Heracross

Heracross can be seen as the herald of a dying age, as his basic game style has not changed drastically from when he was first introduced. He has always been offensively-oriented with his base 125 Attack stat, excellent ability in Guts that takes advantage of the burns that terrify most physical sweepers, and high-powered STAB moves. Although his main role has not changed much, he has been blessed with new tools for the job with every generation, such as Close Combat in DPP, and can now fill more roles than ever before.

Despite this, Heracross usage has been constantly spiraling downward as fewer and fewer people use him. Heracross's base 85 Speed is simply not high enough in such a fast-paced metagame, and he is not able to stand up to super effective attacks from omnipresent, faster foes. More and more battlers are choosing faster or more versatile sweepers such as Infernape and Lucario, who both have access to strong priority and higher Speed stats. However, regardless of these shortcomings, Heracross remains one of the very best physical sweepers in the game and should under no circumstances be underestimated. He wasn't banned in Japan during the ADV generation for no reason!