Nov 4, 2014, 06:47 PM
Hello friends! Just like M-Swampert, I'm here to go over his somewhat counter-part: Mega Sceptile!
(Notice how I said "somewhat" counter-part, we'll go over that later.)
Let's take a look at his stats, ability, and typing first off.
STATS: 70 HP, 110 ATK, 75 DEF, 145 SPA, 85 SPD, 145 SPE
TYPING: Grass/Dragon
ABILITY: Lightning Rod (This pokemon draws in all Electric-type moves to boost its Sp. Atk stat. by 1; Electric Immunity)
There are better abilities out there, but I can live with this one. Lightning rod isn't as bad as you think it'd be considering that rotom wash, mega manetric, zapdos, Magnezone, and more are pretty common. However, the dragon typing works against this ability a little because most electric types also carry hidden power ice which our mega here is 4x weak to. But all it takes is one wrong prediction for you to get that boost and potentially sweep an entire team. Lets get down to the build I'll be using.
Modest -Energy Ball
48 HP -Dragon Pulse
252 SPA -Leaf Storm
208 SPE -Focus Blast
I'm running this amount of speed for many reasons. 1. I don't want to make it timid, I think M-Sceptile needs the SPA boost because it's so frail. You either wanna come in, OHKO something and leave, or 2KO something on the switch in and leave. Only way to outspeed something like timid mega manetric is to make sceptile timid himself, and I don't think thats worth it. 2. With this amount of speed you outspeed max speed timid Greninja, which is really important since it's Ice Beam is a huge threat. Not to mention that Greninja is something that HAS to go in OR/AS since it gets access to Gunk Shot as a move tutor move, meaning those fairy counters are no longer counters to him.
I'm running double grass coverage for those really big threats that need to go. Like specially defensive mega slowbro, specially defensive rotom wash, etc. You know, the things that energy ball can only 2KO. Be wary about when you use leaf storm though. Because it lowers your special attack harshly after its use. So come in, drop it, hit something really hard, and get out of there! (Wish mega sceptile had draco >.>)
Dragon Pulse for the obvious dragon stab and to hit those dragon types hard. and coming from this special attack? It hits REALLY hard. goodbye dragon types.
Focus blast for those pesks like tyranitar, heatran, etc. I was ALMOST wanted to switch this to Earthquake, but I realized that it only really hit heatran hard here. Low kick was another choice, but under use I just got more KO's with Focus Blast.
DOUBLES NOTE: I just wanted to mention this, it's too early to tell if it's viable to make a team over or not. But I was playing some custom matches with friends and I was running a sun team with a mild nature and had rock slide, solarbeam, energy ball, and dragon pulse and KO'd my friends charizard Y with the rock slide, took out his salamence with the dragon pulse, and took out rotom w with the solar beam. Sunny day team mega sceptile with solar beam perhaps? Have to see how the meta goes first.
COUNTERS: Remember how I said that mega sceptiles is mega swamperts "somewhat counter-part"? Yeah. Thats because swampert can easily outspeed mega sceptile in the rain, and ice punch it for the KO. Even with max speed timid nature, a max speed adamant nature swampert will still outspeed you in the rain. Mega Sceptile has much more to fear however. Ice Shard or even Focus Shash Mamoswine is popular. Mega Manetric/Jolteon with HP Ice if theyre timid. Not to mention Talonflame. Be aware of your 4x weakness, and build around it.
The mons that work best will be listed below, unlike mega swampert; These are listed to counter your weaknesses and help out your movepool. Sceptile needs a little bit of a defensive support.
Heatran, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Conkeldurr, Azumarill, Gengar.
-These can really be swapped to any pokemon that can fit these roles. A strong water type to bait out electric moves, a strong fighting type incase you dont want to risk focus blast, a fast earth quaker for those electric types running HP Ice, and some defensive mons for your weaknesses.
CONCLUSION: Mega Sceptile will be a threat in singles for sure. There aren't that many threatening grass types in the meta, but that's changing. It has a strong movepool and can have many different sets making it pretty unpredictable. It's also easy to build a team around, making it a very hard core to break. In VGC I think it's going to be the same. I'm a little worried how it'll hold up because of it's defenses, but it has such a large move pool that I'm hoping that'll make it used more.
Thanks for those who read this. ^^; I plan on doing all the megas, of course. Let me know if you wanna see a certain one next!
(Notice how I said "somewhat" counter-part, we'll go over that later.)
Let's take a look at his stats, ability, and typing first off.
STATS: 70 HP, 110 ATK, 75 DEF, 145 SPA, 85 SPD, 145 SPE
TYPING: Grass/Dragon
ABILITY: Lightning Rod (This pokemon draws in all Electric-type moves to boost its Sp. Atk stat. by 1; Electric Immunity)
There are better abilities out there, but I can live with this one. Lightning rod isn't as bad as you think it'd be considering that rotom wash, mega manetric, zapdos, Magnezone, and more are pretty common. However, the dragon typing works against this ability a little because most electric types also carry hidden power ice which our mega here is 4x weak to. But all it takes is one wrong prediction for you to get that boost and potentially sweep an entire team. Lets get down to the build I'll be using.
Modest -Energy Ball
48 HP -Dragon Pulse
252 SPA -Leaf Storm
208 SPE -Focus Blast
I'm running this amount of speed for many reasons. 1. I don't want to make it timid, I think M-Sceptile needs the SPA boost because it's so frail. You either wanna come in, OHKO something and leave, or 2KO something on the switch in and leave. Only way to outspeed something like timid mega manetric is to make sceptile timid himself, and I don't think thats worth it. 2. With this amount of speed you outspeed max speed timid Greninja, which is really important since it's Ice Beam is a huge threat. Not to mention that Greninja is something that HAS to go in OR/AS since it gets access to Gunk Shot as a move tutor move, meaning those fairy counters are no longer counters to him.
I'm running double grass coverage for those really big threats that need to go. Like specially defensive mega slowbro, specially defensive rotom wash, etc. You know, the things that energy ball can only 2KO. Be wary about when you use leaf storm though. Because it lowers your special attack harshly after its use. So come in, drop it, hit something really hard, and get out of there! (Wish mega sceptile had draco >.>)
Dragon Pulse for the obvious dragon stab and to hit those dragon types hard. and coming from this special attack? It hits REALLY hard. goodbye dragon types.
Focus blast for those pesks like tyranitar, heatran, etc. I was ALMOST wanted to switch this to Earthquake, but I realized that it only really hit heatran hard here. Low kick was another choice, but under use I just got more KO's with Focus Blast.
DOUBLES NOTE: I just wanted to mention this, it's too early to tell if it's viable to make a team over or not. But I was playing some custom matches with friends and I was running a sun team with a mild nature and had rock slide, solarbeam, energy ball, and dragon pulse and KO'd my friends charizard Y with the rock slide, took out his salamence with the dragon pulse, and took out rotom w with the solar beam. Sunny day team mega sceptile with solar beam perhaps? Have to see how the meta goes first.
COUNTERS: Remember how I said that mega sceptiles is mega swamperts "somewhat counter-part"? Yeah. Thats because swampert can easily outspeed mega sceptile in the rain, and ice punch it for the KO. Even with max speed timid nature, a max speed adamant nature swampert will still outspeed you in the rain. Mega Sceptile has much more to fear however. Ice Shard or even Focus Shash Mamoswine is popular. Mega Manetric/Jolteon with HP Ice if theyre timid. Not to mention Talonflame. Be aware of your 4x weakness, and build around it.
The mons that work best will be listed below, unlike mega swampert; These are listed to counter your weaknesses and help out your movepool. Sceptile needs a little bit of a defensive support.
Heatran, Tyranitar, Excadrill, Conkeldurr, Azumarill, Gengar.
-These can really be swapped to any pokemon that can fit these roles. A strong water type to bait out electric moves, a strong fighting type incase you dont want to risk focus blast, a fast earth quaker for those electric types running HP Ice, and some defensive mons for your weaknesses.
CONCLUSION: Mega Sceptile will be a threat in singles for sure. There aren't that many threatening grass types in the meta, but that's changing. It has a strong movepool and can have many different sets making it pretty unpredictable. It's also easy to build a team around, making it a very hard core to break. In VGC I think it's going to be the same. I'm a little worried how it'll hold up because of it's defenses, but it has such a large move pool that I'm hoping that'll make it used more.
Thanks for those who read this. ^^; I plan on doing all the megas, of course. Let me know if you wanna see a certain one next!
