Darmanitan (QC 2/3, writing)

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[OVERVIEW]

Darmanitan's Sheer Force-boosted Flare Blitz and base 140 attack make it a powerful threat that can greatly pressure offensive teams. For some perspective on its sheer power, its Flare Blitz is enough to 2HKO even bulky walls such as Hippowdown without a boosting item, something which very few Pokémon can achieve. However, Darmanitan's almost nonexistent bulk, weakness to Stealth Rock and Flare Blitz recoil wear it down fast, and means that out struggles to fit on teams barring hyper offense due to the lack of defensive synergy it provides. It also has an extremely shallow movepool, thus meaning it can't break past Fire-resistant Pokémon like Suicune for the most part. Those existing problems are worsened by the fact that it's outsped by common Choice Scarf users like Hydreigon and Terrakion (both of which also being somehwat bulky Fire-resists). Its problems stated above mean that it's mostly overshadowed by other Fire-types such as Infernape and Talonflame, which have access to Swords Dance and better speed without a boosting item; Infernape also having a useful secondary Fighting typing.

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Earthquake
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS
Moves
========

* Flare Blitz deals massive damage to if not OHKOes most targets that don't resist it.
* U-turn is useful for gaining momentum on switches that Darmanitan commonly forces.
* Rock Slide hits the likes of Flying-types like Mega Aerodactly and Talonflame hard.
* Earthquake hits other miscellaneous targets such as Empoleon, Nidoqueen, and Tentacruel.
* Superpower is an option over Earthquake to maintain coverage against Empoleon while hitting Snorlax, which walls Darmanitan otherwise.

Set Details
========

* Maximum Attack and Speed investment with a Choice Scarf allows Darmanitan to take full advantage of its only useful stats, outspeeding the majority of the tier and hitting as hard as possible.
* A Jolly nature also allows it to outspeed Mega Aerodactyl and Choice Scarf Krookodile while speed tying with opposing Darmanitan.
* Sheer Force helps bolster the power of Darmanitan's Flare Blitz as well as Rock Slide.

Usage Tips
========

* Darmanitan should be spamming U-turn most of the time to wear down its checks and switch-ins while allowing a quick escape from the match-up.
* Darmanitan functions as a revenge killer to likes of Venomoth, Raikou, and Talonflame after Gale Wings has been broken, so spamming any attack other than U-Turn is unadvised early-game.
* Be careful of wearing down Darmanitan with Flare Blitz recoil and Stealth Rock damage, as it usually has just enough bulk at full HP to survive an attack.

Team Options
========

* Other VoltTurn users complement Darmanitan's ability to force switches and gain momentum. Raikou, in particular, can also force out bulky Water-types for Darmanitan.
* Tsareena also has access to U-turn, can remove entry hazards for Darmanitan, and can take care of bulky Water-types.
* Scizor can check Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Sharpedo as well as remove hazards with Defog.
* Mega Blastoise can also clear away hazards and check bulky Ground-types alongside checking Mega Aerodactyl.
* Ninetales provides sun support, which raises the power of Flare Blitz to ridiculous levels.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

* Substitute + Belly Drum Darmanitan with a Salac Berry can be used to attempt a sweep but requires extensive support to actually work.
* A Choice Band set packs incredible raw power but is better done by Infernape and Entei and risks being outsped by the vast majority of the tier.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Bulky Water-types**: Fire resistant Water-types such as Swampert, Mega Blastoise, and Alomomola can repeatedly switch into Darmanitan and render it unable to do anything except U-turn early on. The former two have to worry about being worn down, though.

**Faster Choice Scarf Users**: Hydreigon, Terrakion, and Mienshao can all outspeed and OHKO Darmanitan, but few of them can actually switch in.

**Priority** Priority moves such as Mega Absol's Sucker Punch and Crawdaunt's Aqua Jet can easily pick off Darmanitan.

**Chip Damage** Flare Blitz recoil and Stealth Rock damage can neuter its ability to spam Flare Blitz.
 
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Taken over from Virizain (who dropped it), should be a fairly simple and quick writeup, so will try to get it written up in the next day or two.
 
This looks like it's the exact same thing as Virizain's, so I think it's best that you change it or else this is plagiarism.
 
This looks like it's the exact same thing as Virizain's, so I think it's best that you change it or else this is plagiarism.
The skeleton was copy and pasted from his analysis, but I'm pretty sure that it's not against any rules (correct me if I'm wrong). I know there's policies against plagiarism, but I'm pretty sure things like this have been done before, because it simply saves a lot of effort for me and QC, gets it onsite quicker, and the analysis is of perfectly good quality. It will look different in the write-up, however.

Edit: also if this is against the rules I will start from scratch, just want conformation from QC if this is wrong.
 
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I wouldn't really say that its movepool is extremely shallow, if anything it's pretty good. I'd just say "it lacks coverage to hit water-types"
 
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