Battle Spot Scolipede for BS Doubles

[Hero_Inpace]

Hello!

I've been lurking about Smogon/ Nugget bridge for a long time and have always loved the content, so I decided it was time to finally contribute something back to the community.

I've been having a lot of fun in Battlespot doubles lately trying to shake off some of the rust before VGC17 gets going in a few months' time.

Since we don't know any of the rulesets thus far for the upcoming VGC17 format, I thought the best way to prepare was by making some picks based on the new pokemon that have been announced. As the fairy type seems to be getting a lot of new pokes to play with, and with new Alolan forms emerging all the time, I thought that a good meta-call to make early on may be to consider how pokemon we already know will fare amongst all the new threats.

So far, every alolan form announced with the exception of Marowak and Sandshrew/slash is weak to bug type, and with more new fairy and grass types emerging, as well as a surprising amount of psychic types (I'm looking at you Alolan Raichu)-- bug/poison looks like it may be a potent offensive type in the new generation.

I was just using this team to mess around on the Pokemon showdown ladder, but then after winning something like 9 games in a row with it, I thought maybe I should consider patching up some of it's flaws. Any advice would be appreciated :)

Scolipede @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Poison Jab
- Megahorn
- Protect
- Endeavor

This pokemon is an absolute joy to use. The set is nothing special, and does exactly what you'd expect, hit hard and hit fast. Scolipede however sits at an amazing speed tier, and with max attack and adamant nature does a lot more than you would expect to common threats, for example:

252+ Atk Scolipede Megahorn vs. 220 HP / 172 Def Cresselia: 140-168 (62.7 - 75.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Scolipede Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 84 Def Ludicolo: 224-266 (119.7 - 142.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Scolipede Poison Jab vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Gardevoir: 180-212 (125 - 147.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Scolipede Poison Jab vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Sylveon: 180-212 (89.5 - 105.4%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Scolipede Poison Jab vs. 196 HP / 20 Def Azumarill: 150-176 (75 - 88%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

252+ Atk Scolipede Poison Jab vs. 236 HP / 196+ Def Togekiss: 102-120 (53.6 - 63.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

These are all just the most common sets listed in the nuggetbridge damage calculator, and what you'll notice is that the damage output on each of them is not that spectacular-- but scolipede is good at chunking things for reasonably hefty damage. However with a Helping Hand boost, a lot of the 2HKOs turn into OHKOs-- but more on that later. The most useful element of using Scolipede though is in the final moveslot-- Endeavour. Much like the Crobat-superfang hijinks of VGC16 the ability to assist in KOs is invaluable for scolipede, and with a focus sash it can help eliminate a lot of major threats it otherwise wouldn't be able to touch, which also helps the bulky attackers on the rest of the team use spread moves to finish the job.

And since everyone here is sitting screaming TALONFLAME at the top of their lungs, Scolipede has a chance. It will survive a Brave bird because of focus sash and can endeavour that game-breaking bird down to one Hit point-- effectively neutering it, right? And if the opponent doubles up on scolipede, that's pretty good news for Scolipede's partners and their lovely spread attacks.

Scolipede is absolutely not an ideal pick for all teams, and I tended to find that I would leave it on the bench for a few match-ups, but it's an interesting offensive disruptor, and can clear out some nasty threats if played right, especially since Megahorn and Poison jab will do a decent 30-40% to most neutral targets, and a fast endeavour can be devastatingly clutch. I had a lot of fun each time I brought it, and while it has a lot of obvious problems, I found it pulled it's weight more often than not.

Gardevoir-Mega @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace > Pixilate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice

- Helping Hand
- Protect
- Psychic

As I mentioned, Scolipede appreciates Helping hand and Spread moves, so Gardevoir is an excellent mega to pair with it. Again, nothing fancy with the EV spread here, just hitting hard and fast is all this mega needs to do for the team. What's more, after a speed drop from Icy Wind, this Gardevoir outspeeds Gengar and can KO every time with Psychic. While there were times I wanted more bulk, I found that the extra speed was more helpful- no need to survive an attack from a pokemon that's fainted, right? I also found Psychic more useful than Psyshock as most Amoonguss are built physically defensive,

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 132 HP / 20 Def / 132 SpA / 12 SpD / 212 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Substitute

This team so far gets absolutely annihilated by steel types such as Scizor, Aegislash, or Mawile, so I added Heatran to address that weakness a little. The set is taken from DaWoblefet's team report here, though I added a shuca berry instead of chople because of Landorus being the most common pokemon in the world, apparently. Also, Gardevoir does a great job of scaring off the fighting types with it's lovely 4x resist and fantastic STAB moves, so I felt covered in that regard. The set is totally standard, but I've found little need to mess with a formula that works, especially when I've got something as strange as Scolipede on the team. Substitute is great as always for taking advantage of the switches Heatran forces and Heatwave/ Earthpower do an excellent job of eliminating Steel types.

Suicune @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 108 SpA / 4 SpD / 140 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Ice Beam
- Snarl

Honestly this was a placeholder moveset, and was taken from ninjasyao's set listed here. I needed a water type to take on opposing Heatran and Landorus. I considered Milotic, but I wanted to try Suicune and had no idea what to run. I liked the look of assault vest and while it's in practice proved to be pretty incredible I'm still not convinced it's the best set. The ability to finish off something after a Scolipede Endeavour by using Snarl or Icy Wind is an absolute treat though, both fainting an opposing pokemon and supporting whatever you have in the back by weakening the opponent's partner pokemon. The assault vest also gives great longevity, and the speed control provided by Icy Wind is invaluable for a modest Gardevoir, as well as the Hydreigon and Heatran on the team.

Amoonguss @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Effect Spore
Level: 50
EVs: 188 HP / 164 Def / 156 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
- Protect
- Spore

It's Amoonguss, so of course it's not interesting in any way. Boring absolutely not the same as useless though-- the team has no effective way to deal with M-Kangaskhan, and some redirect support was really useful for getting a powerful Hyper Voice or last-ditch Endeavour off, so Amoonguss was definitely the best option for this slot. It's also one of the better answers to Trick Room, because yes, I know, this team gets utterly rekt by Trick Room. I liked having Effect Spore over Regenerator as I'd rather cripple something like Kangaskhan or Conkeldurr for the whole game if possible, and the sitrus berry helps the longevity of Amoonguss so it can keep abusing that wonderful 100% sleep as long as possible.

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower/ Earthpower
- Protect

I love Hydreigon. Look at it! Look how awesome it is! Hydreigon is just a generally reliable specially weighted hard hitter. After some Icy wind drops or Scolipede chip damage, Hydreigon does a pretty great job at blowing through most teams late game. I can't decide whether I like Flamethrower or Earth Power more, as one is great for Ferrothorn and the other great for Heatran. However it's definitely fair to say that this may be the weak link on the team, as without speed drops on the opponent it's a little too slow to be fully effective, and it doesn't really do anything spectacular or interesting, just deal out reasonably consistent damage.



Anyway, that's it! My very first RMT. I can't think of a really reliable way to deal with double genies, Talonflame, or Charizard-Y, but then no team is perfect, and that's what an RMT is all about-- so please, any advice would be very much appreciated, and thank you all for providing such quality content for so long on this brilliant website.

See you in VGC 2017!

PS. Any very keen pokefans among you may spot this team on the RMT Forum for Nuggetbridge as well-- that was also posted by me, I'm just keen for advice and haven't gotten any response after having it up there for nearly a week :( The team is great fun though, I promise!

 

[Omastar68]

Scolipede is cool, most anything could run a set like that, but it has a good niche in Speed Boost.

Building around Scoli, why'd you go to Gardevoir next? I see you cover their weaknesses ok, but even so I'm curious about the thought process. Garde compounds weaknesses to things like steels and Gengar. I would expect Kang alongside Scoli.

HH looks kinda weird on Garde, have you gotten much out of that? It is nice when Garde would ordinarily be outsped and KOd and do nothing, so that's good. Ofc by that logic it'd make sense to run HH on everything that gets it, so...

Ability on the Shroom is neat, you don't switch that much for Regenerator. ES can mess you up if you Spore the guy who activates it, but you can work with that, Sporing the one that is less likely to attack you with a contact move. Really nice for switching in on a possible Mach Punch from Breloom too lol. EVs are fancy, why not just all HP and Def since your problems seem more physical?

I definitely like EP on Hydra if you're gonna keep it, Heatran is extremely common, Ferrro isn't.

How do you do with rain? Politoed looks like an issue, Perish Song is decently common and quite difficult to deal with. Some Toed are specially bulky enough to only be 4hkod by Garde's Hyper Voice(possibly even Psychic,) and a frail one will not appreciate any rain boosted attacks. Heatran does bad, and Hydra still isn't the best. It can take Ice Beams ok and wins 1v1 most of the time, but a really common mon on rain is Garde which just destroys it. Also your Amoongus dies to Modest Psychic 56.3% of the time, so pretty bad too. Scoli is an interesting case. It'lll hit pretty hard and take the rain boosted Scald...but mayb get burned and die anyways.

I'd also be wary of other Toed teammates. Kingdra is stopped pretty easily by a healthy Garde and Suicune, but the others have reason to fear it. Luicolo is actually not that bad. One big thing is Fake Out breaks Scoli's sash w/o making Endeavor dangerous. Mawile is common on rain too, but pretty manageable I think. Still, it is another reason for EP on Hydra. Mega Swampet looks pretty bad for you, and flying spam isn't unheard of with rain, which can take care of your best Mega Swampy check of Amoongus.

 

[Hero_Inpace]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll try and address all the points you make. Honestly, the team was originally built with more a speed control focus, and I originally tried a galvantula with sticky web and electroweb in the scolipede slot, so Gardevoir was chosen to take advantage of the speed drops. However galvantula often struggled to find the free moves to get it's speed control options out, so I switched to a more offensive bug type, and the rest of the team seemed to just click with it. I noticed a lot of Japanese teams also tend to rate Garde over Kang, and having used it for a bit, I can see why-- spread damage is very very nice, it doesn't get totally crippled by intimidate or burns, and the support options are greater too, with HH in particular helping a speedy yet underwhelming attacker like scolipede net some surprise KOs.

Thanks for the compliment on Amoonguss! yeah not many opportunities to switch I thought, so why bother? Effect spore makes for some interesting options, especially since a redirected Kang attack has a 51% chance of inflicting it with... something. Sleep and para are always good, but poison is an unexpected bonus too, as between protect stall and double-edge recoil, it's not going to last long with Amoonguss out. The EVs were taken from the most common set on the nuggetbridge damage calculator, nothing special-- though I notice on doing the calcs it has a 99.2% chance to survive a 252+ DE from M-Kang (100% with sitrus berry), and also survives a 252 Aerialate Hyper Voice from M-Salamence, so those are probably the benchmarks people are trying to hit. Still gets demolished by Talonflame ofc, but the effect spore chance is nice in that circumstance.

True EP on Hydra seems a good idea, especially given all the rain teams running around; On which note, rain is surprisingly manageable. Ludi is by far the most common threat on rain teams, and Scolipede is all but a counter to it, hitting it super effectively with both STAB moves and getting an OHKO even with the weaker poison jab if it's not running any bulk. If you suspect it may be a bulky ludi, go megahorn, which OHKOs everything up to 252hp/240def variants-- even higher than that there's always over a 95% chance to OHKO with megahorn. The only reason Scoli's not a total counter is, as we know, Ludi will outspeed turn one, and has the nasty scald-burn chance. However, that's in 30% of all opportunities, and minus ludi, rain really struggles against suicune, and amoonguss does a good job outlasting the rain too. With decent speed control, redirection and spore, as well as raw M-Garde power, rain's pretty manageable. Ferrothorn in rain would be a struggle I think, but I haven't encountered that in my battles so far-- but I think in that case getting a decent endeavour off against it, or stalling out rain as best as possible would be the best chance.

Mega Swampert would indeed be nasty, hadn't thought of that. Flying spam I already knew was a problem, and so far suicune has been the best answer, being bulky enough to tackle both talonflame and M-Salamence but taking huge damage in return. I'm not really sure how to counter those reliably, a well-played combination of M-Swampert and Talonflame would pretty reliably blow through the whole team I think:- but then as I say, no team is perfect and RMT is all about patching those holes somehow or other. Maybe replacing hydra with chomp? There's not really much room for earthquake spam on this team though without wideguard anywhere, but the extra speed on a dragon as well as a much needed physical attacker would be a helpful change I think-- though I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Omastar68]

yea, idk what to do about Swampy and Talon. Certainly you want Suicune with those, Scald burns kill Swampy and in rain lots of damage besides.

Hydra seems to be the least important mon here, but might just be because it's last. So you could get rid of that for Rotom-w, beats both those mons quite well and is very anti-rain with STAB electric moves and the boost to Hydro Pump.

lol, looked it up on bulbapedia, so in case you find it interesting, Effect Spore causes poison 9% of the time, para 10, and sleep 11. So...the odds are in your favor for sleep. lol

 

[Hero_Inpace]

That is interesting! good to know the exact chances when you can I suppose.

Rotom-W is a great idea actually, the electric coverage helps against Charizard and Talonflame, definitely worth trying out!