Credit to JARV69
Hi there everyone, welcome to my first build write-up.
I've been getting into competitive the last couple of months.
and slowly and surely I'm understanding how it all works.
And I sure am having a lot of fun with it. But enough about me.
This post is all about Scizor.
Scizor doesnt seem to get a lot of play in the VGC meta currently
Even though it has a great defensive typing with only one (big) weakness, fire.
It's steel typing can handle the popular Tapus
And deals great damage with its high attack stat combined with Swords Dance and Technician boosted STAB Bullet Punch
And has the option to recover with Roost
So I why not give it a try?
Type:
Base Stats:
70 HP / 130 Att / 100 Def / 55 SpA / 80 SpD / 65 Spe
Weaknesses: x4
Resistances: x0.5
x0.25
Immunities:
Abilities:
-Swarm: Boosts power of Bug-type moves by 50% when at 1/3 HP or less
-Technician: Increases power of moves with 60 base power or less by 50%
-Light Metal: The wielder's weight is halved
Offensive Bullet Punch
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Protect
- X-Scissor / Brutal Swing
- Swords Dance
Let's start with the most popular build, the straightforward Swords Dance + Technician powered Bullet Punch combo. This build has been around for awhile, and even though it doesn't have Knock Off pre-bank, it is still a huge threat to your opponent's team. Because of his defensive typing, 8 resistances and 1 immunity he doesn't tend to be OHKO'd often. With the exception of fire type moves/types ofcourse, as it has a 4 times weakness against it.
It 2HKOs a lot of pokemon even without using Swords Dance. With Swords Dance though, It OHKOs pokemon like Tapu Koko, Garchomp, Kartana and Muk. Brutal Swing is an option, it's decent AOE when you got +2 attack, it gets you a 2HKO on Alolan-Marowak. On this build I prefer using Protect over Roost. When you are up against a fire type you can just Protect while your teammate, preferably a water, ground or rock type, takes out the threat. Beside fire-types, you also need to watch out for Tapu Lele as its psychic terrain makes your Bullet Punch useless. And ofcourse, being burned help Scizor either. It's not the absolute worst, as you can use Swords Dance to bring it back up to par but you'll need to be able survive another round to make use of it.
No EV's in speed because its not really worth investing in it and you tend to use Bullet Punch anyway. EVs can be tweaked a bit for maximum effectiveness.
For the item choice, Life Orb seems to be only option here as the primary goal for Scizor is to deal the highest amount of damage.
Damage Calculations:
Offensive
Bulky Bullet Punch
Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 200 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- Protect / X-Scissor
- Swords Dance
A variant of the Bullet Punch build stated above. Almost identical, but his build invests in special defense instead of attack and makes it quite the bulky pokemon in combination with its typing. It lacks attack power in comparison to the attack variant but don't be fooled, it is still a threat to your opponent. It is bulky enough to take most special attacks with the exception of offensive fire types and even without Swords Dance it can 2HKO or 3HKO a lot of pokemon. When it gets a Swords Dance off, you'll get your opponent trembling as it threatens to be both bulky and a wrecking ball. Roost combined with Protect let's it take hits and stay longer on the field than the attack build. Also Life Orb damages him so it needs a way to recover from that.
Pelipper and Politoed are great teammates for this Scizor. Because of Drizzle they reduce the damage of fire-type moves, which is Scizor's only weakness. Allowing it to safely use Swords Dance.
Life Orb is great here, as it boosts Scizor's attack but another option is Occa Berry. It reduces the first fire-type attack against Scizor by 50% making it even harder for your opponent to take it down.
Damage Calculations:
Offensive
Defensive
Potential Teammates include, but aren't limited to;
- Politoed or Pelipper - Both have access to Drizzle and reduces damage done my by fire moves which greatly improves Scizor's presence in battle.
- Water, Rock or Ground types - as they can deal with threatening fire types.
Threats include, but aren't limited to;
- Tapu Lele - Its psychic terrain blocks the use of Bullet Punch and effectively walls Scizor. Also runs HP Fire sometimes.
- Every fire type, but especially the offensive physical ones like Alolan-Marowak
- Steel Trappers like Magnezone
Other Notable Moves
- Knock Off - Not available until Pokebank is released for Sun and Moon
- Bug Bite - Not available until Pokebank is released, would probably replace X-Scissor.
Other Notable Items
- Occa Berry - Reduces the damage of the first fire-type move against Scizor by 50%
Been experimenting with some other builds but they arent consistent enough. Might update this post later.
#LillieDefenseSquad