http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/059.shtml
[Overview]
<p>Arcanine has a wide and diverse movepool, backed by solid stats across the board. With high power STAB moves such as Flare Blitz and Fire Blast and strong priority in ExtremeSpeed, backed by 110 base Atk and 100 base SpA, Arcanine has some very meaningful offensive power. Arcanine also has access to useful support moves such as Will-O-Wisp and Roar, and a form of (albeit often unreliable) recovery in Morning Sun, these are backed by relatively sturdy defenses of 90 / 80 / 80 and a reasonable 95 base speed. Unfortunately for Arcanine, it faces stiff OU competition from the likes of Blaziken and Infernape, both of whom are faster, possess STAB fighting attacks and are only neutral to Stealth Rock, qualities Arcanine wishes it had.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: ExtremeSpeed
move 3: Close Combat
move 4: Wild Charge
item: Choice Band
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Arcanine's high base power moves and reasonable Atk stat coupled with strong priority lend themselves very well to a Choice Band set, and powerful priority in ExtremeSpeed and the extra power of Wild Charge over ThunderPunch allows it to differentiate itself from Blaziken and Infernape.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Residual damage and recoil wear Arcanine down very quickly, so Wish Support is greatly appreciated, and Spinner support is almost mandatory, as Arcanine relies on switching in and out. Running Jolly allows Arcanine to outpace neutral natured base 108s such as the musketeers, but Adamant will give you a little more power, most usefully on ExtremeSpeed. Good scouting is essential, as all of Arcanine's attacking moves have at least one Pokemon in OU that is immune to them, so without proper prediction, its very easy to give free switch ins to dangerous pokemon like Doryuuzu and Heatran. Crunch is an option to hit Latios and Latias, but has difficulty finding a free move slot, as all the other moves are essential to the sets success. Nevertheless, it remains on option if your team has real difficulty dealing with them.</p>
[SET]
Name: Life Orb (Mixed)
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Wild Bolt
move 4: Crunch / Morning Sun
item: Life Orb
ability: Intimidate
nature: Rash
evs: 148 Atk / 124 SpA / 236 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Running Life Orb on Arcanine with a mixed movepool allows it to function as a fairly effective mixed wallbreaker. Fire Blast provides a strong STAB option and will be the move you use most often. The other moves allow you to KO the most common specially defensive pokemons. Jellicent takes 46.53% - 54.95% from Wild Bolt, a 2KO with entry hazards, and both Evolution Stone Chansey and Leftovers Blissey, both 252 / 252 Bold, are easily 2KOed by Close Combat. Finally, Crunch allows Arcanine to 2KO both Latios and Latias, whilst Morning Sun gives Arcanine some form of Recovery. Although this is greatly neutered by sand, with Arcanine packing Close Combat Tyranitar shouldn't be switching in, and it gives Arcanine some survivability as otherwise it will kill itself fast. Arcanine also has enough speed to outpace Base 80s with a speed boosting nature.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Residual damage will really wear Arcanine down, so rapid spin and wish support is highly recommended. A purely physical version of this set could be run, with 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe, and Flare Blitz, but killing yourself in two turns with your STAB move is not enjoyable and will really limit the effectiveness of Arcanine. Unlike the Choice Band set, this does not allow Pokemon to freely come in and set up, as Arcanine can now switch moves.
[Team Options]
As already mentioned, Arcanine greatly appreciates wish support to keep it healthy. Latias is a great choice for providing this, as it can come in on all except Arcanine's rock weakness, and Arcanine can switch in on Ice attacks aimed at Latias. Alomomola is also a good choice, as it resists water and will pass larger wishes due to its greater HP stat. Another interesting option is Xatu, who can switch in on Arcanine's Ground weakness and also deters entry hazards from going up. If you are not running Espeon or Xatu to deter hazards, it is recommended that you run a Rapid Spinner to remove them, Starmie and Tentacruel have the best synergy with Arcanine. Arcanine does a good job at blowing rather large holes in an opponents team, so running a Pokemon that can really take advantage of those is a good option. In particular, pokemon with a speed boosting move such as Rock Polish Terrakion pair very well with Arcanine.
[Optional Changes]
Arcanine can run a speed boosting set with either Flare Blitz or Fire Blast, Close Combat, Wild Charge and Nitro Charge or Agility, but this is generally outclassed by Blaziken, who gets the same speed boosts for free. Arcanine's reasonable bulk, and access to Will-O-Wisp and intimidate allow him to run a fairly bulky physical tank moveset, and Roar allows him to phase in an emergancy. If you really need more priority, you can run ExtremeSpeed on the life orb set, but it lacks the power to use it to its greatest effect. Its possible to run Arcanine as on offensive Fire type on Sun teams, but this role is mostly overshadowed by Blaziken and Charizard.
[Counters]
Once Arcanine is in, it must be predicted around. Only the Lati twins resist Arcanine's triple coverage of Fire / Fighting / Electric, so anyone else switching in has to come in on the right move or take severe damage. Once in, strong water, fire or rock moves (none of which, unfortunately for Arcanine, are uncommon) can force it out. If you get Hazards up and keep them there, Arcanine will have a very difficult job, as it will wear itself ou rapidly.
[Dream World]
Justified is overall a poor ability, and should never be considered over Intimidate or Flash Fire.
