Strategy Memo - #214 Heracross
Heracross, the Singlehorn Pokemon



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Weak to Fire and Psychic. 4x weak to Flying.
Resistant to Grass, Fighting, Ground, Bug and Dark.
No immunities.

Base stats (HP / Atk / Def / Sp Atk / Sp Def / Spd)
80 / 125 / 75 / 40 / 95 / 85

Abilities
Guts: This Pokemon's Atk is increased by 50% if it is Burned, Paralyzed, Poisoned or Asleep.
Swarm: The base power of this Pokemon's Bug-type attacks are boosted by 50% if it has 1/3rd or less of its maximum HP.

This Pokemon is classified as OU (Over-Used).



Opinion
   Since its introduction in G/S/C, the battling beetle has been a fan-favorite. With a huge Atk and solid stats in almost every other area, Heracross can take a beating and still dish out an impressive amount of damage. His biggest issues are his 4x weakness to Flying and his decidedly average Spd, but if you can work around them, Heracross can be a threat to reckon with.

   To supplement his Atk, Heracross gets a very solid offensive movepool, allowing it to cover a wide variety of foes. Its support movepool is less impressive, meaning it can't take very good advantage of its reasonably solid defensive stats, but the fact is that it really doesn't need to. With such huge offensive ability, using it defensively seems a little silly. The end result is that Heracross is pretty predictable, but that doesn't make it much easier to deal with, especially if your foe has already lost their main physical tank.

   Heracross's popularity and lack of flexibility does, unfortunately, work against it. Given how often it turns up in combat, most players consider Heracross while putting their party together, meaning it's fairly uncommon to see a party that can't deal with Heracross in one way or another. The beetle's most notable counter is Gliscor, who can take literally anything the beetle would care to throw its way and come out with creepy grin intact.

   In the end, Heracross is one of those Pokemon that almost everybody can expect to see quite frequently. It can be quite a handful if you're not careful, and definitely should not be taken lightly.


Beetle Band
Heracross @Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Adamant / Jolly, Guts
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Megahorn
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Night Slash / Pursuit
   With its huge Atk and average Spd, Heracross makes a great user of both the Choice Band and the Choice Scarf. With Guts nullifying the Atk drop of Will o Wisp, Heracross has no problem switching into status attacks, and his fairly low Spd means the Choice Band variant won't mind getting hit by Paralysis, either. Alongside his resistance to Fighting and Ground, his resistance to status effects means Heracross has no problem getting into play.

   As for the actual moveset, Heracross has the dubious distiction of learning a wide variety of highly powerful, yet inaccurate attacks. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to compensate for the inaccuracy of Megahorn and Stone Edge - Rock Slide is still fairly inaccurate, and its drop in power is significant enough to cause a problem for a Pokemon that doesn't get STAB on it. With such inaccurate moves, it's not a terrible idea to drop some EVs from Spd in order to boost his HP, but it's not essential.


Beetle Dance
Heracross @Life Orb / Wide Lens
Jolly, Guts
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Swords Dance
-Megahorn
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge / Substitute
   A Heracross with a Swords Dance is threatening indeed. Switch this Heracross in on a tank - Bronzong or Blissey, for example - and set up a Substitute or Swords Dance as they switch out or attempt to status you. Make sure your foe doesn't have a Gliscor on their team before trying this, though, since even a Heracross with two Swords Dances will have trouble putting a dent in the bat.


Beetle Dance of Vengeance!
Heracross @Salac Berry
Jolly, Swarm
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Swords Dance
-Substitute
-Reversal
-Megahorn
   A variation on the Swords Dance and Reversal sets, this Heracross acts a little bit like the Sub/Agility Empoleon from last week, but with the added bonus of Reversal. Just Substitute until the Salac Berry activates, using Swords Dance when you can, and you'll end up with some pretty massive bonuses. A Megahorn with STAB, Swarm, and a Swords Dance behind it is pretty darn scary, to say nothing of Reversal. Be very careful of Sandstorm and Hail though, since they'll screw this set up pretty badly.