NOTE
Most of the stuff listed here was already pre-approved through Quality Control. Unless Quality Control wants something added / subtracted, I don't think we need a QC check. Just GP.
Skarmory
[Overview]
<p>Skarmory takes flight once more to block almost every physical hit thrown at it. Steel / Flying is an awesome type combination that only has two crippling weaknesses. Sturdy has received a nice buff that allows Skarmory to take a fatal hit if it's at full health. Finally, no other wall packs a recovery move, access to Spikes and Stealth Rock, a phazing move, and a unique typing like Skarmory. The metagame may have slowly geared itself towards special attackers such as Thundurus and Reuniclus and some physical attackers have acquired new ways to get around Skarmory, but it still gets the job done.</p>
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Roost
move 2: Spikes
move 3: Whirlwind
move 4: Brave Bird / Taunt
item: Leftovers / Shed Shell
ability: Sturdy
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Tried and true, this still stands as Skarmory's best set. After Skarmory makes its presence known out on the battlefield, the opponent will likely run away scared of the metal bird's superb Defense. Skarmory should lay Spikes to force the opponent to make a rather painful decision when switching in and out of the battlefield. Using Roost can wear out Life Orb users such as Metagross and Gyarados while keeping Skarmory up-to-shape for the next assault. Whirlwind is great against Pokemon such as Bulk Up Conkeldurr or merely shuffling for extra damage from the opponent landing on Spikes. Brave Bird ties it all together nicely with it being a high Base Power STAB move that handles threats nicely; especially Fighting-types such as Machamp and Scrafty. If you're deathly afraid of being set up on by Wobbuffet or want to prevent other Pokemon from setting up, Taunt may be a superior choice over Brave Bird to use on Skarmory.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p>24 Speed EVs is the minimum Speed Skarmory needs to outspeed max Speed Wobbuffet. This allows Skarmory to Taunt Wobbuffet before it uses Encore or, at worst, use Spikes since its a move that can afford to have its PP burned out. Leftovers is the preferred item to give Skarmory recovery on the side while keeping it closer to full health. If being trapped by Magnezone or Wobbuffet is an issue, Shed Shell can provide assurance that Skarmory will never be in such a dangerous situation.</p>
<p>The pink blobs, Blissey or Chansey, make great partners for Skarmory; they take special attackers like a champ and can cripple Pokemon with Toxic or Thunder Wave. Having access to Aromatherapy helps in situations when Skarmory is put to sleep or burned. Wish can help Skarmory stay at full health at all times, which makes it very annoying with Sturdy guaranteeing a 2HKO at best each time. While Jellicent does attract Electric-type moves, it's a great partner to have thanks to its awesome typing; it takes on Fire-types such as Heatran and Infernape nicely while using Will-O-Wisp to help Skarmory take on physical threats better. Gliscor is a cool partner since it can switch into most Fighting-types with relative ease and is one of the better ways to take down Excadrill. Provided that another Pokemon sets up Spikes, Skarmory can opt to use both Brave Bird and Taunt. Deoxys-S or Scolipede can lay Spikes thanks to their high Speed and access to Taunt. Additional indirect damage from Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, or sandstorm works great alongside Spikes.</p>
[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Roost
move 3: Whirlwind
move 4: Brave Bird / Taunt
item: Leftovers / Shed Shell
nature: Careful
ability: Sturdy
evs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Since Skarmory's base Defense is naturally quite high, this EV spread buffers its weaker Special Defense. Physical sweepers can still be checked despite the loss of physical bulk, but 2HKOs are a bit more prevalent. The set is meant to work around bulky Water-types, but it works well against Choice users that are locked onto a resisted attack aswell. Simply come in like usual, set up Spikes or Roost to recover lost health, and use Skarmory's other moves whenever necessary. Be careful when using Brave Bird on this set, as bulky Water-types sometimes use Scald to induce a burn on the opponent. Taunt variants won’t mind it much aside from the health loss, but a weakened Brave Bird makes it harder to kill some physical sweepers.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p>This setisn't as vulnerable to bulky Water-types or special attackers in general, but Blissey or Chansey are still great teammates for Skarmory. Ghost-types such as Jellicent are still recommended to keep entry hazards on the field. Gliscor is more synergistic with this set; especially if you fore go a Ghost-type, since Fighting-types will do quite a bit more damage to Skarmory. For example, after a Bulk Up, Conkeldurr can threaten to 2HKO Skarmory with Drain Punch.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Stealth Rock can replace Spikes if you want Skarmory to set up as quickly as possible. Drill Peck can replace Brave Bird if the recoil turns you off. Toxic helps Skarmory eliminate threats and works well against certain Pokemon such as Wobbuffet, Politoed, and Jellicent switch-ins. Don't bother with any stat-up moves; Skarmory is already vulnerable to Taunt and lacks the movepool to use them effectively anyway.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Any Skarmory without Shed Shell loses to Magnezone. The most Skarmory can do is try to Whirlwind and pray that Magnezone uses Substitute instead of zapping to death with STAB Thunderbolt. Wobbuffet isn't a big fan of Taunt, but it can Encore Spikes and Tickle Skarmory to death; after 6 Tickles, Skarmory takes 75.4% - 88.9% if it tries switching out from Choice Band Tyranitar's Pursuit. Specially defensive variants of Skarmory might as well kiss their tin asses goodbye. Zapdos is completely immune to Spikes, packs STAB Thunderbolt, can heal itself with Roost, and even counter-phaze if necessary with Roar. Rotom-W has Will-O-Wisp and STAB Thunderbolt going against Skarmory while not taking passive damage from Spikes thanks to Levitate. Thundurus is a huge threat to Skarmory. If the Skarmory player is unlucky, its team might have to face a +2 Thundurus, which is almost complete annihilation if there isn't anything to outspeed and KO it. If it doesn't, there's always Taunt and Thunder Wave to make Skarmory fret. Though paralysis is minor in some cases, a 25% chance of a lock-up sucks. Furthermore, the Speed drop can force you to lose against Choice Band Tyranitar's Stone Edge. Heatran hates Spikes, but it can shut down the process with Taunt and singe the metal birdie with STAB Fire Blast. Other Taunt users such as Gliscor can be a headache for Skarmory, since a Taunted Skarmory can be easily forced out.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Skarmory obtains Breakable Armor as a Dream World ability. It's pretty counterproductive, though, when the main point of using Skarmory is for its Defense. Stick with Sturdy.</p>
Most of the stuff listed here was already pre-approved through Quality Control. Unless Quality Control wants something added / subtracted, I don't think we need a QC check. Just GP.
Skarmory
[Overview]
<p>Skarmory takes flight once more to block almost every physical hit thrown at it. Steel / Flying is an awesome type combination that only has two crippling weaknesses. Sturdy has received a nice buff that allows Skarmory to take a fatal hit if it's at full health. Finally, no other wall packs a recovery move, access to Spikes and Stealth Rock, a phazing move, and a unique typing like Skarmory. The metagame may have slowly geared itself towards special attackers such as Thundurus and Reuniclus and some physical attackers have acquired new ways to get around Skarmory, but it still gets the job done.</p>
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Roost
move 2: Spikes
move 3: Whirlwind
move 4: Brave Bird / Taunt
item: Leftovers / Shed Shell
ability: Sturdy
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Tried and true, this still stands as Skarmory's best set. After Skarmory makes its presence known out on the battlefield, the opponent will likely run away scared of the metal bird's superb Defense. Skarmory should lay Spikes to force the opponent to make a rather painful decision when switching in and out of the battlefield. Using Roost can wear out Life Orb users such as Metagross and Gyarados while keeping Skarmory up-to-shape for the next assault. Whirlwind is great against Pokemon such as Bulk Up Conkeldurr or merely shuffling for extra damage from the opponent landing on Spikes. Brave Bird ties it all together nicely with it being a high Base Power STAB move that handles threats nicely; especially Fighting-types such as Machamp and Scrafty. If you're deathly afraid of being set up on by Wobbuffet or want to prevent other Pokemon from setting up, Taunt may be a superior choice over Brave Bird to use on Skarmory.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p>24 Speed EVs is the minimum Speed Skarmory needs to outspeed max Speed Wobbuffet. This allows Skarmory to Taunt Wobbuffet before it uses Encore or, at worst, use Spikes since its a move that can afford to have its PP burned out. Leftovers is the preferred item to give Skarmory recovery on the side while keeping it closer to full health. If being trapped by Magnezone or Wobbuffet is an issue, Shed Shell can provide assurance that Skarmory will never be in such a dangerous situation.</p>
<p>The pink blobs, Blissey or Chansey, make great partners for Skarmory; they take special attackers like a champ and can cripple Pokemon with Toxic or Thunder Wave. Having access to Aromatherapy helps in situations when Skarmory is put to sleep or burned. Wish can help Skarmory stay at full health at all times, which makes it very annoying with Sturdy guaranteeing a 2HKO at best each time. While Jellicent does attract Electric-type moves, it's a great partner to have thanks to its awesome typing; it takes on Fire-types such as Heatran and Infernape nicely while using Will-O-Wisp to help Skarmory take on physical threats better. Gliscor is a cool partner since it can switch into most Fighting-types with relative ease and is one of the better ways to take down Excadrill. Provided that another Pokemon sets up Spikes, Skarmory can opt to use both Brave Bird and Taunt. Deoxys-S or Scolipede can lay Spikes thanks to their high Speed and access to Taunt. Additional indirect damage from Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, or sandstorm works great alongside Spikes.</p>
[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Roost
move 3: Whirlwind
move 4: Brave Bird / Taunt
item: Leftovers / Shed Shell
nature: Careful
ability: Sturdy
evs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Since Skarmory's base Defense is naturally quite high, this EV spread buffers its weaker Special Defense. Physical sweepers can still be checked despite the loss of physical bulk, but 2HKOs are a bit more prevalent. The set is meant to work around bulky Water-types, but it works well against Choice users that are locked onto a resisted attack aswell. Simply come in like usual, set up Spikes or Roost to recover lost health, and use Skarmory's other moves whenever necessary. Be careful when using Brave Bird on this set, as bulky Water-types sometimes use Scald to induce a burn on the opponent. Taunt variants won’t mind it much aside from the health loss, but a weakened Brave Bird makes it harder to kill some physical sweepers.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p>This setisn't as vulnerable to bulky Water-types or special attackers in general, but Blissey or Chansey are still great teammates for Skarmory. Ghost-types such as Jellicent are still recommended to keep entry hazards on the field. Gliscor is more synergistic with this set; especially if you fore go a Ghost-type, since Fighting-types will do quite a bit more damage to Skarmory. For example, after a Bulk Up, Conkeldurr can threaten to 2HKO Skarmory with Drain Punch.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Stealth Rock can replace Spikes if you want Skarmory to set up as quickly as possible. Drill Peck can replace Brave Bird if the recoil turns you off. Toxic helps Skarmory eliminate threats and works well against certain Pokemon such as Wobbuffet, Politoed, and Jellicent switch-ins. Don't bother with any stat-up moves; Skarmory is already vulnerable to Taunt and lacks the movepool to use them effectively anyway.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Any Skarmory without Shed Shell loses to Magnezone. The most Skarmory can do is try to Whirlwind and pray that Magnezone uses Substitute instead of zapping to death with STAB Thunderbolt. Wobbuffet isn't a big fan of Taunt, but it can Encore Spikes and Tickle Skarmory to death; after 6 Tickles, Skarmory takes 75.4% - 88.9% if it tries switching out from Choice Band Tyranitar's Pursuit. Specially defensive variants of Skarmory might as well kiss their tin asses goodbye. Zapdos is completely immune to Spikes, packs STAB Thunderbolt, can heal itself with Roost, and even counter-phaze if necessary with Roar. Rotom-W has Will-O-Wisp and STAB Thunderbolt going against Skarmory while not taking passive damage from Spikes thanks to Levitate. Thundurus is a huge threat to Skarmory. If the Skarmory player is unlucky, its team might have to face a +2 Thundurus, which is almost complete annihilation if there isn't anything to outspeed and KO it. If it doesn't, there's always Taunt and Thunder Wave to make Skarmory fret. Though paralysis is minor in some cases, a 25% chance of a lock-up sucks. Furthermore, the Speed drop can force you to lose against Choice Band Tyranitar's Stone Edge. Heatran hates Spikes, but it can shut down the process with Taunt and singe the metal birdie with STAB Fire Blast. Other Taunt users such as Gliscor can be a headache for Skarmory, since a Taunted Skarmory can be easily forced out.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Skarmory obtains Breakable Armor as a Dream World ability. It's pretty counterproductive, though, when the main point of using Skarmory is for its Defense. Stick with Sturdy.</p>
