Status : Outline however if QC approves my changes I will do the whole thing and make noted changes also a spell check is needed if it gets through quality control as they may say otherwise
I think the standard Heracross sets are missing some important options, outdated sets and really needs an update in general. Also please read the bottom as it explains why I changed night slash.Also if I do the real thing it will be much more formal don't worry also the reason why the choice band and choice scarf are done in more detail is because I had to make more notes.Also I know not every section is included however the ones already on site are good except the opinion/overview as with dragons vanishing from ou some of heracross' checks have disappeared.
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/heracross
[Overview]
<p> Heracross usage has fell in usage so much that many people don't even consider it anymore. Many people don't think that Heracoss is too slow with no way to boost its speed (outside of choice scarf) and cannot abuse priority attacks. However in the current metagame Heracross can still be viable. It has choice scarf to boost its speed, can run some really excellent wall-breaking sets and has enough speed to beat some walls. Another thing that Heracross has going for it is it's excellent offensive typing with dual 120 base power stab Which is only resisted by a few types that aren't the most common and even so can run a move to hit these types. Overall despite the setbacks mentioned earlier Heracross still is a good pokemon and with its most used choice scarf set can check many dominant pokemon such as dragon dance tyranitar.</p>
[Set]
name: choice scarf
move 1: close combat
move 2: megahorn
move 3: stone edge
move 4: shadow claw/toxic/sleep talk
item: choice scarf
ability:guts
nature:adamant/jolly
evs:4hp/252atk/252Spe
name:choice band
move 1:close combat
move 2:megahorn
move 3:stone edge
move 4:shadow claw/pursuit
item choice band
ability:guts
nature:Adamant
evs:4hp/252Atk/252Spe
Flame orb sword dance: Slash in shadow claw as a secondary option because rotom-a and gengar are so common however facade is still good for the purpose listed however you will have to predict good for that as gliscor will generally outspeed you and not to mention you have bad coverage in general being walled by 2 of the most common revenge killers in rotom-a and gengar.
Bulk up: Sorry but I don't think this is viable anymore (if it ever was) because even with all the bulk Heracross still isn't good defensively as while his typing is excellent offensively it is quite bad defensively.Also your still extremely vulnerable on your special defense. Even more importantly then the former points is how are you going to get in multiple bulk ups? Being around that speed makes you very easy to taunt and the opponent certainly isn't going to let you set up and also guess who gets taunt? His nemesis gliscor. At least with swords dance you might get a chance to set up and maybe beat gliscor with lots of prediction or at least weaken him. To top it all off your forced to run the much weaker brick break or else be counter productive as close combat lowers your defenses. I would remove.
Bulk up (Rest+Sleep Talk)
Not viable either do to all the reasons above however possibly worse as now you will be walled by steel,poison,fighting,fire and flying. Also the other point is to absorb status however even though it can do this successfully you only have a 25% chance to attack when you could need it most which with all points mentioned does not warrant the use of this set. I would remove.
Substitute+3 attacks
I really can't see how this ended up at the bottom as it helps avoid priority attacks and ko many pokemon who would otherwise outspeed and ko. Anyhow just switch night slash with shadow claw.
Why shadow claw is superior
Finally the explanation of why shadow claw is better. First off the reason noted on the heracross guide on site says that normal is immune to ghost and should not use a type that a pokemon is immune to. However if we look at the 4 most common normals which are blissey,snorlax and smeargle. All of which run the risk of being out predicted by you and being nailed by a 2x close combat with stab and even before adding it up I knew they would be koed, what an overkill. Also there is togekiss however she will still take a lot
of damage between stealth rock and close combat. Now say either one of them switched in to night slash even the little frail smeargle is not koed assuming you are choice scarf and even so if you are choice band and ko a incoming smeargle which will likely never happen (I doubt any of these pokemon would switch in anyways but I want to cover all possibilities) it is still not worth the advantage I'm about to mention. Now what is the advantage? Not being swept by infernape, machamp or even your enemy heracross. If infernape switched in on night slash even if you had the lowest possible defense and you had a banded heracross and hit with night slash it would only do a little over half 90-107 out of 293 and thats an adamant banded night slash against 160 defense. Quite pathetic. Now the same attack except with shadow claw does 181-214 and with a little residual damage can ko. If you put a scarf on instead and you night slash it will easily survive 2 hits unless one is critical and then just ko heracross however shadow claw can 2 hit ko meaning he can't survive 2 hits. The main point I'm trying to make with all this is that even though some pokemon are immune to shadow claw this loss is more then compensated with not being killed by other fighting types and prevents infernape from just nasty plotting as you do forgettable damage to it and can work similar situations with other fighting types. Also of note lucario takes .5 damage from this and takes and pathetic .25 from dark so lucario can't switch in as easily. Also don't worry all the writing like this paragraph this is just a very rough outline and explanations for changes as at first they may look questionable.
I think the standard Heracross sets are missing some important options, outdated sets and really needs an update in general. Also please read the bottom as it explains why I changed night slash.Also if I do the real thing it will be much more formal don't worry also the reason why the choice band and choice scarf are done in more detail is because I had to make more notes.Also I know not every section is included however the ones already on site are good except the opinion/overview as with dragons vanishing from ou some of heracross' checks have disappeared.
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/heracross
[Overview]
<p> Heracross usage has fell in usage so much that many people don't even consider it anymore. Many people don't think that Heracoss is too slow with no way to boost its speed (outside of choice scarf) and cannot abuse priority attacks. However in the current metagame Heracross can still be viable. It has choice scarf to boost its speed, can run some really excellent wall-breaking sets and has enough speed to beat some walls. Another thing that Heracross has going for it is it's excellent offensive typing with dual 120 base power stab Which is only resisted by a few types that aren't the most common and even so can run a move to hit these types. Overall despite the setbacks mentioned earlier Heracross still is a good pokemon and with its most used choice scarf set can check many dominant pokemon such as dragon dance tyranitar.</p>
[Set]
name: choice scarf
move 1: close combat
move 2: megahorn
move 3: stone edge
move 4: shadow claw/toxic/sleep talk
item: choice scarf
ability:guts
nature:adamant/jolly
evs:4hp/252atk/252Spe
- sleep talk should only be used in ubers as there are not a large amount of sleep inducers in ou and the fact that after 1 use it malfunctions gives any pokemon at all a free switch or even worse a free set up and even so there are better pokemon for the job who are bulkier
- should only be used for revenge killing (obviously)
name:choice band
move 1:close combat
move 2:megahorn
move 3:stone edge
move 4:shadow claw/pursuit
item choice band
ability:guts
nature:Adamant
evs:4hp/252Atk/252Spe
- Unlike the previous set sleep talk is not viable at all because first you are wallbreaking not status absorbing as you just give walls more time as you must switch and they can just recover all the damage you did
- Pursuit may be a slightly shaky move as most ghosts and psychics will outspeed and ko Heracross i.e rotom-a,azelf or gengar
Flame orb sword dance: Slash in shadow claw as a secondary option because rotom-a and gengar are so common however facade is still good for the purpose listed however you will have to predict good for that as gliscor will generally outspeed you and not to mention you have bad coverage in general being walled by 2 of the most common revenge killers in rotom-a and gengar.
Bulk up: Sorry but I don't think this is viable anymore (if it ever was) because even with all the bulk Heracross still isn't good defensively as while his typing is excellent offensively it is quite bad defensively.Also your still extremely vulnerable on your special defense. Even more importantly then the former points is how are you going to get in multiple bulk ups? Being around that speed makes you very easy to taunt and the opponent certainly isn't going to let you set up and also guess who gets taunt? His nemesis gliscor. At least with swords dance you might get a chance to set up and maybe beat gliscor with lots of prediction or at least weaken him. To top it all off your forced to run the much weaker brick break or else be counter productive as close combat lowers your defenses. I would remove.
Bulk up (Rest+Sleep Talk)
Not viable either do to all the reasons above however possibly worse as now you will be walled by steel,poison,fighting,fire and flying. Also the other point is to absorb status however even though it can do this successfully you only have a 25% chance to attack when you could need it most which with all points mentioned does not warrant the use of this set. I would remove.
Substitute+3 attacks
I really can't see how this ended up at the bottom as it helps avoid priority attacks and ko many pokemon who would otherwise outspeed and ko. Anyhow just switch night slash with shadow claw.
Why shadow claw is superior
Finally the explanation of why shadow claw is better. First off the reason noted on the heracross guide on site says that normal is immune to ghost and should not use a type that a pokemon is immune to. However if we look at the 4 most common normals which are blissey,snorlax and smeargle. All of which run the risk of being out predicted by you and being nailed by a 2x close combat with stab and even before adding it up I knew they would be koed, what an overkill. Also there is togekiss however she will still take a lot
of damage between stealth rock and close combat. Now say either one of them switched in to night slash even the little frail smeargle is not koed assuming you are choice scarf and even so if you are choice band and ko a incoming smeargle which will likely never happen (I doubt any of these pokemon would switch in anyways but I want to cover all possibilities) it is still not worth the advantage I'm about to mention. Now what is the advantage? Not being swept by infernape, machamp or even your enemy heracross. If infernape switched in on night slash even if you had the lowest possible defense and you had a banded heracross and hit with night slash it would only do a little over half 90-107 out of 293 and thats an adamant banded night slash against 160 defense. Quite pathetic. Now the same attack except with shadow claw does 181-214 and with a little residual damage can ko. If you put a scarf on instead and you night slash it will easily survive 2 hits unless one is critical and then just ko heracross however shadow claw can 2 hit ko meaning he can't survive 2 hits. The main point I'm trying to make with all this is that even though some pokemon are immune to shadow claw this loss is more then compensated with not being killed by other fighting types and prevents infernape from just nasty plotting as you do forgettable damage to it and can work similar situations with other fighting types. Also of note lucario takes .5 damage from this and takes and pathetic .25 from dark so lucario can't switch in as easily. Also don't worry all the writing like this paragraph this is just a very rough outline and explanations for changes as at first they may look questionable.
