Shadow Blaziken
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
If you're lucky enough to have a good Shadow Blaziken, then you've got a gem. This Pokemon has great DPS for both Fire and Fighting types, giving it outstanding value for its investment. Its one issue is the fact that it is pretty frail, to an even greater degree than basic Blaziken, so you're going to want to dodge a lot if you want to utilize it properly.
Offense
- Pair Blast Burn* with Fire Spin for outstanding Fire-type DPS.
- Counter and Aura Sphere is actually an even stronger moveset, hitting for massive Fighting Type numbers.
- Blaze Kick isn't great, but It's still better than Overheat.
- Brave Bird is underwhelming in every aspect.
- No one actually has Stone Edge. It's also not useful in PvE.
Defense
- Fire Spin is slightly superior to Counter on defense, hitting more of Shadow Blaziken’s counters for neutral damage. However, Counter still has its utility for staying off-type.
- Pair Counter with Blaze Kick or Blast Burn* for a strong defensive moveset.
- Fire Spin pairs with Aura Sphere for another strong option.
- Brave Bird hits hard, but it lacks relevant counter-coverage and takes a long time to drop. Chances are that Shadow Blaziken will drop long before it's used.
- Stone Edge has a useful typing and is hard to dodge, but Shadow 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 Shadow Blaziken will probably only be able to launch once, if at all.
Counter outperforms Fire Spin and also gives Shadow Blaziken some coverage in this moveset. What has been anticipated for more than a year has finally arrived, in the form of 2 unique moves. Blast Burn is capable of massive damage for only 50 energy, while Blaze Kick is a mirror copy of the elemental punches and gives Shadow Blaziken some speed by allowing more smooth shield baiting. While this moveset doesn't necessarily help Shadow Blaziken cover its weaknesses, it does let Shadow Blaziken dominate its wins much more cleanly. Brave Bird can be elected for extra coverage, though STAB Blast Burn is more efficient even when resisted.
Counter + Blaze Kick and Stone Edge: A more flexible but very limited moveset that gives Shadow Blaziken some coverage, though depending on the matchups this might not matter as much. If you have the legacy Stone Edge, definitely keep it and unlock Blaze Kick to have this option, but this moveset isn't as significantly different as the previous one. It should be noted that without Blast Burn, Shadow Blaziken can get different results depending on matchups.
Blaziken first gained popularity during the Silph Arena Kingdom Cup in April 2019, where its ability to "Counter" the ubiquitous Lucario and Bastiodon earned it a position on many rosters despite its slow moveset. With the addition of two useful moves added to its moveset on Torchic Community Day, Blaziken notably moves up the ranks thanks to a faster moveset. Blaze Kick is the main improvement, allowing Blaziken a low cost charge move option energy-wise, which removes Blaziken's reputation as a late game nuker and lets it brawl in early and mid-game. Previous losses that are now wins (under 1-shield scenarios) include Froslass, and almost all Grass-types. Blaziken's low durability is still its main drawback, as a high ATK stat distribution lowers its overall bulk and causes it have close results with Meganium instead of clean wins.
