Mega Beedrill is the definition of a glass cannon, with a high attack stat but almost no bulk to its name. With that said, it fills this role well, with a strong moveset for both its Bug and Poison typings. So how does Mega Beedrill fit into the PVE meta?

Mega Beedrill is a top tier attacker for both Bug and Poison types. For bug types, its Mega Evolved competition includes Mega Pinsir, Mega Heracross, and Mega Scizor, plus Shadow Vikavolt for non-Mega Evolved Bug attackers. For Poison types, its Mega Evolved competition includes Mega Venusaur and Mega Gengar, as well as the future Mega Victreebel, plus Eternatus for non-Mega Evolved Poison attackers. Even amongst its competition, there are some roles that only Mega Beedrill can fill!

In terms of typing and stats, Mega Beedrill can really only take hits from resisted moves. Mid-powered neutral attacks and even powerful resisted moves can still deal massive damage to it. As a Bug/Poison type, it is weak to Fire, Rock, Flying, and Psychic moves, while resisting Poison, Bug, and Fairy moves and double resisting Grass and Fighting moves. The Fairy resistance is definitely the most useful, but only against Grass and Fighting moves does Mega Beedrill display any ability to tank hits. Mega Beedrill specializes in dealing as much damage as possible before inevitably going down, but the rare cases where it can tank hits, such as a Close Combat Xerneas/Zacian Hero, can result in some insane damage output!

As a Bug type attacker, Mega Beedrill will deal Super-Effective damage to Grass, Psychic, and Dark type Pokémon. So how does it stack up in these matchups compared to the other Bug types? For starters, keep Mega Beedrill away from Psychic types. While it can perform well offensively, it will take massive damage even from Psychic type Fast Moves. While it is a similar story for Mega Heracross, Mega Beedrill has significantly less bulk. Mega Pinsir and Shadow Vikavolt take neutral damage from these attacks and Mega Scizor even resists them, so Mega Beedrill falls to the bottom of the list here. Against Dark types, it fares much better. However, as mentioned before, it will fall to even powerful neutral attacks, so a stray Dark Pulse or Foul Play from a strong opponent will still take it down. Mega Heracross has the benefit of resisting these attacks, making it better in these scenarios.

Where Mega Beedrill shines is against Grass types, where it double resists their attacks, allowing Beedrill to live a few more hits than it otherwise would. This puts it above Mega Heracross and Shadow Vikavolt in these matchups, as it they both only have a regular resistance to Grass moves. It’s important to note that Mega Pinsir and Mega Scizor also double resist Grass moves and have more bulk. However, their secondary typings are different to Mega Beedrill’s, being Flying and Steel respectively. Mega Beedrill is definitely more frail, but in certain matchups it can outperform them. This one I’ll call a toss up, depending more on the target’s secondary typing and moves to determine the winner in specific cases.

Overall, Mega Beedrill is still a very strong choice for a Bug type attacker, but tends to fall short when compared to the other Bug type Mega Evolutions. So how does it stack up as a Poison type attacker?

Here is where Mega Beedrill fills an interesting niche. As a Poison type Mega Evolution, it is competing with Mega Venusaur, Mega Gengar, and the future Mega Victreebel for the title along with Eternatus. However, Eternatus, Mega Venusaur and Mega Gengar lack a full Poison type moveset. As a Poison type attacker, Mega Beedrill can truly shine. Mega Venusaur is geared more toward bulk, while needing to rely on Vine Whip to charge up its Sludge Bomb. Mega Victreebel (which at the time of writing this has been revealed but not officially released) seems to be geared more towards its bulk as well. Eternatus’s “Poison” moveset is actually just Poison Jab with Dynamax Cannon, meaning it also falls short if you’re looking for strictly Poison type damage. Mega Gengar does deal more damage to neutral targets using Lick and Sludge Bomb, but this doesn’t take into account that if you’re using either it or Mega Beedrill as a Poison type attacker, the target will take Super Effective damage from Mega Beedrill’s Poison Jab as well. There may be a few unique dual-typed targets that Mega Gengar can perform better against, but as a general Poison type attacker Mega Beedrill takes the crown!

Poison type attacks only deal Super-Effective damage to Grass and Fairy types, but Mega Beedrill is able to double resist Grass moves as mentioned earlier, and Poison is one of only 2 types to hit Fairy for Super-Effective damage, making them a valuable addition to your roster. On paper, Mega Beedrill performs much better against Grass type opponents thanks to the double resistance, but there it faces a lot of steep competition due to the numerous weaknesses of Grass types, along with the abundance of Grass/Poison types. Generally, Mega Beedrill is more useful as a Fairy type counter, especially as one of only 3 types that can resist their moves. In the rare case of a dual Grass/Fairy type, no other Mega Evolution can quite compare to Mega Beedrill’s raw damage output!

Some of the Raid Bosses that Mega Beedrill matches up uniquely well against include Virizion and Tapu Bulu, with overall strong matchups against Grass and Fairy types like Mega Sceptile, Mega Altaria, and Xerneas. It also has strong matchups against powerful Pokémon from later installments such as Wo-Chien, Iron Valiant, and Ogerpon. Mega Beedrill will remain a powerful option in Pokémon GO!

Overall, Mega Beedrill can perform well as both a Bug and Poison type attacker. However, it faces steep competition as a Bug type where it can end up falling short. It truly shines as a Poison type attacker, where no other Mega Evolution can currently compete. It may be frail, but in the right matchups, Mega Beedrill’s power as a glass cannon can carry you to victory!