Rei
The arcana is the means by which all is revealed
[OVERVIEW]
Grass
========
Serperior's great Special Attack stat, Speed stat, and ability in Contrary allow it to be a powerful sweeper. Contrary boosts its Special Attack each time a Leaf Storm is used, allowing it to break past Pokemon like Toxapex, Mantine, and Porygon2, and its great Speed stat allows it to outpace most of the metagame including Pokemon like Mega Gallade, Landorus, and Mega Diancie. It also has great utility options with Glare, Substitute, and Leech Seed that allow it to wear down the opposing team. However, Serperior's mediocre bulk means that it is easily revenge killed by faster Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Weavile, Choice Scarf users like Latios and Heracross, and priority users like Dragonite and Diggersby. Serperior also suffers from a lack of good coverage options, as it relies on Hidden Power Fire to hit Steel-types super effectively. It also has to rely on Leaf Storm to do major damage because of its mediocre Special Attack stat. Furthermore, it is hard to justify a spot on the team for Serperior when other Pokemon such as Celebi, Whimsicott, and Decidueye individually improve matchups significantly, such as Steel and Poison, Dragon and Dark, and Psychic, respectively.
[SET]
name: SubSeed (Grass)
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Leaf Storm
move 4: Hidden Power Fire
item: Leftovers
ability: Contrary
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Serperior's Leech Seed helps to keep itself healthy against Pokemon like Celesteela, Toxapex, and Chansey. Serperior using Substitute is key to force switches on Pokemon like Toxapex and Ferrothorn and ease predictions to make it harder for the opposing team to revenge kill Serperior. The combination of Leech Seed and Substitute also helps Serperior wear down Pokemon like Heatran and Chansey. Leaf Storm boosts Serperior's Special Attack to break past bulky Pokemon such as Toxapex and Mega Sableye and clean weakened teams late-game. Hidden Power Fire, when powered up once, allows Serperior to take care of Steel-types like Mega Scizor, Forretress, and Ferrothorn.
Set Details
========
252 Speed EVs with a Timid nature allow Serperior to outpace Pokemon like Mega Gallade and Keldeo. Leftovers allows Serperior to have passive recovery while using Substitute + Leech Seed to get some HP back. Contrary allows Serperior to boost its Special Attack by using Leaf Storm and to take advantage of Sticky Web to get a Speed boost.
Usage Tips
========
Let Serperior come in on bulkier Pokemon such as Mega Sableye, on weak attacks like Forretress's Gyro Ball, on a predicted switch, or on predicted entry hazards from opposing Landorus-T or Garchomp. Make sure to scout common defensive Pokemon like Chansey, Ferrothorn, and Celesteela to make sure they aren't running Toxic as well as common Thunder Wave users such as Jirachi, as status will cripple Serperior significantly. Due to Serperior's mediocre bulk, do not let it take strong attacks such as Hydregion's Draco Meteor and Celesteela's Heavy Slam. Switch Serperior out when Pokemon that commonly have priority such as Dragonite, Diggersby, Weavile, and Bisharp are on the field, as Serperior does not take these attacks well. Prioritize using Leech Seed against bulkier teams such as Normal, Poison, and Flying, as it will slowly wear them down especially if there are entry hazards up. Use Serperior to clean late-game, as once all its checks and counters are out of the way, it has an easier time sweeping. In the Steel-type matchup, try to wear down Heatran as much as possible, as after Serperior powers up from using Leaf Storm, it can sweep with Hidden Power Fire. It can also outstall Heatran's Magma Storm PP by using Substitute, to fish for a miss and, when given the opportunity, use Leech Seed to help wear it down. Be careful around Pokemon with the ability Pressure like Zapdos and Suicune, as they can get rid of Leaf Storm's PP and make Serperior unable to clean late-game.
Team Options
========
Mega Venusaur is a must-have partner for Serperior because of its ability in Thick Fat and physical bulk, as this enables it to take on Pokemon such as Infernape and Mamoswine. Mega Venusaur can also soak up Toxic Spikes, which Serperior appreciates. Ferrothorn helps wear down bulkier teams like Normal and Dark with Spikes and can cripple Ice and Flying teams with Stealth Rock and Leech Seed and by forcing switches. Ferrothorn's Steel typing is also great for taking Ice-, Dragon-, and Fairy-type attacks like Greninja's Ice Beam, Latio's Draco Meteor, and Mimikyu's Play Rough and forcing their users out, which helps Serperior sweep late-game. Breloom greatly helps in the Ice-, Normal-, and Dark-type matchups with its Fighting typing against Pokemon like Weavile, Chansey, and Greninja. With Spore, Breloom can put passive Pokemon like Toxapex and common Stealth Rock setters like Garchomp to sleep. When running Rockium Z with Stone Edge, Breloom can take care of Celesteela and Mandibuzz after a Swords Dance. Celebi can help with the Steel-type matchup, as it can run Groundium Z to OHKO Heatran and threaten both Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn with Hidden Power Fire. With its Psychic-type STAB move, Celebi can also improve the Poison-type matchup, and it can even force in Alolan Muk and OHKO it after one Nasty Plot when running Groundium Z. Tapu Bulu is the best Choice Scarf user for Grass, as it can OHKO Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona with Stone Edge as well as help with fast Pokemon like Hydreigon and Mega Lopunny. Thanks to Grassy Terrain, it also provides Serperior with more passive recovery and makes Leaf Storm more powerful, which it appreciates. Cradily is able to set up Stealth Rock to complete a stacking duo with Ferrothorn. It is also a great specially defensive wall that can take on Hydreigon, Latios, and Fire-types like Volcarona and Blacephalon. Whimsicott can help with matchups like Dragon, Dark, and Fighting because of its Fairy typing, threatening Pokemon like Garchomp, Mega Sableye. and Mega Gallade. Thanks to Whimsicott's Fairy typing, it stops Kommo-o from using its Clangorous Soulblaze that would otherwise be a bit threat to the team. Whimsicott can also help with its utility moves in Tailwind, Encore, and Stun Spore to help Serperior outpace faster Pokemon like Latios and setup Pokemon like Volcarona, and slow down threatening Pokemon like Greninja and Victini. Decidueye helps with the Psychic-type matchup because of its combination of Swords Dance, Spirit Shackle, and Shadow Sneak being able to take care of most of these Pokemon. With Spirit Shackle, Swords Dance, and Roost, it can trap troublesome walls like Toxapex, Mantine, and Celesteela and take care of them. Decidueye also greatly helps with Victini, a big threat to Grass teams, as once a Pokemon gets OHKOed by V-create, it can come in and take care of it or use it as a chance to set up with Swords Dance.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Grass
--------
Glare can be used over Leech Seed to paralyze troublesome Pokemon like Mega Charizard Y, Victini, and Kyurem-B; however, Serperior will struggle to keep itself healthy without Leech Seed because it will rely more on its passive recovery from Leftovers. Dragon Pulse can be used over Hidden Power Fire to threaten Dragon-types like Kyurem-B and Dragonite; however, without it Serperior cannot hit important Pokemon like Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn in the Steel-type matchup. Choice Scarf can be used to make Serperior outpace Pokemon like Weavile and Choice Scarf Latios; however, its mediocre Special Attack stat, lack of coverage options, and inability to switch its moves make it hard to justify using over better Choice Scarf users like Tapu Bulu.
Checks and Counters
===================
Grass
--------
**Status**: Pokemon that usually run Toxic such as Chansey and Celesteela can hinder Serperior, as it can no longer keep itself healthy while using Leaf Storm. Serperior should not come out if Toxic Spikes from Toxapex are on the field, as this will hinder its passive recovery from Leftovers. Thunder Wave from Jirachi or Porygon2 can make Serperior unable to outpace Pokemon it needs to like Heatran in order to outstall its Magma Storm PP with Substitute.
**Fire-types**: Serperior fails to take Fire-type attacks from Heatran, Mega Charizard X and Y, and Volcarona, as while it does outpace these Pokemon, it fails to do any significant damage to them before getting OHKOed.
**Poison-types**: Pesky Poison-types like Alolan Muk and Mega Venusaur can cause Serperior trouble, as these Pokemon can tank any of its attacks and OHKO it with their STAB moves.
**Haze Users**: Haze users like Toxapex and Mantine can either get rid of Serperior's boost or make it waste Leaf Storm's PP; however, after two Leaf Storm boosts, they have trouble removing them.
**Faster Attackers and Priority**: Faster Pokemon like Weavile and Choice Scarf Pokemon like Latios, Kyurem-B, and Infernape can outpace Serperior and easily take care of it with their STAB attacks. Serperior also has trouble with handling Bisharp's Sucker Punch or Mega Scizor's Bullet Punch because of its mediocre bulk.
**Special Walls**: Special walls like Chansey and Mantine can tank Serperior's attacks after being boosted by Leaf Storm and easily wear it down with their attacks. However, if they are caught by Leech Seed on the switch, Serperior can use Substitute to wear them down along with Leaf Storm.
**Wallbreakers**: Powerful physical and special wallbreakers like Hydreigon and Kommo-o can easily tank an attack from Serperior and OHKO it back with their powerful attacks.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yami, 393488]]
- Grass analysis by: [[Yami, 393488]]
- Quality checked by: [[maroon, 305839], [Decem, 362454], [Moosical, 215618]]
- Grammar checked by: [[deetah, 297659], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
Last edited: