[OVERVIEW]
Darmanitan is one of the best wallbreakers Fire has access to thanks its amazing Attack and decent Speed. It has a great ability in Sheer Force, which increases the damage of its attacks that have a secondary effect such as its main STAB move, Flare Blitz, to go with its amazing Attack. To complement this, Darmanitan has a pretty decent movepool, which can help it threaten types that Fire generally has a difficult time facing. One of these moves is U-turn, which allows it to pivot thanks to its ability to force switches, gaining momentum for the user. Thanks to all these great offensive capabilities, Darmanitan rivals Victini as the physical Choice Scarf user that Fire uses. Despite its great offensive stats, though, it lacks severely in the defensive department with its awful bulk and no form of recovery. It also gets worn down very easily due to Stealth Rock and Flare Blitz recoil.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Earthquake / Superpower
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Flare Blitz is boosted by Sheer Force and STAB and 2HKOes most walls if not OHKOing them. U-turn is a great move for pivoting, as it scouts for the opponent's play and creates momentum for the user. Rock Slide hits Flying-types such as Gyarados and Dragonite while also being boosted by Sheer Force. Earthquake hits Steel-types and Rock-types, the latter of which Fire is weak to. Earthquake also hits opposing Fire-types super effectively without risking the miss with Rock Slide. In particular, after Stealth Rock damage, Earthquake OHKOes Mega Diancie, which Fire has a difficult time facing. Alternatively, Superpower is very useful so that Darmanitan does not have to take recoil against bulky Normal-type Pokemon. It also hits Air Balloon Heatran but misses out on the OHKO on other variants. Superpower hits almost the same types as Earthquake but is better against Dark, as it OHKOes Tyranitar, while being very spammable versus Normal as well.
Set Details
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As Darmanitan is a Choice Scarf user, maximum Speed investment with a Jolly nature allows it to become as fast as it can possibly be. It allows it to outspeed Choice Scarf Landorus-T Choice Scarf Hoopa-U and to Speed tie with Choice Scarf Kyurem-B. Sheer Force is used to boost the power of Flare Blitz and Rock Slide to make Darmanitan a potential wallbreaker. Running maximum Attack investment allows it to hit as hard as possible even without an Attack-increasing ability.
Usage Tips
========
Darmanitan should be used carefully to preserve its health, as it is prone to getting worn down by residual damage. Darmanitan can be sent out on the first turn to scout for the opponent's intentions then U-turn out. As it is a pure Fire-type, it is naturally weak to Stealth Rock, and as Flare Blitz has recoil, it should generally not be sent out with Stealth Rock on your side of the field. Darmanitan should avoid getting inflicted with status such as poison, which will heavily cripple its health. Paralysis is another huge status Darmanitan should avoid due to it quartering Darmanitan's Speed, which makes its Choice Scarf useless. Rock Slide and Earthquake are coverage moves and should only be used against Pokemon that are weak to them, as Flare Blitz will generally outdamage them, although they can be used to take out low-health foes to avoid recoil and preserve Darmanitan's health. Due to its amazing power, Darmanitan often forces switches, which you can predict and use U-turn on to gain momentum. Darmanitan can be used as a revenge killer to KO weaker Pokemon, but the user should be aware of Flare Blitz's recoil. Darmanitan can also be used as a wallbreaker due to its ridiculous power, although the recoil taken from Flare Blitz if it attacks bulky walls will reduce its sweeping chances.
Team Options
========
As Darmanitan is a Fire-type, a hazard-removing partner like Torkoal or Charizard is absolutely crucial. Torkoal in particular is a great partner due to its ability to set up its own Stealth Rock, which helps cripple opposing Pokemon by breaking Focus Sashes and dealing chip damage throughout the battle, helping Darmanitan take them out easier. Mega Charizard Y and Darmanitan work amazingly as an offensive core due to both having ridiculous offensive stats, and Mega Charizard Y's sun increases the power of the already ridiculously strong Flare Blitz. Mega Charizard Y also helps clear out Rock- and Water-types due to its access to Solar Beam, which makes Darmanitan even better as a late-game sweeper, and is immune to Ground-type moves, which Darmanitan is weak to and doesn't want to stay in against. Infernape has great Fighting-type STAB moves, which helps with Normal-type walls, such as Porygon2 and Chansey, as well as Rock-types, letting Darmanitan use Earthquake as its coverage move. Infernape can also be used as an offensive Stealth Rock setter. Entei heavily weakens the opposing team due to its great coverage, and tt also has access to Extreme Speed, which can KO weakened Pokemon. Furthermore, Entei running Iron Head helps deal with Fairy-types, as most of them have high HP stats, which causes Darmanitan to be worn down by Flare Blitz recoil and prevents it from freely spamming the move. Victini is a Psychic-type, which helps against Fighting-types such as Keldeo that which Darmanitan has a difficult time facing. Victini and Darmanitan can also be used together with one weakening the opposing team through its STAB attacks and the other cleaning up late-game. They both also create a nice VoltTurn core, as they can pivot easily due to their ability to force switches. Volcanion is immune to Water-type attacks, which Darmanitan is weak to. It can also burn opposing Pokemon through Steam Eruption, allowing Darmanitan to clean up. Choice Scarf Chandelure is another good offensive partner, as it OHKOes Slowbro with Shadow Ball after Stealth Rock damage. It also has access to Energy Ball and Hidden Power Ice, which can scare off the Ground- and Dragon-types that Darmanitan usually has problems with.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Darmanitan can also use Choice Band or Life Orb as its item while bluffing a Choice Scarf, as its ability Sheer Force negates the recoil from Life Orb if it uses a move with a secondary effect. These sets can be used if there is already a designated Choice Scarf user on the team, but due to Darmanitan's relatively average Speed, it's not advised.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Water-types**: Water-types in general give Darmanitan a hard time, as it doesn't really have a good move to hit them with, while they can easily weaken it with a STAB move. Water-types such as Gyarados can easily set up on it with Dragon Dance, while bulkier ones such as Swampert, Gastrodon, Suicune, and Slowbro all easily take its moves and KO it back.
**Garchomp**: Garchomp can easily tank all of Darmanitan's moves while OHKOing it back with a super effective Earthquake. Other variants such as Tank Garchomp deal significant residual damage with Rocky Helmet + Rough Skin.
**Terrakion**: Choice Scarf Terrakion outspeeds Darmanitan and OHKOes it with a Stone Edge. It also survives all of Darmanitan's attacks.
**Dragon-types**: In general, most Dragon-types can take one hit from Darmanitan and OHKO it back with just their STAB attacks, although most of them can't switch into it.
**Physical Walls**: Physically defensive Pokemon such as Hippowdon, Porygon2, and Slowbro can all take Darmanitan's hits and and cause it to take a lot of Flare Blitz's recoil damage.
**Status**: Status effects such as poison and paralysis heavily reduce Darmanitan's longevity and usability, as it becomes vulnerable to recoil damage and priority moves, and paralysis makes its item useless.
**Priority Attacks**: Due to its main attack causing high recoil damage, Darmanitan is very likely to put itself into range of priority attacks such as Sucker Punch from Bisharp or Extreme Speed from Dragonite, and its poor Defense doesn't help either.
**Revenge Killers**: As Darmanitan's Speed is nothing spectacular and it lacks real bulk, it's easily outsped and KOed by faster Choice Scarf users such as Latios, Terrakion, Hydreigon, and Keldeo.
**Residual Damage**: Darmanitan can easily get worn down due to recoil from Flare Blitz, as well as due to chip damage from Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Rocky Helmet.
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