Mega Sceptile has solidified itself as one of the best revenge killers with its massive Speed stat, allowing it to outpace the entire unboosted metagame as well as Choice Scarf users like Gardevoir and Goodra. An amazing offensive typing of Grass / Dragon and a great ability in Lightning Rod allow it to check the tier's Water-, Ground- and Electric-types such as Slowbro, Zygarde-10%, and Choice-locked Raikou. Paired with its excellent Special Attack, this enables it to heavily pressure offensive teams that lack the defensive capabilities to switch into its coverage. However, it has a hard time breaking and cleaning through teams with how easy it is to check offensively and defensively. Faster Choice Scarf users and priority users can punish and revenge kill Mega Sceptile, especially with its frailty and wide range of common weaknesses. Mega Sceptile is comfortably checked by the tier's abundance of naturally bulky specially defensive Pokemon such as Florges and Mandibuzz and completely walled by the tier's Steel-types like Bronzong and Registeel, especially with its inability to easily fit all the coverage options it wants like Hidden Power Fire. Mega Sceptile also faces a lot of competition from the tier's Grass-types in Virizion, Shaymin, and Roserade, which can do its job of pressuring Water- and Ground-types while providing more utility and not taking up the Mega slot. Mega Sceptile struggles to take advantage of its resistances due to a large majority of the metagame having coverage options that punish it, such as Ice Beam on Mega Blastoise, which it is unable to tank due to its frailness and 4x weakness. This is less of an issue for other Grass- and Dragon-types like Shaymin and Goodra by virtue of their natural bulk and singular typing.
[SET]
name: Leech Seed + Protect
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Dragon Pulse
move 3: Protect
move 4: Leech Seed
item: Sceptilite
ability: Overgrow
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Leaf Storm provides Mega Sceptile with a strong Grass-type STAB move that does a lot of damage to most Pokemon that don't resist it, allowing it to be an excellent revenge killer. Dragon Pulse is Mega Sceptile's best Dragon-type STAB move, which provides fantastic neutral coverage to hit Pokemon like Mandibuzz, Roserade, and Arcanine that it wouldn't be able to break with just Grass coverage. It also allows it to offensively check the tier's prominent Dragon-types such as Tyrantrum, Noivern, and Mega Ampharos. Protect is vital for avoiding First Impression from Golisopod and scouting what Mega Sceptile's revenge killers lock themselves into, as well as making Mega Sceptile tougher to revenge kill. Leech Seed is used in tandem with Protect to annoy and whittle down Mega Sceptile's switch-ins and give it a form of passive recovery, which is important to mitigate how fast it gets worn down by entry hazards and the weak coverage moves it can switch into. Hidden Power Fire is an option to make breaking past Steel-types easier, with the primary target being Metagross. However, it doesn't do much to bulky Steel-types like Bronzong and Registeel, leaving Mega Sceptile still vulnerable to being walled by them.
Set Details
========
A Timid nature is used to allow Mega Sceptile to outspeed Choice Scarf Pokemon with base 80 Speed like Gardevoir. If dropped in Overgrow range, regular Sceptile has a stronger Leaf Storm than after Mega Evolving, which can be useful in some scenarios. Upon Mega Evolving, it is granted access to Lightning Rod, which is a useful tool to prevent Electric-type moves from being spammed. However, the Electric-types in the tier have the necessary coverage options to punish Mega Sceptile from recklessly switching in on them.
Usage Tips
========
Mega Sceptile's blistering Speed allows it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame and a few of the tier's potent Choice Scarf users like Tyrantrum, Goodra, and Gardevoir, allowing it to be an effective revenge killer. However, it needs a few of these threats to be worn down in order to take them out; this can be achieved via setting up entry hazards early. For instance, Gardevoir is required to switch into Stealth Rock twice in order for Leaf Storm to OHKO it, and offensive Shaymin must switch into Stealth Rock once to be 2HKOed by Dragon Pulse. Mega Sceptile shouldn't aim to fire off Leaf Storm recklessly, as most of the tier can take advantage of it after the Special Attack drop. Leaf Storm should only be used if the power is needed to revenge kill something; otherwise, Leech Seed is a safe middle ground to annoy and soften a lot of its switch-ins without giving up much momentum. Despise its great frailty, Mega Sceptile's typing and ability Lightning Rod allow it to switch into a few Water- and Electric-type attacks from Pokemon like Slowbro and Raikou to get a free turn to fire off a strong attack. However, this can't be done without the risk of being predicted and hit with super effective coverage such as Ice Beam from the former and Hidden Power Ice from the latter, so this shouldn't be done liberally. While Mega Evolving does give Mega Sceptile a great set of resistances, it is imperative to know when to do so. An Overgrow-boosted Leaf Storm could be important in some situations, and staying in base forme allows it to eat moves like Donphan's Ice Shard, which it wouldn't be able to do once Mega Evolved. While Mega Sceptile has an unmatched Speed tier, it can easily be revenge killed by priority users like Golisopod and Metagross or faster Choice Scarf users like Noivern, Salazzle, and Flygon. In the case of Golisopod, it is important to use Protect to avoid being taken out by First Impression, while the other examples can be scouted for what coverage options they have and which one they lock themselves into.
Team Options
========
Mega Sceptile fits best on offensive or balance teams that value the revenge killing capabilities it provides thanks to its Speed tier and ability to pressure Water- and Ground-types and prevent Electric-types from spamming their STAB coverage. Slowbro is an example of a Pokemon that appreciates Mega Sceptile's ability to pressure Water- and Electric- types it struggles with, and it is capable of handling threats like Toxicroak and Donphan, which can revenge kill Mega Sceptile, in return. Entry hazard setters help put foes in range for Mega Sceptile to KO them and can make it less reliant on spamming Leaf Storm, allowing it to avoid the Special Attack drop. Rhyperior and Diancie can set up hazards for Mega Sceptile to guarantee the OHKO on the likes of Salazzle and Yanmega while also being able to switch into a majority of Mega Sceptile's revenge killers like Noivern and Salazzle. Spikes users like Golisopod help chip Steel-type switch-ins, allowing Sceptile to beat them a lot more easily. Golisopod also is a good blanket check to Donphan and Zygarde-10%, which threaten Mega Sceptile. Nidoqueen is another good partner that pressures the Steel- and Fairy-types that check Mega Sceptile while being able to set Stealth Rock too. It also has access to Toxic Spikes, which works phenomenally in tandem with Leech Seed + Protect to rack up damage on foes and bring them in range for Mega Sceptile to finish off. Steel-types such as Bronzong and Metagross have a lot of synergy with Mega Sceptile by virtue of their ability to check the Dragon-, Ice-, and Flying-types that threaten it. Wallbreakers like Machamp and Arcanine help weaken Mega Sceptile's checks like Florges, Snorlax, and Steel-types, potentially allowing it to clean up late-game. Mega Sceptile's frailty makes it susceptible to being revenge killed easily, so Choice Scarf users like Salazzle and Gardevoir can help make up for this. Salazzle pressures Steel-types and Florges for Mega Sceptile, while Gardevoir can provide utility in the form of Will-O-Wisp, Trick, or Healing Wish.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Swords Dance provides Mega Sceptile with a way of breaking past a few of its conventional checks like Florges and Snorlax after a boost. Furthermore, if a team has been severely weakened and Mega Sceptile's revenge killers have been removed, it has the potential to sweep, unlike sets relying on Leaf Storm as their main damaging tool. However, this set is very weak unboosted, which worsens its matchup against offense due to its frailty leaving it with minimal chances to set up. Mega Sceptile also must compete for the role of a physical Grass-type with other Pokemon in the tier, mainly Virizion, which can perform the role of a Swords Dance user better. The main advantage Mega Sceptile has over Virizion is the set's surprise factor, which can potentially give it a few set up opportunities. Mega Sceptile can also run several coverage options such as Earthquake to help break some of its Steel-type checks and most notably pick up the KO on Salazzle and help to revenge kill a weakened Calm Mind Raikou; however, outside of this it isn't very useful. Mega Sceptile also is left even more vulnerable to walls like Bronzong with having to drop Leech Seed, and Earthquake notably doesn't do a lot of damage to Steel-types in comparison to Hidden Power Fire. Focus Blast is another coverage option that hits much harder than Hidden Power Fire against Steel-types weak to Fighting coverage; however, it comes at the cost of being inaccurate and a lot less useful against Steel-types like Bronzong and Escavalier that take it neutrally.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Steel-types**: Mega Sceptile struggles to break down Steel-types effectively, as it usually can't fit Hidden Power Fire, so it must rely on Leech Seed to slowly chip away at them. Offensive Steel-types like Metagross and Escavalier can use the free switch to fire off a strong attack, while more passive ones like Registeel and Bronzong can use Mega Sceptile as an opportunity to set up entry hazards or spread status.
**Grass-types**: Mega Sceptile both faces competition from the tier's Grass-types and struggles to break past a lot of them. Virizion and Shaymin can directly switch into Mega Sceptile and proceed to recover off the damage taken and force it out. Roserade can't comfortably switch in, as it fears Dragon Pulse, but it can take one hit and proceed to KO Mega Sceptile in return.
**Special Walls**: Florges and Cresselia have enough Special Defense to always take minimal damage from Mega Sceptile's attacks and retaliate with their own coverage options or recover off the damage. While Snorlax and Umbreon don't resist Leaf Storm, they take minimal damage from it and can proceed to stall out its PP, especially in conjunction with the Special Attack drop. Dragalge and Goodra can stomach a hit thanks to their natural special bulk and OHKO Mega Sceptile in return.
**Faster Pokemon and Priority**: Choice Scarf Salazzle and Noivern can revenge kill Mega Sceptile thanks to its numerous weaknesses to common types like Ice and Flying; however, Mega Sceptile can scout what they lock themselves into by using Protect. Priority moves like First Impression from Golisopod, Ice Shard from Donphan, and Extreme Speed from Zygarde-10% can pick off Mega Sceptile. Golisopod's priority can be avoided with Protect, letting Mega Sceptile punish it with a Leaf Storm after, but it will still be forced out or revenge killed by the other priority users.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Twilight, 344575]]
- Quality checked by: [[zizalith, 410251], [phantom, 180300], [Averado, 409096]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Fireflame479, 231476]]
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