ORAS OU Mega-Sceptile ORAS OU Team (Welcome to the Jungle)

[nielssenberg]

Hello everybody and welcome to what is my first RMT.

After a six-month break of competitive battling, due to the release of ORAS, I returned last week to the scene in order to prepare my competitive team in-game. I logged in to Showdown with one thing in mind- construct a team based around one of the new megas. Sceptile has been blessed with Sceptilite, finally making one of my favorite Pokemon actually usable in the OU tier. This team has seen a lot of changes since it's inception and I decided to make an account here because I could use some constructive criticism.

Basically my aim with this team is to surprise the opponent with speed, power and bait attacks in order to make safe switch-ins in order to always have momentum. Without any further ado, here's my team!

*EDITS IN RED*

Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Giga Drain Energy Ball
- Detect

I chose to use Mega-Sceptile because of his monstrous Special Attack and blistering Speed. Timid nature over Modest because Sceptile is a glass cannon, whoever strikes first, wins. The moveset is pretty standard but I chose Detect over Substitute because I have found it more useful. In the case I am 1-v-1 vs those one of those pesky Greninjas, I can mega evolve safely on the first turn, to outspeed him the next. It has also been useful against Fake-Outs that may have ended my sweep (M-Lopunny). I can sometimes lead with him to surprise the opponent, mega-evolve safely to gain Lightningrod, and switch accordingly to the situation. I have predicted Rotom-W's Volt-Switch and with Lightningrod, I have proceeded to sweep with my new boost in Sp Attack. Changed Giga Drain for Energy Ball due to reliable power and because health is not important on Mega Sceptile.

Greninja @ Life Orb Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 44 Atk / 212 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- U-turn Low Kick
- Gunk Shot

Greninja... one of the most powerful and unpredictable pokemon on the tier. It's moveset keeps you guessing. I basically chose this pokemon for its ability and its excellent speed stat. Its role on this team is to punch holes into teams and sweep in the late game. It can also take out many checks to Sceptile and bait out electric attacks which an already mega evolved Sceptile can gain boundless power from. Ice beam is for dragons and flying types. Hydro pump for big damage. U-turn to maintain momentum when I predict the opponent to switch. Gunk Shot is his anti-fairy ammunition, the EV spread ensures that it has the potential to OHKO most fairies. One time somebody tried to poison him but couldn't because of his poison typing thanks to Protean. This unpredictability, along with his raw power and speed is what makes this Pokemon so good. Changed Life Orb for Expert Belt because I do not fancy the loss of health that comes with it. Changed U-turn for Low Kick, for dealing with Chansey and Tyranitar.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Roar
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

SpDef Balloon Heatran is absolutely fantastic. A decent bulky switch in. Air balloon and Flash Fire ensures a free switch in against fire and ground attacks. Lava Plume is Heatran's best defensive STAB, allowing it to spread burns while dealing acceptable damage. Roar works quite well with entry hazard support, letting Heatran wear down its counters and simultaneously preventing setup sweepers. Talonflame who is Mega Sceptile's main threat, can't do much to this monster. It baits water attacks to ensure safe switch in to Gastrodon and if the balloon is popped, baits ground types attacks to switch to Zapdos.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 68 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Heat Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Defog

This is his standard bulky set, can surprisingly switch in to a lot of attacks and somewhats checks Talonflame too. This Pokemon is very versatile, it can force switches, defog, tear holes in the opponents team and can tank some attacks. It has also has access to an awesome recovery move, Roost, helping in keeping him alive. Thunderbolt is Zapdos's best STAB option, packing respectable power. Heat Wave is the best option in the last spot to hit Steel-types like Scizor, Bisharp, and Ferrothorn very hard.

Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 108 HP / 152 Atk / 104 Def / 144 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Knock Off Poison Jab

AV Conkeldurr's job in my team is to be my anti-Greninja pokemon and to destroy bulky normal types like Chansey and Porygon 2, which are a problem for my team. It can also easily take hits from both physical and special attackers. Mach punch is for much needed priority in my team, and makes short work of weakened pokemon. It also serves to revenge kill. Drain Punch is an awesome move, deals respectable damage with Iron Fist while keeping you alive. Knock Off provides solid coverage against Ghost- and Psychic-types, hits very hard when the opponent has an item, and also removes said item. Useful when you predict a switch. Ice Punch also provides strong coverage against bulky Ground- and Flying-types. I found my team has trouble killing bulky fairy types like Clefable, so I chose to run Poison Jab over Knock Off solely for that purpose.

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power Earthquake

Last but not least it's Gastrodon... oh my god how this pokemon has earned my respect. It's very rare in OU and with Storm Drain it can soak up Water attacks while boosting his Sp Attack. Gastrodon takes most physical hits very well, so I can use him as shield in some scenarios without any major damage. Scald is a Water-type STAB move that has a high chance to burn, which is good for crippling physical threats. Earth Power is a special Ground-type STAB move that hits Pokemon such as Mega Charizard X and Keldeo for good damage. Ice Beam hits Landorus, Dragonite, and Garchomp decently hard. Recover is reliable recovery along with passive recovery from Leftovers. Gastrodon and Heatran makes up a very good defensive core as Heatran counters most special attackers that can break through Gastrodon, and Gastrodon can take any Water-type move directed at Heatran. Chose to run Earthquake to surprise annoying Pokemon like Chansey and destroy Raikou.



Alternative:

Raikou @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory

I can switch Gastrodon for Choice Scarf Raikou, this Scarf set lets me wreck other Scarf users, who have been a problem for my team. Volt Switch to maintain momentum, thunderbolt because it is far more reliable than Thunder, which I had to learn the hard way, hidden power ice to hit opposing Landorus, Diggersby, Gliscor and dragons, and extrasensory to hit Mega Venusaur. This set runs enough speed to out speed base 145 speed pokes. This pokemon is a problem to a lot of OU pokemon, namely Greninja, Talonflame and lots of other megas like sharpedo, sceptile, slowbro, beedrill and sharpedo.

**Criticism and tips to better improve the team are highly appreciated and will definitely be taken into account of further modifications. Criticism for the post itself is also very much helpful for it is my very first RMT post **

Thanks for your time! ​

 

[oryxslayer]

I have one small suggestion for your team about sceptile. I have a few options that you can try out if you want, Instead of detect, you can choose to run hidden power fire, substitute, or in my opinion the best set, change sceptile to mixed and give him this set:
Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 76 Atk / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Focus Blast
The speed is enough to outspeed timid mega manectric and the 76 evs in attack boost his earthquake's power. Earthquake is used to hurt electric types better, and is a nasty surprise for heatran switching in. Feel free to test, but either way, nice team. Love mega sceptile. :)

 

[MangleyMan]

Hi there! I only have one thought for now because I am in the middle of CAP things, but I will be editing this team when I have time. The first thing I saw was Greninja being a threat to your Gastrodon. Grass Knot will be able to knock it out in one hit with Life Orb and Protean boost. I have come up with a solution to this. Give Gastrodon 8 def and 244 spdef ev's
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 244 SpD Gastrodon: 265-317 (62.2 - 74.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Gastrodon will be able to take a hit and be able to possibly knock out Greninja in the process.
I hoped that this helped you!

 

[nielssenberg]

Hi there! I only have one thought for now because I am in the middle of CAP things, but I will be editing this team when I have time. The first thing I saw was Greninja being a threat to your Gastrodon. Grass Knot will be able to knock it out in one hit with Life Orb and Protean boost. I have come up with a solution to this. Give Gastrodon 8 def and 244 spdef ev's
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 244 SpD Gastrodon: 265-317 (62.2 - 74.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Gastrodon will be able to take a hit and be able to possibly knock out Greninja in the process.
I hoped that this helped you!

Grass Knot Greninja has been a huge threat to my team. Thanks for your help. But Gastrodon is my physical wall and I don't know if it's worth it in the end just to cope with Greninja. Will try it out though.

 

[nielssenberg]

I have one small suggestion for your team about sceptile. I have a few options that you can try out if you want, Instead of detect, you can choose to run hidden power fire, substitute, or in my opinion the best set, change sceptile to mixed and give him this set:
Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 76 Atk / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Focus Blast
The speed is enough to outspeed timid mega manectric and the 76 evs in attack boost his earthquake's power. Earthquake is used to hurt electric types better, and is a nasty surprise for heatran switching in. Feel free to test, but either way, nice team. Love mega sceptile. :)

I have found detect of far more use than substitute so far. Maybe I need some tips on how and when to use substitute correctly. Thanks for your moveset suggestion, Focus Blast is so unreliable, it has missed a couple of times leading to Sceptile's demise. Will see how it goes with my team and make changes if I like them. And as long as he outspeeds greninja, i'm good.

 

[Eik00c]

I'm on my phone so I gotta make this quick. Also, if u were to use sub, use it on predicted switches.

And on the subject of Sceptile, if you're not running Sub then there is no point in Giga Drain. You might argue that recovering your HP is good, but since Sceptile's not supposed to take hits, it's not all that great. Either run Leaf Storm for power or Energy Ball for consistency. 2 Leaf Storms are more powerful than 2 Energy Balls but the choice is yours.

I'll continue on my rate later; I lack the time atm. I'm no longer at school so I can elaborate on my rating!

On Greninja, I suggest changing U-turn for either Dark Pulse, Grass Knot, or HP Fire. Not only do you lose a small amount of HP every time you use U-turn, but it has poor coverage in general. Yes, I know it's for generating momentum, but on a Pokemon like Greninja, who needs all the coverage it can get, it's just not great. If you want a good way of generating momentum, try going for double switches, as I can't see anything that'd want to squeeze in U-turn or Volt Switch on your team, bar Zapdos, but it needs Heat Wave, so yeah.

Instead of using Gastrodon, try using Slowbro instead; Storm Drain may seem appealing, but Gastrodon is a wall, not a sweeper or w/e, so that ability is pretty meh. Regenerator, on the other hand, is just pure awesome; the ability to switch and heal at the same time is just extremely good. Plus, it can still handle the threats that Gastrodon can. Here's the set below:

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off
- Toxic / T-wave

The EV spread allows you to avoid a 2HKO from Specs Keldeo's Hydro Pump after SR.

And for one last change, I suggest fixing Heatran's EV spread and nature a bit. At the very least, give it a Calm nature, just so it can take hits better.

That's all I've got to say. Good luck with your team!

 

[Wreckasaur]

Hi there! I only have one thought for now because I am in the middle of CAP things, but I will be editing this team when I have time. The first thing I saw was Greninja being a threat to your Gastrodon. Grass Knot will be able to knock it out in one hit with Life Orb and Protean boost. I have come up with a solution to this. Give Gastrodon 8 def and 244 spdef ev's
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 244 SpD Gastrodon: 265-317 (62.2 - 74.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Gastrodon will be able to take a hit and be able to possibly knock out Greninja in the process.
I hoped that this helped you!

Mangle I agree

 

[nielssenberg]

I'm on my phone so I gotta make this quick. Also, if u were to use sub, use it on predicted switches.

And on the subject of Sceptile, if you're not running Sub then there is no point in Giga Drain. You might argue that recovering your HP is good, but since Sceptile's not supposed to take hits, it's not all that great. Either run Leaf Storm for power or Energy Ball for consistency. 2 Leaf Storms are more powerful than 2 Energy Balls but the choice is yours.

I'll continue on my rate later; I lack the time atm. I'm no longer at school so I can elaborate on my rating!

On Greninja, I suggest changing U-turn for either Dark Pulse, Grass Knot, or HP Fire. Not only do you lose a small amount of HP every time you use U-turn, but it has poor coverage in general. Yes, I know it's for generating momentum, but on a Pokemon like Greninja, who needs all the coverage it can get, it's just not great. If you want a good way of generating momentum, try going for double switches, as I can't see anything that'd want to squeeze in U-turn or Volt Switch on your team, bar Zapdos, but it needs Heat Wave, so yeah.

Instead of using Gastrodon, try using Slowbro instead; Storm Drain may seem appealing, but Gastrodon is a wall, not a sweeper or w/e, so that ability is pretty meh. Regenerator, on the other hand, is just pure awesome; the ability to switch and heal at the same time is just extremely good. Plus, it can still handle the threats that Gastrodon can. Here's the set below:

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Slack Off
- Toxic / T-wave

The EV spread allows you to avoid a 2HKO from Specs Keldeo's Hydro Pump after SR.

And for one last change, I suggest fixing Heatran's EV spread and nature a bit. At the very least, give it a Calm nature, just so it can take hits better.

That's all I've got to say. Good luck with your team!

I ended up taking out Life Orb on Greninja, not a big fan of him taking damage on top of entry hazards. Gastrodon's job in my team is to be a physical wall absorbing attacks and lashing out respectable damage in return. Tried out Slowbro but on my team, Gastrodon has been more effective, but still undecided on making the switch permanent because I love Regenerator and T-wave support. Thanks for the advice on Heatran, definitely gonna do it.

 

[Eik00c]

I ended up taking out Life Orb on Greninja, not a big fan of him taking damage on top of entry hazards. Gastrodon's job in my team is to be a physical wall absorbing attacks and lashing out respectable damage in return. Tried out Slowbro but on my team, Gastrodon has been more effective, but still undecided on making the switch permanent because I love Regenerator and T-wave support. Thanks for the advice on Heatran, definitely gonna do it.

Imo you should put Life Orb back on Greninja; LO allows Gren to pack more of a punch than Expert Belt. On top of that, Gren has low HP and defenses anyway, so it doesn't matter if it takes LO recoil; it's not going to be living any hit thrown at it anyway.

Concerning your Gastrodon, replacing Slowbro would be the best decision. He can take attacks better than Gastrodon can and he deals more damage than Gastro (w/o a boost). And although Gastro out damages him at +1, Slowbro is better at whittling away at the opponent, thanks to Scald burns and fantastic recovery. As a side note, Slowbro counters Talonflame better than Zapdos. But hey, it's your decision.

Lastly, replacing Conk would make your team extremely weak to Greninja; even then Greninja tends to carry Extrasensory, so that can be a problem. The best Greninja checks tend to be either Tentacruel and Empoleon, and these 2 tend to work best on stall and balance teams. Both mons provide a way of removing hazards with Rapid Spin and Defog, respectively. However, both are 2HKO'd by a coverage move of Greninja's (Low Kick or Extrasensory).

That's all I've got for now.

 

[nielssenberg]

Imo you should put Life Orb back on Greninja; LO allows Gren to pack more of a punch than Expert Belt. On top of that, Gren has low HP and defenses anyway, so it doesn't matter if it takes LO recoil; it's not going to be living any hit thrown at it anyway.

Concerning your Gastrodon, replacing Slowbro would be the best decision. He can take attacks better than Gastrodon can and he deals more damage than Gastro (w/o a boost). And although Gastro out damages him at +1, Slowbro is better at whittling away at the opponent, thanks to Scald burns and fantastic recovery. As a side note, Slowbro counters Talonflame better than Zapdos. But hey, it's your decision.

Lastly, replacing Conk would make your team extremely weak to Greninja; even then Greninja tends to carry Extrasensory, so that can be a problem. The best Greninja checks tend to be either Tentacruel and Empoleon, and these 2 tend to work best on stall and balance teams. Both mons provide a way of removing hazards with Rapid Spin and Defog, respectively. However, both are 2HKO'd by a coverage move of Greninja's (Low Kick or Extrasensory).

That's all I've got for now.

I made Greninja hold E-belt because I have lost him several times when I needed him the most cause of LO recoil. If I replace the Conk it would be for CB Scizor idk. I tested the team with Slowbro but I found Gastrodon to be far more useful to my team in particular. Thanks for your tips though!

 

[nielssenberg]

shameless bump. Really need some tips!