Sceptile Returns to OU!
I returned to OU after a long hiatus in RU recently when I discovered that teambuilding in OU could be creative and fun again, the team that sparked this being a Dark/Steel hybrid. Shortly after I rejoined Big Boy Birkal's Dark Horse project and decided to take my RU experience with me and use Sceptile as my main focus. The initial version of this team was...pretty terrible. It used Sand as a base and I am garbage with Tyranitar so that was scrapped pretty quickly. This version of the team was created about a week later along with Lady Salamence, and has done quite well from low expectations, shooting me into the top 80 on the ladder quickly, this also qualifying me to enter the Dark Horse Hall of Fame.
About the Team
Since the beginning of BW I have been, and undoubtedly will continue to be a Rain based user. Sun was fun with Blazekin but was difficult to get the hang of and Tyranitar was never workable for me so when Lady Salamence suggested Rain as a good partner for Sceptile I was quite enthused. Being a primarily balanced player, I quickly decided that I wanted to have an offensive core and a defensive core that could complement each other. As Sceptile was already filling the powerful special attacker role, Politoed became our bulky water, as well as a means of dealing with set up threats. Tentacruel then became a natural fit, with both of the team mates being vulnerable to entry hazards. Bringing Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin is a godsned, as well as being a bulky water with a unique set of resistances that are incredibly useful. The next two Pokemon weren't contrived at all but ended up falling in place on their own. I had used SubCM Jirachi and SubBounce Gyarados a long time ago in the beginning of Round 4 and loved how they worked. Jirachi was the first to join the team and Gyarados quickly followed, being able to set up on the Gastrodon that cockblock Jirachi. The final Pokemon was the most natural fit possible. I needed hazards. I needed a Rotom-W check. I needed a member of my defensive core to provided resistances and to cover the weaknesses of the two bulk waters. Ferrothorn was a perfect fit.
In-Depth
Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Perish Song
Politoed, the Pokemon that engenders Rain teams on its own. Politoed fulfils a fairly critical role on this team aside from summoning the Rain, that being a Terrakion check, its maximized defensive EVs allowing to to take an attack or two from powerful attackers including the aforementioned Terrakion and Scizor quite well. Scald is a generally awesome move, fishing for burns on the physical attackers it checks, as well as making it dangerous for Tyranitar to switch in. Toxic and Protect allow Politoed to play mindgames with Pokemon such as Hydreigon or Latios, which will often come in after a Volt Switch. The combination of the two moves is an effective means of stalling out set up sweepers on its own and Protect is great in general for scouting, as well as Leftovers recovery. Perish Song is the final move of the set; the least used move but one of the most important. Perish Song saves me from plenty of random set up attackers gone rampant, SubSD Lando that has set up, CM Reuniclus, even opposing Dragonite, although it shouldn't have to do that too often. Politoed is just generally an excellent Pokemon and almost never disappoints, although its performance against Breloom and Celebi is regrettable.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Water Pulse
Jirachi, despite being one of my sweepers, plays a critical role in supporting my team, passing off wishes to the members that lack reliable recovery (all of them bar Tenta). To be honest, I don't play Jirachi as aggressively as perhaps I should, and Gyarados often suffers for it, taking Stealth Rock damage unnecessarily. The combination of Tuhunder and Water Pulse in Rain is a complete dick, both moves being boosted by the Rains power, one in power and the other in accuracy. With Serene Grace in effect Thunder will most frequently paralyse an opponent with its 60% chance of activation, and following up with Water Pulse's 40% confusion chance makes it difficult for an opponent to beat Jirachi. Calm Mind boosts these moves, and allows Jirachi to set up on and beat Special Attackers including Reuniclus and Latios. And of course Wish is as good as ever, allowing effective, if volatile, recovery. Jirachi has been the team member I've been least impressed with and I am considering several changes, including switching to a defensive set, switching to a SubCM set and switching to a Magnezone to alleviate Ferrothorn from troubling my team. I am open to all suggestions here.
Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
Tentacruel was initially placed on the team solely because I needed a Rapid Spinner and Rain+Rapid Spin=Tentacruel. Tentacruel has proven to be even greater than I thought it could be, walling and stalling so much its not funny. Aside from giving my checks to Infernape and Volcorona, Tentacruel acts and an excellent physical wall with its great defensive typing and resistances, which allows me to save Politoed until I need it late game. Scald is the standard dick move that fishes for Burn hax with ease; Tentacruel's good Special Attack means I can use it to take down opponent Substitutes and whatnot as well. Rapid Spin is crucial for this team, although I haven't had much occasion to use it these days. Tentacruel itself absorbs Toxic Spikes for the team, but clearing away Stealth Rock for Gyarados and Spikes for Ferrothorn and Sceptile is huge in ensuring their longevity. My own Toxic Spikes makes my defensive core incredibly difficult to beat if I get a pair of layers down as between the two water types Protects, Gyarados's Intimidate and Ferrothorns resistances little can take down a member quickly. Protect is honestly my favourite move ever for Tentacruel; I used to used a Sub/SD/Protect Tentacruel way back when and being able to stall out any slower mon due to Protect+Rain Dish healing a quarter of my health was precious. Protect is honestly amazing, just as with Gliscor, turning so many 1 or 2HKOs into 2 or 3HKOs that it isn't funny. So yeah, pretty critical mon.
Sceptile (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Sceptile, the Pokemon this team started from, definitely hasn't disappointed from what it was expected to do. While I can't claim its a top-notch underrated threat in OU, its certainly capable of hanging with the big boys, the main asset, of course, being its base 120 Speed, which allows it to outrun just about everything in OU. Although Sceptile is frail, its still capable of switching into resisted hits when it has to, including Rotom-W's Volt Switch, which then allows it to threaten the opponent. Admittedly, Sceptile's role is usually that of clean up, a job it performs admirably, with Grass/Fighting/Ice getting solid coverage on the majority of the tier. As very little can outspeed Sceptile its quite easy to clean through teams, Giga Drain recovering off any Life Orb and residual damage that may be incurred. Unfortunately, Sceptilesuffers early game due to the large number of Pokemon that can take its attacks without too much difficulty when healthy, but fortunately a Life Orb Leaf Storm ensures that they don't remain healthy for long. Despite its flaws Sceptile really does great at its job; the number of Landorus that expect to be faster of to survive a Grass attack is really amusing.
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
Gyarados...is a huge pivot for my team, Intimidate is just so crucial in walling and checking physical threats. SubBounce has been great for a good while but hasn't seemed to be pulling its weight in this team but I'll get to that later. Substitute protects Gyarados from status, which it abhors, and lets it set up on walls like Gastrodon, especially useful for Jirachi. Dragon Dance is the standard boosting move, etc, and Waterfall powers through things in Rain after a DD. Bounce rounds out coverage and lets me hit things like Celebi that can dick with my team otherwise. There's a few reasons I'm considering adjusting Gyarados. Firstly, its the primary method of dealing with Ferrothorn; Ferrothorn takes ~60% from a Sceppy FB so I usually wear Ferro down with hazards and force it out with Gyarados to kill it. Secondly, Substitute, alongside Stealth Rocks, is brutal on its HP, especially when I don't get Jirachi in too frequently. Thirdly, I use it as a check to a lot of physical threats such as Gliscor before it gets under a Sub as well as Landorus. Changes I'm considering is either making Gyarados bulkier, enough to have its Subs survive a Power Whip from Ferrothorn after Intimidate, or giving Gyarados Taunt over Substitute, or adding Earthquake over Bounce in order to help deal with Toxicroak, as the Bulk Up set is an absolute dick to my team. This and Jirachi are the key points to be addressed.
Ferrothorn (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
Ferrothorn, as mentioned before, was the perfect fit for this team, giving me key resistances to Electric mons (Rotom-W) and a defensive Dragon resist. As my team lacks a spinblocker, Rocky Helmet was something I wanted to throw on to punish Starmie, Forretress and Donphan for staying in on me. It also checks Dragonite under Rain really well, makes it a difficult situation for it to win in. With dual hazards I gain every type of hazard on my team but of course, leave Ferrothorn with no method of recovery outside of Rachi Wishes which are unreliable at best. As such, I figured that Ferrothorn would need as great an offensive presence as possible and so gave it both STABs, the former to handle bulky water and ground mons, especially Gastrodon, and the latter being my Dragon killer (minus Hydreigon). Really there's not much to say about Ferrothorn, it just does its job so well. Leech Seed is missed on occasion, so if I did go to a defensive Jirachi I would definitely put Stealth Rock on it and Leech Seed in place here. The EV spread is full specially defensive because its my only fully specially defensive oriented Pokemon and I needed it to be able to tank Rain boosted Hydro Pumps as best as it could.
Conclusion
This team has been a blast to use, as it fits both my style of play and my preferred weather; abusing Sceptile has been great as well. Of course, there are some holes in places and that's where I'm hoping you guys can help me out :) The only thing I ask when rating is that you keep in mind the synergy of the team as a whole and the playstyle I prefer to use.
Credits
Lady Salamence for creating the team with me and picking out several teammates and sets
Tomohawk9 for suggesting a SubCharge Magnezone that hasn't been used and generally being a good guy
Me for not being too lazy to write this
You for reading it xD
I returned to OU after a long hiatus in RU recently when I discovered that teambuilding in OU could be creative and fun again, the team that sparked this being a Dark/Steel hybrid. Shortly after I rejoined Big Boy Birkal's Dark Horse project and decided to take my RU experience with me and use Sceptile as my main focus. The initial version of this team was...pretty terrible. It used Sand as a base and I am garbage with Tyranitar so that was scrapped pretty quickly. This version of the team was created about a week later along with Lady Salamence, and has done quite well from low expectations, shooting me into the top 80 on the ladder quickly, this also qualifying me to enter the Dark Horse Hall of Fame.
About the Team
Since the beginning of BW I have been, and undoubtedly will continue to be a Rain based user. Sun was fun with Blazekin but was difficult to get the hang of and Tyranitar was never workable for me so when Lady Salamence suggested Rain as a good partner for Sceptile I was quite enthused. Being a primarily balanced player, I quickly decided that I wanted to have an offensive core and a defensive core that could complement each other. As Sceptile was already filling the powerful special attacker role, Politoed became our bulky water, as well as a means of dealing with set up threats. Tentacruel then became a natural fit, with both of the team mates being vulnerable to entry hazards. Bringing Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin is a godsned, as well as being a bulky water with a unique set of resistances that are incredibly useful. The next two Pokemon weren't contrived at all but ended up falling in place on their own. I had used SubCM Jirachi and SubBounce Gyarados a long time ago in the beginning of Round 4 and loved how they worked. Jirachi was the first to join the team and Gyarados quickly followed, being able to set up on the Gastrodon that cockblock Jirachi. The final Pokemon was the most natural fit possible. I needed hazards. I needed a Rotom-W check. I needed a member of my defensive core to provided resistances and to cover the weaknesses of the two bulk waters. Ferrothorn was a perfect fit.
In-Depth
Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Perish Song
Politoed, the Pokemon that engenders Rain teams on its own. Politoed fulfils a fairly critical role on this team aside from summoning the Rain, that being a Terrakion check, its maximized defensive EVs allowing to to take an attack or two from powerful attackers including the aforementioned Terrakion and Scizor quite well. Scald is a generally awesome move, fishing for burns on the physical attackers it checks, as well as making it dangerous for Tyranitar to switch in. Toxic and Protect allow Politoed to play mindgames with Pokemon such as Hydreigon or Latios, which will often come in after a Volt Switch. The combination of the two moves is an effective means of stalling out set up sweepers on its own and Protect is great in general for scouting, as well as Leftovers recovery. Perish Song is the final move of the set; the least used move but one of the most important. Perish Song saves me from plenty of random set up attackers gone rampant, SubSD Lando that has set up, CM Reuniclus, even opposing Dragonite, although it shouldn't have to do that too often. Politoed is just generally an excellent Pokemon and almost never disappoints, although its performance against Breloom and Celebi is regrettable.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Water Pulse
Jirachi, despite being one of my sweepers, plays a critical role in supporting my team, passing off wishes to the members that lack reliable recovery (all of them bar Tenta). To be honest, I don't play Jirachi as aggressively as perhaps I should, and Gyarados often suffers for it, taking Stealth Rock damage unnecessarily. The combination of Tuhunder and Water Pulse in Rain is a complete dick, both moves being boosted by the Rains power, one in power and the other in accuracy. With Serene Grace in effect Thunder will most frequently paralyse an opponent with its 60% chance of activation, and following up with Water Pulse's 40% confusion chance makes it difficult for an opponent to beat Jirachi. Calm Mind boosts these moves, and allows Jirachi to set up on and beat Special Attackers including Reuniclus and Latios. And of course Wish is as good as ever, allowing effective, if volatile, recovery. Jirachi has been the team member I've been least impressed with and I am considering several changes, including switching to a defensive set, switching to a SubCM set and switching to a Magnezone to alleviate Ferrothorn from troubling my team. I am open to all suggestions here.
Tentacruel (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
Tentacruel was initially placed on the team solely because I needed a Rapid Spinner and Rain+Rapid Spin=Tentacruel. Tentacruel has proven to be even greater than I thought it could be, walling and stalling so much its not funny. Aside from giving my checks to Infernape and Volcorona, Tentacruel acts and an excellent physical wall with its great defensive typing and resistances, which allows me to save Politoed until I need it late game. Scald is the standard dick move that fishes for Burn hax with ease; Tentacruel's good Special Attack means I can use it to take down opponent Substitutes and whatnot as well. Rapid Spin is crucial for this team, although I haven't had much occasion to use it these days. Tentacruel itself absorbs Toxic Spikes for the team, but clearing away Stealth Rock for Gyarados and Spikes for Ferrothorn and Sceptile is huge in ensuring their longevity. My own Toxic Spikes makes my defensive core incredibly difficult to beat if I get a pair of layers down as between the two water types Protects, Gyarados's Intimidate and Ferrothorns resistances little can take down a member quickly. Protect is honestly my favourite move ever for Tentacruel; I used to used a Sub/SD/Protect Tentacruel way back when and being able to stall out any slower mon due to Protect+Rain Dish healing a quarter of my health was precious. Protect is honestly amazing, just as with Gliscor, turning so many 1 or 2HKOs into 2 or 3HKOs that it isn't funny. So yeah, pretty critical mon.
Sceptile (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Sceptile, the Pokemon this team started from, definitely hasn't disappointed from what it was expected to do. While I can't claim its a top-notch underrated threat in OU, its certainly capable of hanging with the big boys, the main asset, of course, being its base 120 Speed, which allows it to outrun just about everything in OU. Although Sceptile is frail, its still capable of switching into resisted hits when it has to, including Rotom-W's Volt Switch, which then allows it to threaten the opponent. Admittedly, Sceptile's role is usually that of clean up, a job it performs admirably, with Grass/Fighting/Ice getting solid coverage on the majority of the tier. As very little can outspeed Sceptile its quite easy to clean through teams, Giga Drain recovering off any Life Orb and residual damage that may be incurred. Unfortunately, Sceptilesuffers early game due to the large number of Pokemon that can take its attacks without too much difficulty when healthy, but fortunately a Life Orb Leaf Storm ensures that they don't remain healthy for long. Despite its flaws Sceptile really does great at its job; the number of Landorus that expect to be faster of to survive a Grass attack is really amusing.
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 56 HP / 248 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
Gyarados...is a huge pivot for my team, Intimidate is just so crucial in walling and checking physical threats. SubBounce has been great for a good while but hasn't seemed to be pulling its weight in this team but I'll get to that later. Substitute protects Gyarados from status, which it abhors, and lets it set up on walls like Gastrodon, especially useful for Jirachi. Dragon Dance is the standard boosting move, etc, and Waterfall powers through things in Rain after a DD. Bounce rounds out coverage and lets me hit things like Celebi that can dick with my team otherwise. There's a few reasons I'm considering adjusting Gyarados. Firstly, its the primary method of dealing with Ferrothorn; Ferrothorn takes ~60% from a Sceppy FB so I usually wear Ferro down with hazards and force it out with Gyarados to kill it. Secondly, Substitute, alongside Stealth Rocks, is brutal on its HP, especially when I don't get Jirachi in too frequently. Thirdly, I use it as a check to a lot of physical threats such as Gliscor before it gets under a Sub as well as Landorus. Changes I'm considering is either making Gyarados bulkier, enough to have its Subs survive a Power Whip from Ferrothorn after Intimidate, or giving Gyarados Taunt over Substitute, or adding Earthquake over Bounce in order to help deal with Toxicroak, as the Bulk Up set is an absolute dick to my team. This and Jirachi are the key points to be addressed.
Ferrothorn (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
Ferrothorn, as mentioned before, was the perfect fit for this team, giving me key resistances to Electric mons (Rotom-W) and a defensive Dragon resist. As my team lacks a spinblocker, Rocky Helmet was something I wanted to throw on to punish Starmie, Forretress and Donphan for staying in on me. It also checks Dragonite under Rain really well, makes it a difficult situation for it to win in. With dual hazards I gain every type of hazard on my team but of course, leave Ferrothorn with no method of recovery outside of Rachi Wishes which are unreliable at best. As such, I figured that Ferrothorn would need as great an offensive presence as possible and so gave it both STABs, the former to handle bulky water and ground mons, especially Gastrodon, and the latter being my Dragon killer (minus Hydreigon). Really there's not much to say about Ferrothorn, it just does its job so well. Leech Seed is missed on occasion, so if I did go to a defensive Jirachi I would definitely put Stealth Rock on it and Leech Seed in place here. The EV spread is full specially defensive because its my only fully specially defensive oriented Pokemon and I needed it to be able to tank Rain boosted Hydro Pumps as best as it could.
Conclusion
This team has been a blast to use, as it fits both my style of play and my preferred weather; abusing Sceptile has been great as well. Of course, there are some holes in places and that's where I'm hoping you guys can help me out :) The only thing I ask when rating is that you keep in mind the synergy of the team as a whole and the playstyle I prefer to use.
Credits
Lady Salamence for creating the team with me and picking out several teammates and sets
Tomohawk9 for suggesting a SubCharge Magnezone that hasn't been used and generally being a good guy
Me for not being too lazy to write this
You for reading it xD
