The Z Megas

The three Z Mega Evolutions, and what each stone actually changes

· MetaRoll

A Z stone is a second Mega Evolution for a Pokémon that already had one, and it is not an upgrade: it is a different Pokémon at the same slot cost. Three arrive on 9 September — Absol, Garchomp and Lucario — all three at base 151 Speed and all three with an ability the ordinary Mega does not have. Here is what each stone does, and a page of numbers on each.

The three Z Megas · stats and abilities from @smogon/calc 0.11.0 · not yet playable

Nothing here is measured. The Z Megas arrive on 9 September 2026 and nobody has played one, so this page is the dex — stats, typings and abilities — and the three reports it links to are damage calculations. What is measured on those pages is the opposition: the spreads, items and moves the ranked ladder is actually running.

What a Z stone is

An ordinary Mega Stone has one forme behind it. A Z stone is a second one, for three Pokémon that already had a Mega — so Absol, Garchomp and Lucario each have two Megas to choose between, and choosing costs the same Mega slot either way.

It is a redistribution, not a promotion. Every one of the three keeps the ordinary Mega’s base stat total and spends it differently, changes or keeps its typing, and comes with an ability that Mega does not have. Two of the three end up hitting softer than the Mega they sit beside. That is the trade the three reports below are about.

All three are base 151 Speed, which is one point above Mega Aerodactyl once every Stat Point is spent on it — and that single point is the whole of what the investment buys, because nothing else the ladder plays comes close.

The three, side by side

Base stats and the ability each stone brings. The typing is the forme’s own: only Absol and Garchomp have theirs changed, and in opposite directions — one gains a second type, the other loses one.

The ordinary Megas for comparison: Mega Absol is 150 Attack and pure Dark, Mega Garchomp 170 Attack and Dragon/Ground, Mega Lucario 145 Attack and Adaptability. Same totals, spent differently.

What the three have in common

Every stone spends the total it started with. Mega Absol Z is 565 points, Mega Garchomp Z 700 and Mega Lucario Z 625 — the exact totals the ordinary Megas carry. Nothing is added. It is moved, and where it moves from is the whole story.

All three move it to the same place. They land on 151 Speed, from 115, 92 and 112 — the one number the three agree on, and the only stat every stone raises. What they pay with differs: Absol sells a Special Attack it was not using, 115 down to 75, and keeps its Attack almost intact at 154. Garchomp and Lucario pay out of their Attack and their Defence — 170 to 130 and 115 to 85, 145 to 100 and 88 to 70 — which is why two of the three end up hitting softer than the Mega they sit beside.

The abilities split the other way. Sharpness is an attacking ability; Levitate and Aura Guard are not. Two of the three stones spend their ability on not dying — and they are the same two that gave up offence, which makes this a design rather than three unrelated Pokémon.

The typings go three separate ways, and that is the part no total shows. Absol gains a second type and a second set of weaknesses with it; Garchomp loses one, and the four-times Ice weakness that came with it; Lucario keeps Fighting/Steel exactly as it was.

The three against each other

Two of the twenty opponents on each of the three pages are the other two Z Megas, so most of this is already calculated — and all three reach 223 Speed at the build their pages give them, which means a mirror between any two of them opens on a coin toss. It turns out not to matter.

Mega Garchomp Z beats both, and neither beats it back. Draco Meteor takes 125.4 – 146.5% off Mega Absol Z and Fire Blast 122.4 – 142.9% off Mega Lucario Z, which kills either of them on any roll. Coming back, Absol Z’s Night Slash is 69.7 – 81.6% and Lucario Z’s Focus Blast is 76.2 – 89.2%. That is the 108 HP again, and it is the whole of why the softest hitter of the three wins the mirror.

And the third pairing has a hole in it. Mega Lucario Z hits hardest of the three by a distance, and its best move does nothing at all to Mega Absol Z: Focus Blast is Fighting, and the Z stone is what made Absol part Ghost. It has to reach for Flash Cannon instead — 87.3 – 102.1%, a kill on the high roll and nothing on the low one.

Absol Z answers with Close Combat at 78.2 – 91.2%, which is not a kill either, and it answers with a Fighting move because its own two types are the wrong ones: Dark and Ghost are both resisted by Fighting/Steel and then halved again by Aura Guard, which is why Night Slash — the move its whole page is built on — is 25.2 – 29.9% here.

Method and limits