Pok�mon of the Week

Charizard, The Flame Pok�mon. It is said that Charizard's fire burns hotter if it has experienced harsh battles.If it becomes furious, the flame at the tip of its tail flares up in a light blue shade. Breathing intense, hot flames, it can melt almost anything. Its breath inflicts terrible pain on enemies. Its wings can carry this Pok�mon close to an altitude of 4,600 feet. It blows out fire at very high temperatures.

Charizard is one of those great original Pokemon that has been a staple of Ubers...wait, no, Overused...um, yeah. Charizard is actually Neverused, but still many disillusioned users persistently insist on using this horribly outclassed Pokemon in higher tiers. Although this may crush the hopes and dreams of thousands of Gen 1 fanboys worldwide, Charizard is good in Neverused and Neverused only. Using a non-Uber other than something like Ferrothorn or Terrakion in the Ubers tier is a bad idea to start with, and choosing Charizard is just shooting yourself in the foot. Despite his draconian appearance, Charizard was cursed with not being a Dragon type, giving him instead the very vulnerable typing of Fire / Flying. Being 4x weak to the most common hazard Stealth Rock is Charizard's main weak point, meaning the moment he switches in, he loses half of his health. Stealth Rock hitting Charizard is the equivalent of taking a couple divisions of Anti-Aircraft guns and using them to shoot down a child's paper airplane. Now that I've either turned you off from using Charizard in any tier, or enraged you to the point that I'm going to get a lot of angry VMs on my forum account, here are the good points to Charizard. Despite being pretty much useless in higher tiers, lower tiers and in-game is where Charizard truly shines. In its own tier, Charizard is one of the most prominent Special sweepers, and able to rip through many unprepared teams. With very good coverage and its Flying typing to help it avoid Spikes, its survivability in NU is better than other sweepers, which is increased further by the sheer abundance of Rapid Spinners in the tier (all three of them). Charizard also works well on Sunny Day teams, as Solar Power drastically increases its Special Attack. Overall, Charizard is great in lower tiers, but please for the love of Arceus and every other existing deity stop using it so prolifically in higher ones, especially Ubers.

Blaze: Increases the strength of Fire moves by 50% when HP has dropped to less than 1/3, a good ability if you're planning on running Charizard outside of Sun, or on a Physical set.
Solar Power: Special attack is increased by 50% in Sunlight, but at the cost of some HP each turn. This ability is nice on Sun oriented Charizards as it allows more consistently harder hits, though the recoil can be costly. It's currently only available from Japan and without Egg Moves so that limits its use

-Fire Blast
-Air Slash
-Substitute / Focus Blast
-Roost
Item Attached: Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Blaze
EVs and Nature:
EVs:4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

When the Sun hides behind the clouds, the pseudo-dragon rears its ugly head and pulls out a different set. Fire Blast causes all of the dragon's enemies to become crispy potato chips, and strikes them with a power unknown to humankind. With a Slash of Air, the beast fells the forests of the North with its mighty gusts. The monstrosity then is forced to choose whether to injure its own pride enough to utilize a servant to take all of the beatings for him, or to use it's mental prowess to demolish those annoying rock behemoths or obese pink-hued blobs of jelly. Finally, the monster takes its rest in the craggy highlands, restoring its vitality. The lookalike either holds a magical orb that augments its power whilst injuring it in return, or devours the remains of a small village to recover strength with every action.

-Sunny Day
-Fire Blast
-Solarbeam
-Roost
Item Attached: Leftovers / Heat Rock
Ability: Blaze
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

Welcome to the Charizard Cooking, Basting, and Whatever else show. Today we are going to demonstrate how to properly bake those pesky knights that invade your domain trying to rescue those delectable princesses. First, summon the powerful rays of the Sun to ensure that you have light to cook by, and that you can get your fire up to the proper temperature. The ability Solar Power only serves to further extend the reaches of the cooking prowess, making you able to boil a knight in full armor. Fire Blast is the tool for this job, and make sure that the knight is thawed before heating to 450 degrees. Then, blast gently but firmly with Solarbeam, ensuring that all residue has been eliminated. Then, take a rest while Roosting on a perch as the knight cooks to perfection. Then, either snack a while on the remains of that delectable village you cooked last episode, or hold the magical stone that provides you with a longer period to cook over. Then, remove your creation from the armor / oven and enjoy.

-Fire Blast
-Air Slash
-Focus Blast / Solarbeam
-Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Grass]
Item Attached: Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze / Solar Power
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

OK, so you know about those remains of villages I kept referring to in the last few sets? Well, if you'd run this set, there wouldn't be any remains. Fire Blast will hit like a truck, being a powerful STAB move, which you will enjoy repeatedly spamming if your opponent is stupid enough not to have a fire resist. Air Slash also gets STAB and gets extra coverage on those said Fire resists. Focus Blast and Solarbeam hits things like Regirock and Golem respectively, Solarbeam obviously used under Sun and Focus Blast when you don't. HP Ice is for the Sun sets, while HP Grass is for the sets without Solarbeam, each hitting different threats. Choice Specs can be used if you don't care about speed to much and just want to demolish everything in the entire tier, while Choice Scarf makes you outspeed everything but makes you far less powerful. The option in the abilities exists depending on whether or not you're running a Sunny Day team.

-Swords Dance
-Flare Blitz
-Acrobatics
-Earthquake
Item Attached: Flying Gem
Ability: Blaze
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SAtk)

This Charizard focuses on it's slightly weaker physical side, and shows how it can be useful. Swords Dance is probably the better boosting move that Charizard has, as its base 100 speed outruns most everything in NU, and gives Charizard a usable Attack stat. Flare Blitz is powerful STAB, but be careful of the recoil damage. Acrobatics gets its power boosted by STAB and the Flying Gem for the first hit, then STAB and the natural double power for the rest, making it a very good move to use. Earthquake hits bothersome Rock types, and gives handy neutral coverage on several types.

Belly Drum, Dragon Dance, Dragon Pulse, Flame Charge, Flamethrower, Focus Punch, Overheat
Belly Drum should only be used if you have a surefire way to get rid of Stealth Rocks, otherwise it'll be useless, and if it works will boost Charizard's attack astronomically.
Dragon Dance can be used over Swords Dance, but will provide less of an attack boost which Charizard desperately needs.
Dragon Pulse gives super effective coverage on Dragon types and some decent neutral coverage, but is not superior to other coverage moves particularly.
Flame Charge can boost Charizard's speed, but is relatively useless as it takes up a moveslot.
Flamethrower can be used as a more accurate, although less powerful, form of Fire Blast.
Focus Punch can be used on a Physical Substitute set if you feel like having fun.
Overheat is another alternate to Fire Blast, being more powerful and accurate but causing a drastic Special Attack drop.

Charizard functions the same way in this metagame as he does in Singles, still fearing Stealth Rock and working well under Sun.

Rapid Spinners and Sun setters are Charizard's best friends, as he cannot afford to get hit by Stealth Rock, and Sun will help him a lot in the long run.

Get Stealth Rock up and keep it that way. Charizard will get shredded, wings clipped, whatever you want to call it whenever he switches in and has those on the field. Well, he'll only be switching in twice and then Stealth Rock will have killed him. Anyhow, for Special variants Lickilicky fares well except against Choice Specs. Scarf Users kill off Charizard pretty quickly unless it is also running a Scarf. Regirock is also another good counter, only fearing some damage from Focus Blast or Solarbeam. But still, just being able to get Charizard to switch out and have to hit Stealth Rock again is the best chance for killing him (not to mention the easiest way). Aqua Jet users like Samurott and Carracosta also do well against Charizards out of Sun.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen .

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Evolve Charmeleon

Colosseum/XD:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed (XD)

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Transfer from Generation III
Trade from HeartGold/SoulSilver

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Charmeleon

Black/White:
Transfer from Generation IV

Black 2/White 2:
Transfer from Generation IV