Hello! I am EyeDentist, as you may have seen on here or in the OverUsed room within Pokemon Showdown!. Something that I have made obvious about myself is my preference of mega evolution. I found that Mega Heracross was something people didn't ready themselves for. It can immediately punch gaping holes in teams, as well as take a hit or two. People dismiss the idea of using Mega Heracross after seeing the few glaring weaknesses it has, however, I looked closely at those flaws. The gears in my head turned, these flaws were connected some how. After a bit of thinking, I pieced it together; Heatran is perfect for stopping all of these flaws. It turned out, as well, that Heatran's flaws were covered, for the most part, by Mega Heracross. I figured out a core that was surprisingly overlooked, and I took it as my job to use it, and show off how great it is. It's time, though, that I stop using this team, methinks. I don't have any other tricks up my sleeve, so I think it's time that I post this. Maybe after trying other things, I'll come back to using this team. For now, though, I'd like to see where I went wrong.
My CrossFire core. This was the first step. Of all the sets I could use for these two, what did I want? Well, Heracross was my first addition to the team, and the set I prefer is just a regular four attacks set. Now, instead of the four attacks one would expect, I used: Pin Missile, Close Combat, Rock Blast, Bullet Seed. I like this set the most because I think Heatran's job is to kill Aegislash, and Heracross' job is to kill water types. Since Heatran would be killing Aegislash, I used a specially defensive set, which would also have support moves to help break stall and would also set up hazards, making Heracross' job much easier.
Celebi was added for more support against water types. I thought that a water type with Will-O-Wisp would have the power to break my core (with the right predictions), so I thought Celebi would prevent that. Not only that, it works as a physical wall. I know it's double weak to U-Turn, but the other two don't mind U-Turn at all, so I doubt that'll be a huge problem. Celebi with physical defense is a surprise to attackers, usually buying me a turn to Leech Seed, making the job practically over. With a useful ground and fighting resist, Celebi stops most physical attackers, and spreads paralysis to others, making my core more effective. While it isn't considered a part of my core, it would easily be the third member, if there was one.
I have fire and grass, so what's a good water? Rotom-W is a secondary bird counter. If I'm dealing with Pinsir, flying/ground coverage will kill my team. Rotom-W can stop that from being a problem while also giving me some more coverage, status support, and Volt Switch momentum.
Bisharp gives me some more offensive presence, and most importantly, gets me some priority. In this metagame, I'm surprised I went four Pokemon without having any priority moves. Also, since I had Stealth Rock with Heatran, Defog would be an annoyance. Bisharp absorbs that and uses it to sweep. Of course, I can't forget to mention that Bisharp can pursuit trap ghosts. I really hate ghosts.
I had Defog covered, here's Rapid Spin. The most common rapid spinner in the tier is Excadrill. Giving Aegislash the Air Balloon was my first step. From there, I just decided that I wanted a mixed attacker, since those are so hard to deal with. I kept Sacred Sword and Shadow Sneak, then also had Flash Cannon for more coverage and for the ability to attack physical walls.
The team was made! It was actually rather successful, too. I played quite a few matches with it, making it up to 1500 ELO. At this point, I realized that my team was almost coherent, but Bisharp was throwing it all off. Bisharp was a really good member, but I found that it was doing its own thing. In most battles, I used Bisharp as a sacrifice, or its steel-plated face collected dust the whole match. A replacement was in need.
I really like paralysis! Also, having a fast special attacker handy is very useful. I was ready to shred some teams with it, and that is what happened. I didn't have any ice type moves, and while it was 60 BP, Hidden Power Ice was a useful thing to have. Also, with yet another ground immunity, I decided Heatran could have Leftovers instead of an Air Balloon (I know, it wasn't a great item. I'm glad I have Lefties now).
I finally made it to 1600! However, I made it that far with a pretty flawed team. Thundurus shredded some teams, but others, it couldn't do anything. Being weak to Stealth Rock, I didn't see much use for it, since my team is supposed to be bulky. After being destroyed by another Landorus-T, I decided I would use something that had previously walled me.
I know, I know. Silly. In its defense, though, Porygon2 did its job well, and I found myself using it very often. It gave me coverage, great bulk, and maintained that paralysis I loved spreading. With Recover, it formed a decent core with Celebi in paralyzing the enemy team and surviving forever.
I replaced Porygon2 pretty fast. It did a great job, but it wasn't the job I was looking for. I needed something to paralyze, help the team survive, and I needed something with the right typing so I could switch in to common physical attackers.
Maybe I'm loopy for choosing something so silly, right after Porygon2. Right? Well, Togekiss is immune to dragon and ground. I mean, cripes, that's just so useful. It doesn't have a huge HP stat, but it passes wishes, which helps out the team (since a lot of my team can't recover). Also, it not only paralyzes, but it can take advantage of it, too. Yes, paraflinching. Swagger took everyone's attention from the real most annoying role in Pokemon.
This is what my team became. Mega Heracross, Heatran, Celebi, Rotom-W, and Aegislash never moved, but that last slot moved around quite a bit. I've been pretty satisfied with this team, though, and it got me up to as high as an ELO of 1694.
(I may edit this post in the future to include a threat list, and obviously some replays, but I can't access any replays at the moment, so that will wait.)
First things first, let's look at the team:
My CrossFire core. This was the first step. Of all the sets I could use for these two, what did I want? Well, Heracross was my first addition to the team, and the set I prefer is just a regular four attacks set. Now, instead of the four attacks one would expect, I used: Pin Missile, Close Combat, Rock Blast, Bullet Seed. I like this set the most because I think Heatran's job is to kill Aegislash, and Heracross' job is to kill water types. Since Heatran would be killing Aegislash, I used a specially defensive set, which would also have support moves to help break stall and would also set up hazards, making Heracross' job much easier.
Celebi was added for more support against water types. I thought that a water type with Will-O-Wisp would have the power to break my core (with the right predictions), so I thought Celebi would prevent that. Not only that, it works as a physical wall. I know it's double weak to U-Turn, but the other two don't mind U-Turn at all, so I doubt that'll be a huge problem. Celebi with physical defense is a surprise to attackers, usually buying me a turn to Leech Seed, making the job practically over. With a useful ground and fighting resist, Celebi stops most physical attackers, and spreads paralysis to others, making my core more effective. While it isn't considered a part of my core, it would easily be the third member, if there was one.
I have fire and grass, so what's a good water? Rotom-W is a secondary bird counter. If I'm dealing with Pinsir, flying/ground coverage will kill my team. Rotom-W can stop that from being a problem while also giving me some more coverage, status support, and Volt Switch momentum.
Bisharp gives me some more offensive presence, and most importantly, gets me some priority. In this metagame, I'm surprised I went four Pokemon without having any priority moves. Also, since I had Stealth Rock with Heatran, Defog would be an annoyance. Bisharp absorbs that and uses it to sweep. Of course, I can't forget to mention that Bisharp can pursuit trap ghosts. I really hate ghosts.
I had Defog covered, here's Rapid Spin. The most common rapid spinner in the tier is Excadrill. Giving Aegislash the Air Balloon was my first step. From there, I just decided that I wanted a mixed attacker, since those are so hard to deal with. I kept Sacred Sword and Shadow Sneak, then also had Flash Cannon for more coverage and for the ability to attack physical walls.
The team was made! It was actually rather successful, too. I played quite a few matches with it, making it up to 1500 ELO. At this point, I realized that my team was almost coherent, but Bisharp was throwing it all off. Bisharp was a really good member, but I found that it was doing its own thing. In most battles, I used Bisharp as a sacrifice, or its steel-plated face collected dust the whole match. A replacement was in need.
I really like paralysis! Also, having a fast special attacker handy is very useful. I was ready to shred some teams with it, and that is what happened. I didn't have any ice type moves, and while it was 60 BP, Hidden Power Ice was a useful thing to have. Also, with yet another ground immunity, I decided Heatran could have Leftovers instead of an Air Balloon (I know, it wasn't a great item. I'm glad I have Lefties now).
I finally made it to 1600! However, I made it that far with a pretty flawed team. Thundurus shredded some teams, but others, it couldn't do anything. Being weak to Stealth Rock, I didn't see much use for it, since my team is supposed to be bulky. After being destroyed by another Landorus-T, I decided I would use something that had previously walled me.
I know, I know. Silly. In its defense, though, Porygon2 did its job well, and I found myself using it very often. It gave me coverage, great bulk, and maintained that paralysis I loved spreading. With Recover, it formed a decent core with Celebi in paralyzing the enemy team and surviving forever.
I replaced Porygon2 pretty fast. It did a great job, but it wasn't the job I was looking for. I needed something to paralyze, help the team survive, and I needed something with the right typing so I could switch in to common physical attackers.
Maybe I'm loopy for choosing something so silly, right after Porygon2. Right? Well, Togekiss is immune to dragon and ground. I mean, cripes, that's just so useful. It doesn't have a huge HP stat, but it passes wishes, which helps out the team (since a lot of my team can't recover). Also, it not only paralyzes, but it can take advantage of it, too. Yes, paraflinching. Swagger took everyone's attention from the real most annoying role in Pokemon.
This is what my team became. Mega Heracross, Heatran, Celebi, Rotom-W, and Aegislash never moved, but that last slot moved around quite a bit. I've been pretty satisfied with this team, though, and it got me up to as high as an ELO of 1694.
THE TEAM!
Sir Charles (Heracross) (M) @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
- Pin Missile
Mega Heracross. It has 185 base attack, and Pin Missile, which (when added up, with its very useful ability, Skill Link, and STAB) totals 187.5 base power. That's a lot of power, man! Bug isn't a great type, though, offensively, so the other moves cover it. Close Combat seems like a stupid move to have with Pin Missile with it, since together, they don't provide much extra coverage. However, Close Combat allows Mega Heracross to break apart ChansSkarmSire, the most popular stall core. I find myself OHKO'ing a lot of stuff out there, and it's a very scary thing to fight against, since hardly anything can switch into it safely. One of those things would be Aegislash, but Aegislash isn't a huge problem of mine, and Mega Heracross can actually defeat it in some cases.
As far as supporting others goes, it takes ground, dark, and fighting moves, making it a common switch-in to physical attackers. My goal is to tear apart a team right at the beginning, so I often lead with Mega Heracross, and it really isn't rare to have a KO after the first turn.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with Mega Heracross, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a major increase of its usage in the future.
BBall (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Toxic
Heatran is Mega Heracross' best friend! It's friends with a lot of other team mates, too, since it provides so much support. Roar is incredibly useful, as it stops set-up and especially Baton Pass. Stealth Rock is handy for my sweeping, as well as pressuring switches. Lava Plume does plenty of damage, and can also get me a lucky burn. Heatran, overall, is an excellent team member.
Heatran loves Mega Heracross for a reason. What does Mega Heracross hate? Flying moves, burn, fire, toxic, psychic moves... You know, things that Heatran doesn't mind. Heatran certainly sees a lot of usage when I play, as a switch-in to practically everything that I can't switch Mega Heracross into.
Dribble (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Leech Seed
- Recover
- Giga Drain
Celebi is a great physical wall. With Leech Seed and Recover, it's nearly impossible to kill without something super effective or specially powerful. Natural Care keeps Toxic from taking it down, making it hard to stall, too. One of its objectives is to paralyze stuff so that CrossFire can take it down later, and it does well at that, since it scares out ground types.
I know it has a lot of weaknesses, including a big weakness to U-Turn, but my team covers it. I think it does its job well, but if you have a better physical wall that fits in with my team, you should totally suggest it. Tangrowth is something I've used in the past, but it just isn't the same as Celebi. I've tried it on this team and others, and this team prefers Celebi.
Hoop (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
Through the team's evolution, Rotom's seen a bit of change. Originally, it was a ChestoRest set, only for the reason that I haven't used that set before. Eventually, I changed it to a set I was familiar with, TrickScarf. Rotom-W is an excellent trick scarfer! It has the right amount of speed, enough firepower, and also a bit of a last-resort move in Will-O-Wisp (which is useful on fast physical sweepers). Volt Switch provides momentum, and I use it quite a bit, since it's so safe to use. Hydro Pump does loads of damage, including enough to kill Landorus-T, which is a threat.
They say Choice Scarf is dead, but cripes, have you tried this set? It's fantastic. A fast volt-switcher that can break stall, walls, and status. The EVs are pretty basic, so if anyone has any ideas for a more effective spread, hook me up.
Pass (Togekiss) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere
- Wish
- Thunder Wave
I've been made fun of quite a bit for using this. I'm not the one who's screaming at a computer screen, though.
Yes, it's cheap, it's annoying, but it's a strategy. Paraflinch is a high-percentage success chance, and I've beaten some seemingly impossible threats with it. I made Togekiss physically defensive, and invested heavily in HP, obviously to get bigger wishes. Togekiss can't pass huge wishes, but my team doesn't need huge wishes, I mean, what doesn't have recovery has a pretty low base HP.
Aura Sphere and Air Slash get me some amazing coverage, but if Dazzling Gleam would be better than Aura Sphere, then I would switch it without caring much. Aura Sphere breaks some things, like Bisharp and Tyranitar, but Dazzling Gleam would break them in a much smaller scale, while also covering dragon types.
Slam Jam (Aegislash) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Brave Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
Aegislash is something I hadn't used before this team. Now I love it! It is at times the only answer I have to some Pokemon, and one time, it saved me from the opponent's team of four (when the only one I had left was Aegislash).
With Air Balloon, I can safely switch into common ground types and destroy them. Excadrill was the one I had in mind, since it is the most common rapid spinner. Slam Jam here can kill Excadrill easily while blocking it from spinning, making it a very useful spin blocker.
Aegislash also has the only priority on my team, putting a lot of pressure onto it.Swords Dance would help it out, but I prefer Flash Cannon, since it helps beat defensive tanks. If Swords Dance is a better choice, though, then I guess I will try it out. Shadow Ball is its strongest move, and it does loads of damage to physical walls, like Gliscor (By the way, Gliscor cannot affect Aegislash when it holds an Air Balloon).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that's my team. I hope it provided a bit of entertainment, or it maybe educated some people about Mega Heracross. When rating, remember that my team goal is to use CrossFire to crush teams, so that's what you should try to get the team to do. Thanks in advance for the ratings!
Sir Charles (Heracross) (M) @ Heracronite
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Blast
- Pin Missile
Mega Heracross. It has 185 base attack, and Pin Missile, which (when added up, with its very useful ability, Skill Link, and STAB) totals 187.5 base power. That's a lot of power, man! Bug isn't a great type, though, offensively, so the other moves cover it. Close Combat seems like a stupid move to have with Pin Missile with it, since together, they don't provide much extra coverage. However, Close Combat allows Mega Heracross to break apart ChansSkarmSire, the most popular stall core. I find myself OHKO'ing a lot of stuff out there, and it's a very scary thing to fight against, since hardly anything can switch into it safely. One of those things would be Aegislash, but Aegislash isn't a huge problem of mine, and Mega Heracross can actually defeat it in some cases.
As far as supporting others goes, it takes ground, dark, and fighting moves, making it a common switch-in to physical attackers. My goal is to tear apart a team right at the beginning, so I often lead with Mega Heracross, and it really isn't rare to have a KO after the first turn.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with Mega Heracross, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a major increase of its usage in the future.
BBall (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Toxic
Heatran is Mega Heracross' best friend! It's friends with a lot of other team mates, too, since it provides so much support. Roar is incredibly useful, as it stops set-up and especially Baton Pass. Stealth Rock is handy for my sweeping, as well as pressuring switches. Lava Plume does plenty of damage, and can also get me a lucky burn. Heatran, overall, is an excellent team member.
Heatran loves Mega Heracross for a reason. What does Mega Heracross hate? Flying moves, burn, fire, toxic, psychic moves... You know, things that Heatran doesn't mind. Heatran certainly sees a lot of usage when I play, as a switch-in to practically everything that I can't switch Mega Heracross into.
Dribble (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Leech Seed
- Recover
- Giga Drain
Celebi is a great physical wall. With Leech Seed and Recover, it's nearly impossible to kill without something super effective or specially powerful. Natural Care keeps Toxic from taking it down, making it hard to stall, too. One of its objectives is to paralyze stuff so that CrossFire can take it down later, and it does well at that, since it scares out ground types.
I know it has a lot of weaknesses, including a big weakness to U-Turn, but my team covers it. I think it does its job well, but if you have a better physical wall that fits in with my team, you should totally suggest it. Tangrowth is something I've used in the past, but it just isn't the same as Celebi. I've tried it on this team and others, and this team prefers Celebi.
Hoop (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick
Through the team's evolution, Rotom's seen a bit of change. Originally, it was a ChestoRest set, only for the reason that I haven't used that set before. Eventually, I changed it to a set I was familiar with, TrickScarf. Rotom-W is an excellent trick scarfer! It has the right amount of speed, enough firepower, and also a bit of a last-resort move in Will-O-Wisp (which is useful on fast physical sweepers). Volt Switch provides momentum, and I use it quite a bit, since it's so safe to use. Hydro Pump does loads of damage, including enough to kill Landorus-T, which is a threat.
They say Choice Scarf is dead, but cripes, have you tried this set? It's fantastic. A fast volt-switcher that can break stall, walls, and status. The EVs are pretty basic, so if anyone has any ideas for a more effective spread, hook me up.
Pass (Togekiss) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere
- Wish
- Thunder Wave
I've been made fun of quite a bit for using this. I'm not the one who's screaming at a computer screen, though.
Yes, it's cheap, it's annoying, but it's a strategy. Paraflinch is a high-percentage success chance, and I've beaten some seemingly impossible threats with it. I made Togekiss physically defensive, and invested heavily in HP, obviously to get bigger wishes. Togekiss can't pass huge wishes, but my team doesn't need huge wishes, I mean, what doesn't have recovery has a pretty low base HP.
Aura Sphere and Air Slash get me some amazing coverage, but if Dazzling Gleam would be better than Aura Sphere, then I would switch it without caring much. Aura Sphere breaks some things, like Bisharp and Tyranitar, but Dazzling Gleam would break them in a much smaller scale, while also covering dragon types.
Slam Jam (Aegislash) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Brave Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak
Aegislash is something I hadn't used before this team. Now I love it! It is at times the only answer I have to some Pokemon, and one time, it saved me from the opponent's team of four (when the only one I had left was Aegislash).
With Air Balloon, I can safely switch into common ground types and destroy them. Excadrill was the one I had in mind, since it is the most common rapid spinner. Slam Jam here can kill Excadrill easily while blocking it from spinning, making it a very useful spin blocker.
Aegislash also has the only priority on my team, putting a lot of pressure onto it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(I may edit this post in the future to include a threat list, and obviously some replays, but I can't access any replays at the moment, so that will wait.)
Last edited:
