Introduction
Scizor is a Power character who uses his tricky movement and great overall damage output to make his opponent regret every poorly pressed button. His Hover Dash, Hover Turn, and Hover Glide are some of the best movement options in the game, and he can bait and punish the slightest mistake for a minimum of 200 damage almost anywhere on the screen. In Field Phase, Scizor has surprisingly good zoning tools. He can lay his infamous nY staples to limit the opponent's options, and punish many attempts to shift the phase with his low and mid-low crushing b[Y]. In Duel phase, Scizor excels on defense. With access to one of the best DP-like reversals with U-Turn, along with a fantastic Counter Attack that can be cancelled almost instantly into other options, and a stronger than average shield, Scizor can withstand a lot of pressure and fight back with his CADC "parries". His Bullet Punch and advancing Hover Dash attacks let him punish his opponents for 200-300 damage from half the screen away. This gives Scizor a threatening mid-range neutral.
Scizor is not without his flaws however: Much like in the main series Pokemon games, Scizor seriously struggles if he cant get his Swords Dance stocks up quickly. Scizor also has very poor frame data, with almost all of his few safe moves being high attacks. In addition, Scizor performs poorly at long range in Duel Phase, with no option to counteract beam/laser type attacks and one, bad projectile. Scizor needs to fight for his Sword stock and quickly find his place on the stage in order to do well, which proves to be easier said than done.
Holding the input during a Forward Dash causes Scizor to speed towards the opponent, entering a unique state known as a Hover Dash. During a Hover Dash, Scizor begins to delete projectiles of Priority 7 or less on Frame 19. Scizor can continue to Hover Dash indefinitely, but ends Hover Dash automatically by braking when the input is released as soon as Frame 15.
On Frame 9, Scizor can cancel Hover Dash into fY and Homing Attack in Field Phase, which become Hover Dash specific Weak and Strong attacks in Duel Phase. Beginning on Frame 18, Scizor can cancel Hover Dash into universal Dash cancel options, as well as Side and Back Dash thanks to Hover Turn.
Scizor possesses the ability to Dash cancel his Dashes by holding a direction while Dashing. Hover Turn cancels the Dash when it would normally cancel into universal Dash cancel options, except for Scizor's forward Dash in Duel Phase, where the Dash is canceled later than normal. Using Hover Turn, Scizor can continue to cancel successive Dashes indefinitely, with one caveat: he cannot cancel a Dash into another Dash of the same type.