Scovillain weaknesses and best counters in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

We all love to chow down on chili peppers in limited quantities when it comes to food, but when the chili pepper in question grows two heads and turns into a villainous Pokémon, that’s where we draw the line.

Scovillain is the Pokémon franchise’s first Grass and Fire dual type ‘mon introduced in Generation IX, and if you don’t treat it with the respect it deserves, it can become a little too hot for your taste.

That’s why we’ve come up with a guide on everything Scovillain, including the best ways you can use to take it down in battle.

All Scovillain type weaknesses, resistances, and counters in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

While Scovillain doesn’t have too many weaknesses—and the ones it does have are uncommon offensive types—it does take neutral damage from a lot of Pokémon.

With Scovillain’s bulk, a neutral hit can mean a straight up death sentence for this antagonistic dual-headed chili pepper. A lot of what made the Grass and Fire types great individually from a defensive standpoint is lost when you pair the two types together, which we are realizing for the first time since Scovillain happens to be the very first Grass and Fire dual type Pokémon we’ve gotten in nine whole generations.

Usually, Grass-types have value in any competitive metagame because they are one of the very few types that can safely switch into Ground-type moves, which are everywhere in VGC, but Scovillain does not even get that liberty as a Grass-type due to its secondary typing in Fire, making Ground type hits neutral against it.

We’ve listed Scovillain’s entire interaction with the type chart below, stating its weaknesses, resistances, and types its neutral to.

Scovillain weaknesses (takes double damage)

• Flying
• Poison
• Rock

Scovillain resistances (takes half damage)

• Steel
• Grass
• Electric
• Fairy

Scovillain neutral typings (takes normal damage)

• Normal
• Fighting
• Ground
• Bug
• Ghost
• Fire
• Water
• Psychic
• Ice
• Dragon
• Dark

Scovillain only possesses three weaknesses, and each of these types are relatively uncommon offensive types, which is a big plus for it. That being said, it doesn’t take more than a strong STAB neutral hit to take it out in one hit.

This frailty is due to Scovillain’s horrible defensive stat spread, sporting a stat of 65 in all three—its HP, Defense, and Special Defense. You can’t even call it a glass cannon when it dons a mediocre offensive presence with a 108 stat in its Physical and Special Attack. To make matters worse, the final nail in the coffin is Scovillain’s awkward Speed stat of 75—or is it?

Yes, Scovillain has an unfortunate Speed tier for a Pokémon as weak as it is, but it also has access to Chlorophyll, an ability that doubles the user’s Speed stat under harsh sunlight, and running Scovillain on a Sun team is the only way you should be playing this thing.

With doubled Speed due to harsh sunlight, Scovillain should be able to outspeed the entire metagame, while patching up its mediocre offense through damage-boosting items. It is also the first Fire-type ‘mon to get Chlorophyll, letting its STAB Fire-type moves get a 1.5 times damage bonus in the Sun at lightning-fast speeds.

Below is a complete base stat spread for Scovillain, including maximum and minimum stat values at Level 50 and 100 for competitive players. These stat variables are calculated using zero EVs, IVs, and a hindering nature for minimum stats and 252 EVs, 31 IVs, and a helpful nature for max values, while not taking any additional factors into account. 

• HP: 65
  • Level 50: 125 to 172 HP
  • Level 100: 240 to 334 HP

• Attack: 108
  • Level 50: 101 to 176 Atk
  • Level 100: 198 to 346 Atk

• Defense: 65
  • Level 50: 63 to 128 Def
  • Level 100: 121 to 251 Def

• Special Attack: 108
  • Level 50: 101 to 176 Sp. Atk
  • Level 100: 198 to 346 Sp. Atk

• Special Defense: 65
  • Level 50: 63 to 128 Sp. Def
  • Level 100: 121 to 251 Sp. Def

• Speed: 75
  • Level 50: 72 to 139 Speed
  • Level 100: 139 to 273 Speed

On the surface, this stat spread does make Scovillain look like quite the pushover. But since we’ve taken its Ability and other factors, such as possible items, into context, Scovillain does indeed seem like quite the glass cannon.

With Grass and Fire-type STAB moves, coverage, and the fact that it should be outspeeding you under the Sun, Scovillain can make quick work of you if you don’t resist its good coverage and KO it back in a single hit, or simply outspeed it with the help of Tailwind or Trick Room and knock this paper-thin monstrosity out.

Related: Iron Thorns weaknesses and best counters in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Best Scovillain competitive builds in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Offensively, Scovillain is pretty solid, letting its Grass moves hit the Water and Rock types that its Fire moves it can’t touch for super-effective damage, while its Fire moves hit the Grass and Steel types that Grass can’t touch for super-effective damage.

Any builds for Scovillain will be aiming to maximize its damage output and fully embrace its glass cannon role, or be a mix of offense and support.

Below are a few of the common builds you will see run on Scovillain.

Item

Life Orb/Choice Specs/Focus Sash.

Ability

Scovillain has a choice between three abilities: Insomnia, Chlorophyll, and its Hidden Ability, Moody. Insomnia clearly would not even be considered for this debate: it makes sure that its user cannot fall asleep, but a large majority of Sleep moves are also Powder moves, and Grass-types like Scovillain ignore Powder moves anyway.

There is, however, an argument to be made for Moody over Chlorophyll, but perhaps for more casual play. Moody is way too volatile and unpredictable for serious use in a competitive setting, but you can have some fun with it while also getting some wins in a chiller environment.

Chlorophyll is the premier choice of ability when considering competitive play, as it is consistent, incredibly useful, and non-volatile.

EVs

A fairly simple and reasonable EV spread for Scovillain would be the no-brainer 252/252/4 in Special Attack/Speed/HP. Max Speed on Scovillain is probably overkill, but it makes it certain that you won’t be outsped by the uncommon Choice Scarf Pokémon such as Garchomp and Palafin.

A more optimized EV spread would have quite a lot of EVs taken out of Speed and dumped into HP to give Scovillain as much help as it can get on the defensive side while still having its Special Attack maxed out. 

For reference, you only need 92 EVs invested into Speed to outspeed a Max Speed Dragapult—the fastest relevant ‘mon in the meta—while Scovillain has its Speed boost under the Sun. Max out your Special Attack after that, and the rest can be dumped into HP.

Nature

The only two natures you should consider running are Modest and Timid. We would recommend Timid only if you are afraid of fast base Speed Choice Scarf ‘mons outspeeding you even when under the Sun.

Otherwise, its best nature is Modest. This lets Scovillain be flexible, letting it outrun basically the entire metagame under harsh sunlight while also being able to take advantage of Trick Room when not functioning within the Sun.

Moves

Listed below are some of Scovillain’s best moves, which you can mix and match to add to its four move slots based on the role you want your Scovillain to play:

• Energy Ball
• Giga Drain
• Leaf Storm
• Solar Beam
• Flamethrower
• Fire Blast
• Overheat
• Tera Blast
• Rage Powder
• Substitute
• Will-O-Wisp
• Protect

Tera type

Scovillain has a couple of viable Tera types based on if you want it to be more offensive or defensive. Tera Fire or Tera Grass can be used to power up its STAB moves for an even more threatening offensive presence.

For the ideal defensive option, Tera Steel makes it so that Scovillain can now take all three of its original weaknesses, resisting Flying and Rock while being straight-up immune to Poison.

Best Pokémon to counter Scovillain in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Honestly, any Pokémon that can outspeed and KO Scovillain in a single hit should work, and looking at its base Speed, being faster than Scovillain is not a hard thing to do, For this very reason though, Scovillain will almost always be run in a Sun team, so we’re just going to assume you’re trying to counter a Scovillain under the Sun.

You would want to outspeed it and knock it out in one hit so that it can’t deal any damage to you with its solid offensive presence, which means that you will need strong speed control on your team. 

Murkrow is a solid pick—not for taking Scovillain out per se, but to enable your teammates to do that with Prankster Tailwind, going first and giving your team the immediate Speed advantage. Once you have the speed control, basically any Pokémon that can hit Scovillain for strong neutral or super-effective damage can finish it off.

If you want to run the one true Scovillain counter, you can always go for Talonflame. Its ability Gale Wings gives all its Flying moves +1 priority when Talonflame is at full health, letting it always move first regardless of Speed tiers and take Scovillain out with a single hit.