"Escavalier got a Ground move... why not me? :("
Overview
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· Is one of the premiere wallbreakers in RU, hitting physical walls ridiculously hard with its Hustle boosted attacks.
· Steel typing gives nice resistances, letting Durant set-up with ease. There are also a lack of common types that resist Steel, making Iron Head very threatening along with coverage moves.
· Incredible 109 Speed tier, outrunning Cobalion, Zoroark, and Delhpox, along with speed tying with Helioisk.
· Hone Claws is an awesome boosting move, not only ramping up its nice base 109 Attack, but also fixes Hustle accuracy. This allows Durant to take a dump onstall, 2HKOing even Alomomola and Gligar.
· Band hits incredibly hard and takes a dump on offensive teams.
· Has nice enough coverage that lets it hit most threats it wants to hit.
· 58 HP makes its Defense less stellar, and makes it horrible at tanking special attacks.
· Hustle misses at the worst times :(
· When running Hone Claws, you have big 4MSS between Rock Slide and Superpower, letting you hit Fire types and Steel types. Either way, you won’t be able to touch Doublade without Crunch.
· Fire types are very common in the meta, pressuring Durant.
· Special Bulk is trash, but Physical bulk is good, letting it take priority moves quite well.
Hone Claws
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name: Hone Claws
move 1: Hone Claws
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Superpower / Crunch
ability: Hustle
item: Lum Berry / Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
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· Hone Claws is the main move, allowing Durant to not only to boost his accuracy, but also boost his already impressive Attack to monstrous level.
· Iron Head is the spammable STAB, not only having few resistances, but also having a nice chance to flinch.
· X-Scissor is another STAB that not only hits most resists to Iron Head hard, but also has its own slew of super-effective coverage, such as Tangrowth and Cresselia.
· Superpower hits Steel types, namely Registeel and Cobalion. Otherwise, they would wall you.
· Crunch gets a mention for helping you hit Doublade, Cofagrigus, and Physically Defensive Jellicent.
· Baton Pass could be cool to pivot and pass boost for something else to abuse.
· Rock Slide hits Moltres, but its already KO'd by Iron Head after Stealth Rocks, Emboar is hit harder by Superpower, and Delphox folds under X-Scissor.
· Thunder Fang beats both Alomomola and Moltres, and also beats more obscure counters such as Poliwrath, Qwilfish, Pelipper, and Jellicent. However, it is forced to run LO and it's quite weak when not super-effective.
Set Details
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· Lum Berry lets you set up on moves such as Spore and Scald, allowing you to sweep anyways. It also prevents you from being completely revenge burned by (already evolved) Mega Banette (though it just may go for the Destiny Bond instead). Life Orb has even more power at the cost of depleting health and no one time status immunity.
· The EVs are self explanatory. Maximum Speed to be as fast as possible and outspeed various threats. Maximum Attack for wallbreaking power. 4 EV into Defense for (negligible) bulk.
Usage Tips
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· Durant can set up on a multitude of pokemon, including Alomomola, Aromatisse, Bronzong, Cresselia, Gligar, and many others. Make sure to abuse these switch-ins as much as possible
· If you can’t decide whether Rock Slide or Superpower. Just look at your team. If they have a harder time vs Fire types, run Rock Slide. If Steel types, run Superpower.
Team Options
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· One of the few things that easily walls Durant is Doublade should you not run Crunch. Therefore, partners that easily beat it, such as Drapion, Moltres, and Rhyperior, are very nice partners for the ant.
· Stealth Rock support is very nice for Durant, letting it beat Moltres even without Rock Slide on the switch. Druddigon has excellent type synergy with Durant and also hits very hard. Rhyperior is also an option.
· Slowking is a nice tank that can take many SpDef hits for Durant and bring back health with Regenerator. Durant also beats the annoying Grass and Dark types that plague Slowking. It is especially a nice partner when you run Superpower over Rock Slide, as it easily beats Moltres and Emboar.
· Dugtrio is a very interesting options. It not only easily kills Registeel and Cobalion if you don't run Superpower, but also provides Stealth Rock and Memento Support, making it very easy to set up Hone Claws and clean up your opponent's team.
· SubPass Jolteon lures in Grass types and brings Durant in easily, allowing it to set up Hone Claws.
· Mixed Emboar beats many of Durant's counters, such as Doublade if no Crunch, Steel types if no Superpower, Gligar, and others. It also lures in Cresselia and Aromatisse very well, allowing Durant to come in with little effort.
Choice Band
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name: Choice Band
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: X-Scissor
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Crunch / Baton Pass
ability: Hustle
item: Choice Band
evs: 252 Att / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
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· Iron Head hits extremely hard, with the handy flinch chance allowing you to hax to victory n_n
· X-Scissor is second STAB, allowing you to hit most Steel resists, such as Alomomola. It also has decent SE coverage, such as Tangrowth, which doesn’t get OHKO’d by Iron Head.
· Superpower hits Steel types, and is more of a priority than Rock Slide wince Moltres gets 2HKO’d by Iron Head after SR, Delphox gets destroyed by X-Scissor, and Emboar gets hit harder by Superpower anyways.
· Crunch 2HKOs Doublade, Cofagrigus, and Physically Defensive Jellicent, some of Durant’s few counters.
· Baton Pass allows you to pivot out of bad situations and is nice for when you can’t predict what’s going to come in.
· Rock Slide is beats Motres, but it's already beaten by Iron Head after Stealth Rocks, while other Fire types get hit harder by other moves.
Set Details
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· Choice Band kills stuff, a lot of stuff.
· Max Speed investment and Jolly nature barely outspeeds mons such as Cobalion, Virizion, Delphox, and others, and allows you to KO them.
· Max Attack, along with Choice Band, just hits way too hard.
· 4 Defense > 4 HP, and allows you to switch into SR more often.
Usage Tips
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· Click Iron Head, watch things die.
· When opponent has Iron Head resist, Baton Pass to see what they switch to, or hit them very hard with appropriate coverage move.
· When Iron Head resists are dead, spam Iron Head until you either win or you miss and get killed :(
· Killing things that outspeed Durant also helps.
Team Options
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· Stealth Rock is very important, as it lets it break teams much easier. Druddigon, again, comes to mind as an example. Rhyperior is also quite a good SR setter.
· A partner that deals with offense would be very nice for Durant. Swords Dance Zoroark comes to mind, not only hitting Offense very hard with +2 Sucker Punch (It OHKOs Hitmonlee !_!), but also beats Doublade if it gets a Swords Dance.
· As Durant is going to be switching a lot, that means Hazards Removal is pretty cool. Kabutops can spin very easily and has decent synergy with Durant. Durant also beats all Ghosts with Crunch.
· Slowking beats Moltres and Fire types in general, hit semi-hard, and has good synergy with Durant.
· Durant beats many Pokemon, such as Rhyperior, Grass types, Ice types, Dark types, Fairy types, and Psychic types. Pokemon that benefit from this, such as Fletchinder, Rhyperior, Cresselia, and Hitmonlee all enjoy Durant's wallbreaking power immensely.
· Volt Switchers such as Jolteon not only threaten Alomomola and Jellicent, but also form a semi-VoltTurn core with Durant if it carries Baton Pass.
· Fast Cleaners can easily beat most teams after Durant breaks appropriate walls. Examples include Swellow, Jolteon, Delphox, and Scarf Emboar.
Other Options
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· Sub Hone Claws avoids Will-O-Wisp, letting it beat Mega Banette. However, 4MSS will occur, and Life Orb along with Sub will wear it down. SubPass could be very interesting, however, surprising Durant's checks and counters with a free switch into a new threat.
· Choice Scarf can clean and revenge kill very nicely, but missing is particularly annoying with this set, as the thing threatening your team would be still alive. You could run Swarm instead, but it’s just weak at that point.
· Swarm in general prevents you from missing, but Durant loses virtually all his wallbreaking ability.
· Entrainment + Truant + Dugtrio or Gothorita is complete trash. Not only can the opponent see it from a mile away, but you throw away all of Durant's good points. It's just horrible, don't use it.
· SubSalac allows Durant to not only set up Hone Claws, but also beat faster threats such as Jolteon or Swellow. You do lose the ability to hit hard if you don't run Hone Claws and if you do, you lose out on coverage.
· Agility could be a nice option as a late-game cleaner that beats usually faster threats, such as Jolteon, Scarf Rotom-C, and Yanmega.
Checks & Counters
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· **Scarfed Fire Types**: If they get a free switch-in, Durant dies. Only Moltres and Emboar can directly switch into an attack, however, and they get destroyed by Rock Slide and Superpower, respectively.
· **Ghost types**: Mega Banette and Cofagrigus burn you if you're not running Lum Berry. Cofagrigus forces you to lose Hustle, and Doublade uses you as Swords Dance bait. They all get hit very hard by Crunch, however.
· **Faster threats in general**: Jolteon and Scarf Rotom-C can revenge kill easily. When weakened enough, it can be revenge killed by Hitmonlee’s Mach Punch or Zoroark’s Sucker Punch. Yanmega protects and KO’s with Air Slash, yada yada yada.
· **Gligar**: Beats Band, as it doesn’t get 2HKO’d and could stall for a miss. However, if the Durant spams Iron Head and gets lucky flinches, it will lose. Gligar also generally loses to LO Hone Claws.
· **Cobalion**: Cobalion hard walls you if you don't carry Superpower, and uses you as Swords Dance bait.
· **Bulky Water types**: Alomomola, Poliwrath, Qwilfish, Defensive Jellicent, and Pelipper all wall the Choice Band quite well if you don't carry Thunder Fang. Some of them, however, are set-up bait for Hone Claws.
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