Blaziken
04-08-2008, 08:03 AM
Sorry for the delay
Blaziken
3rd Generation
As the fully-evolved form of the fire starter Torchic, Blaziken made its first anime appearance before its generation was even released. Blaziken has received much hype before its release and unfortunately, it hasn’t completely lived up to it. The two previous fully-evolved fire starter pokemon Typhlosion and Charizard had a decent amount of speed and quite a good special attack power. Well Blaziken had the attack part covered but not the speed. Blaziken falls below many sweepers and is often overlooked because it hasn’t really got the speed or a completely reliable move to fully sweep sides with. Blaziken does however has a bit of potential, especially with its decent movepool.
Choice Band
Nature: Jolly/ Adamant
Item: Choice Band
Attacks:
Earthquake
Rock Slide/ Hidden Power Rock
Sky Uppercut/ Brick Beak/ Double Kick
Return/ Aerial Ace/ Overheat
Blaziken as mentioned before lacks speed but it does have a great amount of attack meaning that it’s a perfect candidate to become a Choice Bander. Basically with this set, just try and take out what you can before wither Blaziken faints or you have to switch. Try and cover as many types as possible while also covering for the biggest threats. Just to clear somethings up, Double Kick is a possible choice mainly because combined with Choice Band, it might be able to break a few Substitute attacks and strike pokemon like Jolteon hard. Despite this being a pure physical set, Overheat can be added mainly because an attack with 210 power including STAB shouldn’t be overlooked that easily.
Rating: 7.5/10
Physical Sweeper
Nature: Jolly
Item: Salac Berry/ Leftovers/ Lum Berry
Attacks:
Earthquake/ Overheat
Swords Dance
Rock Slide/ Hidden Power Rock
Quick Attack/ Brick Break/ Double Kick
Swords Dance Blaziken probably won’t last for too long so just do what you can with a boost from Swords Dance. The only thing of real concern is that teams might be able to wall this too easily. That’s why you’ve gotta consider moves that can get rid of those pesky walls that can stop you easily. However if you are going to be taking down walls with Blaziken, I suggest you try and use an element of surprise and prediction.
Rating: 7.5/10
Reverser
Nature: Hasty/ Naïve/ Adamant
Item: Salac Berry
Attacks:
Hidden Power Ice/ Hidden Power Rock/ Swords Dance
Endure/ Substitute
Reversal
Overheat
One of the most common Blaziken around in the 3rd generation was this one. Basically do your best to try and get Blaziken’s health as low as possible without getting a status problem or making your strategy too predictable. Once you’ve done that, sweep with Reversal and Overheat. As for its first attack, Hidden Power whatever takes care (sort of) of either Salamence or Charizard, two pokemon who can wall this set fairly easily. However if you send in Blaziken at the right time and predict a switch, Swords Dance might come in handy. This set is basically your normal Endure-Reversal set and like the normal ones, this suffers from the same problems: Sandstream from Tyranitar and Quick Attack.
Rating: 8/10
Contest
Contest Type: Beauty
Moves:
Bulk Up
Rock Smash
Overheat
Façade/ Protect/ Rest
This moveset might be a bit more advanced than the ones you’ve seen before. Anyway Bulk Up raises your condition by one, essential meaning that every move you use from now on earns you can extra star. Rock Smash goes great here but only after a second Bulk Up so make sure you save it for later. When you’ve used Bulk Up, Overheat should be your next move because it most likely will earn you eight starts if you perform. Bulk Up next then Overheat or Rock Smash to earn big points. You final move and final turn depends on whether you want more or stay with what you’ve got. It’s a decent moveset and Blaziken like many fire pokemon do perform in contests very well.
Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating for Blaziken in 3rd Generation: 7.5/10
4th Generation
Blaziken in the 4th generation hasn’t really gotten much of a break. Sure it’s gotten a few handy moves in Stone Edge and Agility but it also has a new and well, much more efficient rival in Infernape. Infernape basically is a Blaziken who sacrificed some offensive power for some much need speed. Blaziken’s movepool is also slightly out done by Infernape’s but in saying that, Blaziken still has a very handy movepool. Its stats also are quite impressive and with the introduction of Choice Scarf, Blaziken is a very decent pokemon to use.
Choice Specs
Item: Choice Specs
Nature: Modest/ Timid
Attacks:
Overheat/ Flamethrower
Focus Blast
Hidden Power Electric
Blast Burn/ Focus Punch
Blaziken special movepool is actually quite dismal, as you can see by its last move. Overheat or Flamethrower does quite a bit of damage with the STAB and Choice Specs while Focus Blast is Blaziken’s only special fighting attack besides Hidden Power. Hidden Power Electric is for Gyarados. Don’t expect Blaziken to outrun any dragon pokemon so Hidden Power Ice wasn’t included. With it’s final move, Blast Burn is just something like Explosion, taking something out with yourself while Focus Punch can do some serious damage if you predict a switch right. Basically Blaziken on the special side of things isn’t as good as it is on the physical.
Rating: 7/10
Physical Choice
Item: Choice Band/ Choice Specs
Nature: Adamant/ Jolly
Attacks:
Sky Uppercut
Flare Blitz
Stone Edge
Brave Bird/ Shadow Claw/ Focus Punch
Your basic physical, choice item using Blaziken. Sky Uppercut serves as the fighting STAB move. It’s a shame that Blaziken didn’t get Close Combat so will have to do. Flare Blitz is Blaziken’s strongest physical fire move but the recoil damage from it might be too much. Stone Edge for Gyarados and Salamence while the final move is to cover against more pokemon. Some people might have put in Willo-Wisp in there but because of Blaziken’s fragileness, Willo-Wisp isn’t a good option.
Rating: 8/10
Mixed Sweeper
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Naïve
Attacks:
Sky Uppercut
Overheat/ Flamethrower
Hidden Power Grass/ Hidden Power Electric/ Hidden Power Ice
Agility/ Focus Punch
This set can basically be labeled as the Infernape wannabe set. With Close Combat, Sky Uppercut is your best bet to hit Blissey while the fire attacks basically say bye to Skarmory. Hidden Power is for more coverage while Agility gives Blaziken an extra well needed speed boost. Focus Punch could be used over Agility if you like to predict switches from your opponent. Basically this set tries to mimic the standard Mixape set but obviously without the right moves, Blaziken isn’t going to pull off that role very easily. This set is sort of a novelty one you could say.
Rating: 7/10
Physical Sweeper
Item: Life Orb/ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
Attacks:
Agility
Sky Uppercut
Flare Blitz/ Blaze Kick
Swords Dance/ Baton Pass/ Stone Edge
In the 4th generation, one of Blaziken’s new toys is the addition of Agility to its movepool, giving it more potential in speed. Your whole set will basically be based around Agility, getting at least one away before attempting a sweep with two physical STAB moves. For the last slot, if you ever get a chance, Swords Dance greatly increases Blaziken’s power as a sweeper but it’ll mean that Blaziken will get walled a lot more easier. Stone Edge could attempt to fix that problem but Baton Pass is probably your best bet here. When your health gets low enough and when you’ve had enough or can’t sweep no more, use Baton Pass and pass on the Agility, speed boost to someone else. This set serves to be one of Blaziken’s more successful and better sets despite the fact that you might be trying to accomplish two things as one.
Rating: 8.5/10
Baton Passer
Item: Petaya Berry/ Leichi Berry/ Leftovers/ Lum Berry
Nature: Jolly/ Naïve
Attacks:
Agility
Baton Pass
Substitute/ Swords Dance/ Flare Blitz
Focus Punch/ Flare Blitz/ Endure/ Substitute/ Sky Uppercut
Along with Agility, Blaziken also got Baton Pass as a new attack. With this, Blaziken basically screamed out as a possible Baton Passer and it does work quite well. Agility is the first thing you should do before attempting any other move. Substitute can protect you from status problems while also allowing you to get another Agility in which probably isn’t all that necessary or pass on the Substitute. You could also use Swords Dance to get that attack boost but you could have a berry for that. Everybody has their own opinion about what a good Baton Passer is and what they should be passing so I’m not going to choose 4 specific moves and say you must use them. However if I was using Blaziken was a Baton Passer, I’ll probably have Agility, Baton Pass, Substitute and Sky Uppercut.
Rating: 8/10
Focus Puncher
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
Attacks:
Substitute
Focus Punch
Overheat
Stone Edge
Blaziken functions quite well as a Focus Punch since it is in this case “unfortunately” outrun by many pokemon. When setting up the Substitute/ Focus Punch combo, it’s important to note that you should go second when using Substitute or else you might find your Substitute broken before you even get the chance to use Focus Punch. Basically try and do as much damage and cause as much havoc as possible before letting Blaziken go. With Blaziken’s average speed and low defenses, don’t expect this Blaziken to last for too long.
Rating: 7/10
Contests
Contest Type: Tough
Moves:
Swords Dance/ Bulk Up
Stone Edge
Reversal
Protect
Again, we have the reliable Swords Dance combo contest set. There’s not much to explain here except Swords Dance or Bulk Up first before using any other move. Repeat this process again for the remaining 2 rounds and you hopefully will find yourself with a very high score.
Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating for Blaziken in 4th Generation: 8/10
Type:
Blaziken was the first of the Houen fully evolved starter pokemon to be introduced into the pokemon anime and unfortunately Blaziken has received a lot of hype, which it didn’t live up to. The type combination of Fire and Fighting gives Blaziken a few common weaknesses and combined with a rather mediocre speed, Blaziken can only do so much. Blaziken unfortunately does get easily walled, mainly by Cresselia who resists Blaziken’s fighting attacks while it can easily take the fire ones. Gyarados and Salamence with the Intimidate ability also do a good job at walling Blaziken but they’ll have to watch out for Stone Edge and Hidden Power, depending what type. Starmie, Milotic, Slowbro, Suicine and Swampert can also counter Blaziken well with their bulkiness and strike back with a powerful STAB attack. Most flying pokemon who resist at least on of Blaziken’s attacks can do fine against it, barring that they watch out for Stone Edge. Basically anything that can outrun Blaziken (which is a lot) will say gg to Blaziken because Blaziken’s defensive prowess is almost the same as Infernape’s, very low.
When deciding whether to use Blaziken or Infernape, Blaziken is often overlooked. Sure its got better offensive power in its stats but it’s outclassed and outmatched by Infernape’s higher speed to outrun pokemon like Garchomp with Choice Scarf and also that it has got access to Close Combat, a almost, completely reliable physical fighting attack. Along with Grass Knot and Nasty Plot, Infernape basically ranks above Blaziken. There’s no need to say Blaziken’s a bad pokemon. In fact Blaziken is a wonderful pokemon and has always been one of my favourites but when comparing it to its rival Infernape, it simply gets outdone by it because of Infernape’s better speed and that it has got access to some very handy moves.
Ability- Blaze:
Blaze is an ability unique to the evolution forms of the starter fire pokemon. This ability activates when the pokemon’s health drops below 1/1, multiplying the power of every fire attack by 1.5. This gives fire attacks a good boost in power and if used correctly, this ability can be very lethal. However Blaze isn’t a particularly helpful ability that’s going to win you a match. It’s just something handy to have.
Overall Rating for Blaziken: 8/10
Stats
Japanese Name: Bashamo
Gender: 87.5% ♀ / 12.5% ♂
Type: Fighting/ Fire
Species: Blaze Pokemon
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 114.6lbs
Weaknesses: Water, Ground, Flying, Psychic (x2)
Resistances: Dark, Steel, Fire, Ice, Grass (x0.5) Bug (x0.25)
Immunities: None
Pokedex Entries:
Diamond/Pearl – Flames spout out from its wrists, enveloping its knuckles. Its punches scorch its foes.
Evolution: Evolves from Combustken at lv.36
Location: Evolve Combustken
Abilities: Blaze: When hp goes below 1/3, the power of fire moves are multiplied by 1.5
National Dex No.: 257
Popularity: Medium
Generation Introduced: 3rd
Anime Appearances: 7 (Possibly 8 in upcoming weeks)
Blaziken
3rd Generation
As the fully-evolved form of the fire starter Torchic, Blaziken made its first anime appearance before its generation was even released. Blaziken has received much hype before its release and unfortunately, it hasn’t completely lived up to it. The two previous fully-evolved fire starter pokemon Typhlosion and Charizard had a decent amount of speed and quite a good special attack power. Well Blaziken had the attack part covered but not the speed. Blaziken falls below many sweepers and is often overlooked because it hasn’t really got the speed or a completely reliable move to fully sweep sides with. Blaziken does however has a bit of potential, especially with its decent movepool.
Choice Band
Nature: Jolly/ Adamant
Item: Choice Band
Attacks:
Earthquake
Rock Slide/ Hidden Power Rock
Sky Uppercut/ Brick Beak/ Double Kick
Return/ Aerial Ace/ Overheat
Blaziken as mentioned before lacks speed but it does have a great amount of attack meaning that it’s a perfect candidate to become a Choice Bander. Basically with this set, just try and take out what you can before wither Blaziken faints or you have to switch. Try and cover as many types as possible while also covering for the biggest threats. Just to clear somethings up, Double Kick is a possible choice mainly because combined with Choice Band, it might be able to break a few Substitute attacks and strike pokemon like Jolteon hard. Despite this being a pure physical set, Overheat can be added mainly because an attack with 210 power including STAB shouldn’t be overlooked that easily.
Rating: 7.5/10
Physical Sweeper
Nature: Jolly
Item: Salac Berry/ Leftovers/ Lum Berry
Attacks:
Earthquake/ Overheat
Swords Dance
Rock Slide/ Hidden Power Rock
Quick Attack/ Brick Break/ Double Kick
Swords Dance Blaziken probably won’t last for too long so just do what you can with a boost from Swords Dance. The only thing of real concern is that teams might be able to wall this too easily. That’s why you’ve gotta consider moves that can get rid of those pesky walls that can stop you easily. However if you are going to be taking down walls with Blaziken, I suggest you try and use an element of surprise and prediction.
Rating: 7.5/10
Reverser
Nature: Hasty/ Naïve/ Adamant
Item: Salac Berry
Attacks:
Hidden Power Ice/ Hidden Power Rock/ Swords Dance
Endure/ Substitute
Reversal
Overheat
One of the most common Blaziken around in the 3rd generation was this one. Basically do your best to try and get Blaziken’s health as low as possible without getting a status problem or making your strategy too predictable. Once you’ve done that, sweep with Reversal and Overheat. As for its first attack, Hidden Power whatever takes care (sort of) of either Salamence or Charizard, two pokemon who can wall this set fairly easily. However if you send in Blaziken at the right time and predict a switch, Swords Dance might come in handy. This set is basically your normal Endure-Reversal set and like the normal ones, this suffers from the same problems: Sandstream from Tyranitar and Quick Attack.
Rating: 8/10
Contest
Contest Type: Beauty
Moves:
Bulk Up
Rock Smash
Overheat
Façade/ Protect/ Rest
This moveset might be a bit more advanced than the ones you’ve seen before. Anyway Bulk Up raises your condition by one, essential meaning that every move you use from now on earns you can extra star. Rock Smash goes great here but only after a second Bulk Up so make sure you save it for later. When you’ve used Bulk Up, Overheat should be your next move because it most likely will earn you eight starts if you perform. Bulk Up next then Overheat or Rock Smash to earn big points. You final move and final turn depends on whether you want more or stay with what you’ve got. It’s a decent moveset and Blaziken like many fire pokemon do perform in contests very well.
Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating for Blaziken in 3rd Generation: 7.5/10
4th Generation
Blaziken in the 4th generation hasn’t really gotten much of a break. Sure it’s gotten a few handy moves in Stone Edge and Agility but it also has a new and well, much more efficient rival in Infernape. Infernape basically is a Blaziken who sacrificed some offensive power for some much need speed. Blaziken’s movepool is also slightly out done by Infernape’s but in saying that, Blaziken still has a very handy movepool. Its stats also are quite impressive and with the introduction of Choice Scarf, Blaziken is a very decent pokemon to use.
Choice Specs
Item: Choice Specs
Nature: Modest/ Timid
Attacks:
Overheat/ Flamethrower
Focus Blast
Hidden Power Electric
Blast Burn/ Focus Punch
Blaziken special movepool is actually quite dismal, as you can see by its last move. Overheat or Flamethrower does quite a bit of damage with the STAB and Choice Specs while Focus Blast is Blaziken’s only special fighting attack besides Hidden Power. Hidden Power Electric is for Gyarados. Don’t expect Blaziken to outrun any dragon pokemon so Hidden Power Ice wasn’t included. With it’s final move, Blast Burn is just something like Explosion, taking something out with yourself while Focus Punch can do some serious damage if you predict a switch right. Basically Blaziken on the special side of things isn’t as good as it is on the physical.
Rating: 7/10
Physical Choice
Item: Choice Band/ Choice Specs
Nature: Adamant/ Jolly
Attacks:
Sky Uppercut
Flare Blitz
Stone Edge
Brave Bird/ Shadow Claw/ Focus Punch
Your basic physical, choice item using Blaziken. Sky Uppercut serves as the fighting STAB move. It’s a shame that Blaziken didn’t get Close Combat so will have to do. Flare Blitz is Blaziken’s strongest physical fire move but the recoil damage from it might be too much. Stone Edge for Gyarados and Salamence while the final move is to cover against more pokemon. Some people might have put in Willo-Wisp in there but because of Blaziken’s fragileness, Willo-Wisp isn’t a good option.
Rating: 8/10
Mixed Sweeper
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Naïve
Attacks:
Sky Uppercut
Overheat/ Flamethrower
Hidden Power Grass/ Hidden Power Electric/ Hidden Power Ice
Agility/ Focus Punch
This set can basically be labeled as the Infernape wannabe set. With Close Combat, Sky Uppercut is your best bet to hit Blissey while the fire attacks basically say bye to Skarmory. Hidden Power is for more coverage while Agility gives Blaziken an extra well needed speed boost. Focus Punch could be used over Agility if you like to predict switches from your opponent. Basically this set tries to mimic the standard Mixape set but obviously without the right moves, Blaziken isn’t going to pull off that role very easily. This set is sort of a novelty one you could say.
Rating: 7/10
Physical Sweeper
Item: Life Orb/ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
Attacks:
Agility
Sky Uppercut
Flare Blitz/ Blaze Kick
Swords Dance/ Baton Pass/ Stone Edge
In the 4th generation, one of Blaziken’s new toys is the addition of Agility to its movepool, giving it more potential in speed. Your whole set will basically be based around Agility, getting at least one away before attempting a sweep with two physical STAB moves. For the last slot, if you ever get a chance, Swords Dance greatly increases Blaziken’s power as a sweeper but it’ll mean that Blaziken will get walled a lot more easier. Stone Edge could attempt to fix that problem but Baton Pass is probably your best bet here. When your health gets low enough and when you’ve had enough or can’t sweep no more, use Baton Pass and pass on the Agility, speed boost to someone else. This set serves to be one of Blaziken’s more successful and better sets despite the fact that you might be trying to accomplish two things as one.
Rating: 8.5/10
Baton Passer
Item: Petaya Berry/ Leichi Berry/ Leftovers/ Lum Berry
Nature: Jolly/ Naïve
Attacks:
Agility
Baton Pass
Substitute/ Swords Dance/ Flare Blitz
Focus Punch/ Flare Blitz/ Endure/ Substitute/ Sky Uppercut
Along with Agility, Blaziken also got Baton Pass as a new attack. With this, Blaziken basically screamed out as a possible Baton Passer and it does work quite well. Agility is the first thing you should do before attempting any other move. Substitute can protect you from status problems while also allowing you to get another Agility in which probably isn’t all that necessary or pass on the Substitute. You could also use Swords Dance to get that attack boost but you could have a berry for that. Everybody has their own opinion about what a good Baton Passer is and what they should be passing so I’m not going to choose 4 specific moves and say you must use them. However if I was using Blaziken was a Baton Passer, I’ll probably have Agility, Baton Pass, Substitute and Sky Uppercut.
Rating: 8/10
Focus Puncher
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
Attacks:
Substitute
Focus Punch
Overheat
Stone Edge
Blaziken functions quite well as a Focus Punch since it is in this case “unfortunately” outrun by many pokemon. When setting up the Substitute/ Focus Punch combo, it’s important to note that you should go second when using Substitute or else you might find your Substitute broken before you even get the chance to use Focus Punch. Basically try and do as much damage and cause as much havoc as possible before letting Blaziken go. With Blaziken’s average speed and low defenses, don’t expect this Blaziken to last for too long.
Rating: 7/10
Contests
Contest Type: Tough
Moves:
Swords Dance/ Bulk Up
Stone Edge
Reversal
Protect
Again, we have the reliable Swords Dance combo contest set. There’s not much to explain here except Swords Dance or Bulk Up first before using any other move. Repeat this process again for the remaining 2 rounds and you hopefully will find yourself with a very high score.
Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating for Blaziken in 4th Generation: 8/10
Type:
Blaziken was the first of the Houen fully evolved starter pokemon to be introduced into the pokemon anime and unfortunately Blaziken has received a lot of hype, which it didn’t live up to. The type combination of Fire and Fighting gives Blaziken a few common weaknesses and combined with a rather mediocre speed, Blaziken can only do so much. Blaziken unfortunately does get easily walled, mainly by Cresselia who resists Blaziken’s fighting attacks while it can easily take the fire ones. Gyarados and Salamence with the Intimidate ability also do a good job at walling Blaziken but they’ll have to watch out for Stone Edge and Hidden Power, depending what type. Starmie, Milotic, Slowbro, Suicine and Swampert can also counter Blaziken well with their bulkiness and strike back with a powerful STAB attack. Most flying pokemon who resist at least on of Blaziken’s attacks can do fine against it, barring that they watch out for Stone Edge. Basically anything that can outrun Blaziken (which is a lot) will say gg to Blaziken because Blaziken’s defensive prowess is almost the same as Infernape’s, very low.
When deciding whether to use Blaziken or Infernape, Blaziken is often overlooked. Sure its got better offensive power in its stats but it’s outclassed and outmatched by Infernape’s higher speed to outrun pokemon like Garchomp with Choice Scarf and also that it has got access to Close Combat, a almost, completely reliable physical fighting attack. Along with Grass Knot and Nasty Plot, Infernape basically ranks above Blaziken. There’s no need to say Blaziken’s a bad pokemon. In fact Blaziken is a wonderful pokemon and has always been one of my favourites but when comparing it to its rival Infernape, it simply gets outdone by it because of Infernape’s better speed and that it has got access to some very handy moves.
Ability- Blaze:
Blaze is an ability unique to the evolution forms of the starter fire pokemon. This ability activates when the pokemon’s health drops below 1/1, multiplying the power of every fire attack by 1.5. This gives fire attacks a good boost in power and if used correctly, this ability can be very lethal. However Blaze isn’t a particularly helpful ability that’s going to win you a match. It’s just something handy to have.
Overall Rating for Blaziken: 8/10
Stats
Japanese Name: Bashamo
Gender: 87.5% ♀ / 12.5% ♂
Type: Fighting/ Fire
Species: Blaze Pokemon
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 114.6lbs
Weaknesses: Water, Ground, Flying, Psychic (x2)
Resistances: Dark, Steel, Fire, Ice, Grass (x0.5) Bug (x0.25)
Immunities: None
Pokedex Entries:
Diamond/Pearl – Flames spout out from its wrists, enveloping its knuckles. Its punches scorch its foes.
Evolution: Evolves from Combustken at lv.36
Location: Evolve Combustken
Abilities: Blaze: When hp goes below 1/3, the power of fire moves are multiplied by 1.5
National Dex No.: 257
Popularity: Medium
Generation Introduced: 3rd
Anime Appearances: 7 (Possibly 8 in upcoming weeks)