5 Reasons Why You Need a Melmetal in Pokemon GO

Melmetal is a very curious Pokemon. It is a Mythical Pokemon but it’s also an evolved Pokemon. For a while, I underestimated how useful Melmetal could be, because he’s got a rather unusual pool of abilities, but only just works as a steel-type attacker. However, over the years, my opinion has changed greatly, and Melmetal is now one of my must-have Pokemon, having served me well and also having kicked a lot of ass

Here are five reasons why you should get (and power up) a Melmetal.

Easy-ish to obtain

This sounds like a weird thing to say. After all, you need 400 candy to evolve a Meltan into a Melmetal. But you can get an endless supply of Meltans by simply opening a Meltan Box every few days. Combined with spotlight hours on Tuesdays, Community Days and other events with double candy, getting that 400 candy is actually not that difficult. It’s slow, I agree, but it is 100% doable if you have patience. Either way, it’s much, much easier to get a Melmetal than it is to get an Altaria, a Gyarados or a Noivern.

Melmetal is also a really easy Pokemon to get to rank 50. After all, Legendary and Mythical Pokemon guarantee getting an XL Candy when you catch them. Which means you’ll be swimming with Meltan XL Candy. In fact, I have 700 XL candy, enough to max out two and a half Melmetals.

You can trade them and stick them in gyms

Melmetal is unique in another way. Normally, you can’t trade Mythical Pokemon. So the likes of Mew, Genesect and Deoxys are all untradeable, and you have to send them to Pokemon HOME if you want to use them. Also, Mythical Pokemon can’t be put in Gyms back here in Pokemon GO. However, Melmetal cares little about these silly rules, and will happily sit in a gym for a few days.

Trading is also nice. Sure, it still costs you a special trade, but the potential of getting a lucky Meltan is genuinely possible, unlike other Mythical Pokemon. So you’re not just stuck with shitty low IV Meltans, you can trade towards a good one.

They make Team Rocket fights easy

Most of the time, if I’m doing a Team Rocket battle I’m not sure about (namely leader battles), I always bring my Melmetal along. Why? Because Melmetal is big and tanky AND spammy. Not only does Melmetal have a lot of bulk, but it’s also got Rock Slide, which is one of the best moves in Pokemon GO. Rock Slide charges up fast, does decent damage and you can easily stack up for a second Rock Slide. On most Pokemon, this is just good enough (like on Rampardos) but Melmetal has an electric fast move which makes Rock Slide charge up insanely quickly.

With such easy access to fast moves, you can easily break all their shields and then start hitting them for some decent actual damage. Most people prefer Flash Cannon as the second move, so Melmetal has a STAB attack, but I find Thunderbolt works when Rock Slide doesn’t. But basically, it doesn’t matter much because you can somewhat stunlock all sorts of shadow Pokemon with it.

A great all-round Pokemon

Melmetal is simply a really useful, all-round Pokemon. While it may be lacking as a steel-type Pokemon, that’s only the case because Metagross is so insanely good. Then again, most Pokemon fail in comparison when it comes to Metagross. But Meltan can stand up for itself, having a use in all three Go Battle Leagues, it does better in PvP in general and is amazing for Team Rocket Grunt and Leader battles. And since many, many raid bosses are weak to rock, Melmetal ranks alongside other great rock-throwers like Rampardos and Terrakion.

Sure, Melmetal isn’t the best for everything, but it consistently comes in second place in a lot of different ways. Heck, I’d say that Melmetal is a better generalist than Mewtwo, because Melmetal has a considerable amount of bulk.

Only available in Pokemon GO (and Pokemon Home)

The weirdest thing about Melmetal though? He’s a Pokemon GO exclusive. Sure, you do get a Melmetal for linking Pokemon GO with Pokemon Home. But if you want more than one Melmetal? Then you have to come to Pokemon GO. You don’t need to do the Meltan quest to get a Meltan, the Meltan Box is available just by linking to Pokemon Home. Although the Meltan quest does guarantee a Meltan with good stats. If you want to evolve a Meltan, that has to be done IN Pokemon GO, it can’t be done elsewhere. Even if you don’t want the Melmetal in Pokemon GO, you have to evolve it in Pokemon GO before you transfer it to other games.

So basically, Melmetal is unique to Pokemon GO. And it’s nice in so many different ways. That’s why I recommend that you get a Melmetal. It will work hard for you.