How GOOD was Haxorus ACTUALLY? - History of Haxorus in Competitive Pokemon (Gens 5-7)

[Music] next up we have Haxorus this terrifying dragon first showed its battle ax tusks in the 5th generation and was the signature pokemon of the equally imposing drayton anyone who's seen Pokemon generations will remember his Haxorus as mighty dragon tail pummeling Team Plasma today we'll be examining of Haxorus as competitive presence inspired similar fears in trainers so we ask how good was Haxorus actually and in this video we'll be going over these competitive formats in generation 4 Dragons became the most feared force in the meta game with the dominance of Garchomp Salomon's and latias thus it's no surprise that on day one of black and white everyone was instantly terrified of Haxorus whose stats made those other dragons look like uu Pokemon 147 attack was absolutely astronomical and on top of that it got both dragon dance and Swords Dance it could even run both on the same set and boost according to the situation since it only really needed outrage and earthquake the good qualities didn't end there either a had mold breaker meaning it bypassed bronze songs levitate which was huge given that bronze song was one of only two Pokemon to resist dragon and ground the other was Skarmory and wouldn't you know it Haxorus got caught preventing Skarmory from whirlwind thing or roosting against it meaning the bird would collapse in the face of repeated boosted outrageous as such predictions that Haxorus would quickly be banned were everywhere how could oh you possibly stand up to it well as it turned out a couple of ways no one would claim that Haxorus had any true counters in the traditional sense but it turned out that Ferrothorn was a really good check plus one earthquake didn't to hit kale plus two didn't to hate kale if Ferrothorn landed a leech seed and gyro ball hit Haxorus quite hard since Ferrothorn was incredibly common this meant Haxorus was naturally checked in most games the other problem was that Haxorus is speed while perfectly decent paled in comparison to the rest of the offensive meta game this meant that it wasn't as consistent as it had liked in finding opportunity to scare things out for a setup it was tough when monsters like latias Taraki on and Garchomp were ever that speed tear also meant that even after a dragon dance it was out sped by just about every common choice garver such as Landorus incarnate as well as the after mentioned Garchomp enter a key on the prominence of powerful priority didn't help either scissors bullet punch and Dragon Knights extreme speed often halted a Haxorus sweep Haxorus was definitely threatening and it absolutely murdered stall especially since mold breaker ignored quakes tires unaware but it wasn't too great against the overall meta game that is not at first anyway once the choice band set was discovered Haxorus realized its full devastating potential no longer didn't need to hang back and wait for that perfect opportunity to set up which might very well never come and likely would be halted anyway now it could jump in and immediately dish out devastating damage slamming just about the entire meddigan it wouldn't sweep but it wasn't trying to it was trying to break huge holes in the opponent's defenses for his teammates to exploit and it did that extraordinarily well but wait you might think what about Ferrothorn and skarmory well that's where Magnezone came in Magnezone would easily remove both letting Haxorus outrage with impunity this combination was most prominent and effective in conjunction with other dragons this became known as the drag bag strategy where Magnezone would remove those two toughest steals and the Dragons led by Haxorus would then destroy everything in sight with Mamoswine also making an appearance to easily check opposing dragons drag mag quickly became one of the scariest most defining styles of black and white when black and white 2 came around Haxorus seemed poised to become even more of a threat having gained super power which would crush Ferrothorn and even put a serious charge into Skarmory however soon afterwards the worst possible thing that could have happened happened Karam black was unbent a pokemon which completely out Haxorus Haxorus it's 170 attack was absolutely staggering and while it lacks super power or even earthquake for Ferrothorn it's outrage was so powerful that it always three hit Kayode Ferrothorn and usually two hit KO Jirachi which even Haxorus couldn't accomplish Karen black also had fusion bolt to potentially devastates Carberry and even had a mold breaker clone and terrible while it wasn't going to be earth-quaking any levitate errs it did completely deny suicide lead Skarmory from dining up any hazards and was able to span the move against rain since it wouldn't be blocked by thunder historians vault absorb finally despite its additional weaknesses Karen black had absolutely huge bulk and was even neutral to ice to boot Karen black completely stole hacks versus roll-on drag mag and unfortunately our axe dragon friend wasn't really seen since it didn't help that cure and black could also effectively function on non drag mang teams with its mix set it was just a better pokemon overall sad as it was Haxorus at least bore the distinction of jump-starting the style which the trend hopping black Urim later appropriated anyone who remembers black and white one will remember the skull-crushing power of Haxorus Haxorus as monstrous attacks that is still just as formidable in doubles as in singles and with the prevalence of levitating washing machines and other appliances in VGC you'd think mold breaker earthquake would be a huge boon however Haxorus is subject to the same walls and double battles those meddling defenses and the curse of being a single speed points lower than high dragon mean that Haxorus struggles to put its overwhelming force to good use its problems are only compounded by the fact that outrage the dose of energy that pushes hex versus while breaking to the truly absurd is notoriously unreliable and doubles as it targets a random enemy and you'd best hope that it's one Haxorus wants to hit once more dragon dance one of the keys for Haxorus to potentially get something done in singles is far less usable in doubles while Haxorus may be a pokemon you think of as lacking in offensive power it actually suffers from a lack of hard-hitting moves in VGC without Rage being such a fickle mistress it's limited to dual chop or dragon claw for a reliable step and while dual chop is a viable choice in doubles with the ability to potentially break focus ash consume the incredibly rare hub on berry or even the gate substitute strategies it still has a 10% missed chance and eighty base power is not taking anybody's breath away here's where hack stress is limited loophole comes into play it's other best moves where rockslide and earthquake both incredible moves and doubles for their spread properties sure but you have to consider that spread moves only do 75% damage if they hit two opponents meaning the base power wasn't quite up to snuff with singles I'm not saying Haxorus didn't hit hard the thing has 147 attacks for pete's sake but it's still a mark step down from singles and power is all Haxorus had add in the fact that VG seats eleven taxes first foray into doubles had near-universal Intimidator scrap D or krookodile usage and you've got a hard setting for Haxorus to put those blades to work but work it did and in the end all that was required was stoking the flames of the machismo that defined Haxorus anyways seriously this pokemon is the favorite of muscle Bros everywhere what allowed Haxorus to thrive in 2011 wasn't mold breaker which is still an incredible ability in its own right but rather it's other less prominent ability rivalry rivalry is an ability that boosts attacked by 25% if the opponent is of the same gender while 2011 introduced many Pokemon that would be staples of the VGC meta game for years to come perhaps none were more influential in the first sighting of the genies thunderous and tornados al-bayt without their third sibling well I say sibling but more specifically their brother all three genies are gender locks to be male so do you see where I'm going with this against the genies Haxorus was guaranteed an attack boost that could supplement the low base power moves and intimidates it had to deal with making it an extremely threatening powerhouse in the right situation if your opponent had other male Pokemon all the better put all the boys on an island and let them figure it out Lord of the Flies style now this text certainly wasn't the metaphor 2011 but it was the Europeans who developed it for the biggest tournament of the season if you're gonna bring out your secret tech what other place then world's Haxorus actually had an extremely respectable three top eight finishes at Worlds one at the hands of Spaniard Albert vos Puig who used Lum berry Haxorus and - via the Italian duel of franceska / Dini and Matteo genie who both views the same team with choice carp actress alongside crook eval scrap D both genies and another niche pic and electrons the electrons was a fun pick while it would be torn to shreds by its allied hacks versus earthquakes if they were running the usual mode breaker rivalry actually ensured it could happily levitate over the commotion there Haxorus also packed a dual shop rockslide and outrage a good option for cleaning up games at the end if necessary even with its unreliable nature Albert and Matteo actually played in the first round of Swiss with Albert beam victorious Albert would go on to finish eighth Francesco finished 7th and Matteo ended up going all the way to the finals before being stumped by Rey Rizal enroute to his second consecutive World Finals side his trademark bulky thunderous so bulky in fact that it was able to handle Haxorus with ease what's more ray actually scouted the strategy out beforehand and ensured the entire rest of his team other than thunderous was female striking the unfortunate Achilles heel of rivalry while it does boost moves against Pokemon of the same gender it has the exact inverse effect against Pokemon of the opposite gender meaning what was a neat piece of tech was suddenly a 25% power decrease for Haxorus almost the entire battle nevertheless the advent of rivalry Haxorus was a beautiful usage of an underappreciated ability but considering even Rae was able to figure it out in the course of one tournament it's no surprise that it fell out of usage in the later years of 2013 that also comes with the fact that 2012 reintroduced latias and Garchomp and brought hi dragon back into the four who are all dragon types who could easily out speed and dispatch Haxorus bringing its old ills back to life the only other mention of his usage in Gen 5 VGC comes in 2013 when a person named Dallas B was able to make top 8 with it at Utah regionals the dragon immune fairy types meant that generation 6 was going to be an entirely different ballgame from day one no longer could Haxorus get by with the sheer power of its outrage that lacerated even resistant steel types it will now have to incorporate some guile into its game oh you was too fast and strong and full of fairies for it plus carom blacks so existent and even had a strong secondary stab for fairies as if it didn't have enough advantages over Haxorus already as a result Haxorus dropped to you you it seems ludicrous that's such an obscenely powerful Pokemon would reside below oh you especially since it was a lot more well-rounded than the thoroughly unbalanced rampardos but truth is stranger than fiction anyway Haxorus is main set in you you was the dragon dancer its lack of a reliance on a fourth move besides dragon dance outrage an earthquake meant it could easily slot an anti-fairy move in the last line poison jab was perfectly accurate but some players prefered to risk iron tails mischance for the potentially crucial extra muscle that could be the difference between KO and sylveon and sweeping a team and coming up short of Kaling anything at all poison jab still did a lot of damage to sylveon and was better against the quad weak whimsicott so it was generally the preferred choice if Haxorus had been forced to lock into outrage prior then it would do no damage against the ferry but that would also mean it already had gotten a KO so it wasn't all bad it could also run it sold double dance set of course and choice ban was still an option but man was it prediction heavy which isn't a trait you want from a Pokemon that's supposed to dish out heavy damage it could either break a huge hole in the other team or do a whopping zero percent to the ferry type or unimpressive damage to a non ferry type with its anti ferry move as such most players preferred the setup variants who were a lot more consistent in dishing out damage since they were able to play in a mostly straightforward fashion while those could still be on the inconsistent side thanks to hacks versus inherent struggles with more offensive teams they were still threatening enough since Haxorus could take one hit from Pokemon like mega Aerodactyl and mega Swampert even with stealth rock up and threaten at least one ko it would rarely sweep given how common choice scarf hi dragon was but the damage would be done plus its main job was absolutely throttling stalls which were often very difficult to break for most uu teams and thus this ensured that Haxorus always had some sort of niche Haxorus was flawed but it managed to adapt and carve out a genuine place for itself in the gen 6 underused meta game Haxorus is one other VGC accolade came in the Twilight of 2014 when it was utilized in a way maybe even more creative than in 2011 Haxorus isn't even the most surprising part of Jeremy Rodriguez 16th place Philadelphia regionals team it also featured the rare greninja alongside at starter companion mega venusaur and it was those two Pokemon that formed the core of Jeremy strategy as starter Pokemon Venusaur and greninja are some of the only Pokemon in the game with access to their respective pledged moves Grass pledge and water pledge if you didn't know pledge moves combined together to create additional effects in the case of blue and green you create a swap on the other side of the field that lowers all opposing Pokemon speed by 50% now can you think of a Pokemon that really appreciates a bit of powerful speed control with the swamp in place Jeremy sought out the two hardest hitting special and physical attackers in the game like literally he saw Chandler and Haxorus and slapped them on with the opponent Speed Lord Jeremy's life orb Haxorus was freed to run rampant using the usual trio of attacking types in Dragon Claw rockslide and earthquake to threaten the opponent because the swamp made such an immediate offensive threat Jeremy opted for dragon dance overprotect in last slot in case he could find a setup opportunity giving him a potential wind condition on a correct read and potentially extending Haxorus his utility past the three turns the swamp blasted his unique team was able to provide a signature send-off to VGC 2014 and to the end of Haxorus his limited run to VGC as it faded into obscurity again immediately after if you thought Haxorus was strong before it was nothing compared to its dragon and Swords Dance boosted Z moves it's devastating Drake was not only pure carnage and let Haxorus avoid immediately locking itself into outrage which also meant it was even harder to deal with because it could potentially crush two things before the ferry type was able to safely pick it off of course there was a prediction element to using the Z if a fairy type switched in as it used it it wouldn't do anything but if used carefully Haxorus would melt even something as ridiculously bulky as hippo Don in one shot of course Haxorus didn't even need to use Z moves to be dangerous Lum berry was still an excellent choice letting it threaten more by virtue of being able to set up while not being afraid of otherwise debilitating status either way it was still going to demolish stall which was a niche more crucial than ever before as the place that dominated the meta game so it didn't matter that against offense sweeps would be halted by scarf high dragon once again as well as Sizzlers bullet punch and Mamoswine zeiss sharp its other teammates were supposed to pick up the slack against faster teams plus none of those Pokemon exactly relished the prospect of switching in meaning Haxorus could get a meaningful one for one which was actually quite good given that its main role was to shore up the stall nacho axis was pretty much identical to its role in the previous generations uu it specialized in destroying stall which was hugely important given the Styles power and dominance and was often able to get a KO before becoming death fodder against offense there was only one real difference but it was a notable one Z moves made it even more of a nuke and being able to bypass the outrage Locke made it even tougher to play around they also made the choice band set pretty much obsolete since they offered an immediate power boost without a severe drawback and with a greater upside overall Haxorus did its thing once more and it did it well it wasn't quite a defining uu pokemon but it was absolutely an important one and that's it so how good was Haxorus actually well it almost single-handedly redefined the power of oh you and its debut generation and was the icon of one of the scariest team styles around in drag mag before being upstaged by the upstart cheer in black the onslaught of fairy types meant Haxorus dropped to you in the subsequent two generations but it managed to be a legitimate threat nonetheless specializing in mercilessly crushing the stall team that dominated those tears it wasn't much of a VGC pokemon but its power did lend itself to a bit of use especially in Gen 5 generation 8 you you will like overall Haxorus has been ferocious and then some thanks for watching everyone and as always if you liked the video and you want to see more be sure to subscribe to fall swag gaming from our weekly Pokemon content and in the comments I want to know what do you think about competitive Haxorus what would you give it to make it oh you or do you think it's fine the way it is whatever it is let me know in the comments also thank you so much to our patrons for continued support of our videos and thank you to everyone else watching as well and follow my crew on these social media platforms and that's all I got see you next time everyone [Music]

Channel: False Swipe Gaming

Views: 714,885

Keywords: Pokemon, Haxorus, Axew, Fraxure, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Black, White, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Pokemon Sword, Pokemon Shield, Competitive Pokemon, Smogon, VGC, False Swipe Gaming

Id: VCldHosEuLE

Length: 16min 44sec (1004 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 08 2020