It's not often that certain Pokémon stay long in the series' meta without falling off, and it's even rarer that if they do fall off, they also come back to a place that's better than before – especially in a game that Pokemon Legends: ZA. From Gen 2 to the competitive peak of Gen 7 and early Gen 8, Skarmory stood tall as a quintessential Flying/Steel defensive Pokemon loved by players for stable, balance and hazard-stacking teams. But everything changed when Pokemon Sword and Shield's Corviknight arrived, reshaping not only the steel-winged defensive role but the very meta that had kept Skarmory relevant for decades.
