What is a good moveset for Charizard?
If you have a good competitive moveset for Charizard,post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.
Be sure to includefull set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated.Access the full list of guidelines here.
Charizard Pokédex and learnsetfor reference.
Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.
Charizard @ Charizardite XAbility: Blaze –> Tough ClawsEVs: 252 Spe / 252 Atk / 4 HPAdamant Nature- Flare Blitz- Dragon Dance- Dragon Claw / Outrage- Earthquake
You know how just frickin epic Ash Charizard was? Then you realized Ash isn’t very good with Pokemon and Charizard really wasn’t very good due to its underwhelming stats and Stealth Rock weakness? Well, it is finally time for revenge.Behold, the harbinger of ultimate destruction. With its monstrous attack, great speed and sweet new Ability, this slick dragon is dressed to the nines to kill. As of now this set have no tier since the Gen 6 tiers haven’t been established yet, but seeing this from Gen 5s perspective, this will be a force to be reckoned with.The strategy is simple, send out as fast as possible and mega evolve into Mega Charizard X, set up a Dragon Dance, then sweep to your hearts content.Dragon Dance is the key to make this work. Fire, Ground and Dragon gives perfect coverage in UU and solid cover in OU, and a single DD allows it to outspeed anything unscarfed in both tiers. The sheer power is enough to demolish most things even dedicated to stoping it.
Alright, a Physical Tank. Really, I’m serious. 280 max defense is sweet.
Charizard (M) @ LeftoversAbility: BlazeEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 DefImpish Nature- Flare Blitz- Earthquake- Thunder Punch- Brick Break
Leftovers is for recovery, a vital part of any Tank. Blaze is nice. EVs give it some Physical bulk. Flare Blitz is STAB, along with being killer with Blaze. Another nice bonus is it helps you get to Blaze faster. Earthquake kills. Period. Also nicely covers Electric. Thunder Punch covers Water, while having a paralysis chance. Brick Break breaks Screens, and covers Rock. Nobody expects this. Who uses a Sweeper as a Tank? Me.
Role: Sunny SweeperCharizard (M) @ LeftoversAbility: Solar PowerEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature
Okay, I’m going to start off by saying this set only works in the sun.
Flamethrower gives you a nasty STAB move that destroys most Pokemon in one hit, while Solar Beam is instant in the sun, and covers all of Charizard’s Weaknesses. Dragon Pulse is strictly for Dragons to take them out as fast as you can, and Air Slash is Flying STAB, and also if you REALLY wanna press your luck with flinch hax.
Leftovers is the item of choice to heal off Sun damage.
This is similar to J98’s set, but it is a scarfer with *slightly better coverage.
Charizard @ Choice ScarfAbility: Solar PowerEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeModest Nature
Basically, Scarf makes it outspeed just about anything, while Solar Power acts as Choice Specs on this set. Flamethrower is powerful STAB in the sun. Solar Beam covers Rock and Water types, as well as hitting Ground types hard. Hidden Power [Rock] covers other Charizards and other Fire types that resist STAB, Hidden Power Ground can also be good to hit Heatran and Electric types (Flamethrower is stronger on electrics). Dragon Pulse hits resistant Dragons and it has a huge neutral coverage.
This guy works great with a Magic Bouncer or Rapid Spinner to deflect or clear Stealth Rocks, as well as a Drought Ninetales.
Double/Triple Battle CharizardCharizard (M) @ Life OrbAbility: Blaze / Solar PowerEVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Heat Wave- Air Slash / Air Cutter- Dragon Pulse- Tailwind / Protect / Focus Blast /Fire Pledge
Blaze should be the ability used if you don’t have Sunny Day support. If you do have Sunny Day Support, then use Solar Power. Heat Wave is STAB that hits multiple foes. A great move. Air Slash can be used in Double Battles as just a powerful STAB. or in Triple Battles you can use it to hit any foe on the battlefield. Air Cutter hits multiple foes, but has low base Power. Also, it cannot be used with Solar Power. Dragon Pulse gives you neutral coverage only resisted by Heatran. It can also hit any foe on the field in a Triple Battle. The last move you have plenty of choices. Tailwind can be used to support the team (and make Charizard faster) but it can’t be used with Solar Power. Protect is just your basic multi-battle move. It protects Charizard from enemy attacks and ally Surfs and Discharges. Focus Blast is type coverage. Fire Pledge can be used if you want to set up a field effect along with Grass Pledge or Water Pledge.
Charizard (M) @ Charizardite XAbility: Blaze -> Tough ClawsEVs: 252 Spe / 174 HP / 62 Atk / 20 DefLevel: 50Jolly Nature- Dragon Dance- Roost- Outrage- Earthquake
The HP investment let’s him live a HUGE amount of hits, while powerful attacks provide massive damage. Roost allows for reliable recovery, useful in VGC for a set without Protect. This set is to used mostly as an M-Salamence counter, though anything switching into an Outrage (unless its a fairy) or Earthquake (unless they are flying or have Levitate) will loose a decent chunk of health.
Calcs
252+ Atk Mega Salamence Earthquake vs. 174 HP / 20 Def Mega Charizard X: 122-144 (69.7 - 82.2%) – guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 174 HP / 20 Def Mega Charizard X: 142-168 (81.1 - 96%) – guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Mega Salamence Dragon Claw vs. 174 HP / 20 Def Mega Charizard X: 146-174 (83.4 - 99.4%) – guaranteed 2HKO
64 Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Salamence: 192-228 (112.2 - 133.3%) – guaranteed OHKO
64 Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hydreigon: 186-218 (93.4 - 109.5%) – 56.3% chance to OHKO
4 Atk Aegislash-Blade Shadow Sneak vs. 174 HP / 20 Def Charizard-Mega-X: 28-34 (16 - 19.4%) – possible 6HKO
252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon vs. 174 HP / 0 SpD Charizard-Mega-X: 45-54 (25.7 - 30.8%) – guaranteed 4HKO
252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. 174 HP / 0 SpD Charizard-Mega-X: 91-108 (52 - 61.7%) – guaranteed 2HKO
64 Atk Mega Charizard X Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 52-62 (31.1 - 37.1%) – 64.4% chance to 3HKO
+1 64 Atk Mega Charizard X Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 78-94 (46.7 - 56.2%) – 76.2% chance to 2HKO
Warning: This set is walled by Togekiss.
Gen III
Charizard (M) @ CharcoalAbility: BlazeEVs: 200 Atk / 180 SpA / 128 SpeNaughty Nature
Dragon Dance lets you screw over a few speed EV’s and go mixed, this guy works great with it.
Charcoal, Blaze (possibly), and STAB. Makes Fire Blast a deadly Shock even though it’s not getting the Attack boost from Dragon Dance, This guy just isn’t himself without Fire STAB.
Earthquake gets great type coverage!
Focus Punch can take out threats such as Snorlax, (who needs Curse to live off of physical hits) for super effective damage quickly and painfully.With good prediction, this move can be really good.
Charizard @ Salac Berry / LeftoversAbility: Solar PowerEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature
Flamethrower is more reliable but Heat Wave has that little extra bit of power. Fire Blast is very strong but it is very inaccurate I would just go with Flamethrower. Dragon Pulse has great neutral coverage and the only things that resist it are Steel-types which are weak to Fire moves. Solar Beam provides coverage against his weaknesses and has insane power. Air Slash is for STAB and Flinch, HP [Ground] covers his Electric-type weakness, Sunny Day is there for if he is not on a Drought team. Leftovers heals off Solar Power damage though the Salac Berry is another option for some speed.
Edit by J98: Added sprite since old one was from an expired site and wasn’t showing.
Edit by Fizz: Doing the same thing many years later. :^)
Doubles Mega-Charizard Y
Charizard @ Charizardite YAbility: Solar Power / Blaze –> DroughtEVs: 252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 HPTimid / Modest Nature- Heat Wave- Air Slash- Protect- Focus Blast/Solar Beam
With weather being nerfed weather mons do best as offensive threats rather than support, and Charizard can fulfill that role to the fullest, especially in tandem with a Chlorophyll sweeping partner. *Solar Power is used over Blaze as it is recommended that another sun setter be used in tandem with Charizard as to ensure maximum power, but if that is not the case then Blaze is the better choice.
Gen V
Charizard (M) @ Petaya BerryAbility: BlazeEVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 SpeTimid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
Okay, I love this set. I use it also on a team that gets Agility boosts passed from a Durant, but this works well even without that. Okay you use Substitute three times, which will then activate your Petaya Berry and also Blaze. This will leave you with an incredibly powerful Flamethrower, plus a nicely powered HP Grass and Dragon Pulse, which are there for coverage. It is a great Pokemon, and I use this set for my Charizard. You’ve probably had to face this guy before.
Gen 6
Role: Physical Sweeper!
Mega Charizard X @ Charizardite XAbility: Blaze –> Tough ClawsEVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 6 HPJolly Nature- Dragon Claw / Outrage- Flare Blitz / Fire Fang- Shadow Claw / Aerial Ace / Earthquake / Dragon Dance- Dragon Dance / Roost
A pretty good moveset for Mega Charizard X!Dragon Claw and Flare Blitz are both STAB and get the 30% Damage boost from the Tough Claws ability, Shadow Claw also gets the Tough Claws boost, but it’s not STAB. Roost is for healing. Dragon Dance is for buffing stats and then you could maybe choose one of the other 3 attacking moves!
This is a great lead, it will set up on common leads with SR and other entry hazards.
Malfoy (Charizard) @ Salac BerryAbility: BlazeEVs: 92 HP / 164 Atk / 252 SpeAdamant Nature- Substitute- Belly Drum- Fire Punch- Earthquake / Acrobatics
The Salac Berry is activated with Substitute Belly Drum combo + the HP EVs, like I mentioned earlier this thing messes up Ferrothorns, Forretress, etc. Fire Punch is STAB (Flare Blitz is too risky to use and will kill you from recoil). Earthquake is for rocks, Heatran, basically anything resisting fire and weak to ground, or you can run Acrobatics, because it is STAB and doubles in power after consuming the Salac Berry. This 2HKOs a specially defensive Rotom, it does around 80%. When behind a Substitute you take out Rotom before it can take you out. This setdemolishes everything!
Charizard @ Firium ZAbility: Solar PowerEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature• Sunny Day• Flamethrower• Solar Beam• Focus Blast / Dragon Pulse
Use Z-Sunny Day. This gives you 1+ Spe, 50% boost to Flamethrower, access to Solar Beam, and the Solar Power boost. Focus Blast and Dragon Pulse are coverage options.
Gen 6-7 OU Doubles or Singles Mega Charizard Y(here is two sets because there are two megas)Charizard (M) @Charizardite YAbility: DroughtShiny: YesEVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Heat Wave / Fire Blast- Solar Beam- Focus Blast / HP Ice / Overheat- Protect / Roost
Charizard Y is a great wall breaker and can be paired with sweepers like Terrakion + Whimsicott and Ash-Greninja, I also added Overheat as an answer to Mega Kangaskan in gen 6 doubles OU just (beware of the special attack drop) Think of this move as Charizard’s One-Time special move to use on a really strong opponent that’s hard to take down or when Charizard is in a really tight spot and if you don’t like the bad special attack drop then you can just switch out after using it. This set has been tested so feel free to try out this set on Pokemon Showdown.
Gen 6-7 OU Singles Mega Charizard X
Charizard (M) @Charizardite XAbility: Tough ClawsShiny: YesEVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpeJolly Nature / Adamant Nature- Flare Blitz- Dragon Claw- Earthquake / Roost- Dragon Dance
This set is given the right moves so that it is guaranteed to have a move to use just in case the Pokemon it’s up against resists some of its moves, so nothing is safe from it. Even if the opposing Pokemon happens to survive, chances are that it’s not gonna take another blow, Charizard X just can’t allow the thing live, unless Charizard himself is fainted. This set was also tested on Pokemon Showdown so feel free to try it out.
Gen 3 OU
Mixed Attacker
Charizard @ Leftovers / Petaya BerryAbility: BlazeEVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 SpeHasty Nature- Focus Punch- Hidden Power [Grass]- Fire Blast- Dragon Claw / Substitute
Charizard is a solid wallbreaker in ADV OU. Fire Blast is used over Flamethrower as it can OHKO specially defensive Skarmory, Metagross and offensive Celebi and Jirachi. Focus Punch lets heavily damage Tyranitar on the switch. It also 2HKO’s Blissey. HP Grass heavily dents Swampert. Dragon Claw is used to hit Dragon-types like Salamence and Flygon. Substitute may be used as it synergizes with Focus Punch and eases prediction. Leftovers negate sandstorm chip. Petaya Berry may be used as it synergizes with Blaze. If running Petaya Berry, run 30 HP IVs to be in Petaya range after using Substitute thrice.
This Charizard variant is seen primarily on Mixed/Spikeless Offense. Mixed Offense is an archetype that uses strong mixed wallbreakers like Tyranitar, Mixed Metagross etc to break holes, and a cleaner like Dragon Dance Salamence to clean up the weakened team. For more details readthis article by Vapicuno. To patch up the rock weakness, offensive Swampert and Mix Metagross are good partners. Utility Snorlax and Offensive Celebi can take electric and water attacks for Charizard. Fighting Types like Hariyama and Breloom are good to pair with them as it takes care of Celebi for them.
You should try ADV OU. It’s an amazing tier.
Doubles / Triples
Charizard (M) @ Choice SpecsAbility: BlazeEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)- Heat Wave- Air Cutter- Ominous Wind- Fire Blast
Heat Wave gives STAB and hits both opponents.Air Cutter is STAB and hits both opponents.Ominous wind is coverage and (I think) hits both opponents.Fire Blast is STAB if you want to take the single approach.
Charizard @ Charizardite YAbility: Blaze –> DroughtEVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 DefTimid Nature- Fire Blast- Solar Beam- Focus Blast- Dragon Pulse / Air Slash
I personally like Mega Charizard Y more than the X alternative. Even if it still has the 4x Stealth Rocks weakness, and Drought’s usefulness has been almost completely axed, this Pokemon still has base 159 special attack and should not be underrated.
This set is like the Choice Specs Ninetales, abusing max power Fire Blasts and Solar Beams, but with more overall Super Effective coverage with Focus Blast and Air Slash. Dragon Pulse can also be used, but only if dragon types are feared in whatever tier this Pokemon ends up in.
This set really only works if you are using Charizard as a speed sweeper.
Charizard @ Charizardite YAbility: Blaze –> DroughtEVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpeTimid Nature- Overheat- Solar Beam- Roost / Flamethrower- Dragon Pulse
Given that the mega evolution for Charizard in Y drastically improves its special attack and gives it the drought ability which increases the damage from fire moves and gets rid of the charge turn of solar beam, it is ideal for those that want a Charizard that quickly gets rid of opponents. Also makes it so you don’t have to waste a turn on Sunny Day while the increased stat boost makes up for not using an item that increases those stats like the “choice items”.
Physical Charizard
Charizard @ LeftoversAbility: Solar PowerEVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 DefAdamant / Jolly Nature- Thunder Punch- Flare Blitz- Dragon Rush- Swords Dance
Thunder Punch is to deal with Water typesFlare Blitz for some awesome STAB, Leftovers will heal youDragon Rush to deal with OU DragonsSwords Dance for some powerful sweeping
Charizard (M) @ Charizardite XTrait: Tough ClawsEVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Substitute- Focus Punch- Dragon Claw- Fire Punch
A fast physical SubPunch set. I would start with Substitute then use Focus Punch (Which will be powered up by Tough Claws). Then do it again if your Substitute is broken. Dragon Claw and Fire Punch is for STAB + Tough Claws boost.
