S
Audino-Mega
This is the definitive best Wonder Guard in the metagame due to its ability to work incredible well in team compositions and compliment most of what you can throw in. Its main weakness is Sunsteel Strike, but despite it being a moldy move, this weakness is incredibly overstated.
People act like having major physical walls who take Sunsteel Strike isn't mandatory for high consistency in the metagame, and in addition, there's Zygarde-Complete, Mega Steelix, Mega Gyarados, Ash Greninja, Doublade, Primal Groudon, Kartana, Solgaleo, Necrozma Dusk Mane, Imposter Chansey, Innards Out, Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, etc. All of the best walls in the game and more are able to soak in a Sunsteel Strike and even tackle the Pokemon using it to a considerable extent, not to mention Mega Audino is tanky enough to tank Sunsteel Strikes from almost anything that's not a Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X. It can even run Babiri Berry Counter and annihilate Sunsteel Strike Mega Mewtwo X. Its one biggest weakness is something that's not only played around with so many options, but
has to be played around regardless of what Wonder Guard you are using in order for your team to stay highly consistent. Its other weakness is poison-type, which not only is a liability to
commonly run in team compositions due to sacrificing momentum (via spore/lovely kiss) or sacrificing better coverage (Secret Sword for Wonder Guard Mega Gyarados, Wonder Guard Arceus, Chansey/Blissey), but can actually be tanked by Mega Audino if any notable special sweeper outside Mega Gengar uses it at x2 Atk. Everything I said
in this post still holds true, but what does Mega Audino have to offer specifically? It's a long and complicated explanation, so buckle up.
Mega Audino carries the single best type combination a Wonder Guard could have in this game, due to aforementioned reasons, but the fact that once you burn out Sunsteel Strike users with its partners, Mega Audino straight up just wins by walling everything else and wasting PP/chipping with U-Turn. It only has 2 weaknesses, with one being particularly uncommon and the other being hard to KO Mega Audino with unless you are able to play around numerous other Pokemon. I've had many games where I've either lost because my Sunsteel Strike users were down by a quick offense Pokemon or won because I've taken down their quick offense Pokemon and sealed out everything else from attacking. Mega Audino's main specialty is walling Moongeist Beam and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom Pokemon, instantly making it the best special wall in the entire game alongside Zygarde-Complete. Special Attackers are also incredibly overlooked. They are absolutely great in this game because they're able to rip through almost anything after a Shell Smash boost. The combination of Moongeist Beam + Secret Sword alone is nigh-perfect coverage that's able to handle the large stack of Pokemon weak to either up high in the viability rankings. We're talking Mega Mewtwos, Deoxys, Solgaleo, Dusk Mane Mega Gengar, Dawn Wings, Mega Gyarados, Arceus, and Ash Greninja. It's otherwise left unresisted by every Pokemon bar just
a few Wonder Guards, leaving the vast majority of Pokemon just, one-shotted after a Shell Smash. Mega Ray can't take a x2 Moongeist from Dawn Wings or Mega Gengar. Primal Groudon can't. Mega Steelix struggles to take powerful special hits in the game and can be one-shotted by Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom. To be quite frank, Moongeist Beam is the 2nd best mold breaker move in the game, accessible to every special attacker, and easily spammable on many teams. Photon Geyser's worse mostly because only 1 Pokemon is
truly great with the move, and it's otherwise outclassed in effectiveness by Sunsteel Strike or Moongeist Beam, depending on whether the attacker is physical or special. Having something to take Moongeist Beam is about as critical as having something to take Sunsteel Strike, except the best physical tanks in the game can't handle Moongeist Beam or its Z-Move counterpart as well and there's no incredibly good non-wonder guard special counterpart, so it's down to a Wonder Guard to tank it best. Dark-types either get rolled by Secret Sword or are less consistent due to their weakness to Fissure. People claim it's overrated because it lacks offensive pressure. Here's the thing, actually taking hits, including boosted ones, in a metagame as volatile in Gen 7, is much more important than a Wonder Guard applying offensive pressure. Mega Audino straight up wins against the vast majority of special attackers in the game because it can just take their hits, recover, and either clear them out or pivot to a powerful offensive answer, while special attackers do nothing against the Mega Audino. The physical Pokemon get answered by Pokemon that handle them better than every Wonder Guard in the game. Mega Audino ends up contributing more to the consistency of success than any random attacking Wonder Guard, especially with Innards Out being around and easily allowing Wonder Guards drop in an instant only for you to get steamrolled by a No Guard the next turn.
Other reasons why Mega Audino is effective includes the low attack it has in order to chip out Innards Out HP from Chansey/Blissey. Other Innards Outs exist in the game as well but those two are by far the best and most used by a wide margin. Mega Audino's speed also helps it outpivot almost anything in the game, and its bulky enough to tank even super effective hits from the vast majority of Pokemon. If it's running a berry, it can do so for every Pokemon bar perhaps Choice Band Searing Sunraze Smash. No other Wonder Guard has this many positives in the game, and none come without more severe liabilities than it in the game.
There is one more thing I have to address, and it's the expectations of playing with and around Mega Audino vs the expectations of playing around every other Wonder Guard. Sunsteel Strike and Searing Sunraze Smash users are very common in this metagame, and they would all love to target Mega Audino. You can easily predict who these Sunsteel Strike users are because every powerful physical attacker in the game wants this move. Against these physical attackers, you can switch into a top tier wall and handle the opposing threat in most cases.
When you're trying run a Pokemon that resists a mold breaker move, the physical threat will often run coverage for it. You switch in thinking you are safe, without immediately making the play to a hard wall, only for your Wonder Guard to be quickly shut down afterwards, drastically increasing your chances of losing the game. Because they have further weaknesses, they have more opportunities to get hit by moves in the game. Most Wonder Guard Pokemon who don't resist Sunsteel Strike don't even take it much better than Mega Audino, due to the sheer difference in bulk between them, and the ones that do take it otherwise get hit by a surprise super effective coverage move out of nowhere, like Close Combat, Play Rough, Sacred Fire, Knock Off, or Drain Punch. Using Mega Audino is a lot easier and a lot more reliable than trying to use Wonder Guards that soak up physical mold breaker moves, and all Wonder Guards who attempt to wall mold breaker moves are only going to last so long in comparison.
For Oranguru, U-Turn and Knock Off are its weakness. A Mega Mewtwo X has Knock Off, one-shot while the Oranguru expected to tank a move. This move also provides utility by removing items from essential tanks in the game, such as Doublade/Chansey's Eviolite, Zygarde-Complete/Mega Steelix/Mega Slowbro's Safety Goggles, and Mega Slowbro's Shed Shell. Oranguru can also be pivoted around a lot more easily and has to risk getting Pursuit trapped, but those are less of a bigger deal.
For Mega Gyarados, it's weak to Fairy, Electric, Fighting, and Bug. If the physical Pokemon already runs a fighting-type coverage move or a fairy-type coverage move your team is already in bigger shambles than if you ran any Wonder Guard without its weaknesses, and the amount of Pokemon who can switch into that combination of coverage is a lot lower.
Physical attacking Pokemon don't have to run super effective coverage for Mega Audino, not only because they already have super effective coverage via Sunsteel Strike, but because they can't run any other option. Again, Sunsteel Strike walls are mandatory for very high consistency in this game and there are so many options to choose from, including
all of the most physically defensive Pokemon. The combination of physical attackers having no other choice and the variety of this metagame's walls means not all of those walls can be handled consistently, leaving even Sunsteel Strike attackers to have a more terrible time with Mega Audino than other Wonder Guards.
On a final note, any random physical attacker who isn't extremely powerful ends up having their Sunsteel Strike walled by Mega Audino.
There is no easy hardcounter answer to Mega Audino that'll take it down by surprise and leave it less consistent. With the many Sunsteel Strike and Searing Sunraze Smash physical attackers in every corner, this metagame is already as unfavorable for Mega Audino as it could get, and yet this Pokemon still holds up immensely. Why? Because everything I said here is fact.
I'm not even saying this out of any bias because Mega Audino is my favorite Pokemon. I'm saying this because this is the very most accurate reflection of its case in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons.
Mega Audino often gets downplayed in discussions due to its passivity. Let me tell you this, Wonder Guards applying offensive pressure was never the main job of Wonder Guard. It will never be the main job of Wonder Guard. Any disagreements solely come off a lack of understanding of Wonder Guard's purpose. I'm not saying offensive Wonder Guards are bad, but I'm saying a Wonder Guard being downplayed because it's too passive solely comes from a lack of understanding of this ability's real purpose. Wonder Guards are meant to handle the job of a cleric, hazard setter, defogger, phazer, offense invalidator, and slow pivoters. They're even more useful with this purpose overall, especially as these roles are often difficult to slap into any other Pokemon.
tl;dr
- Best type combination possible in this game (I'm not saying it's perfect)
- Has high enough bulk to not take Sunsteel Strike much worse than contenders. Heck, Huge Power Sunsteel Strike Mega Mewtwo X can still 2HKO Mega Gyarados, Oranguru, and Meloetta.
- Has high enough bulk to take x2 SpA Poison-type moves from Pokemon that aren't Mega Gengar + poison coverage requires a great sacrifice to moveslots, making it less usable.
- low speed to build lots of momentum, playing around faster Wonder Guards and faster Pokemon in general
- low attack to chip Innards Out Chansey/Blissey
- Can just sit there and win games after your Sunsteel Strike answers beat Sunsteel Strike Pokemon. This same logic does not apply to other Wonder Guards because the biggest attackers in the game rely on side coverage to beat them, which in
a lot of cases, simultaneously handle the best walls in the game, while the best walls of the game do Mega Gyarados's mold breaker walling job better.
No Wonder Guard is perfect, and you're not always going to want to use Mega Audino as one in your team. It is however, the best a Wonder Guard can possibly get in the long-run due to the nature of this metagame.
A+
Gyarados-Mega
The more I played this game the more I realized this Pokemon was... more overrated than we thought. We thought it was great because it's able to clear through teams by itself with ease but the issue was, these weren't high level games. In high level games where the opponent is using Prankster Haze (very critical for most team compositions imo), Mega Gyarados just sits there and cries, without being able to do anything at all. Not pivoting, not being a cleric, not recovering, not really anything except desperately trying to Shell Smash around the biggest tanks of the game and failing. It has to rely on Power Trip to work effectively, which is a huge liability once you get past most lower level games. Additionally, coverage against Mega Gyarados have been more common lately, with Mega Mewtwo Xs now running more Fighting coverage, and a lot of random Pokemon running Let's Snuggle Forever. I've seen arguments where people claimed the same argument about team composition for Mega Audino can be made for Mega Gyarados, however that's not really nearly as much of the case, because many of its weaknesses are shared with the best possible switch-ins in the game. If the Mega Mewtwo X is running Choice Band Close Combat, Mega Gyarados, Mega Steelix, and Zygarde-Complete are out. If the target is running fairy coverage, Zygarde-Complete cannot switch into that either. It's still placed in A+ however, for its ability to triumph over plenty of teams, being able to assist in answering physical attackers
without proper coverage to an extent (it can't easily answer Choice Band Mega Mewtwo X teams), and A+ in general not being that high of a bar in this metagame. Wonder Guards in Gen 7 are overall more flawed.
Meloetta & Oranguru
I've seen and used Oranguru around lately and tbh it's not a bad Wonder Guard. It works for if you want to Imposterproof teams for Sludge Wave against Mega Audino, or for if you've fought the occasional Sludge Wave. However they come with more liabilities overall, such as not being bulky enough to take physical mold breaker moves all that well despite resisting Photon Geyser and being neutral to Sunsteel Strike. They are also weak to Dark-type, which enables them to get KOed by viable utility moves such as Knock Off, Pursuit, and U-Turn. All much more dangerous and more difficult to fully overcome in the long-run. Meloetta is here because it works mostly the same but it's very slightly slightly tankier. Oranguru is a bit better because its slow speed allows it to outpivot more Wonder Guards, including Meloetta itself.
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
As the biggest Necrozma Dawn Wings user in the metagame by far, I have some things to say. Firstly, this Pokemon is
excruciatingly overlooked. B+, even A- is far too low for this Pokemon, as she easily pummels through high level games in this metagame even better than Mega Gyarados does and really any other Wonder Guard sweeper tbh, honestly. Much of it comes from what I posted in the essay about Mega Audino above, but I genuinely believe Dawn Wings is a better sweeper for high level games than Mega Gyarados. The difference is that STAB Moongeist Beam + Lunalium Z Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom is not as easy to handle as Shell Smash Power Trip. Against defensive walls, Shell Smash Mega Gyarados cannot do anything. It can't even run Ice-type attacks because its primary job involves it imposterproofing itself. Against defensive walls, Dawn Wings can try to overcome them with that Lunalium Z it has in its back, or with various coverage like Moonblast/Ice Beam/Fleur Cannon. It's usually answered through an Imposterproof like Mega Audino, Oranguru, or Dark-type. In addition, Dawn Wings's weaknesses aren't as severe as people make it out to be. It can survive random spectral thiefs and knock offs from most Pokemon at +0, requiring something in the likes of Mega Mewtwo X or a Huge Power physical attacker in order to take care of it. Similar to Oranguru, except this one can sweep while Oranguru serves defensive roles.
Slowbro-Mega
Honestly this was more aerobee's suggestion instead of my own and I haven't really used Mega Slowbro myself, but I agreed it could be up here because it's one of the main pillars for what's needed to be consistent in the metagame, alongside Prankster/Fur Coat Mega Steelix, Zygarde-Complete, and Doublade. You need an extremely defensive wall that is able to take physical mold breaker moves and while this is the worst one of those pillars, it can still be very useful. The big reason why this isn't higher is for much of the same reasons as Mega Gyarados regarding weaknesses, plus being weak to Moongeist Beam is actually much worse than being weak to Sunsteel Strike despite not being as common. T
here are a lot less switchins to Moongeist Beam users than there are to Sunsteel Strike users.
A
Greninja-Ash
Ash Greninja is like Mega Gyarados except it sacrifices bulk for speed. This lets it outspeed Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Gengar but in return it's much less able to take a Sunsteel Strike very well and is even more prone to getting nuked by random coverage. With that being said, A isn't a very high bar for Wonder Guards in this metagame, and Ash Greninja is likely better than everything below.
Arceus & Slaking
I haven't used Arceus but seeing it on ladder has proven it can be pretty consistent. It normally runs a lot of utility options and can even survive a Secret Sword from weaker special attackers, posing as a dangerous threat against them out of nowhere. It takes Moongeist Beam and is one of the reasons why Secret Sword is the best special coverage. It's also bulky and fast enough to be a good setup passer. As far as how much this justifies being A? Honestly A rank Wonder Guards are ones who are fine. It's not a high bar. Slaking is similar to Arceus except bulkier but not as fast.
A-
Ferrothorn & Scizor-Mega
Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor are ok. They can take hits that aren't fire, or in Ferrothorn's case, Close Combat. Ferrothorn innately blocks Spore with Grass-types while Mega Scizor has more sweeper potential, though to be honest sweepers who mostly depend on Sunsteel Strike are not great. Mega Scizor can alternatively carry utility like Will-O-Wisp to annoy physical attackers, Stealth Rock to set up, Defog to clear hazards, and use STAB U-Turn to pivot, even though this can also come at the liability of losing to an Innards Out Chansey. They have positives but their negatives make them more inconsistent than above ranks, in that random Fire-type coverage is crazy common among physical and special attackers and these two get nuked by it almost every time. I had them at A last time but upon using Mega Scizor I realized that I undermined the fire weakness a bit. Wonder Guards being weak to fire hurts a ton in this metagame. In addition, Mega Scizor can be overwhelmed by Choice Band mold breaker attackers so not being immune to any of the mold breaker attacks doesn't do enough for this Pokemon to be ranked much higher.
Kartana
Wonder Guard Kartana's decent but not great. On paper it looks as if it could be since it has the potential to set up and sweep with Sunsteel Strike. In reality you get hardwalled in so many circumstances by a Mega Slowbro, Mega Steelix, Zygarde-Complete, or Doublade, one of the pillars most teams need to survive. In addition Kartana does not take Moongeist Beam well at all and can be overpowered by physical attackers who carry common fighting or fire-type coverage. I tried quite a lot to make Wonder Guard Kartana work, but kept coming to the reality that it's just not very consistent in comparison to every Wonder Guard above. It's better to run Steel-type Wonder Guards for utility rather than an attempt to sweep. Additionally, it has all the same problems as Ferrothorn but worse. I'm putting it up in A- because it's also not
horrid and you don't want to run a Wonder Guard much lower rank than this.
Magearna
I'd say Magearna just happens to make it here as it can be a formidable sweeper when the circumstances are set right, and it can make those circumstances happen more easily than Kartana, Mega Mewtwos, and Mega Scizor due to using its special attack for coverage against its workarounds. For example, can run a powerful Surf to beat Primal Groudon and is otherwise able to pull of mixed very well due to Moonblast being a powerful Fairy-type STAB and Sunsteel Strike breaking through Wonder Guards. I cannot rank it any higher however due to its weakness to Fissure and how bad being weak to Fire-type moves could get, but I found it to be better at its job than the offensive Wonder Guards in this same rank. Additionally, A- in Gen 7 does not mean a Wonder Guard is great, just usable to a decent extent I guess.
Mewtwo-Mega-X &
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Upon using both Wonder Guard Mega Mewtwo X and Kartana, I find Mega Mewtwo X a little better than Kartana since it's bulkier, faster, and hits harder overall, being able to much more reliably use its coverage and STAB. Mega Mewtwo X is decent for breaking and sweeping, but cannot switch into very powerful attackers from either side. It tends to run Focus Sash. Mega Mewtwo Y is a similar case in this aspect, but is rather ran as a lead or hazard setter of some sort and is about equally as decent. (This take is outdated so take it with a grain of salt. However I think it's still around this)
Lower than A-
Muk-Alola
This Pokemon is overvalued for a job it cannot perform very well, honestly. When trying to be a defensive Wonder Guard, being weak to Fissure is something you absolutely
don't ever want,
especially in
Gen 7, where No Guards are running more rampant and are down to use Hypnosis Sheer Cold Fissure. In addition, this Pokemon's roles are outshined by that of Mega Audino and Oranguru's, and despite not being weak to Sunsteel Strike, it still gets pretty much destroyed by Huge Power Sunsteel Strike. I have never used this Pokemon. I've only battled it, but I've battled it numerous times. I've never had difficulty against it in battle, but experiencing it and most importantly, the environment of Gen 7 Pure Hackmons made me realize this is not a Wonder Guard you'd want to run on most occasions. I've lost more games than I'd want to admit due to running Fissure weak Wonder Guards and even had to stop using Cats & Rabbits because of it, but the Fissure weak Wonder Guards I've used provided more value to the game than Alolan Muk does overall. There's no consistent switch-in around these as well. It's just as simple as Spore/Hypnosis + Sheer Cold + Gastro Acid + Fissure and Muk teams are just, done.
Sableye-Mega
This Pokemon does nothing of value for a Wonder Guard in this metagame. Yes, it takes Photon Geyser, only to get nuked by a Sunsteel Strike, Moongeist Beam, or extremely common fairy-type coverage. Aside from that, not much else. Maybe it can slow pivot better than most other Wonder Guards? but it's consistently taking attacks from powerful Pokemon in the metagame.
I'm not really sure where to rank Wonder Guards lower than A- as of yet, including Alolan Muk and Mega Sableye.
Any pure Fire-type for their Burn Up sets.
A+ --> A
A --> A-)?
UR --> A-
A- --> B
C --> B
UR --> B
UR --> C
A --> A+)?
S- --> A
UR --> B-/C
spam?
This combination's annoying if you let Mega Audino get low beforehand since Imposter loses 1v1 due to Judgment. Sunsteel Strike Mega Gyarados with Multi-Attack is also annoying since +2 Sunsteel deals like 80~95 to Audino so you have to keep it at basically full to remove their means to Imposter-proof. Not impossible, though.
Huge Power Pokemon with perfect coverage for everything you're running's also tough to win against, though again it's not impossible if you position/outplay accordingly. 
Random crap running No Guard can also instantly remove a Pokemon, and potentially screw you over that way. Bonus points if it's something you don't feel comfortable scouting with a Wonder Guard, like Aegislash-Blade. This is why I only speak of this team's effectiveness in higher-level games, where such matchup-fishy surprise sets are not prevalent.
Harvest sets are unique in that they effectively can't be walled, due to having infinite PP. This means, in theory, a Harvest 'mon could stall this team out if able to remove Zygarde-C and PP stall Steelix's Spectral Thief. Sounds hard to pull off though.
