[OVERVIEW]
Sceptile is one of the most threatening Grass types in the tier thanks to it's amazing Speed, Special Attack and movepool + the fact that it's able to run multiple sets. Also both its abilities are helpful to its offensive capabilities, Overgrow powering up its Grass-type moves once its below 1/3 of it's health and Unburden giving it amazing speed and preventing it from being revenge killed, this makes it hard to prepare for Sceptile. With the access to best Grass STAB move in Leaf Storm it can easily tear through most offensive and defensive teams. Sceptile is able to fit on any playstyle besides Stall, with the right support it's almost always able to do heavy damage. While Sceptile has amazing offensive typing Sceptiles the only downside of Sceptile is that it isn't going to give the team a good defensive synergy because of low defenses and Grass typing not giving many resistances to begin with, this makes Sceptile not switching in on too many offensive pokemons (while you be suprised it's able to come in on defensive mons).
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Flying
item: Choice Specs
ability: Overgrow
nature: Timid
evs: 252 spA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=======
Leaf Storm is Sceptiles best and strongest Grass-type STAB move with a massive 130 base power it's easily to deal heavy damage to both neutral and resisted mons, only downside of using Leaf Storm is that it lowers your Special Attack by 2. This is where Sceptile needs a second Grass-type move this is "Giga Drain" this is Sceptiles second Grass-type STAB move. As mentioned before Leaf Storm is lowering your Special Attack by 2 or able to miss what you in certain moments you don't want, this is why it has a second STAB move is great on it's moveset. Giga Drain is also handy when Sceptile is lowered by coming in on a resisted hit and is just able to get his health back. Focus Blast is Sceptiles best coverage move this lets you deal with Steel-types such as Ferroseed and bulky Fire-types such as Incineroar but also lets you hit Drapion and Skuntank for neutral damage. Then as last Hidden Power Ice is Sceptiles other coverage move so it's able to hit Grass types super effective such as Vileplume, Rotom-Mow, Whimsicott and other Sceptiles while it's also able to hit Flying types such as Braviary, Dodrio, Xatu and Golbat. You can also use Hidden Power Flying is an alternative instead of Hidden Power Ice but this is mainly to make Toxicroak and Virizion not a check to Sceptile.
Set Details
========
Maximizing EVs in Sceptiles amazing Special Attack and Speed with the Nature Timid you're able to get the most out of moments of attacking, this makes you outspeed everything above a base speed of 100 to 119 like Sneasel, Whimsicott, Tauros, Cinccino and Ambipom. With a Choice Specs equipped you increase Sceptiles damage output as well as limiting the amount of residual damage inflicted upon it from Life Orb. You want Overgrow as the ability on this set, when Sceptile has 1/3 or less of its max HP, its Grass attacks do 1.5x damage, this brings Sceptiles Giga Drain and Leaf Storm to incredible heights. Good thing to note is that Unburden is useless with this set.
Usage Tips
========
Sceptile is not the bulkiest pokemon to begin with, therefore it should not be directly brought in on any attacks other then weak neutral special hits or resisted hits like Rhydon's Earthquake or Water moves like Scald's from Vaporeon or Jellicent. Sceptile wants to click Leaf Storm as much as it can because even if you resist Leaf Storm if the opponant lacks 4x resists or an incredibly bulky 2x resist it is still going to take alot of damage and if they don't take alot of Leaf Storm you have most of the time your coverage to hit them effectively with. This all said Sceptile is best used as a wall breaker and/or late game cleaner while it also is able to be used as an effective revenge killer, the opponent has to choose either to let it die or switch out and that has to take a heavy hit. If you lock yourself into you coverage moves just be careful when you lock yourself into Hidden power Ice / Flying it is able to make Sceptile vulnerable to set up sweepers such as Barbaracle since you locked in to a Hidden Power that doesn't do nearly enough to let Barbaracle not set up.
Team Options
========
Pokemon that appreciate Rhydon, Vaporeon, Jellicent, Seismitoad and Samurott being gone. For example, Fire-types such as Houndoom, Delphox and Emboar which really appriciates these mons gone, and in return they can get rid of the bulkier Pokemons which Sceptile has trouble with such as Vileplume, Virizion, Skuntank and Drapion. Sceptile also benefits from Pivots such as Rotom, Golbat, Incineroar, Eelektross, Scyther, and Uxie can bring in Sceptile safely and keep up momentum. Rock-types work as well with Sceptile since they are able to threaten the Flying- and Poison-types pretty well, good example is Rhydon what does this and is able to set up Stealth Rock as well. In return Sceptile threatens Water- and Ground-types what Rock-types do not like. Further Water-types such as Vaporeon, Slowking and Jellicent are also great partners as they are able to come in on Fire-types which threaten Sceptile alot, with the reliable recovery they have they are able to switch in on Fire types consistently. As last Sceptile appriciates hazards being up the field so the counters like Golbat and Fire-types has to take alot more damage because of the Stealth Rocks.
[SET]
name: Life Orb
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Focus Blast / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Earthquake / Rock Slide
item: Life Orb
ability: Overgrow
nature: Naive
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Leaf Storm is Sceptiles most powerful STAB move which is able to do massive amount of damage every Pokémon that are either weak to Grass or neutral to it with a whopping 130 BP move. Only downside of using Leaf Storm is that it lowers your Special Attack by 2. The second Grass-type move is "Giga Drain" and as mentioned above the downside of Sceptiles first STAB is that with Leaf Storm your Special Attack gets lowered by 2 what you in some scenario's don't want to happen this is why a second STAB move on it's moveset is great, Giga Drain is also handy when Sceptile is lowered by coming in on a resisted hit and is just able to get his health back. The first coverage that Sceptile has isFocus Blast this allows to hit bulky Steel-, Dragon-, fire- types such as Steelix, Guzzlord, Incineroar and Drampa. With Earthquake you have Sceptiles best physical coverage move in the last slot this makes you able to hit Poison-types such as Garbodor, Skuntank, Toxicroak and Drapion, with Earthquake you make these Poison-types way less of a check to Sceptile what they otherwise are. You can also use Rock Slide as last coverage move, this is ran for the flying types such as Golbat, Braviary, Charizard and Scyther, this move 9/10 times not being ran on Sceptile but it's worth a mention.
Set Details
========
Maximizing into Special Attack and Speed gives you the most in Sceptiles great abilities but you need a positive speed nature otherwise it's not able to outspeed Pokémon such as Whimsicott, Sneasel and +2 Rhydon. You want the Life orb as your item on this set, this maximizes Sceptile attacks in every move you have on Sceptiles moveslot. You still want the ability Overgrow which is the most useful of the 2 since you don't benefit of using Unburden while you do benefit from Overgrow when you have a third of your max HP and when you're in range of Overgrow you make Sceptiles Giga Drain and Leaf Storm to incredible power.
Usage Tips
========
Try to find the the pokemon that Sceptile like to come in on and give Sceptile multiple switch ins such as Jellicent and Vaporeon and try to get the most damage on the moments you're on the field and then make sure that you give Sceptile switch ins were it takes the least amount of damage while switching in because otherwise priority moves are able to kill Sceptile quite easily such as Choice Band Ice Shard from Sneasel. To make the most out of this set is hazard stack is great, Spikes / Toxic Spikes being up the field it's able to snack some kills easier with instead of taking 2 Life Orb it is only taking 1.
Team Options
========
Fire-type mons that appreciate things that like Pokemons gone like Rhydon, Vaporeon, Jellicent, Seismitoad and Samurott. For example: Houndoom, Delphox and Emboar which really appriciate these mons gone, and in return they can get rid of the bulkier Pokemons which Sceptile has trouble with such as Vileplume, Virizion, Skuntank and Drapion. Rock-types such as Barbaracle, Rhydon, Lyranroc and Minior are great partners for Sceptile as well, with the ability to beat Fire- and Poison-types pretty consisently. They also resist Flying-type moves for Sceptile and they are baiting out bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon, Slowbro, Jellicent and Seismitoad, which Sceptile all beat.
Fighting-types such as Toxicroak, Hitmonlee and Scrafty tend to work really well because they overwhelm the Poison-types what tries check check both Fighting-types and Sceptile which puts alot of pressure on the Poison-type. Then as mentioned before entry hazards makes it a lot easier for Sceptile to break through on the opponent team, Stealth Rock can target most of the checks Sceptile has, such as Houndoom, Braviary, Golbat, Emboar, Delphox and Incineroar, Spikes helps vs Pokémons like Garbodor, Drapion to bring them into OHKO range of Earthquake.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Grassium Z is an option to use so you able to have a even higher boosted Leaf Storm without decreasing your SpA by 2, this makes you use Leaf Storm twice without switching out. You do lose alot of power with all the other moves though. Also an other option for the special set is Meadow Plate while this item decreases Sceptiles damage output you're able to switch up moves / fake that your choiced in some way. You can also use Subsitute on the Life Orb set, this prevents Sceptile being crippled by status moves while you also able to manually go into Overgrow if it's necassary. This boosts your Giga Drain so you get the health back to set up more Subsitutes. There is an other option as the last 2 slots on the special Sceptile set which is Leech Seed + Subsitute this has the ability to beat bulky Psychics with Calm Minds up and Bulky Flying types such as Braviary. Although this might be looking like a good option you're forced to run Leftovers with this otherwise you not beating them anyway which makes you lose alot of power. Endeavor is another niche that Sceptile is able to take advantage of, with Sceptiles great speed it has. The downside is you never killing something while going for Endeavor and most of the time you want to go for your Overgrow boosted Grass moves.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Poison-types**: Vileplume, Garbodor and Weezing are all able to switch in on any attack of Sceptile and able to either recover it off or OHKO Sceptile back. Choice Scarf Drapion is also able to take hit but way worse then the other Poison-types but it's able to OHKO it with Poison Jab or trap it with Pursuit if Sceptile is low on health.
**Bulky Flying-types**: Braviary, Golbat, Eviolite Scyther and Togetic are all mons that are able to switch in on both Sceptiles Grass STAB and don't take too much from Sceptiles coverage moves while being able to OHKO Sceptile back. Also Golbat's ability Infiltrator allows Sceptile to set up a Subsitute but it goes through it anyway.
**Fire-types**: Charizard, Delphox, Incineroar and Magmortar are all able to switch in on any attack of Sceptile and able to either recover it off or OHKO Sceptile back. Choice Scarf Emboar is also able to take hit but way worse then the other Fire-types but it's able to OHKO it with Flare Blitz.
Last edited:
