Skarmory

[MMII]

Name: Skarmory
Type: Steel / Flying
Abilities: Keen Eye / Sturdy / Weak Armor
Base Stats: 65 / 80 / 140 / 40 / 70 / 70
Movepool: http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/skarmory/moves
Stats and movepool unconfirmed

General Description:
Defog kills hazards so you don't need Taunt (although its nice still for other walls) or Spikes anymore which lets you run Defog and Toxic. Otherwise it's still same good old Skarmer minus the walling SD Ghostceus bit. More important to have him with the likes of Mega Mawile running around.

 

[Edgar]

I made a team with it the other day, I run defog on it but, it can't really punish other defog users like arceus and giratina-o if you run spikes.

 

[Fireburn]

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Roost
- Defog
- Whirlwind / Stealth Rock / Brave Bird

More or less the optimal moveset for Skarmory this gen. One cool perk is that Skarmory can come in repeatedly on Groudon without Fire moves to Defog away Stealth Rock, and it can reliably counter Extremekiller and most other SD Arceus (save Ghost w/ Shadow Force) which is great. Toxic and Roost are mandatory (Skarm really can't hurt anything without Toxic), Defog is probably why you're using Skarmory (so you can free up a moveslot on your Arceus), and Whirlwind is for phazing and can allow Skarm to emergency check Geomancy Xerneas if Sturdy is intact. However, WW isn't quite as useful on Skarm as it was last gen due to Spikestacking being a suboptimal strategy with Defog Arceus and/or Giratina-O on most teams, so Skarm can handle setting up Rocks if your team needs it. Brave Bird can also be used to punish M2X for attempting to Taunt and Amoonguss trying to nab free Regen healing. It is also your best defense against Mega Gengar unless you run Shed Shell. You can run Max Defense if you're terrified of Mega Kangaskhan and want to take hits from M2X better.

Pair with things that can take Fire/Electric moves and Kyogre. Palkia, Zekrom, your own Kyogre, Arceus-Rock/Water, and Giratina(-O) are good picks. Blissey is always a good Skarmory partner as well.

 

[Hack]

I disagree with the special defense investment. You are litterally only doing better against neutral STABed support Arceus with it this gen- and wow+jugdment pressures you badly in the long run (will get a calc when on my comp).

Choiced special dragons and -2 dracos that it could take are much more rare with good reason. The most common special attackers (Xerneas, Yveltal, Kyogre, Mewtwo, Palkia etc.) still beat you no matter how large investment you run.

Losing Dark and Ghost resists suck too as these moves were often special, like arc ghosts judgment. Will update more on comp later.

 

[MMII]

Also Taunt is a cool move on Skarmory.

 

[tyronetheblack]

is spikes still viable for skarmory is it better with just stealth rocks..?

 

[Donkey]

is spikes still viable for skarmory is it better with just stealth rocks..?

depends on team, both are viable

 

[DontStealMyPenguin]

Skarmory could set up rocks and then die then let charizard-x pull a sweep since it resists both of skarmory's weaknesses so it can likely set up on the pokemon which killed skarmory. Stab +1 dragon claw with charizard's tough claws ability kills most dragons and flare blitz fucks everything else up. Tough claws means that a +1 boost is equivalent of a +2, which is nice.