Pure Electric is one of the safest defensive typings in the game — 17 of 18 attacking types either do neutral damage to Ampharos or less, and it doesn’t have a single 4x weakness anywhere on the chart.[2] That’s the whole reason Ampharos has stayed a viable special attacker across three decades of Pokemon games without ever needing a defensive rework. Mega Evolution changes that math completely — not by making Ampharos worse, but by quadrupling the number of ways to punish it the instant it transforms. Here’s the exact chart for both forms, which Pokemon actually exploit each hole, and why the calculation is different again if you’re playing Pokemon Legends Z-A.
The Short Answer: Ampharos’s One Weakness
- Base Ampharos (pure Electric): weak to Ground (2x) — that’s it, nothing else in the game hits it for super-effective damage[2]
- Resists: Electric, Flying, Steel (0.5x each)[2]
- Mega Ampharos (Electric/Dragon): weak to Ground, Ice, Dragon, and Fairy (2x each) — four weaknesses, all added by the Dragon half of the typing[3][4]
- Mega Ampharos resists: Fire, Flying, Grass, Steel, Water (0.5x each), plus a stacked 0.25x resistance to Electric itself[2][3]
- Base stats: HP 90 / Atk 75 / Def 85 / SpA 115 / SpD 90 / Spe 55 — Mega jumps to SpA 165, Def 105, SpD 110, but Speed actually drops to 45[1]
Ampharos reaches that one-weakness typing the ordinary way, long before any Mega Stone enters the picture: Mareep evolves into Flaaffy at level 15, then into Ampharos at level 30, with the Electric typing unchanged at every stage.[1]
Why Pure Electric Only Has One Hole in the First Place
Most single-type Pokemon end up with two or three weaknesses once you run the full 18-type chart against them. Electric is unusual because it resists three types outright — Electric, Flying, and Steel all deal half damage — while everything else lands as a neutral hit.[2] Ground is the single type that breaks through, and there’s no partial version of it: Ground hits Ampharos for exactly 2x, never 4x, because there’s no second type stacking the multiplier. That’s the mechanical reason a “pure Electric” typing is quietly one of the best defensive shells in the game — not flashy, but structurally very hard to punish without a specific answer in your box.
This is also why Ampharos spent Generations II through V as a genuinely safe special attacker to run: teams that lacked a Ground-type attacker simply had no way to threaten it on the switch. Static as its ability adds a layer on top — any physical attacker making contact has a 30% chance to get paralyzed, which punishes exactly the Ground-type physical attackers (Excadrill, Garchomp, Landorus) that are supposed to be the answer.[1]
Mega Ampharos Changes the Math: Four Weaknesses, Not One
Mega Evolving adds Dragon typing on top of Electric, and Dragon brings its own three weaknesses — Ice, Dragon, and Fairy, all at 2x.[3] None of those stack with anything on the Electric side, so Mega Ampharos ends up with four weaknesses that are all exactly 2x, not a mix of 2x and 4x. Ground stays a weakness too, since Dragon-type doesn’t resist Ground — it’s neutral against it — so the Electric side’s only weak point survives the transformation untouched.[2][3]
The trade isn’t purely defensive downside, though. Dragon typing also brings four new resistances — Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric — that stack on top of Electric’s existing Flying and Steel resistances.[2][3] The Electric resistance actually compounds: both typings independently resist Electric-type moves, so Mega Ampharos takes just 0.25x from them, a genuine rarity on the type chart. Net result: Mega Ampharos trades one clean weakness for four, but picks up six resistances in exchange, including one near-immunity. Most competitive analysis undersells this by calling it “weak to Fairy and Ground” and stopping there — the Ice and Dragon weaknesses are exactly as real, at the same 2x multiplier, and matter just as much against the right team.[4]
Regular vs. Mega Ampharos: Full Type Chart
| Category | Base Ampharos (Electric) | Mega Ampharos (Electric/Dragon) |
|---|---|---|
| Weak to (2x) | Ground | Ground, Ice, Dragon, Fairy |
| Resists (0.5x) | Electric, Flying, Steel | Fire, Flying, Grass, Steel, Water |
| Extra resist (0.25x) | — | Electric |
| Immune to | None | None |
| Ability | Static / Plus (hidden) | Mold Breaker |
| Speed | 55 | 45 |
Mold Breaker is worth sitting with for a second, because it cuts both ways. It lets Mega Ampharos ignore defensive abilities like Levitate or Wonder Skin when it attacks — but it doesn’t do anything to protect Ampharos itself from the four types now hitting it for double damage. The ability upgrade is entirely offensive; the defensive risk from the new typing is unmitigated.[1]
Who Actually Punishes Each Weakness
A weakness only matters if something on the other side of the field can exploit it. Here’s what does, by type:
- Ground — Excadrill is the sharpest answer: it’s immune to Volt Switch (so Ampharos can’t pivot out safely) and OHKOs with Earthquake. Specially defensive Hippowdon goes further and walls the matchup outright while 2HKOing back.[4]
- Ice — only opens up once Ampharos Mega Evolves, so any Ice-type attacker that gets a hit in during the transformation window punishes a form Ampharos wasn’t running a turn earlier.
- Dragon — same logic: a raw Dragon-type STAB move that did nothing to base Ampharos suddenly does double the moment it’s Mega form, without the attacker changing anything about its own set.
- Fairy — Florges is the cleanest special check: it outspeeds Mega Ampharos’s dropped 45 Speed, shrugs off Thunderbolt, and answers with Moonblast. Sylveon, Blissey, and Chansey wall it in a similar way.[4]
The common thread across all four: Mega Ampharos’s Speed drops to 45 on transformation, which is slow even by bulky-attacker standards. Base Ampharos was already unremarkable at 55 Speed, but 45 means almost any offensive Pokemon in the format moves first and can revenge-kill it with a super-effective hit before it acts.[1][4] The four weaknesses are dangerous specifically because Mega Ampharos usually can’t out-speed the thing exploiting them.
| Player Type | Priority | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New player | Play base Ampharos, skip the Mega Stone early | One weakness (Ground) is easy to track and play around; four is a lot to hold in your head before you know the type chart cold |
| Casual / campaign player | Mega Evolve for burst damage, then switch out | You’re not fighting a full competitive team — trigger the SpA 165 spike for a big hit, then rotate before a Ground/Ice/Dragon/Fairy move lands |
| Competitive / OU builder | Pair it with hazard removal and a Ground-immune teammate | Excadrill and Hippowdon are common enough in most metas that you need a plan for them specifically, not just a generic switch-in |
| Completionist | Track both forms separately | Base and Mega Ampharos have different weakness profiles — treat them as two matchups to prepare for, not one |
Mega Ampharos in Pokemon Legends: Z-A — The Weakness Window Is Now Something You Trigger
Legends Z-A changes what a “weakness” actually costs you, because Mega Evolution in this game isn’t a permanent in-battle state the way it is in mainline competitive play. It’s tied to a Mega Gauge that fills as you land hits or collect Mega Power orbs, and it runs out — once it’s empty, the transformation ends and the Pokemon reverts, though it can Mega Evolve again later in the same fight once the gauge refills.[6] Ampharos is obtainable in the game’s Wild Zone 16 of the Bleu District, and Ampharosite specifically comes from defeating a Rogue Mega Ampharos — a wild Pokemon that Mega Evolves on its own, fought alongside a Team MZ ally rather than solo.[1][5]
That real-time structure means the four extra weaknesses aren’t a static line on a team sheet anymore — they’re a window you open by choosing to transform, in the middle of a fight you’re actively dodging and rolling through. A Ground- or Ice-type opponent that couldn’t touch base Ampharos for super-effective damage can suddenly punish a bad-timing Mega Evolution the moment the gauge fills and the trainer commits to it.
Decision Tree: When to Mega Evolve Ampharos in Z-A
- If the opponent has no visible Ground, Ice, Dragon, or Fairy-type moves in its kit → Mega Evolve as soon as the gauge is full; the SpA 165 special attacker output is worth the risk with no real counter-play available.
- If the opponent is a Ground, Ice, Dragon, or Fairy-type Pokemon, or you’ve already seen it use a move of one of those types → hold off, or Mega Evolve only right before you can land a big hit and expect to revert or disengage quickly afterward.
- If you’re facing a Rogue Mega Pokemon yourself → treat the fight the same way ranged attackers should: chip the gauge with ranged Electric moves from a distance rather than committing to Ampharos’s own Mega form in a prolonged, close-range exchange.
Should You Mega Evolve Ampharos? The Verdict
Base Ampharos is close to a free defensive pick — one weakness, three resistances, and a paralysis-on-contact ability that punishes the physical Ground-types that are supposed to answer it. Mega Ampharos is a different trade entirely: a genuine Special Attack spike (115 to 165) paid for with three brand-new weaknesses and a Speed stat that drops instead of rising, which is the opposite of how most Mega Evolutions work. It’s worth using when you can guarantee the hit lands before the opponent’s turn — as a revenge-killer against something you already out-speed, or as a one-turn nuke in a real-time fight like Legends Z-A where you control exactly when the transformation happens. It’s a liability when you’re forced to sit in it against a team that’s already stacked with Ground, Ice, Dragon, or Fairy-type attackers, because at that point you’ve traded away Ampharos’s best trait — how hard it is to punish — for raw power you may never get to use.
Ampharos isn’t part of the pseudo-legendary family (Dragonite, Garchomp, and the rest of the 11-strong pseudo-legendary lineup keep their dual typing permanently, no Mega Stone required), and it’s not a fixture in the restricted-legendary Pokemon Champions format either. If you’re building a team for that format specifically, our Pokemon Champions tier list and Champions beginner’s guide cover which Pokemon actually see play there — Ampharos’s home is standard OU and campaign play, not the restricted format.
FAQ
Is Mega Ampharos worse defensively than base Ampharos?
In raw weakness count, yes — one weakness becomes four. But it also gains three resistances and a stacked 0.25x resistance to Electric, so it’s not simply “four times as fragile.” The real change is that its danger zone widens from a single predictable type (Ground) to four common attacking types, which makes it harder to safely leave on the field against an unscouted team.
Does Ampharos have any 4x weaknesses?
No, in either form. Every weakness on both the base and Mega chart is exactly 2x, because none of Ampharos’s typings double up on the same weak type. That’s part of why it’s stayed a usable Pokemon across so many generations — even at its most exposed, nothing one-shots it purely off type effectiveness.
Why does Mega Ampharos’s Speed go down instead of up?
Game Freak’s Mega Stone stat redistributions aren’t uniform — some Megas gain Speed (Mega Lucario, Mega Alakazam), others sacrifice it for bulk or power. Ampharos’s Mega Stone pushes almost everything into Special Attack, Defense, and Special Defense, and Speed is the stat that pays for it, dropping from 55 to 45.[1] That’s a deliberate design choice, not a bug — it’s meant to make Mega Ampharos a bulky special wallbreaker, not a fast sweeper.
What’s the single best counter if I only prepare for one thing?
Specially defensive Hippowdon, by a clear margin — it’s immune to being pivoted around by Volt Switch, walls Mega Ampharos’s special attacks, and 2HKOs back with Earthquake without needing a boosting item or move.[4] If your team has room for exactly one dedicated answer, that’s the one worth the slot.
Sources
- Ampharos (Pokémon) — Bulbapedia
- Electric Type Defensive Chart — Pokemon Database
- Dragon (type) — Bulbapedia
- [COMPLETED] Ampharos — Smogon Forums
- How to Get Mega Ampharos — Game8
- Pokémon Legends: Z-A — Bulbapedia
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.