Monday, April 24, 2017

[SMOGON] Mega Charizard X Moveset - Physical Attacker





Credits to Glench (deviantart)




MEGA CHARIZARD X

January 23 2015

Mega Typing: Fire/Dragon
Original Typing: Fire/Flying
Base Stats: HP: 78 / Attack: 84 / Defense: 78 / Sp. Atk: 109 / Sp. Def: 85 / Speed: 100
Mega Base Stats HP: 78 / Attack: 130 / Defense: 111 / Sp. Atk: 130 / Sp. Def: 85 / Speed: 100
Immune: None (Burns)
Resist: Steel (x1/2), Bug (x1/2), Fire (x1/4) , Grass (x1/4), Electric (x1/2),
Weak: Ground (x2), Rock (x2), Dragon (x2) ,
Style: Attack
Variant: Physical Attacker
Ability: Tough Claws- Increases the power of contact moves by 33% (1.33)

List of notable attacks tough claws boost:
[SPOILER]
Flare Blitz
Dragon Claw
Shadow Claw
Fire Punch
Thunder Punch
Focus Punch
Outrage
Brick Break
Crunch[/SPOILER]

Notable Moves:
[SPOILER]
Flare Blitz
Shadow Claw
Dragon Claw
Heat Wave
Flamethrower
Roar
Toxic
Hidden Power
Protect
Roost
Earthquake
Brick Break
Flame Charge
Rest
Focus Blast
Will-O-Wisp
Sword Dance
Bulldoze
Rock Slide
Dragon Tail
Sleep Talk
Substitute
Ancient Power
Belly Drum
Crunch
Dragon Dance
Dragon Pulse
Dragon Rush
Focus Punch
Outrage
Fire Punch
Iron Tail
Tailwind
Thunder Punch[/SPOILER]



OVERVIEW
If there is an award for "Most Consistent Mega Evolution in XY OU", it probably go to Mega Charizard X no doubt (not factoring in other broken megas). To be frank, Mega Charizard X has a enough going for itself largely thanks to its new fire/dragon typing, near unresisted STABs, decent offensive stats, and enough coverage, setup options, and support moves that made this mega top-tier. To top it all off, Charizard X basically gets a free no-recoil, life orb thanks to its ability tough claws, which boost the power of its contact moves by 33% coming from a new base 130 attack. Charizard X has a relatively decent amount of moves to abuse from such as flare blitz and outrage, both of which are at base 120 power (not factoring STAB and tough claws boost)! Whats even more frightening, again thanks to its new fire/dragon coverage alone, only Heatran can wall this Mega Charizard to a degree provided it doesn't carry earthquake or if Heatran is severally weakened. Finally, le pièce de résistance of Mega Charizard X: dragon dance. You know that one move Charizard received back in generation 3 as an egg move no one till recently the mad/brilliant people of Game Freak decided "Hey you know what... Let's give Charizard another mega just to complement its new stats." Basically dragon dance gives Charizard X one stage boost (x1.5) to both its attack and speed, further cementing it as among the deadliest OU sweepers in the game. Of course, Mega Charizard's base speed is still 100 and it still has to worry about taking either half (Non-Mega) or a quarter (Mega) of its health to stealth rock damage.  Like I said, there are multiple ways people run Mega Charizard X such as a bulky defensive Will-O-Wisp, dragon dance, all-out attacker, etc.  Today I want to deviate from the traditional dragon dance set and focus on a rather old approach for Mega Charizard X: double dance.

I Dance Better than Tierno Mega Charizard X  @Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz / Fire Punch / Earthquake
- Dragon Claw / Outrage
- Sword Dance / Roost
- Tailwind 

BOLD= BUILD
ITALICS = Other options

The Build
While most people don't know this but back in generation 4 with HeartGold/SoulSilver, Charizard received a nifty new tutor move called tailwind. Basically what tailwind does is it doubles the speed of the user and all the allied pokemon for up to four turns (changed in Gen 5). Now imagine the implication of this setup move on deadly sweeper like Mega Charizard X who has a base speed of 100. Normally after a dragon dance boost Charizard is fast enough to outspeed most unboosted metagame and hopefully proceed to sweep, again provided it does't get revenge killed by scarfers or weather sweepers. After a tailwind boost, a level 100 Adamant Charizard X speed of 299 (with 252 evs in speed) goes to a incredibly fast 598! That basically means an Adamant Zard X after a tailwind boost is fast enough to outpace positive base 130 speed pokemon including the likes of Latios, Latias, Gengar, Terrakion, Infernape, Greninja, Keldeo, Aerodactly, adamant Excadrill (in sand), jolly Mega Swampert (in rain) or etc. These would-be checks who hope to revenge kill the fire/dragon mega are now threaten by by Mega Charizard X by either of its STAB options. Even if Charizard X can't ohko a scarfer after setting up tailwind, the move itself still has two turns of usefulness  (setup turn and switching out) by Charizard X's teammates to punch holes in the enemy team. Keep in mind Charizard X has three turns after settinig up tailwind wind to make use of its speed so opponents will try to stall it out. This is where sword dance comes in play. To complement this double dance set, Charizard X can sword dance on a potential switch out and can begin wrecking havoc from there. Now instead of the a regular 1.5 attack increase from dragon dance, Charizard X gets its attack doubled and can becomes an fierce sweeper. For example, after a sword dance boost Charizard x a fully physically defensive ohko Mega Sableye, offensive Mega Venusaur, full health multiscale Dragonite, Mega Diancie, Rotom-W, and most frail pokemon with the combination of either flare blitz, dragon claw, or outrage. With caution, use sword dance as a means of wallbreaking defensive cores only after faster checks and other opposing  bulkier walls like Hippowdon, Rhyperior, Mega Aggron, Rotom-W (dragon claw), and others have been weaken. As far as coverage goes, Charizard X can alternate between flare blitz and dragon claw for consistent, high damage output. Key word here is consistent as Charizard X needs flare blitz to get past certain walls/threats despite the recoil damage and a reliable move dragon attack in dragon claw that doesn't lock itself like outrage. In all, the combination of tailwind and sword dance make Charizard X a threatening sweeper and wallbreaker.


Other Options:
Of course there are some options to consider when running a Charizard X set. Outrage is a powerful dragon STAB with a base power of 120 can punch holes in teams and clean up match. Problem with using outrage is with fairy types running amok in OU like Mega Altaria, Gardevoir, Sylveon, Clefable, and others, they can come in freely thanks to their immunity to dragon and can potentially revenge kill back with their respective fairy move. Though opponents will exploit this after Charizard X has knocked out one of their pokemon and has't snapped out of outrage turns. Finally is the dreaded confusion which can be potentially knock out Charizard X if weaken and or provide a free turn for the opposing team considering players will have to switch out Charizard X to cure its confusion.  Fire punch is an alternative without recoil, granted charizard x will miss out on some potential ohkos. Earthquake is another alternative to flare blitz (provided you don't get walled by Mega Altaria and Togekiss) to hit pokemon like Heatran and Mega Diancie hard for super effective damage. If you feel like forgoing one of Mega Charizards setup moves for sustain, roost is an excellent recovery option to regain lost health likely from battle and entry hazards like stealth rock. The issue is Mega Charizard X needs additional team support if it wants to get to either wall break or catch scarfers or weather sweepers off guard if you plan on forgoing either sword dance or tailwind. I did highlight adamant as the preferred nature as Charizard gains double its speed thanks to tailwind.  Charizard X can run jolly to outspeed certain threat after a tailwind however the power boost is noticeable as and may fail to get kos.



Offensive Calculations:
[SPOILER]

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