Ho-oh (SS) | Hohou's Home | Competitive Movesets

Competitive Pokemon Sword/Shield Movesets and Strategies for Ho-oh

Base Stats for Ho-Oh

Fire / Flying

Abilities:
,

Evolutions / Family:
Ho

Weakness Chart for Fire/Flying-type:

Bug

Dark

Dragon

Electric

Fairy

Fighting

Fire

Flying

Ghost

0.25x

2x

0.5x

Grass

Ground

Ice

Normal

Poison

Psychic

Rock

Steel

Water

0.25x

0x

4x

0.5x

2x

¼x

½x

2x

4x

Movesets for Singles

What is a good competitive moveset for Ho-oh? These builds have been optimized for Pokemon competing in Sword/Shield Single Battles. The movesets and EVs have been specifically calibrated to deal the most amount of damage to the largest group of potentially common opponents and typing threats for the Sword/Shield generation metagame.

Ho is a phenomenal Fire and Flying-typed Pokemon. It's a usual sight to see Ho out in the 8th generation battlefield. Ho is weak to Electric, Rock, and Water-typed attacks.

Species: Ho-Oh
Item: Charti Berry / Shell Bell
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Brave Bird / Sky Attack
- Flare Blitz / Sacred Fire
- Double-Edge / Strength
- Earthquake / Bulldoze

Physical Sweeper Ho-Oh (Pressure)

Ho is a marvelous Physical Sweeper. It's purpose is to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. The Shell Bell item option is to help Ho recover from the recoil damage it may take from Double-Edge, Flare Blitz and Brave Bird. With Pressure, if Ho is the target of a foe's move that move loses one additional pp.

♦ Brave Bird is a physical STAB-boosted 120-base power Flying-type move (has 33% recoil).
♦ Sky Attack is a physical STAB-boosted 140-base power Flying-type move (charges, then hits turn 2. 30% flinch. high crit).
♦ Flare Blitz is a physical STAB-boosted 120-base power Fire-type move (has 33% recoil. 10% chance to burn. thaws Ho).
♦ Sacred Fire is a physical STAB-boosted 100-base power Fire-type move (50% chance to burn the target. thaws Ho).
♦ Double-Edge is a physical 120-base power Normal-type move (has 33% recoil).
♦ Strength is a physical 80-base power Normal-type move that deals a considerable amount of damage.
♦ Earthquake is a physical 100-base power Ground-type move (hits adjacent pokemon).
♦ Bulldoze is a physical 60-base power Ground-type move (100% chance lower adjacent Pokemon speed by 1 stage).

Species: Ho-Oh
Item: Charti Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk |
Moveset:
- Burn Up / Overheat
- Air Cutter / Air Slash
- Weather Ball / Hyper Voice
- Thunderbolt

Special Sweeper Ho-Oh (Pressure)

Ho is a remarkable Special Sweeper. This moveset attempts to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Life Orb boosts the power of Ho's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Pressure, if Ho is the target of a foe's move that move loses one additional pp.

♦ Burn Up is a special STAB-boosted 130-base power Fire-type move (Ho's fire type becomes typeless; must be fire).
♦ Overheat is a special STAB-boosted 130-base power Fire-type move (lowers your Ho's special attack by 2 stages).
♦ Air Cutter is a special STAB-boosted 60-base power Flying-type move (high critical hit ratio. hits adjacent foes).
♦ Air Slash is a special STAB-boosted 75-base power Flying-type move (30% chance to make the target flinch).
♦ Weather Ball is a special 50-base power Normal-type move (power doubles and type varies in each weather).
♦ Hyper Voice is a special 90-base power Normal-type move (no additional effect. hits adjacent foes).
♦ Thunderbolt is a special 90-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).

Movesets for Doubles

What is a good doubles moveset for Ho-oh? These builds have been optimized for Sword/Shield Double Battles. They have movesets and EVs specifically calibrated to generally work best versus multiple Pokemon at once as well as helping to support other team members and allys in the Sword/Shield generation metagame.

Species: Ho-Oh
Item: Weakness Policy
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 156 Hp / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 4 SpD / 84 Spe
Moveset:
- Sacred Fire
- Brave Bird
- Earthquake
- Protect

Doubles Physical Tank Ho-Oh (Popular VGC)

Ho is a sensational Physical Tank. This particular build was popular during past competitions. It is designed to take a mighty amount of physical hits while dealing some decent damage. Weakness Policy activates if Ho is hit by a super effective move. The Weakness Policy is consumed and its Attack and Special Attack are increased by two stages each. With Regenerator, Ho restores 1/3 of its maximum hp rounded down when it switches out.

♦ Sacred Fire is a physical STAB-boosted 100-base power Fire-type move (50% chance to burn the target. thaws Ho).
♦ Brave Bird is a physical STAB-boosted 120-base power Flying-type move (has 33% recoil).
♦ Earthquake is a physical 100-base power Ground-type move (hits adjacent pokemon).
♦ Protect is a status move (prevents moves from affecting your Ho this turn).

Species: Ho-Oh
Item: Charti Berry / Shell Bell
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Brave Bird / Sky Attack
- Flare Blitz / Sacred Fire
- Earthquake / Bulldoze
- Double-Edge / Strength

Doubles Physical Sweeper Ho-Oh (Pressure)

Ho is a wonderful Physical Sweeper. This moveset is designed to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. The Shell Bell item option is to help Ho recover from the recoil damage it may take from Double-Edge, Flare Blitz and Brave Bird. With Pressure, if Ho is the target of a foe's move that move loses one additional pp.

♦ Brave Bird is a physical STAB-boosted 120-base power Flying-type move (has 33% recoil).
♦ Sky Attack is a physical STAB-boosted 140-base power Flying-type move (charges, then hits turn 2. 30% flinch. high crit).
♦ Flare Blitz is a physical STAB-boosted 120-base power Fire-type move (has 33% recoil. 10% chance to burn. thaws Ho).
♦ Sacred Fire is a physical STAB-boosted 100-base power Fire-type move (50% chance to burn the target. thaws Ho).
♦ Earthquake is a physical 100-base power Ground-type move (hits adjacent pokemon).
♦ Bulldoze is a physical 60-base power Ground-type move (100% chance lower adjacent Pokemon speed by 1 stage).
♦ Double-Edge is a physical 120-base power Normal-type move (has 33% recoil).
♦ Strength is a physical 80-base power Normal-type move that deals a good amount of damage.

Species: Ho-Oh
Item: Charti Berry / Throat Spray
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk |
Moveset:
- Heat Wave / Burn Up
- Air Cutter / Air Slash
- Hyper Voice / Weather Ball
- Thunderbolt

Doubles Special Sweeper Ho-Oh (Pressure)

Ho is a stupendous Special Sweeper. It's designed to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Throat Spray activates when a Pokemon uses a sound-based move (in this case Hyper Voice) and boosts Ho's special attack stat by 2 stages. With Pressure, if Ho is the target of a foe's move that move loses one additional pp.

♦ Heat Wave is a special STAB-boosted 95-base power Fire-type move (10% chance to burn the foes).
♦ Burn Up is a special STAB-boosted 130-base power Fire-type move (Ho's fire type becomes typeless; must be fire).
♦ Air Cutter is a special STAB-boosted 60-base power Flying-type move (high critical hit ratio. hits adjacent foes).
♦ Air Slash is a special STAB-boosted 75-base power Flying-type move (30% chance to make the target flinch).
♦ Hyper Voice is a special 90-base power Normal-type move (no additional effect. hits adjacent foes).
♦ Weather Ball is a special 50-base power Normal-type move (power doubles and type varies in each weather).
♦ Thunderbolt is a special 90-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).

Movepool

Wondering what moves can Ho-oh learn? Here is the list of moves this Pokemon can learn in this selected generation.
Sort and organize the learnset by move type, category, accuracy, and power. Bolded moves will gain the same-type attack bonus (STAB) if this Pokemon uses them.

Combo List

These are a list of several common move combinations Ho-oh can perform in Sword/Shield. Not every combo going to be game-changing, but some can be pretty fun to play with. Sometimes these can be easily overlooked or forgotten, hence why we find and list them here. Discover what items, abilities, and moves this Pokemon can use in combination with each other to gain a strategic advantage in competitive battles.

Competitive SS Move and Ability Combos for Ho-oh

Moves: Sunny Day + Solar Beam
Moves: Mimic + Imprison
Moves: Swagger + Psych Up
Moves: Rain dance + Thunder
Moves: Rest + Sleep talk
Moves: Rest + Snore
Move: Swagger + Item: Mirror Herb
Move: Facade + Item: Flame Orb
Move: Facade + Item: Toxic Orb
Item: Blunder Policy + Move: Zap Cannon
Moves with Priority: Detect, Endure, Protect, Helping Hand

Most notable and possible best moves for Ho-oh

Protect
Rest

Common Effort Values for Ho-oh in Sword and Shield

Adamant Nature ( 0/252/0/0/0/252 )
Modest Nature ( 0/0/0/252/0/252 )
Optimize Ho-oh's EV spread for Pokemon Sword and Shield

Competitive Information for Ho-oh [Sword/Shield]