Mega Butterfree
New Ability: Tinted Lens/Compound Eyes ->
Iridescence
(The secondary effects of Mega Butterfree's Bug-type moves are guaranteed to take effect.)
Type: Bug/Flying
New Stats:
HP: 60
Attack: 45
Defense: 50 ->
105 (+55)
Special Attack: 90 ->
120 (+30)
Special Defense: 80
Speed: 70 ->
85 (+15)
(
495 BST)
New moves: Strength Sap
Description:
Mega Butterfree is a bulky snowballing sweeper that specializes in stat changes. Its access to Strength Sap allows it to sustain itself and take advantage of physical attackers, while its incredibly unique Ability, Iridescence, allows it to debuff opposing walls and raise its own stats all while attacking rather than needing to spend turns using Quiver Dance.
For reference, the specific moves affected by Iridescence are Signal Beam, Bug Buzz and Silver Wind. Signal Beam's 100% confusion is far from a reliable strategy, so I don't expect it to be used, but it pales in comparison to what Butterfree's other two Iridescence-boosted Bug-type moves have to offer.
Bug Buzz is like Apple Acid (or the somewhat-better-known physical move Fire Lash), a special attacking move that also lowers the target's Special Defense with every use, pressuring opponents to switch and making it more difficult to wall Butterfree despite the common resistances to its moves.
Most importantly,
Silver Wind is 60 BP move that now also raises all of Butterfree's stats once with every use.
Butterfree does already have Quiver Dance access, and an omniboost is only really one step removed from that
(it doesn't use Attack anyway, so it's just an extra +1 Defense); the real buff here is not the fact of omniboosting but the fact that it can use an attack at the same time that it does, enabling it to snowball and significantly buff its defenses and Speed over time.
That said, this sounds like an
extremely strong Ability, so I also want to take a moment to talk about why I don't think this will be broken!
There are so many relevant Pokémon that resist its STABs and its best coverage that, even accounting for Hidden Power, there will always be OU-viable Pokémon that resist all of its attacks; you can think of this like Serperior, which has a seemingly absurd boosting option in Contrary Leaf Storm but can still be walled anyway, keeping it from being broken.
In addition, Silver Wind has little immediate power; it's only after boosting a few times that it can exert significant pressure
and boost at the same time, making long-term sweeps very easy to snowball but hardly making it easier to grab early pressure than it is for base Butterfree. It's also held back by its highly limited PP, giving Mega Butterfree only eight chances to boost with it at all; combining this with the potential to force Butterfree out early on, it's feasible to waste its uses of the move, as well as to wear Butterfree down due to its highly detrimental defensive type (especially as a Mega Evolution, meaning it can't be on the same team as Mega Garbodor to cover its Rock weakness!).
Mega Butterfree is still very weak to status, especially Toxic (which can force it out no matter how much it's boosted and undermine its recovery), but also paralysis to a lesser extent (its Speed was balanced around how easy it is to boost, so it's much easier to outpace when that Speed is cut in half - for example, the amount of Speed that takes two Silver Winds when not paralyzed takes six when paralyzed).
Also worth noting: you cannot fit Silver Wind (boosting), Bug Buzz (wallbreaking), Strength Sap (recovery), Hurricane (its strongest move), Sleep Powder (something its base form relies on for insurance) and any coverage at all on the same set. Even if it sounds like it has a ton of good options, there is counterplay to every permutation!
That said, if this does turn out to be broken despite everything, I'm obviously open to nerfing this! I do admit that I'm sort of taking a risk here, giving something incredibly strong to a Pokémon that I don't think is strong enough to abuse it and hoping I'm right, but I think it's a risk worth taking, because this is a Mega Evolution that I think could be extremely fun and interesting to use.
if you can't tell, this is my favorite of the subs I have for you today