With great Special Defense, immunity to Fire and resistance to Grass, Flareon makes an excellent switch in on Grass-types and most Ninetales. It can also take unboosted Surfs from the likes of Mantine or Blastoise and stall them out with Toxic and Wish / Protect. Wish offers good team support, whilst Toxic allows Flareon to do consistent damage to Water-types. Lava Plume, as well as getting STAB, will hit Steel- and Poison-types who are immune to Toxic. It also has a fairly high burn rate. Protect allows Flareon to scout Choice item-carrying Pokémon and helps to build up Toxic damage. Hidden Power Rock will allow Flareon to hit both Altaria and Ninetales who switch in expecting a Fire-type attack.
Flareon is able to break a number of UU walls with the use of a mixed attacking set. Fire Blast nets a guaranteed OHKO against max HP / max SpD Steelix, but Flareon must be careful when switching in due to the possibility of Earthquake or Stone Edge. Superpower allows Flareon to always OHKO Ninetales when factoring in Stealth Rock damage, and will do a minimum of 88% to standard Clefable (with a 28% chance to OHKO). Hitmonlee is always OHKOed even without Stealth Rock. Return allows Flareon to 2HKO standard Hypno (252 HP / 64 Def, Calm) and Grumpig 100% of the time when taking into account Stealth Rock and Leftovers, and gives Flareon decent type coverage when used alongside Fire Blast and Superpower. Hidden Power Grass allows Flareon to OHKO standard Quagsire. The specified Attack EVs not only allow Flareon to 2HKO standard Grumpig and Hypno with Return and OHKO Clefable with Superpower, but they also achieve a bonus stat point. With 168 Speed EVs, Flareon has a Speed stat of 197, allowing it to outspeed everything from 0 Speed Meganium down, including Blastoise, Nidoqueen and Claydol. The remaining EVs are placed into Special Attack in order to maximize the damage dealt by Fire Blast. Due to Flareon's already paltry base 60 Defense, a Lonely nature is used so that neither of Flareon's attacking stats are reduced.
Attack is the higher of Flareon's two offensive stats, and it gets enough physical moves to make a decent Choice Bander. Superpower is a powerful hit-and-run move which will do good damage to Clefable and Steelix ,OHKOing and 2HKOing respectively, and will completely destroy any Rock/Steel-types such as Aggron. Return will 2HKO Hypno, Grumpig, and Mantine. Flareon's only physical STAB move, Fire Fang, is weaker than both Superpower and Return, but it hits Grass-types and Dry Skin Toxicroak harder than Return. Bite offers more power against Hypno and Grumpig, as well as Lunatone and Solrock. It is also Flareon's best chance at damaging Ghost-types such as Rotom and Drifblim, 2HKOing them both no matter how much they invest in HP and Defense. Quick Attack and Iron Tail are other decent options to consider on this set. Quick Attack will hit any faster or weakened opponents, but is generally of little use. Iron Tail can lower Defense, but its accuracy is a let down and will often be outclassed by Return.
Flareon, like the other Eeveelutions, can learn Baton Pass. Unfortunately, Flareon's best moves to Baton Pass are Substitute and Curse -- both done better in OU by Umbreon. However, in UU, Flareon has less competition for this role. 180 Speed EVs hits 211 Speed which will allow Flareon to outrun base 55s with a neutral nature, allowing you to pass a Substitute before you get attacked. Yawn helps to pull off the pass, but Wish will allow Flareon to continue passing, but HP rather than a Substitute. Lava Plume is used for its good burn chance, and in case of Taunt. Curse is a reasonable option for Flareon to pass, so it can be used over Substitute, though using both on one set isn't advised. If you choose this, Fire Fang or Return should be used over Lava Plume, and the Speed / Special Attack EVs should be put into Special Defense instead.
Although Flareon's Special Attack is lower than its Attack, Flareon's STAB moves are stronger on the special side. Choice Specs Overheat packs massive power when coming from 475 Special Attack - enough to 2HKO 252 HP / 152 SpD Bold Clefable. Hypno and Grumpig avoid 2HKOs, which is why Shadow Ball is included to 2HKO both. Hidden Power Electric hits Mantine for super effective damage with a 54% chance of OHKOing 252 HP /252 SpD Calm variants with Stealth Rock damage. Hidden Power Grass deals with Water/Ground-types and the less common Water/Rock-types. The final Fire-type move gives Flareon a chance to attack without losing stats. Flamethrower is more reliable, but Fire Blast packs more power. Other OptionsTickle, Charm and Fake Tears can be used to cause switches. Double-Edge and Body Slam can be used in place of Return for the extra power or paralysis chance. Flail is not recommended due to Flareon's sub-par Speed stat. Hidden Power Ground and Rock will hit other Fire-types, and Hidden Power Ice will hit Altaria, but both are usually inferior to Hidden Power Grass as they take away Flareon's ability to combat Water-types. EVs252 HP will help Flareon take hits on the support sets, and 252 SpD accompanies it well due to Flareon's mediocre Defense. Base 110 Special Defense allows Flareon to survive Surfs surprisingly well, and will soften Ice Beams and Energy Balls, which are ample switch-in opportunities. 168 Speed EVs puts Flareon ahead of all Base 85s who do not invest in Speed. Maxing out the offensive stat with a boosting nature allows the offensive sets to hit hard. The rest should go into HP. OpinionFlareon is a missed opportunity. 130 base Attack is put to waste with no decent STAB move and its Special Attack isn't anything to write home about. As an offensive Pokemon, Flareon struggles to do anything better than its fellow Fire-Types. Its saving grace is the ability to pass Wishes and Substitutes. CountersAltaria is the best counter to support sets, resisting Fire moves and removing status with Natural Cure. Camerupt is also good at taking Flareon's attacks, but won't enjoy Toxic. Hypno and Grumpig can wall the Choice Specs set, but need to watch out for Shadow Ball. Bulky Water-types can easily handle the Choice Band set. Prediction is the best weapon against the Choice Sets. Flareon's coverage is poor, so working around that is helpful. Stealth Rock coupled with Roar and Whirlwind will deal with Flareon, thanks to its Rock weakness, and the inability to successfully pass. |
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