<Mizuhime> k approved
Blaziken
Only one here getting fried'll be you
QC Stamps: [Lolk, Audiosurfer, BLOOD TOTEM]
GP Stamps: [Fleurdelyeurse, GatoDelFuego]
Overview
########
With arguably one of the best abilities in the game in Speed Boost, Blaziken is a considerable threat. It has great offensive stats and access to two very powerful STAB attacks which have nice coverage with each other and hit a significant portion of the tier super effectively. Blaziken is very difficult to stop once it gets rolling, especially when paired with Drought, which further increases the power of its Flare Blitz. Unfortunately, Blaziken is susceptible to spread attacks and has many common weaknesses. Its attacks are also unreliable; Low Kick has a matchup-dependent Base Power, High Jump Kick is susceptible to Protect, and Flare Blitz has crippling recoil. Blaziken also faces competition from other fast, powerful Fighting-types such as Keldeo, Terrakion, and even Infernape. It's very weak to speed control too, and does especially poorly against Trick Room, which reverses its boosts. Only its regular forme is really viable; the Mega Evolution is almost never worth the slot and outclassed by many other Mega Pokemon.
Speed Boost Sweeper
########
name: Speed Boost Sweeper
move 1: Protect
move 2: Flare Blitz
move 3: Low Kick / High Jump Kick
move 4: Stone Edge / Swords Dance
ability: Speed Boost
item: Life Orb / Blazikenite
evs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
Protect is doubly important for Blaziken, not only as a maneuvering tool, as usual, but also to stall and rack up Speed boosts. Flare Blitz is the first STAB attack, hitting very hard with perfect accuracy, but it does have annoying recoil. In the second slot, Low Kick should be used for a Fighting-type STAB move that has great coverage with Flare Blitz. It hits many heavier Pokemon such as Heatran and Tyranitar consistently and hard, without recoil. High Jump Kick can also be used, as it is hits many lighter Pokemon for a lot more damage. However, it is quite unreliable; the damage caused by misses or hitting Protect will surely put a quick end to Blaziken, especially due to the prevalence of the latter. Stone Edge is for coverage, nailing the Flying-, Fire-, and Dragon-types that resist Blaziken's STAB moves. Swords Dance can also be used to boost Blaziken's power, and to helps counter Intimidate. +2 Blaziken is extremely hard to stop, even without coverage, which is not totally necessary for it. Rock Slide can be used over Stone Edge in last slot for spread damage and to more accurately hit Flying-types that Blaziken hates. However, it is quite weak. Superpower can be used in the third slot for more reliability and more power, but it forces Blaziken to switch out due to the stat drops that it causes.
Set Details
========
The Speed EVs and Jolly nature let Mega Blaziken outspeed 236 Speed neutral-natured Deoxys-A, the fastest unboosted threat in Doubles, after one Protect. Blaziken's Attack stat is maximized to help it hit as hard as possible, and the rest of the EVs go into HP for a bit more bulk. Life Orb is the optimal item, as the stat boosts provided by the Mega Stone are usually not worth the Mega slot, and it also lets Blaziken pair up with Mega Charizard Y. Life Orb Blaziken is also more powerful anyway, and the Speed difference is not noticeable after a few boosts. Still, Mega Blaziken can also be used, but again, it is usually not worth it. If Mega Blaziken is used, a spread of 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spe with an Adamant nature is preferred, which is all that is necessary to help it outspeed Deoxys-A. 184 Speed EVs with an Adamant nature can also be used on Mega Blaziken in order to outspeed 252 Speed Adamant Choice Scarf Landorus-T.
Usage Tips
========
Blaziken gets worn down very quickly, especially between Life Orb and Flare Blitz recoil. It is not very bulky and requires as much health as possible upon coming in so it can use Flare Blitz as many times as possible. Thus, it is best to bring Blaziken in safely after a teammate has been KOed. It can also be switched into a predicted, resisted attack, but this is a riskier maneuver. Once in, Blaziken can either Protect to give itself a Speed boost or attack immediately. Blaziken's STAB attacks each do a fair amount of neutral damage to most things in the tier, so Blaziken can easily deal a lot of damage mid- or late-game and clean up. Unfortunately, although they may seem that way, Blaziken's attacks are not spammable. Overuse of Flare Blitz will wear Blaziken down from recoil, so targets must be chosen wisely, as Blaziken will almost be sure to go down after a few turns. Be very careful when using High Jump Kick; Protect will easily end Blaziken's sweep. Use Protect to scout for opposing Protect, rack up more Speed boosts, and buy a partner time to KO threats while keeping Blaziken safe.
Team Options
========
Feint support is extremely useful to help stop opposing Protect from blocking High Jump Kick. Users of this move that would pair well with Blaziken include Mega Pinsir and Goodra, the latter of which can help check Dragon-types as well. Follow Me / Rage Powder support is quintessential should Blaziken carry Swords Dance. Amoonguss, in particular, is great for redirecting Water-type attacks. Jirachi sponges them too and can take Flying- and Psychic-type attacks as well. Wide Guard helps protect Blaziken from Earthquake and Muddy Water. Aegislash and Hitmontop can both provide that kind of support, and Hitmontop can also provide Feint and Fake Out support as well. Quick Guard protects Blaziken from Talonflame and other priority attacks. Terrakion is a great carrier of the move that also checks Flying-types. Bisharp too can help out and check Psychic-types, keep Intimidate users out, and threaten common Trick Room setters. It can also support Blaziken with Sucker Punch to finish off weakened foes. Safeguard, which can be provided by Pokemon such as Cresselia and Klefki, works wonders in stopping Thunder Wave from crippling Blaziken. Trick Room counters such as Amoonguss and Taunt users such as Thundurus and Keldeo all work well to make sure Blaziken's boosts aren't turned into a disadvantage. Offensive power also helps; Mega Gengar traps and removes Psychic-, Ghost-, and Fairy-type Trick Room setters. Thundurus can tackle Flying-types easily and cripple things with Thunder Wave. Mega Charizard Y provides sun support for regular Blaziken. Finally, Helping Hand from Pokemon such as Hitmontop and Jirachi help power up Blaziken's attacks, making it even more difficult to stop.
Other Options
########
Sky Uppercut can be used as a Fighting-type STAB attack instead of the other moves listed. It is less powerful than High Jump Kick but it is a fairly reliable alternative. Earthquake can be used as a different coverage attack. Blaziken can also utilize Baton Pass to pass its Speed (and possibly Attack) boosts to a teammate. Brave Bird is another interesting coverage move that Blaziken has, but it also has annoying recoil. Blaziken can take advantage of Substitute fairly well to buy even more time to set up, especially because it forces many switches. A mixed set with Fire Blast, Overheat, Hidden Power Ice/Rock, Heat Wave, or Focus Blast can be put to use as well. For an item, Lum Berry can be used to heal Blaziken from paralysis or sleep, both of which are very crippling to it.
Checks & Counters
########
**Speed Control**: Trick Room completely shuts Blaziken down, reversing the benefits of its ability. Cresselia, Chandelure, and Aromatisse can all shrug off its attacks (though Chandelure has to watch out for Stone Edge) and set the field effect up. Paralysis also nullifies the boosts granted by Blaziken's ability. Thundurus works well for this job because it outspeeds Blaziken with Prankster.
**Higher Speed**: Priority attacks can bypass Blaziken's Speed boosts and chip off large chunks of damage. Brave Bird from Talonflame, Aqua Jet from Azumarill, and Fake Out from Mega Kangaskhan or Hitmontop can all wear Blaziken down very quickly after some recoil damage. Whimsicott and Liepard must avoid Blaziken's STAB attacks but can lock it into a harmless move with priority Encore. Tailwind can also be set on the turn Blaziken first Protects, helping opponents outspeed it and take it out before its boosts accumulate.
**Intimidate**: Intimidate users such as Landorus-T and Hitmontop work well to lower Blaziken's Attack. However, they only help against sets that lack Swords Dance.
**Offensive Type Advantage**: Earthquake from Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Garchomp hits Blaziken really hard. Drizzle weakens Blaziken a lot, and makes it even more susceptible to Water-type attacks. Kingdra in rain outspeeds +1 Blaziken and can OHKO with Muddy Water. Any STAB super effective attack will usually OHKO Blaziken, really. Some common examples include Psyshock from Latios or Latias and Hydro Pump from Rotom-W.
**Defensive Pokemon**: Cresselia can survive any attack and KO Blaziken with a super effective STAB move. Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y and Chandelure beat Blaziken easily if it lacks Stone Edge. Flying-types and Dragon-types keep it at bay as well. Salamence, in particular, has Intimidate and resists both STAB attacks, but must watch out for Stone Edge. Jellicent and other Water-types wall Blaziken and can hurt it with Scald.
Blaziken
Only one here getting fried'll be you
QC Stamps: [Lolk, Audiosurfer, BLOOD TOTEM]
GP Stamps: [Fleurdelyeurse, GatoDelFuego]
Overview
########
With arguably one of the best abilities in the game in Speed Boost, Blaziken is a considerable threat. It has great offensive stats and access to two very powerful STAB attacks which have nice coverage with each other and hit a significant portion of the tier super effectively. Blaziken is very difficult to stop once it gets rolling, especially when paired with Drought, which further increases the power of its Flare Blitz. Unfortunately, Blaziken is susceptible to spread attacks and has many common weaknesses. Its attacks are also unreliable; Low Kick has a matchup-dependent Base Power, High Jump Kick is susceptible to Protect, and Flare Blitz has crippling recoil. Blaziken also faces competition from other fast, powerful Fighting-types such as Keldeo, Terrakion, and even Infernape. It's very weak to speed control too, and does especially poorly against Trick Room, which reverses its boosts. Only its regular forme is really viable; the Mega Evolution is almost never worth the slot and outclassed by many other Mega Pokemon.
Speed Boost Sweeper
########
name: Speed Boost Sweeper
move 1: Protect
move 2: Flare Blitz
move 3: Low Kick / High Jump Kick
move 4: Stone Edge / Swords Dance
ability: Speed Boost
item: Life Orb / Blazikenite
evs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
Protect is doubly important for Blaziken, not only as a maneuvering tool, as usual, but also to stall and rack up Speed boosts. Flare Blitz is the first STAB attack, hitting very hard with perfect accuracy, but it does have annoying recoil. In the second slot, Low Kick should be used for a Fighting-type STAB move that has great coverage with Flare Blitz. It hits many heavier Pokemon such as Heatran and Tyranitar consistently and hard, without recoil. High Jump Kick can also be used, as it is hits many lighter Pokemon for a lot more damage. However, it is quite unreliable; the damage caused by misses or hitting Protect will surely put a quick end to Blaziken, especially due to the prevalence of the latter. Stone Edge is for coverage, nailing the Flying-, Fire-, and Dragon-types that resist Blaziken's STAB moves. Swords Dance can also be used to boost Blaziken's power, and to helps counter Intimidate. +2 Blaziken is extremely hard to stop, even without coverage, which is not totally necessary for it. Rock Slide can be used over Stone Edge in last slot for spread damage and to more accurately hit Flying-types that Blaziken hates. However, it is quite weak. Superpower can be used in the third slot for more reliability and more power, but it forces Blaziken to switch out due to the stat drops that it causes.
Set Details
========
The Speed EVs and Jolly nature let Mega Blaziken outspeed 236 Speed neutral-natured Deoxys-A, the fastest unboosted threat in Doubles, after one Protect. Blaziken's Attack stat is maximized to help it hit as hard as possible, and the rest of the EVs go into HP for a bit more bulk. Life Orb is the optimal item, as the stat boosts provided by the Mega Stone are usually not worth the Mega slot, and it also lets Blaziken pair up with Mega Charizard Y. Life Orb Blaziken is also more powerful anyway, and the Speed difference is not noticeable after a few boosts. Still, Mega Blaziken can also be used, but again, it is usually not worth it. If Mega Blaziken is used, a spread of 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spe with an Adamant nature is preferred, which is all that is necessary to help it outspeed Deoxys-A. 184 Speed EVs with an Adamant nature can also be used on Mega Blaziken in order to outspeed 252 Speed Adamant Choice Scarf Landorus-T.
Usage Tips
========
Blaziken gets worn down very quickly, especially between Life Orb and Flare Blitz recoil. It is not very bulky and requires as much health as possible upon coming in so it can use Flare Blitz as many times as possible. Thus, it is best to bring Blaziken in safely after a teammate has been KOed. It can also be switched into a predicted, resisted attack, but this is a riskier maneuver. Once in, Blaziken can either Protect to give itself a Speed boost or attack immediately. Blaziken's STAB attacks each do a fair amount of neutral damage to most things in the tier, so Blaziken can easily deal a lot of damage mid- or late-game and clean up. Unfortunately, although they may seem that way, Blaziken's attacks are not spammable. Overuse of Flare Blitz will wear Blaziken down from recoil, so targets must be chosen wisely, as Blaziken will almost be sure to go down after a few turns. Be very careful when using High Jump Kick; Protect will easily end Blaziken's sweep. Use Protect to scout for opposing Protect, rack up more Speed boosts, and buy a partner time to KO threats while keeping Blaziken safe.
Team Options
========
Feint support is extremely useful to help stop opposing Protect from blocking High Jump Kick. Users of this move that would pair well with Blaziken include Mega Pinsir and Goodra, the latter of which can help check Dragon-types as well. Follow Me / Rage Powder support is quintessential should Blaziken carry Swords Dance. Amoonguss, in particular, is great for redirecting Water-type attacks. Jirachi sponges them too and can take Flying- and Psychic-type attacks as well. Wide Guard helps protect Blaziken from Earthquake and Muddy Water. Aegislash and Hitmontop can both provide that kind of support, and Hitmontop can also provide Feint and Fake Out support as well. Quick Guard protects Blaziken from Talonflame and other priority attacks. Terrakion is a great carrier of the move that also checks Flying-types. Bisharp too can help out and check Psychic-types, keep Intimidate users out, and threaten common Trick Room setters. It can also support Blaziken with Sucker Punch to finish off weakened foes. Safeguard, which can be provided by Pokemon such as Cresselia and Klefki, works wonders in stopping Thunder Wave from crippling Blaziken. Trick Room counters such as Amoonguss and Taunt users such as Thundurus and Keldeo all work well to make sure Blaziken's boosts aren't turned into a disadvantage. Offensive power also helps; Mega Gengar traps and removes Psychic-, Ghost-, and Fairy-type Trick Room setters. Thundurus can tackle Flying-types easily and cripple things with Thunder Wave. Mega Charizard Y provides sun support for regular Blaziken. Finally, Helping Hand from Pokemon such as Hitmontop and Jirachi help power up Blaziken's attacks, making it even more difficult to stop.
Other Options
########
Sky Uppercut can be used as a Fighting-type STAB attack instead of the other moves listed. It is less powerful than High Jump Kick but it is a fairly reliable alternative. Earthquake can be used as a different coverage attack. Blaziken can also utilize Baton Pass to pass its Speed (and possibly Attack) boosts to a teammate. Brave Bird is another interesting coverage move that Blaziken has, but it also has annoying recoil. Blaziken can take advantage of Substitute fairly well to buy even more time to set up, especially because it forces many switches. A mixed set with Fire Blast, Overheat, Hidden Power Ice/Rock, Heat Wave, or Focus Blast can be put to use as well. For an item, Lum Berry can be used to heal Blaziken from paralysis or sleep, both of which are very crippling to it.
Checks & Counters
########
**Speed Control**: Trick Room completely shuts Blaziken down, reversing the benefits of its ability. Cresselia, Chandelure, and Aromatisse can all shrug off its attacks (though Chandelure has to watch out for Stone Edge) and set the field effect up. Paralysis also nullifies the boosts granted by Blaziken's ability. Thundurus works well for this job because it outspeeds Blaziken with Prankster.
**Higher Speed**: Priority attacks can bypass Blaziken's Speed boosts and chip off large chunks of damage. Brave Bird from Talonflame, Aqua Jet from Azumarill, and Fake Out from Mega Kangaskhan or Hitmontop can all wear Blaziken down very quickly after some recoil damage. Whimsicott and Liepard must avoid Blaziken's STAB attacks but can lock it into a harmless move with priority Encore. Tailwind can also be set on the turn Blaziken first Protects, helping opponents outspeed it and take it out before its boosts accumulate.
**Intimidate**: Intimidate users such as Landorus-T and Hitmontop work well to lower Blaziken's Attack. However, they only help against sets that lack Swords Dance.
**Offensive Type Advantage**: Earthquake from Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Garchomp hits Blaziken really hard. Drizzle weakens Blaziken a lot, and makes it even more susceptible to Water-type attacks. Kingdra in rain outspeeds +1 Blaziken and can OHKO with Muddy Water. Any STAB super effective attack will usually OHKO Blaziken, really. Some common examples include Psyshock from Latios or Latias and Hydro Pump from Rotom-W.
**Defensive Pokemon**: Cresselia can survive any attack and KO Blaziken with a super effective STAB move. Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y and Chandelure beat Blaziken easily if it lacks Stone Edge. Flying-types and Dragon-types keep it at bay as well. Salamence, in particular, has Intimidate and resists both STAB attacks, but must watch out for Stone Edge. Jellicent and other Water-types wall Blaziken and can hurt it with Scald.
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