Overview
Heracross has a lot going for it. Respectable bulk, a fun ability, a good offensive movepool, but most impressively, the base 185 attack stat. It's ground resistance allows it to switch into a lot of the bulky grounds of the meta such as tank chomp or hippowdon and 2HKO them with pin missile (Not landorus however but we'll get to that later). Heracross also has the ability to force a heavy amount of switches, which can be taken advantage of by its substitute set. This makes it less prediction reliant, and also gives it a nice option when faced with a tankchomp, as earthquake doesn't even break subs. It can absolutely decimate slower teams, with access to high base power moves such as
Close Combat,
Pin Missile,
Rock Blast,
Knock Off,
Bullet Seed and even swords dance to further boost its damage output. However a low speed and a number of weaknesses leave it open to being revenge killed by fast and powerful threats such as talonflame and gardevoir however these mons
can not switch in because of hera's coverage.
Pros
Before we get into it let me make one thing clear - Mega Heracross is
not a sweeper, it is a wallbreaker.
Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Substitute/ Swords Dance/ Bullet Seed/ Knock Off
(Let me say that knock off has
veeeeeeery little usage and is only used for super obscure things like doublade, bullet seed is nice for the OHKO on rotom and a lot of other grass's and ground's, SD is beautiful vs stall, and substitute greatly eases the prediction-heavy nature of heracross vs things like the lati's or talonflame and tornadus)
Now, it definitely has a lot of advantages that other wallbreakers such as mega medicham or hoppa-U don't have. Heracross has a considerable amount more bulk than them, allowing it to tank hits from threats such as
raikou, a
+3 manaphy,
sand,
breloom (it's nice because pin missile guarantees the OHKO on breloom through focus sash because pin missile breaks it and outspeeds it before and after mega evolving)
bisharp (Outspeeds and obviously OHKOs with CC, while living a +2 sucker punch) and even
conkeldurr can't touch it (Ice punch is like a 4HKO while CC almost always kills after rocks) and much more. However this is just its bulk, now when you look at its offensive stats you know why people use heracross. It is
such a good stallbreaker. Let's look at some of the things that it 2HKO's that you typically see on stall - a high chance to get the 2HKO on
clefable,
sylveon,
togekiss,
mega altaria,
skarmory,
Mega scizor,
jirachi,
klefki, mega venusaur,
tangrowth,
ferrothorn, amoongus,
Zapdos,
Mega Sableye,
Mandibuzz,
Hippowdon, TankChomp,
Rotom-Wash,
Slowbro,
Starmie,
Tentarcuel,
Quagsire,
Slowking,
Gastrodon,
Manaphy,
Seismitoad,
Alomomola. Words do not describe how great heracross is at killing stuff. It is a godsend vs stall, while still able to smash balance to pieces (Except lando-T. Dang that stupid genie, it's the perfect counter to heracross. Also gliscor if running full physically defensive and toxic orb is activated.) and has the nice advantage of being able to 1 on 1 common threats on HO such as lopunny, bisharp, fast electrics, weavile, and sand offense - all of which are appreciated by offense players such as myself. In addition to this, heracross' ability before it megas is guts, allowing it to still have some use even if it is status'd - another advantage it has over other strong physical wallbreakers.
Now, I wanted to toy around with other possibly vaiable sets. I focused mainly on the offensive one but another fun set is it's SpDef bulk up set:
Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Rest
- Arm Thrust
- Sleep Talk
This set, admittedly, is not as effective as I wanted it to be. Every game I found myself wishing I had rock blast, pin missile, more power, etc. but I will say the additional bulk is certainly noticeable and definitely appreciated. However I honestly wouldn't recommend this set, and think that it's offensive on is MUCH better. A happy medium between the two however is throwing a lot of bulk onto the offensive set in place of speed, and giving it arm thrust over CC to avoid those defense drops.
Cons
Mega heracross seriously is a phenomenal pokemon, but it is by no means perfect. It's awkward speed tier lets it get outsped and revenge killed by a lot of stuff - mega gardevoir after it mega evolves, tornadus, talonflame, either zard, mega diancie, etc. None of these mons can switch in, but they all can come in and scare it out. Unfortunately this gives a lot of these guys an opportunity to set up, or simply to fire off a powerful attack. Also, if it just fired off a close combat, heracross' defenses will be lowered making it even more easy to be revenged. In addition to being slow, it also has a vulnerability to status especially burn - however this is heavily alleviated by its pre-mega guts ability. If you choose to not run substitute, there is going to be a whole lot of pressure on how well you predict. Often times people have something that can revenge kill heracross (Mega pinsir, talonflame, latis, etc.) But won't be able to switch in if you can get them with the right move as they switch in - you have to keep in mind, with heracross, you rarely are attacking what's in front of you unless they are straight up sacking. Also, the very fact that landorus is a hard counter makes life very hard for heracross as that guy is literally everywhere. Heracross is also very vulnerable to hazards, something that hinders it from stomping all over stall.
Sets
I mentioned earlier that heracross had some utility with the SpDef Bulk Up set. I want to point out that that set is really not ideal, and I strongly recommend using its offensive set. So here I will be talking about variances of that, as it is by far the most effective set in the current meta.
Adding Bulk vs Speed
I can understand why people would take some investment out of speed and put it into bulk. In a metagame where darkspam is actually everywhere, heracross does appreciate some more HP investment. However, I feel as though that still is keeping the same ideas of the original offensive set - to come in and make stuff dead. It simply comes in on more, and outspeeds less. The bulk allows you to better tank hits such as a
+3 manaphy scald after rocks, a non-banded
Azumarill play rough or even a
LO Latios psyshock!
+3 252 SpA Manaphy Scald vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 262-309 (72.1 - 85.1%) --
guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 36 Def Mega Heracross: 306-362 (84.2 - 99.7%) --
guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Psyshock vs. 248 HP / 36 Def Mega Heracross: 291-346 (80.1 - 95.3%) --
guaranteed 2HKO
The bulk on this guy is pretty remarkable. However, its speed is very handy as well. If you look at its uninvested speed, that leaves it vulnerable to being outsped by 252 speed azumarill, rotom-wash, magnezone, bisharp, breloom, and much more. Even with 252 Spe, if it doesn't have a jolly nature then it will end up being outsped by the max speed base 70's. But tbh I am greedy and wanted the power from adamant for the increased chance for the 2HKO on clef and a few more mons.
What's going in that fourth slot?
Now, assuming you're using the standard set then you'll have your moves almost completely filled out
Heracross-Mega @ Heracronite
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Substitute/ Swords Dance/ Bullet Seed
Plz don't use knock off on mega hera You have near perfect coverage with CC, Pin Missile, and Rock Blast - all three are almost mandatory (Although if you are running a heavy amount of bulk, I've seen success with arm thrust > CC to avoid the defense drop, but I don't like the lack of power) But the fourth slot is debatable. I know that sub and SD are probably considered the two best options, and bullet seed is often seen as pointless - but it seriously has its place. Being able to OHKO a rotom-wash is so heavily appreciated, along with able to pick up the OHKO vs manaphy, azumarill, and also giving a 100% accurate move to hit fairies is nice. So while it isn't at all useless, I personally prefer its other two alternatives.
- Sub vs SD: You have to keep in mind that mega heracross can destroy stall or balance, whatever you want. If you want to seriously hurt balance, give it substitute - this allows it to sub up on things like a rotom hoping to burn, a garchomp thinking that it is safe, and even when you're not sure what your opponent will switch into. Sub helps a lot vs balance, and if you already handle stall well then you can afford to run this. However, SD allows you to literally walk all over stall. You set up on plenty of things, including ferro or hippowdon's lacking whirlwind and proceed to ruin the team. Honestly, stall has very few answers to this monster and if you've gotten an SD up that's only making it easier to break.
- Arm Thrust vs CC: I wasn't even going to mention arm thrust because imo it is trash, but I suppose it's worth mentioning that it does have the nice advantage of 100% accuracy, and no nasty defense drops. But all in all, CC is such a great move on heracross it really sucks not to have it. Plus, if you arm thrust something with rocky helmet or rough skin you take 8 million percent - rough skin chomp with rocky helmet will literally kill you with recoil if you click arm thrust vs it.
Team Building
The way I went about building with heracross was super fun.
http://data:image/png;base64,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
Pastebin of the team because I'm too dumb to figure out the click to reveal thing:
http://pastebin.com/mEzNpDLD
I went about building it knowing that mega heracross was a phenomenal wallbreaker. I also knew that he struggled with landorus, talonflame, tornadus, mega pinsir and gliscor. I also wanted plenty of opportunities to bring in heracross, along with some way to force in the lati's so that I could volt switch out into something to beat them. Rotom was the clear choice here. I chose weavile, as it beats lati's, tornadus's and lando's, along with some other things like forces switches into clef to weaken that for hera. From there I threw on celebi because I hate using rotom as my primary keldeo switch in, and the team needed a lopunny counter. It's a nice lil sponge that has just enough speed to outspeed Hoopa-U and OHKO's it with U-turn. It also forms a cool defensive Volt-T
urn core with rotom-wash, and the two have some nice synergy together. Celebi is nice as well because if you want you can choose healing wish over something, which mega heracross loves to utilize. From there I wanted a powerful special wallbreaker that could still end up winning games, and one that was a good fairy killer (Cause we were very very fairy weak at this point). I chose gengar because it has great offensive synergy with heracross in like every way possible, and fit the role of all those needs for the team. To round us off, we needed a stealth rocker, lati switch in, sableye switch in, and a back up way to beat fairies because we still had a glaring weakness to them. Now, this team is probably not the best team to ever grace the ladder but it shows how one would go about building around heracross. Ik this is more bulky offense not balance, my bad for calling it that if I do sorry!
Other options for the team
There are a few more options you could run for the team. Because the whole team itself kinda tramples over stall, I figured I could afford to run sub over SD. However SD is definitely an option. Other options include using healing wish on celebi, something that would be very much appreciated by heracross and even weavile, or the other two walls who don't have reliable recovery. If you don't feel like weavile needs low kick, then pursuit would be nice to trap certain mons for heracross. Poison jab on weavile would also be very much appreciated so that it could lure in clef, one of its most dangerous checks. Keep in mind, it only checks it if it is FULL defense investment. Also, it may be worth looking into to trade weavile for iron head kyu-b. Hazard removal would be very nice, so you could consider switching heatran for defog skarmory, and giving celebi rocks instead.
Replays of this team on the low ladder cause I'm a scrub who doesn't wanna ladder up rn :
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-346226439
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-346065875
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-346070931
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-346074756
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-346223258
Sorry that the not all games are of high quality, but you definitely get the gist of how heracross is supposed to be played. I would reccomend hazard removal, as this team felt pretty clumsy without it but I didn't care enough to change anything. Perhaps changing heatran to Defog SpDef skarm and giving celebi rocks? Idk
Other Great Partners for Heracross
Thundurus-I is everything heracross wants in a partner - it slows down faster threats, provides a soft check to lando, talonflame, torn, and gliscor, and thundurus appreciates heracross' ability to open up holes in enemy teams doing things like bringing landorus down to HP ice range, or clef down to LO thunderbolt range.
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
This lil guy can seriously benefit from heracross' ability to break down bulky grass types like venu or ferro, while also being a check to talonflame. Hera's brute force opens up a lot of holes, allowing for manaphy to be able to come in and clean up games.
The most terrifying wallbreaker duo in the world is heracross and hoopa. It is so very good vs stall and slower builds, but they share a lot of common weaknesses (Offensive landorus, talonflame, anything fast, etc.) that it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the team.
(lure set with ice beam) [/FONT]
This t-tar checks and traps talonflame, lati twins, lures in landorus with ice beam, provides stealth rocks, checks zards, and is all around an awesome partner for heracross. They do however compound a weakness to fairy, but that can be remedied easily in building.
Final Thoughts
Mega heracross is definitely a very solid pokemon in the current meta. Sporting devastating attack, a wide variety of moves, very few true counters, and a huge amount of bulk, mega heracross brings a lot to the table that other mons simply can't match. Power to break down walls, bulk to check some things crucial to offense having checks to, and function as a stall breaker all in one. However it is very match up reliant. Two very common mons in the metagame, clefable and landorus, both check heracross extremely well. However luckily there are ten hundred lures for all of them, my favorite was ice beam t-tar because in addition to luring landorus, it also gave nice rocks support, and trapped a lot of nuisances to heracross. I had a very old team that was quite similar to the one I used that had defensive t-tar with ice beam and that worked wonders. So, while heracross is a mon with huge power, it can be somewhat matchup reliant. Also, its two most common checks in landorus and clefable are everywhere and are more than capable of keeping heracross off the field. Thanks for reading!