Honchkrow

Honchkrow, The Big Boss Pokémon. It is merciless by nature. It is said that it never forgives the mistakes of its Murkrow followers. It makes its MURKROW cronies bring it food. It idles its time away, grooming itself in its nest. If one utters a deep cry, many MURKROW gather quickly. For this, it is called "Summoner of Night".

Overview

Honchkrow is such a cool Pokémon, and a huge improvement from Murkrow. It has amazing Attack, a nice movepool, nice stats in general, and is just awesome. Despite its base 100 HP, Honchkrow suffers from having being incredibly frail thanks to Stealth Rock and its ridiculously bad bad defences.

Ability

Insomina: This prevents Honchkrow from falling asleep which can be handy but falls short of usefulness in comparison to the other ability.
Super Luck: boosts Honchkrow's Critical Hit ratio making sure that critical hits will land more often to cause significant damage to your opponent. This ability is usually the better choice

Move Sets

Honchkrow was band from hanging out in street alleys

- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- Night Slash
- Sucker Punch
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Super Luck
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Man, Honchkrow hits hard. Brave Bird is a base 120 STAB move that completely wrecks anything that doesn't resist it. The recoil sucks, but it isn't like Honchkrow will last long anyway. Superpower wrecks most Steel types that want to take Honchkrow's STAB moves on. It also gets amazing coverage with Honchkrow's Dark moves. Night Slash leeches off of Superpower and is a great move in general. Sucker Punch is stronger and more on the revenge killing side of things.

LOKrow

- Brave Bird
- Superpower
- Heat Wave
- Sucker Punch
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Super Luck
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

This mixed Honchkrow is a monster. Attacking from both sides of the spectrum really makes it a threat. Brave Bird is the really powerful attack, just be careful of the recoil. Superpower murders a lot of Steel types, with Heat Wave there to take out any others. Sucker Punch is a great move that bypasses Honchkrow's bad Speed, so it really needs using.

The head honch has a Nasty Plot in store

- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Heat Wave
- Superpower
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Super Luck
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)

This Honchkrow variation is a huge surprise, considering most Honchkrow used are physical. Nasty Plot boosts Honchkrow's already nice Special Attack to pretty big levels. Dark Pulse is your standard move, reliable, STAB, and strong. Heat Wave takes out any Steel types that don't care about the other moves, and it really does take them out quickly. As this is a special set, Honchkrow is required to have Superpower to decimate a certain egg carrying blob, as well as a few other Pokémon.

EVs and Nature:

Every single Honchkrow set
Max the offense you are focusing on, then max Speed. Drop the 4 leftover in HP if you aren't using the other type of attack. If you are, put the 4 in that.

Other Options

Drill Peck, Mean Look, Perish Song, Substitute, Thunder Wave, Taunt
Drill Peck is an alternative to Brave Bird if you hate the recoil.
Mean Look would be more useful, but because of Honchkrow's poor Speed and bulk, it sucks.
Perish Song would force switches or be used with Mean Look, but I'd rather just murder stuff with Honchkrow.
Substitute could work with Honchkrow's HP, meaning 101 subs.
Thunder Wave really messes stuff up and could be used on switch ins.
Taunt is always a great move, stopping anything from healing or setting up is awesome.

Countering Honchkrow

Steel types are the best switch ins to Honchkrow. They resist both STABs and can hurt it badly due to its awful defences. Skarmory, Forretress, Metagross, and Scizor are all great examples, although they all have to watch out for Heat Wave and repeated Brave Bird for Scizor and Forretress. Heatran is the best switch in thanks to resisting the STABs of Honchkrow, but also being immune to Heat Wave, although it does have to watch out for Superpower. Stuff like Gyarados and bulky Waters in general can do really well against Honchkrow, but Gyarados specifically because of Intimidate. Tyranitar is another good switch in, just don't get hit by Superpower.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Not in game

Colosseum/XD

Not in game

Fire Red/Leaf Green

Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Evolve Murkrow

HeartGold/SoulSilver

Evolve Murkrow

Animé Appearences

Honchkrow has had a few Animé Appearences. Almost all of its appearances had it under the control of Paul in his various battles across the Sinnoh Region

The Rise of Darkrai
Episode 534: Lost Leader Strategy
Episode 568: Aiding the Enemy
Episode 569: Barry's Busting Out All Over!
Episode 586: Pursuing a Lofty Goal
Episode 599: Pedal to the Mettle
Episode 600: Evolving Strategies
Episode 601: Uncrushing Defeat
Giratina & The Sky Warrior
Episode 609: Challenging A Towering Figure!
Episode 656: Rival Battle Conclusion! Ash VS Paul!