Chandelure

Chandelure, The Luring Pokémon. Being consumed in Chandelure's flame burns up the spirit, leaving the body behind. The spirits burned up in its ominous flame lose their way and wander this world forever.

Overview

With high Special Attack and access to Ghost typing with Flash Fire, Chandelure is an interesting Pokémon in the UU metagame with its great flexibility. While always offensive, Chandelure is a versititle Pokémon with good immunities and resistances allowing it to find many ways in against common threats such as Heracross and Infernape. While its utility as a spin blocker has fallen with Defog and Chandelure doesn't match up well with some top Pokémon such as Mega Aerodactyl, Chandelure is still a great Pokémon .
Positives
Offensive Pressure - With 145 Special Attack, not much wants to take a hit from Chandelure, especially since its STAB coverage is only resisted by a few Pokémons which are banned from UU such as Tyranitar or rare such as Pryroar. This means that unless the Pokémon is a bulky Special Defense tank such as Empoleon, nothing really wants to switch into Chandelure. This creates a lot of offensive pressure for your side if Chandelure can consistently get in

Negatives
Speed - While it's still a decent Speed tier of 80, it's still on the lower side for UU. This can make Chandelure weak to being revenge killed by faster wall breakers such as Nidoking and Hydreigon. Even with a Scarf, most UU Choice Scarf users such as the aforementioned Hydreigon as well as Infernape with Stone Edge, Cobalion with Stone Edge, and Latias all outpace and revenge kill Chandelure.

Abilities

Flame Body - 30% chance to burn on physical contact - Not a great ability overall, it's in a similar vein to Poison Point. Its nice, but overall subpar compared to Flash Fire and Infiltrator to a lesser extent.
Flash Fire - Raises its Fire-type move damage by 50% when hit by a Fire move - Flash Fire is just a great ability overall as it grants another immunity for Chandelure for a way in.
Infiltrator - Ignores Reflect, Light Screen, Mist, Safeguard, Substitute, and Aurora Veil - Good overall, just inferior to Flash Fires utility.

Movesets

Calm Mind

-Fire Blast/Flamethrower
-Shadow Ball
-Substitute
-Calm Mind
Item Attached: Ghostium Z/Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs and Nature:
252 SpAtk/4 SpDef/252 Speed
Timid Nature

A bulkier option due to the strong coverage of its STABs, Chandelure can set up a Substitute on bulky Pokémon and Grass types and set up a Calm MInd as they switch out to take something down with ease. This is particularly good against Stall teams due to their lower power and tendency to lean on status damage to wear threats down. This combined with Chandelures immunity to Seismic Toss means it can now set up on Blissey with no fear. Shadow Ball is the only set STAB move due to being the best Ghost option but Fire Blast can be used to blow through walls such as Blissey while Flamethrower gives more consistency in exchange for power.

Choice Scarf

-Fire Blast/Flamethrower
-Shadow Ball
-Trick
-Energy Ball/Memento
Item Attached: Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs and Nature:
252 SpAtk/4 SpDef/252 Speed
Timid Nature

Patching up Chandelures low Speed, Choice Scarf has been a popular choice since its release. Fire Blast/Flamethrower are the strongest STAB options available, Fire Blast for higher damage while Flamethrower won't miss. Shadow Ball is a nice middle ground of power and coverage as only Darks and Normals will resist it and Darks such as Bisharp don't want to come in anyway. Trick is nice to cripple Blissey one of Chandelures common switch ins as well as hit other potential walls such as Suicune and Snorlax. Energy Ball is an option in the final slot to hit Rock and Water threats harder while Memento gives something a free way in if Chandelure is no longer useful.

Other Options

Choice Specs - With Chandelures high Special Attack, Choice Specs are a nice option as it can allow for some crazy damage on Pokémon trying to switch it with Overheat or Fire Blast.

Potential Partners

Cobalion - With good defenses and supportive Fighting typing, Cobalion is a strong option for a partner. Volt Switch can help get Chandelure in more safely while Cobalion also provides Stealth Rock support on top of matching up well with some of the best answers for Chandelure such as Mega Aerodactyl and Snorlax on top of having very flexible coverage.
Hydreigon/Latias - With Defog, both these Dragons are good options due to their resistances. Hydreigon is probably the better of the two due to its coverage options and access to U-Turn allowing it to scout or remove Special Walls such as Snorlax with ease due to Superpower. Latias however is faster and has more special coverage and access to Trick to cripple walls with a Choice Spec or Choice Scarf.

Countering Chandelure

Hydreigon - While a great partner, Hydreigon resists both of Chandelures STABs and its common coverage move Energy Ball means its has little fear with switching. This is particularly rough as Hydreigon is such a powerful and versatile threat and can threaten most UU threats hard.
Mega Aerodactyl - Resisting Chandelures Fire moves and packing decent defenses, Mega Aerodactyl can look to abuse Chandelures lower Speed and typing to come in and threaten the team in a plethora of ways such as setting up Stealth Rocks, healing chip damage its taken, or just attacking due to its high Speed tier. Chandelure can threaten Mega Aerodactyl with Shadow Ball or a burn with Flame Body if it goes for Aqua Tail but its a losing match up overall.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game.

Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game.

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game.

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game.

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game.

Black/White:
Evolve Lampent.

Black 2/White 2:
Evolve Lampent.

X/Y:
Evolve Lampent.

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Trade from X/Y.

Sun/Moon:
Evolve Lampent

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Evolve Lampent

Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game.

Animé Appearences

Chandelure has made an appearance in the anime. Its most prominent appearance was under control of the Subway Boss Ingo.

# -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics
709 Battle For The Underground High-Speed! Battle Subway! Part Two Pics
712 Lost at the Stamp Rally! Ash & Cilan VS The Subway Bosses! Pics
730 Climbing the Tower of Success! Obstacle Breakthrough! Climb The Tower of the Sky!! Pics
S30 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate & The Infinite Labyrinth Pics
760 A Surface to Air Tag Battle Team! The Earth & Sky Tag Battle!! Pics
769 A Unova League Evolution Unova League Conclusion! Lucario VS Pikachu!! Pics
801 Survival of the Striaton Gym! Cilan VS The Ice Challenger! The Crisis at Striation Gym!! Pics
1037 A Haunted House for Everyone! Ghost Pokémon Everywhere! Everyone's Haunted House!! Pics
24 Reunion at the Ancient Castle! Reunion at the Old Castle Pics
25 Rivals in the Dark of Night! Rivals in the Moonless Night Pics