Durant

Using Durant in a Playthrough

Durant is a single-stage Bug/Steel physical attacker with base 109 Attack, 112 Defense, and an excellent base 109 Speed, but only 58 HP and 48 Special Defense. Iron Head and X-Scissor provide accurate dual STAB, while First Impression in later games, Rock Slide, Crunch, Thunder Fang, Superpower, Stomping Tantrum, Hone Claws, and other coverage can support sweeping or wallbreaking. Swarm boosts Bug attacks at low HP, Hustle raises Attack by 50 percent but multiplies the accuracy of physical moves by only 0.8, and the Hidden Ability Truant forces Durant to skip every other turn and is generally a severe drawback outside specialized strategies. Bug/Steel gives a huge collection of resistances and a Poison immunity, with Fire as its only conventional weakness—but Fire deals quadruple damage. Jolly is usually ideal because base 109 Speed is one of Durant's best assets, while Hone Claws can partly compensate for Hustle's dangerous accuracy penalty.

Durant in Competitive Pokémon

Durant was one of BW RU's premier offensive threats. Base 109 Attack and 109 Speed are already excellent for the tier, and Hustle pushes its Attack dramatically higher, allowing Choice Band, Hone Claws, and all-out attacking sets to break teams that would otherwise withstand ordinary Bug- or Steel-type offense. Smogon describes Durant as one of the tier's best Pokemon, capable of functioning as a wallbreaker, sweeper, or revenge killer while its Bug/Steel typing and base 112 Defense provide genuine opportunities to enter the field. Hustle is also its greatest weakness because physical accuracy falls to 80 percent of normal, meaning even apparently favorable turns can be lost to a miss. Special attacks and Fire coverage exploit Durant's terrible 58/48 special bulk, and the quadruple Fire weakness remains catastrophic. Even so, its unusual combination of speed, power, defensive typing, and physical bulk gave it a far stronger competitive résumé than most standalone Unova species.

Durant in Nuzlockes

Durant is simultaneously powerful and dangerous in a Nuzlocke. Base 109 Speed and Attack let it remove many opponents before they act, while Bug/Steel supplies numerous resistances and strong physical Defense. The problem is Hustle: the 50 percent Attack boost comes with a substantial accuracy penalty, and a single miss can expose Durant's poor special bulk or quadruple Fire weakness. If Hustle is the ability, Hone Claws is valuable because it improves both Attack and accuracy, but setting up is only safe against opponents that cannot threaten Fire coverage. Truant is generally undesirable because losing every other turn is exceptionally dangerous under permadeath rules, while Swarm is predictable but much less powerful. Jolly Durant with accurate STAB is safest when used to exploit its Speed and resistances rather than gambling unnecessarily on low-accuracy coverage.

Durant is an extremely territorial ant Pokemon that forms large colonies inside maze-like tunnel systems excavated through mountains. Its steel armor and rock-crushing mandibles evolved partly as protection against its natural predator, Heatmor. Colony members take on different roles when defending the nest, coordinating attacks against intruders such as Heatmor or Sandaconda. Durant primarily eats vegetation and usually stops pursuing a threat once it has been driven beyond the colony's territory.