Here's the issue you're missing: as you've said, it is not reliable or solid. That being said, if I can use offensive threats that ARE reliable and solid, why should I use Honchkrow? This is especially true given that there are plenty of cleaners in OU that are much more reliable with less rigorous conditions for cleaning than Honchkrow. Under the "right circumstances" you can sweep with just about any mon, especially on the lower end of the ladder, but why not use a different mon with easier sweeping conditions?
-
Check out the relaunch of our general collection, with classic designs and new ones by our very own Pissog!
-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Pokémon Honchkrow
- Thread starter King Funk
- Start date
- Status
Because you get the Moxie-boost, and that combined with STAB Sucker Punch and access to all powerful STAB Brave Bird makes it a pretty useful choice. Add in the fact that Honckrow is a unique and original Pokemon to use in OU, and can deal with many threats, such as Venusaur and Psychic-Types etc.
Let's say you don't have the chance to get another flying type user on your team, or you dont get to have a psychic-type, that could be really beneficial to deal with it. Also, it deals with fighting-types excellently, unlike something like Bisharp. Honchkrow is a viable option in my eyes, it has good thing going for it, and it could be a useful Pokemon to have on certain teams. I'm not saying it is a supreme choice for any OU team, but it is a Pokemon that "could" be used.
Imo the best part about Honchkrow is that it's a dark type that also manages to destroy fighting types, unlike Bisharp. It takes out things that people normally use to take out the Darks, like Chesnaught. Also, someone said it's walled by Ferrothorn, which isn't true because it can run Heat Wave. I'd say Honchkrow works like a Bisharp with worse typing, no reliable dark stab, worse ability, but a much more spammable flying stab + access to fire coverage.
I think Albacore did actually make a nom for honchkrow to C- on the thread before it imploded with posts, but it's kinda tough now that we have to focus on two sub-ranks at a time :[
I personally really like using honchkrow, but it's issues are pretty huge IMO, it's bulk is awful, and it's really slow, granted, after a moxie boost it's a pain in the arse to live it's sucker punch, and anything slowed gets rekt by that crazy Brave bird...
oh hi there. Anyway, my 2 cents on Honchkrow :
Yeah, I have used Honchkrow a bit, and it's not actually too bad. The way I would describe it is as a worse Mega-Mawile and a worse Mega-Pinsir all in one, except it doesn't take up your mega slot. LO Brave Bird hits shockingly hard, harder than Banded Talonflame (2HKOs Slowbro after rocks, for instance) and Superpower paired up with that gives it pretty amazing coverage. It has other perks over Pinsir though : stronger priority for one, Dark typing gives it a neat Psychic immunity letting it occasionally switch in on Latis and friends, and Moxie means you can't really sack stuff to it without suffering the consequences. But one of its most important distinctions imo is the ability to go mixed, with either Heat Wave or Dark Pulse.
From what I can tell, this thing is supposed to be used on Birdspam teams to beat/lure some Birdspam checks thanks to that special move, which enables you to hit Rhyperior, Slowbro, and/or Skarmory. The 4th move is pretty key actually, you can also run Sub to screw over defensive stuff like Cresselia and MSableye enabling it to wallbreak better to some extent. Pursuit is okay but there are far better trappers so eh. You can also run Roost for some longevity I guess but I wouldn't recommend it since Honchkrow is so frail that it can only afford to roost vs Stall.
Oh yeah, and it outspeeds both Adamant Bisharp and Phys Def Lando-T which creeps Adamant Bisharp by one point which is pretty neat. It's essentially a Dark-type which doesn't share some of the common flaws other Dark-types have thanks to its Flying typing (specifically, it's one of the only Dark Types who isn't a free switchin for like, every Fighting type in the tier, and destroys the Chesnaught+Empoleon dark-killing combo) It's still kinda mediocre overall because it just dies soooo quickly, and its nowhere near as fast as it wants to be (though Sucker Punch does help), but if you want a Bisharp/Talonflame hybrid that wallbreaks better than both of these at the cost of a lot of longevity, I'd actually recommend it.
Yeah, I have used Honchkrow a bit, and it's not actually too bad. The way I would describe it is as a worse Mega-Mawile and a worse Mega-Pinsir all in one, except it doesn't take up your mega slot. LO Brave Bird hits shockingly hard, harder than Banded Talonflame (2HKOs Slowbro after rocks, for instance) and Superpower paired up with that gives it pretty amazing coverage. It has other perks over Pinsir though : stronger priority for one, Dark typing gives it a neat Psychic immunity letting it occasionally switch in on Latis and friends, and Moxie means you can't really sack stuff to it without suffering the consequences. But one of its most important distinctions imo is the ability to go mixed, with either Heat Wave or Dark Pulse.
From what I can tell, this thing is supposed to be used on Birdspam teams to beat/lure some Birdspam checks thanks to that special move, which enables you to hit Rhyperior, Slowbro, and/or Skarmory. The 4th move is pretty key actually, you can also run Sub to screw over defensive stuff like Cresselia and MSableye enabling it to wallbreak better to some extent. Pursuit is okay but there are far better trappers so eh. You can also run Roost for some longevity I guess but I wouldn't recommend it since Honchkrow is so frail that it can only afford to roost vs Stall.
Oh yeah, and it outspeeds both Adamant Bisharp and Phys Def Lando-T which creeps Adamant Bisharp by one point which is pretty neat. It's essentially a Dark-type which doesn't share some of the common flaws other Dark-types have thanks to its Flying typing (specifically, it's one of the only Dark Types who isn't a free switchin for like, every Fighting type in the tier, and destroys the Chesnaught+Empoleon dark-killing combo) It's still kinda mediocre overall because it just dies soooo quickly, and its nowhere near as fast as it wants to be (though Sucker Punch does help), but if you want a Bisharp/Talonflame hybrid that wallbreaks better than both of these at the cost of a lot of longevity, I'd actually recommend it.
Last edited:
Physically Defensive Landorus-T should always be speedcreeping to beat Adamant Bisharp, so Landorus-T is probably going to beat it anyways.
Honchkrow is not that hard to stop, a number of faster Pokemon can beat it after one round of Life Orb recoil even when it is at +1, especially Pokemon that resist Sucker Punch, such as Keldeo, Mega Lopunny, Mega Diancie, etc. It might be annoying for slower teams to face, but it fails to beat a huge majority of offensive Pokemon even at +1 without them being heavily weakened.
Honchkrow still outspeeds it unless it's running more speed than what is necessary to outspeed Adamant Bisharp.
Even then, Honchkrow still has the issue of dying too quickly, lacking the ability to OHKO a lot of threats with Sucker Punch even at +1, causing it to be easily revenge killed as a result. It might punch holes in teams, but I wanted to punch holes through teams, there are a multitude of more efficient Pokemon who do the job better.
This is why you want to get the Moxie-boost, so that you can OHKO and deal massive damage. And also, Brave Bird fist turn as they switch + Sucker Punch next turn will leave Honchkrow undamaged (outside of own recoil).
- Status