[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards
**Price Range**: 11-12 points
**Overview**: Hawlucha is a threatening physical sweeper with a good utility movepool to help enable itself and its teammates. While it lacks in base stats, Unburden and Swords Dance can turn Hawlucha into a threatening sweeper in one turn, and utility moves like Encore and Roost can help it outlast foes or set up further. It can also use its wide utility movepool to disrupt foes and pivot into more immediately threatening teammates. However, its low base Attack and frailty hold it back, meaning it can struggle both when trying to break through foes offensively and when using its utility moves to support teammates.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Unburden Sweeper**: Using Unburden combined with a consumable item allows Hawlucha to become one of the fastest threats in the metagame; it uses Swords Dance to boost its Attack and take advantage of its strong STAB combination and reasonable coverage movepool. It can also use moves like Encore, Taunt, and Roost to navigate around would-be checks.
**Fast Utility / Pivot**: Hawlucha's Speed tier allows it to be a viable pivot and support Pokemon. It can use Roost to keep itself healthy, Encore and Taunt to deny opposing setup sweepers, and Defog to remove entry hazards. It can also utilize U-turn to pivot into teammates that can better handle its incoming checks.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Acrobatics, Brave Bird, Dual Wingbeat, Close Combat, Drain Punch, Low Kick
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Bulk Up
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Taunt, Defog, Roost, U-turn, Substitute, Endure
**Coverage**: Fire Punch, Iron Head, Lunge, Poison Jab, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Throat Chop, Thunder Punch, Zen Headbutt, X-Scissor
Niche Moves
========
**Sky Attack**: Power Herb + Sky Attack can be a powerful one-time threat that also activates Unburden if your team lacks other more common Unburden triggers.
**Feather Dance**: Feather Dance can be used to weaken physical attackers, allowing Hawlucha to set up or pivot into teammates that can take advantage of the foe's Attack drops.
**Upper Hand**: A common way to deal with Hawlucha is priority, and Upper Hand can take advantage of foes relying on that to deal with Hawlucha after it activates Unburden.
**Fling**: Fling with an item such as Big Nugget can function as a strong coverage option that activates Unburden.
**Endeavor**: Endeavor can be a useful move on utility sets, allowing Hawlucha to take out large chunks of a foe's health even with minimal offensive investment as long as Hawlucha isn't KOed first.
Common Items
========
**White Herb**: White Herb + Close Combat is a reliable way to trigger Unburden, and negating the defensive stat drops can help Hawlucha survive attacks in certain situations.
**Terrain Seeds**: Unburden can be activated by utilizing Terrain along with the respective Seed; Terrain Seeds are also useful because the defensive boost can allow Hawlucha to take an extra hit.
Niche Items
========
**Sitrus Berry**: Sitrus Berry can be a good way for Hawlucha to recover HP in a pinch while also triggering Unburden.
**Big Nugget / Light Ball**: Both Big Nugget and Light Ball are good options when paired with Fling, Big Nugget for the great damage potential and Light Ball for the utility of paralyzing foes.
**Power Herb**: Power Herb can be combined with Sky Attack to trigger Unburden and be a one-time nuke.
**Leftovers**: Leftovers gives Hawlucha passive recovery, which is valuable, especially on support sets that do not utilize Unburden.
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries can enable defensive Hawlucha sets to survive an extra hit and can trigger Unburden on offensive sets, although it is unreliable to trigger Unburden this way.
**Choice Band**: With Hawlucha's solid Speed tier, Choice Band can give it the immediate power it needs to break through teams.
**Rocky Helmet**: Rocky Helmet can be useful when aiming to punish foes for pivoting with moves like U-turn and Flip Turn, as well as allowing Hawlucha to be a good switch-in to Knock Off users.
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry can be a great benefit to sweeping sets by removing troublesome status effects like paralysis and burn and activating Unburden, although like resistance Berries, it is unreliable to activate Unburden this way.
Tera
========
Hawlucha makes an excellent secondary Tera Captain. Tera helps make up for two of Hawlucha's usual drawbacks in its relatively low-Base Power coverage options and simple lack of raw power. Using Tera Fighting or Flying can give Hawlucha the extra power it needs, and Tera Fire, Steel, and Poison can enable it to survive a hit, set up on foes, and avoid problematic status ailments. While these options do help Hawlucha overcome its shortcomings, it still lacks the power or utility of higher-tier Tera Captains, so it should be used as a secondary Tera Captain rather than the main Tera Captain of your draft if you plan to make it one.
Draft Strategy
========
Hawlucha is a great at cleaning up games when well-supported, so the draft around it makes a big difference. Pokemon like wallbreakers and Terrain setters, which help enable Hawlucha's sweeping, and pivots, which help bring it in safely, make great teammates. Hawlucha should not be a team's main primary wincon, though, since it can be relatively easy for opponents to prepare against in that case.
**Terrain Setters**: Hawlucha pairs well with Terrain setters, which can activate Terrain Seeds, giving it a defensive boost to take hits better while setting up. Rillaboom is the only top-tier Terrain setter, though cheaper options like Pincurchin, Indeedee, and Thwackey can provide Terrain on a budget while having their own niche.
**Wallbreakers**: Hawlucha lacks raw wallbreaking power, so teammates like Landorus, Chi-Yu, and Darkrai that can break opposing teams are reliable partners and can enable it to sweep late-game.
**Entry Hazards**: Hawlucha appreciates any extra damage its team can do to help it sweep, so having strong entry hazard setters like Deoxys-S, Hisuian Samurott, and Meowscarada can provide the extra damage needed to enable it.
Checks and Counters
========
**Physical Walls**: Even when boosted, Hawlucha lacks wallbreaking power, making it easy for physically defensive walls like Corviknight, Dondozo, and Iron Hands to beat it. Similarly, Unaware Pokemon can also be an issue by ignoring Hawlucha's boosts, making it difficult to finish off teams.
**Phazing**: Since Unburden is a one-time use ability, if Hawlucha can be forced out after triggering Unburden by foes using moves like Roar and Whirlwind, it is much less threatening the second time it comes in. Red Card can also force it out, especially if it is unboosted.
**Priority Moves**: Since the main draw of Hawlucha is the Speed it can reach with Unburden, Pokemon like Palafin, Dragonite, and Raging Bolt that have strong priority options can give it trouble, especially if it takes chip damage.
**Offensive Checks**: Pokemon that are either fast enough to outspeed Hawlucha before it activates Unburden and strong enough to KO it like Meowscarada and Tornadus-T or bulky enough to survive a hit and KO it back like Latias and Necrozma can be difficult to deal with, as Hawlucha has no clean way around them unless it can boost multiple times before they hit the field.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/termnal.404799
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf2.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards
**Price Range**: 11-12 points
**Overview**: Hawlucha is a threatening physical sweeper with a good utility movepool to help enable itself and its teammates. While it lacks in base stats, Unburden and Swords Dance can turn Hawlucha into a threatening sweeper in one turn, and utility moves like Encore and Roost can help it outlast foes or set up further. It can also use its wide utility movepool to disrupt foes and pivot into more immediately threatening teammates. However, its low base Attack and frailty hold it back, meaning it can struggle both when trying to break through foes offensively and when using its utility moves to support teammates.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Unburden Sweeper**: Using Unburden combined with a consumable item allows Hawlucha to become one of the fastest threats in the metagame; it uses Swords Dance to boost its Attack and take advantage of its strong STAB combination and reasonable coverage movepool. It can also use moves like Encore, Taunt, and Roost to navigate around would-be checks.
**Fast Utility / Pivot**: Hawlucha's Speed tier allows it to be a viable pivot and support Pokemon. It can use Roost to keep itself healthy, Encore and Taunt to deny opposing setup sweepers, and Defog to remove entry hazards. It can also utilize U-turn to pivot into teammates that can better handle its incoming checks.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Acrobatics, Brave Bird, Dual Wingbeat, Close Combat, Drain Punch, Low Kick
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance, Bulk Up
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Taunt, Defog, Roost, U-turn, Substitute, Endure
**Coverage**: Fire Punch, Iron Head, Lunge, Poison Jab, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Throat Chop, Thunder Punch, Zen Headbutt, X-Scissor
Niche Moves
========
**Sky Attack**: Power Herb + Sky Attack can be a powerful one-time threat that also activates Unburden if your team lacks other more common Unburden triggers.
**Feather Dance**: Feather Dance can be used to weaken physical attackers, allowing Hawlucha to set up or pivot into teammates that can take advantage of the foe's Attack drops.
**Upper Hand**: A common way to deal with Hawlucha is priority, and Upper Hand can take advantage of foes relying on that to deal with Hawlucha after it activates Unburden.
**Fling**: Fling with an item such as Big Nugget can function as a strong coverage option that activates Unburden.
**Endeavor**: Endeavor can be a useful move on utility sets, allowing Hawlucha to take out large chunks of a foe's health even with minimal offensive investment as long as Hawlucha isn't KOed first.
Common Items
========
**White Herb**: White Herb + Close Combat is a reliable way to trigger Unburden, and negating the defensive stat drops can help Hawlucha survive attacks in certain situations.
**Terrain Seeds**: Unburden can be activated by utilizing Terrain along with the respective Seed; Terrain Seeds are also useful because the defensive boost can allow Hawlucha to take an extra hit.
Niche Items
========
**Sitrus Berry**: Sitrus Berry can be a good way for Hawlucha to recover HP in a pinch while also triggering Unburden.
**Big Nugget / Light Ball**: Both Big Nugget and Light Ball are good options when paired with Fling, Big Nugget for the great damage potential and Light Ball for the utility of paralyzing foes.
**Power Herb**: Power Herb can be combined with Sky Attack to trigger Unburden and be a one-time nuke.
**Leftovers**: Leftovers gives Hawlucha passive recovery, which is valuable, especially on support sets that do not utilize Unburden.
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries can enable defensive Hawlucha sets to survive an extra hit and can trigger Unburden on offensive sets, although it is unreliable to trigger Unburden this way.
**Choice Band**: With Hawlucha's solid Speed tier, Choice Band can give it the immediate power it needs to break through teams.
**Rocky Helmet**: Rocky Helmet can be useful when aiming to punish foes for pivoting with moves like U-turn and Flip Turn, as well as allowing Hawlucha to be a good switch-in to Knock Off users.
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry can be a great benefit to sweeping sets by removing troublesome status effects like paralysis and burn and activating Unburden, although like resistance Berries, it is unreliable to activate Unburden this way.
Tera
========
Hawlucha makes an excellent secondary Tera Captain. Tera helps make up for two of Hawlucha's usual drawbacks in its relatively low-Base Power coverage options and simple lack of raw power. Using Tera Fighting or Flying can give Hawlucha the extra power it needs, and Tera Fire, Steel, and Poison can enable it to survive a hit, set up on foes, and avoid problematic status ailments. While these options do help Hawlucha overcome its shortcomings, it still lacks the power or utility of higher-tier Tera Captains, so it should be used as a secondary Tera Captain rather than the main Tera Captain of your draft if you plan to make it one.
Draft Strategy
========
Hawlucha is a great at cleaning up games when well-supported, so the draft around it makes a big difference. Pokemon like wallbreakers and Terrain setters, which help enable Hawlucha's sweeping, and pivots, which help bring it in safely, make great teammates. Hawlucha should not be a team's main primary wincon, though, since it can be relatively easy for opponents to prepare against in that case.
**Terrain Setters**: Hawlucha pairs well with Terrain setters, which can activate Terrain Seeds, giving it a defensive boost to take hits better while setting up. Rillaboom is the only top-tier Terrain setter, though cheaper options like Pincurchin, Indeedee, and Thwackey can provide Terrain on a budget while having their own niche.
**Wallbreakers**: Hawlucha lacks raw wallbreaking power, so teammates like Landorus, Chi-Yu, and Darkrai that can break opposing teams are reliable partners and can enable it to sweep late-game.
**Entry Hazards**: Hawlucha appreciates any extra damage its team can do to help it sweep, so having strong entry hazard setters like Deoxys-S, Hisuian Samurott, and Meowscarada can provide the extra damage needed to enable it.
Checks and Counters
========
**Physical Walls**: Even when boosted, Hawlucha lacks wallbreaking power, making it easy for physically defensive walls like Corviknight, Dondozo, and Iron Hands to beat it. Similarly, Unaware Pokemon can also be an issue by ignoring Hawlucha's boosts, making it difficult to finish off teams.
**Phazing**: Since Unburden is a one-time use ability, if Hawlucha can be forced out after triggering Unburden by foes using moves like Roar and Whirlwind, it is much less threatening the second time it comes in. Red Card can also force it out, especially if it is unboosted.
**Priority Moves**: Since the main draw of Hawlucha is the Speed it can reach with Unburden, Pokemon like Palafin, Dragonite, and Raging Bolt that have strong priority options can give it trouble, especially if it takes chip damage.
**Offensive Checks**: Pokemon that are either fast enough to outspeed Hawlucha before it activates Unburden and strong enough to KO it like Meowscarada and Tornadus-T or bulky enough to survive a hit and KO it back like Latias and Necrozma can be difficult to deal with, as Hawlucha has no clean way around them unless it can boost multiple times before they hit the field.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/termnal.404799
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf2.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited:
