Mega Sceptile [QC: 0/3]

[Lunaflare]

[OVERVIEW]

With great offensive stats, excellent coverage moves, and a diverse movepool, Sceptile is an offensive Grass-type that excels at cleaning the opposing team once it's been weakened. Lightning Rod allows Mega Sceptile to use opposing Electric-type attacks to raise its own Special Attack stat. However, Mega Sceptile is rather frail thanks to a 4x weakness to ice and below average defense stats. Additionally, it is prone to being revenge killed by common Choice Scarf users such as Toxicroak, Salazzle, and Flygon.

[SET]
name: All-Out Special Attacker
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Dragon Pulse/Earthquake
item: Sceptilite
ability: Overgrow
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Leaf Storm is Mega Sceptile's most powerful STAB move, OHKOing pokemon such as Cloyster and 2HKOing Diancie. Additionally, it hits pokemon such as Toxicroak and Galvantula hard despite the grass resist. Giga Drain is an extremely spammable move, healing Mega Sceptile while dealing damage in order to keep it healthy. Hidden Power Ice is used to hit Flying-types such as Noivern and Swellow, OHKOing both after stealth rock damage. Dragon Pulse is used to hit offensive Dragalge, Salazzle, and other Pokemon that resist both Grass and Ice harder than any other moves. Earthquake could be used in the last slot to hit Fire-types and Steel-types other than Bronzong hard, yet you'd need to run a Naive or Hasty nature to get the most out of it.

Set Details
========

A Timid nature and 252 Speed EVs allow Mega Sceptile to have a blistering speed stat of 427, outspeeding every other Pokemon in the tier. 252 Special Attack EVs bump the aforementioned stat to 389. Investing the maximum amount of EVS mentioned in this set is crucial to ensure that Mega Sceptile can be as threatening as it can. Switching the EVs to 52 Atk / 200 SpA / 252 Spe if you're running Earthquake is another option.

Usage Tips
========

Because Sceptile is so frail, using a slow pivot such as Golisopod or sending it in after a teammate has fainted to send it in are ideal. Mega evolve Sceptile as soon as you can, because its stats are dramatically increased upon mega evolution.

Team Options
========

Slow pivots such as Golisopod, Mandibuzz, or Tsareena are able to ensure that Mega Sceptile can switch in safely. Fire-types such as Arcanine and Alolan Marowak can defeat opposing Ice-types that would otherwise wall Mega Sceptile. Entry setters such as Rhyperior and Donphan can set up Stealth Rock, allowing Mega Sceptile to OHKO threats such as Swellow. Rhyperior also compliments Mega Sceptile well thanks to the two covering eachother's weaknesses.



[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A Swords Dance set with Leaf Blade, Earthquake, and Dragon Claw with 252 Atk / 252 Spe is another option, yet you'd be missing out on Leaf Storm's awesome power. Dragon Claw could be used over Outrage on the mixed set, but Outrage has more power. Focus Blast is another option for the last moveslot, yet the Steel-types in the tier also have a secondary typing that resists Fighting, so its not as good as it sounds.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Ice-types**: Due to Mega Sceptile's 4x weakness to Ice, Pokemon such as Donphan carrying Ice Shard and Cloyster can cause a lot of pressure. However, they do not like being switched into STAB Grass-type moves.

**Flying-types**: Powerful Flying-types such as Swellow and Noivern can OHKO Sceptile with their STAB moves. However, Hidden Power Ice deals a ton of damage to both.

**Fire-types** Mega Sceptile can't really do much against the likes of Drapion and Toxicroak. Despite the fact that they can KO Mega Sceptile with their STAB Poison-type moves, they should be wary of sets with Earthquake.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[ Lunaflare ]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

 

[Lunaflare]

Author's note: I will proofread this when I'm less tired.

Edit: Nevermind, I'm always tired.

 

[JustoonSmitts]

Ok, I'm not QC but I have suggestions and it would require you to rewrite the whole analysis. I'm sorry if I sound harsh but reading this makes me think you don't know how to use Mega Sceptile at all. You also need to use bullet points for certain sections instead of writing it all out in paragraphs. You need to wait until you get 2 QC checks to write it up in paragraphs.

Mega Sceptile's niche is that it's the fastest non Choiced Pokemon in the tier. It's effectively a Choice Scarf Pokemon that can freely change up its moves. In fact, it outspeeds Base 80 Pokemon with a Choice Scarf. That's what you should be focusing on. Lightning Rod does give it neat tech, but every Electric-type can deal with Sceptile. In fact, it has major issues against Substitute variants of Raikou. It also lacks a reliable way to boost its power. That's why it faces competition from other Grass types like Virizion and Shaymin since they can boost their stats. It also has less defensive utility than other Mega Pokemon like Mega Blastoise and Mega Ampharos. Also, Ice-type Pokemon are not common in RUand you don't need to say it's 4x weak to Ice moves. That's something you can easily see in the Smogon Dex.

That set is not correct. The set needs to be this:
[SET]
name: All-Out Special Attacker
move 1: Protect
move 2: Leaf Storm / Giga Drain
move 3: Dragon Pulse
move 4: Leech Seed / Hidden Power Fire
item: Sceptilite
ability: Overgrow
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Protect is extremely important so that it can safely Mega Evolve and so that it can stop Golisopod from revenge killing it with First Impression. Leech Seed improves its matchup against defensive switch ins like Metagross, Florges, and Snorlax and can be abused with Protect.

You also don't need to say how fast or how strong the Pokemon is in numeric values. You're just giving Dex data at that point.

The usage tips and team options are REALLY bare bones. Again, you don't properly explain how to use it. It's a revenge killer, not a sweeper. I would not consider Golisopod a pivot. It would have been better if you mentioned something like Forretress or Mandibuzz. And if you're concerned about taking Ice-type attacks, why are there no mentions of a Fire or Steel type partner?

You need to mention special walls and revenge killers in the checks and counters section. Ice-type moves are more common than Ice-types themselves in RU, so you might want to reword that. Delete the Flying-type section. The only one that really threatens it is Choice Scarf Noivern and that is better in the revenge killer category. Oh, and Drapion and Toxicroak are not Fire types!!

I'm sorry, but this is far from QC ready.

 

[phantom]

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of issues with this analysis, including having useless moves like HP Ice over Dragon Pulse, a timid attacking set with earthquake, and the analysis being written up before a single QC check. The analysis in general shows lack of meta knowledge, such as listing Golisopod as a pivot, Tsareena as a partner, Ice Shard Cloyster, and listing Drapion and Toxicroak as counters when both are 2HKOed by Dragon Pulse. There are too many issues with this analysis, so it will be reassigned. Feel free to look at RU forum resources to get a better feel for the tier before diving in again.