Typhlosion
QC: [PK Gaming] [Fried Rhys] [Honko]
GP: [V0x] [Zurich]
[Overview]
<p>Typhlosion has the privilege of being one of the few Fire-types in RU with access to the extremely powerful Eruption. At full HP and in sunlight, Eruption has a ridiculous 337 Base Power with STAB. Even Pokemon that resist Fire-type moves are 2HKOed or even OHKOed in the sun. Typhlosion's high Special Attack, Speed, and decent offensive movepool alongside Eruption allow it to abuse a Choice set with ease, particularly a Choice Scarf set. Although its Fire typing leaves it with a Stealth Rock weakness, Typhlosion is less hampered by it than Moltres and Charizard, both of which have a 4x weakness to Stealth Rock. In addition, Typhlosion can run a very effective Sunny Day abuse set and not worry about any residual health lost from its ability, such as Charizard's Solar Power. Typhlosion also has a great Speed stat of 100, which is faster than Moltres, Adamant Entei, and most of RU. These traits are more than enough to set Typhlosion apart from the rest of its Fire-type brethren.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Eruption
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Rock
move 4: Fire Blast
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Eruption is Typhlosion's most powerful move, and, at full HP, will 2HKO anything that doesn't resist it. Since entry hazard damage makes Eruption much less effective, this set works especially well in the "lead" position. Focus Blast is the next most important attack to eliminate Rock-types such as Rhydon wanting to switch in and wall Typhlosion's Fire-type STAB moves. While rarely needed, Hidden Power does provide further coverage, but the type depends on your team's needs. Hidden Power Grass destroys Quagsire and Rhydon, and does decent damage to other bulky Water-types. Hidden Power Rock hits other Fire-types for super effective damage, particularly Moltres, Charizard, and Entei. Unfortunately, using Hidden Power Rock forces an imperfect Speed IV of 30, which means Typhlosion is at a disadvantage when facing opponents with the same base Speed. In the last moveslot, Fire Blast is a more reliable, albeit less accurate STAB move to use if Typhlosion has taken prior damage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>SolarBeam is a much stronger alternative to Hidden Power Grass, but is rather unreliable since using it requires sun support. The EV spread maximizes Speed and Special Attack, with the remaining EVs thrown into Special Defense. While Timid and Modest natures are equally viable, Timid is recommended with Choice Specs while Modest works best with Choice Scarf. Although Typhlosion can utilize both Choice Scarf and Choice Specs effectively, they are played very differently and require different team support.</p>
<p>With a Choice Scarf equipped, Typhlosion essentially outruns the entire unboosted RU tier. That being said, the loss of power from the lack of Choice Specs is significant; Eruption may not OHKO certain Pokemon that haven't taken prior damage. Choice Scarf allows Typhlosion to outspeed Pokemon otherwise faster than it, such as Durant, Accelgor, Galvantula, Manectric, and Sceptile, and KO them. Choice Specs plays differently in that it can punch large holes into the opponent's team, since nothing outside of rare Flash Fire Pokemon such as Flareon or Lampent and Pokemon with the ability Thick Fat such as Hariyama and Munchlax are able to switch into a full-powered Choice Specs-boosted Eruption without taking a huge amount of damage. Choice Specs is so powerful that it OHKOes any Porygon-Z and Sharpedo that don't invest in bulk, and 2HKOes a number of other threats, including Bouffalant, specially defensive Gallade, specially defensive Claydol, Choice Band Entei, Choiced Moltres, Feraligatr, Qwilfish, and even specially defensive Uxie. With Stealth Rock and / or Spikes, some of these 2HKOs may turn into OHKOs. However, because of the lack of extra Speed that Choice Scarf provides, Choice Specs Typhlosion has to be careful about faster opponents, and must take caution when switching in.</p>
<p>Because Typhlosion is susceptible to all forms of entry hazards, it is almost required to have a teammate such as Cryogonal or Claydol who can utilize Rapid Spin to rid Typhlosion of entry hazards. Both of the aforementioned teammates also share decent synergy with Typhlosion. Sunny Day support increases the power of Typhlosion's already extremely powerful STAB Eruption. Teammates such as Uxie, who can reliably set up Sunny Day as well as Stealth Rock and dual screens, are very useful to power up Typhlosion's Fire-type STAB moves and temporarily remove its Water-type weakness. Although having entry hazards benefits both Choice variants, hazards are necessary for the Choice Scarf variant due to the lack of power in comparison to the Choice Specs variant. Likewise, despite Typhlosion's naturally high Speed, the Choice Specs variant relies more on paralysis support to smash Pokemon faster than it, such as Sceptile and Galvantula.</p>
[SET]
name: Sunny Day
move 1: Sunny Day
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Focus Blast / Hidden Power Rock
move 4: SolarBeam
item: Life Orb / Heat Rock
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Although this set may at first seem outclassed by Solar Power Charizard, it is still quite viable, especially with RU's relative lack of weather-oriented battles. Typhlosion is better than Charizard in some respects: the latter is both 4x weak to Stealth Rock and takes Solar Power damage when sunlight is up, meaning it will fall faster. Sunny Day allows Typhlosion to spam an extremely powerful Fire Blast, which absolutely destroys anything that doesn't resist it (type-wise or courtesy of Thick Fat), or is immune to it via Flash Fire. Again, Focus Blast hits the Rock-types that may come in trying to wall it. Hidden Power Rock is an option over Focus Blast to hit opposing Fire-types, but Fire Blast in the sun already 2HKOes Moltres and Charizard. It is important to note that using Hidden Power Rock forces an imperfect Speed IV of 30, causing Typhlosion to lose against opponents with the same base Speed such as Charizard. SolarBeam is on this set because Sunny Day eliminates the charge turn, and SolarBeam is a more reliable and powerful move with which to hit bulky Water-types.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Life Orb is always a good item choice to power up Typhlosion's moves; however, Heat Rock can be used to prolong the turns of strong sunlight, and it doesn't cause recoil. Maximum investment in Speed and Special Attack along with a Timid nature allows Typhlosion to hit hard and outspeed the most Pokemon that it can with its great base 100 Speed. Unfortunately, there will be times that Typhlosion won't get the opportunity to set up sun itself, so reliable Sunny Day users such as Uxie, who has the bulk and Speed to easily set up sun, Stealth Rock, and dual screens, are always helpful. Although Typhlosion is less weak to Stealth Rock than Charizard, Typhlosion still requires Rapid Spin support, as it is susceptible to all forms of entry hazards. Claydol and Cryogonal are great teammates to rid Typhlosion of entry hazards, and also share decent type synergy. Claydol has the added benefit of being able to set up Stealth Rock, Sunny Day, and dual screens.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Typhlosion can run a multitude of different sets including a 4 Attacks + Life Orb set or a Substitute + 3 Attacks set, but they are mostly outclassed by the other sets listed. Typhlosion actually has quite the diverse physical movepool, including Flare Blitz, Earthquake, Rock Slide, Shadow Claw, Brick Break, and Wild Charge, but lacks the Attack and a good boosting move to make good use out of them. A SubReversal set is viable, but is too gimmicky to work effectively, especially with Typhlosion's sub-par Attack stat. Likewise, a SubPunch set is viable since Typhlosion lures in Munchlax and Rock-types easily. Expert Belt is an option to bluff a Choice item, but the power output is usually underwhelming in comparison to Life Orb or Choice Specs.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Entry hazards are the best way to limit the power of Typhlosion's Eruption, since the less HP it has, the less powerful Eruption will be. Bulky Fire-, Water-, Dragon-, and Rock-types such as Entei, Moltres, Quagsire, Altaria, and Regirock can switch into Eruption with impunity and threaten Typhlosion with super effective moves or status. However, a Choice Specs-boosted Eruption in the sun will 2HKO or even OHKO even the most defensive variants of the aforementioned Pokemon. There is very little that can stomach a full-powered Eruption; however, once Typhlosion is locked into it, a Pokemon such as Omastar or Kabutops can come in and proceed to set up on or KO it. Most status conditions are detrimental to Typhlosion, but particularly poison and paralysis. Paralysis utterly cripples Typhlosion, as it relies on its high speed to smite the opponent, while poison gradually eats away at Typhlosion's health, weakening the power of its Eruption.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Typhlosion gets Flash Fire from the Dream World, with which it can switch into Fire-type attacks for free and gain a 1.5x boost to its own Fire-type attacks. This makes it a better check to Pokemon such as Choice Specs Moltres and Choice Band Entei, both of which would do a great amount of damage even though Typhlosion resists their Fire-type attacks.</p>
