[Overview]
<p>Life isn't easy for Emboar. As it is seemingly outclassed by its older two Fire / Fighting-type cousins, Blaziken and Infernape, one might wonder why anybody would ever use Emboar. However, with high base 123 Attack, low base 65 Speed, and a deceptively wide movepool, Emboar is a prime candidate for a Trick Room attacker. 110 / 65 / 65 defenses aren't the best in the world, though, especially as it is weak to several common offensive types, such as Water, Ground, and Psychic. Despite this, the smoldering piece of bacon is a very underrated threat, and it is on the whole definitely one of the best physical attackers under Trick Room.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room Attacker
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: Hammer Arm / Superpower
move 3: Rock Slide / Wild Charge
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb / Expert Belt
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Flare Blitz is the best Fire-type physical STAB Emboar can use, as it does huge damage to just about anything it hits super effectively, particularly Scizor and Ferrothorn. Hammer Arm is Emboar's best Fighting-type STAB move, and has a Speed-lowering effect that benefits Emboar in Trick Room. However, it does have a shaky 90% accuracy. Superpower is a more powerful and accurate option, but as it lowers Emboar's Attack and Defense, it puts a big dent in Emboar's ability to pull off a clean sweep. Rock Slide destroys Flying-types such as Zapdos and Thundurus, and its flinch chance is great as Emboar will outpace most Pokemon in Trick Room. Alternatively, Wild Charge not only hits Flying-types super effectively, but also serves as a fantastic weapon against Water-types such as Politoed and Gyarados, who would normally cause Emboar trouble. However, it does inflict some nasty recoil. Protect ensures that Emboar will be able to survive for more turns, and is a gold-standard move in the VGC metagame. When using Emboar, note that it is best run not in the lead spot, but as a sweeper to bring out only after Trick Room has been set up.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>252 EVs are put in HP and Attack to make full use of Emboar's best stats. A Brave nature ensures that Emboar can outpace most threats in Trick Room and hit them hard. An Expert Belt maximizes the power of Emboar's super effective hits, while Life Orb boosts all its moves at the cost of recoil, which can be useful to grab a few suprise KOs. Fire and Fighting Gems also work well. White Herb is another interesting item as it counters Intimidate and mitigates Superpower's crippling stat drops. Even though Emboar isn't the bulkiest Pokemon around, it can utilize a Sitrus Berry well, in particular to recover some of the recoil damage it will be taking.</p>
<p>Standard Trick Room setters, namely Cresselia, Bronzong, Slowking, and Dusclops, all have good synergy with Emboar, as they can eliminate opponents that often trouble Emboar, such as Terrakion, Chandelure, and Reuniclus. Gastrodon pairs with Emboar well, as its ability to draw in all common Water attacks—bar Surf and Muddy Water—gives Emboar one less threat to worry about. Jellicent is also a fantastic partner, as it has access to Trick Room and the ability to take out Emboar's counters, such as Rhyperior, Arcanine, and Chandelure.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Earthquake is a good spread move to use over Rock Slide, but the coverage it provides overlaps with Emboar's other STABs, and Emboar's other coverage moves have more power. Curse makes Emboar more powerful, bulkier, and slower in Trick Room, but setup moves are rarely useful in the fast-paced VGC metagame. Head Smash is ridiculously powerful and can hit Flying-types extremely well—to illustrate, it OHKOes 252/0 Zapdos—but it has severe recoil and shaky 80% accuracy. Thanks to its respectable base 100 Special Attack, Emboar can run a viable special set by drawing on moves such as Flamethrower, Focus Blast, Overheat, Fire Blast, Scald, Hidden Power, and Grass Knot, which can beat Gastrodon, Rhyperior, and Landorus, if Hidden Power Ice is being used. However, Emboar's physical movepool is both more powerful and more reliable. Although Emboar can run a mixed set to moderate success, allowing it to both counter the above Pokemon and the other Pokemon it is strong against, it appreciates the extra survivability more than the special coverage.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>The likes of Hitmontop and Arcanine have Intimidate to reduce Emboar's Attack, which puts it in a sticky situation as to whether to stay in or switch out. Gastrodon and Slowking outpace Emboar in Trick Room and can hit it hard with a STAB Water-type move. Cresselia and Dusclops can tank Emboar's attacks comfortably, and also perform well in Trick Room; Cresselia can hit back with its super effective Psychic as well. However, Dusclops must watch out as it cannot burn Emboar with Will-O-Wisp. Acrobatics users such as Crobat, Tornadus, and Scizor can easily OHKO Emboar, and as Emboar has absolutely no Ice-type coverage outside of the extremely rare Hidden Power Ice, it requires proper support in order to take out threats such as Garchomp, Gliscor, and Landorus. Teams that counter Trick Room will stop Emboar as it is far too slow to do any work outside of Trick Room. Chandelure is immune to both of Emboar's STABs and can counter Trick Room, but it must watch out for Head Smash.</p>
[Unreleased]
<p>Emboar receives Reckless via Dream World, which is a godsend for it. As a wide variety of moves, such as Flare Blitz, Wild Charge, and Head Smash, will be boosted by the ability, it should be Emboar's default ability once released.</p>
