Status: Writing up RevolverKnight's analysis
QC Approval: (In RevolverKnight's analysis)
GP Checks: New World Order, SuperJOCKE
RevolverKnight's Analysis
[Overview]
<p>The shift to BW brought about many changes to competitive battling. New threats emerged, old threats faded, and old Pokemon were given new options. Arcanine is a beneficiary of all three categories, as newer threats ensured its staying power in OU would be limited at best, while former threats became less threatening to Arcanine thanks to new options in its movepool. With its solid stats complementing these factors, Arcanine is once again a top contender in UU. Its physical sets have become more powerful with new toys in Close Combat and Wild Charge, which allow it to take out Chansey and bulky Water-types. New mechanics have buffed ExtremeSpeed, which allow it to easily outspeed other priority users. With base 110 Attack and base 100 Special Attack to complement its decent base 95 Speed, Arcanine can go with either full physical or mixed sets.</p>
<p>However, Arcanine still has disadvantages. It is affected by all forms of entry hazards, with a debilitating weakness to Stealth Rock. Also, 90 / 80 / 80 defenses is only average in the UU metagame, only slightly mitigated by Intimidate. Fire typing is also subpar defensively, with weaknesses to the ever common Water- and Ground-type moves and lacking a great set of resistances or immunities, bar Flash Fire. Overall, Arcanine needs support to stay alive longer than a few turns, but otherwise it provides great offensive power to a team.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: ExtremeSpeed
move 3: Wild Charge / Close Combat
move 4: Morning Sun / Wild Charge
item: Life Orb / Choice Band
ability: Intimidate / Flash Fire
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set takes advantage of Arcanine's high Attack stat and the new additions to its movepool. Flare Blitz is its STAB move of choice and can seriously dent quite a few switch-ins. ExtremeSpeed allows Arcanine to act as a potent revenge killer which, thanks to ExtremeSpeed's +2 priority, allows it to outspeed common Sucker Punch users such as Houndoom. Wild Charge allows it to punish bulky Water-types, such as Slowbro and Milotic, that would come in to tank Flare Blitz, while Close Combat demolishes Rhyperior and Chansey. In the last slot, Morning Sun can be used alongside Life Orb to help recover any damage taken, especially recoil damage from Flare Blitz and Wild Charge. In regards to the EV spread, Attack is maximized to hit as hard as possible with Choice Band or Life Orb, while the Speed EVs are sufficient for allowing Arcanine to outrun Adamant Heracross. The rest are dumped into HP to give Arcanine some bulk.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Not much else is needed on this particular set. Arcanine hits hard with the given moveset with unresisted coverage. However, its staying power is severely limited, as Wild Charge and Flare Blitz will drain Arcanine's health each time it uses it. Either item will also lower its health, as Life Orb takes 10% of its health each time it uses an attacking move and Choice Band locks Arcanine into one move, forcing it to switch a lot and take entry hazard damage. Therefore, Rapid Spin support is necessary, especially if you forgo Morning Sun in the last slot. Hitmontop and Donphan are the best choice, as both can spin away entry hazards and scare away Rock-types with STAB Fighting- or Ground-type moves, respectively. Quagsire can also trouble Arcanine if it comes in without prior damage. Therefore, Grass-types, such as Tangrowth and Roserade, serve as effective teammates. Roserade can also set up Toxic Spikes, which helps Arcanine break through some of its bulky opposition. Finally, Wish support is greatly appreciated by Arcanine, especially if it goes with Choice Band. Clefable and Chansey are two choices for this role. Clefable can absorb Toxic aimed at Arcanine thanks to Magic Guard, and with its massive HP, heal Arcanine back to full health. Chansey has Natural Cure to eliminate any status it may sustain and can sponge special based Water-type attacks aimed at Arcanine.</p>
[SET]
name: Morning Glory
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: ExtremeSpeed / Wild Charge
move 3: Morning Sun
move 4: Toxic / Will-O-Wisp
item: Leftovers / Life Orb
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant
evs: 180 HP / 144 Atk / 184 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This particular Arcanine still hits hard, but unlike the previous set, this is a team supporter rather than an outright attacker. Flare Blitz is still the STAB move of choice, while ExtremeSpeed's priority helps pick off weakened foes. As an alternative, Wild Charge can be used over ExtremeSpeed. Wild Charge's main target is Empoleon, who can survive Flare Blitz and KO a weakened Arcanine with Aqua Jet. The third slot is reserved for Morning Sun. Weather such as hail, sandstorm, and rain can put a damper on it, but without Drizzle in UU, only two of those are problematic. Arcanine appreciates the health recovery, which can be further increased if it is on a Sunny Day team. The last slot is left for crippling bulky walls via Toxic or physical attackers via Will-O-Wisp.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Arcanine trades power for bulk, serving as a great check to opposing Victini. Factoring in Intimidate, the strongest move an Adamant Choice Band Victini can use, V-create, inflicts 44% - 51.9%. Meanwhile, Arcanine can restore the damage via Morning Sun and proceed to Toxic Victini, cutting its ability to stay in. In addition, Intimidate can cause switches, which allows Arcanine to burn or poison whatever comes in or gives Arcanine a turn to heal. Still, Rapid Spin support and something to get rid of weather are necessities to this set. Donphan and Hitmontop once again serve as effective Rapid Spin users and serve as physical sponges. Uxie can get rid of unfavorable weather through Sunny Day, which also powers up Arcanine's STAB move and gives Morning Sun a boost. Uxie can also set up Stealth Rock, which assists in Arcanine's offense. As for the item choice, Leftovers helps recover Arcanine's health, while Life Orb boosts the power of Flare Blitz and ExtremeSpeed / Wild Charge. It may go against Arcanine's bulk, but with Morning Sun, Arcanine can recover the recoil.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Arcanine has Howl to boost its superb Attack. However, it is a bit on the fragile side to use Howl effectively, and Arcanine prefers to hit hard immediately rather than use a turn to set up. Sunny Day is an option to bolster the power of Arcanine's Fire-type moves and to maximize recovery via Morning Sun, while it also reduces the damage taken from Water-type attacks. Arcanine also has access to powerful special moves, such as Fire Blast, Overheat, and Solarbeam, but physical offense is the reason to use Arcanine over other Fire-types; however, such moves can work on a mixed set or even be paired with the aforementioned Sunny Day. Speaking of other special options, Arcanine can go with Lava Plume and Hidden Power Grass or Hidden Power Ice on the Morning Glory set. The EVs and nature have to be adjusted to accomodate the set and Arcanine will be hitting with less power, but this preserves bulk and opens the last slot up for Toxic.</p>
<p>Capping off the other usable physical attacks, Crunch can be used if you wish to preserve Arcanine's health against Dusclops and Dusknoir. However, while it can 2HKO Dusknoir, it takes three hits to fell Dusclops, and the more likely scenario is that Dusclops heals via Pain Split or switches. Bulldoze is gimmicky, but it does slow down opposing Fire-types not named Moltres or Charizard that come in expecting to absorb a Fire-type attack. Finally, Flame Charge can be used to attempt a sweep, but the low damage output and loss of a coverage move makes it an inferior choice.</p>
<p>Arcanine's Dream World ability, Justified, has been released. While it helps increase Arcanine's superb Attack, the downside is that Arcanine must be hit by a Dark-type move to gain the attack boost, meaning its staying power is limited. While Morning Sun can heal the damage, in a sense, Justified is a bit outclassed by Intimidate and Flash Fire.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Due to its high powered moves, very few Pokemon can safely switch in on Arcanine. However, as long as it avoids Wild Charge, Slowbro can repeatedly switch in and scare Arcanine away with STAB Scald, while resisting or taking very little damage from the rest of Arcanine's moves. Flygon can easily come in on most sets lacking Hidden Power Ice and defeat Arcanine, as long as it hasn't suffered any prior damage. Do be wary that Choice Band Arcanine inflicts 51.2% - 60.5% with ExtremeSpeed, meaning it will 2HKO the standard Flygon on the switch. Dusclops is immune to half of the Physical Attacker's moveset and takes at the most 47.9% damage from a Choice Band Flare Blitz, so it can serve as a good counter.</p>
<p>Entry hazards are the bane of Arcanine's existence, with Stealth Rock stripping 25% of its health each time it switches in. Otherwise, revenge killing is the best way to take care of Arcanine. Dugtrio excells at this, as it can easily trap and revenge kill Arcanine thanks to Arena Trap.</p>
