[OVERVIEW]
Mega Heracross stands out as a threatening wallbreaker thanks to having the highest Attack stat in the tier, access to Swords Dance, and its ability Skill Link, which fits perfectly with its multi-hit movepool such as Rock Blast and Pin Missile to form a varied and deadly offensive coverage. Its unique typing in Bug / Fighting alongside its usable bulk helps to softcheck Ground-types such as Gliscor and Landorus-T and answer Knock Off from the likes of Choice-locked Weavile and Kartana. However, Mega Heracross is mainly held back by its Speed, being slower than a huge part of the metagame, while its typing leaves it vulnerable to Fairy-, Fire-, Flying- and Psychic-type attacks from faster Pokemon that are fairly common to encounter in the tier, with top threats like Tapu Lele, both Mega Charizard formes, Tornadus-T, and Mega Alakazam to name a few. Mega Heracross also faces competition in the tier from other wallbreakers that are easier to fit on teams thanks to their superior Speed, coverage, or typing, such as Mega Medicham, Mega Mawile, and Mega Charizard X.
[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Rock Blast
move 4: Pin Missile / Substitute
item: Heracronite
ability: Moxie / Guts
nature: Adamant
evs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Swords Dance enables Heracross to break through defensive cores more efficiently. Close Combat is the preferred Fighting-type STAB move thanks to its high base power allowing Mega Heracross to heavily pressure or outright knockout key threats of tier; it secures clean knockouts on Ferrothorn and Heatran while reliably 2HKOing Magearna and Celesteela, and also Skarmory after Stealth Rock. Rock Blast is mandatory coverage that pairs particularly well with Close Combat hitting everything that could resist Fighting-type attacks hard, such as Flying-types like Tornadus-T and Zapdos, or for neutral damage on defensive staples like Toxapex, Clefable, Landorus-T and Gliscor. Pin Missile is Heracross's secondary ability boosted STAB move, improving its match up into Psychic-types like Mega Latias, Cresselia, and Reuniclus, which are common on bulkier teams. Substitute is also a strong alternative over Pin Missile, allowing Mega Heracross to block status, punish sacrifices and ease prediction, but this comes at the cost of a secondary STAB attack and coverage.
Set Details
========
Given Mega Heracross's already low speed tier, focusing on offense with an Adamant nature and full investment in Attack maximizes its damage on key Pokemon like Clefable and Toxapex, which would otherwise wall it more easily. 192 EVs in Speed make Heracross faster than faster than Modest Heatran before Mega Evolving, while also making sure it still outspeeds defensive Heatran and slower variants of Landorus-T and Tapu Fini after Mega Evolving. The rest is put in HP to improve Heracross's bulk and longevity. Moxie is the preferred pre-Mega ability, allowing Heracross to hold off on Mega Evolving to get a boost first. Guts is also usable, improving the matchup into status users, and giving Heracross an out against burn. Investing 228 Speed EVs can also be used to outspeed Mega Swampert outside of rain and slower Zapdos prior to Mega Evolving.
Usage Tips
========
Mega Heracross thrives when given free turns by defensive Pokemon like Chansey, Ferrothorn, and Gliscor. Setting up early entry hazards is crucial for Mega Heracross, as it helps against multiple threats like Zapdos, putting it into OHKO range of Rock Blast after Stealth Rock, and Toxapex, which gets OHKOed by +2 Rock Blast after Stealth Rock. However, it must still be played carefully around resilient pokemon such as Clefable and Reuniclus. Heracross's defensive profile is useful for directly switching into weak Earthquakes from Pokemon like Gliscor and defensive Landorus-T, other resisted physical attacks like Kartana and Weavile's Knock Off, or even Choice Specs Greninja's Dark Pulse and Serperior's Leaf Storm in a pinch letting an opening for a devastating attack in retaliation. Mega Heracross is especially useful against Substitute attackers like Mega Gyarados and Serperior thanks to its multi-hit moves forcing through.
Team Options
========
Mega Heracross is a strong choice for bulky offense teams, serving as the primary wallbreaker and relying on teammates for support. Heracross is often paired with the solid defensive core of Tapu Fini + Jirachi able to check a wide spectrum of the tier while supporting Heracross. Tapu Fini helps handling Fire-types like Mega Charizard X, Heatran and Victini, and Water-types like Ash Greninja, while Jirachi checks Psychic-, Fairy-, and Flying-type like Mega Alakazam, Tapu lele and Tornadus-T. The combination of Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain with Wish and Healing Wish from Jirachi synergizes well with Heracross, protecting it from status while also allowing it to recover and continue to put pressure throughout the match. Heatran is another strong partner, taking on the Fairy-, Flying- and Psychic-types that trouble Heracross while also forming a potent stallbreaking duo with it. In return, Heracross helps by soft-checking weaker Ground-type attacks from foes like Gliscor, giving the two excellent offensive and defensive synergy. Given Mega Heracross's low Speed tier, Pokemon that spread paralysis are extremely helpful, such as Zapdos with Discharge and its ability Static, and Serperior with the powerful Glare. Zapdos also shines as a reliable answer to Flying-types such as Tornadus-T, Mega Pinsir and Hawlucha that threaten Heracross. Pokemon that can pivot with U-turn or Volt Switch like Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Rotom-W, and Magearna help Heracross enter the field safely. Heracross’s low Speed can also be utilized in a semi-Trick Room team, with Pokemon like Magearna and Cresselia setting up Trick Room, checking key threats such as Psychics, spreading paralysis with Thunder Wave, and in Cresselia’s case restoring health with Lunar Dance.
Mega Heracross pairs well with Fire-types like Victini, soft-checking Fairy-, Fire- and Psychic-types that threaten Heracross while also pivoting it in with U-turn. In return, Heracross breaks down common Water- and Ground-types that wall Victini such as Slowbro and defensive Landorus-T, while also also handling Dark-type attacks from the like Mega Tyranitar or Choice Locked Weavile that could stop victini, giving the duo strong offensive synergy. Garchomp makes for a strong offensive partner with Heracross, thanks to its typing checking key Fire-type threats like Heatran and Mega Charizard Y. Fast cleaners like Choice Scarf Kartana appreciate the wallbreaking capabilities of Mega Heracross, picking up the remaining pieces and stacking boosts. Thanks to Protean, Greninja lures in checks, opening Heracross during the game while Battle Bond Greninja takes advantage of Heracross's breaking capabilities to transform into Ash Greninja and clean late game. Both formes can set up Spikes as well, helping Heracross to dismantle defensive cores. Ferrothorn, while providing Spikes and Stealth Rock support, also check Fairy- and Psychic-types that threaten Mega Heracross.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Bullet Seed is a possibility if Heracross is paired with Tapu Bulu to exploit Skill Link and Grassy Terrain to boost its power to incredible heights. It makes for a secondary pseudo STAB attack that is capable of 2HKOing Unaware Clefable and Toxapex, but pairing Mega Heracross with Tapu Bulu forces the team to stack weaknesses and slow Pokemon together. Earthquake is also a possibility to have a clean KO on Toxapex after Swords Dance and Steel-types like Magearna for super effective damage and not having to suffer the stat drops of Close Combat. But you either reduce Mega Heracross's wallbreaking capabilities by letting go of Swords Dance or give up the coverage and immediate power of Pin Missile.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types pose a significant threat to Mega Heracross. Many of them are faster and can KO it with a single powerful hit, like Mega Diancie, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Koko. Others, such as Tapu Fini, Clefable, and Magearna, can comfortably tank unboosted hits and retaliate with strong Fairy-type attacks like Moonblast or Fleur Cannon. Clefable is especially problematic as it resists both STAB moves and, with Magic Guard, avoids residual damage from entry hazards or status, making it much harder to 2HKO. Meanwhile, Unaware Clefable isn't hazard immune, but it can completely shut down Mega Heracross's attempts to break through with Swords Dance boosts and stall it out.
**Fire-types**: While most Fire-types have to be wary of Rock Blast and Stealth Rock, both Mega Charizard formes, Heatran, Victini and Volcarona can hit Heracross for super effective damage and remove it from the battle.
**Psychic-types**: In a similar fashion, faster Psychic-types such as Mega Alakazam, Mega Medicham, Mega Latios, and Mega Latias can scare out Heracross very easily or revenge kill it at the fault of being scared to switch into STAB Pin Missile. Slower Psychic-types like Reuniclus and Cresselia can also prove to be annoying if Heracross drops Pin Missile.
**Flying types**: Tornadus-T, Mega Pinsir, or Dragonite are key threats to Mega Heracross. They all resist both of its STAB types and can OHKO it with powerful 4x super effective Flying-type attacks. That said, they still need to be cautious of switching into Rock Blast. Landorus-T is also a noteworthy softcheck. It resists Fighting and Bug attacks and takes neutral damage from Rock Blast, can pivot in safely thanks to Intimidate, and threaten it with Supersonic Skystrike and Toxic or pivot out.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/maktyum.541503/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/diyusi.519886/
Grammar checked by:
Mega Heracross stands out as a threatening wallbreaker thanks to having the highest Attack stat in the tier, access to Swords Dance, and its ability Skill Link, which fits perfectly with its multi-hit movepool such as Rock Blast and Pin Missile to form a varied and deadly offensive coverage. Its unique typing in Bug / Fighting alongside its usable bulk helps to softcheck Ground-types such as Gliscor and Landorus-T and answer Knock Off from the likes of Choice-locked Weavile and Kartana. However, Mega Heracross is mainly held back by its Speed, being slower than a huge part of the metagame, while its typing leaves it vulnerable to Fairy-, Fire-, Flying- and Psychic-type attacks from faster Pokemon that are fairly common to encounter in the tier, with top threats like Tapu Lele, both Mega Charizard formes, Tornadus-T, and Mega Alakazam to name a few. Mega Heracross also faces competition in the tier from other wallbreakers that are easier to fit on teams thanks to their superior Speed, coverage, or typing, such as Mega Medicham, Mega Mawile, and Mega Charizard X.
[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Rock Blast
move 4: Pin Missile / Substitute
item: Heracronite
ability: Moxie / Guts
nature: Adamant
evs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Swords Dance enables Heracross to break through defensive cores more efficiently. Close Combat is the preferred Fighting-type STAB move thanks to its high base power allowing Mega Heracross to heavily pressure or outright knockout key threats of tier; it secures clean knockouts on Ferrothorn and Heatran while reliably 2HKOing Magearna and Celesteela, and also Skarmory after Stealth Rock. Rock Blast is mandatory coverage that pairs particularly well with Close Combat hitting everything that could resist Fighting-type attacks hard, such as Flying-types like Tornadus-T and Zapdos, or for neutral damage on defensive staples like Toxapex, Clefable, Landorus-T and Gliscor. Pin Missile is Heracross's secondary ability boosted STAB move, improving its match up into Psychic-types like Mega Latias, Cresselia, and Reuniclus, which are common on bulkier teams. Substitute is also a strong alternative over Pin Missile, allowing Mega Heracross to block status, punish sacrifices and ease prediction, but this comes at the cost of a secondary STAB attack and coverage.
Set Details
========
Given Mega Heracross's already low speed tier, focusing on offense with an Adamant nature and full investment in Attack maximizes its damage on key Pokemon like Clefable and Toxapex, which would otherwise wall it more easily. 192 EVs in Speed make Heracross faster than faster than Modest Heatran before Mega Evolving, while also making sure it still outspeeds defensive Heatran and slower variants of Landorus-T and Tapu Fini after Mega Evolving. The rest is put in HP to improve Heracross's bulk and longevity. Moxie is the preferred pre-Mega ability, allowing Heracross to hold off on Mega Evolving to get a boost first. Guts is also usable, improving the matchup into status users, and giving Heracross an out against burn. Investing 228 Speed EVs can also be used to outspeed Mega Swampert outside of rain and slower Zapdos prior to Mega Evolving.
Usage Tips
========
Mega Heracross thrives when given free turns by defensive Pokemon like Chansey, Ferrothorn, and Gliscor. Setting up early entry hazards is crucial for Mega Heracross, as it helps against multiple threats like Zapdos, putting it into OHKO range of Rock Blast after Stealth Rock, and Toxapex, which gets OHKOed by +2 Rock Blast after Stealth Rock. However, it must still be played carefully around resilient pokemon such as Clefable and Reuniclus. Heracross's defensive profile is useful for directly switching into weak Earthquakes from Pokemon like Gliscor and defensive Landorus-T, other resisted physical attacks like Kartana and Weavile's Knock Off, or even Choice Specs Greninja's Dark Pulse and Serperior's Leaf Storm in a pinch letting an opening for a devastating attack in retaliation. Mega Heracross is especially useful against Substitute attackers like Mega Gyarados and Serperior thanks to its multi-hit moves forcing through.
Team Options
========
Mega Heracross is a strong choice for bulky offense teams, serving as the primary wallbreaker and relying on teammates for support. Heracross is often paired with the solid defensive core of Tapu Fini + Jirachi able to check a wide spectrum of the tier while supporting Heracross. Tapu Fini helps handling Fire-types like Mega Charizard X, Heatran and Victini, and Water-types like Ash Greninja, while Jirachi checks Psychic-, Fairy-, and Flying-type like Mega Alakazam, Tapu lele and Tornadus-T. The combination of Tapu Fini's Misty Terrain with Wish and Healing Wish from Jirachi synergizes well with Heracross, protecting it from status while also allowing it to recover and continue to put pressure throughout the match. Heatran is another strong partner, taking on the Fairy-, Flying- and Psychic-types that trouble Heracross while also forming a potent stallbreaking duo with it. In return, Heracross helps by soft-checking weaker Ground-type attacks from foes like Gliscor, giving the two excellent offensive and defensive synergy. Given Mega Heracross's low Speed tier, Pokemon that spread paralysis are extremely helpful, such as Zapdos with Discharge and its ability Static, and Serperior with the powerful Glare. Zapdos also shines as a reliable answer to Flying-types such as Tornadus-T, Mega Pinsir and Hawlucha that threaten Heracross. Pokemon that can pivot with U-turn or Volt Switch like Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, Rotom-W, and Magearna help Heracross enter the field safely. Heracross’s low Speed can also be utilized in a semi-Trick Room team, with Pokemon like Magearna and Cresselia setting up Trick Room, checking key threats such as Psychics, spreading paralysis with Thunder Wave, and in Cresselia’s case restoring health with Lunar Dance.
Mega Heracross pairs well with Fire-types like Victini, soft-checking Fairy-, Fire- and Psychic-types that threaten Heracross while also pivoting it in with U-turn. In return, Heracross breaks down common Water- and Ground-types that wall Victini such as Slowbro and defensive Landorus-T, while also also handling Dark-type attacks from the like Mega Tyranitar or Choice Locked Weavile that could stop victini, giving the duo strong offensive synergy. Garchomp makes for a strong offensive partner with Heracross, thanks to its typing checking key Fire-type threats like Heatran and Mega Charizard Y. Fast cleaners like Choice Scarf Kartana appreciate the wallbreaking capabilities of Mega Heracross, picking up the remaining pieces and stacking boosts. Thanks to Protean, Greninja lures in checks, opening Heracross during the game while Battle Bond Greninja takes advantage of Heracross's breaking capabilities to transform into Ash Greninja and clean late game. Both formes can set up Spikes as well, helping Heracross to dismantle defensive cores. Ferrothorn, while providing Spikes and Stealth Rock support, also check Fairy- and Psychic-types that threaten Mega Heracross.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Bullet Seed is a possibility if Heracross is paired with Tapu Bulu to exploit Skill Link and Grassy Terrain to boost its power to incredible heights. It makes for a secondary pseudo STAB attack that is capable of 2HKOing Unaware Clefable and Toxapex, but pairing Mega Heracross with Tapu Bulu forces the team to stack weaknesses and slow Pokemon together. Earthquake is also a possibility to have a clean KO on Toxapex after Swords Dance and Steel-types like Magearna for super effective damage and not having to suffer the stat drops of Close Combat. But you either reduce Mega Heracross's wallbreaking capabilities by letting go of Swords Dance or give up the coverage and immediate power of Pin Missile.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types pose a significant threat to Mega Heracross. Many of them are faster and can KO it with a single powerful hit, like Mega Diancie, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Koko. Others, such as Tapu Fini, Clefable, and Magearna, can comfortably tank unboosted hits and retaliate with strong Fairy-type attacks like Moonblast or Fleur Cannon. Clefable is especially problematic as it resists both STAB moves and, with Magic Guard, avoids residual damage from entry hazards or status, making it much harder to 2HKO. Meanwhile, Unaware Clefable isn't hazard immune, but it can completely shut down Mega Heracross's attempts to break through with Swords Dance boosts and stall it out.
**Fire-types**: While most Fire-types have to be wary of Rock Blast and Stealth Rock, both Mega Charizard formes, Heatran, Victini and Volcarona can hit Heracross for super effective damage and remove it from the battle.
**Psychic-types**: In a similar fashion, faster Psychic-types such as Mega Alakazam, Mega Medicham, Mega Latios, and Mega Latias can scare out Heracross very easily or revenge kill it at the fault of being scared to switch into STAB Pin Missile. Slower Psychic-types like Reuniclus and Cresselia can also prove to be annoying if Heracross drops Pin Missile.
**Flying types**: Tornadus-T, Mega Pinsir, or Dragonite are key threats to Mega Heracross. They all resist both of its STAB types and can OHKO it with powerful 4x super effective Flying-type attacks. That said, they still need to be cautious of switching into Rock Blast. Landorus-T is also a noteworthy softcheck. It resists Fighting and Bug attacks and takes neutral damage from Rock Blast, can pivot in safely thanks to Intimidate, and threaten it with Supersonic Skystrike and Toxic or pivot out.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/maktyum.541503/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/diyusi.519886/
Grammar checked by:
Last edited:
