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Blaze
- Boosts power of Fire-type moves 50% when at 1/3 HP or less.
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Speed Boost
- Speed increases at end of the turn.
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Level 50 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
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Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
80
|
- |
155 |
187 |
- |
| Atk |
120
|
126 |
140 |
172 |
189 |
| Def |
70
|
81 |
90 |
122 |
134 |
| SpA |
110
|
117 |
130 |
162 |
178 |
| SpD |
70
|
81 |
90 |
122 |
134 |
| Spe |
80
|
90 |
100 |
132 |
145 |
Overview
Forging new ground as the first starter Pokemon to ever become Uber, Blaziken appears to have a lot to live up to in the Uber metagame. However, it is perfectly capable of functioning well in Ubers, as thanks to Speed Boost, Blaziken will become nearly impossible to revenge kill as the boosts accumulate. Once enough boosts have been gathered, Blaziken can sweep rather easily with its sizable Attack stat and mighty dual STAB in Hi Jump Kick and Flare Blitz—the former hits a staggering 130 Base Power, and the latter is amped up in sunlight. These traits combine to make Blaziken nearly impossible to wall, enabling it to rip through most of the metagame with its powerful hits. Although it is frail and its STAB moves have unappealing side effects—Hi Jump Kick severely hurts Blaziken if it misses, and Flare Blitz causes huge amounts of recoil damage—Blaziken is still a massive threat that needs to be considered when making a team.
Swords Dance pumps up Blaziken's solid Attack stat to a frightening maximum of 734. When Speed Boost is thrown into the mix, Blaziken suddenly turns into a potent sweeper that only becomes harder and harder to revenge kill as time passes and it obtains more Speed boosts. Hi Jump Kick is Blaziken's main sweeping move: after a Swords Dance, it will OHKO all common Pokemon that do not resist it, save for the bulkiest of Groudon, which is quite an impressive feat. Protect ensures that Blaziken will obtain at least one Speed boost before sweeping, and makes up for its low initial Speed. Flare Blitz rounds out Blaziken's coverage and has the potential to be Blaziken's most powerful option by far. It gets STAB on top of its naturally high Base Power, and with sun support becomes so powerful that at +2, it can OHKO 4/0 Giratina-O after Stealth Rock damage. Considering Giratina-O resists Flare Blitz and is extremely bulky, the sheer damage output of that attack shows just how powerful Blaziken is. Shaymin-S and Mewtwo are also both OHKOed by an unboosted Flare Blitz. Furthermore, Flare Blitz is a good strong attack just to throw out if it's too risky to use Hi Jump Kick.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Blaziken cannot take any hits even with investment, so its Attack and Speed stats are fully invested in to optimize its sweeping capability. Jolly is by far the preferred nature on this set, as it allows Blaziken to outspeed Mewtwo and Shaymin-S after one Speed boost, and Choice Scarf Terrakion after two. Life Orb is the preferred item to grant Blaziken as much power as possible. However, Leftovers helps Blaziken mitigate recoil damage and survive for longer; as such, it is a better choice for Blaziken if it is being used on a stall team, where its main purpose is to check common stallbreakers such as Darkrai and Heatran. An Adamant nature can be used if running Leftovers to make up for the power loss.
Groudon should always be used alongside Blaziken. It provides the sunlight necessary to power up Flare Blitz, and can also set up Stealth Rock, which Blaziken needs to obtain crucial KOs on Pokemon such as Lugia and Giratina-O. Groudon is also a wonderful check to Rayquaza and physical Arceus, which would otherwise destroy Blaziken with ExtremeSpeed, as well as Poison Arceus, which walls Blaziken outside of sun.
Giratina is the only Pokemon that is capable of outright walling Blaziken, as it cannot come close to OHKOing Giratina, while Giratina can either force Blaziken out of the battlefield with Dragon Tail, or just KO it outright with Outrage. Defensive Giratina-O, although uncommon, can perform a similar function. If the sun isn't shining, Lugia, Cresselia, Psychic Arceus, and Ghost Arceus can all take a hit from Blaziken and KO it with a super effective attack. It's no wonder, then, that Darkrai is a perfect partner for Blaziken. All of the aforementioned Pokemon will turn tail and run at the very sight of Darkrai, who can help pave the way for a Blaziken sweep by setting up with Nasty Plot and then severely damaging the foe's team with its own boosted hits. Dialga can also come in on Giratina and Giratina-O relatively easily and pound them into dust with Draco Meteor, while Dark Arceus is a great counter to Lugia, Cresselia, Psychic Arceus, and Ghost Arceus thanks to its natural type advantage.
Although Kyogre cannot counter Blaziken directly due to the threat of Hi Jump Kick, the rain Kyogre summons will severely hinder Blaziken's ability to sweep by rendering Flare Blitz mostly useless. For this reason, it is recommended to pack reliable Kyogre counters when using Blaziken. Palkia and Grass Arceus can both come in on the beast's mighty Water-type assaults with relative ease and put it down with a powerful super effective Thunder and Judgment, respectively. Finally, Blaziken might sometimes have trouble setting up due to its poor defenses. For this reason, Wobbuffet makes an excellent teammate. Thanks to Shadow Tag, it is able to trap many Pokemon and create openings to set up by using Encore, and it can also use Safeguard to protect Blaziken from status. Wobbuffet also draws Dark- and Bug-type attacks that Blaziken can easily set up on.
Other Options
Shadow Claw nails Giratina-O for an OHKO after Stealth Rock damage and a boost from Swords Dance, while hitting Lugia, Cresselia, Ghost Arceus, and Psychic Arceus for solid damage. It can therefore replace Flare Blitz, making Blaziken less weather dependent and saving it from having to take huge amounts of recoil damage. However, Shadow Claw still fails to OHKO Lugia, Cresselia, Psychic Arceus, and Ghost Arceus, as well as Mewtwo without a Swords Dance boost, so it is far inferior to Flare Blitz. Stone Edge hurts Lugia a lot more than Shadow Claw does, while also murdering Ho-Oh and Rayquaza, but a +2 sun-boosted Flare Blitz will usually KO them after Stealth Rock anyway, so it's not of much use. Work Up increases Blaziken's Special Attack stat as well as its Attack stat, but even with the increased Special Attack, it cannot defeat Giratina, which would be the main point in using it. Choice Band grants Blaziken more immediate power, but locking Blaziken into one attack is too restrictive for it and is counterproductive to Speed Boost.
Checks and Counters
Giratina is Blaziken's only real counter. Try as it might, Blaziken cannot OHKO it with any attack bar the unlikely +6 sun-boosted Flare Blitz, while Giratina can just phaze it out with Dragon Tail or tear it apart with Outrage. Defensive variants of Giratina-O also perform a similar function, but won't take Blaziken's hits quite as effectively. If it is raining, Psychic Arceus, Ghost Arceus, Cresselia, Lugia, and Gliscor can all take a Flare Blitz and either phaze out Blaziken or KO it with a super effective attack. Rayquaza and Normal Arceus can also bypass Blaziken's Speed boosts with ExtremeSpeed, which will cut through its low Defense like a hot knife through butter. Toxic Spikes also greatly annoy Blaziken, as the passive damage combined with Life Orb and Flare Blitz recoil will kill it off very quickly. Both of Blaziken's STAB attacks also have a chance of inflicting recoil damage, so smart switching between Ghost-types and bulky Water- or Dragon-types will cause recoil damage to add up and eventually bring about Blaziken's demise.
