Pokémon Volcarona

SetsuSetsuna

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Volcarona
:sv/Volcarona:
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Stats: 85 HP / 60 Atk / 65 Def / 135 SpAtk / 105 SpDef / 100 Speed
Abilities: Flame Body / Swarm

Notable Moves:
Quiver Dance
Flamethrower
Bug Buzz
Psychic
Giga Drain
Tera Blast
Fiery Dance
Fire Blast
Morning Sun
Substitute
Air Cutter, Air Slash, Body Slam, Poison Jab, Pounce, Rain Dance, Tera Blast, Trailblaze
Aerial Ace, Attract, Confide, Defog, Double Team, Dual Wingbeat, Incinerate, Magnet Rise, Mystical Fire, Poison Jab, Roost, Round, Safeguard, Skitter Smack, Snore, Swagger, Toxic
Absorb, Acrobatics, Air Cutter, Air Slash, Amnesia, Body Slam, Bug Bite, Bug Buzz, Calm Mind, Double-Edge, Ember, Endure, Facade, Fiery Dance, Fire Blast, Fire Spin, Flame Charge, Flame Wheel, Flamethrower, Flare Blitz, Fly, Giga Drain, Giga Impact, Gust, Harden, Heat Wave, Hurricane, Hyper Beam, Leech Life, Light Screen, Morning Sun, Overheat, Poison Jab, Pounce, Protect, Psychic, Quiver Dance, Rage Powder, Rain Dance, Rest, Screech, Sleep Talk, Solar Beam, String Shot, Struggle Bug, Substitute, Sunny Day, Tailwind, Take Down, Tera Blast, Thrash, Trailblaze, U-turn, Whirlwind, Wild Charge, Will-O-Wisp, Zen Headbutt
Pros
- One of the best set up sweepers thanks to Quiver Dance.​
- Amazing coverage which gets even better with the addition of Tera Blast.​
- In addition to the last point, it also benefits from tera defensively.​
- Resists common moves in the tier such as Gholdengo's Make It Rain, Iron Bundle's Ice Beam and Freeze Dry, and both of Iron Valiant's, Breloom's and Scizor's stabs.​
- Coverage for SpDef walls such as Clodsire and Gastrodon.​
Cons
- Blissey and Chansey still exist and are used thanks to them being able to check Iron Bundle.​
- Kartana and Rillaboom being gone makes it's decent defensive profile from Gen 8 somewhat worse.​
- Priority such as Palafin's Jet Punch, Dragonite's Extreme Speed and KingGambit's, Dragapult's and Chien-Pao's Sucker Punch make it a bit easier to check specially if it decides to not use use or doesn't have the right tera form.​
Terastal Potential:
- Grass is one of if not it's best tera type. As pointed out by Finch here, tera grass allows Volcarona to turn the tables on Palafin's Jet Punch and Iron Bundle's Hydro Pump, while also giving it stab on Giga Drain for it to hit them even harder. Finally, the grass type lets it resist ground moves such as Garchomp's Earthquake and Great Tusk's Headlong Rush.​
- Ice Tera comes to mind as a more offensive oriented option, as with Tera Blast it allows it to directly threaten the Dragons mainly Dragonite, Garchomp and Dragapult.​
Potential Sets:
:ss/Volcarona:
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body / Swarm
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain
This is the typical offensive set. Giga Drain and Tera Grass are explained above. Other options for the fire stab are Flamethrower and Fiery Dance. Psychic is another option to hit Toxapex, while also hitting Clodsire and Annihilape a bit stronger. Heavy-Duty Boots are even more important now with games filling both sides with hazards and Gholdengo making it hard (if not impossible) to get rid of them.​
Overview:
Despite Volcarona being overlooked (in part due to the many new strong pokemon), it still manages to be a strong presence in the meta. It's proof of how even offensive mons can use Tera in defensive ways. Despite it losing some setup fodder such as Choice Band Kartana, Rillaboom and Weavile, it can now be partnered with Cyclizar for a "free" chance to set up.​
 
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Volcarona isn't as good as it was in the past, but it is still a very dangerous threat for most teams. It faces fierce competion with Iron Moth, Chi-Yu and even Charizard but it is the only one with Quiver Dance.

The most viable set I have tried out was a bulky one with Will-O-Wisp and Heavy-Duty Boots as the burn can neuter most of its switch ins. Ceruledge still is a massive thorn in its side though.
 

SetsuSetsuna

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SV OU has changed a lot since this post was made with Volcarona in particular running different sets and Tera types. Volcarona is present in the most recent OU tiering survey.The aim of this post is to show off the most popular of these sets and provide examples of where they can be found. This post heavily follows njnp post in the discussion thread so please give it a read if you haven't.

Giga Drain Volcarona :Volcarona:
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 108 Def / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Morning Sun
- Giga Drain
- Flamethrower / Fiery Dance​

One of the main Volcarona sets. Tera Grass removes its weakness to Water-, Ground-, and Rock-type moves, notably resisting Water and Ground, and increase the damage output of Giga Drain. The Speed EVs let it hit 301 Speed, which is faster than Great Tusk. Notably this week in SPL there was also a Substitute Giga Drain Volcarona, which was able to beat Clodsire long-term.

Will-O-Wisp Volcarona :Volcarona:
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 108 Def / 152 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Morning Sun
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flamethrower / Fiery Dance​

This set replaces Giga Drain for Will-O-Wisp which allows Volcarona to cripple physical attackers, particularly ones that can check the Giga Drain set such as Dragonite, Dragon Dance Dragapult, and Roaring Moon. The Tera type is usually Fairy as it is a good defensive typing. While the EVs can stay the same, they can also run more defensive sets that aim to outspeed particular threats such as Roaring Moon or Meowscarada after a Quiver Dance. Such sets can be like the ones in here. Popular teams on ladder like this Meowscarada Hazard Stack made use of this set.

Life Orb Psychic Volcarona :Volcarona:
Volcarona @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body / Swarm
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower / Fiery Dance / Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Giga Drain / Bug Buzz​

With hazard support from Hatterene, Taunt Meowscarada, and Great Tusk Volcarona can be freed up to run other items besides Heavy-Duty Boots, with Life Orb being one such items. Psychic lets Volcarona blast pass common answers such as Clodsire, Toxapex and Iron Moth. To give even more support this set can be seen with Tera Psychic, Psychic Terrain, and Healing Wish from Hatterene or Indeedee. Bug Buzz and Giga Drain are possible options to complement its coverage. Notably used this week in SPL in this game and during OST against blunder in this game.

Tera Ground Tera Blast Volcarona :Volcarona:
Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower / Fiery Dance
- Tera Blast
- Substitute​

Used in this SPL game, Tera Ground Tera Blast Volcarona turns the tables on common answers such as Toxapex, Clodsire, Glimmora, Skeledirge, Iron Moth, and Cinderace. Most importantly, it takes advantage of the popular Tera Fire Pokemon that try to check the Giga Drain and Will-O-Wisp variants such as Kingambit, Great Tusk, Garchomp and Dragon Dance Dragapult.

Other Tera Types on Volcarona :Volcarona:
  • Tera Rock: Tera Blast allows Volcarona to hit Skeledirge, Iron Moth, Cinderace and Tera Fire Pokemon just like Tera Ground does, as well as opposing Volcarona, Dragonite, Baxcalibur, Pelipper, and Tera Bug Ceruledge.​
  • Tera Fire/Bug: Increases the strength on Volcarona stabs and can be even more powered up by Sun, Swarm, and Life Orb.​
  • Tera Water: Tera Blast allows Volcarona to hit Skeledirge, Iron Moth, Cinderace and Tera Fire Pokemon just like Tera Ground does, as well as Glimmora, Ting-Lu, and Garganacl, while also turning Volcarona weakness to Water-type attacks into a resist.​
 

bludz

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I've still never seen Tera Rock though I think the most alluring part of the idea is beating Dragonite - not only hitting it super effective but also the tech of resisting Extreme Speed.
 
I wanna give a shoutout to Tera Fairy+Tera Blast as well. It's a little more unconventional at a glance, but the amazing defensive typing to force mons like Bax to second-guess themselves plus the ability to hit the likes of Fighting-types like Quaquaval/Iron Hands/Iron Valiant AND Dragons like Chomp/Pult/DNite with a single moveslot is fucking amazing.

Pult and DNite in particular are pretty big targets. The former gives Volc a lot of trouble since it resists both STABs and can just go for some Banded Darts shit, and being able to cover it and DNite with a single moveslot and still maintain coverage against other Dragons and Quaquaval/other Fighting-types is very appealing to me.
 

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