Sturdy Steel-types in National Dex UU
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Art by Albatross.
Introduction
While National Dex UU is a fairly niche tier, being a subdivision of National Dex, it contains nearly all of the most iconic Steel-types throughout the generations. From the early-gen staple Skarmory, to Scizor and Magnezone that rose to prominence in Generations 4 and 5, to more recent Steel-types like Aegislash and Celesteela, NatDex UU has them all. Steel-types almost always feature as defensive backbones for teams, and this is no different in NatDex UU, anchoring teams against the ubiquitous Clefable as well as other threats such as Mega Venusaur and Mega Latias. Because of this utility, the various Steel-types are seen on nearly every team, regardless of style, and this article will show you exactly why they are so important and what makes each of them unique.
Aegislash
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With an excellent stat spread across the board, fantastic moveset variety, and reliable Fighting- and Ghost-type coverage, Aegislash is the most versatile of the Steel-types, able to be either a wallbreaker, setup sweeper, or defensive piece. This unpredictability makes Aegislash incredibly threatening, as very few defensive options can handle all of Aegislash's sets.
Aegislash's wallbreaker set is considered its most threatening, able to rip apart defensive cores consisting of Ting-Lu, Rotom-W, and Celesteela while still performing defensive duties as a Steel-type against Iron Boulder, Clefable, and Mega Gardevoir. Wallbreaker Aegislash appreciates Leftovers to mitigate entry hazard chip damage, but it can supplement its power through Spell Tag or Ghostium Z.
Defensive Aegislash can look very similar to the wallbreaker variants, but it chooses to forgo Speed for additional bulk, allowing it to much more efficiently check the aforementioned threats and leveraging its increased bulk for more switch-in opportunities throughout a game. Defensive Aegislash always opts for Leftovers to support this bulk. While a simpler EV spread can be used, the alternative EV spread provided is just an example of how customizable defensive Aegislash can be; it provides the necessary Special Attack to OHKO Alakazam with Shadow Ball and always survive three Mystical Fires from Mega Gardevoir.
Swords Dance Aegislash goes full-on physical, allowing its boosted Shadow Sneaks and Shadow Claws to more easily cleave through offensive options, like Zeraora, Iron Moth, and Victini, as well as defensive staples, like Amoonguss, Hippowdon, and Mega Venusaur. Air Balloon lets Swords Dance Aegislash completely blank Hippowdon while letting it beat Excadrill and Ting-Lu, while Ghostium Z lets it break past Amoonguss, Rotom-W, Buzzwole, and Celesteela.
Teammates
Rotom-W is the best friend of nearly every Steel-type in NatDex UU, given that it's the best Water-type, Fire-resistant, and Ground-immune option in the tier. Rotom-W can pivot Aegislash into Mega Latias and Blissey while providing temporary respite against Ting-Lu and Celesteela. Speaking of, Celesteela helps accentuate Aegislash's offensive abilities by dealing with threats tasked to Steel-types, such as Alakazam, Mega Venusaur, and Enamorus. Iron Moth appreciates Aegislash wearing down Ting-Lu and Hippowdon, enjoys pivoting in on Amoonguss, and can bring Aegislash in on Skeledirge, Blissey, and Slowking.
Celesteela
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Defensive Celesteela is one of the most reliable Steel-types in the metagame, walling what feels like the entire meta, and with its excellent typing and bulk, it holds teams together against staples like Clefable, Aegislash, Excadrill, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Latias. Despite its lack of reliable recovery, Leech Seed serves as Celesteela's primary way of making progress and staying healthy, and when it's paired with Protect, Celesteela is able to heal off of and chip down threats that would otherwise threaten it out, like Iron Moth, Victini, and Zeraora. Play patterns like this are often what make Celesteela feel immortal throughout games.
While Heavy Slam and Flamethrower are standard options for Celesteela to help it handle the Fairy- and Steel- types it switches into, alternative options like Air Slash and Earthquake are available to allow Celesteela to threaten Mega Venusaur or surprise and remove Iron Moth. Earthquake also allows Celesteela to sometimes KO Magnezone on the switch in, preventing it from trapping and removing Celesteela. Toxic can be used over Protect on offensive teams or teams looking to cripple Rotom-W and Ting-Lu, some of Celesteela's more common switch-ins.
Autotomize Celesteela is an option for hyper offense, with its natural bulk letting it check Excadrill and Scizor, which would otherwise be annoying for these teams to deal with. However, with the prevalence of Ting-Lu and Celesteela's inability to threaten Rotom-W after using up its Power Herb, Autotomize Celesteela is rarely seen.
Teammates
Water- and Ground-types are Celesteela's best friends, able to handle the Fire- and Electric-types, namely Victini, Zeraora, and Iron Moth, which Celesteela tends to struggle with. In return, Celesteela deals with the Grass-types like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss for these teammates, as well as being a good sponge for certain special threats like Alakazam or Greninja. While it's rarely used, Autotomize Celesteela appreciates partners like Grassium Z Blacephalon and Iron Moth to help wear down shared checks like Ting-Lu to break late-game.
Scizor
- Scizor (F) @ Buginium Z / Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
- Ability: Technician
- EVs: 252 HP / 112 Atk / 56 Def / 76 SpD / 12 Spe
- Adamant Nature
- - Bullet Punch
- - U-turn / Knock Off
- - Swords Dance
- - Roost
With its powerful Technician-boosted Bullet Punch, Scizor is able to function as an offensive check to dangerous threats like Mega Gardevoir, Iron Boulder, and Alakazam while using its solid defensive typing and bulk to help teams handle Mega Venusaur, Aegislash, and Mega Latias. U-turn allows Scizor to be the tier's most reliable pivot and check to Hydrapple and Mega Venusaur, and with Buginium Z, Scizor can more easily remove Amoonguss or Ting-Lu. Knock Off grants Scizor the ability to wear down checks like Celesteela and Rotom-W by removing their Leftovers, and with its offensive and defensive prowess, it can sometimes even outlast sturdier checks like Skarmory and Skeledirge with the help of its teammates. Scizor has always had a highly customizable EV spread, with the one provided allowing Scizor to OHKO Mega Gardevoir with Bullet Punch, survive a +2 Mighty Cleave from Iron Boulder, and take two Shadow Balls from Defensive Aegislash after Stealth Rock damage. With its ability to be such a modular offensive threat or defensive piece, Scizor fits on most team styles looking for a reliable way to play around the fast and unpredictable Pokémon in the metagame, like Iron Boulder and Alakazam. It further differentiates itself from the other Steel-types through its ability to remove items or be an incredible pivot, being much less passive than other Steel-types may be.
Teammates
Iron Moth is a fantastic teammate for Scizor, as it can pivot in fairly freely on Skarmory and Celesteela, while Scizor protects Iron Moth from faster threats like Alakazam and Iron Boulder and threatens the Ground-types that Iron Moth often forces in, like Ting-Lu and Hippowdon. While it's not completely hapless against an opposing Iron Moth, Scizor is often forced out by it, so reliable offensive and defensive checks to it, like Ting-Lu and Iron Boulder, are great partners. Scizor can accentuate Ting-Lu's entry hazard pressure with Knock Off or U-turn, in turn bringing foes closer to Bullet Punch range, and pressure checks like Skarmory that it shares with Iron Boulder.
Skarmory
- Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
- Ability: Sturdy
- EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
- Bold Nature
- IVs: 0 Atk
- - Body Press / Brave Bird
- - Iron Defense / Toxic / Whirlwind
- - Spikes
- - Roost
Skarmory continues to do what it has done for the last 24 years; it is the tier's most reliable physical wall and Spiker, able to handle threats like Scizor, Excadrill, Iron Boulder, and Mienshao while providing entry hazard support and extra defensive utility against threats like Mega Venusuar in a pinch. While Body Press is generally preferred to hit the aforementioned targets and pairs well with Iron Defense, Brave Bird is an option on teams reliant on Skarmory to handle Grass-types like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss and also pressures Iron Moth and Hydrapple on the switch. Iron Defense lets Skarmory set up alongside and defeat certain sweepers, like Swords Dance Scizor and Excadrill, while Toxic allows it to better pressure many defensive and utility Pokémon it can switch in on, such as Hippowdon and Mega Latias, while also punishing common switch-ins like Rotom-W and Slowking. Toxic also ensures that hazard setters like Hippowdon and Ting-Lu as well as forms of hazard removal like Rotom-W cannot outlast Skarmory. Whirlwind is an option on teams weak to certain setup sweepers, like Swords Dance Aegislash and certain variants of Calm Mind Clefable and Calm Mind Mega Latias, as Skarmory can often take a boosted hit from them and phaze them. Rocky Helmet is chosen over Leftovers to help Skarmory chip down physical threats as it weathers repeated hits from them. Skarmory is typically only seen on bulkier hazard-stacking teams, as it is more passive and exploitable than its competitor, Celesteela. Despite this, Skarmory's ability to check the physical threats of the metagame remains unrivaled.
Teammates
Skarmory loves being paired with Ground-types like Hippowdon and Ting-Lu. Both handle Electric-types like Zeraora while also being fairly sturdy against Aegislash and Iron Moth, which can enter freely against Skarmory. They also form reliable entry hazard-stacking cores, able to keep hazards up throughout long games, and they partner well with Skarmory to deal with much of the metagame, including threats like Choice Band Iron Boulder, Calm Mind Mega Latias, Scizor, and Mega Venusaur. Clefable also enjoys being alongside Skarmory, either forming a hazard-stacking core or helping Skarmory handle powerful Fighting-types like Life Orb Mienshao and Bulk Up Buzzwole.
Magnezone
- Magnezone @ Choice Specs / Electrium Z
- Ability: Magnet Pull
- EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Timid / Modest Nature
- IVs: 0 Atk
- - Thunderbolt
- - Flash Cannon
- - Volt Switch / Substitute
- - Hidden Power Grass / Toxic
With all these Steel-types running around the tier performing important defensive roles, it only makes sense that Magnezone has used its niche as the best Magnet Pull user to secure a place near the top of NatDex UU by trapping and removing most of them. Choice Specs gives Magnezone reliable power to eliminate foes like Scizor and Bisharp while still posing a threat to defensive options like Rotom-W and Mega Venusaur after removing the Steel-types they are often paired with. However, Electrium Z is an increasingly popular option to secure OHKOs on targets like Scizor and specially defensive Celesteela, which would otherwise be able to survive and switch out with U-turn and retaliate with Flamethrower or Earthquake, respectively. Hidden Power Grass allows Magnezone to almost always OHKO Gastrodon, which would otherwise be the most reliable Magnezone check available. Alternatively, Toxic allows Magnezone to still cripple Gastrodon while also ensuring Ground-types like Ting-Lu and Hippowdon are unable to reliably switch into Magnezone.
Teammates
Any Pokémon that enjoys Steel-types being removed loves being paired with Magnezone. Though it's typically used defensively, Mega Venusaur can be an incredible offensive threat, but it's stopped rather easily by Celesteela, Skarmory, and Scizor. With Magnezone removing those defensive measures, Mega Venusaur is often free to rampage through the rest of the opposing team with its incredible bulk alongside its strength. Mega Gardevoir is already a difficult offensive threat to handle, but with Celesteela, Jirachi, and Scizor removed, Mega Gardevoir is often able to claim a KO every time it enters. Both Mega Venusaur and Mega Gardevoir are also able to switch into Fighting-type moves like Close Combat and Secret Sword from Mienshao and Keldeo aimed at Magnezone. Scizor's most reliable check is Skarmory, but by U-turning into Magnezone, removing it becomes incredibly simple. Scizor also helps bolster Magnezone against the Fairy- and Psychic-types that Steel-types typically handle, like Clefable, Alakazam, and Iron Boulder. While Mega Beedrill is not considered a viable option in NatDex UU, the only application it has is on offensive teams alongside Magnezone to help it somewhat overcome its complete inability to deal with most Steel-types.
Conclusion
There are plenty of viable Steel-types in NatDex UU, from offensive beasts like Aegislash and Scizor to defensive behemoths like Skarmory and Celesteela. We encourage you to come see which is your favorite; does Skarmory setting Spikes bring you back to Generation 3, or does Swords Dance Scizor become your new go-to Pokémon to handle offense teams? With so many options, you're sure to find one you like. And who knows, maybe you'll end up discovering new Pokémon of other types to play with!
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