Mega Venusaur is a powerful upgrade of a classic Pokémon. As a dual Grass and Poison type, it sports a solid Attack stat paired with good bulk. So how does the first evolutionary line in the Pokédex stand up in the current PVE meta?

Mega Venusaur is unfortunately only a top tier attacker as a Grass type, for reasons we will discuss. For Grass types, its Mega Evolved competition includes Mega Sceptile and Mega Abomasnow, as well as the future Mega Victreebel and Mega Chesnaught, plus Kartana for non-Mega Evolved Grass attackers. For Poison types, its Mega Evolved competition includes Mega Beedrill and Mega Gengar, as well as the future Mega Victreebel, but again is outclassed by many other non-Mega Evolved Poison attackers. Between its two typings, Mega Venusaur definitely has a favorite!

As a Poison type attacker, Mega Venusaur unfortunately falls short. While Sludge Bomb is an overall good move to have, Mega Venusaur currently lacks a Poison type Fast Move. Its current best move to pair with Sludge Bomb is Vine Whip. This hinders it especially against Grass type opponents, one of the two types that you would be using it against as a Poison type. Out of the three currently available Mega Evolutions, only Mega Beedrill has a fully Poison type moveset, making it the de facto winner. Even if Mega Venusaur and Mega Gengar were to gain access to a full Poison type moveset, Mega Gengar would likely still pull ahead. As the nail in the coffin, while Mega Victreebel’s stats haven’t been announced yet, we can look at its existing moveset in Pokémon GO. It already has access to a full Poison type moveset, looks to fill a similar role stat-wise as Mega Venusaur, and shares the exact same typing. Any niches that Mega Venusaur might fill thanks to its Grass typing as a Poison type attacker are kind of nullified by Mega Victreebel. Mega Venusaur does get access to Acid, a Poison type Fast Move in Pokémon GO, so it does have potential. For now though, even in those niche cases prior to Mega Victreebel’s release, you’re probably better off going with Mega Beedrill or Mega Gengar for Poison type damage.

So how about as a Grass type attacker? Fortunately, Mega Venusaur fares much better here. Kinda. Mega Venusaur’s competition comes from Mega Sceptile and Mega Abomasnow, as well as the future Mega Victreebel and Mega Chesnaught, plus Kartana for non-Mega Evolved Pokémon. It outclasses all other non-Mega Evolved Grass attackers. Immediately, we can remove Mega Abomasnow from the competition, as it currently falls outside of the top 30 Grass type attackers, and is overall just not a great choice. Mega Victreebel is more difficult to speculate on here, but will likely fall short due to their shared typing and Mega Venusaur’s access to Frenzy Plant. Mega Chesnaught is similarly difficult to speculate on, but will play a similar yet unique role thanks to access to Frenzy Plant but different typing. Kartana outputs some extremely high damage, but it is literally designed after a piece of origami, meaning it will fall to pretty much any strong attack. A team of Kartana’s would outperform Mega Venusaur, but in a head to head it is pretty even. It does have some matchups where it fares better though. Unfortunately for Mega Venusaur, Mega Sceptile provides some stiff resistance. Mega Sceptile is geared toward offense, whereas Mega Venusaur is more balanced. Mega Sceptile has much higher DPS while Mega Venusaur has much better TDO. On paper, Mega Sceptile outperforms Mega Venusaur, but that doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

Where Mega Venusaur and Mega Sceptile differ more significantly comes from their secondary typing, with Mega Venusaur’s Poison typing and Mega Sceptile’s Dragon typing changing matchups significantly. Offensively, you want to be using Grass type attackers against Water, Rock, and Ground types. Against Rock types, both take neutral damage. This is the one area where Kartana may fare better thanks to its Steel typing, but again it is so frail that the difference would be negligible. Against Water types, Sceptile fares better, sporting a double resistance compared to Mega Venusaur’s standard resistance. Against Ground types, Mega Venusaur unfortunately falls short as well, as its Poison typing means it takes neutral damage from Ground moves a Grass type would otherwise resist. Again, on paper Mega Sceptile seems to have the edge.

However, all of this information may be a bit misleading. While Mega Sceptile may be better on paper, Mega Venusaur is still an extremely powerful Pokémon and will play the role of Grass type attacker exceptionally well in the scenarios where you need one.

Mega Venusaur’s niche comes against dual typed opponents. Its Poison typing allows it to uniquely resist Fairy and Fighting moves, some of the most potent offensive types in the game. Mega Sceptile actually sports a weakness to Fairy, along with another weakness to Dragon and a double weakness to Ice, two more powerful offensive types. Combined with its lower bulk, and Mega Sceptile can be taken down much more easily in these situations. While Mega Venusaur will want to steer clear of any Psychic types thanks to its Poison typing, it can face off against other dual types much more effectively. Combined with its higher bulk, and Mega Venusaur is far from useless. While it may technically fall behind Mega Sceptile on paper, Mega Venusaur still has a valuable role to play as a Grass type attacker and can remain in contention for the title (sorry Abomasnow).

Some of the Raid Bosses that Mega Venusaur matches up uniquely well against include Terrakion and Tapu Fini, as well as Mythical Pokémon Keldeo and Mega Diancie if they ever get added to Raids. It is generally strong against the likes of Kyogre/Primal Kyogre, Regirock, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Tyranitar. It also has strong matchups against powerful Pokémon from later installments such as Great Tusk and Iron Thorns as well. Mega Venusaur will remain a strong pick in Pokémon GO!

Overall, Mega Venusaur is much stronger than it would otherwise seem, although it also fills different roles than you might expect as well. For now, steer clear of using it as a Poison type attacker, although it is still usable in a pinch. As a Grass type, I would say having one trained alongside a Mega Sceptile is wise. While I wouldn’t say it’s better than Mega Sceptile, it is certainly powerful and worth having on your team. Make no mistake, the first evolutionary like in the Pokédex is here to stay!