Base Stats: 76 HP / 147 Atk / 90 Def / 60 SpA / 70 SpDef / 97 Spe
Abilities: Rivalry/Mold Breaker/Unnerve
Notable Moves:
Outrage
Dragon Claw
Close Combat
Earthquake
Iron Head
Aqua Tail
First Impression
Poison Jab
Crunch
Dragon Dance
Substitute
Taunt
Overview:
Haxorus defines itself as one of the tiers most potent set up sweepers and cleaners the tier has to offer, with great offensive stats in 147 Atk and a decent speed stat in 97. It has a wonderful ability in Mold Breaker allowing it to bypass abilities such as Unaware and boost past them, giving it a favourable match up vs Quagsire, which is the main reason why Haxorus is usually considered to be better then Salamence as a Dragon Dance Pokemon, since bypassing one of the most common defensive mons in the tier is very important. Haxorus has wonderful coverage to abuse, Close Combat is absolutely amazing as a coverage move and Earthquake can also be used to hit Fairies such as Tinkaton who is neutral to Haxorus's next coverage move in Iron Head, which also hits the tiers other fairies such as Hatterene, Mimikyu and Scream Tail. Haxorus's best Tera typing is by no doubts Tera Steel, it covers all of Haxorus's weaknesses to Ice/Fairy and when played can give Haxorus a free Dragon Dance, which is usually enough to close out games by spamming its powerful 120 Base Power stab move, Outrage while also giving Iron Head STAB which can be enough to close out a kill on mons such as Scream Tail after a boost. Haxorus's main weaknesses is that it can struggle to get in at times due to the defensive stats only being decent, so it is suggested to use it alongside pivots such as Tsareena or Pawmot. Due to having a 97 base speed stat, It can also be outsped by certain scarfers such as Pawmot and Staraptor who can hit Haxorus incredibly hard with a Reckless Brave Bird and an Iron Fist Boosted Ice Punch respectably, although you can get around this by turning into Tera Steel, which turns the MU into a 50/50 between where these two go for their fighting coverage/stab moves.
Potential Sets
Haxorus @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage/Dragon Claw
- Close Combat/Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Dragon Dance
This is the most common set you will see on Haxorus, the EV spread is simple with just maxing out Haxorus's offensive stats and otherwise this set has all the qualities of the aforementioned qualities mentioned in the Overview, such as Tera Steel to cover all of Dragon's weaknesses and good coverage all round. As mentioned before, Earthquake can be used to hit Tinkaton if you wish and Dragon Claw is there just in case you hate being locked into Outrage, although its not too big of a deal most times i find due to the Tera Typing performing well vs Fairies. I would run this set on a Screens Team, boosting Haxorus's otherwise lack luster bulk to acceptable levels to tank hits, and pure Dragon Typing can hold some nice resistances to types in the meta such as Water, Fire and Electric and of course being able to flip that round to Steels amazing defensive profile as well is very nice.
Sample Team:
Yes, yes. I know i posted this on the Hatterene post i did as well but Haxorus fits really well here as well so i figured i would include it here as well. After Hatterene has put a dent into the opposing team, i find its usually Haxorus's time to shine to clean up after Hatterene has done its job, since after one Dragon Dance, Haxorus will outspeed the entire opposing team (if their scarfer is dead) and of course, that 147 atk hits incredibly hard after a boost meaning Haxorus can be the one breaking itself, as Mold Breaker as aforementioned breaks teams that rely on Quagsire as their answer to set up spam. Haxorus usually tears those teams to shreds, so i definitely suggest Haxorus to new players of this meta to try out as a dangerous offensive threat that shouldn't be taken lightly in the meta.
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