Durant [QC 1/3]

[Helias]

QC: 49 / ? / ?
GP: ? / ?

Overview
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• Very high attack thanks to Hustle
• Great Speed, tying with Heliolisk and just outpacing Cobalion and Virizion
• Good defensive typing and passable bulk on the physical side

• Hustle's accuracy drop can be a huge hindrance
• Horrible special bulk
• Narrow movepool means something will always wall it

Hone Claws
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name: Hone Claws
move 1: Hone Claws
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Crunch / X-Scissor
ability: Hustle
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly

Moves
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• Hone Claws boosts Durant's already high Attack and patches up its accuracy issues.
• Iron Head is obligatory STAB move, and carries a nice 30% flinch chance with it.
• Superpower, despite lowering Attack, is needed for hitting Steel-types such as Cobalion.
• Crunch hits Doublade for good damage, while OHKOing Defensive Slowking and Jellicent after Stealth Rock. Also hits Alomomola without having to lower stats with Superpower.
• X-Scissor is an option; OHKOs all Slowking sets after Stealth Rock, has a 50% chance to OHKO Calm Mind Reuniclus, and always 2HKOs Cresselia, which Crunch cannot do. You miss out on hitting Doublade and Jellicent though :(
• Thunder Fang can be used over Crunch to have a way of hurting opposing Qwilfish, and hitting most Water-types harder than with any other move. Once again though you miss out on hitting Doublade, as well as most Psychic-types.

Set Details
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• Life Orb grants a huge power boost at the cost of recoil, landing 2HKOs on threats such as Slowking, Reuniclus, and Mega Steelix.
• Lum Berry can heal off Burn, Paralysis, or Sleep if your opponent tries to shut down Durant with one of those, as any of these can cripple Durant.
• EVs are chosen to optimize damage and speed. 252 Atk lets Durant hit as hard as possible, while 252 Spe is needed to outpace Cobalion.

Usage Tips
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• Durant can set up boosts on many common defensive Pokemon, such as Alomomola, Amoonguss, Cresselia, and Aromatisse. Be wary of setting up on the first three, however; they commonly carry moves to inflict burn, sleep, or paralysis, all of which cripple Durant.
• Try not to set up for a sweep until Durant's checks and counters are weakened first.

Team Options
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• Stealth Rock support is essential, as Durant tends to force switches quite often. It also lets you KO Fletchinder with Crunch :^)
• Rhyperior and Druddigon both have great synergy with Durant, eating moves that threaten the poor ant and being able to both set up Stealth Rock and hit quite hard too.
• Spikes and Toxic Spikes are also very help Durant beat things that otherwise survive; for example, Quagsire is almost always 2HKOed by X-Scissor with Life Orb and one layer of Spikes, and Aromatisse is OHKOed by Iron Head after one layer and Stealth Rock.
• Slowking can switch into Fire-type moves from the likes of Emboar and Delphox, while Durant can beat Grass- and Dark-types that plague Slowking.
• Mega Glalie makes an excellent partner, as it is able to easily break through many Pokemon that Durant can struggle with, such as Pelipper, Quagsire, and Doublade if you do not use Crunch.
• If choosing to use X-Scissor, support from Dark-types is very helpful to deal with opposing Doublade and Jellicent. Spiritomb and Skuntank are both able to Pursuit trap these two, Shiftry can hit them hard with Knock Off, and Drapion is able to do both.
• As Durant is crippled by any form of status, clerics are very useful if you do not use Lum Berry. Aromatisse is particularly good at this, as it is also able to pass Wish to heal Durant up.

SubPass
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name: SubPass
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: X-Scissor / Superpower
move 4: Iron Head / Superpower
ability: Hustle
item: Insect Plate
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly

Moves
========

• Substitute is used to capitalize on switches Durant tends to force.
• Baton Pass allows you to safely bring in a teammate, and escape from trappers such as Dugtrio.
• X-Scissor hits very hard, OHKOing physically defensive Slowking and 2HKOing defensive Amoonguss after Stealth Rock.
• Iron Head nails Fairy- and Rock-type Pokemon for high damage, easily OHKOing opposing Slurpuff and having a good chance of 2HKOing standard Rhyperior after Stealth Rock.
• Superpower can be used over either of these to deal heavy damage to Steel-types, 2HKOing support Cobalion and having a good chance to 2HKO Mega Steelix. However, the stat drops are fairly annoying, especially with Baton Pass.

Set Details
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• 252 Speed and Jolly nature let you outspeed most of the unboosted tier, allowing you to set up Substitutes more safely.
• 252 Atk lets you smack things if you get Taunted or can't Baton Pass immediately.
• Insect Plate allows you to OHKO physically defensive Slowking and offensive Tangrowth with X-Scissor after Stealth Rock, while also 2HKOing defensive Amoonguss after Stealth Rock.
• Salac Berry can be used instead of Insect Plate to pass a Speed boost later in the game to clean up.
• Wide Lens is also an option to patch up Durant's accuracy problems.

Usage Tips
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• Durant hits very hard, so it shouldn't have trouble finding opportunities to force switches and set up a Substitute.
• One bonus of this set is its ability to bluff a Choice item; this may lure your opponent into a false sense of security after you attack.

Team Options
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• As always, Durant loves hazard support due to his ability to force switches. Rhyperior and Druddigon are good Stealth Rock setters, while Qwilfish and Crustle are good Spikes setters; the former can set up Toxic Spikes as well, while the latter can use Stealth Rock.
• Pokemon that can exploit Durant's counters make great teammates. Heliolisk has no trouble defeating the bulky Water-types that laugh at Durant, and can keep a Substitute sent in on a Scald. SubCM Meloetta is able to set up on bulky Water-types and Doublade with ease.
• Mega Glalie is a great partner again, as it greatly appreciates a free switch in opportunity from Baton Pass, and can break through many common defensive Pokemon.
• Again, this set appreciates support from Dark-types to deal with opposing Doublade and Jellicent. Spiritomb and Skuntank are both able to Pursuit trap these two, Shiftry can hit them hard with Knock Off, and Drapion is able to do both.

All-Out Attacker
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name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Crunch
move 4: X-Scissor / Thunder Fang
ability: Hustle
item: Life Orb / Choice Band
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly

Moves
========

• Iron Head is your obligatory STAB move, and hits Fairy-types and Rock-types for high damage.
• Superpower, despite lowering Attack, is very important to hit Steel-types such as Cobalion and Mega Steelix.
• Crunch hits opposing Doublade and Jellicent hard, while still hitting Psychic-types such as Slowking and Reuniclus for high damage.
• X-Scissor hits opposing Psychic-types much harder than Crunch; it always 2HKOs opposing Cresselia and has a high chance of OHKOing Calm Mind Slowking and Reuniclus if you use Life Orb.
• Thunder Fang can be used over X-Scissor if you prefer hitting opposing Qwilfish over getting harder hits on Psychic-types.

Set Details
========

• Life Orb grants a huge power boost at the cost of recoil, landing 2HKOs on threats such as Slowking, Reuniclus, and Mega Steelix.
• Choice Band can instead be chosen to give an even larger increase in damage at the cost of locking you into one move; with it, you always 2HKO opposing Doublade with Crunch, can 2HKO specially defensive Alomomola with X-Scissor, and 2HKO all but the most physically defensive of Mega Steelix sets with Superpower.
• EVs are chosen to optimize damage and speed. 252 Atk lets Durant hit as hard as possible, while 252 Spe is needed to outpace much of the unboosted tier, including Cobalion.

Usage Tips
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• .

Team Options
========

• Stealth Rock support is essential, as Durant tends to force switches quite often. It also lets you KO Fletchinder with Crunch :^)
• Rhyperior and Druddigon both have great synergy with Durant, eating moves that threaten the poor ant and being able to both set up Stealth Rock and hit quite hard too.
• Spikes and Toxic Spikes are also very help Durant beat things that otherwise survive; for example, Quagsire is almost always 2HKOed by X-Scissor with Life Orb and one layer of Spikes, and Aromatisse is OHKOed by Iron Head after one layer and Stealth Rock.
• Slowking can switch into Fire-type moves from the likes of Emboar and Delphox, while Durant can beat Grass- and Dark-types that plague Slowking.
• Mega Glalie makes an excellent partner, as it is able to easily break through many Pokemon that Durant can struggle with, such as Pelipper, Quagsire, and Doublade if you do not use Crunch.
• As Durant is crippled by any form of status, clerics are very helpful to Durant. Aromatisse is particularly good at this, as it is also able to pass Wish to heal Durant up.

Other Options
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• Thunder Wave
• Agility

Checks & Counters
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**Bulky Water-types**: Physically defensive Alomomola, Qwilfish, Pelipper, and Quagsire can all wall Durant with little trouble if you don't have Thunder Fang (while Quagsire walls him even with that), and can burn him with Scald.

**Fast Attackers**: Due to his low overall bulk, most things that outspeed Durant can pose a huge threat. Special mention goes to Jolteon, who can switch in on an unboosted Iron Head and OHKO with Thunderbolt.

**Fire-type Moves**: Thanks to a 4x weakness to Fire and low bulk, anything that carries a Fire-type move for coverage can threaten Durant.

**Bulky Special Attackers**: Durant has horrible special bulk, so nearly anything with Special Attack investment can 2HKO or OHKO him with ease. Bulky attackers are also often able to survive an unboosted hit.

**Doublade**: Unless you use Crunch, Doublade stops Durant in its tracks effortlessly, boasting a resistance to both of Durant's STABs and an immunity to Superpower, while taking very little damage from Thunder Fang.

 

[Helias]

Alright, hadn't noticed that. I removed the set.

 

[Helias]

Okay I guess this is ready for QC now.

 

[Guidorealmsmc]

I'm not a QC member but I will post some thoughts. In team options for the Hone claws set mention pursuit support to trap doublade and jellicent if you opt for X-scissor. Imo X-scissor is better then crunch simply because it only misses out on doublade and jellicent but it gives you an attack to hit alomomola without superpower's stat drops and it always 2hkos cress with a life orb which crunch cannot do unless at +1 or with rocks and since that is life orb ant cress can t wave it.

 

[Helias]

Good point on the Pursuit support; adding that in. I still prefer Crunch over X-Scissor though, being able to hit Doublade is too important as far as I'm concerned, and you shouldn't really be staying in on Alomomola anyway, since Durant take a decent bit from Scald and is afraid of potential burn.

 

[aVocado]

Instead of mentioning Pursuit trap in the 1st set, mention Dark-types in general, and put Pursuit as a bonus. Give examples. Drapion and Shiftry have Knock Off, while Skuntank and Spiritomb can Pursuit.

 

[col49]

drapion can pursuit w/the appropriate set as well, as well.

i dislike baton pass being interpreted in the presented fashion, as it would have it play as a supportive pokemon, moreso than an offensive presence on its own merit, which durant should never be doing. what this set should be is an offensively-inclined, subpass set, with a moveset of sub / bp / (x-scissor / superpower) / (iron head / superpower), and the item being insect plate (ensures the ohko on phys.def slowking / offensive tangrowth after sr, 2hkos phys.def amoonguss after sr, etc.), with pinch berries (moreso salac than liechi, but both are ok) and wide lens given mention. the idea is behind a bp set is that it can continue to play as an hc durant would, but instead forgoing the ability to develop a more defined end-game for the utility of passing subs on the qwilfish / momo / doublade switch. showing lefties is bad here b.c the set values the ability to feign a choice set much more highly than it does sub recovery, b.c it simply isn't meant to be performing that subpass function more than once or twice a game.

also, i'm not sure if there's been some consensus i missed out on, but idt cb durant is any worse in this meta than it was in prior ones e_e i'd put it last, probably, but its definitely still usable. also, personally, i think order should be subpass > scarf (written up separately) > hc > cb, but idk, perhaps others feel differently, so i'll leave that open

 

[Guidorealmsmc]

Actually in team options for Hone claws mention SD pinsir as it can pressure all durant checks to the point where durant can clean up

 

[Helias]

Arikado: Good idea, implemented.

49: Very good points; changed the set as you requested. I'm going to leave Choice Band in OO; I don't feel that it has enough merits over a Life Orb set to make it worth using.

 

[aVocado]

Mention slight 4mss in overview? I think it definitely suffers from that.

Mention Glalie in team options for both sets. it appreciates a free switch, and it can severely hinder Doublade if Durant foregoes Crunch, as well as other Steel-types but Durant has Superpower for that.

In usage tips of the first set; where you wrote to be wary of mola/amoonguss, do note that Cresselia could also be carrying t-wave. Mention Aromatisse along with them as well, even tho Moonblast can sting (35 - 41.6%).

I'm not sure of mentioning clerics in team options cuz Durant is such an offensive Pokemon that doesn't just fit anywhere, but I guess it's fine really. Along with mentioning Stealth Rock, mention Spikes/T.spikes as well, because they can actually help it nab some KOs iirc, Cobalion and Aromatisse being two important ones off the top of my head.

For the 2nd set, remove Feraligatr from team options. Team options is also lacking in general, you only mention SR, DD Feraligatr, and Dark-types @_@ I'm unsure of what you could put though, because I don't have much experience with the set

just nitpicks really but I feel like they're important enough ;o

 

[Helias]

Arikado : Implemented all of that.

 

[col49]

oh, yeah, i guess i should've expanded on subpass stuff. best partners are generally ones that can exploit the 'mons durant will initially bait here; cm meloetta plays into doublade / qwilfish / alomomola nicely, sd samurott also performs similarly, sd aboma boosts on the waters (stacks a huge fire weak, but that's something to build around), etc. also, i think you misconstrued my point on insect plate somewhat, as it allows for the ohko on offensive tangrowth after sr; i'd honestly rather avoid mentions of defensive 'growth b.c it's a clunky, do-nothing garbmon, but that's just my opinion i guess e_e doublade should also be in c&c, since it is exploiting durant lacking in crunch. also, not sure about pelipper mentions here, but i've used more dubious stuff in the past, so w.e . oh, yeah, and qwilfish should be, like, the #1 reason to use thunder fang, so address it as such when mentioning it o_o

1/3

 

[Helias]

49 : Implemented, thanks.

 

[Helias]

Spirit: Like I said before, I don't really feel Choice Band has enough merits over Life Orb to warrant a full set.

 

[tehy]

On the subject, why's CB better than LO 4 attacks? I don't really see or know of any notable OHKO/2HKOes, and being choice-locked is the only reason why a fully offensive Durant can't just rip up teams on a game-ly basis