Mega Blastoise is a serious upgrade in power for the classic Kanto water starter. It retains its pure Water typing alongside its Mega Evolution stat buffs. It has good offensive and defensive stats, making it a solid Pokémon overall. But how does it measure up in the PVE meta?

As a water type, Mega Blastoise faces a good amount of competition from other Mega Evolutions. Other water type Mega Evolutions include Mega Slowbro, Mega Gyarados, Mega Swampert, Mega Sharpedo, Primal Kyogre, and the future Mega Greninja. While there are some obvious standouts on this list, Mega Blastoise still manages to carve out a spot for itself in the meta.

Let’s address the elephant, or should I say whale, in the room. Primal Kyogre is the best Water type in the game, bar none. As a Legendary Pokémon, it naturally has higher stats. Mega Evolutions can usually compete with standard Legendary Pokémon, but one of these Legendaries getting a Mega Evolution bonus of their own almost doesn’t seem fair (it’s really not). If you’re looking for raw power, Primal Kyogre is the way to go. However, let’s not count Mega Blastoise out just yet.

Currently, Mega Blastoise sits at 4th place on the list of overall Water type attackers. Aside from Primal Kyogre at 1st, it also falls behind Mega Swampert at 2nd and Shadow Kyogre at 3rd. Honestly, pretty respectable. Out of these options, both versions of Kyogre are notably more difficult and expensive (Raid Passes or Rare Candy XL) to train, making it an end-game goal to strive for rather than a go-to. While they will of course surpass Mega Blastoise, they are significantly more difficult to obtain.

Out of the remaining available Water type Mega Evolutions, only 2 are really in the conversation power-wise. Mega Slowbro is lacking in offense and Mega Sharpedo is lacking in bulk, resulting in lower overall performances from each. While Mega Greninja’s stats haven’t been released yet, it will likely perform in a similar manner to Mega Sharpedo. That leaves us with the aforementioned Mega Swampert along with Mega Gyarados. Mega Gyarados is a potent attacker that also fills a niche with its secondary Dark typing, but its best moveset of Waterfall and Hydro Pump is not optimal for PVE compared to Hydro Cannon (and regardless is still outperformed by Mega Blastoise), and using Community Day move Aqua Tail instead performs even lower.

This leaves Mega Swampert. They are both strong Water types that gain access to Hydro Cannon, exclusive only to the Water type starters. Offensively, it outperforms Mega Blastoise in both DPS and TDO. Defensively, its incredible typing of Water/Ground means it is only weak to Grass attacks. However, this does mean that it takes neutral damage from other attacks that a Water type would normally resist. Enter Mega Blastoise. As a pure Water type, it is strong against Fire, Rock, and Ground types while resisting Water, Fire, Ice, and Steel types. Of these resistances, only Ice is of note, as you likely wouldn’t be using Mega Blastoise against Water types offensively and Mega Swampert also resists Fire and Steel and can deal Super-Effective damage to the Steel types with its secondary typing Ground moves. Thanks to its Ground typing, Mega Swampert takes neutral damage from Ice moves whereas Mega Blastoise resists them. There are some Rock/Ice and Ground/Ice types that Mega Blastoise performs better against compared to Mega Swampert, but unfortunately for Mega Blastoise these type combinations are pretty rare. Make no mistake, Mega Blastoise is a powerful option, but it does fall solidly behind Mega Swampert, as well as the aforementioned Primal Kyogre.

The one area where Mega Blastoise might edge out Mega Swampert is accessibility. As a Kanto starter, Squirtle is constantly featured in events. As such, there are usually at least a few opportunities to evolve a Wartortle into Blastoise to get access to Hydro Cannon, an opportunity offered to Swampert much less frequently. While Mega Swampert does outperform Mega Blastoise in almost every situation, Mega Blastoise with Hydro Cannon easily outperforms Mega Swampert without it in most situations as well.

Out of the currently available Raid Bosses, Mega Blastoise doesn’t perform uniquely well against any, although it is an extremely good option anywhere a Water type would be strong, against foes such as Groudon/Primal Groudon, Entei, Mega Aerodactyl, and Mega Camerupt. . It also has strong matchups against powerful Pokémon from later installments such as Great Tusk, Iron Treads, and Iron Moth. If you find yourself in need of a Water attacker, Mega Blastoise is always a great pick.

Overall, Mega Blastoise is a very good pick for a Water type attacker, sitting near the top of the list. Access to Hydron Cannon, as well as Mega Evolution worthy stats, means it will never be a bad option. Unfortunately, Primal Kyogre will likely retain the crown for the foreseeable future, and even outside of that, Mega Swampert is allowed almost everywhere Mega Blastoise is. Mega Blastoise is still a very strong addition to your roster, but like so many others unfortunately falls victim to the inevitability of power creep.