[OVERVIEW]
At first glance, Haxorus's huge Attack stat and decent Speed tier make it appear to be a good wallbreaker, easily breaking through balance and defensive teams with the combination of Swords Dance and Devastating Drake, good coverage options in Poison Jab, Close Combat, and Earthquake, while using Mold Breaker to bypass Galarian Weezing's Levitate and Mega Aggron's Filter, being seemingly poised to find its way onto hyper offense teams as a result. However, the good qualities end here; Haxorus's bulk is terrible, it is also completely outclassed by other Dragon-types like Mega Altaria and Salamence, all of which possess much more defensive utility and way better coverage options such as Fire Blast to hit Steel-types like Skarmory. Furthermore, Haxorus also suffers from four-moveslot syndrome; it needs Earthquake to hit Aegislash and Galarian Weezing, but also needs Close Combat to pressure certain Steel-types like Celesteela and Skarmory, so it must choose carefully between these moves and decide what to be walled by. While Poison Jab is mandatory to break past Fairy-types like Mega Altaria. Haxorus is also outsped and easily revenge killed by common threats like Mienshao, Zarude, and priority users like Scizor and Mamoswine, and must compete with other powerful Z-Move users like Double Dance Galarian Moltres, Belly Drum Azumarill, and Swords Dance Aegislash as a result, which are all much more consistent in this role and provide much more defensive utility for hyper offense while being way less prone to be revenge killed. Consequently, there's no reason to use Haxorus over other Dragon-types or Z-Move users like Mega Altaria and Galarian Moltres on any serious team.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Close Combat / Earthquake
item: Dragonium Z
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Outrage is Haxorus best move against walls like Amoonguss, Tangrowth, and Slowking, and combined with Dragonium Z gives to Haxorus an one-time nuke capable of KOing all the aforementioned Pokemon after a Swords Dance boost. Poison Jab hits Fairy-types like Mega Altaria, Primarina, and Tapu Bulu. Close Combat is preferred to not be completely walled by certain Steel-types such as Skarmory and Celesteela, while still pressuring Pokemon like Scizor; however, Earthquake is an option to hit Aegislash and Galarian Weezing super effectively and not needing to lock itself into Outrage or waste the Z-Move against Rotom-W and Rotom-H. Haxorus should wallbreak early-game and be paired with partners that appreciate it pressuring or KOing certain walls like Tangrowth and Slowking; Belly Drum Azumarill and Meteor Beam Nihilego enjoy Haxorus breaking past Pokemon like Rotom-W and Aegislash. Skarmory and Celesteela are really good checks to Haxorus, taking every hit pretty comfortably and phazing it with Whirlwind or pressuring it with Heavy Slam and Leech Seed respectively. As such, Rotom-H is an amazing partner because it can beat the aforementioned Steel-types and provide a solid switch-in against priority moves from Scizor and Mamoswine, while Haxorus can pressure Ground- and Rock-types like Hippowdon and Nihilego. Meteor Beam Nihilego, Swords Dance Scizor, and Meteor Beam Necrozma all also good options that can heavily dent Steel-types like Aegislash and Celesteela for Haxorus. As a whole, Haxorus shouldn't ever be considered when building a serious team, since hyper offense teams will usually have far better options for Dragon-types in Salamence or Z-Move users in Galarian Moltres to pick from.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Pubo, 535121]]
- Quality checked by: [[Arishem, 546157], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]
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