New Player, Help Wanted

raichulover11

raichulover11

Levy-chan
Member
So I am EV training a Skarmory I got.

Skarmory @ ???
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Brave Bird

Any ideas for a team based around it?
 
Welcome to the Competitive Play forum!

Skarmory is a great Pokemon that can perform a utility role on several teams. In general, this would be a typical Skarmory set.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature (Bold Nature and 0 Atk IVs if no Brave Bird)
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Stealth Rock / Brave Bird
- Defog / Brave Bird

Toxic is a waste of a moveslot, and Spikes is on the decline with the onset of Defog (also, running it on Skarmory over SR basically forces Defog off the set, and SR is the better entry hazard overall).

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Taunt

This variant uses Spikes but is less common.

In terms of teammates, Skarmory works best on a stall team or in a defensive core. As part of the former, you would see things like Chansey/Blissey to wall most attackers, Slowbro for the team's win condition, Sableye for spinblocking/win condition, Heatran to take fire attacks, etc. As part of the latter (normally on a balanced team), Celebi can take on Rotom-W for it, a Ghost-type like Gengar can spinblock, and offensive teammates who synergize defensively with it and/or appreciate its hazards and walling capabilities mesh well with it. It all depends on the playstyle you would like, what Pokemon you would want to build a team around (Skarmory is not a central part of a team at all tbh), et cetera.

To help build discussion, give us a few Pokemon/sets you would want to use, details on a possible team, and so on - the specifics. We'll help you as best we can.
 
To add on to what Uralya said: Toxic isn't bad, but Skarmory has better moves it could be running. Spikes is fine if you have another mon on your team running SR, but imo on Skarmory I'd rather have BB/Roost/Whirlwind/Defog if SR is already taken care of. Spikes really only sees use on offense teams with Bisharp or the occasional Defiant Thundurus to discourage Defog. I'd put the leftover 4 EVs into Speed as it'll let you outspeed uninvested base 70 Speed mons. You should also be more careful about your nature. You originally had Bold, but a physical attacking move when you could've gone for Impish. Also a general rule of thumb when it comes to defensive mons is that the best item is Leftovers. Skarmory is one of the few exceptions where another item is viable and that would be Shed Shell to prevent Magnezone from trapping and killing you. Some people have found Counter to be a useful move as you'll primarily be using Skarm against physical attackers and Counter can take them out faster, but personally I'd rather be able to attack a special attacker just in case(similarly to BB instead of a set with zero attacks because you become total Taunt-bait).
 
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