Pokemon Go: How to defeat Heracross, weakness and counters

Heracross in the Pokemon anime

Heracross is a much-loved Pokemon back from the days of Generation II, but do you remember its weakness? Here are some counter tips.

This piece is intended to be a short guide to help you learn about the weakness of Heracross and how to exploit it, to properly counter the strong Single Horn Pokemon.

What is the biggest weakness of Heracross in Pokemon Go?

The biggest weakness of Heracross in Pokemon Go goes to a clear winner, Flying-Type Pokemon, as they are capable of dealing more damage than other counter options, and resist all of Heracrossbattle moves.

Fairy-Types nab themselves second place, with advantage against almost everything Heracross can pull, though they do deal less damage than the Flying-Types will. Fire and Psychic-Type Pokemon will also have easy matchups but pale in comparison to how easily Flying-Types can handle this fight.

How did we find the most exploitable weakness?

As is typical in any Pokemon title, including Go, precisely how strong a Pokemon is and what moves it uses may vary depending on the individual, but there are a few things we can use as a weakness that remains consistent across all of any given species of Pokemon.

The easiest of these to exploit for counter purposes is often the Pokemon’s Type.

Heracross is a Bug/Fighting Dual-Type Pokemon, which is a rare but not particularly strong combination, as it has a fairly evenly balanced mixture of resistances and weaknesses in Pokemon Go.

Mega Heracross in the Pokemon anime
Mega Heracross makes that Fighting-Type even more obvious visually, in a scene from the Pokemon anime,
Credit: Bulbapedia

Heracross Type Interactions in Pokemon Go

Resistances
  • Bug
  • Dark
  • Fighting
  • Grass
  • Ground

All of these Types are resisted once each, meaning they will deal 62.5% of their expected damage to Heracross in Pokemon Go. These Types should be avoided if at all possible as you’ll be handicapping yourself by using them.

Counters
  • Fairy
  • Fire
  • Psychic
  • Flying

Among Heracross’ potentially targetable weaknesses, a single weakness does stand out here – Flying-Type Pokemon will deal significantly higher damage, at 256% of their usual amount. The other Types listed will deal the standard enhanced 160% damage rate.

Now, Flying-Type has an edge already, but does it hold up in Battle or does Heracross have some nasty surprises for Flying-Types? Let’s examine this strong Bug-Types move pool and find out.

Heracross Gender Difference in the Pokemon anime
Heracross can play nice, just don’t expect them to do so with Flying-Type Pokemon around.
Credit: The Pokemon Company, Bulbapedia

READ MORE: Pokemon: Is Voltorb a good Pokemon design or was it a mistake?

What moves does Heracross use in battle?

Fast Attacks
  • Counter (Fighting)
  • Struggle Bug (Bug)
Charged Attacks
  • Close Combat (Fighting)
  • Earthquake (Ground)
  • Megahorn (Bug)

Flying-Type Pokemon emerge as the clear biggest weakness here quite quickly, with immunity to Ground-Type attacks, and resisting both Bug and Fighting-Type moves meaning that all of Heracross’ possible counter attacks are significantly weakened versus them.

Out of the other Types, Psychic doesn’t fare well against Bug-Type attacks but handles Fighting well, making it a risky choice but a viable one. Fire-Types perform in a similar fashion, vulnerable to Ground-Types but strong against Bug.

Fairy-Type Pokemon secure the second place for best weakness behind Flying-Types however, with resistance to both Bug and Fighting-Types meaning that they have an advantage against almost all of Heracross’ counter-attacks and no disadvantages in combat.

READ MORE: Pokemon Go: How to defeat Kangaskhan, weakness and counters

Heracross counters and weakness Summary

Flying-Types emerge as our clear winner Pokemon Type to exploit the weakness of Heracross, with massively enhanced damage and resistance to every single counterattack that Heracross can mount, it’s hard to compete with that matchup.

Fairy-Type Pokemon land themselves in second place. They don’t perform nearly as well, but it’s still a very safe matchup for them. Fire and Psychic-Types can also handle this matchup but have their own risks to consider.

That’s about all you need to know to beat Heracross Trainers, good luck out there!

If you’d like more stories, articles and guides for Pokemon Go, you can find them right here on The Click, and if you’d instead like to see more by me specifically, a list of my articles is available here.

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