Fire Punch or Flare Blitz on Sheer Force Darmanitan?

Question

for a banded wallbreaker (and also to destroy setup scolipedes).

Answer 1

I'd highly disagree with the other answer, Flare Blitz all the way.

• 252 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Darmanitan Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Nidoqueen: 278-329 (72.5 - 85.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
• 252 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Darmanitan Fire Punch vs. 248 HP / 240+ Def Nidoqueen: 175-208 (45.6 - 54.3%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery

If you're going for a wall breaker, its clear Flare Blitz is the superior option. The difference in power is just too much to ignore (45 base power difference). The recoil isn't so troublesome due to Darmanitan already have crap defenses, whether it be at 100% of 50% HP (due to recoil), it ain't living anything. The idea of Darmanitan is to come in, f s up, leave. With Fire Punch, it comes in, leaves a small dent and then leaves assuming it doesn't feint because your attack didn't kill the opponent.

The recoil shouldn't be problematic because you shouldn't need to be spamming Flare Blitz non stop. Darmanitan has plenty of strong coverage moves for when a fire move isn't the best option. With Spin or Defog support, you'll be just dandy.

Flare Blitz is what makes Darmanitan such a hard Pokemon to play against, very little switches in on it with ease.

Comments

The one true purpose of Darmanitan. So true.

And I think you mean "faint", not "feint".

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derp. Good spot.

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i don't think anyone else have capted this, and i know i'm commenting 3,5 years later, but please don't hide my comment. it is: almighty aggron said it is a BANDED darmanitan, which forces it to use flare blitz all the time

Answer 2

Honestly not going to be detailed but...
Fire Punch
It has no recoil which can make a big difference since he might not always go first.
Either one of them can brutally murder scolipede.

Comments

great pokemon btw with boss attack and sheer force and never use zen mode.