I don't think a lot of people realize this, but Fire has had the 2nd most resistances of any type since Gen 2 (2nd to Steel). Now that was somewhat offset by one of those being Steel, and the type being weak to SR and Drizzle buffed Rain, but several things have changed this gen.
1. It picked up a handy new resistance to Fairy type
2. Steel got an offensive buff
3. Weather got nerfed, so Specs + Rain Keldeo isn't as much of a threat
4. Defog got buffed such that Hazards are much easier to remove.
With all of these being the case, can you see defensive fire types like Torkoal, Ninetales, and Magcargo being more useful this gen for their defensive capabilities? Not necessarily in OU, but better overall?
Also, do you see Fire as a viable defensive typing in general?
I'd rather not talk about Heatran in this topic, because a lot of Heatran's defensive potential comes from it's Steel typing, not it's Fire typing. We also have discussed Heatran's improvement quite a bit on this board.
Just to clarify: This topic is to discuss both the defensive viability of current Fire type pokemon, and the defensive viability of the typing itself independent of the current set of Fire types(e.g. so if we had a pokemon that was a defensive fire type, with defensive stats and a decent defensive movepool, would it be useful?)
1. It picked up a handy new resistance to Fairy type
2. Steel got an offensive buff
3. Weather got nerfed, so Specs + Rain Keldeo isn't as much of a threat
4. Defog got buffed such that Hazards are much easier to remove.
With all of these being the case, can you see defensive fire types like Torkoal, Ninetales, and Magcargo being more useful this gen for their defensive capabilities? Not necessarily in OU, but better overall?
Also, do you see Fire as a viable defensive typing in general?
I'd rather not talk about Heatran in this topic, because a lot of Heatran's defensive potential comes from it's Steel typing, not it's Fire typing. We also have discussed Heatran's improvement quite a bit on this board.
Just to clarify: This topic is to discuss both the defensive viability of current Fire type pokemon, and the defensive viability of the typing itself independent of the current set of Fire types(e.g. so if we had a pokemon that was a defensive fire type, with defensive stats and a decent defensive movepool, would it be useful?)
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