[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Megahorn
move 2: Brick Break / Focus Punch
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Hidden Power Ghost / Focus Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Swarm / Guts
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Choice Band Heracross primarily seeks to use its boosted STAB moves to overwhelm the opponent after its most resilient checks such as Skarmory and Gengar have been removed. Megahorn OHKOes Celebi and Claydol, but with the boost from Choice Band, it also OHKOes Tyranitar and bulkless offensive Swampert and threatens to OHKO Blissey. The boost significantly shortens the lifespan of physical walls, allowing Megahorn to 2HKO Metagross and defensive Swampert with certainty and do likewise against defensive Suicune with good odds. Boosted Megahorn's ability to 2HKO Zapdos also allows Heracross to stay in, take a Thunderbolt, and finish off its check. As Megahorn can fall just shy of OHKOing Blissey and Snorlax, Brick Break is run to KO them more reliably. If Magneton is not used on Heracross's team, Heracross can run Focus Punch for a 25% chance to OHKO Skarmory. Rock Slide OHKOes Aerodactyl and Moltres, 2HKOes Salamence, and is likely to OHKO offensive Zapdos. Hidden Power Ghost OHKOes Gengar. The damage output of these boosted coverage moves allows for a high-risk, high-reward play where a prediction is all that is needed to take out a check.
An Adamant nature increases the odds that many of Heracross's targets are taken out with one less hit and is the preferred nature because Choice Band Heracross operates in a hit-and-run manner, pivoting in on slower threats and switching out after. However, Jolly allows Heracross to outspeed slower variants of Salamence, Modest Zapdos, and Modest Moltres.
Choice Band Heracross gets worn down to low HP pretty frequently, and sometimes the best way to deal with it is to stall it out in sand. Thus, getting the extra power on the last few hits with Swarm can go a long way, OHKOing Aerodactyl, non-defensive Metagross, and bulkless Magneton as well as nearly OHKOing Zapdos and Swampert. Guts can be used to exploit status moves from Blissey and allows Heracross to stay in on Gengar.
Team Options
========
Choice Band Heracross prefers support from trappers to remove its sturdiest checks. Magneton traps Skarmory, letting Heracross drop Focus Punch, and Forretress, which resists Megahorn. Pursuit Tyranitar wears down hovering threats that resist Megahorn such as Gengar, Choice Band Salamence, and Aerodactyl; with some prediction, it also chips Zapdos and Moltres. Porygon2 removes Dugtrio, which can revenge kill Heracross; Porygon2 can get the opportunity to do so when Dugtrio KOes Magneton or Tyranitar.
To mitigate the momentum lost from being locked into a move, Choice Band Heracross tends to be used on more balanced teams with defensive backbones compared to its other sets. Porygon2 nullifies most of what Salamence tries to throw at Heracross, though it can be taken out by Choice Band Brick Break with proper prediction. Celebi can force switches with Leech Seed and pivot to Heracross safely through Baton Pass, especially against Blissey, Snorlax, and Tyranitar, either during an expected switch or by utilizing Leech Seed's recovery. Leech Seed's recovery can be important for mitigating damage from sand, which Heracross cannot compensate for due to its lack of Leftovers. Celebi also checks Zapdos. Milotic shrugs off damage from Salamence, Moltres, and Charizard with Recover and can slowly chip Zapdos.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
With Chesto Berry and Hidden Power Ghost, Heracross can lure and wear down Hypnosis Gengar. Chesto Berry can also be used alongside Rest for extra longevity. Endure or Substitute + Reversal sets can be really powerful, but sand limits their viability. Still, these sets can be used with weather changers like Charizard and Kingdra, and even without Reversal, Heracross pairs well with them anyway, exploiting their Dugtrio synergy and acting as an offensive pivot into special walls. Hidden Power Rock doesn't have accuracy issues compared to Rock Slide, and Rock Tomb might help Heracross overcome hovering threats by lowering their Speed or even deter Salamence or Gyarados from setting up with Dragon Dance. Hidden Power Flying can be used on teams weak to opposing Heracross. Thief potentially steals Leftovers from Salamence and Gengar, which are notoriously difficult to lure and remove entirely. A Bulk Up set with three attacks is an interesting prospect for Heracross. Although it is generally outclassed by its Swords Dance counterpart, with Salamence and Gyarados still OHKOing it even at +1 Defense anyway, Bulk Up allows Heracross to survive Dugtrio's Aerial Ace. Earthquake is a reliable option for Metagross and Jirachi, but Megahorn usually does enough to them. Body Slam, with some luck, can be used to paralyze and disable almost all hovering threats.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-types**: Salamence and Gyarados resist Heracross's STAB attacks, have Intimidate to reduce damage, and can OHKO back with Hidden Power Flying or threaten to take the opportunity to set up with Dragon Dance. Mixed Salamence also has Fire Blast for Heracross. Still, Rock Slide hits both of them hard. Skarmory resists Megahorn, takes about 30% from Brick Break, hits Heracross hard with Drill Peck, and can take the opportunity to lay Spikes. However, it is unreliable because it can be severely damaged by Focus Punch and trapped by Magneton. Offensive Zapdos outspeeds Heracross, can use Roar to prevent it from setting up, and can 2HKO it with Thunderbolt or OHKO it with Drill Peck, but it is not a reliable check at all, as it can get taken out by successive hits of Megahorn and Rock Slide. Furthermore, Choice Band Heracross can OHKO Zapdos with Rock Slide. Aerodactyl can pivot into unboosted attacks and OHKO Heracross with Hidden Power Flying, but it will not survive Focus Punch or boosted Rock Slide.
**Poison-types**: Gengar can use Fire Punch to 2HKO Heracross, Explosion to trade, or Hypnosis to put Heracross to sleep. It can also burn Swarm Heracross with Will-O-Wisp. Weezing resists Megahorn and can eliminate Heracross with Fire Blast, Flamethrower, or Sludge Bomb. Especially with Gengar, one might want to avoid inflicting Heracross with status through Will-O-Wisp for fear of activating Guts.
**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio can trap and take out Heracross with Aerial Ace. However, it's not going to take hits bar Rock Slide and Hidden Power Ghost and is very prone to allowing Salac Berry variants to set up.
**Fire-types**: Moltres and Charizard resist STAB moves from Heracross and can OHKO uninvested variants, but they are OHKOed by Rock Slide. Houndoom outspeeds Heracross and OHKOes it with Fire Blast.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[wyc2333, 336830], [vapicuno, 5454]]
- Quality checked by: [[vapicuno, 5454], [BKC, 52012]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [CryoGyro, 331519]]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Megahorn
move 2: Brick Break / Focus Punch
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Hidden Power Ghost / Focus Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Swarm / Guts
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Choice Band Heracross primarily seeks to use its boosted STAB moves to overwhelm the opponent after its most resilient checks such as Skarmory and Gengar have been removed. Megahorn OHKOes Celebi and Claydol, but with the boost from Choice Band, it also OHKOes Tyranitar and bulkless offensive Swampert and threatens to OHKO Blissey. The boost significantly shortens the lifespan of physical walls, allowing Megahorn to 2HKO Metagross and defensive Swampert with certainty and do likewise against defensive Suicune with good odds. Boosted Megahorn's ability to 2HKO Zapdos also allows Heracross to stay in, take a Thunderbolt, and finish off its check. As Megahorn can fall just shy of OHKOing Blissey and Snorlax, Brick Break is run to KO them more reliably. If Magneton is not used on Heracross's team, Heracross can run Focus Punch for a 25% chance to OHKO Skarmory. Rock Slide OHKOes Aerodactyl and Moltres, 2HKOes Salamence, and is likely to OHKO offensive Zapdos. Hidden Power Ghost OHKOes Gengar. The damage output of these boosted coverage moves allows for a high-risk, high-reward play where a prediction is all that is needed to take out a check.
An Adamant nature increases the odds that many of Heracross's targets are taken out with one less hit and is the preferred nature because Choice Band Heracross operates in a hit-and-run manner, pivoting in on slower threats and switching out after. However, Jolly allows Heracross to outspeed slower variants of Salamence, Modest Zapdos, and Modest Moltres.
Choice Band Heracross gets worn down to low HP pretty frequently, and sometimes the best way to deal with it is to stall it out in sand. Thus, getting the extra power on the last few hits with Swarm can go a long way, OHKOing Aerodactyl, non-defensive Metagross, and bulkless Magneton as well as nearly OHKOing Zapdos and Swampert. Guts can be used to exploit status moves from Blissey and allows Heracross to stay in on Gengar.
Team Options
========
Choice Band Heracross prefers support from trappers to remove its sturdiest checks. Magneton traps Skarmory, letting Heracross drop Focus Punch, and Forretress, which resists Megahorn. Pursuit Tyranitar wears down hovering threats that resist Megahorn such as Gengar, Choice Band Salamence, and Aerodactyl; with some prediction, it also chips Zapdos and Moltres. Porygon2 removes Dugtrio, which can revenge kill Heracross; Porygon2 can get the opportunity to do so when Dugtrio KOes Magneton or Tyranitar.
To mitigate the momentum lost from being locked into a move, Choice Band Heracross tends to be used on more balanced teams with defensive backbones compared to its other sets. Porygon2 nullifies most of what Salamence tries to throw at Heracross, though it can be taken out by Choice Band Brick Break with proper prediction. Celebi can force switches with Leech Seed and pivot to Heracross safely through Baton Pass, especially against Blissey, Snorlax, and Tyranitar, either during an expected switch or by utilizing Leech Seed's recovery. Leech Seed's recovery can be important for mitigating damage from sand, which Heracross cannot compensate for due to its lack of Leftovers. Celebi also checks Zapdos. Milotic shrugs off damage from Salamence, Moltres, and Charizard with Recover and can slowly chip Zapdos.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
With Chesto Berry and Hidden Power Ghost, Heracross can lure and wear down Hypnosis Gengar. Chesto Berry can also be used alongside Rest for extra longevity. Endure or Substitute + Reversal sets can be really powerful, but sand limits their viability. Still, these sets can be used with weather changers like Charizard and Kingdra, and even without Reversal, Heracross pairs well with them anyway, exploiting their Dugtrio synergy and acting as an offensive pivot into special walls. Hidden Power Rock doesn't have accuracy issues compared to Rock Slide, and Rock Tomb might help Heracross overcome hovering threats by lowering their Speed or even deter Salamence or Gyarados from setting up with Dragon Dance. Hidden Power Flying can be used on teams weak to opposing Heracross. Thief potentially steals Leftovers from Salamence and Gengar, which are notoriously difficult to lure and remove entirely. A Bulk Up set with three attacks is an interesting prospect for Heracross. Although it is generally outclassed by its Swords Dance counterpart, with Salamence and Gyarados still OHKOing it even at +1 Defense anyway, Bulk Up allows Heracross to survive Dugtrio's Aerial Ace. Earthquake is a reliable option for Metagross and Jirachi, but Megahorn usually does enough to them. Body Slam, with some luck, can be used to paralyze and disable almost all hovering threats.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-types**: Salamence and Gyarados resist Heracross's STAB attacks, have Intimidate to reduce damage, and can OHKO back with Hidden Power Flying or threaten to take the opportunity to set up with Dragon Dance. Mixed Salamence also has Fire Blast for Heracross. Still, Rock Slide hits both of them hard. Skarmory resists Megahorn, takes about 30% from Brick Break, hits Heracross hard with Drill Peck, and can take the opportunity to lay Spikes. However, it is unreliable because it can be severely damaged by Focus Punch and trapped by Magneton. Offensive Zapdos outspeeds Heracross, can use Roar to prevent it from setting up, and can 2HKO it with Thunderbolt or OHKO it with Drill Peck, but it is not a reliable check at all, as it can get taken out by successive hits of Megahorn and Rock Slide. Furthermore, Choice Band Heracross can OHKO Zapdos with Rock Slide. Aerodactyl can pivot into unboosted attacks and OHKO Heracross with Hidden Power Flying, but it will not survive Focus Punch or boosted Rock Slide.
**Poison-types**: Gengar can use Fire Punch to 2HKO Heracross, Explosion to trade, or Hypnosis to put Heracross to sleep. It can also burn Swarm Heracross with Will-O-Wisp. Weezing resists Megahorn and can eliminate Heracross with Fire Blast, Flamethrower, or Sludge Bomb. Especially with Gengar, one might want to avoid inflicting Heracross with status through Will-O-Wisp for fear of activating Guts.
**Dugtrio**: Dugtrio can trap and take out Heracross with Aerial Ace. However, it's not going to take hits bar Rock Slide and Hidden Power Ghost and is very prone to allowing Salac Berry variants to set up.
**Fire-types**: Moltres and Charizard resist STAB moves from Heracross and can OHKO uninvested variants, but they are OHKOed by Rock Slide. Houndoom outspeeds Heracross and OHKOes it with Fire Blast.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[wyc2333, 336830], [vapicuno, 5454]]
- Quality checked by: [[vapicuno, 5454], [BKC, 52012]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [CryoGyro, 331519]]
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