Analysis
Scrafty is not a top tier mon this meta and faces great competition from the other fighters, but it sill is a very solid option, having some unique capabilities thanks to its abilities and movepool. While its 90 atk and 58 speed can be pretty mediocre, Scrafty’s access to Dragon Dance alongside its above average 65/115/115 bulk gives it the chance to patch this issue.
Scrafty gets access to 3 great abilities: intimidate to slow down the multitude of physical attackers in the meta and make using DD even safer. Shed Skin to cure itself of the barrage of will-o-wisps, thunder waves and spores thrown left and right (even if its a bit unreliable) and Moxie which can just wipe the opponent in the late game if they are unprepared.
Its more direct competition is of course Pangoro, sharing the same type and speed but with a much higher base attack. However they do very different stuff, the bear being more useful as a wallbreaker while Scrafty is more of a cleaner. Simply put, you want Pangoro to come in as many times as possible to put holes in the opponent’s team while Scrafty just wants to switch in once and take advantage of said holes.
Of course, Scrafty has big shortcomings. Even at +1 speed, is still falls just short of Zygarde and Ambipom, not to mention any scarfer running around so its not too difficult to check offensively. Defensive mons are a different problem, Scrafty has to run knock off, a fighting move and dragon dance in most sets so it leaves only one slot to deal with them. Bewear and Weezing are the best counters. The first easily taking even a +1 Close combat and retaliating back with drain punch and the second taking it even better and threatening burn, clear smog or just damage, both from sludge bomb and the rocky helmet it commonly uses.
What do you do then? Taunt for weezing? Bulk up for Bewear? Poison jab for Alcremie? Upper Hand for the priority moves commonly seen?
Item wise there are many options, Moxie sets benefit from Boots for the commonly seen webs or Lum berry for the aforementioned status. Shed Skin and Intimidate sets usually prefer the longevity of leftovers. Other options include Chople berry for the many commonly seen fighting moves or even Assault vest, which while sacrificing DD, allows it to check more offensive Sigilyph sets.
Scrafty really enjoys speed control, so Sticky Webs and T.Wave from Araquanid and Uxie make them great partners. Weezing is another good one since it can deal with its checks, even opposing weezings. Breloom’s Spore helps it not only shut down an otherwise counter (even if temporarily) but also grants it precious turns to boost itself if played right.
Written by Apu