Overview
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Even though Chandelure is not a standard choice in OU, it has a few things going for it. For starters, it has an amazing STAB combo combination that only Tyranitar resists in OU, coupled with a fantastic Special Attack stat. This makes Chandelure a decent Choice Scarf user, being able to revenge kill a plethora of fast Pokemon and clean up late-game. Furthermore, Chandelure's access to Taunt makes it an effective stallbreaker, especially when combined with Substitute and its useful resistances, allowing it to take advantage of many common defensive Pokemon, such as Chansey, Clefable, Heatran, and Mega Venusaur. Finally, Flash Fire can be situationally useful to pivot around Mega Charizard Y and for the power boost.
And that's where the good things end. Chandelure is slow for a Choice Scarf user, rendering it unable to outspeed many Speed boosting Pokemon, such as Mega Charizard X, (AC) and common Choice Scarf users, such as (Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Keldeo). (remove brackets) Also, Chandelure is weak to Stealth Rock, weak to and Pursuit, (RC) and has mediocre bulk, all of which makes it much harder to use than Choice Scarf Heatran, a Pokemon Chandelure directly competes with for a teamslot. Finally, Chandelure has many common weaknesses, namely Water, Ground, Dark, and Rock, which means that it can be quite hard to bring in. (RC, add period) as well as being This also renders it very susceptible to revenge killing, as almost any faster Pokemon can OHKO it, and as well as some priority users, such as Azumarill and Bisharp. (too long sentence imo so I split it)
Choice Scarf
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name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Overheat
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Trick / Energy Ball
ability: Flash Fire
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Modest / Timid
Moves
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Overheat and Shadow Ball are Chandelure's main moves, with Overheat opening holes early-game and Shaoow Shadow Ball covering Fire-type resists and cleaning up late-game. Hidden Power Fighting 2HKOes Tyranitar and OHKOes Bisharp, two Pokemon that can switch into at least one of Chandelure's STAB moves and trap it with Pursuit. On the other hand, Hidden Power Ice OHKOes Garchomp, Gliscor, Landorus-T, and Dragonite (the last after Stealth Rock). Trick cripples defensive Pokemon that wall Chandelure, such as Chansey, specially defensive Heatran, Alomomola, and Suicune. Energy Ball is Chandelure's best shot against Keldeo, Terrakion, Mega Gyarados, Manaphy, Rotom-W, and Azumarill, while also hitting Tyranitar for a decent amount of damage if you are using Hidden Power Ice. Will-O-Wisp is a move that can be used alongside Trick, as after it allows Chandelure gives away its Choice Scarf it (moving this to the back, the subordinate clause is a tad too convoluted this way) can to burn common checks and counters, (AC) such as Azumarill, Tyranitar, and Terrakion, (AC) with Will-O-Wisp (redundant) after it has Tricked away its Choice Scarf, while also bypassing Bisharp's Sucker Punch. Memento is another move that can be used on the last slot, allowing Chandelure to cripple Pokemon that it can't revenge kill reliably, such +1 Mega Tyranitar and +1 Mega Gyarados, and letting its teammates take care of them. Memento It can also be used to provide setup (one word) chances for sweepers.
Set Details
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A Modest nature is the best option for the extra power, one of the Chandelure's main advantages of Chandelure as a Choice Scarf user. If, however, outspeeding Adamant Dragonite, Gyarados, and Mega Gyarados after one Dragon Dance is important, a Timid nature should be used though, as well as Energy Ball and Hidden Power Ice, to revenge kill those threats effectively.
Usage Tips
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If you need Chandelure to check a threatening Pokemon, play safely with it; (RC, add semicolon) if not, (AC) feel free to play recklessly and even Trick away your Chandelure's item early game to cripple key defensive Pokemon. Beware of Pursuit users, especially Tyranitar. Making double switches and using Chandelure as a means of forcing switches is the best way to use it in those cases. (moved this here because it makes more sense to mention this before a usage tip related to it) Also, There is no need to predict a lot if the opponent lacks a Pursuit user: (RC, add colon) Overheat dents even some resists, such as Keldeo, with Overheat doing 42.4% - 50.1% to it, so Keldeo dies the second time it switches in if Stealth Rock is up. Beware of Pursuit users and especially Tyranitar. Making double switches and using Chandelure as a mean of forcing switches is your best way of using Chandelure in those cases. Finally, beware of Mega Evolutions when you want to use Trick, especially specially defensive Mega Charizard X and Y, both of which wall Chandelure.
Team Options
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Pokemon that can take advantage of Tyranitar, Ground-types, Water-types, and special walls are good teammates. Breloom and Keldeo are perfect for this job. Also, anti-hazard support is needed, (RC) in order for Chandelure to be able to switch in and out as freely as possible. Starmie is a great spinner in general and beats Tyranitar, most Ground-types, and some Water-types, such as (Keldeo with Psyshock, and Gyarados, Alomomola, and Slowbro if running Thunderbolt) and is a great spinner in general. Mega Scizor with U-turn and Defog can check many Ground-types, (AC) such as Sand Rush Excadrill, Landorus-T, and Choice Scarf Garchomp, as well as some Water-types, mainly Azumarill, and any Tyranitar without Fire Blast, and it can bring Chandelure in safely with U-turn. Wallbreakers also pair well with Chandelure and help it clean up, especially those able to lure and weaken bulky Ground- and Water-types. Life Orb Swords Dance Terrakion is an excellent example of such a wallbreaker this, being able to lure, weaken, and even KO Slowbro, Landorus-T, and Hippowdon, while also being a great way partner to take advantage of Tyranitar.
Stallbreaker
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name: Stallbreaker
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Fire Blast / Will-O-Wisp
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Taunt
ability: Flash Fire
item: Leftovers
evs: 160 HP / 156 SpA / 192 Spe
nature: Modest
Moves
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Shadow Ball is Chandelure's most spammable move and 2HKOes many Pokemon neutral to it. Fire Blast 2HKOes specially defensive Gliscor and OHKOes Steel- and Grass-types, while Will-O-Wisp cripples Tyranitar, (RC) and is more reliable than Fire Blast against Chansey, (AC) (as the low PP of Fire Blast can backfire against Chansey it: (RC, add colon) as without Will-O-Wisp, (AC) you Chandelure can't do anything back to Chansey, though you still win the PP war) (remove brackets). (RC, add period. I split the sentence here because the long parenthesis made it better to repeat 'Will-O-Wisp' here) and Will-O-Wisp also deals with Azumarill, especially Assault Vest sets, which would be a big problem to Chandelure otherwise. Substitute eases prediction, helps avoid Bisharp's Sucker Punch, and (I moved this here because imo it would be better to mention all of Substitute's pros before the long parenthesis) lets Chandelure take advantage of Pokemon that can't break itthe Substitue, such as Clefable, Chansey, defensive Mega Venusaur, Ferrothorn, Earth Power-less Heatran, Knock Off-less Mega Scizor, and Amoonguss. and helps avoid Bisharp's Sucker Punch. Taunt shuts down the recovery of walls such as specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Chansey, Alomomola, and Suicune, letting Chandelure get past them, thus allowing Chandelure it to become an effective stallbreaker. Hex can be used over Shadow Ball when using Will-O-Wisp, as those two moves have great synergy together and give to Chandelure a 130 BP move against burned Pokemon. (RC, add period) though However, Hex is situational, (AC) as it's weaker than Shadow Ball against targets that aren't burned and against Fire-types.(was ambiguous; without the repeated preposition, it appeared to say 'against targets that aren't burned Fire-types')
Set Details
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The EV spread allows Chandelure to outspeed Jolly Tyranitar, Adamant Bisharp, and Timid Magnezone and to make Substitutes that can't break from defensive Mega Venusaur's Sludge Bomb and Clefable's Moonblast. Flash Fire lets Chandelure check Mega Charizard Y and take advantage of the power boost it will sometimes get against Pokemon using Fire moves. If using Will-O-Wisp over Fire Blast, (AC) it is advised to use a Timid nature with a spread of 160 HP / 136 SpA / 212 Spe, in order to outrun Jolly Mega Heracross, Dragonite, and Mega Gyarados and Gyarados before they set up a Substitute or OHKO Chandelure, and Dragonite.
Usage Tips
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This set's main purpose is to help combat stall teams and break down defensive cores by taking advantage of certain Pokemon, such as Mega Venusaur, Clefable, Steel-types, and Chansey. SoTherefore, bring Chandelure in against one of those Pokemon and then use Substitute or Taunt, depending on the situation. When you have a Substitute up, you can start doing some work with your STAB moves or Will-O-Wisp. Be sure to set up Stealth Rock before sending Chandelure in, as you it needs the additional damage to pressure Mega Charizard X, (RC) and Chansey &mdash(remember, you it only have has 8 PPs on for Fire Blast, which is your its only way of doing damage to Chansey)&mdash(if that's how I'm supposed to write that bit of code), (RC) and to always 2HKO specially defensive Gliscor. Against offensive teams you can play more recklessly with Chandelure and just try to make deal as much damage as possible before going down, so don't be afraid to make aggressive double switches and risky plays, as Chandelure has little value against offensive teams anyway.
Team Options
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A reliable Stealth Rock setter helps Chandelure harass its defensive checks, such as specially defensive variants of Mega Charizard X, Earth Power Heatran, Talonflame, and Gyarados, making it an essential tool for stallbreaking effectively. Some Stealth Rock setters that (already implied by previous sentence) Clefable, Taunt Terrakion, and Fire Blast Tyranitar are able to keep Stealth Rock up against the anti-hazard Pokemon of stall teams, such as (bulky Starmie, Defog Skarmory, and Defog Zapdos) (AC, remove brackets) are Clefable, Taunt Terrakion, and Fire Blast Tyranitar. Chandelure also needs partners to cover Water-, Ground-types, and Tyranitar. Mega Venusaur, Breloom, Keldeo, Amoonguss, and Rotom-W are all good for at this job. Finally, Chandelure appreciates anti-hazard support, which means that Latios, Latias, and Starmie are all good partners; (RC, add semicolon) that they also help against some of Chandelure's checks and counters, such as Keldeo and Garchomp.
Other Options
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Chandelure can use any of Pain Split, Will-O-Wisp, or Substitute in tandem with Shadow Ball, Fire Blast, and Hidden Power Fighting, with Life Orb or Leftovers (if using Substitute). Pain Split extends Chandelure's lifespan and lets it take advantage of Chansey without having to run Taunt; (RC, add semicolon) Will-O-Wisp helps avoid Bisharp's Sucker Punch and cripple common checks such as Tyranitar and Azumarill, and while Substitute eases prediction and shields Chandelure from revenge killers, priority users, and Bisharp's Sucker Punch.
Checks & Counters
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**Rock-types**: Tyranitar is a hard counter to any Chandelure lacking Will-O-Wisp or Hidden Power Fighting and has Pursuit to make sure that Chandelure can't switch out. Terrakion, Mega Aerodactyl, and Rhyperior can take Chandelure's Fire-type moves and are thus good checks to the Choice Scarf set, but all are 2HKOed by Shadow Ball.
**Water-types**: Of all Water-types, Assault Vest Azumarill is the best answer to Chandelure from all the Water-types, only fearing Will-O-Wisp from the stallbreaking set. Keldeo, Gyarados, Rotom-W, Manaphy, and Suicune are all decent checks to the Choice Scarf set, being able to switch into Overheat at least once and threaten Chandelure with Water attacks, but they have a harder time dealing with the stallbreaking set, which isn't locked into a single move.
**Fire-types**: Specially defensive variants of Heatran, Mega Charizard X, and Talonflame are great checks to Chandelure, being able to avoid the 2HKO even from Shadow Ball, as long as Stealth Rock is off the field. Talonflame has to watch out for Special Defense drops though, because it is 2HKOed at -1 and can't OHKO Chandelure back. Heatran loses to the stallbreaking set if it doesn't carry AncientPower or Earth Power.
**Fire-typesGround-types**: Garchomp and specially defensive Hippowdon are good answers to Chandelure, with the latter being a hard counter to Chandelure. Specially defensive Gliscor counters the stallbreaking set if it lacks Fire Blast, while Diggersby is immune to Shadow Ball, so it's able allowing it to act as a situational check to the Choice Scarf set if used in tandem with a solid Fire-resist.
**Faster Pokemon with super effective moves**: While this is true for most frail Pokemon, it is a an even bigger concern (or w/e, a word is missing) for Chandelure because most offensive Pokemon have moves able to that hit it for super effective damage. Any faster Pokemon with such a Ground, Ghost, Dark, Rock, or Water move will most likely OHKO Chandelure.
**Miscellaneous**: Chansey walls the Choice Scarf set, (AC) but it must watch out for Trick. Bisharp and Weavile can Pursuit trap and KO with Pursuit a Choice Scarf Chandelure locked into any move other than Overheat or Hidden Power Fighting. Stealth Rock is also a good way to keep Chandelure in check. Finally, Assault Vest Conkeldurr and Assault Vest Tornadus-T can check Chandelure once or twice.