Project OU Weekly Research | v2 hosted by Terrakion. coming soon!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Set details (Moveset choice, EVs, Team Options)
Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 76 Def / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pin Missile/Swords Dance
- Substitute/Swords Dance/Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
- Close Combat

Moveset choice: Rock Blast and Close Combat are basically mandatory for neutral coverage, and both hit hard due to Skill Link and STAB, respectively. Your other 2 slots have a variety of options. I personally choose Pin Missile because it lets you eat bulky Psychics alive and 2HKO's anything that doesn't resist it (TankChomp is cleanly 2HKO'd) while avoiding recoil damage (making TankChomp very sad). Substitute lets you have a much easier time predicting (as you'll see in the replays) and your sub is actually fairly bulky (unboosted CroCune Scalds don't break it, Double Dance Lando-T that use Rock Slide can't break it without a boost, CM Manaphy has a 50% chance to break it, Rotom-W Volt Switch doesn't break it, TankChomp Dragon Tail doesn't break it, unboosted LO Bisharp Sucker Punch doesn't break it, Defensive Lando-T doesn't have even a 50% chance to break your Sub with Stone Edge, Defensive Hippo has to Whirlwind it out, and so on). Swords Dance lets you murder many many things but you're not very fast with this set (which is a tank designed to eat up hits and hit back hard) and things like Hippo and Skarm still wall you (and the regular Smogon spread). Bullet Seed lets you destroy Quagsire (which dies to 2 unboosted Pin Missiles), Azumarill (this is nice since you outspeed), Swampert, Alomomola, and other bulky waters. If your team has trouble with those, Bullet Seed is a good option.

EVs: You might be wondering why this spread is better than the standard Smogon spread (Jolly, max Speed/Attack). Credit to ben gay from the Creative and Underrated Sets thread, where he talked about how CBB came up with a bulky Mega Heracross set and how good it was. Running Max Speed isn't really great on Mega Heracross, since you still get outsped and forced out by things like Offensive Magma Storm Heatran, the Lati twins, strong Psyshock users, Keldeo, and so on. Plus, you're not utilizing your great bulk to it's fullest, so you can't even switch in on ScarfTar consistently since Stone Edge is a 2HKO. Since you have 0 recovery and are not likely to have a WishPasser (not counting Healing Wish), you get chipped down so easily that you'll get revenge killed pretty soon. Thus, I went for the mostly-bulk route. I like to tweak EVs so I spent some time doing and testing that (ben gay/CBB spread) and came up with this.

The 100 speed EVs are for outspeeding 8 Speed Rotom-W post-Mega so you can Sub on them and avoid being Wisp'd. They also let you out-slow Defensive Landorus-T so you take little from U-Turn and hit something hard on the switch/go for the sub. If you don't care about the speed as much, run 8 Speed EVs to outspeed Rotom-W pre-Mega and dump the rest in bulk (Def/SpDef is your call, although most of the attacks you'll be sponging are physical attacks, so I'd dump them in Defense since you already avoid important 2HKOs/OHKOs on the special side with this spread.

Adamant Nature and 84 Attack EVs lets you hit 469 attack, which is the same as the Smogon Jolly and 252 Attack EVs spread, i.e. monstrously powerful.

Max HP is good because Mega Heracross actually is pretty damn beefy (80/115/105) and has a useful defensive typing that resists important things like Dark, Fighting, and Ground. Chucking the remaining EVs into defense lets you hit some very nice defensive benchmarks too. A LOT of things that can normally 2HKO or OHKO are now unable to do so and you can OHKO them back in many cases. The list below isn't comprehensive but should give you a good idea. Smogon derped and I lost the details I listed besides each calc so I'm not gonna redo them for a while because that took time, but this should give you a good idea of the bulk this has.

Noticeable things: LO Latios Psyshock doesn't OHKO you, Adamant Max Attack Play Rough doesn't OHKO you, you can beat LO Serperior in the 1v1 50% of the time, ScarfTar Crunch is set-up, you counter Mega Lopunny and most Mega Scizor, etc.
252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 296-350 (81.5 - 96.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 262-310 (72.1 - 85.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 160-188 (44 - 51.7%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO

252+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 99-117 (27.2 - 32.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Excadrill Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 317-374 (87.3 - 103%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Life Orb Latios Psyshock vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 283-335 (77.9 - 92.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Dragonite Outrage vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 273-322 (75.2 - 88.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 256-303 (70.5 - 83.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Secret Sword vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 86-102 (23.6 - 28%) -- 89% chance to 4HKO

252 Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 139-165 (38.2 - 45.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after sandstorm damage

252 Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 55-66 (15.1 - 18.1%) -- guaranteed 5HKO after sandstorm damage

252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Crunch vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 91-108 (25 - 29.7%) -- 0.5% chance to 3HKO after sandstorm damage

+2 252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 274-324 (75.4 - 89.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 136-161 (37.4 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

0- SpA Garchomp Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 114-136 (31.4 - 37.4%) -- 83.7% chance to 3HKO

0 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 56-66 (15.4 - 18.1%) -- possible 6HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Alakazam Psyshock vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 291-346 (80.1 - 95.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 314-372 (86.5 - 102.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

+2 252 Atk Technician Breloom Bullet Seed (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 153-180 (42.1 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

+2 252 Atk Technician Breloom Rock Tomb vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 163-192 (44.9 - 52.8%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 92-109 (25.3 - 30%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

+2 252 SpA Life Orb Serperior Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 229-270 (63 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Hoopa Unbound Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 126-149 (34.7 - 41%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

160 Atk Life Orb Hoopa Unbound Gunk Shot vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 156-185 (42.9 - 50.9%) -- 3.9% chance to 2HKO

252 SpA Mega Manectric Overheat vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 280-330 (77.1 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Mega Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 145-172 (39.9 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252 Atk Mega Lopunny Return vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 144-169 (39.6 - 46.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252 Atk Mega Lopunny High Jump Kick vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 91-108 (25 - 29.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

+1 252 Atk Mega Lopunny Return vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 214-253 (58.9 - 69.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Landorus-T Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 98-116 (26.9 - 31.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

252 Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 73-87 (20.1 - 23.9%) -- guaranteed 5HKO

+2 252 Atk Landorus-T Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 196-231 (53.9 - 63.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 252 Atk Landorus-T Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 147-173 (40.4 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Technician Mega Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 100-118 (27.5 - 32.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

+2 252+ Atk Technician Mega Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 198-234 (54.5 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 84 Atk Technician Mega Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 248 HP / 76 Def Mega Heracross: 162-192 (44.6 - 52.8%) -- 24.6% chance to 2HKO

252 SpA Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 142-168 (39.1 - 46.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

0 SpA Mega Latias Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 84-99 (23.1 - 27.2%) -- 64.3% chance to 4HKO

+1 0 SpA Mega Latias Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 124-147 (34.1 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

0 SpA Mega Latias Dragon Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mega Heracross: 118-139 (32.5 - 38.2%) -- 96.7% chance to 3HKO

Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pin Missile/Swords Dance/Bullet Seed
- Substitute/Swords Dance
- Rock Blast
- Close Combat

You lose the ability to outspeed 0 speed Rotom-W post-mega, and lose bulk compared to my set, but in return you get more attack. Still don't have above a 33% chance to 2HKO Max Def Skarm, and a 14% to 2HKO Mixed Hippo, but it's still a noticeable power increase, as you are able to 2HKO Standard Clefable with unboosted Rock Blast which my set can't do most of the time (12% chance or thereabouts from full).

Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance/Pin Missile/Bullet Seed
- Substitute/Swords Dance
- Rock Blast
- Close Combat

Standard spread from Smogon.

Team Building Process
Smogon deleted most of it, but basically, you want pivots to get into Mega Heracross in safely (Lando-T, Rotom-W), Fire/Flying/Fairy/Psychic resists (Heatran is one of the best), and ideally a Cleric or even a Wishpasser (Alomomola, Chansey, Clefable, Mew).
This is a fairly experimental team, and I've done variants with Chansey as a WishPasser to keep Mega Hera Healthy, and other crazy things.

SpDef Skarmory is there to Defog and beat Mega Diance/Clefable/Gardevoir, as well as Whirlwinding out any big threats. Shed Shell is a great item, but not mandatory in lower ladder games since Gastrodon walls Magnezone and can use it as set-up fodder.

SpDef Heatran with some speed and Taunt/Toxic/Protect is great against things like Clefable/Ferrothorn/Skarm/Chansey/Alomomola, as well as checking the Lati twins and other strong special attackers as well. The combination of Taunt/Toxic/Protect really lets you annoy/beat hazard setters and special set-up sweepers, since very few people expect the Protect (this is amazing against Mega Lopunny and Medicham too, and often nets you a free 50% on them).

Rocky Helmet Phys-Def Lando-T is pretty obvious. Gives you a nice blanket physical check, especially against Bird-Spam, Intimidate is great since most mons on this team are SpDef invested, sets Rocks, Ground immunity is great for Heatran, Electric immunity is great for Skarm (yes, HP Ice wrecks, but it buys time for Gastro or Mew to come in), and Rocky Helmet punishes Scarf Lando, Mega Lopunny, and common physical threats. Best of all though is the slow U-Turn you get, which is super important in letting you bring in Mega Heracross, which you really don't want to hard switch in.

Curse Gastrodon gives several things: a counter to Special Kyurem-B, a Water immunity (sans Mega Gyarados who is handled by Mega Heracross easily anyways), a counter to Mega Manectric and Magnezone who can run over much of this team, and a win-condition. Never fails to perform, and in conjunction with Mew, also handles all Keldeo and eases prediction. Don't be afraid to start setting up with this early, since you can still spam Scald if you want and just fish for burns on things like Ferro/Mega Venusaur and then switch out.

Finally, SpDef Mew gives a backup check to powerful Special Attackers like Mega Gardevoir, Serperior, Keldeo, Thundurus, Lati twins, and so on. It can still check Mega Medicham, and having Wisp means that strong physical attackers generally don't want to switch into it either. Having Heal Bell is super nice, since nothing on this team likes being status'd, and Gastro/Heracross being Toxic'd or even burned can completely destroy their usefulness.

Big weaknesses are there of course: Both Mega Zards *can* run through this team if their checks are weakened (Heatran/Lando-T/Mew, generally), and Mega Medicham also can bust this team open if Mew is weakened at all (since this is SpDef Mew, although PhysDef Mew is great on this team too and handles Mega Medicham with ease). TG Manaphy destroys this team, and while I'm often able to play around it with Heatran's Toxic/Protect and Gastrodon, there's no way it works as well against better players (above 1500 or so) to the point where I don't lose anything. Kyurem-Black is also a problem, and Specs Hoopa-Unbound can demolish this team as well, but the latter is true for any balance squad...or team in general to be honest, Hoopa-Unbound is a monster.

Still, this team is fun to play, so give it a shot if you want!

Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 76 Def / 100 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pin Missile
- Substitute
- Rock Blast
- Close Combat

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 236 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
- Whirlwind
- Defog
- Roost
- Iron Head

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 192 SpD / 68 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Taunt
- Toxic

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Scald
- Curse
- Recover
- Earthquake

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled
- Psychic
- Heal Bell

One thing to note in the following replays is that Heracross's nature is wrong: I didn't edit properly so I had a Serious (neutral) nature as opposed to Adamant, which hurts my damage output quite a bit. Didn't matter in the games, but something to still note.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-346365965

Here, Mega Heracross is able to switch in to a Banded Azumarill Knock Off and take little, Sub up, and get some nice damage on Double Dance Landorus-T. Landorus-T later isn't able to break the sub with Rock Slide (unboosted of course), which lets me 2HKO it Rock Blast, showing the value of that added bulk of the set I use.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-346752009

I use Mega Heracross like an idiot here because I forget Fighting resists Bug, but I eat up a Specs Hydro Pump from Keldeo after my sub goes down and live, showcasing how nice that extra bulk is in so many situations. Plus, having Sub means that I was able to take out Talonflame as I did, and that easing of prediction is really nice given that you can often live another attack even with your Sub broken and inflict massive damage with another attack.


Conclusion on Mega Heracross's place in the current ORAS OU Meta
Mixed.
On one hand, the increased prevalence of Sand Offense/Balance is great for Mega Heracross, as it eats almost all Bisharp and Tyranitar variants up with ease, and Lando-T/Garchomp really don't like Mega Heracross either since it doesn't take recoil damage and takes little from unboosted moves. The rise of Mega Latias is also great for Mega Heracross since it threatens the OHKO with Pin Missile and takes little from anything that's not Psyshock (or Draco, but Draco does below 60% and forces Mega Latias out most of the time). The rise of Landorus-T is also quite nice because Scarfed/Defensive Variants can't really hurt you much since they rely on Stone Edge to break your Sub (in Scarf's case), and Double Dance variants need to run Stone Edge or else they can't 2HKO you while you 2HKO back with Rock Blast.

Not all is well for Mega Heracross in the meta. The rise of Tornadus-Therian is very un-fun, since it while it gets 2HKO'd by any of your moves (even the AV set), Hurricane destroys you and unless you've got 0 other plays, you don't want to stay in. Hoopa Unbound also spells trouble for Mega Heracross, since while it can't switch in on anything at all, its Psychic STAB destroys you no matter what and forces you out, and it outspeeds you. Both Charizard forms, Mega Medicham, Mega Altaria, and Clefable, also all beat Mega Heracross or check it in the 1v1, and while some of these are less common, they're still as a group very, very common and pose massive threats to Mega Heracross, since several of these can also set up on Mega Heracross and threaten to sweep.

But, even though Mega Heracross has its issues, its massive power and very respectable bulk make it an incredibly dangerous wallbreaker that will decimate unprepared teams, and even prepared ones if you use Substitute at the right times and have a slow U-Turn to bring this beast in. I definitely didn't expect it to do well as it did, and while bringing it can be tough, it's worth it when you fire off an attack and watch the incoming switch in get decimated.
 

p2

Banned deucer.
#149 - dragonite
thoughts
dragonite is a pretty interesting mon, solid attack, decent speed, access to dragon dance along with multiscale and priority sounds extremely potent on paper, but dragonite kinda falls short a lot of the time. yeah sure, maintain some sort of hazard removal and dnite is a huge pain for offense sometimes because it struggles to outspeed dnite at +1, its impossible to ohko without kyurem-b or some ridiculously powerful move. basically, if your scarfer doesn't have ice coverage, you're gonna have a bad time with offense, but multiscale is easy to break nowadays so it's not a big deal with rocky helmets and sand everywhere. it also faces some bad coverage issues with steels and clef, so basically if you don't have a magnet on your team your dnite is just dead weight in matchups against skarm/ferro or skarm/tran etc.

despite the overall negative thoughts on the mon, dnite is still really scary in the right conditions and its band set picks off a lot of nice surprise kills.
building


Dragonite @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Frustration

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Ice Shard

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 24 SpD / 12 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge

some of you are gonna recognize this team from sample teams, but i was lazy this week, don't tell m00ns tho..

so yeah im not gonna talk about this team too much because its a little outdated and i kinda go in depth in the sample teams post. but basically a building idea to follow for dnite is covering what walls it, what can offensively handle it, and hazard removal. best way to beat the shit that walls it is by using magnezone to remove skarmory and ferrothorn so eq dnite can go nuts (not very often tho). i think weakness policy is the best item, no matter how much people shit on low ladder for using it, its simply the fastest way to boost and makes dnite incredibly dangerous very quickly. just don't boost when stuff you need to switch to beat is still alive because i see that more than i should and people just waste their wp for nothing. lum works too if you're afraid of a para or burn but whatever suits you. so yeah for hazard removal i just went with starmie because its the best and im not running triple drag ,_, . alt helps pressure its own counters and dnites ones, like you overwhelm clef nicely and stuff like that its really cash. obviously you're gonna need a revenge killer for fast grounds which can pick off dnite fairly easily, i liked using weavile because the team needed natural speed and ice priority is nice. lando for sand and zard, im not even gonna bother fluffing up why i use lando because im not explaining why i use it every time when everybody and their moms know what it does.

conclusion

its ok. not a big fan of any of its sets but yeah really annoying for offense sometimes, sometimes balance i guess. too much competition from other dders but the meta isn't particularly kind to dders right now anyway with all the sand and fat grounds going around. really not much to say about this mon but yeah i don't think it's in a particularly good place, but you can lump it together with zard x / gyara. bleh
 
Last edited:

Phantom Me

Banned deucer.

Notice how the Mega Stone turned it ugly:(
Mega Heracross is one of the deadliest wallbreakers available in OU, as sporting a gigantic base 185 Attack stat and extremely powerful STAB moves, Mega Heracross is one of the hardest hitting Pokemon in the game. Mega Heracross is also a threat to offensive teams, as its respectable bulk and five resistances usually allow it to survive at least one hit and retaliate hard, forcing many switches. Its ability, Skill Link, allows it to take advantage of Rock Blast, Bullet Seed, and Pin Missile to the fullest possible extent, giving Mega Heracross valuable coverage options against a ton of threats. It even has access to Swords Dance to boost its already insane Attack stat to ridiculous levels, allowing for it to function as a potent sweeper. In addition, Mega Heracross's very solid 80/115/105 defensive stats allow it to tank a hit or two,making it surprisingly difficult to take down. To put it simply, Mega Heracross is the definition of a wallbreaker, not only because it is nearly impossible to switch into, but also its amazing move coverage which allows it to break through the vast majority of defensive Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Heracross is plagued with a nasty 4x weakness to Flying-type attacks, on top of its common Fire-, Psychic-, and Fairy-type weaknesses. Its Mega Evolution is also noticeably slower than its non-Mega counterpart, missing the jump on Pokemon such as Dragonite, Heatran, and Gyarados. Mega Heracross is also rather easily worn down and vulnerable to status like burn and Toxic, which amplify this.

Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Substitute

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Bug Bite

A standard herracross set.Used substitute instead of the more common swords dance since herracross gets useless if it gets burned,and I'm running moxie.Thundurus is hands down the best offensive and defensive partner because it checks Flying-types such as Talonflame and Mega Pinsir with ease, and it can also check Gliscor and Landorus-T, which are some of the few counters to Mega Heracross.Keldeo can break through all of the aforementioned Pokemon, as well as offensive Heatran. It also appreciates the elimination of the Grass- and Psychic-types that Mega Heracross can run all over.Heatran and Heracross have near perfect defensive synergy; Heatran resists Fire-, Flying-, Psychic-, and Fairy-type moves, while Mega Heracross shrugs off Fighting- and Ground-type attacks.It also provides stealth rock.Since my team lacked a winning condition, scizor was added.Scizor can check the bulky Fairy-types that don't fear any of Mega Heracross's coverage moves, such as Clefable and Sylveon.Latias was added lastly since it provides Healing wish,since heracross is relatively easy to wear down. It also enables heracross to play recklessly.

My strategy was to quickly clear a sweep for scizor.Even though heracross has decent bulk,it does mind taking hits.Thus I always bring him in resisted attacks.Whenever I see an incoming switch,I set up substitute. Also,it's hard for many mon to switch in on heracross.

Heracronite turns Heracross into a devastating wallbreaker that is capable of breaking through many defensive Pokemon, including Rotom-W, Chansey, Skarmory, Heatran, Zapdos, Ferrothorn, Quagsire, and much more. Although it can also sweep decently with Swords Dance, it's mostly meant to function as a bulky wallbreaker that can tear apart defensive cores, allowing a teammate can come in and sweep. Don't forget that Mega Heracross is actually rather bulky, capable of surviving a decent amount of even super effective hits and checking the likes of Bisharp.

Heracross @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie/Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Pin Missile
- Rock Blast
- Swords Dance/Substitute/Bullet Seed
I've only seen this set with m herra.Close Combat reaches jaw dropping power coming off Mega Heracross's massive Attack stat, and there's very little that can stomach it easily. It's also its best option for dealing with bulky Steel-types such as Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Air Balloon Heatran. Pin Missile is also an extremely powerful STAB move, cutting through Psychic-types such as Slowbro and Mew, as well as Dark-types such as Tyranitar. In general, Pin Missile is Mega Heracross's most reliable option against Pokemon that don't take super effective damage from any of its coverage moves, such as Rotom-W or Hippowdon, both of whom are 2HKOed after Stealth Rock. Rock Blast provides important coverage against Gengar, Gyarados, Dragonite, and Landorus-T, which would wall this set otherwise. It's also useful for hitting Talonflame and Mega Pinsir on the switch and is Mega Heracross's best option against Fairy-types such as Azumarill and Clefable. Swords Dance gives Heracross a way to boost its Attack stat to terrifying
heights, and it can easily clean up defensive teams once it gets up a boost. Alternatively, Substitute is an option, as it blocks revenge killing attempts and status while also easing predictions immensely and punishing predicted switches.

Bullet Seed can be used in the last moveslot, as it boasts the ability to OHKO Azumarill, Quagsire, and physically defensive Rotom-W, while also 2HKOing Hippowdon.Bullet Seed can be used in the last moveslot, as it boasts the ability to OHKO Azumarill, Quagsire, and physically defensive Rotom-W, while also 2HKOing Hippowdon.

Even though heracross is one of the hardest hitting Wallbreaker in the meta,it is far from high tier.It's 4x weakness to flying attacks makes it vulnerable to tflame and pinsir.Also,it gets useless if it gets statuses,lowering it's usefulness.Also,the decline of defensive teams is also a problem for it.Nevertheless, Mega Heracross should never be underestimated, because its awesome power and fantastic wallbreaking capabilities make it a force to be reckoned with in the metagame, capable of leaving teams in shambles.
 

S L O W K I N G
thoughts

Slowking is pretty good on a whole, since it's most comparable to the likes of Slowbro. The difference you may ask is that their Defense and Special Defense are swapped. In this case Slowbro's defenses are 110 / 80, so Slowking's defense are 80 / 110. The downfall of it is that in this metagame the physical defense is a lot more worthwhile than the special defense. This means however that it fails against a lot of what Slowbro otherwise checks, namely Excadrill, Mega Charizard X, and a host of other physical attackers that plague OU, making it a bit undesirable. This doesn't mean it can't put in appropriate work as it's very solid on bulky offense and balanced teams that'd appreciate the specially defensive prowess.

strategies

I kept to bulky offense, as I'm more comfortable with offense than balance. It's play very similarly to Slowbro, except you have to be more wary with what you plan on checking with Slowking. It's not uncommon to mistakenly toss Slowking at a physical threat such as the aforementioned Excadrill and take a huge chunk. It really thrives off bulky offense that'd like a consistent wincondition and / or pivot that can check things such as Keldeo, Mega Medicham, Mega Diancie, Mega Metagross. I'll say this here that AV Slowking is really bad in my opinion and shouldn't be used. It severely inhibits its defensive qualities for a trash set.

building


Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Protect

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 76 Atk / 180 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Flying]

Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Slack Off
- Calm Mind

Heatran @ Leftovers / Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Soft-boiled
- Calm Mind

This was a quite quick team I made around CM Clefable and Slowking. It's not really good as you can see since it turned out more into an awkward mix of balance and offense with status spam. Anyway I went with Mega Diancie since offensively checks a lot of Dark-types, beats Dragons, wallbreaks pretty well, etc. I added Mixed Defiant Thundurus next since it lured a ton of stuff and took advantage of Defog for a pretty powerful Knock Off or Superpower. I went with Hidden Power [Flying] since Mega Venusaur would be more inclined to switch-in then, probably not the best choice though. Heatran checks Talonflame, sets Rocks, helps Clefable stallbreak, etc. Lastly I added Scarf Garchomp since it filled some gaps like revenge killing boosted things, electrics, and somewhat checking sand, but Air Balloon Heatran is an option if you actually want to use this team.

sets used

Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Psyshock

A physically defensive set that allows it to act as a great wincon. Best set imo

Slowking @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Trick Room
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Nasty Plot / Fire Blast

OTR Slowking pretty good since it's relatively powerful and throws a lot teams for a loop, similar to OTR Reuniclus.

Slowking @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Slack Off
- Psyshock / Fire Blast

Choice specs set that fires off Future Sight, pivots out, then comes in for full applied effect (Specs boost). Wash, rinse, repeat basically. Not very good though.


weaknesses

As I said before there a lot of physical attackers in OU, making the extra physical defense slightly more "arousing" to others. The rise of Hoopa-U and other Dark-type isn't good for it either, but that applies to nearly anything with a typing weak to Dark in the tier. Aside from that it's really solid.

verdict

The metagame favors it relatively well. Keldeo is at an all time high meaning it wouldn't be that hard to find a place on a team if you need a Calm Mind users that checks the slew of threats I mentioned throughout the post. There isn't that much of a reason to use it over Slowbro, but it as I said before it just checks a lot of Special Attackers better than Slowbro ever could without a Calm Mind boost and still checks similar Physically Offensive threats. If you haven't used it I suggest you try it and make a better team than I did.
 
Last edited:
sorry again for closing this a day late!! i was just really busy yesterday night :x

anyways, the posts being archived are this post on slowking by BrandonBeast, this post on mega heracross by DracoNinja, and this post on dragonite by p2.

thanks FookMi? for helping me decide on the posts to archive. remember: the archived posts are simply the posts that best summarize the pokemon for future reference. not every post needs to summarize the pokemon; some people may just want to center their posts around one aspect, and that's totally okay. you don't need to follow the guidelines perfectly to post here; they're just there to guide you a bit if you're unsure of what to post.

~​

week #10

dragalge | mega tyranitar | feraligatr
REMEMBER: you simply pick 1 one of these 3 (or 2 / 3 of them if you want :p) and post here saying which one you're taking. also, you can use any set you want!

the discussion period will start on 3/25 (at night in EST); those of you who want to participate have between now and then to play around with one of these pokemon.

have fun :DD
 
signups are closed. thanks everyone who signed up!

thanks everyone that signed up! you guys have between now and monday (3/28) night EST to write up your posts about whichever pokemon you took (dragalge / mega tyranitar / feraligatr). as a reminder:
If you take a test subject, it is expected that you'll post. Your posts don't need to be super lengthy & detailed, but they shouldn't be super short and simple. I'm not gonna put some arbitrary regulation on how many sentences you should have, but you should have at least a small paragraph.
and as a reminder to those unsure of what to post:
Things you can post include (but are not limited to):
  • strategies used
  • how you went about building with this Pokemon
  • general strengths / weaknesses you noticed about the Pokemon
  • if the meta is in favor of the Pokemon or not
  • sets you used with the Pokemon
remember: you aren't limited to these guidelines; they're just here to help in case you aren't sure what to post. if you'd prefer to focus on 1 specific aspect of the pokemon you selected rather than a broad overview, that's totally okay! if you're still lost, try checking out this post by Infernal.

if you didn't sign up but you'd like to post, feel free to do so, but just don't post if you haven't used the pokemon in awhile / at all. also, if you signed up, but you cannot find the time to post, don't worry about it! just please don't do it regularly :x

also, i'm gonna be busy during the end of this week / start of the next, so celticpride will be taking over during that time. thanks again celtic ^_^

happy posting everyone c:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top