Honchkrow Hazard Stacking

[Gentlemenian]

Once Honchkrow dropped to RU I immediately knew that I had to make a team around it. After all it's a combination of a crow and the mafia. How could anyone resist making a team around it? Well apparently everyone in UU but that's besides the point. I instantly thought that the hazard stacking approach would be one of the more beneficial options as it would help Honchkrow get its initial kill and start the Moxie boosts. The problem is that my team building skills in standard play are pretty lacking. I've put a lot of thought into this team, trying to figure out which Pokémon are needed and which are just holding the team back but I just can't seem to find the 5 I need to make this team idea work with Honchkrow.

TEAM BUILDING PROCESS​

Like I said, Honchkrow is here because I'm really excited to use it. It has a sky high attack stat and some good coverage moves to boot.

I knew once I decided to make a team around Honchkrow that I wanted hazard stacking. That way Honchkrow can more easily get that first kill it needs to start those Moxie boosts. I decided to go with Bronzong as my rocker because I figured it could work as a decent switch in to some of the bigger threats in the tier like Tyrantrum or Mega Steelix (although the latter also walls Bronzong to an extent). And Accelgor was picked because I knew I wanted Spikes right away and Accelgor is a great lead option, being able to get up the Spikes and either knock itself out with Final Gambit or Encore the thing setting up rocks against it.

What's hazard stacking without a ghost-type? I had originally had Gourgeist-Super in this slot because I felt it would force more switches against Blastoise which at this point my team struggled to take down quickly. But after a few battles I realized that my team had no switchins to an offensive Venusaur. Bronzong would work okay as a switch in but the Hidden Power Fires start to rack up damage without reliable recovery. So I ditched Gourgeist and added Spiritomb as it resists Poison and can take special hits better than Gourgeist could.

Jolteon's here for Volt Switch primarily. Being able to get some big damage on something and then switch into Honchkrow afterward to either force the switch or get the Moxie boost sounded really appealing to me. Not to mention Jolteon gets Volt Absorb so if I'm really feeling an electric-type attack coming my way then Jolteon can come in and get healed.

I needed a spinner and Blastoise is and exceptional spinner. Sure it can be a bit of set up fodder and it does get forced out by Volt Switchers but its bulk and typing more than make up for it in my opinion. I've got Bronzong already who doesn't care about any grass moves that hurt Blastoise, and while Jolteon really isn't the most reliable switch in it can be semi-reliable if I need Blastoise to not get Thunderbolted.

THE SETS

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Sucker Punch
- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Not too much to say about this Honchkrow set really. Adamant Max Attack + Life Orb to hit as hard as possible without locking myself into a move. Moxie because that's scary to face. The 29 IVs in HP are just so I take 1 less damage from Life Orb recoil from attacks. Sucker Punch is there because Honchkrow isn't very fast so it needs the priority. Brave Bird's there for STAB. The last two moves were kind of difficult to decide on. I wanted Superpower, Pursuit and Heat Wave but I only had two slots left. I ultimately decided to drop Heat Wave for two reasons: 1 because while Honchkrow probably won't be taking a hit anyway due to all the Life Orb and Brave Bird recoil I didn't really want to lower one of my defenses just for a move that's probably just for Mega Steelix, which leads me to the other reason. If I keep my hazards up on my opponents side of the field then Superpower is still a guaranteed 2HKO on Mega Steelix even after the attack drop. On top of that Heat Wave wouldn't be a 2HKO on Registeel while Superpower is. The only Pokémon in the tier that I feel Heat Wave would be more beneficial for is Escavalier but I feel that in the end it's worth it to have Superpower and Pursuit, just so I'm able to get a surprise kill on the switch and get a free Moxie boost.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Reflect

Bronzong's main role is to set up rocks and make Tyrantrum switch out for more hazards damage. Gyro Ball and Earthquake as the attacking moves because one's STAB and the other's for steel-types. Reflect is kind of just there as a filler move. I considered Toxic but at this point I already put it on Blastoise and I didn't want another Toxic user. I also considered Psyshock to hit Virizion but Gyro Ball only does about 3% less and I wanted something a bit more utility.

Accelgor @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Final Gambit
- Bug Buzz
- Encore

I needed hazards to stack and what better Pokémon to stack them than Accelgor? Qwilfish? Well... maybe. But I wanted Spikes right away, and while Qwilfish has the advantage of being able to live past the first couple turns of the battle Accelgor makes sure the Spikes get up right away. All I have to do is make sure they stay up after it faints. Not to mention Accelgor can shut down Stealth Rock leads with Encore and once the Spikes have been set I can Final Gambit against a Rapid Spinner and stop their spin.

Spiritomb @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Dark Pulse
- Pain Split
- Calm Mind

A Ghost-type is pretty much necessary on any decent hazard stacking in order to more easily stop any of those Rapid Spinners from doing their jobs and that's basically the long and short of why I wanted Spiritomb. The moveset is kind of... well admittedly I've never used Spiritomb in standard play and coming up with a moveset was difficult. I kinda feel like with this moveset I'm trying to make Spiritomb be two different sets which I don't necessarily like. Like I said earlier I had originally put Gourgeist-Super on here which while I liked it I really wanted a better switchin to Venusaur and I couldn't think of anything else to get rid of.

Jolteon @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / SpD 4 / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Momentum is a very nice thing to have, and sure U-turn is a more reliable form of momentum but I needed a Pokémon that doesn't get walled by Alomomola. Or any of the other water-types for that matter. One of the more difficult decisions when making this Jolteon was whether to go with Hidden Power Grass for the likes of Seismitoad or Hidden Power Ice for the likes of Flygon. In the end I decided to go with Ice. While Jolteon's initial purpose aside from momentum was killing the bulky water-types I realized that while I have a ghost for the Rapid Spinners I really didn't have much for the Defoggers, and while the Electric coverage is great for Golbat and Togetic it doesn't really do the trick against Flygon and I don't want anything to get rid of my hazards if I can help it.

Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Refresh
- Scald
- Toxic

Blastoise is here to make sure that the hazards on my side of the field don't stay for long. Really this Blastoise is about as standard as Blastoise come, I guess. Rapid Spin to get rid of hazards, Refresh to heal itself, Scald because 30% of the time it burns every time, and Toxic for the stuff I can't burn or opposing walls.

THREATLIST
​

Really just Fire-type moves in general barring once Blastoise goes. It was actually the fact that a Typhlosion basically swept this team that really made me realize that this team needed some serious work.

Venusaur is kind of the bane of this team's existance. Particularly when they carry Hidden Power Fire.

The trick sets are particularly problematic as my only safe switchin is Bronzong and once it's given a Choice item then it's basically either death fodder or setup fodder for something.

CONCLUSION
​

I honestly feel like the idea for this team is pretty solid but for the life of me I can't seem to find the right Pokémon to make the idea a reality. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to help me with this team!

 

[Drangonn.]

Hi there!

First off, Honchkrow hazard-stack is a really neat idea, and your team definitely looks like it has potential to get better.

I'd recommend that you change your current Spiritomb set to a Pursuit set. This helps you better deal with Life Orb Delphox, a very large threat to this team at +1 if you lose the 50/50 with Honchkrow, which is the crux of your team and shouldn't be your main switch-in. Venusaur is already checked very well by Bronzong, so CM Spiritomb (which isn't really a check anyway) isn't needed, and Pursuit can be run.

I'd also say that even though Accelgor has unique advantages, Defensive Qwilfish over Accelgor is an advantageous choice for your team. Acting as a check to fighting and fire-types so as to alleviate the pressure on Spiritomb and Blastoise. THunder Wave also slows down said Fire-types, so that Honchkrow or another member of the team can come in and attack. Your team also suffers at the hands of Absol, which Qwilfish soft checks.

Lastly, I'd recommend Mega Camerupt over Bronzong. As you mentioned, This team has issues with Fire-types, and Bronzong is essentially fodder for them to come out and cause nightmares for your team. Between Blastoise and Jolteon taking on things like Jellicent and Seismitoad, this team takes on Water-types rather well, and your team, as it stands, gets absolutely wrecked by Electric-types, which Mega Camerupt checks to an extent.

Sets

Camerupt-Mega @ Cameruptite
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp

Spiritomb @ Black Glasses
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp

Qwilfish @ Black Sludge
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Scald
- Thunder Wave

I think I covered everything, but be sure to test this team, as things come a lot differently in practice than they do on paper.

Hope this helped!

EDIT: Also, you should change the last slot on Bronzong to Stealth Rock, so you can get residual damage on almost every mon in the metagame.

 

[Ramy]

Hey there, great team and very unique! I like the use of honchkrow in the team as it gives the team a threatning powerhouse and its one of the newer mons thats dropped to ru, so props to you! There are a couple of changes i recommend so your team isnt weak to some big threats.

Some major threats to this team are Venusaur, Virizion, Sneasel, and the previously stated fire pokemon. Lets fix that issue shall we.

Major Changes:

- >

The team has a scary approach towards Virizion and like you said, Venusaur. This comes to my first change with Garbodor - > Accelgor. Garbodor provides a bulky wall on your team that can switch into the attacks made by Virizion and Venusaur AND can provide good form of hazards via spikes and toxic spikes. It also has its use with an incredible bulky typing and a handy ability in aftermath which does damage to the user after being killed by a contact move. Garbodor provides a much good role in hazard stacking while also being a handy check to pokemon that threaten your team. The set i would use is a defensive spiker set with Gunk Shot/Seed Bomb/Spikes/Drain punch with a spread of 252 hp / 180+ def / 76 spdef. Gunk shot is your main stab, Seed bomb is supported by hitting pokemon like rhyperior and seismatoad which can threaten Garbodor, Drain punch for squeezing in small damage against steel types like registeel and Mega Steelix, and spikes is there for hazard stack. The evs give Garbodor the bulk it needs with 76 spdef being able to live 3 leaf storms from venusaur and help support it more against special attacks.

- >

In order to help with your fire weakness while also focusing on checking Tyrantrum, the second change i propose is Rhyperior - > Bronzong. With dark types being more common than ever and with a shared weakness of ghost, dark, and fire, Bronzong honestly acts as a liability on your team. Rhyperior introduces itself to act as a rocker and negate that weakness on the team with its rock/ground typing and solid ability in the form of solid rock, which reduces super effective moves by 25%. With an outstanding hp and defense stat and being able to check some feared sweeps that threaten the team like sd drapion and sub bulk braviary. The set i would use is Stealth rock/Earthquake/Rock Blast/Ice Punch with a spread of 252 HP / 28 Attack / 220 Special Defense / 8 Speed. Stealth rock is your main hazard setter, Earthquake is the best ground stab for rhyperior hitting hard as possible, rock blast is used over stone edge for its capability of breaking sash and sub pokemon like the previously stated sub braviary, and Ice punch allows Rhyperior to hit flygon and grass types when they switch in . 28 Attack evs gurantee an OHKO on drapion, 252 hp and 220 spd are there to maximize bulk and give it as much spd as possible, while 8 speed is my own special thing to speed creep the steelix sets that wanna speed creep rhyperior, so it acts as a surprise.


Minor Changes:

For Spiritomb, i dont really like the pain split and calm mind set as its unreliable and doesnt provide good stability. I would use the staple pursuit set of Pursuit/Sucker punch/Taunt/Will-O-Wisp. This set provides a good switch in opportunity for threatening pokemon like medicham, hoopa, and sigilyph which can be really scary. Taunt is also nice for breaking walls that can annoy you like wish mola and hazard setters

Optional:

You could opt to switch Honchkrow's Pursuit - > Steel wing since diancie is a big check to krow, this helps it lure it in with steel wing and kos it back. This can also help against checks against krow like rhyperior. You can choose to do this if you go along with switching the spiritombs set, though its not necessary.

Changes

Major Changes:

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb

Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 220 SpD / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Ice Punch

Minor Changes:

Spiritomb @ Black Glasses
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp

Optional Changes:

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Sucker Punch
- Steel Wing
- Superpower

Hope you enjoy these changes, good luck with the team!!

 

[all falls down]

threats:

[

] dark types

[minor threat, baited in by Bronzong and Jolteon]

Interesting team! It's always hard to build bulky hazard stacking teams like this in RU because the spikes users in the tier are quite frail and since HO struggles quite a bit in RU you're forced to tack on bulky momentum-killing Stealth Rock users that are prone to being used as bait for Defog or Rapid Spin. I think that the addition of Honchkrow makes these types of teams pretty cool since really what's going to switch in on a Life Orb Honchkrow with hazards up? I do think your team has a good concept, but I have some suggestions that I think will make the team more consistent overall. In particular, your team is very weak to Dark types, and this is really dangerous because they are all over the tier: Absol, Drapion, and Sneasel in particular do a lot of work against this team since your only 'switch in' to them is Blastoise which gets worn down really easily and takes a lot of damage from Knock Off. In addition to this, you're weak to Fire type Pokemon like you mention.

• 
  >
  
  Poliwrath saw a big drop in usage because some things that it checked like Sharpedo and Durant got banned, but it still fits perfectly on specific team archetypes like this, a hazard stacking team weak to Dark types. RestTalk Circle Throw Poliwrath > Blastoise works beautifully here, as it hard checks and perhaps even counters four huge threats to your team in Houndoom, Sneasel, Absol and Drapion along with having the hazard support it loves to have with Circle Throw. It lets you gradually weaken the other team with hazards and paves the way for a Honchkrow or Jolteon sweep. Losing Blastoise means you miss out on hazard removal, but to be honest this isn't really much of an issue since while you have 2 Stealth Rock weak Pokemon, Honchkrow is likely only going to get one opportunity to switch in and attack anyways, and Accelgor is probably going to be your lead.
  
• 
  Reflect is not the best idea on Bronzong, especially not your Bronzong set, as it just ends up stalling out its own Reflect turns and it really wants the moveslot for something else. Toxic over Reflect is much more useful here since Bronzong is essentially a sitting duck without Toxic due to its poor offensive stats, and the tier's premier Defog user Flygon would otherwise be able to switch in with impunity to Defog away hazards. (Though I'm mainly talking about LO Flygon, even Defensive Flygon wins 1v1 vs Bronzong without Toxic iirc -- it can't touch Bronzong, but Bronzong can't do anything aside from wasting all of its Gyro Ball PP). Toxic also gives you another way to beat Fletchinder, which is useful with the removal of Blastoise.
• 
  CM Spiritomb is in all honesty a very mediocre set that only fits on certain hard stalls or semi-stalls. Standard Pursuit Spiritomb works much better on this kind of team since it lets you check annoying Psychic Pokemon that happen to be baited in by what was then Blastoise and what is now Poliwrath. Although it's not the best way to deal with things like Hoopa and Delphox, I think that it is sufficient when combined with Pursuit on Honchkrow.
• 
  If you find Hoopa to be too big of an issue, consider using Jolly over Adamant as it lets Honchkrow outspeed and OHKO Hoopa with 40 BP Pursuit, getting rid of it for the rest of your team. Adamant also works though, as you have Spiritomb to somewhat deal with Hoopa and the power is appreciated.

That's all I have, good luck!

sets

Poliwrath @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Circle Throw
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Spiritomb @ Black Glasses
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Foul Play
- Will-O-Wisp

Toxic > Reflect on Bronzong
(potentially) Jolly on Honchkrow

 

[Chakra]

Hey nice team, I agree with most of the changes made by all falls down and chompers (changing spiritomb to a pursuit trapper, changing accelgor to garbodor, and running jolly on honch for the reasons they listed above) however I have a few different suggestions to add to improve your team!

I agree with choompers change to garbodor > accelgor as it has more longetivity as a spike checker than accelgor while presenting multiple soft checks to fighting mons and venusaur (a major threat in your team). However, I would run black sludge > rocky helmet as this will function as your primary venusaur check and also a nice switch into leaf storms from rotom-mow. Due to this longetivity promoted through passive recovery is preferred more than damaging physical mons with rocky helmet as you will need definitely need this mon throughout the course of the game.

Next, due to your team possessing a definite weakness to dark types and in general knock off spam I would suggest a change of bronzong to diancie. Diancie can check dark type Pokemon while also being able to serve as a soft check to very threatening mons like honchkrow, in which case you can pivot to blastoise or jolteon on the possible steel wing. Diancie also possesses a decent match up against mons like Hoopa and Sigilyph which also threaten your team, because of its spdef nature and dual stab. I would run a heal bell spdef set with stealth rocks, as these are lacking in your team without bronzong and are needed in every team to gradually weaken the opponents team along with spike stack. A stab combination of moonblast and diamond storm would really help in picking off dark type and flying threats that are mainly the source of mons that pressure this team.

Due to running heal bell on Diancie, I would support protect > refresh on Blastoise to support being able to rack up toxic damage on opponents or gradual passive recover from leftovers as this is very important without other possibility of recovery. This also successfully allows you to scout for moves your opponent (i.e. if your opponent is a choice locked rotom-mow and goes for volt switch over leaf storm you can go to jolteon instead of a mon like garbodor) will go for. Other benefits of protect including HJK damage to mons like hitmonlee which can pressure your team or even medicham.

Finally, the last change I will recommend on your team is to Jolteon. I believe that running zap plate over life orb on jolteon would benefit you as it allows you to pretend to have a choiced item, gives boosted power to your electric moves without being forced to be locked into them, and also greatly promoted longetivity. This mon is essential because it may be needed for cleaning weakened mons after checks like mega steelix are removed in which case it becomes a huge threat. An example of zap plate benefiting over HP ice would be thunderbolting a weakened venusaur, with your opponent under the impression you are choice locked and then going for the hp ice to finish it off instead of him switching into Mega steelix.

changed sets/mons

Garbodor @ Black Sludge
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb
Same spread as chompers, although I would prefer a black sludge variant due to reasons listed above.

Diancie @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Heal Bell

Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Scald
- Toxic
- Rapid Spin

Jolteon @ Zap Plate
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Signal Beam

again: agree with all falls down changes to jolly honch and pursuit trapping spiritomb for the reasons he listed above (he already provided the sets)

Nice team, and hope I helped with the rate!

 

[Gentlemenian]

Thank you all for your responses! I'm glad to see that other people like the idea behind my team! I've been able to go through and try most of your suggestions (unfortunately at the time I'm writing this my laptop is 3 stories below me and I can't try Chakra's suggestions just yet). Here are the changes that I've made this far:

HONCHKROW

After reading the suggestions on Honchkrow I decided thatI agree with you guys when you say it should be Jolly. I have lost out on a couple of potential KOs but the extra speed has stopped an opposing sweep or 2 which in the end I think is definitely worth the loss of power. I saw that Chompers suggested potentially dropping Pursuit in favor of Steel Wing, which I've been toying with a bit but haven't made a full on decision on which I prefer yet. I do enjoy Pursuit to get a surprise KO on Hoopa going for Sub but now that (SPOILERS) I dropped Bronzong Diancie is something that isn't as easy to switch into as I used to be.

BRONZONG

Yeah in hindsight I guess Bronzong really didn't do too much after setting up the rocks and let the fire-types sweep. But now the team has Rhyperior! Sure I'm replacing my Venusaur switchin to something x4 weak to grass but the difference is that Rhyperior can actually do stuff after the rocks are up! The only thing about the set that was presented that I changed was I ditched Ice Punch in favor of Avalanche. I've used Rhyperior in the past and I've experimented with the two moves and 9/10 Rhyperior is going to take some damage before attacking, so I decided to use the move that powers up when that happens. The only reason that I'm considering going back to Ice Punch, and granted this is a pretty big reason, is for the extra power on the predicted switchin from Ice weak Pokémon. I saw other suggestions, one of which was change it to Mega Camerupt from Drangonn but I decided to go with Rhyperior because I figured that since Honchkrow is the new Pokémon in the tier I'd like something that switches into it better. I also saw the recommendation to change Bronzong to Diancie from Chakra which I've yet to try but the idea does sound nice.

ACCELGOR

As cool and reliable Accelgor can be I can definitely say that swapping it for a more defensive option has made switching stuff in a lot easier. I saw that Drangonn recommend Qwilfish but with Rhyperior being my main electric switchin I decided to go against it because if they're carrying Hidden Power Grass (or Water for that matter) then I've just got another Pokémon weak to Thunderbolt. Then I saw that Chompers suggested Garbodor, a Pokémon I hadn't considered prior because I'm bad at remembering that the lower tier Pokémon can still be usable in a higher tier. And Garbodor has yet to disappoint. Having this switchin to Venusaur has been great, although I have been considering changing the Rocky Helmet to Black Sludge because after hazards and a few switchins Garbodor gets pretty worn down.

SPIRITOMB

As per many recommendation, Spiritomb has been changed to the standard Black Glasses offensive set. It's working a lot better than the Calm Mind one I had before. Foul Play has been proving nice against stuff like Absol and other set up Pokémon and I enjoy having another priority user (despite Sucker Punch not being the most reliable priority). But the thing I love the most is Infiltrator! Now I don't have to care about any Substitutes and Spiritomb isn't really setup fodder anymore!

JOLTEON

You guys really seemed to like the way Jolteon is currently so I haven't changed it. I saw that Chakra suggested Magnet over Life Orb (he said Zap Plate but Magnet does the same thing and it's cooler), which I'm considering but the problem with changing it is that Inlose the guaranteed OHKO on Flygon with Hidden Power Ice without the Life Orb. Although after Stealth Rock it's very much in my favor come to think of it. I'll be sure to try it out more tomorrow.

BLASTOISE

Blastoise has also stayed the same. I saw the suggestion for a phasing Poliwrath, which I really liked due to hazard damage and because Poliwrath is just really really cool, but then I lose my spinner. And on a team where I want Honchkrow to sweep then Stealth Rock damage needs to be a non issue due to Brave Bird and Life Orb recoil.

I'm sorry I haven't gotten the chance to do everything you guys have suggested but I really just wanted to thank you guys before I went to bed tonight. I'll be sure to try and test the rest of what you guys suggested when I find the time tomorrow!