Pok�mon of the Week

Durant, The Iron Ant Pok�mon. They attack in groups, covering themselves in steel armor to protect themselves from Heatmor. Durant dig nests in mountains. They build their complicated, interconnected tunnels into mazes.Individuals each play different roles in driving Heatmor, their natural predator, away from their colony.

Durant is a very interesting Pokemon, being set in the speed tier right in between the Lati twins and the Musketeer pseudo-trio. Unfortunately, being a Pokemon with a 4x weakness to Fire kind of hampers his ability to sweep, and has placed the steel ant into the RarelyUsed (RU) tier. Durant does have great Attack and Defense stats, though its Special Defense is rather lacking, and unfortunately most Fire type moves are special also. The ability Hustle boosts Durant's attack even further (though paired with an accuracy drop), making Durant a formidable threat in some circumstances. Overall, Durant can be a great Pokemon to use, but only under the right conditions.

Swarm: Boosts Bug moves by 50% when Durant is at 1/3 HP or less, a decent ability but not as good as the permanent effects of Hustle.
Hustle: Physical moves do 50% higher damage, while having 20% less accuracy. This is Durant's best ability, as it boosts its decent attack stat much higher and allows it to hit with a lot more power.
Truant: Durant will not move every second turn, a terrible ability and the sole reason Slaking is NU, this should only be used on a gimmicky set involving the move Entrainment.

-Hone Claws
-X-Scissor
-Iron Head
-Superpower / Thunder Fang / Rock Slide
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SAtk)

This is one of the two more prominent sets you'll see on Durant. Hone Claws boosts Durant's already high attack stat and also fully nullifies the accuracy drop from Hustle, making Durant very formidable. X-Scissor hits Pokemon such as Slowking for high damage with the helpful addition of STAB, while Iron Head neutrally hits quite a few threats that X-Scissor doesn't touch. The last option is dependent on what you need Durant to hit, Superpower destroying Steels, Thunder Fang dealing with bulky Water types, and Rock Slide knocking Flyings out of the air, as well as getting rid of Fire types that would otherwise likely KO Durant.

-X-Scissor
-Iron Head
-Superpower
-Rock Slide / Thunder Fang
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SAtk)

This Durant set requires less time to get done what it needs to thanks to Choice Band, but will require better prediction in order not to become set up bait. X-Scissor and Iron Head both get STAB and provide great coverage. Superpower hits Steels types which otherwise wall Durant entirely, and the last moveslot is dependent on which threats you want to cover. The accuracy drop from Hustle can be a pain, so you can always switch to coverage moves with higher accuracy so you don't have to worry as much. Life Orb can also be used over Choice Band if you want more freedom of action and don't want to have to rely on prediction as much as you have to with it.

Agility, Baton Pass, Crunch, Entrainment, Iron Defense, Rock Polish, Shadow Claw, Stone Edge, Substitute, Thunder Wave
Agility boosts Durant's Speed, which can either be used to its advantage or can be Baton Passed to something else.
Baton Pass can work really well on Durant, as it can boost its Attack, Defense, Speed, and Accuracy, and then send those boosts to something else.
Crunch hits Ghost types for good damage, useful if you're using Durant in OU and want to hit Jellicent hard.
Entrainment is only good if Durant is running Truant, and if you like weird gimmicks, otherwise, don't use this.
Iron Defense is useful for passing on a Baton Pass team.
Rock Polish is the same as Agility, just with a cooler name.
Shadow Claw basically hits the same things Crunch does, except with a higher critical hit chance over power and defense drops.
Stone Edge can be used over Rock Slide, just beware of the 60% accuracy due to Hustle.
Substitute can be used to help block status conditions, although Substitute + Life Orb with no form of recovery will wear you down really fast,
Thunder Wave can be used to help unexpectedly cripple different threats, even though Durant may outspeed them.

In most cases, Durant is severely outclassed by either Scizor or Escavalier, as Scizor can hit very hard and has priority, while Escavalier can take advantage of the ever common Trick Room. Durant is kind of the middle ground between the two, but the other two are often better in this format.

Anything that can reliably handle Special Attackers and Fire types pairs very well with Durant. Anything that can take down Defensive walls also helps Durant a lot. If you're running a Truant/Entrainment set, then Gothitelle with Shadow Tag is a welcome partner

Qwilfish and Poliwrath are the top of the list for non-Thunder Fang Durant (and Qwilfish can still handle it), as they are both resist its STAB moves and deal with it either through Intimidate/Scald/Circle Throw. Most Electric, Steel, or Fire types generally do well against Durant (things like Rotom, Manectric, Sttelix, Escavalier, Aggron, Moltres, Typhlosion), though they have to worry about it running certain coverage moves. Choice Scarf users and anything that outspeeds it (like Sceptile or Accelgor) also can generally OHKO it before it can fire off an attack.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game

Black/White:
Victory Road

Black 2/White 2:
Clay Tunnel, Twist Mountain