Serperior (SM)

Is Serperior superior? Let's find out.

Location: Exeggutor Island (Island Scan on Thursday)

Stats, evolutions.
One of the three unovan starters. Has the weirdest stat distribution out of all of them. It has high speed, but its overall damage output is relatively poor, and it has good defenses but its HP isn't high enough to support them. Troubling.

Movepool, Abilities, Typing
Its unique move is Glare. It paralyzes the opponent without fail, like Thunder Wave in previous generations. It's alright. It also has Coil, which boosts its Attack, Defense, and Accuracy at once, and Leaf Blade to go with it. Slam sucks. A level after you get it, it gets Giga Drain, the best draining move in the game (aside from Leech Life), and the last worthwhile move it gets before the league is Wring Out at 50.

TM moves aren't exactly plentiful. It gets Sunny Day + Solar Beam, Calm Mind, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Brutal Swing... That's it, pretty much. And Swords Dance.

Its ability is the same ability that every grass starter gets, Overgrow. Easy to take for granted. Not bad, still.

Its Grass typing... You already know about it. It clashes with its defensiveness. Aw...

Important Battles
It will be decent for Hapu, bad for Kommo-o, and it does well against Hala and very well against Olivia, but it's bad for Acerola, Kahili and Kukui.

Conclusion
With some exceptions, like Decidueye, Tsareena, Roserade and maybe Dhelmise, grass types aren't very good in Sun and Moon. Serperior is not one of those exceptions. Without abusing Glare + Coil, Serperior's damage output is poor, and it squanders its great speed. What's the point of having good defenses when fast Pokémon shouldn't sacrifice attack power for speed? If it's unovan starters from Island Scan what we're talking about, the other two are better, and Dhelmise takes longer to find but it's worthwhile if we talk grass-types. Serperior is as mediocre (apparently the word "mediocre" means "below average" now) as it was in the 5th gen. It really needs a better TM movepool and better stats.

Rating: 42%