VGC Having some fun with Contrary Serperior

[Steven Stone]

Honestly, reading my signature tells enough about me n_n. Let's focus on the main thing that will be the team:

The team goal was to test one of the most controversial HA release in this generation, Contrary Serperior, to see how well it fares on the actual VGC metagame, and even see if it's viable enough to win some tournaments or to help people that want to use this starter (my favorite from gen 5, that is) out.

This was the teambuilding process:

Serperior had to be here. It is our main goal of this team to prove how good Serperior actually is.

I know for a fact that Serperior Leaf Storm isn't going to be enough to make it viable, so i paired it with Liepard. Why? Because Liepard is one of the few mons that can actually raise Serperior's Special Defense by the use of the fastest Fake Tears in the metagame. It also weakens other mon's Special Defense sometimes so i thought it was worth a try.

Well, here we had weaknesses to Ice, Bug, Fighting, Fairy, Flying and Poison, so i thought about a Pokémon that could wall everything of those, Counter Sylveon and other Hyper Voice users and benefit from Liepard's Fake Tears. The one that fitted that purpose was Aegislash, as it provides vital Wide Guard support to Serperior and Liepard, resist all of those weaknesses and it's a good mon overall.

Well, hitting Steel Types hard and having a really good coverage was the reason why Mega Kangaskhan is here. My team looks already quite frail so this is a Bulky Mega Kangaskhan. Also provides Ghost inmunity, good for Aegislash.

Three words....Mega Charizard Y. That's the main reason why Heatran is here. Also protects Kangaskhan from burns.

Zapdos was here to patch the obvious Fighting weakness i had. Also, my team is rather slow so Tailwind Support was nice for the team.

Ok, with the team complete, let's get started.

Liepard (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Fake Out
- Fake Tears
- Encore

Well, Liepard is mainly here due to Prankster Fake Tears into Serperior. It is also a nice answer to TR teams and to Swagger strats because of Taunt. Fake Out provides utility and many of you already knows why, and encore beats moves like WoW from Gengar, Protect and other stuff quite easily.

Serperior (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Contrary
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 120 Def / 100 SpA / 36 SpD / 140 Spe (Credit to Shaian for the EV spread update)
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect

Ok, we arrive to the conclusion that Serperior cannot use a Offensive Set at all. It's just too frail and it doesn't have the best attack stat. Suicune is a defensive mon that can set up Calm Mind and sweep, so i told myself...why i don't do this with Serperior? The given EV spread is a really complex one that i made 5 days ago and i don't remember the details, but i know for sure it can survive Max Attack Mega Kangaskhan Double Edge 100% of the time even without the Sitrus Berry, and it can outspeed Adamant Max Speed Landorus-T if not scarfed. Also, can outspeed EVERYTHING on the metagame after a Tailwind, as it hits a maximum speed of 300. Leaf Storm for obvious reasons and Dragon Pulse is her coverage moves, Hidden Power is mainly to check Landorus-T.

Aegislash (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 108 SpA / 100 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
- Wide Guard

My personal EV spread for Aegislash, made to have almost 100% chance to endure LO Adamant Bisharp's Knock Off and Modest Specs Hydreigon's Dark Pulse. Pretty powerful after the +2, it can OHKO Sylveon after the WP bonus, and it's powerful.

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Kangaskhan @ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy --> Parental Bond
Level: 50
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Def / 52 SpD / 68 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Low Kick
- Return
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch

Another special EV spread made by me, as it can outspeed Max Speed base 145 and has enough bulk to survive LO Modest Draco Meteor from Hydreigon and Low Kick from Adamant Mega Kangaskhan. Low Kick is used over Power-Up Punch because it's a pretty powerful move, OHKO a lot of threads and i wanted to try out the Low Kick Variant

Zapdos @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 76 SpA / 156 SpD / 20 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Tailwind
- Hidden Power [Ice]

To be honest with you, i don't know what this Zapdos EV spread does either. I'm pretty sure this was one of the Standard Zapdos EV spreads in VGC'14, and i'm pretty sure it can live an Ice Beam from LO modest Ludicolo 100% of the time.

Heatran (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Substitute

This is the standard Heatran EV spread, made to outspeed non-speed invested Rotom and Max Speed Jolly Tyranitar (or at least, i suppose) and have enough power to deal a huge amount of damage. After a -2 on Sp.Def provided by Liepard, this baby can OHKO almost everything that's not under rain with Flash Cannon, and still do a pretty solid amount of damage with Heat Wave.

 

[Godsend]

The only thing I noticed is that Serp+Aegi seems kinda bad because, if I'm not mistaken (please correct me if I am) but King's Shield would give the opponent +2 attack because Contrary reverses all stat changes on the field. I don't know anything else about vgc so I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful, just be careful with those two I guess.

 

[Nightingales]

Serp barely ever runs a Physical set if I'm correct, so I think that King's Shield wouldn't be an issue.

I'll give some actual advice in a bit when my mind wakes up.

 

[shaian]

Contrary only reverses stat changes for the individual mon. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of serperior competitively, as it's offensive output even at +2 or +3 is just pitiful, but regardless, it's nice seeing people find interesting ways to use their favourite mons. As for for my recommendation, I think it's worth pointing out that you actually have 8 wasted EV's on your current spread; a spread of 108 HP / 120 Def / 100 SpA / 36 SpD / 140 Spe hits the same benchmarks your current spread does, but has 1 more speed point, letting you outrun modest max speed Hydreigon (and also has 4 EVs left over, which literally can't be used anywhere kms).

 

[Steven Stone]

Contrary only reverses stat changes for the individual mon. Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of serperior competitively, as it's offensive output even at +2 or +3 is just pitiful, but regardless, it's nice seeing people find interesting ways to use their favourite mons. As for for my recommendation, I think it's worth pointing out that you actually have 8 wasted EV's on your current spread; a spread of 108 HP / 120 Def / 100 SpA / 36 SpD / 140 Spe hits the same benchmarks your current spread does, but has 1 more speed point, letting you outrun modest max speed Hydreigon (and also has 4 EVs left over, which literally can't be used anywhere kms).

Ok, gonna update the thread. Also, serperior can run mixed with Knock Off as A LOT of things in VGC abuse intimidate. But i prefer Special because Swagger lowers your attack, so it's pretty nice to check Swagger Strats. Also, i realised how good can Serperior be against Gengar, Suicune and Cresselia as many people forget that Speed lower actually raises you Speed. It's a pretty fun mon to use, and try it out. Also, i'm thinking on running HP ground over ice on serperior because +2 Leaf Storm already does a ton to Landorus-T and mons like Heatran completely walls Serperior. What do you think about it?

 

[Steven Stone]

The only thing I noticed is that Serp+Aegi seems kinda bad because, if I'm not mistaken (please correct me if I am) but King's Shield would give the opponent +2 attack because Contrary reverses all stat changes on the field. I don't know anything else about vgc so I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful, just be careful with those two I guess.

No, contrary only works on the mon that has it as ability. Otherwise Serperior will be WAY more used than it is already.

 

[shaian]

If you were to run Hidden Power Ground, I would recommend switching to a far more offensively oriented spread, because as it stands right now, at +0 Hidden Power Ground doesn't 3hko bulkier variants of Heatran, and barely has a chance to 2hko faster variants. And at +2, has a less than 50% chance to ohko fast variants, and doesn't ohko bulkier ones. You could always switch to a modest set, and up the Spa investment to mitigate this, or switch to a boosting item such as a Life Orb or EBelt. As for the mixed set, I feel like that would work decently, though Knock Off alone doesn't seem worthwhile.