Battle Spot Singles Spotlight: Mega Charizard X

By Hulavuta. Art by Litra.
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BSS Spotlight: Mega Charizard X art by Litra

Mega Charizard X's history

Pokémon X and Y brought the fan favorite Charizard out of competitive mediocrity by giving it two distinct Mega Evolutions. While Y enhanced Charizard's stats and gave it Drought to boost its Fire attacks even further, its X Evolution repurposed Charizard almost entirely. Its Flying typing was replaced with Dragon, and it was granted the new ability Tough Claws, predisposing it to be more of a physical attacker.

During the XY era, Charizard was very effective and commonly used, consistently sitting in the top 12 most used Pokémon in the ladder seasons before ORAS was released. Although both Mega Evolutions were popular, the considerable majority of Charizard were Y, as that Mega Evolution gave it better qualities to deal with the metagame it found itself in. It was able to deal with common Pokémon that gave X much trouble, such as Aegislash and Azumarill. X also faced a lot of competition from Blaziken as a physically powerful Fire-type Mega Pokémon.

Nowadays, in the ORAS metagame, the usage is almost directly reversed. Charizard X is now the clearly more used Mega Evolution, and despite metagame trends and competition from new Mega Evolutions such as Salamence pushing it out of the top 12, it is by no means a niche Pokémon! It still has many strong qualities that keep it a solid Pokémon and make it a better choice than Salamence and Blaziken in some situations, and something that should always be kept in mind during teambuilding.

Mega Charizard X's qualities

Mega Charizard X's main rival in the metagame is Mega Blaziken, another powerful physical Fire-type attacker that takes up the team's Mega slot. However, Mega Charizard X has many qualities that can give it an advantage. Upon Mega Evolving, its Defense bumps up to base 111. This gives Charizard decent bulk and longevity compared to the frail Blaziken, meaning it can actually afford to take a hit while setting up. On top of that, its physical attacks are actually stronger than Mega Blaziken's, thanks to Tough Claws. Charizard is also able to overcome Pokémon that normally counter Blaziken, such as Slowbro, Salamence, and Talonflame.

Its unique typing also gives it an advantage when setting up for a sweep. As a Fire-type, it is immune to the ubiquitous Will-O-Wisp and Scald burns that cripple potentially powerful sweepers like Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence. It also neutralizes the Dragon weakness to Ice-type attacks, meaning it is free to set up on walls such as Cresselia, Suicune, and Porygon2 if they lack Thunder Wave and Foul Play. Thanks to having two different Mega Evolutions with separate counters, Charizard can also find itself with a free turn to set up when the wrong counter is brought in!

Mega Charizard X's dual STAB attacks are only resisted by Heatran and Azumarill, and their high Base Power allows Charizard to get OHKOs and 2HKOs on most of the metagame after a boost.

Playing with Mega Charizard X

Mega Charizard X

This is the traditional standard Mega Charizard X set found in most singles metagames. Dragon Dance is an amazing boosting move that allows Charizard to boost both its Attack and Speed in one turn, letting it outspeed all unboosted Pokémon after a boost. Flare Blitz and Outrage are its main STAB attacks, and between the two, Charizard can deal massive damage to most Pokémon. The third move is a toss-up between Earthquake and Thunder Punch; Earthquake defeats Heatran and is a powerful and safe move that does not have the drawbacks of Flare Blitz and Outrage. Thunder Punch gets a Tough Claws boost, giving it almost equal power to Earthquake, while also being super effective against Azumarill and Gyarados.

Due to Charizard's high-powered attacks, it is able to also be useful early-game by throwing out unboosted attacks. With Cresselia as a partner, Lunar Dance can be used to refresh Charizard, allowing it to be both an early-game hole puncher and a late-game sweeper.

Mega Charizard X

This "double dance" set eschews the third coverage move in favor of a second setup move. Using both Swords Dance and Flame Charge allows Charizard to be highly effective against both defensive and offensive teams; it can serve as either a stallbreaker or a sweeper depending on the team it faces. With Swords Dance, Charizard has a chance to OHKO major defensive threats, such as Suicune, Cresselia, and Mega Venusaur. As it is naturally already faster than all of these Pokémon, the Speed boost from Dragon Dance is unnecessary.

On the other hand, Flame Charge is more effective against offensive teams where Charizard cannot spare even one turn of momentum. Flame Charge allows Mega Charizard X to finish off a weakened Pokémon or break a Focus Sash and gain a Speed boost. Charizard is usually already strong enough without a boost to OHKO Pokémon commonly found on offensive teams, such as Greninja, Garchomp, Salamence, Mawile, and Gengar.

The main advantage of this set over the Dragon Dance set is its ability to keep momentum in Charizard's favor. Due to Flame Charge being both a boosting move and an attack, sacrificing a Pokémon to it for a free switch into a revenge killer can be detrimental.

Mega Charizard X

This more unorthodox set changes Charizard from its usual role as a sweeper or wallbreaker to a more defensive support role. When it Mega Evolves to Mega Charizard X, it gains just the right typing and stats to use with its movepool to throw offensive teams for a loop. With Roost and Will-O-Wisp and its base 111 Defense, it can become a major annoyance to physical attackers such as Mega Mawile, Mega Kangaskhan, and Mega Salamence.

Though a Jolly nature might seem strange for a defensive Pokémon, Charizard's base 100 Speed tier puts it in a unique situation. With 220 Speed EVs, it is able to outspeed max Speed Adamant Kangaskhan and Adamant Salamence (by far the most common nature) and hit them with Will-O-Wisp before they can move. 172 HP EVs give it extra HP while minimizing damage from passive sources such as Stealth Rock and Sandstorm, and 116 Defense EVs make it as physically bulky as possible.

This set is highly effective against offensive teams, as it is able to neutralize many powerful threats. As 3v3 is a very physically biased metagame, Will-O-Wisp is detrimental to most Pokémon found on offense. With a Flame Charge, Charizard outpaces the unboosted metagame and can burn them before they can attack.

Playing against Mega Charizard X

Like with most physical sweepers, Charizard greatly fears Thunder Wave. After its Speed has been reduced, it will be outsped by most other Pokémon, which will be able to take it down easily. Cresselia can take a hit from unboosted Charizard and use Thunder Wave, and Thundurus will always be able to get a priority Thunder Wave off. Pokémon that Charizard will usually have a free turn to set up on, such as Rotom and Ferrothorn, can sometimes surprise it by staying in and hitting it with a Thunder Wave as well.

Bulky Ground-types, such as Hippowdon, Landorus-T, and Rhyperior, can also take unboosted hits from Charizard and defeat it with Earthquake. However, none of these like to get burned by Will-O-Wisp.

Offensive teams also give Charizard trouble, as they can make it hard for it to find time to set up. Even after it has set up, powerful priority attacks like Sucker Punch from Mega Mawile and Mega Kangaskhan, Brave Bird from Talonflame, Aqua Jet from Azumarill, and Ice Shard from Mamoswine will be able to hit Charizard first no matter how many Speed boosts it has gotten. Due to recoil from Flare Blitz, Charizard will often find itself with low health and in range of being defeated by priority. The omnipresent Garchomp is also a reliable counter with Choice Scarf, as it will slightly outspeed Charizard even if it has a boost under its belt.

Fitting Mega Charizard X onto a team

Sweeping Charizard sets appreciate Stealth Rock to break Focus Sashes and put opposing Pokémon into range of getting KOed by their attacks. Hippowdon is a good setter of Stealth Rock and can cause even more problems for opponents with Sand Stream and Yawn, giving Charizard a chance to set up. Mamoswine and Landorus-T are also good Stealth Rock users that also put a lot of offensive pressure on opponents. Cresselia is another invaluable teammate, being able to take on Pokémon that give Charizard problems, such as Garchomp, and to use Lunar Dance to put Charizard back into the game later on.

Although it is primarily a sweeper itself, Swords Dance Charizard can serve as support to other sweepers by breaking down walls for them. Good offensive partners for Charizard are Garchomp, Landorus-T, and even Dragonite. As these Pokémon are usually checked by the same walls, eliminating them with Charizard can open up the opposing team to be swept!

Defensive Charizard is a good teammate for bulkier offensive teams, and can help set up sweeps for partners later in the game. Sweepers such as Excadrill and Belly Drum Azumarill make good teammates.

Although Charizard is good in most team matchups, offensive sets will have some trouble with heavy offense teams, which will never give it a chance to boost. Having a back-up Mega Pokémon to use instead of Charizard can be effective in these situations. Pokémon like Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Blaziken can put more immediate pressure on offensive teams without having to set up.

Get out there!

Despite competition from many "Uber" Mega Pokémon running around Battle Spot, Mega Charizard X is still able to find itself competing on equal ground and remain a prominent influence on the metagame. Its versatility and power make it both extremely effective and extremely fun (yes, I said fun) to use in battle.

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