Hello There Hat Lovers!

This week we’ll be looking at Scizor, a fan favourite with a long history of success in competitive play. Scizor is a Bug / Steel type, giving it a quadruple weakness to Fire and resistances to several types. In fourth Gen Scizor was the most dominate Pokemon in Smogon singles (after they banned Garchomp and Salamence) and continued to be a great Pokemon in both singles and doubles in fifth Gen.

Scizor was a popular Pokemon in VGC 2012 and 2013, but hasn’t seen as much usage as it has in the past. The reason why Scizor has seen a drop in usage is because many of the Pokemon it countered are no longer in the format, such as Cresselia and Terrakion. The lack of Cresselia has also reduced the amount of Tyranitar in the metagame, which Scizor could counter or check depending on whether or not Tyranitar carries Fire Blast. The changes to the type chart didn’t help Scizor as much as we may have hoped. Scizor makes a logical choice as a Fairy killer, however two of the most popular Fairy types, Azumarill and Mawile, are neutral to Steel. Scizor also lost it’s resistance to Ghost and Dark this generation so it doesn’t fair as well against these attacks as it used to. Scizor also lost Bug Bite as a move, which is stronger then X-Scissor and eats the opponent’s berry. Bug Bite would make Scizor’s life a lot easier against Rotom-W. The lack of Steel Gem also reduces the potential potency of Bullet Punch.

Despite all of this, Scizor is still a great Pokemon for VGC. Bullet Punch threatens Gardevoir, Mega Aerodactyl and frail or weakened Pokemon in general. Bug/Steel is still fantastic typing for combating Dragon and Fairy types. Scizor has even gained a Mega Evolution, though it does little to differentiate itself from Scizor’s regular form outside of some increased stats.

Base Stats:
 70 / 130 / 100 / 55 / 80 / 65
Scizor has a fantastic distribution of stats to work with. A sky high attack stat goes great with Bullet Punch, which makes up for Scizor’s mediocre speed stat. Scizor has decent bulk to go with its great typing. You can invest in HP and defences to have Scizor survive hits or you can invest in Speed to make Scizor faster then most Rotom-A.
 70 / 150 / 140 / 65 / 100 / 75
Mega Scizor has higher stats, but the lack of an item and the fact that it operates exactly the same as regular Scizor make it hard to justify using it as your Mega Pokemon. Life Orb and Choice Band sets hit harder, the only thing Mega Scizor has going for it is the added bulk and speed.

Abilities:

Scizor has three Abilities: Swarm, Technician, and Light Metal.

Technician gives all of Scizor’s moves with base power of 60 or lower a 1.5 times boost. This makes Bullet Punch a base 90 power priority move after STAB.

Swarm and Light Metal aren’t viable in the slightest, just use Technician.

Attacks:

Bullet Punch is pretty much mandatory on any Scizor set. U-turn and X-Scissor are our best choice of Bug STAB, and which one we use depends on the set we run. Swords Dance sets will run X-Scissor and for other sets it comes down to preference. Speaking of Swords Dance Scizor becomes an even greater threat when at +2 attack. Scizor also gets Quick Guard and Feint to help support its teammate. Quick Guard will block out Prankster, Sucker Punch, and Brave Bird. Feint will allow you to ensure damage on a slot and pick off Pokemon with low HP trying to avoid a Bullet Punch. Feint also has +2 priority so it gets around Sucker Punch and Rage Powder. Other notable options are: Brick Break, Iron Head, Roost, Acrobatics and Pursuit.

Sets:

Life Orb Attacker:Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Bullet Punch
– U-turn
– Feint
– Protect

This is the set Randy used in Washington Regionals and one we’ve become a fan of. A Life Orb Bullet Punch destroys Gardevoir and Mega Aerodactyl, as well as doing solid damage with priority. U-Turn allows us to deal damage to a Rotom-W and retreat for something that can absorb a Will-O-Wisp or a Thunderbolt aimed at it. Feint is just plain useful, and also gets a Technician boost.

Swords Dance Sweeper:
Scizor @ Lum Berry
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
– Bullet Punch
– X-Scissor
– Swords Dance
– Protect

This set aims to get a Swords Dance and then threaten the opponent with a +2 Bullet Punch. I’ve invested in HP instead of Speed to ensure Scizor stays on the field for longer. I’ve put a Lum Berry on this Scizor to burn a turn from Rotom trying to use WoW.

Mega Scizor:
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
– Bullet Punch
– X-Scissor
– Swords Dance
– Roost

Scizor can Mega Evolve, so here’s a set for Mega Scizor. In order to justify using Mega Scizor I figure it needs a reliable form of healing to keep it on the field and Swords Dance to keep it a threat. This set is begging to have Togekiss back to redirect attacks with Follow Me, but now all we have is Smeargle, which isn’t quite the same. Amoonguss could almost fill this role is your goal is to take all the Overheats and hope the opposing Fire types are out of Special Attack by the time Amoonguss goes down.