwise wall us pretty hard.
Wish – another form of recovery which when paired with Flip Turn gives Dewgong a new role as a WishPasser.
Cosmic Power – this ties in with the theme once more and utilises Dewgong’s bulky defences to perhaps fit into stall teams.

While Scald was also considered, other Water/Ice types don’t seem to get this hot water move, so we’ve left it out.

Ability

We came up with two Abilities that could be used: Aurora Cast and Flash Freeze. Aurora Cast allows Dewgong to set up Aurora Veil when it uses Aurora Beam. This should help it effectively set up Aurora Veil to support its team. (We did also consider if it would also set up Snow in addition, but in the end went without, much like how Gigantamax Lapras can set up Aurora Veil with Gmax Resonance.)

Flash Freeze allows all of Dewgong’s Ice moves to hit Water types super-effectively, which helps it deal with other tanky Water Pokémon and allows it to use some stronger Ice moves instead of relying on Freeze-Dry.

Base Stats

As mentioned previously, we have two variants and therefore two sets of base stats.

Mega Dewgong (Special Variant)
Base Stats
HP: 90
Attack: 60 (-10)
Defence: 100 (+20)
Special Attack: 105 (+35)
Special Defence: 140 (+45)
Speed: 70 (+0)

The stat increases we’ve implemented here are an attempt to bolster Dewgong’s defensive potential. A sharp increase in Special Defence and a boost to its Defence stat give it a much healthier 90/100/140. This should help keep it a bit more healthy and will especially help tank Fire attacks, now that it loses Thick Fat.

Increasing its Special Attack to 105 gives it a good offensive presence and allows it to put a dent into bulky Water Pokémon (especially if it is using Flash Freeze as its Ability).

Mega Dewgong (Physical Variant)
Base Stats
HP: 90
Attack: 110 (+40)
Defence: 100 (+20)
Special Attack: 70 (+0)
Special Defence: 115 (+20)
Speed: 90 (+20)

So Dewgong has some interesting physical options in its movepool. Smart Strike, Drill Run and Play Rough give it some interesting coverage. It also gets some amazing STAB options in Ice Shard, Aqua Jet, Flip Turn and Triple Axel, alongside stronger moves like Liquidation and Ice Spinner.

The base stat changes here try to utilise Mega Dewgong as a physical behemoth. Increases in Attack and both defences give it a lot of staying power, especially when combined with Curse and Moonlight/Wish.

There is a small increase in Speed, which is mainly to give it an edge on some other bulkier Pokémon who may try to set up on it or cripple it with status first.

Movesets

Here are some example movesets!

Aurora Veil Lead (Special)

Dewgong-Mega @ Dewgonite
Ability: Aurora Cast
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Calm Nature

Aurora Beam
Fake Out
Flip Turn
Encore

The aim of this set is to set up Aurora Veil as soon as possible with Aurora Beam, disrupt the opposing team’s lead and switch to something to capitalise on the 50% damage reduction. EVs in both HP and Special Defence make this an absolute menace of a Special Wall.

Fake Out helps break Focus Sash (a somewhat common lead item), as well as disrupts slower Fake Out users (such as Incineroar) and other support Pokémon.

Encore helps trap Pokémon and forces a switch, especially helpful if for example said Pokémon has Water Absorb/Storm Drain meaning no Flip Turn. This also helps force a switch, meaning you can trigger Aurora Cast safely (or Flip Turn if you’ve already set up).

Other options include Moonlight to keep Mega Dewgong in for longer, or Wish to give it recovery but also allow it to pass on some big HP Wishes to other Pokémon using Flip Turn.

CurseGong (Physical)

Dewgong-Mega @ Dewgonite
Ability: Flash Freeze
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature

Curse
Avalanche
Liquidation
Moonlight

So this is Mega Dewgong’s take on CurseLax, thanks to its newfound bulk, hugely increased Attack stat and access to new recovery moves.

Curse is obviously the crux of the moveset, allowing us to buff our Attack and Defence. The added Defence will be especially helpful due to the niche Avalanche being used in this set.

If Dewgong is hit before it attacks that turn, it then has access to a base 120 move with STAB as well which will pack quite a punch! Combine that with Flash Freeze and it suddenly becomes a very formidable option that a lot of offensive Pokémon are going to find hard to deal with.

Liquidation is another form of STAB, with the added boon of a potential decrease in the opponent’s Defence. Moonlight is present to keep Dewgong’s HP topped up, making Dewgong much harder to take down.

Other options could include Play Rough as a means of dealing with Fighting types, but you will be sacrificing either your recovery or one of your STAB options.

You could also go for another Ice STAB in Ice Spinner, or even Triple Axel. Ice Spinner is more reliable damage and doesn’t require you getting hit to be good, whilst Triple can help break Focus Sashes and Substitutes and can hit hard after a Curse or two.

Support/WishPasser (Special)

Dewgong-Mega @ Dewgonite
Ability: Aurora Cast
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Careful Nature

Knock Off
Aurora Beam
Flip Turn
Wish

This set forgoes Dewgong setting up Aurora Veil and just relies on its bulk to become more of a support Pokémon for the team instead. Knock Off is always a great move to have, being able to remove key items.

Aurora Beam is once again a powerful utility tool thanks to its unique Ability, and Wish is there to both keep Dewgong alive and allow it to pass on Wishes to much more frail Pokémon, using Flip Turn as a means to do so.

Aurora Beam could be swapped with Chilling Water as a more reliable but Water-typed method of reducing the opponent’s Attack. Flip Turn could also be removed for something such as Encore to force switches, or Haze to stop setup sweepers in their tracks.

Aurora Veil + 3 Attacks (Special)

Dewgong-Mega @ Dewgonite
Ability: Aurora Cast
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Modest Nature

Aurora Beam
Hydro Pump
Blizzard
Alluring Voice

This is probably by far the least optimal usage of the new Mega, but something that could be done! Aurora Beam is primarily used to set up Snow and Aurora Veil to keep us in for a bit longer.

Hydro Pump and Blizzard are two powerful STAB options, with the latter not having to worry about its low accuracy thanks to the Snow we set up.

Alluring Voice is primarily for coverage against Fighting Pokémon and could easily be swapped out for something like Flip Turn, Freeze-Dry or even Ice Shard/Aqua Jet.

Weather Ball is also a consideration over Blizzard – the Snow will make it a 100 base power STAB move and it will also give Dewgong some interesting options in case it runs into other forms of weather.

That rounds out our attempts to improve upon Dewgong! What do you make of them? And which Pokémon would you like to see get a Mega evolution in Pokémon Legends: Z-A?

Written by Arcaneum and bobandbill.
Edited by Sheep.