Scizor in SM, SS, and SV UU

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Introduction

Introduced in Generation II as an evolution to Scyther, with greater Attack and Defense but reduced Speed, Scizor became one of the most threatening offensive Pokémon in competitive Pokémon.

After being banned from UU in GSC and ADV, when tiering lacked the systems it has now, Scizor remained an OU Pokémon through generations IV, V, and VI before dropping to UU at the beginning of Generation VII. While Scizor's dominance as a UU Pokémon was arguably the greatest in Sun and Moon, it evolved through all three generations by virtue of new mechanics. In Pokémon Sun and Moon Scizor had the ability to experiment with the immense offensive power of Z-Moves. In Pokémon Sword and Shield, Scizor was able to utilize the incredibly useful Heavy-Duty Boots in addition to a new move Dual Wingbeat. And in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Terastallization gave Scizor the ability to become any typing to demolish its counterplay.

In all these generations, Scizor's solid physical bulk, its sky-high base 130 Attack stat, and its ability Technician, which made moves such as Bullet Punch, Bug Bite, Quick Attack, and Thief buttons of mass destruction, allowed it to stand out. There is no Pokémon that compares to how it has changed metagames and influenced teambuilding in UU as a tier throughout generations. With this in mind, this article will focus on Scizor's dominance in each generation with a substantial focus on each suspect test, the opinions of community members, and the decisions that followed.

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SM

With only a single stint as an OU Pokémon, Scizor remained in UU for the entirety of the generation. Scizor's dominance in SM was largely due to its ability to run a diverse range of sets.

The majority of Scizor's usage was Swords Dance sets with a variety of items including Leftovers, Life Orb, Metal Coat, and Z-Crystals like Buginium and Fightinium Z. Its ability to utilize its bulk creatively to match up well against certain checks and walls gave it far more ability to break through opposing teams. Certain variants could decimate entire teams if they didn't have adequate counterplay. Superpower sets using Fightinium Z allowed Scizor to break through walls like Mega Aggron and Mega Steelix, which resist both of its STAB attacks. Life Orb Bug Bite sets gave Scizor the ability to break through Amoonguss, which otherwise walled it with Rocky Helmet, Hidden Power Fire, and Spore. Scizor also could use Buginium Z for Amoonguss. Z-Moves not only gave Scizor the ability to shatter walls in a single turn—they also allowed it to absorb Knock Off. Less common sets like Quick Attack gave Scizor the ability to KO weakened Bullet Punch answers such as Rotom-H, Moltres, and Starmie. Its strong Choice Band sets gave Scizor immediate breaking power. Unlike other Scizor sets, Choice Band was something not so easily dealt with when first uncovered. Its incredible Attack stat and strong STAB attacks made switching in to Choice Band Scizor a difficult task. Scizor's ability to kill threats neutral to Bullet Punch at even half HP made it one of—if not—the best revenge killer in the tier. Not to mention its ability to use Pursuit to eliminate threats and prevent them from switching out to heal or be used as sacs. Unexpected use of Choice Scarf also allows Scizor to surprise and pick off Pokémon such as Starmie, Latias, Hydreigon, and Celebi. Assault Vest sets can be used to withstand the occasional random use of Hidden Power Fire. Altogether, the variety of sets Scizor was able to viably run made it nearly impossible to account for every single one and act appropriately in battle.

In addition to its incredibly versatility, Scizor's easiness of use made it one of the most spammable Pokémon in the entire tier. It became a question of not why use Scizor, but why not use it?

In May of 2019, at the tail end of SM's competitive tenure, Scizor was suspect tested. In a post written by former tier leader Pearl, he stated that “Throughout SM UU's lifespan, Scizor has consistently been the most influential Pokémon, essentially shaping the whole metagame around its existence.” This is certainly not an overstatement. A potential Scizor suspect was one of the most divisive debates throughout the entire generation. Pleas to ban Scizor as well as statements in support of what it provided the metagame filled discussion threads and Discord messages.

Supporters of Scizor remaining in the tier such as Adaam spoke to what would change if Scizor were to be banned. Of the points he made, some of the most relevant were the Rock-types Terrakion and Mega Aerodactyl losing their primary revenge killer and Fire-type coverage becoming far less necessary on Pokémon such as Mega Manectric, Mega Altaria, and Latias. The loss of Scizor additionally would make for a huge buff to stall teams, which had plagued SM UU for the latter half of the generation.

Scizor's dominance did not just occur on ladder, nor did it only occur during a small period of time. Throughout the three UUPLs of the generation, the most competitive and prestigious UU team tournament, Scizor gathered a 33.19% usage rate with 77 uses in UUPL V, a 34.75% usage rate with 82 uses in UUPL V1, and a high of 40% usage and 16 uses in one week of UUPL VII (no cumulative usage stats available). Here are some additional stats.

• Scizor usage on April 1630 stats = 40%
• Scizor usage on April 1760 stats = 47.4%
• Scizor usage on last SPL stats = 44.8%

One user summarized the main arguments of some of UU's most prolific minds:

At the conclusion of the suspect, the Scizor NP thread had 157 messages. To put this into perspective, the NP thread for the suspect of Iron Hands in SV UU is the highest of the generation at 87 posts. There has really never been a more high-profile suspect than this. The only thing that comes close is when Aegislash was suspected for the second time in SS UU. Tensions ran high, arguments were had, and ultimately, in a vote by 60 qualified voters, 38 (52%) chose not to ban, while only 22 (30%) voted ban. In one of the most controversial suspects in UU history, Scizor remained UU.

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SS

Scizor once again took the stage as a controversial Pokémon in Sword and Shield. Unlike in SM, Scizor was ranked A tier on the viability rankings as opposed to S. Many of its checks were placed above it, certainly in part due to Scizor's dominance, such as Cobalion at S tier being the most reliable Scizor check, as it resists Bullet Punch, Quick Attack, Knock Off, and its Bug-type STAB attacks while falling prey to only Superpower, which was less used. Other Pokémon like Hippowdon, Salamence, Amoonguss, and Celesteela remained higher ranked than Scizor with varying degrees of ability to check it. In A tier, Pokémon like Skarmory, Rotom-W, and Keldeo stood guard against its sweeping potential. Regardless of these highly viable checks, Scizor was suspected on July 15th, 2022, at the tail end of the generation.

Due to changes in how the UU council was decided on suspects, the community was given the chance to voice their opinion through a survey. In conjunction with the councils vote, the UU community helped bring Scizor to a suspect. Much of what made Scizor broken in SM carried over into SS. For one thing, its set versatility remained strong even with the lack of Z-Moves, between Choice Band variants, bulky Swords Dance sets with either Leftovers or Heavy-Duty Boots, bulkier 3 attack Roost sets, Life Orb Swords Dance sets on hyper offense, etc. One key difference in SS was Scizor's new access to Heavy-Duty Boots. In SM, stacking Stealth Rock and Spikes limited Scizor's offensive potential in two ways, weakening Life Orb sets and reducing sweeping potential or forcing bulkier sets to Roost. Now, Scizor feared no hazards and thus was forced to Roost less frequently. Scizor also now commonly ran items like Protective Pads and Safety Goggles to prevent itself from being burned by Flame Body, chipped by Rocky Helmet, or put to sleep by Spore.

Scizor utilized its bulk far more in SS, sometimes opting to run no Attack EVs whatsoever and instead investing in HP and Defense to be able to set up Swords Dance in the face of Amoonguss—once Sleep Clause was active—and Mandibuzz. Many Scizor checks were easily exploited and sometimes fell prey to lesser-used moves paired with Swords Dance, such as Bug Bite, Super Power, Dual Wingbeat, and U-turn. Furthermore, Amoonguss, Scizor's biggest nuisance, lost access to Hidden Power Fire, making it a less effective countermeasure.

Three attacks + Roost Scizor sets became one of the most common sets used throughout the generation. Scizor's offensive potential was stunted with the loss of Z-Moves and a more substantial set of checks and counters than it had in SM. This, however, did not make it much less dominant. Its ability to absorb almost any attack, remove items with Knock Off, pivot with U-turn, and sustain itself through entire games with Roost made it an important pivot on all sorts of team archetypes. Its utility, though relatively one-dimensional, was unparalleled. Scizor could very easily act as a pivot throughout most of the early-game stages only to reveal Swords Dance on two attack sets and sweep teams at the end of the game. Additionally, pairing Scizor with other incredible pivots like Slowking and Thundurus-T made it far more threatening.

Even disregarding Scizor's inherently strong qualities and its impacts in battles themselves, the constraints Scizor placed on the team builder were extensive. Scizor required multiple checks considering the variety of sets it could run. Certain contingencies included Incinerator Thundurus-T and other more ridiculous countermeasures. Scizor's bulk and absurd Attack stat made it much more difficult to check than other Pokémon. Its immunity to poison and singular type weakness also made it difficult to eliminate.

In the suspect thread, longtime UU contributor and Grand Slam winner Adaam illustrated why he believed Scizor wasn't broken. He stated that Scizor really wasn't more dominant or dangerous than top Pokémon in the meta and Pokémon banned to UUBL. For him, it was the lack of frequency in which Scizor singlehandedly carried a team to a win. Scizor more so functioned like the cog in a machine. U-turn and Knock Off make good progress, but ultimately Scizor didn't accomplish enough to deem it broken.

UU Contributor and Room Voice Aqua Jet contributed to the conversation with a helpful graphic he used to argue against a Scizor ban:

Set	Check(s)	Counter(s)
3 Attacks + Roost	* (Fire Punch) /	(Bulky Swords Dance & Offensive Swords Dance) (Swords Dance) * (Flamethrower) * (Incinerate) * (Will-O-Wisp) * * * *
Bulky Swords Dance	* (Fire Punch) /	(Swords Dance) * (Flamethrower) (Incinerate) * (Will-O-Wisp) * * *
Offensive Swords Dance	* (Fire Punch) * / *	(swords dance) * * (Will-O-Wisp) * (Colbur Berry)

Illustrated on this graphic are the three most dominant Scizor sets and their respective checks and counters. Not only does Scizor have more checks and counters than typical broken Pokémon, its checks and counters are highly viable. As mentioned earlier, Pokémon like Amoonguss, Celesteela, Keldeo, Skarmory, Hippowdon, Cobalion, and Salamence are all phenomenal. Additionally, Rotom-H, Galarian Slowbro, Entei, and Registeel offered viable counterplay against Scizor. Fundamentally, there was a lot standing in the way of its undeniable strength. Another thing that made Scizor weaker was the fact that it was a very common target for Knock Off from Krookodile, Tangrowth, Nihilego, Mamoswine, and opposing Scizor. This meant it rarely benefited from Leftovers or Heavy Duty Boots throughout the whole game.

In the most one-sided Scizor suspect, the vote concluded with 27 Keep UU and only 6 to ban (15.79%). At the end of the day, the community believed that Scizor was more helpful to the meta than it was hurtful, and that it wasn't even detrimental or broken to any degree. Scizor has remained a threat, but we should be comfortable within a sea of threats in SS UU. It is not a Pokémon to take lightly, yet also not a Pokémon to ban. Interestingly, the few who chose to vote ban were some of the most prominent UU players of the time and are still considered to be valuable in the shaping of UU metagames throughout the years. Their opinions were certainly valid but didn't gather enough support.

Ultimately next to no one considered Scizor to be broken. A fair few did find it to be unhealthy and believed the meta would generally be better without it. Now, with SS being an old generation, Scizor has not been spoken about as broken and is instead looked upon less harshly as other threats like Primarina and Keldeo. However, its dominance still remains.

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SV

In yet another controversial decision, Scizor was suspected near the beginning of Scarlet and Violet. Despite it now losing its ability to Roost and Knock Off items, Scizor still remained a potent offensive threat. Even with two of its four most useful qualities, Scizor was subjected to the third suspect test in three generations, unlike any other threat UU has ever seen.

What is it that has made Scizor so dominant this generation? Is it its ability to SD BPBPBPBPBP as many of its opponents would say? Perhaps. Was it the introduction of new moves including Trailblaze, which allowed Scizor to either beat Quagsire or force it to Tera, or Close Combat, which was an improvement from Superpower, or its new use of Thief to break through the ever-dominant Skeledirge? This is also a contributing factor. But, what I and many people consider to be the main reason Scizor was suspected, was the new SV mechanic Terastallization. Before this generation, it was standard procedure to simply add Fire moves onto Pokémon built to sustain attacks from Scizor. Now, this was not enough. Pokémon like Talonflame, and Moltres for its short stint in UU, are able to comfortably resist Bullet Punch while potentially burning Scizor when it attacks with Flame Body in Talonflame's case. But with Scizor's new ability to Tera Fire and become immune to burns, Talonflame instead gave Scizor the ability to set up and win. Scizor did not just use one Tera though: Tera Rock saw some use to outright OHKO Talonflame, and more commonly Tera Steel made Scizor's Bullet Punch incredibly strong, allowing it to OHKO Pokémon like Slither Wing and Iron Jugulis after hazard chip. Alternatively, Scizor could use Tera Normal to do a similar thing to Pokémon like the former dominant UU monster Sandy Shocks, which resisted Steel.

Scizor has experienced similar deficits this gen as it did in others. For one, it does struggle with four-moveslot syndrome, meaning it can't fit on every move that allows it to break through walls. Scizor is forced to chose between U-turn and coverage moves and will potentially find its moveslot less useful in certain matchups. Similarly to previous gens, Scizor faced a decent pool of Bullet Punch answers such as Pawmot, Lucario, Talonflame, Quaquaval, and now things like Skeledirge, Iron Treads, Basculegion and Volcanion. Not to mention UU now having Magnezone as opposed to its lesser evolution Magneton. Scizor also faced Intimidate Pokémon such as Paldean Tauros-W and Salamence, which both possessed the defensive utility and offensive power to suppress Scizor. UU players did adapt their strategies to account for Tera Fire, clicking Will-O-Wisp less often.

Despite its inhibiting factors, Scizor once again showed the community why it remains on the top of viability. The red magician itself has pulled off some extraordinary victories on both ladder and high-level tournament play alike, which resulted in an unanimous vote by the council to suspect it. It is important to note that this suspect did occur with new additions such as rain and Quaquaval, which both warranted respect in the builder.

In a far closer suspect test than in SS, Scizor remained UU with the following vote:

• Ban: 19
• Keep UU: 26

Why was Scizor so close to being banned? Well, despite its lack of Roost, players found no trouble sustaining Scizor with great Wish users such as Alomomola and Scream Tail. Scizor was able to maintain its dominance throughout long games if it kept itself from being paralyzed or burned. Additionally, its ability to now boost both Attack and Speed with new access to Trailblaze made Scizor more difficult to check. If faster, it could use Close Combat on Pokémon that could stomach a Bullet Punch. The importance of Tera simply can't be overstated. Scizor once again used a generation specific mechanic to nearly double its potential in battle. Many pro-ban players felt like Scizor centralized the meta, nearly mandating the use of either Salamence, Talonflame, or Paldean Tauros-W and -F to keep it in check. Opponents of Scizor's ban found it not as strong and threatening to make it worthy of a ban and additionally thought that the tier would potentially suffer at the loss of a great revenge killer with wonderful defensive utility.

Regardless of these thoughts, Scizor remained in UU through several metagames. In the current post-Home metagame, with some pretty intense tier shifts, Scizor sits at the top of VR in the A+ rank. Some new additions to the tier like Thundurus-T and the brand new and exciting Tornadus-T give more wiggle room around Scizor. Other Pokémon like Basculegion, Hisuian Goodra, and Scizor's old opponent Hippowdon provide additional support against it.

Moving into the DLCs, it is impossible to say what will come of Scizor. Will it have the ability to take advantage of the new Pokémon or synergize with them to regain its threatening status? Or will it simply fall into a mix of viable Pokémon. The tier is its oyster, as it has always been. And the creative and talented UU players will certainly find ways to exploit its utility. Will it receive its fourth suspect? We can only wait and see.

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