[OVERVIEW]
Swords Dance Scyther is able to fire off powerful Technician-boosted attacks with its great Attack as well as capitalize on the extra bulk it gains from Eviolite, easing setup by gifting it more opportunities. As a pivot, Scyther leverages its great Speed, which lets it outpace top threats in NU like Overqwil, Paldean Tauros-W, and Toxicroak. This quality is further enhanced by the tier's general lack of good entry hazard removal, meaning the opponent's attempts to switch around Scyther and its teammates are punished even more. Its typing is also quite helpful, since it allows Scyther to switch in on many common Pokemon like Breloom, Decidueye, and Flygon. However, Swords Dance sets not running Heavy-Duty Boots are crippled by Stealth Rock; additionally, Pokemon that Scyther switches into like Tsareena, Scrafty, and Florges carry moves like Knock Off and Trick to severely cripple it and limit its longevity. Scyther's bulk isn't the best in general, since it is 2HKOed by the secondary STAB moves and coverage moves of Pokemon it'd easily beat otherwise like Brambleghast's Poltergeist, Toxicroak's Gunk Shot, and Breloom's Rock Tomb. Contact effects like Milotic's and Galarian Slowbro's Rocky Helmet as well as Bellibolt's Static can punish Scyther's tendency to pivot with U-turn.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Dual Wingbeat
move 3: Close Combat
move 4: Trailblaze
item: Eviolite / Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Technician
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
tera type: Electric / Grass / Fighting
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
====
Since Close Combat nails Steel-types like Registeel, Orthworm, and Tera Steel Sylveon, it complements Dual Wingbeat almost perfectly. Trailblaze allows Scyther to boost its Speed, letting it outpace and deal with faster Pokemon such as Kilowattrel, Cinccino, and Inteleon. Since on hyper offense builds Scyther is nearly always paired with Tidy Up Cinccino to remove entry hazards, it prefers Eviolite for more setup opportunities, but Heavy-Duty Boots can be used if a team has poor hazard removal or none at all. Technician powers up Dual Wingbeat and Trailblaze to make them quite powerful and dangerous attacks. Tera Electric lets Scyther flip what would otherwise be poor matchups against Pokemon like Kilowattrel, Oricorio-F and -P, and Tornadus into setup opportunities, and it lets Scyther disregard Thunder Wave from Registeel and Prankster Klefki. Tera Grass boosts Trailblaze, letting Scyther more easily beat Diancie as well as Water-types like Vaporeon and Gastrodon. Tera Fighting turns Scyther's Rock weakness into a resistance and gifts it a boost to Close Combat to better handle Steel- and Rock-types.
On hyper offense, whether Cinccino chooses to be a lead or setup sweeper, it is a near-essential partner for Eviolite Scyther; Cinccino can remove entry hazards with Tidy Up and weaken as well as possibly take advantage of Scyther's checks like Bronzong, Gligar, and Diancie. Other hazard-removing and -denying leads like Rapid Spin Brambleghast and Taunt Lycanroc are appreciated as well, letting Scyther freely run Eviolite. Steel-types like Registeel, Orthworm, and Bronzong are one of Scyther's biggest roadblocks, so Pokemon that can beat them outright like Paldean Tauros-W and -F, Flygon, Infernape, and Chandelure make for great partners. Toxtricity, Uxie, Porygon-Z, Calm Mind Scream Tail, and Diancie work well too, as they can work alongside Scyther to overwhelm the same Steel-types instead. Blanket physical walls such as Galarian Slowbro, Scream Tail, Gligar, and Milotic can be annoying to get past for Scyther, making teammates like Chandelure, Munkidori, Inteleon, Porygon-Z, and Toxtricity pair well. Cinccino, Porygon-Z, Incineroar, and Overqwil draw in Fighting- and Ground-types like Breloom, Flamigo, and Flygon that Scyther can take advantage of after they get KOed. Incineroar is quite a bothersome foe for Scyther, so it enjoys teammates that can weaken Incineroar, like Decidueye, Overqwil, and Salazzle, and ones that take it out completely, such as Paldean Tauros-W and -F, Infernape, and Flygon.
[SET]
name: Offensive Pivot
move 1: U-turn
move 2: Dual Wingbeat
move 3: Close Combat / Defog
move 4: Swords Dance / Defog
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Technician
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
tera type: Electric / Steel / Fighting
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
====
U-turn lets Scyther pivot out of bad matchups against Bronzong, Galarian Slowbro, and Registeel while allowing it to maintain momentum. Close Combat targets the Steel-types that resist and try to switch into Scyther's STAB moves. Swords Dance allows Scyther to take advantage of a free turn, and it lets Scyther better break through more defensive teams. However, either Close Combat or Swords Dance can be replaced with Defog so that Scyther can provide its team with some much-needed entry hazard removal, since Defog is uncommon to come by. Tera Electric lets Scyther capitalize on would-be bad matchups against Kilowattrel, Tornadus, and Oricorio-P and -F, as well as gifting it an immunity to Scream Tail's and Prankster Klefki's Thunder Wave. However, Tera Steel provides Scyther with many resistances, letting it take attacks like Cinccino's Tail Slap, Inteleon's Ice Beam, and Munkidori's Sludge Wave. Tera Fighting powers up Scyther's Close Combat and makes its Rock weakness a resistance, helping it out when it pivots into Stealth Rock if it's already lost its Heavy-Duty Boots, though.
Steel-types such as Bronzong, Registeel, and Orthworm try to take advantage of Scyther using its STAB attacks, so partners like Chandelure, Flygon, and Paldean Tauros-F pair extremely well. In a similar vein, Fire-types like Incineroar, Chandelure, and Hisuian Typhlosion often switch into Scyther, trying to capitalize on its U-turn and, in the latter two's case, its Close Combat as well. Because of this, switch-ins to these Pokemon like Milotic, Incineroar, and Goodra are greatly appreciated. Gastrodon is an especially noteworthy partner, as it provides a switch-in to Steel- and Fire-types, handles Kilowattrel, a common Scyther check, and sets entry hazards, which complements Scyther's pivoting quite well. Other hazard setters that can achieve the same thing such as Bronzong, Diancie, Swampert, and Gligar work just as well. While Scyther can take attacks from Fighting- and Ground-types such as Breloom, Paldean Tauros-W, and Flygon, it is quite a poor check due to its frailty, so more solid or secondary checks like Sylveon, Galarian Slowbro, Amoonguss, and Whimsicott are great partners. Rotom-H, Flygon, and Munkidori work well as teammates; Rotom-H can switch into Ground-type attacks and take care of Water-types; Flygon appreciates how Scyther threatens Grass-types like Tsareena and Whimsicott and can provide it with a way to handle Fire-and Steel-types; Munkidori can spread poison to weaken checks like Diancie, Incineroar, and Vaporeon and remove Poison-types like Galarian Slowbro and Tera Poison Sylveon. Scyther often finds itself pivoting out against physical walls like Galarian Slowbro, Bellibolt, and Gligar, making wallbreakers such as Hisuian Typhlosion, Toxtricity, and Inteleon good teammates.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
On Swords Dance sets, Quick Attack can be used instead of Trailblaze, as it doesn't need to be used before facing faster threats like Kilowattrel, Inteleon, and Cinccino to be effective. Tera Normal can also be utilized, boosting Quick Attack while also granting Scyther a free turn of setup, if needed, by avoiding powerful Ghost-type attacks from Decidueye and Brambleghast. Tera Ground can be used on Scyther, since it lets Scyther take attacks from Poison-, Fire-, Rock-, and Electric-types like Galarian Slowbro, Salazzle, Diancie, and Kilowattrel; on top of that, it allows Scyther to take advantage of Tera Blast to hit the former three super effectively.
Checks and Counters
====
**Electric-types**: Kilowattrel, Galvantula, and Raikou all outspeed Scyther and threaten it with their Electric-type STAB moves, while Rotom-H is slower but can take Dual Wingbeat easily and retaliate back with Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave. However, if Scyther Terastallizes into an Electric-type, it can capitalize on and beat all of them.
**Steel-types**: Copperajah, Registeel, Orthworm, and Bronzong can all take Scyther's Dual Wingbeat, and the former three can handle constant U-turns. On top of that, they can capitalize on this by setting up entry hazards and, in the latter three's case, boosting as well. Close Combat dents the former three, and the latter can't deal with repeated U-turns, though.
**Fire-types**: Incineroar, Chandelure, and Hisuian Typhlosion can all switch in and take advantage of Scyther's Defog; the latter two can also capitalize on Swords Dance, if they run Choice Scarf, as well as Close Combat. Additionally, none of them are severely punished by Scyther's U-turn if they predict poorly. However, they fail to switch into a Dual Wingbeat too well, and Incineroar hates to take Close Combat.
**Item Displacement**: Pokemon that Scyther would normally be fine with switching into and beating one-on-one such as Scrafty, Tsareena, and Florges can carry crippling moves like Knock Off and Trick. Since these moves would remove Scyther's Heavy-Duty Boots, Scyther would take Stealth Rock damage, limiting its switch ins and ability to be an effective Defogger.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/powerofmemes.583607/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/rabia.336073/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lucario.189361/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/danbear02.589016/
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