Sceptile (Life Orb Sweeper)

[SET]
Name: Life Orb Sweeper
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Psychic / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Synthesis
item: Life Orb
nature: Modest
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 180 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With his excellent Speed and Special Attack, Sceptile functions quite well at sweeping with a Life Orb boost. Sceptile's pure Grass typing helps him switch into many common attacks, such as Surf and Earthquake (unlike Venusaur), and Synthesis allows him to instantly replenish his health, giving him more sustainability. Leaf Storm from Sceptile's base 105 Special Attack will destroy most Pokemon, apart from those who resist it or have obscenely high Special Defense (such as Chansey). Focus Blast is an excellent attack to open with because most of Sceptile's counters are either Steel-type or Normal-type. To round off Sceptile's type coverage, Hidden Power Psychic or Hidden Power Ice can be used. Hidden Power Psychic nails Weezing, Blaziken, Venusaur, and Toxicroak, while Hidden Power Ice deals with opposing Grass-types and Altaria. Most Grass-types, however, will take a lot of damage from or be OHKOed by Focus Blast.</p>

<p>At first glance, the EV spread may seem strange, but it's tailored to do specific tasks. Special Attack is maximized because Sceptile needs to hit as hard as possible. Speed is the next thing that's considered, since Sceptile should at least outspeed neutral-natured base 110s and positive-natured base 95s. 176 EVs will suffice, but if you opt for Hidden Power Psychic, invest another 4 EVs to make up for the reduced Speed IVs, making it 180 Speed EVs in total. The remaining EVs are dumped in HP to help Sceptile switch into resisted attacks; however, with Hidden Power Psychic, 76 HP EVs will only allow Sceptile ten attacks before it faints from Life Orb recoil, so 4 EVs should be relocated to Special Defense. Otherwise, with Hidden Power Ice, the spread is a simpler 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe. Alternatively, maximizing Speed with a Timid nature is also an option. This allows you to outpace Pokemon like Scyther and Mismagius at the cost of 2HKOing Pokemon such as Registeel and losing approximately 6% of Sceptile's total HP.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Because Sceptile is a one-dimensional special attacker, he's walled by Pokemon such as Chansey and specially defensive Venusaur. Additionally, bulky Fire-types like Arcanine and Moltres can easily switch in. This makes Azumarill an effective teammate for Sceptile. Azumarill can switch into any of the aforementioned Pokemon besides Venusaur (assuming Venusaur has a Grass-type attack) and OHKO them. Arcanine is also quite effective, since his Flash Fire ability allows him to switch into Fire-type attacks directed at Sceptile and possibly set up a sweep of his own. Sceptile also often lures in Registeel, who resists Sceptile's STAB Grass-type attacks. However, this variant of Sceptile can 2HKO Registeel with Focus Blast, opening up a path for other sweepers such as Alakazam, Mismagius, and Swellow.</p>

<p>Also, with Leaf Storm potentially dropping Sceptile's Special Attack stat, Sceptile is often forced out by Pokemon like Life Orb Venusaur and Moltres. Therefore, it is a good idea to carry a sturdy defensive Pokemon to take attacks from these threats. With this in mind, Milotic and Registeel make a great defensive combo: Milotic deals with Moltres, and Registeel deals with Venusaur.</p>

Don't forget to mention that HP Psychic also nabs Blaziken.

Just nitpicking something: due to HP Psychic lowering Speed IVs to 30 and because it's the main option, I guess you should either make its Speed EVs 180 or remind people of that on the analysis. Another thing that one should pay attention to is that, with 76 HP EVs, Sceptile reaches 300 HP; thus, if you take out 4 extra EVs you can lower Life Orb's recoil. Outside of those nitpicks it looks good.

With 300 HP, Sceptile dies to exactly 10 uses of LO recoil. I would lower it to 299.

altered EV spread.

Really good set, and catches many people off-guard, giving it good opportunities of using Synthesis. Definitely mention Mismagius and Rotom as partners, as they ultimately love to have Registeel out of the way.

looks good. tested and approved.

wouldnt brick break be a decent option instead of focus blast? with only 36 investment in attack and a hasty nature it does 43.1% - 50.9% which is garunteed 2hko after SR and a little bit of prior damage. im not sure what other potential OHKOs/2HKOs you miss out on, but it just seems like a decent enough option.

With HP Ice, I'd just run max Spe to tie with Mismagius/Scyther (whom now takes 80% min). There's little point with Psychic besides tying with HP Fight Mismagius, but with Ice you get a speed tie with two very dangerous sweepers in exchange for ~6% less HP.

Alan said:

wouldnt brick break be a decent option instead of focus blast? with only 36 investment in attack and a hasty nature it does 43.1% - 50.9% which is garunteed 2hko after SR and a little bit of prior damage. im not sure what other potential OHKOs/2HKOs you miss out on, but it just seems like a decent enough option.

Click to expand...

I had considered that, but there are just too many things you lose when you opt for Brick Break with a hasty nature.

Things you lose:

- effectiveness in switching into Earthquake
- effectiveness in switching into Waterfall / Aqua Jet from Azumarill
- effectiveness in switching into Leaf Blade or Return from Leafeon.
- The ability to 2HKO Registeel
- The ability to 2HKO Clefable
- The ability to OHKO Leafeon without Hidden Power Ice (SR is needed)
- The ability to 2HKO Drapion
- The ability to OHKO Steelix
- The ability to 2HKO Arcanine (and Ninetales)

The list just keeps growing and growing until the point that it's not worth considering anymore, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, this is ready for GP.

EDIT:

@ Umbarsc: You only tie with them when you go max Speed, and to me that doesn't come near sacrificing 6% HP.

Couldn't find much. Nice job.

Grammar-Prose Check 1/2:
additions in bold
removals in red
comments in green

[SET]
Name: Life Orb Sweeper
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Psychic / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Synthesis
item: Life Orb
ability: Overgrow [Sceptile only has one ability; remove]
nature: Modest
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 180 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With his [in Sceptile's current analysis, I referred to Sceptile as "he," so I'm changing the gender reference to make it consistent] excellent Speed and Special Attack, Sceptile functions quite well at sweeping with a Life Orb boost. Sceptile's pure Grass-typing helps him it switch into many common attacks, such as Surf and Earthquake (unlike Venusaur), and Synthesis allows him to instantly replenish his health, giving Sceptile more sustainability it to keep switching in all match. Leaf Storm off of [avoid the phrase off of, always use off] Sceptile's base 105 Special Attack will destroy most Pokemon, apart from those who that don't resist it or have obscenely high Special Defense (such as Chansey). Focus Blast is an excellent attack to open with, because most of Sceptile's counters are either Steel-type or Normal-type. To round off Sceptile's type coverage, Hidden Power Psychic or Hidden Power Ice can be used. Hidden Power Psychic nails Weezing, Blaziken, Venusaur, and Toxicroak, while Hidden Power Ice deals with nails opposing Grass-types and as well as Altaria. It should be considered, however, that Most Grass-types, however, will take a lot of damage from Focus Blast, which can possibly OHKO them possibly OHKOing them.</p>

<p>At first glance, the EV spread may seem strange, but it's tailored to do specific tasks. The EV spread appears strange at first glance, but that's because a lot of things need to be considered. Special Attack is maximized because Sceptile needs to hit as hard as possible. Speed is the next thing that's considered, since Sceptile should at least outspeed neutral nature base 110s and positive-natured base 95s. 176 EVs will suffice does this, but if you opt for Hidden Power Psychic, you must invest another 4 EVs point, making it 180 Speed EVs total. The remaining EVs are dumped in HP to help Sceptile switch into resisted attacks; however, with Hidden Power Psychic, 76 HP EVs would only allow Sceptile ten attacks before it faints from Life Orb recoil, so 4 EVs should be relocated to taken and placed in Special Defense. Otherwise, with Hidden Power Ice, the spread is a more simple you have a simple spread of 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Because Sceptile is a one-dimensional special attacker, he's walled by Pokemon like Chansey and specially defensive Venusaur, who can freely switch into Sceptile. Sceptile does not have a way to get around many walls because it is a one-dimensional special attack user. Chansey and specially defensive Venusaur will have easy switch-ins since they will not take much damage from Sceptile's attacks, even if they are super effective. Additionally, bulky Fire-types like such as bulky defensive Arcanine and Moltres can easily switch in. This makes Azumarill an effective teammate for Sceptile. Azumarill It can switch into any of the aforementioned Pokemon besides Venusaur (assuming Venusaur it has a Grass-type attack) and OHKO them. Arcanine is also quite effective, since his Flash Fire ability allows him to switch into Fire-type attacks directed at Sceptile and possibly set up a sweep of his own since it can boost its power with Moltres or Arcanine's Fire-type attacks and possibly sweep.</p>

<p>Sceptile often lures in Registeel, who resists Sceptile's STAB Grass-type attacks. However, this variant of Sceptile can 2HKO Registeel with Focus Blast, opening up a path for other sweepers like Alakazam, Mismagius, and Swellow.</p>

[suggestion: combine the above paragraph with the last paragraph; neither of these can stand alone as paragraphs, in my opinion. however, that's your choice as the writer.]

<p>Sceptile does some effective supporting of its own as well. With the threat of a strong Grass-type attack, Registeel will surely show its face if the opponent carries it. Unfortunately for said Registeel, Sceptile can 2HKO it with Focus Blast. This opens up a path for Pokemon such as Alakazam, Mismagius, and even Swellow.</p>

<p>Also, with Leaf Storm potentially dropping Sceptile's Specal Attack stat, Sceptile is often forced out by Pokemon like Life Orb Venusaur and Moltres there are going to be many circumstances where Sceptile is forced out by Pokemon such as Life Orb Venusaur and Moltres. Therefore, it is a good idea to carry a sturdy defensive Pokemon to take attacks from these threats. With this in mind, Milotic and Registeel make a great defensive combo since Milotic deals with Moltres and Registeel deals with Venusaur quite easily.</p>

Click to expand...

Before my "critique", I'll say that I was a bit more harsh on this analysis because I wrote the one on-site.

Nice set, Heysup. I changed the gender references to "he" in order to keep it consistent with the on-site analysis, in both OU and UU. Although the main point in your paragraphs is relatively clear, you have a tendency to ramble, especially in word choice. A good example of this is the second-to-last paragraph, which I completely rewrote. You're trying to convey the fact that Sceptile can beat Registeel with Focus Blast. Try to be more concise: phrases like "there are going to be many circumstances where" and "will surely show its face" are a bit confusing and use a lot of words to express a simple idea. Your paragraphs are usually well-written, but they tend to be cluttered with phrases like the aforementioned. Apart from that, nice analysis. Withholding stamp until changes are implemented.

I plan to check this once the OP is updated

Alright added Draco Zephyr's check. Thanks.

This is your brain on grammar

GP Check 2

Deletions in Red
Additions in Blue

Heysup said:

[SET]
Name: Life Orb Sweeper
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Psychic / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Synthesis
item: Life Orb
nature: Modest
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 180 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With his excellent Speed and Special Attack, Sceptile functions quite well at sweeping with a Life Orb boost. Sceptile's pure Grass-typing helps him switch into many common attacks, such as Surf and Earthquake (unlike Venusaur), and Synthesis allows him to instantly replenish his health, giving Sceptile more sustainability. Leaf Storm off from Sceptile's base 105 Special Attack will destroy most Pokemon, apart from those who resist it or have obscenely high Special Defense (such as Chansey). Focus Blast is an excellent attack to open with, because most of Sceptile's counters are either Steel-type or Normal-type. To round off Sceptile's type coverage, Hidden Power Psychic or Hidden Power Ice can be used. Hidden Power Psychic nails Weezing, Blaziken, Venusaur, and Toxicroak, while Hidden Power Ice deals with opposing Grass-types and Altaria. Most Grass-types, however, will take a lot of damage from Focus Blast, which can possibly OHKO them.</p>

<p>At first glance, the EV spread may seem strange, but it's tailored to do specific tasks. Special Attack is maximized because Sceptile needs to hit as hard as possible. Speed is the next thing that's considered, since Sceptile should at least outspeed neutral-natured base 110s and positive-natured base 95s. 176 EVs will suffice, but if you opt for Hidden Power Psychic, invest another 4 EVs, making it 180 Speed EVs in total. The remaining EVs are dumped in HP to help Sceptile switch into resisted attacks; however, with Hidden Power Psychic, 76 HP EVs would only allow Sceptile ten attacks before it faints from Life Orb recoil, so 4 EVs should be relocated to Special Defense. Otherwise, with Hidden Power Ice, the spread is a more simple 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Because Sceptile is a one-dimensional special attacker, he's walled by Pokemon like such as Chansey and specially defensive Venusaur, both of whom who can freely switch into Sceptile. Additionally, bulky Fire-types like bulky Arcanine and Moltres can easily switch in. This makes Azumarill an effective teammate for Sceptile. Azumarill can switch into any of the aforementioned Pokemon besides Venusaur (assuming Venusaur has a Grass-type attack) and OHKO them. Arcanine is also quite effective, since his Flash Fire ability allows him to switch into Fire-type attacks directed at Sceptile and possibly set up a sweep of his own. Sceptile also often lures in Registeel, who resists Sceptile's STAB Grass-type attacks. However, this variant of Sceptile can 2HKO Registeel with Focus Blast, opening up a path for other sweepers like such as Alakazam, Mismagius, and Swellow.</p>

<p>Also, with Leaf Storm potentially dropping Sceptile's Specal Attack stat, Sceptile is often forced out by Pokemon like Life Orb Venusaur and Moltres. Therefore, it is a good idea to carry a sturdy defensive Pokemon to take attacks from these threats. With this in mind, Milotic and Registeel make a great defensive combo since Milotic deals with Moltres and Registeel deals with Venusaur quite easily.</p>

Click to expand...

Please watch out for spacing issues when you're pasting in GP edits, otherwise this is pretty much good to go.

I disagree with two changes here:

Fatecrashers said:

and and Toxicroak; while Hidden Power Ice

Click to expand...

A semicolon is only needed if it's separating two entire sentences. "while Hidden Power Ice..." is not a complete sentence, meaning that a comma is correct here.

Fatecrashers said:

Because Sceptile is an one-dimensional special attacker

Click to expand...

This change is actually incorrect; a is the correct indefinite article here, not an. One-dimensional may start with a vowel, but it's pronounced as if it were a consonant (a "w" sound). Usage of a or an is determined by whether it's a vowel sound or a consonant sound, not if the word in question begins with a vowel or consonant. Therefore, a is correct.

Fixed. Thanks Draco Zephyr!

Heysup said:

@ Umbarsc: You only tie with them when you go max Speed, and to me that doesn't come near sacrificing 6% HP.

Click to expand...

ok heysup is good at calculus so i will use calculus

0 hp evs is 281
72 hp evs adds d/dx(18*x) at x=72 which evaluates to 18 hp
take the integral of (281+18)dx from x=0 to 1 to find total hp with 72 hp evs, which is 299
299/281 = 1.064 which is ~6%

i dunno what happened to the math here it looks a little odd and not at all like a parabolic curve. but anyways the point is it's 6% and basically i agree with umbarsc

Thanks for GP checks, adding them in.

whistle said:

ok heysup is good at calculus so i will use calculus

0 hp evs is 281
72 hp evs adds d/dx(18*x) at x=72 which evaluates to 18 hp
take the integral of (281+18)dx from x=0 to 1 to find total hp with 72 hp evs, which is 299
299/281 = 1.064 which is ~6%

i dunno what happened to the math here it looks a little odd and not at all like a parabolic curve. but anyways the point is it's 6% and basically i agree with umbarsc

Click to expand...

what are you talking about, you can't integrate that function because it isn't from 0 to 1. Anyway..what does that have to do with any of my arguments against including it...?

I clicked the "quote this post" button and there're lots of weird "COLOR=Black" tags everywhere, do those matter?

Anyway I tried this set and it works reasonably well, but I'm a bit sceptical about Synthesis. I didn't get much chance to use it. The set also lacks a reliable STAB move. While Focus Blast is as you said a fine attack to open with, it is also 70% accurate and isn't STAB'ed. Opening with Leaf Storm on the other hand is risky, while HP Psychic is even worse than Focus Blast. The upshot is that for example, when Sceptile faces Donphan, it's forced to use Leaf Storm. Even if it gets the KO, whatever switches in next is free to set up; of course it's just as possible is that a Pokemon like Registeel switches in, laughs at -2 Focus Blasts and Thunder Waves / sets up Stealth Rock.

That's not to say this set isn't good. It works well and gets kills, just like every other Sceptile I've used. I just didn't find much use for Synthesis. With Sceptile's weak defenses, it can't risk using Synthesis against things like Milotic or even Donphan (dies to Stone Edge + Ice Shard; even two Ice Shards have a chance to KO with some prior damage / if Sceptile stops using Synthesis and attacks).

Finally just pointing out that there are almost no neutral base 110s in UU (pretty much all the base 110s are +ve nature) ... maybe you'll want to omit that? I've also found that having Sceptile outspeed Mismagius so it can revenge Missy to be very helpful. That however does force a Timid nature :( Does this set miss out on any important kills if it runs Timid?

Fuck I had a long post typed up, so I'm not going to repost the calcs (you can do them if you don't believe me).

Synthesis: The situations you listed are when you Synthesis. It can't switch in as easily on Milotic as Venusaur does, but it actually always OHKOes it, meaning even if Milotic predicts right it's forced out. It also forces out Donphan, but yes, you need to beware of Ice Shard.

With EVs: Imagine I'm just aiming to outpace +ive 95s but 4 more EVs get me the odd Adamant 110 (which do exist, I've seen Adamant Tauros often).

Modest gets 2HKO on Registeel. Timid does not.
Modest gets OHKO on Leafeon. Timid does not.
Modest 2HKOes Weezing regardless of Stealth Rock.
Modest OHKOes Heracross after a Leaf Storm (even at -2).
Timid doesn't outspeed anything important. Sceptile can't beat Scyther without Rock Slide or HP Rock. Sceptile survives and OHKOes Mismagius either way.

EDIT: Whistle I'm still waiting on an explanation....

your wording was ambiguous. I interpreted "come near 6% HP" as "it isn't a 6% drop, it's less" rather than "it's not worth a 6% drop".

I was just messing around with the faux calculus

I'm aware. I'll include the max/max Timid spread too, but it's going to say "this spread loses some bulk and power for outspeeding a couple threats"

Heysup said:

Fuck I had a long post typed up, so I'm not going to repost the calcs (you can do them if you don't believe me).

Synthesis: The situations you listed are when you Synthesis. It can't switch in as easily on Milotic as Venusaur does, but it actually always OHKOes it, meaning even if Milotic predicts right it's forced out. It also forces out Donphan, but yes, you need to beware of Ice Shard.

With EVs: Imagine I'm just aiming to outpace +ive 95s but 4 more EVs get me the odd Adamant 110 (which do exist, I've seen Adamant Tauros often).

Modest gets 2HKO on Registeel. Timid does not.
Modest gets OHKO on Leafeon. Timid does not.
Modest 2HKOes Weezing regardless of Stealth Rock.
Modest OHKOes Heracross after a Leaf Storm (even at -2).
Timid doesn't outspeed anything important. Sceptile can't beat Scyther without Rock Slide or HP Rock. Sceptile survives and OHKOes Mismagius either way.

EDIT: Whistle I'm still waiting on an explanation....

Click to expand...

About Synthesis - yeah, but if Donphan stays in and Stone Edges, you lose Sceptile (or are forced to switch out). If Milotic stays in and Ice Beams, you suffer a net loss in health (you also tank the freeze / crit chance, and you die if it's an offensive Milotic). In fact, since Sceptile cannot kill Milotic without using Leaf Storm, the Milotic user can even make the calculated risk of keeping Milotic in, forcing Sceptile to Leaf Storm and then bring in something to set up on the -2 Sceptile. Sure, if this happens Sceptile would still have done a fine job, but with Energy Ball Sceptile would be able to kill Milotic / Donphan and then kamikaze on the next switch in with Leaf Storm. As another example, CB Azumarill locked into Waterfall vs. Sceptile is another case where Azumarill will probably switch out, but if Azumarill stays in it outdamages Sceptile's Synthesis.

I'm not thinking about switching Sceptile into Milotic / Donphan / Azumarill - that's very risky - but after a KO or maybe a slow U-turn / Baton Pass. It might be just me, but I generally prefer to use instant recovery where a missed prediction won't be fatal, e.g. Milotic against Arcanine, or Chansey against Moltres. Finally without Energy Ball it means Sceptile can't really do any late-game sweeping :(

Nonetheless, I guess with Energy Ball instead of Synthesis one wonders why not just use Specs Sceptile.

Good point there about Mismagius and Scyther - maybe I should revise my other Sceptiles to a slower speed lol.

cough whistle/eo