Base Stats: 104 HP / 75 Atk / 100 Def / 110 SpA / 75 SpD / 66 Spe (530 Total)
Abilities: Blaze | Unaware
Notable Moves:
- Torch Song
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hex
- Fire Blast
- Overheat
- Tera Blast
- Substitute
- Roar
- Night Shade
- Seed Bomb
- Solar Beam
- Earth Power
- Slack Off
- Sing (Added in patch)
Pros:
- Torch Song is a solid STAB that provides a guaranteed Special Attack boost, making it a very potent special wallbreaker.
- Shadow Ball is a spammable option that has good neutral coverage in conjunction with its Fire STAB.
- Will-O-Wisp and Hex give Skeledirge a good utility option that gives its Ghost STAB incredible power.
- Slack Off provides reliable recovery.
- Unaware makes Skeledirge a useful blanket check to opposing set-up strategies and enables it to easily defeat opposing Calm Mind users.
- Its impressive physical bulk and adequate special bulk allow it to tank hits if needed and even perform fully defensive roles. It has better bulk in every defensive stat than Quagsire, for example.
- Earth Power enables Skeledirge to beat many would-be checks, most notably Toxapex and Tyranitar.
Cons:
- The base power of its moves are not impressive so it relies on Torch Dance boosts to become a major threat.
- Fire/Ghost is a mixed bag defensively, with many common weaknesses. It relies on Heavy-Duty boots to switch into attackers consistently.
- Skeledirge’s speed is unimpressive at base 66. Many other powerful threats will easily outrun it.
- Skeledirge does not have access to Toxic which worsens its matchup against bulky Water types.
- Its special bulk is unimpressive without significant investment.
Terastallize Potential:
- A Ghost Tera type enables Skeledirge to hit extremely hard with Shadow Ball while becoming neutral to Stealth Rock.
- A Fighting Tera type lets Skeledirge turn the tables against Dark and Rock types and resist Stealth Rock.
- A Dark Tera type can be used to beat the plethora of powerful Ghost and Dark types in the new meta.
Potential Sets:
Slack Off + 3 Attacks
Skeledirge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe or 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Torch Song
- Shadow Ball
- Earth Power / Tera Blast
- Slack Off
This set is designed to overwhelm opponents with Torch Song boosts, making its already-great coverage increasingly difficult to switch into. Slack Off keeps Skeledirge healthy from chip damage; if it invests in HP it can also defensively check opponents.
Substitute Torch Song (SubSong)
Skeledirge @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Substitute
- Torch Song
- Shadow Ball
- Slack Off / Earth Power / Tera Blast
This set allows Skeledirge even more protection as it boosts with Torch Song at the cost of immediate power. It can make for a potent win condition against slow, bulky teams. More optimized EV spreads will be necessary to hit certain speed benchmarks as well as keeping Substitute intact against various defensive Pokémon.
Physical Wall
Skeledirge @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Torch Song / Flamethrower
- Hex / Shadow Ball
- Slack Off
Bulky Skeledirge sets can opt for Will-O-Wisp to increase its defensive capabilities even further. This set can be employed on balance and stall teams to handle many physical attackers lacking strong super-effective moves and it can potentially serve as a win condition against opposing bulky teams. Flamethrower and Shadow Ball are STAB options with more PP.
Other Options:
- Choice Specs sets can use its strong dual STABs alongside Earth Power and either Overheat or Tera Blast. However, there is a steep opportunity cost in not using Heavy-Duty Boots and Slack Off.
- Offensive Hex + Will-O-Wisp sets could be effective in wallbreaking. The other moveslots would be any two of Torch Song, Earth Power, and Slack Off.
- Offensive sets with Solar Beam can be used on Sun teams, although with the influx of new Sun abusers the competition for a spot on the team is stiff.
- A Fire Tera type makes Skeledirge hit incredibly hard with boosted Torch Dances.
- A Fairy Tera type is useful for beating Dark and Dragon types and provides excellent coverage alongside its Fire and Ghost STABs.
Overall:
Skeledirge is a fascinating addition to the Pokédex, boasting an incredible STAB option in Torch Song that lets it set up and deal good damage at the same time. Its Ghost typing further enables it to be a potent attacker. Unaware provides both offensive and defensive options, the latter being bolstered by its good bulk. Although it lacks speed and immediate power, Skeledirge’s combination of a decent typing, a limited yet very good movepool, solid stats, and a unique ability will help it find a niche in OU no matter how the meta develops.
In the short term it will have to compete with yet-to-be-banned threats with even more power and much better speed so its capabilities may not be immediately apparent. As such, Skeledirge's viability should increase over time. For now I expect it to be decent.
What do you think about Skeledirge? Have you enjoyed using it or found success with it? Are you just happy to have a quadrupedal Fire starter for once? Share your thoughts below!
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