Battle Spot The Dragon's Garden

The Dragon's Garden


Introduction

Hello everyone! Today I will show you a team I made revolving around one of my favorite Pokemon: Mega Sceptile. While it may certainly be niche in a meta where arguably more versatile Mega Evolutions, such as Mega Salamence and Mega Charizard X/Y, I believe that with the right team support, Mega Sceptile can truly shine.

In-Depth


Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow --> Lightning Rod
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA | 4 SpD | 252 Spe
Moves: Leaf Storm | Dragon Pulse | Hidden Power Fire | Substitute

The star of the team, I have Mega Sceptile as my starting point. I decided to have Mega Sceptile as a special sweeper due to its higher Special Attack and ability, Lightning Rod, giving it SpA boosts when hit by Electric-type attacks. Leaf Storm and Dragon Pulse are its most powerful STAB moves while Hidden Power Fire allows it to deal with most Steel-types, such as Ferrothorn, Aegislash, Mega Mawile, and Mega Scizor. For my final moveslot, I decided to go for Substitute, allowing Sceptile to benefit from the switches it forces from Pokemon such as Rotom-W.


Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Adamant
Nature: Huge Power
EVs: 228 HP | 252 Atk | 12 Def | 12 SpD | 4 Spe
Moves: Aqua Jet | Waterfall | Play Rough | Superpower

As Mega Sceptile is rather frail, Assault Vest Azumarill soaks up any super effective special attacks coming its way, barring Poison-type moves such as Sludge Bomb and Sludge Wave. It is especially helpful because it resists Ice-types, something that Mega Sceptile is 4x weak to, as well as Fire-types and being immune to Dragon-types. Waterfall and Play Rough are its best STAB moves, Aqua Jet allows it to make up for its middling Speed, and I chose Superpower for coverage because it deals with Ice- and Steel-types that threaten Mega Sceptile.


Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP | 252 Def | 252 Spe
Moves: Roost | Stealth Rock | Whirlwind | Drill Peck

Skarmory is my physical wall, taking hits from the likes of Dragon Dance Mega Salamence and Mimikyu. Rocky Helmet, along with maximum physical bulk, punishes any users of contact moves while either allowing Skarmory to recover with Roost, set up hazards with Stealth Rock, phaze foes out with Whirlwind, or deal chip damage with Drill Peck. It additionally allows it to deal with most Poison-types as it is immune to their STAB moves as well as having an immunity to Toxic.

Volcarona @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Flame Body
Nature: Modest
EVs: 4 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
Moves: Quiver Dance | Fire Blast | Bug Buzz | Hurricane

Quiver Dance Volcarona gives my team a way of dealing with Mega Mawile. At +1, Fire Blast will OHKO not only the aforementioned Mega Mawile, but also threats such as SpD Celesteela and Mega Metagross, the latter of which Volcarona outspeeds at +1. Bug Buzz is good coverage, dealing with Dark- and Psychic-types while also hitting through Substitute. Hurricane, along with Flyinium Z, allows Volcarona to beat common variations of Charizard and Mega Venusaur at +1. Flame Body is chosen over Swarm because it allows Volcarona to burn users of contact moves like Mega Mawile.


Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Nature: Quiet
EVs: 252 HP | 252 SpA | 4 SpD
Moves: King's Shield | Shadow Ball | Shadow Sneak | Sacred Sword

Aegislash is great at dealing with Tapu Lele, something this team otherwise struggles against, thanks to its great defenses and typing. This set is the standard CRUMBLER with Weakness Policy to boost its Attack and Special Attack after being hit with a super effective move.


Nihilego @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
Moves: Power Gem | Sludge Wave | Hidden Power Ice | Psychic

Nihilego is a fantastic revenge killer, being able to outspeed Tapu Koko, Charizard, and Mega Salamence with a Choice Scarf. Power Gem, most specifically, deals with Mega Charizard Y, a significant threat to this team. Sludge Wave is for Fairy-types as well as being a secondary STAB move. While rather weak without a boost, Hidden Power Ice helps against weakened Mega Salamence and Landorus-T. Psychic is the chosen coverage move, dealing with Mega Gengar and Blaziken.


Conclusion
The main reason I am posting this team is because of the issues it faces. I have found that I struggle against Steel-types, as they often do not give Volcarona a chance to set up or leave me in a position where bringing it is unfavorable. Additionally, while I do have measures against Mega Salamence, I have issues whenever it carries special moves, primarily Fire Blast and Flamethrower. Furthermore, if I don't/can't set up Stealth Rock, Nihilego struggles to OHKO bulky variants of Mega Salamence and Landorus-T. I hope you can help me iron out the flaws of this team and show what Mega Sceptile can do.
 

cant say

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Sceptile is ... interesting. Sadly, I think it's completely unviable. It flat out loses to 11 of the top 20 most-used mons. It appears you've done your best to have answers to them, but I have a strong feeling this team would just get overpowered by a "big 6" / standard team. In these matchups, you're almost forced into not bringing Sceptile at all which leaves you with no offense, and your team isn't actually bulky enough wall them out. So while Sceptile + 4 bulky switches seems good on paper, I can't imagine it working consistently.

If you wanna use Sceptile, I think it's one of those mons that you use on a dual-mega team and just bring it when you get a favourable matchup, otherwise you just bring your other one. For this team, the most logical solution is to replace Aegislash with Mega Metagross. I like the dual elemental punches set with Iron Head and a filler move of your choice. Personally, I would run Earthquake over Sub on Sceptile as well since Heatran looks very troublesome.

With or without that change, the team is super weak to Fire, notably Charizard Y. Yeah you have Scarf Nihilego which is a sick check, but alone it has a lot of work to do. I like the look of Porygon2 over Skarmory as just a general catch-all bulky mon that can also dish out some offense. Skarmory just looks too passive to fit on this team. If you desperately need rocks then Metagross can run it in the fourth slot but then you can't use it to help Sceptile pick up KOes ...
 

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