Post by Ludo on Sept 25, 2014 22:08:57 GMT -5
So, here’s a build I’ve been working on for Blaziken. I’ve done a bit of playtesting with it myself, but I was wondering if anyone would be interested in trying it out as well as giving me some feedback on how it worked for them. For the record I’m not much of a singles player so this build was designed for use in doubles, a format that I feel Blaziken is rather mediocre in. Before we get too deep into the details of this build here are the basics:
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 172 Attack / 172 Special Attack / 164 Speed
Hasty Nature (- Defense, + Speed)
- High Jump Kick
- Overheat
- Protect
- Mirror Move
Now for starters let me explain that EV spread, because if you’re used to the 252/252/4 builds you usually see on sweepers you’re probably a little confused. With 164 EV investment into speed a Hasty Blaziken is actually 1 point faster than an Adamant Blaziken at 252 speed investment. Seeing how most people are happy with that amount of speed I figured I’d put the rest of my EVs into both attack stats to give me the highest damage potential possible.
The desire for high damage output is also the reason I chose to give Blaziken a Life Orb instead of its mega stone as I found that Life Orb Blaziken actually does more damage than Mega Blaziken. In fact Life Orb Blaziken has the ability to do something that Mega Blaziken can’t do with this spread: land a guaranteed OHKO onto 252 HP Aegislash-Shield with Overheat. If you want to use Mega Blaziken for the increased speed or small buffs to bulk that’s fine, but in my experience of Blaziken doesn’t land the OHKO it’s probably not going to make it to the next turn.
I guess this is the part where I should explain why it is adventitious to run a mixed set over a purely physical one. Well for starters a lot of the pokemon roaming the metagame that you’re probably going to want to take out with your fire STAB move have something to punish a contact move (Aegislash’s King Shield, Ferrothorn’s Iron Barbs, Amoonguss’ Effect Spore, Rocky Helmet, etc). I’ve also found that a lot of doubles players have methods really lower the damage output of your physical attackers (Reflect, Intimidate, Prankster Charm, etc.) so having an attacker with at least some special moves can help combat that.
There is another reason why I chose to build a mixed set instead of a traditional physical one and because I wanted to use Mirror Move. How Mirror Move works is simple, it copies the last move used by the target and uses it against them and it fails if the target switches out or if the move is self targeting. However, if you use Mirror Move on an ally that previously used a move like Rock Slide or Heat Wave that can’t target an ally then the user of Mirror Move will still copy it, but will attack the opponent instead of the ally. It’s a great way to lend Blaziken’s speed to it’s ally or to use two moves from the ally’s set in one turn. It also does a decent job against Dragons and Ghost who generally like to throw out their powerful STAB moves that they also happen to be weak to. It’s also a great way to give an opponent that likes to throw out status a taste of their own medicine. Needless to say if you want to get the most out of Mirror Move you’re going to want to put it on a pokemon that has both a good physical and special attack stat.
As I mentioned earlier I’m still in the middle of playtesting this build as well finding the best team to go with it. If you try out the build and don’t like something feel free to let me know as well as what you did to improve it. Good luck guys and have fun.
Blaziken @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 172 Attack / 172 Special Attack / 164 Speed
Hasty Nature (- Defense, + Speed)
- High Jump Kick
- Overheat
- Protect
- Mirror Move
Now for starters let me explain that EV spread, because if you’re used to the 252/252/4 builds you usually see on sweepers you’re probably a little confused. With 164 EV investment into speed a Hasty Blaziken is actually 1 point faster than an Adamant Blaziken at 252 speed investment. Seeing how most people are happy with that amount of speed I figured I’d put the rest of my EVs into both attack stats to give me the highest damage potential possible.
The desire for high damage output is also the reason I chose to give Blaziken a Life Orb instead of its mega stone as I found that Life Orb Blaziken actually does more damage than Mega Blaziken. In fact Life Orb Blaziken has the ability to do something that Mega Blaziken can’t do with this spread: land a guaranteed OHKO onto 252 HP Aegislash-Shield with Overheat. If you want to use Mega Blaziken for the increased speed or small buffs to bulk that’s fine, but in my experience of Blaziken doesn’t land the OHKO it’s probably not going to make it to the next turn.
I guess this is the part where I should explain why it is adventitious to run a mixed set over a purely physical one. Well for starters a lot of the pokemon roaming the metagame that you’re probably going to want to take out with your fire STAB move have something to punish a contact move (Aegislash’s King Shield, Ferrothorn’s Iron Barbs, Amoonguss’ Effect Spore, Rocky Helmet, etc). I’ve also found that a lot of doubles players have methods really lower the damage output of your physical attackers (Reflect, Intimidate, Prankster Charm, etc.) so having an attacker with at least some special moves can help combat that.
There is another reason why I chose to build a mixed set instead of a traditional physical one and because I wanted to use Mirror Move. How Mirror Move works is simple, it copies the last move used by the target and uses it against them and it fails if the target switches out or if the move is self targeting. However, if you use Mirror Move on an ally that previously used a move like Rock Slide or Heat Wave that can’t target an ally then the user of Mirror Move will still copy it, but will attack the opponent instead of the ally. It’s a great way to lend Blaziken’s speed to it’s ally or to use two moves from the ally’s set in one turn. It also does a decent job against Dragons and Ghost who generally like to throw out their powerful STAB moves that they also happen to be weak to. It’s also a great way to give an opponent that likes to throw out status a taste of their own medicine. Needless to say if you want to get the most out of Mirror Move you’re going to want to put it on a pokemon that has both a good physical and special attack stat.
As I mentioned earlier I’m still in the middle of playtesting this build as well finding the best team to go with it. If you try out the build and don’t like something feel free to let me know as well as what you did to improve it. Good luck guys and have fun.
