Hariyama is a very useful tank in the UU environment, checking many prominent threats. Between Thick Fat, good defenses, and unique typing, Hariyama can beat prominent Pokémon such as Blaziken, Pinsir, Rampardos, Registeel, Arcanine, and Torterra in a pinch. It is also a stall team’s best hope against Clefable. Hariyama has a good offensive movepool, and for the sake of readability many options were left out of the above set. As long as you keep a STAB attack and Whirlwind, Hariyama can do its job, so feel free to mix and match attack options. Force Palm is a good choice, as it provides paralysis support for Hariyama’s teammates. When more power is needed or the paralysis is undesirable (such as on Trick Room or stall teams), Brick Break becomes Hariyama’s most reliable option. Revenge is sometimes better, though, since Hariyama is usually going last. Cross Chop is usable if you want even more power, as it can threaten to cleanly OHKO Clefable that don’t invest in Defense as well as Critical Hit on Pokémon like Curse Registeel. The accuracy can and will let you down, though, so be careful. The second attack depends on what threats Hariyama needs to stop. If you’re worried about Arcanine or Swords Dance Pinsir, run Stone Edge, as it’s Hariyama’s best shot at eliminating either of these. It also has good coverage in general with the Fighting attack of choice. Ice Punch still hits Flying-types fairly hard, with the added bonus of doing major damage to Torterra and Claydol. The 100% accuracy against Flying-types also matters more often than you'd think. Whirlwind is a great move on Hariyama, as it allows it to phaze out Pokémon such as Curse Steelix, Curse Registeel, and Belly Drum Charizard. As for Hariyama’s fourth attack, Knock Off is a particularly annoying option. Yanmega, for example, is a lot less threatening without its Life Orb or Choice Specs. Payback smacks around Ghost-types like Mismagius and Rotom. Fire Punch can be used here if you went with Ice Punch in slot 2 in order to do some damage to Pinsir; though it won’t OHKO, it will bring it within a turn or two fainting from Life Orb recoil. If you went with Stone Edge, it lets you hurt Torterra. While the set is called “Physical Tank”, it can still take special hits fairly well, especially Thick Fat resisted attacks. If you’re looking for something to specifically absorb strong special hits, see the Special Tank set. The Attack EVs ensure Pinsir is KOed by Stone Edge after Life Orb recoil and Stealth Rock damage. They also allow Hariyama to 2HKO 252 HP / 152 Def Calm Mind Clefable (252 HP / 0 Def versions take upwards of 75% from Brick Break) as well as muster about 50% to Registeel with Brick Break, depending on Registeel's EV spread. 80 HP has the advantage of hitting a Leftovers number +1. This particular set works on teams as a defensive "pivot", coming in to take a few hits, dishing some out, then switching out. Because of this, Wish support is highly recommended so that it can come in multiple times. Hypno is ideal for this as Hariyama resists Dark and Bug, two of Hypno's weaknesses, but Chansey and Clefable are better Pokemon in general and thus are probably more useful. This set tends to lure in Psychic-types, so you can pair Hariyama with a Honchkrow or Drapion to get a free switch.
This set, while similar to the last, serves a very different purpose. Where the previous set was meant to counter some top-tier physical threats, this one is catered toward countering the incredibly powerful special Fire, Ice, and Dark-type attackers present in UU. With Thick Fat and its Fighting typing, Hariyama is the best counter in UU to threats such as Houndoom, Magmortar, Glaceon, and especially mono-attacking variants of Spiritomb. The first attack is your choice of STAB. Force Palm is the preferred option for the 30% chance of Paralysis, but there are plenty of other options. Brick Break has fair base power, and can be used to break screens set up by your opponent. Cross Chop provides solid power and a high critical hit chance at the expense of accuracy. Whirlwind is a requirement, as it allows Hariyama to phaze out foes that it cannot deal with immediately (Spiritomb) or shuffle for entry hazard damage. Earthquake is welcome on this set, as it provides an accurate and powerful hit against the Fire-types that this set excels at walling. However, Stone Edge is also available, as it can fend off Flying-types as well as hitting opposing Fire and Ice-types. Finally, Payback is suggested in slot 4 to hit opponents such as Mismagius and Rotom. Knock Off is available as well to deprive opponents of their items, which can make it much easier for your team to handle them. Largely the same teammates help this set as do the Physical set.
A simple Choice Bander, this Hariyama can fully take advantage of that awesome 120 base Attack stat, hitting 558 Attack with a Choice Band. Close Combat is your main STAB move that will 2HKO anything that doesn’t resist it in UU. Payback hits for 100 Base Power on the switch or when the opponent goes before Hariyama, which is nearly all of the time. The last two attacking slots can be juggled with; any combination of the four moves works. Ice Punch is Hariyama’s best option against Nidoqueen and hits Claydol harder than any other move. Stone Edge will hurt UU Bug- and Flying-types and OHKOs Moltres. ThunderPunch is the most reliable option Hariyama has against the slower Slowbro. Fire Punch will hurt Toxicroak decently as well as the same Bug-types Stone Edge hits. Both abilities work nicely here. Guts has the potential to raise Hariyama’s power to extraordinary levels (837 Attack), while Thick Fat allows for more resistances and thus easier switch-ins.
This set attempts to use the best Hariyama has to offer defensively and combine it with Rest and Sleep Talk to give Hariyama some much needed recovery. Cross Chop is much more useful as a STAB Fighting move on this set, with Sleep Talk counteracting its low PP and the recovery allowing Hariyama to be able to afford a miss every once in awhile. Force Palm is still the best choice for most teams, unless you need to OHKO Clefable or have no need for paralysis. Whirlwind is generally the best choice in the last slot, as Hariyama’s phazing powers prevent Registeel and Steelix from attempting to Curse on it. However, if you’re in need of something to handle Pinsir and Arcanine, Stone Edge is a good secondary option.
Bulk Up Hariyama plays in a matter very similar to Curse Snorlax, but with less Special Defense. This set is most useful in the later stages of battle, when Psychic attackers like Slowbro and Espeon are sufficiently weakened or dead, as well as Fliers like Honchkrow. Pairing this set with a Pursuiter (Drapion, Honchkrow, Absol) and Stealth Rock support is highly recommended; Stealth Rock will make wearing down Flying-types significantly easier while Pursuit nails those pesky Psychics. From there, stat up, Rest when needed, and then attack with boosted attacks from behind boosted Defense. Force Palm is still preferred here as the paralysis is extremely helpful to finish off a foe, however Brick Break can be used for additional power. Cross Chop is not an option because of the low PP and accuracy. The third attack covers Fighting resists; Payback hits Claydol, Slowbro, and Mismagius while Ice Punch hits Nidoqueen while still doing good damage to Claydol. The given EVs will give Hariyama close to ideal defensive capability after one Bulk Up. They also guarantee that a Slowbro Psychic from minimum Special Attack will never manage 50% on Hariyama; by extension Claydol and Uxie's Psychics will never 2HKO unboosted.
Hariyama is an excellent SubPuncher; it has the ability to produce huge 112 HP Substitutes that are close to unbreakable by most physical-based walls in UU. Bring Hariyama in on any of the Rock or Steel-type walls, such as Steelix, Registeel, or Regirock, and set up a Substitute. Without attack investment, none of the aforementioned walls can break Hariyama's Substitutes in one hit. From there, you can proceed to fire incredibly powerful STAB Focus Punches off 319 attack. Payback is used as the secondary attack, as it gives excellent coverage alongside Focus Punch, covering Psychics and Ghosts. Since Hariyama is quite slow, it will almost always hit the opponent for 100 base power. The final attack is a matter of choice. Stone Edge can hit Flying-types like Moltres for Super Effective damage. Ice Punch also hits Flying-types, but also gives you an option to hit either of the Nidos. Finally, Earthquake hits Toxicroak and the Nidos for super effective damage. Toxicroak is 2HKOed by Focus Punch, however. The EVs give optimal Attack while making sure that Steelix's Earthquake with 0 Attack EVs fails to break the Substitute in one hit. 4 Speed EVs allow Hariyama to outspeed Registeel, Regirock, and Chansey to get a Substitute up before they can Status you. This set is even better with Light Clay Screen support from Uxie. Behind a Reflect, Azumarill's Focus Punch and Regice's Explosion are just some of the powerful moves that will not break Hariyama's Substitute. In addition, Hariyama can switch in on most of Uxie's common responses, and in general the two of them make a great defensive combination. Team OptionsIn general Hariyama's a Pokémon you throw onto a team to balance it, not a Pokémon you build a team around, but Hariyama needs some support to do its job as effectively as possible. As the Defensive sets all pack Whirlwind, Stealth Rock and Spikes support is much appreciated as it makes beating foes like Spiritomb much easier. On more defensively oriented teams that want Hariyama sticking around for a while, Wish support isn't a bad idea. Chansey is ideal for this because she attracts strong physical hits that Hariyama can take with ease. Hypno may be slightly better as it attracts attacks that Hariyama resists, but Hypno overall is a worse Pokémon and the most common Dark attacker, Honchkrow, is a huge threat to Hariyama. Since Hariyama is really slow, paralysis support, especially for the Bulk Up set, helps Hariyama significantly. More offensive minded Hariyama have trouble with sturdy Psychic-types like Claydol, Uxie, and Slowbro, as well as Spiritomb. Offensive support from Dark-types can be useful, especially Pokémon with Pursuit. The problem with this is that Drapion and Honchkrow are hit hard by Claydol's Earth Power and Ice Beam respectively. Regardless, a Pursuit user is the most reliable way to weaken these threats that might stop a Choice Band Close Combat from wrecking a team. Pairing Hariyama with a bulky Pokémon with high Special Defense (and optionally a resistance to Psychic), such as Lapras, Registeel, or Chansey, allows Hariyama's team to take on more threats. Hariyama + Registeel is particularly effective as the Fire attacks used to beat Registeel give Hariyama free switch-ins. Other OptionsBullet Punch in general gets thrown around every so often as a theorymon move for Hariyama, but it's surprisingly weak and in general not very useful, even with Belly Drum. Close Combat is a popular option on the Defensive sets. Since Hariyama's slower than most Pokémon it goes up against, the Defense drops won't affect it the turn it attacks, and the added power creates more OHKOs than Brick Break would. However, it's not recommended as it makes Hariyama almost forced to switch out the next turn or risk taking a heavy hit. It also creates problems for Pokémon like Registeel who can take one Close Combat, live, and hit your weakened defenses. Bulk Up / (Fighting attack) / Rest / Sleep Talk sounds really good on paper, but rarely works due to an entire type being immune to its STAB. Spiritomb and Mismagius can both come in and stall it out or set up on it, respectively, and Spiritomb isn't even weak to Pursuit. Every once in a while you might see a Fake Out / Close Combat / Facade / Bullet Punch Hariyama equipped with a Flame Orb. This set could fare decently as a lead but usually doesn't accomplish much; Bullet Punch is very weak without a STAB boost, and the coverage offered by Fighting / Normal leaves Hariyama completely helpless against Ghosts. Its low Speed is a huge problem as well. Hitmontop actually has a more powerful Fake Out and Mach Punch for abuse of this style of set. EVsHariyama’s defensive sets go against the general defensive guideline of “max HP first” due to his already massive HP stat and fairly low defensive stats. Generally, it is best to max out one defensive stat, complete with nature boost, then place the remaining EVs in Attack or HP. Aiming for “magic numbers” is recommended; getting enough attack to 2HKO Registeel or Clefable, for example, is a great way to take advantage of Hariyama’s unusually large Attack for a defensive Pokemon. A common proposal is to run an Adamant nature on Hariyama’s defensive sets, then split EVs between the defenses. It’s important to note, though, that a 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def Adamant Hariyama actually has less physical defense and Attack than an 80 HP / 176 Atk / 252 Def Impish Hariyama. Obviously the same thing goes for a Careful Hariyama. If one wants to split EVs evenly between both defenses, an Adamant nature isn’t a bad choice, however. OpinionHariyama is a very underrated Pokemon through and through. Boasting a good support movepool in Force Palm, Knock Off, and Whirlwind as well as a plethora of offensive attacks such as Close Combat, the elemental Punches, Stone Edge, and Payback, Hariyama is versatile enough to fit into any team. Its Fighting typing combined with Thick Fat allows it to defend itself from some of the most powerful attackers in the metagame. In OU, Hariyama is the undisputed best Tyranitar counter in existence, as well as an excellent counter or check to Weavile and other foes. It truly shines in UU play, however, where it provides a stalwart defense against some of the metagame’s biggest threats, including Blaziken, Pinsir, and Rampardos on the physical side, and Pokemon such as Glaceon, Typhlosion, and Houndoom on the Special side. Combine that with base 120 Attack, one of the highest in the entire metagame, and you have a wall that can dish out pain just as easily as it can take it. Hariyama is the single reason that stall is not beaten by Clefable and is the only reason Pokémon like Rampardos run random moves like Zen Headbutt. CountersHariyama can mess up any Pokémon in the game with Knock Off, Force Palm, or prediction on the Choice Band set, so don’t think you’re out of the woods entirely with these Pokémon. Spiritomb is the best general counter, being immune to STAB Fighting attacks and taking little from anything else. Sturdy Psychics such as Uxie and Mesprit make excellent counters to most sets, hitting back with a faster STAB Psychic while taking little damage from an unboosted Payback. Claydol works in largely the same way. The Choice Band set is beaten by predicting the attack and sending in something that resists it. Spiritomb is the #1 safest switch-in, taking little damage from anything and hurting Hariyama with Pain Split. In general Slowbro works fine too, as it is slower than Hariyama and thus minds Payback a lot less. If Hariyama predicts and uses ThunderPunch, that's a free switch in for a Ground-type, so you should be safe with Slowbro. Nidoqueen can work in largely the same way, with Ice Punch buying a Water-type a free turn. Honchkrow and Swellow can't come in on any attack, but they seriously threaten Hariyama's well-being with strong STAB Flying attacks. Other fast, frail Pokémon can bring down a weakened Hariyama, as it is a very slow Pokémon that usually has no recovery. Hariyama rarely, if ever, has any form of recovery, so repeatedly throwing boosted STAB attacks in its general vicinity will bring the enormously fat man-beast down eventually. |
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