Heracross - Moveset & Best Build for Ranked Battle

Heracross Movesets in Other Games
SV	SWSH

This is a strategy guide for using Heracross in competitive play for the games Pokemon Sword and Shield. Read on for tips on the best Nature, EV spreads, Movesets, and Held Items to use with Heracross, as well as its strengths and weak points.

Heracross - Related Guides
Evolution and Learnset	Build for Ranked Battle

Basic Information for Heracross

Types and Abilities

Pokemon	Type 1	Type 2
Heracross
Abilities
Swarm	Powers up Bug-type moves in a pinch.
Guts	Boosts Attack if there is a status problem.
Moxie (Hidden)	Boosts Attack after knocking out any Pokemon.

Heracross Weaknesses and Resistances

	Type
Takes 4x damage
Takes 2x damage
Takes 0.5x damage
Takes 1/4x damage	-
Takes 0x damage	-

What is Type Effectiveness?

Base Stats

Best Nature for Heracross

Singles Movesets for Heracross

Swords Dance Guts Attacker Moveset & Best Build

Heracross is a powerful sweeper that can boost its offensive capabilities with Swords Dance. Few Pokemon can safely switch into it once it's accumulated the right boosts!

About Heracross' Moves

Close Combat and Megahorn are its main STAB moves - both are high-powered moves that can severely dent even Pokemon that are resistant to it! Swords Dance raises Heracross' attack by 2 stages, enhancing its already powerful moves and turning it into a formidable wallbreaker.

It's last move is Facade, a Normal-type move that becomes a 140 Base Power move when Heracross sustains a Burn. It's Heracross' main coverage move that allows it to hit Pokemon that are resistant to its main STAB moves.

About Heracross' EV Spread

We're using a straightforward EV spread with full investment into Attack and Speed. The remaining 4 EVs are invested on Defense to patch up it's mediocre Defense stat.

About Heracross' Ability

For this build, Guts is the best ability to have. This ability increases Heracross' attack by 50% and also ignore the stat drop from Burn.

About Heracross' Held Item

We're equipping Heracross with the Flame Orb item. At the end of Heracross' first turn, this item inflicts Heracross with a burn which activates its Guts ability.

Other Viable Moves

How to Use Heracross Effectively

A Powerful Wallbreaker

Heracross is a powerful wall breaker that only gets stronger once it has set up Swords Dance. It's also used as a status absorber as it gets an attack boost when it sustains a Burn, Poison, or Paralysis.

How to Build a Team with Heracross

Heracross' offensive presence as a wallbreaker makes it a great fit to both offense or defensive-oriented teams. It's rather straightforward build also means that it can be used in both Singles and Doubles.

As Part of an Offensive Core

Heracross can fill the role of a bulky set-up sweeper in your team's offensive core. It's often used in Hyper Offense teams where a faster special sweeper is used as a partner to cover its shortcomings.

Check out our article below to get ideas on how to build an Offensive Team with Heracross.
How to Build an Offensive Team | Best Hyper Offense Team

Counters for Heracross

Weakness

Outspeed it with a Faster Sweeper

Despite Heracross high attack stat, its mediocre speed stat means faster Pokemon can KO it before it can set up.

Best Pokemon to Use

Pokemon	Description
Cinderace	Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Outspeeds Heracross and can easily KO it with Pyro Ball Moveset & Best Build for Cinderace
Talonflame	Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Outspeeds Heracross and can easily KO it with Flare Blitz or Brave Bird Moveset & Best Build for Talonflame

Use a Defensive Pokemon with Key Resistances

Although Heracross' claim to fame is its ability to break through walls, certain defensive Pokemon with the right resistsances can withstand its attacks!

Best Pokemon to Use

Pokemon	Description
Palossand	Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Immune to Close Combat ・Immune to Facade ・Takes little damage from Megahorn or its coverage moves even at +2 Attack and with Guts Boost Moveset & Best Build for Palossand

Related Links

All Competitive Builds for Ranked Battle

Competitive Guides for Pokemon Sword and Shield

Competitive Pokemon Battle Guides
Tier List		Best Builds		Series 10 List of Contenders
Doubles Tier List		Team Building		Rental Teams

Best Builds for The Isle of Armor Pokemon

Movesets & Best Builds for The Isle of Armor Pokemon
Scizor	Kingdra	Magnezone
Volcarona	Chansey	Blissey
Talonflame	Azumarill	Galarian Slowbro
Porygon2	Urshifu Single-Strike Style	Urshifu Rapid-Strike Style
Slowbro	Alolan Marowak	Dragalge
Klefki	Lycanroc	Amoonguss
Poliwrath	Palossand	Mienshao
Starmie	Heracross	Comfey
Porygon-Z	Alakazam	Politoed