Sharpedo [QC: 2/3]

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is a Tiering Contributorwon the 19th Official Smogon Tournamentis a Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
  • Jukain i will get this done by end of this wk man
Overview
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  • Strong Jaw Crunch allows Mega Sharpedo to clean offensive teams with ease late game combined with its coverage while smashing stall teams
  • Predictability with Protect can be a downfall
  • It is prone to priority
  • It needs certain threats weakened like Keldeo to actually sweep
  • It faces competition with Scolipede, but it can't be even compared in terms of raw power with an excellent main STAB move
  • Still a ridiculous cleaner and wallbreaker
With its new gift, Mega Sharpedo can easily clean teams with its STAB Crunch, complemented by Hydro Pump and its great coverage moves, Double-Edge and Poison Jab. Mega Sharpedo even has a favorable match-up against any archetype. Its predictability, vulnerability to priority, and the fact that it need certain threats to be worn down to sweep, can be problematic, but it is still a devastating sweeper and wallbreaker.

Cleaner
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set name: Cleaner
move 1: Protect
move 2: Crunch
move 3: Hydro Pump
move 4: Poison Jab
ability: Speed Boost
item: Sharpedonite
evs: 228 Atk / 28 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naughty

Moves
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  • Crunch is your main move; it is a huge threat to stall, semi-stall, balance, and hyper offensive teams
  • Hydro Pump covers healthy Hippowdon, Gliscor, Skarmory, Tyranitar, Terrakion, Excadrill, Landorus-T, Mamoswine, Mega Diancie, and hits other threats neutrally that resist Crunch. like Mega Lopunny and Bisharp
  • Poison Jab 2HKOes Azumarill and other bulky Fairy-types like Clefable and Mega Altaria. It also can cause problematic 30% poison damage to stall teams by hitting these types on the switch, especially Chesnaught.
  • Protect allows you to get guaranteed speed boost. It has a possibility to even
  • Double-Edge can be used to 2HKO Keldeo, but Mega Sharpedo will miss the ability to hit Fairy-types and Chesnaught
Crunch is your main

Set Details
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  • Max Atk EVs + an Naughty nature provides max power against both offensive and stall teams (speed tie with Landorus-T too)
  • If outpacing Choice Scarf Landorus-T is a priority, a Naive nature can be used, but Mega Sharpedo will miss important power. A Naive nature also allows it to outpace threats like Mega Charizard Y, Garchomp, Landorus-I, Mega Gardevoir, Pinsir, and other notable threats if it is forced to Mega evolve early
  • 28 SpA allows you to 2HKO Skarmory and OHKO Landorus-T

Usage Tips
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  • Against hyper offense, saving it as a late-game cleaner is vital. Break as many holes with teammates, and use Mega Sharpedo to sweep once their team has been put in Crunch or any of its coverage move's kill range. Remove Thundurus-I whenever you can get a chance. Sacking something to Thunder Wave to kill it is not a bad idea because these teams are generally really easy to sweep with using Mega Sharpedo (take a look at like CBB's team, just a bunch of frail and/or easy to wear down stuff like that offensive Mega Scizor)
  • Against stall teams, Mega evolving right away is essential to break huge holes in the opponent's defense. Mega Sharpedo does major work against this archetype, and 2HKOes pretty much every relevant Pokemon with correct prediction.
  • Mega Sharpedo has problems against bulky offense, so its not a bad idea to Mega evolve right away (you should pack a secondary win condition for these teams anyways like RP Landorus)
  • Balanced teams; you can MEvo right away or save it whatever you feel is best (haven't faced one with Pedo, so I can't say much - ninja stopped it from appearing lol brokenfrog...)
  • If you need 2 Speed boosts, bring this on something its normal form can naturally beat like Gliscor
  • Try not to mega evolve until Intimidate users such as Landorus-T, Gyarados, and Manectric are removed, so you can sweep without trouble

Team Options
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  • Mega Sharpedo prefers fast, destructive teammates because it fits on HO teams and needs stuff worn down ASAP. Gengar, Landorus, and Thundurus fit in this category.
  • Keldeo can spread burns which Sharpedo can abuse with Protect late-game
  • Stealth Rock is mandatory to wear stuff down and allows Mega Sharpedo to grip OHKOes and 2HKOes late-game.
  • LO Garchomp gets a special mention forming the infamous "Shark Attack" core and also because it can 2HKO threats Mega Sharpedo will have trouble with like Clefable, Ferrothorn, Mandibuzz, Mega Scizor, and Chesnaught. It can set up Stealth Rock too!
  • Focus Breloom can put the things that piss off Mega Sharpedo to sleep and surprise beats Talonflame.
  • Magnezone is welcome for trapping steel-types and give Mega Sharpedo switch-in opportunities with its Volt Switch
  • Bisharp +2 LO Sucker Punch can put Keldeo in to Mega Sharpedo's KO range, a common answer to the shark. It also discourages the use of Defog allowing you to keep hazards on the field.
  • Spikes and Toxic Spikes are welcome as well along with any residual damage. Spikes provides more damage for Mega Sharpedo to abuse, and Toxic Spikes allows it to abuse Protect for chip damage. Scolipede makes an excellent lead in this department. It encourages your opponent to lead with Talonflame, and with Focus Sash it can kill Talonflame with Rock Slide, and get a guaranteed hazard with it. Against non-Talonflame teams it can just SPAM the crap outta both hazards. Froslass works as well, except it can stop other hazard leads with Taunt and Ice Beam while SPAMming Spikes and possibly get a kill with Destiny Bond. Both leads encourage Sableye to Mega evolve meaning it can no longer posses a threat as it would normally be with Prankster Will-O-Wisp.

Other Options
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  • Aqua Jet can be used to kill a weakened Talonflame or Thundurus, but it misses coverage
  • Destiny Bond, but you lose your Mega which sucks
  • Life Orb, but Mega Sharpedo's Crunch is really missed and it is easy to wear down with LO recoil and more frail meaning it can't live like a single priority move - outclassed by Scolipede too
  • Poison fang can threaten bulkier builds mainly wearing down ChesnaughtChesnaught
  • A well-played Substitute can be used over Protect, but it can be a liability at times.
  • Surf can be used over Hydro Pump if you hate missing (any Hydro Pump miss ruins its sweep btw lol), but you lose necessary power to plow past crap like Skarmory.

Checks & Counters
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**Priority**: Breloom, Conkeldurr, Dragonite, and Talonflame can all OHKO Sharpedo, if not do massive damage.

**Bulky Walls**: Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Clefable can all take a hit and OHKO back. They cannot switch in, however, as Crunch or the appropriate coverage move 2HKOes. Klefki completely walls Sharpedo and can either kill it or paralyze it with Thunder Wave.

**Bulky Attackers**: Sharpedo relies on OHKOing everything late-game, so a healthy attacker that can take Crunch or any of its coverage moves, such as Keldeo and Azumarill, will suffice for checking it.

**Thundurus-I**: Thundurus can can paralyze it, preventing it from being a threat.
 
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Adamant Mega Sharpedo speed ties with Jolly Landorus-T at 309 speed. Although Choice Scarf Landorus-T usually runs 232 speed and not full, the speed tie should still be mentioned, as losing a speed tie will result in Sharpedo taking 84-99% from Earthquake or getting OHKOd by Superpower.
 
Alfalfa said:
Adamant Mega Sharpedo speed ties with Jolly Landorus-T at 309 speed. Although Choice Scarf Landorus-T usually runs 232 speed and not full, the speed tie should still be mentioned, as losing a speed tie will result in Sharpedo taking 84-99% from Earthquake or getting OHKOd by Superpower.
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This is in WIP.

Also, guys, Waterfall is honestly a really crappy option and inferior to Earthquake. I might remove unless someone give me a good reason.
 
You could opt to give mega sharpedo some extra HP. I mean mega sharpedo probably will not be surviving many hits, but it can outspeed almost everything after one so there the max investment in speed can be seen as overkill. Probably no shame in giving it a little extra bulk or def. to help it take priority better.
 
Eh, I'd argue being able to tie with Scarf Landorus-T is more likely to save you games then a tiny extra bulk.
 
I dont see the point in Earthquake. Heatran, Bisharp, and Magnezone are all hit hard enough with Crunch, or Hydro Pump for EQ to be a waste. Sharpedo is a late game cleaner, hitting targets for 70%+, especially ones that are not so hard to wear down (consider the frequency that all of these mons are used to sponge draco meteors and other attacks throughout a match, lack of healing, life orb frequency, etc) is good enough if those moveslots are needed.

Ice Fang is almost strictly inferior to Ice Beam.

I wrote a skeleton on Sharpedo earlier that I'd like you to consider

http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=R97HhkHB

rereading that I'd bump Ice Beam up from OO to moves though.

Oh and by the way, even though Skarmory can't really do anything to Sharp it can roost stall and use whirlwind which is a bit of an issue. If the opponent has Skarm and you intend to sweep with Sharpedo try and either get it to ~65% so Hydro Pump can OHKO after rocks, or wait until Sharpedo is your last. You have to get Skarmory to waste all of its Roost PP, but Sharpedo should win because if the Skarmory user misplays once and doesn't use Roost when Sharpedo uses Hydro Pump it's lights out. ALso if the Skarm lacks rocky helmet then Crunch defense drops can spell death. This can goad a skarmory into trying to counter too, which gives more opportunity to Hydro Pump.
 
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The only issue I have is that Return 2HKOes most of the Pokemon you mentioned barring Mega Gyarados (this one sort of depends on the fiasco given to it too). Double-Edge can rip a lot of your health against a Pokemon like Azumarill and it can be pretty suicidal in dicey situations (say they have Keldeo and like a quarter-health Ferrothorn left - Double-Edging a Ferrothorn is going to hurt). I definitely agree that Crunch and Hydro Pump should be the two core moves, but I think Return / Poison Jab is a little better than Double-Edge. Definitely worthy of moves though because it is probably your best move vs (Mega) Gyarados.

Poison Jab still 2HKOes Greninja if Stealth Rock is in play. It does not 2HKO Keldeo, though.

One really minor last note is that you should explain why Poison Fang shouldnt be used over Poison Jab. Though something to point out - Poison Fang has 5 less base damage from Poison Jab and horrible poison only ticks for 6% of health instead of 12%. This is important because, IIRC, this could also spell the difference from 2HKOing and 3HKOing Keldeo.

Ill leave Double-Edge up to QC though. I cant deny it hits harder and works nicely for Sharpedo.

- Protect
- Crunch
- Hydro Pump
- Poison Jab / Return / Double-Edge

This is how I would swing it IMO.
 
Cleaner
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set name: Cleaner
move 1: Protect
move 2: Crunch
move 3: Ice Fang
move 4: Earthquake / Waterfall
item: Sharpedite
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant
Click to expand...

Just saying, the set doesn't have an ability
 
Colonel M said:
The only issue I have is that Return 2HKOes most of the Pokemon you mentioned barring Mega Gyarados (this one sort of depends on the fiasco given to it too). Double-Edge can rip a lot of your health against a Pokemon like Azumarill and it can be pretty suicidal in dicey situations (say they have Keldeo and like a quarter-health Ferrothorn left - Double-Edging a Ferrothorn is going to hurt). I definitely agree that Crunch and Hydro Pump should be the two core moves, but I think Return / Poison Jab is a little better than Double-Edge. Definitely worthy of moves though because it is probably your best move vs (Mega) Gyarados.
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Returning a Ferrothorn is basically going to do the same to you as Double-Edge, it does like 15% to Ferrothorn which gives maybe 8% recoil to Sharp? That's almost inconsequential considering that Sharpedo ought to be outspeeding everything.

SEcondly, Return definitely doesn't 2HKO Azumarill, a highly HP invested Azu easily lives 2 Returns.

But that's not really that important. 2HKOing is not universally useful to all Pokemon. Sharpedo's role is unique. It loses Speed Boost when it evolves so it is always used late in the match, usually as a lastmon. In this case 2HKOing is irrelevant. The opponent will not be switching anything into Sharpedo, they will simply sack and bring in their check. Hitting that check for as much damage as possible is what is important. Hitting Keldeo for ~72% rather than the ~56% Return means you had to wear Keldeo down just that much less in the match which improves Sharpedo's chance of sweeping a lot.

The only reason you'd ever want to preserve Sharpedo's HP is if the opponent has priority users that Sharpedo can survive hits from like Bisharp, Mamoswine and Scizor but the amount of damage you'll be doing to yourself with Double-Edge so rarely puts you into KO range for these attacks makes it much better than Return.

Besides, a resisted crunch has 90 power whereas Return has 102. The amount of times an opponent will be in Return KO range and not Crunch is probably miniscule..
 
yeah I've been meaning to revise my thoughts on Ice Beam vs. Ice Fang. It seems like Altaria has become kinda popular and Ice Fang is generally much better against it so Ice Fang is definitely as good as Ice Beam. Ice Beam's main use is for killing LAndo-T and Chesnaught which Ice Fang is a lot worse at.
 
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Naughty needs to be slashed after Adamant for running Hydro Pump or Ice Beam.

Also, replace Poison Fang with Jab. Sharpedo needs things dead ASAP and can't afford to rely on hax or try to stall for Poison damage, plus one of its main targets is immune to passive damage because of fucking Magic Guard.
 
Yea, I forgot to mention that boltsandbombers

I just freshened up the skeleton and added some other cool teammates. The C&C is a bit lacking. I will fix that, but this is ready for QC.

Also, Double-Edge is complete balls since Greninja is going to get the boot. Poison Fang is the best option and only option for the last slot. Double Edge only hits Keldeo and Mega Gyarados and the latter can't do much back because you also resist its STABs. Poison Fang hits too much. It also hits Azumarill, so I don't know how Double-Edge is relevant for that. Its complete crap. Whenever I used it, I always felt like I was missing something, and yes that's Poison Fang. Crunch does 40% minimum anyways and its not that hard to get it down to that range with teammates and hazards considering it only fits on HO teams. Nothing less, nothing more. I just mentioned it in moves but not main slash.
 
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Vertex said:
Yea, I forgot to mention that boltsandbombers

I just freshened up the skeleton and added some other cool teammates. The C&C is a bit lacking. I will fix that, but this is ready for QC.

Also, Double-Edge is complete balls since Greninja is going to get the boot. Poison Fang is the best option and only option for the last slot. Double Edge only hits Keldeo and Mega Gyarados and the latter can't do much back because you also resist its STABs. Poison Fang hits too much. It also hits Azumarill, so I don't know how Double-Edge is relevant for that. Its complete crap. Whenever I used it, I always felt like I was missing something, and yes that's Poison Fang. Crunch does 40% minimum anyways and its not that hard to get it down to that range with teammates and hazards considering it only fits on HO teams. Nothing less, nothing more. I just mentioned it in moves but not main slash.
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Jab > Fang; the Poison won't come into effect until after they attack, which is enough for anything to kill you if they hit you super effectively. Also Clefable is immune to Poison and it's the more important target.
Mention that anything with Intimidate should be dead before attempting to clean, as you can't afford to be forced out after Mega Evolving if you're relying on Speed Boost against Offense.
Also mention that Max Speed Scarf Lando-T ties with Mega Sharpedo after a Speed Boost.
 
Karxrida said:
Jab > Fang; the Poison won't come into effect until after they attack, which is enough for anything to kill you if they hit you super effectively. Also Clefable is immune to Poison and it's the more important target.
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There is literally a 1.6% difference in damage between poison jab and poison fang. I considered poison jab, but I found fang more useful because it hits chesnaught on the switch for stall teams and other important crap you can cripple like Unaware Clefable (which is more common on stall teams than standard clef). It makes these threats a liability and chesnaught especially since Spiky Shield actually hurts if seeds aren't up. The passive damage is more useful against stall teams. I'll put Jab over fang though because that is personal prefernce and if say late game cleaner, i should prolly put jab to fit with it. but yea ill switch, i normally prefer fang tho
Mention that anything with Intimidate should be dead before attempting to clean, as you can't afford to be forced out after Mega Evolving if you're relying on Speed Boost against Offense.
Click to expand...
kk
Also mention that Max Speed Scarf Lando-T ties with Mega Sharpedo after a Speed Boost.
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its already in there
?

thanks
 
i would slash in eq because mega pedo is an excellent offensive bisharp check and you can't do that without eq.
 
TBH, Fang should be used over Jab as, like you said, it is only 1.8% weaker and the ability to toxic poison stuff is way too useful to pass up IMO.
 
jab is better overall as there are times when you don't want to mega evolve and the extra pwr needed by jab is often necessary to secure 2hkos such as w/ clef,alt, and azu on the switch. i would mention psn fang in oo though as the 50% chance to badly chance to poison is pretty beneficial against bulkier builds. in team options, mention sd celebi and gliscor as partners since sharpedo greatly benefits from a +2 itself. not much else to it, 1/3
 
Look over some of the basic sentence structure of your analysis like the one SparksBlade pointed out and then in OO make a mention of Substitute to block status effects. Under team options explain some good user for Spikes and T-Spikes that would work well with M-Sharpedo, such as Klefki and Dragalge. QC 2/3 once you've done this.
 
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