Scrafty, The Hoodlum Pokémon. Groups of them beat up anything that enters their territory. Each can spit acidic liquid from its mouth. It can smash concrete blocks with its kicking attacks. The one with the biggest crest is the group leader. It pulls up its shed skin to protect itself while it kicks. The bigger the crest, the more respected it is.

Overview

Scrafty used to be a terrifying Pokémon. Its defenses were in the triple dimages and its typing provided it with very few weaknesses. Dragon Dance? Bulk Up? Scrafty had the moves and skills to use them. He had a few enemies but none that completely had an edge on him. Scrafty was a thing of legend in Generation V and was often used, but Generation VI brings it a brand new adversary, the Fairy-type. The Fairy-type Pokémon, including changes to ones that Scrafty previously had the edge over such as Wigglytuff and Granbull, have become a force that have just destroyed Scrafty, due to its 4* weakness to it. Despite that, Scrafty still has some great uses, but just run away if you see a Fairy.
Positives
- Dragon Dance and Bulk Up are both great moves that Scrafty can make use of.
- Extremely high natural Defenses.
- Pretty much the perfect offensive movepool. If you name it Scrafty probably learns it.
- Three amazing abilities make Scrafty unpredictable.

Negatives
- Fairy types decimate Scrafty even more so than they do Dragons.
- 115 base Defenses is much more frail than you might expect due to the low base 65 base HP and no Defense EV investment.
- Trying to sweep when you're weak to Talonflame just doesn't work anymore.
- Besides Defenses Scrafty's stats aren't very impressive.
- Did I mention Fairies? Ugh Fairies.

Abilities

Shed Skin: Every turn, it has a 1 in 3 chance of healing from a status condition (BURN, PARALYZE, SLEEP, POISON, FREEZE). Shed Skin is extremely solid on any set. Keep in mind it has a low chance of working and if the random number generator rolls the dice the wrong way a few turns in a row Scrafty might end up dead long before it kicks in.
Moxie: Attack is raised by one stage when the Pokémon knocks out another Pokémon. Amazing. One of the reasons Scrafty can be so dangerous. If it starts a sweep it will be difficult to stop.
Hidden Ability (Available):
Intimidate: Upon entering battle, the opponent’s Attack lowers one stage. Intimidate is viable on every single Pokemon that gets it. While it is the least common ability Scrafty runs it is still a solid choice.

Movesets

Pants on da ground

- Dragon Dance
- Knock Off
- High Jump Kick / Drain Punch
- Ice Punch / Iron Head
Item Attached: Life Orb / Lum Berry
Ability: Moxie
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature

The old standard Scrafty set makes a return. While Scrafty is by no means bad it took a Fairy to the knee harder than any Dragon ever did. The idea of this set is pretty simple. Dragon Dance then sweep. Scrafty is slow but after a dance it outruns the base 111s which is just barely enough to make it useful. Knock Off was buffed since last gen and is now effectively a 97 base power move against something with an item (which is everything in competitive battling). High Jump Kick helps make up for Scrafty's mediocre Attack stat. It hits approximately as hard as Tyranitar's Stone Edge which is nothing to laugh at. If you want to improve your longevity you can also run Drain Punch but the power drop is immense. Ice Punch wipes out Gliscor and Landorus while Iron Head helps you beat damaged Fairies. DD Scrafty is a decent Pokemon that is sort of beat down by what the metagame has become. Its stats are okay and movepool is amazing but it gets countered hard by something pretty much no matter what it runs in the final slot.

Thug Lyfe!

- Bulk Up
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Rest
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 HP
Adamant Nature

If Dragon Dancing isn't your thing you can try a slower Bulk Up set. This set has more counters but a much better chance of getting past them due to its ability to actually survive a few hits. Early game you should stick to spamming Knock Off to cripple your main counters and wear them down. Late game when the Fairies are defeated (and not a moment sooner) you can try to grab a few Bulk Ups, Rest off the damage, and then sweep.

Other Options

Head Smash, Zen Headbutt, Iron Tail, Choice Band, and type resist berries.
If you are having difficulty choosing between Ice Punch and Iron Head you can meet halfway and run Head Smash. Head Smash does about as much damage to Fairies and nearly half the damage as Ice Punch to Flying/Ground walls. The downside is bad accuracy and huge recoil.
Zen Headbutt crushes the original gangsta Heracross as well as Tentacruel. It doesn't hit much else though.
Iron Tail is inferior to Iron Head usually due to the accuracy and lack of flinch but Iron Tail DOES have a much better chance of OHKOing Fairies than Iron Head (if you don't miss).
A Choice Band set is viable with Intimidate. Banded High Jump Kick is strong enough to take down Skarmory in two hits.
Some of the type resist Berries are useful. Chople Berry is good to prevent Terrakion and Breloom from decimating Scrafty while Coba Berry gives you some insurance against Talonflame. Keep in mind that Scrafty is surprisingly frail and even with these type resist berries you are probably taking 75% or more from these Pokemon's STAB moves. It might be worth it to just run Life Orb and try to hurt them on the switch in instead.

Double & Triple Battle Options

Intimidate + Fake Out is okay. Scrafty is decent in Doubles / Triples with the right support. Proper use of Knock Off can be devastating.

Countering Scrafty

Fairies utterly mash Scrafty. Azumarill resists every move Scrafty carries except Iron Head which only 3HKOs after a Dragon Dance. Togekiss, Sylveon, and Florges can sponge anything besides boosted Iron Heads and can OHKO back with a Fairy STAB move. Clefable eats even boosted Iron Heads due to its ability Unaware. Talonflame and Breloom both risk death at the hands of some of Scrafty's moves but can OHKO it with priority moves regardless of how much he Dragon Danced. Landorus-T and Gliscor completely laugh at any Scrafty that lack Ice Punch. Scizor and Skarmory don't like taking many boosted High Jump Kicks but they will survive and take Scrafty down. Most Scarfers can remove Scrafty without much trouble. Scarf Terrakion, Latios, Kyurem, and Garchomp all wipe out Scrafty even after a few Dragon Dances. Beating Scrafty is scary if it gets enough Dragon Dances and starts a Moxie boosted rampagebut as long as you act quickly to take it out you should do just fine.

Pre-Evolution Corner - Scraggy

Anything but Scragg-ly

-Dragon Dance
-Hi Jump Kick / Drain Punch
-Knock Off / Crunch
-Poison Jab / Ice Punch / Drain Punch
Item Attached: Berry Juice / Eviolite
Ability: Moxie / Shed Skin
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 SpD / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Speed, -Sp.Atk)

Scraggy was one of the premier set-up sweepers in the 5th generation Little Cup. Unfortunately, good things can’t last forever. With the new Fairy-type, both of its amazing STABs have been nullified against these froffy fears, and it’s amazing type combination has gained a disgusting 4x weakness to fairy. It doesn’t end there for this little pokemon. With the introduction of older, banned pokemon in this generation of Little Cup (for now at least!) have made Scraggy’s job of sweeping more difficult. It doesn’t even have to be a pokemon. With Berry Juice actively being used, if Scraggy can’t OHKO something with it, it’s most likely going to die and the enemy is still going to have full health. There’s also the fact that right now there are other very strong sweepers; Shell Smash Sturdy users + Berry Juice is very strong. Now all of these downsides might make you think Scraggy is complete garbage now, this is definitely not the case. It’s type combo is still pretty good, even with a 4x weakness, good STAB moves, and variety of dastardly moves. Dragon Dance is still an amazing boosting move, which in some cases only 1 is needed to sweep. Hi Jump Kick hits like a truck, and Scraggy really needs it to start the momentum of sweep. Drain Punch is a noticeably weaker move, but gives it sustain in battle. One thing Scraggy got this generation is the new Knock Off. Knock Off’s base power is comparable to Crunch, removes items like Berry Juice and Eviolite, and does extra damage if the Pokemon is even holding an item (not to mention it’s STAB). You can always still use Crunch, but Knock Off is usually better. Poison Jab lets Scraggy hit the evil Fairies that haunt it’s nightmares. Ice Punch hits Flying-Types hard, most notably Gligar. Berry Juice, as much as Scraggy hates playing against it, makes good use of it, which usually means you don’t have to have the weaker Drain Punch. Eviolite makes you tank a few more hits and usually works better with Drain Punch. Moxie lets Scraggy start up it’s sweeping very well, while Shed Skin helps it fend against status ailments like being a paraplegic or third degree burns or having AIDS. EV’s and nature are typical for sweepers, attack and max speed with leftovers going into defensive stats. Scraggy is still an amazing sweeper, but it does have downsides. Anything faster than 15 speed with a Choice Scarf can outspeed and kill. Fairies are still problems but can be worked around. The new things in this generation may have pushed Scraggy around, but it definitely can tough it out and show it’s true colours. All three of them.