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Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019)

Duration: 21:09

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Some of the Surprise Trades I have been doing are Pokémon that are not part of an evolution line, so this week, I will be trading Heracross. Back when Bug used to be the weakest type, Heracross stood out as the best Bug-type Pokémon back in the day of Gen 2, and it was the only Pokémon that could learn the move Megahorn.
When breeding, I go for 31 IVs in at least 4 or 5 stats, and these Heracross have a Jolly Nature, Adamant works as well, but Jolly is preferred so Heracross can outspeed certain Pokémon, some of them have Moxie, its Hidden Ability.
With Egg Moves, I went with Flail, Feint, Seismic Toss, and Night Slash, those were the best I could find for Heracross, it does also get Take Down, Double-Edge, and Harden. I will list which parents in the Bug Egg Group that can learn those moves.
Double-Edge: Venipede, Whirlipede, Scolipede, Karrablast, Escavalier, Larvesta, Volcarona
Feint: Flygon
Flail: Dwebble, Crustle, Karrablast, Escavalier
Harden: Metapod, Butterfree, Pinsir, Nincada, Ninjask
Night Slash: Skorupi, Drapion
Seismic Toss: Pinsir
Take Down: Venipede, Whirlipede, Scolipede, Karrablast, Escavalier, Larvesta, Volcarona

While those are nice Egg Moves, Night Slash on Heracross does stand out very well, and I went with Flail, Feint, and Seismic Toss, as I found them to be the best to go with when breeding Heracross.
It does get some nice level up moves, like Endure, Aerial Ace, Brick Break, Counter, Pin Missile, Throat Chop, Thrash, Swords Dance, Megahorn, and Close Combat.
For Heracross's TM and TR moves, starting with TMs, it can learn Rock Slide, Thief, Revenge, Bullet Seed, Rock Blast, Rock Tomb, Payback, Assurance, Shadow Claw, Bulldoze, Retaliate, Smart Strike, False Swipe, and Brutal Swing, and for TRs, it can learn Body Slam, Low Kick, Earthquake, Substitute, Reversal, Spikes, Iron Defense, Bulk Up, Stone Edge, High Horsepower, and a few other moves, and it can learn Coaching as a Tutor move.
With a high Attack stat and good Speed, Heracross stands out as an excellent Physical Attacker, well it was back in the day, but the power creep has affected Heracross, specially with other Bug/Fighting-type Pokémon like Buzzwole and Pheromosa which had better stats than Heracross. In Gen 6, Heracross got a Mega Evolution, and it had the second highest Attack stat at base 185, only beaten by Mega Mewtwo X, which had base 190 Attack, but it was at least higher than Kartana, Primal Groudon, Mega Rayquaza, and Attack Forme Deoxys in the top 5 highest Attack stat back in Gen 7.
The difference was that Mega Heracross had 10 points lower Speed than normal Heracross, and its Skill Link allowed it to always hit 5 times with moves like Pin Missile, Bullet Seed, and Rock Blast, and it can use Swords Dance to boost its Attack to terrifying levels, not even a Pokémon with Sturdy or a Focus Sash was safe from Mega Heracross.
With Mega Evolution no longer in Sword & Shield, Heracross is still a fearsome Pokémon, but with stronger threats, it can be tough to keep up in the newer generation. Moxie is the preferred Ability, and Heracross is a good user of the Choice Scarf so it can outspeed faster Pokémon, and for moves, Megahorn and Close Combat are powerful STAB moves, it can get Earthquake and Stone Edge for good coverage moves, and Aerial Ace is there for Max Airstream when Dynamaxed, and Bullet Seed is there to break through Sturdy or Focus Sash.
Guts is a viable Ability for Heracross, it can equip itself with a Flame Orb and use Swords Dance, and when burned, its Megahorn and Close Combat can really hurt unless you have something that can resist those moves.
While Heracross stands out more in Single Battles, in Double Battles, it is a decent Pokémon with the right support, Smart Strike is an option for the Defense boost from Max Steelspike, High Horsepower is an option for a single target Ground-type move, while Megahorn and Close Combat provide the STAB Heracross can make use of, and Rock Slide to hit both targets. Pheromosa and Buzzwole outclass Heracross, as they have the same type combo as it, Pheromosa has higher Speed, and Buzzwole has higher Attack, and as for other Bug-types, Durant was really popular back in the early days of Sword & Shield VGC because of Hustle, and there are some good Bug-type options in Double Battles, like Scizor, Volcarona, Araquanid, and a few others, and for Fighting-types, Heracross faces competition with Galarian Zapdos, Urshifu, Terrakion, Blaziken, Mienshao, Hitmontop, and a few others.
Heracross has proved how Bug-types are far from useless, and now with some really good Bug-type Pokémon, Heracross does have good competition with some of them. Megahorn was Heracross's signature move back in Gen 2, and it was the only Bug-type Pokémon to learn Megahorn until Gen 5 when Scolipede and Escavalier can learn it.

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