Scizor (OU Revamp) QC 2/2 GP 2/2 (NOW it's ready for upload!)

[Oldamar999]

[OVERVIEW]
Scizor seems good at a first glance. It has a strong defensive typing that gives it only one weakness to Fire, one of the highest Attack stats in OU, decent bulk, and boosting moves in Swords Dance and Agility that could make it a strong Pokemon for Baton Pass teams; however, in practice, Scizor is rather underwhelming. While passing Speed and Attack boosts can be scary for unprepared teams, it often struggles to pull that off effectively due to its poor matchup against the tier's most popular phazers, Steelix and Skarmory, both of which are able to easily tank any hit from Scizor and either force a switch or phaze it. Due to this, it usually can't come out until a partner such as Smeargle, Jolteon, or Snorlax has disarmed the phazers by putting them to sleep or doing serious damage. Additionally, Scizor has to constantly watch out for Fire-type attacks that many common Pokemon run, such as Snorlax and Tyranitar.

However, Scizor does have a unique niche on Baton Pass teams that still might make it worth using. It has decent bulk and a Bug / Steel typing that not only grants Scizor an immunity to Poison and useful Psychic- and Ice-type resistances, but also gives it a strong resistance to Explosion and Self-Destruct, which makes it more difficult for offensive teams to prevent it from passing stat boosts. Scizor also has a strong matchup against Exeggutor, which can be a crucial Pokemon to take down due to its ability to threaten Baton Pass teams. Scizor is also able to hit Raikou hard, which very few other Baton Pass users on Baton Pass teams can do.

name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Agility
move 4: Hidden Power Bug / Hidden Power Fighting
item: Leftovers / Miracle Berry


[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
========
This is the standard set for Scizor, which attempts to make use of Swords Dance, Agility, and Baton Pass to support its team through important stat boosts. Hidden Power Bug is the best STAB move option, as it does high damage to Raikou at +2, hits Tyranitar hard, OHKOes Exeggutor, and hits Suicune and Snorlax for reasonable damage at +2. Hidden Power Fighting is also an option to hit Steelix super effectively and threatens to OHKO Tyranitar, though this sacrifices a good matchup against Exeggutor. Leftovers gives Scizor useful passive recovery that might allow it to stay in for a bit longer, but Miracle Berry can be run instead to prevent paralysis or sleep, which would otherwise prevent it from reliably passing boosts to teammates.

Baton Pass staples such as Smeargle and Jolteon are mandatory teammates. Scizor's most common Baton Pass recipients are Marowak, Machamp, and Snorlax, all of which greatly benefit from a Speed boost, Attack boost, or both. This set has the ability to do serious damage to Raikou, which can be a pain for Baton Pass teams due to Roar and its high Special Attack. However, if Raikou has Reflect, Scizor won't be able to hurt Raikou as much and will cause some issues for Scizor's team.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Scizor has access to Light Screen, which can heavily benefit its team by halving the damage of special attacks and assisting in passing boosts to teammates, and it also helps Scizor take some special attackers head on. However, Light Screen cannot reliably fit on Baton Pass sets. Counter can be used to possibly OHKO Pokemon like Snorlax and Heracross. Earthquake + Normal-type move + Belly Drum Snorlax notably cannot take out Scizor without a critical hit. However, Counter is incompatible with Baton Pass, removes coverage and, at worst, make Scizor setup fodder for sweepers if you predict incorrectly. Scizor can attempt to use a Swords Dance sweeper set with Swords Dance, Hidden Power Fighting, Steel Wing, and Return, but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB move, and low Speed, other candidates for the the physical sweeper role such as Heracross and Marowak are almost always a better choice. Thief can be run over Agility on non-Baton Pass teams to take items from Pokemon like Skarmory and Steelix, which can make whittling them down much easier. However, this gets rid of Scizor's ability to pass Speed onto its teammates, so its effectiveness is lowered.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Skarmory**: Skarmory is Scizor's hardest counter, as Scizor is unable to do any significant damage to Skarmory even with a +2 Hidden Power Fighting and gets phazed out without any effort.

**Fire-type Moves**: Any Pokemon that carries Fire-type attacks such as Nidoking, Snorlax, and Machamp are huge threats to Scizor, preventing it from doing its work as a Baton Passer by KOing it easily due to its poor special bulk and 4x weakness to Fire-type Moves.

**Zapdos**: Zapdos resists both Hidden Power Bug and Hidden Power Fighting and is able to 2HKO it with Thunder; however, it cannot prevent Scizor from passing boosts unless it has Roar or Thunder paralyzes it.

**Suicune**: While Suicune doesn't resist Scizor's attacks, its Defense causes Scizor to be unable to threaten it even after a boost, and Suicune can easily phaze Scizor.

**Steelix**: Steelix can safely phaze Hidden Power Bug variants multiple times and Hidden Fighting variants once or twice.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[oldamar999,453750]]
- Quality checked by: [[earthworm,15210], [jorgen,53302]]
- Grammar checked by: [[nixhex,40064], [p-squared,168392]]

 

[Earthworm]

Additionally, Scizor has a poor matchup against the tier's most popular phazers, Steelix and Skarmory, both of which are able to easily tank any hit from Scizor and either force a switch or phaze it.

To add to this, when Scizor is on Baton Pass teams, due to the above it usually doesn't come out until Smeargle, Jolteon, Snorlax etc have already attempted to disarm the phazers by putting them to sleep or hitting them hard.

As a setup sweeper, Scizor is simply underwhelming due to its very poor coverage, mostly consisting of Steel Wing and Hidden Power Fighting, and the lack of a strong STAB attack.

I think it would also be worthwhile to mention its low HP and Speed, as well as its complete lack of power pre-SD as being reasons why it doesn't work in this paragraph.

However, what Scizor does have is one of the best defensive typings in the game, Bug/Steel, which has only one weakness, even if it is a 4x weakness to fire, and has some great resistances in Normal-, Psychic-, and Ice-type moves, as well as an immunity to Toxic. this allows it to switch into Pokemon such as Porygon2, Exeggutor without Hidden Power Fire, Jynx, and Snorlax. Its Toxic immunity also lets it switch in to some common Toxic users such as Forretress and Umbreon.

I think this paragraph is maybe too positive about Scizor's defensive traits. While arguably nothing is untrue in the paragraph (to be honest I'd consider all of Skarmory/Zapdos/Steelix/Exeggutor to have better defensive typing than Scizor, though), in reality it is not very useful defensively, so this paragraph might give the wrong idea.

This set is exclusively for Baton Pass teams, so Baton Pass staples such as Smeargle, Jolteon, and Vaporeon are mandatory teammates. Vaporeon notably resists Fire-Type attacks, so Scizor can pass to Vaporeon so it can tank a Fire- hit.

Vaporeon is far from a mandatory teammate. I have mostly seen Scizor on Agility pass teams which very rarely use Vaporeon. I also don't think it is necessary to state that it is exclusively for Baton Pass teams, even though that is by far where it would be used the most.

Swords Dance boosts Scizors attack stat by two stages, allowing it to more easily sweep teams.

I doubt this thing could "sweep" a team without using SD a single time even if you played a thousand games. I would reword this.

Return is Scizors strongest move

Steel Wing is stronger than Return due to STAB.

Hidden Power Fighting Provides the most coverage for Scizor, Hitting Rock-, Ice-, and Dark-types such as Rhydon, Cloyster, Tyranitar, and Umbreon super effectively as well as doing some damage to Steelix and Snorlax.

I think this could be rephrased to say something like "hp fighting allows Scizor to take advantage of numerous common Pokemon's Fighting weaknesses while also maximising its damage output against Steel-types like Skarmory and Steelix." This would remove the inconsistency where you have mentioned only some of the types that it hits super effective, mentions the important factor of hitting Skarmory for neutral damage, and removes the mention of Rhydon, which takes significantly more damage from Steel Wing.

Scizor needs to be on constant watch for Fire-type attacks, so Pokemon that resist them such as Vaporeon and Suicune are Necessary teammates.

These are not mandatory teammates. It is viable to use a team with no Fire resistances in OU because:
- A lot of fire moves used in the tier are not STAB, are low base power, and/or are coming from a low SpAtk stat, and
- Snorlax (and Zapdos, to an extent) are pretty good at fighting Fire-types despite not resisting Fire.

due to its poor matchup against Skarmory, Pokemon that can KO or incapacitate it such as Raikou, Zapdos, or Snorlax are also valuable teammates, Zapdos in particular appreciates Scizors ability to take out the rock types that threaten it.

This should be "lure and KO" and should not list Raikou or Zapdos, because Skarmory is going to be switching out of them unless it's making a very risky prediction. Likewise, Rock-types are probably not going to be fighting Scizor 1v1 if they can avoid it, so it doesn't really help Zapdos at all.

I would also mention somewhere in here that the attacking Scizor can struggle to find good opportunities to switch in and set up, because:
- it generally takes a lot of damage from neutral STAB attacks
- it needs to be very careful of Fire-type attacks from Pokemon it would otherwise be able to beat (and therefore benefits from some or all of opposing Pokemon's movesets being revealed before it makes its appearance)
- it needs to use SD before it does any significant damage
- it struggles to achieve anything against most teams early game while its counters are healthy, even if it manages to get SD off freely

and Zapdos does light screen better due to its better speed

I would probably remove this because it implies all kinds of strange things. For instance, it might put in the reader's mind that the main reason you would use a Light Screen Scizor would be to support the rest of your team, whereas I would think of that as a secondary and situational option for Scizor, and consider the main reason to be so that it can fight a special attacker that is switching into it by itself. Also, while Zapdos's effectiveness as a Light Screen user is definitely improved by having a higher speed than Scizor, it is only one of many reasons that Zapdos uses it better. It isn't the main reason, either.

and predicting wrong can, at worst, make Scizor setup fodder for sweepers or Spikes setters.

Spikes setters should be removed from here due to lack of relevance to Counter. It might be worth mentioning that EQ Normal-move Drumlax can't OHKO Scizor without a crit.

 

[Oldamar999]

To add to this, when Scizor is on Baton Pass teams, due to the above it usually doesn't come out until Smeargle, Jolteon, Snorlax etc have already attempted to disarm the phazers by putting them to sleep or hitting them hard.

I think it would also be worthwhile to mention its low HP and Speed, as well as its complete lack of power pre-SD as being reasons why it doesn't work in this paragraph.

I think this paragraph is maybe too positive about Scizor's defensive traits. While arguably nothing is untrue in the paragraph (to be honest I'd consider all of Skarmory/Zapdos/Steelix/Exeggutor to have better defensive typing than Scizor, though), in reality it is not very useful defensively, so this paragraph might give the wrong idea.

Vaporeon is far from a mandatory teammate. I have mostly seen Scizor on Agility pass teams which very rarely use Vaporeon. I also don't think it is necessary to state that it is exclusively for Baton Pass teams, even though that is by far where it would be used the most.

I doubt this thing could "sweep" a team without using SD a single time even if you played a thousand games. I would reword this.

Steel Wing is stronger than Return due to STAB.

I think this could be rephrased to say something like "hp fighting allows Scizor to take advantage of numerous common Pokemon's Fighting weaknesses while also maximising its damage output against Steel-types like Skarmory and Steelix." This would remove the inconsistency where you have mentioned only some of the types that it hits super effective, mentions the important factor of hitting Skarmory for neutral damage, and removes the mention of Rhydon, which takes significantly more damage from Steel Wing.

These are not mandatory teammates. It is viable to use a team with no Fire resistances in OU because:
- A lot of fire moves used in the tier are not STAB, are low base power, and/or are coming from a low SpAtk stat, and
- Snorlax (and Zapdos, to an extent) are pretty good at fighting Fire-types despite not resisting Fire.

This should be "lure and KO" and should not list Raikou or Zapdos, because Skarmory is going to be switching out of them unless it's making a very risky prediction. Likewise, Rock-types are probably not going to be fighting Scizor 1v1 if they can avoid it, so it doesn't really help Zapdos at all.

I would also mention somewhere in here that the attacking Scizor can struggle to find good opportunities to switch in and set up, because:
- it generally takes a lot of damage from neutral STAB attacks
- it needs to be very careful of Fire-type attacks from Pokemon it would otherwise be able to beat (and therefore benefits from some or all of opposing Pokemon's movesets being revealed before it makes its appearance)
- it needs to use SD before it does any significant damage
- it struggles to achieve anything against most teams early game while its counters are healthy, even if it manages to get SD off freely


I would probably remove this because it implies all kinds of strange things. For instance, it might put in the reader's mind that the main reason you would use a Light Screen Scizor would be to support the rest of your team, whereas I would think of that as a secondary and situational option for Scizor, and consider the main reason to be so that it can fight a special attacker that is switching into it by itself. Also, while Zapdos's effectiveness as a Light Screen user is definitely improved by having a higher speed than Scizor, it is only one of many reasons that Zapdos uses it better. It isn't the main reason, either.

Spikes setters should be removed from here due to lack of relevance to Counter. It might be worth mentioning that EQ Normal-move Drumlax can't OHKO Scizor without a crit.

thank you. I put this up for legit QC now btw.

 

[Oglemi]

There aren't defined QC teams for old gens, you can consider that "legit" QC unless worms has more input to give. I would definitely get some other top players' opinions here, probably BP king Jorgen if he's still around

 

[Jorgen]

OVERVIEW:
* condense the two paragraphs talking about how it's a bad setup sweeper and defensive poke into one. In fact, lead off with it to emphasize just how mediocre Scizor is in a conventional sense, which allows you to then offer a "glimmer of hope" in your second paragraph where you talk about how Scizor actually has a unique niche on BP teams.

* when mentioning its role on BP teams, you should talk about Raikou! Scizor is a BPer that actually hits Raikou kinda hard, which Jolteon and Smeargle certainly can't do.

[SET 1]
* BP and Agility should both be on the main set with no slashes.
* HP Bug is probably the better STAB due to the hit on Raikou. That is its niche, after all. Sure, HP Fighting can muscle (slowly) past Skarm & Steelix, but as Earthworm said, the idea is to get them out of the way before you start trying to do anything with Scizor. Plus, "slowly" muscling past Skarm & Steelix is not good for a BP team, where every turn needs to be a potentially decisive one or else you're doing it wrong and probably just shriveling to death.
* HP Bug also keeps a good hit on Ttar (albeit not able to OHKO at +2) while also OHKOing Egg and hitting Snorlax & Suicune for reasonable damage at +2.
* no Steel Wing, it's a very bad move.
* Raikou should be mentioned here, and Scizor's role in BPing past it should be discussed in more detail than in the Overview (where a single sentence such as "can hit Raikou hard, unlike other BP users on BP teams" should suffice). The special case of Reflect Raikou can be brought up, too, which makes Scizor's life (and BP teams' lives in general) quite a struggle.

[SET 2]
* Delete this. There's no reason to discuss a setup sweeper set as it is very, very bad. A single sentence talking about its cruddy coverage in the Overview should get that point across very clearly without having to dedicate a whole moveset section to how bad it is.

[OTHER OPTIONS]
* Counter is illegal with BP; make sure this is crystal clear if you mention it. It also has very niche usage: basically, you use it to try to kill a (non-Fire Blast) Curselax who Curses up in your face as you set up SDs, as you don't have moves with high enough base power to punish it by just attacking.
* Light Screen shouldn't be written off so much. It's a good secondary tech (to be used over Agility) if you hope to use Scizor outside the typical BP team. Skarm comes in? Set up LS to make them deal with Nidoking or Vaporeon without full-powered moves from Zapdos. And if you do get the pass off, a mixed attacker like Nidoking, Ttar, Machamp, or even Dnite or MixLax can use the +2 Attack boost to punch holes in the opposing team that they otherwise would struggle to.
* Attacks: HP Fighting should probably be thrown in here, as it's a poor main option due to the lack of damage against Raikou but a good way to chip at Skarm + Steelix. HP Ground as well as that hits Raikou harder than anything else (while sacrificing the power of the STAB against Ttar, Egg, Snorlax, and Suicune). Heck, Return may be worth mentioning while we're at it, as it keeps a good hit on Raikou while offering superior coverage against Zapdos, who isn't usually a Phazer but it can be.
* No mention of Reversal. Good job! Keep it that way: it stinks and doesn't deserve a mention. I say this to pre-empt any scouring of Scizor's movepool and adding in content related to this "option".
* RestTalk + SD + Return is a very basic set, but if you must mention a setup sweeper somewhere outside the intro this is the one to talk about and the place to do it. The idea is that Scizor's coverage is crap but its access to Swords Dance makes it unique, and its typing lets it tank non-Fire Blast mixed attackers while threatening to do damage with SD boosts if the opponent refuses to respect it.
* Thief is worth a look as an alternative to Agility on non-BP teams. It makes the job of whittling down Skarm & Steelix that much easier, especially as they're likely to come in immediately against Scizor to get their Lefties stolen.

[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
* Fire-types are overstated. Most Fire-types are quite bad and function more as attackers than checks anyway. "Fire-type moves" is probably the better text here: Fire Punch Gengar, HP Fire Egg, Fire Blast Snorlax, Fire Blast Nidoking. All of them can throw a monkey wrench in a Scizor's plan to set up in their face and pass the boosts to a truly scary Poke.

 

[Earthworm]

post

Just going to provide a few comments in response to this post and the way Oldamar made edits in response:
- After this got posted I played about 50 games on the ladder with a couple of SD sweeper Scizor teams. I can confirm that it is indeed quite bad. It has virtually no good set up opportunities, loses to the majority of Pokemon in OU, and requires many things to go according to plan to actually do anything useful. That said, I would probably at least mention the set in OO. Something like this would probably be sufficient: "Scizor can attempt to use an SD sweeper set with SD/HP Fighting/Steel Wing/Return, but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB, and low speed, other candidates are almost always a better choice for the physical sweeper role."
- I would argue to keep HP Fighting slashed on as an option with HP Bug. Many of the Pokemon HP Bug is good against do not tend to come into Scizor. On the other hand, the Pokemon that HP Bug is bad against but HP Fighting is okay against come in against it a lot. HP Bug can be kept but HP Fighting should remain slashed.
- I think Jorgen is being a bit optimistic with Light Screen to be honest. The payoff you're going to get from having this Scizor tank a few turns worth of hits to (maybe) get a SD to something behind a Light Screen for a turn or two is very unlikely to be justifiable for the Pokemon slot. I would probably change your sentence about it to "Light Screen can be used over Agility to give Scizor an easier time setting up Swords Dance and potentially make a BP recipient even more difficult for the opponent to handle."
- I disagree about the Restalk set, there is simply no way it will realistically work as anything other than a mediocre Sleep/boom absorber.
- Thief might be interesting, but not sure where it fits on a moveset. SD HP Bug/Fighting Thief BP? Maybe mention that it can replace Agility to make Scizor slightly better at breaking through a defensive core.

 

[Jorgen]

To clarify: the idea with Light Screen in OO wouldn't be to pass both, but rather to pass something at all. The idea is that Scizor gets uselessly phazed over and over again by a Skarm or Steelix, so what if you set up Light Screen for a mixed attacker or setup sweeper to hide behind instead? Phazing doesn't get rid of that.

 

[Oldamar999]

Just going to provide a few comments in response to this post and the way Oldamar made edits in response:
- After this got posted I played about 50 games on the ladder with a couple of SD sweeper Scizor teams. I can confirm that it is indeed quite bad. It has virtually no good set up opportunities, loses to the majority of Pokemon in OU, and requires many things to go according to plan to actually do anything useful. That said, I would probably at least mention the set in OO. Something like this would probably be sufficient: "Scizor can attempt to use an SD sweeper set with SD/HP Fighting/Steel Wing/Return, but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB, and low speed, other candidates are almost always a better choice for the physical sweeper role."
- I would argue to keep HP Fighting slashed on as an option with HP Bug. Many of the Pokemon HP Bug is good against do not tend to come into Scizor. On the other hand, the Pokemon that HP Bug is bad against but HP Fighting is okay against come in against it a lot. HP Bug can be kept but HP Fighting should remain slashed.
- I think Jorgen is being a bit optimistic with Light Screen to be honest. The payoff you're going to get from having this Scizor tank a few turns worth of hits to (maybe) get a SD to something behind a Light Screen for a turn or two is very unlikely to be justifiable for the Pokemon slot. I would probably change your sentence about it to "Light Screen can be used over Agility to give Scizor an easier time setting up Swords Dance and potentially make a BP recipient even more difficult for the opponent to handle."
- I disagree about the Restalk set, there is simply no way it will realistically work as anything other than a mediocre Sleep/boom absorber.
- Thief might be interesting, but not sure where it fits on a moveset. SD HP Bug/Fighting Thief BP? Maybe mention that it can replace Agility to make Scizor slightly better at breaking through a defensive core.

OVERVIEW:
* condense the two paragraphs talking about how it's a bad setup sweeper and defensive poke into one. In fact, lead off with it to emphasize just how mediocre Scizor is in a conventional sense, which allows you to then offer a "glimmer of hope" in your second paragraph where you talk about how Scizor actually has a unique niche on BP teams.

* when mentioning its role on BP teams, you should talk about Raikou! Scizor is a BPer that actually hits Raikou kinda hard, which Jolteon and Smeargle certainly can't do.

[SET 1]
* BP and Agility should both be on the main set with no slashes.
* HP Bug is probably the better STAB due to the hit on Raikou. That is its niche, after all. Sure, HP Fighting can muscle (slowly) past Skarm & Steelix, but as Earthworm said, the idea is to get them out of the way before you start trying to do anything with Scizor. Plus, "slowly" muscling past Skarm & Steelix is not good for a BP team, where every turn needs to be a potentially decisive one or else you're doing it wrong and probably just shriveling to death.
* HP Bug also keeps a good hit on Ttar (albeit not able to OHKO at +2) while also OHKOing Egg and hitting Snorlax & Suicune for reasonable damage at +2.
* no Steel Wing, it's a very bad move.
* Raikou should be mentioned here, and Scizor's role in BPing past it should be discussed in more detail than in the Overview (where a single sentence such as "can hit Raikou hard, unlike other BP users on BP teams" should suffice). The special case of Reflect Raikou can be brought up, too, which makes Scizor's life (and BP teams' lives in general) quite a struggle.

[SET 2]
* Delete this. There's no reason to discuss a setup sweeper set as it is very, very bad. A single sentence talking about its cruddy coverage in the Overview should get that point across very clearly without having to dedicate a whole moveset section to how bad it is.

[OTHER OPTIONS]
* Counter is illegal with BP; make sure this is crystal clear if you mention it. It also has very niche usage: basically, you use it to try to kill a (non-Fire Blast) Curselax who Curses up in your face as you set up SDs, as you don't have moves with high enough base power to punish it by just attacking.
* Light Screen shouldn't be written off so much. It's a good secondary tech (to be used over Agility) if you hope to use Scizor outside the typical BP team. Skarm comes in? Set up LS to make them deal with Nidoking or Vaporeon without full-powered moves from Zapdos. And if you do get the pass off, a mixed attacker like Nidoking, Ttar, Machamp, or even Dnite or MixLax can use the +2 Attack boost to punch holes in the opposing team that they otherwise would struggle to.
* Attacks: HP Fighting should probably be thrown in here, as it's a poor main option due to the lack of damage against Raikou but a good way to chip at Skarm + Steelix. HP Ground as well as that hits Raikou harder than anything else (while sacrificing the power of the STAB against Ttar, Egg, Snorlax, and Suicune). Heck, Return may be worth mentioning while we're at it, as it keeps a good hit on Raikou while offering superior coverage against Zapdos, who isn't usually a Phazer but it can be.
* No mention of Reversal. Good job! Keep it that way: it stinks and doesn't deserve a mention. I say this to pre-empt any scouring of Scizor's movepool and adding in content related to this "option".
* RestTalk + SD + Return is a very basic set, but if you must mention a setup sweeper somewhere outside the intro this is the one to talk about and the place to do it. The idea is that Scizor's coverage is crap but its access to Swords Dance makes it unique, and its typing lets it tank non-Fire Blast mixed attackers while threatening to do damage with SD boosts if the opponent refuses to respect it.
* Thief is worth a look as an alternative to Agility on non-BP teams. It makes the job of whittling down Skarm & Steelix that much easier, especially as they're likely to come in immediately against Scizor to get their Lefties stolen.

[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
* Fire-types are overstated. Most Fire-types are quite bad and function more as attackers than checks anyway. "Fire-type moves" is probably the better text here: Fire Punch Gengar, HP Fire Egg, Fire Blast Snorlax, Fire Blast Nidoking. All of them can throw a monkey wrench in a Scizor's plan to set up in their face and pass the boosts to a truly scary Poke.

To add to this, when Scizor is on Baton Pass teams, due to the above it usually doesn't come out until Smeargle, Jolteon, Snorlax etc have already attempted to disarm the phazers by putting them to sleep or hitting them hard.

I think it would also be worthwhile to mention its low HP and Speed, as well as its complete lack of power pre-SD as being reasons why it doesn't work in this paragraph.

I think this paragraph is maybe too positive about Scizor's defensive traits. While arguably nothing is untrue in the paragraph (to be honest I'd consider all of Skarmory/Zapdos/Steelix/Exeggutor to have better defensive typing than Scizor, though), in reality it is not very useful defensively, so this paragraph might give the wrong idea.

Vaporeon is far from a mandatory teammate. I have mostly seen Scizor on Agility pass teams which very rarely use Vaporeon. I also don't think it is necessary to state that it is exclusively for Baton Pass teams, even though that is by far where it would be used the most.

I doubt this thing could "sweep" a team without using SD a single time even if you played a thousand games. I would reword this.

Steel Wing is stronger than Return due to STAB.

I think this could be rephrased to say something like "hp fighting allows Scizor to take advantage of numerous common Pokemon's Fighting weaknesses while also maximising its damage output against Steel-types like Skarmory and Steelix." This would remove the inconsistency where you have mentioned only some of the types that it hits super effective, mentions the important factor of hitting Skarmory for neutral damage, and removes the mention of Rhydon, which takes significantly more damage from Steel Wing.

These are not mandatory teammates. It is viable to use a team with no Fire resistances in OU because:
- A lot of fire moves used in the tier are not STAB, are low base power, and/or are coming from a low SpAtk stat, and
- Snorlax (and Zapdos, to an extent) are pretty good at fighting Fire-types despite not resisting Fire.

This should be "lure and KO" and should not list Raikou or Zapdos, because Skarmory is going to be switching out of them unless it's making a very risky prediction. Likewise, Rock-types are probably not going to be fighting Scizor 1v1 if they can avoid it, so it doesn't really help Zapdos at all.

I would also mention somewhere in here that the attacking Scizor can struggle to find good opportunities to switch in and set up, because:
- it generally takes a lot of damage from neutral STAB attacks
- it needs to be very careful of Fire-type attacks from Pokemon it would otherwise be able to beat (and therefore benefits from some or all of opposing Pokemon's movesets being revealed before it makes its appearance)
- it needs to use SD before it does any significant damage
- it struggles to achieve anything against most teams early game while its counters are healthy, even if it manages to get SD off freely


I would probably remove this because it implies all kinds of strange things. For instance, it might put in the reader's mind that the main reason you would use a Light Screen Scizor would be to support the rest of your team, whereas I would think of that as a secondary and situational option for Scizor, and consider the main reason to be so that it can fight a special attacker that is switching into it by itself. Also, while Zapdos's effectiveness as a Light Screen user is definitely improved by having a higher speed than Scizor, it is only one of many reasons that Zapdos uses it better. It isn't the main reason, either.

Spikes setters should be removed from here due to lack of relevance to Counter. It might be worth mentioning that EQ Normal-move Drumlax can't OHKO Scizor without a crit.

alright so these are all basically both of my QC checks and got them implemented, up for GP I think? thanks.

 

[Astra]

amcheck
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yeet

[OVERVIEW]
Scizor seems good at a first glance, (RC). (add period) it It has a strong defensive typing that gives it only one weakness to Fire, one of the highest attack Attack stats in OU, decent bulk, and has boosting moves in Swords Dance and Agility that could make it a strong pokemon Pokemon for Baton Pass teams, (RC); (add semicolon) however, in practice, Scizor is rather underwhelming. While passing Speed and Attack boosts can be scary for unprepared teams, it often struggles to pull that off effectively due to Scizor's its poor matchup against the tier's most popular phazers, Steelix and Skarmory, both of which are able to easily tank any hit from Scizor and either force a switch or phaze it. due Due to this, (AC) it usually can't come out until a partner such as Smeargle, Jolteon, or Snorlax has disarmed the phazers by putting them to sleep or doing serious damage. Additionally, Scizor has to constantly watch out for Fire-type attacks that many common Pokemon run, (AC) such as Snorlax and Tyranitar.

However, Scizor does have a unique niche on baton pass Baton Pass teams that still might make it worth using. Scizor It has decent bulk and its a Bug / Steel (add spaces between slash) typing that not only gets grants Scizor an immunity to poison and useful Psychic- (add hyphen) and Ice-type resistances, but it also gives it a strong resistance to Explosion and Self Destruct, which makes it more difficult for offensive teams to prevent it from baton passing stat boosts. Scizor also has a Strong Matchup strong matchup against Exeggutor, which can be a crucial Pokemon to take down due to its ability to threaten Baton Pass Teams teams. Scizor is also able to hit Raikou hard, which very few other Baton Pass users on Baton Pass teams can do.

name: Running with Scizors (Baton Pass) (they don't like funny names )
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Agility
move 4: Hidden Power Bug/Hidden Power Fighting
item: Leftovers/Miracle Berry


[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
========
This is the standard set for Scizor, it which attempts to make use of Swords Dance, (AC) and/or Agility, (AC) and + Baton Pass to support its team through important stat boosts, giving out attack and speed boosts respectively. Hidden Power Bug is the best STAB move option, as it does high damage to Raikou at +2, hits Tyranitar hard, OHKOes Exeggutor and while also hitting hits Suicune and Snorlax for reasonable damage at +2. Hidden Power Fighting is also an option to hit Steelix Super Effectively, (RC) super effectively and threatens to OHKO Tyranitar, though this sacrifices a matchup against Exeggutor. Leftovers gives Scizor useful passive recovery that might allow it to stay in for a bit longer, but Miracle berry Berry can be run instead to prevent paralysis or Sleep sleep, which would otherwise prevent it from reliably passing boosts to teammates.

Baton Pass staples such as Smeargle and Jolteon are mandatory teammates. Scizor's most common baton pass Baton Pass recipients are Marowak, Machamp, and Snorlax, All all of which greatly benefit from a speed and/or attack boost from passing Agility or Swords Dance Speed boost, Attack boost, or both. this This set has the ability to do serious damage to Raikou, which can be a pain for baton pass Baton Pass teams due to Roar and its high power. However, if Raikou has reflect Reflect, Scizor won't be able to hurt Raikou as much and will cause some issues for Scizor's team.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Scizor has access to light screen Light Screen, which can heavily benefit Scizor's its team by halving special attacks and assist in passing boosts to teammates, (RC) and also helps Scizor it take some special attackers head on. however However, Light screen Screen cannot reliably fit it on Baton Pass sets. Counter can be used to possibly OHKO Pokemon like Drumlax or Heracross, (RC). (add period) Earthquake Normal-Move Drumlax (i guess drumlax is a snorlax set? idk if should be referred to like this, up to gpers tho) notably cannot take out Scizor without a critical hit, (RC). (add period) however, counter However, Counter is incompatible with baton pass. counter also, (AC) removes coverage, and predicting wrong can, at worst, make Scizor setup fodder for sweepers. Scizor can attempt to use an SD a Swords Dance sweeper set with SD Swords Dance / HP Hidden Power Fighting / Steel Wing / Return (add spaces between slashes), but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB move, and low speed Speed, other candidates ,such as Heracross and Marowak, are almost always a better choice for the physical sweeper role such as Heracross and Marowak are almost always a better choice. Theif Thief can be run over agility Agility on non-Baton Pass teams to take items from Pokemon like Skarmory and Steelix, which can make whittling them down much easier, (RC). (add period) however However, (AC) this gets rid of Scizor's ability to pass speed on to Speed onto its teammates, so its effectiveness is lowered.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Skarmory**: Skarmory is Scizor's hardest counter, as Scizor is unable to do any significant damage to Skarmory even with a +2 Hidden Power Fighting and gets phazed it out without any effort.

**Fire-Type moves Moves**: Any Pokemon that carries Fire-type attacks such as Nidoking, Snorlax, or Machamp are huge threats to Scizor, since this prevents preventing it from doing its work as a Baton Passer, as it usually dies to any Fire-type attack by KOing it easily due to Scizor's its poor special bulk and 4x weakness to fire Fire-type moves.

**Zapdos**: Zapdos resists both Hidden Power Bug and Hidden Power Fighting and is able to either phaze Scizor out or 2HKO it with Thunder. (remove period); (add semicolon) however, if Zapdos is asleep is it not able to reliably counter Scizor when if it is put to sleep.

**Suicune**: While Suicune doesn't resist Scizor's attacks, its has so much Defense that causes Scizor is to be unable to threaten it even after a boost, and Suicune can easily phaze Scizor.

**Steelix**: Steelix can safely phaze Hidden Power Bug Scizor and can phaze Hidden Power Fighting Scizor once or twice.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[oldamar999,453750]]
- Quality checked by: [[earthworm,15210], [jorgen,53302]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]][/QUOTE]

 

[Nix_Hex]

Oldamar999 please apply Estronic's amcheck, then tag me. Don't set to GP 1/2 yet, I'd like to make a few changes on top of the amcheck.

 

[Oldamar999]

Oldamar999 please apply Estronic's amcheck, then tag me. Don't set to GP 1/2 yet, I'd like to make a few changes on top of the amcheck.

I applied the check. you can come in.

 

[Nix_Hex]

Hide

[OVERVIEW]
Scizor seems good at a first glance. It has a strong defensive typing that gives it only one weakness to Fire, one of the highest Attack stats in OU, decent bulk, and boosting moves in Swords Dance and Agility that could make it a strong Pokemon for Baton Pass teams; however, in practice, Scizor is rather underwhelming. While passing Speed and Attack boosts can be scary for unprepared teams, it often struggles to pull that off effectively due to it's poor matchup against the tier's most popular phazers, Steelix and Skarmory, both of which are able to easily tank any hit from Scizor and either force a switch or phaze it. Due to this, it usually can't come out until a partner such as Smeargle, Jolteon, or Snorlax has disarmed the phazers by putting them to sleep or doing serious damage. Additionally, Scizor has to constantly watch out for Fire-type attacks that many common Pokemon run, such as Snorlax and Tyranitar.

However, Scizor does have a unique niche on Baton Pass teams that still might make it worth using. It has decent bulk and a Bug / Steel typing that not only grants Scizor an immunity to Poison and useful Psychic- and Ice-type resistances, but it also gives it a strong resistance to Explosion and Self Destruct, which makes it more difficult for offensive teams to prevent it from passing stat boosts. Scizor also has a strong matchup against Exeggutor, which can be a crucial Pokemon to take down due to its ability to threaten Baton Pass teams. Scizor is also able to hit Raikou hard, which very few other Baton Pass users on Baton Pass teams can do.

name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Agility
move 4: Hidden Power Bug / Hidden Power Fighting
item: Leftovers / Miracle Berry


[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
========
This is the standard set for Scizor, which attempts to make use of Swords Dance, Agility, and Baton Pass to support its team through important stat boosts. Hidden Power Bug is the best STAB move option, as it does high damage to Raikou at +2, hits Tyranitar hard, OHKOes Exeggutor and hits Suicune and Snorlax for reasonable damage at +2. Hidden Power Fighting is also an option to hit Steelix super effectively and threatens to OHKO Tyranitar, though this sacrifices a matchup against Exeggutor. Leftovers gives Scizor useful passive recovery that might allow it to stay in for a bit longer, but Miracle Berry can be run instead to prevent paralysis or sleep, which would otherwise prevent it from reliably passing boosts to teammates.

Baton Pass staples such as Smeargle and Jolteon are mandatory teammates. Scizor's most common Baton Pass recipients are Marowak, Machamp, and Snorlax, all of which greatly benefit from a Speed boost, Attack boost, or both. This set has the ability to do serious damage to Raikou (which can be a pain for Baton Pass teams due to Roar) and its high power. However, if Raikou has Reflect, Scizor won't be able to hurt Raikou as much and will cause some issues for Scizor's team.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Scizor has access to Light Screen, which can heavily benefit its team by halving special attacks and assisting in passing boosts to teammates, and also helps Scizor take some special attackers head on. However, Light Screen cannot reliably fit on Baton Pass sets. Counter can be used to possibly OHKO Pokemon like Snorlax or Heracross. Earthquake + Normal-Move + Belly Drum Snorlax notably cannot take out Scizor without a critical hit. However, Counter is incompatible with Baton Pass, removes coverage, and predicting wrong can, at worst, make Scizor setup fodder for sweepers. Scizor can attempt to use a Swords Dance sweeper set with Swords Dance, Hidden Power Fighting, Steel Wing, and Return, but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB move, and low Speed, other candidates for the the physical sweeper role such as Heracross and Marowak are almost always a better choice. Thief can be run over Agility on non-Baton Pass teams to take items from Pokemon like Skarmory and Steelix, which can make whittling them down much easier. However, this gets rid of Scizor's ability to pass Speed onto its teammates, so its effectiveness is lowered.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Skarmory**: Skarmory is Scizor's hardest counter, as Scizor is unable to do any significant damage to Skarmory even with a +2 Hidden Power Fighting and gets it phazed out without any effort.

**Fire-Type Moves**: Any Pokemon that carries Fire-type attacks such as Nidoking, Snorlax, or Machamp are huge threats to Scizor, preventing it from doing its work as a Baton Passer by KOing it easily due to its poor special bulk and 4x weakness to Fire-Type Moves.

**Zapdos**: Zapdos resists both Hidden Power Bug and Hidden Power Fighting and is able to either phaze Scizor out or 2HKO it with Thunder; however, if Zapdos is asleep it is not able to reliably counter Scizor.

**Suicune**: While Suicune doesn't resist Scizor's attacks, its defense causes Scizor to be unable to threaten it even after a boost, and Suicune can easily phaze Scizor.

**Steelix**: Steelix can safely phaze Hidden Power Bug and Fighting variants once or twice.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[oldamar999,453750]]
- Quality checked by: [[earthworm,15210], [jorgen,53302]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

Good job Estronic on the check. Approved.

[GP 1/2]

 

[Oldamar999]

Hide

[OVERVIEW]
Scizor seems good at a first glance. It has a strong defensive typing that gives it only one weakness to Fire, one of the highest Attack stats in OU, decent bulk, and boosting moves in Swords Dance and Agility that could make it a strong Pokemon for Baton Pass teams; however, in practice, Scizor is rather underwhelming. While passing Speed and Attack boosts can be scary for unprepared teams, it often struggles to pull that off effectively due to it's poor matchup against the tier's most popular phazers, Steelix and Skarmory, both of which are able to easily tank any hit from Scizor and either force a switch or phaze it. Due to this, it usually can't come out until a partner such as Smeargle, Jolteon, or Snorlax has disarmed the phazers by putting them to sleep or doing serious damage. Additionally, Scizor has to constantly watch out for Fire-type attacks that many common Pokemon run, such as Snorlax and Tyranitar.

However, Scizor does have a unique niche on Baton Pass teams that still might make it worth using. It has decent bulk and a Bug / Steel typing that not only grants Scizor an immunity to Poison and useful Psychic- and Ice-type resistances, but it also gives it a strong resistance to Explosion and Self Destruct, which makes it more difficult for offensive teams to prevent it from passing stat boosts. Scizor also has a strong matchup against Exeggutor, which can be a crucial Pokemon to take down due to its ability to threaten Baton Pass teams. Scizor is also able to hit Raikou hard, which very few other Baton Pass users on Baton Pass teams can do.

name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Agility
move 4: Hidden Power Bug / Hidden Power Fighting
item: Leftovers / Miracle Berry


[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
========
This is the standard set for Scizor, which attempts to make use of Swords Dance, Agility, and Baton Pass to support its team through important stat boosts. Hidden Power Bug is the best STAB move option, as it does high damage to Raikou at +2, hits Tyranitar hard, OHKOes Exeggutor and hits Suicune and Snorlax for reasonable damage at +2. Hidden Power Fighting is also an option to hit Steelix super effectively and threatens to OHKO Tyranitar, though this sacrifices a matchup against Exeggutor. Leftovers gives Scizor useful passive recovery that might allow it to stay in for a bit longer, but Miracle Berry can be run instead to prevent paralysis or sleep, which would otherwise prevent it from reliably passing boosts to teammates.

Baton Pass staples such as Smeargle and Jolteon are mandatory teammates. Scizor's most common Baton Pass recipients are Marowak, Machamp, and Snorlax, all of which greatly benefit from a Speed boost, Attack boost, or both. This set has the ability to do serious damage to Raikou (which can be a pain for Baton Pass teams due to Roar) and its high power. However, if Raikou has Reflect, Scizor won't be able to hurt Raikou as much and will cause some issues for Scizor's team.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Scizor has access to Light Screen, which can heavily benefit its team by halving special attacks and assisting in passing boosts to teammates, and also helps Scizor take some special attackers head on. However, Light Screen cannot reliably fit on Baton Pass sets. Counter can be used to possibly OHKO Pokemon like Snorlax or Heracross. Earthquake + Normal-Move + Belly Drum Snorlax notably cannot take out Scizor without a critical hit. However, Counter is incompatible with Baton Pass, removes coverage, and predicting wrong can, at worst, make Scizor setup fodder for sweepers. Scizor can attempt to use a Swords Dance sweeper set with Swords Dance, Hidden Power Fighting, Steel Wing, and Return, but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB move, and low Speed, other candidates for the the physical sweeper role such as Heracross and Marowak are almost always a better choice. Thief can be run over Agility on non-Baton Pass teams to take items from Pokemon like Skarmory and Steelix, which can make whittling them down much easier. However, this gets rid of Scizor's ability to pass Speed onto its teammates, so its effectiveness is lowered.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Skarmory**: Skarmory is Scizor's hardest counter, as Scizor is unable to do any significant damage to Skarmory even with a +2 Hidden Power Fighting and gets it phazed out without any effort.

**Fire-Type Moves**: Any Pokemon that carries Fire-type attacks such as Nidoking, Snorlax, or Machamp are huge threats to Scizor, preventing it from doing its work as a Baton Passer by KOing it easily due to its poor special bulk and 4x weakness to Fire-Type Moves.

**Zapdos**: Zapdos resists both Hidden Power Bug and Hidden Power Fighting and is able to either phaze Scizor out or 2HKO it with Thunder; however, if Zapdos is asleep it is not able to reliably counter Scizor.

**Suicune**: While Suicune doesn't resist Scizor's attacks, its defense causes Scizor to be unable to threaten it even after a boost, and Suicune can easily phaze Scizor.

**Steelix**: Steelix can safely phaze Hidden Power Bug and Fighting variants once or twice.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[oldamar999,453750]]
- Quality checked by: [[earthworm,15210], [jorgen,53302]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

Good job Estronic on the check. Approved.

[GP 1/2]

I implemented everything. ready for 2nd gp

 

[P Squared]

GP 2/2
add remove comment

Hide

[OVERVIEW]
Scizor seems good at a first glance. It has a strong defensive typing that gives it only one weakness to Fire, one of the highest Attack stats in OU, decent bulk, and boosting moves in Swords Dance and Agility that could make it a strong Pokemon for Baton Pass teams; however, in practice, Scizor is rather underwhelming. While passing Speed and Attack boosts can be scary for unprepared teams, it often struggles to pull that off effectively due to its poor matchup against the tier's most popular phazers, Steelix and Skarmory, both of which are able to easily tank any hit from Scizor and either force a switch or phaze it. Due to this, it usually can't come out until a partner such as Smeargle, Jolteon, or Snorlax has disarmed the phazers by putting them to sleep or doing serious damage. Additionally, Scizor has to constantly watch out for Fire-type attacks that many common Pokemon run, such as Snorlax and Tyranitar.

However, Scizor does have a unique niche on Baton Pass teams that still might make it worth using. It has decent bulk and a Bug / Steel typing that not only grants Scizor an immunity to Poison and useful Psychic- and Ice-type resistances, but it also gives it a strong resistance to Explosion and Self-Destruct, which makes it more difficult for offensive teams to prevent it from passing stat boosts. Scizor also has a strong matchup against Exeggutor, which can be a crucial Pokemon to take down due to its ability to threaten Baton Pass teams. Scizor is also able to hit Raikou hard, which very few other Baton Pass users on Baton Pass teams can do.

name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Agility
move 4: Hidden Power Bug / Hidden Power Fighting
item: Leftovers / Miracle Berry

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
========

This is the standard set for Scizor, which attempts to make use of Swords Dance, Agility, and Baton Pass to support its team through important stat boosts. Hidden Power Bug is the best STAB move option, as it does high damage to Raikou at +2, hits Tyranitar hard, OHKOes Exeggutor, (add comma) and hits Suicune and Snorlax for reasonable damage at +2. Hidden Power Fighting is also an option to hit Steelix super effectively and threatens to OHKO Tyranitar, though this sacrifices a good matchup against Exeggutor. Leftovers gives Scizor useful passive recovery that might allow it to stay in for a bit longer, but Miracle Berry can be run instead to prevent paralysis or sleep, which would otherwise prevent it from reliably passing boosts to teammates.

Baton Pass staples such as Smeargle and Jolteon are mandatory teammates. Scizor's most common Baton Pass recipients are Marowak, Machamp, and Snorlax, all of which greatly benefit from a Speed boost, Attack boost, or both. This set has the ability to do serious damage to Raikou, which can be a pain for Baton Pass teams due to Roar and its high Special Attack. However, if Raikou has Reflect, Scizor won't be able to hurt Raikou as much and will cause some issues for Scizor's team.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Scizor has access to Light Screen, which can heavily benefit its team by halving the damage of special attacks and assisting in passing boosts to teammates, it and also helps Scizor take some special attackers head on. However, Light Screen cannot reliably fit on Baton Pass sets. Counter can be used to possibly OHKO Pokemon like Snorlax and Heracross. Earthquake + Normal-type move + Belly Drum Snorlax notably cannot take out Scizor without a critical hit. However, Counter is incompatible with Baton Pass, removes coverage, and predicting wrong can, at worst, can make Scizor setup fodder for sweepers if you predict incorrectly. Scizor can attempt to use a Swords Dance sweeper set with Swords Dance, Hidden Power Fighting, Steel Wing, and Return, but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB move, and low Speed, other candidates for the the physical sweeper role such as Heracross and Marowak are almost always a better choice. Thief can be run over Agility on non-Baton Pass teams to take items from Pokemon like Skarmory and Steelix, which can make whittling them down much easier. However, this gets rid of Scizor's ability to pass Speed onto its teammates, so its effectiveness is lowered.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Skarmory**: Skarmory is Scizor's hardest counter, as Scizor is unable to do any significant damage to Skarmory even with a +2 Hidden Power Fighting and gets it phazed out without any effort.

**Fire-type Moves**: Any Pokemon that carries Fire-type attacks such as Nidoking, Snorlax, and Machamp are huge threats to Scizor, preventing it from doing its work as a Baton Passer by KOing it easily due to its poor special bulk and 4x weakness to Fire-type Moves.

**Zapdos**: Zapdos resists both Hidden Power Bug and Hidden Power Fighting and is able to either phaze Scizor out or 2HKO it with Thunder; however, if Zapdos is asleep it is not able to reliably counter Scizor.

**Suicune**: While Suicune doesn't resist Scizor's attacks, its Defense causes Scizor to be unable to threaten it even after a boost, and Suicune can easily phaze Scizor.

**Steelix**: Steelix can safely phaze Hidden Power Bug and Fighting variants once or twice.

 

[Oldamar999]

GP 2/2
add remove comment

Hide

[OVERVIEW]
Scizor seems good at a first glance. It has a strong defensive typing that gives it only one weakness to Fire, one of the highest Attack stats in OU, decent bulk, and boosting moves in Swords Dance and Agility that could make it a strong Pokemon for Baton Pass teams; however, in practice, Scizor is rather underwhelming. While passing Speed and Attack boosts can be scary for unprepared teams, it often struggles to pull that off effectively due to its poor matchup against the tier's most popular phazers, Steelix and Skarmory, both of which are able to easily tank any hit from Scizor and either force a switch or phaze it. Due to this, it usually can't come out until a partner such as Smeargle, Jolteon, or Snorlax has disarmed the phazers by putting them to sleep or doing serious damage. Additionally, Scizor has to constantly watch out for Fire-type attacks that many common Pokemon run, such as Snorlax and Tyranitar.

However, Scizor does have a unique niche on Baton Pass teams that still might make it worth using. It has decent bulk and a Bug / Steel typing that not only grants Scizor an immunity to Poison and useful Psychic- and Ice-type resistances, but it also gives it a strong resistance to Explosion and Self-Destruct, which makes it more difficult for offensive teams to prevent it from passing stat boosts. Scizor also has a strong matchup against Exeggutor, which can be a crucial Pokemon to take down due to its ability to threaten Baton Pass teams. Scizor is also able to hit Raikou hard, which very few other Baton Pass users on Baton Pass teams can do.

name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Agility
move 4: Hidden Power Bug / Hidden Power Fighting
item: Leftovers / Miracle Berry

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
========

This is the standard set for Scizor, which attempts to make use of Swords Dance, Agility, and Baton Pass to support its team through important stat boosts. Hidden Power Bug is the best STAB move option, as it does high damage to Raikou at +2, hits Tyranitar hard, OHKOes Exeggutor, (add comma) and hits Suicune and Snorlax for reasonable damage at +2. Hidden Power Fighting is also an option to hit Steelix super effectively and threatens to OHKO Tyranitar, though this sacrifices a good matchup against Exeggutor. Leftovers gives Scizor useful passive recovery that might allow it to stay in for a bit longer, but Miracle Berry can be run instead to prevent paralysis or sleep, which would otherwise prevent it from reliably passing boosts to teammates.

Baton Pass staples such as Smeargle and Jolteon are mandatory teammates. Scizor's most common Baton Pass recipients are Marowak, Machamp, and Snorlax, all of which greatly benefit from a Speed boost, Attack boost, or both. This set has the ability to do serious damage to Raikou, which can be a pain for Baton Pass teams due to Roar and its high Special Attack. However, if Raikou has Reflect, Scizor won't be able to hurt Raikou as much and will cause some issues for Scizor's team.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Scizor has access to Light Screen, which can heavily benefit its team by halving the damage of special attacks and assisting in passing boosts to teammates, it and also helps Scizor take some special attackers head on. However, Light Screen cannot reliably fit on Baton Pass sets. Counter can be used to possibly OHKO Pokemon like Snorlax and Heracross. Earthquake + Normal-type move + Belly Drum Snorlax notably cannot take out Scizor without a critical hit. However, Counter is incompatible with Baton Pass, removes coverage, and predicting wrong can, at worst, can make Scizor setup fodder for sweepers if you predict incorrectly. Scizor can attempt to use a Swords Dance sweeper set with Swords Dance, Hidden Power Fighting, Steel Wing, and Return, but due to coverage issues, lack of a strong STAB move, and low Speed, other candidates for the the physical sweeper role such as Heracross and Marowak are almost always a better choice. Thief can be run over Agility on non-Baton Pass teams to take items from Pokemon like Skarmory and Steelix, which can make whittling them down much easier. However, this gets rid of Scizor's ability to pass Speed onto its teammates, so its effectiveness is lowered.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Skarmory**: Skarmory is Scizor's hardest counter, as Scizor is unable to do any significant damage to Skarmory even with a +2 Hidden Power Fighting and gets it phazed out without any effort.

**Fire-type Moves**: Any Pokemon that carries Fire-type attacks such as Nidoking, Snorlax, and Machamp are huge threats to Scizor, preventing it from doing its work as a Baton Passer by KOing it easily due to its poor special bulk and 4x weakness to Fire-type Moves.

**Zapdos**: Zapdos resists both Hidden Power Bug and Hidden Power Fighting and is able to either phaze Scizor out or 2HKO it with Thunder; however, if Zapdos is asleep it is not able to reliably counter Scizor.

**Suicune**: While Suicune doesn't resist Scizor's attacks, its Defense causes Scizor to be unable to threaten it even after a boost, and Suicune can easily phaze Scizor.

**Steelix**: Steelix can safely phaze Hidden Power Bug and Fighting variants once or twice.

thank you. Jellicent Oglemi this is ready for upload.
edit:actually not yet.

 

[Oldamar999]

Jellicent Oglemi ok it's actually ready for upload now, it was just some weird pedantics.

 

[Oglemi]

Uploaded, good work