[QC Checks: Rwby / Many / Megazard]
[GP Checks: marthaa / The Dutch Plumberjack]
[OVERVIEW]
Combusken sports a number of positives that separate it from the myriad of special attackers in the tier. For starters, it has a solid and uncommon ability in Speed Boost, which helps make it a dangerous late-game cleaner after its checks have been weakened enough or removed, as it is able to outspeed and KO everything left on the opposing team. Combusken is always able to at least grab one boost due to Protect. Secondly, its typing is really solid offensively, as its STAB moves alone hit the entire tier, barring a few Pokemon, for neutral damage, and it can beat traditional Fighting-type checks like Gourgeist-XL, Sableye, and Weezing due to its Fire typing and role as being a special attacker. Its offenses aren't the best, though, and as a result, it struggles with special tanks and walls, but access to high-powered STAB moves in Fire Blast and Focus Blast as well as Z-Moves helps to mitigate this. Combusken's other stats are below average, as well. It's rather frail, which makes revenge killing it with priority easier, and a low base Speed of 55 leaves it outsped by common Choice Scarf users like Oricorio-G even at +2.
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Electric
move 4: Protect
item: Fightinium Z / Firium Z / Life Orb
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fire Blast, the first of Combusken's STAB moves, hits Pokemon like Abomasnow, Ferroseed, Gourgeist-XL, Jynx, and Lilligant for super effective damage, and it can deal some pretty good neutral damage to Pokemon like Mesprit, Palossand, Sableye, and Weezing, all of which are typical Fighting-type answers. Focus Blast, Combusken's second STAB move, is able to hit a lot of what resists or takes little from Fire Blast for either neutral or super effective damage such as Carracosta, Drampa, Lanturn, Magmortar, Miltank, and Type: Null. Hidden Power Electric rounds out Combusken's coverage, allowing it to hit Pokemon that resist both of its STAB moves for super effective damage such as Qwilfish and Swanna. Finally, Protect gives Combusken a free Speed boost, and it also allows you to scout for moves.
Set Details
========
Maximum investment in both Speed and Special Attack makes Combusken as fast and strong as it can be. A Timid nature allows Combusken to have an edge over Pokemon that barely outspeed the Modest sets like Jynx, Haunter, Swanna, and Pyroar at +1. A Modest nature, however, does provide Combusken with more power, which can be nice for scoring KOs that the Timid nature sets can't, such as the potential OHKO with Focus Blast and Fire Blast after Stealth Rock damage on Primeape and Oricorio-G, respectively. Speed Boost, Combusken's only viable ability, increases Combusken's Speed every turn, and after enough boosts, Combusken is an absolute annoyance for offensive teams due to how hard it is for them to stop it.
Fightinium Z turns Focus Blast into All-Out Pummeling, which is capable of doing a lot to Gastrodon, Lanturn, Type: Null, Assault Vest Eelektross, and Assault Vest Hitmonchan. Firium Z, on the other hand, turns Fire Blast into Inferno Overdrive, which does a lot of damage to different checks, such as Mesprit, Musharna, Togetic, and the two aforementioned Assault Vest users. Life Orb can be chosen over either Z-Crystal if you already have a Z-Crystal in use or simply want all of its moves to have a bit more power. It should be noted that the recoil makes Combusken easier to pick off with priority.
Usage Tips
========
Due to Combusken's frailty, it should avoid being brought in on non-resisted attacks, as it severely limits its longevity later on and makes it easier to revenge kill. The best ways to get Combusken in are via slow U-turns and Volt Switches, on weak, resisted hits, predicted Will-O-Wisps from Pokemon like Sableye, or on predicted switches to Pokemon weak to Fire-type moves such as Ferroseed. If it needs to, it can act as a revenge killer because of Speed Boost and Protect, allowing it to outspeed opposing Pokemon and either force it out or KO it. When Pokemon like Assault Vest Hitmonchan and Lanturn are weakened enough, Combusken is most effective, as there is little to stop it from spamming its STAB moves and cleaning, getting progressively faster all the while. Despite it succeeding mostly at being a late-game cleaner, however, it can break a wall like Audino or Regirock earlier on if it needs to.
Team Options
========
Combusken appreciates wallbreakers that pressure specially defensive Pokemon like Aggron, Archeops, Mesprit, and Stoutland and wallbreakers that pressure Water- and Ground-types, like Abomasnow, Drampa, Alolan Exeggutor and Alolan Raichu, as those are some of its best checks. The physical wallbreakers in turn appreciate Combusken weakening physical walls, and the special wallbreakers appreciate Combusken weakening the special walls. Entry hazards pressure many of Combusken's switch-ins, especially ones lacking reliable recovery, so setters like Ferroseed, Mesprit, Qwilfish, and Weezing pair well with it. Qwilfish in particular is good because it can absorb Toxic Spikes for Combusken. Hazard removal is good as well, so Rapid Spin users like Hitmonchan and Kabutops and Defoggers like Silvally-Steel, Silvally-Water, Skuntank, and Swanna pair well with it, although Defog isn't advised on hazard stacking teams. Dark-types and Pursuit trappers like Absol, Shiftry, Skuntank, and Stoutland remove Ghost- and Psychic-types that deter the use of Focus Blast like Misdreavus, Mesprit, and Musharna. Absol can support further with Knock Off, making some checks that rely on their Assault Vest or Eviolite less willing to come in, and Skuntank also absorbs Toxic Spikes for it. Slow users of U-turn and Volt Switch such as Eelektross, Lanturn and defensive Mesprit get Combusken in as safely as possible. Eelektross, like Absol, can use Knock Off on Pokemon reliant on their items to check Combusken and act as a decent blanket check to Flying- and Water-types; Lanturn can spread status with Toxic and heal Combusken of its own status conditions with Heal Bell; Mesprit sets up Stealth Rock, which pressures the opposing team and can give Combusken a second chance to clean up should it get weakened beforehand with Healing Wish. Lastly, Pokemon that are good at taking the priority attacks Combusken dislikes the most like Gourgeist-XL, Regirock, Mesprit, and Lanturn make for good partners, and Combusken breaks through some of the bulkier Pokemon that they do very little against like Audino and Type: Null.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Different Hidden Power types can be used over Electric, like Grass and Ice, and they hit certain Pokemon like Gastrodon, Altaria, and Alolan Exeggutor for 4x damage, with Hidden Power Grass even being useful for chipping away at Lanturn. However, Hidden Power Electric pairs better with Fire- and Fighting-type coverage. Eviolite giving Combusken additional bulk might seem nice, but it's harder for it to bust through checks like Lanturn and Musharna without a Z-Move or boost in power from Life Orb. A physical set with Swords Dance, Flare Blitz or Fire Punch, and Low Kick, which can also use Eviolite, is an option. Flare Blitz is its most powerful STAB move, and after a Swords Dance, can hit pretty hard, and Z-Low Kick can help against Lanturn. However, the recoil damage Combusken takes due to Flare Blitz makes it easier to revenge kill, and non-Firium or Fightinium Z sets don't hit very hard, even after a Swords Dance. Work Up can be used over Hidden Power for when a Pokemon is sent in as a sacrifice, which makes Combusken hit harder. Substitute can be opted for in order to make obtaining Speed boosts easier and to shield Combusken from status. Finally, Defog can be used in case your team lacks entry hazard removal, and Combusken does have the bonus of pressuring certain setters like Ferroseed and Regirock due to its typing. All three come at the cost of coverage, however, and Defog doesn't really do much for Combusken at all, giving it a worse matchup against Pokemon like Swanna with no actual benefit.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Specially Defensive Pokemon**: While not a lot of them can switch in on one of All-Out Pummeling or Inferno Overdrive, Pokemon like Altaria, Clefairy, Assault Vest Hitmonchan, Lanturn, Muk, Musharna, and Togetic definitely give Combusken trouble due to their ability to take any non-Z-Move well enough and either inflict it with status or KO it. Additionally, all of the examples except for Lanturn and Muk have reliable recovery, meaning that the damage inflicted by Combusken won't plague them for long. However, Clefairy and Togetic don't come in as safely if they lose their Eviolite.
**Faster Pokemon**: Combusken's low base Speed allows Pokemon like Archeops, Alolan Dugtrio, Floatzel, Lycanroc, Alolan Raichu, and Zebstrika to outspeed it at +1, Timid or Modest. Common Choice Scarf users outspeed it even after two like Haunter, Manectric, Mr. Mime, Primeape, and Pyroar, and they can all deal pretty heavy damage to or KO Combusken.
**Water-types**: Water-types like specially defensive Gastrodon, Lanturn, Poliwrath, and Qwilfish are capable of at least taking one hit and either 2HKOing or OHKOing Combusken with their STAB moves. It's worth nothing that none of them bar Qwilfish come in on All-Out Pummeling super well, and Hidden Power Electric variants 2HKO Qwilfish while Hidden Power Grass variants 2HKO Gastrodon.
**Psychic-types**: Psychic-types like Grumpig, which takes Fire-type attacks especially well due to its ability Thick Fat, Mesprit, Musharna, and Mr. Mime can all take one Fire Blast from even Life Orb Combusken and OHKO it with their STAB moves. None of them take an Inferno Overdrive well besides Grumpig, however.
**Priority**: Accelerock, Aqua Jet, and Mach Punch from the likes of Lycanroc, Carracosta, Floatzel, Kabutops, Gurdurr, and Hitmonchan leave dents in Combusken, which can either force it out and make it lose its Speed boosts or pick it off with enough prior damage.
[GP Checks: marthaa / The Dutch Plumberjack]
[OVERVIEW]
Combusken sports a number of positives that separate it from the myriad of special attackers in the tier. For starters, it has a solid and uncommon ability in Speed Boost, which helps make it a dangerous late-game cleaner after its checks have been weakened enough or removed, as it is able to outspeed and KO everything left on the opposing team. Combusken is always able to at least grab one boost due to Protect. Secondly, its typing is really solid offensively, as its STAB moves alone hit the entire tier, barring a few Pokemon, for neutral damage, and it can beat traditional Fighting-type checks like Gourgeist-XL, Sableye, and Weezing due to its Fire typing and role as being a special attacker. Its offenses aren't the best, though, and as a result, it struggles with special tanks and walls, but access to high-powered STAB moves in Fire Blast and Focus Blast as well as Z-Moves helps to mitigate this. Combusken's other stats are below average, as well. It's rather frail, which makes revenge killing it with priority easier, and a low base Speed of 55 leaves it outsped by common Choice Scarf users like Oricorio-G even at +2.
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Electric
move 4: Protect
item: Fightinium Z / Firium Z / Life Orb
ability: Speed Boost
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fire Blast, the first of Combusken's STAB moves, hits Pokemon like Abomasnow, Ferroseed, Gourgeist-XL, Jynx, and Lilligant for super effective damage, and it can deal some pretty good neutral damage to Pokemon like Mesprit, Palossand, Sableye, and Weezing, all of which are typical Fighting-type answers. Focus Blast, Combusken's second STAB move, is able to hit a lot of what resists or takes little from Fire Blast for either neutral or super effective damage such as Carracosta, Drampa, Lanturn, Magmortar, Miltank, and Type: Null. Hidden Power Electric rounds out Combusken's coverage, allowing it to hit Pokemon that resist both of its STAB moves for super effective damage such as Qwilfish and Swanna. Finally, Protect gives Combusken a free Speed boost, and it also allows you to scout for moves.
Set Details
========
Maximum investment in both Speed and Special Attack makes Combusken as fast and strong as it can be. A Timid nature allows Combusken to have an edge over Pokemon that barely outspeed the Modest sets like Jynx, Haunter, Swanna, and Pyroar at +1. A Modest nature, however, does provide Combusken with more power, which can be nice for scoring KOs that the Timid nature sets can't, such as the potential OHKO with Focus Blast and Fire Blast after Stealth Rock damage on Primeape and Oricorio-G, respectively. Speed Boost, Combusken's only viable ability, increases Combusken's Speed every turn, and after enough boosts, Combusken is an absolute annoyance for offensive teams due to how hard it is for them to stop it.
Fightinium Z turns Focus Blast into All-Out Pummeling, which is capable of doing a lot to Gastrodon, Lanturn, Type: Null, Assault Vest Eelektross, and Assault Vest Hitmonchan. Firium Z, on the other hand, turns Fire Blast into Inferno Overdrive, which does a lot of damage to different checks, such as Mesprit, Musharna, Togetic, and the two aforementioned Assault Vest users. Life Orb can be chosen over either Z-Crystal if you already have a Z-Crystal in use or simply want all of its moves to have a bit more power. It should be noted that the recoil makes Combusken easier to pick off with priority.
Usage Tips
========
Due to Combusken's frailty, it should avoid being brought in on non-resisted attacks, as it severely limits its longevity later on and makes it easier to revenge kill. The best ways to get Combusken in are via slow U-turns and Volt Switches, on weak, resisted hits, predicted Will-O-Wisps from Pokemon like Sableye, or on predicted switches to Pokemon weak to Fire-type moves such as Ferroseed. If it needs to, it can act as a revenge killer because of Speed Boost and Protect, allowing it to outspeed opposing Pokemon and either force it out or KO it. When Pokemon like Assault Vest Hitmonchan and Lanturn are weakened enough, Combusken is most effective, as there is little to stop it from spamming its STAB moves and cleaning, getting progressively faster all the while. Despite it succeeding mostly at being a late-game cleaner, however, it can break a wall like Audino or Regirock earlier on if it needs to.
Team Options
========
Combusken appreciates wallbreakers that pressure specially defensive Pokemon like Aggron, Archeops, Mesprit, and Stoutland and wallbreakers that pressure Water- and Ground-types, like Abomasnow, Drampa, Alolan Exeggutor and Alolan Raichu, as those are some of its best checks. The physical wallbreakers in turn appreciate Combusken weakening physical walls, and the special wallbreakers appreciate Combusken weakening the special walls. Entry hazards pressure many of Combusken's switch-ins, especially ones lacking reliable recovery, so setters like Ferroseed, Mesprit, Qwilfish, and Weezing pair well with it. Qwilfish in particular is good because it can absorb Toxic Spikes for Combusken. Hazard removal is good as well, so Rapid Spin users like Hitmonchan and Kabutops and Defoggers like Silvally-Steel, Silvally-Water, Skuntank, and Swanna pair well with it, although Defog isn't advised on hazard stacking teams. Dark-types and Pursuit trappers like Absol, Shiftry, Skuntank, and Stoutland remove Ghost- and Psychic-types that deter the use of Focus Blast like Misdreavus, Mesprit, and Musharna. Absol can support further with Knock Off, making some checks that rely on their Assault Vest or Eviolite less willing to come in, and Skuntank also absorbs Toxic Spikes for it. Slow users of U-turn and Volt Switch such as Eelektross, Lanturn and defensive Mesprit get Combusken in as safely as possible. Eelektross, like Absol, can use Knock Off on Pokemon reliant on their items to check Combusken and act as a decent blanket check to Flying- and Water-types; Lanturn can spread status with Toxic and heal Combusken of its own status conditions with Heal Bell; Mesprit sets up Stealth Rock, which pressures the opposing team and can give Combusken a second chance to clean up should it get weakened beforehand with Healing Wish. Lastly, Pokemon that are good at taking the priority attacks Combusken dislikes the most like Gourgeist-XL, Regirock, Mesprit, and Lanturn make for good partners, and Combusken breaks through some of the bulkier Pokemon that they do very little against like Audino and Type: Null.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Different Hidden Power types can be used over Electric, like Grass and Ice, and they hit certain Pokemon like Gastrodon, Altaria, and Alolan Exeggutor for 4x damage, with Hidden Power Grass even being useful for chipping away at Lanturn. However, Hidden Power Electric pairs better with Fire- and Fighting-type coverage. Eviolite giving Combusken additional bulk might seem nice, but it's harder for it to bust through checks like Lanturn and Musharna without a Z-Move or boost in power from Life Orb. A physical set with Swords Dance, Flare Blitz or Fire Punch, and Low Kick, which can also use Eviolite, is an option. Flare Blitz is its most powerful STAB move, and after a Swords Dance, can hit pretty hard, and Z-Low Kick can help against Lanturn. However, the recoil damage Combusken takes due to Flare Blitz makes it easier to revenge kill, and non-Firium or Fightinium Z sets don't hit very hard, even after a Swords Dance. Work Up can be used over Hidden Power for when a Pokemon is sent in as a sacrifice, which makes Combusken hit harder. Substitute can be opted for in order to make obtaining Speed boosts easier and to shield Combusken from status. Finally, Defog can be used in case your team lacks entry hazard removal, and Combusken does have the bonus of pressuring certain setters like Ferroseed and Regirock due to its typing. All three come at the cost of coverage, however, and Defog doesn't really do much for Combusken at all, giving it a worse matchup against Pokemon like Swanna with no actual benefit.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Specially Defensive Pokemon**: While not a lot of them can switch in on one of All-Out Pummeling or Inferno Overdrive, Pokemon like Altaria, Clefairy, Assault Vest Hitmonchan, Lanturn, Muk, Musharna, and Togetic definitely give Combusken trouble due to their ability to take any non-Z-Move well enough and either inflict it with status or KO it. Additionally, all of the examples except for Lanturn and Muk have reliable recovery, meaning that the damage inflicted by Combusken won't plague them for long. However, Clefairy and Togetic don't come in as safely if they lose their Eviolite.
**Faster Pokemon**: Combusken's low base Speed allows Pokemon like Archeops, Alolan Dugtrio, Floatzel, Lycanroc, Alolan Raichu, and Zebstrika to outspeed it at +1, Timid or Modest. Common Choice Scarf users outspeed it even after two like Haunter, Manectric, Mr. Mime, Primeape, and Pyroar, and they can all deal pretty heavy damage to or KO Combusken.
**Water-types**: Water-types like specially defensive Gastrodon, Lanturn, Poliwrath, and Qwilfish are capable of at least taking one hit and either 2HKOing or OHKOing Combusken with their STAB moves. It's worth nothing that none of them bar Qwilfish come in on All-Out Pummeling super well, and Hidden Power Electric variants 2HKO Qwilfish while Hidden Power Grass variants 2HKO Gastrodon.
**Psychic-types**: Psychic-types like Grumpig, which takes Fire-type attacks especially well due to its ability Thick Fat, Mesprit, Musharna, and Mr. Mime can all take one Fire Blast from even Life Orb Combusken and OHKO it with their STAB moves. None of them take an Inferno Overdrive well besides Grumpig, however.
**Priority**: Accelerock, Aqua Jet, and Mach Punch from the likes of Lycanroc, Carracosta, Floatzel, Kabutops, Gurdurr, and Hitmonchan leave dents in Combusken, which can either force it out and make it lose its Speed boosts or pick it off with enough prior damage.
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