Volcanion, The Steam Pokémon. It lets out billows of steam and disappears into the dense fog. It's said to live in mountains where humans do not tread. It expels its internal steam from the arms on its back. It has enough power to blow away a mountain.
Overview
Way back when I was a little kid my sister and I always dreamed of having a Pokémon like Volcanion. You see her favorite types of Pokémon to use were always the Fire-Types , and back then I loved Water Pokémon so we thought it would be the coolest thing ever if there was a mon that was both. We even drew several mockup fakemon. Most of them just looked like a Blue Charizard with Black Flames on its back and arm cannons though. My sister unfortunately passed away many years ago so she never got to see Volcanion or our dream become a reality, but if she were here I know she would agree with me that Volcanion was well worth the wait. It's incredibly powerful and it comes with a water move called Steam Eruption which is just as strong as Hydro Pump and it has a 30 percent chance of burning its foes in battle. Just reading that makes me smile and think of all the people who were afraid of Scald. Wait till they get a load of Volcanion and its Steam Eruption. Oh by the way it also has WATER ABSORB if that wasn't enough to peak your interest. Meaning if some poor soul actually attacks you with a Water-Type move all they'll do is restore your HP. No other Fire Pokémon has that. Like sweet baby Jesus thank you Arceus and the creators of Pokémon for making this fabulous creature.
Positives
+ Steam Eruption is a godsend. It's basically Scald infused with the power of a Hydro Pump..so it's move that has 110 power and a 30 percent Burn Chance.
+ Base 80 HP is passable enough for a Bulky Offensive type Pokémon, but it could definitely be better too.
+ Base 130 / 120 / 90 Special Attack , Defense , and Special Defense respectively is just incredible
+ It also resists Fairy, Fire, Ice , Bug, and Steel-Type moves and thanks to its Ability Water Absorb it's basically immune to Water-Type attacks and gets a nice HP restoration to boot if they're used against it.
Negatives
- Base 70 Speed is pretty darn bad. There is simply no getting around that. Volcanion is never going to be a reliable Scarfer or Sweeper with that low speed. Not to mention there are some very common threats that all pack Electric , Rock , and Ground type moves that can move way faster than our friend here.
- Not having any access to real power boosting moves like Calm Mind holds Volcanion back in terms of what it can do as well. Which is quite a shame because with the added SpDef + SpA boost this thing would be an absolute terror to behold.
- It's forced to depend on things like Lefties and it's ability Water Absorb to heal off damage from Entry Hazards like Stealth Rock because it has no reliable recovery moves. Unless you count Rest..which I don't Volcanion is already hard up for good coverage moves it's just not worth sacrificing a move slot for.
- Unfortunately at this time it's not available outside of the Japanese Movie Event, so good luck getting your hands on one ;/
Abilities
Water Absorb: The Pokémon heals up to 1/4 of its maximum Hit Points when hit with Water-type moves. This is an absolutely fantastic ability for Volcanion to have, because now it's essentially immune to Water-Type moves altogether, and if you do happen take a Water Type move on a switch-in the only thing your opponent will accomplish is healing off any Steal Rock damage you took on the way in. No other Fire-Type Pokémon in the game today can put that on its resume. Plus given how popular Scald users and things like Azumarill are right now it's just handy to have around for any mon.
Movesets
Steampowered Tank
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Toxic
- Sludge Bomb / Hidden Power Grass / Earth Power
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
Volcanion makes for a surprisingly good Bulky Offensive Tank in the middle of the game. Steam Eruption is your main STAB move of choice due its high power and 30 percent chance of inflicting burns. I still can't get over that they basically gave us Scald with the power of Hydro Pump lol. Just don't spam them all to early in the game or you'll be in some real trouble. Fire Blast is your secondary STAB of choice. It's great against a wide variety of Pokémon such as Steel-Types like Mega Metagross/Scizor or Ferrothorn and those Grass-Types like Mega Venasaur and Amoonguss. Toxic is superb at luring in and chipping away at the HP of some of your more common switch ins like Latios and Latias. The last slot is up to you. Without Sludge Bomb you'll have a hard time going against Fairy-Types like Mega Altaria and Azumarill. Without Hidden Power Grass Bulky Water Types will be an issue for you because they resist your main STAB Steam Eruption, and in some rare cases like Gastrodon they absorb it entirely and then can turn around and KO you which is no fun at all. Earth Power is mostly for combatting other Volcanion , so it's not quite as useful on this set as the aforementioned moves but it's definitely still worth noting in here.
Volcanic Attacker
- Steam Eruption
- Overheat / Fire Blast
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power Grass / Earth Power
Item Attached: Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 SpA/ 252 Spe / 4 HP
Modest / Timid Nature
This Volcanion set is a little bit different than the last one because it focuses more on offense. You still have your ole reliable Steam Eruption as your main STAB to spam with its high power and 30 % burn chance. You also have the choice of Overheat and Fire Blast as your secondary stabs. I prefer Overheat myself because of the increased power+accuracy and due to the fact you're wearing Choice Specs you'll usually only be in the game a turn or two at a time. If you opt for Fire Blast though go for Timid Nature instead of Modest because you'll miss out certain KO's with Timid anyway and Base 70 is a jam packed speed tier. Sludge Bomb as you already know is here to help you fight the Fairy-Type Pokémon like Azumarill and Mega Altaria. The last slot is also your call. It just all depends on what your team needs and whether you'd rather pick off Bulky Water-Types or other opposing Volcanion.
Other Options
- Mystic Water is a little bit gimmicky in my opinion, but it's a nice lure and alternate option on the Choice Specs set because if you're crafty enough you can trick them into thinking you're packing Specs instead and you can take out your opponent's Pokémon and it provides your Steam Eruptions with a boost to punch holes in your enemy's team. Overall I'd still go with Choice Specs.
- Expert Belt is worth mentioning as well. You can even try it on a mixed offense set if you want , but all of its physical moves come with a mess of drawbacks. For example Flame Charge gives you a nice speed boost after it lands a hit, but it only has a measly 50 power so it's garbage. On the other end of its negative physical move spectrum it has Flare Blitz which comes with a ton of power , but you take recoil damage when you use it and since Fire-Types need every bit of their HP because of how susceptible they are to entry hazards + its SpA is higher it's really not worth using. There's also Super Power that you can get from the ORAS move tutor, but anytime you use it you take an Atk and Def loss so ;/. I could go on, but needless to say I don't recommend this idea for standard play.
- Hidden Power Ice is another alternate move choice if you're really that worried about Dragon-Types walking all over your team, but it's not the most reliable thing in the world most of the time because the Lati twins can outspeed you and heal off the damage and outside of catching a Garchomp on the switch. I just don't see it being that useful 9 times out of 10 when you have Toxic for Latis and Hidden Power Grass is more important because you need to get those Bulky Water-Types off the board.
VGC, Double, & Triple Battle Options
Although Volcanion is banned in VGC due to being a "mythical" Pokemon, it is an absolute terror in Smogon Doubles. Despite its mediocre speed, Volcanion has a good stat spread otherwise, and fantastic STAB moves to back it up. With support from the rest of the team, especially in terms of speed control, Volcanion can be the backbone of any doubles team. .
Full Steam Ahead!
-Steam Eruption
-Heat Wave
-Earth Power / Sludge Bomb / Hidden Power Ice
-Protect
Item Attached: Leftovers / Sitrus Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid nature
Volcanion's speed tier is in bit of an awkward spot, as it is outsped by many threats, but it isn't quite slow enough to thrive under Trick Room. Balancing its speed and bulk ultimately will come down to what forms of speed control are on the team. While max speed is a decent choice, it can still only speed tie with common Pokemon like Jolly Breloom and Bisharp. This set allows Volcanion to outspeed Jolly non-mega Tyranitar by 1, and still stay fairly bulky. The bulk is enough to live an Adamant Mega Kangaskhan's Double-Edge with room to spare, and the rest of the EVs just maximize its damage output. Water Absorb is the only ability, but a fantastic one at that since it can typically switch in safely on any water attack. While Volcanion can hold a variety of items successfully, both Leftovers and Sitrus Berry increase its bulk even more. Sitrus Berry can provide an instant one-time recovery, while Leftovers will heal a little bit turn after turn.
Steam Eruption is its signature move, and a fantastic one at that. As in the singles set, the power of Hydro Pump combined with the 30% chance to burn like Scald makes Steam Eruption arguably the best move in competitive Pokemon. Heat Wave provides strong STAB spread damage to the opponent. The 3rd move for coverage really just comes down to what the team needs Volcanion to be able to hit super-effectively. Earth Power is really only for other Volcanion, as they can potentially wall yours otherwise. Sludge Bomb hits fairies super-effectively, although Volcanion does resist fairy attacks and generally does not fear them. Hidden Power Ice is really just for dragons. While it may be best to leave dragons up to Volcanion's teammates since they typically resist both STAB attacks, HP Ice can still hit them super-effectively. Protect is fantastic in doubles as it can stall out turns of opposing speed control, or keep Volcanion safe while its teammate deals with a threat.
Other Options
-While Volcanion can live a spread Earthquake from an Intimidated Landorus-T, Shuca Berry can help Volcanion survive any Earthquake otherwise and strike back with Steam Eruption.
-Any damage-boosting item like Choice Specs is a good option for an all-out offensive Volcanion.
-Safety Goggles allows Volcanion to safely switch in on Amoongus and potentially scare it out with a fire attack.
-Fire Blast, Overheat, and Flamethrower can all be considered for secondary fire STAB moves for greater single target fire damage, or to avoid Wide Guard from things like Aegislash, and each has its own benefits. Fire Blast and Overheat of course are much stronger, but Flamethrower may be nice to have a move that can't miss, since none of Steam Eruption, Heat Wave, Fire Blast, or Overheat have perfect accuracy.
-Solar Beam is a nice tech on sun teams to hit water type opponents super-effectively.
-Substitute paired with Leftovers allows Volcanion to function similarly to a popular Heatran set from VGC 2015.
Countering Volcanion
Volcanion is a lot tougher to crack than the majority of Fire-Type Pokémon because for one thing it's a Legendary Pokémon and it's also part Water-Type and possesses the ability Water Absorb, but even Legends can fall. Volcanion's biggest threats obviously are Electric , Ground, and Rock-Types. None of them particularly like to switch in to Volcanion's moves by any means mind you , but so many of them like Mega Aerodacty, Thundurus, Mega Manetric, and Excadrill all outspeed you easily and will crush you. It also has a particularly hard time dealing Bulkier Water-Type Pokémon like Gastrodon if you're not packing Hidden Power Grass in your arsenal because it's immune to it's Steam Eruption and it resists all your Fire attacks and can turn around and 1HKO you with a stab Ground-Type move too. Not to mention Dragons like Garchomp and Latias and Latios. Those will be your biggest worries in life because they're your most common switch ins and in the case of Lati siblings they not only can't be hit for super effective damage by your stab moves , but also they can heal off any damage you dish out and KO with minimal effort. There are many others, but those are all the ones I would keep an extra special watch for.
Locations in Games
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:
Not in game
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game
X/Y:
Event only
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Event only
Animé Appearences
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Volcanion has made a few appearances in the anime. In it, Ash gets tethered to a Volcanion who is trying to help defend Magearna.
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