[SET]
Haxorus @ Loaded Dice / Dragonium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance / Dragon Dance
- Scale Shot / Outrage
- Close Combat
- Earthquake / Poison Jab
[SET COMMENTS]
Haxorus occupies a unique niche as a setup sweeper with advantageous matchups against balance and stall teams thanks to its excellent Attack stat and Mold Breaker. Mold Breakers allows it to break through Unaware Pokemon and deal massive damage to physically defensive walls, differentiating Haxorus from more consistent setup sweepers like Mega Altaria, Mega Aerodactyl, Aegislash, Excadrill, and Iron Boulder. The choice to run Swords Dance or Dragon Dance is team-specific: Swords Dance maximizes Haxorus's damage output, allowing it to achieve feats such as getting a 2HKO on Skarmory with Close Combat, while Dragon Dance trades sheer damage for Speed, which is relevant in helping it outspeed threats such as Mega Latias and non-Speed Booster Energy Iron Moth with one turn of setup. Scale Shot is preferred on the Loaded Dice Swords Dance set, as it allows Haxorus to outspeed would-be revenge killers and break Focus Sash. Outrage is preferred otherwise due to its high power. Close Combat provides solid neutral coverage combined with its Dragon-type STAB move by giving Haxorus a strong hit on Steel-types like Scizor, Excadrill, and Celesteela. Earthquake nails non-Air Balloon Aegislash for super effective damage while retaining coverage against most Steel-types and sniping Levitate Pokemon such as Rotom-W thanks to Mold Breaker. Alternatively, Poison Jab offers super effective coverage against Fairy-types like Enamorus, Tapu Fini, and Clefable. Dragonium Z gives Haxorus access to Devastating Drake, providing a one-time nuke against neutral walls like Mega Venusaur and Skeledirge and helping it ignore the drawbacks of locking into Outrage or activating Rocky Helmet early in a sweep. While highly specific, Life Orb bolsters Haxorus's damage output even further, allowing Dragon Dance variants to 2HKO Clefable and Swords Dance sets to OHKO Celesteela after marginal chip damage. A Jolly nature is preferred over Adamant to outspeed unboosted Excadrill. Haxorus finds a place on offensive teams, where it is a valuable asset in helping break through bulkier team styles, which often give such offensive teams issues. Special attackers such as Thundurus and Greninja appreciate Haxorus's ability to break through Pokemon like Blissey, while physical attackers like Scizor and Mega Aerodactyl benefit from it wearing down physical walls such as Hippowdon and Skarmory. Setup sweepers like Iron Boulder value Haxorus's ability to cleave through Unaware Pokemon like Skeledirge. Haxorus, while very strong, struggles with having little to no defensive utility, and thus, it appreciates pivot support from teammates like Rotom-W and Scizor. Haxorus also appreciates entry hazard support from Pokemon like Excadrill and Greninja to wear down checks like Skarmory and Tapu Fini long-term. Finally, Haxorus enjoys Future Sight support from Slowbro or Slowking to chip its would-be answers into KO range from its attacks.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/velcroc.391284/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/gangsta-spongebob.535530/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/captaindaimyo.602431/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
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