Hihidaruma
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[Overview]
- Incredible Attack, with bad defenses balanced by great HP and decent Speed make Hihidaruma a fearsome sweeper.
- Decent Physical Movepool coupled by Encourage, which boosts its Flare Blitz and Fire Punch, really help Hihidaruma in battle.
- Interesting support options on Encore, Yawn, Taunt, Roar, and Will-O-Wisp.
- Weakness to Stealth Rock hinders the times it can switch in badly.
- Its Speed is only decent, meaning it will more often than not be revenge killed.
name: Choice
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-Turn
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Superpower / Earthquake
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Band
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Set Description:
- Scarf gives it the ability to revenge kill a good amount of common threats and also heavily damage Stall due to insanely powerful Flare Blitz, which thanks to Encourage, gain a pseudo Life Orb.
- Band lets it hit like a truck, letting it 2HKO Bulky Waters like Vaporeon, Milotic, Burungeru, and also Dragon types like Garchomp, Salamence, Dialga, and others.
- Must be extremely careful of Stealth Rock and residual damage from Flare Blitz and weather, as it may kill Hihidaruma pretty fast.
- Flare Blitz is your main move, as it will 2HKO even stuff that resists it, while U-Turn is an awesome move to scout with, and Rock Slide (which is better than Stone Edge due to the better Accuracy and basically same power because of Encourage) compliments coverage by hitting stuff like Gyarados, Zapdos, Borutorosu, Salamence, and other Flying types.
- Last spot is between Earthquake and Superpower. Superpower lets you hit Tyranitar and Heatran just like Earthquake, but also smacks Skarmory and levitators like Flygon which would otherwise switch in freely, but comes with the price of lowering Attack.
- Band has to watch out for revenge killers, and Scarf from dedicated walls that may try to set up.
- Better to pair it with a Wish user to make it last longer.
- Wish users like Vaporeon or Blissey really aid Hihidaruma as its weak to every kind of layer.
- Rapid Spin is recommended, as Stealth Rock will hurt Hihi badly.
- Things that enjoy a lure to kill Bulky Waters and stuff that resists Fire like being with Hihidaruma, such as Metagross, Terakion, and Shandera.
- Groudon is great as Sun boosts Flare Blitz power incredibly, letting it 2HKO things it usually wouldnt.
- Swampert is a good counter to Hihidaruma as it wont be 2HKOd by Choice Banded Flare Blitz. Things like Kingdra that can take Flare Blitz will work too, but they have to be wary of U-Turn and Superpower.
- Can be used on slow teams that require something to clean after the Pokemon on the opponent's team are weakened, like Stall teams.
- Water types can be used in order to take on Ground and Water attacks directed at Hihidaruma. Vaporeon is the best example, as it can pass Wishes to it.
- Groudon is important as the sun will give a huge boost to its STAB Flare Blitz.
- Thunder Wavers are also useful for Hihidaruma, as they can slow down fast stuff to let Hihidaruma hit them hard, outspeeding them.
- Yawn, Encore, and Will-O-Wisp can be used as fillers on some sets, but Hihidaruma doesnt have the defenses to play with them on a formal set.
- Fire Punch is useful as a filler if you hate Flare Blitz recoil, but it limits your coverage.
- Stone Edge over Rock Slide as it has a high crit chance, but the Accuracy is usually much better, as the Rock move is solely used for things that are weak to Rock and resist Fire.
- Adamant over Jolly if you look for power, the loss in Speed is very important though.
- Life Orb is an alternative item that can work very well, but be careful of all the recoil damage.
- Belly Drum will let it destroy after a boost, but Hihidaruma will get revenge killed or die before it manages to use it often.
- Swampert, Kingdra, bulky Water Pokemon that can take boosted Flare Blitz are your best options, specially ones with a Recovery move.
- Fast revenge killers like Randorosu, Salamence, Garchomp, and so on, but be careful, as Flare Blitz will do insane damage, OHKOing Randorosu, so its a better idea to bring it on a predicted coverage attack.
- Status users will hinder Hihidaruma badly, specially Paralysis, as such Lanturn becomes a very interesting choice.
- Hihidaruma gets Daruma Mode as its Dream World ability. Its a very interesting, although gimmick, ability, as it will transform Hihidaruma into a completely different Pokemon when under 50% HP. This new Pokemon can abuse Special Attacks with ease, but the main problem is that usually Hihidaruma will be hit by Super Effective moves that will knock it out, leaving no chance for Daruma Mode activation.
