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My name is Adam Watkins. I am an English Literature and Media major who absolutely loves video games. Some of my favorites are Super Mario Bros. 3,... Read more
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
Fire-type Pokémon are one of the most popular types in the game. Perhaps this is due to Charizard’s popularity, or maybe it’s because fire types have a history of performing well in competitive tournaments. Either way, most players will no doubt want at least one fire-type Pokémon on their team while journeying through Paldea and we here at High Ground Gaming have put together a list to help you decide which of the games fire breathing friends will best fit your team.
Below, we’ve ranked our top Fire Pokémon picks from good to best.
#6 Torkoal
Torkoal has been used in competitive Pokémon teams for many years. It’s a bit tricky to use but the value gained from using this Pokémon correctly can’t be overstated. Torkoal’s shining trait is its ability Drought. Drought causes the harsh sunlight weather condition whenever the user enters battle. The duration of the sunlight is five turns by default, then the weather will return to its normal state.
Sun provides a wide range of benefits to all fire-type Pokémon and even some grass-type Pokémon. Sun increases the base damage of all fire-type moves by 50% and decreases the base damage of all water-type moves by 50%. It prevents Pokémon from being frozen and lowers the accuracy of the moves thunder and hurricane. This weather condition also removes the charge time on the moves solar beam and solar blade.
Torkoal itself has some pretty respectable stats, with its best one being its defense stat. Its lowest stat is its speed stat, which is so low that it is almost guaranteed to move last during battles. Still, Torkoal has a really great move pool and thanks to sunlight it can dish out some heavy damage during battle.
When it comes to team building, Torkoal is a really great choice since its Drought ability can enable so many other Pokémon, specifically grass types with the Chlorophyll ability or any of the Paradox Pokémon that have the Protosynthesis ability. All of these are very strong options for any team that can run them. Torkoal also excels in trick-room teams because of its incredibly low-speed stat. All of these factors make Torkoal a powerful Pokémon in the hands of those who know how to use it.
#5 Talonflame
Here we have an example of a Pokémon that is just fantastic in all the traditional ways. Talonflame is a fire/flying-type Pokémon with a very high-speed stat, one that will allow it to out-speed most other Pokémon you’ll come across with only a few exceptions. Both of its abilities are good but one stands out as being exceptionally powerful, that being the Gale Wings ability. This ability turns all flying-type moves into priority moves, making them go first in battle.
This ability allows Talonflame to set up one of the most powerful moves in the game very consistently, that being Tailwind. This move doubles the speed stat of every Pokémon on your team for four turns. This can be used on speed-focused teams to guarantee all your Pokémon attack before your opponent’s.
Talonflame’s appeal doesn’t end at its ability to set up Tailwind. It also has a pretty good move pool and can fill a variety of roles on any given team. This Pokémon gains access to powerful setup moves like Sunny Day, Bulk Up, Flame Charge, and Swords Dance, allowing it to fill the role of sweeper in many instances. It also gains access to great utility moves like Taunt, Uturn, and Will-O-Wisp. All of these factors make Talonflame an easy Pokémon to slot in on any team.
#4 Skeledirge
Skeledirge is a Fire/Ghost-type Pokémon. Its highest stat is its special attack stat which is closely followed by its HP and physical defense stat. Its lowest stat is its speed stat. Skeledirge may be a bit on the slower side but it more than makes up for it with its other three high stats, resistances, and immunities.
Skeledirge is one of the few defensive/offensive Pokémon in the game. It’s great at tanking a few hits while dishing out big damage. This is due to the combination of the Pokémon’s move abilities and move-pool. Skeledirge has two abilities, Blaze and Unaware. Blaze is the typical fire starter ability and the one most players will be using throughout their playthrough of Scarlet and Violet. It boosts the power of fire-type moves by 50% when the user falls below ⅓ of their total hp. This boost gets really crazy when you pair it with some of Skeledire’s best fire-type moves. Its second ability Unaware, allows Skeledirge to completely ignore any stat that may occur with the enemy Pokémon while attacking.
Skeledirge’s most frightening move is its signature move, Torch Song. This move has 100% accuracy and a base power of 80 fire damage. It also has the added effect of raising the user’s special attack stat by one stage each time it’s used. This move all on it’s own allows Skeledireg to sweep through at least a few of your opponent’s Pokémon if they don’t have a proper counter. Skeledirge also has a few other really impactful moves like Encore, Will-O-Wisp, Shadow Ball, and Slack Off.
This Pokémon is really powerful on its own, but its true potential is only really unlocked when paired with the right team. Running this Pokémon on a Trickroom of Tail Wind team for example might be a great way to make up for its lackluster speed stat. Pairing this Pokémon with a Sun or Screen team would also make its presence even more terrifying while on the battlefield.
#3 Rotom Heat
Rotom Heat Form is an electric/fire-type Pokémon and one of the many available forms of Rotom. This Pokémon has high stats in both defense and special defense, followed closely behind by a high special attack stat. Unlike Skeledirge, Rotom Heat has a decent speed stat but lacks in its HP stat. Luckily, it makes up for that less-than-admirable HP stat by having a bunch of resistances, two weaknesses, and one immunity.
Rotom is granted its one immunity by its singular ability, Levitate. This ability makes the user immune to all ground-type moves. This is especially useful for two reasons. First, ground types are common in competitive PvP given the high attack stats of many ground-type Pokémon and the plethora of great ground-type moves. Second, Rotom’s two typing are naturally weak to ground-type moves, so this ability gets rid of what would be a 4x weakness to ground-type moves. All of these factors make Rotom a pretty good Pokémon to switch into if you know your opponent is going to use a ground-type Pokémon.
The power Rotom provides doesn’t stop at its defensive abilities, it also has access to some of the best offensive and utility-based moves in the game. Rotom can gain the stab bonus on all electric and fire-based moves. The only offensive fire move Rotom can learn is Over Heat, which has a base power of 130 and an accuracy stat of 90%. The big downside to this move is that is will lower the user’s special attack stat by two stages after successfully hitting a target. Luckily, Rotom can reset its stats by switching out manually or by using moves like Volt-Switch.
Rotom’s electric-type moves offer more consistent damage without any self-debuffing effects. Moves like Discrage, Thunder, and Thunderbolt are all great offensive options. When it comes to utility options, Rotom has the rest of the fire-types on this list beat. Rotom can learn Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Light Screen, Reflect, Sunny Day, Rain Dance, and Confuse Ray. If you want support options, Rotom has your team covered. It even has self-setup moves like Nasty Plot and Charge Beam.
#2 Arcanine
Arcanine is still debatably the best fire-type Pokémon is the entire game. This is due to its insane flexibility. Arcanine can fill multiple roles on a team based on how you train it and it will often time fill at least two roles on the team. Arcanine has two forms, Kanto and Hisui. While the Hisuian form has its own strengths and weaknesses, this list is only going to focus on Kanto Arcanine as it still seems to be the better pick between the two in most situations.
Arcanine has a pretty balanced stat across the board, only falling a little behind in the defense and special defense stats. Both its attack and special attack stats are almost even which encourages trainers to either specialize in one of the two or run a mixed attacking build. Arcanine’s speed stat is also very respectable, even if it’s not the fastest fire-type on this list.
Arcanine was absolutely blessed with three really good abilities. First up is Intimidate, this ability lowers the physical attack stat of all enemy Pokémon currently on the field by one stage whenever Arcanine switches into battle. A free debuff at the start of every fight is always great, it also helps that two of Arcanine’s weaknesses use mostly physical attacks, so this will help Arcanine survive an extra attack or two.
Its other two abilities are called Flash Fire and Justified. Flash Fire allows Arcanine to absorb all fire-type attack moves targeted at it and if it does, all of Arcanine’s fire moves have their base power increased by 50%. Justified does something similar, except for dark-type moves, and it will raise Arcanine’s attack stat by one stage instead of only increasing the power of a single move type. Both abilities are strong but, Flash Fire is slightly better because of the popularity of fire-types in PvP.
Arcanine still isn’t done impressing, This Pokémon like many others on this list has access to powerful utility moves like Roar, Sunny Day, and Will-O-Wisp. It also has access to some of the best physical and special attacking moves like Flamethrower, the Fang moves, Dig, Crunch, Dragon Pulse, and even Outrage.
#1 Cinderace
Our final Pokémon for the fire-type list is Cinderace. Cinderace’s reason for being the best is much more simple in comparison to the rest of the Pokémon on this list. Cinderance is really fast with a base speed stat of 119 and hits really hard with a base physical attack stat of 116. These two stats allow Cinderace to outspeed and one-shot plenty of other Pokémon and at the end of the day that is what will win you most battles in both PvP and PvE.
Cinderace has one other thing in its kit that separates it from the other fire-types on this list, and that’s its hidden ability Libero. While nerfed from its original state in Sword and Sheild this ability is still really strong in Scarlet and Violet. Libero allows the user to change its type to whatever its current attacking move is once per switch in. This means you can change Cinderace’s type to better fit its current matchup without using your Terra Orb. Couple that with Cinderace’s fantastic move pool and you have a Pokémon that hits really hard and is really hard to predict.
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That wraps up our fire-type list. What are your picks for best/favorite fire-types? Are you looking for more Pokémon guides? Consider signing up for our newsletter today and join the high ground!
Happy Gaming!
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