Resource Creative and Underrated Sets: ORAS Edition (NO SHITTY GIMMICKS, Read Post #419)

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OP stolen & adapted from ginganinja
Approved by ginganinja & alexwolf

Standard and common sets are generally effective. After all, that's why they're common and standard. But sometimes a less-common set can be effective. In fact, brand-new sets can be quite effective as well. This thread is for new and creative movesets that can be quite effective, as well as old movesets that have fallen out of favor but have become quite effective in the OU metagame.

What is a new and creative, good moveset?
  • It successfully pulls off a role, and is not strictly outclassed by others.
  • It takes advantage of metagame trends.
  • It has had some success. Post replays / logs to strengthen your case.
What is an underrated, good moveset?
  • It is an existing set that for whatever reason isn't common.
  • Its use is meant to prey on specific facets of the metagame.
  • It might be able to surprise and demolish Pokemon that normally counter the usual sets, but does not become a gimmick in order to do so.
If you post a shitty gimmick, your post will be deleted and infracted, NO EXCEPTIONS.

What are some things that constitute a shitty gimmick?
  • Using a Pokemon that has no business being used in OU, for the sake of using it in OU.
  • Movesets that are inferior and ineffective compared to existing movesets, or use an obscure move for the sake of hitting an even more obscure check or counter.
  • Movesets that are utterly impractacle or are horribly outclassed by another Pokemon.
  • This is an OU thread. Don't post some Lugia set.
A shitty gimmick is not limited to the above, though. To quote Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it."

Basically, don't be this guy:

Specs Blissey:

Blissey (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure (or Serene Grace for 60% paralyze, 20% burn, 20% freeze)
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Thunder
- Focus Blast
- Blizzard

For a special wall, Blissey hits surprisingly hard, reaching a special attack stat of 410 after all is added up. The movepool is to ensure that blissey hits as hard as possible, but some moves can be swapped out if they must (ice beam for blizzard, thunderbolt for thunder, etc.). This combination hits 10 out of 18 types super effectively. This set also makes a very good special tank and will catch many things like ferrothorn off guard.

And just for fun:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Blissey Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4- SpD Normal Type Goomy: 192-226 (83.1 - 97.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Blissey measures a .83 - .98 on the Goomy Scale.

Basically what this means is you have to rely on super effective hits. Still, the set is effective and it's worth a try.

Rules:
  • NO SHITTY GIMMICKS. The title says it all. They don't add any positives to the discussion and only derail the thread. These posts may be subject to being deleted. Repeated offenses may result in further action. Just because this thread isn't heavily modded doesn't mean its okay to break this rule.
  • Make sure the set is actually underrated. There's no need to post a set that everyone and their mom uses. These posts are subject to the same consequences as shitty gimmicks.
  • This is for ORAS OU. XY OU sets should go in ginganinja's thread here
  • Multiple replays are now required for new and creative sets.

Have fun =]
 
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Not too sure how gimmicky or creative this is, but I'd certainly say it's unconventiional, in OU at least:

547.png

Whimsicott (M) @ Leftovers/ Red Card
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stun Spore
- Encore
- Taunt
- Moonblast / Memento

In a new meta full of speedy megas and sweepers, prankster paralyzing is definitely a welcome addition to a team. Thundurus and Klefki obviously do this better, but I wanted to complete my FWG core, so Whimsicott joined my team. Encore and Taunt aim to cripple set-up sweepers and force as many switches as possible, so it can spread status further. Moonblast is preferred in the last slot, 2HKOing a lot of dragons and common fighting types even with no investment, but Memento can be used once you're done spreading status to let one of your pokemon come in and set up. the item is personal preference, but i personally enjoy red card because it puts the opponent on the back foot and forces a switch for more status spreading.
 
I think one interesting set that AM invented was the band breloom set. It allows loomer to check mega sharpedo, mega lopunny, and can also severely damage mega slowbro, and hits ferrothorn really hard too.

Breloom (M) @ Choice Band / Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Force Palm
- Rock Tomb
- Mach Punch
 
mega_gallade_art.png

Mega Gallade @ Galladite
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch/Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Skill Swap

You basically just come into something which is scared of Mega Gallade, like Heatran, and use SD. The guy will bring his Mega-Sableye, and then he won't try to deal with a +2 Gallade with an attacking move; 99% of the time, he will use Will-o-Wisp. So, here, just use Skill Swap, and reflect the burn. Thanks to burns damages, +2 Knock Off becomes a 2HKO.

This set works pretty well by itself as the cover Fighting/Dark is quite good, and most importantly this set allows Gallade to deal with Mega-Sableye (the Calm Mind variant, as the others sometimes carry Foul Play).

Look at how annoying can be a Skill Swap Mega Gallade:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-192640991

Skill Swap works with Mega Sable but it can also be useful against:
- Quagsire : he lost unaware so you can hit it hard until he switches
- Azumarill : he lost huge power so play rough can't OHKO and mega gallade becomes insanely powerful
- Pixilate-based and Aerilate-based mon : useless for gallade but these Pokemon become completly useless too
- Gliscor : nothing else to say, if you predict the toxic you're good
- Medicham & Diggy : same as Azumarill
- Scolipede : skill swap works through substitute
 
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If people are using Empoleon to check Greninja then why not this?

gastrodon-east.gif


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Def / 72 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Earth Power/Toxic

I came up with this as a counter to Greninja; with Storm Drain, Greninja's strongest common attack against specially defensive Gastrodon is Ice Beam, which fails to 3HKO. Gastrodon is, of course, deathly afraid of Grass Knot and Hidden Power [Grass], but these are very uncommon now that Greninja has a better option for Azumarill, not to mention that Grass isn't a difficult type to find a 4x resist for in OU so it's easy to scout for. Gastrodon also walls Rotom's STABs, gives you an answer to CroCune/Bro and likes switching in on Keldeo, Magnezone, Thundurus, Raikou, Mega Diancie and Mega Metagross and forcing them out. Ice Beam is the preferred choice for the last slot as it keeps Salamence from setting up on you, but Toxic can be used if you need a better option against defensive teams.
(EVs optimised by hey yal ty)

252 SpA Life Orb Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 72+ SpD Gastrodon: 161-191 (37.8 - 44.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 72+ SpD Gastrodon: 142-169 (33.4 - 39.7%) -- 26.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Gunk Shot vs. 248 HP / 188 Def Gastrodon: 87-103 (20.4 - 24.2%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Low Kick (60 BP) vs. 248 HP / 188 Def Gastrodon: 87-105 (20.4 - 24.7%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Greninja Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 248 HP / 72+ SpD Gastrodon: 437-515 (102.8 - 121.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO :o

+1 0 SpA Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Greninja: 199-235 (69.8 - 82.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 0 SpA Gastrodon Scald vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Ice-type Greninja: 178-210 (62.4 - 73.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

i would post replays but showdown is ded D:

EDIT: Decided to update calcs for the new spread. Also, until Mence is out of the meta (and possibly afterward), Earth Power is the most dispensable move here - you can hit stuff like Metagross with Scald if need be.
 
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ethan06 said:
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 164-192 (38.4 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Click to expand...
Don't forget your ability while calcing!
Greninja Hydro Pump vs. Storm Drain Gastrodon: 0-0 (0 - 0%) -- aim for the horn next time

Also, you should maybe mention that it works kinda well against rain (Mega Swampert gives you problems tho).
 
FullLifeGames said:
Don't forget your ability while calcing!
Greninja Hydro Pump vs. Storm Drain Gastrodon: 0-0 (0 - 0%) -- aim for the horn next time

Also, you should maybe mention that it works kinda well against rain (Mega Swampert gives you problems tho).
Click to expand...

Whoops, I had a mention of Sticky Hold before I realised it was kinda shit next to Storm Drain and took it out. That calc was to demonstrate that Storm Drain isn't strictly necessary for beating Greninja and that you could use Gastrodon as a Knock Off switch-in - but honestly, a water immunity is just better.

re Rain, Gastrodon has problems with Ludicolo but it's matchup with Swampert can be okay. If it comes in on a Waterfall, +1 Scald in rain can put a significant chunk into Swampert (252+ Earthquake 2HKOs so it can't stay in). Toxic Gastrodon does a number on Politoed though, and nothing on a conventional rain team likes Scald that much besides Kingdra.

(+1 4 SpA Gastrodon Scald vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Swampert in Rain: 168-198 (49.1 - 57.8%))
 
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373.png


Salamence @ Salamencite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Roost / Earthquake

It's going to get banned, but something I have been playing around with is SpA Mence.

This set aims to bait the standard answers for physical attacking Salamence, such as Rotom-W, Rhyperior, Zapdos, Skarmory, and Slowbro, and nail them with the appropiate move. Outside of baiting and defeating those pokemon it's not useless and puts in a lot of work against all kind of teams. I usually have Roost for some extra longevity, but Earthquake can be used to defeat Heatran, who would otherwise wall this set.

I don't have replays, but I recommend trying it and seeing for yourself how effective it is. :)
 
ethan06 said:
If people are using Empoleon to check Greninja then why not this?

gastrodon-east.gif


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Ice Beam/Toxic

I came up with this as a counter to Greninja; with Storm Drain, Greninja's strongest common attack against specially defensive Gastrodon is Ice Beam, which fails to 3HKO. Gastrodon is, of course, deathly afraid of Grass Knot and Hidden Power [Grass], but these are very uncommon now that Greninja has a better option for Azumarill, not to mention that Grass isn't a difficult type to find a 4x resist for in OU so it's easy to scout for. Gastrodon also walls Rotom's STABs, gives you an answer to CroCune/Bro and likes switching in on Keldeo, Swampert, Magnezone, Thundurus, Raikou, and Metagross and forcing them out. Ice Beam is the preferred choice for the last slot as it keeps Salamence from setting up on you, but Toxic can be used if you need a better option against defensive teams.

252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 164-192 (38.4 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 133-157 (31.2 - 36.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 118-140 (27.6 - 32.8%) -- 78.6% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
4 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Low Kick (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gastrodon: 110-133 (25.8 - 31.2%) -- 7.1% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Greninja Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 359-426 (84.2 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

+1 4 SpA Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Greninja: 201-237 (70.5 - 83.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 4 SpA Gastrodon Scald vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Ice-type Greninja: 178-211 (62.4 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

i would post replays but showdown is ded D:
Click to expand...
personally would run a different spread of 248/188?+/72 as it gives you the physical bulk to tank hits from rain teams like swampert and kabutops and you don't need the special bulk to counter electrics or crobro or crocune except for 72 spdef evs which allow you to take lo thundurus focus blast. other than that, it's a very good set imo. not saying your spread is bad, but the physical bulk could be useful for physical rain threats like swampert and kabutops.
 
hey yal said:
personally would run a different spread of 248/188?+/72 as it gives you the physical bulk to tank hits from rain teams like swampert and kabutops and you don't need the special bulk to counter electrics or crobro or crocune except for 72 spdef evs which allow you to take lo thundurus focus blast. other than that, it's a very good set imo. not saying your spread is bad, but the physical bulk could be useful for physical rain threats like swampert and kabutops.
Click to expand...

lol the spread is bad, anyone can do 252/252+. Thanks for optimising it, Gastrodon doesn't need all of that bulk to take Gren's hits anyway so the extra points can be moved anywhere :) I'll edit it in. One question though, why 248 HP? It doesn't need an odd HP stat because it already resists Stealth Rock... does it hit a Lefties number?
 
ethan06 said:
lol the spread is bad, anyone can do 252/252+. Thanks for optimising it, Gastrodon doesn't need all of that bulk to take Gren's hits anyway so the extra points can be moved anywhere :) I'll edit it in. One question though, why 248 HP? It doesn't need an odd HP stat because it already resists Stealth Rock... does it hit a Lefties number?
Click to expand...
Not exactly a Leftovers number, but odd HP numbers generally reduce other residual damage, like Leech Seed, Spikes, burns, and Toxic damage.
 
ethan06 said:
If people are using Empoleon to check Greninja then why not this?

gastrodon-east.gif


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Def / 72 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Ice Beam/Toxic

I came up with this as a counter to Greninja; with Storm Drain, Greninja's strongest common attack against specially defensive Gastrodon is Ice Beam, which fails to 3HKO. Gastrodon is, of course, deathly afraid of Grass Knot and Hidden Power [Grass], but these are very uncommon now that Greninja has a better option for Azumarill, not to mention that Grass isn't a difficult type to find a 4x resist for in OU so it's easy to scout for. Gastrodon also walls Rotom's STABs, gives you an answer to CroCune/Bro and likes switching in on Keldeo, Magnezone, Thundurus, Raikou, Mega Diancie and Mega Metagross and forcing them out. Ice Beam is the preferred choice for the last slot as it keeps Salamence from setting up on you, but Toxic can be used if you need a better option against defensive teams.
(EVs optimised by hey yal ty)
Click to expand...

Definitely a good utility check to Raikou, Magnezone, maybe Keldeo (can't calc secret sword right now), but be wary of bringing this guy in vs. ResTalk Slowbro & especially CroCune. Gastrodon has absolutely nothing to touch them, so they'll boost to +6 / +6 and proceed to PP stall Gastrodon with Rest (especially CroCune w/ Pressure).

EDIT: 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 252 HP / 188 Def Gastrodon: 223-264 (52.3 - 61.9%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

So nope, not exactly a switch-in to Keldeo either. tbh I think it's too niche and loses a lot of momentum vs. the bulk of the metagame. Water Absorb doesn't count for much when Mega Gyarados, CroCune, ResTalk M-Slowbro, Specs or CM Keldeo, HP Grass Ninja all beat it 1v1.
 
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It's not a gimmicky set but a unusual one nevertheless. In this meta for me the new fast megas are terrifying. So I was going through pokemons to counter them when I found this set.

Raikou @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 44 HP / 252 SpA / 212 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory

This set was formed to counter talonflame, greninja, beedrill, mega-loppuny, mega slowbro, mega-sceptile, mega-sharpedo and others.

The set also can counter megamence most of the times. Most of the times because most users have different spreads on their mence. The most amount so speed run on mence that I have seen is to out speed kyurem-B. So this spread out speeds that mence spread. But once it gets banned you can run this set

Raikou @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory

This set runs enough speed to out speed base 145 speed pokes. I know that
Mega-manectric does a better job with a better ability and the choice to switch moves but raikou does not take up a mega spot. This works very well with landorus-T forming a volt-turn combination. But the only thing that works against it is the lack of power as it fails to OHKO mega-beedrill, mega-loppuny with extrasensory. :]
 
For the last raikou set, I think thunderbolt is better than thunder, because thunder has bad accuracy, and it's honestly a really bad move to be locked into, thunderbolt is a lot better, because I don't think it misses out on any OHKOes or 2HKOes and has better accuracy, for the slight cost of power.
 
napty said:
This set works pretty well by itself as the cover Fighting/Dark is quite good, and most importantly this set allows Gallade to deal with Mega-Sableye (the Calm Mind variant, as the others sometimes carry Foul Play).
Click to expand...
Actually WoW cripples foul play variants too because the burn still counts, even if if you are at +2 you're still hurted. Nice idea tho :)
 
stevenizer15 said:
It's not a gimmicky set but a unusual one nevertheless. In this meta for me the new fast megas are terrifying. So I was going through pokemons to counter them when I found this set.

Raikou @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 44 HP / 252 SpA / 212 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory

This set was formed to counter talonflame, greninja, beedrill, mega-loppuny, mega slowbro, mega-sceptile, mega-sharpedo and others.
Click to expand...

Being a choice-locked Electric type is not the most advisable thing in OU, since your STAB is an immunity for a lot of common threats. That said, if you're going to do it anyway, Choice Specs is almost certainly the better option for getting in more KOs. Another thing is this: a lot of those strong pokes you mentioned also can't exactly be "countered" by Scarf Raikou since many of these threats potentially 2HKO, so when they switch out after hitting you and eventually come back in, you won't be able to bring in Raikou a second time. This is why Assault Vest makes Raikou better for switching in on hard-hitting Special moves (countering purposes, you could say). What you have here is an okay revenge killer. I say "okay" because I ran some calcs on it, and they didn't do much to convince me:

A non-Scarf 252+ speed Raikou cannot be both outsped and OHKOd by Talonflame (even on CB sets). Jolly max speed Talonflame is a thing now, but it can't hit as hard, so now it suffers against everything it normally outsped previously.
Greninja can easily avoid OHKO on Scarf Raikou if Protean made it Dark, Psychic, or Ice type beforehand. Specs would be more useful in this case.
There are already tons of good answers to Mega Beedrill. Next.
Your Extrasensory doesn't always 2HKO Mega Lopunny. You might also risk a KO from Fake Out + HJK in 1v1 situations. Sure, you can revenge this one 99.6% of the time, but you can probably find a better solution seeing as you take more than 2/3 of your HP in the process.
As for MegaBro, a Specs set OHKOs, while Scarf 2HKOs.
HP Ice has a 87.5% chance to OHKO Mega Sceptile. You can revenge this one, though it is a bit unreliable.
Mega Sharpedo is frail enough to be reliably OHKOd, but you are in danger of being outsped and OHKOd if your opponent was able to get two Speed Boosts in before going Mega.

It's good to think creatively and have the element of surprise on your side, and I like that you have that, but I would question the usefulness of this set compared to other options.
 
Heck even scarf greninja checks all those threats, except for talonflame, but yeah agreeing with Behexenhaus, being a scarfed electric type isn't the best thing ever, since the most common pokemon in ORAS, landorus-t happens to be immune to it, and honestly specs is better, raikou having a sweet speed tier anyways.
 
stevenizer15 said:
It's not a gimmicky set but a unusual one nevertheless. In this meta for me the new fast megas are terrifying. So I was going through pokemons to counter them when I found this set.

Raikou @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 44 HP / 252 SpA / 212 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory

This set was formed to counter talonflame, greninja, beedrill, mega-loppuny, mega slowbro, mega-sceptile, mega-sharpedo and others.

The set also can counter megamence most of the times. Most of the times because most users have different spreads on their mence. The most amount so speed run on mence that I have seen is to out speed kyurem-B. So this spread out speeds that mence spread. But once it gets banned you can run this set

Raikou @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Extrasensory

This set runs enough speed to out speed base 145 speed pokes. I know that
Mega-manectric does a better job with a better ability and the choice to switch moves but raikou does not take up a mega spot. This works very well with landorus-T forming a volt-turn combination. But the only thing that works against it is the lack of power as it fails to OHKO mega-beedrill, mega-loppuny with extrasensory. :]
Click to expand...

I just want to state. . .
252 Atk Lopunny High Jump Kick vs. 44 HP / 0 Def Raikou: 279-328 (84 - 98.7%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Not at all a Counter. It's hardly a check. It's more so a revenge killer if anything.
 
I'm not sure if this is a set that's been used before, it might not be original! But here's my set, and it's pretty fun to use. I know the Calm Mind isn't a new thing, tho, but this is a variation set at least.


Audino @ Audinite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Draining Kiss
- Thunder Wave
- Sweet Kiss

You can see the basic idea. Set up a few calm-minds with Audino's bulk, set up T-Wave + Sweet Kiss to confuse/paralyze, Calm Minds for Special bulk, and then use Draining Kiss to sustain the Audino. I'd been using it, and after setting up 2 calm minds a Tentacruel couldn't scratch above 30% damage. EVs are obvious, as you have Calm Mind you don't need special bulk.
 
I hope this isn't really considered gimmicky, but seeing how there are physical variations of it's non-mega form I'd like to think that this would be viable.

Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Dragon Claw
- Drain Punch / Earthquake
- Swords Dance

Despite this being susceptible to Intimidate and it doesn't get any benefit from Lightning Rod, it can throw anybody you're going against, who's expecting a regular ol' special variant, in for a loop. Jolly Nature's there to maximize it's speed, considering after one Swords Dance at neutral, Sceptile's attack reaches a blistering 638.

Leaf Blade and Dragon Claw are your STAB moves of choice, but if you want to be risky and do more damage, you could always run Outrage instead of Dragon Claw, but I wouldn't really recommend it. Swords Dance is to boost Sceptile's attack (obviously), and the last move ultimately comes down to a decision. Drain Punch provides well appreciated recovery and can hit Pokemon like Ferrothorn super effectively, while Earthquake does more damage and can hit other OU Pokemon for 4x effectiveness, like Magnezone and Heatran, despite not being able to hit flying types and mons with Levitate.

If you want to use Mega Sceptile but find that you have a lot of special attackers on your team, give this set a shot!
 
I think there are better physical sweepers than mega sceptile. It basically throws it's ability to waste by running physical sets, except for dodging t-wave. Swords dance sets still have trouble breaking through chansey, and have an even harder time against physical walls like skarmory and landorus-t. Not to mention it wastes a mega slot. Gallade does this a lot better. Has access to immediate power with 165 base attack, good coverage moves, good support moves, high powered STAB moves, and a decently fast speed tier. It also gets priority in the form of shadow sneak.
Honestly, mega sceptile is not viable as a physical sweeper, as so many more mons do his job way better.
 
PaulGilbert's Empoleon set (which can be seen in his RMT):

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Defog
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Scald is good for STAB and gets a boost from Torrent (which your opponent will fail to remember). Also, the burn chance is nice, as if you're in a battle where you can control momentum, you're bound to get a burn eventually. Defog is to clear hazards, which Empoleon does well as it is able to come in on a number of common Pokemon. Stealth Rock is for residual damage, and Roar is for phasing. (Often, Empoleon will SR on a setup sweeper, tank a hit, and proceed to Roar.) The EVs allow Empoleon to always survive Earthquake from Max Attack Landorus-T, and tank plenty of other hits. I used Paul Gilbert's team (which runs this set) to achieve a peak XY OU rating of 2056. Empoleon is super viable, and this set should be considered, as it performs a myriad of roles rather seamlessly.
 
Empoleon possibly might make it to OU this gen being the only true counter to greninja (non low kick), other than chansey. However, I doubt stall and chansey will be seen commonly because of all the hard hitting new megas, so empoleon definitely has a solid niche as countering non low kick greninja. Also here is his RMT just for people wondering

click me
 
Alright, i'm not sure if this classifies as a "gimmicky" set but its definitely unusual.


Empoleon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Speed / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power (Fire)
- Grass Knot

With a Choice Scarf and a Timid nature, Empoleon hits 353 speed, outspeeding max speed positive nature'd 110s. What this also means is that it outspeeds threats that would otherwise OHKO Empoleon, such as Landorus, Landorus-T (bulky variant), Garchomp, Volcarona, Mamoswine, Tyranitar, Staraptor, Breloom and so on.

(Here is where id usually have calcs but i'm submitting this during the great login epidemic where the entire Cloud Flare servers are down so i'll leave this blank for now)
 
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