Pokemon Focus: #157 - Typhlosion

Introduction

The second of the GSC starters. The big new draw for Typhlosion this time around is Eruption. This move has a killer base 150 power at full health, and with Typhlosion's great Special Attack and Speed, plus some help from a Choice Scarf, it can easily trailblaze its way through teams. Of course, it has other Fire-type attacks to play with, and is a decent choice on its own, but Eruption is what really brings it out of mediocrity.

Capture/Training

It's a starter. Pick it, or trade for it. Soft-reset if you want a female or one with a good nature. That's all for getting one.

Cyndaquil evolves into Quilava at Lv. 14 and into Typhlosion at Lv. 36. Strangely enough, there is no difference in the levels Quilava and Typhlosion learn moves, so just evolve them as soon as possible.

Statistics

78 HP, 84 Atk, 78 Def, 109 Sp. Atk, 85 Sp. Def, 100 Spd

When it comes to abusing Eruption, you need two things: you need to be powerful, and you need to be fast. Typhlosion nicely covers both those bases. Base 109 Special Attack and Base 100 Speed are great at doing what they need to do: hit hard and hit fast before your opponent can strike to weaken your Eruption. That said, Base 84 Attack isn't horrible, either, and gives Typhlosion an alternate outlet for damaging special walls.

Stat distrubution, then, needs to go to make these two stats even better. A Choice Scarf-user doesn't strictly need the Speed as the Scarf will boost that up nicely, so if that's the plan, throw some EVs into Attack to run a mixed set, and use a defense-stat-hindering nature if possible. Otherwise, max Special Attack and Speed, and try going for a Modest or Timid nature.

Attacks

For a primary Fire attack, look no further than Eruption. At full health, this move has a whopping 150 base power. Of course, as you get hurt, that power decreases, forcing you to switch to other Fire attacks, making Typhlosion a case where having two primary Fire attacks is justified; good thing Typhlosion can learn practically every single Fire attack in existence. Flamethrower and Fire Blast both work in this regard, depending on whether you want power or accuracy. Lava Plume is yet another new option for Typhlosion; its main draw is a nice 30% chance of inflicting a burn. Overheat is another great option for low-HP Typhlosion, especially with a Blaze boost, at which point the move becomes even stronger than Eruption. It works best on Choice-item sets. Heat Wave is best in 2-vs-2 battles. With all these options, Blast Burn is almost a non-option as Eruption has the same power (at full health) and much less drawback, while Overheat is almost as powerful at low health without turning Typhlosion into set-up bait. If you really want physical Fire attacks, Typhlosion has those too, namely Fire Punch and, probably more importantly, Flare Blitz.

As for other options, there aren't a whole lot. Solarbeam is a neat option, and works best on a Sunny Day set. Focus Blast is horribly inaccurate, but could hit some opponents. Extrasensory is a cute little attack that it gets as an Egg Move in HGSS, and works best when it is facing Fighting and Poison types, particularly the Fire-resistant ones. That's it for special attacks, really, aside from Hidden Power of course. Swift might be an option if in-game evasive foes are giving you headaches.

Typhlosion has a nice physical moveset, and while it shouldn't go completely physical, a couple of physical attacks to complement its special attacks can help keep it from being walled. Earthquake rears its earth-shattering head once again, while Focus Punch works great with proper prediction. Other than that, there's Thunderpunch, Rock Slide, Return, Quick Attack, Shadow Claw, and Low Kick. Pick one if you need it. A utility Typhlosion can Covet items from foes, if you wish.

There aren't too many other moves to support Typhlosion's attacks, but what ones there are tend to be particularly helpful. Sunny Day works like a charm for boosting both its Fire attacks and Solarbeam. Substitute combines well with the above as well as a generally good way for it to lower its HP safely into Blaze range. It can also cripple foes with Will-o-Wisp, if it doesn't want to take chances with Lava Plume. Howl can work on a mixed Typhlosion. That's about it, really.

Moveset 1: Choice Eruption
- Eruption
- (secondary Fire attack)
- (secondary physical attack)
- (secondary attack)/Howl

This set works best with a Choice Scarf. Mixing physical and special attacks allows Typhlosion to strike at any special walls that try to stop it. It also works great as a lead. At any rate, watch as your opponents cower in fear of base-150-power STAB Eruptions, then as they manage to attack you down past the 33% mark, Blaze activates and your secondary fire attack starts tearing through your opponents just like your Eruptions used to. Secondary attacks are recommended to keep Typhlosion from being stopped by Fire-retardant foes.

Moveset 2: Sunny Day
- Sunny Day
- (primary Fire attack)
- Solarbeam
- Substitute/(secondary attack)

There are two ways to play this set. One way is very traditional. Use Sunny Day, and strike. The other way is: use Substitute, throw in a Sunny Day when you can, then once you get below 33% and activate Blaze, start burning things up. Bonus points if you use a Petaya Berry for extra oomph.

Items

Choice Scarf works best with set 1, making sure Typhlosion strikes first and allowing you to devote some EVs to Attack to help its physical strikes. Choice Specs could work for an all-Special set, but Typhlosion doesn't really have that many Special Attacks.

Petaya Berry was mentioned as going with Substitute on the Sunny Day set. Otherwise, Leftovers is a solid choice.