Check it:
+ Iron Ball

PROS:
Resists electric attacks
Always goes last (great for Roost)
Nobody would expect it, they wouldn't use EQ

CONS:
Still weak to fire
Now weak to fighting, ground
...anyting else?

Is this a reliable strategy? I tried it in BT, but the AI saw right through it. Maybe it's better suited for battles against real people?

What do you guys think?

Well...

Its not resistant to electric - just neutral

You are now weak to Focus Punch, Hammer Arm, Earthquake, Focus Blast.

You are now resistant to ice and rock moves.

This isn't reliable though - now it has no STAB (most use Brave Bird or Drill Peck for actual attacking moves in case a taunter is in. Or Shedy.

Yes, I agree, use it while battling real people only. But if you still want to use it for Battle Tower, you still can do it.

it's the typical moveset
spikes
whirlwind
roost
drill peck

i know it will always go last, but it shouldn't be a problem since my skarm is slow anyway.

once ppl realize that fighting works against it....they start to take advatange of your skarmory and then your strategyis kinda ruined cause that flying type it has is the reason why most ppl choose skarmory...it's really smart at first when ppl dont realize that skarmory is holding iron ball...then once the secret is out...its like ur skarmory is kinda screwed lol....and also it does take away from STAB which is good but many wont notice that nor is it that big of importance...better yet you can teach it steel wing if your going to get rid of its flying type....All in all it's a really good strategy lol your just gonna have to find a way to hide it or live on with it once someone finds it out...

While that does remove its electric weakness, Fire Blast is usually used over Thunder on phys sweepers as a Skarm counter because of accuracy - Iron Ball won't help as much, while adding EQ + Fighting weaknesses that those sweepers can take advantage of.

However, for those pokemon using Thunder/Tbolt, inexperienced players might not realize that it's not doing as much damage as it should be, and keep using Thunder/Tbolt.


Special sweepers - might surprise them that Tbolt doesn't do as much, but Skarm can't really take Tbolts from special attackers anyway.

Guess I'll stick with the standard leftovers then.

Thanks everybody.

Umm guys? Crucial mistake.

Iron Ball DOES NOT REMOVE FLYING TYPE.

It makes you vunerable to ground attacks, you lose the 'floating' effect, but you keep the typing there, He'll be a Steel/Flying -hitable by ground Skarmory. End of story. Fighting stays nuetral, Electric stays SE, Ground becomes SE, you gain nothing. In fact you lose Lefties (or item of choice) as well.

Don't do it.