Subject: You're thinking about Skarm all wrong.
Author:
Posted on: 2015-04-16 15:06:00 UTC

Skarmory's an excellent physical wall, and if Ix wasn't using her gimmick, I'd recommend her put it in. Now, I don't tend to use it much, since I don't like playing in the higher tiers, but the following set is pretty much de rigeur. Or at least, so I am told.

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Skarmory@Leftovers
Nature: Impish (+ Defence, - Special Attack)
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Defence / 252 Special Defence
Moveset:-
Roost
Roost is Skarmory's biggest niche - reliable recovery that slightly improves its defences in some ways by removing its Flying typing, which is kind of bad defensively. Steel does synergise well with it, though, which is nice for when it comes back just as your newly-switched-in opponent tries to unleash an Earth Power or something.
Taunt
People hate Taunt. People. HATE. Taunt. And it's brilliant on Skarmory. Skarm's role is hazard removal and kicking stuff in, whereas your lead is generally the one setting up traps for your opponent's Crippling Stealth Rock Weakness (take a drink!), so Taunt prevents people from setting it back up - and it also prevents the ubiquitous Defog from making an appearance, since nobody runs Rapid Spin any more.
Defog
Defog ties into the role as hazard removal, because it's your hazard removal. Duh. It allows you to get rid of entry hazards on your side of the field, which Skarmory's brilliant at since it's immune to almost all of them and only takes neutral damage from Stealth Rock. Which means your opponent has to stick all their hazards back up again, and leads tend to be a little bit on the fragile side.
Brave Bird
As you pointed out, Skarmory does have an okay Attack stat (though without EV investment it's not super great), so Brave Bird is there to aid your strengths. Skarmory tends to be on the receiving end of Taunt a lot, so I'm reliably informed, so it seems obvious to run it so that you don't just sit there like a lemon if you get stuck with it. Brave Bird's a recoil move, which means you'll lose health if you use it. If only you had an extremely useful guaranteed recovery move...

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Hopefully that's informative. =]

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