Can anyone make a case for specially defensive flareon at the moment? It can take hits from mag, is a solid fire spam stopper, and even though its wishes wont bring you to full health, it can at least do a small bit
I'm asking this, cause im staring real intently at it, and im waiting for something to poof and tell me that flareon is indeed viable
SpD Flareon is kind of hard to justify really, because it only really handles special Grass-types and Fire-types (and speedy Ghost-types, I guess), but mainly because it doesn't really handle the main Fire-types (Magmortar, Pyroar, Ninetales) very well at all.
- Given the ubiquity of Lanturn these days, you can expect Magmortar to carry Earthquake, which easily 2HKOes Flareon.
- Specs Pyroar cleanly 3HKOes Flareon with Hyper Voice, 2HKOing if SR is in play. Life Orb Pyroar has to work a bit harder to get the KO, but if it carries Taunt Flareon is again put on the backfoot.
- Ninetales is rare these days, but if it does show up, Psyshock after a Nasty Plot boost 2HKOes as well.
The bigger issue is that Flareon doesn't retaliate well against the Fire-types in a 1v1 matchup should it not get the Flash Fire boost, and that is if it has Flare Blitz to actually hurt them (and also hurt itself); if it is relying on weakass Lava Plume then it still won't get the upper hand. Oh, and it needs Toxic to even do something about Ninetales.
Flareon doesn't wall too much very well, but it is relatively easy to respond to in return. Teams usually carry things like Lanturn, Carracosta, Rhydon, Kabutops, etc. that can easily switch into it, plus almost every relevant physical attacker is capable of threatening Flareon's poor physical bulk. Normally special walls being susceptible to physical attackers is nothing special, but herein lies two of Flareon's most exploitable weaknesses: its
reliance on WishTect for recovery, and its
hazard weakness. Reliance on WishTect means that in order for Flareon to remain healthy enough to continue checking threats, it has to sit its ass down for two turns to WishTect, as opposed to a quickheal like Recover or Synthesis or something. This is basically a free invite for physical attackers to do whatever they want, like set up or launch a strong attack off on your team for free. Sure, you could pass the Wish to a teammate to counter the opposing Pokemon, but Flareon does not get healed as a result. Regenerator Audino bypasses the issue completely as it heals itself on the switch, restoring itself and its teammate. Even the only other notable WishPasser in the tier, Leafeon, can drop Protect and use Wish + Synthesis, the former primarily being used to heal teammates while Synthesis lets Leafeon effectively heal itself without exposing itself too much for opponents. Flareon's hazard weakness only further compounds its need to heal. To resolve these issues, Flareon's teammates must have anti-hazard control, have another Wish user that can pass to Flareon, and, oh, have reliable switch-ins to pretty much every relevant physical attacker in the tier. Yes, that's a hell of a lot to ask for when it comes to supporting Flareon, but that's the reality of the matter and why Flareon is not very favored as a specially defensive variant.
Also
Aasgier, Flareon will not be a problem for Magneton either; Magnets outspeeds and does a chunk with Specs Volt Switch which 2HKOes offensive variants and 3HKO SpD variants, the latter of which won't even get the chance to use Wish as it is inevitably forced out by a physical attacker.