Return of everybody's favorite Tin Can Bird!!!! (Skarmory Discussion)

Seph

is a Past WCoP Champion
is a Past WCoP Champion
Ok, I tried searching for something and nobody has made a discussion on anything in awhile and since it's currently 2 am and I can't sleep, I decided to make one on skarmory. :) As you all know, skarmory is the best defensive wall in the game. But will he see as much play this generation as he did in the last one? We shall find out soon and discussing it can't hurt. 9 resistances, 2 immunities, and when teamed up with blissey, this thing can be a total bitch.

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Skarmory (Steel Flying)
Base Stats 65 HP, 80 attack, 140 defense, 70 Speed, 40 special attack, 70 special defense.
Abilities: eh, neither matter. I'll edit this when i'm not tired lol.

Notable Physical Movepool (stab in Bold and other botable moves in bold)
Steel Wing
Blade Test
Drill Peck
Aerial Ace
Rock Slide
Scissor Cross
Pusuit
Brave Bird

Notable Special Movepool (ughh, why should I even bother?)
Luster Cannon
Air Slash

Moving along....

Support Movepool
Spikes
Roar
Whirlwind
Toxic
Taunt
Protect
Rest
Feather Rest
Stealth Rock
Swords Dance
Sleep Talk
Substitute

HOLY ****!!!! Not only did skarmory not losing anything such as ludicolo w/ dive, but he gained feather rest, stealth rock, brave bird, and more. Now for some Movesets:

Standard Skarmory
Impish nature (+ def, - sp attack)
252 HP, 218 Def, 40 attack
Item:Leftovers
~Drill Peck/Steel Wing
~Whirlwind
~Spikes
~Feather Rest

4th gen, skarmory gets to use drill peck and **** over Mr. Mime with whirlwind. How fun! With the new advent of feather rest, it may not recover as much as rest, but trust me, it's an improvement. DO NOT USE BRAVE BIRD ON THIS SKARM. IT MIGHT SEEM FUN TO USE A 120 BASE ATTACK, BUT WEARING OUT YOUR WALL IS A BAD IDEA.

Non-Attacking Skarm
Impish nature (+ def, - sp attack)
252 HP, 252 Def, 6 Sp def
Item:Leftovers
~Feather Rest
~Spikes
~Whirlwind
~Toxic/Stealth Rock/Taunt

This set is for those whom dont seem care too much about heracross and I have seen sets like this one over wifi a lot recently. The main reason to use this one over the "standard" is if you are lacking a stealth rocker and skarmory is excellent at doing so.

GET IN THERE!!!! CB Skarm
Adamant Nature (+ att, - sp att)
252 HP, 252 attack, 6 Def
Item:Choice Band obv
~Pursuit
~Brave Bird
~Steel Wing
~Rock Slide/Spikes

This may seem sad to some of you, but I honestly think this set can actually work and catch a lot of people off guard. Pusuit + CB seems to be the new fad around the block, and after gaining brave bird, CB skarm might finally be taken seriously. Spikes are for walling and just gaining an advantage early game, you can use Rock Slide if you really want to hit a wider spectrum of opponents. Beware of other skarms, this thing gets walled so badly it's not even funny.

Swords Dance Skarm
Adamant Nature (+ att, - sp def)
252 HP, 252 Attack, 6 Def
Item:Leftovers
~Swords Dance
~Feather Rest
~Brave Bird
~Pursuit/Steel Wing

Swords dance on the switch, Brave bird for quite a bit, then feather rest off the recoil damage. I am not sure whether this or the CB set will be the best in terms of usefulness. My bet is on the CB version though.

I find it odd that nobody has yet to discuss "Aggro Skarm" *runs off to coin name* lol I think that now that pursuit is physical and gaining a 120 base stab attack might have given skarmory that extra push to become more than just a wall that can phaze, etc. (that's still a lot to begin with though)

Now for the reason I wanted to have this discussion...Now with such threats as azelf, Infernape, Magnezone, and a few others, what does the future hold for skarmory? With a lot of pokemon learning in fight, it makes it harder for this tin can to get around and come and go as he pleases. But he did gain some amazing support moves as well as attacks, what do you guys think about this?
 
Skarmory (and other steels) is probably the reason I would put Fire Blast/Flamethrower on Infernape as opposed to Flare Drive. And I agree with you about In Fight, which I think is making Gliscor more popular.

Id like to try out an attacking set similar to the last one there. A sd'ed Brave Bird would make some of its counters think twice about switching in without sacrificing first.
 
I think Skarmory has gotten slightly better than it was in ADV, because of the addition of a Recovery move. Sure many new pokemon get In-Fight, but skarmory can just recovery off the damage(unless they're slower than skarm in that case when skarmory rests it will get raped).
 
Adamant, 383 Attack Heracross's Choice Banded In Fight on a 320HP/416Def (near-max/max) Skarmory: 54-63%

I pretty much committed that to memory three months ago...always a 2HKO even if Skarmory uses Leftovers. Heracross is *the* user of In Fight, besides Infernape...who Skarmory obviously has no business facing ever.

It's funny how about 9-10 months ago, when we learned of the physical/special attack split, we thought Skarmory would be doomed to Thunderpunch, Fire Punch etc. Now we've learned those will have the same effectiveness as unstabbed Focus Punches...but also things like Heracross 2HKOs Skarmory with an Adamant CBed In Fight. But also the addition of Beautiful Skin lets it escape "the Magneton evo"...but also that it has gone from the best Gyarados counter in Advance with Zapdos and Aerodactyl to the absolute worst in DP thanks to Taunt. But Skarmory got much better at stopping BP teams thanks to Whirlwind not being illegal with Drill Peck...but BP teams don't seem to figure nearly as much as the pre-eminent threat in DP. You get the point.

Skarmory has yet to make it onto any of my teams, when it pretty much didn't leave them in Advance. As far as walling goes, Rhyperior almost does it better assuming 434HP/396Def thanks to Hard Rock and an untouched 316 Attack. I'm just not as afraid of Skarmory as I used to be...there are way too many threats it can't stay in on in DP to make it nearly as useful as it once was.
 
I personally feel that Skarmory is somewhat obsolete now, there's much better physical walls in this gen now. Gliscor is notable for countering Heracross (which Skarmory can't), Tyranitar (which Skarmory can't), Garchomp (which Skarmory can't), and CB Salamence (which Skarmory can't).

In addition there's Slowbro, who counters the dragons (Skarm can't), Infernape (Skarm can't), and Gyarados (who Skarmory can't). You start to get the idea, Skarm can't do anything but lay out Spikes and Stealth Rock, and Spikes, while nifty, take too long to set up in the metagame it seems.

Skarm just can't do the job in this offensive metagame.
 
Skarmory has always been a great choice but DP seems to have added to it with new moves but also new choices could be better than skarmory.

It's basically up to personal choice but i don't think it should be ignored, and should continue to be popular
 
I prefer to use Steel Wing over Whirlwind on the standard set because out of of the possible stat uppers:
Tyranitar: hates Steel Wing
Gyarados: either Taunts so you can't phaze anyway, or beats you up and possibly flinches with Waterfall; Drill Pecking it is fine
Infernape: no
Azelf: no
Rhyperior: beats on Skarmory badly anyways with boosted Stone Edge
Heracross: you can beat it with Drill Peck
Togekiss: no
Garchomp: Fire Blast, especially with a Life Orb, takes a huge chunk out of Skarmory
Raikou: no
Lucario: very, very risky
Rampardos: same as Dosaidon, except Skarmory can outspeed and 2HKO it with Steel Wing, while it's a sitting duck for Rock moves if it tries to phaze
Weavile: Swords Danced Ice Punch does huge damage, and Steel Wing 2HKOs Weavile
Alakazam: no
PorygonZ: no
Slowbro: no
Snorlax: WW is useful only for Cursers
Blissey: no
Suicune: only when sleeping, and lots of Suicune will be sweeper oriented
Ninjask: probably the only 100% reason, and Heart Swap Manaphy is cooler anyways
Celebi: possibly
Manaphy: no
So, in conclusion, Steel Wing is useful for Tyranitar, Aerodactyl, Rampardos, and Weavile, all which appear to be significant threats, while you can only WW Celebi, Ninjask, and Curselax, which are probably less common, safely (not including the stuff you beat with Drill Peck/Steel Wing).
 
The annoying aspect of a "Skarmory discussion" topic is that we already (all team builders/raters) think about Skarmory every time we do our thing. You can't not. So, like. . . yeah.

Yawn.
 
Third thread of Skarmory from what I've seen. I made one, and Misty made one.

Phazing Skarmory does have an advantage, however. You don't really want Scizor to start passing Swords Dances/Agilities around while it hurts your Manaphy with Scissor Crosses.

Phazing Skarmory also takes advantage of Spikes + Stealth Rock better IMO.

Skarmory in itself is harder to use in D/P, but is actually more useful in a fashion because it's Steel typing + Feather Rest means an easy phazage w/ Spikes + Stealth Rock with this. I beat quite a number of teams with this. Just ask 0mastar.

Of course, the BIG advantage that Skarmory has over Rhyinferor is that it has Feather Rest, which is amazingly much more handy than it looks in this metagame.

BTW SePh, you didn't make the SD set. 0ma made one and placed it in his RMT twice IIRC in Sppf. You should check it out
 
ANinyMouse said:
The annoying aspect of a "Skarmory discussion" topic is that we already (all team builders/raters) think about Skarmory every time we do our thing. You can't not. So, like. . . yeah.

Yawn.
Click to expand...

This is a discussion about skarmory's "future." Every team should take infernape, azelf, skarmory, etc into an account when making a team. Does that mean making threads about them is pointless? No. But something that is pointless and time consuming was reading your post.

Jibaku, I never knew 0ma made that set, I'lm going to go edit that now. I'll also go check that out on sppf. Any comments about Attacking skarm? Also, I do realize the fact that more threats to skarm have been made and he can't take in fights, but he can still phaze and use spikes which is something gliscor can't do. Also, skarm only improved this gen, so that's always a good/bad thing depending on your perspective.
 
CBSkarm is hot. If AG/ASGengars carry Energy Ball they'd get owned by this. Same goes to Zam.

Needs more of this

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Metal Sound
- Hidden Power [Ground/Fighting]
- Air Slash
- Feather Rest

Skarmory @ Choice Glasses
Trait: Sturdy
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Dark Pulse
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Luster Cannon
Well Luster Cannon owns Rhyperior completely hehe. HP Earth owns Magnezown on the switch in and I'm pretty sure Gengar hates eating Dark Pulse out of a 294 SA
 
Lol obviously if you couldn't tell theyre novelty sets. But even if it's a novelty it deserves a mention because it owns Magnezown switch ins
 
I want to discuss this set a bit:
"Non-Attacking Skarm
Impish nature (+ def, - sp attack)
252 HP, 252 Def, 6 Sp def
Item:Leftovers
~Roost
~Spikes
~Whirlwind
~Stealth Rock" [Edited quote for clarity]

Granted it can't attack, but does it really NEED to?
It's purpose is to Wall, set up Spikes+SR, survive, and Phaze.....ta da!

If TauntGyarados comes in, bust out something that can F IT up.
Hell, if any of it's counters come in, just send out another counter...
Now, perhaps I'm just not seeing it (very possible....I'm a noob to HIGH Level competitive battles), so anyone, feel free to Insult the living shit out of me.
 
WildAce said:
I want to discuss this set a bit:
"Non-Attacking Skarm
Impish nature (+ def, - sp attack)
252 HP, 252 Def, 6 Sp def
Item:Leftovers
~Roost
~Spikes
~Whirlwind
~Stealth Rock" [Edited quote for clarity]

Granted it can't attack, but does it really NEED to?
It's purpose is to Wall, set up Spikes+SR, survive, and Phaze.....ta da!

If TauntGyarados comes in, bust out something that can F IT up.
Hell, if any of it's counters come in, just send out another counter...
Now, perhaps I'm just not seeing it (very possible....I'm a noob to HIGH Level competitive battles), so anyone, feel free to Insult the living shit out of me.
Click to expand...

It could work with Zapdos and Breloom support in order to counter both Gyarados and Tyranitar, that usually carry Taunt.

Too much support, better going for Drill Peck instead of Stealth Rock and use another Pokemon as a Stealth Rocker (there are many good options that work in sinergy with Skarm, especially: Swampert :P)
 
I pack a Skarmory namely not to get totally swept by a CBchomp with Outrage, which 2HKOs pretty much every other physical tank unless its steel, and Skarmory is probably the best Steel tank in the game with Roost and Ground Immunity.
 
Edux said:
It could work with Zapdos and Breloom support in order to counter both Gyarados and Tyranitar, that usually carry Taunt.

Too much support, better going for Drill Peck instead of Stealth Rock and use another Pokemon as a Stealth Rocker (there are many good options that work in sinergy with Skarm, especially: Swampert :P)
Click to expand...
I like the Synergy idea (swamppy) with Skarm.
I may actually end up ditching SPIKES cause it takes too freakin' long to set up.

I haven't seen too many TauntTTars in DP yet (but infact I used one on NB), so I didn't even worry about it.
Thanks for pointing it out though.
 
Jumpman16 said:
Adamant, 383 Attack Heracross's Choice Banded In Fight on a 320HP/416Def (near-max/max) Skarmory: 54-63%
Click to expand...

Actually, those EVs are not nearly as good as max / near max : HP / Def. However, the numbers you gave are for max / max, so that's irrelevant.
 
ADH said:
I personally feel that Skarmory is somewhat obsolete now, there's much better physical walls in this gen now. Gliscor is notable for countering Heracross (which Skarmory can't), Tyranitar (which Skarmory can't), Garchomp (which Skarmory can't), and CB Salamence (which Skarmory can't).
Click to expand...

I would love to see the moveset for your Gliscor. I personally can't figure out how you counter all 4 of thouse.
 
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