Topic: Am I the Only One That Uses Scrafty for OU Battling?

[Meowstic Royalty]

This is a question I've wondered for ages, since it has been AGES since I have seen a Scrafty in an OU team.

I use Scrafty because it is an amazing Dragon Dance sweeper if you give it a Focus Sash. It's speed is low so it can take a hit and survive with the Focus Sash, use Dragon Dance and then use that added speed to sweep with the moves Ice Punch, Drain Punch and Crunch. Sure, a priority move would end it before it started but Drain Punch alone gets five advantages and restores health too, along with getting a STAB bonus. Ice Punch is capable of taking down a few Dragon Types and Crunch has decent power with STAB and a couple added advantages. I have gotten many a sweep thanks to the fact that a few people forget it's a dark type and use Psychic on it. The Moxie ability raises Attack with each opponent knockout, so add that to Dragon Dance and the moveset already mentioned and you have a sweeping MACHINE.

I'm surprised Scrafty is in the UU tier. In the metagame, it really deserves more usage. (Despite now getting a 4X Fairy weakness. Damn Jigglypuffs.)

[quack98]

I use him! But I think part of why he's good is that he's in UU: There's a surprise when he's used!

His main problem is his fighting weakness, especially with no coverage move to hit them! On the plus side, dark has lost it's NFEness to steel this gen, although fighting will usually be superior (except against Aegislash!!!)

[Meowstic Royalty]

As Aegislash is a Steel/Ghost type, and Steel has lost its Dark resistance, a Crunch could deal some damage. If it didn't keep changing stance of course -_-

[quack98]

That was my point, I was saying against steel, fighting would be the superior STAB, except aegislash due to his immunity to it ^_^

But yeah, stances suck, and Kings Shield could screw Scrafty over pretty bad

[SirBlaziken]

I love kings shield. It screws over so many pokemon, it's not even funny.

[Richard and Blaziken]

King's Shield is good, but can be predictable at some point and if predicted correctly, can leave the opponent a free turn to stat boost.

Anyway, Scrafty is good, but the horrible Speed lets it down. Even at +1, it's outsped by a lot of common OU Pokemon, and Scarfers really hurt it's usefulness. Like I said, this doesn't make Scrafty bad, but Pokemon like Conkeldurr have more overall usefulness in 5th gen OU. Now with the quad Fairy weakness, Scrafty is even less likely to hit OU, but it doesn't mean you can't use it in OU. With team support, specifically Paralysis support on Pokemon that resists Fighting and/or Fairy (Aegislash actually makes a good defensive partner), you could run a DD or Bulk Up set pretty decently. However, don't bother with Focus Sash, as entry hazards make it useless. I'd go either Life Orb or Chesto Berry with DD, Crunch, Drain Punch/High Jump Kick, Ice Punch/Rest (with Chesto Berry, obviously).

[Hahex and Oshawott]

However, don't bother with Focus Sash, as entry hazards make it useless. I'd go either Life Orb or Chesto Berry with DD, Crunch, Drain Punch/High Jump Kick, Ice Punch/Rest (with Chesto Berry, obviously).

I kinda disagree with this point, rapid spin and defog support reduces the impact of entry hazards. I feel they'll be a lot less impactful this gen.
I could've sworn scrafty got sucker punch as well? Maybe I'm mistaken

[Liam]

Rapid spin support and defog buff aren't completely going to eliminate hazards, they'll still be there on most teams (especially stealth rocks as it only takes one turn rather than spikes/toxic spikes which are more time consuming) because they're just too good to pass up. If anything, players will aim to kill defog/spinners more quickly just to keep their hazards up rather than just building teams without them. That would be silly. You also forget sand (and less importantly hail lol) because sand is yet again the best weather due to the nerf. Hippowdon and Tyranitar are the only good automatic weather setters in OU, Politoed and Ninetails are miserable without perma-weather. Another problem with going with focus sash is that you miss out on the power increase life orb would give you or the extra sustainability that leftovers would give you, bearing in mind that Scrafty, even at +1 isn't incredibly strong.