Community POTW #141

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week, and we have an awesome Unova Pokémon

It's Haxorus, the Pokémon so powerful it has hax in its name. It has a beastly attack stat and is capable of a lot

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/612.shtml

Go nuts

 

[Carter2100]

Item: Yache Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
Nature: Jolly
Evs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Def
Moves:
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Rock Slide/ Brick Break

 

[SkyDriver]

Double Dance

Haxorus @ Lum Berry
Adamant
Mold Breaker
252 Atk/4 SDef/252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake/Brick Break/Superpower

SD against stall, DD against offence. Outrage + Lum Berry hits hard and has no other drawbacks than the lock-in. Final slot is just coverage, with SuperPower as its strongest move against skarm. Iirc Fight Gem +2 Superpower OHKO's it (after SR)...

 

[Mestorn]

Haxorus is a WMD in pokemon form once it gets to setup.

Pros: Haxorus’ base attack is godly, sitting at an insane Base 147, the sixth highest in the game. Heck the only non-ubers that outclass it in that regard are Rampardos and Slaking. Add a Dragon STAB, and Haxorus makes a very effective sweeper, with excellent neutral coverage. Having two boosting options in the form of Swords Dance and Dragon Dance, and Haxorus becomes able to muscle through all but the sturdiest of walls. And its speed sits at a respectable base 97 allowing it to out speed a good portion of the competition. Finally, Mold Breaker makes Haxorus even more dangerous, negating contact status that might ruin a sweep and blasting through Shedinja and Levitators that would cause it trouble.

Cons: Despite its strengths, has some serious issues. First off, Haxorus is somewhat frail, with none of its defenses {or any non attack stat} exceeding 100. While this would be no problem on its own, Haxorus is extremely exposed to residual damage, resisting none of the entry hazards, damaging weather or statuses. Haxorous’ move pool is also somewhat lacking. It is very easy to predict Haxorus’ move pool; all it has for offense is Dragon STABS, Earthquake, Aqua Tail, and Superpower. In addition, while base 97 is nice, many of OU’s top threats sit a base 100 or higher, which means that Haxorus needs the speed boost from Dragon Dance or a Choice Scarf to pull of a sweep without being annihilated. Finally, Skarmory remains a cold counter to Haxorus, since it possesses no moves that are super effective against the metal bird, it has to rely on shaky Aqua Tail and Superpower, while Skarm’ can just phase it out or beat it down.

The Verdict: Quick, to the Skarmorys! Despite its flaws, Haxorus is a sweeper to feared and if given the chance, it will quickly and mercilessly decapitate entire teams.

 

[DGatrz Master]

Ok, let me try a set with a name this time.

I can use my tail, too!

Haxorus@Wide Lens
Iron Tail
Aqua Tail
Dragon Claw
Dragon Dance

This set isn't the best, I know, but I'm trying to learn about competitive so some of my set are gonna suck. Just bear with me please. Anyway, Dragon Claw/Dance are the standard combo of boost and STAB, Aqua Tail is pretty much coverage and Iron Tail is too plus it can help with ice types. Wide Lens to help boost Aqua Tail and mostly Iron Tail's accuracy.

 

[digletman]

Slice and dice
Dragon dance outrage earthquake taunt
Ev 252 attack 252 speed 4 hp
Nature jolly/adamant
Ability mold breaker
Item lum berry

 

[OceanicLanturn]

God of Hax

Haxorus @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Superpower / Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw / Aqua Tail / Dual Chop

Hit and Run Styled Haxorus. Choice Band + 147 Atk + STAB Outrage brings hurt. Superpower hits Steels which will wall him, Brick Break is a weaker alternative but can be the destined move to be spammed. EQ hits Heatran and Jirachi hard (well, hopefully Rachi doesn't run full speed). The last slot goes on preferences. Dragon Claw is nice if you don't want to get locked into Outrage. Aqua Tail can be used to hit Hippo well and rain boosted. Dual Chop is a personal thing since it's helpful in breaking subs.

-the end-

Still prefer Chompster though. Btw, get rid of steels, as much as possible!

 

[philzone]

Ok, let me try a set with a name this time.

I can use my tail, too!

Haxorus@Wide Lens
Iron Tail
Aqua Tail
Dragon Claw
Dragon Dance

This set isn't the best, I know, but I'm trying to learn about competitive so some of my set are gonna suck. Just bear with me please. Anyway, Dragon Claw/Dance are the standard combo of boost and STAB, Aqua Tail is pretty much coverage and Iron Tail is too plus it can help with ice types. Wide Lens to help boost Aqua Tail and mostly Iron Tail's accuracy.

We all start somewhere. I actually used to come off with pretty lame sets ( charge beam hydreigon is still a fav of mine =] )

Haxorus. Based on a plant-eating dinosaur, hax comes off as a powerhouse. But in VGC, dragons are rarely used, but haxorus is found in the under used section of dragon types. But why, you may ask? The answer is simple: there are many dragon types who are better off used than haxorus, and hax is out classed in many ways: as a dragon, chomp, mence, hydreigon and dragonite have more options than haxorus, whilst mold breaker is bettered by DW excadrill, due to STAB earthquake. The one place hax shines is unnerve. Unnerve is very useful in VGC, since swag-lum is stopped, and lum-berry-to-stop-breloom is unusable. Also, various other resist berries stop working, and sitrus berry is unusable. This makes it good, and it can cause chaos on pokemon reliant to berries: charti bulky thundurus-i now is KOed by landy-t's stone edge and chomp hates ice beam now.

 

[dragontamer44722]

I liked Haxorus when I played through Gen 5, and this was the set I used for the most part.
-Dragon Claw
-Swords Dance
-Brick Break
-Earthquake

Dragon Claw is obviously for Stab, Swords Dance for a boost, Brick Break for any Ice types, and Earthquake for anything else. Not the best set up in the world but it worked for me

 

[waternate]

Super Hax

Haxorus @ Expert Belt
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 220 Spd / 252 Atk / 36 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Dual Chop/ Outrage
- Superpower

Fairly straightforward sweeper, but with a couple of little differences. Expert Belt adds that little kick to go along with the excellent coverage granted by EQ and Superpower, as well as aiding in taking down other dragons. Dragon dance, Superpower and Superpower are fairly self explanatory. As for the stab move, Outrage provides obscene power when backed by a huge base attack, and a dance or 2. However, I find Dual Chop is a much over-looked alternative which carries some massive benefits over Dragon Claw and Outrage. At a guaranteed 2 hits, it has 80 BP without STAB, and works well as a Sub-breaker and provides a second opportunity for a nice, haxxy critical hit. Although lacking the smashing power of Outrage, you do avoid the potentially crippling confusion which can mess up your sweep.

 

[pika250]

You mean earthquake by the second superpower.

Other Pokémon are capable of Unnerve as well, Galvantula being a notable example. He's not even a pseudo-legendary! He's a perfect example of the trope "jack of all trades, king of none".

E: I take a part of that back, he's the only Dragon to have Mold breaker (outside the much slower Druddigon) and the only Dragon to have Unnerve. And that 147 base Attack hurts. Even +6 Outrage OHKO's special defensive Skarmory for certain, and has a chance to OHKO physical defensive Skarm after rocks. If only he had the chance to go +6...

 

[Kraleck]

Haxorus. Wow. Pretty much summed that Pokémon up in one word. An incredible Dragon Type and the only one to stay Mono-Typed throughout its evolutionary line (unless you count single member lines like Druddigon and Arceus). This makes it better against Ice Types than most Dragon Types since it will only take x2 instead of x4 damage.

Stats:
-HP - Above Average - Base 76 isn't too bad, especially for a Mono-Type, but Altaria is the only Dragon Type with less HP.
-Attack - Incredible - Base 147 is the real reason you send this into Battle. Tack on a Movepool with a huge variety of Physical Moves and you'll have little doubt about what you're doing.
-Defense - Good - Base 90 is sweet, especially since you're not a Pokémon used in a Tank role.
-Sp.Atk - Bad - Base 60 is garbage compared to that delicious Attack.
-Sp.Def - Below Average - Well, they can't all be winners. Base 70 isn't too bad, but it's a lot better without being bogged down by the common quad-Weakness most Dragon Types have to Ice.
-Speed - Good-bordering-Great (non-Trick Room) - Base 97 could be better, but that's what Dragon Dance, Jolly Nature, Salac Berries, and Choice Scarves are for.

Abilities:
-Rivalry - Not a bad Ability, but the fact that you can't guarantee the boost is problematic.
-Mold Breaker - Why look elsewhere for an Ability? Mold Breaker pairs very well with a veritable slew of Moves to the point I actually get to use the word "slew" to describe it.
-Unnerve (DW) - Could be worse. Could've been Damp on a Ghost Type *laughingly* but as we all know that's impossible...*despairing sigh* why such a letdown on that, Jellicent? Er-hem...preventing Stat buffs from Berries isn't a common tactic, but there are a few hassle-worthy Berry users.

With lots of offense, decent defense, and a straightforward role, Haxorus is one of those "easy to pick up, difficult to master" Pokémon to use. That said, you have some issues.

Anti-Haxorus Defense:
-Special-Based Ice- and Dragon-Type Moves. 2 Weaknesses. 1 Common. Both difficult to get through that head-on offense unless you have better Speed or the HP and/or Defense to tank-n-spank.
-Base 98+ Speed. Lots of options, but few Pokémon can make a sizeable dent in Haxorus, let alone outright KO it.
-Endurance. High HP and Defense are the best way to blunt the damage of those ever-sharp axe-tusks. I find Slowbro, Reuniclus, Tangrowth, Lapras, and Musharna to be the best chances of surviving a hit, but not many would have the outright Power in their Moves to one-shot the terror of Hax-zilla.

 

[Eliteknight]

Haxorus when used correctly is a terrifying threat. With amazing attack and just under amazing speed it is a force to be wreackoned with. Of its abilites Mold breaker allows it to have near perfect overage hitting nearly all pokemon for neutral damage. Overshadowed by Kyurem-B due to its superior bulk and special stats, haxorus is still a threat and one to not be taken lightly.


Dragon Dance
Haxorus@Lum Berry
Adamant/Jolly
Mold breaker
252att/252spe/4hp
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Superpower/Earthquake
Aquatail/Superpower/Earthquake

This set is a force to be wreakoned with. Dragon dance is to provide +1 in attack and speed which will then proceed to sweep. Outrage is to smash through all non steel types around. Superpower and earthquake both hit steels and rocks. Superpower hits harder but will reduce you attack and defense whilst EQ hits rotom for SE damage due to Mold breaker. Aqua tail is only to be used on rain teams and even then should be picked the least the pseudo stab from the rain allows hax to take down mons that somehow resist the rest of its coverage. Lum berry is to cure burn or confusion from outrage. Evs and nature to inflict maximum damage.

Choice Band
Haxorus@Choice Band
Adamant/Jolly
Mold Breaker
252Att/252Spe/4Hp
Superpower
Outrage
Earthquake
Aqua Tail/Dragon Claw

Much like the dragon dance set except all hax's job is to smash anythign and everythign that comes in. Due to most counters to haxorus will have to switch in they will be taking a major hurt from any of the moves in his arsenal. Hax most likly will have to be revenge killed due to his overall power on switches unless his opponentlives and can OHKO the next turn. Status kills this set. para and confusion may prevent hax from attacking, toxic will slowly weaken him, burn will cut his attack while removing hp and freeze well the odds of that happening are almost 0 so.​

 

[Tin-Tin-Alt]

Haxorus @ Focus Band/Wide Lens/Yache Berry
Trait: Mold Breaker/Rivalry
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Iron Tail
- Earthquake/Superpower/Guillotine(If you're lucky)

 

[Meowmeow]

Haxorus is a very straightforward Pokemon. No bells or whistles. That does not make Haxorus a poor Pokemon. In fact, it's the contrary. Haxorus is a very dangerous threat to face thanks to the pure simplicity of it. Haxorus has that wonderful base 147 attack stat with a great ability in Mold Breaker and a funky yet high-ish speed of base 97. Haxorus's movepool is fairly limited, but Haxorus has enough power to muscle through many defenses. With stat boosting, Haxorus has Swords Dance and, even better, Dragon Dance. In the STAB department, Haxorus has the high powered Outrage. When coverage becomes the topic of discussion, Haxorus has Earthquake to hit those steel types, even Levitators thanks to Mold Breaker. Haxorus also has Superpower, Rock Slide, and Aqua Tail as coverage options.
There is a drawback to Haxorus: bulk. Haxorus is far from sturdy, making this dragonic battle axe a bit of a glass cannon. In addition, Haxorus can easily be beaten in the speed department, which doesn't help the low bulk.
Don't let that make you rethink using Haxorus. Haxorus can very easily plow through teams that are unprepared.

The Colossal Titan
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 attack and speed, 4 HP
@: Choice Band

Outrage
Earthquake
Aqua Tail
Dragon Tail/Dragon Claw

Colossal Titan is a reference to Attack on Titan anime. Anyway, the name of the game here is power. This is a wallbreaker. This set is designed to turn walls into dust.

Dragon Dance
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 attack and speed, 4 hp
@: Life Orb

Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Aqua Tail

I couldn't come up with an Attack on Titan reference for naming this set. Now this Haxorus is designed for sweeping.

The Armored Titan
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 252 attack and speed, 4 hp
@: Life Orb

Swords Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Aqua Tail

Another Attack on Titan reference. Whatevies. This is another deadly wallbreaking set. Instead of the Colossal Titan's straight-up demolition, the Armored Titan will power up to cause the most effective damage (which is another Attack on Titan reference in a way). In this case, Swords Dance does that job.

The Female Titan
Nature: Jolly
EVs: I'm sure you can guess by now.
@: Choice Scarf

Outrage
Earthquake
Aqua Tail
Dragon Claw

I decided to make another Attack on Titan reference because I could. The name for this set has no correspondence to the Attack on Titan incarnation.
With my thorough enjoyment of anime out of the way, this set, as you can tell, uses Choice Scarf. After all, anything that's reasonably fast that uses a Choice Band/Specs well will likely be threatening with Choice Scarf. The reason I encourage the use of the previous sets more than this one is because we arrive at the point where Haxorus faces competition from fellow dragons. More importantly, Choice Scarf does not take full advantage of Haxorus's monstrous attack stat as much as its other sets. When it comes to Choice Scarf, Salamence and Garchomp are better than Haxorus. Haxorus has one merit over the other dragons, but that one merit is raw power.

Other options:
I mentioned Rock Slide and Superpower. Rock Slide is redundant on everything except Skarmory (covered by Aqua Tail), and Superpower hits the same things as Earthquake but, while harder, comes with stat drops. Because Levitate is not an issue, Superpower should not be used over Earthquake.
Substitute is an excellent choice to pair up with a stat boosting move, or as a Sub+3 set.
Counter and Endeavor waste Haxorus's power.
Dual Chop can be used as backup for Outrage as a Substitute breaking move. However, there are three problems. 1: Haxorus needs the coverage from the other slots. 2: Haxorus is designed to hit things until they run out of hp. Better to be more direct. 3: Haxorus cannot waste time on imperfect accuracy on STAB.

 

[sbktdreed]

Battle Haxorus
Mold Breaker w/ Life Orb/Lum Berry
Adamant w/ 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 Defense/HP
Outrage
Shadow Claw/Night Slash
Brick Break/Earthquake
Earthquake/Dragon Dance/Swords Dance

Countering-OU
High Sp Attack and Defense with Dragon/Ice-type moves like Cloyster, will-o-wisp Cofagrigus/Spiritomb, Ice Beam Slowbro/Gorebyss, Glaceon, Evolite Seadra, or Freeze Rotom.

 

[The-Predator]

Awesome! Was waiting for the rng to pick this one! It's probably my favourite OU Dragon.

Item: lum berry (for Outrage spam/random status)
Nature: Adamant/Jolly (power or speed, your choice)
Ability: Mold Breaker (the only ability to use on this)
EVs: 252 Att/252 Spd/4 HP
Moves:
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Superpower
-Dragon Dance

Its simple to use: come in in something, force a switch, use DD, then sweep. There is nothing else to HAXorus. Outrage for anything not a steel, Earthquake for the steels, and Superpower for Skarmory, who walls Haxorus otherwise.

Please be kind, it's my first contribution to a POTW

 

[Star Champion AJ]

Hax "R" Us

If you see a Pokémon with axe-shaped tusks, be prepared because s*** is about to get real soon... and that's gonna hurt a lot!

About Haxorus, it's my fourth favourite Unova Pokémon (the first three places were taken by Hydreigon).

Ability Compendium:
Rivalry: Attack & Special Attack is increased by 25% if the foe is of the same gender; Attack & Special Attack is decreased by 25% if the foe is of the opposite gender.
Unreliable Ability, you don't know the gender of the opposing Pokémon unless you actually battle with them and you know as well as I that we can't risk an attack drop if you face a Pokémon of opposite gender.
Mold Breaker: (RECOMMENDED) The Pokémon's moves are not affected by foe’s abilities during battle
Must have Ability, it negates some Abilities like Wonder Guard or Levitate
Unnerve: The opponent Pokémon will never use their held Berry while the Pokémon is in battle

Pros:
DAT Attack stat (147) makes Haxorus the third non-Legendary Pokémon with the highest Attack stat (the other two are Rampardos and Slaking)
Decent Speed (97) which can be boosted by Dragon Dance
Unlike most Dragon-types, which have a 4x Ice weakness, everybody's favourite axe-shaped tusk Pokémon has a 2x Ice weakness
A nice offensive movepool

Cons:
Decent Speed makes him slower than some of the top threats, however than Con becomes a Plus after one (or two if you get lucky) Dragon Dance
Slightly lower than average Special Defense (70)
Loses the best Dragon-type design to Hydreigon (but that's not important)

@Life Orb/Lum Berry/Persim Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd
Dragon Dance
Outrage/Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Aqua Tail/Brick Break/Rock Slide
Straightforward set, you can't go wrong with that. Switch-in against something that can't do much against Haxorus, use one Dragon Dance (or two if you get lucky) and then sweep.
Outrage with 147 Attack and 1-2 Dragon Dace(s) will obliterate at the very least 2 Pokémon even if one of them is a Steel-type, after 2-3 Outrages, Haxorus will be confused (Lum or Persim Berry in that case), if you don't like Outrage (like me), Dragon Claw is a significantly weaker alternative (Life Orb can compensate some of the power loss for not choosing Outrage).
Earthquake is Earthquake, I don't even need to explain what that move does and with Mold Breaker say goodbye to those pesky Levitators (and Shedinja).
The coverage move covers (duh!) certain threats... there's no Superpower for one single reason, the self-Attack drop goes again this set, also Aqua Tail bypasses Storm Drain and Water Absorb.
The Nature and EVs maximize Haxorus's Speed.

 

[Lord Fighting]

Haxorous
Adamant
Mold Breaker
252/252 Atk + Spd 4 HP
Focus Sash
Earthquake
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Rock Slide/ Brick Break

 

[Pokemon1998Ash]

Haxorus
Their sturdy tusks will stay sharp even if used to cut steel beams. These Pokémon are covered in hard armor.

Haxorus @ Lum Berry
Jolly - Mold Breaker
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~Dragon Dance
~Earthquake
~Outrage
~Brick Break