Mastering Blaziken: A Comprehensive Guide to Movesets, Builds, and Strategies
Blaziken, the Fire/Fighting-type Pokémon, makes a triumphant return in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Indigo Disk DLC. Known for its powerful attacks and Speed Boost ability, Blaziken is a formidable contender in both competitive and raid battles. This guide offers a deep dive into crafting the optimal Blaziken for various scenarios, including movesets, EV training, and strategies to overcome challenging opponents like Crispin of the Blueberry Academy Elite Four.
Blaziken's Strengths and Weaknesses
Before diving into specific builds, it's crucial to understand Blaziken's inherent strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:
- High Attack and Special Attack: Blaziken possesses impressive offensive stats, allowing it to deal significant damage with both physical and special moves.
- Speed Boost Ability: This ability increases Blaziken's Speed stat by one stage at the end of each turn, making it increasingly faster and more difficult to outspeed.
- Versatile Movepool: Blaziken has access to a wide range of moves, including powerful Fire and Fighting-type attacks, as well as coverage moves to deal with various threats.
Weaknesses:
- Frail Defenses: Blaziken is relatively fragile, making it susceptible to being taken down quickly by strong attacks, especially those it's weak to.
- Vulnerability to Common Types: Blaziken's dual typing leaves it vulnerable to Rock, Ground, and Water-type attacks, which are prevalent in competitive play.
Competitive Blaziken: Ranked Battle Build
For competitive ranked battles, Blaziken can be built as a potent offensive threat, capitalizing on its Speed Boost ability to outspeed opponents and deliver powerful attacks.
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Sp. Atk) or Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
Ability: Speed Boost
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Item: Life Orb
EV Spread:
- HP: 156
- Attack: 172
- Defense: 90
- Speed: 92
Moveset:
- Flare Blitz: A powerful Fire-type STAB move.
- Close Combat: A strong Fighting-type STAB move.
- Swords Dance: Boosts Blaziken's Attack stat by two stages.
- Protect: Protects Blaziken from damage while allowing Speed Boost to activate.
Tera Type: Water
Strategy:
The primary strategy is to use Protect on the first turn to gain a Speed Boost, then use Swords Dance to boost Attack. Flare Blitz and Close Combat are Blaziken's main STAB attacks, dealing massive damage to opponents. Water Tera helps Blaziken to survive super-effective hits.
Tera Raid Blaziken Build
Blaziken can also be effective in Tera Raids, especially when optimized for dealing damage and surviving powerful attacks.
Ability: Speed Boost
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Held Item: Shell Bell
Nature: Adamant
EV Spread: Focus on bulky offense to maximize damage output and survivability.
Moveset:
- Swords Dance: Use three times at the start of the raid to maximize Attack.
- Flare Blitz: A powerful Fire-type STAB move, boosted by Sunny Day.
- Sunny Day: Increases the power of Fire-type moves.
- Low Kick: A Fighting-type move whose power depends on the target's weight.
Tera Type: Dragon
Strategy:
Start the raid with Swords Dance, using it three times to maximize Blaziken's Attack stat. Activate Sunny Day to boost the damage of Flare Blitz.
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Leveling and Training Blaziken
To get the most out of your Blaziken, it's essential to level it up and train it effectively.
Evolution:
- Torchic evolves into Combusken at level 16.
- Combusken evolves into Blaziken at level 36.
EV Training:
- Vitamins: Use vitamins purchased at Chansey Supply shops to quickly boost specific stats.
- HP Up: Increases HP.
- Protein: Increases Attack.
- Carbos: Increases Speed.
- Power Items: Use Power Items purchased at Delibird Presents shops to gain EVs while battling Pokémon.
Hyper Training:
- Reach level 50 and head to Montenevera. Talk to the man with an Abomasnow near the Pokémon Center to hyper train your Pokémon using Bottle Caps. Bottle Caps can be bought at Delibird Presents shops for ₽20,000 after obtaining 6 Gym Badges.
Crispin of the Elite Four: A Battle Guide
Crispin, the Fire-type specialist of the Blueberry Academy Elite Four, presents a unique challenge with his Sunny Day-based team. Here's how to counter his team effectively:
Crispin's Team:
- Talonflame (Level 78): Uses Sunny Day and Flare Blitz. Weak to Rock, Water, and Electric.
- Rotom (Heat Form) (Level 78): Uses Will-o-Wisp, Thunderbolt, Hex, and Overheat. Weak to Rock and Water, immune to Ground.
- Camerupt (Level 78): Uses Earth Power, Heat Wave, Zen Headbutt, and Ancient Power. Weak to Water (4x) and Ground.
- Magmortar (Level 78): Uses Heat Wave, Sunny Day, Thunderbolt, and Psychic. Weak to Rock, Ground, and Water.
- Exeggutor (Level 78): Uses Solar Beam, Protect, Leech Seed, and Psyshock. Weak to Bug, Ghost, Dark, Ice, Fire, Poison, and Flying.
- Blaziken (Level 79): Uses Temper Flare, Stone Edge, Shadow Claw, and Focus Blast. Weak to Rock, Ground, and Water.
Strategies:
- Disrupt Sunny Day: Use Hippowdon or Tyranitar with Sand Stream to continuously block Sunny Day.
- Rock-Type Pokémon: Use Rock-type Pokémon with Rock Blast to quickly take out Talonflame.
- Water-Type Pokémon: Use strong Water-type moves to exploit the weaknesses of Camerupt and Magmortar.
- Bug or Fire-Type Moves: Use Bug or Fire-type moves to quickly defeat Exeggutor.
- Ground or Water-Type Pokémon: Use Ground or Water-type Pokémon to counter Blaziken.
Recommended Pokémon:
- Landorus (Therian Forme): Resists Fire-type attacks and can use Rock Slide and Earth Power.
- Garchomp: A strong Ground/Dragon-type Pokémon that can use Earthquake and Stone Edge.
- Heat Rotom: Resists Fire-type attacks and can use Discharge.
Blaziken as a Flying Tera Type
Blaziken with a Flying Tera Type was featured in a 7-Star Tera Raid Event. Miraidon and Bellibolt were the best counters for this raid.
Moves Learned Through Level Up
- Scratch (Level 1)
- Growl (Level 1)
- Ember (Level 1)
- Quick Attack (Level 1)
- Sand Attack (Level 9)
- Fire Spin (Level 12)
- Bulk Up (Level 15)
- Double Kick (Level 20)
- Peck (Level 25)
- Slash (Level 30)
- Blaze Kick (Level 35)
- Sky Uppercut (Level 40)
- Flamethrower (Level 45)
- High Jump Kick (Level 50)
- Fire Blast (Level 55)
Moves Learned Through TMs
- Low Kick
- Mud-Slap
- Protect
- Acrobatics
- Fire Fang
- Facade
- Aerial Ace
- Bulldoze
- Rock Tomb
- Flame Charge
- Low Sweep
- Brutal Swing
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Sunny Day
- Rain Dance
- Snowscape
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rock Slide
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Flamethrower
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Solar Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Dig
- Psychic
- Shadow Claw
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Bulk Up
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Tera Blast
tags: #Crispins #Blazkin #electric #type #move #learn
