Welcome one and all to another special Pokemon of the Week. This week, in celebration of my birthday week, I will be covering my most favorite Pokemon. That's right... this week, we'll be focusing on Blaziken.

Let's take a trip back in time, shall we? It's the year 2000, and we've just received Pokemon Gold and Silver Versions here in America before Christmas (or in April 2001 for those from the UK). We discovered Eggs, breeding, new Pokemon, new ways to evolve, day and night transition, a re-visit to Kanto, obtaining sixteen badges, and overthrowing our old character to reign in the new day of a new champion. This was a sequel worthy of the title Pokemon, and damn it, we loved it. At least... most of us did...

I, however, was not one of them. I found myself put off by these new Pokemon, underwhelmed by their lack of power, and just not drawn to nearly any of them in terms of their design. I was content to go back to my Yellow Version, to celebrate the Pokemon that were actually good in battles. You see, I knew something back then that almost no one else seemed to know at the time: literally 90% of the Pokemon introduced in Gold and Silver had terrible stat layouts and were completely inferior to the Pokemon introduced in Red and Blue. This was confirmed many years later by the fact that the generation 2 metagame is dominated by defensive Pokemon, and every match would be a stall-fest going at least 200 turns between players who realized that the only good Pokemon in such a metagame were defensive ones.

Now let's fast-forward to 2003. The Skarmory and Blissey cores that centralized GSC's metagame had to be stopped. But what could stop them? What Pokemon can deliver powerful enough physical attacks to knock Blissey out while also having the ability to OHKO the physically defensive Skarmory? This, my friends, is where Blaziken awakened from his slumber, outraged at the state of the metagame. With his unique Fire/Fighting combination, an absurd (for the time) base 120 Attack coupled with base 110 Sp. Attack and access to such moves as Overheat and Sky Uppercut and Swords Dance, Blaziken could easily OHKO both Pokemon, being the end-all Pokemon to such a core for the generation.

Now let's move forward to 2007. With the introduction of Diamond and Pearl, we were given a starter who, for the first time, had the exact same unique type combination as the starter before it. Infernape was brought into play, and people quickly forgot about Blaziken in favor of this faster, hideous abomination with access to Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Close Combat, Grass Knot, Fire Blast and even U-Turn. People scoffed at the very idea of using Blaziken, a slower, stronger version of the new Fire/Fighting Pokemon that the people had come to love in a Speed based metagame. I stood by Blaziken through everything, fighting uphill battles against everyone and giving my Blaziken a Choice Scarf to make him a fast enough threat to compete in OU, surprising many opponents with what a fast Blaziken can do to an unprepared team, and learning to predict what Pokemon would switch into Blaziken to try to counter him, maximizing his coverage with his diverse movepool. I truly stood alone against the waves of people who had turned their back on Blaziken.

And now we come to 2011. For four long years, we held onto our dream. If only we were just a little faster... if only there was a way for us to use a more powerful Fighting attack without it lowering Attack like Superpower... we dreamed, while others just scoffed. But when we awakened yet again, our dreams had granted us everything we had wished for. From our dreams, we gained access to Speed Boost and a more powerful Hi Jump Kick, a move that we not only didn't have previously, but a move that gained even more power this generation! A sick smile began to form across our face in anticipation of what would come next... we took off the Choice Scarf, picked up a Life Orb, and stormed our way onto the battlefield, utilizing Protect to grant us a single Speed Boost, before completely destroying all the competition.

Some foes began to get wise and switch on our Protect turn, only to be met with a Swords Dance Blaziken, which now had doubled Attack and 1.5x more Speed than last turn, and quickly found out that just resisting our STAB moves wasn't enough: you had to completely be immune to them. The leagues of opponents we devastated grew more and more, fueled by the anger of betrayal, until Blaziken stopped battling one day. "I grow tired of defeating opponents who cannot handle my power," he said, walking off to a new arena. I followed him there as well, and here, we have taken up the title of Legendary Slayer, finding new challenge in the Uber tier.

As you may have figured out from the above, 5th generation has blessed Blaziken with Speed Boost and Hi Jump Kick, which has been boosted from 100 base power to an overwhelming base 130. With the ability to not only outspeed nearly everything after a boost or two, but to be able to even beat it's counters such as Jellicent with Shadow Claw if it so desired, Blaziken became too over-centralizing for the metagame to handle and became the first starter Pokemon to ever become banned from OU, where it would have to start over in Uber tier. Blaziken took the challenge head-on and surprised everyone when it not only survived the tier, but became a serious threat to watch out for that can -- and has -- swept entire teams.

Blaziken has found a new friend in Groudon, taking advantage of his Sunlight to make Blaziken's Flare Blitz even more powerful. To give you an example of just how powerful it is, Lugia, one of the most defensive walls in the whole game of Pokemon is OHKOd by Flare Blitz in Sunlight after it takes damage from Stealth Rock upon entry.

Not all is good news for Blaziken, though, as his only true counter has emerged from another world to put a stop to his sweep: Giratina. Defensive Giratina will never, ever be KO'd by anything Blaziken can do, unless it somehow Swords Dance's 3 times under Sunlight and hits Giratina with Flare Blitz, which is completely unrealistic. Other threats can put a stop to Blaziken's sweep, such as Extremespeed Arceus, both Normal type and Ghost type.

Blaziken@ Life Orb Speed Boost Jolly nature (+Speed, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP Protect Swords Dance Flare Blitz Hi Jump Kick

Here it is, the exact same set that overwhelmed the OU tier and brought it crashing to it's knees is the same one that Blaziken uses to destroy beasts of legend in Ubers. Protect ensures a turn of extra Speed for Blaziken, which can often times be enough to outspeed it's would-be counters. If you suspect the opponent will switch out of Blaziken (which is quite common against such Pokemon as Arceus-Grass, Genesect, Darkrai, Kyurem-White that has just used Draco Meteor, Ferrothorn, and many others), you can use Swords Dance while they bring in their counter, Protect on the next turn, and be sitting pretty at doubled Attack and Speed, before crushing their ugly faces in with a powerful Flare Blitz or Hi Jump Kick. These moves are chosen because they give Blaziken the best coverage and attack power he has access to, especially with Sunlight support.

Speaking of Sunlight support, it is absolutely essential that you use Groudon alongside Blaziken to provide that sunlight for him to take advantage of. Groudon can also setup Stealth Rock for Blaziken, ensuring many more OHKOs against opponents who might otherwise survive with just a little HP left. After taking these things into account, however, you'll notice a massive weakness to a Pokemon that puts a stop to your sunny sweep: Kyogre. You have to use a Pokemon that can put a stop to Kyogre, and unfortunately, there are very few. Specially defensive Arceus-Grass is a great choice, as it can take even rain boosted Water Spouts and Ice Beams, and KO back with Grass Knot. Quagsire, Gastrodon and Ludicolo also have niche ways to counter Kyogre, but they're fairly less reliable overall, and don't do much else in Ubers besides counter Kyogre.

Honestly, there are so many teammate options for Blaziken that it would be absurd for me to list them all here, but good ones to consider are: Darkrai, Giratina, Arceus-Grass or Ghost, Excadrill (to provide Rapid Spin support, and to be able to beat Tyranitar by using it's own Sandstorm against it), Kyurem-White to form a powerful sunlight duo that can tear apart most of Ubers, Shaymin-Sky Form... honestly, there are so many choices, it's hard to name them all!

If you're looking to raise a Blaziken in-game, things are a bit harder. Blaziken and it's evolutionary line have not been released via Dream World outside of Japan, as far as I know, so you'll have to send one from a previous game, and settle with Blaze. The lack of Speed Boost is nearly inconsequential in-game, however, as with enough leveling you can outspeed nearly anything. Here's what I would (and do!) use for in-game play:

Blaziken Blaze / Speed Boost Flare Blitz Hi Jump Kick Thunderpunch / Night Slash Stone Edge / Night Slash

Speed Boost is listed as the secondary ability only because it's much harder to obtain at the time of writing this. If it ever becomes available, always use that instead. Anyway, Flare Blitz and Hi Jump Kick are used because Blaziken really can't take many (read: 1 at most) hits from Pokemon around the same level as him, so he relies on dealing as much damage as possible to opponents to knock them out before they can knock him out. Thunderpunch is for Water types, though it should be noted that most bulkier Water types will not even be 2HKOd by it unless they have a quadruple weakness to it, like Gyarados. Night Slash is good for Ghost types such as Jellicent and Chandelure, who resist both STAB moves. Finally, Stone Edge is good for Flying Dragons like Salamence and Dragonite.

A final note here is that Wide Lens is a good item to consider in-game, as it brings Hi Jump Kick to 99% accuracy and Stone Edge to 88% accuracy.

It should be apparent by now, but Blaziken is, and has been my most favorite Pokemon since I first evolved my Combusken atop Mt. Chimney in my very first Ruby Version after beating Maxie. I love his design, I love his type, I love his power, I love everything about him. In the eyes of this Trainer, there could be no cooler Pokemon to exist, and no other Pokemon I could possibly have a stronger connection to. I'll continue to stand by his side no matter where the future brings him.

Long ago, the universe slept quietly. There existed nothing but an empty expanse. Through sheer will alone, Blaziken forced itself into existence, and looked around. Dissatisfied with the lack of challenges around him, he created a single egg that would hatch in 100 years, then punched his fists together. This event is now known by many as The Big Bang. Blaziken watched as he became the father of creation, shaping and molding the universe to fit his desires. The day before the egg was to hatch, Blaziken left a stone tablet for the Pokemon inside to follow, allowing him to create the rest of the creatures that would inhabit the worlds he'd made.

In the year 2003, Blaziken returned to see what had been done while he rested, only to find the state of things to be deplorable. With this, he created an entirely new region called Hoenn, and filled it with the most creative, awesome Pokemon in the world of Pokemon. After his work was done, the Pokemon from the egg that had claimed to be a PokeGod for many years was angered that something more divine than himself had created without His permission, and plotted against him, creating an entirely new region with a Pokemon that could usurp the God that ruled over the land. But it was not to be, as when Blaziken returned, he came back even more powerful than anyone imagined. He smote the flaming monkey and shunned the Pokemon that had created it, declaring that it would never be able to dream again, and would therefore never receive anything from the world of dreams.

Article written by Richard and Blaziken

Unearthed written by Richard and Blaziken

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