Seviper

by Sasami Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:28 pm

Seviper's Smogon Sets

Seviper 336-3

Abilities

Shed Skin
--Every turn, Seviper has a 1 in 3 chance of recovering from a status effect (Burn, Paralyze, Sleep, Freeze).

Stats

Stat	Base	Max
HP	73	350
Atk	100	328
Def	60	240
S.Atk	100	328
S.Def	60	240
Spd	65	251

Seviper, the Fang Snake pokemon. Poison isn't the best STAB to have, but it's livable with Seviper's exceptional offensive stats for the NU environment. That said, Seviper also has a decent movepool at its expense for its purposes and can effectively run any of the three choice items. Its identical defensive stats aren't too horrible (for NU), but the ever present EQ should always be on the conscience of a Seviper user, as well as the less common but just as effective Psychic. Shed Skin is a nice ability to have simply because, well, of what it does. It's pretty much like having a re-usable, semi-reliable Lum Berry. Poison typing does give you the advantage of being immune to poisoned status, so it can come in to Toxic Spikes or to absorb a Toxic with ease. With its superior stats and movepool, Seviper is surely a viable powerhouse for the NU environment.

Sevimixer

Seviper @ (1)Life Orb (2)Choice Scarf
-Giga Drain
-X-Scissor
-Earthquake
-Flamethrower/Dark Pulse
Naive, Shed Skin
(1)252 Speed, 128 Atk, 128 S.Atk
(2)172 Atk, 172 S.atk, 164 Spd

Dual 100 offensive stats make for a good mixer option on Seviper. Giga Drain is a must for Gastrodon, Whiscash, Sudowoodo & Golem and is your best bet against Wailord if you feel like staying in and risking getting EQ'd. It can also most likely OHKO Cloyster and put at least a nice dent in Corsola's HP. X-Scissor is nice to have for Cradily and max speed lets you at least speed tie non-scarfed Chimecho for OHKO. EQ covers fellow poison types like Swalot (damage calcs needed) and can do a hefty sum of damage to Batstiodon sans Shuca Berry. Flamethrower gives you coverage of the majority of bug types in NU as well as Mawile, but if you are truly afraid of CurseKoal then Dark Pulse is the better option, although taking it out with EQ before it gets in too many curses is certainly a viable option. Like all Orb'd pokemon without reliable HP recovery, Seviper becomes easier to counter as its use in battle progresses, so it would be a good idea to save it for even mid- to late-game sweeping. For the Scarf set, 164 EV's in speed let you just outrun max speed Luxray (263 to Luxray's max 262) and go for the EQ kill. Of course Scarf makes you stuck on one attack option at a time but has no HP sacrifice, so it is easier to use effectively at the start of the game than Orb'd Viper.

Armaldo is a pretty safe counter for this set with good attack and defense enough to resist and even probably get in a Rock Polish before retaliating with EQ. Pretty much anything with EQ/Psychic or a reliable attack *coughPuruglycough* that can outspeed Seviper is a good bet for a counter, like Girafarig, Xatu or Max Speed Arbok for example. Wailord is also pretty viable as a counter considering its massive HP and ability to EQ. Tanky Pelipper can also probably give you trouble, but that's a close call with Giga Drain (damage calcs?). HP Ground is also dangerous, especially with the Naive nature. Be careful.

SeviBand

Seviper @ Choice Band
-Earthquake
-X-Scissor/Iron Tail
-Aqua Tail
-Crunch/Sucker Punch/Night Slash/Body Slam/Poison Jab
Jolly, Shed Skin
252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP

Needless to say, a lot of options here, and definitely customizable to tailor to specific needs of any team (yay versatility). EQ can take out non-max speed Arbok and Luxray and I'm hesitant to say that it can at least 2HKO Bastiodon (calcs needed). X-scissor/Iron Tail again get Cradily, but this time will probably OHKO assuming no defense EV's. Aqua Tail more or less replaces Giga Drain from the last set for taking out the likes of Golem and Sudowoodo, but be wary of Whiscash and Gastrodon this time. The last moveslot is mostly for not being walled by Pelipper and the choice of your Dark move depends on preference of Critical Hit ratio for Night Slash, reliability for Crunch or priority for Sucker Punch. Iron Tail and Body Slam are also nice options if you want hax chances of lowering defense or pralyzing, repsectively. Poison Jab is a nice filler here if you want to take advantage of STAB.

Again, hefty walls like Wailord that can EQ and things that outrun with EQ or strong attack are good counters to this set. Look out for Xatu and Girafarig, too. Additionally, this set has arguably less coverage than the Mixer (having traded it for strength) and leaves you more open to exploitation by some pokemon since you will be stuck on a move. Also, don't forget to look out for HP Ground.

Specsper

Seviper @ Choice Specs
-Flamethrower
-Dark Pulse
-Sludge Bomb/HP Electric
-Giga Drain
Timid, Shed Skin
252 S.Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP

Ahhhh, a Specs set that abuses the special end of Seviper's move spectrum. Again, Speed boosting nature over attack boosting because letting more stuff outrun you is asking for disaster. Feel free to use Modest if you want, but be aware that you'll be more suceptible to OHKO. Flamethrower beats back Mawile along with, again, all the pesky bug types in NU. Pelipper gives you a reason to run HP Electric over STAB Sludge Bomb. Dark Pulse offers more power than either HP for you to take out threatening Psychics like Unown and Chimecho (although you might risk losing the speed tie if Chimecho is max speed). Giga Drain helps with HP restoration and, now that you're running near 450 S.Atk, can more easily dispatch ground or water types (or ground/water types) (ahhhhh I need to learn how to do damage calcs).

The same counters apply, really. Poor Seviper is just let down too much by its speed and defenses to not be countered by anything that can outrun and threaten it. However, Pelipper might be easier to handle with this set, and possibly Wailord (damage calcs) as well(assuming HP Electric).

Sevicrippler

Seviper @ Black Sludge
-Glare
-Taunt/Haze
-Earthquake
-Crunch/Poison Jab
Adamant, Shed Skin
252 Atk, 252 HP, 4 Def

The idea here is to switch in Seviper as a faux revenge killer and scare away the opponent. Use Glare on the switch in, which will paralyze even Ground types due to its normal typing (<3). Unfortunately, Glare only hits every 3 out of 4 times, so if you miss then you have probably just been countered. Taunt and Haze are there for enemies who you know are going to try and set up on you like Cursetrodon, Cursekoal and Stockpelipper, among others. Crunch over Sucker Punch for the reliability (and because you'll be faster than your opponent after Glare anyways), but if you choose Taunt then Sucker Punch is viable, since they'll be locked into offensive moves anyways. Sucker Punch would be a nice option to fall back on if Glare misses, but Crunch is more reliable if your opponent decides to switch out after being Glared and/or Taunted. Earthquake then gets the Rock types who would have otherwise tried to EQ you as well as Arbok. It also gives you coverage of steel types. The Dark move will then get Psychics, while Poison Jab is optional if you feel like taking advantage of STAB. You can also run Life Orb over Black Sludge if you value strength over survivability but that is a matter of preference.

Counters can be anything that is expecting to be haxed on the switch in and is thus running a Lum Berry. You might also want to watch out for Ditto (Limber). Shiftry will resist you without Poison Jab, but the worst that it can do to you is Explode or (less commonly) Extrasensory, and Crunch is a better option for taking out Psychics anyways. Again, due to frailty, anything that isn't OHKO'd by Seviper that can bite back with EQ will probably be a good counter barring parahax.

All credit goes to Ninja.