Project OU Weekly Research | v2 hosted by Terrakion. coming soon!

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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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Gonna mess around with my bae subtoxic zapdos

Edit: also I might f*ck around with Grassy Terrain Sceptile if I find the time
 
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Overview
Slowbro is a pretty cool mon since it is able to wall the whole physical attacking metagame. Checks and Counters are very limited on this. It has an amazing movepool with boosting moves such as Iron Defense, Amnesia, Calm Mind, and even Belly Drum. It also has amazing coverage in Fire Blast, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, dual STAB, Signal Beam, Thunder Wave, Focus Blast, and Shadow Ball. I may have exaggerated the meaning of "wall" because it is so physically bulky that this is a thing.

252 Atk Mega Heracross Pin Missile (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 80+ Def Mega Slowbro: 280-340 (71 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 80+ Def Mega Slowbro: 140-166 (35.5 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO


So yeah it is a really good CM wincon when paired with amazing HP and physical bulk. It is able to counter and check top tier threats like Tornadus, Medicham, Metagross, Keldeo, Kyurem, Charizard-X, and Talonflame. It is really hard to deal with after CM boosts and really unprepared for which makes it such a top threat. With a base 95/180 defense, it is a trouble for physical mons to break through. There are also sets that can make it diffcult to face. CroCune is able to lure in status users that think they can just cripple Slowbro to death. Offensive Tank Bro can lure in Checks and Counters with it's amazing movepool. There is a lot of potential with this mon. Shell Armor, it's ability after Mega Evolving, allows it to not be critted at all which makes it a really difficult thing to play around. "Go for the crit" doesn't apply with this beast. It defines it self from Clefable by being able to spam STAB with it's base 130 SpA attack.

Slowbro does have it's flaws. It is really slow (suprising right?) with a base 30 speed stat. It also is crippled by status and taunt. The meta game packs things that can beat Slowbro such as Latios, Thundurus, Serperior, Hydreigon, Hoopa (let's see), and other hard hitting SpA attackers. But many aren't gonna be very effective after Slowbro boosts up to +1 It is really hard to make a team that isn't M-Slowbro weak since can find setup opportunity vs. a lot of physical attackers. Slowbro's dual STAB is also easy to wall by things like Latios, M-Latias, Ferrothorn, Celebi, etc. M-Slowbro also has no Leftovers recovery which forces it to rely 100% on Slack Off

Building
Slowbro is basically supposed to be used to pivot throughout the game then function as a win-con end game. With weaknesses to Dark and Bug I prompted to go for CM spam with Clefable. Clefable benefits with Slowbro's ability to deal with steel types. Slowbro also appreciates how Clefable can function as a status absorber. So things like Thundurus, Raikou, Latios, Celebi can cause trouble for Slowbro when it's trying to setup so Scarf Tar is able to effectively deal with those. Talonflame is added to deal with Grass types such as Tangrowth, Celebi, Ferrothorn while also dealing with Volcarona which demolished the team at the time. I chose speedy tran to deal with M-Scizor and Talonflame. I opted for the normal set (Lava Plume, Taunt, Stealth Rocks, Toxic) which effectively forces M-Slowbro to attack and get worn down by status. My final slot went to Latios since hazards rekt my team and Slowbro really gets warn down by status since it puts it in KO range of a lot of attacks like Latios's Draco Meteor.


Slowbro-Mega (M) @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 172 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Crunch

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 96 SpD / 160 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Talonflame
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Will-O-Wisp

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunder
- Defog

I opted for the standard dual STAB coverage idk why tbh. CM to boost SpA and SpD to function as a win condition and make it's poor SpD stronger. Slack Off for reliable recovery since M-bro has no Lefties it is really important.

M-Slowbro in this Metagame

M-Slowbro is a really huge threat in this metagame. The rise of Hoopa and Hydreigon two really powerful special wallbreakers it can find trouble unless they are dealt with. Many teams can't reliable deal with M-Slowbro after boosts and due to it's amazing physical bulk. It is able to use top tier threats such as Keldeo and Tornadus as setup fodder while beating Clefable (since they can boost aside each other and Slowbro can't be crit. Dark types such as Bisharp, Tyranitar, and Weavile are not answers to M-Slowbro. Real answers are limited in SpA attackers. They aren't even reliable since Bro will already be at +1 to stomach a hit. With a lot of taunters in the tier such as Gardevoir and Heatran, Slowbro can find difficulty in setting up. Everything can potentially have toxic which I think can lure checks really well. Things like Toxic Keldeo can lure it in easily. Slowbro is still a really good win condition since it can have free-switchins from things like Ferrothorn and Tangrowth which are prevalent. They are not doing shit to bro. Yeah Bro is pretty good rn.
 
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Mega Slowbro
Overview
Mega Slowbro is a great Pokemon and my favorite Mega Evolution. It's one of the more underused high ranked Mega Evolutions that deserve a lot more recognition than it gets. The first and most obvious is its absurd defenses of 95 / 180 / 80 making it major defensive behemoth to be reckoned with. It's no slouch offensively either, as base 130 SpA hits hard even when uninvested. In a vacuum, Mega Slowbro is essentially a better Slowbro that doesn't have Regenerator. This is the main reason why Mega Slowbro isn't used more than its base form as Slowbro can match the overall effectiveness of it. However there are several perks that Mega Slowbro has over its base form, and the first is its massive defense which basically invalidates any Physical attacker in OU that can't hit it super effectively. This makes it an incredible Calm Mind user, as it has the capacity to invest in Special Defense without leaving it liable to Physical attackers. Another perk is its ability to exert extreme pressure on teams that don't happen to have a status condition, mainly burn and poison, once again due to its defenses which makes passive means of damage the best way of wear it down. Mega Slowbro also finds setup opportunities relatively easy, and forces tons of switches to attempt to stop it before steam rolling the entire opposition as it checks such a wide range of massive threats like Choice Band Azumarill and the increasingly popular Terrakion. It even checks Weavile that lack Swords Dance. Due to its great defensive and offensive qualities it fits on a variety of teams very well. It's fits exceptionally well on offense and stall, balance as well, but 0not as well.

Mega Slowbro has two main sets, the first and best being a defensive Calm Mind set which transforms it into and unbreakable monster and an offensive tank set which takes advantage of its diverse movepool and power. The Calm Mind set functions entirely the same as regular Slowbro, so I will not touch on it. The offensive variant is very interesting as Slowbro has an incredibly wide movepool, consisting of gems like Fire Blast, Grass Knot, even Focus Blast! However its generally not used as other its Calm Mind set is much more dangerous and Psyshock + Scald is all it needs to be a threat towards opposing teams. At this point some may be thinking, "What about Iron Defense?" No. Do not use Iron Defense as losing out on Psyshock means you lose to other Water-types, Calm Mind users, bulky Specially Defensive walls, and a hots of other threats. The best course of action is keeping them from setting up anyway.

Even with its great qualities Mega Slowbro inevitably has flaws, albeit a few. The first and most noticeable is its poor Speed and Special Defense, which leaves it pressured to use Slack Off when it's facing powerful opponents who hit Specially. The second and most prominent is that it gains a virtually useless Ability in Shell Armor once it Mega Evolves. This is a huge downgrade from Regenerator, and trades it instead for the capability of never being hit critically. It has its uses since it's helpful in preventing an attacker from breaking through it, but aside from that its completely inferior to Regenerator in all aspects.

Building
I'm sorry to say I have no ready team of my own currently, but I have been using Hugo's Mega Slowbro team found here in the sample teams thread. There's also no description, but I urge you try it out.

Conclusion
The metagame is definitely in favor of Mega Slowbro. With the steady rise of powerful physical attackers Mega Slowbro finds its place in good standing with the trends. Although the presence of Hoopa and other powerful Special Attackers hurt it, it gets tons of opportunities to reduce their effect through Calm Mind since nothing Physical is doing anything to it. As I've said before in the metagame discussion thread, it's starting to gain a lot of traction now and for a long time to come.

P.S starry blanket if you ever need anything written up you could just ask me and I'll see what I can do n_n
 
tagging those who signed up:


thanks everyone that signed up! you guys have between now and monday (4/18) night EST to write up your posts about whichever pokemon you took (scizor / mega sceptile / zapdos). as a reminder:
If you take a test subject, it is expected that you'll post. Your posts don't need to be super lengthy & detailed, but they shouldn't be super short and simple. I'm not gonna put some arbitrary regulation on how many sentences you should have, but you should have at least a small paragraph.
and as a reminder to those unsure of what to post:
Things you can post include (but are not limited to):
  • strategies used
  • how you went about building with this Pokemon
  • general strengths / weaknesses you noticed about the Pokemon
  • if the meta is in favor of the Pokemon or not
  • sets you used with the Pokemon
remember: you aren't limited to these guidelines; they're just here to help in case you aren't sure what to post. if you'd prefer to focus on 1 specific aspect of the pokemon you selected rather than a broad overview, that's totally okay! if you're still lost, try checking out this post by Infernal.

if you didn't sign up but you'd like to post, feel free to do so, but just don't post if you haven't used the pokemon in awhile / at all. also, if you signed up, but you cannot find the time to post, don't worry about it! just please don't do it regularly :x

btw, i'll be adding the slowbro post to archive with this next slate (so i can make a more formal announcement and stuff). if anyone is interested in posting on mega bro, feel free to do so!

have fun (:
 

AM

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LCPL Champion

Starmei 's Cousin sssss

Overview:

sssss

Building:


Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Dragon Claw
- Low Kick
- Swords Dance

Rhyperior @ Choice Band
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Megahorn

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Heatran @ Chople Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock

Alakazam @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball

Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Taunt
Vertex posted a set on the ORAS OU Metagame thread which can be found here with him flaunting his insanity where he referenced me looking through team-builder building M-Sceptile squad. This was the team I was building at the team with the CB rhyperior set I posted in creative sets thread. I keep team-building goals in terms of what the focus of the team stupidly simple so that my diagnosed A.D.D can manage my sanity properly. When ever you want M-Sceptile to do a single thing in a match you need ways to pressure grasses and fat fairies more specifically Clefable. I went ahead and played around with a lower tier set, I think it was a RU set first? don't remember. The special set a lot of times needs to rely on Focus Blast too much or use EQ / HP Fire to break your Heatran / Ferro builds which I think is unfortunate. The goal was more or less an M-Scep sweep, these days though I'm pretty laid back as a whole so whether or not I got it down is either an I didn't or don't care answer. Rhyperior cushions up things like Skarmory and defensive Lando-T who would like to switch in to think they're safe against Rhyperior. This eases the pressure M-Sceptile being totally blocked / annoyed by defensive mons like these. Rotom-W + Rhyperior covers birds relatively well which is sort of close to w/e defensive utility you'd be covering for M-Sceptile and the pivoting aspect gets the team of breakers and hole punchers in quite well. Heatran, Alakazam, and Torn-T is to cushion up fat teams and provide the main function in breaking most of M-Sceptiles natural checks or at least the set being used. Dazzling Gleam Alakazam gives some relief against M-Sableye squads, coming back to the luring and hole punching aspect all sweepers appreciate. The Torn-T set is standard Life Orb. Fits well with Taunt utility and just being really annoying and strong.

Presence in Metagame:

Unless you're making yourself look like a jackass trying the next best "heat" or "innovation" nobody is using this on a serious level. Restricted as hell as to what it can matchup well against, does below average against a playstyle in hyper offense that can already be a hit or miss at times to myself at least, shat on by every defensive team no question, bulky offense has Clefable, TFlame, and Torn-T almost everywhere with deterrences like hazard builds that wear it down. It's fun to mess around with but never have I said "wow this is a great idea to use to win a game that I care about!!!!" Stick to screwing around ladder with it or something or being a crappy version of Vertex idk.

if anyone is interested in posting on mega bro, feel free to do so!
yeah I don't get how people can say the meta is in favor of it :/. Not to be a debbie downer but like no way that's just crummy or outdated building honestly.
 
starry blanket im actually posting-- i know this isn't much but its something bby


Overview:
Sceptile-Mega is arguably one of the most underrated Pokemon in OU as it has a great offensive movepool, and some good stats to prove it. It reaches an insane speed tier of 145 base speed and checks a lot of the common Pokemon in the current metagame such as Keldeo, Thundurus, Manaphy, and the list goes on. Sceptile-Mega is also immune to Thunder Wave which is a huge niche and sets it apart from other Offensive Pokemon. Not only that it is immune to Thunder Wave, it raises its SAtk due to Lightningrod and it can hit incredibly hard.

Sceptile-Mega is a great fit on offensive teams as they usually lack switchins to Pokemon such as the ones mentioned above and Sceptile-Mega has a better chance of switching in on those. Pokemon such as Tornadus-Therian are also really common and can give Sceptile-Mega a hard time.

Aforementioned, Sceptile has a large movepool allowing it to cover up a lot of its weaknesses with moves like Earthquake, Focus Blast, Rock Slide, Hidden Power Fire, and the list goes on. Sceptile-Mega can also run other sets aside from its standard all out attacking set. Sceptile-Mega can abuse Swords Dance with moves like Leaf Blade, Low Kick, Rock Slide, and Earthquake being backed up with a good 110 base attack.

style points. everyone loves sceptile.

Building:



When building this team, I already knew I was going to use something of some sort of Offense that revolved around sand because of how well grass types fit with Tyranitar and Tornadus-Therian. I decided to go with lure Mew and beamthrower coverage on Tornadus-Therian because I mainly would like to put less pressure on either Sceptile-Mega or Excadrill to clean up easily. Also without lures such as those, the team would have a pretty hard time against fat Pokemon like Ferrothorn due to the lack of Swords Dance on Excadrill.

Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Mew @ Life Orb
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 72 Atk / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Earthquake
- Thunderbolt

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Quick Attack
- Iron Head

Tyranitar @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Def / 180 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Icy Wind
- U-turn
- Heat Wave

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head

 
Well, lets go

Scizor
Overview:
While don't having the appeal it ever has on DPP/BW2, mostly because its overshadowed by its mega evolution(give more love to mega-scizor pls), regular Scizor remain as good Pokémon. Alongside its very good typing that makes it have only one weakness and 8 resistances that makes it a good check to most grass, ice, steel, dragon and fairy types, it have respectable defenses in 70/100/80, packed by a strong 130 base atk that can be used to break cores and keep momentum to its team. The most important niche of regular Scizor against its mega evolution and another strong bug types like Pinsir and Heracross-Mega is the fact that it dont requires using a mega stone, so you can use it in another Pokémon while having an very respectable 591 atk with Choice Band, having a great Technician boosted Priority STAB and the access to Pursuit.

General Strenghts/Weaknesses:
Having a lot of resistances means it can switch in a lot of common Pokémon, like Venusaur-Mega, Clefable, Jirachi, Altaria(Lacking Fire Blasts) and another powerful wallbreakers like Gardevoir-Mega, Lati@s, Serperior and Alakazam-Mega. While having the same resistances of its Mega, the lack of bulk can be crucial while taking some hits, but it can U-Turn out to catch momentum to its team or try to get kills with CB Bullet Punches or Pursuit trapping Pokémon like Celebi and Alakazam. By being a choice locked Pokémon, it commonly will have to choose very well between it stabs and coverage, so its very prediction reliant to pivot/dealing damage in the things it wants. It have some very common checks in water/electric that can resist Bullet Punch, and steel and fire types that can resist both of its stabs, if you find locked on them. Also, common lures like HP Fire Latios and Venusaur or Fire Punch Jirachi can severely cripple it to the rest of the match. Most teams often will have a good check to it in common builds, like Rotom-W, Landorus-T, Heatran(that can be lured by Superpower tho), Gyarados, Manectric, Zapdos, Charizards and the list goes on. Since it have a LOT of common checks, you have to play very carefully with it to get momentum and revenge kill mons.

Is the meta in favor of it?
Unfortunately, not. Scizor is such a interesting Pokémon with it typing and good attack stat, but the fact of being choice locked and the common things on Sand Offense AND the checks of Sand Offense that checks it too hurt its viability a lot. Also, Rocky Helmet users like Tankchomp, Defensive Landorus and another random things running it can easily wear Scizor down. Anyway, its a decent pivot and wallbreaker that have role compression in pursuit trapping, having a very good priority, being a fairy- and psychic-type resist and don't using a mega stone.

Common sets

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit / Knock Off

We can't lie; Choice Band is pretty much the only viable set to regular Scizor atm. It can pull its weight by getting momentum via U-turn and removing items/trapping things with dark-type moves. You will click BP in most situations only to get revenge kills or cleaning late game, since isn't a good move to be locked in most situations. Superpower can be considered a filler, but it have some use in 2hkoing Heatran on the switch-in.


I dont really have any viable team with Scizor in this meta to show you guys, but i'll fix it in some days.
 
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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus

Overview:
Zapdos is an interesting Pokémon. Its primarily known for its Defog sets, but honestly I've never felt that Zapdos was a particularly good Defogger. This is primarily due to its rocks weakness, meaning that it takes a minimum of 25% damage every time it comes in to clear rocks--which is exactly the same downfall that Mandibuzz has as a Defogger. As such, I have decided to mess around with what is in my opinion its best set: SubToxic

The Set:
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt / Heat Wave
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Roost

With the given EV spread, Zapdos is able to outpace everything slower than adamant Mega Garchomp (this is chosen over adamant Landorus-T to account for anything else creeping said speed tier), allowing it to net a Roost or Toxic as it breaks its Substitute. This spread attains three extra points in Defense over an equivalent spread with bold over timid (it hits 248 as opposed to 245). Your choice of Thunderbolt v.s. Heat Wave depends on whether you want a powerful STAB or to not be complete bait for Excadrill.

Strengths:
  • Courtesy of its typing, Zapdos is able to very easily lure and stall out low-PP moves such as Stone Edge from Pokémon like Tyranitar, which it can stall out of Stone Edges in a mere four turns and use as complete Substitute bait if it switches out (assuming Tyranitar is Choice Scarf, because un-scarfed sets are outpaced--allowing Zapdos to Roost as it breaks the Sub and then continue spamming Sub regardless of whether Tyranitar stays in or not, and if it nets a Stone Edge miss it can proceed to use Toxic and stall it out). In addition, due to it resisting Gyro Ball, Power Whip, Iron Head, Brave Bird and the like, it is able to set up in the face of things such as Ferrothorn and Skarmory with no negative repercussions.
  • Due to its access to Roost, Zapdos is able to fulfill its role consistently throughout the match. This combined with its good speed tier allows it to cheese its way past popular Ground-types which it lures out, such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, Gastrodon, Seismitoad and Quagsire, while it being slower than Fastchomp allows it to Toxic it and stall it on its next switch-in (or, if it lacks Outrage or Stone Edge/uses Stealth Rock or Swords Dance as you Toxic, stall it on the spot with Substitute).
  • With maximum HP it is able to hit a Leftovers number, meaning that it doesn't need to use wonky HP numbers and it is able to maximise its turnly recovery with Leftovers to exactly 1/16 as opposed to some rounded number. This makes stalling that much easier.
  • Its typing allows it to switch in on a lot of common moves--including (but not limited to) Earthquake, Iron Head, Giga Drain, Close Combat, Superpower, Brave Bird, Air Slash, Thunder Wave, Power Whip and Gyro Ball--with relative ease. In addition, Substitute allows it to take advantage of things clicking Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, Leech Seed and the like to get up free Substitutes.
  • It is deceptively bulky on the physical side, and when testing with my friend and on the ladder gave the opponent difficulty in eliminating it on a highly consistent basis. I had my friend use a team with it and brought another team and it did a number on my squad.
Weaknesses:
  • It is weak to Stealth Rock, which means that at times it can be risky to bring it out onto the field if the Pokémon it comes in on packs a powerful attack without support through pivoting. However, this is alleviated somewhat by it hitting a Leftovers number, and due to 252 leaving it on such a number it is not recommended that you drop it to 248 due to it being one less than a Leftovers number, making it the most inefficient number to use due to it rounding Leftovers recovery down by 15/16 of a hit point.
  • A partially-invested base 100 can only bring you so far, and while there are pros to being slower than things you are trying to stall (you are able to click Substitute to set it up as it is broken) it can often make the process that little bit more complex than necessary.
  • Its bulk is good, but its investment leaves it somewhat vulnerable to hits on the side of the spectrum which it doesn't invest in. This means that it can be taken advantage by a number of Pokémon if it isn't behind a Substitute.
  • Being forced to choose between a powerful STAB and the ability to touch Excadrill means that it is very matchup dependent depending on which coverage it chooses to run. In addition, it leaves it as complete dead weight verses certain teams, and as such it requires a fair chunk of support.
Good teammates:
  • PhysDef Skarmory is able to consistently take on Excadrill and can also provide Defog support.
  • PhysDef Landorus-T provides Stealth Rock support and a slow U-turn. In addition, it checks Excadrill on a consistent basis, allowing it to support non-Heat Wave Zapdos.
  • Kyurem and Suicune both act as secondary Pressure users, meaning that they have naturally good synergy with it due to role stacking reducing the pressure (no pun intended) put onto Zapdos. Kyurem also provides an Electric-type resistance, which can come in handy due to Zapdos' neutrality.
  • Amoonguss and Tangrowth provide support as pivots as well as an Electric resistance. Similarly, Rotom-W and SD+U-turn Mega Scizor provide a slow VoltTurn, which can help Zapdos get onto the field.
  • Things which appreciate fat Ground-types being eliminated and which appreciate moves like Stone Edge being stalled out, such as Mega Charizard X, appreciate the support that Zapdos provides.
Is the meta in favor of it?
This is difficult to say. On the one hand, a lot of teams just find themselves un-prepared for it and end up just being cheesed past before they know what's going on. On the other hand, I think that this is in part down to surprise value, and generally speaking the prevalence of sand offense doesn't work in its favor. As such, I cannot provide any solid answer to this.
 

bludz

a waffle is like a pancake with a syrup trap
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I didn't sign up but I wanna touch on Scizor briefly.

I feel like there's a notion that CB should be the go to set because of how hard it hits off the bat, ability to Pursuit trap and act like a pivot with U-turn. However, I would argue that this niche has lost a lot of viability. Rocky Helmet abusers in particular have made life very problematic for Scizor as a pivot - if it gets worn down its forced to rely on BP due to its low speed, and BP is not that hard to switch into. It's also quite weak to hazard stacking unlike many popular pivots in Torn, Lando-T and Rotom, which means it's longevity in this role is lackluster. Pursuit is kinda nice but realistically done better by other mons who don't get bopped by HP Fire Lati.

I personally believe the best regular Scizor set is offensive SD. With a Life Orb equipped, its actually stronger than offensive Mega Scizor and can be a very nice hole puncher or late game cleaner if you are already using your Mega slot. It still has respectable bulk and nice typing, meaning it can still set up a fair amount of the time.

To anyone who is considering trying out regular Scizor in today's metagame, I would recommend that you try SD Life Orb instead of CB. I really think it's more of a threat.
 

Research Core 2!

Just like with the gastrodon week, I saw a potential core, and so I built a team with all three. I'm going to cover strengths/weaknesses of all three individuals, and then I'll write about how they worked as a team.
Zapdos

What does he do?
Zapdos is a powerhouse. It has great stats all around meaning he can do pretty much whatever you need. Its relatively uncommon typing however leans more towards the role of defense. Zapdos can take a hit, and dish one out in return. It also has an ability that helps out in stall wars should he be forced to fight one.

Strengths:

Awesome statline: Defense, speed, Special attack, hell even his attack isn't that bad. Zapdos has a fairly balanced statline, not especially weak in any one area, just a little bit stronger in some areas than others.

Threatning Special Attack: With little investment, thunderbolt and volt switch are big threats to those who don't resist it. Zapdos can knock huge chunks out of Talonflame with little effort. It also packs heat wave, threatening steel types as well.

Good movepool: It can even learn baton pass...though you won't have access to it in-game unless you played Colosseum XD. Still, Zapdos has lots of options, similar to scizor. It's most important options are Volt Switch, Heat Wave, Roost, and Defog, though it does have some cool moves like Agility and Extrasensory.

Weaknesses:

Rock: Tyranitar is a big problem, none of Zapdos' moves really hit him, and he hits back hella hard with Stone Edge. Not to mention there are CB sets around which can take huge pieces out of Zapdos with Pursuit. Zapdos also struggles against offensive power house pokemon with access to rock coverage moves. He gets blown away by Mega Heracross' rock blast, and gets nuked pretty hard by an SD stone edge from either Garchomp or Lando-T. Speaking of rock, Zapdos is also weak to stealth rock, which makes defog a curious prospect as it will take big damage trying to switch in to defog the hazards.

Other type weaknesses: Weavile can be an issue if not enough defense is invested. Heatran is resistant or immune to most of Zapdos moves, but on the flipside, Zapdos can say the same thing about the typical heatran's moves. Similarly, Thunderous I can be a problem with ice coverage, as well as Kyurem-B. Powerful enough electric attacks can also seriously dent Zapdos, as its only neutral to them. There's a few other things, like Toxic or burns that can annoy zapdos and hurt it's staying power, but one of Zapdos' things is, it doesn't have that many weaknesses. It's honestly a really strong pokemon, but it's balanced. It doesn't stand out as particularly amazing in any one area, instead being pretty good at both defense and attack. however...

Speed: it's not particularly fast. There are plenty of faster threats out there, some of them are even able to break through Zapdos. Granted, Zapdos' speed is pretty good, but that's one of its stats that are 'decent, but not amazing'.

Scizor

What does he do?

Scizor is a Bug/Steel with one weakness and a huge attack stat. Scizor is an offensive machine most well known for his bullet punch, but his options for other sets are still quite good.

Normal VS mega?

A lot of analysis (including a video) has been done on what form of scizor is most efficient. It's true, many of the sets that Scizor can do, are 'better' on his mega form. Its not like he can't use those sets without scizorite, maybe those sets lack a little bit of defenses. He still has plenty of options if you want to use them. If you absolutely must have a different mega, regular scizor can still work fine, he can still fill the role his mega counterpart would have, if maybe a bit less efficiently.

Strengths:

Technician: This ability not only helps Bullet Punch, but also boosts pursuit, bug bite, aireal ace, and a number of other moves in Scizor's movepool. This power is not to be underestimated, a choice band BP can clean KO many things in OU, it does over 60% to Lopunny, it OHKO's Weavile, it even bashes Azumaril for well over half it's health. At +2 assuming a swords dance, it gets even crazier.

Great stats: Not just great attack, but sizeable bulk as well backed up by some great resists, the only stat scizor doesn't have a lot of is speed.

Good options: Defog, baton pass, swords dance, agility, scizor has a diverse movepool. This can make it somewhat difficult for your opponent to figure out, as when they see scizor their thoughts are 'is it mega or not? is it defog? Defensive? Ofensive?'

Awesome typing: Bug Steel has but one weakness...unfortunately it's a 4x weakness to fire, which makes talonflame kinda a headache.

Weaknesses:

Fire: Duh, but also, Scizor is vulnerable to getting trapped or baited, as there are a good number of defensive pokemon Scizor would like to U-Turn on who have fire moves. Also Magnezone is a big threat, as HP fire will always OHKO scizor.

Rocky Helmet: Scizor is very predicable, and is vulnerable to taking chip damage. Even if U-Turn is used, sometimes you should be careful of U-Turning too much. Even if U-Turn isn't used, spamming BP is almost as bad, especially if you run into a Magnezone or a Heatran. Ferrothorn is also a problem.

Walls: While scizor hits hard with technician, his bullet punch is far more useful against offensive threats who get their speed bypassed. While a CB bullet punch will certainly hurt a pokemon like tankchomp, it won't do that much damage (it's sometimes a 3hko), and the amount of damage scizor takes in return makes it a bad trade.

Mega-Sceptile

What does he do?

Opposed to scizor, Mega Sceptile is a special nuke. With an awesome special attack, an intresting ability, and a great movepool, mega sceptile is a special wallbreaker that can beat down many threats in OU.

Strengths:

Fast: Once mega evolving mega sceptile becomes super-speed. He outruns a large chunk of the un-scarfed OU meta (and a little bit of the scarf meta). This lets him take on threats like Lati@s and Garchomp with less risk.

Strong: Mega Sceptile's offensive stats are also impressive. His leaf storm is ridiculous, able to knock out AV Azumaril, and 2HKO Tankchomp. Nothing neutral to grass really wants to switch into Mega Sceptile because of how hard he hits.

Lightning Rod: an immunity to thunder-wave makes him that much harder to deal with. Once Mega-evolving he can also absorb electric attacks directed at his team. In addition, he has a nifty set of resistances (and an immunity to Spore) to also aid his team.

Weaknesses:

Ice: A 4x ice weakness is a big deal, as many electric types carry an ice move for coverage. Though he can use lightning rod to absorb electric attacks, he will die to most of the HP Ice users.

Steel: Heatran is a big problem for most mega-sceptile sets. Lacking the power to KO it with any of it's special moves. Even aside from heatran, most steel types can switch into Mega Sceptile with impunity without fearing a leaf storm, though the ones not-heatran must beware HP Fire.

Grass: Sceptile is also vulnerable to Venusaur. The OG grass starter is tired of this upstart, and Mega Sceptile doesn't have many moves with which to hit Venusaur. Meanwhile, Venusaur has plenty of options, including STAB sludge bomb. Breloom is also a big deal, as it can nail Sceptile with Mach Punch, ignoring his speed tier.

Flying: Thunderous, Tornadus, and Talonflame are big counters to Sceptile. All of them can eat a leafstorm without caring too much, all of them can OHKO back with something.


Building a team

When building a team based on any core, I had to look at what the threats were. Deciding on the sets for the research subjects, I realized that Talonflame was probably my biggest threat. It can take on Scizor without breaking a sweat and it OHKOs Sceptile. To that end I made Zapdos a Defensive variant, to help me counter Talon. I still needed a few other things, like rapid spin and stealth rocks. A pokemon that could provide both and help me counter electric types was SpDef Excadrill. With those sets in place, and I was pretty sure I wanted to use Earthquake Sceptile and Choice Band Scizor, that left Keldeo as another possible threat. Zapdos could come in on Secret Sword, but not Hydro Pump or an ice move, so I added AV Azumaril to patch up that weakness. Azu also deals with Volcarona should it get out of hand. Lastly I wanted a counter to annoying grass types so I used Heatran. Taunt Balloon heatran is a nice anti-lead that deals with ferrothorn leads pretty well. It also hits hard enough that it threatens Venusaur, balloon also gives it an edge on most Lando-T leads, as they won't be able to OHKO it with knock off or stone edge.

Red One (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- U-turn
- Superpower

Sane (Sceptile) (F) @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 32 Atk / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse

Marissa (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- Heat Wave
- Volt Switch
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Ice]

9ball (Azumarill) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Knock Off

WARNING (Heatran) (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Taunt

Sejia (Excadrill) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock


Strategy

It's basic Volt Turn offense. There's not too much to say, just beware as in a few games I didn't analize my opponents teams properly. The team has answers to most threats, and CB Scizor can definately cleanup lategame. Also it was made painfully clear to me just how weak Sceptile's earthquake was.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-358820299 <- mistakes were made, mostly by me, was still trying to get used to the team
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-357840808 <- people kept thunderwaving my Sceptile...maybe it is a dark horse
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-358822713 <-Why did we ban that thing again? :P (also, this is where i realized EQ wouldn't cut it really...can't even KO Raikou.)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-359218917 <-I somehow manage to win this game why is goregheist so annoying???
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-359223386 <-An example of oversight, I needed to preserve zapdos longer. I was relying on a bulletpunch that wasn't for sure to beat pinsir.


In the metagame

The real star here is Zapdos. As I mentioned, Zapdos is a great all-around pokemon. Its not super powerful, but its still strong. Scizor is also just as useful as it was back in Gen 4, still able to punch through offense, though he can get beat out by a few things now like Talonflame and Pinsir. Still, Scizor's quite strong if a little dated. Sceptile Mega however is left behind a little bit. He has to rely on HP-Fire and Earthquake to beat down anything that resists his STAB moves (and there's a large list of things that does) I feel like he's usable, and he definitely is a dark horse, but I don't know if the meta really favors him.

TLDR version: Use Zapdos, its good. Try Scizor-Mega sets non-mega, it can work. M-Sceptile not worth it, use Mega Venu.
 
Last edited:

Cheryl.

Celesteela is Life

Scizor, the Pincer Pokemon
  • strategies used​
Regular Scizor may not have the defensive stats or the increased speed as Mega Scizor, but he is still very viable in his own way, with a power increase over Mega Scizor if he is running Life Orb or Choice Band and being able to use another Mega Slot on your team. I think he's vastly underrated as while Mega Scizor does provide more defensive benefits to a team, he still is a really cool offensive mon that should be used more, as he fits nicely onto some offensive teams in this meta.
  • how you went about building with this Pokemon
I built around Life Orb SD Scizor, a really cool set that shows off regular Scizor's capabilities in being stronger than his Mega while also not giving up the Mega slot. I chose Latios as a partner due to checking things like Electric types and Fire types for Scizor, and I chose Memento Latios to give Scizor set-up opportunities. Rotom-Wash was chosen as another Fire check and as a Flying check and a way to pivot Scizor in safely. AV Torn-T was chosen to complete the supporting VoltTurn core to bring in Scizor safely and to check Grass-types. It also acts as a secondary Keldeo check in case Latios is weakened. I chose ChainChomp Mega Garchomp with Fire Blast as our Rocks setter as Fire Blast heavily crippled Skarmory, one of Scizor's counters, and Draco Meteor also hurt Lando-T, which helps Scizor a lot. It also has a bulk increase over regular Garchomp, which really helps at times. Our team didn't have a great Latios switchin at that point, as Scizor's lack of bulk made it a shitty Draco switchin, and the team was also rather ravaged by Mega Diancie if Scizor was dead, so what can act as a good soft check to both of them, as well as acting as a good check to other things and being an awesome mon in general? Clefable! Clefable acts as another win condition, albeit bulkier, with Calm Mind, as well as using Thunder Wave to help Scizor with it's lack of speed.
  • general strengths / weaknesses you noticed about the Pokemon
Scizor's main strengths over it's Mega is a power increase when holding a Life Orb or Choice Band, and the ability to use another Mega on your team. It also is still a nice revenge killer with Bullet Punch, and can be a pain for offensive teams to handle with the CB set, and it's a pain for bulkier teams with LO SD. Sadly, it's a bit frail, and it's really slow, meaning it has to rely on Bullet Punch against offensive teams. It also can get worn down by Rocky Helmet mons and has that annoying 4x weakness to Fire as well.
  • if the meta is in favor of the Pokemon or not​
I think the meta isn't in favor of Scizor, sadly. The number of Rocky Helmet mons, such as the resurgence of Rocky Helmet Landorus-Therian, really hurts Scizor's ability to pivot around or wallbreak, and it's a bit slow, but it's priority helps with that. Overall, Scizor does have some perks over the Mega that makes it useful on some select builds, and it's an awesome offensive pivot or wallbreaker or even a sweeper when used right.
  • sets you used with the Pokemon
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower

Really nice sweeping or wallbreaking set that has a power increase over Mega Scizor, being able to OHKO Rotom-Wash at +2 with Bug Bite, which is pretty impressive. Superpower is mostly for Heatran and other Steels, although Scizor's speed won't be outspeeding a lot of Heatrans sadly.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit / Knock Off

Another cool set, although I think LO SD is a better set as a whole in this meta for it's wallbreaking power. But this set is a really nice offensive pivot that can also Pursuit trap the Lati's and other Psychic-types, which is nice.

Scizor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-Turn
- Pursuit
- Bullet Punch / Iron Head
- Superpower

Do not use this set, it's really bad xD. But it can be somewhat useful to outspeed stuff like the Lati's and kill them with U-Turn, or Pursuit trap them. But really, this set is for novelty only and not recommended in a serious competitive enviroment.


The Team I Used:

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Memento

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 132 Def / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 96 HP / 160 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Garchomp @ Garchompite
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave
- Calm Mind
 
Mega Sceptile

Role: Cleaner/Revenge-Killer/Doubles ElectrgifLure/PIVOT

Explanation: This Pokemon is able to lead Pivot and/or revengekill a good portion of the meta and do tons of pressure against most fast teams.

Pros:
-This Pokemon boasts 110/145 Offense and nice offensive pool to work with, even running Mixed or SD (prolly a trash set unless you can find a way to make it work). Grass/Dragon offensive coverage is almost hard to resist on most Hyper Offensive teams, which seems to point towards an HO Breaker.
-This Pokemon has 145 speed to outspeed so much stuff that are non-scarf and most Hyper Offensive Pokemon outside of Mega Aerodactyl and Alakazam and 81 +Speed Scarfers. Lightning Rod is really just there to make sure he hits hard and fast always, ignoring paralysis. (Only exception is Body Slam) and using its cripple into a means of strength, pointing towards anti-Rng.

Cons:
-This Pokemon struggles against Most offensive Types priorities, mainly Bird Spam and Fairy Spam, which usually takes its hits.
Ice Types are also a danger especially the likes of ice shard, but should be manageable.
-This Pokemon does not like extremely Fat Pokemon, especially fat birds or fat fairies and a few Fat steels. So a Wall breaker with decent speed can sinergize well with Mega Sceptile.
-This Pokemon, even with its nice speed, really fears 2 things: Revenge Kills and Fat Pokemon. This way, it can force or kill Mega Sceptile.

Reccomendations?:
-Mega Sceptile likes being in environments where you hit hard and fast and try to end the battle as soon as possible. This way, its speed and power can really be a key to helping you win.

-Fat Breakers like the Newly Released Volcanion or Manaphy Magnezone Thundurus,etc can help against most of Mega Sceptile's defensive threats.

-Hazard Stack or a suicide lead is really ideal for Mega Sceptile, especially with a strong wallbreaker for most slow fat teams, usually fat fairies, birds like TornT and Talonflame/skarmory/Mandibuzz and some fat steels, unless it has coverage like Hidden Power Fire or Earthquake.

Team Used?:
I used Mega Sceptile + Volcanion Offense. Very powerful sinergy and in beating most of their checks.

Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Focus Blast
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Bomb
- Sludge Bomb

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower
- Crunch

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost

Landorus-Therian @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Have fun :)
 
Starting off, Zapdos is a very versatile mon that has a variety of sets like Defensive Defog, SubToxic, and the set I used which is pretty uncommon 3 attacks attacker. Zapdos really struggles at doing it's job effective due to a stealth rock weakness, especially as a defogger. It does have some key resistances which allow it to take hits from Breloom, Scizor, Talonflame, and Pinsir. It also has two useful abilities. Pressure which allows it to function well as a stallbreaker and Static which helps pressure U-Turn which is really good in the meta and physical attackers in general. Zapdos has really good special attack and defensive stats with a decent 100 speed tier. Zapdos has well rounded stats which makes it worthwhile on some teams.

First off, I wanted to adress some things about the set. Some people would ask why use Zapdos over Thundurus. They are both deterred by stealth rocks, but with Zapdos it can reliable recovery which boosts it's longetivity. It also has better natural bulk and can afford to run HP investment to allow it to take hits. Thundurus can't since it is vital to outspeed base 110's. Zapdos can also go Modest which further boost it's SpA. Zapdos has great coverage in Heat Wave which allows it to hit all steel types neutrally or super teffectively.

When I started teambuilding I thought of a mon that would appreciate the removal of steel types such as Skarmory, Scizor and Ferrothorn. M-Gyarados was the mon that I chose because it is a really threatening mon and appreciated how steels were dealt with by Zapdos. Next up I chose Latios since I had an overlapping stealth rock weakness and helped vs my matchup against Keldeo and Volcanion. I added Jirachi for it's ability to bring back a really weakened Zapdos that can't roost up and Gyarados. It allowed me to be reckless while switching into dragon and fairy. Jirach is speed control for things like Alakazam, Lopunny, Aerodactyl etc. Now I added Breloom since my team struggled vs. Chansey and sand. Landorus is a good pivot and provided rocks helped vs Charizard-X.

The metagame isn't really in or out of favor to it. It put work in the games I played, but I think a lot of people were expecting defensive Defog. It is really decent at pressuring volt-turn and physical attackers such as Lopunny and Jirachi with static. I think that it's a great check to things like Breloom, Talonflame, Scizor etc which are huge threats. Sand and M-Latias are difficult for Zapdos to get anything done. It's decent but it's not amazing in this meta.

I will finish this when I get home, at school rn.
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I said I might do Grassy Terrain Scept too, so wynaut?


General overview of Pokémon
Sceptile is actually a really cool 'mon to use. I've used it on grass-spam with Serperior as a bit of fun, and I've used it on offense as a standalone 'mon as well. Between its high speed and the brutal power of Leaf Storm, it is able to put a variety of Pokémon under immense pressure--with it getting a kill most times when it comes in versus offense.

When you look at Mega Sceptile, it is mostly overshadowed Serperior, who has Contrary and doesn't take up a mega slot. However, it has a number of things going for it over Serp that justify its use on a number of teams. First of all, the obvious change is its typing; compared to Serperior, it gains weaknesses to fairy and dragon as well as doubling its ice weakness (not that Serperior is taking on Weavile any time soon with its speed tier) in exchange for doubling its resistances to water and grass and removing its Fire-type weakness (allowing it to stomach weak Fire-type moves if it needs to) and giving it STAB on Dragon Pulse. In addition, its speed tier allows it to outpace a number of things which Serperior is outpaced by, being anything between 113 and 145 base speed and isn't called Talonflame/Weavile (which both OHKO it with priority). When considered alongside Lightningrod, this allows it to be an important asset to offensive teams, with it discouraging the opponent from spamming Volt Switch and allowing it to beat Manectric 1v1 without any boosts (252 SpA Mega Sceptile Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Manectric: 277-327 (98.5 - 116.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock). It also speed ties with Mega Beedrill, which is a big bonus. Finally, its coverage is superior to that of Serperior, with it having access to both Focus Blast and Earthquake, allowing it to beat non-Magnet Rise Kelfki, Heatran, Ferrothorn etc. all in one set--especially with Lightningrod providing a Thunder Wave immunity and preventing it from being crippled by Klefki.

What I used
I used two sets in this period. The first is a standard 4-attacks set that I'm gonna c/p straight from its analysis page 'cause I cba to type it out.

Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power Fire / Focus Blast

I also decided to experiment with a set that wasn't its standard 4-attacks or sub+3 attacks variant. This is because I was kinda bored and also because I had seen it in the creative/underrated sets thread for UU as well as (I think) the OU metagame discussion thread. The set I used was as follows:

Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Grassy Terrain
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast / Hidden Power [Fire]

Grassy Terrain is a very interesting move. Like all of the terrains, it only affects grounded Pokémon, and its effect is as follows (widely useful traits in bold):
  • Increases the damage dealt by Grass-type moves by 50% (e.g. if Giga Drain would normally deal 100 damage, it will now deal 150)
  • Halves the power of Earthquake, Bulldoze and Magnitude
  • Heals all Pokémon on the field by 6.25% at the end of every turn
  • Changes Nature Power to Energy Ball
  • Gives Secret Power a sleep rate
  • Causes Camouflage to turn its user into the Grass-type
  • Activates Grass Pelt
It is easily the best of the three terrains, as unlike Misty Terrain (which rather pointlessly halves the power of Dragon-type moves and acts as a glorified Safeguard) and Electric Terrain (which boosts Electric-type moves but has the mostly-useless effect of preventing sleep but no other status) its benefits are similtaniously immediately abusable by its user (in this case Sceptile, which can easily spam Giga Drain and becomes desceptively hard to take down between Giga Drain's healing and Grassy Terrain's recovery) and easy for teammates to take advantage of (allows Ground-weak Pokémon to play more recklessly or just makes the primary STAB of opposing Ground-types depressingly weak; provides added recovery and can help things avoid borderline-2HKOs which they wouldn't otherwise avoid or which can make weather chip damage less annoying).

This turns Sceptile into a very scary wallbreaker for a lot of things to take on, as under Grassy Terrain's effects Sceptile has an effecive Choice Specs boost behind its Giga Drain and Leaf Storm, making them very easy to spam and allowing it to tear through things quickly. It is easy to set up given just how much Sceptile forces switches against, and it is able to catch Heatran and Ferrothorn or Scizor, Skarmory and Ferrothorn for heavy damage with Focus Blast or HP Fire, respecively. This means that it can wallbreak effectively, and then you consider the sheer amount of longevity that a boosted Giga Drain provides (especially given how spammable it is) and the added recovery provided by Grassy Terrian. I had a very easy time pulling apart unprepared teams with it. Also yeah this thing's Leaf Storms just hit like a nuke after a boost from Grassy Terrain; it's actually insane.

Pros:
  • High speed and power make Sceptile very threatening to a lot of teams
  • Lightningrod provides lots of opportunities to switch in and to steal momentum off of Volt Switch user
  • Deceptively hard to take down due to the sheer amount of healing its doing
  • Nukes stuff
  • Easy to bring in on common Pokémon like Rotom-W and easy to get set up
Cons
  • Susceptibility to Talonflame and Weavile hurts its otherwise-spectacular offense matchup
  • Grassy Terrain means that Earthquake is off of the table, giving it a hard time versus steels which are weak to Quake but not Focus Blast as well as versus Poison-types
  • Can't fit much coverage in with two Grass-type STABs if running Grassy Terrain
  • Takes up mega slot and is as such hard to justify over Serperior
Good teammates
Magnezone traps and eliminates steels that beat its choice of coverage. In particular, Occa+Mirror Coat Magnezone gets props on HP Fire Scept teams for its ability to beat Heatran 1v1. Ground-weak 'mons like Tyranitar benefit heavily from the reduction in power to EQ when Grassy Terrain is up, allowing for them to situationally benefit from its presence. In return, Rock-types are able to take out Talonflame consistently. Fire- and Water-types which appreciate Grass-type coverage are always useful. In particular Keldeo gets a mention for its ability to counter Weavile and stop it Ice Sharding my face, and SEdge Heatran also gets a special mention for its ability to counter Talonflame. Serperior can go all grass spam with it and benefits from the Grassy Terrain boosts making its already-scary Leaf Storms that much deadlier. There are more too but I'm a lazy shitbag and its 11:30 at the time I'm writing this paragraph, so *sticks out tongue imatturely*. Last one I'll say is general offense mons 'cause offense is the best playstyle for Sceptile.

Verdict
Is the set as good as the standard Mega Scept? Its hard to say, although I'm leaning towards no. However, it was highly consistent at what it does (maybe even moreso than the 4-attacks set, even if it has to choose what to straight-up lose to) and all in all it was a lot of fun to use. As a whole, Mega Sceptile was rather middling (I played with both Grassy Terrain and 4-attacks for experimental purposes) due to natural limitations such as teammate restriction (this thing would love to be paired with another mega, but alas it can't) and the limitations of its typing and overall bulk. The meta isn't particularly in its favor right now, but at the same time I'd be lying if I said it was out of its favor. All in all, this thing is worth trying out.
 
closing! thanks everyone who participated this week ^^

the posts being added to archive are this post on mega slowbro by -Magic- (from last week), this post on scizor by GustavoYAY, this post on mega sceptile by sassy user AM, and this post on zapdos by gamer boy.

thanks paper dreams and Nedor for helping me decide on the posts to archive. remember: the archived posts are simply the posts that best summarize the pokemon for future reference. not every post needs to summarize the pokemon; some people may just want to center their posts around one aspect, and that's totally okay. you don't need to follow the guidelines perfectly to post here; they're just there to guide you a bit if you're unsure of what to post.

~​

week #14

volcanion | volcanion | volcanion
i decided to have this week totally dedicated to volcanion because odds are everyone is playing with this thing anyways... not to mention the fact that we just got off a suspect, so i'd rather wait until the meta stabilizes at least a little bit before i pick 3 pokemon :p. also, odds are i'll throw volcanion in a slate way later down the road for it to be reassessed since it's brand new right now :3c.

edit: see this post by AM for some set ideas and stuff.

REMEMBER: you simply pick 1 one of these 3 (or 2 / 3 of them if you want :p) and post here saying which one you're taking. also, you can use any set you want! (i'm only leaving this here so it's easy for me to c/p)

the discussion period will start on 4/21 (at night in EST); those of you who want to participate have between now and then to play around with these pokemon.

have fun ^^
 
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