First off, you're running and offensive set without Life Orb... Why? It is far from murdered by scarf users, and you could say any attacking pokemon that isn't scarfed is afraid of scarf users, that's why scarf users are there, to revenge and stop sweeps.The problem with Serperior, that has been stated time, and time, and time again - it is, at base, weaker then piss.
It can't even OHKO, at +0, the frailest pokemon in OU.
I mean, we could go on for days about why Serperior sucks, but that's all you really need to know.
And even fully set up, should you somehow manage to get to +6...
Again, weak as hell. It can't even guaranteed OHKO sub kyurem-b without rocks, and that's only a resist.
And to avoid being murdered by any choice user, it needs to have a choice scarf, which means that it's not getting past defensive titans like Ferrothorn or Heatran (The later of which is a complete, 100% hard stop anyway)...
so yeah it's just piss. Completely useless without a boost, too slow to risk not running a choice scarf, resists no priority (and is weak to one of it), half of OU resists grass, we could go on for days about the numerous ways in which Serperior is awful.
Because with Life Orb, you're looking at taking an additional 10% damage minimum before you start becoming remotely useful, you're still at risk of being OHKO'd by almost every single scarf user, even before LO drops, and with something that wants to spam the same move two to three times to actually start getting into the game, 20-30% HP is a huge deal.First off, you're running and offensive set without Life Orb... Why? It is far from murdered by scarf users, and you could say any attacking pokemon that isn't scarfed is afraid of scarf users, that's why scarf users are there, to revenge and stop sweeps.
True, but Breloom resists and Cloyster is weak to it anyway so I used Alakazam.Secondly, Alakazam isn't the frailest in OU when it comes to special attacks, both Cloyster and Breloom are weaker in that regard (off the top of my head).
1. If they're swapping in Kyurem-B, they're either retarded or they already scouted out Serperior's LO, in which case it's a scarf variant that will OHKO with scarf supar speed.Thirdly, why are you spamming Leaf storm against Kyurem-B at anything? First off that set you listed with the 56 hp is the sub set, Kyurem-B comes in an takes 27.9 - 32.83% from a LO leaf storm (again, scarf is pointless and a bad set to run), then Kyurem-B can't outspeed and takes 95.55 - 113.08% from a +2 LO dragon pulse. Your example is plain terrible, honestly, running a scarf is a bad idea on any set up sweeper, including this one that uses an attacking move to boost. Kyurem-B with a scarf is a threat, but he still wouldn't want to take an unboosted dragon pulse on the switch (since that's still 50% of his HP gone). That's more the sheer power of Kyurem-B than anything else.
2. Of course he wouldn't but +0 DPulse is still hitting for piss.252 Atk Kyurem-B Outrage vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Serperior: 250-295 (85.61 - 101.02%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
Absolutely abysmal.252 SpA Serperior Dragon Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Kyurem-B: 150-178 (38.36 - 45.52%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
For Serperior to be at +2 and for Scizor to come in to revenge, it will have most likely taken some residue damage. That, combined with the LO damage and possible Rocks/Weather/Spikes damage means Serperior's shit is sunk pretty easily by revenge.Lastly, onto priority, if a pokemon is either going to switch into Superior or come in after a revenge kill, Serperior will in all likelihood be at +2 after using leaf storm. A Bullet Punch from a CB scizor does 57.87 - 68.15%, while he is in return, OHKO from +2 HP fire, Breloom has the exact same problem. Dragonite does 52.39 - 61.98% with extreme speed, while dying to a +2 dragon pulse unless he has multiscale still active (which limits him to a revenger killer), and anything that would even use Ice shard can't OHKO with it and is destroyed by even an unboosted leaf storm. Priority pokemon make great revenge killers, but are not counters in the slightest.
Key word: manage. Serperior demands a turn to get in safely, then a turn to set up Leaf Storm which will also cost it 10% of its HP if you're running LO, then finally it can start firing off its +2 attacks (which are still extremely unimpressive, coming at a effective base 498 spatk, a number that isn't exactly impressive after all the pain it has to go through to get it), and only once it reaches +4 (after having incurred 20% LO damage and any potential hazards, weather, or status) can it be considered very threatening. You have to manage all of this with a Grass type (not the best defensive typing in the world) which has 75/95/95 base defensive stats, of which you can't afford to put enough investment in to actually matter.Again, for the most part, if you manage to get Serperior in relatively safely, he can really hurt teams badly, and there is not a lot that can switch in, take it, and KO back, or even come in after a revenge kill and KO. Leaf storm contrary makes Serperior so much more than just a set up sweeper with his bulk and speed, along with the ease of setting up, most stuff that would normally outspeed and massively threaten Serperior when he would normally be spending a turn using a normal set up move (nasty plot), either can't KO back, or can't switch in on a leaf storm.
I'm going to say this again, he's not unstoppable, but he's a massive threat. The thing that nobody has mentioned is that weather really ruins his day, rain making his HP fire far less useful, stopping certain KO's, while sun makes himself a lot more afraid of fire moves on opposing mons.
Serperior doesn't need 2-3 times to start getting into the game, he needs to use it once, and 10% to deal a decent chunk of damage and set up at the same time is easily worth it. Also, in your calculations you excluded life orb yet again. The life orb set allows it to be very likely to 2 hit KO after a boost, and you still haven't explained how you'd get Kyruem B in there without him being at +2? Either a switch in or a revenge kill doesn't matter, Serperior will likely be at +2. Otherwise, congratulations, you found one scarf user that can possibly counter it, the one user with insane stats all around, good job. The only other things that really flat out counter it are Heatran and Volcarona without rocks.Because with Life Orb, you're looking at taking an additional 10% damage minimum before you start becoming remotely useful, you're still at risk of being OHKO'd by almost every single scarf user, even before LO drops, and with something that wants to spam the same move two to three times to actually start getting into the game, 20-30% HP is a huge deal.
True, but Breloom resists and Cloyster is weak to it anyway so I used Alakazam.
1. If they're swapping in Kyurem-B, they're either retarded or they already scouted out Serperior's LO, in which case it's a scarf variant that will OHKO with scarf supar speed.
2. Of course he wouldn't but +0 DPulse is still hitting for piss.
Absolutely abysmal.
For Serperior to be at +2 and for Scizor to come in to revenge, it will have most likely taken some residue damage. That, combined with the LO damage and possible Rocks/Weather/Spikes damage means Serperior's shit is sunk pretty easily by revenge.
Key word: manage. Serperior demands a turn to get in safely, then a turn to set up Leaf Storm which will also cost it 10% of its HP if you're running LO, then finally it can start firing off its +2 attacks (which are still extremely unimpressive, coming at a effective base 498 spatk, a number that isn't exactly impressive after all the pain it has to go through to get it), and only once it reaches +4 (after having incurred 20% LO damage and any potential hazards, weather, or status) can it be considered very threatening. You have to manage all of this with a Grass type (not the best defensive typing in the world) which has 75/95/95 base defensive stats, of which you can't afford to put enough investment in to actually matter.
For all of this, your most powerful option is still the grass STAB (and your other two options are base 70 and base 90 non-stab'd BP, one of which gets cut in half by the rain), a offensive type that is supremely lacking in OU, with a base speed that leaves it open to nearly every common choice Scarfer (and even four non-scarfed pokemon that enjoy common usage in OU), resistance to absolutely no priority, and you're left with a pokemon who is completely useless outside of attacking, and even then nearly completely useless before getting to +2. And to compound matters, once it's at +2, it's actually no better then a lot of the supermassive, superfast attackers who are throwing around powerful attacks with no investment or no setup with far superior attacking types, requiring you to be at +4 before you notice any considerable gains.
seriously if you want a superpowerful attacker just use Thundurus-T, or Keldeo, or any other of the plethora monster-attackers you have open to you in BW2. Serperior basically requires you to bend over ass-backwards for something that honestly isn't that impressive without excessive setup oppertunity, and even then is open to every single Priority revenger in the game, as well as almost every Choice Scarfer should it choose to use a Life Orb.
It has nothing to do with my post though, but thank you for the friendly reminder.Friendly reminder that performance in Ubers is entirely unrelated to OU tiering decisions. Deoxys-N is a sack of shit in Ubers (mostly because it is overshadowed by its counterparts) yet was still banned from OU for being too powerful.
Please actually learn why Keldeo is such a massive threat with Choice Specs, and learn how silly that sounds.Keldeo with choice specs is only hitting for 535 base sp.attack, all while being locked into one move, with a lower base speed.
Good job cherry picking one thing and taking out of context. I understand Keldeo is a massive threat with Choice Specs, I understand why he's more so a massive threat with Choice Scarf (IMO), however, you completely ignored everything I posted.While my bad on the LO thing,
Please actually learn why Keldeo is such a massive threat with Choice Specs, and learn how silly that sounds.
498 is simply unimpressive when you have to compare Specs Keldeo, who's firing off 120 BP STABs (water STAB at that, one of the best in the game) that are very easily boosted to double STAB, with access to a 85 BP secondary STAB move that allows it to murder Special walls and act as a pesudo mixed attacker operating off of the very useful Fighting type. Hell, even compared to Scarf Keldeo, or god forbid Expert Belt Keldeo, and you're still looking at someone who can do equivalent if not superior damage in most circumstances via a far easier setup condition (and more damage base either way).
Or let's compare it to Kyurem-B, who packs a massive 170 base attack stat, which is enormous even without any boost, and is capable of firing off 80/120 BP STAB from the second-best attacking STAB in the game (though, the 120 does have a drawback), with a backup 100 BP electric move. It even makes better use of its free turns, being the single scariest pokemon in the game behind a sub that's basically guaranteed a kill if it gets one up.
THAT is what Serperior has to compete with, and that is why it is not OU caliber. There are simply way too many 'power' options that are far easier to set up (some don't even need set up!) that can produce results consistently and constantly. It doesn't matter if you outplay your opponent, if you manage to get the two KOs, anyone can, with sufficent skill, make up for inferior pokemon to a certain degree.
That doesn't make them OU material.
This has not been confirmed. It allows you to swap between the two standard abilities for sure, but we don't know about Hidden Abilities.It's been confirmed that for 200 BP at the battle tower equivalent in X and Y, you can buy an item that swaps your pokemon's current ability with their hidden ability. Whether this means their DW ability or their potential alternate in-game ability is yet to be determined, but it could mean a lot for the pokemon in this thread.