Meganium
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
Out of the many Grass-type starter Pokemon in GO, Meganium is one of the worst. Its lower-than-Ponyta’s Atk stat paired with the cookie-cutter Grass-type movepool keeps it from standing out on both offense and defense. While Bunchie had a good run as a meme back in 2003, in Pokemon GO it’s not doing so hot.
Offense
- Magical Leaf is the Fast Move of choice.
- Vine Whip is on par with Razor Leaf on attack; though they’re very different moves, they end up close in cycle DPS.
- Frenzy Plant* is one of the best Grass-type moves in the game, and Meganium's best choice.
- Solar Beam is frequently superior to Petal Blizzard due to its massive base power.
- Earthquake has little use on an offensive Meganium.
Defense
- Magical leaf is superior to Razor Leaf and Vine Whip, netting higher damage and energy gain.
- While all of Meganium’s charge moves are poor on defense, Frenzy Plant* at least has multiple bar while Earthquake offers a little counter-coverage against Fire Types. That said, it will probably faint before launching the latter.
Meganium has basically one moveset, and this is it. Vine Whip is preferred over Razor Leaf due to its high energy generation letting it effectively leverage its powerful charged moves. Magical Leaf is a decent move, but Vine Whip's higher energy generation complements Meganium's powerful Charged Attacks better.
If you don't have a Meganium with Frenzy Plant, you don't have a Meganium. This Grass-type move is both cheap and hard-hitting, and is one of the biggest reasons for Meganium's power. The other reason is, of course, Earthquake. This Ground-type coverage leaves Meganium in the unique position of being able to handle Steel-types that wall most other Grasses, and it's super useful!
Meganium was once a top tier threat in the Great League due to its rare ability to threaten both Azumarill and Registeel, a powerful core at the time. However, as the metagame evolved and more threats came about, Meganium found itself harshly competing against other Grass-type options. Trevenant was king when Ghost resists were rare, Venusaur's resistance to Fairy and Fighting often proved useful, and Serperior's higher bulk and speedier moveset made it the Grass-type of choice when Grass resists were uncommon. As a result, Meganium mostly faded into obscurity. By no means is Meganium a bad Pokemon, however, due to its good bulk and incredible moveset, but it is lacking in a well defined niche.
