Gen 3 Charizard [QC 0/2]

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[OVERVIEW]

Charizard is an underrated threat in ADV OU with its powerful Fire Blast threatening a large part of the metagame and its great speed tier allowing it to outspeed or tie with most of OU. Its Fire type coverage alone is excellent at threatening the OHKO on many metagame staples like Metagross, Skarmory, Forretress, Magneton, Jirachi, Celebi, Heracross, Breloom and Venusaur, but it is also equipped with great coverage moves like Focus Punch to hit Tyranitar and Hidden Power Grass to hit Swampert.

Despite Charizard's poor defenses and many weaknesses to common attacking types like Water, Electric, and Rock, it can still perform its role as a defensive pivot thanks to its key immunities to Earthquake and Will-O-Wisp as well as its resistances to Bug, Fighting, Steel, Fire and Grass-type, which allow it to aggressively switch into battle generating momentum for its team. Critically it can act as a one-time switchin to dangerous threats like Heracross, Metagross and Breloom, and it can also scare out Gengar if it switched on a Will-O-Wisp.

However there are many issues preventing Charizard from seeing more usage in the OU landscape: first it competes with Moltres as the premier Fire/Flying-type in OU and it's outclassed by it when it comes down to defensive utility and sheer fire power, second it often relies on getting the right prediction with Focus Punch in order to be effective against Blissey and Tyranitar, and third it's hard walled by defensive Water types such as Milotic, Suicune and Vaporeon.

[SET]

name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Focus Punch
move 4: Dragon Claw / Substitute
item: Leftovers / Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Hasty / Mild
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=========

This mixed Charizard set allows for maximum coverage and great wallbreaking power. Fire Blast is Charizard's main STAB attack of choice despite its imperfect accuracy and low PP for its ability to OHKO specially defensive Skarmory, Metagross and offensive variants of Celebi and Jirachi; also worth noting that a Blaze boosted Fire Blast can OHKO Gengar turning Charizard into a decent offensive check to Gengar if it switched on a Will-O-Wisp.
Hidden Power Grass is the best complementary coverage option for a Fire type in ADV OU for its ability to abuse Swampert's 4X weakness as well as hitting other Water types and Tyranitar for decent damage. Focus Punch is a necessity for mixed Charizard in order to OHKO Tyranitar and threaten the 2HKO on Blissey, two of the most popular Charizard switchins. Dragon Claw is there to hit super-effectively the Dragon types Salamance and Flygon which otherwise take little damage from every other attack. Alternatively Charizard can make good use of Substitute which synergizes well with Focus Punch as well as helping it to get into Petaya Berry and Blaze range.

The item Leftovers grants Charizard a bit more longevity by negating the chip Sandstorm damage and allows it to survive indefinetely even at low health when Blaze is active; however Petaya Berry is an alternative option worth considering to boost Charizard Special Attack to even higher levels and allowing it to OHKO Zapdos with a +1 Blaze Fire blast and OHKO Swampert with a +1 Hidden Power Grass. When using Petaya Berry one should use 30 HP IVs in order to be in Petaya range after three substitutes.

A Defence hindering nature is to make sure to always survive Thunderbolt from Gengar and to OHKO back with a Blaze boosted Fire Blast. When choosing between a +Speed or +SpA nature one should wager whether Charizard is needed to check fast threats such as Super Celebi, Super Jirachi and tie with offensive Zapdos, or whether is more important to maximaze Charizard's power in order to help breaking through walls like Suicune and defensive Starmie as well as having a chance to KO defensive Swampert with the combination of Fire Blast and Hidden Power Grass.

Team Options
========

Mixed Charizard is mainly featured on mixed offense teams where it shines as a wallbreaker and a sweeper, there it appreciates partners that can make up for its weaknesses and at the same time keep up offensive momemtum. For example a great partner that can make up for Charizard's Rock weakness and gain momemtum on Tyranitar and Aerodactyl is offensive mixed or Endeavor Swampert, similarly mixed Metagross and more rarely mixed Jirachi are seen in conjunction with Swampert to provide an additional defensive backbone.
On the other hand in order to make up for Charizard's Electric and Water-type weakeness on mixed offense teams a very common partner is 4 attacks Snorlax with Focus Punch, less commonly seen but also effective are Wish + 3 attacks Jirachi and Super Celebi. Celebi is a good partner also because it exploits Milotic and Suicune which tend to wall Charizard, while Charizard can be a decent pivot into Bug and Fire type attacks that threaten Celebi.
Offensive Suicune is another great mixed Charizard partner as it can pivot into Water type attacks to gain momentum as well as enjoying having a partner that can blast through Celebi and Venusaur. Fighting types like offensive Hariyama, Machamp and Breelom like to pair with Charizard as they otherwise would have a hard time breaking through defensive Celebi, Charizard can also pivot into Will-O-Wisp from Gengar that often comes in on the fighters. The Electric types Zapdos and less commonly Jolteon can help in mitigating Charizard's weakness to Milotic and Suicune and they can also keep up momentum with Baton Pass to Charizard on a Celebi switch. Tyranitar is a common sight on mixed offense paired with Charizard as a mixed breaker in the early game, a Dragon Dance sweeper in the late game or with Pursuit to support Fighters like Breloom; it also provides sand support which is key to wear down mixed walls like Curse Snorlax and Milotic.

Mixed Charizard is sometime seen on special offense teams paired with Dugtrio as it can follow up when Charizard wallbreaks Blissey or Snorlax respectively with Focus Punch or Blaze boosted Fire Blast. Dugtrio also traps Tyranitar, allowing Charizard to spam Fire Blast with impunity, or alternatively, one can sacrifice Charizard while it stays in on Tyranitar to Focus Punch and follow up with a Dugtrio trap in order to prevent a Dragon Dance setup.
Mixed Charizard is also sometimes seen on Spikes teams as it enjoys Spikes support from the likes of Skarmory and Cloyster, which can help in wearing down the grounded walls like Milotic, Suicune, Blissey and Snorlax.



[SET]

name: Sunny Day
move 1: Sunny Day
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Blast Burn / Overheat / Hidden Power Grass / Focus Punch
item: Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Modest
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 30 HP


[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=========

Charizard can change the weather to intense sunlight with the move Sunny Day; in the sun the power of Fire type moves is boosted by 50%, and this combined with STAB, the ability Blaze and a high Special Attack stat boosted by Petaya Berry turns Charizard into an unstoppable wallbreaker. For exemple +1Blaze Fire Blast in the Sun OHKOs Snorlax while Blast Burn has a chance to OHKO even Blissey(+1 252+ SpA Blaze Charizard Blast Burn vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blissey in Sun: 617-727 (94.7 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO), making Sunny Day Charizard one of the best special wall lures in the game.

Sunny Day and Fire Blast are mandatory moves on this set, as well as Substitute, which allows Charizard to reliably access Blaze and Petaya Berry ranges that are the key to its success. For the last slot Blast Burn is the most obvious choice as it has a chance to OHKO Blissey from full, however Overheat is worth considering as it deals slighty less damage but has a much smaller drawback.
Hidden Power Grass is not as necessary here as it is in the mixed set because Blaze boosted Fire Blast in the sun already deals with Swampert, however it's nice to have an option for the times when is not possible to setup Sunny Day, and it's also nice to have access to a 100% accurate move to finish off weakened Water types and Tyranitar.
Focus Punch is also a decent option because it nails Tyranitar: even if Charizard is paired with Dugtrio to get rid of it, it's still nice to have a backup plan. Additionally Focus Punch helps to dissuade Blissey from healing up, encouraging it to use Seismic Toss and putting Charizard into Blaze range.


Team Options
========

Sunny Day Charizard is mainly found on specially offensive teams that are trying to lure and eliminate special walls and subsequently take advantage of their absence with powerful special sweepers.
Dugtrio is the most common member on this archetype because it can trap and remove Tyranitar, therefore facilitating the weather reset with Sunny Day, and it can also trap special walls like Blissey, Celebi and Jirachi, clearing the way for special attackers. Together with Charizard Gengar works well both as a Blissey lure with Explosion, Destiny Bond or Mean Look + Perish Song, and as a special sweeper with its great special coverage that threatens the entire metagame after the walls have been lured by Charizard and Dugtrio. Similarly Zapdos can lure special walls and Tyranitar by using Baton Pass to trap them with Dugtrio, then it becomes a massive a threat of its own after they are down. Calm Mind users like Suicune, Celebi and Jirachi are staples of this archetype but less common special sweepers like Rain Dance users Kingdra and Ludicolo are also seen.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]

Other Options
=============

Flamethrower is an alternative STAB Fire attack that can be used on the mixed set and has the benefit of perfect accuracy and higher PP relevant mainly because of pressure users like Zapdos, Moltres and Suicune; however it's almost never seen as it doesn't guarantee the OHKO of Specially defensive Skarmory and bulky Metagross.
Hidden Power Ice can deal with Salamence and Flygon, but the loss of Hidden Power Grass is too much of a price to pay and reason why Dragon Claw is preferred instead.
Brick Break can be used in combination with Focus Punch to threaten Blissey, Tyranitar and Snorlax; alternatively Beat Up can be used instead to deal with Blissey if your teamates are healthy.
Charizard can also use a Belly Drum sweeper set with Salac Berry, but it is considered to be too inconsistent in the current metagame.


Checks and Counters
===================

**Water types**: Milotic is Charizard's best counter as it has great special bulk and access to Recover which allows it to heal off any attempt from Charizard to wear it down; additionally Milotic can live any sun boosted attack from the Sunny Day set making any setup against it futile.
Suicune doesn't have access to the same recovery as Milotic, but it can use Calm Mind to boost its Special Defense in Charizard's face; however it must be careful to switch into Charizard's repeated attacks because if it is forced to Rest it can become exploitable by Charizard's teamates.
Vaporeon's defensive set works well against Charizard with Wish + Protect effectively negating all the damage that Charizard can dish out while threatening it with Surf.
Offensive Starmie can switch into Charizard, outspeed it and threaten to OHKO it with Hydro Pump but cannot heal off the damage making it only a temporary check, on the other hand defensive Starmie with Recover can attempt to be a long term solution but has to be careful of Charizard staying in to click Hidden Power Grass as it's a 2HKO while Surf cannot OHKO back.

**Rock types** : Tyranitar can sponge Fire type attacks and distrupt Sunny Day setups with its ability Sand Stream aswell as threatening an OHKO on Charizard with a 4x super effective Rock Slide, however it has to be careful of switching directly into Charizard's Focus Punch, and also has to be afraid of Dugtrio that very often comes paired with Charizard.
Aerodactyl generally survives 2 attacks from Charizard so it can switch into it twice to regain momentum in an offense vs offense matchup. Worth noting that Aerodactyl has only one free switch-in against Petaya Berry Charizard: on the second switch, Charizard can substitute down into Petaya Berry range and KO Aerodactyl back.

**Blissey**: Blissey takes little damage from Charizard's special attacks but must be weary of switching into Focus Punch as it does upwards of 50% effectively negating Blissey's recovery and forcing it into awkward prediction games with Seismic Toss vs Soft-Boiled. Additionally, Charizard's Sunny Day set can use Blissey as setup bait with its weak attacks comfortably putting Charizard into Blaze range.

**Dragon types**: Salamence and Flygon all resist Fire type moves and OHKO back if packing Rock Slide, however they must be careful of switching into Dragon Claw as it is a 2HKO.

**Fire types**: Moltres, Charizard, Blaziken and Houndoom all can switch into Charizard's attacks quite safely but can't do much to threaten back. Houndoom absorbs Fire type attacks if it is packing the ability Flash Fire, but must watch out for Focus Punch on the switch.

**Electric types**: Zapdos and Jolteon can switch into Charizard once and force it out with the threat of STAB Thunderbolt OHKOing, however Zapdos must be fearful of the potential speed tie against Hasty Charizard.



[CREDITS]

- Written by: [[mikmer, 511989]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 

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Triangles

Big Stew
is a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Past SPL Champion
World Defender
[OVERVIEW]

Charizard is an underrated threat in the ADV OU metagame. On paper it has worse stats across the board compared to its legendary friend Moltres, only edging Moltres in the Speed department by a mere 10 points. Those 10 points are very important tho - 328 is faster than super cele, ties Superachi, ties timid Zapdos, and is faster than some Gengars.
In reality though Charizard hits much harder than Moltres and it is able to achieve feats that Moltres could only dream of, thanks to Charizard's amazing abilty: Blaze. For example in Blaze range Charizard can Ohko max HP Gengar with a single Fire Blast, making it a very dangerous proposition for the spooky ghost to stay in just to click Thunderbolt. Blaze is less important conceptually in terms of why you'd use Zard over molt than Zard's mixed prowess.
Compared to Moltres, Charizard's move pool lacks in defensive utility missing on Will-O-Wisp and Roar it gets roar, it just doesnt use it; however Charizard has access to Focus Punch to make up for this, allowing Charizard to hurt its main counters Blissey and Tyranitar with good prediction. For this ability to beat its counters without Spikes support, Charizard is preferred over Moltres on Spikes-less teams.
Charizard can also be a good weather setter thanks to Sunny Day boosting the power of Fire type attacks in the sunlight, allowing Charizard to be a full special attacker and ditch Focus Punch.
However Charizard faces some issues that prevent it from shining through like a bright sun: first its competition with Moltres limits greatly the number of teams that it can fit, second it struggles to get past defensive Water types like Suicune and Milotic, third its 4X weakness to Rock type attacks is a big liability against common physical attackers like Dragon Dance Tyranitar, Dragon Dance Salamence and Aerodactyl. It's also just not a bulky mon at all in any shape or form, so its longevity is very poor.

As a general point about the intro, this whole paragraph is pretty much just comparing Zard to Moltres, which I think is a bit weird because they're two distinct mons that do very different things. Zard is a frail mixed wallbreaker that can be a very difficult matchup for TSS, whereas Moltres is more of a balance mon that plays the attrition game with WoW and phazing, and also can't break Blissey alone.

Just start the analysis by telling the reader in simple terms what zard does - be a mixed offensive breaker that dismantles defensive cores, and why you'd want to use a zard - fire grass fight coverage covers skarm bliss tar pert, etc.



[SET]

name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Fire blast
move 2: Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Focus Punch
move 4: Substitute / Dragon Claw
item: Leftovers / Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Hasty / Mild
evs: 4HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe 40 Atk / 216 Satk / 252 Speed - the attack lets you always 2hko Bold ice beam Bliss (somewhere between 40-80 hp investment with max+ def typically) outside of sand.

[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description

=========

Charizard's good Speed and solid offensive stats combined with its good offensive typing make for a great mixed attacker in the tier. Surprisingly easy switches into Earthquake grant Charizard the ability to get in the middle of the action scot free and start unleashing unrelenting STAB Fire type attacks. The combination of Fire / Grass type attacks and Focus Punch means Charizard has nearly perfect coverage, denting several pokemon that attempt to switch in. Not to mention that Charizard's Fire Blast by itself already Ohkos a large portion of the metagame, including pokemons like Metagross, Skarmory, Forretres, Magneton, Heracross, Breloom, Venusaur and non Specially Defensive Celebi and Jirachi.
Its immunity to Spikes and access to Leftovers recovery cancelling the passive Sandstorm damage grant Charizard good longevity Not really cuz its not a tanky mon at all throughout the game. Additionally its resistances to the Steel, Bug and Fighting type allow it to be a good one-time check to Metagross and Heracross it has to watch out for Hera slide obv, and CB meta mash is a 2hko. I guess you said 'one-time' tho so up to you if you want to add my comment. Worth mentioning its Fire typing means Charizard is immune to the burn status, turning Charizard into a safe pivot against Gengar and Moltres Will-O-Wisp.
However, despite Charizard's amazing offensive prowess there are still pokemons that hard wall it. Milotic can take any of Charizard's attacks and use Recover to heal off the damage received. Suicune can switch in and start boosting in Charizard's face thanks to Calm Mind, however it must be weary of switching multiple times into Charizard's attacks in sand and being forced to use Rest: as a sleeping unboosted Suicune will be vulnerable to be 3hkoed by Charizard's HP Grass. Blissey and Snorlax don't enjoy switching into Focus Punch but otherwise they are safe against any other attack. Salamence has to be careful not to switch into Dragon Claw, while Moltres and opposing Charizards resist every attack but equally cannot threaten back.
Hidden Power Grass is the best complementary coverage option for a Fire type pokemon in ADV OU, for its ability to hit Water types Emphasis on Swampert and Tyranitar, and therefore it's preferred over Hidden Power Ice.
Substitute allows Charizard to remove any prediction game against Blissey and Tyranitar at the cost of losing 25% of health every time it uses it. Substitute is also useful for getting earlier into Blaze range and start firing boosted Fire Blasts Getting down to blaze is more just a luxury side effect of Sub - the primary reason it's used is to ease prediction by giving you protected safe Focus Punches vs Bliss Tar Lax. Sub also punishes Protect Swampert. Dragon Claw is an alternative option that is necessary to hit Salamance and Flygon which otherwise take little damage from every other of Charizard attacks.
Leftovers allow Charizard to negate the chip Sandstorm damage it takes every turn and survive indefinetely even at low health, however Petaya Berry is an alternative option worth considering for the wallbreaking potential it provides.
The evs are straightforward with this set, the only choice is whether to have a +Speed or a +Special Attack nature. While +Speed is generally preferred to tie with other base 100 Speed pokemons as well as always outspeeding Moltres, +Special Attack is nice to hit ranges such as 80% chance to Okho offensive Zapdos in Blaze.
One should always choose -Defence for the hindering nature to make sure to survive Timid offensive Gengar Thunderbolt and Ohko back with Fire Blast.

Team Options

========

As mentioned above, Charizard fits perfectly on Spikes-less teams, whereas on Spikes teams it gets sorely outclassed by Moltres I really wouldn't say it's outclassed by moltres as such, big 5+zard is still a completely fine setup, due to Moltres better bulk and access to Will-O-Wisp and Roar. On these Spikes-less offense teams Charizard acts as a defensive pivot as well as a wall-breaker and a sweeper. Against offensive teams it can be a one-time check to Metagross and Heracross, as well as preventing Swords Dance Celebi from boosting and using Baton Pass to pass the boost; it can also prevent Calm Mind Celebi and Jirachi from setting up and sweeping.
However the matchup in which Charizard shines the most is when facing defensive Toxic Sandstorm Spikes stall teams, due to the abundandance of Charizard weak pokemons that these teams tend to carry. These teams commonly known as TSS really struggle against Charizard and their popularity in the metagame is one of the main reasons behind Charizard's success.
A textbook example of a defensive TSS team that has a hard time against Charizard is: Tyranitar / Skarmory / Magneton / Celebi / Metagross / Swampert. That seems extremely cherry picked as a team for how weak to Zard and fire types in general it is, the standard is typically aero over meta which has a much improved zard mu.
When playing against this type of teams Charizard has to make one good prediction with Focus Punch against Tyranitar and then just annihilate the rest with its Fire / Grass type coverage. Another example of a defensive TSS team that Charizard does well against is:
Tyranitar / Skarmory / Blissey / Swampert / Gengar / Dugtrio. In this case Charizard can come in after a Dugtrio revenge kill and get a free Substitute, alternatively Charizard can switch into Skarmory as it lays down a Spike, but must be weary of getting hit by Toxic on the switch to Skarmory.

Offensive Swampert and Metagross are the most common Charizard partners on Spikes-less offense teams. Their resistance to the Rock type helps mitigating Charizard's main weakness, aswell as helping it to deal offensively with Tyranitar and Blissey; they most importantly provide a solid check to Aerodactyl, arguably the most dangerous pokemon a Charizard team can face.
Snorlax is another common partner as it sponges the special attacks that Charizard hates, namely Thunderbolt from Zapdos and Hydro Pump from Starmie, and also offensively helps to deal with Blissey to an extent.
Offensive Suicune can also pivot into Water type attacks to protect Charizard as well as enjoying having a partner that can blast through Celebi.
For similar reasons Fighting types like Machamp and Breelom like to pair with Charizard as they otherwise would have a hard time against Celebi.
Zapdos is a great lead in this archetype and with Baton Pass it fits very well the general gameplan of Spikes-less offense: keep up momentum and make short-term favorable trades. In addition Zapdos is a very much needed Charizard supporter as it helps to deal with Milotic and Suicune, the two best Charizard checks in the game.

[SET]

name: Sunny Day
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Sunny Day
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Blaze Blast Burn / Overheat / Hidden Power Grass
item: Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 4HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description

=========

Charizard can change the weather to intense sunlight with the move Sunny Day and then procede to ravage the opposing team with its powerful Fire type attacks. In the sun, the power of Fire type attacks is boosted by 50%, and this combined with STAB, the ability Blaze and a high Special Attack stat boosted by Petaya Berry turns Charizard into an Ohko machine. For exemple +1Blaze Fire Blast in the Sun Ohkos Salamance, Flygon and Moltres, +1Blaze Overheat can Ohko Snorlax and Swampert, and +1Blaze Blast Burn has a chance to Ohko even Blissey. Sunny day also reduces the power of Water type attacks by 50% allowing Charizard to set up more safely against Water type pokemons.
If this wasn't appealing enough, weather change can greatly benefit your teamates by removing Sandstorm and making sand weak pokemon like Suicune, Snorlax and Celebi have a much easier time staying alive.
Substitute is more important on this build compared to the mixed attacker one, as it allows Charizard to reliably access Blaze and Petaya Berry ranges, which are the key to its success. Petaya Berry is the go-to item to boost Charizard fire power to obscene levels, as Leftovers is not as necessary because its main purpose of cancelling passive Sandstorm damage will not matter in the sun. Hidden Power Grass is not as necessary here as it is in the mixed attacker set, but it is still a good option for the Ohko on Swampert at +1, as well as having access to a 100% accurate move to finish off weakened Water types and Tyranitar.

Team Options

========

Sunny Day Charizard can be used both for sweeping or for wall breaking. The wallbreaker variant is going to pack either Blaze Blast Burn or Overheat in order to break Blissey and Snorlax alongside a +Special Attack nature. The sweeping variant is instead going to pack Hidden Power Grass for the better coverage alongside a +Speed nature.
Dugtrio is the most common partner in both variants of Sunny Day Charizard because it can trap and remove Tyranitar thus facilitating the weather reset. With Tyranitar gone, the opponent will no longer be able to restore Sandstorm distrupting the Sunny Day setup, therefore the weather change will be complete. For this reason it is advisable to keep Sunny Day Charizard unrevealed to the opponent until Tyranitar is dead, and then procede to change the weather. If Charizard is revealed to the opponent too early, they might sniff the set out by noticing the absence of Leftovers recovery after the Sandstorm damage accurs, and then procede to plan accordingly.
Another way to remove Tyranitar is luring it with Curse+Explosion Snorlax, although this method is less reliable than the trap with Dugtrio.

Blast Burn Sunny Day Charizard is mainly used to lure Blissey and eliminate it from the game; Blast Burn is generally fired only when the Ohko on Blissey is guaranteed because Charizard will be left vulnerable the turn after, as it will need to recharge. Overheat acts similarly, but is a little bit more flexible and can be used earlier in the game as a "hit and run" move, with the only downside of doing a little less damage to Blissey. Both Blast Burn and Overheat are extremely powerful one-time-use type of attacks that leave Charizard almost dead afterwards, similar in concept to the moves Explosion and Self-Destruct; but if Charizard managed to effectively "break" the opposing wall, it has done its job and can die happily. For this reason the wallbreaking variant of Sunny Day Charizard can be found on so called "boom spam" teams, meaning teams that abuse stacking together multiple pokemons with Explosion or Self-Destruct, with the intent of setting up a last pokemon sweep, usually revolving around Calm Mind+Rest Suicune.
Suicune works very well here as a sweeper paired with Sunny Day Charizard because it benefits greatly from sand being removed as well as benefitting from Charizard's effort to lure and eliminate Blissey.
Common Explosion happy offenders on these teams are Metagross, Snorlax, Gengar, Weezing and Regice, alongside the very common Dugtrio.

The teams featuring Sunny Day Charizard as a sweeper packing Hidden Power Grass over Blast Burn remarkably resemble the mixed offense teams mentioned earlier, but they generally benefit more from the removal of sand. An example of such teams could be : Zapdos / Metagross / Suicune / Celebi / Charizard / Dugtrio.
Another pokemon that can function remarkably well as a sweeper combined with Sunny Day Charizard is Swords Dance Salac Berry Heracross; Charizard helps Heracross in removing sand and dealing with Skarmory, while Heracross helps Charizard in dealing with Blissey and Milotic.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]

Other Options

=============

Flamethrower is an alternative STAB fire attack over Fire Blast that has perfect accuracy and higher PPs relevant mainly because of pressure mons like zap/cune; however it doesn't guarantee the Ohko of Specially defensive Skarmory and bulky Metagross, and for this reason is rarely seen on Charizard.
Hidden Power Ice can deal with Salamence and Flygon, but the loss of Hidden Power Grass is too much of a price to pay and reason why Dragon Claw is preferred instead.
Brick Break can be used in combination with Focus Punch to finish Blissey, Tyranitar and Snorlax; although notably Blissey and Snorlax can often survive the two hits, while Tyranitar is going to die anyway to Focus Punch+Hidden Power Grass.
Focus Punch is an alternative option in the fourth move slot of Sunny Day Charizard, but it stands out because it doesn't synergise very well with the rest of the set.
Solarbeam is also an option in the Sunny Day set, worth noting it Ohkos Swampert and has a chance at 2hkoing Milotic at +1; however Hidden Power Grass is preferred over it because it is still useful outside of the sunlight.
Charizard can also support a Belly Drum or Dragon Dance sweeper set, but it is considered to be too inconsistent in the current metagame.

Checks and Counters

===================

**Water types**: Milotic is Charizard's best counter as it has great bulk, access to Recover and resists Fire type attacks. Really emphasize how bad charizard setups are vs milotic stuff - it's like the worst thing Zard offense can run into.
Suicune doesn't have access to a great recovery move besides Rest, but with just one Calm Mind boost it can effectively Rest stall Charizard out of Hidden Power Grass PPs barring a critical hit.
Vaporeon's defensive sets work in a similar way with Wish+Protect effectively healing off all the damage that Charizard can do.
Starmie's offensive set outspeeds and Ohkos Charizard while its defensive set can use Thunder Wave to cripple Charizard and Recover to heal off the damage received. A lot of Zard offenses really hate facing offensive Starm in particular, and Zard is a juncture for Starm to get in and pressure.
Swampert is the most vulnarable Water type against Charizard as is 4X weak to Grass type attacks, but the defensive sets can still take the combination of Fire Blast+Hidden Power Grass and retaliate with a devastating Torrent boosted Hydro Pump or Surf for the Ohko. Meh, switching Pert into Zard is never a good idea because zard goes with physical attackers that love weakened Pert.

**Blissey**: Blissey takes very little from Charizard's special attacks but must be weary of switching into Focus Punch as it does upwards of 55% and will always 2hko if Charizard is behind a Substitute. The Sunny Day set is also dangerous if Charizard is packing Blast Burn.

**Snorlax**: Snorlax sponges Charizard's special attacks but doesn't enjoy facing a Charizard behind a Subsitute as Focus Punch will do a lot of damage. Snorlax also has to be fearful of the Sunny Day set if it is not packing Thick Fat as an ability Snorlax is never thick fat and honestly takes a threatening amount from fire blast, especially in sand where the damage sticks. I'd probably actually remove Lax as a counter, since if Lax is your Zard switchin that is incredibly dangerous.

**Dragon types**: Salamence, Flygon and Dragonite all resist Charizard Fire type coverage and Ohko back if packing Rock Slide, however they must be careful of switching into Dragon Claw as it is often a 2hko.

**Fire types**: Moltres, Charizard, Blaziken and Houndoom all can switch into Charizard attacks quite safely but can't do much to threaten back. Houndoom absorbs Fire type attacks if it is packing the ability Flash Fire, but must watch out for Focus Punch as it is an Ohko.

**Electric types**: Zapdos and Jolteon can switch into Fire Blast once and force Charizard out with the threat of STAB Thunderbolt Ohkoing. However Zapdos must be fearful of losing the speed tie and getting 2hkoed by Charizard Fire Blasts.

**Rock types** : Tyranitar generally gets 3hkoed by HP Grass and it is almost always Ohkoed by Focus Punch, however Charizard cannot stay in the face of Tyranitar for fear of Rock Slide and has to switch out resulting in a free Dragon Dance, Focus Punch or Pursuit for the Tyranitar player.
Aerodactyl is a favorite to survive 2 of any Charizard attacks, and can then procede to outspeed it and Ohko it with Rock Slide. Aerodactyl is really really good at dealing with zard, its one of the best mons vs it you can get, and excellent at regaining offensive pressure.

[CREDITS]

- Written by: [[mikmer, 511989]]

- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ], [, ]]

- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 

vapicuno

你的价值比自己想象中的所有还要低。我却早已解脱,享受幸福
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[OVERVIEW]

Charizard is an underrated threat in the ADV OU metagame. On paper it has worse stats across the board compared to its legendary friend Moltres, only edging Moltres in the Speed department by a mere 10 points. Those 10 points are very important tho - 328 is faster than super cele, ties Superachi, ties timid Zapdos, and is faster than some Gengars.
In reality though Charizard hits much harder than Moltres and it is able to achieve feats that Moltres could only dream of, thanks to Charizard's amazing abilty: Blaze. For example in Blaze range Charizard can Ohko max HP Gengar with a single Fire Blast, making it a very dangerous proposition for the spooky ghost to stay in just to click Thunderbolt. Blaze is less important conceptually in terms of why you'd use Zard over molt than Zard's mixed prowess. Hmm. I kinda disagree with Triangles here. Blaze enables the Sunny zard set, but even if we're just talking about standard zard, it + petaya allows things like trading with lax/bliss for Dug follow ups. I feel that Blaze is important when using zard in a trade-and-break role than when in a Spikes abuser role. We can discuss on discord.
Compared to Moltres, Charizard's move pool lacks in defensive utility missing on Will-O-Wisp and Roar it gets roar, it just doesnt use it; however Charizard has access to Focus Punch to make up for this, allowing Charizard to hurt its main counters Blissey and Tyranitar with good prediction. For this ability to beat its counters without Spikes support, Charizard is preferred over Moltres on Spikes-less teams.
Charizard can also be a good weather setter thanks to Sunny Day boosting the power of Fire type attacks in the sunlight, allowing Charizard to be a full special attacker and ditch Focus Punch.
However Charizard faces some issues that prevent it from shining through like a bright sun: first its competition with Moltres limits greatly the number of teams that it can fit, second it struggles to get past defensive Water types like Suicune and Milotic, third its 4X weakness to Rock type attacks is a big liability against common physical attackers like Dragon Dance Tyranitar, Dragon Dance Salamence and Aerodactyl. It's also just not a bulky mon at all in any shape or form, so its longevity is very poor.

As a general point about the intro, this whole paragraph is pretty much just comparing Zard to Moltres, which I think is a bit weird because they're two distinct mons that do very different things. Zard is a frail mixed wallbreaker that can be a very difficult matchup for TSS, whereas Moltres is more of a balance mon that plays the attrition game with WoW and phazing, and also can't break Blissey alone.

Just start the analysis by telling the reader in simple terms what zard does - be a mixed offensive breaker that dismantles defensive cores, and why you'd want to use a zard - fire grass fight coverage covers skarm bliss tar pert, etc.



[SET]

name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Fire blast
move 2: Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Focus Punch
move 4: Substitute / Dragon Claw
item: Leftovers / Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Hasty / Mild
evs: 4HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe 40 Atk / 216 Satk / 252 Speed - the attack lets you always 2hko Bold ice beam Bliss (somewhere between 40-80 hp investment with max+ def typically) outside of sand.

[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description

=========

Charizard's good Speed and solid offensive stats combined with its good offensive typing make for a great mixed attacker in the tier. Surprisingly easy switches into Earthquake grant Charizard the ability to get in the middle of the action scot free and start unleashing unrelenting STAB Fire type attacks. The combination of Fire / Grass type attacks and Focus Punch means Charizard has nearly perfect coverage, denting several pokemon that attempt to switch in. Not to mention that Charizard's Fire Blast by itself already Ohkos a large portion of the metagame, including pokemons like Metagross, Skarmory, Forretres, Magneton, Heracross, Breloom, Venusaur and non Specially Defensive Celebi and Jirachi.
Its immunity to Spikes and access to Leftovers recovery cancelling the passive Sandstorm damage grant Charizard good longevity Not really cuz its not a tanky mon at all throughout the game. It's more to stay alive with blaze active, which you have partially mentioned below. Additionally its resistances to the Steel, Bug and Fighting type allow it to be a good one-time check to Metagross and Heracross it has to watch out for Hera slide obv, and CB meta mash is a 2hko. I guess you said 'one-time' tho so up to you if you want to add my comment. Worth mentioning its Fire typing means Charizard is immune to the burn status, turning Charizard into a safe pivot against Gengar and Moltres Will-O-Wisp.
However, despite Charizard's amazing offensive prowess there are still pokemons that hard wall it. Milotic and Recover Starmie can take any of Charizard's attacks and use Recover to heal off the damage received. Suicune can switch in and start boosting in Charizard's face thanks to Calm Mind, however it must be weary of switching multiple times into Charizard's attacks in sand and being forced to use Rest: as a sleeping unboosted Suicune will be vulnerable to be 3hkoed by Charizard's HP Grass. Blissey and Snorlax don't enjoy switching into Focus Punch but otherwise they are safe against any other attack. Salamence has to be careful not to switch into Dragon Claw, while Moltres and opposing Charizards resist every attack but equally cannot threaten back.
Hidden Power Grass is the best complementary coverage option for a Fire type pokemon in ADV OU, for its ability to hit Water types Emphasis on Swampert and Tyranitar, and therefore it's preferred over Hidden Power Ice.
Substitute allows Charizard to remove any prediction game against Blissey and Tyranitar at the cost of losing 25% of health every time it uses it. Substitute is also useful for getting earlier into Blaze range and start firing boosted Fire Blasts Getting down to blaze is more just a luxury side effect of Sub - the primary reason it's used is to ease prediction by giving you protected safe Focus Punches vs Bliss Tar Lax. Sub also punishes Protect Swampert. Agree with Triangles here that sub's main purpose is easing prediction, but note also that it's more useful for zard to get into blaze from pivoting into attacks rather than subbing all the way down from full. Dragon Claw is an alternative option that is necessary to hit Salamance and Flygon which otherwise take little damage from every other of Charizard attacks.
Leftovers allow Charizard to negate the chip Sandstorm damage it takes every turn and survive indefinetely even at low health, however Petaya Berry is an alternative option worth considering for the wallbreaking potential it provides.
The evs are straightforward with this set, the only choice is whether to have a +Speed or a +Special Attack nature. While +Speed is generally preferred to tie with other base 100 Speed pokemons as well as always outspeeding Moltres, +Special Attack is nice to hit ranges such as 80% chance to Okho offensive Zapdos in Blaze.
One should always choose -Defence for the hindering nature to make sure to survive Timid offensive Gengar Thunderbolt and Ohko back with Fire Blast.

Team Options

========

As mentioned above, Charizard fits perfectly on Spikes-less teams, whereas on Spikes teams it gets sorely outclassed by Moltres I really wouldn't say it's outclassed by moltres as such, big 5+zard is still a completely fine setup, due to Moltres better bulk and access to Will-O-Wisp and Roar. On these Spikes-less offense teams Charizard acts as a defensive pivot as well as a wall-breaker and a sweeper.

Move this entire italicized paragraph to set description at the end. Usage is not written in team options.
Against offensive teams it can be a one-time check to Metagross and Heracross, as well as preventing Swords Dance Celebi from boosting and using Baton Pass to pass the boost; it can also prevent Calm Mind Celebi and Jirachi from setting up and sweeping.
However the matchup in which Charizard shines the most is when facing defensive Toxic Sandstorm Spikes stall teams, due to the abundandance of Charizard weak pokemons that these teams tend to carry. These teams commonly known as TSS really struggle against Charizard and their popularity in the metagame is one of the main reasons behind Charizard's success.
A textbook example of a defensive TSS team that has a hard time against Charizard is: Tyranitar / Skarmory / Magneton / Celebi / Metagross / Swampert. That seems extremely cherry picked as a team for how weak to Zard and fire types in general it is, the standard is typically aero over meta which has a much improved zard mu. Yeah this is not really a good example.
When playing against this type of teams Charizard has to make one good prediction with Focus Punch against Tyranitar and then just annihilate the rest with its Fire / Grass type coverage. Another example of a defensive TSS team that Charizard does well against is:
Tyranitar / Skarmory / Blissey / Swampert / Gengar / Dugtrio. In this case Charizard can come in after a Dugtrio revenge kill and get a free Substitute, alternatively Charizard can switch into Skarmory as it lays down a Spike, but must be weary of getting hit by Toxic on the switch to Skarmory.


Offensive Swampert and Metagross are the most common Charizard partners on Spikes-less offense teams. Their resistance to the Rock type helps mitigating Charizard's main weakness, aswell as helping it to deal offensively with Tyranitar and Blissey; they most importantly provide a solid check to Aerodactyl, arguably the most dangerous pokemon a Charizard team can face.
Snorlax is another common partner as it sponges the special attacks that Charizard hates, namely Thunderbolt from Zapdos and Hydro Pump from Starmie, and also offensively helps to deal with Blissey to an extent.
Offensive Suicune can also pivot into Water type attacks to protect Charizard as well as enjoying having a partner that can blast through Celebi.
For similar reasons Fighting types like Machamp and Breelom like to pair with Charizard as they otherwise would have a hard time against Celebi. Charizard also pivots into Will-O-Wisp from Gengar that comes in on the fighters.
Zapdos is a great lead in this archetype and with Baton Pass it fits very well the general gameplan of Spikes-less offense: keep up momentum and make short-term favorable trades. In addition Zapdos is a very much needed Charizard supporter as it helps to deal with Milotic and Suicune, the two best Charizard checks in the game.

Dugtrio can follow up when Charizard wallbreaks Blissey/Snorlax with Blaze + Petaya boosted Fire Blast. It also traps Tyranitar, allowing Charizard to use Fire Blast without prediction more easily, or alternatively, one can sacrifice Charizard while it stays in on Tyranitar to follow up with a Dugtrio trap.

Calm Mind Jirachi is a good partner because it dismantles the instant-recovery mons like Milotic/Starmie, and to some extent Blissey, that Charizard struggles with.

[SET]

name: Sunny Day
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Sunny Day
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Blaze Blast Burn / Overheat / Hidden Power Grass
item: Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 4HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description

=========

Charizard can change the weather to intense sunlight with the move Sunny Day and then procede to ravage the opposing team with its powerful Fire type attacks. In the sun, the power of Fire type attacks is boosted by 50%, and this combined with STAB, the ability Blaze and a high Special Attack stat boosted by Petaya Berry turns Charizard into an Ohko machine. For exemple +1Blaze Fire Blast in the Sun Ohkos Salamance, Flygon and Moltres, +1Blaze Overheat can Ohko Snorlax and Swampert, and +1Blaze Blast Burn has a chance to Ohko even Blissey. Sunny day also reduces the power of Water type attacks by 50% allowing Charizard to set up more safely against Water type pokemons.
If this wasn't appealing enough, weather change can greatly benefit your teamates by removing Sandstorm and making sand weak pokemon like Suicune, Snorlax and Celebi have a much easier time staying alive.
Substitute is more important on this build compared to the mixed attacker one, as it allows Charizard to reliably access Blaze and Petaya Berry ranges, which are the key to its success. Petaya Berry is the go-to item to boost Charizard fire power to obscene levels, as Leftovers is not as necessary because its main purpose of cancelling passive Sandstorm damage will not matter in the sun. Hidden Power Grass is not as necessary here as it is in the mixed attacker set, but it is still a good option for the Ohko on Swampert at +1, as well as having access to a 100% accurate move to finish off weakened Water types and Tyranitar.

I still would like Focus Punch as an option on the last slot, because it nails two of Charizard's most robust checks, Tyranitar and Blissey. It's easy for Blissey to attempt to stall out Charizard if it only has fire moves, where Charizard has to feign the Focus Punch set otherwise to keep it tossing, and even if you have Dugtrio to remove Tyranitar, that's not the most reliable thing in the world.

Team Options

========

Sunny Day Charizard can be used both for sweeping or for wall breaking. The wallbreaker variant is going to pack either Blaze Blast Burn or Overheat in order to break Blissey and Snorlax alongside a +Special Attack nature. The sweeping variant is instead going to pack Hidden Power Grass for the better coverage alongside a +Speed nature.
Dugtrio is the most common partner in both variants of Sunny Day Charizard because it can trap and remove Tyranitar thus facilitating the weather reset. With Tyranitar gone, the opponent will no longer be able to restore Sandstorm distrupting the Sunny Day setup, therefore the weather change will be complete. For this reason it is advisable to keep Sunny Day Charizard unrevealed to the opponent until Tyranitar is dead, and then procede to change the weather. If Charizard is revealed to the opponent too early, they might sniff the set out by noticing the absence of Leftovers recovery after the Sandstorm damage accurs, and then procede to plan accordingly. Absence of Leftovers is no indicator of Sunny Day. It could very well be a Focus Punch set. But sending out a Sunny zard without Focus Punch before TTar has been removed is probably not a good idea.
Another way to remove Tyranitar is luring it with Curse+Explosion Snorlax, although this method is less reliable than the trap with Dugtrio.

Italicized text goes in set description at the end, because it's not about team options.
Blast Burn Sunny Day Charizard is mainly used to lure Blissey and eliminate it from the game; Blast Burn is generally fired only when the Ohko on Blissey is guaranteed because Charizard will be left vulnerable the turn after, as it will need to recharge. Overheat acts similarly, but is a little bit more flexible and can be used earlier in the game as a "hit and run" move, with the only downside of doing a little less damage to Blissey. Both Blast Burn and Overheat are extremely powerful one-time-use type of attacks that leave Charizard almost dead afterwards, similar in concept to the moves Explosion and Self-Destruct; but if Charizard managed to effectively "break" the opposing wall, it has done its job and can die happily.

For this reason the wallbreaking variant of Sunny Day Charizard can be found on so called "boom spam" teams, meaning teams that abuse stacking together multiple pokemons with Explosion or Self-Destruct, with the intent of setting up a last pokemon sweep, usually revolving around Calm Mind+Rest Suicune. Remove Rest. Doesn't have to be rest. Clearing the weather helps Subcune too.
Suicune works very well here as a sweeper paired with Sunny Day Charizard because it benefits greatly from sand being removed as well as benefitting from Charizard's effort to lure and eliminate Blissey.
Common Explosion happy offenders on these teams are Metagross, Snorlax, Gengar, Weezing and Regice, alongside the very common Dugtrio.

The teams featuring Sunny Day Charizard as a sweeper packing Hidden Power Grass over Blast Burn remarkably resemble the mixed offense teams mentioned earlier, but they generally benefit more from the removal of sand. An example of such teams could be : Zapdos / Metagross / Suicune / Celebi / Charizard / Dugtrio.
Another pokemon that can function remarkably well as a sweeper combined with Sunny Day Charizard is Swords Dance Salac Berry Heracross; Charizard helps Heracross in removing sand and dealing with Skarmory, while Heracross helps Charizard in dealing with Blissey and Milotic.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]

Other Options

=============

Flamethrower is an alternative STAB fire attack over Fire Blast that has perfect accuracy and higher PPs relevant mainly because of pressure mons like zap/cune; however it doesn't guarantee the Ohko of Specially defensive Skarmory and bulky Metagross, and for this reason is rarely seen on Charizard.
Hidden Power Ice can deal with Salamence and Flygon, but the loss of Hidden Power Grass is too much of a price to pay and reason why Dragon Claw is preferred instead.
Brick Break can be used in combination with Focus Punch to finish Blissey, Tyranitar and Snorlax; although notably Blissey and Snorlax can often survive the two hits, while Tyranitar is going to die anyway to Focus Punch+Hidden Power Grass.
Focus Punch is an alternative option in the fourth move slot of Sunny Day Charizard, but it stands out because it doesn't synergise very well with the rest of the set.
Solarbeam is also an option in the Sunny Day set, worth noting it Ohkos Swampert and has a chance at 2hkoing Milotic at +1; however Hidden Power Grass is preferred over it because it is still useful outside of the sunlight. Charizard does not learn Solarbeam in gen 3.
Charizard can also support a Belly Drum or Dragon Dance sweeper set, but it is considered to be too inconsistent in the current metagame.
I'd remove Dragon Dance.

Checks and Counters

===================

**Water types**: Milotic Charizard's best counter as it has great bulk, access to Recover and resists Fire type attacks. Really emphasize how bad charizard setups are vs milotic stuff - it's like the worst thing Zard offense can run into.
Suicune doesn't have access to a great recovery move besides Rest, but with just one Calm Mind boost it can effectively Rest stall Charizard out of Hidden Power Grass PPs barring a critical hit.
Vaporeon's defensive sets work in a similar way with Wish+Protect effectively healing off all the damage that Charizard can do.
Starmie's offensive set outspeeds and Ohkos Charizard while its defensive set can use Thunder Wave to cripple Charizard and Recover to heal off the damage received. A lot of Zard offenses really hate facing offensive Starm in particular, and Zard is a juncture for Starm to get in and pressure.
Swampert is the most vulnarable Water type against Charizard as is 4X weak to Grass type attacks, but the defensive sets can still take the combination of Fire Blast+Hidden Power Grass and retaliate with a devastating Torrent boosted Hydro Pump or Surf for the Ohko. Meh, switching Pert into Zard is never a good idea because zard goes with physical attackers that love weakened Pert.

**Blissey**: Blissey takes very little from Charizard's special attacks but must be weary of switching into Focus Punch as it does upwards of 55% and will always 2hko if Charizard is behind a Substitute. The Sunny Day set is also dangerous if Charizard is packing Blast Burn.

**Snorlax**: Snorlax sponges Charizard's special attacks but doesn't enjoy facing a Charizard behind a Subsitute as Focus Punch will do a lot of damage. Snorlax also has to be fearful of the Sunny Day set if it is not packing Thick Fat as an ability Snorlax is never thick fat and honestly takes a threatening amount from fire blast, especially in sand where the damage sticks. I'd probably actually remove Lax as a counter, since if Lax is your Zard switchin that is incredibly dangerous. To me, since this is checks and counters, Snorlax can come in once and force the Focus Punch variant out, but it should be expecting to take some serious daamge. It will likely get OHKO'd by the Sunny Day one too.

**Dragon types**: Salamence, Flygon and Dragonite all resist Charizard Fire type coverage and Ohko back if packing Rock Slide, however they must be careful of switching into Dragon Claw as it is often a 2hko.

**Fire types**: Moltres, Charizard, Blaziken and Houndoom all can switch into Charizard attacks quite safely but can't do much to threaten back. Houndoom absorbs Fire type attacks if it is packing the ability Flash Fire, but must watch out for Focus Punch as it is an Ohko.

**Electric types**: Zapdos and Jolteon can switch into Fire Blast once and force Charizard out with the threat of STAB Thunderbolt Ohkoing. However Zapdos must be fearful of losing the speed tie and getting 2hkoed by Charizard Fire Blasts.

**Rock types** : Tyranitar generally gets 3hkoed by HP Grass and it is almost always Ohkoed by Focus Punch, however Charizard cannot stay in the face of Tyranitar for fear of Rock Slide and has to switch out resulting in a free Dragon Dance, Focus Punch or Pursuit for the Tyranitar player. The Tyranitar user however has to fear the Focus Punch sacrifice into Dugtrio trap, and should therefore be very wary of setting up Dragon Dance. Aerodactyl is a favorite to survive 2 of any Charizard attacks, and can then procede to outspeed it and Ohko it with Rock Slide. Aerodactyl is really really good at dealing with zard, its one of the best mons vs it you can get, and excellent at regaining offensive pressure. But note it also only has one free switch-in against petaya zard. On the second switch, zard can do a slow-sub down to petaya and KO Aerodactyl back.

[CREDITS]

- Written by: [[mikmer, 511989]]

- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ], [, ]]

- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 
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it is imperative to mention that charizard is able to switch in on and (threaten to) ohko metagross, which is as useful as it is unique. not only that, unlike moltres, it actually likes taking damage (from meta's meteor mash) as it'll bring it into blaze range, resulting in it threatening to ohko zapdos and even a small chance to 2hko snorlax.

as for other options, I like both overheat and toxic. the former is great for hitting and running, which is a lot of what zard does early on (extra % against mence, non-lefties ttar, suicune without having to predict) and is excellent with blaze of course. especially nice against superachi/cele. having more fire pp is also really nice against protect/pressure, and increased accuracy is great in must-hit situations as well (like against magneton).

toxic is nice for a risk-free way to pressure blissey 1-on-1 while being a catch-all perma-crippling option against many switchins, most notably salamence, flygon, moltres and non-rest suicune/gyarados (while still annoying rest versions).

I'd rather do 30 hp ivs on sunnyzard for the 3-sub trick than take out of special attack. every % of damage dealt counts.

**Dragon types**: Salamence, Flygon and Dragonite all resist Fire type moves and OHKO back if packing Rock Slide, however they must be careful of switching into Dragon Claw as it is often a 2HKO.
dnite doesn't get rock slide and isn't all that relevant, I'd rather mention kingdra instead.
 

vapicuno

你的价值比自己想象中的所有还要低。我却早已解脱,享受幸福
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Past WCoP Champion
Moderator
once you implement all of bkc's changes, and also my changes below, i will give the qc check.

[OVERVIEW]

Charizard is an underrated threat in ADV OU, capable of inflicting serious pain to many teams that aren't prepared to deal with it with a proper check like Milotic.
It's Fire type coverage alone it is excellent at threatening common staples such as Metagross, Skarmory, Forretress, Magneton, Heracross, Breloom, Venusaur, offensive Celebi and offensive Jirachi. Additionally, it notoriously excels against teams where the only Fire resistances are Tyranitar and Swampert because it's equipped with Focus Punch to deal with the former and Hidden Power Grass to deal with the latter.

Charizard's defensive prowess is not to be underestimated with its key immunities to Earthquake and Will-O-Wisp as well as its resistances to Bug, Fighting, Steel, Fire and Grass type attacks, which allow it to aggressively switch into battle generating momentum for its teamates. Additionally, its base 100 Speed tier allows it to speed-tie with key threats such as Zapdos, Salamence, Flygon, Celebi and Jirachi.
Charizard also has access to a useful ability Blaze which allows it to fire off an even deadlier boosted Fire attack in a pinch.
However there are problems holding Charizard back from seeing more usage in the metagame: first it competes with Moltres as the premier Fire/Flying type in OU being outclassed by it when it comes down to defensive utility and sheer fire power, second it relies on getting the right prediction with Focus Punch in order to be effective against Blissey and Tyranitar, and third it's hard walled by defensive Water types such as Recover Milotic, Rest Suicune and Wish Vaporeon.


[SET]

name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Focus Punch
move 4: Substitute / Dragon Claw
item: Leftovers / Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Hasty / Mild
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description

=========

Maximazing Charizard's Speed and Special Attack turns it into a fast and deadly wallbreaker and sweeper. Fire Blast is Charizard's main special attack of choice despite its imperfect accuracy and low PPs for its ability to OHKO specially defensive Skarmory, Metagross and offensive variants of Celebi and Jirachi; worth noting that a Blaze boosted Fire Blast can OHKO Gengar turning Charizard into a decent offensive check if it switched on a Will-O-Wisp. For some reason you cut out Hera/Breloom
Hidden Power Grass is the best complementary coverage option for a Fire type in ADV OU for its ability to hit Swampert's 4X weakness as well as hitting other Water types and Tyranitar for decent damage, therefore it's preferred over Hidden Power Ice. Focus Punch is a necessary evil in the metagame in order to OHKO Tyranitar and threaten the 2HKO on Blissey, the most popular special wall in the tier. Substitute allows Charizard to remove any prediction game with Focus Punch at the cost of losing 25% of health every time it uses it; still mention that it gets zard into petaya range. The problem I had with your previous phrasing was the use of "earlier" -- it's not helpful to try to get earlier into petaya range, but to take damage to bring it down, and use sub if necessary. Dragon Claw however is a nice option to 2HKO the Dragon types Salamance and Flygon which otherwise take little damage from every other attack.

Leftovers allow Charizard to negate the chip Sandstorm damage and survive indefinetely even at low health when Blaze is active, however Petaya Berry is an alternative option worth considering to boost Charizard Special Attack to even higher levels and turn it into a fearsome sweeper; worth mentioning that Petaya boosted Blaze Fire Blast can OHKO Zapdos and +1 Hidden Power Grass will always OHKO Swampert. When using Petaya Berry one should use the spread of 12 HP / 244 SpA / 252 Spe in order to activate Petaya range after three substitutes.

A Defence hindering nature is to make sure to survive Thunderbolt from Gengar and to OHKO back with a Blaze boosted Fire Blast, however a -Special Defense nature allows Charizard to never get 2HKOed by non Choice Band Meteor Mash from Metagross.
When choosing between a +Speed or +SpA nature one should wager whether Charizard is needed to check fast threats such as Super Celebi, Super Jirachi and tie with offensive Zapdos, or whether is more important to maximaze Charizard's power in order to help breaking through walls like Suicune and defensive Starmie as well as having a chance to KO defensive Swampert with the combination of Fire Blast and Hidden Power Grass.

Team Options

========

Charizard usually teams up with bulky Rock checks such as Swampert, Metagross and Jirachi in order to make up for Charizard weakness to Rock Slide; Swampert and Metagross are more reliable partners as they can offensively handle Tyranitar, while Jirachi can only deal with a Choice Band locked Aerodactyl. However, Calm Mind Jirachi can punish defensive walls like Milotic and Blissey, additionally it really enjoys the chip damage on Snorlax that Charizard provides while also appreciating a partner that can safely pivot into Earthquake from Metagross. zard doesn't find itself with bulky stuff -that- frequently.
On offense builds Charizard pairs often with Snorlax as it helps sponging Thunderbolts from Zapdos and Hydro Pumps from offensive Starmie; on balance builds Blissey and Celebi can do a better job at that while Charizard can act as a one time check to troublesome fighters like Heracross and Breloom. Celebi is a good partner also because it exploits Milotic and Suicune which tend to wall Charizard, while Charizard can be a pivot into Bug and Fire type attacks that threaten Celebi.
Suicune can pivot into Water type attacks to protect Charizard as well as enjoying having a partner that can blast through Celebi and Venusaur.

Fighting types like Machamp and Breelom like to pair with Charizard as they otherwise would have a hard time breaking through defensive Celebi, Charizard can also pivot into Will-O-Wisp from Gengar that often comes in on the fighters.
The Electric types Zapdos and Jolteon can help mitigating Charizard's weakness to Milotic and Suicune and they can also use Baton Pass to keep up momentum passing to Charizard on a Celebi switch.
Dugrio can help to trap weakened Water types like Suicune and Starmie, additionally, Dugtrio can follow up when Charizard wallbreaks Blissey with Focus Punch or Snorlax with Blaze boosted Fire Blast. It also traps Tyranitar, allowing Charizard to spam Fire Blast with impunity, or alternatively, one can sacrifice Charizard while it stays in on Tyranitar and follow up with a Dugtrio trap in order to prevent Dragon Dance setup.
Spikes support from the likes of Skarmory or Cloyster can help Charizard in better dealing with the grounded walls like Milotic, Suicune, Blissey and Snorlax; Sand support from Tyranitar is also very helpful to wear them down.

[SET]

name: Sunny Day
move 1: Sunny Day
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Blast Burn / Overheat / Focus Punch slash HP Grass before Focus Punch I guess
item: Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 12 HP / 244 SpA / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description

=========

Charizard can change the weather to intense sunlight with the move Sunny Day and then procede to ravage the opponent with its powerful Fire type attacks. In the sun the power of Fire type moves is boosted by 50%, and this combined with STAB, the ability Blaze and a high Special Attack stat boosted by Petaya Berry turns Charizard into an OHKO machine. For exemple +1Blaze Fire Blast in the Sun OHKOs Salamance, Flygon and Moltres, +1Blaze Overheat can OHKO Snorlax and Swampert, and +1Blaze Blast Burn has a chance to OHKO even Blissey. Sunny day also reduces the power of Water type attacks by 50% allowing Charizard to set up more safely against Water types like Swampert and Suicune.

Substitute is necessary on this build, as it allows Charizard to reliably access Blaze and Petaya Berry ranges, which are the key to its success. Petaya Berry is the go-to item to boost Charizard fire power to obscene levels, as Leftovers is not needed because its main purpose of cancelling passive Sandstorm damage will not matter in the sun.
Blast Burn is the most obvious choice for the last move as it has a chance to break Blissey what is the specific sequence? i believe fire blasy + fully boosted blast burn? describe it , however Overheat can be spammed more freely in the early game allowing Charizard to do some nice chip damage to its checks before the times comes for the wheater change. Focus Punch is still a good option here because it nails two of Charizard's most robust checks in Tyranitar and Blissey: even if Charizard is paired with Dugtrio to get rid of those checks it's nice to have a backup plan in case things go wrong. Focus Punch helps to dissuade Blissey from healing up, encouraging it to stoss charizard into blaze range.
Hidden Power Grass is not as necessary here as it is in the mixed attacker set because Blaze boosted Fire Blast in the sun already deals with Swampert, however it's nice to have an option for the times when is not possible to setup Sunny Day, and it's also nice having access to a 100% accurate move to finish off weakened Water types and Tyranitar.


Team Options

========


Sunny Day Charizard is found on specially offensive teams trying to lure and eliminate Blissey and take advantage of its absence with powerful special attackers like Calm Mind Suicune, offensive Starmie, or even Rain Dance sweepers like Kindra or Ludicolo.
A bulky Adamant Dugtrio is the most common partner on these teams because it can trap and remove Tyranitar and Blissey. With Tyranitar gone, the opponent will no longer be able to restore Sandstorm, therefore the weather change with Sunny Day Charizard will be permanent. With Blissey gone, the specially offensive sweepers like Kindra and Ludicolo can shine and Charizard too can become a serious threat.
Another way to remove Tyranitar is luring it with Curse + Self-Destruct Snorlax, although this method is less reliable than the trap with Dugtrio.

Calm Mind Suicune works very well paired with Sunny Day Charizard because it benefits greatly from sand being removed as well as helping Charizard in dealing with Milotic which is the only thing that can survive a +1 Blaze boosted Blast Burn in the sunlight.
Gengar is another common partner as it can help in luring and eliminating Blissey or Milotic with Mean Look + Perish Song, Explosion or Destiny Bond. Alternatively Zapdos is used to threaten Milotic but is also useful to Baton Pass into Dugtrio to trap Blissey and Tyranitar.
Another sweeper that can function remarkably well combined with Sunny Day Charizard is Swords Dance Salac Berry Heracross; Charizard helps Heracross in removing sand and dealing with Skarmory, while Heracross helps Charizard in dealing with Blissey and Milotic.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]

Other Options

=============

Flamethrower is an alternative STAB fire attack over Fire Blast that has perfect accuracy and higher PPs relevant mainly because of pressure users like Zapdos and Suicune; however it doesn't guarantee the OHKO of Specially defensive Skarmory and bulky Metagross, and for this reason is rarely seen on Charizard.
Hidden Power Ice can deal with Salamence and Flygon, but the loss of Hidden Power Grass is too much of a price to pay and reason why Dragon Claw is preferred instead.
Brick Break can be used in combination with Focus Punch to threaten Blissey, Tyranitar and Snorlax; although notably Blissey and Snorlax don't take much damage from it, while Tyranitar is going to die anyway to Focus Punch+Hidden Power Grass.
Charizard can also support a Belly Drum sweeper set with Salac Berry, but it is considered to be too inconsistent in the current metagame.

Checks and Counters

===================

**Water types**: Milotic is Charizard's best counter as it has great special bulk and access to Recover which allows it to heal off any attempt from Charizard to wear it down; additionally Milotic can live any sun boosted Fire attack making any setup against it futile.
Suicune doesn't have access to a great recovery move, but with Calm Mind it can start setting up in Charizard's face; however it must be careful to switch into Charizard's repeated attacks because if it is forced to Rest it can easily become exploitable.
Vaporeon's defensive sets work in a similar way with Wish+Protect effectively negating all the damage that Charizard can dish out while threatening it with its powerful Water attacks.
Offensive Starmie can switch into Charizard, outspeed it and threaten it with an OHKO Hydro Pump, additionally Charizard teams generally lack a true special wall and really struggle to switch into Starmie. any kind of starmie really; offensive, defensive. include defensive. you had it previously but you deleted it. triangles only wanted you to emphasize offmie and milo, but that doesn't mean delete defensive mie.

**Rock types** : Tyranitar can sponge Fire type attacks and distrupt Sunny Day setups with its ability Sand Stream aswell as threatening an OHKO on Charizard with a 4x super effective Rock Slide, however it has to be careful of switching directly into Charizard's Focus Punch, and also has to be afraid of Dugtrio that very often comes paired with Charizard.
Aerodactyl is a favorite to survive any 2 of Charizard attacks and can outspeed it and threaten to OHKO it with Rock Slide, therefore it's great at regaining momentum in an offense vs offense matchup. Worth noting that Aerodactyl has only one free switch-in against Petaya Charizard: on the second switch, Charizard can substitute down into Petaya range and KO Aerodactyl back.

**Blissey**: Blissey takes little damage from Charizard's special attacks but must be weary of switching into Focus Punch as it does upwards of 50% effectively negating Blissey's recovery and forcing it into awkward prediction games with Seismic Toss vs Soft-Boiled. Additionally, Charizard's Sunny Day set can use Blissey as setup bait with its weak attacks comfortably putting Charizard into Blaze range.

**Dragon types**: Salamence, Flygon and Dragonite all resist Fire type moves and OHKO back if packing Rock Slide, however they must be careful of switching into Dragon Claw as it is often a 2HKO.

**Fire types**: Moltres, Charizard, Blaziken and Houndoom all can switch into Charizard attacks quite safely but can't do much to threaten back. Houndoom absorbs Fire type attacks if it is packing the ability Flash Fire, but must watch out for Focus Punch on the switch.

**Electric types**: Zapdos and Jolteon can switch into Charizard once and force it out with the threat of STAB Thunderbolt OHKOing. However Zapdos must be fearful of losing the speed tie and getting 2HKOed by Charizard's Fire Blast.





[CREDITS]

- Written by: [[mikmer, 511989]]

- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ], [, ]]

- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 

vapicuno

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View attachment 293879

[OVERVIEW]

Charizard is an underrated threat in ADV OU with its powerful Fire Blast threatening a large part of the metagame and its great speed tier allowing it to outspeed or tie with most of OU. For the most part, it is a mixed wallbreaker that is very dangerous against Toxic, Sandstorm and Spikes (TSS) teams. Its Fire type coverage alone is excellent at threatening the OHKO on many metagame staples like Metagross, Skarmory, Forretress, Magneton, Jirachi, Celebi, Heracross, Breloom and Venusaur, but it is also equipped with great coverage moves like Focus Punch to hit Tyranitar and Blissey and Hidden Power Grass to hit Swampert.

Despite Charizard's poor defenses and many weaknesses to common attacking types like Water, Electric, and Rock, it can still perform its role as a defensive pivot thanks to its key immunities to Earthquake and Will-O-Wisp as well as its resistances to Bug, Fighting, Steel, Fire and Grass-type, which allow it to aggressively switch into battle generating momentum for its team. Critically it can act as a one-time switchin to dangerous threats like Heracross, Metagross and Breloom (Metagross should go first since it is the most important Pokemon), and it can also scare out Gengar if it switched on a Will-O-Wisp.

However there are many issues preventing Charizard from seeing more usage in the OU landscape: first it competes with Moltres as the premier Fire/Flying-type in OU and it's outclassed by it when it comes down to defensive utility and sheer fire power, second it often relies on getting the right prediction with Focus Punch in order to be effective against Blissey and Tyranitar, and third it's hard walled by defensive Water types such as Milotic, Suicune and Vaporeon.

[SET]

name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Focus Punch
move 4: Dragon Claw / Substitute / Beat Up
item: Leftovers / Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Hasty / Mild
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=========

This mixed Charizard set allows for maximum coverage and great wallbreaking power. Fire Blast is Charizard's main STAB attack of choice despite its imperfect accuracy and low PP for its ability to OHKO specially defensive Skarmory, Metagross and offensive variants of Celebi and Jirachi; also worth noting that a Blaze boosted Fire Blast can OHKO Gengar turning Charizard into a decent offensive check to Gengar if it switched on a Will-O-Wisp.

Hidden Power Grass is the best complementary coverage option for a Fire type in ADV OU for its ability to abuse Swampert's 4X weakness as well as hitting other Water types and Tyranitar for decent damage. Focus Punch is a necessity for mixed Charizard in order to OHKO Tyranitar and threaten the 2HKO on Blissey, two of the most popular Charizard switchins. Dragon Claw is there to hit super-effectively the Dragon types Salamance and Flygon which otherwise take little damage from every other attack. Alternatively Charizard can make good use of Substitute which eases prediction synergizes well with Focus Punch as well as helping it to get into Petaya Berry and Blaze range.

We should probably include Beat Up now that it's a thing. Finishes off Blissey after the first Focus Punch without needing to further predict Blissey.

The item Leftovers grants Charizard a bit more longevity by negating the chip Sandstorm damage and allows it to survive indefinitely even at low health when Blaze is active; however Petaya Berry is an alternative option worth considering to boost Charizard Special Attack to even higher levels and allowing it to OHKO Zapdos with a +1 Blaze Fire blast and OHKO Swampert with a +1 Hidden Power Grass. Also, Blaze + Petaya Berry boosted Fire Blast has a good chance to KO Blissey after it has been hit by Focus Punch. When using Petaya Berry one should use 30 HP IVs in order to be in Petaya range after three substitutes.

A Defense hindering nature is to make sure to always survive Thunderbolt from Gengar and to OHKO back with a Blaze boosted Fire Blast. When choosing between a +Speed or +SpA nature one should wager whether Charizard is needed to check fast threats such as Super Celebi, Super Jirachi and tie with offensive Zapdos, or whether is more important to maximaze Charizard's power in order to help breaking through walls like Suicune and defensive Starmie as well as having a chance to KO defensive Swampert with the combination of Fire Blast and Hidden Power Grass.

Again, talk about how +SpA helps to break Blissey with Blaze and Petaya. Should also mention -SpD nature too which helps Charizard survive two Meteor Mashes from Metagross.

Team Options
========

Mixed Charizard is mainly featured on mixed offense teams where it shines as a wallbreaker and a sweeper, there it appreciates partners that can make up for its weaknesses and at the same time keep up offensive momemtum. For example a great partner that can make up for Charizard's Rock weakness and gain momemtum on Tyranitar and Aerodactyl is offensive mixed or Endeavor Swampert, similarly mixed Metagross and more rarely mixed Jirachi are seen in conjunction with Swampert to provide an additional defensive backbone.

On the other hand in order to make up for Charizard's Electric and Water-type weakness on mixed offense teams a very common partner is 4 attacks Snorlax with Focus Punch, less commonly seen but also effective are Wish + 3 attacks Jirachi and Super Celebi. Celebi is a good partner also because it exploits Milotic and Suicune which tend to wall Charizard, while Charizard can be a decent pivot into Bug and Fire type attacks that threaten Celebi.

Offensive Suicune is another great mixed Charizard partner as it can pivot into Water type attacks to gain momentum as well as enjoying having a partner that can blast through Celebi and Venusaur. Fighting types like offensive Hariyama, Machamp and Breloom like to pair with Charizard as they otherwise would have a hard time breaking through defensive Celebi, Charizard can also pivot into Will-O-Wisp from Gengar that often comes in on the fighters. The Electric types Zapdos and less commonly Jolteon can help in mitigating Charizard's weakness to Milotic and Suicune and they can also keep up momentum with Baton Pass to Charizard on a Celebi switch. Tyranitar is a common sight on mixed offense paired with Charizard as a mixed breaker in the early game, a Dragon Dance sweeper in the late game or with Pursuit to support Fighters like Breloom; it also provides sand support which is key to wear down mixed walls like Curse Snorlax and Milotic.

Mixed Charizard is sometime seen on special offense teams paired with Dugtrio as it can follow up when Charizard wallbreaks Blissey or Snorlax respectively with Focus Punch or Blaze boosted Fire Blast. Dugtrio also traps Tyranitar, allowing Charizard to spam Fire Blast with impunity, or alternatively, one can sacrifice Charizard while it stays in on Tyranitar to Focus Punch and follow up with a Dugtrio trap in order to prevent a Dragon Dance setup. Mixed Charizard is also a good pass target of Calm Mind + Baton Pass Celebi, as it pivots naturally into Meteor Mash from Metagross that switch into Celebi.

Mixed Charizard is also sometimes seen on Spikes teams as it enjoys Spikes support from the likes of Skarmory and Cloyster, which can help in wearing down the grounded walls like Milotic, Suicune, Blissey and Snorlax.

[SET]

name: Sunny Day
move 1: Sunny Day
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Blast Burn / Overheat / Hidden Power Grass / Focus Punch
item: Petaya Berry
ability: Blaze
nature: Modest
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 30 HP


[SET COMMENTS]

Set Description
=========

Charizard can change the weather to intense sunlight with the move Sunny Day; in the sun the power of Fire type moves is boosted by 50%, and this combined with STAB, the ability Blaze and a high Special Attack stat boosted by Petaya Berry turns Charizard into an unstoppable wallbreaker. For exemple +1Blaze Fire Blast in the Sun OHKOs Snorlax while Blast Burn has a chance to OHKO even Blissey(+1 252+ SpA Blaze Charizard Blast Burn vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blissey in Sun: 617-727 (94.7 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO), making Sunny Day Charizard one of the best special wall lures in the game.

Sunny Day and Fire Blast are mandatory moves on this set, as well as Substitute, which allows Charizard to reliably access Blaze and Petaya Berry ranges that are the key to its success. For the last slot Blast Burn is the most obvious choice as it has a chance to OHKO Blissey from full, however Overheat is worth considering as it deals slighty less damage but has a much smaller drawback.
Hidden Power Grass is not as necessary here as it is in the mixed set because Blaze boosted Fire Blast in the sun already deals with Swampert, however it's nice to have an option for the times when is not possible to setup Sunny Day, and it's also nice to have access to a 100% accurate move to finish off weakened Water types and Tyranitar.
Focus Punch is also a decent option because it nails Tyranitar: even if Charizard is paired with Dugtrio to get rid of it, it's still nice to have a backup plan. Additionally Focus Punch helps to dissuade Blissey from healing up, encouraging it to use Seismic Toss and putting Charizard into Blaze range.


Team Options
========

Sunny Day Charizard is mainly found on specially offensive teams that are trying to lure and eliminate special walls and subsequently take advantage of their absence with powerful special sweepers.
Dugtrio is the most common member on this archetype because it can trap and remove Tyranitar, therefore facilitating the weather reset with Sunny Day, and it can also trap special walls like Blissey, Celebi and Jirachi, clearing the way for special attackers. Together with Charizard Gengar works well both as a Blissey lure with Explosion, Destiny Bond or Mean Look + Perish Song, and as a special sweeper with its great special coverage that threatens the entire metagame after the walls have been lured by Charizard and Dugtrio. Similarly Zapdos can lure special walls and Tyranitar by using Baton Pass to trap them with Dugtrio, then it becomes a massive a threat of its own after they are down. Calm Mind users like Suicune, Celebi and Jirachi are staples of this archetype but less common special sweepers like Rain Dance users Kingdra and Ludicolo are also seen.

Mention that Suicune especially appreciates removal of sand.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]

Other Options
=============

Flamethrower is an alternative STAB Fire attack that can be used on the mixed set and has the benefit of perfect accuracy and higher PP relevant mainly because of pressure users like Zapdos, Moltres and Suicune; however it's almost never seen as it doesn't guarantee the OHKO of Specially defensive Skarmory and bulky Metagross.
Hidden Power Ice can deal with Salamence and Flygon, but the loss of Hidden Power Grass is too much of a price to pay when Swampert is the most prevalent Water-type around and reason why Dragon Claw is preferred instead.
Brick Break can be used in combination with Focus Punch to threaten Blissey, Tyranitar and Snorlax; alternatively Beat Up can be used instead to deal with Blissey if your teamates are healthy. gonna make Beat Up in set description now.
Charizard can also use a Belly Drum sweeper set with Salac Berry, but it is considered to be too inconsistent as Charizard is too frail to take an attack with half its HP gone. in the current metagame.

Mention that Toxic is a nice midground against possible Blissey / Tyranitar / Swampert switch-ins.
Mention King's Rock to flinch with Beat Up.
Mention Overheat (see BKC's comments)


Checks and Counters
===================

**Water types**: Milotic is Charizard's best counter as it has great special bulk and access to Recover which allows it to heal off any attempt from Charizard to wear it down; additionally Milotic can live any sun boosted attack from the Sunny Day set making any setup against it futile. Suicune doesn't have access to the same recovery as Milotic, but it can use Calm Mind to boost its Special Defense in Charizard's face; however it must be careful to switch into Charizard's repeated attacks because if it is forced to Rest it can become exploitable by Charizard's teamates. Vaporeon's defensive set works well against Charizard with Wish + Protect effectively negating all the damage that Charizard can dish out while threatening it with Surf. Offensive Starmie can switch into Charizard, outspeed it and threaten to OHKO it with Hydro Pump but cannot heal off the damage making it only a temporary check, on the other hand defensive Starmie with Recover can attempt to be a long term solution but has to be careful of Charizard staying in to click Hidden Power Grass as it's a 2HKO while Surf cannot OHKO back.

**Rock types** : Tyranitar can sponge Fire type attacks and distrupt Sunny Day setups with its ability Sand Stream aswell as threatening an OHKO on Charizard with a 4x super effective Rock Slide, however it has to be careful of switching directly into Charizard's Focus Punch, and also has to be afraid of Dugtrio that very often comes paired with Charizard.
Aerodactyl generally survives 2 attacks from Charizard so it can switch into it twice to regain momentum in an offense vs offense matchup. Worth noting that Aerodactyl has only one free switch-in against Petaya Berry Charizard: on the second switch, Charizard can substitute down into Petaya Berry range and KO Aerodactyl back.

**Blissey**: Blissey takes little damage from Charizard's special attacks but must be weary of switching into Focus Punch as it does upwards of 50% effectively negating Blissey's recovery and forcing it into awkward prediction games with Seismic Toss vs Soft-Boiled. Additionally, Charizard's Sunny Day set can use Blissey as setup bait with its weak attacks comfortably putting Charizard into Blaze range.

**Dragon types**: Salamence and Flygon all resist Fire type moves and OHKO back if packing Rock Slide, however they must be careful of switching into Dragon Claw as it is a 2HKO.

**Fire types**: Moltres, Charizard, Blaziken and Houndoom all can switch into Charizard's attacks quite safely but can't do much to threaten back. Houndoom absorbs Fire type attacks if it is packing the ability Flash Fire, but must watch out for Focus Punch on the switch.

**Electric types**: Zapdos and Jolteon can switch into Charizard once and force it out with the threat of STAB Thunderbolt OHKOing, however Zapdos must be fearful of the potential speed tie against Hasty Charizard.

[CREDITS]

- Written by: [[mikmer, 511989]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 

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