Blaziken
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
Blaziken was once among the absolute best Fire Types in the game. But the release of new Legends with signature moves, Megas with their massive power, and Shadows with their artificial Attack boost, it's fallen off quite a bit. But don't let the game's power-creep fool you; this is still VERY MUCH a Pokemon worth raising... well, one of them anyway. Gotta' get that Mega Blaziken!
In all fairness, Blaziken is still a solid filler with great Fire and Fighting Type performance, giving it role-compression in two great types and a lot of value for players just starting out, or in need of some additional power for less than ideal teams.
Offense
- Pair Blast Burn* with Fire Spin for great Fire-type DPS.
- Pair Counter with Aura Sphere for a great Fighting-type Pokemon.
- Overheat is substantially weaker than Blast Burn, but it can work if you lack an Elite TM.
- Brave Bird, Focus Blast, Blaze Kick, and Stone Edge are all bad choices.
Defense
- Fire Spin is slightly superior to Counter on defense, hitting more of Blaziken’s counters for neutral damage. However, Fire Spin also has the issue of sharing a type with Blaziken's best defensive Charged Move options, leaving it easily walled out when against anything resistant to Fire.
- Blaze Kick hits fast and furious, but it's best paired with Counter to keep different typings.
- Aura Sphere is a strong option as well, and works best with Fire Spin
- Blast Burn* is explosively powerful, but also a bit easy to dodge.
- Brave Bird hits hard, but it lacks relevant counter-coverage and takes a long time to drop. Chances are that Blaziken will drop long before it's used.
- Stone Edge* has a useful typing and is hard to dodge, but Blaziken will probably drop before it's used.
- Overheat and Focus Blast hit extremely hard, but they're also easy to dodge and yet more moves that Blaziken will probably only be able to launch once, if at all.
Ember is the way to go for a Fast Move due to its exceptional energy gains. Pair it with Aura Sphere for high-power STAB moves at a low energy cost, while Blast Burn acts as a literal nuke to blow up the opposition.
Lucario is, sadly, far too frail for the Great League. Its high Attack stat cuts into its bulk severely.
