Monotype Spittin' some (mono)fire

[Speckshooter]

Introduction​

Hello everyone, I present to you my first mono-fire team. I wanted to play mono fire for a long time and I finally decided to build it. Mono-fire may be the hardest mono type to play since SR can kill your entire team, but I thought I was ready for it.

Teambuilding Process​

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I started with my mega to build my team around it.

Since I chose Charizard, I had to get a Rapidspinner ASAP. Torkoal was the only Mon that came to mind.

Electric-Type is another thing Charizard-Y is weak to, so I decided to take Marowak-A because of Lightning Rod.

When playing Mono-fire, you have to have something for all the Water-Types. Water Absorb was the way to go.

I wanted to have another bulky Mon that I could use for switch-ins

I felt I was missing priority, so I chose Arcanine

The Team​

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Charizard @ Charizardite Y | Blaze
Timid | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Flamethrower
• Solar Beam
• Roost
• Focus Blast
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Starting off I chose my Mega first. Since I only had so many Megas to choose from, I decided to go for Charizard-Y. The Drought ability helps my entire team and Solar Beam checks Water-types that are slower than Charizard-Y. The rest of the set should be pretty self explanatory.

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Torkoal @ Leftovers | Drought
Bold | 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
• Stealth Rock
• Rapid Spin
• Lava Plume
• Yawn
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After I chose Zard-Y as my Mega, the next logical step was to pick a Rapid Spinner. Torkoal was excellent for it since it has Drought, is pretty bulky on the physical side and can set up it's own rocks.

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Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club | Lightning Rod
Adamant | 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Shadow Bone
• Fire Punch
• Swords Dance
• Bonemerang
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I wanted to have as many switch-ins as possible since my Mega is weak to a lot of stuff. Marowak-A had Lightning Rod and did heavy damage physically. I chose Fire Punch over Flare Blitz since I cannot afford to lose much HP from my own attacks. If rocks are up and I'm somehow not able to remove them Marowak-A would die after 1 if not 2 Flare Blitzes. I didn't feel the need to pick Knock Off, because I felt Ground-moves would be better for the Electric-types that I switch in to.

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Volcanion @ Choice Specs | Water Absorb
Modest | 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
• Steam Eruption
• Fire Blast
• Sludge Wave
• Earth Power
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I felt Volcanion was a no brainer since it has Water Absorb. Choice Spec let this thing OHKO almost everything that doesn't resist it. I chose Fire Blast over Flamethrower to do as much damage as possible. Sludge Wave is for dealing with Fairies (especially the Tapus). Earth Power is just for coverage.

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Heatran @ Grassium Z | Flash Fire
Timid | 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
• Magma Storm
• Earth Power
• Hidden Power [Ice]
• Solar Beam
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After choosing Volcanion, I wanted to have antoher Mon for switch-ins that can do a lot of damge. I wanted to use Grassium Z for Water-types and I could trap Fire-types with Magma Storm after I switched and got the Falsh Fire bonus. Earth Power is for dealing with those. Hidden Power Ice is for the Dragons since Heatran can safely switch into them.

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Arcanine @ Life Orb | Flash Fire
Jolly | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
• Flare Blitz
• Extreme Speed
• Wild Charge
• Close Combat
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Looking at my team, I felt I was missing priorty. Aracnine gave me exactly that. Life Orb gives me the added damage I need to revenge-kill Mons with Extreme Speed. With Wild Charge I have another check for Water-Types, Close-Combat deals with T-Tar and Flare-Blitz let's me hit as hard as possible.

Conclusion​

Playing with the team for a few weeks I learned a lot about Mono-Fire. The golden rule probably is: "If Rocks are up, you're pretty much screwed". I'm a skilled enough player to win weather wars and predict certain moves to switch in the right Mon, but Dragon- and Psyichic-types are giving me a hard time. I had a few battles where Diancie swept me and once some Mons set up against me, it's GG. Even when I get to switch in the right Mons, I don't have anything for the Situation (e.g. I switch my Zard into a Garchomp using EQ. EQ doesn't hit me, but I can't do anything against Chomp).

Playing Mono-fire is harder than I thought, but I feel my team is missing something.

How do you guys think this team can be improved? Thanks for your tips!

Importable

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Roost
- Focus Blast

Torkoal @ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Lava Plume
- Yawn

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Bone
- Fire Punch
- Swords Dance
- Bonemerang

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Earth Power

Heatran @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Solar Beam

Arcanine @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Wild Charge
- Close Combat

 

[Eien]

Hey there! This team's a nice start to a good Mega Charizard Y Fire team. You noticed that even if you make good predictions and plays, you still struggle to beat certain Pokemon. Unfortunately for Fire, it's just really not a good type right now. However, here are some suggestions that should help your team out and give you some more success.

The first thing I noticed is your team is very weak to Normal. While you do have Close Combat on Arcanine, that still fails to beat Porygon2 and Arcanine is not a particularly good Pokemon to begin with. As a result, I would suggest Infernape instead of Arcanine. Infernape serves many purposes, which is why it's far superior. Using a Choice Scarf, it can outspeed Nihilego, which is currently a huge threat to your team, and OHKO it with Earthquake. If Heatran gets weakened at all, it will struggle to take those powerful Power Gems and will mean Nihilego can sweep your entire team. Earthquake serves a dual purpose in also being able to help you handle Mega Diancie, as after a small amount of chip, it can be revenge killed where it otherwise would have also been a huge problem. Your team generally just lacked Speed, and while you did have Extreme Speed on Arcanine, Arcanine is really weak and doesn't have STAB, so it just wouldn't have been enough for you. Infernape is just generally great for revenge killing Pokemon like Mega Lopunny that Arcanine couldn't dream of stopping.

Second, I would suggest changing your Volcanion set just a little bit. The EV spread I suggest is 120 HP / 216 SpA / 176 Spe and keeping your Modest nature. 176 Speed is all Volcanion needs to outspeed even Jolly Azumarill. There aren't any real threats between Jolly Azumarill and max Speed Volcanion, so I don't see a reason to waste EVs there. 120 HP EVs prevents Mega Diancie from OHKOing Volcanion with Diamond Storm. Against teams that use Stealth Rock on Clefable, Torkoal is more than capable of keeping Stealth Rock off the field for Earth Power is only really most useful for opposing Volcanion, which is pretty uncommon. I'd recommend trying Hidden Power Electric over Earth Power. Hidden Power Electric really helps you out against Water-types like Mantine that otherwise just wall this set. It also still often 2HKOes Toxapex like Earth Power did, so it should be a nice change for you.

While the Heatran set is pretty cool, I think using Air Balloon over Grassium Z is really important for Fire teams right now. With Air Balloon, Heatran can serve as another temporary Ground immunity. Pokemon like Garchomp and Mega Diancie that have both a powerful Ground-type attack and another good STAB attack are almost impossible for you to really handle right now. With Air Balloon Heatran, these threats can be stopped; Garchomp, for instance, doesn't really care about Heatran switching into Dragon-type attacks, and Heatran isn't fast enough to use Hidden Power Ice without fearing Earthquake if it lacks Air Balloon. While I do think your idea of trapping and then using Bloom Doom is cool, it doesn't really work in most cases. Most Water-types are faster than Heatran and will be able to KO it before it can fire off Bloom Doom. For those that are slower, many like Mantine are walls that Bloom Doom are rather useless for. While with two Drought setters, it is definitely possible to semi-reliably carry Solar Beam on Heatran, I feel the only main targets would be Pokemon like Seismitoad but Azumarill. Seismitoad has sand support and Azumarill is covered by Volcanion already. Since Solar Beam just doesn't have much use without Grassium Z, I think Taunt over Solar Beam would help allow you to better trap and take on walls like Toxapex and Chansey, which are significant threats to your team, by preventing them from healing.

Fire is a hard type to use effectively. However, I'm happy to see you identified two big problem points for your team. While Fire will always have a hard time with those threats, I hope my suggestions will make that struggle a little more bearable!

importable

Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- U-turn

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 120 HP / 216 SpA / 172 Spe
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt

 

[Fran Sunstar]

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After choosing Volcanion, I wanted to have antoher Mon for switch-ins that can do a lot of damge. I wanted to use Grassium Z for Water-types and I could trap Fire-types with Magma Storm after I switched and got the Falsh Fire bonus. Earth Power is for dealing with those. Hidden Power Ice is for the Dragons since Heatran can safely switch into them.


[/hide]

I would have personally used Air Balloon on Heatran but Grassium Z isn't bad for water-type coverage tbh

Good team overall