Skarmory

Flying

Skarmory is the premier physical wall on Flying teams because of its high Defense stat allowing it to take powerful physical attacks with ease. It has an amazing support movepool that includes Defog, Whirlwind, and Stealth Rock. Skarmory also has a handy resistance to Dragon-type attacks, allowing it to check powerful Dragon-types such as Salamence and Garchomp. Along with this, it has a key neutrality to Ice-type attacks, which allows it to counter powerful Ice-types such as Mamoswine and Weavile. Skarmory also has reliable recovery in Roost, giving it sustainability, which allows it to counter physical attackers such as Salamence and Weavile while giving it more opportunities to remove entry hazards with Defog. However, Skarmory has a mediocre Special Defense stat, meaning that it often needs to switch out against strong special attackers such as Tapu Koko and Greninja. It is also susceptible to common Electric- and Fire-type attacks, making it somewhat difficult to preserve Skarmory's HP. It also doesn't have much of an offensive presence because of its average Attack stat, which leaves it susceptible to Taunt users such as Mega Gyarados and Smeargle.

Steel

With the highest physical bulk of any available Ground-immune Pokemon and longevity thanks to Roost, Skarmory finds a spot on almost every Steel team as a premier physical wall. Its Flying typing doesn't just let it check Ground-types; a powerful STAB Brave Bird and a neutrality to Fighting make Skarmory a reliable Fighting check as well. Skarmory also packs much utility in the form of Spikes and Stealth Rock, allowing it to provide whichever entry hazard the team needs most. It can also run Whirlwind to phaze sweepers and even Defog to remove Sticky Web and stop Spikes stacking. What makes using these utility moves even easier is Sturdy, which allows Skarmory to be a last-minute check to setup sweepers or the best suicide lead that is capable of setting multiple layers of hazards and using Taunt. Unfortunately, Skarmory has rather below average HP and Special Defense, meaning most special attackers lay waste to it. Celesteela, sporting much better mixed bulk, thus finds a way to compete with Skarmory and can take on the Ground-immune teamslot with its Assault Vest set on more offensive teams.