Rapidash - The Fire Horse Pokemon

JeffreyLebowski said:
Rapidash took a level in badass.

Does Bounce get any interesting coverage with its moves? I've always thought it to be an interesting move.
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The coverage is somewhat redundant with Fire-typed attacks. But there is the chance to Paralyze, and it does not have recoil damage like Flare Blitz.

It is a rather poor choice IMO because it gives opponents a free turn to set up or switch in a counter. Rapidash doesn't get STAB on it, so it really doesn't need the move.
 
The Makeshift Pegasus

i would use something along the lines of:

The Makeshift Pegasus
Rapidash ~ Balloon
-Flash Fire-
Flair Blitz
Low Kick / Wild Volt
Hypnosis / Swagger
Will-O-Wisp / Swagger

I suggest Low Kick over Wild Volt as at least low kick hits water types, while wild volt cannot hit the rock/ground dual-type at all thanks to ground's immunity to electricity. And as you are running balloon, chances are you may see a rock type trying to Stone Edge Rapidash away as Earthquakes won't work on it. The idea here is to switch in on an obvious Earthquake or Fire type attack as you are essentially immune to them both. then with your impressive speed you can cripple them with status or go for the kill if you have the type advantage. Fire and Fighting go very well together but as I didn't do the calculations, i wouldnt know here to begin on what it can OHKO. Wild Volt is an option but hacks away at Rapidash's life when paired with Flair Blitz. The recoil may put your horse in the glue factory quicker then expected.

Swagger is an option to annoy special attackers as they will be hitting themselves with boosted attacks.

This Rapidash is still frail but if played right can us its speed to its advantage. use the free switch-in opportunities that Flash Fire and Balloon give you.
 
I like Rapidash as a statuser more than anything. WOW/Hypnosis/Toxic with Fire Blitz and I guess now your choice Megahorn/Wild Bolt/Low Kick. Its ability lies in its capacity to switch it in on something like Arcanine/Skarm/Heatran/Scizor and hopefully put it to sleep, burn it, or hit the water or rock Poke coming on the switch.
 
Lee said:
Y'know, if I could have picked two moves within reason for Rapidash to learn, Wild Bolt and Low Kick would have been way up there. They are great additions for sure.

It isn't fair to compare him to Arcanine because there's no way they're going to end up in the same tier. They weren't in 4th gen and that's not likely to change. Comparing him to Entei is more appropriate but remember that Entei can only really be compared to Rapidash if he uses Flare Blitz in which case he a) needs to be Adamant and b) needs to use Pressure. That means Rapidash has a significant speed advantage over Entei and the ever-useful Flash Fire ability.

The Choice Band set looks awesome now...I used to hate being forced to run Return, Hypnosis or even Double-Kick. 100 Atk is reasonably modest by todays standards but consider that with Flare Blitz/Megahorn/Wild Bolt/Low Kick Rapidash will be hitting the majority of targets for at least 180BP. With two recoil-inducing moves and a SR weakness don't expect him to live too long though. Especially with that poor base HP.

I was secretly hoping he'd evolve btw. With him already being a mythical creature (he's a unicorn, I dunno why GF insist on passing him off as a horse) I would have liked to see him evolve into a Pegasus. How cool would that be!
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Entei has 15 more attack points, and can Flare Blitz more because of it's HP. Entei's 115 HP completely blows away Rapidash's paltry 65. Rapidash's only selling point is it's slightly wider movepool.
 
Why Rapidash didn't get Drill Liner I will never know :/

Low Kick does do a considerable amount to Regirock though, giving it enough reasons to be glad for the potential gained from Gen V.
 
Actually Gabe, Rapidash's advantages over Entei are 339 Spe vs 299, Flash Fire and a wider movepool. C'mon, I said all this in the post you quoted. -_-
 
You really should bold Agility, Nitro Charge and Hypnosis.
Agility is a good move with Hypnosis + STAB attack and filler. After an agility nothing is outspeeding you and you have the fastest hypnosis in the game. Nitro Charge works well alongside Flare Blitz, Megahorn and Double Edge as it always increases speed and has decent base power.
 
Lee said:
Actually Gabe, Rapidash's advantages over Entei are 339 Spe vs 299, Flash Fire and a wider movepool. C'mon, I said all this in the post you quoted. -_-
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Sorry, that's a good point. In any case, I think it's nice that Entei, Rapidash, and Arcanine are noticeably different in ways that keep it so neither pokemon completely outclasses the other. It's sort of like what the Dragons have going on, each has their own niche.
 
SkullCandy said:
You really should bold Agility, Nitro Charge and Hypnosis.
Agility is a good move with Hypnosis + STAB attack and filler. After an agility nothing is outspeeding you and you have the fastest hypnosis in the game. Nitro Charge works well alongside Flare Blitz, Megahorn and Double Edge as it always increases speed and has decent base power.
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I simply question whether Rapidash can survive setting up and still beat an opponent. To me it seems like it should use every turn either giving status to a foe or attacking, not trying to increase its speed.

As for Hypnosis, I don't see why anyone would use it now that it has 60% accuracy again.

Wynought said:
Why Rapidash didn't get Drill Liner I will never know :/
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Well the description on serebii says the user rotates its whole body like a drill when using the move, and I guess they thought Rapidash didn't look like it could rotate its whole body like that. Still a bad time to be logical with pokemon...
 
yea if anything pokemon like hitmontop and sandslash should have gotten drill liner but i'm not too upset that rapidash didn't get it as it wouldnt have really fit. i do agree he should have gotten jump kick though
 
He definitely should have gotten Jump Kick. Mebukijika gets it and they have similar body structures. I also kind of expected Herbivore or Speed Boost (he was considered the fastest Pokemon in the first Season of the anime...) for Dream World abilities, but eh. :/
 
considering rhyperior gets drill liner (I wanna see him rotate) it's kinda sad rapidash did not get it. But there's still the possibility for a move tutor in 'grey'. I was kinda hoping rapidash would get something that prevents him from being totally outclassed as an attacker by arcanine. I saw low kick and was like 'fuck yes!' Then I figured arcanine gets CC ... So rapidash's advenatges/niche are the higher speed and acess to hypnosis, megahorn and baton pass. Unfortunately I must doubt he'll make it out of NU this gen :/
 
I feel like 105 speed isn't cutting it. STAB Nitro Charge is a good way to finish a pokemon off and pump your speed up again. With all the Speed Boosts, Sand Throws, Swift Swims, and Chlorophylls he needs something extra to stay ahead of the curve.
 
Could Nitro Charge be used in conjunction with Baton Pass (3rd Gen XD move)? Or does Agility still fare better and run it along with Flare Blitz?
 
ehhh... its still gonna be outclassed by arcanine (who's more versatile... and even got CC now to make it even more deadly), so it'll probably be competing more with entei now.
Most people seem upset that it didn't get drill liner, but I'm still upset it didn't get earthquake from the get go (I mean common, stuff like shuckle and chansey can learn EQ, but thunder-hooves over here cant?)
 
Wow, as someone who used him alot in nu, this is a HUGE boost! Not having to use return, double kick or baton pass as filler moves and having these new options is a great change despite the fact it wont really get him out of nu. It sure will make him more viable though! Really hope it gets drill liner in grey.
 
Arcanine is probably going to OU thanks to CC...(Unless Hihidaruma outclasses it)

So Rapidash will be the UU fire type :D
 
Rapidash-Life Orb/Wide Lens (Flash Fire)
Naive (Spd+,SpDef-)/Hasty (Spd+,Def-)
80 Atk/252 SpAtk/176 Spd
Fire Blast
Hidden Power (Grass)
Megahorn
Wild Charge

Pretty standard for a mixed set. Not sure if I should include some status moves or not. Any thoughts?
 
Could we please stop comparing Rapidash to Arcanine, they are one, if not two tiers apart at the moment. A more accurate comparison would be between Rapidash and Entei in RU.

On topic, would hp rock be useful for the elimination of yanmega (the "king" of RU) or does flare blitz suffice?
 
I've been using Rapidash in OU and I've actually been getting away with it. I figured I'd go with sun support though, so take that as you will.
 
verbatim said:
Could we please stop comparing Rapidash to Arcanine, they are one, if not two tiers apart at the moment. A more accurate comparison would be between Rapidash and Entei in RU.

On topic, would hp rock be useful for the elimination of yanmega (the "king" of RU) or does flare blitz suffice?
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Here's a quick calculation of Base Power to give you the answer:

120BP Flare Blitz * 1.5 STAB * 2 Super effective = 360BP
70BP HP Rock * 4 Super effective = 240 BP
 
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