Draft Scizor

[KingofKrook]

[overview]
**Draft order**: Round 4 onwards

**Price range**: 13-14 points

**Overview**: Scizor is a consistently strong offensive threat, providing excellent cleaning and breaking potential with a strong priority move and a great defensive typing. It provides massive offensive pressure while also being able to get its teammates in easily with slow pivoting. It also offers a nice arrangement of different utility options to help support its team in any given matchup. However, Scizor's lack of recovery, underwhelming special bulk, and 4x weakness to Fire give it exploitable weaknesses on the defensive end.


[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wallbreaker**: Scizor's high Base Power moves, coming off of its strong attack, make it very good at breaking through bulky Pokemon. Its access to Swords Dance and ability to use Choice Band effectively, combined with a Technician-boosted Bullet Punch and strong coverage moves like Close Combat, allow it to break through a lot of top-tier threats.

**Cleaner**: Scizor's Technician-boosted Bullet Punch can allow it to clean a game up if the opposing team is heavily chipped down. Swords Dance and Trailblaze give Scizor two very different ways to win late-game.

**Utility pivot**: Though a pivot set is less common, Scizor's strong defensive typing allows for it to switch into resisted attacks relatively well and provide support for its team with things like Knock Off and Defog,

Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB moves**: Bullet Punch, Iron Head, U-turn, Bug Bite

**Setup moves**: Swords Dance

**Utility moves**: Defog, Light Screen, Substitute, Tailwind, Brick Break

**Coverage**: Close Combat, Dual Wingbeat, Knock Off, Trailblaze

Niche Moves
========
**Curse**: Curse provides an alternative to Swords Dance that works like Bulk Up due to Scizor's primary reliance on Bullet Punch to clean games. This can be preferable in a matchup where the physical bulk gained is helpful in a Scizor endgame.

**Quick Attack**: Technician-boosted Quick Attack provides a nice alternative to Bullet Punch if there is a fast but frail Steel resistance on the opposing team that Bullet Punch isn't strong enough to break through.

**Agility**: Scizor has enough Speed to let it outspeed most Pokemon, barring Choice Scarf users, and it can allow it to clean late-game with its high Base Power moves such as Iron Head, Close Combat, and Bug Bite.

Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Choice Band allows for Scizor to take its already incredibly hard-hitting STAB moves and coverage and amplify them even further. Choice Band Scizor is capable of breaking through a large number of defensive cores and can easily be positioned to clean a game.

**Occa Berry**: Occa Berry is primarily used when Scizor is trying to beat a Pokemon that has Fire-type coverage. However, it does not help against Fire-type STAB attacks, as its lack of special bulk still results in Scizor being KOed through Occa Berry most of the time.

**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest helps to patch Scizor's lackluster special bulk and can allow it to tank neutral hits much more effectively.

**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots is a good item to run on a Scizor with the goal of using Defog or in a matchup where there is no entry hazard removal on your team, giving Scizor extra longevity to pivot around. It can also be used with Swords Dance to allow for Scizor to claim a KO multiple times throughout a battle with a lot of hazards.

**Protective Pads**: Protective Pads stops Scizor from taking extra chip damage from an ability like Rough Skin and Pokemon holding a Rocky Helmet, as well as protects it from being statused by abilities like Static and Flame Body.

Niche Items
========
**Metal Coat**: Metal Coat is primarily run on Swords Dance variants where a slight boost is needed on Bullet Punch's damage output in order for it to win, though it can be used in any situation where Bullet Punch needs a bit of extra damage output.

**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry is nice to have if the opponent's best counterplay is to status Scizor using Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave.

Tera
========
Scizor is often not the best Pokemon on a team that is capable of being a Tera Captain. However, if given the opportunity, it is still a very strong user of Tera. It can be used to offset its 4x weakness to Fire by choosing a type like Tera Water, which can allow it to set up Swords Dance against a Fire-type or Pokemon with Fire-type coverage that would otherwise beat it. Using Tera Fire also does the same while preventing Scizor from being burned. It can also use its Tera for immediate offensive power. Tera Steel allows for an extremely potent Technician-boosted Bullet Punch, or it can use it to power up its high Base Power moves like Close Combat and Dual Wingbeat. Tera Normal gives Scizor STAB damage on Quick Attack, which allows it to hit Pokemon that resist Bullet Punch, such as Water-, Fire-, and Electric-types, for more damage.

Draft Strategy
========
Scizor fits onto many different styles of drafts due to its consistent offensive capabilities and its unique qualities. Its typing is one of the best defensive type combinations while also being strong offensively to use against a lot of the top-tier threats in draft. The ability to be a slow pivot for its offensive teammates, act as a solid wallbreaker on a bulkier team composition, and act as a reliable cleaner on practically any team in between, in combination with its strong STAB Bullet Punch, makes Scizor an extremely valuable asset on most teams.

**Strong wallbreakers**: Scizor appreciates having the opposing team weakened down through strong wallbreakers, allowing it to clean more readily late-game. Scizor is also able to assist these Pokemon by using U-turn on switches or faster Pokemon and giving them a free switch-in. Pokemon like Chi-Yu, Urshifu-S, and Ursaluna-B are all great wallbreakers to prepare an endgame for Scizor. Pokemon that beat its common checks like Garchomp, Zapdos, and Greninja are also phenominal partners with Scizor.

**Good entry hazard setters**: Hazards are another great way to chip down the opposing teams for a potential Scizor endgame (rs). They allow for the opposing team to be put into a position for Scizor to clean with Bullet Punch. Pokemon like Hisuian Samurott, Meowscarada, and Gliscor are all good options for this role.

**Good defensive partners** Good Fire resistances are always a necessity, considering it's a crippling weakness of Scizor. Pokemon like Rotom-W, Slowking, and Primarina all pair nicely with Scizor in this regard. Pokemon that benefit from Scizor's pivoting, as well as mask its shortcomings as both a Steel-type and a defensive Pokemon, are also great partners for Scizor. Strong Flying and Rock resistances, in particular, are crucial to have with Scizor. Some such Pokemon include Garchomp, Zapdos, and Ting-Lu.

Checks and Counters
========
**Strong Steel resistances**: Scizor's primary damage output is Bullet Punch. Thus, Pokemon that resist Bullet Punch and are not weak to Scizor's coverage can make it very difficult for Scizor to make progress . It heavily relies on its teammates to remove Pokemon like Zapdos, Toxapex, and Corviknight.

**Stong special attackers** Scizor's unreliable special bulk results in it being easily 2HKOed by a lot of the strong special attackers in the format. Pokemon using Choice Specs, in particular, can be very hard to deal with unless they are weak to Bullet Punch. Pokemon that can break through Scizor's meager Special Defense include Thundurus-T, Raging Bolt, and Ursaluna-B.

**Fire-type coverage** Scizor's 4x weakness to Fire is extremely debilitating for it. There is a lot of Fire-type coverage in the format, and Scizor is KOed in a single attack by most of it. Pokemon that Scizor could keep in check—if it weren't for the common Fire-type coverage they can run for it—include Clefable, Galarian Slowking, and Hatterene.

**Residual damage**: Scizor's lack of recovery means that it is much more susceptible to getting chipped down from entry hazards, contact abilities, and Rocky Helmet.

[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kingofkrook.472513/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/celestiial.613399/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/vmnunes.613460/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ken.594478/
[/spoiler]
[/QUOTE]

 

[Celestiial]

[overview]
**Draft order**: Round 4 onwards Argument to be made for late round 3

**Price range**: 13-14

**Overview**: Scizor’s offensive capabilities and great defensive typing paired with solid natural bulk makes it one of the best glue mons in draft. This is more then a bit generous. Scizor's lack of recovery now hampers its potential to be a good glue mon period, so this is vastly overselling it. This gen its limited a lot more to offensive pivot/threat that also happens to have defog. You could reword this so something like Scizor is a strong offensive threat, packing excellent sweeping, breaking, and priority all backed by a strong defensive typing. It provides massive offensive pressure while also being able to get its teammates in easily with slow pivoting. It also offers a nice arrangement of different utility options to help support its team in any given matchup. I would mention its lack of recovery and relatively bad special bulk here as a potential limiting factor.


[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Breaker**: Scizor’s high base power moves coming off 130 attack of its strong attack Dex stats, dont need to mention this. make it very good at breaking through bulky pokemon. How? With what moves? You can be more specific here, mention Close Combat and setup/ band allowing it to do this, scizor can almost never be a breaker without these.

**Cleaner**: Scizor’s Technician boosted Bullet Punch can allow it to clean a game up if the opposing team is heavily chipped down. Again, you can be more specific here. Its absolutely worth mentioning that STAB technician bullet punch is one of the strongest priority moves in the game and that swords dance + trailblaze options are also very good.

**Utility Pivot**: Scizor’s strong defensive typing and natural bulk allows it to perform in a utility role to support the rest of its team. This may just be personal bias but i think saying you can rely on scizor's natural bulk is somewhat misleading. Also what Utility does it offer? Knock off and Defog are absolutely worth mentioning, but again this is one of its less viable sets.



Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB moves**: Bullet Punch, Iron Head, U-Turn, and Bug Bite.

**Setup moves**: Swords Dance, (ac) Curse

**Utility moves**: Defog, Light Screen, and Tailwind, Substitute

**Coverage**: Close Combat, Dual Wingbeat, Knock Off, and Trailblaze.

Niche Moves
========
**Curse**: Curse provides an alternative to Swords Dance that works like Bulk Up due to Scizor’s primary reliance on Bullet Punch to clean games. If there’s a pokemon on the other side that Scizor cannot knock out with a +2 Bullet Punch but can live a hit from and 2hko with Bullet Punch at +1 instead it’s a nice option to have. Wordy and confusing. You can just say this can be preferable if the added physical bulk will be necessary/useful for maintaining a Scizor sweep

**Quick Attack **: Technician boosted Quick Attack provides a nice alternative priority move to Bullet Punch if there is a fast but frail steel resist on the opposing team that Bullet Punch isn’t strong enough to break through.



Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Choice Band allows for Scizor to take its already incredibly hard-hitting stabs and coverage and amplify it even further. Banded Scizor is capable of breaking through a large number of defensive cores and can easily be positioned to clean a game.

**Occa Berry**: Occa Berry is primarily used when Scizor is trying to beat a pokemon that has strong fire coverage. Examples of this include Roaring Moon, Mew, and Hydreigon as Scizor is capable of killing all of these with its Stab Bug attacks if it is able to live a Fire hit. However, this use of Occa berry shouldn’t be used regularly unless the rest of the team cannot deal with these pokemon in other ways. It can also be used to set up on a pokemon that would otherwise beat it. Pokemon like Clefable, Sneasler, and Dragapult can be set-up fodder for a Swords Dance Scizor if it is holding an Occa Berry. This should be to explain the item, not matchup specific interactions. also ensure that you mention occa berry doesnt save scizor from living higher power moves, as this mon again is pretty frail in most matchups.

**Assault Vest**: Scizor’s typing and natural bulk allow for it to be able to switch into pokemon that cannot hit it super-effectively a couple of times. Assault Vest can be a good item in a matchup where there is a strong special attacker with no super-effective to hit Scizor. It can allow Scizor to switch into these pokemon after which it can either click a strong stab or coverage move depending on the situation. This also allows for Scizor to have an easier time pivoting in and out especially against a more passive team that struggles to deal a lot of damage. I dont think assault vest is bad per se, I think you have just written too much and focused on the wrong things. Make sure you are focusing on describing how AV patches scizors weaknesses and nothing more, we know it clicks strong STAB moves, Id write something like Assault Vest allows Scizor to patch up its middling Special Defense, letting it stand in the face of many neutral hits much more effectively.

**Metal Coat**: Metal Coat is primarily run on Swords Dance variants where a slight boost is needed on Bullet Punch’s damage output in order for it to win, though it can be used in any situation where Bullet Punch needs a bit of extra damage output. Move to niche items

**Protective Pads**: Because Scizor’s offensive arsenal is almost entirely physical, it baits in a lot of pokemon with abilities like Rough Skin, and a lot of pokemon opt to hold Rocky Helmet when playing against it. Protective Pads allows for it to continuously click its moves without regard to any chip damage it would rack up from those abilities and Rocky Helmets. Unnecessarily wordy, all you need to say is that pads lets scizor stay safe from contact punishing abilities and items, like Static, Flame Body, Rocky Helmet, etc

Niche Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Boots is a solid item to run on a Scizor with the goal of defogging or in a matchup where there is not removal being brought. However, it is often better to run an offensive item or something like Assault Vest. Move to common items. Boots is good on Scizor because its so frequently pivoting and having the extra longevity really helps it, plus it is definitely not worse the assault vest, and is also useable on more then defog sets.

**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry is nice to have if the opponent’s best counterplay is to status Scizor using Will-o-Wisp or Thunder Wave. If it’s running Lum Berry rather than switching on a perceived status move, then it is often running Swords Dance and is ready to clean the end game from that position.


Tera
========
Scizor is often not the best pokemon on a team that is capable of being a Tera captain. However, if given the opportunity, it is still a very strong user of Tera. It can be used to offset its 4x weakness to Fire by running a type like Water which can allow it to set up an SD on a Fire type or pokemon with Fire coverage that would otherwise beat it. It can also use its Tera for immediate offensive power. Tera Steel allows for an extremely potent Technician boosted Bullet Punch, or it can use it to power up already strong base power moves such as Tera Fighting for Close Combat or Tera Flying for Dual Wingbeat. It can also allow for Scizor to beat its checks using Tera Electric to beat Corviknight, Tera Rock to beat pokemon like Zapdos and Moltres, along with the option of Tera Ground to beat other bulky Fire types. The ability to Tera adds an extra element to an already strong offensive pokemon. Just feels like there is too much here, instead of listen examples for everything you can specify this down to a broader overview for each way Scizor can use tera, Defensively to protect it from its one weakness, offensively to really boost its Bullet Punches, or offensively to alternatively boost its coverage moves/ tera blast. You dont need examples into every single possible type. However i would specify that tera fire allows it to absorb burn while also resisting fire, as this is notable for a mon like scizor. Try and rewrite this to be less wordy and let the other QCs narrow it down from there.

Draft Strategy
========


Scizor fits onto many different styles of drafts due to its consistent offensive capabilities and its unique qualities. Bug and Steel is one of the best defensive type combinations while also being a rather strong offensive typing into a lot of the top tier threats in draft. The ability to be a slow pivot into its offensive teammates, act as a solid breaker on a bulkier team composition, and act as a reliable cleaner on practically any team in between with its strong stab Bullet Punch makes Scizor an extremely valuable asset on most teams.

**Strong Breakers**: Scizor appreciates having the opposing team weakened down through strong breakers to allow it to clean an end game easier. Scizor is also able to assist these pokemon by clicking U-Turn on switches or faster pokemon and giving them a free switch-in. Pokemon like Chi-Yu, Urshifu-Single-Strike, and Ursaluna-Bloodmoon are all great breakers to open an end game for Scizor.

**Good Hazard Setters**: Hazards are another great way to chip down the opposing teams for a potential Scizor end game. They allow for the opposing team to be put into a position for Scizor to clean in the end with Bullet Punch. Pokemon like Hisuian Samurott, Meowscarada, and Gliscor who not only set hazards but also have the ability to pivot around and wear down the other team often allow for Scizor to have a decent look at an end game clean-up. are all good options for this role.

**Pokemon That Beat its Checks** Scizor loves having pokemon that beat the mons that switch into it. It can U-Turn on those incoming pokemon and go into a pokemon on its team that really threaten it in return. Common typings for these partners include Electrics, Grounds, and Waters as they all commonly hit the pokemon that switch into Scizor super-effectively. Strong Electric type partners include Zapdos, Raging Bolt, and Rotom-Wash. For Ground types consider pairing it with Garchomp, Great Tusk, or Landorus-Therian. Good Water type partners include Greninja, Ogerpon-Wellspring, and Manaphy. This could be combined into the breaker section, as a lot of scizors checks are walls that it doesnt hit well with its typing, eg waters. I would make this section fast attackers, as a lot of the good ones people want to pair with scizor will have the coverage to naturally hit things it cant bullet punch to death (chi yu, etc), and a lot of specific checks will be covered later. this is just for partners that help build team synergy. Refine and let other QCs look it over.

**Pokemon That Mask its Shortcomings as a Steel Type** The biggest drawback to using Scizor on a team is that it lacks the resistances to Rock and Flying that a traditional Steel type has. Thus, pairing it with good resistances for these types is crucial in order to still acheive a draft that doesn’t have a crippling weakness to them. Strong Ground and Fighting types help with the Rock resistance. Garchomp, Great Tusk, Annihilape, Quaquaval, and Ting-Lu are all examples of higher tier pokemon that provide a solid Rock resistance. Strong Electric and Rock types can help mask the lack of Flying resistance. These include pokemon such as Zapdos, Raging Bolt, Glimmora, and Arcanine-Hisui are all solid mid-high tier pokemon that provide a solid Flying resit along with other utility to support Scizor. This can be a lot shorter, and be written as a section about defensive partners highlighting how scizor can pivot into them/ they can help make up for scizors lack of defensive utility.



Checks and Counters
========
**Flying Types That Resist Steel**: Bulky Flying types that resist steel are one of the best answers to Scizor in the game. Examples of these include Corviknight, Zapdos, and Moltres. Resisting Scizor’s dual stabs and having reliable recovery to heal off any damage taken make them a nuisance for Scizor to break through. The best thing for a Scizor to do against these annoyances is to Knock Off their item since none of its coverage hits them super-effectively. Corviknight does not care as much because it is not weak to Stealth Rock, but other flying types like Zapdos and Moltres do not want to take rocks chip every time they switch into Scizor. Explain why it checks the Pokemon and what you should do about it

**Bulky Fire Types**: Bulky Fire types like Gouging Fire, Arcanine, and Volcanion resist Scizor’s dual stabs and threaten it with any fire stab. They all sport good physical bulk, so with no super-effective stab against them, Scizor struggles to break through them. The best thing Scizor can do is Knock Off their item. Since most fires are weak to Stealth Rock and are grounded, they will be taking a lot of chip every time they attempt to switch-in to Scizor in the future. This puts them on a timer and forces a lot of progress on the team as a whole as once Scizor’s defensive checks are whittled down it threatens to clean up the end game with Bullet Punch.

**Bulky Water Types** Physically bulky Water types can switch into Scizor’s Bullet Punches and prevent it from cleaning an end game until they are knocked out. This includes pokemon like Toxapex, Dondozo, and Rotom-Wash which not only resist Bullet Punch but are also not weak to any of the strong coverage Scizor usually runs. Scizor’s best way to deal with these fat Waters is to either Knock Off their item or to simply click U-Turn as it is a play that rarely has a draw back against these pokemon. They might not take much from Scizor but outside of a Water with Will-o-Wisp, Scald, or Fire coverage they are often not pressuring Scizor much either. U-Turning on these pokemon, especially on a switch-in, allows for the pokemon on its team that pressures the Water to come in free of charge.

All of these can be reduced to steel resists. These are all great points, but there are just way too much writing here that goes too in depth for what this is supposed to be.

Mention strong special attackers

Mention Fire Coverage

**Residual Damage**: Scizor lost access to Roost in Paldea. This 's lack of reliable recovery means that it is much more susceptible to racking up getting chipped chip damage through hazards and Rocky Helmet. Having reliable removal options allows for Scizor to maximize its potential in every facet of its abilities. It lets Scizor consistently switch in to play and pivot out or apply offensive pressure at any point of the game without needing to worry about how many times it can do so. You can mention contact abilities/items here as well



[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kingofkrook.472513/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user2.200000
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.300000
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.400000

Was approved to be QC 1/2
Remove Add Comments
I get where you were going with a lot of this and you generally are making very strong points, but you really oversell scizor a lot, especially as a defensive mon. this also has the issue of being very overly wordy and could be refined a lot for clarity. Definately leaning in the right direction, but a bit difficult to read in its current state.

 

[KingofKrook]

Implemented Celestiial's suggestions

 

[vmnunes]

[overview]
**Draft order**: Round 4 onwards

**Price range**: 13-14

**Overview**: Scizor is a consistently strong offensive threat providing excellent cleaning and breaking potential with strong priority and a great defensive typing. It provides massive offensive pressure while also being able to get its teammates in easily with slow pivoting. It also offers a nice arrangement of different utility options to help support its team in any given matchup. However, Scizor's lack of recovery, underwhelming special bulk, and 4x weakness to Fire give it exploitable weaknesses on the Defensive end.


[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Breaker**: Scizor’s high base power moves coming off of its strong attack make it very good at breaking through bulky pokemon. Its access to Swords Dance and ability to use Choice Band effectively combined with a Technician boosted Bullet Punch and strong coverage moves like Close Combat allow it to break through a lot of top tier threats.

**Cleaner**: Scizor’s Technician boosted Bullet Punch can allow it to clean a game up if the opposing team is heavily chipped down. Swords Dance and Trailblaze give Scizor two very different ways to win in an end game.

**Utility Pivot**: Though this is a less common use for it, Scizor’s strong defensive typing allows for it to switch into resisted hits relatively well and provide support for its team with things like Knock Off, Defog,



Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB moves**: Bullet Punch, Iron Head, U-Turn, and Bug Bite.

**Setup moves**: Swords Dance and Curse I know Celeste asked you to add this here, but we've spoken about this since then and she was unaware that we do not repeat moves in two sections like this.

**Utility moves**: Defog, Light Screen, Substitute, and Tailwind., Brick Break It's rather niche but it's a very good way to deal with screen / veil setters such as Alolan Ninetales, Klefki and Grimmsnarl, since you can switch into them without too much risk and should force them out.

**Coverage**: Close Combat, Dual Wingbeat, Knock Off, and Trailblaze.

Niche Moves
========
**Curse**: Curse provides an alternative to Swords Dance that works like Bulk Up due to Scizor’s primary reliance on Bullet Punch to clean games. This can be preferable in a matchup where the physical bulk gained is helpful in a Scizor end game.

**Quick Attack **: Technician boosted Quick Attack provides a nice alternative to Bullet Punch if there is a fast but frail steel resist on the opposing team that Bullet Punch isn’t strong enough to break through.

Could add Agility as a possible niche move here, as Scizor does have a decent enough speed to use Agility and allow it to clean with its higher base power moves such as iron head, close combat and bug bite


Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Choice Band allows for Scizor to take its already incredibly hard-hitting stabs and coverage and amplify it even further. Banded Scizor is capable of breaking through a large number of defensive cores and can easily be positioned to clean a game.

**Occa Berry**: Occa Berry is primarily used when Scizor is trying to beat a pokemon that has fire coverage. However, it does not help against Stab Fire attacks as its lack of special bulk still result in Scizor being killed through Occa most of the time.

**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest helps to patch Scizor's lackluster special bulk and can allow it to tank neutral hits much more effectively.

**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Boots is a good item to run on a Scizor with the goal of defogging, or in a matchup where there is not no removal being brought, it gives giving Scizor extra longevity to pivot around. Was a very long sentence with no breaks, making it slightly confusing to read at a first glance. It can also be used with Swords Dance to allow for Scizor to claim a kill multiple times throughout a game with a lot of hazards.

**Protective Pads**: Protective Pads stops Scizor taking extra chip damage from an ability like Rough Skin and pokemon holding a Rocky Helmet, as well as protect it from being statused by abilities like Static and Flame Body.

Niche Items
========
**Metal Coat**: Metal Coat is primarily run on Swords Dance variants where a slight boost is needed on Bullet Punch’s damage output in order for it to win, though it can be used in any situation where Bullet Punch needs a bit of extra damage output.

**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry is nice to have if the opponent’s best counterplay is to status Scizor using Will-o-Wisp or Thunder Wave.


Tera
========
Scizor is often not the best pokemon on a team that is capable of being a Tera captain. However, if given the opportunity, it is still a very strong user of Tera. It can be used to offset its 4x weakness to Fire by running a type like Water which can allow it to set up an SD on a Fire type or pokemon with Fire coverage that would otherwise beat it. Running Fire itself also does the same while allowing Scizor to be immune to being burned. It can also use its Tera for immediate offensive power. Tera Steel allows for an extremely potent Technician boosted Bullet Punch, or it can use it to power up its high base power moves like Close Combat and Dual Wingbeat. Could add a mention to Tera Normal here, as it gives scizor stab on Quick Attack, allowing it to run dual priority sets that can hit a good number of targets that would resist bullet punch such as water, electric and fire types.

Draft Strategy
========


Scizor fits onto many different styles of drafts due to its consistent offensive capabilities and its unique qualities. Bug and Steel is one of the best defensive type combinations while also being a rather strong offensive typing into a lot of the top tier threats in draft. The ability to be a slow pivot into its offensive teammates, act as a solid breaker on a bulkier team composition, and act as a reliable cleaner on practically any team in between with its strong stab Bullet Punch makes Scizor an extremely valuable asset on most teams.

**Strong Breakers**: Scizor appreciates having the opposing team weakened down through strong breakers to allow it to clean an end game easier. Scizor is also able to assist these pokemon by clicking U-Turn on switches or faster pokemon and giving them a free switch-in. Pokemon like Chi-Yu, Urshifu-Single-Strike, and Ursaluna-Bloodmoon are all great breakers to open an end game for Scizor. Pokemon that beat its common checks like Garchomp, Zapdos, and Greninja are also phenominal partners with Scizor.

**Good Hazard Setters**: Hazards are another great way to chip down the opposing teams for a potential Scizor end game. They allow for the opposing team to be put into a position for Scizor to clean in the end with Bullet Punch. Pokemon like Hisuian Samurott, Meowscarada, and Gliscor are all good options for this role.

**Good Defensive Partners** Pokemon that benefit from Scizor's pivoting as well as mask its shortcomings as both a Steel type and a defensive pokemon are great partners with Scizor. Strong Flying and Rock resists in particular are crucial to have with Scizor. Great partners include Garchomp, Zapdos, and Ting-Lu. Good Fire resists are also a necessity with it being a crippling weakness of Scizor. Pokemon like Rotom-Wash, Slowking, and Primarina all pair nicely with Scizor in this regard. I would mention the strong fire resists first before the flying/rock resists since, while not ideal, Scizor can take Flying and Rock hits if needed, meanwhile Fire just explodes it if you're not running Occa.



Checks and Counters
========
**Strong Steel Resists**: Scizor's primary damage output is Bullet Punch. Thus, pokemon who resist Bullet Punch, and there are quite a few, reads a bit like unnecessary fluff that are not weak to Scizor's coverage can be make it very difficult for Scizor to make progress through. It heavily relies on its teammates to remove pokemon like Zapdos, Toxapex, and Corviknight.

**Stong Sepcial Special Attackers** Scizor's unreliable special bulk results in it being easily 2hko'd by a lot of the strong special attackers in the format. Pokemon running Choice Specs in particular can be very hard to deal with unless they are weak to Bullet Punch. Would add some examples of strong special attackers that beat Scizor without needing super-effective coverage.

**Fire Coverage** Scizor's 4x weakness to Fire is extremely crippling for it. There is a lot of Fire coverage in the format and Scizor is killed in a single hit by most of it. If possible, would add examples of pokemon that Scizor could normally check but that can run fire coverage in Draft to deal with it. This is a pretty generic weakness so I don't think it's strictly necessary to add specific examples if you can't think of good ones, though.

**Residual Damage**: Scizor's lack of recovery means that it is much more susceptible to getting chipped down through hazards. contact abilities, and Rocky Helmet.



[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kingofkrook.472513/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user2.200000
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.300000
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.400000

Remove Add Comments

QC 2/2 Approved

 

[KingofKrook]

Implemented vmnunes QC

 

[KingofKrook]

GP Team

 

[ken]

1/1 GP Team done
add remove comment
(a_) = added _ (punctuation)
(r_) = removed _ (punctuation)
c = comma; h = hyphen; sc = semicolon; p = period; s = space
— = just remove the formatting from it & don't touch otherwise; it'll insert an emdash when uploaded to the dex

make sure to follow the guide in the video in this post to implement the check if you didn't previously know about it :)

replaced a bunch of curly apostrophes with the non-curly kind

basically dies to ember lol

[overview]
**Draft order**: Round 4 onwards

**Price range**: 13-14 points

**Overview**: Scizor is a consistently strong offensive threat, (ac) providing excellent cleaning and breaking potential with a strong priority move and a great defensive typing. It provides massive offensive pressure while also being able to get its teammates in easily with slow pivoting. It also offers a nice arrangement of different utility options to help support its team in any given matchup. However, Scizor's lack of recovery, underwhelming special bulk, and 4x weakness to Fire give it exploitable weaknesses on the defensive end.


[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wallbreaker**: Scizor's high Base Power moves, (ac) coming off of its strong attack, (ac) make it very good at breaking through bulky Pokemon. Its access to Swords Dance and ability to use Choice Band effectively, (ac) combined with a Technician-boosted (ah) Bullet Punch and strong coverage moves like Close Combat, (ac) allow it to break through a lot of top-tier (ah) threats.

**Cleaner**: Scizor's Technician-boosted (ah) Bullet Punch can allow it to clean a game up if the opposing team is heavily chipped down. Swords Dance and Trailblaze give Scizor two very different ways to win in an end game late-game.

**Utility pivot**: Though this is a less common use for it a pivot set is less common, Scizor's strong defensive typing allows for it to switch into resisted hits attacks relatively well and provide support for its team with things like Knock Off (rc) and Defog,
deleted 2 linebreaks
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB moves**: Bullet Punch, Iron Head, U-Turn U-turn, and Bug Bite (rp)

**Setup moves**: Swords Dance (rp)

**Utility moves**: Defog, Light Screen, Substitute, Tailwind, and Brick Break

**Coverage**: Close Combat, Dual Wingbeat, Knock Off, and Trailblaze (rp)

Niche Moves
========
**Curse**: Curse provides an alternative to Swords Dance that works like Bulk Up due to Scizor's primary reliance on Bullet Punch to clean games. This can be preferable in a matchup where the physical bulk gained is helpful in a Scizor endgame (rs).

**Quick Attack**: Technician-boosted (ah) Quick Attack provides a nice alternative to Bullet Punch if there is a fast but frail steel resist Steel resistance on the opposing team that Bullet Punch isn't strong enough to break through.

**Agility**: Scizor has enough Speed to let it outspeed most Pokemon, barring Choice Scarfers Scarf users, and it can allow it to clean at the end of a game late-game with its high Base Power moves such as Iron Head, Close Combat, and Bug Bite.

Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Choice Band allows for Scizor to take its already incredibly hard-hitting stabs STAB moves and coverage and amplify it them even further. Banded Choice Band Scizor is capable of breaking through a large number of defensive cores and can easily be positioned to clean a game.

**Occa Berry**: Occa Berry is primarily used when Scizor is trying to beat a Pokemon that has fire Fire-type coverage. However, it does not help against Stab Fire Fire-type STAB attacks, (ac) as its lack of special bulk still results in Scizor being killed KOed through Occa Berry most of the time.

**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest helps to patch Scizor's lackluster special bulk and can allow it to tank neutral hits much more effectively.

**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots is a good item to run on a Scizor with the goal of defogging using Defog or in a matchup where there is no entry hazard removal being brought on your team, giving Scizor extra longevity to pivot around. It can also be used with Swords Dance to allow for Scizor to claim a kill KO multiple times throughout a game battle with a lot of hazards.

**Protective Pads**: Protective Pads stops Scizor from taking extra chip damage from an ability like Rough Skin and Pokemon holding a Rocky Helmet, as well as protects it from being statused by abilities like Static and Flame Body.

Niche Items
========
**Metal Coat**: Metal Coat is primarily run on Swords Dance variants where a slight boost is needed on Bullet Punch's damage output in order for it to win, though it can be used in any situation where Bullet Punch needs a bit of extra damage output.

**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry is nice to have if the opponent's best counterplay is to status Scizor using Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave.
deleted a linebreak
Tera
========
Scizor is often not the best Pokemon on a team that is capable of being a Tera Captain. However, if given the opportunity, it is still a very strong user of Tera. It can be used to offset its 4x weakness to Fire by running choosing a type like Tera Water, (ac) which can allow it to set up an SD Fire type or pokemon with Fire Swords Dance against a Fire-type or Pokemon with Fire-type coverage that would otherwise beat it. Running Using Tera Fire itself also does the same while allowing Scizor to be immune to preventing Scizor from being burned. It can also use its Tera for immediate offensive power. Tera Steel allows for an extremely potent Technician-boosted (ah) Bullet Punch, or it can use it to power up its high Base Power moves like Close Combat and Dual Wingbeat. Tera Normal gives Scizor stab STAB damage on Quick Attack, which allows it to hit Pokemon that resist Bullet Punch, (ac) such as Water-, Fire-, and Electric-types, (ac, 3x ah) for more damage.

Draft Strategy
======== deleted two linebreaks here
Scizor fits onto many different styles of drafts due to its consistent offensive capabilities and its unique qualities. Bug and Steel Its typing is one of the best defensive type combinations while also being a rather strong offensive typing into strong offensively to use against a lot of the top-tier (ah) threats in draft. The ability to be a slow pivot into for its offensive teammates, act as a solid wallbreaker on a bulkier team composition, and act as a reliable cleaner on practically any team in between, (ac) in combination with its strong stab STAB Bullet Punch, (ac) makes Scizor an extremely valuable asset on most teams.

**Strong wallbreakers**: Scizor appreciates having the opposing team weakened down through strong wallbreakers, (ac) to allowing it to clean an end game easier more readily late-game. Scizor is also able to assist these Pokemon by clicking U-Turn using U-turn on switches or faster Pokemon and giving them a free switch-in. Pokemon like Chi-Yu, Urshifu-Single-Strike, and Ursaluna-Bloodmoon are all great wallbreakers to open an end game prepare an endgame for Scizor. Pokemon that beat its common checks like Garchomp, Zapdos, and Greninja are also phenominal partners with Scizor.

**Good entry hazard setters**: Hazards are another great way to chip down the opposing teams for a potential Scizor endgame (rs). They allow for the opposing team to be put into a position for Scizor to clean in the end with Bullet Punch. Pokemon like Hisuian Samurott, Meowscarada, and Gliscor are all good options for this role.

**Good defensive partners** Good Fire resists resistances are always a necessity, (ac) with it being considering it's a crippling weakness of Scizor. Pokemon like Rotom-Wash, Slowking, and Primarina all pair nicely with Scizor in this regard. Pokemon that benefit from Scizor's pivoting, (ac) as well as mask its shortcomings as both a Steel-type (ah) and a defensive Pokemon, (ac) are also great partners with for Scizor. Strong Flying and Rock resists resistances, in particular, (ac) are crucial to have with Scizor. Some such Pokemon include Garchomp, Zapdos, and Ting-Lu.
deleted 2 linebreaks
Checks and Counters
========
**Strong Steel Resists resistances**: Scizor's primary damage output is Bullet Punch. Thus, Pokemon who that resist Bullet Punch that and are not weak to Scizor's coverage can make it very difficult for Scizor to make progress through. It heavily relies on its teammates to remove Pokemon like Zapdos, Toxapex, and Corviknight.

**Stong special attackers** Scizor's unreliable special bulk results in it being easily 2hko'd 2HKOed by a lot of the strong special attackers in the format. Pokemon running using Choice Specs, (ac) in particular, (ac) can be very hard to deal with unless they are weak to Bullet Punch. Pokemon that can break through Scizor's meager Special Defense include Thundurus-T, Raging Bolt, and Ursaluna-Bloodmoon.

**Fire-type coverage** Scizor's 4x weakness to Fire is extremely crippling debilitating for it. There is a lot of Fire-type coverage in the format, (ac) and Scizor is killed KOed in a single hit attack by most of it. Pokemon that Scizor could keep in check—if it weren't for the common fire Fire-type coverage they can run for it—include Clefable, Slowking-G Galarian Slowking, and Hatterene.

**Residual damage**: Scizor's lack of recovery means that it is much more susceptible to getting chipped down through from entry hazards, (rp, ac) contact abilities, and Rocky Helmet.
deleted 2 linebreaks
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kingofkrook.472513/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/celestiial.613399/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/vmnunes.613460/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ken.594478/