Pokémon Sharpedo

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Sharpedo
Type: Water / Dark
Abilities: Rough Skin / Speed Boost / Strong Jaw (Mega Evolution)

Base Stats: 70 HP / 120 Atk / 40 Def / 95 SpA / 40 SpD / 95 Spe
Mega Stats: 70 HP / 140 Atk / 70 Def / 110 SpA / 65 Def / 105 Spe
​

Notable Moves:
Waterfall
Crunch
Ice Fang
Poison Fang
Protect
Ice Beam
Earthquake
Hydro Pump
Dark Pulse

Introduction:

Sharpedo has always been a rather odd Pokemon. It has strong offensive stats and good Speed, but it has some of the weakest defenses in the game: it has been known for the fact that it dies to almost any attack in the game. It was somewhat decent in RSE, but nothing great really, and it was stuck in the depths of NU during DPP, as due to its frailty and lack of extremely strong moves, it was an outclassed attacker and sweeper. However, with BW, Sharpedo gained the ability Speed Boost, which gave it a place as one of the deadliest cleaners in the lower tiers, being a huge force in BW RU before rising to UU, where it performed fantastically. It's back in RU in XY and is quite good, and is still pretty decent in XY UU.

With ORAS, Sharpedo gained a Mega Evolution, which does help it a bit. Mega Sharpedo has the ability Strong Jaw, which will make its STAB Crunch quite powerful coming off of Mega Sharpedo, especially with a good Attack stat. It can gain a Speed Boost in its normal form, and then Mega Evolve. It could make use of Ice Fang or even Poison Fang as coverage options, with both being boosted by Strong Jaw. Alternatively, it could run Ice Beam. Mega Sharpedo also has a bit more bulk to it, so it won't die to basically everything (although it's still rather frail). Mega Sharpedo should make for a decently effective sweeper in OU with the right support, and could stand on its own in the tier.

Potential Movesets:

Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Protect

This is a simple set. Basically, Protect as soon as Sharpedo gets in to obtain a Speed Boost. Then, you Mega Evolve, and proceed to cause as much damage as possible. With Strong Jaw and Ice Fang and Crunch, Sharpedo can hit decently hard, and its STAB Combination is decent enough. This will make Sharpedo quite a decent cleaner, being able to sweep weakened teams with relative ease and being somewhat difficult to revenge kill beyond Conkeldurr and Talonflame.

Conclusion:

With its new Mega Evolution, Sharpedo has definitely gotten better in ORAS. It will be interesting to see how Mega Sharpedo fares in the ORAS OU metagame, and it's definitely going to be an interesting Pokemon to use.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Is Hydro Pump worth mentioning? Uninvested, it's only slightly weaker than max attack Waterfall and lets you 2HKO Skarmory.

 

[BlueDryBones1]

Just thought I'd bring up that maybe Poison Jab is worth a mention.

Poison Fang does 75 Damage with Strong Jaw and a 50% chance to Badly Poison
Poison Jab does 80 with a 30% chance to Poison.

Does more damage the first 2 turns I think and has 5 more BP.

 

[Dustflier]

Mega Shark is actually pretty cool :o.

I've been having a ton of fun running Mega Sharpedo + Scolipede lately, since Shark loves Spikes and/or TSpikes to help it clean better late game + muscle past some of its checks. The core is pretty weak to Talonflame, and you definetly need to pack something to help you break through Skarm. Keldeo and Azumarill check Pedo pretty easily as well, but can be worn down pretty easy by hazards.

I don't know if Mega Sharpedo will be OU by usage, but I think it will have a relevant niche as a pretty strong late game cleaner.

 

[Toad0234]

Shouldn't Aqua Jet be under notable moves? STAB priority is still useful coming off of a base 140 Atk.

 

[Pyritie]

Destiny Bond is also worth mentioning as a notable move

 

[sunny004]

Shouldn't Aqua Jet be under notable moves? STAB priority is still useful coming off of a base 140 Atk.

In theory yes, but with speed boost you can already be faster than a lot of pokemon, making priority redundant, where a more powerful move might be more effective.

 

[Toad0234]

In theory yes, but with speed boost you can already be faster than a lot of pokemon, making priority redundant, where a more powerful move might be more effective.

I'm not saying it's the absolute best choice, but it's a viable option and should be noted. It helps beat out talon's bird spam after the speed boost, and other priority users who have already been worn down.

Edit: also I think it should be mentioned that M-Sharpedo excells when SR is on the field, making Lando-T an excellent partner, being immune to electric types and resisting te fighting type Sharpedo is weak to, while setting up rocks in the process.

 

[sunny004]

I'm not saying it's the absolute best choice, but it's a viable option and should be noted. It helps beat out talon's bird spam after the speed boost, and other priority users who have already been worn down.

Sorry, bad wording on my part. I meant aqua jet should be noted, but probably wouldn't see much use due to my reason above.

 

[Dustflier]

Yeah Aqua Jet is an option if you absolutely need to stop Talon, but honestly your better off running stuff like Lando-T or Rotom-Wash to stop it.

I think Zen Headbutt should be mentioned as notable move, since it lets you beat Keldeo and hit Azu hard, both of which are annoying for Shark. Not sure what you would run it over though :/

 

[Caiahar]

Does this shark get the strongest Crunch in the game? :o

Should EQ get a mention? It will be kinda hard to fit in though :/

 

[Toad0234]

EQ should be mentioned but like aqua jet and Zen, it's not going to necessarily be as useful as the posted moves. Still a decent option though

 

[Jaroda]

Aqua Jet is perfectly fine, as it's easier to kill Talonflame with a lure than it is otherwise, and it is indeed still better against things where you need that last bit of damage and you know that they can use their priority instead to kill you. With Rain up as a semi-boost, they won't exactly be meager attacks at least.

And Poison Fang would be much better than Poison Jab. 50% toxic chance far surpasses 5 BP.

 

[Toad0234]

Aqua Jet is perfectly fine, as it's easier to kill Talonflame with a lure than it is otherwise, and it is indeed still better against things where you need that last bit of damage and you know that they can use their priority instead to kill you. With Rain up as a semi-boost, they won't exactly be meager attacks at least.

And Poison Fang would be much better than Poison Jab. 50% toxic chance far surpasses 5 BP.

Aqua jet is definitely viable like I originally posted, but I do see the issue where 4MSS comes in to play

 

[Karxrida]

Aqua Jet is perfectly fine, as it's easier to kill Talonflame with a lure than it is otherwise, and it is indeed still better against things where you need that last bit of damage and you know that they can use their priority instead to kill you. With Rain up as a semi-boost, they won't exactly be meager attacks at least.

And Poison Fang would be much better than Poison Jab. 50% toxic chance far surpasses 5 BP.

Poison Fang can fail to OHKO Mega Gardevoir without SR and has a significantly lower chance to 2HKO Unaware Clefable after SR (kinda rare but w/e).

252+ Atk Sharpedo Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 24 Def Mega Gardevoir: 278-328 (100.3 - 118.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Poison Fang vs. 0 HP / 24 Def Mega Gardevoir: 260-308 (93.8 - 111.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Sharpedo Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 178-210 (45.1 - 53.2%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Poison Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 168-198 (42.6 - 50.2%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

 

[lalala45]

This is a strange wallbreaker set that could be put to good use; A super fang set is pretty useful in the fact that most of its checks that come in will always take half no matter who it is, and kill it with a stab or coverage move that you have, or switch out to something else later, then come back and inflict the 2hko to the mon you recently super fanged. This eases prediction to compensate for M-sharpedo's frailty, despite the slight increase in bulk.

Example: Physically defensive gastrodon is a good check to normal sharpedo; but with Mega-sharpedo, you super fang first, then crunch to get the kill. Hazard support is nice to get guaranteed ones on bulkier ones, usually only just stealth rock, very rarely you'll need spikes.

This set also works well to break things like Defensive Mega Saur, and ferrothorn will eventually be broken by strong jaw crunch + superfang damage. Hydro pump is to get surprise kos against things like skarmory, Mega-aggron and stuff. You can put more investment into special attack if you want to, as speed is not as crucial to have in this case. You have other teammates to worry about offense. Politoed also works really well to boost its water stab to hit harder. If you want to, you can run a max speed nature to speed tie with Mega Pinsir/zoroark.

This set really works well against slower teams, with enough speed to outspeed adamant Kyu-B. I feel Like this is used to better Mega-Sharpedo's potential rather than just being an all-out sweeper.

Sharpedo-Mega @ Sharpedite
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Super Fang
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Hydro Pump

 

[Toad0234]

Poison Fang can fail to OHKO Mega Gardevoir without SR and has a significantly lower chance to 2HKO Unaware Clefable after SR (kinda rare but w/e).

252+ Atk Sharpedo Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 24 Def Mega Gardevoir: 278-328 (100.3 - 118.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Poison Fang vs. 0 HP / 24 Def Mega Gardevoir: 260-308 (93.8 - 111.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Sharpedo Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 178-210 (45.1 - 53.2%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Poison Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 168-198 (42.6 - 50.2%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Sharpedo pretty much requires stealth rock to be on the field anyway though because he misses some crucial OHKO and 2HKOs without it. Without stealth rock, it's already an unfavorable matchup with either move

 

[sunny004]

View attachment 28949

This is a strange wallbreaker set that could be put to good use; A super fang set is pretty useful in the fact that most of its checks that come in will always take half no matter who it is, and kill it with a stab or coverage move that you have, or switch out to something else later, then come back and inflict the 2hko to the mon you recently super fanged. This eases prediction to compensate for M-sharpedo's frailty, despite the slight increase in bulk.

Example: Physically defensive gastrodon is a good check to normal sharpedo; but with Mega-sharpedo, you super fang first, then crunch to get the kill. Hazard support is nice to get guaranteed ones on bulkier ones, usually only just stealth rock, very rarely you'll need spikes.

This set also works well to break things like Defensive Mega Saur, and ferrothorn will eventually be broken by strong jaw crunch + superfang damage. Hydro pump is to get surprise kos against things like skarmory, Mega-aggron and stuff. You can put more investment into special attack if you want to, as speed is not as crucial to have in this case. You have other teammates to worry about offense. Politoed also works really well to boost its water stab to hit harder. If you want to, you can run a max speed nature to speed tie with Mega Pinsir/zoroark.

This set really works well against slower teams, with enough speed to outspeed adamant Kyu-B. I feel Like this is used to better Mega-Sharpedo's potential rather than just being an all-out sweeper.

Not really a set tip, but do you see the Import/Export button on the top of the image? In showdown that converts all of the mon's aspects (Moves, item, evs, etc.) Into a text form, making it easier to read and also much faster to post.

 

[lalala45]

Not really a set tip, but do you see the Import/Export button on the top of the image? In showdown that converts all of the mon's aspects (Moves, item, evs, etc.) Into a text form, making it easier to read and also much faster to post.

Sorry, I just like the picture, it looks so badass. I edited it, the set is at the bottom of my last post.

 

[Jaroda]

Poison Fang can fail to OHKO Mega Gardevoir without SR and has a significantly lower chance to 2HKO Unaware Clefable after SR (kinda rare but w/e).

252+ Atk Sharpedo Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 24 Def Mega Gardevoir: 278-328 (100.3 - 118.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Poison Fang vs. 0 HP / 24 Def Mega Gardevoir: 260-308 (93.8 - 111.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Sharpedo Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 178-210 (45.1 - 53.2%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Poison Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 168-198 (42.6 - 50.2%) -- 41% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Strong Jaw Sharpedo Poison Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 168-198 (42.6 - 50.2%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock, Leftovers recovery, and toxic damage

When you factor in the chance for poison it pretty much balances out. The poison chance bumps the one turn KO on Gardy up to roughly 95%, which is damn near perfect. And hell, against Clefable your odds are again roughly the same. The instances are so minor that I can't help but see Poison Fang universally more useful but your points are noted.

 

[Karxrida]

View attachment 28949

This is a strange wallbreaker set that could be put to good use; A super fang set is pretty useful in the fact that most of its checks that come in will always take half no matter who it is, and kill it with a stab or coverage move that you have, or switch out to something else later, then come back and inflict the 2hko to the mon you recently super fanged. This eases prediction to compensate for M-sharpedo's frailty, despite the slight increase in bulk.

Example: Physically defensive gastrodon is a good check to normal sharpedo; but with Mega-sharpedo, you super fang first, then crunch to get the kill. Hazard support is nice to get guaranteed ones on bulkier ones, usually only just stealth rock, very rarely you'll need spikes.

This set also works well to break things like Defensive Mega Saur, and ferrothorn will eventually be broken by strong jaw crunch + superfang damage. Hydro pump is to get surprise kos against things like skarmory, Mega-aggron and stuff. You can put more investment into special attack if you want to, as speed is not as crucial to have in this case. You have other teammates to worry about offense. Politoed also works really well to boost its water stab to hit harder. If you want to, you can run a max speed nature to speed tie with Mega Pinsir/zoroark.

This set really works well against slower teams, with enough speed to outspeed adamant Kyu-B. I feel Like this is used to better Mega-Sharpedo's potential rather than just being an all-out sweeper.

You should just have something else deal with Ferrothorn. The chance to 2HKO a healthy one with SR up is really small, 2 turns of Iron Barbs will put you into revenge range for Banded Dragonite and unboosted Jolly Talonflame, and if Ferrothorn has Protect it can stall for a turn of Lefties recovery and beat you.

 

[Ash Borer]

dual STAB is not really dispensable. Crunch is obviously the best move to have, and waterfall hits too many things like Bisharp, Tyranitar, Terrakion, Heatran, Heracross, etc blah blah to consider dropping

GOing to go over possible coverage moves here. I'm just picking mons off the XY threat list here so I'm sure im missing some ORAS stuff. If the extra damage from the move is negligible (Neutral crunch is 180, Super Effective Ice Fang is 195)

Poison Jab hits: Azumarill, Clefable, Chesnaught, Breloom and Sylveon
Earthquake hits: Bisharp, Heatran, Magnezone, Cobalion
Ice Fang / Beam hits: Gliscor, Lando, Dragonite, Salamence, Breloom, Chesnaught
Double Edge hits: Keldeo, Greninja, Mega Gyarados
Zen Headbutt hits: Chesnaught, Breloom, Keldeo, Conkeldurr
Aqua Jet: Talonflame, Infernape

It's kinda hard to say which coverage move is the best. Poison Jab misses the 2HKO on Clefable and Sylveon without rocks only barely if they're physically defensive, but it also has that 30% poison chance and sharpedo will be running protect so it can eek out of some more damage than it leads on if it hits a switch in. Poison JAb is a clean 2HKO on Azumarill.

Earthquake hits Bisharp, Heatran, Mags and Cobalion but waterfall already hits all of those targets half decently, so its not like you prevent something form walling you. Bisharp can be beaten one one with Waterfall, Heatran is nearly OHKO'd, and Cobalion is rare as hell.

Ice moves hit less than they would appear. Chesnaught is barely used, Gliscor takes 80% from Waterfall and can't really do that much in return. Breloom has Mach Punch to still easily check Sharpedo. 4/0 Dragonite is funny because with multiscale active, it can tank a 252+ Ice Fang, but after stealth rocks it's likely to die to Crunch, so ice moves are only useful against it its a bulky set, or has scales broken but not from Stealth Rock. Hitting Salamence is great, its one of the ice move's best use because it prevents set up, but the problem is that if it has Intimidate still active, Ice Fang can only OHKO after rocks, and Ice Beam needs investment to KO bulkier before rocks meaning you have to split EVs and use a hindering nature to be guaranteed. Ice Beam's best and least situational target is LAndo-T who can surprisingly easily take Waterfalls and Ice Fang, whereas an invested Ice Beam OHKOs. Ice Beam hits Mega Salamence and Lando-T better than Ice Fang and nothing worse, it's the better ice move but it requires you to split EVs and lose defenses.

Double-Edge is interesting because it is a half-decent catch all for Sharpedo switch ins. Although it may not really beat any of them by itself except for maybe Greninja (it does about 80%, so it's likely Greninja is around this HP) it can be used to 2HKO or deal solid damage to Azumarill, Keldeo, Mega Gyarados, and beat Greninja all in one move. Considering how relevant most of those threats are it seems like a decent move, but, again, it doesnt really beat any of them so it's probably ineffective.

Zen Headbutt is a bit of an eye catcher but it fails to do anything great. If you really hate Keldeo you can use this move but don't expect great results as it 2HKOs like Double Edge, except it does nothing or much to to Greninja, Gyarados, Azumarill and so on. It can damage some other fighting types but two can take the hit easily and two have seriously deadly mach punches. Don't run this move.

Aqua jet is cute but it's not it like OHKOs either of its targets, and neither can switch in. Infernape is rare and can lack Mach Punch or might be a lead and Talonflame is a problem, but is only a single Pokemon that checks and is massively weak to SR. You can hit drill in the sand with it and maybe avoid some stuff like Thundy T-wave and other very weakened priority users that aren't weak to it too. Aqua jet seems alright but it's a bit too situational, you can get past excadrill if you hold of evolving for a turn, which can be done if you can get Sharpedo in on something weakened or weak to it.

I'd write off EQ, Ice Fang, and Zen headbutt because they don't really hit enough targets to be as useful as the other moves. Aqua jet seems OK as a kind of utility.

So:

Poison Jab hits: Azumarill, Clefable, Sylveon
- Note: 30% poison chance
Ice Beam hits: Lando-T, Salamence
- Note: Requires EV splitting, compromising defenses and speed
Double Edge hits: Keldeo, Greninja, Mega Gyarados, Azumarill
- Note: Serious recoil

Of course Destiny Bond is pretty cool. Sharpedo has access to Taunt but I can't imagine that being useful against anything besides Skarmory?

 

[Ash Borer]

PS I thought poison jab was a 10% chance to poison, it's actually 30%. If you quickly run the numbers you'll find that Poison Jab is better against both Sylveon and Clefable if rocks are up or not. Poison Fang's higher poison rate does not offset poison jab's relevant 5 extra base power and the fact that it's poison does more damage in scenarios where it's trying to 2HKO something as it switches in.

So ya use poison jab

 

[HackerKing]

Sharpedo will probably have two main roles in the new meta (and we have to distinguish between the two).

The first is as a late-game cleaner (where is it arguably better). Protect is obligatory on this set since you really need that +1 speed boost before Mega-Evolving. Crunch is also really necessary since it's solid stab move. For the other two slots you have a lot of slash in options (as Ash Borer discussed above), but Poison Jab and Waterfall are main ones.

The second use which I'm intrigued by is as a mid-game wallbreaker. You can forgo Protect for interesting coverage moves like Destiny Bond and Super Fang for switch-in mind games and can talor Sharpedo for specific threats (which is where the Hydro Pump-Waterfall discussion comes in).

Sharpedo-Mega @ Sharpedite
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Super Fang
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Hydro Pump

I bolded the moves I think are mostly optional and tailored depending on your team, but overall I'm going to test this out because I really like the idea of playing around with Superfang. Quick Question: How do you deal with Scizor and Meg Beedrill?

 

[Toad0234]

Sharpedo will probably have two main roles in the new meta (and we have to distinguish between the two).

The first is as a late-game cleaner (where is it arguably better). Protect is obligatory on this set since you really need that +1 speed boost before Mega-Evolving. Crunch is also really necessary since it's solid stab move. For the other two slots you have a lot of slash in options (as Ash Borer discussed above), but Poison Jab and Waterfall are main ones.

The second use which I'm intrigued by is as a mid-game wallbreaker. You can forgo Protect for interesting coverage moves like Destiny Bond and Super Fang for switch-in mind games and can talor Sharpedo for specific threats (which is where the Hydro Pump-Waterfall discussion comes in).


I bolded the moves I think are mostly optional and tailored depending on your team, but overall I'm going to test this out because I really like the idea of playing around with Superfang. Quick Question: How do you deal with Scizor and Meg Beedrill?

Well if you had aqua jet I believe beedrill would go down easy. And you really don't have much of a chance against scizor