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Flash Fire
- Grants immunity to Fire-type moves and increases the power of Fire-type moves by 50% when hit by a Fire-type move.
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Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
65
|
- |
271 |
334 |
- |
| Atk |
130
|
266 |
296 |
359 |
394 |
| Def |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpA |
95
|
203 |
226 |
289 |
317 |
| SpD |
110
|
230 |
256 |
319 |
350 |
| Spe |
65
|
149 |
166 |
229 |
251 |
Overview
Flareon is often considered one of the weaker 'Eeveelutions' due to his bad Defense, HP, and Speed; lack of strong physical STAB despite his high Attack stat; and Stealth Rock weakness thanks to his Fire typing. However, even with all these drawbacks, Flareon can still perform some niche roles with his high Special Defense and access to Wish. Flareon is not 2HKOed by most bulky Water-types and is a great counter to specially-offensive Grass-types and Moltres (without Toxic), which allows him ample opportunities to support his teammates with Wish while attempting to stall out the opponent.
This is something that Fire-types like Blaziken and Houndoom can't do. Flareon's job is to keep his team healthy with Wish and stall enemies such as Chansey and even Milotic out with a combination of Wish, Protect, and Toxic. He can also counter common threats such as offensive Moltres, special Venusaur, Sceptile, Arcanine (special and bulky sets without Toxic), Rotom, and Alakazam. The basic idea is to switch Flareon in on a Pokemon he can force out, such as Sceptile, and proceed to use Wish as it switches out. When the opponent reveals their Flareon counter, he is free to switch to the appropriate teammate who can tank the incoming hit and then regain health from Flareon's Wish. Protect allows Flareon to heal himself with Wish and also stall for Toxic damage. Lava Plume keeps physical attackers from switching in freely as they risk a burn, while Flamethrower has more Base Power and a lower burn rate, which may be more beneficial when dealing with bulky Water-types such as Milotic and Slowbro as the burn grants them immunity to Toxic.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
The EVs ensure that 0 SpA Milotic, one of the most powerful bulky Water-types, never 2HKOes Flareon with Surf when factoring in Leftovers. They also let him take some physical attacks such as Arcanine's ExtremeSpeed, mixed Blaziken's Life Orb Superpower, and unboosted Life Orb Venusaur's Earthquake.
As Flareon's Defense is nothing to write home about, a defensive Ground-type such as Donphan or Claydol is a good teammate to take the Rock- and Ground-type attacks aimed at Flareon. Fighting-types like Hariyama and Hitmontop can also take Rock attacks and don't have a shared Water weakness. A Water-type such as Milotic is also a good partner to combat Fire-types who Flareon can't handle, such as Blaziken. Milotic also checks most Ground- and Rock-types, such as Rhyperior. Since Flareon can outstall bulky Water-types and troublesome walls, Pokemon who love having these out of the way like Azumarill, Feraligatr, and Sceptile, are also good partners.
Flareon is weak to Stealth Rock, so Rapid Spin support is valuable. Donphan and Claydol are again good choices as they can spin Stealth Rock and Spikes away and also lay Stealth Rock down themselves. Blastoise can take the Water-type attacks that Flareon can't take, such as Azumarill's Waterfall. In return, Flareon's Wish lets Blastoise last longer to spin. Hitmontop can take Rock-type attacks and spin against Ghost-types thanks to Foresight.
Although Flareon is often shunned in favor of faster Fire-types such as Magmortar and Blaziken, it can boost its offensive potential by holding a Choice Scarf to overcome its middling Speed, allowing it to outspeed all non-boosted Pokemon in the metagame bar Electrode and Swellow. Flareon's offensive stats ensure that it can tear through opposing teams, while its base 110 Special Defense stat gives Flareon much needed bulk, a trait that other Fire-types like Houndoom lack. Fire Blast is Flareon's STAB move of choice, defeating bothersome Pokemon such as Sceptile with ease. Return deals neutral damage to many UU Pokemon, while Superpower punishes Rock-types such as Rhyperior and Aggron hoping to switch into a predicted Fire Blast or Return. Hidden Power Grass rounds out the set, providing valuable coverage against difficult Pokémon like Quagsire, who would otherwise threaten Flareon easily with Toxic and Earthquake.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Toxic may be used over Hidden Power Grass or Return to cripple bulky Pokemon like Milotic; however, this takes away from Flareon's coverage, which may often prove deadly in battles. Lava Plume may be used over Fire Blast if one is concerned about physical attackers such as Hitmontop, but Flareon almost always needs Fire Blast's power more than Lava Plume's burn rate. A purely physical or special Choice Scarf set is also possible, but Flareon's physical movepool is sorely limited, and the power of Flareon's special attacks leave much to be desired. The EV spread allows Flareon to outspeed base 120s with a positive nature while augmenting Flareon's offensive stats, but a more offensively oriented EV spread may be used. This is discouraged, however, as Flareon loses the ability to outrun Pokemon such as Alakazam and Sceptile, an advantage that many teams appreciate.
Unfortunately, Flareon does have a number of problems, even with the Speed boost. Milotic's bulk and access to Recover allows it to stall and eventually defeat Flareon, although it does not appreciate a surprise Toxic. Arcanine can also switch into any of Flareon's attacks with ease and threaten Flareon's weaker Defense stat, but it too fears Toxic. Swellow can outspeed and revenge kill Flareon easily, and Mismagius's immunity to Normal- and Fighting-type moves allows it to switch into Return and Superpower and set up. To deal with these threats, Donphan makes a good partner, thanks to its ability to take physical attacks with ease, provide Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin support, and defeat many of Flareon's counters. Leafeon can provide Wish and Heal Bell support while taking physical hits aimed at Flareon, as well as eliminating Rock- and Ground-types in Flareon's way. Additionally, it lures in Fire-type attacks for its fiery-hearted kin to switch into, allowing Flareon to take advantage of the opponent's misprediction. Milotic's bulk and offensive power also makes it an excellent partner, defeating many of Flareon's counters while using Recover to heal off damage.
Other Options
Flareon's movepool is shallow but he still has some options. Yawn can be used to force the opponent out under the threat of sleep. A Life Orb boosted mixed attacker set with Superpower / Fire Blast / Return / Hidden Power Grass may be used for breaking down walls such as Clefable and Steelix, but is outclassed by Magmortar and Blaziken as they are faster and hit harder. Quick Attack provides priority, but with no STAB and weak Base Power, Return is almost always a better option. Will-O-Wisp burns physical attackers such as Azumarill and Rhyperior who want to hit Flareon on his weaker Defense stat, but Lava Plume still has a good 30% chance to burn switch-ins. You can use Fire Fang and a Careful nature on the Wish set since Flareon's Attack is higher than its Special Attack; this allows Flareon to hit Chansey and specially-defensive Pokémon such as Registeel harder, but with the low Base Power of Fire Fang and high Defense stats of other counters such as Rhyperior and Donphan, it is a lesser option. Iron Tail damages Rock-types and doesn't lower Flareon's Attack and Defense like Superpower does but it has no real use outside of that. Flareon can use Heal Bell but it's hard to give up one of his other moves and there are better choices for clerics such as Chansey and Clefable. Roar is good for shuffling the opponent's team around and stopping stat-uppers.
A Choice Band set lets Flareon hit harder but again is outclassed since Flareon has no good physical STAB outside of Fire Fang. Choice Specs runs off Flareon's lower Special Attack stat, but Overheat can dent any Pokemon who doesn't resist it. A Baton Pass set with Wish, Lava Plume, and either Substitute or Curse could be useful, but Flareon has no real opportunities to set up and is outclassed by Blaziken, who has access to Agility and Swords Dance. For more Speed, 140 EVs with a neutral nature allow Flareon to outspeed 4 Speed Milotic and Venusaur, while 168 EVs outspeed 0 Speed Base 85s. However, it is almost always more useful to invest in Flareon's defenses as he already outspeeds some slower walls like Slowbro who don't invest in Speed.
Checks and Counters
Most Rock- and Ground-types are counters to sets without Hidden Power Grass or Superpower but they need to watch out for a burn from Lava Plume. Bulky Water-types can be outstalled by the standard set but are good counters to the offensive sets. Although not as common, more offensive Water-types such as Calm Mind Slowbro and Life Orb Milotic can 2HKO Flareon with Surf or even OHKO with Hydro Pump. RestTalkers, such as Spiritomb, can just Rest off the poison and stall Flareon out.
Flareon is suspect to all forms of entry hazards and has many weaknesses to common types, such as Ground and Water, so getting Stealth Rock and Spikes on the field will severely limit his lifespan.
