Banned the Heracross!

Banned the Heracross! Offensive Stall?
Team made by Stunt/ Ban Nattorei



Intro:

I am a defensive player, so I like to fool around with different stall teams. However, as I tried to make new teams, I always ended up with the same Slowbro, Tangrowth, Espeon, Chansey core. This changed when I played my first Scarf Heracross. Megahorn was not merciful to my team and I was soon sweeped. I realized that other teams must feel just as helpless against this amazing combination of strong Bug and Fighting STAB attacks, so I decided to make a team based on Band Heracross.


umadbutyumad (Mamoswine) (F) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Icicle Crash
- Icicle Spear

Mamoswine is a great lead, almost always giving me a headstart against the opponent. When choosing this lead, I wanted to create a lead which could beat the common leads like Mienshao, Tyranitar, Haxorus, Thundurus, etc. and also set up Stealth Rock. In the case of a bad matchup, theres always stall to fall back on.

Stealth Rock is good on Mamoswine because it pretty much forces pokemon out with its Ice/ Ground STAB. 4x weaks like Gliscor are given switches.

Earthquake is Mamoswine's strongest STAB move. In a lead matchup against Mienshao, Earthquake has a 100% chance of OHKO'ing it, while Icicle Crash does not. Scarf Earthquake is always good for endgame cleaning for ground ridden pokemon.

Tyranitar 252 HP
394 Atk vs 256 Def & 404 HP (100 Base Power): 332 - 392 (82.18% - 97.03%)
sucks to miss out on this KO.

Icicle Crash is Mamoswine's new and strongest Ice move. Though the 90% accuracy vexes me often, the extra power is definitely appreciated over the other moves. Icicle Crash gives the opportunity to OHKO band Haxorus and is good for endgame cleaning against flying pokemon NAMELY THUNDURUS, in which Mamoswine can switch in on a predicted thunder.

Latias 252 HP
394 Atk vs 216 Def & 364 HP (85 Base Power): 336 - 396 (92.31% - 108.79%) Chansey can weaken it until it becomes predictable with Calm minds and Mamoswine can come in.

Icicle Spear is a very situational move. Against leads with obvious sashes, like Dugtrio, Icicle Spear could very well make the difference. Icicle Spear is great against substitute sweepers like Garchomp (I play at PBC server because I can't seem to access smogon/PO) and Landlos, or Multi-Scale Dragonite.


brokay (Slowbro) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Ice Beam

Necessary staple on stall teams; Slowbro is amazing at handling dragon dancers who would otherwise sweep entire teams. He's more qualified than the other physical walls because he can take special attacks as well and has the amazing ability Regenerator.

Thunder Wave is pretty much a necessary status for slowbro, since he's pretty slow, bro. Even then, he gets outsped by +1 Dragons, but its the thought that counts. Twave can also be used when predicting switches.

Slack Off seems odd for a pokemon with a regenerating ability, but Slowbro needs it to handle certain matchups.

Scald is for STAB and for 30 % burn. Stuff like Tyranitar have to risk a burn when switching in.

Ice Beam is needed against any dragon matchup, and is good for predicting Thundurus on the switch as well.

Salamence Draco Meteor 252 SpAtk LO
319 Atk vs 208 Def & 394 HP (140 Base Power): 300 - 354 (76.14% - 89.85%)



broken (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 236 HP / 136 Def / 136 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave / Toxic
- Softboiled
- Seismic Toss
- Growl / Stealth Rock / Mud Slap / Icy Wind / Heal Bell / Wish / Sing / Sunny Day / Toxic / Captivate

Send in Chansey. Wall Special Attacks.

Thunder Wave is always my favorite status because it sets up for Heracross and it puts sweeps to a halt.

Softboiled is definitely more reliable than wish + protect, especially since my team doesn't require any wish passing.

Seismic Toss is definitely Chansey's strongest attack. It doesn't really have a usable Special attack.

Last move is really a filler. Growl is good for lowering the attack of switchins to a reasonable amount so that Chansey isn't murdered by pursuit, or so band haxorus isn't as powerful. Adding wish might be a better option, healing Heracross/ Mamo and helping the physical walls take stronger hits. Stealth Rock is good in case Mamoswine doesn't get the opportunity to set it and Espeon doesn't get the opportunity to reflect it.




alberto (Gliscor) (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 248 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Ice Fang

Alberto is pretty much here to make sure Heracross doesn't sweep me again. It helps against Excadrill as well. He's good for dealing minor bits of damage to the opponent at a time, until the time comes for him to Swords Dance sweep.

Protect is necessary, since Gliscor doesn't have a full out recovery move with poison heal.

Earthquake is Gliscors strongest STAB.

Swords Dance helps Gliscor get enough power to counter some pokemon.

Ice Fang is for type coverage.


whats ttar (Espeon) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 4 SAtk / 16 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Morning Sun
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]


Espeon is the best hazard blocker. Xatu cannot match its speed and attacking capabilities. I send it on everything that has the possibility of setting hazards, like Infernape, Chansey, etc.


Sunny Day is the key move to this set. Espeon makes sure that Sand Veil and residual damage is not an issue. It makes sure that Specs Hydro Pumps, Surfs, Hurricane, and Thunder are weakened. You can switch it in on Rotom-W with leftovers on a turn it would most likely will-o-wisp on, and use Sunny Day to weaken its Hydro Pump. Sunny day can be used on bulky politoed to force it to switch.
Morning Sun heals 75% in the sun. As a pokemon which has once been disregarded as lacking a good recovery move, Espeon can now wall more threats.
Hidden Power [Fire] is pretty much a Flamethrower with Sunny Day up. It can be used against common switchins like Ferrothorn and Genosect, or just pokemon that psychic can't hit as hard upon.
Psychic is a necessary STAB move. I can't imagine replacing it with baton pass, though its very tempting.

Ferrothorn Gyro Ball
224 Atk vs 236 Def & 334 HP (150 Base Power): 153 - 181 (45.81% - 54.19%)

Tyranitar 0 Attack Crunch

304 Atk vs 236 Def & 334 HP (80 Base Power): 222 - 264 (66.47% - 79.04%)
Tyranitar Band Adamant Pursuit

603 Atk vs 236 Def & 334 HP (40 Base Power): 218 - 260 (65.27% - 77.84%)
In this case, I kind of just Sunny Day, and then Morning Sun until it gets obvious with crunches/ pursuits. Switchin Heracross and put the opponent in a bad spot, or let Espeon die and switch in Heracross.





heraboss (Heracross) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
-Earthquake
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge / Night Slash

Heracross often gives the opponent a tough time. Between close combat and megahorn, almost all physical walls are covered , bar Gliscor. Even not very effective Megahorns deal 51% on the likes of Landlos. Heracross is my win condition against other stall teams, who rely on Slowbro/Tangrowth/Skarmory to wall physical attacks. It is also a great switch in on Tyranitars, who most times have no pokemon to turn to. Having lots of paralysis on the team lets Heracross sweep in the endgame.


Close Combat is one of Heracross' monstrous STAB attacks. Doesn't really need prediction to use because it dents everything, besides ghosts.
Heracross Close Combat vs Skarmory
573 Atk vs 416 Def & 334 HP (120 Base Power): 178 - 210 (53.29% - 62.87%) 100% 2HKO.

Megahorn is the other strong Heracross STAB attack. Strong bug STAB is so good this generation, OHKO'ing max defense Slowbro, Tangrowth, and Reuniclus. Against Tyranitar, you can just pick your STAB and hope you choose right.

Earthquake deals that extra 20 base power to Steels like Jirachi which puts the calcs into the OHKO range. Other than that, it can also damage predicted Burungeru for around 40% damage.

Stone Edge can put a mere 30% into Gliscor, but I guess its better than nothing.

Gorebyss +2 Surf 252 SpAtk
654 Atk vs 226 Def & 364 HP (95 Base Power): 295 - 348 (81.04% - 95.60%) Just a good calc to have.
 
Chansey doesn't need such a lame move like Growl, it's a much better Stealth Rock supporter than Choice Scarf Mamoswine? Give Mamoswine something more useful, like Stone Edge over Stealth Rock. You don't want to lock your Mamoswine after setting rocks up. And give Chansey the Stealth Rock.

Your team is seriously weak to SD Scizor, I don't see how you deal with it. Gliscor still takes a shitload of damage from SD + Bullet Punch and it needs time to set up Swords Dance then attack with EQ which wouldn't even do that much. I suggest replacing your Slowbro with Jellicent. Jellicent is just a better option here, it can WoW those Dragon Dancers instead of Thunder Waving them. It can also help you break stall, which your team is very weak to.

Here's the set:

Jellicent @ Leftovers -- Water Absorb
Nature: Bold - EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Scald
 
First I'll address the SD scizor weakness I have.
Heres Scizors +2 Bullet Punch at max adamant STAB and technician included.
788 Atk vs 368 Def & 354 HP (60 Base Power): 138 - 163 (38.98% - 46.05%)
So I guess I can see the weakness there. I would only be beating Scizor 82 % of the time.
edit:
3 hits would be 46 * 3 - 25 = 113% for max damage
and 39 * 3 - 36 = 81% for minimum damage

Unfortunately, using Jellicent would add to my Doryuuzu weakness.
810 Atk vs 253 Def & 403 HP (100 Base Power): 447 - 526 (110.92% - 130.52%)
Adamant Life Orb Excadrill after a Swords Dance.

Any ideas for this?

I know I'm definitely not weak to stall since Heracross pretty much hits all the physical walls for 2HKO and OHKO, and Espeon is there to reflect hazards.

Mamoswine is actually good at rocks because it forces switches on many pokemon which are 4x weak to it. Stone Edge is meaningless because in most cases it acts as an inferior Icicle Crash. Of course, having Stealth Rocks on Chansey is always a good backup, and I have it listed as a possible filler.


edit2: added more defense to gliscor to be able to come out of Scizor matchup with more HP. change includes fire fang over ice fang.
 
Bullet Punch's power: 40 x 1.5 (STAB) x 1.5 (Technician) = 90, so it would do a lot more.

Switching out Slowbro for Jellicent would not add to your Excadrill weakness, because you have a good counter in Gliscor and +2 Adamant LO Excadrill OHKOs Slowbro with Earthquake anyway. As Eternal said, Jellicent is also pretty good at breaking stall with Taunt + WoW.

Also, your Espeon's moveset looks wacky. Sunny Day and Morning Sun is not useful when the whole moveset is walled by Tyranitar, who can just switch in, create sandstorm, and make the turn used for Sunny Day useless. I recommend placing Reflect over Sunny Day, as this would both help support your team and give you an excellent switch in to Ferrothorn, as you can bounce back hazards and absorb leech seed on switch in, Reflect to soften up its attacks and maul it with HP Fire.

You really need to pick a final moveslot for Chansey, and none of the MANY moves you have listed are really useful. Therefore, I recommend putting Stealth Rock or Aromatherapy on that moveslot, to help support your team more.

For Heracross, I recommend replacing Earthquake with Night Slash or Pursuit. Earthquake is largely unnecessary as most Steel types are slammed hard by Close Combat, not to mention Earthquake is a terrible moved to be locked on. Night Slash / Pursuit help to lure and kill (or trap) Jellicent and other ghosts who will block your sweep. Also, Heracross is not a very good stallbreaker because it is choiced, and stall can easily switch around and play around the move you are locked in on. Not to mention stuff like Gliscor, Skarmory and Jellicent can wall you.

This is all I have for right now, good luck.
 
You could also run wish as your 4th move on chansey. Wish + softboiled may seem weird, but it can be extremely helpful in certain situations.
 
I always run a custom Chansey with wish, heal bell, protect and either flamethrower or Seismic toss. Wish and protect for obvious reasons but wish and heal bell becomes extremely annoying when combating a stall team because you basically statused everything for nothing. S toss or Flamethrower or even Ice Beam can help whenever someone actually predicts right and taunts me.
 
As your fourth move on Chansey, use Stealth Rock.
Put Stone Edge on Mamoswine over Stealth Rock - being locked into SR is a free switch or setup bait for your opponent. Even if it's fast, it forces you to switch afterwards, too.

I also agree on Jellicent > Slowbro.
 

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