Darmanitan

[projeffboy]

Type: Fire
Base Stats: 105/140/55/30/55/95
Base Stat total: 480
Ability: Sheer Force/Zen Mode

Overview
Darmanitan is hands down, the strongest powerhouse in UU; relavtively speaking, with Sheer Force and a Life Orb, the damage Flare Blitz does exceeds those of Zekrom's Bolt Strike, Rayquaza's Draco Meteor, Ho-oh's Brave Bird, and even Kyurem-B's Outrage (all with Life Orb). Not only that, it has access to a diverse movepool, containing Earthquake, Rock Slide, U-turn, Superpower, Substitute, Focus Punch, Fire Punch, Bulk Up, and Taunt. This makes sure that anything that does resist its fire STAB moves can be OHKOed or 2HKOed with other moves. Not only that, it can also be an effective scouter at the same time. Unfortunately, its weak to all entry hazards, and bulky water-types can retaliate with Scald or Surf. It's also afraid against ground and rock type attacks, making Darmanitan catatonic against the EdgeQuake combo. It also has a mediocre speed for a sweeper; this can be aided by giving it a Choice Scarf, though. It also has defenses much worse than Weavile, but its great HP stat can cover that pretty well. Besides, its HP helps survive recoils from Flare Blitz. Never underestimate it, since its STAB Flare Blitz (which is more stronger than a Outrage from a Kyurem-B) can mow down anything that doesn't resist it.

Movepool

Level Up Moves

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Base Tackle
Base Rollout
Base Incinerate
Base Rage
3 Rollout
6 Incinerate
9 Rage
11 Fire Fang
14 Headbutt
17 Swagger
19 Facade
22 Fire Punch
25 Work Up
27 Thrash
30 Belly Drum
33 Flare Blitz
35 Hammer Arm
39 Taunt
47 Superpower
54 Overheat

TM & HM Moves

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TM05 Roar
TM06 Toxic
TM08 Hidden Power
TM10 Bulk Up
TM11 Hidden Power
TM12 Sunny Day
TM15 Taunt
TM17 Hyper Beam
TM21 Protect
TM22 Frustration
TM23 Solarbeam
TM26 Smack Down
TM27 Earthquake
TM28 Dig
TM29 Psychic
TM31 Brick Break
TM32 Double Team
TM35 Flamethrower
TM38 Fire Blast
TM39 Rock Tomb
TM41 Torment
TM42 Facade
TM43 Flame Charge
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM46 Thief
TM48 Round
TM50 Overheat
TM52 Focus Blast
TM56 Fling
TM59 Incinerate
TM61 Will-O-Wisp
TM66 Payback
TM68 Giga Impact
TM71 Stone Edge
TM74 Gyro Ball
TM78 Bulldoze
TM80 Rock Slide
TM83 Work Up
TM86 Grass Knot
TM87 Swagger
TM89 U-turn
TM90 Substitute
TM94 Rock Smash
HM04 Strength

Egg Moves

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Encore
Endure
Flame Wheel
Focus Energy
Focus Punch
Hammer Arm
Sleep Talk
Take Down
Yawn

BW2 Move Tutor

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Endeavor
Fire Punch
Heat Wave
Sleep Talk
Snore
Superpower
Uproar
Zen Headbutt

By a Prior Evolution (Darumaka)

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Uproar

Usable Moves

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Physical Moves
Fire Punch
Flare Blitz
Superpower
Earthquake
U-turn
Focus Punch

Setup Moves
Substitute
Bulk Up
Sunny Day


Status Moves
Toxic
Taunt

Others
Sleep Talk

Not as Effective Moves
Belly Drum
Hammer Arm
Smack Down
Brick Break
Will-O-Wisp
Stone Edge
Flame Wheel (without the ability Sheer Force)
Roar
Protect
Swagger
Yawn
Zen Headbutt
Endure
Endeavor

Set #1: No Neck for a Scarf
Item: Life Orb
EV Spread: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
Moves:
Flare Blitz
Earthquake
U-turn
Superpower/Fire Punch/Rock Slide
Comments
-Darmanitan does not accumulate recoil from Life Orb, which allows it to survive longer and bluff a Choice item. It's like steroids without the harmful effects.
-Flare Blitz is more powerful than Hyper Beam with Sheer Force. It has 156 power (234 power with STAB).
-Earthquake annihilates all grounded fire-types and Flash Fire users, Poison-types, rock-types, and electric-types.
-U-turn makes it an effective scouter.
-Superpower covers dark and normal types.
-If you want no recoil damage, use Fire Punch. However, its 62.5% of Flare Blitz's power.
-Rock Slide destroys the annoying flying-types. It gets the Sheer Force boost, making it the better option than Stone Edge.
-Superpower: Krookodile, Scrafty, Snorlax, Umbreon. It can also be used to finish off weakened bulky water-types.
-Rock Slide: Crobat, Togekiss, Xatu, Zapdos, Moltres. Also, take note of this:
Jolly LO Flare Blitz vs 252/0 Crobat: 94%-112%
Jolly LO Flare Blitz vs 252/56 Togekiss: 76%-92%
Jolly LO Flare Blitz vs 252/0 Xatu: 118%-139%
Jolly LO Flare Blitz vs 252/252+ Xatu: 78%-94%
Jolly LO Flare Blitz vs 0/0 Zapdos: 105%-124%
All of them are OHKOed by Flare Blitz if Stealth Rock is up. Of course, Rock Slide is always an option if Darmanitan's HP is low.
-Giving a Choice Band to Darmanitan gives it a little more oomph. However, it would then be locked into one move, which generally makes the Life Orb set much better.
-Rapid Spin users and Spikers are good teammates. The best options are Hitmontop, Blastoise, Roserade, Raikou, Zapdos, and especially Roserade. Sunny Day users are also superb.

Set #2: HotWheels
Item: Choice Scarf
EV Spread: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
Moves:
Flare Blitz
Earthquake
U-turn
Superpower/Fire Punch/Rock Slide
Comments
-A Scarf allows it to easily outspeed all non-scarfers and spam Sheer Force Flare Blitz.
-Adamant nature gives it more raw power.
-Jolly nature allows it to outspeed +1 Sharpedo, +1 Kingdra, +1 Venemoth, Scarfed Krookodile, Scarfed Porygon-Z, Scarfed Rotom-H, Scarfed Heracross, and Scarfed Nidoking.
-Earthquake and Superpower are coverage moves. They deal solid damage to anything that resists Flare Blitz.
-With a scarf, Darmanitan is an even better scouter. U-turn can overcome prediction uncertainties, while dealing a little extra damage.
-Fire Punch is another another move that can be used if Darmanitan is low on HP.
-Another reason to use Rock Slide is if Moltres is a huge problem for your team.
-Rapid Spinners, Spikers, and Grass types are all excellent teammates; Hitmontop, Blastoise, Roserade, and Shaymin are the best choices.
-Sunny Day is even more useful for this set.

Set #3: SubPunch
Item: Leftovers
EV Spread: 212 HP/112 Atk/184 Spe
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
Substitute
Focus Punch
Fire Punch
Encore/Rock Slide/Earthquake
Comments
-The EV spread allows it to make 101 HP Subs, which can be problematic for Dusclops and other Seismic Tossers/Night Shaders.
-Flare Blitz can be used over Fire Punch for more damage, but it will give less opportunities from Darmanitan to make any more subs.
-Moves such as Protect and Toxic can be used over Encore. The former gives a little extra recovery, while the latter takes care of threats like Chandelure, Moltres, and the threat of all threats, Slowbro.
-Rock Slide and Earthquake are other options instead of Encore. Rock Slide takes care of threats like Moltres and Chandelure, while Earthquake does more damage to Chandelure and destroys Nidoking.
-Encore is great against stallbreaking. You could encore a something like Dusclops into Will-O-Wisp or Milotic into Recover, Sleep Talk, or Rest.
-Its EVs allow it to outspeed anything with a base speed stat of 86 and max speed. That'll just be enough for Darmanitan to outspeed Chandelure, Gligar, Heracross, +0 Kingdra, Nidoking, Rotom-H, Suicune, and Togekiss (all of them without Choice Scarfs). However, Pokémon that are usually slightly slower than it (Arcanine, Houndoom, Krookodile, Porygon-Z, Sharpedo, and Yanmega) outspeed and are able to OHKO it. Other sets of Darmanitan will also OHKO it.

Other Options
SubStall—Substitute, Focus Punch, Will-O-Wisp/Toxic, Taunt/Protect/Yawn/Swagger.
BDD—Belly Drum, Fire Punch, Earthquake, Rock Slide.
BDD Salac Berry—Belly Drum, Substitute/Rock Slide, Fire Punch, Earthquake.
Salac Berry—Substitute, Fire Punch, Earthquake, Rock Slide/Superpower.
Endeavor—Endure/Substitute, Endeavor, Fire Punch, Earthquake/Rock Slide/Superpower.
Sunny Day Attacker—Sunny Day, Fire Punch/Flare Blitz, Earthquake, Superpower/Rock Slide.
SubBulkUp—Substitute, Bulk Up, Fire Punch, Earthquake/Superpower/Rock Slide.
Bulk Up—Bulk Up, Fire Punch/Flare Blitz, Earthquake, Superpower/Rock Slide.
SubStallPhazer—Substitute, Roar, Toxic, Taunt/Protect/Swagger.
If you want to be creative or surprise your opponent, thses are some sets you can use. However, they are either outclassed by other users, generally ineffective, or more convenient in other tiers.
Other moves and items to consider: Toxic—to surprise bulky water-types.
Taunt—to prevent the opponent from setting up for recovering.
Sleep Talk—to surprise sleep inducing users.
Smack Down—allows Earthquake and Superpower to effectively tackle flying-types.

General Threats
Slowbro—resists Superpower, Focus Punch, Flare Blitz, and Fire Punch. Since its a physical wall, it takes little damage from Rock Slide and Earthquake. It also takes less than 50% damage from LO U-turn and can use Slack Off, Leftovers, and Regenerator to heal off the damage.
Milotic—resists Darmanitan's STAB move. It has access to Recover, Rest, and Sleep Talk. When its asleep, its ability Marvel Scale makes it much more difficult for Darmanitan to defeat it.
Suicune—is like Milotic when defending itself from Darmanitan. Unfortunately, it doesn't have Recover or Marvel Scale.
Swampert—is like both Suicune and Milotic when defending itself from it. Unfortunately, it doesn't have Recover, Marvel Scale, or Rest. However, it does have Stealth Rocks to hinder Darmanitan, and a more powerful attack, Earthquake, to threaten it.
Rhyperior—can take a Superpower or Focus Punch from Darmanitan, due to its incredibly high defenses and Solid Rock. Rhyperior can demolish Darmanitan with Earthquake but will lose a lot of HP along the way. Remember, Rhyperior also has an attack stat the same as Darmanitan, except without the Sheer Force boost. If it wants to, it can setup one Rock Polish.
Carracosta—Its almost the exact same counter as Rhyperior. There are some differences, though. It can setup with Shell Smash, since it can take one Focus Punch. Also, it has Aqua Jet to take out Darmanitan, if its weakened.
Azumarill—can OHKO it with Aqua Jet.
Choice Scarf Flygon—can OHKO it with Earthquake. The same goes for other Choice Scarf users.

How BW2 Affects Darmanitan
Its all bad new for Darmanitan when BW2 came out. Here is a list:
- Darmanitan gained nothing particularly useful
- Feraligatr will be a very dangerous counter to Darmanitan. With Sheer Force and Dragon Dance/Sword Dace, it can set up on Darmanitan and proceed to sweep. Or it can directly OHKO (is it?) it with Aqua Jet.
- Now that Durant has Superpower, it can OHKO the LO Darmanitan set with it. A Scarfed Durant can OHKO all the sets.
- Since many other Pokémon obtained Superpower, Darmanitan will be less looked upon for destroying steel-types.
- Golurk has gained some use after receiving No Guard, and with a Rock Polish boost, Darmanitan (even with a Scarf), is helpless against it.
-More Pokémon are able to learn Stealth Rocks, which can slice a fourth of its HP more often.
-If sand is (or already) banned, then Kingdra and other Swift Swimmers will be more encouraged to use Rain Dance. Darmanitan's Flare blitz won't do as much, and it'll be outsped.
-Entei and Typhlosion may come of use in UU, due to their new ability, flash Fire. They then can switch into a Scarfed Darmanitan's Flare Blitz. Scarfed Typhlosion can still outspeed it anyways.
-Wait!!!Wait!!! There is one piece of good news. Due to Amoonguss's new ability, Regenerator, it will be a valuable asset on many UU teams. Darmanitan can be a threat to it.

Hope you enjoyed the analysis of Darmanitan, if there are any mistakes, you only have to inform me.

 

[Doom Dawg]

Well I am coming back from my trip and I am on the car, but I was procrastinating and I actually thought about a set like this, since pinch berries were released:

Darmanitan @ Salac Berry
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake

The set is kind of awkward and needs team support. Which I will mention later. The Salac Berry activates once Darmanitan life is 25% or below, this guarantees him a +1 speed. The EV spread is awkward at first. When using 4 HP the berry activates with one Sub and one BD, with 8 that does not happen though. When maxing out the EVs in HP you obtain similar results to the 4 EVs. Well, why shouldn't we use max attack and max+ speed instead. The reason is that at +6 Darmanitan obliterates anything in his front that is not called Quagsire. So the HP allows much bulkier Subs and adds quite a bit of bulk to the ape (well the awkward ape, let's say). 252 Speed EVs is for maxing out speed and beating a wide variety of scarfers when at +1. Now the Jolly Nature is again to boost the speed to the max possible. Now the moveset works like this. After one of your Pokemon dies you enter with Darmanitan to revenge kill it. He must enter taking no damage whatsoever to guarantee this set to work. So when you enter you must also force a switch, on the switch use Shbstitute and now you should have 75% of HP left. While the opponent breaks the Sub use that Belly Drum and receive +6 and a +1 from the Salac Berry.
Darmanitan is extremely frail at this point, but fast and potent. Fire Punch is used over Flare Blitz for obvious reasons: it is also boosted by sheer force and takes no recoil damage. Earthquake is chosen over Superpower, because otherwise the set would be COMPLETELY walled by Chandelure.

Team support:
Stealth Rock is a must as it damages every pokemon but the magic guard dudes, but they don't carry sashes. Focus Sash allows foes to survive and kill Darm.

Rapid Spin as it needs to take off the Spikes and Stealth rocks from the field to succeed on setup. Theoretically if there is only Rocks up Darmanitan can switch in to force a switch and go straight for the Belly Drum. The same thing happens when there is 3 layers of spikes and nothing else.

Priority users and scarfers wreck his day. Team members that can take on priority users (Azumarill and Machamp and etc.) After all these threats are taken out it is easy to pull out a sweep.

Viable Pokemon for support: Azelf, Blastoise, Hitmontop, Kingdra, Roserade, Bronzong...

Sash Azelf is almost perfect for fodder and SR. I soon will be home and I might aledit this post with a log using SubSalac BD set.

 

[TooWycked]

My friends are I wonder how this guy is still UU. He plows through so much stuff it's seriously not funny anymore. I assume it's because rain neuter's him so severly?

 

[Doom Dawg]

No it is because what he does can be pulled off better by a few other mons in OU. In OU it lacks speed and dies easily due to its frailty, the huge amount of Dragons also neuter his effect...

 

[Iridium]

darm flare blitz hits harder than haxorus outrage. 25% harder, in fact
and OU and UU have about the same number of fire resists, at about 17?

OU's speed tier is definitely higher, though. A lot of offensive stuff in UU is 85~95 speed. Scarf Darm outspeeds just about everything. But in OU, most offensive pokemon have 100+ speed.


set #1's name is awesome, btw

 

[ss234]

I switched my Kingdra into a Flare Blitz once-it took 40% of my health. Remember-that's a 4x resist!

I think the reason he isn't OU is largely to do with the fact that his speed isn't quite as good as it needed to be, and that rain is so prominent. In the Sun, he does obliterate everything with Flare Blitz(apart from Heatran), but his most powerful move is completely neutured in a much more popular weather. The fact that the BW2 OU metagame is so much more hard hitting doesn't help.

But yeah-Darmanitan is a force to be reckoned with, and is why every team needs a bulky water type/Rhyperior-otherwise, Darm is going to Flare Blitz the entirety of your team into the ground.

 

[Machi]

I switched my Kingdra into a Flare Blitz once-it took 40% of my health. Remember-that's a 4x resist!

I think the reason he isn't OU is largely to do with the fact that his speed isn't quite as good as it needed to be, and that rain is so prominent. In the Sun, he does obliterate everything with Flare Blitz(apart from Heatran), but his most powerful move is completely neutured in a much more popular weather. The fact that the BW2 OU metagame is so much more hard hitting doesn't help.

But yeah-Darmanitan is a force to be reckoned with, and is why every team needs a bulky water type/Rhyperior-otherwise, Darm is going to Flare Blitz the entirety of your team into the ground.

There are generally faster scarfers (if he opts to use LO or some other non-choice item he's very vulnerable to revenge since speed tiers are much higher) in OU in addition to not just rain but sand as well - consider that his hardest hitting move Flare blitz has recoil - Darm just won't last too long. He also doesn't have much of a switch in opportunity and volt-turning is better done by the obvious cores (all of which are not as vulnerable to hazards) its not that hard to realize why he dropped in usage.

Yes he's certainly a force to be reckoned with but we also have other hard hitting fire types like Chandelure and Victini that chances are your team building will easily take his best move into account, its suicide nowadays not to prepare against fire types. Also hazards help to keep him in check, it just speeds up the process of wear and tear.

 

[Blinder]

One reason He isn't OU is cause of the severe neutering he takes from entry hazards, and hwhen they rack up with recoil from FB, he will die kinda quickly. You could also just stall its hp out with Sableye's Prio Sub.

 

[ss234]

Sableye never runs Substitute-only a SubSeeder would do that. Sableye is hopeless in the face of a LO Darmanitan frankly, as Will-O-Wisp doesn't burn him. I reckon that more people should be using this in OU-one it's really over-powered, and two spin support isn't exactly hard to do in OU(Starmie).