First analysis, whee
Overview
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Pros:
Offensive Trick Room
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name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Heat Wave
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Trick Room
move 4: Protect
ability: Infiltrator/Flash Fire
item: Focus Sash/Life Orb
evs: 252 HP/252 SpA/4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
nature: Quiet
Moves
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Set Details
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Usage Tips
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Special Attacker
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name: Special Attacker
move 1: Heat Wave
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Substitute/Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Protect
ability: Infiltrator/Flash Fire
item: Leftovers/Life Orb
evs: 80 HP/252 SpA/176 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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Set Details
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Usage Tips
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Team Options
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Other Options
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Checks & Counters
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Overview
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Pros:
- Massive SpA stat, powerful spread move in Heat Wave, and good coverage between its STABs
- Typing affords it several useful resistances, including an immunity to Fighting, as well as a good offensive STAB combination
- Two good abilities in Flash Fire and Infiltrator- the former giving it a free switch-in (and power-up) on predicted Heat Waves and the latter giving it the ability to bypass Light Screen and Substitutes
- Serves as a good switch in to several common threats, such as Mega Charizard Y and Mega Kangaskhan
- Flexible speed tier allowing it to function in both Tailwind and Trick Room
- Said typing also gives it a variety of common weaknesses, including Dark, Water, Ground and Rock. Ground and Rock also happen to be the types of the two most common spread moves in Doubles, Earthquake and Rock Slide.
- 80 base speed is slow outside of Tailwind and is slightly fast by Trick Room standards, which can make its speed tier a little difficult to work with
- Frail due to low 60/90/90 defenses
Offensive Trick Room
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name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Heat Wave
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Trick Room
move 4: Protect
ability: Infiltrator/Flash Fire
item: Focus Sash/Life Orb
evs: 252 HP/252 SpA/4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
nature: Quiet
Moves
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- Heat Wave provides a powerful spread move and a chance to make use of Chandelure's ability, Flash Fire.
- Shadow Ball gives Chandelure a strong secondary STAB and an option to get around Wide Guard.
- Trick Room allows it to support its team with speed control and allows Chandelure to fire off powerful attacks without fear of being outsped.
- Protect is useful for scouting for spread moves, blocking double-target attempts, stalling out rain, etc
Set Details
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- Focus Sash guarantees that Chandelure can survive at least one attack before going down, allowing it to more reliably set up Trick Room.
- Life Orb can be used for a good boost in power, though in conjunction with sandstorm and other forms of residual damage it can cause Chandelure to be worn down rather quickly; in addition, the lack of Focus Sash makes it much less reliable as a Trick Room setter.
- The choice between Flash Fire and Infiltrator is a toss-up; Flash Fire gives Chandelure more opportunities to switch in and set up Trick Room (as well as the ability to reliably check Mega Charizard-Y), while Infiltrator allows it to bypass Light Screen and Substitute.
- Mental Herb and Lum Berry are situational options that can help Chandelure set up Trick Room against things it otherwise could not.
Usage Tips
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- This set's main objective is to get Trick Room up as soon as possible and then proceed to punch holes in the opposing team.
- When not used in the lead position, Chandelure should use the immunities granted by its typing and possibly Flash Fire in order to find a chance to switch in, as it is rather fragile. If it does run Flash Fire, Chandelure's best switch-ins become opposing Fire-types as Chandelure is immune to and gains a boost from their STAB moves.
- Don't rely on it for more than one or two Trick Rooms, due to its fragility.
- If using Chandelure as a lead, beware of double-targetting as most players will anticipate Focus Sash.
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- Pokemon that benefit from Trick Room, such as Conkeldurr, Mega Mawile, and Rhyperior all make good teammates for Chandelure.
- Pokemon that can make use of Wide Guard are Chandelure's best friends as they can keep away predicted Rock Slides and Earthquakes while Chandelure blasts away with Heat Wave or sets up Trick Room. Hitmontop makes for an especially good partner as it can also make use of Fake Out to help Chandelure set up Trick Room
- Chandelure also greatly appreciates sun support from Mega Charizard Y and can fire off devastating dual sun-boosted Heat Waves alongside its partner. However, Mega Charizard-Y can be difficult to fit into a Trick Room team due to its high Speed.
- Safeguard support is helpful in allowing Chandelure to escape being Spored, as Amoonguss will outspeed Chandelure under Trick Room.
- Prankster Taunt users can also be helpful in preventing Chandelure from being Taunted itself while it sets up Trick Room.
Special Attacker
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name: Special Attacker
move 1: Heat Wave
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Substitute/Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Protect
ability: Infiltrator/Flash Fire
item: Leftovers/Life Orb
evs: 80 HP/252 SpA/176 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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- Heat Wave and Shadow Ball are used as powerful attacking options, etc
- Substitute allows it to avoid attacks and status while it fires off powerful attacks, and helps to ease prediction once it is successfully set up
- Protect is of extra importance on this set, as a Chandelure with a Substitute up is often double-targetted. It also allows Chandelure to regain some health using Leftovers and to preserve its Substitute while its partner takes down a threat
- Will-O-Wisp prevents physical attackers from switching in safely, and allows Chandelure to become a hard counter to Mega Kangaskhan (as most lack Crunch).
Set Details
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- 176 Speed and a Timid nature is given to outspeed max speed Breloom and Bisharp. SpA is maxed in order to hit as hard as possible while the rest is put into HP
- Leftovers is chosen as it allows Chandelure to recover a good portion of its HP back in conjunction with Protect and Substitute. Life Orb should only be used with Will-O-Wisp as otherwise Chandelure will be losing large amounts of HP.
- Again, the ability choice is a toss-up; Flash Fire allows Chandelure to switch in on a wider variety of threats safely, such as Mega Charizard Y (and become even more dangerous with a boost); however, Infiltrator allows it to beat other Substitute users that try to set up while Chandelure sets up and allows Chandelure to burn physical attackers through Safeguard and Substitute.
Usage Tips
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- This Chandelure is good at any point in the match that it can find an opening to use Substitute, but works especially well mid-to-late game once faster threats have been weakened or eliminated
- Fire-, Normal-, and Fighting-types make for good switch-in opportunities
- Pokemon that Chandelure can force out (or force to Protect), such as Amoonguss, or Pokemon that rely on Sucker Punch to defeat it are good setup opportunities for it
- Although it can set up in front of Mega Kangaskhan, be cautious of its Sucker Punch as it will deal damage through the Substitute and possibly lead to a KO if Chandelure is lower on health, or if Mega Kangaskhan has boosted with Power-Up Punch.
- Chandelure works best against slower, bulkier teams. It can, however, function well against faster, more offensive teams if given appropriate Speed control or with good matchups.
Team Options
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- Pokemon that can create openings for Chandelure to use Substitute are all excellent partners for it. These include Fake Out users such as Scrafty, Wide Guard users such as Hitmontop and Aegislash, sleep inducers such as Amoonguss, and Follow Me users such as Togekiss, among others. Wide Guard deserves special mention as it is weak to two of the most common spread moves in Doubles, Earthquake and Rock Slide.
- Speed control, though not as much a necessity once set up, is helpful to allow Chandelure to attack even if its Substitute is down. Good Speed control partners include Thunder Wave users like Rotom-W and Thundurus and Tailwind users such as Togekiss and Scizor.
- Water- and Grass- types make good partners as they can beat the Rock- and Ground- types that threaten Chandelure with their STAB moves. Grass types also have the advantage of beating Water-types, which also threaten Chandelure.
- Chandelure makes a good partner for Pokemon that appreciate having Steel-types removed, such as Mega Kangaskhan, as well as Pokemon who appreciate having Grass types removed, such as the aforementioned Water-types
- Chandelure also greatly appreciates sun support from Mega Charizard Y and can fire off devastating dual sun-boosted Heat Waves alongside it. Mega Charizard Y can also set up Tailwind if you need another user of the move
- Intimidate support can help cushion the blows from physical attackers that it receives while attempting to burn them with Will-O-Wisp.
Other Options
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- A set utilizing Choice Scarf, Trick, and Chandelure's hidden ability Infiltrator as a fast and powerful revenge killer that cannot be stopped by Light Screen or Substitute. However, such a set is even more vulnerable to Sucker Punch and other priority due to a lack of Protect.
- Air Balloon is a decent alternative item choice as it often switches in on attacks it is immune to, taking no damage and keeping its Air Balloon intact. Air Balloon also removes its weakness to Ground, so it can be used alongside Earthquake users of your own.
- Flamethrower, Overheat, and Fire Blast can be used to score a powerful hit on a single target, but Chandelure will sorely miss the spread damage from Heat Wave
- Imprison can be used in conjunction with Trick Room as an anti-Trick Room strategy, though this is hard to find room for as Protect is very valuable to it and losing one of its STABs severely inhibits its offensive potential
- Hidden Power [Ground] can be used to hurt Heatran who otherwise takes little from Chandelure's attacks, but serves little purpose beyond this
- Hidden Power [Fighting] can be used to damage Tyranitar (who otherwise resists both of Chandelure's STABs) and achieve perfect neutral coverage alongside Shadow Ball, but it is very weak even when super effective
- If using Will-O-Wisp, Hex can give Chandelure a far more powerful STAB option. It is less reliable than Shadow Ball, however.
- Energy Ball is usable as a coverage move, but is hard to find room for. (Placeholder for Rotom-W mention)
- In the same vein, Solar Beam is usable on a sun-supported team, but overall Energy Ball is more reliable and suffers the same issues with moveslot space.
Checks & Counters
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- **Offensive Typing Advantage**: Though most of them will take a good chunk from Shadow Ball, most decently bulky Water-types can come in and threaten Chandelure with their super-effective STABs. Mega Gyarados and Azumarill deserve special mention because the former resists both of Chandelure's STABs and the latter can pick off Chandelure with Aqua Jet before it gets a chance to act (though both must be wary of switching in on a Will-O-Wisp). When lacking Wide Guard support, almost any strong and decently fast spread attacker can come in and threaten Chandelure- Terrakion in particular can come in on a predicted Heat Wave, outspeed, and KO it with Rock Slide (though it needs to be wary of Will-O-Wisp). Users of Sucker Punch, while they must be wary of Substitute and Will-O-Wisp from the second set, can KO it easily without worrying about Speed control- Mega Kangaskhan, while especially fearful of Will-O-Wisp, can break Chandelure's Substitutes and deal damage through them (though the second hit will not KO unless Mega Kangaskhan has boosted or if Chandelure is lower on health). And, finally, one of Chandelure's greatest assets in Flash Fire is also one of it's greatest nemeses. Heatran, especially, can come in on any of Chandelure's attacks bar the rare Hidden Power Ground and KO it with a super effective Earth Power.
- **Opposing Weather**: Politoed ruins Chandelure's day by weakening its Fire attacks with the rain it brings and can OHKO it with a rain-boosted Water attack. Swift Swim users can also outspeed even a Choice Scarf variant while rain is up and can also easily KO Chandelure with Water attacks (though they must be wary of Trick Room). Sandstorm teams also make Chandelure's life difficult as the Rock-types they carry resist Heat Wave (and have boosted Special Defense in sand) and carry Rock Slide or Earthquake to KO it. Tyranitar, the main Sandstorm setter, resists both of Chandelure's STABs and can KO it with Rock Slide or Crunch.
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