[Overview]
<p>Sceptile has always been the Grass-type staple of the UU metagame, boasting great Special Attack, decent Attack, and blistering Speed. It still holds the position of the fastest Grass-type in the UU metagame bar Chlorophyll-boosted Victreebel and Shiftry (though with Unburden activated it outspeeds both). Sceptile's movepool is considerably large, having access to a myriad of physical moves along with Swords Dance. On top of that, it
also possess quite a few special moves. Sceptile can also run a very effective Substitute + Leech Seed set due to its high speed. The fifth generation has granted Sceptile the ability Unburden, which is somewhat unnecessary for Sceptile, but allows it to outspeed even Choice Scarf users after
the ability Unburden has been activated. Despite
Grass-type competition in Roserade, Celebi, and Shaymin, Sceptile is a great Grass-type addition to any team for its offensive prowess and unmatched speed.</p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Leaf Blade
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Acrobatics
item: Life Orb / Flying Gem
ability: Overgrow / Unburden
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Despite its seemingly lackluster power, Swords Dance is now Sceptile's most dangerous set, having great coverage with just three moves. STAB Leaf Blade destroys anything that doesn't resist it after a boost, and the high critical hit rate can come in handy as well. Earthquake takes care of Steel-types
that wall walling Sceptile's other attacks, and
it also hits Fire- and Poison-types for serious damage. Rock Slide should be used with a Life Orb, the ability Overgrow, and a Jolly nature, while Flying Gem should be used with Acrobatics for the power boost and the activation of Unburden.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread with a Jolly nature maximizes Speed and Attack, though an Adamant nature could be used with Unburden since Sceptile's Speed is doubled after
Unburden the ability is activated, allowing it to outspeed even Choice Scarf users.
maybe specify some notable Scarfers? A Grass Gem can be used with Leaf Blade while a Rock Gem can be used with Rock Slide as alternatives
to Flying Gem + Acrobatics to activate Unburden. Sceptile also has access to other physical coverage moves such as X-Scissor, Crunch, Dragon Claw, Bullet Seed, Brick Break, Drain Punch, ThunderPunch, Low Kick, Pursuit, and Quick Attack, but they do not provide the same coverage that Rock Slide and Earthquake or Earthquake and Acrobatics do. In addition, many of these moves are illegal with Unburden, as they are fourth generation tutor moves, and therefore are not worth the loss
of the ability.
Although this set is physical, Fighting-types are still good partners to deal with Chansey, which can take a Swords Dance-boosted Leaf Blade and cripple Sceptile with Thunder Wave or Toxic.
Since this set is physical, it deals somewhat better with Chansey, though Fighting-types are still a good idea, as Chansey can take a Swords Dance-boosted Leaf Blade and proceed to cripple Sceptile with Thunder Wave or Toxic. In addition, a strong special attacker is a good complement to the physical nature of this set.
maybe mention of specific special attackers?</p>
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Giga Drain
item: Choice Specs / Life Orb
ability: Overgrow
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This was Sceptile's staple set in DPP UU, decimating anything that didn't resist its STAB Leaf Storm. Leaf Storm is Sceptile's most powerful move, and works well with Choice Specs
since as Sceptile will
usually be switching often. Focus Blast hits Registeel and other Steel-types for massive damage, and does a decent amount of damage to Chansey. The Hidden Power type depends on what your team needs; Hidden Power Ice hits Dragon-
, [remove comma] and Flying-types, while Hidden Power Fire hits Steel- and Bug-types. Both Hidden Power types hit opposing Grass-types coming in to wall you, though bulky Grass-types such as Shaymin, Celebi, and Roserade won't be taking too much damage regardless of the super effective Hidden Power. In the final moveslot, Giga Drain is a useful alternative to Leaf Storm that does acceptable damage and heals Sceptile at the same time.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Earthquake is an option to hit Fire-types
that who otherwise wall this set bar the inaccurate Focus Blast. The EV spread along with a Timid nature maximizes Speed and Special Attack. A Hasty nature should be used if Sceptile is running Earthquake to hit Fire-types. Choice Specs should be used with a moveset with all special attacks
,[comma] while Life Orb should be used if Sceptile is running Earthquake. Teammates such as Heracross or Gallade are needed to take out Chansey and other special walls since Focus Blast does pitiful damage to them.</p>
seems like AC could use more comments, but up to you
[SET]
name: SubSeed
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Leech Seed
move 3: Giga Drain
move 4: Hidden Power Fire
item: Leftovers
ability: Overgrow
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Sceptile is able to abuse the well-known "SubSeed" strategy due to its high Speed stat. The combination of Substitute and Leech Seed is lethal to anything slower that is not a Grass-type, or something with Magic Guard
, [remove comma] such as Clefable. Giga Drain is the STAB move of choice, as it does damage
while still recovering and recovers Sceptile's health, adding to the recovery provided by Leech Seed. Grass-types are hit hard by Hidden Power Fire, as are Steel- and Bug-types
that resist Giga Drain.</p>
seems like set comments could use some more details, but up to you
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Sceptile's high Special Attack stat differentiates it from Whimsicott
isn't Whim not in UU yet? as a user of SubSeed
,[comma] as it can actually do damage to opponents
.[period], For example, most
Grass-types that seek to wall Sceptile are hit hard by Hidden Power Fire. notably opposing Grass-types that seek to wall Sceptile, hitting hard with Hidden Power Fire from Sceptile's 105 Base Special Attack. Leftovers provides even more recovery in addition to Leech Seed and Giga Drain. Overgrow is the preferred ability because Unburden is useless with this moveset, and due to Substitute constantly wearing down its HP,
making Giga Drain
becomes much more powerful in a pinch. Sceptile utilizing SubSeed can actually beat Chansey, unlike Sceptile's other sets, due to Leech Seed recovering the entire amount of health lost from using Substitute. Teammates to eliminate bulky Grass-types such as Roserade are needed, as even a super effective Hidden Power won't be doing much damage to them. Thus, powerful physical attackers are appreciated, as the majority of Grass-types have low physical defense.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Sceptile has many other options available, though most are gimmicky
, and aren't viable for serious competitive play. Perhaps the only other set worth mentioning is one
consisting of Endeavor and Quick Attack combined with a Focus Sash, which allows Sceptile to defeat almost anything that is not a Ghost-type. However, with the prevalence of Hail, entry hazards, and Ghost-types, this strategy is rather ineffective in the UU metagame, and Sceptile has much better sets to run. Sceptile has an expansive movepool consisting of both physical and special moves, and also has an interesting support movepool with moves such as Synthesis, Safeguard, and Grasswhistle, but none of these are viable options on any of the aforementioned sets.
maybe a short explanation of why they aren't viable?</p>
[Checks and Counters]
As with most special attackers, Chansey walls the Special Attacker set, but loses to the Swords Dance and SubSeed sets most of the time. Specially defensive Registeel isn't 2HKOed by Focus Blast and is able to cripple Sceptile with Thunder Wave or Toxic in return. Steelix checks the Swords Dance set and can KO with STAB Gyro Ball, especially if Unburden has been activated. Status cripples Sceptile, specifically Burn, Paralysis, and Toxic for the physical variant and Paralysis and Toxic for the special and SubSeed variants. Grass-types wall Sceptile unless it runs Acrobatics or a super effective Hidden Power, and even then, bulky Grass-types such as Celebi or Roserade wall Sceptile regardless.</p>
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