Haxorus is a great mon and I don't want to take away from it but I simply can't see it being OU material. While its attack stat is amazing at a solid 147 and it has one of the best set-up moves in dragon dance it simply has too many drawbacks to see useful competitive play.
First of all, its base speed of 97 makes it just slower than than the base 100 speed tier allowing it to be outsped and revenge killed by a number of OU mons. A choice scarf could help alleviate this but it would only work as a brief surprise set before it is outsped by the opponents scarfer or just easily predicted. Also, with a sped up meta-game, a 97 base speed won't cut it for a relatively frail all-out offensive threat. While it can rely on scaring out a mon and setting up a potential dragon dance, that one turn is a requirement if it is to have any effect on the game. Without that set-up Haxorus simply won't have the impact it wants.
Secondly, Haxorus is outclassed as a dragon dancer itself. Dragonite with Multiscale and Extreme-Speed gives it far more opportunities to set-up and then wreck a team, as it has the potential to steamroll priority as well as potentially getting off more than one dragon dance. Moldbreaker is a great ability but it doesn't give Haxorus the same edge as Multiscale. Also, with the introduction of Mega-Charizard-X which does in fact hit the base 100 speed tier, Haxorus is just ridiculously outclassed. With a physical STAB fire move + recovery + great typing and stats Mega-Charizard-X is hands down the best dragon dancer this gen. It's versatility to be a tank as well simply gives it the one-up on Haxorus. It does everything that Haxorus does, only better.
Lastly, Haxorus does not have the greatest movepool. It's hard to complain about a dragon with access to both Earthquake and Superpower but unfortunately that just doesn't cut it. With Skarmory and Ferrothorn and the introduction of mons such as Mega-Scizor and fairies Haxorus' move pool just cries out for something more. Without access to Fire Punch, Fire Fang, or even Fire Blast, Haxorus has no way of hitting certain standard mons. Dragonite has the option of Fire Punch and Extreme-Speed, while Char-X has Flare Blitz and recovery. Haxorus just does not have that extra edge.
The set which I think does have its own niche in OU is the Taunt D-Dance set. Access to Taunt makes it an excellent lead as it can prevent hazards and proceed to potentially dent holes in the opponents team. It's niche however lies in its ability to wreck baton pass. Hopefully baton pass will be sufficiently nerfed to not be an issue but for now an unexpected taunt + a dangerous set-up sweeper is not something that sits well with baton pass chains.
This is simply what I think of Haxorus and it's a great mon with a lot of potential but just not OU worthy. Thanks for reading :]
EDIT: I guess I pretty much said what everybody else is saying plus some added bits but hopefully this basically summarizes why haxorus is just average af n_n
First of all, its base speed of 97 makes it just slower than than the base 100 speed tier allowing it to be outsped and revenge killed by a number of OU mons. A choice scarf could help alleviate this but it would only work as a brief surprise set before it is outsped by the opponents scarfer or just easily predicted. Also, with a sped up meta-game, a 97 base speed won't cut it for a relatively frail all-out offensive threat. While it can rely on scaring out a mon and setting up a potential dragon dance, that one turn is a requirement if it is to have any effect on the game. Without that set-up Haxorus simply won't have the impact it wants.
Secondly, Haxorus is outclassed as a dragon dancer itself. Dragonite with Multiscale and Extreme-Speed gives it far more opportunities to set-up and then wreck a team, as it has the potential to steamroll priority as well as potentially getting off more than one dragon dance. Moldbreaker is a great ability but it doesn't give Haxorus the same edge as Multiscale. Also, with the introduction of Mega-Charizard-X which does in fact hit the base 100 speed tier, Haxorus is just ridiculously outclassed. With a physical STAB fire move + recovery + great typing and stats Mega-Charizard-X is hands down the best dragon dancer this gen. It's versatility to be a tank as well simply gives it the one-up on Haxorus. It does everything that Haxorus does, only better.
Lastly, Haxorus does not have the greatest movepool. It's hard to complain about a dragon with access to both Earthquake and Superpower but unfortunately that just doesn't cut it. With Skarmory and Ferrothorn and the introduction of mons such as Mega-Scizor and fairies Haxorus' move pool just cries out for something more. Without access to Fire Punch, Fire Fang, or even Fire Blast, Haxorus has no way of hitting certain standard mons. Dragonite has the option of Fire Punch and Extreme-Speed, while Char-X has Flare Blitz and recovery. Haxorus just does not have that extra edge.
The set which I think does have its own niche in OU is the Taunt D-Dance set. Access to Taunt makes it an excellent lead as it can prevent hazards and proceed to potentially dent holes in the opponents team. It's niche however lies in its ability to wreck baton pass. Hopefully baton pass will be sufficiently nerfed to not be an issue but for now an unexpected taunt + a dangerous set-up sweeper is not something that sits well with baton pass chains.
This is simply what I think of Haxorus and it's a great mon with a lot of potential but just not OU worthy. Thanks for reading :]
EDIT: I guess I pretty much said what everybody else is saying plus some added bits but hopefully this basically summarizes why haxorus is just average af n_n
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