The newest addition in Pokemon Go, Melmetal!

Like the title suggests, the Mythical Pokemon Meltan’s evolution, Melmetal is the latest critter to join the family.

It’s quite the unique addition too. Excluding Silvally and Arceus’ item-related type changes, as well as Mega Aggron, we haven’t had a pure Steel-type Pokemon since the Klingklang line in Gen 5.

The promotional video for Melmetal features Professors Oak and Willow having a discussion on Meltan’s biology, when Willow accidentally witnesses the evolution process. Check it out!

Pokemon Data

Anyway, let’s have a look at Melmetal’s info sheet, courtesy of the Pokemon Company:

Melmetal: Revived after 3,000 Years

Melmetal was worshiped in ancient times as a Pokémon with the power to create metal. Because of its Evolution from Meltan, its body has hardened and is now incredibly sturdy. Melmetal is made of liquid metal, and its flexible arms can be whipped forward to deliver a devastating punch. It can also execute a powerful, unique Steel-type physical move known as Double Iron Bash. By using the hex nut in its chest like an axle to spin its arms around, Melmetal can deal a double strike to its opponent. The weight of the heavy hex nuts on its arms combined with the spinning motion gives the Double Iron Bash move extraordinary power.

• Name:Melmetal
• Category:Hex Nut Pokémon
• Height:8’2″
• Weight:1,763.7 lbs.
• Type:Steel

As of now, the only way to obtain Melmetal is to catch a bunch of Meltan in Pokemon Go and evolve it using 400 Meltan candies. That seems like a lot of work (and probably is). But when you consider that the upcoming Pokemon Let’s Go series has Pokemon Go interactivity as well, I’d say they’re really smart with their marketing…

Possible Competitive Viability

Over on the competitive end, I’m pretty interested to see how Melmetal might impact the meta, assuming we do get a way to transfer it to the mainstream games in future. Most Steel-type physical Pokemon, such as Metagross, Kartana and Aegislash occupy excellent positions competitively, so it’s quite likely we’ll see Melmetal filling similar roles.

Out of sheer interest, let’s talk about some possible competitive moves for Melmetal. Humour me.

• Shift Gear/Autotomize

Well this is kind of self-explanatory. The Pokemon is made up of a bunch of nuts after all. Additionally, Steel-type Pokemon are generally rather durable, so finding a turn or two to set up shouldn’t be much of an issue.

• Rapid Spin/Gyro Ball

The slow rapid spin niche is something usually occupied by the likes of Donphan or Forretress, but I’m positive Melmetal can fulfil a similar role. Gyro Ball follows along a similar train of thought, making use of its potentially slow speed to hit harder.

• Earthquake

Because why the heck not?

Viability aside, we can only be sure of how Melmetal works when Pokemon Let’s Go! Pikachu and Let’s Go! Eevee hits the Nintendo Switch on 16^th November. With that being said, I do hope my Sinnoh remake…ahem, I meant possible mainstream Pokemon game gets announced soon so we can give Melmetal some proper competitive testing.