Next up on our Pokémon Moveset posts is the fully evolved form of Kanto's fire starter and one of the most popular Pokémon ever. I give you; the Flame Pokémon, Charizard!
It is said that Charizard's fire burns hotter if it has experienced harsh battles.
-Pokémon Black 2/White 2 Pokédex Entry
-Pokémon Black 2/White 2 Pokédex Entry
Charizard At a Glance
Type: Fire/Flying
Abilities:
Base Stats:
Abilities:
- Blaze - Increases the power of Fire-type attacks by 50% when Charizard less than or equal to 1/3 of its HP left.
- (Hidden Ability) Solar Power - In sunny weather, Charizard gains a 50% increase to its Special Attack stat but loses 1/8 of its maximum HP every turn.
Base Stats:
- HP: 78
- Attack: 84
- Defense: 78
- Special Attack: 109
- Special Defense: 85
- Speed: 100
The moveset + Analysis
Ability: Solar Power
Held Item: Leftovers
Nature: Timid (+Speed/-Attack)
EV Spread: 4 Defense/252 Special Attack/252 Speed
Ability: Solar Power increases Charizard's already decent Special Attack stat in sunny weather. Paired with the standard boost Fire-type attacks get in sunny weather and Charizard getting STAB on those attacks, and you have an extremely powerful Pokémon dealing huge amounts of damage. Blaze can give a boost to Charizard's Fire-type attacks as well, but it requires a large amount of risk as Blaze only activates when Charizard is low on HP.
Held Item: Leftovers recovers 1/16 of Charizard's maximum HP every turn, allowing you to somewhat mitigate the HP loss from Solar Power (causes Charizard to lose 1/8 of his maximum HP every turn). There are two viable alternative held items; a Life Orb will increase Charizard's damage potential to new heights at the cost of increasing the amount of HP Charizard loses each turn, while Heat Rock is useful for Charizards that choose to run Sunny Day to increase the amount of turns that sunny weather is on.
Nature: Timid raises Charizard's Speed and drops his Attack, allowing him to outspeed some Pokémon that would otherwise outspeed him. An alternate choice would be to run a Modest Charizard, which instead increases Special Attack and gives Charizard even more damage potential.
EV Spread: This is a standard 252/252/4 EV spread to take the most advantage of Charizard's Special Attack and Speed stats.
Fire Blast: Charizard's most powerful weapon in this arsenal, Fire Blast boosted by STAB, sunny weather, and Solar Power will do tremendous amounts of damage to anything that doesn't resist Fire-type attacks (and will even do a huge amount of damage to Pokémon that actually do resist it). If you prefer accuracy over raw power, Flamethrower is a viable alternative.
Air Slash: Charizard's secondary STAB allows it to really hurt opponents that it can't hurt with Fire Blast (which are very few in number to begin with). Notably, Air Slash allows Charizard to handle Dragon-types and other Fire-types.
Solarbeam: To finish off Charizard's type coverage, Solarbeam is a good option to take out bulky and defensive Rock-types and Water-types, especially since it comes out in one turn in sunny weather.
Focus Blast: An optional special attack to fill in Charizard's last move slot, it gives Charizard another attack to potentially threaten Steel-types and Rock-types. Noticably, both types are already covered by Fire Blast and Solarbeam, so an alternate choice for the final slot is Sunny Day, if your team is lacking in a weather starter Pokémon.
Held Item: Leftovers
Nature: Timid (+Speed/-Attack)
EV Spread: 4 Defense/252 Special Attack/252 Speed
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
Ability: Solar Power increases Charizard's already decent Special Attack stat in sunny weather. Paired with the standard boost Fire-type attacks get in sunny weather and Charizard getting STAB on those attacks, and you have an extremely powerful Pokémon dealing huge amounts of damage. Blaze can give a boost to Charizard's Fire-type attacks as well, but it requires a large amount of risk as Blaze only activates when Charizard is low on HP.
Held Item: Leftovers recovers 1/16 of Charizard's maximum HP every turn, allowing you to somewhat mitigate the HP loss from Solar Power (causes Charizard to lose 1/8 of his maximum HP every turn). There are two viable alternative held items; a Life Orb will increase Charizard's damage potential to new heights at the cost of increasing the amount of HP Charizard loses each turn, while Heat Rock is useful for Charizards that choose to run Sunny Day to increase the amount of turns that sunny weather is on.
Nature: Timid raises Charizard's Speed and drops his Attack, allowing him to outspeed some Pokémon that would otherwise outspeed him. An alternate choice would be to run a Modest Charizard, which instead increases Special Attack and gives Charizard even more damage potential.
EV Spread: This is a standard 252/252/4 EV spread to take the most advantage of Charizard's Special Attack and Speed stats.
Fire Blast: Charizard's most powerful weapon in this arsenal, Fire Blast boosted by STAB, sunny weather, and Solar Power will do tremendous amounts of damage to anything that doesn't resist Fire-type attacks (and will even do a huge amount of damage to Pokémon that actually do resist it). If you prefer accuracy over raw power, Flamethrower is a viable alternative.
Air Slash: Charizard's secondary STAB allows it to really hurt opponents that it can't hurt with Fire Blast (which are very few in number to begin with). Notably, Air Slash allows Charizard to handle Dragon-types and other Fire-types.
Solarbeam: To finish off Charizard's type coverage, Solarbeam is a good option to take out bulky and defensive Rock-types and Water-types, especially since it comes out in one turn in sunny weather.
Focus Blast: An optional special attack to fill in Charizard's last move slot, it gives Charizard another attack to potentially threaten Steel-types and Rock-types. Noticably, both types are already covered by Fire Blast and Solarbeam, so an alternate choice for the final slot is Sunny Day, if your team is lacking in a weather starter Pokémon.
Teammate Options
Solar Power Charizard really needs sunny weather to be effective, so if your Charizard is not running Sunny Day, it will heavily benefit from a weather starter like Ninetales. Even more important, though, is a Pokémon that can get rid of the commonly used Stealth Rocks entry hazard (which does damage to a Pokémon every time it switches in). Any Pokémon with Rapid Spin will do for this role; Blastoise, Forretress, etc. Just choose it based on what the rest of your team will need. Any Pokémon that can also take advantage of sunny weather will have good synergy with Charizard. For example, Venusaur gets a nice speed boost from the sun if it is running Chlorophyll, and can switch in on Electric-type, Water-type, and Rock-type Pokémon, all of which would do be able to defeat Charizard with super-effective STAB attacks.
Countering Charizard
Charizard's offense is reliant on the boosts it gains from sunny weather, so stopping that weather would heavily diminish the power behind Charizard's attacks. Pokémon like Politoed or Tyranitar can stop the sunny weather with their own weather starting abilities.
The single greatest threat to Charizard, however, is not a Pokémon but an attack. The Stealth Rocks entry hazard is a huge problem for Charizard: It takes off a certain percentage of the opponent's maximum HP based on how weak they are to Rock-type attacks. As Charizard is a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon, it is quadruply weak to Rock-type attacks, and as such loses 50% of its HP every time it switches in with Stealth Rocks on the field. Have a Pokémon in your team that can put Stealth Rocks on the field and another Pokémon who can handle their Rapid Spinner, and Charizard will be forced to take the 50% hit to its HP with every switch in.
The single greatest threat to Charizard, however, is not a Pokémon but an attack. The Stealth Rocks entry hazard is a huge problem for Charizard: It takes off a certain percentage of the opponent's maximum HP based on how weak they are to Rock-type attacks. As Charizard is a Fire/Flying-type Pokémon, it is quadruply weak to Rock-type attacks, and as such loses 50% of its HP every time it switches in with Stealth Rocks on the field. Have a Pokémon in your team that can put Stealth Rocks on the field and another Pokémon who can handle their Rapid Spinner, and Charizard will be forced to take the 50% hit to its HP with every switch in.
Final Thoughts AND The Future
Charizard has been a very popular Pokémon since the very beginning, and no doubt most of us considered him to be one of the strongest Pokémon. It can indeed pack quite a punch, but success with Charizard is really dependent on how good your team works with Charizard.
Generation 6 gives Charizard two Mega Evolutions, one of only two Pokémon to have this honor. Mega Charizard X replaces its Flying-type with the Dragon-type, giving it new STAB options and a chance to run movesets that take advantage of Mega Charizard X's powerful Attack stat. Mega Charizard Y, on the other hand, gives the coveted Drought ability, formerly only available to Ninetales and Groudon, allowing him to run with sun-based teams.
Remember, the moveset here is not the very best moveset possible for Charizard. It is not guaranteed to bring you victory. Rather, it is an analysis on what Charizard can do with proper planning and predictions. Charizards with other movesets can also find success in the competitive scene, and some will undoubtedly be better than the moveset listed here. This is meant only as a way to give you an idea for what to run on your Charizard.
Thanks for reading, and look forward to the next moveset!
Generation 6 gives Charizard two Mega Evolutions, one of only two Pokémon to have this honor. Mega Charizard X replaces its Flying-type with the Dragon-type, giving it new STAB options and a chance to run movesets that take advantage of Mega Charizard X's powerful Attack stat. Mega Charizard Y, on the other hand, gives the coveted Drought ability, formerly only available to Ninetales and Groudon, allowing him to run with sun-based teams.
Remember, the moveset here is not the very best moveset possible for Charizard. It is not guaranteed to bring you victory. Rather, it is an analysis on what Charizard can do with proper planning and predictions. Charizards with other movesets can also find success in the competitive scene, and some will undoubtedly be better than the moveset listed here. This is meant only as a way to give you an idea for what to run on your Charizard.
Thanks for reading, and look forward to the next moveset!
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