volc legit has the best art and is a great mon design tbh
[OVERVIEW]
-Unique access to QD -> more damage and more speed at the same time
-Fire/Grass coverage that only it and Charizard can get
-Vulnerable pre-setup. Low Defense, while partially mediated by Flame Body, and weaknesses to flying/rock/water make it hard to find the right opportunity to begin sweeping
-Walled by Fire- and Dragon-Types. Bad Talonflame matchup
-Heavy competition from other fires: Talon, Heatran, Char Y, which don't have the bad matchup vs Talonflame and do more damage overall, or have other perks.
[SET]
name: Offensive Quiver Dance
move 1: Heat Wave / Fire Blast
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Quiver Dance
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry
ability: Flame Body
nature: Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Heat Wave lets Volcarona spread-sweep post-setup. Fire Blast is better for pre-setup damage (ohko'ing Aegis and Amoonguss) and avoiding wide guard, but lacks spread cleanup potential.
Giga drain hits Water- and Rock-Types post-setup, letting it avoid losing to these threats, such as Keldeo or Terrakion, after a Quiver Dance
QD gives Volcarona both deal more damage and more speed, letting it function as a potent sweeping threat. The added Special Defense also comes in handy, especially against slower special attackers such as Rotom-Wash or Aegislash.
Protect does what protect does
While Life Orb is generally better for doing more damage, picking KOs such as Giga Drain KO'ing Mega Diancie, Lum Berry can be effective at preventing opposing Thundurus from sacc'ing to prevent a Volcarona sweep. However, it should be noted that Lum Berry is only effective if Thundurus tries to stop Volcarona after it is setup. Running Lum Berry also helps Volcarona setup easily against opposing sleep-inducers such as Breloom and Amoonguss.
Set Details
========
Maximizes damage and maximize speed, giving Volcarona the damage--augmented by Life Orb--and speed necessary to sweep opponents. In addition, it outspeeds faster threats such as Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian or Deoxys-Attack after a Quiver Dance.
Flame Body burns fake outs and helps bad matchup against physical attackers such as Kangaskhan, thought it should be noted that Flame Body cannot burn Talonflame, and that many of the physical attacks that Volcarona is threatened by are non-contact.
An alternative spread of 40 Def / 216 SpA / 252 Spe can be run to let Volcarona live Rock Slide from Landorus-Therian at -1.
Usage Tips
========
-Utilize Fake Out and redirection support to keep opposing threats that can KO Volcarona such as Talonflame and Kangaskhan away while also actively protecting Volcarona to let it either setup or sweep much more easily.
-Setup on opposing special attackers that can't touch Volc very well: ie slower special attackers such as aegis / fires, to an extent.
-Be sure to wait to setup until checks to Volcarona are either weakened enough or Volcarona's partner is positioned to deal with them for Volcarona as Volcarona sweeps
Team Options
========
Fake Out support makes setting up easier:
Water-Types such as Rotom-Wash or Keldeo to cover inability to hit fire types
Lightning Rod users can help Volcarona against opposing Thundurus, preventing Thunder Wave. However, in the case of Riachu this exacerbates your Talonflame weakness, whereas Rhydon makes a team more vulnerable to Keldeo. Regardless, the respectively help cover opposing Water-types and Talonflame.
Quick Guard can help against Thundurus and Talonflame
Talonflame Checks such as Thundurus, Lando-T, or Terrakion serve to prevent Volcarona from being hard-stopped by Talonflame
Partners that struggle with Aegislash, such as Mega Diancie or Mega Abomasnow, appreciate Volcarona's phenomenal matchup against Aegislash
Good checks to opposing Dragon-Types, more specifically Hydreigon and Latioos, such as Fairy-types such as Mega Gardevoir or Jirachi in the case of Latios.
Wide Guard users such as Aegislash or Scrafty help Volcarona avoid Rock Slide, but should be wary of Stone Edge
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Coba, stops Talonflame cockblock
Sitrus, added bulk and with a bulkier set (160 HP / 16 Def / 148 SpA / 184 Spe) lets you live Kangaskhan Return
Charcoal, no recoil but drops some damage and added bonus on giga drain
BugBuzz if terrified of Hoopa / to hit dragons
Fiery Dance can be used over Fire Blast to have another way of obtaining boosts
Hidden Power Ground for surprise-KO'ing Heatran can work well, but Volcarona typically doesn't have the space to fit it into the set
A bulkier Rage Powder set can be run to take advantage of both Volcarona's decent special bulk and Flame Body, along with its useful Fighting/Steel resistances. Volcarona as a redirector is unique over other redirectors such as Jirachi or Togekiss in that it doesn't offer speed control support and good physical defenses but can be a threat of itself.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Typing Advantage**: Fire-Types resist Volcarona's dual coverage, while Talonflame destroys it Heatran uses Volcarona as sub-bait. Before setup, Volcarona is easily threatened by opposing Water- and Rock-Type coverage, such as Keldeo, Mega Diancie, or Landorus-Therian. Volcarona's Fire/Grass coverage is also hard-pressed to hit Dragons, which resist both typings. Particularly, Latios resists Volcarona's coverage while bypassing Quiver Dance's Special Defense boosts and Volcarona's innate special defense with Psyshock.
**Speed Control**: Forms of speed control such as Tailwind, Trick Room, and Thunder Wave will let opposing foes disregard Volcarona's added speed from Quiver Dance and move before it.
**Strong Physical Attackers**: Volcarona's poor physical defenses leave it susceptible to strong physical attackers such as Kangaskhan and Hoopa-Unbound
-Fake Out support lets Volcarona set up easier, giving it free turns and room to breathe
[OVERVIEW]
-Unique access to QD -> more damage and more speed at the same time
-Fire/Grass coverage that only it and Charizard can get
-Vulnerable pre-setup. Low Defense, while partially mediated by Flame Body, and weaknesses to flying/rock/water make it hard to find the right opportunity to begin sweeping
-Walled by Fire- and Dragon-Types. Bad Talonflame matchup
-Heavy competition from other fires: Talon, Heatran, Char Y, which don't have the bad matchup vs Talonflame and do more damage overall, or have other perks.
[SET]
name: Offensive Quiver Dance
move 1: Heat Wave / Fire Blast
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Quiver Dance
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry
ability: Flame Body
nature: Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Heat Wave lets Volcarona spread-sweep post-setup. Fire Blast is better for pre-setup damage (ohko'ing Aegis and Amoonguss) and avoiding wide guard, but lacks spread cleanup potential.
Giga drain hits Water- and Rock-Types post-setup, letting it avoid losing to these threats, such as Keldeo or Terrakion, after a Quiver Dance
QD gives Volcarona both deal more damage and more speed, letting it function as a potent sweeping threat. The added Special Defense also comes in handy, especially against slower special attackers such as Rotom-Wash or Aegislash.
Protect does what protect does
While Life Orb is generally better for doing more damage, picking KOs such as Giga Drain KO'ing Mega Diancie, Lum Berry can be effective at preventing opposing Thundurus from sacc'ing to prevent a Volcarona sweep. However, it should be noted that Lum Berry is only effective if Thundurus tries to stop Volcarona after it is setup. Running Lum Berry also helps Volcarona setup easily against opposing sleep-inducers such as Breloom and Amoonguss.
Set Details
========
Maximizes damage and maximize speed, giving Volcarona the damage--augmented by Life Orb--and speed necessary to sweep opponents. In addition, it outspeeds faster threats such as Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian or Deoxys-Attack after a Quiver Dance.
Flame Body burns fake outs and helps bad matchup against physical attackers such as Kangaskhan, thought it should be noted that Flame Body cannot burn Talonflame, and that many of the physical attacks that Volcarona is threatened by are non-contact.
An alternative spread of 40 Def / 216 SpA / 252 Spe can be run to let Volcarona live Rock Slide from Landorus-Therian at -1.
Usage Tips
========
-Utilize Fake Out and redirection support to keep opposing threats that can KO Volcarona such as Talonflame and Kangaskhan away while also actively protecting Volcarona to let it either setup or sweep much more easily.
-Setup on opposing special attackers that can't touch Volc very well: ie slower special attackers such as aegis / fires, to an extent.
-Be sure to wait to setup until checks to Volcarona are either weakened enough or Volcarona's partner is positioned to deal with them for Volcarona as Volcarona sweeps
Team Options
========
Fake Out support makes setting up easier:
Kangaskhan/Scrafty for Fake Out support
Jirachi/Clefable (I swear it's pretty good w/ volc) for redirection support, which helps Volcarona patch up its weaknesses significantly. In addition, clefairy is an option that helps against opposing spread moves with Friend Guard while also redirecting single-target threats.Water-Types such as Rotom-Wash or Keldeo to cover inability to hit fire types
Lightning Rod users can help Volcarona against opposing Thundurus, preventing Thunder Wave. However, in the case of Riachu this exacerbates your Talonflame weakness, whereas Rhydon makes a team more vulnerable to Keldeo. Regardless, the respectively help cover opposing Water-types and Talonflame.
Quick Guard can help against Thundurus and Talonflame
Talonflame Checks such as Thundurus, Lando-T, or Terrakion serve to prevent Volcarona from being hard-stopped by Talonflame
Partners that struggle with Aegislash, such as Mega Diancie or Mega Abomasnow, appreciate Volcarona's phenomenal matchup against Aegislash
Good checks to opposing Dragon-Types, more specifically Hydreigon and Latioos, such as Fairy-types such as Mega Gardevoir or Jirachi in the case of Latios.
Wide Guard users such as Aegislash or Scrafty help Volcarona avoid Rock Slide, but should be wary of Stone Edge
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Coba, stops Talonflame cockblock
Sitrus, added bulk and with a bulkier set (160 HP / 16 Def / 148 SpA / 184 Spe) lets you live Kangaskhan Return
Charcoal, no recoil but drops some damage and added bonus on giga drain
BugBuzz if terrified of Hoopa / to hit dragons
Fiery Dance can be used over Fire Blast to have another way of obtaining boosts
Hidden Power Ground for surprise-KO'ing Heatran can work well, but Volcarona typically doesn't have the space to fit it into the set
A bulkier Rage Powder set can be run to take advantage of both Volcarona's decent special bulk and Flame Body, along with its useful Fighting/Steel resistances. Volcarona as a redirector is unique over other redirectors such as Jirachi or Togekiss in that it doesn't offer speed control support and good physical defenses but can be a threat of itself.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Typing Advantage**: Fire-Types resist Volcarona's dual coverage, while Talonflame destroys it Heatran uses Volcarona as sub-bait. Before setup, Volcarona is easily threatened by opposing Water- and Rock-Type coverage, such as Keldeo, Mega Diancie, or Landorus-Therian. Volcarona's Fire/Grass coverage is also hard-pressed to hit Dragons, which resist both typings. Particularly, Latios resists Volcarona's coverage while bypassing Quiver Dance's Special Defense boosts and Volcarona's innate special defense with Psyshock.
**Speed Control**: Forms of speed control such as Tailwind, Trick Room, and Thunder Wave will let opposing foes disregard Volcarona's added speed from Quiver Dance and move before it.
**Strong Physical Attackers**: Volcarona's poor physical defenses leave it susceptible to strong physical attackers such as Kangaskhan and Hoopa-Unbound
-Fake Out support lets Volcarona set up easier, giving it free turns and room to breathe
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