Pokemon of the Week: Haxorus

By: Noah Forker

Haxorus is a 4th gen attacking dragon type. Though its speed and defense lack in numbers, if it can take enough hits, it’ll deal some damage. There are many options for all who want to use this interesting dragon type, and though he’s fallen from grace with newer Pokémon becoming better and better, but it’s still fun to use.

The first recommended set is known as the “double dance” set. This set consist of haxorus using a lum berry as a hold item and running the following moves: dragon dance, sword dance, dragon claw/outrage and earthquake. The lum berry will restore any status conditions the Pokémon may receive. This covers confusion very nicely because after two to three turns, Haxorus will become confused due to the outrage. So, with the power of sword dance, which raises attack,and with haxorus already hard attack, it can deal a ton of damage and then heal its confusion and keep recking. It also lets you use dragon dance, which raises speed and attack, which would help Haxorus with its low speed stat.

The second set is the choice band set. The moves recommended for this set are outrage, earthquake, poison jab and dragon claw/sleep talk. The choice band is a special item that locks you into one move but raises your attack by 50 percent. This is a risky set. If you’re asleep and lock yourself into sleep talk and move that when you’re asleep, it lets you use a random move, and that might screw yourself over. However, if you lock into a move like poison jab, the opponent could switch into a steel type, and you’re done for because poison doesn’t affect steel types. It’s a very, very risky item, but worth it if you can predict the first turn.

The third set is the dragon dance set. The held items recommended for this set are the lum berry and the life orb. The moves recommended for this set are dragon dance, outrage/dragon claw, earthquake and taunt/poison jab. The moves you run really depend on the item you chose. The lum berry is an item that heals any status inflection, which would be good if you’re running outrage. The life orb takes 10 percent of your HP (hit points) every time you attack, but it raises your attack by 30 percent. If you’re planning to use dragon claw, then go life orb. If you’re planning for outrage, go lum berry. Not much more to it.

The final set is the sword dance set. This set requires you to use the move sword dance a bit to power up. The items for this set are the same as the dragon dance set. The moves are sword dance, outrage, earthquake and poision jab. The moves and items will be very well linked. The major difference between the dragon dance and the sword dance set is that dragon dance raises speed AND attack by one stage, while sword dance raises just attack by two stages. It is a very good trade off if you use him right.

These sets complement Haxorus very well, but if I had to chose, I’d personally run the double dance set because they’d both be very nice, but at the same time, life orb is a very good, though risky, item to use. Overall, it depends on what the trainer wants.