ORAS OU Mega-Sceptile Team (First RMT)

[Niyko]

Introduction
( Sorry for potential mistakes format- and grammar- wise, since this is my first RMT and english is not my native language)
Hey there! This is the very first Pokémon-Team I've built yet, and it was fun doing so. Altough I'm not new to Pokémon in general, I am kinda new to the competitive aspect. My previous Team was one I almost 1-1 copied from a Friend to get some Online experience. That being said, I wanted to make a Team with Mega-Sceptile since it's one of my absolute favourites. Since this forum has helped many other players, I thought I'd give it a try myself and get some advice from real experts =D.
(Note: Rotom-W and Talonflame would be good in this Team, but I really don't want to use them since I don't like Rotom-W's design and I've used Talonflame too many times. Too boring in my opinion :/)

The Team


Scpetile @Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 8 Hp / 76 Atk / 252 SAtk / 176 Spe
Naive (+Spd, -SDef)
- Leaf Storm / Energy Ball

- Earthquake

- HP Fire

- Dragon Pulse

This is the main Pokémon of this Team. It's just meant to deal huge amounts of damage, but since I really dislike the 70% accuracy of Focus Blast, I thought it would be a better idea to play it mixed and go with EQ and destroy Heatran/Magnezone. Dragon Pulse as STAB and to destroy dragons like Latias/Latios. I'm not too sure whether I should go with Leaf Storm or Energy Ball, 2 Leaf Storms are still stronger than 2 Energy Balls, but after that I'd definitely have to switch out.
176 Spe to outpseed M-Lopunny and M-Manectric
Naive nature because Sceptile still does loads of damage with 145 base SAtk.
What do you guys think works better here, fully specially offensive or mixed set?


Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 68 Spd / 252 Hp / 192 SDef
Calm (+SDef, -Atk)
- Taunt

- Stealth Rock

- Lava Plume

- Roar

Heatran and Slowbro build the defensive core of this Team. Heatran resists Sceptiles weaknesses while Slowbro resists Heatrans weaknesses. Stealth Rock to hit those birds and do some overall pre-damage for Sceptile to sweep. Roar can help dealing SR damage and eventually create some free switch-ins and momentum for me. Lava Plume as STAB.
68 Spd to stop things like Mandibuzz, Suicune or Venusaur from Defog, Synthesis, Roost, Calm Mind etc. using Taunt. Rest of the EVs go to HP and SDef, Calm nature to boost it even further. Heatran baits water attacks, one can use this to regenerate Hp on Slowbro.
Note: If I'm not playing Item-Clause, then I'll probably just give Heatran and Slowbro Leftovers.


Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 44 SAtk / 252 Hp / 212 Def
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
- Slack Off

- Scald

- Ice Beam

- Thunderwave Psyshock

Slowbro is the second part of the defensive core. It's my physical wall, so I chose to put all my EVs and Nature into Def, except 44 SAtk. I used a damage calculator, and with 44 SAtk Slowbro is able to 100% 0HKO Garchomp and with a chance of ~56% 0HKO Mega Garchomp (100% If already taken Stealth Rock damage) at Lv.-50. Also helps against Gliscor. Scald as STAB and to potentially cripple physical threats, as well as T-Wave. I also considered Gastrodon, but Regenerator is a better ability than Storm-Drain since Gastrodon wouldn't stay in for too long anyways.



Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream / Unnerve
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Hard (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch Pursuit (Thanks to MaChew94 )
- Stone-Edge / Rock Slide

- Earthquake

- DDance / Rock Polish / Stealth Rock

Talonflame is one of the most common OU threats, and I really needed a counter for that. Did not want to use Rhyperior since he has too many weaknesses, so Tyranitar came into my mind. Looks cool, and while completely stopping Talonflame from doing literally anything, can attack pretty hard. At LV. 50, it has 120 SDef. Sand Stream boosts it by 50% and Assault Vest boosts it by another 50%. Not sure if I'll end up having 240 SDef or 270, don't really know how it's calculated, but that's enough SDef to take some hits, so there is no SDef investment. Instead, I chose to go with 252 Hp and 4 Def, since he has 130 Def-points without investment, there is also no real need here. That paired with 252 Hp makes him take hits both physically and specially, while still dealing tons of damage with 252 Atk and the Hard nature. Crunch and Stone Edge/Rock Slide for that STAB damage, Earthquake as coverage. On the 4th slot, I couldn't decide between DDance and Rock Polish, where Stealth Rock is also an option if Heatran's rocks fail for some reason. Heatran, Excadrill and Gliscor are all not affected by Sandstorm, which is great and actually helps Gliscor stalling.


Excadrill @Focus Sash Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Hp
Hard (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake

- Rapid Spin

- Iron Head

- Rock Slide Brick Break

When there is Tyranitar, there also is an Excadrilll. They have great synergy and since I run Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin makes more sense than Defog. But I have problems to decide here: Not sure if I really need that much Speed investment since Sandstorm doubles it anyways. If I went defensive and Tyranitar has not set up a Sandstorm, then I'm too slow to hit anything. So I thought going 252 Spd with *2 Sandstorm will outspeed Scarfers, and the Focus Sash is my best defensive option here.


Gliscor @ Toxic-Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 Hp / 208 Def / 56 Spd or 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish (+Def, -SAtk)
- Toxic

- Protect / Roost

- Ice Fang / Knock off

- Taunt

Last but not least: Gliscor. I needed something against Ground-Type, and since Gliscor doesn't get affected by the Sandstorm too and is immune against ground, he fits the bill. But there's lots of options here. Since my team is already specially defensive, I thought another physically defensive Poke that can break stalls would be great. 56 Spd would make him outspeed the 70-Base Spd's like Bisharp and the uninvested 100-Base Spd's. Taunt for Stallbreak, Toxic for reliable Damage every turn. Now I could either run Roost to recover from taken Damage every round or Protect to negate Damage every round, not sure what's more effective. Ice Fang against Flying-Types or Knock Off to not get walled-out by Gengar.
Hopefully you can help me decide^^.



Now, that's what I've built so far (with the help of a friend) and spent quite some time in. Every Pokémon is replaceable except Sceptile, because that's a Pokémon I really wanted to make a team with. The team worked on showdown, but I'm sure it can get better.
If you have any suggestions or think the team is overall just bad, please let me know!

Thanks for reading. Have a great time playing Pokémon! :)

 

[Reiddos]

Cool Team man :))).
I'm not fantastic at rating teams overall but one nitpick i'd give is to replace your sash on excadrill for a life orb because i can't ever realllllly see it being a useful item most of the time. I could understand if it wasn't paired with ttar but if it's running rapid spin then it's going to be breaking its sash to clear hazards anyway and switching it in on pokemon that do super effective damage to it doesnt really seem all that smart considering it's mean to be a sand sweeper :))>
anyway nice team ^^

 

[Niyko]

Cool Team man :))).
I'm not fantastic at rating teams overall but one nitpick i'd give is to replace your sash on excadrill for a life orb because i can't ever realllllly see it being a useful item most of the time. I could understand if it wasn't paired with ttar but if it's running rapid spin then it's going to be breaking its sash to clear hazards anyway and switching it in on pokemon that do super effective damage to it doesnt really seem all that smart considering it's mean to be a sand sweeper :))>
anyway nice team ^^

Thanks, I tried only using Mons that I like visually ^^ Now that you say it, Life Orb really is the better choice here since Excadrill does not want to get hit in the first place.

 

[MaChew94]

Hey man I'm on my mobile so ill try to keep this short and concise. If you don't like the recoil damage of life orb on E-drill, air balloon is a good choice, but both are fine. However, id recommend an air balloon on heat ran because until it's popped it completely negates the earth weakness and lets you switch into an earthquake with impunity.

Although crunch damage is nice on T-tar, I'd recommend pursuit instead. If the target is switching, it bumps up to 80 damage, same as crunch, and gets priority, allowing you to trap certain psychic types like lati@s, mew, alakazam and metagross and ohko them, as well as being able to revenge kill lower health targets. The combo of assault best and sandstorm is really intriguing though, and as far as I can tell should just double your spdef out right.

Lastly, you said you need help with your Gliscor, and the main set that runs around is a protect / substitute / toxic / earthquake. You could run toxic / protect / ice fang / substitute or put an EQ in there, but basically using protect is your best bet, especially if they're poisoned.

Other than that, it looks ok. You're gonna have some trouble off a belly drum azumarril and Keldeo, unless you can get them on the switch of your sceptile, but with pursuit on your T-tar you can check a lot of threats like lati@s who are rampaging the meta right now.

Peace!

 

[Niyko]

Hey man I'm on my mobile so ill try to keep this short and concise. If you don't like the recoil damage of life orb on E-drill, air balloon is a good choice, but both are fine. However, id recommend an air balloon on heat ran because until it's popped it completely negates the earth weakness and lets you switch into an earthquake with impunity.

Although crunch damage is nice on T-tar, I'd recommend pursuit instead. If the target is switching, it bumps up to 80 damage, same as crunch, and gets priority, allowing you to trap certain psychic types like lati@s, mew, alakazam and metagross and ohko them, as well as being able to revenge kill lower health targets. The combo of assault best and sandstorm is really intriguing though, and as far as I can tell should just double your spdef out right.

Lastly, you said you need help with your Gliscor, and the main set that runs around is a protect / substitute / toxic / earthquake. You could run toxic / protect / ice fang / substitute or put an EQ in there, but basically using protect is your best bet, especially if they're poisoned.

Other than that, it looks ok. You're gonna have some trouble off a belly drum azumarril and Keldeo, unless you can get them on the switch of your sceptile, but with pursuit on your T-tar you can check a lot of threats like lati@s who are rampaging the meta right now.

Peace!

Yes, Keldeo is a threat. If I ran psyshock on Slowbro, I should be able to break it's sub. Would exchanging T-Wave for Psyshock be a good idea solely for that purpose?

 

[TPP]

Yes, Keldeo is a threat. If I ran psyshock on Slowbro, I should be able to break it's sub. Would exchanging T-Wave for Psyshock be a good idea solely for that purpose?

I'm gonna make this a quick one and it'll help with a few threats/walls.

Since you aren't running max speed, you can change your EV's to 8 HP / 76 Atk / 252 SpA / 176 Speed. The speed puts you at 407 so you outspeed Mega Lopunny and Mega Manectric, and the extra EV's went into attack. 76 attack EV does the same damage as 84 EV so I put the remaining 8 in HP (you'll still be at an odd number so that's good).

Keldeo is a huge threat for your team so I agree that Psyshock > T-wave would work.

Since you don't have a setup sweeper, you can run the Swords Dance set on Gliscor. Sadly, I'm actually not sure what it is since it's not on Smogon Dex, but I think it's Earthquake > Toxic, Knock Off > Ice Fang, and Swords Dance > Taunt. As for the EV spread it might be physically defensive or specially defensive, and unfortunately, I don't know since I never run Gliscor. Hopefully someone else can help with that. If you run the SD Set, you'll be able to defeat Mega Venusaur, which basically walls your team and looks very difficult to KO.

Finally, I think you should run Leftovers > Air Balloon on Heatran since it has no recovery, and it's a good check to Latios and Latias.

That's it for now, Hope I helped ^_^

 

[Niyko]

I'm gonna make this a quick one and it'll help with a few threats/walls.

Since you aren't running max speed, you can change your EV's to 8 HP / 76 Atk / 252 SpA / 176 Speed. The speed puts you at 407 so you outspeed Mega Lopunny and Mega Manectric, and the extra EV's went into attack. 76 attack EV does the same damage as 84 EV so I put the remaining 8 in HP (you'll still be at an odd number so that's good).

Thanks for the calculations on Sceptile, sounds great ^^

Swords Dance set on Gliscor. Sadly, I'm actually not sure what it is since it's not on Smogon Dex, but I think it's Earthquake > Toxic, Knock Off > Ice Fang, and Swords Dance > Taunt. As for the EV spread it might be physically defensive or specially defensive, and unfortunately, I don't know since I never run Gliscor. Hopefully someone else can help with that. If you run the SD Set, you'll be able to defeat Mega Venusaur, which basically walls your team and looks very difficult to KO.

That Set would then be
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
244 Hp / 208 Def / 56 Spd
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- EQ
- Ice Fang
I guess? Yes, Mega Venusaur is something that threatens me a lot. But changing the entire concept of a Staller/Stallbreaker to a Swordsdance sweeper? In this case, I could just replace Gliscor. Would you know any good replacement for this team?
Thanks for your suggestions, really appreciate it :)

 

[MaChew94]

Yeah, t-wave is cool and all, but you really need a solid counter to keld, and psyshock does that for you. If, because it has regen, you're using it as a pivot, you could swap out slack off for it, and keep t-wave AND psyshock, but thats completely a suggestion. I'd reccomend pay shock in that move set.

I noticed your T-tar set is still a little iffy. One stealth Rock user is fine, if you can't get them set, it's no biggie, but don't waste two move slots. Now, T-tar has so many options, but I think the best one for this team could be pursuit (as you've already changed), earthquake, rock slide (I prefer 90 accuracy over 80 but that's just me) and ice punch/ice beam. Your only real landorus check is an univested slowbro scald or gliscor ice fang, so it would be nice to slip in an invested, unexpected ice punch - I've almost KOd lead defensive chomps on a 160 ev attack set. Also, by running ice punch on this set, you can take ice bean off your slow bro and slot that T-wave back in.

Hope I cleared a few things up for you. I've noticed you have no fairy stab, so mega sableye can wall you. If you were looking for a new mon completely instead of gliscor, a life orb latios could be a good replacement. Normally i don't offer replacements, but since you asked I thought I'd try for you. So, a secondary psyshock user, putting more pressure on keldeo/mega venu, thunderbolt for gyarados who can set up on most of your mons, usually Draco meteor but I prefer dragon pulse, but that's up to you, and since you have no set up sweeper, calm mind is nice, but roost could be used too. Surf is another option to hit those Landorus' that like to U turn out. Here's the set:

Latios @ life orb/ mind plate
252 Spe / 252 Spa / 4 HP
Timid nature (to hit that 350 speed yo)
- psyshock
- thunderbolt
- dragon pulse / Draco meteor
- roost / calm mind / Surf

though this fulfills many roles in your team, it brings with it a nasty x4 dark weakness, one of the most common types in this meta, where mons like bisharp, t-tar and weaville can sucker punch you / knock off and rip through them. For this, I'd recommend changing rock slide on E-drill to brick break, letting you hit those dark types, and still having your stab win con to fire flying with your T-tar.

 

[Niyko]

Yeah, t-wave is cool and all, but you really need a solid counter to keld, and psyshock does that for you. If, because it has regen, you're using it as a pivot, you could swap out slack off for it, and keep t-wave AND psyshock, but thats completely a suggestion. I'd reccomend pay shock in that move set.

I noticed your T-tar set is still a little iffy. One stealth Rock user is fine, if you can't get them set, it's no biggie, but don't waste two move slots. Now, T-tar has so many options, but I think the best one for this team could be pursuit (as you've already changed), earthquake, rock slide (I prefer 90 accuracy over 80 but that's just me) and ice punch/ice beam. Your only real landorus check is an univested slowbro scald or gliscor ice fang, so it would be nice to slip in an invested, unexpected ice punch - I've almost KOd lead defensive chomps on a 160 ev attack set. Also, by running ice punch on this set, you can take ice bean off your slow bro and slot that T-wave back in.

Hope I cleared a few things up for you. I've noticed you have no fairy stab, so mega sableye can wall you. If you were looking for a new mon completely instead of gliscor, a life orb latios could be a good replacement. Normally i don't offer replacements, but since you asked I thought I'd try for you. So, a secondary psyshock user, putting more pressure on keldeo/mega venu, thunderbolt for gyarados who can set up on most of your mons, usually Draco meteor but I prefer dragon pulse, but that's up to you, and since you have no set up sweeper, calm mind is nice, but roost could be used too. Surf is another option to hit those Landorus' that like to U turn out. Here's the set:

Latios @ life orb/ mind plate
252 Spe / 252 Spa / 4 HP
Timid nature (to hit that 350 speed yo)
- psyshock
- thunderbolt
- dragon pulse / Draco meteor
- roost / calm mind / Surf

though this fulfills many roles in your team, it brings with it a nasty x4 dark weakness, one of the most common types in this meta, where mons like bisharp, t-tar and weaville can sucker punch you / knock off and rip through them. For this, I'd recommend changing rock slide on E-drill to brick break, letting you hit those dark types, and still having your stab win con to fire flying with your T-tar.

Wow, thanks for all your replies! You seem to have quite some experience, so I'll take your advice. The Tyranitar changes sound good, but with Rock Polish he would be a potential sweeper. But since Landorus is common, an unexpected Ice Punch would be fun :D Wouldn't ever run it against Garchomp since it outspeeds and 2HKO's me, but the "WTF" effect would be cool. An option to make him a potential Set-Up sweeper would be removing EQ and instead run Ice Punch, since both don't get STAB anyways. Would look like this,

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Hard (+Atk, -SAtk)
-Pursuit
-Ice Punch
-Rock Slide
-Rock Polish/DDance

do you think that'd work?

Will also try Latios and compare him to Gliscor to see what I like the most. Thanks a ton!

 

[MaChew94]

It could work, for sure, if that's what you want, but immo t-tar functions far better as a tankier/supporter sorts, especially if you run the calm mind set-up latios, effectively replacing T-tar's role, and allowing him to support the team better. However, he doesn't REALLY need Earthquake, as a sand force air balloon/life orb E-drill does that for you, and the things that are weak to EQ will outspeed you anyway, so you could very well run that set. There are, if you wanted him as a supporter role (because of the proposed lati set) better choices for the 4th slot, but it all depends on what you want to use him as, tbh. If you're going rock polish or D-dance, take D-dance, because it does both stats, and lets you boost your attack stat through the roof. 806 (adamant) attack says what?

All this is a long winded way to say: if you want him as a sweeper, your set is fine. If you're running lati as a set-up sweeper, T-tar's base stats are still great and effective, and he can better support your team by dropping D-dance and replacing it with a supporter move, like toxic, taunt or T-wave, all of which help your team immensely, (though don't overlap - if you already have taunt and t-wave, stick toxic on for the supporter role). Another option is to make your T-tar the rock setter, send him out to get those up, freeing a move up for Heatran, but again, that's situational, and you need to find what works for your team - we can only give you suggestions.

You say you'd never run it vs Chomp, but if you send t-tar into a stealth rock chomp, you get a free ice punch - the amount of times I've frozen chomp with an ice punch T-tar and forced a rage quit is actually quite high.

So, it all depends on what role you want to him to do. Hope I cleared it up :)

 

[Niyko]

It could work, for sure, if that's what you want, but immo t-tar functions far better as a tankier/supporter sorts, especially if you run the calm mind set-up latios, effectively replacing T-tar's role, and allowing him to support the team better. However, he doesn't REALLY need Earthquake, as a sand force air balloon/life orb E-drill does that for you, and the things that are weak to EQ will outspeed you anyway, so you could very well run that set. There are, if you wanted him as a supporter role (because of the proposed lati set) better choices for the 4th slot, but it all depends on what you want to use him as, tbh. If you're going rock polish or D-dance, take D-dance, because it does both stats, and lets you boost your attack stat through the roof. 806 (adamant) attack says what?

All this is a long winded way to say: if you want him as a sweeper, your set is fine. If you're running lati as a set-up sweeper, T-tar's base stats are still great and effective, and he can better support your team by dropping D-dance and replacing it with a supporter move, like toxic, taunt or T-wave, all of which help your team immensely, (though don't overlap - if you already have taunt and t-wave, stick toxic on for the supporter role). Another option is to make your T-tar the rock setter, send him out to get those up, freeing a move up for Heatran, but again, that's situational, and you need to find what works for your team - we can only give you suggestions.

You say you'd never run it vs Chomp, but if you send t-tar into a stealth rock chomp, you get a free ice punch - the amount of times I've frozen chomp with an ice punch T-tar and forced a rage quit is actually quite high.

So, it all depends on what role you want to him to do. Hope I cleared it up :)

Thanks for all your help, I guess I will have fun with that Team! Now I only have to start breeding.

I'm still open for any suggestions or ratings on this team, so don't hesitate to write down your thoughts! :D

 

[MaChew94]

No problem, glad I could help. Bottom line is to experiment and have fun! And if you wanted to try new things, I'm always up for a battle if you drop me an inbox!

 

[Niyko]

Bump, maybe someone else has some tips or critic to leave :)

 

[TPP]

Bump, maybe someone else has some tips or critic to leave :)

If you wanna keep the Taunt set on Gliscor, then you could run Swords Dance > Brick Break/Rock Slide and run Air Balloon > Life Orb on Excadrill. Excadrill will be able to avoid Earthquake from opposing Excadrill and Lando-T, giving you a free turn to set up with Swords Dance. Downside is you won't be able to hit Gyarados, Zapdos, Thundurus, Talonflame nor Charizard-Y, but luckily Tyranitar can handle these.

 

[Holiday]

Wow, thanks for all your replies! You seem to have quite some experience, so I'll take your advice. The Tyranitar changes sound good, but with Rock Polish he would be a potential sweeper. But since Landorus is common, an unexpected Ice Punch would be fun :D Wouldn't ever run it against Garchomp since it outspeeds and 2HKO's me, but the "WTF" effect would be cool. An option to make him a potential Set-Up sweeper would be removing EQ and instead run Ice Punch, since both don't get STAB anyways. Would look like this,

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Hard (+Atk, -SAtk)
-Pursuit
-Ice Punch
-Rock Slide
-Rock Polish/DDance

do you think that'd work?

Will also try Latios and compare him to Gliscor to see what I like the most. Thanks a ton!

Just a friendly reminder that DDance and Rock Polish won't be able to be used if you're holding assault vest. :)