[OVERVIEW]
Blaziken is an incredibly versatile sweeper. Its access to Speed Boost allows Blaziken to easily snowball during late-game, threatening to outspeed and KO opposing Pokemon. This is made easier with its good Fire/Fighting-typing, making quick work of Pokemon such as Aegislash, Mamoswine, Ferrothorn, and Mega Mawile. Furthermore, its movepool allows it to act as a mixed attacker, capable of luring in Pokemon such as Mega Salamence or Landorus-T before KOing them with Hidden Power Ice, or being able to Baton Pass stat boosts onto one of its teammates.
While it may reach an impressive Speed after a few boosts, its base stat is rather disappointing, leaving it outsped by most Choice Scarf users and fast Pokemon such as Tapu Koko and Pheromosa at +1 if running a neutral nature. It is also frail, leaving it vulnerable to powerful priority moves, primarily Aqua Jet and boosted Extreme Speed. Even with its immense power, it struggles to break through particularly bulky Pokemon, most notably being Zapdos, Suicune, Cresselia, and Hippowdon, all of which can tank any unboosted move Blaziken throws at it while they threaten to KO it with their super effective STAB moves. Despite these flaws, Blaziken is an incredible attacker that can perform wonders when given the opportunity.
Below are some sample sets. These sets are likely to be standard, but they will be expanded upon and updated as the metagame progresses.
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: High Jump Kick / Superpower
move 3: Protect
move 4: Swords Dance / Stone Edge / Baton Pass
item: Firium Z / Life Orb
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Jolly/Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Flare Blitz is an obscenely powerful STAB move, capable of obliterating Steel- and Grass-types weak to it, such as Celesteela and Ferrothorn.
* A Fighting-type STAB move allows Blaziken to deal damage to Rock- and select Steel-type Pokemon that resist or are immune to Flare Blitz, including Tyranitar, Nihilego, and Heatran. High Jump Kick is its most powerful Fighting-type move, dealing heavy damage even to neutral targets, although it has a severe penalty if it misses. Superpower is more reliable than High Jump Kick, although it is less and lowers Blaziken's Attack and Defense stats.
* Protect allows Blaziken to accumulate Speed boosts while potentially avoiding a fatal hit. However, Protect can be played around, allowing the opponent a free turn to set up or switch in a counter.
* Swords Dance allows Blaziken to more easily break through bulky foes..
* If Swords Dance's wallbreaking abilities are not needed, Stone Edge can be run to decimate Flying- and Fire-types, such as Gyarados, Mega Charizard Y, and Zapdos. Most notably, it prevents Blaziken from being walled by the rarer Chandelure and Alolan Marowak, both of which resist Flare Blitz, are immune to Blaziken's Fighting-type STAB, and can easily OHKO with Shadow Ball and Shadow Bone, respectively.
* Baton Pass is additionally a viable option over Swords Dance, allowing Blaziken to gain momentum while passing Speed boosts to its incoming teammate.
* Maximum Attack and Speed investment allows Blaziken to hit as hard as possible while being as fast as possible. A Jolly nature is preferred, allowing Blaziken to outspeed key threats such as Choice Scarf Tapu Lele and Tap Koko.
* Firium Z transforms Flare Blitz into a powerful Inferno Overdrive, capable of OHKOing even the likes of Cresselia after Stealth Rock.
* If a Z-Move is already taken, Life Orb is an acceptable substitute, boosting the power of all of Blaziken's moves at the cost of some of its health.
* Blaziken can be used early- to mid-game as a wallbreaker to weaken opposing teams for its own teammates to sweep afterwards.
* Blaziken can also be used as a sweeper itself late-game thanks to its excellent ability in Speed Boost, making it difficult for weakened teams to revenge kill it without priority.
* While using Protect is generally a safe move, scouting opponents while gaining a Speed boost, it can easily create mindgames. Keep this in mind when facing Pokemon that can take advantage of this.
* Blaziken greatly appreciates Stealth Rock support, allowing it to break through bulky opponents such as Suicune and Cresselia.
* Grass-types are great partners for Blaziken, as they can eliminate most Ground- and Water-types that pressure Blaziken.
* In a similar vein, Ice-types and Pokemon with Ice-type coverage moves can deal with Pokemon that threaten Blaziken like Mega Salamence and Landorus-T.
[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Overheat
move 2: Superpower / High Jump Kick
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Naive
evs: 52 Atk / 244 SpA / 212 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Thanks to its good mixed offensive stats, Blaziken can comfortably a mixed attacking set, capable of luring some of its checks.
* Overheat is capable of OHKOing physically bulky Pokemon such as Zapdos and Hippowdon, while also dealing heavy damage to Aegislash. Unlike Flare Blitz, Overheat is able to circumvent moves and abilities that lower Attack, such as King's Shield and Intimidate.
* Superpower is the preferred Fighting-type STAB for this set, as mixed Blaziken doesn't mind the Attack drops as much, while being very reliable. On the other hand, High Jump Kick can be used more repeatedly without its power being reduced. However, it has rather heavy consequences if it misses.
* Hidden Power Ice allows Blaziken to take on some of its usual checks, such as Mega Salamence, Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Garchomp.
* Protect is mandatory on Blaziken, allowing it to safely acquire Speed boosts.
* 52 Attack allows Blaziken to OHKO Pokemon such as Heatran, Mega Kangaskhan, and Mamoswine with Superpower.
* 244 Special Attack lets Blaziken almost always OHKO Garchomp and Landorus-T with Hidden Power Ice and Zapdos with Overheat, while guaranteeing that Hidden Power Ice OHKOs Mega Salamence and Overheat OHKOes Aegislash.
* The remaining 212 EVs are put into Speed, which, with a Naive nature, allows Blaziken to outspeed Pokemon up to and including Tapu Koko at +1.
* Life Orb is the best item for Blaziken, as it grants it substantial power on all of its moves. This comes at the cost of survivability, but Blaziken is so frail it usually doesn't matter.
* Mixed attacker Blaziken acts best as a lure, so it can stay in on some common switch ins and KO them.
* Blaziken has less immediate power than some of its counterparts, so it has difficulty dealing damage against Pokemon with high natural mixed bulk.
* Teammates that appreciate Blaziken's ability to lure in checks they may have in common are great partners.
* Blaziken needs partners that can take on bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Tapu Fini, as it has no way to deal with either of them, especially the latter, which resists all of Blaziken's moves.
[SET]
name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance / Bulk Up
move 2: Protect
move 3: Baton Pass
move 4: High Jump Kick
item: Focus Sash
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
* Speed Boost plus access to different set up moves allows Blaziken to utilize Baton Pass to give boosts to its teammates.
* Swords Dance lets Blaziken pass Attack boosts to its partners. Bulk Up is an option, however, to additionally pass Defense boosts to its teammate.
* Protect lets Blaziken accumulate Speed boosts to pass onto its teammates.
* Baton Pass is mandatory on this set, allowing Blaziken to pass any stat boosts it gains onto one of its teammates.
* High Jump Kick is the only attacking move on this set, allowing Blaziken to deal decent damage even without a boosting item. If its recoil is too undesirable, Blaze Kick is an alternative STAB move that, unlike Flare Blitz, does not deal recoil damage. Flamethrower may be used with a Timid nature and maximum Special Attack in order to avoid being affected by Intimidate, Rough Skin, and Rocky Helmet, although it is less powerful than its physical options and does not benefit from much of its boosting moves.
* With a Jolly nature and full Speed investment, Blaziken can reliably set up and Baton Pass boosts that it has gathered to an incoming teammate.
* Maximum Attack allows Blaziken to deal as much damage as possible with its chosen coverage move. If Flamethrower is chosen instead, Attack EVs should be moves into Special Attack.
* Focus Sash lets Blaziken safely set up without worrying about being KOed before it can pass its boosts.
* Blaziken should be used to pass boosts early-game, even as a lead, as switching into hazards will break its Focus Sash, leaving it vulnerable to being KOed.
* As its prime directive is to pass boosts, teammates that can take advantage of Attack and Speed boosts make excellent partners, capable of sweeping rather early in a match.
* If Blaziken is needed later in a battle, it requires additional support depending on what coverage move it chooses. If it runs High Jump Kick, Blaziken needs teammates that can deal with Flying-, Fairy- and Ghost-types. If Blaze Kick or Flamethrower are run, teammates that can deal with Fire-, Water-, and defensive Ground-types, along with Heatran, are required.
Blaziken is an incredibly versatile sweeper. Its access to Speed Boost allows Blaziken to easily snowball during late-game, threatening to outspeed and KO opposing Pokemon. This is made easier with its good Fire/Fighting-typing, making quick work of Pokemon such as Aegislash, Mamoswine, Ferrothorn, and Mega Mawile. Furthermore, its movepool allows it to act as a mixed attacker, capable of luring in Pokemon such as Mega Salamence or Landorus-T before KOing them with Hidden Power Ice, or being able to Baton Pass stat boosts onto one of its teammates.
While it may reach an impressive Speed after a few boosts, its base stat is rather disappointing, leaving it outsped by most Choice Scarf users and fast Pokemon such as Tapu Koko and Pheromosa at +1 if running a neutral nature. It is also frail, leaving it vulnerable to powerful priority moves, primarily Aqua Jet and boosted Extreme Speed. Even with its immense power, it struggles to break through particularly bulky Pokemon, most notably being Zapdos, Suicune, Cresselia, and Hippowdon, all of which can tank any unboosted move Blaziken throws at it while they threaten to KO it with their super effective STAB moves. Despite these flaws, Blaziken is an incredible attacker that can perform wonders when given the opportunity.
Below are some sample sets. These sets are likely to be standard, but they will be expanded upon and updated as the metagame progresses.
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: High Jump Kick / Superpower
move 3: Protect
move 4: Swords Dance / Stone Edge / Baton Pass
item: Firium Z / Life Orb
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Jolly/Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Flare Blitz is an obscenely powerful STAB move, capable of obliterating Steel- and Grass-types weak to it, such as Celesteela and Ferrothorn.
* A Fighting-type STAB move allows Blaziken to deal damage to Rock- and select Steel-type Pokemon that resist or are immune to Flare Blitz, including Tyranitar, Nihilego, and Heatran. High Jump Kick is its most powerful Fighting-type move, dealing heavy damage even to neutral targets, although it has a severe penalty if it misses. Superpower is more reliable than High Jump Kick, although it is less and lowers Blaziken's Attack and Defense stats.
* Protect allows Blaziken to accumulate Speed boosts while potentially avoiding a fatal hit. However, Protect can be played around, allowing the opponent a free turn to set up or switch in a counter.
* Swords Dance allows Blaziken to more easily break through bulky foes..
* If Swords Dance's wallbreaking abilities are not needed, Stone Edge can be run to decimate Flying- and Fire-types, such as Gyarados, Mega Charizard Y, and Zapdos. Most notably, it prevents Blaziken from being walled by the rarer Chandelure and Alolan Marowak, both of which resist Flare Blitz, are immune to Blaziken's Fighting-type STAB, and can easily OHKO with Shadow Ball and Shadow Bone, respectively.
* Baton Pass is additionally a viable option over Swords Dance, allowing Blaziken to gain momentum while passing Speed boosts to its incoming teammate.
* Maximum Attack and Speed investment allows Blaziken to hit as hard as possible while being as fast as possible. A Jolly nature is preferred, allowing Blaziken to outspeed key threats such as Choice Scarf Tapu Lele and Tap Koko.
* Firium Z transforms Flare Blitz into a powerful Inferno Overdrive, capable of OHKOing even the likes of Cresselia after Stealth Rock.
* If a Z-Move is already taken, Life Orb is an acceptable substitute, boosting the power of all of Blaziken's moves at the cost of some of its health.
* Blaziken can be used early- to mid-game as a wallbreaker to weaken opposing teams for its own teammates to sweep afterwards.
* Blaziken can also be used as a sweeper itself late-game thanks to its excellent ability in Speed Boost, making it difficult for weakened teams to revenge kill it without priority.
* While using Protect is generally a safe move, scouting opponents while gaining a Speed boost, it can easily create mindgames. Keep this in mind when facing Pokemon that can take advantage of this.
* Blaziken greatly appreciates Stealth Rock support, allowing it to break through bulky opponents such as Suicune and Cresselia.
* Grass-types are great partners for Blaziken, as they can eliminate most Ground- and Water-types that pressure Blaziken.
* In a similar vein, Ice-types and Pokemon with Ice-type coverage moves can deal with Pokemon that threaten Blaziken like Mega Salamence and Landorus-T.
[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Overheat
move 2: Superpower / High Jump Kick
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Naive
evs: 52 Atk / 244 SpA / 212 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Thanks to its good mixed offensive stats, Blaziken can comfortably a mixed attacking set, capable of luring some of its checks.
* Overheat is capable of OHKOing physically bulky Pokemon such as Zapdos and Hippowdon, while also dealing heavy damage to Aegislash. Unlike Flare Blitz, Overheat is able to circumvent moves and abilities that lower Attack, such as King's Shield and Intimidate.
* Superpower is the preferred Fighting-type STAB for this set, as mixed Blaziken doesn't mind the Attack drops as much, while being very reliable. On the other hand, High Jump Kick can be used more repeatedly without its power being reduced. However, it has rather heavy consequences if it misses.
* Hidden Power Ice allows Blaziken to take on some of its usual checks, such as Mega Salamence, Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Garchomp.
* Protect is mandatory on Blaziken, allowing it to safely acquire Speed boosts.
* 52 Attack allows Blaziken to OHKO Pokemon such as Heatran, Mega Kangaskhan, and Mamoswine with Superpower.
* 244 Special Attack lets Blaziken almost always OHKO Garchomp and Landorus-T with Hidden Power Ice and Zapdos with Overheat, while guaranteeing that Hidden Power Ice OHKOs Mega Salamence and Overheat OHKOes Aegislash.
* The remaining 212 EVs are put into Speed, which, with a Naive nature, allows Blaziken to outspeed Pokemon up to and including Tapu Koko at +1.
* Life Orb is the best item for Blaziken, as it grants it substantial power on all of its moves. This comes at the cost of survivability, but Blaziken is so frail it usually doesn't matter.
* Mixed attacker Blaziken acts best as a lure, so it can stay in on some common switch ins and KO them.
* Blaziken has less immediate power than some of its counterparts, so it has difficulty dealing damage against Pokemon with high natural mixed bulk.
* Teammates that appreciate Blaziken's ability to lure in checks they may have in common are great partners.
* Blaziken needs partners that can take on bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Tapu Fini, as it has no way to deal with either of them, especially the latter, which resists all of Blaziken's moves.
[SET]
name: Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance / Bulk Up
move 2: Protect
move 3: Baton Pass
move 4: High Jump Kick
item: Focus Sash
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
* Speed Boost plus access to different set up moves allows Blaziken to utilize Baton Pass to give boosts to its teammates.
* Swords Dance lets Blaziken pass Attack boosts to its partners. Bulk Up is an option, however, to additionally pass Defense boosts to its teammate.
* Protect lets Blaziken accumulate Speed boosts to pass onto its teammates.
* Baton Pass is mandatory on this set, allowing Blaziken to pass any stat boosts it gains onto one of its teammates.
* High Jump Kick is the only attacking move on this set, allowing Blaziken to deal decent damage even without a boosting item. If its recoil is too undesirable, Blaze Kick is an alternative STAB move that, unlike Flare Blitz, does not deal recoil damage. Flamethrower may be used with a Timid nature and maximum Special Attack in order to avoid being affected by Intimidate, Rough Skin, and Rocky Helmet, although it is less powerful than its physical options and does not benefit from much of its boosting moves.
* With a Jolly nature and full Speed investment, Blaziken can reliably set up and Baton Pass boosts that it has gathered to an incoming teammate.
* Maximum Attack allows Blaziken to deal as much damage as possible with its chosen coverage move. If Flamethrower is chosen instead, Attack EVs should be moves into Special Attack.
* Focus Sash lets Blaziken safely set up without worrying about being KOed before it can pass its boosts.
* Blaziken should be used to pass boosts early-game, even as a lead, as switching into hazards will break its Focus Sash, leaving it vulnerable to being KOed.
* As its prime directive is to pass boosts, teammates that can take advantage of Attack and Speed boosts make excellent partners, capable of sweeping rather early in a match.
* If Blaziken is needed later in a battle, it requires additional support depending on what coverage move it chooses. If it runs High Jump Kick, Blaziken needs teammates that can deal with Flying-, Fairy- and Ghost-types. If Blaze Kick or Flamethrower are run, teammates that can deal with Fire-, Water-, and defensive Ground-types, along with Heatran, are required.
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