Originally written by Goddess Briyella in the LC QC project.
Overview
########
- Highly destructive offensive threat
- Hustle makes it the strongest physical attacker in the entire metagame
- High HP helps it with taking recoil from Flare Blitz
- Weak to Stealth Rock
- Weak to Aqua Jet
Choice
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name: Choice
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Superpower
ability: Hustle
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Band
evs: 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
- Flare Blitz is its obligatory STAB attack and it punches huge holes in the opposition, even if they are hit only neutrally
- U-turn is also pretty much obligatory here if Choice Band is an option, and it can be used to maintain momentum with Choice Band/Scarf on predicted switches as the opponent panics to find the safest switch-in
- Rock Slide is awesome coverage for hitting the Fire-types that resist both Flare Blitz and U-turn, and is also useful for hitting Flying-types such as Murkrow
- Superpower is very potent, super effective on five types, and rounds out the moveset nicely
Set Details
========
- With Hustle, Jolly nature, and Choice Scarf, Darumaka effectively has an Attack stat of 27 and a Speed stat of 22; a highly threatening force to be reckoned with in terms of power, speed, and momentum
- With Hustle, Jolly nature, and Choice Band, Darumaka's Attack stat is a mind-blowing value of 40 right off the bat and is guaranteed to hit any non-resistant target fatally hard; with U-turn and the right matchup (i.e. forced switch), this thing is beyond scary to face
- Hustle's accuracy handicap can really mess Darumaka up but its moves have much more of a chance of hitting than not hitting; bad luck alone can destroy it
- As stated above, high HP allows it to deal with Flare Blitz recoil with more comfort
Usage Tips
========
- Flare Blitz = death
- Prediction is very important when using Darumaka; if you mispredict the opponent's switch, you will give them a free turn that you might regret, make use of U-turn and use your other moves very carefully; a Flash Fire carrier switching into Darumaka's Flare Blitz is a total momentum shift
- Try to keep Darumaka from taking too much hazard damage, particularly from Stealth Rock, because its health is limited enough as it is and it's not the easiest thing to pass a Wish to
- Make sure it switches in safely on something it can really threaten - after something dies, or using slow Volt-turn users really help with this.
Team Options
========
- Foongus makes a good teammate for dealing with the Water-, Rock-, and Ground-types that might give Darumaka problems
- Darumaka highly appreciates hazard removal support, as its Stealth Rock weakness really hampers its survivability and it's already losing health from Flare Blitz
- Chinchou and Mienfoo can cover Darumaka's weaknesses to Water and Rock, respectively, while also forming a solid VoltTurn core with it, which allows Darumaka to switch in without fear.
- Mantyke can easily cover Darumaka's weaknesses to Water and Ground but it also shares a Rock weakness with it
- Vulpix can offer Drought support, which makes Flare Blitz hit incredibly hard, even 2HKOing max/max Slowpoke with a Choice Band. Vulpix and Darumaka can also help wear down each others counters as they share similar ones. Watch out for the compounded Rock/Ground/Water weaknesses though.
Other Options
########
- Fire Punch can be used to hit hard (although notably less hard than Flare Blitz) but may be ideal if you dislike the recoil from Flare Blitz
- Flame Charge is an option to patch up Darumaka's middling Speed, though the coverage options listed are usually better options for the overall offensive presence, and the immediate Speed boost from Choice Scarf is a lot easier to take advantage of
- Though unconventional, a teammate with Gravity can make Darumaka have perfect accuracy on all its moves, nullifying the accuracy drop from Hustle while still retaining its Attack boosting effect
- Zen Headbutt for Fighting-types and Poison-type walls such as Koffing
- It can make use of Yawn to force switches and Will-O-Wisp to punish physically inclined foes, and it can also make use of Substitute on a forced switch so that it can attack next turn from behind a shield, though the HP loss from Substitute generally doesn't help keep Darumaka alive any more than it would like to
- Life Orb can be used to boost the power of its attacks, but this item is generally a bad option since it eats away at Darumaka's health and its longevity is already sort of an issue
Checks & Counters
########
**Fire-types**: particularly Numel or any Flash Fire carriers that come in on Flare Blitz
**Knock Off**: A widely used move this generation, this can strip Darumaka of its item and harshly decrease its potency, watch out for this
**Paralysis**: particularly Prankster carriers that have Thunder Wave/Stun Spore (Murkrow, Purrloin, Cottonee), this will render Darumaka pretty much useless, though it may get to kill the statuser off before biting the dust
**Slowpoke**: It can come in on any attack not named U-turn and shift momentum entirely
**Thick Fat Munchlax**: It can switch into Flare Blitz with relative comfort and cause Darumaka to take a lot of recoil due to Munchlax's super-high HP stat
**Entry hazards**: This is probably Darumaka's biggest issue, especially Stealth Rock, but it doesn't like Spikes or Sticky Web very much either
Overview
########
- Highly destructive offensive threat
- Hustle makes it the strongest physical attacker in the entire metagame
- High HP helps it with taking recoil from Flare Blitz
- Weak to Stealth Rock
- Weak to Aqua Jet
Choice
########
name: Choice
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Superpower
ability: Hustle
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Band
evs: 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
- Flare Blitz is its obligatory STAB attack and it punches huge holes in the opposition, even if they are hit only neutrally
- U-turn is also pretty much obligatory here if Choice Band is an option, and it can be used to maintain momentum with Choice Band/Scarf on predicted switches as the opponent panics to find the safest switch-in
- Rock Slide is awesome coverage for hitting the Fire-types that resist both Flare Blitz and U-turn, and is also useful for hitting Flying-types such as Murkrow
- Superpower is very potent, super effective on five types, and rounds out the moveset nicely
Set Details
========
- With Hustle, Jolly nature, and Choice Scarf, Darumaka effectively has an Attack stat of 27 and a Speed stat of 22; a highly threatening force to be reckoned with in terms of power, speed, and momentum
- With Hustle, Jolly nature, and Choice Band, Darumaka's Attack stat is a mind-blowing value of 40 right off the bat and is guaranteed to hit any non-resistant target fatally hard; with U-turn and the right matchup (i.e. forced switch), this thing is beyond scary to face
- Hustle's accuracy handicap can really mess Darumaka up but its moves have much more of a chance of hitting than not hitting; bad luck alone can destroy it
- As stated above, high HP allows it to deal with Flare Blitz recoil with more comfort
Usage Tips
========
- Flare Blitz = death
- Prediction is very important when using Darumaka; if you mispredict the opponent's switch, you will give them a free turn that you might regret, make use of U-turn and use your other moves very carefully; a Flash Fire carrier switching into Darumaka's Flare Blitz is a total momentum shift
- Try to keep Darumaka from taking too much hazard damage, particularly from Stealth Rock, because its health is limited enough as it is and it's not the easiest thing to pass a Wish to
- Make sure it switches in safely on something it can really threaten - after something dies, or using slow Volt-turn users really help with this.
Team Options
========
- Foongus makes a good teammate for dealing with the Water-, Rock-, and Ground-types that might give Darumaka problems
- Darumaka highly appreciates hazard removal support, as its Stealth Rock weakness really hampers its survivability and it's already losing health from Flare Blitz
- Chinchou and Mienfoo can cover Darumaka's weaknesses to Water and Rock, respectively, while also forming a solid VoltTurn core with it, which allows Darumaka to switch in without fear.
- Mantyke can easily cover Darumaka's weaknesses to Water and Ground but it also shares a Rock weakness with it
- Vulpix can offer Drought support, which makes Flare Blitz hit incredibly hard, even 2HKOing max/max Slowpoke with a Choice Band. Vulpix and Darumaka can also help wear down each others counters as they share similar ones. Watch out for the compounded Rock/Ground/Water weaknesses though.
Other Options
########
- Fire Punch can be used to hit hard (although notably less hard than Flare Blitz) but may be ideal if you dislike the recoil from Flare Blitz
- Flame Charge is an option to patch up Darumaka's middling Speed, though the coverage options listed are usually better options for the overall offensive presence, and the immediate Speed boost from Choice Scarf is a lot easier to take advantage of
- Though unconventional, a teammate with Gravity can make Darumaka have perfect accuracy on all its moves, nullifying the accuracy drop from Hustle while still retaining its Attack boosting effect
- Zen Headbutt for Fighting-types and Poison-type walls such as Koffing
- It can make use of Yawn to force switches and Will-O-Wisp to punish physically inclined foes, and it can also make use of Substitute on a forced switch so that it can attack next turn from behind a shield, though the HP loss from Substitute generally doesn't help keep Darumaka alive any more than it would like to
- Life Orb can be used to boost the power of its attacks, but this item is generally a bad option since it eats away at Darumaka's health and its longevity is already sort of an issue
Checks & Counters
########
**Fire-types**: particularly Numel or any Flash Fire carriers that come in on Flare Blitz
**Knock Off**: A widely used move this generation, this can strip Darumaka of its item and harshly decrease its potency, watch out for this
**Paralysis**: particularly Prankster carriers that have Thunder Wave/Stun Spore (Murkrow, Purrloin, Cottonee), this will render Darumaka pretty much useless, though it may get to kill the statuser off before biting the dust
**Slowpoke**: It can come in on any attack not named U-turn and shift momentum entirely
**Thick Fat Munchlax**: It can switch into Flare Blitz with relative comfort and cause Darumaka to take a lot of recoil due to Munchlax's super-high HP stat
**Entry hazards**: This is probably Darumaka's biggest issue, especially Stealth Rock, but it doesn't like Spikes or Sticky Web very much either
