Hi guys! i am just dropping by on another request this time i wanna ask for you guys to share your thoughts on what things might be the viable strategies that a mega sceptile can work with in competitive play as of now.
i am not leaving you guys blank i actually did constructed a few possibilities for it to be built around though. well i think of pairing it up with thundurus-i or -t and built from there on, but there is just too much ice weakness whenever i think i have a viable strats. using rotom-w sounds like a nyc idea but the speed tiers they reach are really weird and soon things start to mess up, especially the weakness to rain gets very real, cuz it's a freakin m-sceptile guys. with this team i wanna be centralized around m-sceptile's strategy work and use that to be successful in battles.
mega sceptile can OHKO mence with dragon pulse, so no HP-ice is required, where comes the 4th slot i would most likely opt for quick guard to lend support to team members. i can also go forth and use a pachirisu + thundy-t discharge + follow me combination, and built off from that stage as mega sceptile occasionally requires redirection support at points.
Hope u consider this and leave helpful reply's
Sep 28, 2015, 02:05 PM (This post was last modified: Sep 29, 2015, 06:17 AM by RebornFX.)
I think you have a lot of options. As you mentioned, HP ice isn't necessarily important, but having the knowledge of being able to outspeed and get a guaranteed OHKO on uninvested Lando-T can be nice and considering its popularity might be a bit more valuable than quick guard. Quick guard mainly protects you from Talonflame, a threat but likely something that you can deal with. Although the idea of being able to prevent fake out might seem nice, having your big hitter do nothing for a turn while their partner gets some crucial damage might not be the smartest idea. Prankster T-wave is dealt with by Lightning Rod and if you are using redirection, sucker punch from Bisharp isn't an issue. I guess the only other thing Quick guard would protect you from is Prankster swagger, but Thundy is probably far more likely to be using HP ice anyway. Neither are particularly useful, and I guess the choice should be whether Talonflame or Lando-T is a greater threat, keeping in mind their relative popularity.
I personally would love to see a M-Sceptile Pachirisu team. I'm not sure how viable it would be, but they seem like a decent fit with no common weaknesses, redirection, access to Super fang to soften enemies up and speed control for the rest of the team. Considering you are using discharge, Helping hand isn't necessary. Another cool/weird option could be eviolite Electabuzz. Bar super fang, electabuzz seems to do all of the above while having more than double the base Sp.attack, meaning Discharge would do a hefty amount of damage. This would also save the Sitrus Berry for another pokemon.
For typing, Heatran is a pretty great option with perfect type synergy and a nice answer to Fairies locked in to Hyper voice (or a move that isn't HP ground). It would also be a good answer to Amoonguss which otherwise could be annoying. A cool option for opposing weather I've seen is Sunny Day Suicune. This would give another answer to M-Mence, Lando-T and Garchomp. Paired with Heatran it becomes fair more deadly, dealing with Steels more easily that Sceptile has issues with and weakening water attacks directed at Heatran. When paired with Sceptile, Lightning Rod would make Suicune hard to deal with, as its only weakness would be Grass which isn't often carried on offensive pokemon barring Breloom. As for the moveset for a Suicune, I feel having multiple forms of speed control is always nice, especially for when Pachirisu/Electabuzz doesn't have a good matchup, so Tailwind might be preferred over something like Snarl, Helping Hand or Protect. Scald and Ice beam are always nice on Suicune.
Just a few ideas, none of these things have been tested and might end up being completely awful. I was trying to think of less common members (though Suicune and Heatran are hardly original) just because if you wanted to use standard members I doubt you would be building around Sceptile.
I'll just include some sets I had in mind while making this:
Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Energy Ball
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Protect
Pachirisu @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Volt Absorb
- Discharge
- Super Fang
- Nuzzle
- Follow Me
Evs for Pachirisu and Electabuzz are blank because I'm not sure what benchmarks you would have in mind, I'm sure you will sort that out yourself. For the rest of the team, I guess a Fairy type would be nice to create a Fairy/Dragon/Steel core with Sceptile and Heatran and deal with fighting types which you don't have a consistent answer to. Then finally something with a good matchup for TR.
I'd love to see what you come up with, hopefully you take something from these ideas.
Edit: As electabuzz only gets Follow me from a different gen, you won't be able to use it in VGC 2015 rules.
