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Who are the Best Mega Pokémon?

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On June 20, 2025

The addition of mega Pokémon to Pokemon X and Y was a huge success, giving competitive battles a new angle for veterans and making older Pokémon relevant once again by granting them powerful mega forms.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Forms Main character mega evolving altaria and gyrados

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Over the years, fans have been let down by some Pokémon not receiving the mega treatment despite their popularity and drop in competitive use.

Not all mega Pokémon were made equal, however, as some stood head and shoulders above the rest. Below are the ten best mega Pokémon ranked by how well the mega form serves its purpose of making the Pokémon itself relevant again, making them competitively viable, and of course, how cool the mega design is.

10

Mega Swampert

Swampert Hits The Gym

Swampert has always been a fan-favorite mon since its debut in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphireas the final evolution of one of the starter mons. It was always a good pick, as it had great bulk, a great move pool and could learn many HMs that made traversing the world easier. Competitively, however, Swampert slowly became less relevant as its jack-of-all-trades design made it a master of none.

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That’s where its mega form really picked up the slack, turning Swampert into a competitive beast that, when boosted by the rain and its new ability, Swift Swim, outpaced and knocked out every Pokémon on the other team without needing a setup move. Savvy players could even pretend they were packing a mega Swampert only to surprise the opponent with a different mega and a bulky, normal Swampert. Also, that design is just awesome, intimidating, but also funny too.

9

Mega Altaria

Bringing this Weak Dragon Back

The luster of dragon-type Pokémon has faded over many years from its legendary beginnings. This is partly due to the addition of dragon-type mons that lack power and relevancy, like Altaria did when it first arrived in Gen 3. Pokémon was cooking when it gave Altaria an awesome mega form which granted it the powerful dragon/fairy typing, the arguably broken ability pixilate and some buffed stats to complete the full revitalization of a Pokémon. That was a bit of a joke.

Mega Altaria could sweep teams with ease by dragon dancing and roosting while launching powerful, pixilated attacks. As well, its design feels just right, continuing to be a cute Pokémon even while devastating unprepared teams.

8

Mega Rayquaza

The Undisputed King of Megas

If it were just about power, mega Rayquaza has every other mega beat. Its stats are crazy, it got a flying-type close combat in dragon ascent coupled with an ability that makes its type weaknesses matter less and its base form was already broken. No list of best megas would be complete without this mon, so why is it not number one?

Well first, Rayquaza did not need the mega help. It was already strong and popular, it did not need daddy’s trust fund (a mega form) as well. If anything, this pushed the form out of relevancy as competitions would ban its use because it was simply too broken to be included. It looks awesome, though, and Rayquaza’d the Pokémon more just like a good mega form should.

7

Mega Beedrill

Finally, this Famous Pokémon got some Love

Beedrill was simply never a good Pokémon. It was a Pokemon that players worked hard to evolve only to find out it wasn’t really going to help them beat the Elite Four anytime soon in any generation. So finally someone at Gamefreak gave Beedrill the love it needed, a mega form that made them a u-turning powerhouse of glass cannon goodness.

Mega Beedrill has adaptability, which doubles its same-type attack bonuses, and its speed and attack become seemingly doubled, as the frail but powerful mon then uses its newfound power to sweep the enemy team or slowly wither it down with u-turns. Its design could have been more original, but the team who got this awesome but forgotten mon a new form that turned it from zero to hero deserves full credit and mega Beedrill is exactly what mega forms should do for Pokémon.

6

Mega Diancie

Shine Bright like a Diamond

Diancie was already a good Pokémon, especially defensively. The mythical mon was not one of the strongest, however, and Gamefreak tweaked Diancie’s mega form so it would be powerful, but not game-breaking, giving it an awesome new look with competitive room to counter-play.

Diancie’s mega form gives it magic bounce, an ability which repels non-attack moves and offensive stats instead of defensive ones. The cost of this is that mega Diancie cannot take the hits that its previous form can, creating strategies around when the player should mega evolve, if at all. Unstoppable in the right hands, this mega form places among the best.

5

Mega Sableye

No Pokémon Needed more Mega Help than This One

Sableye is a nearly irrelevant Pokémon. While its design is cool, and it had the strong ghost/dark typing, it simply did not have the stats or abilities to make it shine. But luckily, Gamefreak remembered it existed and gave the mon a mega form that brought it into the spotlight for the first time.

Mega Sableye was granted enhanced defenses and the ability magic bounce, making it a defensive pivot that could punish players trying to burn or poison the team while making Sableye nearly immune to the same strategies. As well, savvy players could wait to mega evolve Sableye and use his weaker forms ability prankster to get priority status or recovery moves off before mega evolving.

4

Mega Lucario

The Poster Boy of Mega Evolution

Lucario’s mega form feels like the one developers spent the most time on, as it looks incredible and brought the already-strong Lucario up several competitive tiers to sometimes being considered broken.

With just a little more speed and attack, coupled with the previously mentioned adaptability ability, Lucario’s close combats and meteor mashes could wreak havoc on anything on the other side of the field. Lucario didn’t necessarily need a mega form like other mons on this list, but with how powerful and stylish the mega form turned out to be, it ranks among the best ever.

3

Mega Charizard X

Giving Charizard a Competitive Presence

Charizard has enjoyed being one of the most popular mons for a long time for good reason. Its design is awesome and its role in the anime series made it a fan favorite. But as the years went on, Charizard’s average stats and typing could not keep it relevant in competitive battles despite its popularity. That is until it was granted two awesome mega forms.

While both forms are great, Charziard’s X form gets the win for how cool it looks, how competitively viable it has been and how popular it was with fans. Charizard was also finally gifted dragon typing, matching his dragon-themed design and used its new tough claws ability to wreak havoc on enemy teams.

2

Mega Blastoise

Cannons on Cannons on Cannons

It did not bring Blastoise into a meta-changing role. It did not make Blastoise much more popular than it previously was. But Mega Blastoise gets this high ranking for mostly one reason: its design is amazing. Blastoise early on in the Pokémon franchise was one of its mascots because it was a turtle with two cannons sprouting from its back. When fans saw mega Blastoise for the first time with one mega cannon and two smaller cannons on each arm, it was hilarious and awesome.

Mega forms exist for a design like this, taking a cool but sort of forgotten mon and leaning into what made them special to create an awesome, new form. The issue with this form is that it didn’t quite bring enough power to make mega Blastoise as strong as it looked, and while it is good to keep Pokémon balanced, a little more power would have made this the perfect mega mon.

1

Mega Mawhile

Thank the Pokémon Gods for Mega Forms

Mawhile was one of the most under-designed mons when it debuted in generation 3. It had so much potential, a venus fly trap-themed steel-type Pokémon that had a giant mouth doing its fighting for it, but severely underwhelming stats and no clear role made this mon completely irrelevant. That was until the genius move to give this mon a mega form that would bring it from never used to over used immediately.

It gets a second venus fly trap head, the rare steel/fairy typing, and most importantly, the ability huge power, which essentially gives it an automatic swords dance boost. While it was slow, it could learn sucker punch, a high-priority move that hits when the opponent is attacking. So Mawhile could switch in, intimidate the opponent, mega evolve and start attacking or boost its already insane attack stat to unstoppable levels. The perfect design and execution of a mega form and one Dunsparce could only dream of.