Does anybody remember the battle when Sceptile beat that OP Darkrai? Tbh I didn´t watch the anime in a very long time and I wasn´t even that much into it as a child either but for some reason this is one of the battles that I remember the most. Ash´s Sceptile was a total badass here and ever since I watched that episode as a child it turned out to become one of my favorite Pokemon. Therefore, I wanted to build a team around it and after a lot of testing I came up with something that actually works. Nevertheless, this is only my 2nd RMT and I would highly appreciate some feedback and criticism for it. I hope you enjoy it, so here we go.
The Squad
Building Process
These two are pretty obvious. It´s basically the standard
I chose Volcarona as an additional Set-up Sweeper because of its ability to beat common grass-types like Kartana, Tapu-Bulu and Ferrothorn. It also deals with Skarmory and Celesteela, which Sceptile struggles to break through without severeal boosts. Sceptile on the other hand handles water-types like Tapu-Fini and Rotom-W
I decided to go with Mega-Mawile and Espeon as my two Wallbreakers. Mega-Mawile is perhaps the best Wallbreaker in the Tier and benefits from Koko´s Terrain with Thunder Punch. Sucker Punch even gives you a little speed control. Espeon on the other hand might seem a little weird since Tapu-Lele completely outclasses it as a Wallbreaker. Espeon´s access to the rare Magic Bounce justifies its spot on the team though. With Pokemon like Volcarona on the team there has to be a way to combat Hazards and Espeon does that as well as posing a threat to Toxapex.
Every good HO Team needs a Hazard Setter. Aerodactyl is just that. I tested a few Leads but Aerodactyl turned out to be the one that I´m most comfortable with.
Going In-Deep
Scep Rollins (Sceptile) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 44 SpD / 212 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
Leaf Blade is the obligatory STAB Move. Rock Slide and Earthquake provide good coverage and let you hit everything except grass-types for neutral damage at least. Acrobatics has a higher base power than Rock Slide and gives you a better match-up vs Hawlucha but you will have a much worse match-up against Flying Types like Zapdos, Tornadus, Celesteela and Skarmory.
Adamant Nature and Max. Atk ensure Sceptile hits as hard as possible. 212 Spe is enough to outspeed +2 Volcarona after Unburden and OHKO it with Rock Slide. 44 SpD lets Sceptile take any hit from Choice Specs Ash-Greninja and OHKO with Leaf Blade in return.
Koko Kingston (Tapu Koko) @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Volt Switch
You have probably seen this a billion times so you know what it does. Dual Screens give the team a better time setting up. Taunt prevents Hazards, Defog, Set-Up Moves etc. I know U-Turn is usually preferred over Volt Switch in order to avoid weird scenarios against Ground-types but I desperately needed the electric-type move to beat Hawlucha. My Team is very weak to it otherwise and Koko can take a +2 HJK in order to OHKO or at least heavily damage it in return.
Standard Screens Koko EV Split.
UUUURR FIRRED (Volcarona) @ Buginium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Hidden Power
My favorite Pokemon... at least from a competitive view. Volcarona almost always finds a spot on my teams and I don´t know why. Perhaps Quiver Dance just fascinates me. Anyways, I chose Flamethrower as the Fire-STAB because of its reliability but Fire Blast and Fiery Dance are options as well. Bug Buzz with Buginium Z beats Psychic and Dark-types, especially Tyranitar. On the final slot HP Ground is the safest bet considering it beats Heatran which is one of Volcarona´s biggest counters but doesn´t accomplish much outside of that. Giga Drain can be used for the likes of Mega Swampert and Tapu-Fini whereas HP Rock can surprise opposing Volcarona as well as MZard-Y.
Standard Offensive Volcarona EV Split.
Mawtt Hardy (Mawile-Mega) @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Play Rough
Mega-Mawile with its massive Atk Stat is supposed to damage opposing walls and put them in line for a Sceptile Sweep. Swords Dance is obvious. Sucker Punch compensates Mawile´s terrible Speed Stat. Thunder Punch benefits from Koko´s Terrain and Play Rough is the STAB-Move. Funny enough Mawile is the one who goes for a sweep pretty often as well. Once all opposing Priority Users and Physical Walls are beaten Mawile can just spam Sucker Punch.
I chose to invest into HP rather than Speed ´cause outspeeding Venusaur didn´t seem that important as I already have Espeon to deal with Venu.
Natalya (Espeon) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power
- Dazzling Gleam
- Heal Bell
I prefer Psyshock over Psychic because too many times I had to face Chansey and didn´t have an out to it ´cause Sceptile and Mawile already fainted. HP Fire deals with Ferrothorn, which you´re gonna switch into pretty often in order to bounce back Hazards. Dazzling Gleam gives me a way to damage Dark-Types and deals with Garchomp. On the final slot I decided to go with Heal Bell to give a burned Mega-Mawile or paralyzed Volcarona a second chance. Espeon is pretty frail and shouldn´t always be switched in recklessly. Sometimes it´s better to safe it for later on to have a better match-up against Toxapex and MVenusaur.
Standard Max Spa, Max Spe Split.
Andradactyl (Aerodactyl) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
Aerodactyl is my Lead of Choice. Originally, I went with Landorus-T but in the end Aerodactyl had more to offer with its 130 Speed Base and access to Taunt. You usually just Taunt the opposing Lead and go for Stealth Rock. Eartquake is a nice coverage move but you barely get to use it. Rock Tomb is used over Stone Edge to cripple a mon´s speed before Aerodactyl faints.
Standard max. Atk and max. Spe Split.
Threats
Hawlucha:
As I already mentioned, Hawlucha can´t be stopped once it got a Swords Dance up, unless you sacrifice a mon and bring in Tapu-Koko. Hawlucha definitely has to be eliminated before you try to Sweep with Sceptile since Hawlucha can just switch in on the Electric Terrain and get a free kill with Acrobatics.
Ash-Greninja:
This one almost kills the entire team. The best way to play around it is to just prevent Battle Bond. Once transformed, you have to bring in Sceptile and OHKO it with Leaf Blade but you basically lose your win condition in the process.
Zapdos:
Zapdos is bulky enough to take any unboosted hit from my Team. Discharge and Fire-type coverage are really annyoing and can cripple my sweepers, so Stealth Rock is a must against it. There are ways to out it but it can get extremely hard.
Hazards:
Stealth Rock is not fun at all for Volcarona. I do have 2 Taunt users and a Magic Bouncer but once Hazards are on your side of the field there is no way to get rid of them, so good predictions are the key here.
Epilogue
Overall I think I did a pretty decent job here, so feel free to use the Team if you like it. I usually don´t run Hyper Offense Teams ´cause I just prefer the balanced play style but Sceptile fits a lot better on Hyper Offense. As I said, this is just my 2nd RMT so there are probably a lot of things to improve. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it!
Thank you guys for reading.
