Sceptile is the fastest user of Substitute and Leech Seed. Substitute against a Pokémon who will switch out against Sceptile, and then Leech Seed the incoming Pokémon. Sceptile can then either attack from the special side with Grass Knot and Hidden Power Fire with a Timid nature, or from the physical side with Leaf Blade and X-scissor with a Jolly nature. The last slot is a move that counters Grass types that switch in, since Grass types are not affected by Leech Seed. Hidden Power Fire is usually preferable since it hits Skarmory for super effective damage, otherwise Skarmory can just come in and force you out with Whirlwind. X-Scissor is only an option if you find Celebi annoying.
A lot of Sceptile's moves became physical during the transition from the Advance generation to Diamond and Pearl, so Sceptile is now a rather good physical attacker. Leaf Blade has been pumped up to 90 base power, and thus becomes automatically more powerful, damage for damage, than its Advance counterpart even without Swords Dance, despite becoming physical. Dragon Claw hits everything except Steel types for neutral damage at least, while Earthquake, Brick Break or ThunderPunch hit the aforementioned steels. With Earthquake, Skarmory and Bronzong wall this set, and with ThunderPunch, most Steels are only hit for normal damage, so Brick Break is the preferable move here.
As was said for the previous set, Sceptile lost most of its special attacks in Diamond and Pearl, but it still has just enough moves to be a special attacker if needed. Grass Knot is for STAB, Dragon Pulse or Hidden Power Ice get the popular Dragons, Focus Blast for special walls, and Hidden Power Fire (if using Dragon Pulse) for type coverage. Focus Blast only deals between 36% and 43% to Blissey, but could be enough if Blissey has already taken a bit of damage before switching in. Leaf Storm is a Choice Specs Salamence tactic that is, however, resisted much more easily, so be careful when using it.
This is the Choice Band version of the physical attacking Sceptile. Sceptile can also Focus Punch if predicting a switch. Using one of the Dark-typed moves listed (Crunch or Pursuit) would be useful especially for Gengar, which can switch into Leaf Blade, Earthquake or Focus Punch, although Dragon Claw covers it pretty well already.
This set can potentially almost KO two of your opponent’s Pokémon. After Substituting down to 1 HP, or Enduring a potentially KOing hit, Petaya Berry activates and, together with Overgrow and STAB, makes Leaf Storm a potential OHKO on many things. After KOing that Pokémon, Endeavor the Pokémon switching in to almost KO it. Quick Attack is if, in your final Substitute, the opponent switches out, leaving your Substitute intact. In that case, Endeavor first and then Quick Attack the foe for the KO, and then Leaf Storm the next Pokémon. Salac Berry is an option if you want to make sure that you outrun your opponent after setting up. Other OptionsSceptile can also Rock Slide, which provides a nice counter against Flying Pokémon for the physical sets. For healing besides Leech Seed, it gets Synthesis, Giga Drain and Drain Punch. For a Grass type, Sceptile has very few disabling moves. They are basically limited to Grasswhistle, which is a poor man’s sleep move, and Worry Seed, which ironically prevents your foe from sleeping. Agility boosts Sceptile’s great Speed even further to ensure it outspeeds even Choice Scarf Pokémon. Sceptile also gets access to Counter, which can be an interesting option in view of its below average defense. The SubSeeder can alternatively be a Naive or Hasty nature to use a Physical Attack in combination with Hidden Power Fire to solve the Physical-based SubSeeder's trouble against Skarmory. EVsFor the SubSeeder set, give Sceptile maximum Speed, and then concentrate on its defenses. If you like, give Sceptile just enough HP EVs so that its HP stat is divisible by 16, so that Leftovers heals the optimal amount of damage, but don’t give Sceptile too much HP. It’s better to concentrate on the defenses, since Sceptile will heal a greater percentage of its HP with Leech Seed if its maximum HP is low. For the physical Sceptile, maximize Attack and Speed, and for the special Sceptile, maximize Special Attack and Speed. OpinionSceptile is still the fastest Grass Pokémon in the game, and thus is still the fastest user of Substitute/Leech Seed, so from that aspect, Sceptile hasn’t changed a lot from Advance. The shift of a considerable amount of its movepool from special to physical hasn’t dented Sceptile’s efforts that much, thanks to the improved base power of Leaf Blade and the fact that it gained a few more moves. The fact that many players use Ice moves for fear of being overrun by popular Dragons plays against Sceptile, since it is also weak to the type, but its high Speed and diverse movepool can make up for this. CountersAgainst the SubSeeder, anything that is faster than Sceptile is a potential counter. Among these, there are Aerodactyl, Crobat, Jolteon and Weavile, all of which, incidentally, usually sport moves that are supereffective against Sceptile. Pokémon having the move U-turn also counter this set, since not only is Sceptile weak to the move, but the user of U-turn will break Sceptile's Substitute, get rid of the Leech Seed, and switch for a counter to Sceptile, all in one turn. Against the physical attacker, Skarmory and Bronzong are usually sure-fire counters, especially Skarmory which can also Drill Peck Sceptile. Most Steel types can counter the Choice Band version if Sceptile uses Leaf Blade or Dragon Claw. Against the special attacker, Cresselia and Uxie are the best counters, since they also resist Focus Blast. A full health Blissey can also counter it if Stealth Rock is not on its side of the field. |
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