Against stronger opponents, Serperior seem to tap reservoirs of unknown potential, while against weaker opponents they seem to go easy on their foes and lose as much as they win. Some have sought to explain this by considering Serperior arrogant creatures who rarely give their best effort in battle, while others have suggested that, much as Ditto copy a pokemon's form, Serperior copy a pokemon's skill level and match it with their own before every battle. The former is an explanation born of frustration with their smug demeanor, with little factual basis, but the latter explanation, although not true in a literal sense – statistical readers show their ability unchanged – is fairly close to the truth. (There is, however, no truth behind the rumor that the Battle Tower and Subway use Serperior to match pokemon levels; whatever method they use is known only to their masters.)
Serperior's performance in combat is much to the chagrin of the trainers who attempt to use them, many of whom sent their Serperior out only at the highest levels of competitions, only to be humiliated on an enormous, public stage by their pokemon's lack of effort. But a few trainers, rather than relegating them to pet-hood, were determined not to let the effort spent training them go to waste; instead, they made them training assistants for their other pokemon, a role at which Serperior excel. Serperior win often enough to be challenging, even against pokemon stronger than any in one's locale, but lose often enough to give even the weakest foes valuable experience without discouraging them.
In this fiercely competitive world, some have thought it nice to know that there is one species of pokemon which cares less for winning as often as possible than it does for the love of the game.