#227: Skarmory

Skarmory being savage in its natural habitat.

So next up we have a steel bird. How do you come up with a steel bird exactly? Well, you take a look at a few myths from different cultures and combine them. The Stymphalian birds are a group of birds in Greek mythology and have bronze beaks, sharp metallic feathers they can launch at their victims and poisonous dung. They were the pets of the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, and were ultimately defeated by Heracles. The Russians speak of Gagana, a miraculous bird with an iron beak and copper claws and is often believed to guard other mythical creatures. Finally, there's the alicanto - or allicanto - which is a bird of Chilian mythology that is said to let its wings shine with bright, metallic colors during the night. The alicanto lives in caves in hilly areas containing minerals and feeds on gold and silver. It is said to bring luck to any miner who sees it; if the lucky miner follows an alicanto without being caught, he can find silver or gold, but the bird will guide the greedy miner off a cliff if it notices him following it. Aesthetically, though, Skarmory shares some traits with pteranodons (a genus of pterosaurs), paper cranes and hand fans. And let's be honest here: instead of being born as a whole, Skarmory looks like it came straight out of a building kit.

Skarmory being savage in TCG art.

But how did Skarmory get that armored hide? Well, it lives and is raised in very harsh environments, often building its nests in thorny bushes called briers, where continual scratching of their skins will eventually harden the chicks into an iron-like state. Skarmory engages in battles repeatedly, and because of that its blade-like wings become tattered and bashed in and eventually grow back after a year. They may look heavy, but they are actually hollow and light, can be moved independently and allow Skarmory to fly at speeds up to 190 miles per hour, according to Ruby and Omega Ruby (D/P/P and B/W/B2/W2 mention it goes 180 mph, but that's just a minor detail). Because its wings are so sharp, people in the past used feathers that had been fallen off to make knives and swords.

A more realistic approach of Skarmory. It looks savage.

Of course, because Skarmory is clad entirely in steel-hard armor, it is insanely defensive in competitive play. Basically it's Mantine's counterpart: whereas Mantine excels in special stats, Skarmory shines when it comes to its physical stats. First off, it's base 140 defense makes it a physically bulky bitch, while its base 80 attack is its second best stat and is decent enough in order for Skarmory to fight back. However, more investment is usually put into its HP and one of its defensive stats - its physical defense is high enough to pay attention to its special defense instead - and a support set is the most common set you'll find on a Skarmory. Whirlwind removes any Pokémon that try to set up and sweep from the battlefield, while Taunt prevents setting up at all and limits the opposing Pokémon to using only damaging moves. Skarmory has access to Defog, a move that removes all entry hazards on your as well as the opponent's side of the field, while Spikes puts an entry hazard of up to three layers on the opposite side of the field, thereby damaging Pokémon that come in - barring any flying types, that is, so for those you could use Stealth Rock instead. Roost is used for healing, but as this moves makes Skarmory lose its flying type, its steel typing leaves it vulnerable to ground-type attacks. Leftovers is used as a held item for some additional passive recovery, although a Rocky Helmet could be used against Pokémon that hit Skarmory with direct attacks and Shed Shell is an alternative against Pokémon with the Magnet Pull ability. Speaking about abilities, Sturdy prevents Skarmory from being OHKOed when at full HP, which is handy when you don't see a Fire Blast coming your way. It is inarguably the best ability for it.

And if you really want to go weird, a Choice Banded Skarmory with Iron Head, Brave Bird, X-Scissor and Rock Slide might do the job. In any case, one of the two STAB moves (Iron Head and Brave Bird) should also be on a support moveset so that Skarmory can fight back, so you're gonna have to choose which support moves you want on it.

Skarmory being a transporter for Steven Stone, which is... not all that savage,
actually. But it's still very cool.

I'm not quite done with this thing yet. In all hurry to explain Skarmory's origin and competitive use, I completely forgot to mention how much I adore this thing. I already thought it was cool, but it was never one of my favorite Pokémon. It also didn't make my top 50 of favorite Pokémon (seriously, don't read that blog; it's bad, worse, worst), but I warmed up to it in a Pokémon X Wonderlocke. It was one of the first Pokémon I received over Wonder Trade - I'm 100% sure it was before the first Gym, as I remember it completely walled Vivillon - and it stayed with me until the very end, contrary to other Pokémon I use in Nuzlockes or a variant thereof. Yes, I'm bad at Nuzlockes; my Pokémon die very often, especially when I'm trying to grind, but Skarmory stayed a part of my team until I beat Diantha, due to its bulk and excellent typing. I love this thing and it has easily become one of my favorite Pokémon to date.

Rating: 5/5