SKELEDIRGE STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Skeledirge is the fire starter of the 9th generation of Pokémon (Paldea) and for a change we don’t have the typical hyper offensive Pokémon as usually happens, for some reason, with the fire starters in most installments of this saga ( See Incineroar , Blaziken , Infernape …).

Does this mean it’s not an offensive Pokémon? Well, actually it is very offensive… but to be more precise it is the typical Pokémon with very good resistance and also very good offense; but it’s slow as hell (you have to compensate with something, otherwise it would be broken).

It has very good offensive and Stall moves (Silver’s beloved and hated Stall strategies return ), good typing, an also very interesting ability, and an exclusive move (which we’ll see below) that comes in handy to strengthen his offense. Let’s go with his analysis and strategy!

Oh, and if you don’t understand what all this is about Stall and some terms that I will surely use from now on, read this post where I explain it to you.

? SKELEDIRGE STATS

His statistics add up to a total of 531 points , which is very good; for some reason he has 1 dot more than the other two initials of Paldea.

• Health: 104.
• Attack: 75.
• Defense: 100.
• Special Attack: 110.
• Special Defense: 76.
• Speed: 66.

A rather curious cast since it shoots more for the defensive section, although it does not fall short with those 110 points of Special Attack, which also makes it a good offensive. Very slow, yes, but good offensive; but being slow is an advantage in Trick Room.

Defensively he is quite well covered on the physical side due to his good Health and his good Defense; The pity is that on the Special side it is already weaker a bit more and therefore we will have to be more careful against special attackers like Primarina  or Coalossal .

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Skeledirge is a Ghost Fire-type just like Chandelure , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

• He is immune to Fighting and Normal (immune to Surprise).
• It is very resistant to Bug.
• It is resistant to Fire, Fairy, Bug, Ice, Steel and Poison.
• It is weak to Rock, Water, Dark, Ground, and Ghost.

As you can see, Skeledirge has an amazing amount of resistances, which allows it to enter the field more safely since it will be able to take on many Pokemon such as Volcarona or Tauros Paldea (minus the Water-type).

The bad thing is that even having few weaknesses compared to its large amount of resistances… well, unfortunately, they are weaknesses that are very important to take into account.

• Rock : One of the weaknesses to take into account due to the presence of Rock Trap and Pokémon like Tyranitar .
• Water : There are tons of powerful Water Pokémon in competitive such as Palafin Hero, Quaquaval or Dracovish .
• Sinister : Very dangerous by moves like Disarm or Pursuit. Pokémon like Meowscarada can leave us to the drag.
• Earth : One of the most present, always in competition with the powerful Earthquake ( Excadrill ). Also watch out for Ground Pokémon that attack on the special side like Gastrodon.
• Ghost : Perhaps not the most problematic weakness, but Pokemon like Ceruledge will tear us apart.

SKELEDIRGE ABILITIES

Now let’s see their abilities and we will comment on the one that seems most relevant to us.

SEA ​​FLAMES

The typical one that the initials of Fire have in Pokémon. Increases the damage of our Fire attacks by 50% when the Pokémon’s health is at or below 1/3 of its total.

Not too interesting because the requirement is quite peculiar and many times it won’t trigger, but at least given Skeledirge’s defensive nature it will be easier for this to happen.

IGNORANT

The most interesting since the Pokémon that carries it will ignore the changes in the opponent’s statistics (good and bad), so we can easily stop the typical ones with Dragon Dance, Sword Dance and others. This also adds survivability since a boosted Pokémon can never attack it (well, they can, but the boost is not taken into account).

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

The perfect Iv’s as it usually is, regarding the EV’s and Nature:

• EV’s : 252 Health, 200 Defense, 56 Special Defense.
• Nature : Modest (+ Special Attack, – Attack).

With the EVs we have decided to improve his defensive side as much as possible so that he can hold up well and since we also wanted to add something to his offense (which is very good) we have decided to give him the Modest nature.

RECOMMENDED ITEM

These are the items I recommend for Skeledirge:

• Remains : It will restore us each turn at the end of it a little bit of health, it will help us to endure better on the battlefield.
• Jagged Helmet : The opposing Pokémon will lose 1/6 of its health when making a contact attack. Ideal for weakening physical Pokémon and a good alternative if you carry Leftovers in another Pokémon.
• Assault Vest : Increases Special Defense by 50% but prevents us from using status moves. The option that we most recommend for VGC or Doubles.
• Insurance Weakness : If we are hit with an effective attack we will increase our Attack and Special Defense 2 times. Also for Doubles.
• Zidra Berry : We recover 1/4 of Health when we are below 50%. Highly recommended for VGC as well.

TORCH SONG: HIS SIGNATURE MOVE

• STAB Fire.
• 80 Power.
• 100 Accuracy.
• Boosts his Special Attack.

Torch Song is a great move for Skeledirge and definitely needs to be part of your kit. It is an attack with perfect precision, good power and that will also increase our Special Attack to make it more powerful. Together with the “Ignorant” ability that ignores changes in the opponent’s statistics, few will be the Pokémon that resist us.

BEST MOVES FOR SKELEDIRGE

The movements that I recommend the most for Skeledirge:

• Torch Song : Definitely its Fire STAB. Fire is effective against Grass, Ice, Steel, and Bug. Ideal for Pokémon like Meowscarada (but be careful with its Dark attacks),  Amoonguss or Gholdengo.
• Shadow Ball : STAB Ghost, Special, 80 power, 100% accuracy, and a 20% chance to reduce the target’s Special Defense. The safest STAB move, remember that Ghost is good against Psychic and Ghost.
• Living Earth : Earth, Special, 90 power, 100% accuracy, and a 10% chance to lower the target’s Special Defense. As a cover for Rock, Electric, Poison and Fire. So we have something against Pokémon like Volcarona, Iron Hands or Glimmora.
• Scream : Dark, Special, 55 power, 100% accuracy and a 10% chance to lower the target’s Special Attack. As a cover for Psychic and to slow down threats that attack on the special side a bit.
• Wisp Fire : Fire, Status, 85% accuracy. Burns the opponent, reducing their physical damage by 50%. The penalty is that precision (failing hurts a lot) but together with its good physical resistance and ability we make sure that on the physical side there are no Pokémon that knock us down.
• Misfortune : STAB Ghost, Special, 65 Power, 100% Accuracy. If we hit an enemy that has an altered status, it doubles its power. Good combo with Wildfire, but less safe than Shadow Ball.
• Relaxation : It restores us 1/2 health, ideal to keep us alive.
• Substitute : We lose a little health, but we will put a stick figure on the field that will take the hits for us.

SKELEDIRGE STRATEGIES

Here are some example strategies we think are ideal for this Pokémon in several different formats:

SKELEDIRGE STALL + BOOSTER (SINGLES)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Health, 200 Defense, 56 Special Defense.
• Nature: Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack).
• Item: Wreckage / Jagged Helmet.
• Skill: Ignorant.
• Movements:
  • Torch Song
  • Shadow Ball / Misfortune
  • Wild Fire / Living Earth
  • relax

We have an exaggerated physique resistance, good resistance, remains and relaxation… suffice to say that it will not be easy to lie down unless they hit us very hard (especially on the special side). We also have Wildfire to nullify physical (they already had little option against us) or, at our option, change it to Living Earth to add more coverage (I would stay with Wildfire).

Offensively, it is also a threat to take into account for having good STAB moves with very good coverage. Torch Song will also allow us to boost ourselves while attacking and the opponent’s boosts will not be effective due to our ability. Misfortune is a good combo with Wildfire, but I would go for Shadow Ball to be able to do without the burn, since we won’t always need it or be able to use it (fire types nothing, of course).

SKELEDIRGE OFFENSIVE TANK (VGC OR DOUBLES)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 180 Health, 92 Defense, 144 Special Defense and 92 Special Attack.
• Nature: Calm (+Special Defense, -Attack).
• Item: Assault Vest.
• Skill: Ignorant.
• Movements:
  • Torch Song
  • Shadow ball
  • Alive earth
  • Howl

With this set, Skeledirge is able to take hits very well thanks to its defensive EVs and Assault Vest. With this we will seek to use our Torch Song to raise the Special Attack and be able to hit very hard.

Scream is key for those Special Attackers and if we’ve managed to use our Torch Song it will shred Ghost- and Psychic-types to shreds. Living Ground coverage is a big surprise to those Steel, Electric, Rock, Poison, and Fire-types; especially against Rock, Pokemon like Tyranitar, which are very uncomfortable for our Skeledirge. The longer Skeledirge is on the field, the more dangerous it becomes, so pairing it with an Electric or Grass Pokémon is great for covering its threats ( Rillaboom can be great).

SKELEDIRGE TERACRYSTALLIZATION

If you want Skeledirge to be the Teracrystallize Pokémon on your team, we recommend the Water Teracrystallize set for Singles and the Fire set for Doubles/VGC.

The Water Teracrystallization will make us weak only to Electric or Grass, so it will be extremely difficult for them to drop us given the kit we have and when faced with a threat from those types (especially if they are special attackers, which greatly reduces the number of Pokémon) we can always switch to the Pokémon (but we would lose the Teracrystallization, of course). In addition, it would be very key to put on Terablast to have a Water STAB.

If you go for the offensive route and roll Teracrystallization of Fire , it will be very key since you will hit very hard with Torch Song (Teracrystallization if it is of a type that you have increases the STAB damage even more) while at the same time boosting yourself; a combo that the truth is that it is tremendous. In addition you also lose weaknesses in the process since you will be left with only Fire: Water, Earth and Rock (although you obviously lose resistances in the process as well).

HOW TO DEFEAT SKELEDIRGE AND COUNTERS

And now just the opposite, what to do to defeat a Skeledirge and some of its counters:

• Special Attackers : Powerful special attackers that can hit you with a weakness could knock you down. Be careful against Pokémon like Greninja, Milotic or Gengar .
• Taunt : To prevent it from healing or targeting Wisp Fire (and other status moves). Umbreon or Incineroar would be good examples.
• Walls with Toxic : It would be a long battle (Metapod VS Metapod), but the Pokémon with Toxic would probably win. See the god  Toxapex .