Aerow
rebel
Sceptile
Overview
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Sceptile, once one of the top threats of RU, has fallen from grace with the arrival of XY. Due to the loss of Flying Gem and the arrival of Virizion, Sceptile faces hard competition, and it is mostly outclassed as a physical sweeper. However, Sceptile is still a great special attacker thanks to its solid base 105 Special Attack and great base 120 Speed, which lets it outpace most threats. Furthermore, Sceptile packs a very powerful Grass-type STAB move, Leaf Storm. While Sceptile's movepool may not be the greatest, it still has access to everything it really needs. Sceptile's biggest problem is its underwhelming 70 / 65 / 85 defenses, which make it susceptible to priority and hard to switch in without taking a solid amount of damage.
Offensive
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name: Offensive
move 1: Giga Drain
move 2: Leaf Storm / Substitute
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Rock / Hidden Power Fire
ability: Overgrow
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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Giga Drain is a STAB move that deals a solid amount of damage to most threats and also recovers 50% of the damage dealt. Sceptile also has access to Leaf Storm, which hits incredibly hard, especially with a Life Orb boost. Focus Blast is used for Ice- and Steel-types that would otherwise threaten Sceptile, while it also hits Normal- and Dark-types for super effective damage. Substitute eases prediction of switches and can also be a nice surprise when facing walls that try to afflict Sceptile with status. Hidden Power Ice is used to deal with Flying- and Grass-types, and it can 2HKO Braviary, which is useful because Sceptile outspeeds non-Choice Scarf Braviary and can easily KO it on a predicted switch. You can also use Hidden Power Rock to OHKO Moltres and Fletchinder switch-ins, while also hitting other Flying-types hard. More importantly, Hidden Power Rock lets Sceptile beat Delphox as long as it hits it while Delphox is switching in. Hidden Power Fire is also an option, because it OHKOes Escavalier without Assault Vest after Stealth Rock most of the time and also deals with Grass-types.
Set Details
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The given EV spread is used to maximize Sceptile's offensive potential. With a Timid nature, Sceptile reaches 372 Speed, outspeeding most threats in the metagame. Life Orb is used to give Sceptile some extra power, and the HP loss can be regained with Giga Drain.
Usage Tips
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Sceptile is fairly straight-forward to use; hit the opponent hard with either Leaf Storm or a coverage move and switch out. Sceptile isn't a sweeper, so in most cases, Sceptile doesn't want to stay in for long. If Sceptile is having problems KOing an opponent, you can use Substitute repeatedly until Sceptile's health is in Overgrow range, and then send off a boosted Giga Drain or Leaf Storm.
Team Options
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Hazard setters, especially Stealth Rock users such as Gligar, Cobalion, and Rhyperior, are strongly recommended. The chip damage makes it easier for Sceptile to KO Pokemon that resists Grass-type moves. Sceptile doesn't have a ton of resistances and is also fairly frail, so slow U-turn or Volt Switch users are recommended to make it easier for Sceptile to switch in. Defog or Rapid Spin are also recommended, because Sticky Web removes Sceptile's important Speed advantage, and it therefore becomes an easy KO for Flying- and Fire-types. Gligar and Golbat are good teammates for Sceptile, because they both get Defog and can also help Sceptile in with a slow U-turn.
Other Options
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Sceptile can also use a physical set with 252 Attack / 252 Speed with a Jolly nature. Although it's mostly outclassed by Virizion, Sceptile's physical set has a niche because of its ability Unburden, which doubles Speed after its item is either lost or consumed. Due to the lack of gems, there isn't any reliable way to activate Unburden, which makes the set harder to pull off. For a physical set, you want to use Acrobatics / Leaf Blade / Earthquake / Swords Dance and Sitrus Berry as an item. Use Swords Dance on an opponent who can't OHKO Sceptile, recover health from Sitrus Berry, activate Unburden, and then sweep. Giving Sceptile no item is an option, because it's not guaranteed Sceptile will get to use Sitrus Berry, meaning Sceptile will also only have a 55 Base Power Acrobatics. Leaf Storm + White Herb can be used, but in most cases it's a better idea to run Life Orb and switch out after a Leaf Storm. Hidden Power Flying can be used to OHKO Virizion.
Checks & Counters
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**Flying-types**: Swellow and other Flying-types using Choice Scarf, such as Braviary and Moltres, outspeed Sceptile and OHKO it with their STAB moves. Also watch out for Fletchinder, since it OHKOes Sceptile with its 110 Base Power priority Acrobatics.
**Priority**: Priority moves are a threat to Sceptile, especially if it doesn't recover enough HP with Giga Drain, as Life Orb recoil quickly wears Sceptile down into KO range for most priority moves.
**Special Walls**: Special walls, such as Dragalge, can easily survive Sceptile's attacks and can either force Sceptile to switch out or badly weaken it.
**Faster Pokemon**: Accelgor and Choice Scarf Emboar are huge threats to Sceptile because they both outspeed Sceptile and OHKO it with their STAB moves.
**Status**: Status ailments like Thunder Wave are a huge problem for Sceptile because they make Sceptile terribly slow and susceptible to damage. Toxic is also a problem, as Sceptile already has Life Orb recoil to take care of, and the additional damage can rack up quickly.
**Sticky Web**: Sticky Web is a big problem for Sceptile because it cuts its Speed by 33%. Sceptile can subsequently be outsped by normally slower threats, making it hard for Sceptile to do its job.
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