[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 4 onwards
**Price Range**: 12-13 points
**Overview**: Its mediocre stats and lamentable coverage options make it seem like Serperior would be terrible offensively, but Contrary paired with Leaf Storm lets it boost straight through unprepared teams. Terastallizatoin is what allows it to be truly threatening. With the tools to get around Grass-resistant foes with newfound coverage, Serperior becomes a far more potent sweeper. Unfortunately, with how reliant it is on having access to Terastallizatoin, Serperior fails to place the same amount of pressure on opposing teams as high-tier Tera Captains. This makes drafting and building around it fairly difficult, as it is rather underwhelming when it lacks the ability to Terastallize.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Contrary Sweeper**: With the boost from Leaf Storm, Serperior can easily sweep through weakened teams. Choice Scarf sets are especially threatening if given the opportunity to pick off a weakened foe and boost up to finish off the rest of the team.
**Substitute Attacker**: Serperior regularly forces switches, often allowing it to take advantage of more passive foes with Substitute. It causes disruptions with Glare, Leech Seed, and its other utility moves, which lets it break through walls that it would otherwise be unable to with its limited Leaf Storm PP.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Storm, Giga Drain
**Setup Moves**: 130-Base Power Nasty Plot (Leaf Storm),
**Utility Moves**: Glare, Leech Seed, Substitute, Knock Off, Taunt, Synthesis, Light Screen, Reflect, Taunt, Dragon Tail
**Coverage**: Tera Blast, Dragon Pulse
Niche Moves
========
**Gastro Acid**: Unaware and Sap Sipper shut down Serperior's sweeps. Removing these troublesome abilities with Gastro Acid can catch opponents off-guard, getting around supposed walls.
Common Items
========
**Leftovers**: Serperior will often stay in for multiple turns to set up with Leaf Storm, making the healing from Leftovers useful. Substitute and Leech Seed sets are especially helped by the extra recovery that it provides.
**Choice Scarf**: Late-game Serperior can easily run through weakened teams if it is given the opportunity. Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed most foes, including many common Choice Scarf users making sweeps even more threatening thanks to the ramping power from Leaf Storm or Tera Stellar Tera Blast.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: If expected to switch in often, Heavy-Duty Boots can keep Serperior healthy in the face of entry hazards.
Niche Items
========
**Damage Boosting Items**: Life Orb, Miracle Seed, and Choice Specs can all give Serperior the extra damage it needs to break through certain foes, making it solid on more offensive sets that don’t need the speed from Choice Scarf.
**Light Clay**: Sets with dual screens can be more effective with Light Clay increasing their duration.
**Lum Berry**: Paralysis and poison greatly hinder Serperior. Avoiding a devastating status effect and giving it a free turn with Lum Berry can be very useful.
Tera
========
Serperior is particularly reliant on Terastallization to be effective, meaning that it should be a Tera Captain if drafted. Tera Fire, Ground, and Water give Serperior a superior defensive typing while supplying it with coverage to hit the Grass-, Steel-, and Fire-types that resist Leaf Storm. Any Tera type that can deal with opposing Grass-resistant foes such as Tera Rock or Tera Ice can be a solid choice for it. Tera Grass is another solid option that can be great to boost the power of Leaf Storm even further, pairing well with Choice Scarf sets. Tera Stellar can occasionally be effective, providing Serperior with more Contrary boosts and neutral coverage; however, it often takes too long for Tera Stellar Tera Blast to boost its meagre Special Attack.
Draft Strategy
========
Serperior’s awkward position of being particularly reliant on Terastallization makes it difficult to draft around. Ideally, it should be paired with high tiers and alternative Tera Captains that are not reliant on Terastallization to be successful. It also appreciates partners that can help break through opposing walls, letting Serperior effectively clean up late-game.
**Non-Terastallization-reliant Partners**: Since Serperior demands Terastallization in most situations, pairing it with Pokemon that do not need to Terastallize is the most effective solution. High tier partners that are banned from using Terastallization like Iron Valiant and Darkrai or those that don’t rely on Terastallization like Great Tusk work well.
**Strong Wallbreakers**: Serperior is extremely threatening in endgames where opposing teams are chipped down. It is able to break by itself but it is often required to burn through its limited Leaf Storm PP. Strong wallbreakers, especially those which don’t require Terastallization, like Palafin, Roaring Moon, and Garchomp can soften teams for Serperior to clean up.
**Faster Partners:**: Although Serperior has a solid Speed tier, it is still outsped by many threats when it is not using Choice Scarf. Faster partners like Iron Bundle, Sneasler, and Weavile give it the flexibility to use more diverse sets.
**Pivots**: With its mediocre bulk, Serperior cannot take many attacks throughout a match, which can lead to it having trouble accumulating boosts. Pivots like Landorus-T, Galarian Slowking and Rotom-W help switch it in safely and stay healthy.
Checks and Counters
========
**Grass-resistant Foes**: Foes that resist Grass-type attacks like Zapdos, Gouging Fire, and Iron Moth are able to switch into Leaf Storm before Serperior is able to get many boosts and threaten them out. Frailer Grass-resistant foes can still be overpowered only if Serperior gets enough boosts. Although it can Terastallize to beat some of these Pokemon, most teams have multiple Grass-type resistances and it will rarely be able to break through all of them. The rare Grass-immune Pokemon, like Hisuian Goodra with Sap Sipper, completely prevent it from getting the Leaf Storm boosts needed to break.
**Special Walls**: Certain special walls are able to stick around long enough to stall out Serperior's extremely limited Leaf Storm PP. Pokemon like Galarian Slowking, Tornadus-T, and Latias can switch in and recover, preventing any progress from being made.
**Faster Pokemon**: Despite Serperior being quite fast, it is still outsped by many foes. Faster Pokemon like Meowscarada, Weavile, and Iron Valiant can take it out before it has time to break through the rest of their team.
**Unaware**: Serperior's offensive power is entirely reliant on its Contrary boosts from Leaf Storm and Tera Stellar Tera Blast. Those of which can ignore those boosts with Unaware, like Skeledirge, Clodsire, and Clefable, can easily wall it while generally being undisrupted by its utility moves.
**Status Conditions**: A well-timed status can completely shut down a Serperior sweep. Being paralyzed takes away its only good stat in Speed, allowing many foes to outspeed and KO it. Poison is also fairly debilitating, as Serperior needs many turns to get the ball rolling, which is even more difficult when taking constant chip damage.
**Pressure**: Leaf Storm has very limited PP and without it, Serperior's supoptimal offensive stats become clearer. Foes like Kyurem, Corviknight, and Deoxys-D can utilize Pressure to drain Leaf Storm PP twice as fast, shutting down all of Serperior's offensive pressure.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lustre.567354/
**Draft Order**: Round 4 onwards
**Price Range**: 12-13 points
**Overview**: Its mediocre stats and lamentable coverage options make it seem like Serperior would be terrible offensively, but Contrary paired with Leaf Storm lets it boost straight through unprepared teams. Terastallizatoin is what allows it to be truly threatening. With the tools to get around Grass-resistant foes with newfound coverage, Serperior becomes a far more potent sweeper. Unfortunately, with how reliant it is on having access to Terastallizatoin, Serperior fails to place the same amount of pressure on opposing teams as high-tier Tera Captains. This makes drafting and building around it fairly difficult, as it is rather underwhelming when it lacks the ability to Terastallize.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Contrary Sweeper**: With the boost from Leaf Storm, Serperior can easily sweep through weakened teams. Choice Scarf sets are especially threatening if given the opportunity to pick off a weakened foe and boost up to finish off the rest of the team.
**Substitute Attacker**: Serperior regularly forces switches, often allowing it to take advantage of more passive foes with Substitute. It causes disruptions with Glare, Leech Seed, and its other utility moves, which lets it break through walls that it would otherwise be unable to with its limited Leaf Storm PP.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Storm, Giga Drain
**Setup Moves**: 130-Base Power Nasty Plot (Leaf Storm),
**Utility Moves**: Glare, Leech Seed, Substitute, Knock Off, Taunt, Synthesis, Light Screen, Reflect, Taunt, Dragon Tail
**Coverage**: Tera Blast, Dragon Pulse
Niche Moves
========
**Gastro Acid**: Unaware and Sap Sipper shut down Serperior's sweeps. Removing these troublesome abilities with Gastro Acid can catch opponents off-guard, getting around supposed walls.
Common Items
========
**Leftovers**: Serperior will often stay in for multiple turns to set up with Leaf Storm, making the healing from Leftovers useful. Substitute and Leech Seed sets are especially helped by the extra recovery that it provides.
**Choice Scarf**: Late-game Serperior can easily run through weakened teams if it is given the opportunity. Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed most foes, including many common Choice Scarf users making sweeps even more threatening thanks to the ramping power from Leaf Storm or Tera Stellar Tera Blast.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: If expected to switch in often, Heavy-Duty Boots can keep Serperior healthy in the face of entry hazards.
Niche Items
========
**Damage Boosting Items**: Life Orb, Miracle Seed, and Choice Specs can all give Serperior the extra damage it needs to break through certain foes, making it solid on more offensive sets that don’t need the speed from Choice Scarf.
**Light Clay**: Sets with dual screens can be more effective with Light Clay increasing their duration.
**Lum Berry**: Paralysis and poison greatly hinder Serperior. Avoiding a devastating status effect and giving it a free turn with Lum Berry can be very useful.
Tera
========
Serperior is particularly reliant on Terastallization to be effective, meaning that it should be a Tera Captain if drafted. Tera Fire, Ground, and Water give Serperior a superior defensive typing while supplying it with coverage to hit the Grass-, Steel-, and Fire-types that resist Leaf Storm. Any Tera type that can deal with opposing Grass-resistant foes such as Tera Rock or Tera Ice can be a solid choice for it. Tera Grass is another solid option that can be great to boost the power of Leaf Storm even further, pairing well with Choice Scarf sets. Tera Stellar can occasionally be effective, providing Serperior with more Contrary boosts and neutral coverage; however, it often takes too long for Tera Stellar Tera Blast to boost its meagre Special Attack.
Draft Strategy
========
Serperior’s awkward position of being particularly reliant on Terastallization makes it difficult to draft around. Ideally, it should be paired with high tiers and alternative Tera Captains that are not reliant on Terastallization to be successful. It also appreciates partners that can help break through opposing walls, letting Serperior effectively clean up late-game.
**Non-Terastallization-reliant Partners**: Since Serperior demands Terastallization in most situations, pairing it with Pokemon that do not need to Terastallize is the most effective solution. High tier partners that are banned from using Terastallization like Iron Valiant and Darkrai or those that don’t rely on Terastallization like Great Tusk work well.
**Strong Wallbreakers**: Serperior is extremely threatening in endgames where opposing teams are chipped down. It is able to break by itself but it is often required to burn through its limited Leaf Storm PP. Strong wallbreakers, especially those which don’t require Terastallization, like Palafin, Roaring Moon, and Garchomp can soften teams for Serperior to clean up.
**Faster Partners:**: Although Serperior has a solid Speed tier, it is still outsped by many threats when it is not using Choice Scarf. Faster partners like Iron Bundle, Sneasler, and Weavile give it the flexibility to use more diverse sets.
**Pivots**: With its mediocre bulk, Serperior cannot take many attacks throughout a match, which can lead to it having trouble accumulating boosts. Pivots like Landorus-T, Galarian Slowking and Rotom-W help switch it in safely and stay healthy.
Checks and Counters
========
**Grass-resistant Foes**: Foes that resist Grass-type attacks like Zapdos, Gouging Fire, and Iron Moth are able to switch into Leaf Storm before Serperior is able to get many boosts and threaten them out. Frailer Grass-resistant foes can still be overpowered only if Serperior gets enough boosts. Although it can Terastallize to beat some of these Pokemon, most teams have multiple Grass-type resistances and it will rarely be able to break through all of them. The rare Grass-immune Pokemon, like Hisuian Goodra with Sap Sipper, completely prevent it from getting the Leaf Storm boosts needed to break.
**Special Walls**: Certain special walls are able to stick around long enough to stall out Serperior's extremely limited Leaf Storm PP. Pokemon like Galarian Slowking, Tornadus-T, and Latias can switch in and recover, preventing any progress from being made.
**Faster Pokemon**: Despite Serperior being quite fast, it is still outsped by many foes. Faster Pokemon like Meowscarada, Weavile, and Iron Valiant can take it out before it has time to break through the rest of their team.
**Unaware**: Serperior's offensive power is entirely reliant on its Contrary boosts from Leaf Storm and Tera Stellar Tera Blast. Those of which can ignore those boosts with Unaware, like Skeledirge, Clodsire, and Clefable, can easily wall it while generally being undisrupted by its utility moves.
**Status Conditions**: A well-timed status can completely shut down a Serperior sweep. Being paralyzed takes away its only good stat in Speed, allowing many foes to outspeed and KO it. Poison is also fairly debilitating, as Serperior needs many turns to get the ball rolling, which is even more difficult when taking constant chip damage.
**Pressure**: Leaf Storm has very limited PP and without it, Serperior's supoptimal offensive stats become clearer. Foes like Kyurem, Corviknight, and Deoxys-D can utilize Pressure to drain Leaf Storm PP twice as fast, shutting down all of Serperior's offensive pressure.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lustre.567354/
Last edited:
