[1v1] Durant

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Overview
- Durant is a lesser-used but powerful Bug/Steel type in the 1v1 metagame.
- Durant's typing is a good one, with 8 resistances including the common Dragon, Fairy, Psychic and Steel types, and only one weakness.
- The one weakness, Fire, is a very common offensive type however, and the x4 effectiveness makes it so Durant can survive almost no Fire type hits.
- Additionally, Durant is very lacking in HP and Special Defense stat, making it vulnerable to neutral special hits.
- Durant's other stats are very good and match the sets it runs very well. Base 109 speed is enough to outspeed the majority of the relevant metagame, allowing Durant to pick up KOs before it gets a chance to get hurt.
- Durant can hit extremely hard due to its ability Hustle, which multiplies its usually below-average Attack stat by 1.5, but in return lowers the accuracy of all moves by 20%. A fully invested Jolly Durant with Hustle ends up with the same Attack Stat as a Mega Mewtwo X with the same EVs and Nature.
- But, Durant's other ability should not be overlooked. The combination of Truant and Entrainment on a single Pokémon makes a dangerous set possible that catches a lot of opponents by surprise.
- One of Durant's most valuable assets in additional to Hustle is its wide Physical movepool, which includes a set of moves that can eliminate almost every threat to Durant, giving it a serious edge as a physical attacker. This includes options like Stone Edge or Rock Slide, which can be used to beat the common Fire Type Durant is so afraid of.

[Choice Band]
Durant @ Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge / Rock Slide
- Superpower

Set Comments

Moves

- Iron Head is Durant's main option for STAB, a base 80 Steel Type move which can 2HKO or OHKO almost anything that doesn't resist it. It also has a 30% flinch chance which allows Durant to flinch its way to victory if there's no other way of winning. This is especially helpful against targets like Magearna and Crustle which Durant cannot OHKO but can OHKO Durant in return.
- X-Scissor is a good secondary STAB move that can pick up KOs on Psychic- and Dark-types as well as not being resisted by Electric- and Water-types. Although you won't be using X-Scissor a lot and it's the most replaceable move on the set, it's your main way of beating Mega Slowbro, Mega Metagross and Gyarados that Mega-Evolve.
- No Durant set is complete without Stone Edge, a valuable asset to Durant that allows it to KO any Fire-types that don't outspeed you with the exception of max Defense sets. Rock Slide can be used if the thought of using a 64% accurate move seems too frightening.
- With this set of moves, Durant would get walled by most Steel Types, but it also has access to Superpower which eliminates that weakness. With Superpower Durant can OHKO steel type walls such as Ferrothorn, but also take out bulky Normal-types such as Chansey and Snorlax.

Set Details
- 252 Speed and Jolly Nature are necessary to maximize Durant's speed, allowing it to outspeed Terrakion and Mega Pinsir and KO them.
- 24 EVs are put into HP in order to allow Durant to guaranteed survive a +1 Waterfall from max Attack Adamant Mega Gyarados.
- The rest is put into Attack to maximize the damage output.
- Choice Band and Hustle add up to giving Durant a monstrous attacking power that allows it to OHKO max Defense walls such as Chansey and Ferrothorn.

Usage Tips
- In order to function properly with Durant, the basic step is to simply click the most effective move.
- In case 2 or more moves are equally effective, prioritize using Iron Head and avoid using Superpower because of its drawbacks.
- Durant has a good matchup against Kyurem-Black, Charizard, Tapu Lele, Snorlax and other Pokémon with similar typing. It's usually safe to send Durant out against them. Don't be afraid of Durant's Fire weakness because Stone Edge and Superpower cover most Fire-types.
- Durant loses to (Specially) Offensive Pokémon that outspeed it, this includes Tapu Koko, Greninja and the majority of Special Choice Scarf users such as the infamous Hidden Power Fire Tapu Lele. Avoid sending Durant out against those.
- Steel-types with an additional typing that resists fighting, most importantly Aegislash and Magearna, can also get Durant defeated with ease.

Team Options
- Durant doesn't like facing Special Attackers, but fortunately for Durant, Chansey really loves taking on that job. Mirror Coat Magnezone, or Magnezone in general, also does a great job of picking off things that threaten Durant due to its Sturdy ability.
- Durant is also threatened by physical attackers with Intimidate or Multiscale, most importantly Landorus-Therian, Dragonite and (Mega) Gyarados, they can take any hit from Durant and retaliate. These three are pretty hard to face with just one Pokémon, but Charm Venusaur does a good job against them.
- Another problem Durant faces is the appearance of Mega Lopunny as well as the threat of Mega Lucario. Both can outspeed and OHKO Durant with High-Jump Kick. There are many counters to them, Mega Metagross does a great job although it does overlap with Durant's utility a bit. Primarina, Tapu Fini and Magearna can all take on these threats fairly easily and make good complements to Durant.
 
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