Batte Spot: Seviper Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

Ability – Infiltrator

Stats – Attack (252), Special Attack (252), HP (4)

Nature – Brave

Item – Focus Sash

Moveset – Poison Jab (stab), Knock Off, Flamethrower/Aqua Tail/Earthquake, Protect

If a trainer was forced to choose between Seviper and Arbok, most of them would probably go for Arbok because of Coil + Gunk Shot combo. Stats-wise, Seviper is an inferior option compared to Arbok, but it doesn't change the fact that its natural high Attack and SpA stats are undeniably attractive. Also, the low Speed stat makes it an exssssscellent Trick Room member as a fearsome sweeper. Let's explore what this slow snake can do in Trick Room shall we? 

Strength
Seviper's ability Infiltrator is a good one as it allows the snake to penetrate those pesky Pokemon behind a Substitute, not many trainers have experience facing Seviper so this would totally catch them off-guard.

What's more, having the same 100 stat for both Attack and SpA, this makes Seviper one of those few Pokemon who can abuse moves from each side, which also means it can learn a wide variety of moves from its movepool. We will get to its moveset later on.

Weakness
For having respectable offensive powers, the other stats aren't that great so defensively it's frail like a worm. From my experience, it's pretty pointless if you pump the HP fully, so it doesn't matter if it's resistant to Fairy, Bug, Grass, Fighting and even Poison, powerful offensive Pokemon running around in the current metagame would likely crush it. So that's why it's better off being a mixed attacker and a Focus Sash is the default item.

Moveset

In this build, I prefer it to focus mainly on Attack with Brave nature because most Fairy and Grass-type Pokemon are defensively weak. So with this, Poison Jab is the perfect main STAB move since it has a 30% chance of poisoning which is quite handy. If you prefer it to be more specialize in SpA, then Sludge Bomb is great too, but then again, it won't be able to OKHO most Fairies since their SpD is high. 

Knock Off is nice to have to compliment the Attack stat since it got a nice buff in Gen 6, it's also counter Psychic (and Ghost, since they're resistant against Poison) Pokemon. It'd be nice if the current or next Move Tutor can teach Sucker Punch to compensate for its slow Speed, if you really need one, you'll need to transfer it out all the way back from Diamond/Pearl version. Crunch and Dark Pulse is viable too.

My favourite third attacking slot is Flamethrower, which gets the power from SpA. It’s to get rid of the overused Ferrothorn and Spore users, and even without the use of Trick Room; it can OHKO several Mega-evolved Pokemon instantly like Mega Scizor, Mega Mawile, Mega Abomasnow, Mega Aggron, and Mega Venusaur. 

The rest of the moves is entirely up to you, Giga Drain is also recommended as it counter Ground-type Pokemon and can regain its HP, it can also learn Aqua Tail and Earthquake. So learn either one of those moves from what your team is lacking.

Closing Thoughts

(image credit to livinlovindude)

You should never look down on a Seviper if it appears in a Trick Room team, as mentioned in the moveset above, the Flamethrower alone can melt away several threats like Mega Mawile and Mega Venusaur and it certainly took my opponents by surprise. Not to mention, Poison Jab is lethal against Fairy-type Pokemon, but I don't really remember if it can OHKO a Sylveon or not like Dragalge. So there's that, a straight forward build of a killer from the shadows of Trick Room. 

So Seviper, I choose you! Ghlf!