I tried both Hawlucha sets and I think Sky Attack is utter garb, at least when making comparisons. It doesn't set up a easily or as safely as SubSD and I often found myself switching sets because of that. Having said that, SubSD Hawlucha is pretty incredible. While I don't think it's as broken as some people have been saying, in fact it seems narrowly OP, it is a little too much at the moment, however. The problem is the ease in which it sets up combined with how feasible it is to support. All of its most reliable checks tend to share the fact they're Dark weak, minus Unaware users that Hawlucha will pretty much always be helpless against. There's also the fact that Hawlucha has quite a bit of setup opportunity because of its defensive typing. I've noticed that not even Acrobatics Gligar is a solid counter since I was capable of beating one with Hawlucha as it switched into Swords Dance. I feel like the culmination of Hawlucha's exploitable checks + multitude of easy setup opportunities makes its job a little too easy. It's a shame too, it's just at the cusp of fitting into the tier imo, but it just needs one more really solid check that doesn't fit into the same mold as its other ones, and RU just doesn't have that (free Crobat).



Couple of things I want to mention outside of this: I don't think Hawlucha's brokenness has anything to do with Zoroark. Sure, it's easy to support it with Zoroark, but from using the combination, a couple of things stuck out. Some of Hawlucha's checks tend to be extremely solid and don't need to swap in right away (mainly Doublade), so it's very feasible for the Doublade user to scout for Zoroark before keeping it in. It's also really hard to sustain Illusion due to the fact that any prior damage on either of those two mons would give it away; it doesn't help either that Hawlucha actually wants to switch in and make use of its defensive typing to set up, so dedicating yourself to maintaining the ruse can sometimes be more trouble than it's worth. You can also produce similar results from supporting it with Zoroark that you can with just using Pursuit. Escavalier in particular is effective at scaring out or crippling a lot of Lucha's checks, but doesn't suddenly lose the ability to do so if it takes some prior damage. Zoroark does make a good partner, but it does require some effort to pull off and isn't particularly more consistent than one would think. The partner has to share exact hazard weaknesses or else any one of Spikes or Stealth Rock would give it away. Zoroark is incredible, but it seems clear to me that power creep caught up with it this gen because of how much more difficult it is to successfully pull off and maintain Illusion.



re Heracross: I really don't like it when people hyperbolize the effectiveness of any set other than Flame Orb. Choice Scarf sets do not "ravage" offensive teams. The two most prolific mons you find on offense, Doublade and Nidoqueen, are some of the most solid Scarf Heracross checks. Sure, it can be argued that Heracross can use its coverage moves to break through them, but the problem is that locking Heracross into Earthquake or Knock Off can be a terrible choice to make in an offense vs offense matchup. A lot of really dangerous Pokemon like Shell Smash Cloyster and DD Flygon can very easily setup on a Scarf Heracross locked into its coverage moves, and these are just some of the examples. Point being is that Choice Scarf Heracross's matchup vs offense isn't overbearing, so if you want to talk about what makes Heracross broken, which I don't think it is either way, you need to stick to discussing the Flame Orb set.



Now Flame Orb Heracross vs stall is a pretty tricky matchup, but a very doable one. The problem with Flame Orb Heracross is how vulnerable it is to residual damage, to the point where it has difficulty switching in on much of anything. Common stall mons like Umbreon and Registeel, which at first glance appear to be free switch-ins, can limit the amount of times Heracross can swap into them given how much residual damage it would have to sustain from taking a Foul Play or Seismic Toss. Combined with Stealth Rock and one turn of burn damage and Heracross will sustain a minimum of 53% damage just by trying to switch into Umbreon's Foul Play, and roughly 51% by trying to swap into Registeel's Seismic Toss. Point being is that just a single layer of hazards + one turn of burn damage + any attack can bring Heracross down to a considerably low level of health, and stall teams are best at using residual damage to bring down foes. In addition to this, there are Pokemon like Chesnaught capable of applying a lot of residual damage with Rocky Helmet + Spiky Shield, which can also take advantage of additional turns of burn damage. There are also several Pokemon that are capable of holding Heracross off on those teams, including Acrobatics Gligar, bulky Moltres with Speed, Counter Pyukumuku, Quagsire, and Comfey that can kill it, wear it down with Recover stall + Scald like Quagsire, or just force it out and make it take more residual damage. If that isn't sufficient, you can run something faster than 85 Speed, which is possible for stall. To put it simply, there's just far too many ways to play around Heracross to consider it broken imo.