Research Week Mk. II - Out Here

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Username: Dark Nikuman
Alt: The Lucky Noob
Ladder Standing: User: theluckynoob
This user has not played any ladder games yet.

Research Subject(s): Sharpedo
Twelve position with 1960(6 battles) cool but didn't appear so I continued haxed 3 times in a row and then two games in a row and lag lose for inactivity lol.

Start on a new alt: PedoBear Mode ON

I made a very good and solid team don't wanna waste it :(
 

Trinitrotoluene

young ☆nd foolish
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The few posts so far in the thread with any actual discussion make it clear that people seem to be seeing Scolipede as more fit for a fast Spiker role, which is obvious and fair enough. I'm going to be looking into something a little more defensive, however - not because of its defensive stats, they're decent at best, but because of its typing. Double resistance to Fighting-type attacks is a great thing to have, and with the decent-ish coverage that it has access to, always has the option of hitting back fairly hard.

Of course, to beat Deoxys-D it's going to need a little Speed, and of course moderate Attack investment, but there's still a good few EVs to throw around if you're wanting it to just about outspeed fast spiker Deoxys-D sets. Throwing those into Defense means that it can take on some surprising physical threats. Adamant CB Terrakion fails to 3HKO with Close Combat, for example, while Scolipede can deal ~50% back with Earthquake - not great, but good enough. In the same vein, Breloom faces a similar challenge - Max Adamant Mach Punch does barely over 10% and Bullet Seed only does up to 44% with five consecutive hits. Additionally, it then faces a 2HKO from Megahorn - guaranteed OHKO if Bug Gem activates.

I really don't think we should be looking at using Scolipede as a fast, do-or-die Spiker, and instead see it as a lot bulkier than it actually appears to be.
Alright. I'm curious. What EV spread and nature are you running on your Scolipede?

ON-TOPIC EDIT: I was testing Sharpedo recently on the ladder, and I have to say that its purely physical set remains its best set in today's metagame. The structure of my post will be like Electrolyte's previous post.


Sharpedo @ Life Orb | Speed Boost
Adamant | 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Protect | Waterfall | Crunch | Ice Fang

Moves:
Protect allows Sharpedo to accumulate speed boosts and scout the actions of potential choiced Pokemon.
Waterfall is STAB move #1, and it gets a boost / cut in power depending on the weather.
Crunch is STAB move #2, and is completely weather-independent.
Ice Fang is the filler move of choice since it hits dragons, Grass-types, and flyers super-effectively.

EVs maximize power and speed. They're extremely generic.


What it's good at:
  • Sharpedo's main role is (obviously) acting as a powerful late-game sweeper. Speed Boost allows it to act as rain's analog of Blaziken, a Pokemon that was banned in round three of suspect testing, mind you. In addition, Speed Boost also reduces the options for dealing with Sharpedo (aside from using dedicated walls) to priority moves.
  • Sharpedo's best teammates are Politoed and *any pokemon that can get rid of breloom and dragonite*. This allows it to rip apart teams without the fear of being beaten down. In addition, having teammates that can deal with the Pokemon Sharpedo's filler move cannot cover would be a good idea. You wouldn't want Sharpedo to fall prey to a random Pokemon that it simply cannot touch.
Problems:
  • Sharpedo is incredibly frail and vulnerable to priority, necessitating the use of teammates to get rid of the priority abusers. In addition, Sharpedo simply cannot touch certain Pokemon, depending on the weather conditions. This somewhat necessitates the use of Politoed as a teammate, since it negates the problem of weather reducing the power of its STAB moves. Hazard support is also a good thing to have, since it cannot OHKO certain Pokemon without SR.
  • Have I mentioned that Sharpedo is incredibly frail?

Great Pokemon, and definitely something that does not belong in UU. That succinctly sums up my thoughts on Sharpedo. More to come later. My sign-up post will be edited with my current ladder standing.
 
Alright. I'm curious. What EV spread and nature are you running on your Scolipede?
Scolipede @ Bug Gem | Swarm
Jolly | 252 Atk / 176 Def / 80 Spd
Spikes | Megahorn | Earthquake | Rock Slide


Enough Speed to outrun Max Timid Deoxys-D, Attack EVs and Bug Gem manage to OHKO it with Max HP if I recall. All the stats in my previous post came from this spread too, so they're correct. In this metagame, this thing's typing is actually extremely useful and more than makes up for its lack of defenses in my opinion. Rock Slide used over Toxic Spikes because they're really pretty bad and it can't Flying-types or most Levitate Pokémon that hard otherwise. Filler, I guess.

Running it on an offensive Drizzle team right now, along with Sharpedo (standard physical set). Not done a whole lot of testing since I've come down with a pretty bad stomach bug last few days. Will get to it tomorrow, though.

Chipping in on your previous post there, Trinitrotoluene, Mamoswine's a fantastic partner to Sharpedo, who is in turn also a fairly decent partner with Politoed. Takes down Dragon-types, Dragonite, Breloom, etc. Works well together with Sharpedo. I also found that Thundurus-T seems to work well with Sharpedo too, they actually have decent synergy with each other. By which I mean Thundurus-T takes Fighting-type, Electric-type and Grass-type attacks easily.
 
@Trinitotoluene - any reason you are running Ice Fang and not, say, Ice Beam?

Even with 0 SpA EVs, Ice Beam still KOes Dragonite and Salamence after SR, and secures a clean KO on Gliscor and Landorus-T (Ice Fang deals 50% to Lando-T after intimidate and deals max 83% to Gliscor).

I really can't see any situation where Ice Fang > Ice Beam, outside of SpDef Amoonguss (who gets 2HKOed by Crunch regardless) or something.
 

Trinitrotoluene

young ☆nd foolish
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@Trinitotoluene - any reason you are running Ice Fang and not, say, Ice Beam?

Even with 0 SpA EVs, Ice Beam still KOes Dragonite and Salamence after SR, and secures a clean KO on Gliscor and Landorus-T (Ice Fang deals 50% to Lando-T after intimidate and deals max 83% to Gliscor).

I really can't see any situation where Ice Fang > Ice Beam, outside of SpDef Amoonguss (who gets 2HKOed by Crunch regardless) or something.
Ya know, I never really thought of that. That would require a small shift in nature and EVs, but that's really something. Thanks for that tip.
 
Been playing on the ladder with a team of Scolipede/Nidoqueen/Jirachi/Suicune/Dragonite/Terrakion. It's working pretty well, with spikes wearing opponents down, then nido and rachi smashing holes in the opponents' team, so that CroCune, DDnite, or RPLiechi kion smashing through the remainder of the team.
Scolipede isn't OU material, IMO. While it has a nice niche in fast spikes+Endeavor, I feel that it isn't useful enough for many teams, especially with the commonness of spinners. Forry arguably outclasses Scolipede for spikes, being able to reliably set them up multiple times, and even spin them away for you. Scolipede generally only sets up 1 layer, and only cripples one thing. Unless the opponent leads with a psychic, that is. Psychics get OHKOed by Megahorn.
Nidoqueen is a complete boss, and should be used far more than Nidoking is. The reason is because they both have sufficient power to get the job done, but queen has more bulk. They both can OHKO every single wall that I can think of except Blissey/Chansey by hitting the appropriate coverage option (Fire Blast, Earth Power, Tbolt, and Ice beam have nice SE coverage, though you can run Focus Blast over something if you want). The only problem is when facing offensive teams. Again, no reason to use king over queen, unless base 87 speed is somehow important. Queen can generally only take one hit, and thus destroy only one thing, before going down (unless we're talking kion or loom here, who get walled pretty hard). King gets demolished in one hit, generally, so no go there.
 

Nova

snitches get stitches
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Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Protect
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Zen Headbutt


I've been having a lot of success with this Sharpedo set on a Rain team, serving the role as a late game cleaner. The first 3 moves on this set are pretty much givens; Protect to waste a turn and grab a free +1 from Speed Boost, Waterfall as the primary STAB that's extremely powerful especially when boosted by Rain, and Crunch as a secondary STAB. The last move, Zen Headbutt, is the unique part of this set and makes it more viable in this metagame. Zen Headbutt allows Sharpedo to hit Keldeo and Toxicroak, both of which normally wall the standard Sharpedo sets that carry Ice Fang or Hydro Pump in the last moveslot. Both Keldeo and Toxicroak are gaining more popularity with the spread of more Rain offensive teams and this Sharpedo set provides for a nice, unexpected way to deal with both of them. Losing Hydro Pump, means Sharpedo will have a little more trouble against Skarmory but I've found STAB Life Orb and Rain boosted Waterfall to still be quite sufficient in dealing a chunk to Skarmory and Rain teams usually have multiple partners that can easily beat the metal bird (Keldeo, Thundurus-T, Politoed). Losing Ice Fang means I cant hit Dragon types as hard as I used to, but with some prior damage, Crunch can usually do the job of finishing them off. I think Sharpedo is a very good Pokemon in OU, especially as a late game cleaner on a Rain team with some entry hazards up and weakened PokemonThe only real knock against it is his frail defenses so priority users must be removed before he can do his job.
 
btw, im subjecting nidoqueen and sharpedo. Anyway, i also changed alt so you might wanna add that
http://pastebin.com/rH1rgkP0
i also got a log of nidoqueen performing really well. thats one of the situations which only nidoqueen can triumph in.
 
Well I can Certainly talk about how I felt about Scolipiede

My set:


Scolipiede
Item: Bug gem
Ability: Swarm
Nature: Jolly
EVs:252atk/172def/80spe
Moves:
-Megahorn
-Earthquake
-Spikes
-Toxic Spikes

PROS:

-Great 112 Base speed
-Acsess to both spikes and toxic spikes.
-4x resistance to fighting (hence the defensive EVs)
-Bug gem set can take down Deoxys Defensive forme without much hassle, while setting up hazards itself

CONS:

-Rather fragile unless against fighting types
-Stealth rock weakness
-Weak outside a bug gem megahorn
-Megahorn can miss at important moments
-Little use mid/late game
-Weak to the psychic types it's trying to kill

So overall I'd say that scolipiede has a niche if you want Deoxys Defense off the field or a decently offensive spiker. But I wouldn't really use it much myself to be honest

Sharpedo analasyis coming later. HINT: It's a lot more positive.
 

Electrolyte

Wouldn't Wanna Know
is a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I know a lot of people have been saying that bug gem is the best item on Scolipede- but I seriously urge everybody to try Focus Sash instead. The only use of Bug Gem is to OHKO Deoxys- but is that really enough to make it the best item to use on Scolipede? I think not. Jolly 252 Atk Megahorn still does ~75% to Max Speed Deoxys-D, severely crippling it, and often severely restricting its walling capabilities. Bug Gem is not becessary JUST for the OHKO to Deoxys-D- as the worst that could happen is for your opponent to get a layer of Rocks up. Sash, however, I find is much more useful. You still beat Deo-D, and plus you're guaranteed at least 2 layers of Spikes against most of the metagame. It lets you take advantage of Endeavor as well to cripple a wall or sonething you can't defeat easily.
 

Neliel

Sacred Sword
Oh, cool.
I've used a lot Sharpedo in the past, and while i havent used it in bw2 i think that nothing changed for it, maybe its even stronger due to the prevalence of the rain right now. First off, sharpedo should only be used with politoed. It may sound obvious, but i saw people using it under sand or weatherless, but it just wont work, sharpedo needs all the power it can get.
The set i used was this:


Sharpedo (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 100 Atk / 252 SAtk / 156 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Protect

This is probably the best set in my opinion. Its special atk may seem unreliable, but it has to be noticed that its more powerfull than timid orb Starmie, and hydro pump, compared to waterfall, has 90 more base power. It also has a stronger ice move, and the fact it can hits both special and phisical walls shouldnt be underestimated. Crunch still hits enough hard even without atk investiments, koing Lati@s and sp def jellicent. The evs here are to outspeed scarftios after 2 turns, and the rest is on atk to power up crunch.
To make it work, you dont even have to support it that much. Bulky waters, keldeo in particular, Ferrothorn, are the things that can stop it more easily. there are probably some others things that i dont remember though lol
Btw, if you think about it, those things are generally a problem for any rain team, so you probably have to cover these things anyway. In my opinion, a defensive core consisting of bulky toed+the standard ferro cruel core is enough to deal with the things that stops it. Scald, toxic, and passive damage due to spikes of ferrothorn int he long run will weaken enough everything that stops it. It has to be noticed that sharpedo should only be used as a revenge killer, because it will never have chance to switch into something, possibly in the late game when you are sure than nothing can stop you.
An antoher thing to consider, is that even bullet punch scizor koes it. breloom, dragonite, and basically every priority user can put an end to his sweep, so whatch out for them, and send it out only if these things are dead. In conclusion, sharpedo is not a bad pokemon, and if used right it can be as strong as scarfkeldeo can be in the lategame.
 
I think that Gothitelle is an excellent offensive partner for Sharpedo. Not only can it trap and KO most of the 'mons that can tank the shark, but it can also help to deal with certain priority users that try to revenge kill Sharpedo - a switch to Gothitelle on a predicted Mach Punch from Breloom, for example, will swiftly resolve the issue.
 
I fucking hate laddering challenges. I end up screwing up the teams and start using test teams on my laddering alt unconciously bringing down my Laddring ratio. well, i guess i'll start again on another alt The Royalty
 

PokèManiac Livio

Un panino al salame
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Well, in this week i have not had the time to rank but i used for a lot of time this Sharpedo Set, that in my opinion is one of the better thanks to presence of a Priority move, essential on a respecting Cleaner. The case want that in 70% of times (the probability of meeting it) is boosted by the Rain, you can guess, therefore, that Politoed is a good Teammate.




Sharpedo (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 216 Atk / 56 SAtk / 236 Spd
Naughty Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Earthquake


Much Times the people use Protect on Sharpedo to abuse of his trait, well Protect is a double-edged blade, because is the cause of many mind games and if you lose it the opponent can setupp.
Aqua jet, is one of the best priority of the game, boosted by rain it allows you to revenge kill an opponent and use te turn to boost in the same time, especially when you have teammates that give him the possibility to sweep with the Entry Hazard support, for example could be good Ferrothorn+ Spin Blocker (Jellicent/Sableye), and obviously Politoed thanks Drizzle trait, Deo-D+Ghost is another good core with him for the above reason, the best is Jellicent that check a possible Priority such as Quick Attak, Extreme speed, Mach Punch Vacum Wave or Bullet punch and Ice Shard, all them give a lot of problems to Sharpedo because of his 40 base in both Defensive Stat.
Crunch the obvious Stab, to hit more or less all, Ice Beam + Earthquake is pretty good core that give the possibility to hit Steel/Flying, or something that otherwise could wall you, for example Toxicroak that have free setup or a random Tentacruel that could burn him.
Bw2 gave him a new realised counter, i mean Keldeo, this is a reason more to use Jellicent, the problem now is Breloom, that hit them hard, all this make makes it more suitable semi-stall if you want to build around him.
 

Trinitrotoluene

young ☆nd foolish
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As far as I know, nobody's had time to ladder, and the user who got closest to the Hall of Fame (as far as I know, since nobody's kept their posts updated besides me and Electrolyte) was me, and since I'm the host, I don't exactly count in my books. Nobody won this edition of Research Week. Either way, this week is done. The new Research Week thread will be up soon.

Research Week #2: I Remember [the Old Times]
 
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