OU Haxorus [QC 2/2] [GP 1/1]

[Darvin]

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Iron Tail
item: Haban Berry / Leftovers
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Haxorus makes for a potent Dragon Dance sweeper thanks to Dynamax. After a single Dragon Dance, it can outspeed threats such as Dragapult and Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, while its massive Attack stat is only stopped by potent defensive walls such as Galarian Corsola and Hippowdon. The Mold Breaker ability allows Haxorus to ignore the defensive abilities of Pokemon such as Quagsire and Eiscue, as well as allowing its Earthquake or Max Quake to strike at levitating Pokemon such as Rotom-H and Rotom-W. Outrage is Haxorus' most powerful STAB move, requiring significantly less prior damage to KO walls that would otherwise stop it, like the aforementioned Galarian Corsola. However, Haxorus cannot Dynamax while locked into Outrage. Earthquake is necessary to hit Steel-types such as Aegislash, as well as being generally the most reliable attack in Haxorus' arsenal due to having no downsides and a solid offensive typing. Iron Tail is used to hit Togekiss and Clefable, which otherwise wall the attacking combination of Dragon- and Ground-type attacks. The combination of Max Steelspike and Max Quake when Dynamaxed allows Haxorus to increase its Defense and Special Defense, making it much more difficult to revenge kill during and after Dynamax. Another move that might be considered is Close Combat, which allows Haxorus to potentially beat Corviknight and to better handle Ferrothorn, as well as boosting its Attack while Dynamaxed. Substitute can also be used in order to set up on passive Pokemon such as Toxapex and to protect against Ditto, but Substitutes are lost when Dynamaxing which limits Haxorus' options behind a Substitute. Haban Berry is used to allow Haxorus to survive an Outrage from an opposing Ditto while Dynamaxed, preventing this common Choice Scarf user from revenge killing Haxorus consistently. Leftovers is an alternative that gives Haxorus more longevity at the cost of being completely vulnerable to Ditto.

Haxorus fits best on offensive teams, which appreciate its ability to punch holes in the opposing team or sweep outright. It can be prudent to pair Haxorus with a Pokemon that checks it to ensure Ditto cannot reverse sweep your team. Corviknight would be an excellent partner as it resists all of the moves on this set and has superb bulk. Haxorus can also be used to lure Ditto into performing an Outrage, trapping it and allowing a partner to eliminate it to facilitate a different sweeper, such as Dragon Dance Tyranitar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Darvin, 262367]]
- Quality checked by: [[Jordy, 395754], [Mannat, 144451]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Mafeking, 122460]]

 

[lydian]

hey, great job writing this up so far but the main set should be this:

name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Iron Tail
item: Haban Berry / Leftovers
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

haban berry is used here to make it more "ditto-proof", if you will, you tank a +1 outrage if you're dynamaxed. lum berry can be in set comments and life orb is probably not a good choice so it's fine to leave it out. also, no choice band and no choice scarf, please. these preview analysis should minimize the number of sets and neither of the two all that viable, to begin with. great work with the dragon dance part so far though :)

 

[Darvin]

I've made these changes and removed the other sets. Since there are no other sets to write, this is ready for QC now

 

[Colonel M]

QC can weigh on this, but I think the analysis right now is way too long for a Pokemon that's, er how to put it, "kind of niche".

The main reason to use this set is that you still have a truckload of power and Mold Breaker bypasses Unaware from mons like Quagsire. Haban Berry is critical either for while Haxorus is under the effects of Dynamax or gets a Defense increase from Max Steelspike (your chances of OHKOed are still rather large, but if you keep Stealth Rock off the field and Haxorus at full health it'll survive a +1 Outrage). Realistically you should set up the Dragon Dance, Dynamax as soon as possible to abuse things (especially if there's no Ditto), and wreak havoc on the opponents team. If Ditto tries to revenge while you're still transformed it'll fail thanks to Haban Berry. If Haxorus can at least squeeze a Max Steelspike in one of the turns (fairly possible since Fairies are a likely switch-in) you should be safe too at full health even if you revert back.

 

[Darvin]

QC can weigh on this, but I think the analysis right now is way too long for a Pokemon that's, er how to put it, "kind of niche".

The main reason to use this set is that you still have a truckload of power and Mold Breaker bypasses Unaware from mons like Quagsire. Haban Berry is critical either for while Haxorus is under the effects of Dynamax or gets a Defense increase from Max Steelspike (your chances of OHKOed are still rather large, but if you keep Stealth Rock off the field and Haxorus at full health it'll survive a +1 Outrage). Realistically you should set up the Dragon Dance, Dynamax as soon as possible to abuse things (especially if there's no Ditto), and wreak havoc on the opponents team. If Ditto tries to revenge while you're still transformed it'll fail thanks to Haban Berry. If Haxorus can at least squeeze a Max Steelspike in one of the turns (fairly possible since Fairies are a likely switch-in) you should be safe too at full health even if you revert back.

I cut down the length, removed mentions to items other than Haban (which were Leftovers and Lum), removed the brief mention of why Poison Jab isn't a viable move option, and specifically added Quagsire as an example of a pokemon with a defensive ability that Haxorus can ignore. I also emphasized dynamax Def/SpD boosts as another reason for the Earthquake/Iron Tail coverage combo.

 

[Colonel M]

I cut down the length, removed mentions to items other than Haban (which were Leftovers and Lum), removed the brief mention of why Poison Jab isn't a viable move option, and specifically added Quagsire as an example of a pokemon with a defensive ability that Haxorus can ignore. I also emphasized dynamax Def/SpD boosts as another reason for the Earthquake/Iron Tail coverage combo.

I think Leftovers is still fine to talk about (the Haban strategy doesn't always work), just keep it short to a sentence or two that's all (unless a QC member PMed you and said to remove it).

 

[Jordy]

comments in purple things to remove in red

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Iron Tail
item: Haban Berry / Leftovers
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
With its combination of speed and power, Haxorus makes an extremely appealing potent Dragon Dance dynamax sweeper. I think that its lack of usage, especially higher up on the ladder, is enough to prove that it's not an extremely appealing Pokemon, and I think that calling Haxorus that could be interpreted as misleading, even. Its speed tier allows it to outspeed fast threats such as Dragapult and Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan after a single dance while its offensive power allows it to break through all but the most defensive pokemon. What does "all but the most defensive pokemon" even mean, it doesn't actually tell me anything of significance. The Mold Breaker ability allows Haxorus to ignore the defensive abilities of Pokemon such as Quagsire and Eiscue, as well as allowing its Earthquake/Max Quake to strike at levitating pokemon such as Rotom-H and Rotom-W. Outrage is Haxorus' most powerful attack and allows it to break defensive pokemon. I don't like that this doesn't really give me an idea of why Outrage is important. However, it must be noted that while locked into Outrage it cannot dynamax; Dragon Claw is a safer alternative if this is a problem, and has the same power as Outrage when dynamaxed. The way this is phrased, you make it seem as if locking into Outrage isn't always an issue and that when it is, you could just switch over to Dragon Claw, which obviously isn't the case. Earthquake is necessary to hit Steel-types such as Aegislash, as well as being in general the most reliable attack in Haxorus' arsenal due to having no downsides and a solid offensive type. Iron Tail is necessary to hit Togekiss and Clefable, which otherwise walls the attacking combination of Dragon- and Ground-type attacks. This combination also allows Haxorus to boost both its Defense and Special Defense, making it much more difficult to revenge kill. What combination? Another move that might be considered is Close Combat, which allows Haxorus to potentially beat Corviknight and to better handle Ferrothorn as well as boost its attack while dynamaxed.

Haban Berry is used to allow Haxorus to survive an Outrage from an opposing Ditto, preventing this common Choice Scarf user from revenge killing Haxorus. However, Ditto can still defeat Haxorus after dynamax turns end and the bonus Hit Points are lost. Since the Haban Berry is an unreliable answer, Leftovers is an alternative that gives Haxorus more longevity in general at the cost of being completely vulnerable to Ditto. This explanation is far too big. Please try to cut down on it. Also, it only really makes sense to mention this in the first paragraph. It can be prudent to pair Haxorus with a Pokemon that checks it to ensure Ditto cannot reverse sweep your team. Corviknight would be an excellent partner as it resists all of the moves on this set and has superb bulk. Haxorus can also be used to lure Ditto into performing an Outrage, trapping it and allowing a partner to eliminate it to facilitate a different sweeper. What would such partners be?

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Darvin, 262367]]
- Quality checked by: [[<username1>, <userid1>], [<username2>, <userid2>]]
- Grammar checked by: [[<username1>, <userid1>]]

This still needs a lot of work. Implement this, and I'll take another look.

 

[Darvin]

comments in purple things to remove in red

This still needs a lot of work. Implement this, and I'll take another look.

Thank you. I've implemented these changes. I tried to shorten things down as much as possible. I removed the Dragon Claw mention entirely in the interest of reducing length, and tried to merge sentences where there was some overlap.

 

[Jordy]

comments in purple things to remove in red

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Iron Tail
item: Haban Berry / Leftovers
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Haxorus makes a potent Dragon Dance dynamax sweeper. After a single Dragon Dance it can outspeed fast threats such as Dragapult and Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, while its massive Attack stat is only stopped by potent defense walls such as Galarian Corsola or Hippowdon. Hippowdon's a rather mediocre check because it takes a lot of damage from +1 Max Wyrmwind and is unable to deal with Haxorus while it's Dynamaxed, as that also prevents phazing. The Mold Breaker ability allows Haxorus to ignore the defensive abilities of Pokemon such as Quagsire and Eiscue, as well as allowing its Earthquake/Max Quake to strike at levitating Pokemon such as Rotom-H and Rotom-W. Outrage is Haxorus' most powerful STAB move, and requires significantly less prior damage to KO walls like the aforementioned Galarian Corsola that would otherwise stop Haxorus. However, Haxorus cannot dynamax while locked into Outrage. Earthquake is necessary to hit Steel-types such as Aegislash, as well as being in general the most reliable attack in Haxorus' arsenal due to having no downsides and a solid offensive type. Iron Tail is necessary to hit Togekiss and Clefable, which otherwise wall the attacking combination of Dragon- and Ground-type attacks. The combination of Max Steelspike and Max Quake when dynamaxed allows Haxorus to increase its Defense and Special Defense respectively, making it much more difficult to revenge kill during and after dynamax. Another move that might be considered is Close Combat, which allows Haxorus to potentially beat Corviknight and to better handle Ferrothorn as well as boost its Attack while dynamaxed. Haban Berry is used to allow Haxorus to survive an Outrage from an opposing Ditto while dynamaxed, preventing this common Choice Scarf user from revenge killing Haxorus consistently. Leftovers is an alternative that gives Haxorus more longevity at the cost of being completely vulnerable to Ditto.

It can be prudent to pair Haxorus with a Pokemon that checks it to ensure Ditto cannot reverse sweep your team. Corviknight would be an excellent partner as it resists all of the moves on this set and has superb bulk. Haxorus can also be used to lure Ditto into performing an Outrage, trapping it and allowing a partner to eliminate it to facilitate a different sweeper such as Dragon Dance Tyranitar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Darvin, 262367]]
- Quality checked by: [[<username1>, <userid1>], [<username2>, <userid2>]]
- Grammar checked by: [[<username1>, <userid1>]]

Good job, 1/2.

 

[Quaxalotl]

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Iron Tail
item: Haban Berry / Leftovers
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Haxorus makes a potent Dragon Dance dynamax sweeper. After a single Dragon Dance it can outspeed fast threats such as Dragapult and Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, while its massive Attack stat is only stopped by potent defense walls such as Galarian Corsola or Hippowdon. The Mold Breaker ability allows Haxorus to ignore the defensive abilities of Pokemon such as Quagsire and Eiscue, as well as allowing its Earthquake/Max Quake to strike at levitating Pokemon such as Rotom-H and Rotom-W. Outrage is Haxorus' most powerful STAB move, and requires significantly less prior damage to KO walls like the aforementioned Galarian Corsola that would otherwise stop Haxorus. However, Haxorus cannot dynamax while locked into Outrage. Earthquake is necessary to hit Steel-types such as Aegislash, as well as being in general the most reliable attack in Haxorus' arsenal due to having no downsides and a solid offensive type. Iron Tail is necessary to hit Togekiss and Clefable, which otherwise wall the attacking combination of Dragon- and Ground-type attacks. The combination of Max Steelspike and Max Quake when dynamaxed allows Haxorus to increase its Defense and Special Defense respectively, making it much more difficult to revenge kill during and after dynamax. Another move that might be considered is Close Combat, which allows Haxorus to potentially beat Corviknight and to better handle Ferrothorn as well as boost its Attack while dynamaxed. Haban Berry is used to allow Haxorus to survive an Outrage from an opposing Ditto while dynamaxed, preventing this common Choice Scarf user from revenge killing Haxorus consistently. Leftovers is an alternative that gives Haxorus more longevity at the cost of being completely vulnerable to Ditto.

It can be prudent to pair Haxorus with a Pokemon that checks it to ensure Ditto cannot reverse sweep your team. Corviknight would be an excellent partner as it resists all of the moves on this set and has superb bulk. Haxorus can also be used to lure Ditto into performing an Outrage, trapping it and allowing a partner to eliminate it to facilitate a different sweeper such as Dragon Dance Tyranitar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Darvin, 262367]]
- Quality checked by: [[Jordy, 395754], [<username2>, <userid2>]]
- Grammar checked by: [[<username1>, <userid1>]]

I think it should be mentioned that while it is slightly less viable than iron tail, poison jab can be used as an alternative if you don't want to miss.

 

[Darvin]

I think it should be mentioned that while it is slightly less viable than iron tail, poison jab can be used as an alternative if you don't want to miss.

Poison Jab falls short of key OHKO's against the tier's fairies:
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Haxorus Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 160 Def Clefable: 306-360 (77.6 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Haxorus Max Ooze vs. 252 HP / 160 Def Clefable: 362-426 (91.8 - 108.1%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Haxorus Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Hatterene: 300-354 (94.3 - 111.3%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Haxorus Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Togekiss: 300-354 (96.4 - 113.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Haxorus Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mimikyu: 215-254 (85.6 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO (poison jab isn't super-effective)

The second problem is that Max Ooze is just a bad max move for Haxorus, since it has much lower BP than other max moves and the secondary effect is useless to Haxorus. On the flipside, Max Steelspike gives a very useful defense boost and is useful for more than just KO'ing fairies.

 

[MANNAT]

I'd also consider giving Sub a passing mention because it lets you set up on toxapex + protects against ditto. Also mention that Haxorus tends to be featured on very offensive teams for the most part, as the teammates section currently makes it seem like it fits best on fat balance.

Solid stuff, qc 2/2

 

[Darvin]

Thank you. I added a mention to sub (with the caveat that you lose it if you dynamax) and the explicit mention in the teammates section that Haxorus fits on offensive teams. I'll get this in the GP queue.

 

[Mafeking]

remove additions (comments)

hackers R us

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Iron Tail
item: Haban Berry / Leftovers
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Haxorus makes for a potent Dragon Dance dynamax sweeper thanks to Dynamax. After a single Dragon Dance(add comma) it can outspeed fast threats such as Dragapult and Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, while its massive Attack stat is only stopped by potent defensive walls such as Galarian Corsola or and Hippowdon. The Mold Breaker ability allows Haxorus to ignore the defensive abilities of Pokemon such as Quagsire and Eiscue, as well as allowing its Earthquake/ or Max Quake to strike at levitating Pokemon such as Rotom-H and Rotom-W. Outrage is Haxorus' most powerful STAB move, and requires requiring significantly less prior damage to KO walls that would otherwise stop it, like the aforementioned Galarian Corsola that would otherwise stop Haxorus. However, Haxorus cannot Dynamax while locked into Outrage. Earthquake is necessary to hit Steel-types such as Aegislash, as well as being in general generally the most reliable attack in Haxorus' arsenal due to having no downsides and a solid offensive type typing. Iron Tail is necessary used to hit Togekiss and Clefable, which otherwise wall the attacking combination of Dragon- and Ground-type attacks. The combination of Max Steelspike and Max Quake when Dynamaxed allows Haxorus to increase its Defense and Special Defense respectively, making it much more difficult to revenge kill during and after Dynamax. (we prefer to avoid "respectively" unless it's required to clarify something in a sentence; I don't think it's that important here) Another move that might be considered is Close Combat, which allows Haxorus to potentially beat Corviknight and to better handle Ferrothorn(add comma) as well as boosting its Attack while Dynamaxed. Substitute can also be used in order to set(add space)up on passive Pokemon such as Toxapex and to protect against Ditto, but Substitutes are lost when Dynamaxing which limits Haxorus' options behind a Substitute. Haban Berry is used to allow Haxorus to survive an Outrage from an opposing Ditto while Dynamaxed, preventing this common Choice Scarf user from revenge killing Haxorus consistently. Leftovers is an alternative that gives Haxorus more longevity at the cost of being completely vulnerable to Ditto.

Haxorus fits best on offensive teams, which appreciate its ability to punch holes in the opposing team or outright sweep outright. It can be prudent to pair Haxorus with a Pokemon that checks it to ensure Ditto cannot reverse sweep your team. Corviknight would be an excellent partner as it resists all of the moves on this set and has superb bulk. Haxorus can also be used to lure Ditto into performing an Outrage, trapping it and allowing a partner to eliminate it to facilitate a different sweeper(add comma) such as Dragon Dance Tyranitar.

Pretty good stuff, just keep in mind that all forms/variants of the word Dynamax are capitalized. I think I caught them all but double check once you implement these changes. GP 1/1.

 

[Darvin]

Thank you very much. I have implemented these changes and did a double-check on every use of the word "Dynamax" to ensure it's capitalized.