[Avira]

Originally Posted by Fat Malvira

Durant's tremendous power is more effective against defensive teams, and the amount of species that can take its attacks are definitely lower in quantity than the amount that can outspeed/KO it. However, as of now, I do not think it is broken. Even if you opt not to use a steel (Steelix has too many exploitable weaknesses in my opinion and is not particularly useful outside of beating Honchkrow), Durant can be weakened by Cofagrigus' Mummy, and have its boosts Hazed away, which can be partnered by Qwilfish, Poliwrath, Alomomola, or Omastar (which nearly OHKOs with Scald), to hit it until is KO'd or crippled by a burn.

I think perhaps I should have elaborated on Durant's power as my previous post may have made some Pokemon appear as better checks than they actually are.

A stall team with physically defensive Qwilfish that switches in on Durant as it uses Hone Claws takes 48.8-57.5% from a Stone Edge before it uses Haze, which considerably limits Qwilfish's ability to check it. Yes, Rest is an option on Qwilfish, but typically it is not a good choice to immediately use Rest after using Haze since Durant might potentially boost further, and the opponent can easily capitalize on the the free turn when Rest was used. To better cope with Durant using Qwilfish, it is best to use either Cofagrigus or Steelix. Other Ghost types just don't do the trick since they take massive damage from Durant and Rotom, which resist its STAB attacks, is even frailer than Qwilfish. And again, Cofagrigus as well as Qwilfish need to deal with many threats in RU, meaning that they may not be in good enough health to deal with Durant. It is not always possible to pass a Wish to them or even use Heal Bell if significant offensive pressure has been applied.

Poliwrath can also be used to take it Hone Claws Durant, since it resists the STAB attacks as well as Stone Edge. Using it makes it absolutely necessary to run a Rock/Steel though since it is Honchkrow bait. Such a team finds Gallade very threatening and it may not be ideal to use Poliwrath and Steelix together for this reason. Omastar is the only bulky Water type that can do considerable damage to Durant, but it takes neutral damage from STAB attacks and doesn't have recovery outside of Rest and can often be forced out by the rest of the team due to its typing, taking damage from entry hazards. Again, using a Steel is probably necessary, even with the extra weaknesses gained by using a RU Steel type.

If Cofagrigus switches in as Durant uses Hone Claws, a +1 LO Iron Head does 187-222 Hit Points of damage to Physically Defensive Cofagrigus (58.4-69.3%). If a flinch does not occur, Durant would be wise to switch out, as its boosts will have been Hazed away, leaving it significantly weaker. Cofagrigus does need Wish support if the Durant user is competent and will switch Durant out when conditions for sweeping are not idea, like in the above situation. If a flinch does occur, Cofagrigus would need to switch out or risk getting KOd as it takes 124-147 Hit Points of damage from a Durant without the Hustle boost at +1, which can KO with consecutive high damage rolls (this calculation also assumes that Cofagrigus was at 100% when coming in, which is not necessarily the case since Cofagrigus is needed to check many key threats and because of the prevalance of entry hazards in the tier). A stall team using Cofagrigus might use Alomomola for Wish support, which takes 250-295 Hit Points of damage (46.8-55.2%) from a +2 (Predicts the switch) LO X-Scissor without Hustle. Stall does not fancy making risky predictions, so if the opponent knows that Cofagrigus is absolutely vital to stopping another Pokemon from sweeping the team, the choice to use Hone Claws can be easy to make if Cofagrigus got flinched by Iron Head. It would then be a gamble to hope that Scald burns Durant as Durant will have the advantage in this situation.

Originally Posted by Fat Texas Cloverleaf

any team not running Steelix or Magneton is liable to be swept by Durant if the conditions shift slightly in Durant's favour.

Durant is a tough Pokemon to handle because of the higher immediate power compared to any other Pokemon in the tier. Its immediate damage output being so great puts a considerable strain on defensive teams to not bring in something that Durant can set up on, which is not always possible, and many checks to it can be eliminated by some prior damage. Having said that, I do think that it is suspect worthy as opposed to Sharpedo, but at present, I am not convinced that Durant is broken.