Pokemon Focus: #227 - Skarmory

Introduction

Skarmory is the fifth member of our "Big Six" and another perennial favorite. The idea of a flying, bladed bird of steel is just too cool. It helps that it's resistant to a lot of attacks, weak to only a few, and has a huge Defense stat that only helps its purposes. It's not going to be a gung-ho offensive striker, but as a defensive wall with numerous support options, it will be a key member of the team.

The physical-special split does give Skarmory a little bit of trouble, as does new moves like Close Combat and Stone Edge, but Skarmory should be able to weather the changes with some good team support.

Capture/Training

Skarmory can be found on Route 45. While not particularly hard to encounter, they will be extremely difficult to catch thanks to an extremely low catch rate of 25. Drop its HP as low as you can and use status moves to cripple it. Skarmory does not evolve, so no notes there. Also, trying to find one with a good nature is not necessary, especially because the actual competitive Skarmory will be bred. Finding one that is female, though, is preferable, for the exact same reason.

Statistics

65 HP, 80 Atk, 140 Def, 40 Sp. Atk, 70 Sp. Def, 70 Spd

That huge Defense stat is the big draw here. Other stats are pretty mediocre (not that Skarmory ever cared about Special Attack).

Stat focus should definitely be out of Special Attack. As far as EV-training goes, full HP is definitely recommended. As for other stats, any of them could work as a boost. Increased Attack or Speed can help on a more offensive set, while Defense obviously helps its given purpose as a physical wall. A Special Defense boost can actually be helpful: combined with Skarmory's resistances (many of which now have special attack variants), it can make Skarmory into a "mixed wall". In general, aside from max HP and zero Sp. Atk, it doesn't really matter which stats get EVs if Skarmory is not going to be used seriously-competitively.

Movesets

Abilities are Sturdy and Keen Eye. Both are okay but won't see use in competitive circles. Still, in game, Keen Eye might be useful what with all the accuracy-reducing foes out there. Sturdy only really comes into play a couple of times. Still, there are some enemies, particularly in the Battle Tower, that might try to use such moves on you...

As Skarmory is more a support Pokemon, having a primary attack is good but not necessarily so important as to need multiple such moves. A Flying-type move is generally more useful, and the main candidates are Drill Peck for a reliable move and Brave Bird for a strong move, albeit with the whole recoil side effect. However, both moves are Egg Moves, which means that the parent Skarmory will have to do without. Fly will work just fine in-game, despite its major difficulties when used against human opponents. On the Steel-side, there's Steel Wing. It's a fine move, and useful for putting down Rock-types, but isn't strictly necessary.

Skarmory doesn't have a whole lot to say as for secondary attacks. Slash and Night Slash are okay, and have that nice critical-hit chance, though they're not particularly powerful; they're more "fun" choices than anything. (A critical-hit Slash or non-crit super-effective Night Slash is only marginally more powerful than a STAB Fly.) Skarmory does also have Rock Slide available, to take down assorted troublesome Flying-types.

One of Skarmory's biggest attractions is being able to reliably lay down Spikes. While not able to hurt flyers or Levitators, it can still chip off a good amount off anyone else. Skarmory's high defenses allow it to have time to lay down all three layers of Spikes, which is an easy 1/4 HP off anyone who switches in. Skarmory can also lay down Stealth Rock, which is much easier; however, many other Pokemon can set that up. In fact, setting up both Spikes and Stealth Rock is a great way to really cripple opponents before they even have a chance to launch an attack, so depending on the team, it might be better to have Skarmory lay down Spikes while a teammate uses Stealth Rock. (To really put the hurt on foes, throw in some Toxic Spikes as well.)

Skarmory has access to the useful Whirlwind pseudo-hazing move. Whirlwind will send away Pokemon who've boosted their stats, erasing their stat boosts; it will also chase out Pokemon that Skarmory in general cannot handle. If entry hazards are in play, Skarmory will also force the replacement to take some damage, which is a nice bonus.

Roost is a great recovery move that pairs very nicely with Skarmory's role as a defensive wall. One thing to keep in mind when using it, though, is that the move will temporarily turn Skarmory into a plain-Steel type. This means it'll be resistant to Ice and Rock for the turn, but if you're not careful, you could end up on the receiving end of a supereffective Fighting or Ground-type attack.

Taunt is a good way to ensure that enemies try to hit you with their weak attacks, instead of trying to do something else.

Toxic works well as a disruptor, particularly in conjunction with Spikes/Stealth Rock as enemies will have to judge whether to stay in and take the increasing Poison damage or switch and take the entry hazard damage.

Swords Dance and Agility are both ways to power-up Skarmory. Doing so will turn Skarmory into something of a fighting-wall.

Moveset 1: Support
- (primary Flying attack)
- Spikes/Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Roost

The standard Skarmory. Competitively, oftentimes seen with Brave Bird, using Roost to heal off the recoil (oftentimes with Leftovers help). Drill Peck is, of course, the more reliable option. Other than that, set up your entry hazard, then start attacking or Whirlwinding for passive damage, and Roost when you need healing (though carefully, or else you might get greeted by a Fighting-type attack).

It should be noted that two EV-spreads are possible here. One is a 252 HP/64 Atk/176 Def/16 Spd, or if you're too lazy to count, max HP, focus on Defense but leave a couple for Attack and Speed. The other is actually a 252 HP/4 Def/252 Sp. Def (Yes, Special Defense), turning Skarmory into a "mixed wall" capable of absorbing hits of all sorts. Both serve well to Skarmory's purpose as a supporting wall.

Moveset 2: Swords Dance
- (primary Flying attack)
- Steel Wing/Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Roost/Agility

Swords Dance does give Skarmory some attacking power. Set up and start attacking. With Agility, it can become something like a sweeper, or you can use Roost to be more of a defensive-offensive wall.

Moveset 3: Taunt
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Roost
- Spikes/Whirlwind/Brave Bird

Remember, Skarmory is pretty well-built to take hits. So Taunting an opponent to make them hit you is actually a stalling move. Toxic, then, makes the enemy take damage while they're trying to attack you. Roost off damage (carefully), and continue. Spikes can punish those trying to switch out of Taunt and Toxic, while Whirlwind helps scout as well as take advantage of entry hazards set up by teammates. Brave Bird is a more direct offensive against certain foes.

General Moveset
- (primary Flying attack)
- (primary Steel attack)/(support move)
- (support move)
- (support move)/Roost

Roost is pretty much a given with Skarmory's defensive billing. However, if you don't want to use up that TM on it, you're going to have to do some creative breeding. That, and be prepared to find an alternative for the parent Skarmory.

Effective Movesets

1. Spiker Ver. 1
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost

2. Spiker Ver. 2
- Drill Peck
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost

3. Stealth Rock
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Roost

4. Taunt
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Roost
- Brave Bird

5. Swords Dancer
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Steel Wing
- Roost

6. Special(ly Defensive) Spiker
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
EVs: Max HP and Sp. Def

7. In-game Parent Skarmory
- Fly
- Steel Wing
- Night Slash
- Spikes

8. Stealth Rock Ver. 2
- Drill Peck
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Roost

9. Special Skarmory? (Novelty moveset)
- Air Slash
- Flash Cannon
- Metal Sound
- Dark Pulse

Note: Please don't use this set seriously.

Future Sight

For Skarmory, the largest change is a change to one of its abilities: Sturdy now acts as an automatic Focus Sash, preventing one-hit KO's while Skarmory is at full health. This is a welcome change for the metal bird, who previously didn't exactly have much to work with ability-wise. Sturdy now allows Skarmory to function as an effective lead, as it does not need to give up its item slot for Focus Sash to do so; it can also mean the difference as far as getting that extra layer of Spikes up.

Past that, though, Skarmory didn't get anything particularly noteworthy, except maybe for Freefall.

Postscript: Breeding

One small difficulty in using Skarmory competitively is that its best primary Flying attacks, as well as Whirlwind, are Egg Moves. Add that to the fact that Roost is not a replenishable TM, and it's clear that some breeding is in order. However, the actual breeding process can be rather tricky.

The moves in question are: Brave Bird, Drill Peck, Whirlwind, and Roost. First, we'll look at Roost. While, of course, it can be taught to anyone by TM, there are also two key Pokemon families who can learn the move by level-up. They are the Pidgey family and the Spearow family. The Pidgey family is important because it can also learn Whirlwind by level-up, while the Spearow family is important because it can learn Drill Peck by level-up. So if you were only looking for one of those two combination of moves, there you have it.

As for Brave Bird, the only Pokemon family who can learn it on its own here is the Starly family. However, it can be bred onto the Pidgey family, thus resulting in the an easy way to get one of two target trios: Brave Bird, Whirlwind, and Roost.

Now, how about Drill Peck, Whirlwind, and Roost? Well, as it turns out, the Spearow family can be bred to learn Whirlwind. So have a Pidgey-family breed Whirlwind onto Spearow (Roost is optional as it'll have to learn it anyways to get to Drill Peck), and you'll have a Spearow with Drill Peck, Whirlwind, and Roost ready to be passed on.

If you want just Roost and Brave Bird (see Moveset 3), the fastest way to do so is to take a Wingull, who learns Roost by level-up earliest of the birds at Lv. 29, and breed its roost onto Starly, who will then learn Brave Bird and pass that on.

In review, the chains are as follows:

Moveset 1, Brave Bird/Whirlwind/Roost: Starly -> Pidgey -> Skarmory
Moveset 1, Drill Peck/Whirlwind/Roost: Pidgey -> Spearow -> Skarmory
Moveset 2, Drill Peck/Roost: Spearow -> Skarmory
Moveset 3, Whirlwind/Roost: Pidgey -> Skarmory
Moveset 3, Brave Bird/Roost: Wingull -> Starly -> Skarmory