Fire It Up: a Look at RU's Hottest Type

Art by Iyarito.

Introduction

In the RU tier, some would consider the best offensive type offensively to be Fire. A noticeable lack of Fire-resistant Pokémon, interesting type combinations, many Steel-types, and the fact that Drought is legal in the tier are some of the things that make the Fire-types of RU so powerful. Most recently, Entei was unbanned, adding yet another powerful and unique Fire-type to the metagame, with its ability to neuter many switch-ins with burns from Sacred Fire. The tier has been slowly adapting to these Fire-types, however. Milotic is everywhere, being extremely bulky and able to withstand many hits. Nat, who went 5-0 in the last SPL and performed well in RUPL, is largely responsible for the recent popularization of Tyrantrum, another check to many of the Fire-types you would encounter in RU. Stealth Rock setters are adapting to be able to beat these Fire-types better; for example, Rindo Berry is now one of the most common items to find on Rhyperior to help it survive Hidden Power Grass from the likes of Salazzle. Mega Blastoise is the most used Pokémon in the tier, providing important hazard control on your own side without removing the hazards on the opponent's side, pressuring many of the most powerful Pokémon in the tier, and being a good offensive check to many Fire-types as well. Some Pokémon have been flourishing in the current metagame, such as Ninetales, while others like Salazzle are starting to come down from their former glory at the top of the tier. But why are these Pokémon doing so well in the RU tier? We're going to examine all the viable Fire-types in the tier and try to answer that question.

Entei

Entei @ Choice Band

@ Choice Band Ability: Pressure

Shiny: Yes

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Sacred Fire

- Flare Blitz

- Extreme Speed

- Stone Edge

A more controversial addition to the RU tier, introduced via an extremely close vote in its recent suspect and currently undergoing a retest, Entei is a dominant force with its high Attack, decent speed, and powerful STAB attacks. However, one of Entei's greatest assets is its move Sacred Fire, which allows it to cripple many of its common checks, such as Rhyperior and Tyrantrum, with burns. It also gets a powerful priority attack in Extreme Speed, which lets it pick off weakened threats that would normally outspeed it. Despite being the powerhouse it is, Entei does have its flaws, and like most of the other Pokémon on this list, it is held back by its weakness to Stealth Rock and greatly appreciates hazard removers like Mega Blastoise and Rotom-C. Entei's best check is possibly Milotic, as it resists its Fire-type attacks and will actually gain a Defense boost when burned by Sacred Fire due to its ability Marvel Scale.

Ninetales

Ninetales @ Firium Z

@ Firium Z Ability: Drought

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Nasty Plot

- Fire Blast

- Solar Beam

- Psyshock Ninetales @ Choice Specs

@ Choice Specs Ability: Drought

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Overheat

- Psyshock

- Solar Beam

- Fire Blast

Ninetales, while not strictly RU by usage, is an extremely powerful threat because RU did not ban Drought, something that all other tiers below OU have done. Ninetales is particularly gaining a bit traction in the RU tournament community, boasting a very good winrate in the latest reiteration of the RarelyUsed Premier League. Drought gives it extremely powerful STAB attacks, making up for its seemingly lackluster Special Attack, and it is able to nuke foes that even resist its STAB attacks. Access to Nasty Plot makes it a fearsome sweeper with its good Speed and very good coverage, particularly Solar Beam, which allows it to hit Rock-, Ground-, and Water-types that it would normally struggle with. Ninetales can have trouble with Pokémon that resist Fire, such as Snorlax and Tyrantrum, but is an excellent Pokémon in the current metagame.

Emboar

Emboar @ Choice Band / Expert Belt

@ Choice Band / Expert Belt Ability: Reckless

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Flare Blitz

- Wild Charge

- Superpower

- Sucker Punch Emboar @ Fightinium Z / Firium Z

@ Fightinium Z / Firium Z Ability: Reckless

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Flare Blitz

- Wild Charge

- Superpower

- Bulk Up

Emboar has been somewhat of a recent rise in RU, as it was previously NUBL after being banned from the NU tier a few months ago. Emboar has extremely powerful STAB attacks along with a useful ability in Reckless that boosts both Flare Blitz and Wild Charge, the latter of which allows Emboar to punch through the bulky Water-types like Milotic that would normally give a Pokémon of Emboar's caliber lots of trouble, and the ability to run a Choice Band, Expert Belt, and Bulk Up set makes it somewhat unpredictable to deal with. Despite being a Fighting-type, Emboar's wallbreaker sets are only a moderately effective switch-in to Knock Off, as they are somewhat dependent on their item. Emboar also has an interesting niche over lots of Fire-types in the tier in that it can beat Rock-types with Superpower, as opposed to being hard walled by them, as well as having the aforementioned ability to hit Water-types super effectively with Reckless-boosted Wild Charge. Despite being very powerful, Emboar's top drawback is its horrendous speed, giving it very few opportunities to attack versus more offensive playstyles, and it is also too slow to run Choice Scarf sets, as it is outrun by every other common Scarfer in the tier and unable to outspeed many Dragon Dance sweepers, such as Flygon and Feraligatr at +1. It also cannot outspeed Noivern, which is the basic benchmark for a Scarfer as well as one of the best Pokémon in the metagame right now.

Salazzle

Salazzle @ Poisonium Z

@ Poisonium Z Ability: Oblivious

EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Nasty Plot

- Fire Blast

- Sludge Wave

- Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice

Salazzle is another Pokémon that has been hurt by the rise of Pokémon like Tyrantrum, and it has not been performing at the level that it was a few months ago. Owning a moderately high Special Attack stat, an incredibly high Speed tier, and a great setup move in Nasty Plot, Salazzle is still a top pick in a metagame where Fire-types are flourishing. Salazzle outspeeds a large portion of the metagame, and access to Z-Moves increases its breaking power even more. However, Salazzle has been finding it increasingly more difficult to gain opportunities to sweep, particularly due to the most common Scarfers in the tier—Gardevoir, Flygon, and Tyrantrum—being able to come in and OHKO it, though the latter two are only able to switch directly into Salazzle if it is not running the common Hidden Power Ice. It also is crippled by a 4x weakness to Ground, being OHKOed by comparatively weak Earthquakes from the likes of Bronzong and Gligar. Its complete lack of any bulk whatsoever further limits its setup opportunities, but Salazzle is still a key threat in the metagame.

Rotom-H

Rotom-Heat @ Iapapa Berry

@ Iapapa Berry Ability: Levitate

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Defog

- Volt Switch

- Overheat

- Will-O-Wisp

Rotom-H is an interesting choice to support bulky offensive teams due to its pivoting support with Volt Switch and ability to beat common Stealth Rock setters like Mega Steelix and Bronzong. It also has a very good defensive typing, being able to check Steel-types, Flying-types, and Ice-types and still beat Ground-types like Mega Steelix and Nidoqueen due to not being 4x weak to Ground. Despite all these perks, it is overshadowed by its counterpart Rotom-C, which lacks a weakness to Stealth Rock and can beat other Stealth Rock setters like Rhyperior. However, great support options like Will-O-Wisp can cripple potential switch-ins like Rhyperior and Tyrantrum, both of which heavily plague other Fire-types, and Rotom-H can freely clear the field from hazards in many situations because of its mix of good offensive pressure, defensive typing, and Defog. Unfortunately, Rotom-H gets easily worn down throughout the game, and multiple switches into Stealth Rock will leave it extremely vulnerable. This factor is worsened by the inevitable switch forced by Overheat's Special Attack drop, which could leave it as setup bait for many setup sweepers, particularly special ones like Salazzle and Mismagius that don't fear burns from Will-O-Wisp.

Alolan Marowak

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club

@ Thick Club Ability: Rock Head

EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD

IVs: 0 Spe

Brave Nature

- Shadow Bone

- Flare Blitz

- Swords Dance / Stealth Rock

- Knock Off / Bonemerang

A new addition to the RU tier, Alolan Marowak's colossal power when equipped with a Thick Club makes it an extremely hard hitter with the unfortunate drawback of very low Speed. Fire- and Ghost-type coverage is very potent, covering the majority of the metagame and enabling Alolan Marowak to beat a lot of the primary physical walls in the tier, such as Mega Steelix and Cresselia. Rock Head is the best option for an ability due to the fact that it removes the recoil from Flare Blitz. Lightning Rod isn't terribly useful in a tier with few good Electric-types, especially with Mega Ampharos ignoring its effects anyway due to Mold Breaker. Alolan Marowak has the option of becoming an even more powerful attacker with Swords Dance, and it can also take advantage of the switches it forces to be a viable user of Stealth Rock. It notably is one of the best picks for a Trick Room team, benefiting from common setters supporting the niche archetype, like Cresselia or Porygon2. While it still has trouble with Water-types like Milotic and Mega Blastoise, it can still heavily damage them if good predictions are made.

Get Out There!

Fire-types are extremely powerful and influential in the current state of the RU tier. Why don't you go out and give them a try?