As strong as Head Smash is on Emboar, I really don't like the looks of it due to that 50% recoil you take. At least the others are a bit less annoying (Flare Blitz is 33% and Wild Charge is 25%) and I don't think Head Smash hits anything notable that you can't just hit with Flare Blitz or Wild Charge. That being said, Emboar is looking really good as a super strong wallbreaker with Choice Band. Life Orb might work, but that residual damage will probably take it out prematurely. Scarf Emboar could probably be stacked with another Scarf user with Scarf Emboar being a fast battering ram that is very difficult for offense to beat and then your other Scarfer to actually revenge kill stuff. Either way, Band will probably be most common, and I can see this set getting to be quite popular:
Emboar @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
- filler (EQ / Sucker / Fire Punch / Head Smash)
Honestly, you're generally going to be using one of your first 3 moves almost all the time, so you can just use some filler option in the last slot to fit your team's needs. I won't bother with calcs since
Talpr0ne already did the honors with that. 168 Speed is what Emboar needs to get the jump on 4 Speed Gligar, (92 HP hits even number, which means more hazard damage) one of the main physical walls Emboar is going to be dealing with. I guess you could run Jolly and 200 Speed to beat out Modest Exploud, but that really starts sapping Emboar's power and I'd rather just use Scarf at that point. Speaking of Scarf, it would probably run the same set, but with a simple max / max Jolly spread to outspeed as many offensive threats as possible. Scarf Emboar wouldn't have the same performance against bulky teams, but it would be a true terror vs. offensive teams since it outspeeds everything up to, and including, base form Sceptile AND Mega Pidgeot. Here's some calcs with Scarf against some common offensive threats that may surprise you. This is using a 252 / 252+ spread:
252 Atk Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pidgeot: 271-319 (88.2 - 103.9%) --
guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.
252 Atk Reckless Emboar Wild Charge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Moltres: 248-292 (77.2 - 90.9%) --
guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock.
252 Atk Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Moltres: 123-145 (38.3 - 45.1%) --
guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock. no Scarf? you just win with this.
252 Atk Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Sceptile: 288-339 (102.4 - 120.6%) --
guaranteed OHKO. Mega Evolution won't save it and you outspeed base form.
You auto-kill the following that would normally outspeed and either KO or cripple you first with your STABs alone:
Cobalion, Durant, Shiftry, Tyrantrum, Magneton, Exploud, Mega Glalie, Dugtrio, Whimsicott, Hitmonlee, Meloetta (unless it's Scarf) and Contrary Serperior Note that all of these are with Flare Blitz alone, with the lone exception of Tyrantrum, which you take out with Superpower.
So, I think Choice Scarf will have its place. Band Emboar is going to be an absolute nuke, but I can see people using Scarf Emboar to give offense a really hard time as it has very, very limited switch-ins for Fire-type moves.