Why was Mega Sceptile so unused?

Question

Sceptile Pokedex Page for reference

I noticed it has 145 in both SpAtk and Spe. I seems like a hard hitter, and has acess to STAB Dragon Pulse, Giga Drain, Leaf Storm, and other moves, and is immune to electric moves, even making it so that it's partner (if in doubles) is completely protected, allowing you to use a water or flying type and protecting them from on of there biggest weaknesses. When it protects its partner, it even gains a boost to its high SpAtk. It's typing let it hit powerful types such as Dragon, Water, Ground, and Rock. If you are in singles it can switch in to electric moves, if it is Mega Evolved. If not it still has a resistance to electric moves. So why was it so overlooked in higher tiers when Megas were a thing?

Comments

Are you asking for an answer as a whole or about a specific gen?

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What format/rules are you asking about?

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Any format he is viable in, but probably Doubles as he seems slightly more useful there.

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What kind of doubles? VGC, OU, National Pokedex, or something else?

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The highest doubles tier he can be in in Gen 7

Answer 1

Mega Sceptile is a good revenge killer in the lower tiers, being able to check Water, Ground and Electric types, but it lacks in what other megas have in the higher tiers, resulting in it being inferior to run Mega Sceptile in a tier with way better mega options. While it can't swap into an Electric type attack the first time its sent out and get the boost from Lightning Rod (due to it always being a regular Sceptile when entering battle, unless previously mega evolved), its still able to outspeed and OHKO Electric types with its STABs. Though, it's frailty (70/75/85) and common weaknesses (especially 4x to Ice) makes it easily taken care of by Choice Scarf users or priority moves. Mega Sceptile also has lacking coverage, solely having its two STABS, and Focus Blast and Hidden Power for its coverage, which results in it always lacking coverage options.

TL;DR: Mega Sceptile has good stats and can check several types with its great offensive Grass/Dragon typing, but it lacking coverage and having several common weaknesses sets back its usefulness by a long shot.

Source: Experience, and Smogon's Mega Sceptile analysis.

Comments

From what I know, kinda, but not really. They have similar pros and cons, but they typically run different sets. Mega Sceptile runs a Protect + Leech Seed set, while regular Sceptile typically runs a full-out attacker set that's either mixed or special orientated.

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If you Mega evolve Sceptile and then switch it out, it will still be Mega when it switches back in and can utilize it's Lightning Rod.

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Mega Sceptile has awful defences. You can't expect it to "counter" a Pokémon with base stats of 70/75/85, even if it's a lower-tier like RU. There's a difference between check and counter, and there is also a reason as to why it runs no defence with max/max EVs even on its SubSeed set.

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Shoot, in the TL;DR, I meant to use the term check rather than counter as I did with my actual answer. Just a minor mess-up on my part that I'll edit.

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That's why you switch in on an electric type

Answer 2

In gen 7 Doubles OU, mega Sceptile is outclassed by several Pokemon, most notably mega Salamence and Kartana. Both of them have a higher attack stat than mega Sceptile and can learn tailwind. Each of them also has a few other advantages, so they are more useful than Sceptile in almost every situation.

Salamence can have intimidate, which provides even more support on top of tailwind. Its flying/fire coverage makes it more useful against most steel Pokemon, as well as Amoonguss, Volcarona, and Tapu Bulu. Salamence learns dragon dance and roost, which lets it break walls more easily. This wider movepool also makes Salamence less predictable.

Kartana is not a mega evolution, which means it can hold a Z-crystal and have a mega evolving teammate. It learns sacred sword, making Kartana more useful against Incineroar and most steel Pokemon.
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Comments

Thanks! If I could put 2 best answers I would!

Answer 3

Since you could only use 1 mega per game, it was outclassed by better megas such as Blaziken, Kangaskhan, and Alakazam. It already has electric resistance so having lightning rod didn’t help as much as other mega abilities did, namely parental bond.

tldr;good mega, but there is better megas
Source: Knowing mega meta

Comments

I was hoping for a more in-depth analysis, but yours works I guess...

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4x weakness to ice is also incredibly painful.  It's a staple coverage type.

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yeah I’m sorry I couldn’t be more in-depth but that’s basically all there is to it. There were better megas and it had 4x weakness to ice and 3 other weaknesses.

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It is fine. Sceptile is my second starter ever, and one of my favorite megas, so I wanted him to get more respect, because he is in the shadows of Blaziken and Swampert constantly, with Swampert being the premier Mega for Rain Teams, and Blaziken having Speed Boost. Sceptile does have Unburden, but it's usefulness depends on his held Item, severely limiting the items he can hold if you want to take advantage of Unburden. So all in all I was just hoping I could uncover something to get him respect.

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yeah no problem! the other answer went more in-depth about it and I really didn’t know pros and cons compared to normal sceptile, all i knew was there were better megas.