Welcome once again to Pokemon of the Week. Last week, we covered Zangoose. This week, we'll cover the other half of the rivalry; this week, we discuss Seviper.

Seviper is definitely on the losing half of the fued. With the exact same defenses, worse Attack and much worse Speed, Seviper's only advantage is something Zangoose doesn't need: better Sp. Attack. While Zangoose doesn't need this, Seviper can utilize this base 100 Sp. Attack with it's diverse special movepool. It can also run a physical set, with a base 100 Attack as well, but the movepool for physical attacks is much slimmer.

Seviper will never make it out of NU, it's just not a possibility. Terrible stat layout, poor typing and just being a completely forgettable Pokemon, even being outclassed in NU, mean it's only claim to fame is being rivals with a Pokemon who is completely better than it is.

Even with Seviper's tier status firmly cemented, it does have roles it can perform in NU. Choice Specs is Seviper's best friend, giving it a passable Special Attack stat to take chunks out of the opponent's team. That aside, other NU Poison types such as Skuntank, Garbodor and Weezing are usually better choices for a team, for their fairly unique roles in NU's metagame.

Seviper@ Choice Specs Shed Skin Modest nature (+Sp. Attack, -Attack) EVs: 252 Sp. Attack / 212 Speed / 44 HP Sludge Bomb Giga Drain Hidden Power Ground / Flamethrower Switcheroo / Dark Pulse

The best set Seviper can hope to pull off is by putting on a pair of Choice Specs (somehow), and punching holes into things with boosted Sp. Attack. Sludge Bomb is your STAB attack, and though it has very limited Super Effective usage, it hits a fair amount of things neutrally, making it a relatively safe attack to use, if you keep your opponent's team in mind. Giga Drain hits the Ground types that resist Sludge Bomb, such as Golem, Golurk and Seismitoad.

The third slot offers a choice for Seviper. Hidden Power Ground lets it beat the most commonly used Steel types, Probopass and Bastiodon, however Flamethrower hits other Steel types harder, such as Metang. In general, Hidden Power Ground is more useful in NU. Switcheroo in the final slot allows Seviper to cripple defensive walls, such as Lickilicky, who would otherwise have no problem taking Sludge Bombs, even ridding the possible status with Heal Bell, and passing Wishes to other teammates, or just bringing you down with Body Slam. Dark Pulse, however, gives you a tool to hit Ghosts and Psychic types Super Effectively.

The Speed EVs are only there to allow Seviper to outspeed Rock Polish Torterra before it can use Rock Poish, though you'll need Flamethrower to do any serious damage to it, given that Sludge Bomb is neutral.

Seviper@ Life Orb Shed Skin Adamant nature (+Attack, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 252 Attack / 212 Speed / 44 HP Poison Jab Earthquake Sucker Punch Coil / Aqua Tail

Physical Seviper is not as effective, due to the smaller movepool it has, as well as the inability to bypass physically defensive Pokemon such as Regirock and Golem. Despite this, physical Seviper does have it's advantages. Poison Jab is the physical equivalent of the previous set's Sludge Bomb, giving you a reliable STAB attack. Earthquake lets Seviper remove Skuntank, as well as hitting , Bastiodon and other Rock types. Sucker Punch gives Seviper a priority attack to finish off faster foes, which is appreciated with Seviper's low Speed. Coil is Seviper's only boosting move (WHY does it not get Swords Dance? Its tail literally is a sword), giving it a nice boost to Attack and Defense, but you can utilize Aqua Tail instead if you'd like to be able to deal much more damage to Camerupt and Golem.

In general, this set is outclassed by Arbok, due to his higher Speed and Sp. Defense. Arbok can setup Coils and deal out more damage, faster. Arbok lacks a priority move, but Skuntank outclasses Seviper as a Poison type with a priority move, since it's Sucker Punch is backed by STAB. All in all, physical Seviper is just outclassed.

If for some reason you wanted to raise a Seviper in-game, the easiest way to get one is on Route 7, Route 11, or Village Bridge, as well as Hidden Grottos on Route 7 and Route 23. It can also be obtained from Dream World's Dream Park, though Infiltrator is a pretty bad ability in comparison to Shed Skin, which says something about how bad it is. Here's what I would use:

Seviper Poison Jab Crunch Earthquake Coil

Basically, this is the only things physical Seviper can do without Egg moves. Poison Jab is your STAB move. Crunch hits Ghosts, Earthquake is for coverage. Coil is there because... there is nothing else Seviper can do without Egg moves. It literally has nothing worth using. In fact, if you /are/ willing to put in a little extra effort in getting a good Seviper, it'll require Move Tutors, but use the first set I listed in the Competitive Corner; Sludge Bomb, Flamethrower, Giga Drain and Dark Pulse. It's much better than this set. However, with that effort, Seviper is still a pretty useless Pokemon, and your time would be better spent raising something good, most likely.

Is it apparent yet? I have no love for Seviper at all. I don't hate it either, but there's nothing special about it whatsoever, aside from being in a feud with a much cooler Pokemon. It has an alright design, but it's so forgettable. Pike Queen Lucy, you have my respect for sticking by it through it all, but you may be interested to know that Kanto has a better snake Pokemon.

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