The best Sunny Day Fire type. With its immense stabbed Fire Blast it can seriously hurt nearly everything, including Blissey. Hidden Power Grass is for Waters in general and Swampert in particular, while Hidden Power Ice is to surprise Salamence. Use Hidden Power Grass if you have Will-O-Wisp, because Will-O-Wisp will already render Salamence useless, so it's more important to hit Water types. Just be sure to hit Salamence on the switch or as it uses Dragon Dance, because even a Will-O-Wisped Rock Slide will OHKO from Choice Band Salamence.
Moltres makes an excellent Sleep Talker because it can absorb the sleeping moves of Jynx or any Grass-type, and then surprise the hell out of them with his STAB Fire moves (if you're lucky). It can also outstall Blissey one on one. Watch out for Hypnosis Milotic. Other OptionsAgility works on a sweeper set, especially if you are passing it a few Calm Minds. Hidden Power Electric can be used as another option to still hit Waters, for it targets Gyarados, as opposed to Swampert (Hidden Power Grass), but Swampert is much more common than Gyarados. However, you can bluff Hidden Power Grass easily, as that is what most Moltres carry, so Swampert will avoid you, whereas Gyarados is likely to stay in and Taunt, expecting Will-O-Wisp, so it's not that bad of an option. EVs216 Speed EVs give a stat of 270, making it faster than Adamant Heracross. Max Special Attack with a Modest nature makes it pack a real punch, and the rest of the EVs can go into HP or one of the defenses. Alternately, 228 Speed EVs with a Timid nature gives a stat of 300, just faster than the base 100s, like Salamence, who don't boost their Speed with a nature. This is more important with Hidden Power Ice than with other sets, because Choice Band Salamence still OHKOs after a Will-O-Wisp. OpinionMoltres is an offensive powerhouse with a horrible defensive typing. Its only saving grace is that it's immune to EQ and 4x resistant to Megahorn, but the users of those moves almost always have Rock Slide, which hits that nasty 4x weakness. Moltres is weak to the two most common Special typings in the game, Surf and Thunderbolt. That being said, it has the Special Attack stat to abuse that decent Speed and kill many of its "counters" before they can react. It 2HKOs those Snorlax that think Immunity is a good option, and nearly 2HKOs Blissey with a single turn of set up (Sunny Day), which also removes its weakness to Water moves. CountersMainly Suicune, because even Hidden Power Grass isn't that effective. Swampert wins against Hidden Power Ice Moltres, but since Hidden Power Grass is the most common, Swampert has to be careful. Milotic has the Special Defense to take it on, as well, and with Recover, it doesn't have to try beating on it in the Sun, but instead can wait it out. Snorlax with Thick Fat can take hits all day, but Will-O-Wisp can slow it down. Immunity Snorlax does not like taking STAB 120 power Sun-boosted attacks from 383 Special Attack. Blissey, of course, can take hits all day with Softboiled, and doesn't care about Will-O-Wisp. Even though Fire Blast in the Sun is a 2HKO on Blissey with Spikes factored in, Blissey can just repeatedly use Softboiled until the Sun runs out, or Thunder Wave and then Softboiled until you are Fully Paralyzed. Either way, you'll run out of Fire Blast PP before you CH it to death, and a CH won't even OHKO if it doesn't occur immediately after switching into 3 layers of Spikes (and even then, it isn't guaranteed). Aerodactyl survives anything Moltres can throw at it, but does not like Will-O-Wisps. Because most Moltres open up with Will-O-Wisp, Charizard can use this to switch in and then set up a Belly Drum. However, if Moltres first uses Sunny Day, Flamethrower stands a good chance of KOing a Charizard after it drums, and Fire Blast always will. Houndoom can switch into Moltres Fire moves and turn the tables on the flying barbecue wings, as a Flash Fire, Sunny Flamethrower 2HKOs Moltres (Fire Blast doesn't even need Flash Fire and Sunny Day, only one of them), and Houndoom resists both Hidden Power Grass and Hidden Power Ice. |
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