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5th Gen Serperior vs Zebstrika (NU Matchup #6)

Would you rather sip sap or reflect the other's attack??


  • Total voters
    24
  • Poll closed .

Ho-Oh

used Sacred Fire!
35,992
Posts
18
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Jul 1, 2023
One sips the others' sap and the other will likely be kicked out of NU one day when the DW abilities are released (due to Leaf Storm + Contrary abuse).

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When comparing the two, I want you to also base it on which you'd use competitively, which do you think has the better chance, which you used in-game, which you like the design-of best, and what strategies you think one could use to beat the other. Each week these polls will continue until all combinations and tiers are used up (each Pokemon compared will be from the same competitive tier). To find out more about tiers, and how you can get the most out of these Pokemon, check out Battle Center. So which do you choose? Don't forget to post in the thread when voting in the poll, either!​
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50,218
Posts
13
Years
I wasn't really a fan of these two and I did try both out but I ended up picking Serperior this time.

The reasons why? It has better stats than Zebstrika, it doesn't die too quickly (Zebstrika's defenses are pitifully weak) and it has great movepool that abuses its best stats, unlike Zebstrika who severely lacks physical STAB outside of Spark/Wild Charge.

And trust me, if I could ever get a Contrary Serperior I would Leaf Storm all my opponents to death. Zebstrika's Sap Sipper only provides an immunity to Grass, which isn't all much. I love both designs but Serperior's won it for me.

Sorry Zebstrika, I had to pick the green snake for the above reasons.
 
16
Posts
11
Years
I've used both of these in-game before so here's the in-game perspective:

Serperior- Definitely one of the strongest of the team, it helped a lot through the story. Managed to withstand a lot of attacks and was really useful during the elite 4. The only complaint is the scarce move pool

unlike...
Zebstrika- Used this on my first White run, it was more fragile than i expected it to be. Thinking about it I only used it in battle due to it's speed as it was one of the fastest going for my team. Also only has a move pool of Normal, Electric and Fire type attacks, not really anything to cover it's weakness...

My vote goes for Serperior
 

Cyclone

Eye of the Storm
3,331
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Oct 3, 2016
Serperior is a starter. It wasn't my starter, but I have seen its move pool up into the 30s and think it fairly decent.

Zebstrika (and Blitzle), meanwhile, eventually got boxed. I didn't find it as useful except against Water types as its move pool mostly consists of Normal and Electric attacks and nothing else. It does gain Flame Charge and Pursuit, but I already had Fire covered (it might have been more useful if Snivy was indeed my starter) and Pursuit never gets its double power as opponents changing are extremely rare over the storyline (was there even a single one?). For the few times it would be useful against Psychics, Bug type moves (Leavanny) also did the trick. Also, when I led with Zebstrika, I tended to run into Emolgas way too often (only way to avoid this is have the leader faint, then Zebstrika in the second slot).

Therefore, my vote should be obvious at this point. However, I have been reminded I need to generate Starter Eggs to move into W2 to join my Pignite there!

Cyclone
 

Arcturus.

Chews nails and spits napalm
605
Posts
11
Years
I'm a bit biased since I love all Grass-type starters, but Serperior is really a great Pokemon in my opinion. I used mine all the way through White 2 and he was my strongest team member. I haven't even used Zebstrika, which is weird since I do like Electric typed Pokemon a lot. Zebstrika never really had much appeal to me.
 
866
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Jul 16, 2014
They are both usable but i think Serperior has more going for it with its decent stat and movepool.Zebstrika can be useful because it can learn fire-type moves and its Lightning Rod ability but its Defence just sucks and it can't really learn moves to cover its weakness.
 
1,071
Posts
15
Years
Serperior is the choice for me as well. Along with being one of my favorite gen V Pokemon, it has great bulk and is an excellent dual screens user. Once Contrary is released I'm thinking that it can wave goodbye to NU and I think we'll be looking at a Leftovers Serperior w/ HP Fire/Ice, Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, and a filler like Leech Seed/Protect/you get the point
 

Pinkie-Dawn

Vampire Waifu
9,528
Posts
11
Years
Serperior wins, hands down. Unlike Zebstrika, it eventually got decent coverage via Move Tutors in the sequel, and it also has Sword Dance and Coil to power up its other non-Grass moves like Rock Smash. It stinks to be a quadpedal Electric type, as you're limited to some useful moves for coverage.
 

Sassy Milkshake

It's ok to cry.
371
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 32
  • Seen Feb 10, 2013
I am using a Serperior on my current run of Black, and I adore it. I don't think it's quite as good as some of the other grass starters, but it still gets the job done. Plus it's got a very nice design. For Zebstrika, even though I haven't used one, it doesn't seem very good. Every time in game when I'd face one, I'd be afraid of Flame Charge or something, but when the attack actually landed, it does relatively no damage. From a competitive standpoint I don't know how these two match up, but in-game wise, Serperior definitely wins for me. And Zebstrika doesn't look all that different from Blitzle which is kinda sad.
 
68
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Oct 23, 2013
I picked Zebstrika, because it is very good :)

You have to be good to use it and think its good
 

Cyclone

Eye of the Storm
3,331
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Oct 3, 2016
I picked Zebstrika, because it is very good :)

You have to be good to use it and think its good
I will consent it's great for Surfing use; I did the same with Electric types in SS and trained on nothing but Tentacool/Tentacruel on Route 27 there (except when that girl stopped me from going there after getting the eighth badge). However, the Static ability drawing Electric types more often is the problem I had with it; it's hard to train against the same type. I tended to give it an Exp. Share myself.

It's useful when finding your first Emolga, however.

Cyclone
 

~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~

Buffalo State College
12,049
Posts
18
Years
Serperior hands down; I said this because I can't stand Zebstrika right after I kept getting poisoned by them in the Black Tower. I also do not like the design of Zebstrika. Besides I've never used a Zebstrika before anyways.


:t354:TG
 

Sydian

fake your death.
33,379
Posts
16
Years
Zebstrika is my new least favorite Pokemon. I will go with Serperior on this. At least it has an awesome Dream World abililty. I don't care for Serperior at all and think its design falls in comparison with its previous forms, but against Zebstrika of all things, it's a god.
 

vaporeon7

My life would suck without you
5,143
Posts
13
Years
In my opinion and experience, Serperior far outclasses Zebstrika. Zebstrika has always been too frail for my liking and Serperior gets a nice ability from the Dream World which will be fun to use when it's released. Serperior's design also appeals much more to me than Zebstrika's.
 

Pinta77

Guest
0
Posts
I'm going to have to go with Zebstrika. I think that if Zebstrika went against Serperier, Zebstrika would totally win because of flame charge.
 

Altairis

take me ☆ take you
5,188
Posts
11
Years
I like Serperior better before I saw the anime, but Trip's is pretty awesome, and Zebstrika was alright in game but I didn't really like it a whole lot.
 
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