POTW #1, Typhlosion

Typhlosion



Typhlosion,

Ability: Blaze - Boosts power of Fire-type moves 50% when at 1/3 HP or less.

Type: Fire

Tier: NU

Overview: Typhlosion has a powerful STAB Eruption and a few other powerful moves, along with fairly high stats. The main downfall of using Typhlosion is that it's a pure Fire-type and therefore has a weakness to Stealth Rock, which can lower its effectiveness, especially when using Eruption. Additionally, even though it has some very high power moves, Typhlosion's movepool is quite shallow which means that it must generally rely on Hidden Power for coverage against important types, most notably Water, and even then, it still has trouble breaking through more specially defensive Pokemon such as Milotic. However, having Blaze as its ability is a great asset as it boosts the power of Typhlosion's Fire-type moves when its health is lowered. With good prediction, Typhlosion is able to tear apart whole teams.

Best Nature: Rash/Modest

Best Moveset:

~ Eruption
~ Focus Punch / Focus Blast
~ Fire Blast
~ Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Rock

Eruption is Typhlosion's most powerful move, gaining a boost from STAB, having a Base Power of 150, and coming off a base 109 Special Attack, it will dent any Pokemon without the ability Flash Fire. Focus Punch allows Typhlosion to hit Chansey on the switch, dealing an average of 69%. Focus Blast does more damage to physically defensive walls such as Regirock and Omastar. Fire Blast allows Typhlosion to sweep late-game when its health is too low to abuse Eruption. The choice of Hidden Power in the last slot depends on what Pokemon you want to hit. Hidden Power Grass allows Typhlosion to OHKO Quagsire and Rhyperior almost all of the time, while Hidden Power Rock allows Typhlosion to damage Moltres, Altaria, Houndoom, and Arcanine.