Honchkrow (Analysis) [QC 0/3]

Metal Bagon

If honhkrow is still too bad lock it anyway.

I'll bring honour back to the Krow (when I get the Skeleton done).


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QC Approvals (0/3):

GP Approvals (0/2):


[Overview]
  • 125 Attack and 105 Special Attack allows Honchkrow to effectively pull off both physical and special sets.
  • A decent 100 base HP is not backed up at all by 52 defenses
  • Super Luck, Insomnia and Moxie are all reliable abilites in OU.
  • However moxie can't be used with Superpower abnd Heat Wave
  • Honchkrow has a large movepool thanks to 4th gen tutor moves. Giving it great assets such as Superpower and Heat Wave.
  • 71 Base speed is lackluster at best
  • Sucker Punch gives Honchkrow revenge-killing capabilities.
[SET]
name: Scarf-krow (physical)
move 1: Superpower
move 2: Night Slash/Pursuit/ Sucker Punch
move 3: Brave Bird/Drill Peck
move 4: Retailiate/Return/Foul Play
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Super Luck/Insomnia
nature: Adamant (+Attack -Sp.Attack)/Jolly (+Speed -Sp.Attack)
evs: 252 Attack / 252 Speed/ 4 HP



[SET COMMENTS]
  • Scarf lifts speed greatly, making Honchkrow viable.
  • Standard Glass cannon EV spread. He's made to hit hard and fast.
  • Adamant is most common on this set however, if you still want Honchkrow to go even faster then jolly can work as well.
  • Superpower is the only standard move on this set, as it is easily the most powerful option for Honchkrow.
  • For Dark STAB you have to option between sucker punch night slash and pursuit. Sucker Punch can revenge kill, however with scarf you shouldn't need it and you'll be forced to switch. Night Slash paired with Super Luck gives a real high crit chance and is the most reliable dark move. Pursuit is the more unexpected choice and you'll give an opponent a nasty surprise on the switch.
  • For flying you have the choice between Brave Bird and Drill Peck. Brave Bird is more common because Honchkrow will die quickly without recoil anyway, however, if you want to avoid recoil Drill Peck is the next best option.
  • Any ability may be used. Super Luck would be the most useful as paired with Night Slash there is a high crit chance. Insomnia allows Honchkrow to be a check for Breloom as spore will fail. Moxie can be used but more often then not you will have to switch due to being locked into a move.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
  • The final slot is more of a filler then anything else. Retaliate can hit opponents hard when Honchkrow comes in off the KO of one of your pokemon. Return is a nice, powerful move that can hit the majority of pokemon for good damage. Foul Play is rarely used however it can hit fellow glass cannons like Haxorus for good damage as you are using their own attack stat against them.
  • Common Walls such as Blissey, Jellicent and Ferrothorn all have trouble haddling with Honchkrow as long as there are no Stealth Rocks up.
  • It is in your best interest to hide the fact you Honchkrow is scarfed as explained below.
  • If you wish, this set could be used with choice band however this does make Honchkrow's speed again lackluster.
[SET]
name: Scarf-krow (speical)
move 1: Dark Pulse
move 2: Heat Wave
move 3: Hidden Power (Ground)
move 4: Psychic/Air Cutter
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Super Luck/Insomnia
nature: Modest (+Sp.Attack -Attack)/Timid (+Speed -Attack)
evs: 252 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed/ 4 HP


[SET COMMENTS]
  • The good news here is that Honchkrow doesn't suffer from four move syndrome here, however, that does make this set a bit predictable when your oppenent figures out that you only have speical moves.
  • The good news is that Honchkrow's move-pool is wide enough so that your opponent may not figure that out.
  • Dark Pulse is simply there to hit with STAB.
  • Heat Wave counters Ice-types who come in not realising that Honchkrow is scarfed.
  • Same with Hidden Power ground but for Eletric and Rock types instead.
  • Psychic sie a good option in the last slot as they can hit a wide varity of pokemon how think they have a safe switch into Honhkrow.
  • Nature and EV's are pretty much the same as above set however replacing the attack with Sp.Attack instead
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
  • Air Cutter can be used in the last slot as flying STAB, however with Dark Pulse already there it is underpowered and not very good compared to Psychic and Shadow Ball.
  • If you wish, this set could be used with choice specs however this does make Honchkrow's speed again lackluster.
[SET]

name: Mixkrow
move 1: Sucker Punch/Hidden Power (Ground)/Substitute
move 2: Brave Bird/Hidden Power (Ground)
move 3: Superpower / Substitute
move 4: Heat Wave / Substitute
Item: Life Orb/ Focus Sash
Nature: A neutral nature or Naive (+Speed -Sp.Def)
Ability: Super Luck / Insomnia
Evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe




[SET COMMENTS]
  • Honchkrow makes a excellent mixed sweeper with high offensive stats.
  • Sucker Punch bypasses Honhkrow's relatively low speed to hit pokemon who plan on attacking.
  • Brave Bird is a 120 physical Flying move (180 after STAB) that has the ability to dispose of other OU threats such as Conkuldurr, Mienshao and other common threats in OU.
  • Superpower finishes Choice locked pokemon such as Hydregion, Tyranitar, Heatran, Empoleon and other pokémon that resists Dark and Flying type attacks. Of course Honchkrow should only be switching into spychic and ground moves used by these pokemon.
  • Heat Wave destories comon physical walls such as Skarmory and Ferrothorn who often wall entire teams. Scizor, Forretress, Jirachi and Metagross are also damaged greatly by the super effective damage.
  • Hidden Power ground can be used to deal a chunck of damage to electric and rock type pokemon that don't have a balloon.
  • Life Orb is used to for extra damage however the recoil will quickly wear down Honchkrow. While Focus sash assures that you get at least one attack off before dieing.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
  • Substitute can replace any move on this set. However I wouldn't take Brave Bird off for it and I'd deeply consider your strategy before puttting it on at all.
  • Use a neutral nature, such as Serious or Quirky, or Naive. This depends on how much you prioritise speed however bear in mind that honchkrow won't be surviving a big hit anytime soon.
  • Focus Sash becomes useless if there are stealth rocks up.
  • [TEAMMATES AND COUNTERS]
    • A rapid spinner is almost always a must. Despite being immune to spikes and toxic spikes stealth rocks will hurt. Fortress doesn't get hit Super Effectively by any of the moves that hit Honchkrow Super Effictively so in theory it is an effective partner.
    • Blissey/Chansey can also be used as both Ice and Electric (types that hit Honhkrow Super Effectively) type are most commonly special based.
    • Slowbro can switch into any on-dark move safely if your opponent knows Honchkrow is scarfed.
    • Same with Ferrothorn but it has to watch out for superpower. This is case for many other walls such as Jirachi and Tentacruel.
    • Honchkrow is a good wallbreaker so most teams that have one wall killed will generally have another wall that honchkrow can't handle well. An example of the is Jirachi and Gilscor. So, pokemon that can generally counter honchkrow will make good partners. Mamothswine and Rotom Frost are good example of this.
    • Most Honchkrow set are walled by Chansey it if she watches out for superpower. This is one of the reasons not to place substitute over superpower.
[ADDIONAL OPTIONS]

  • A perish song trapper. However Murkow does it better due to access to evolite.
  • Honchkrow as Access to Nasty Plot. It could be used in a Nasty Plot + Substitute + two attacks set.
  • Roost can keep Honchkrow alive for longer if you can find a oppotunity to use it. However, in this fast moving metagame, it would be hard to find a turn to actually pull it off.
  • Moxie is a good ability, but sadly it's iilegal with superpower and Heat Wave so it will rarely be used.
  • In the support department Honchkrow has access to: Thunder Wave, Taunt, Torment and Toxic among others. Giving it some interesting options.
 
On the second set, remove Shadow Ball, it hits pretty much exactly the same targets as Dark Pulse...
 
wilson46 said:
Honchkrow was rejected by QC many, many months ago.
Click to expand...

I believe my one is better. The previous one has no mention of a choice scarf which increases the speed of Honchkrow to above lackluster and mine goes into far more detail.

EDIT: Then I'll just wait for QC to reject it then.
 
Erm... Having a Choice Scarf doesn't make Honchkrow usable in OU. Being locked into a weak Superpower really sucks for any Pokemon, but Honchkrow doesn't have any redeeming traits going for him aside from Super Luck hax$. A weakness to SR makes ScarfKrow much harder to use because he doesn't have enough power to mow down bulkier Pokemon. I mean, is there really any reason to use Honchkrow over Staraptor in actual practice?? Heat Wave is nice and all, but superior bulk, Speed, abilities, STAB, and offensive options more than make up for that.

Also, it doesn't matter if your analysis is "better" or "goes into far more detail", if QC rejected a Pokemon, logically it was for a good reason. Unless something occurred with the Pokemon in question (event moves, major metagame changes, etc), it's not going to be viable anytime soon, by C&C standards.
 
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