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One of Pokemon GO's most capable Bug-type battlers, Heracross, is a heavyweight compared to many of its peers, with a maximum CP of 3506 and some impressive attack stats in particular.
With five total moves, Heracross doesn't have a ton of options when it comes to attacks, but it doesn't necessarily need them as badly as other Bug-type Pokemon due to its sizable maximum attack stat (234). Although there are limited combinations for Heracross' moves, there is still a moveset that can provide the maximum amount of damage when type advantages and Weather Boosts are not in effect.
Pokemon GO: Heracross moveset breakdown
Before Pokemon GO players decide on the right moveset for their Heracross, there are three important statistics that are used by the Pokemon GO community to measure the capability of a Pokemon's moves. The statistics are:
- Damage Per Second (DPS): The amount of damage a Pokemon's moves deal every second in battle if it is continuously attacking.
- Total Damage Overall (TDO): The maximum amount of damage a Pokemon can be expected to deal over the course of battle before it faints from losing all of its HP. This number is calculated by taking the Pokemon's DPS and multiplying it by the amount of time it will remain on the battlefield before fainting.
- Time to First Activation (TTFA): The number of seconds before a Pokemon is able to activate its charged move for the first time in battle. Charged moves are a huge part of damage calculation, so activating them early and often is imperative to getting an edge in a Pokemon battle.
With those metrics in mind, Pokemon GO players can now take a look at Heracross' moves. Heracross can learn a maximum of two different fast moves and three charged moves as of June 2021, though this can always change in the future depending on Pokemon GO's updates. These moves and their types are:
Fast moves
- Struggle Bug (Bug-type)
- Counter (Fighting-type)
Charged moves
- Megahorn (Bug-type)
- Close Combat (Fighting-type)
- Earthquake (Ground-type)
Now comes the actual statistical comparison between the moveset combinations themselves:
- Counter + Megahorn: 15.72 DPS / 618.95 TDO / 11.7 second TTFA
- Counter + Close Combat: 15.22 DPS / 599.07 TDO / 11.7 second TTFA
- Counter + Earthquake: 14.61 DPS / 575.24 TDO / 11.7 second TTFA
- Struggle Bug + Megahorn: 13.75 DPS / 541.4 TDO / 10.5 second TTFA
- Struggle Bug + Earthquake: 13.44 DPS / 529.27 TDO / 10.5 second TTFA
- Struggle Bug + Close Combat: 13.02 DPS / 512.8 TDO / 10.5 second TTFA
Though slower in TTFA than the bottom half of the list, Counter and Megahorn provide the most overall damage capability in a neutral battle situation. If Weather Boosts and type effectiveness are omitted from this equation, Counter and Megahorn will give Heracross the best bang for its buck.
This may be subject to change and can always reduce or increase in effectiveness based on circumstance, but these moves provide a great jumping off point for Pokemon GO trainers when it comes to outfitting their Heracross for battle.
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