Honchkrow (Anti-Lead)

[NubKnightZ]

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/honchkrow

[SET]
Name: Anti-Lead
Move 1: Brave Bird
Move 2: Superpower
Move 3: Heat Wave
Move 4: Hidden Power Grass / Night Slash
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Inmonsia
Nature: Naive
EVs: 70 HP / 48 Atk / 248 Spe / 144 SpA

Why this is a suggested Move Set:
This Honchkrow set is made to 1 to 2HKO most leads in the OU tier, while being immune to Sleep or Trick. 248 Speed EVs allow Honchkrow (With Choice Scarf) to outspeed every non-Choice Scarfed lead except Ninjask. 48 EVs in Attack allows a 1HKO to Lead Tyranitars with a Superpower. 144 Special Attack EVs allow a 2HKO on Lead Jirachi and Metagross. The remaining EVs go into HP to survive weaker hits. This set also carries moves to take out the main walls of the tier, Blissey and Skarmory, with Superpower and Heat Wave respectively.

Against other Leads:
Azelf - 2HKOed by Brave Bird and Azelf cannot retaliate if it sets up Stealth Rocks.
Aerodactyl - Also 2HKOed by Brave Bird (Same situation with Azelf)
Swampert - 2HKOed by Hidden Power Grass. Leaves Swampert at about 30% if Swampert attacks back on first turn rather than set up Stealth Rocks.
Machamp - 1HKOed by Brave Bird.
Metagross - 2HKOed by Heat Wave, assuming they set up Stealth Rocks on first turn. Meteor Mash has a slight chance of 1HKOing.
Jirachi - Honchkrow is immune to Scarf Tricking due to it holding a Scarf as well. Also 2HKOed by Heat Wave. Honchkrow can also survive a Thunder/Ice Punch from Jirachi.
Infernape - Infernape gets a Fake Out in, then falls to Brave Bird.
Roserade - Thanks to Inmonsia, Sleep Powder is rendered useless, and Honchkrow resists Leaf Storm. 2HKOed by Brave Bird due to Focus Sash.
Hippowdon - Honchkrow generally loses to Hippowdon, 3HKOing with Hidden Power Grass, so it is usually forced to switch, due to the fact that Hippowdon can just stall it out with Sand Stream and Slack Off.
Tyranitar - 1HKOed by Superpower.
Heatran - 2HKOed by Superpower. Honchkrow wins if Heatran sets up Stealth Rock on first turn.
Smeargle - Smeargle is rendered useless with Inmonsia and easy taken out with any move.
Froslass - 2HKOed but loses if Froslass retaliates with Ice Beam on first turn, or is carrying Choice Scarf as well.
Forretress - OHKOed by Heat Wave.


Additional Moves:
- Taunt can also be used to stop some leads, but is not as useful due to Choice Scarf.
- Night Slash can be used for Uxie and Azelf leads, but Azelf is already taken care of by Brave Bird.
- Pursuit is also an option to catch fleeing pokemon, but being locked into Pursuit is not appealing.

Counters and Teammates:
Counters - Hippowdon. Swampert, Heatran and Froslass as well, to a certain extent.
Teammates - Anything that can pick off weakened leads without letting them perform another move.

 

[Curtains]

Yeah this set isnt good, if you cant even ko a heatran with superpower then its not worth using. This set will be very predictable and alot of stuff can set up on its weak moves. Gallade/any other lead is superior to this because you can switch attacks and have some degree of bulk.Jirachi is going to iron head if they are smart and brave bird is pretty damn obvious for machamp so they will switch.What ever you hit still gets up sr in every situation. No coverage , no power , no kills, no good.

 

[GtM]

Hmmm. You outspeed both Azelf and Aerodactyl, but you can't OHKO them, so what's the point? They'll still get rocks up, or Azelf will Explode and Aerodactyl will OHKO with Stone Edge. Swampert still manages to get Rocks up; in fact, any pokémon that can set up hazards (other than Forretress) will do so uninterrupted, as Curtains above me has said. Imo, you don't need the Speed against Azelf and Aerodactyl, and regardless of how much SpA you add, you won't be OHKOing Swampert or Heatran either, which makes the idea of Honchkrow as an anti-lead somewhat flawed. The only selling point is that Machamp gets OHKO'd by Brave Bird, but Colbur Azelf can OHKO with Explosion /and/ set up rocks, and doesn't drive him away like the plague.

The problem with anti leads is that they rely on being Chuck-Norris-awesome to work. Machamp is viable because he can confuse anything he wants, and can get a lot of OHKOs. He can also switch attacks and clean up with Bullet Punch. Jirachi owns as an anti-lead because he can Trick a Scarf onto setup leads, hax his way to victory with Iron head, scout with U Turn, and set up Rocks of his own later. Importantly, Iron head can stop Azelf and Aerodactyl from setting up rocks. Honchkrow has none of the strengths mentioned in the above paragraph.

I'm not QC, but personally I wouldn't run this set, or at least this EV spread. Investing in his special attack instead of speed /might/ be enough to grant him some OHKOs, but I'm not that interested in finding out. Besides, then he'd basically be an inferior Specs Azelf or Starmie with a Flying STAB and the inability to kill Heatran.

EDIT: A Choice Scarf Honchkrow set (well, two actually) has already been rejected from QC (http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76858), take a look here if you want some more feedback on the idea.

 

[iDunno]

If you'd pay attention to the outdated analysis thread for Honchkrow you'd know that there was already an anti-lead set on-site that was taken down on his promotion to BL tier. It was much better in comparison to this one though.

 

[remlabmez]

If you'd pay attention to the outdated analysis thread for Honchkrow you'd know that there was already an anti-lead set on-site that was taken down on his promotion to BL tier. It was much better in comparison to this one though.

^

 

[Setsuna]

This really isn't an effective Anti-Lead, here's why: You are able to outspeed Azelf, Aerodactyl, and each one of the common leads in the OU environment, though you can't win against any of them, barring Machamp and Tyranitar that need to switch out for obvious reasons. Basically, you don't prevent any lead from setting up Stealth Rock due to the lack of power, and you don't force them to switch out either since once again, you're lacking power and they can just stay in, take the hit, and then set up SR. Not to mention that once the aforementioned happens, Honchkrow will be locked into a move and its opponent got SR up. He can then proceed to switch out to a convenient Pokemon in order to take Honchkrow's attack, and opt to set up or make use of any other type of entry hazard if possible. In addition to this, you can find a similar variant of Honchkrow in the rejected set compendium that's in this same sub-forum.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to lock this thread for the reasons that I explained before. Feel free to try again in the future.