Durant
Durant is an amusing little bug that may look pretty terrible at first glance, but actually has a very valuable niche when you consider everything he has available to him.
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[Overview]
<p>Durant isn't a top-tier Pokemon, but what he lacks in popularity he makes up for with pinch value. His stats aren't exceptional, but a respectable Attack stat, combined with a powerful ability in Hustle and an accuracy-boosting move in Hone Claws, makes him potentially very dangerous; being able to 2HKO physically defensive Skarmory after a single boost and with a coverage move is pretty impressive. Durant also has a very handy base Speed stat that gives him the jump on Pokemon like Infernape, Terrakion, and Virizion by a mere few points. Don't get your hopes up, though, as it's all downhill from here.</p>
<p>Despite having excellent defensive typing, Durant really got shafted with his defensive stats. Half of the types of attacks that he resists and would be switching into, including the Dragon-type, are hitting him on his abysmal Special Defense stat. Life Orb Latios always 2HKOes this little bug with Dragon Pulse, for instance, and Life Orb Reuniclus OHKOes him with Focus Blast. Needless to say, don't use Durant against these powerful special attackers. This unfortunately results in Durant having few safe switch-ins, which is directly responsible for how underused he is. That said, he's cute, and a lot of people underestimate him; maybe you'll get lucky using him against an unaware foe.</p>
[SET]
name: Hustlah'
move 1: Hone Claws
move 2: X-Scissor
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Thunder Fang / Baton Pass
item: Life Orb
ability: Hustle
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>So you've decided to use Durant, huh? Well, this is how you'll be using him if you plan to get anywhere with that team of yours. Hustle is pretty much the reason you'd want to use Durant, as it boosts his physical attacks' damage by 50% at the cost of 20% accuracy. To make up for that drop, Hone Claws boosts his Attack stat further and makes his moves hit more reliably. The rest of the moves on this set are for maximizing Durant's coverage; X-Scissor is the best STAB move available, Stone Edge provides important coverage, and Thunder Fang is pretty much the only other attacking move worth using. However, Baton Pass is viable over Thunder Fang to pass the Hone Claws boost on to whatever else you have on your team.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>You're serious about using this guy, huh? Stick to the standard 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe EV spread, then. Nothing else is really worth it for Durant. A Jolly nature ensures that Durant outspeeds all Terrakion, Virizion, and Infernape, which is important even though most of those Pokemon match up fairly well against Durant type-wise. Life Orb gives Durant's attacks the punch they need, and the recoil damage is fine given that Durant can't take many hits anyway.</p>
<p>Pokemon like Blissey, Jellicent, and Politoed are good choices for partners to Durant. For starters, all of them are fairly specially bulky, and all of them also take Fire-type attacks very well. Most opposing Pokemon will simply bash Durant to pieces with neutral special attacks, so having something like Blissey for all purposes can be very handy, even though she slows down more offensive teams. Entry hazards such as Spikes and Stealth Rock greatly aid Durant in KOing lots of bulky Pokemon, like Jellicent, that he would otherwise have trouble with.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Durant really wishes that he had Earthquake, but his only option for hitting grounded Steel-types is Dig. Dig, unfortunately, is very easy to switch out of, so it doesn't particularly help Durant at all. Durant also has access to Crunch and Iron Head, though these moves offer redundant coverage except against specific threats. Thunder Wave is an interesting option to use so that Durant can cripple very fast threats such as Thundurus or Tornadus which will try to switch in on Hone Claws or X-Scissor. Lastly, Choice Band is a legitimate strategy for Durant because it and Hustle come together to make Durant hit harder than Choice Band Scizor. That said, the accuracy loss is very bothersome and tends to bite you in the butt more often than the immense power helps you. Furthermore, Durant doesn't even have U-turn, which kills the real appeal of a Choice set. If you want a high-power Choice Band user, try something like Terrakion instead.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Durant's checks are those that abuse his strange type coverage. Heatran makes an exceptional check because Durant lacks Earthquake and Dig is predictable and easy to avoid. Heatran also 4x resists both of Durant's STABs to boot, making it a very one-sided match-up. Skarmory and most bulky Water-types like Politoed and Jellicent can handle Durant if he trades Thunder Fang for another coverage move. Anything faster than Durant with a powerful special attack can roll in and pretty much eat Durant alive; even resisted Dragon-type attacks from the likes of Latios will shred the bug. Gengar can OHKO the poor thing with Focus Blast, too. In general, anything competent with a special attack will annihilate Durant.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Durant's Dream World ability is Truant, which is a pretty terrible ability that you'd never want to use seriously. Hustle is pretty much always the better ability. For personal amusement, you can run Truant on Durant with Entrainment, the move that copies a Pokemon's ability to the opposing Pokemon, to give the opponent Truant. Typically, this is paired with Shadow Tag Chandelure in order to set up a sweep, though in reality, anyone who loses to this strategy needs to go back to Battling 101 for a while.</p>
