Chandelure
[OVERVIEW]
<p>Chandelure is one of the most powerful and versatile Pokemon in VGC 2011. With monstrous Special Attack, excellent typing, powerful dual STAB attacks, access to Trick Room, and good Speed and defenses, Chandelure is a threat to any team. While it is weak to moves such as Rock Slide and Earthquake, and is outsped by many common Pokemon, it can overcome these obstacles with proper support. Overall, Chandelure is an absolute powerhouse, and can be a huge asset to any team.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Heat Wave / Overheat
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Protect / Imprison
nature: Modest
ability: Flash Fire
item: Focus Sash
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Chandelure makes for a fantastic Trick Room user, with its middling Speed allowing it to set up Trick Room against faster teams and outspeed and attack other Trick Room teams with its powerful dual STAB attacks. Heat Wave and Shadow Ball are Chandelure's dual STAB options, attaining almost perfect coverage and allowing it to hit all other Trick Room users for super effective damage, making it a formidable weapon against both faster teams and opposing Trick Room teams. Protect allows Chandelure to avoid taking damage from its many weaknesses for a turn, giving its partner a turn to eliminate any Pokemon that may be threatening it. The EVs and nature allow Chandelure to hit as hard as possible while retaining some decent bulk, letting it take most neutral hits and outspeed most Trick Room Pokemon. Focus Sash allows Chandelure to always survive an attack, letting it bypass some of its weaknesses and always set up Trick Room or fire off a powerful attack. Flash Fire makes opposing Chandelure very wary of using Heat Wave, which can help a partner weak to Fire-type attacks.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Overheat is an option over Heat Wave purely because it allows Chandelure to beat Amoonguss, OHKOing most sets and making Chandelure a much more effective check to Trick Room teams. However, the Special Attack drop after using it, along with the lack of spread damage, usually makes it the inferior option. Chandelure can run Imprison over Protect to completely stop Trick Room from being set up while Chandelure is alive. The opposing team can just attack Chandelure while it uses Imprison, so it's not a foolproof strategy. If Imprison is used, Chandelure should run maximum Speed with a Timid nature, allowing it to outpace almost all other Chandelure and shut them down with Imprison right off the bat. A Timid nature also allows Chandelure to outspeed Adamant Krookodile, and severely damage it with Heat Wave or Overheat.</p>
<p>A Quiet nature with 0 Speed IVs allows Chandelure to outspeed more Pokemon with Trick Room in effect, but reduces Chandelure's ability to check other Trick Room teams with its relatively high Speed stat. While Chandelure can outspeed many Pokemon that would normally outspeed it in Trick Room with a Quiet nature, a Modest nature allows Chandelure to take advantage of its relatively high Speed to provide an excellent check to other Trick Room teams, outspeeding and doing severe damage to most Trick Room users with its STAB Shadow Ball. Chandelure makes for an excellent lead for faster Trick Room teams, able to set up Trick Room against speedier teams and hit other Trick Room users hard with STAB Shadow Ball. Pokemon such as Scrafty, Samurott, and Emboar pair well with Chandelure due to their middling Speed, allowing them to hit hard against opposing Trick Room teams and faster teams. Conkeldurr also makes a great partner, helping to KO both Terrakion and Hydeigon with its STAB Fighting-type moves. Chandelure has weaknesses to Rock Slide and Earthquake, so a Water- or Fighting-type partner such as Samurott or Scrafty can also take advantage of Trick Room and hit most Rock Slide and Earthquake users very hard with their super effective STAB attacks. Chandelure is also weak to Sucker Punch and Aqua Jet, so Amoonguss can prove very useful, redirecting those moves to itself using Rage Powder, and taking advantage of Trick Room to outspeed and use Spore on the opponent.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Overheat
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Psychic
nature: Modest
ability: Flame Body
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Choice Scarf Chandelure is an excellent check to many faster teams, doing severe damage to many frailer Pokemon with its powerful dual STAB. Overheat gives Chandelure a strong STAB move that deals excellent damage to most offensive Pokemon, always OHKOing the genies and Amoonguss. Shadow Ball forms the second half of Chandelure's dual STAB, and allows it to do excellent damage to most Trick Room users. Heat Wave allows Chandelure to do some powerful spread damage, hitting anything that doesn't resist it quite hard. Hidden Power Ice allows Chandelure to deal with Dragon-types such as Hydreigon much more easily. The EVs and nature allow Chandelure to hit as hard as possible but still outspeed the entire metagame, as well as many Pokemon under Tailwind, with a Choice Scarf attached.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>A Timid nature can be used to outspeed other Scarfed Pokemon such as Adamant Krookodile and opposing Modest Chandelure, but the loss in power is noticeable, and the increase in Speed is largely unnecessary. Alternately, a spread of 100 HP / 252 SpA / 156 Spe can be used with a Modest nature, which still outspeeds the genies while giving Chandelure more bulk. With it, though, Chandelure loses to other Scarfed Pokemon, and doesn't have the ability to outspeed as many Pokemon under Tailwind as it does with 252 Speed EVs. Psychic does more damage to Terrakion than any other move Chandelure can carry, doing over 80% to 4 HP Terrakion. Choice Scarf Chandelure has the ability to take out many faster Pokemon with its huge Special Attack, so slower Pokemon can take advantage of Choice Scarf Chandelure as a partner. Scrafty has weaknesses to many common attacks and is quite slow, but Chandelure's Overheat OHKOes the genies, and a combination of Fake Out and Hidden Power Ice OHKOes Archeops, allowing Scrafty to attack much more effectively.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Flash Fire can feasibly be run over Flame Body on the Choice Scarf set, but it only really helps against opposing Chandelure, as Fire-type attacks are quite uncommon in VGC 2011. Flash Fire gives Chandelure a boost should the opposing Chandelure use Heat Wave, but it's far more likely that the opposing Chandelure will just use Shadow Ball, making Flash Fire almost useless. Fire Gem or Ghost Gem can both help Chandelure against specific threats. A Fire Gem-boosted Heat Wave OHKOes Amoonguss, so Chandelure doesn't have to use the single-targeting Fire Blast, and a Ghost Gem-boosted Shadow Ball OHKOs every Ghost- and Psychic-type in the metagame, making Chandelure especially potent against opposing Trick Room teams. Taunt is an option to stop opposing setup, but with Chandelure's Speed, it'll only be able to stop Trick Room, and Imprison does that very effectively already without being blocked by Mental Herb.</p>
<p>Will-O-Wisp may seem like a good idea to cripple Pokemon that might threaten Chandelure, but when Chandelure has so much attacking power at its disposal, it's much more effective to just attack and KO the opponent than attempting to cripple them. Fire Blast can be run over Overheat on any of the sets to avoid the Special Attack drop, but its lower accuracy and inability to guarantee an OHKO on the genies and Amoonguss generally makes it the inferior choice. Chandelure can run Flame Charge to increase its Speed without having to resort to using a Choice Scarf, but Trick Room does that very effectively already, and Tailwind is a far more effective way to increase Speed. Chandelure can use Choice Specs to make its attacks incredibly powerful, but loses the ability to set up Trick Room, and must be used in Tailwind or Trick Room due to its low Speed. Chandelure can become a powerful Tailwind abuser with its middling Speed and huge Special Attack, and can form the core of a strategy involving both Tailwind and Trick Room.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Users of Rock Slide or Earthquake, such as Terrakion and Landorus, threaten to quickly remove Chandelure from the match. However, they need to be careful, as Fake Out users such as Scrafty can immobilize them for a turn and allow Chandelure to set up Trick Room, outspeeding and hitting them hard the next turn. While Chandelure's incredible attacking prowess makes it much less prone to Taunt than other Trick Room users, an untimely Taunt can stop Chandelure from setting up Trick Room, leaving it susceptible to faster attackers which can take advantage of its many weaknesses. Hydreigon resists both of Chandelure's STAB moves, only fearing a super effective Hidden Power, and can OHKO in return with its STAB Dark Pulse. Sucker Punch users, such as Bisharp, Druddigon, and Heatmor, can threaten to KO Chandelure before it moves, even if Trick Room is up, although they must be wary of a Rage Powder user, which can redirect and neutralize any Sucker Punch.</p>
