[OVERVIEW]
Durant is a lesser-used but powerful Bug / Steel type in the 1v1 metagame, with very good stats that match its archetype very well. Durant's Speed is enough to outspeed the majority of the relevant metagame, such as both Mega Charizard X and Y, Meloetta, and Mew, allowing Durant to pick up KOs before it gets hurt. Durant can hit extremely hard due to its ability in Hustle; combined with a Choice Band, Durant gains the capability to OHKO some of the naturally bulkiest Pokemon in the metagame, such as Meloetta, Tapu Lele, and Heatran. Unfortunately, Hustle is also one of Durant's biggest drawbacks, as its accuracy drop makes it less reliable in matchups it should theoretically win, especially against Substitute stallers such as Whimsicott and Serperior. Additionally, Durant's one weakness, Fire, is a very common offensive type, and the 4x effectiveness prevents Durant from surviving almost any Fire-type hits, leaving it weak to several Pokemon like Genesect and Dragonite, which all wield Fire-type coverage moves. Lastly, Durant is very lacking in HP and Special Defense, making it vulnerable to sufficiently powerful special hits from Pokemon like Greninja and Choice Scarf Porygon-Z.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: X-Scissor
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Superpower
item: Choice Band
ability: Hustle
nature: Jolly
evs: 56 HP / 200 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Iron Head is Durant's main STAB option, 2HKOing or OHKOing almost anything that doesn't resist it, such as Tapu Lele or Mega Gardevoir. Its 30% flinch chance can also allow Durant to cause the foe to flinch if there's no other way of winning. This is especially helpful against targets like Magearna and Crustle, which Durant cannot OHKO but can OHKO Durant in return. X-Scissor is a good secondary STAB move that can pick up KOs on Psychic- and Grass-types like Meloetta and Celebi. Although you won't be using X-Scissor a lot and it's the most replaceable move on the set, it's Durant's main way of beating Mega Slowbro and Mega Metagross. No Durant set is complete without Stone Edge, a valuable asset that allows it to KO any Fire- or Flying-types that don't outspeed it, most prominently Mega Charizard X and Y. With this set of moves, Durant would get walled by most Steel-types, but it also has access to Superpower, which helps it somewhat. With Superpower, Durant can OHKO Steel-type walls such as Ferrothorn and Heatran, as well as take out bulky Normal-types such as Chansey.
Set Details
========
Maximum Speed investment and a Jolly nature are necessary to maximize Durant's Speed, allowing it to outspeed Terrakion, Mega Pinsir, and Nihilego and KO them. 56 EVs are put into HP in order to allow Durant to guarantee surviving a Fake Out followed by High Jump Kick from Mega Lopunny, as well as attacks such as a +1 Waterfall from Adamant Mega Gyarados, giving you the capacity to 2HKO it with either X-Scissor or Stone Edge and not fall to it after being hit by a boosted Waterfall. The rest is put into Attack to maximize Durant's damage output. Choice Band and Hustle add up to give Durant monstrous attacking power that allows it to KO maximum Defense walls such as Chansey and Ferrothorn.
Usage Tips
========
In order to use Durant properly, the basic step is to simply click the most effective move. In case 2 or more moves are equally effective, prioritize using Iron Head, and avoid using Superpower because of its drawbacks. Durant has a good matchup against both Mega Charizard X and Y, Tapu Lele, Meloetta, Registeel, and other Pokemon with similar typing. It's usually safe to send Durant out against them. Don't be afraid of Durant's Fire weakness because Stone Edge and Superpower cover most Fire-types, like Heatran and non-Choice Scarf Victini. Against Mega Gyarados, you will need to either use Stone Edge, predicting them to not Mega Evolve in fear of X-Scissor, or use X-Scissor as they fear being hit by a Stone Edge. Getting either one of these plays correct will allow Durant to 2HKO Mega Gyarados. Durant loses to faster specially offensive Pokemon, including Greninja and Naganadel, and the majority of special Choice Scarf users, such as the fearsome Porygon-Z. Avoid sending Durant out against those. Steel-types with a neutrality or immunity to Fighting, most importantly Aegislash and Magearna, can also defeat Durant with ease. Finally, bulkier Pokemon and Substitute users, like Whimsicott, Mega Metagross, Type: Null, Porygon2, and Serperior, should not be considered consistent wins for Durant; even if Durant can technically hit them super effectively, they can either spam Substitute or recovery until Durant misses a move, which is eventually going to happen, and then take advantage of the protection of Substitute to win.
Team Options
========
Durant doesn't like facing special attackers, but fortunately for Durant, Chansey really loves taking on that job, saving Durant from specially offensive Dragonite and Primarina. Mirror Coat Magnezone, or Magnezone in general, also does a great job of picking off things that threaten Durant due to its Sturdy ability, handling Pokemon such as Greninja, Magearna, and Naganadel. In return, Durant can threaten Fire-type Pokemon that normally seriously threaten Magnezone, such as Mega Charizard X and Victini. Durant is also threatened by physical attackers with Intimidate or Multiscale, most importantly Landorus-T and Dragonite, as they can take any hit from Durant and retaliate. These two are pretty hard to cover with just one Pokemon, but Fake Out + Ice Punch Mega Lopunny does a good job against them. In return, Durant can deal with the common bulkier Pokemon that Mega Lopunny struggles with the most, in particular, Meloetta and Mega Charizard X. Certain Fire-type Pokemon, such as Choice Scarf Victini and Mega Camerupt, Durant will not be able to defeat, and thus it will require the assistance of traditional Fire-type answers, such as Mega Gyarados and Primarina. Durant assists these Pokemon by blasting Grass-type Pokemon like Kartana and Tapu Bulu.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Rockium Z with Stone Edge can be run to eliminate the atrocious accuracy of Hustle-boosted Stone Edge against both Mega Charizard X and Y, two of the best Pokemon in the metagame, allowing Durant to more reliably beat both of them. However, the loss of power caused by taking away Choice Band leaves it lacking when facing other threats it could normally OHKO, such as Mega Altaria and Meloetta. Rock Slide can also be run in order to more accurately hit targets such as Mega Pinsir, Volcarona, and Mega Charizard Y. However, the loss of power leaves Durant unable to OHKO Mega Charizard X, severely lowering its viability. Choice Scarf can also be run to lure in normal answers to Durant, such as Greninja and Porygon-Z. However, as with Rockium Z, this set loses the critical power needed in order to OHKO threats, such as Mega Charizard X, Mew, and Heatran. Durant can also choose to run a particularly evil set consisting of the move Entrainment with its ability Truant, replacing the ability of its target with Truant. This can be used to PP stall Choice item users with a combination of Protect, Dig, and Endure or Rest. However, outside of this niche, it utterly fails to PP stall anything else, especially setup offense, which will simply maximize their offense as Durant uses a move and wait until it runs out of ways to avoid damage, although this will end up taking double the amount of time, thanks to Truant.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fast or Bulky Special Attackers**: Durant's horrible Special Defense can easily be taken advantage of by almost all of the special attacking Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame, assuming they either outspeed Durant or can survive one of its attacks. Pokemon such as Greninja, special Dragonite, Magnezone, Magearna, and Aegislash can all effortlessly eliminate Durant with any one of their powerful special attacks.
**Faster or Bulky Fire-types and Fire-type Coverage**: Pokemon that can take advantage of Durant's 4x weakness to Fire-type moves will easily dispatch of it, either by simply going first and knocking Durant out or surviving any single attack from Durant and roasting it. Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Victini, Genesect, Kommo-o, Fire Punch Jirachi, and Mega Camerupt can all obliterate Durant.
**Faster Substitute Users**: Faster Pokemon that can utilize Substitute to avoid damage will usually be able to fish for a miss from Durant and act from there to snag a win. Pokemon like Serperior and Whimsicott fall under this category.
**Sturdy Users**: Sturdy Pokemon can all survive any of Durant's attacks and either OHKO it, get it in range of a priority attack, or use Counter to beat it. Sturdy Pokemon such as Donphan, Golem, Carracosta, and Skarmory will cut down Durant.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[UnleashOurPassion, 385597], [Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[lost heros, 316445], [Synonimous, 457703], [Osra, 239997]]
- Grammar checked by: [[deetah, 297659], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
Durant is a lesser-used but powerful Bug / Steel type in the 1v1 metagame, with very good stats that match its archetype very well. Durant's Speed is enough to outspeed the majority of the relevant metagame, such as both Mega Charizard X and Y, Meloetta, and Mew, allowing Durant to pick up KOs before it gets hurt. Durant can hit extremely hard due to its ability in Hustle; combined with a Choice Band, Durant gains the capability to OHKO some of the naturally bulkiest Pokemon in the metagame, such as Meloetta, Tapu Lele, and Heatran. Unfortunately, Hustle is also one of Durant's biggest drawbacks, as its accuracy drop makes it less reliable in matchups it should theoretically win, especially against Substitute stallers such as Whimsicott and Serperior. Additionally, Durant's one weakness, Fire, is a very common offensive type, and the 4x effectiveness prevents Durant from surviving almost any Fire-type hits, leaving it weak to several Pokemon like Genesect and Dragonite, which all wield Fire-type coverage moves. Lastly, Durant is very lacking in HP and Special Defense, making it vulnerable to sufficiently powerful special hits from Pokemon like Greninja and Choice Scarf Porygon-Z.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: X-Scissor
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Superpower
item: Choice Band
ability: Hustle
nature: Jolly
evs: 56 HP / 200 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Iron Head is Durant's main STAB option, 2HKOing or OHKOing almost anything that doesn't resist it, such as Tapu Lele or Mega Gardevoir. Its 30% flinch chance can also allow Durant to cause the foe to flinch if there's no other way of winning. This is especially helpful against targets like Magearna and Crustle, which Durant cannot OHKO but can OHKO Durant in return. X-Scissor is a good secondary STAB move that can pick up KOs on Psychic- and Grass-types like Meloetta and Celebi. Although you won't be using X-Scissor a lot and it's the most replaceable move on the set, it's Durant's main way of beating Mega Slowbro and Mega Metagross. No Durant set is complete without Stone Edge, a valuable asset that allows it to KO any Fire- or Flying-types that don't outspeed it, most prominently Mega Charizard X and Y. With this set of moves, Durant would get walled by most Steel-types, but it also has access to Superpower, which helps it somewhat. With Superpower, Durant can OHKO Steel-type walls such as Ferrothorn and Heatran, as well as take out bulky Normal-types such as Chansey.
Set Details
========
Maximum Speed investment and a Jolly nature are necessary to maximize Durant's Speed, allowing it to outspeed Terrakion, Mega Pinsir, and Nihilego and KO them. 56 EVs are put into HP in order to allow Durant to guarantee surviving a Fake Out followed by High Jump Kick from Mega Lopunny, as well as attacks such as a +1 Waterfall from Adamant Mega Gyarados, giving you the capacity to 2HKO it with either X-Scissor or Stone Edge and not fall to it after being hit by a boosted Waterfall. The rest is put into Attack to maximize Durant's damage output. Choice Band and Hustle add up to give Durant monstrous attacking power that allows it to KO maximum Defense walls such as Chansey and Ferrothorn.
Usage Tips
========
In order to use Durant properly, the basic step is to simply click the most effective move. In case 2 or more moves are equally effective, prioritize using Iron Head, and avoid using Superpower because of its drawbacks. Durant has a good matchup against both Mega Charizard X and Y, Tapu Lele, Meloetta, Registeel, and other Pokemon with similar typing. It's usually safe to send Durant out against them. Don't be afraid of Durant's Fire weakness because Stone Edge and Superpower cover most Fire-types, like Heatran and non-Choice Scarf Victini. Against Mega Gyarados, you will need to either use Stone Edge, predicting them to not Mega Evolve in fear of X-Scissor, or use X-Scissor as they fear being hit by a Stone Edge. Getting either one of these plays correct will allow Durant to 2HKO Mega Gyarados. Durant loses to faster specially offensive Pokemon, including Greninja and Naganadel, and the majority of special Choice Scarf users, such as the fearsome Porygon-Z. Avoid sending Durant out against those. Steel-types with a neutrality or immunity to Fighting, most importantly Aegislash and Magearna, can also defeat Durant with ease. Finally, bulkier Pokemon and Substitute users, like Whimsicott, Mega Metagross, Type: Null, Porygon2, and Serperior, should not be considered consistent wins for Durant; even if Durant can technically hit them super effectively, they can either spam Substitute or recovery until Durant misses a move, which is eventually going to happen, and then take advantage of the protection of Substitute to win.
Team Options
========
Durant doesn't like facing special attackers, but fortunately for Durant, Chansey really loves taking on that job, saving Durant from specially offensive Dragonite and Primarina. Mirror Coat Magnezone, or Magnezone in general, also does a great job of picking off things that threaten Durant due to its Sturdy ability, handling Pokemon such as Greninja, Magearna, and Naganadel. In return, Durant can threaten Fire-type Pokemon that normally seriously threaten Magnezone, such as Mega Charizard X and Victini. Durant is also threatened by physical attackers with Intimidate or Multiscale, most importantly Landorus-T and Dragonite, as they can take any hit from Durant and retaliate. These two are pretty hard to cover with just one Pokemon, but Fake Out + Ice Punch Mega Lopunny does a good job against them. In return, Durant can deal with the common bulkier Pokemon that Mega Lopunny struggles with the most, in particular, Meloetta and Mega Charizard X. Certain Fire-type Pokemon, such as Choice Scarf Victini and Mega Camerupt, Durant will not be able to defeat, and thus it will require the assistance of traditional Fire-type answers, such as Mega Gyarados and Primarina. Durant assists these Pokemon by blasting Grass-type Pokemon like Kartana and Tapu Bulu.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Rockium Z with Stone Edge can be run to eliminate the atrocious accuracy of Hustle-boosted Stone Edge against both Mega Charizard X and Y, two of the best Pokemon in the metagame, allowing Durant to more reliably beat both of them. However, the loss of power caused by taking away Choice Band leaves it lacking when facing other threats it could normally OHKO, such as Mega Altaria and Meloetta. Rock Slide can also be run in order to more accurately hit targets such as Mega Pinsir, Volcarona, and Mega Charizard Y. However, the loss of power leaves Durant unable to OHKO Mega Charizard X, severely lowering its viability. Choice Scarf can also be run to lure in normal answers to Durant, such as Greninja and Porygon-Z. However, as with Rockium Z, this set loses the critical power needed in order to OHKO threats, such as Mega Charizard X, Mew, and Heatran. Durant can also choose to run a particularly evil set consisting of the move Entrainment with its ability Truant, replacing the ability of its target with Truant. This can be used to PP stall Choice item users with a combination of Protect, Dig, and Endure or Rest. However, outside of this niche, it utterly fails to PP stall anything else, especially setup offense, which will simply maximize their offense as Durant uses a move and wait until it runs out of ways to avoid damage, although this will end up taking double the amount of time, thanks to Truant.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fast or Bulky Special Attackers**: Durant's horrible Special Defense can easily be taken advantage of by almost all of the special attacking Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame, assuming they either outspeed Durant or can survive one of its attacks. Pokemon such as Greninja, special Dragonite, Magnezone, Magearna, and Aegislash can all effortlessly eliminate Durant with any one of their powerful special attacks.
**Faster or Bulky Fire-types and Fire-type Coverage**: Pokemon that can take advantage of Durant's 4x weakness to Fire-type moves will easily dispatch of it, either by simply going first and knocking Durant out or surviving any single attack from Durant and roasting it. Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Victini, Genesect, Kommo-o, Fire Punch Jirachi, and Mega Camerupt can all obliterate Durant.
**Faster Substitute Users**: Faster Pokemon that can utilize Substitute to avoid damage will usually be able to fish for a miss from Durant and act from there to snag a win. Pokemon like Serperior and Whimsicott fall under this category.
**Sturdy Users**: Sturdy Pokemon can all survive any of Durant's attacks and either OHKO it, get it in range of a priority attack, or use Counter to beat it. Sturdy Pokemon such as Donphan, Golem, Carracosta, and Skarmory will cut down Durant.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[UnleashOurPassion, 385597], [Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[lost heros, 316445], [Synonimous, 457703], [Osra, 239997]]
- Grammar checked by: [[deetah, 297659], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
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