Charizard Reveiw (Gen 5)

Charizard

Nature: Modest / Timid

Item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs / Life Orb

Ability: Solar Power

Moves:
-Fire Blast / Flamethrower
-Solar Beam
-Dragon Pulse
-Air Slash / Overheat

Review:

-Welcome to Generation 5; the land of ridiculous offensive capabilities. As you have probably pieced together, this Charizard set is designed to work with Sunny Day or Drought (Ninetails) support, and is only obtainable via the Dream World or by breeding with a female of the Char family from there. With that said, you have also probably worked out the fact that this set will likely cause unimaginable destruction for your opponent, and it will, should everything go according to plan. So, fist off, you need to decide on an item; Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, or Life Orb, all have their advantages and disadvantages. Choice Specs offers the most power possible when used with a Modest nature, but without a speed boosting nature, such as Timid, you’ll only be able to pick off slower opponents, which could work, but there are plenty of faster foes as well. Life Orb is much the same story; although it doesn’t lock you into one move, it still leaves you vulnerable to semi-speedy threats like Choice Banded Jolly Herracross; you’ll be better off sticking with a Timid nature when using those items. But wait, I know what you’re thinking “But what about those REALLY fast pokes like Aerodactyl and Jolteon? They’ll still be faster than me!” Don’t worry, there’s solution to this problem; Choice Scarf. Even without a speed boosting nature (Modest), Charizard can outpace base 130 Speed Pokémon, such as the ones mentioned, when equipped with a Scarf. Assuming you’re hot headed lizard has decent speed IVs, simply maxing out his Speed EVs will grant you that magic number of 134 (on level 50) which, when combined with Choice Scarf, gives you a Speed stat of 201; a single point above the top speed of Jolteon, Crobat, and Aerodactyl, which maxes out at 200 with a Speed boosting nature. Ok, so you’ve got your item picked out, now for the moves. The first two are the obvious S.T.A.B moves; go with Fire Blast if you want to incinerate everything in site, but don’t mind the risk of missing, or try Flamethrower if you’re a more cautious player. The second move slot has only one option, mostly because you’d be crazy not to use it. Solar Beam fries those annoying water types that will try to rain on Charizard’s parade… But be aware, that wasn’t just a clever pun; should a Rain Dancer set up or Drizzle Politoed switch in and bring in the rain on the turn you chose to use Solar Beam, you’ll be stuck charging up the move due to the lack of sun; at that point you’ll be unable to switch out, and its more than likely that Charizard’s parade of death will be rained out. Anyways, the third slot also has one option, which is Dragon Pulse, solely for the reason that it combats Dragon types, such as Kingdra, who resist your first two moves. And finally we round off the move set with either a nice secondary S.T.A.B in the form of Air Slash, which is only useful when fighting fighters such as Infernape, Blaziken, or Thick Fat Hariyama, or with a last resort move that should really only be used if you’re sure nothing else will K.O your opponent, a.k.a Overheat. So there’s your set; as long as you keep it hot, your opponent wont have a shot.


Notes:

-Blast Burn can replace Overheat in regards to the whole “last ditch effort” concept, but even if you manage to take out your adversary with this move, you’ll be a sitting duck, or dragon, on the charge up turn, since Charizard will be unable to switch out or attack. Roost can ease the pain of using Solar Power or Life Orb (or both), as well as tackle your glaring Stealth Rock weakness. The Hidden Powers are up for grabs, the most notable being Ice for killing Dragon types and Aerodactyl, or Electric for handling Gyarados or the rare Mantine.


-An orginal review by Z-man