Volcarona (Analysis)

[Alaka]

[Overview]

<p>Volcarona is a potent special sweeper, with Special Attack nearly matching that of Chandelure. It is also the only Pokemon other than Amoongus with Rage Powder, with this unique combination of sheer power and team support. Volcarona is not a Pokemon that should be overlooked. It is, however, plagued by a horrific defensive typing for VGC, with a 4x weakness to Rock Slide, and weaknesses to Surf, Water Spout, and Acrobatics as well. The only positive for its defensive typing is a resistance to Fighting, but most Fighting-type Pokemon carry Rock Slide anyway.</p>

[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Heat Wave / Overheat
move 2: Bug Buzz
move 3: Rage Powder / Overheat
move 4: Protect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Flame Body
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Heat Wave hits both opponents hard, but doesn't score many OHKOs, whereas Overheat on the other hand is all about OHKOes, doing so to 4 HP Tornadus and Thundurus a majority of the time, and Amoongus along with many other Pokemon. If you plan to focus more on supporting with Rage Powder while using Volcarona, Overheat is probably the better option because the Special Attack drop won't affect you if you just continue to use Rage Powder. Bug Buzz is your second STAB attack and it OHKOes the slower Hydreigon, while hitting the Reuncilus and Musharna hard, too. Protect gives your partner time to kill threats to Volcarona such as the numerous Rock Slide users in the metagame. Protect is also needed to waste a turn of Fake Out while protecting your Focus Sash. Note that Volcarona is slower than Mienshao and Liepard and needs to Protect first turn to dodge Fake Out, because it will move before Rage Powder. Focus Sash is used because Volcarona has trouble with the frequency of Water-, Flying- and Rock-type moves.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Volcarona needs 248 EVs in Speed and a Timid nature to outspeed Hydreigon and OHKO it with Bug Buzz. The last four are run just to Speed tie with opposing Volcarona. Volcarona is frail on the defensive side but can take hits decently from the special side of the spectrum thanks to a 105 Special Defense stat. Its weaknesses and the heavy use of Rock Slide make Focus Sash clearly the best item. Life Orb or Charti Berry seem like good options, but Life Orb doesn't grant any notable OHKOes or 2HKOes, and Charti Berry often won't prevent Volcarona from being OHKOed by Rock Slide anyway due to its lackluster Defense.</p>

<p>Volcarona is a strong stand-alone Pokemon but still enjoys and supports any kind of setup. The most noteworthy is Sunny Day, as it powers up Volcarona's already beefy fire moves. Tailwind is another good choice for support for Volcarona, allowing it to get the jump on the many Pokemon faster than it. Volcarona can even work in some kind of Trick Room team despite having 100 base Speed due to Rage Powder and Volcarona's ability to still undercut many common Pokemon. On a Trick Room team, an alternate EV spread of 252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef should be used, along with a Quiet nature. A partner using Wide Guard remedies Volcarona's quadruple Rock Slide weakness and Water Spout weakness and so provides turns for Volcarona to attack. Inner Focus Mienshao stands out as one of the best partners to Volcarona with Fake Out and Wide Guard support.</p>

[Other options]

<p>Sunny Day and Quiver Dance can be used if you utilize a Wide Guard partner to protect yourself from Rock Slide. Flamethrower is an option if you want a powerful Fire type single target move that won't drop your Special Attack. Fiery Dance's 80 base damage is lower than Flamethrower's 95, but Fiery Dance will give you a +1 Special Attack boost half the time. Finally, Fire Blast is a fourth option for what Fire attack to run. It is much more powerful than Flamethrower, but still doesn't reach many of the OHKOes that Overheat gets, and its accuracy is shaky. Solarbeam is an option if you are using Volcarona with Sun, mainly to hit Jellicent. Hidden Power Rock can be used to hit Chandelure and other Fire-types.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Rock Slide hits Volcarona hard but that can be played around by using Wide Guard. Water Spout Jellicent is also a threat to Volcarona, but again Volcarona can be protected by Wide Guard. Volcarona's Flying-type weakness can be targeted by Acrobatics users such as Tornadus and Archeops. Chandelure is immune to whatever Fire-type attack Volcarona has, and resists Bug Buzz, meanwhile 2HKOing Volcarona with Shadow Ball.</p>

 

[evan]

I really don't like Volcarona as a Rage Powder user. It's just way too frail to really make use of it. It's definitely a great option but i would slash Quiver Dance or Overheat over that instead of Heat Wave.

 

[Miscellaneous]

This is basically in response to the "checks & counters"

I'm not sure if you've done these yourself but unboosted Life Orb 252spAt Timid does:

Solarbeam:
202- 237 damage to neutral nature Jellicent (which has 207 with max hp) - very close to a guaranteed OHKO. (Modest nature obviously 100% OHKOs Jellicent.)

233 min to Terrakion - guaraneed OHKO (although if Volcanora is unboosted then Terrakion is admittedly faster).

i.e. Solarbeam destroys everything it hits for SE damage. This is important because it almost nullifies Volcanora's main problem (it's typing).

Psychic hits Chandelure for 88-103 (4hp chandelure has 121 Hp); i.e. Volcanora wins 1v1.


Volcanora has huge potential; it's easily one of the best Sunny day sweepers. All the set-up it needs is Sunny Day + speed boosts. That is easily attainable via tailwind and any weather-focused lead. Quiver dance also makes the set-up easier.

I would say there's probably another set along the lines of;
(heat wave/ fiery dance)/ bug buzz/ solarbeam/ (quiver dance/ protect/ psychic if chandelure is a problem). Alternatively Volcanora could look to set up Sunny Day then proceed to abuse or be the recipient of a set up. I think Volcanora has too much potential in the sun for it to be ignored.

Although Rage Powder is a great move; I think Volcanora's high speed + spAt and its few amazing moves almost require a special-attack focused set. Even if not; Volcanora can bring some very nice gimmicks (choice scarf solarbeam OHKOs Terrakion for example). Also, from the opponents perspective, a Volcanora with a few boosts will become a priority to take down. There's potential a fake set-up set with quiver dance/ protect/ rage powder/ bug buzz. Admittedly, I haven't been testing all of this but I think it deserves a mention, because after just doing a few calcs Volcanora's potency as a special attacker is axiomatic.

 

[Mentlegen?]

No mention of Hidden Power Ice / Ground / Rock?

 

[muffinhead]

@Miscellaneous:
Nearly all of the situations you listed assume that Volcarona has enough time to use a boosting move or sun is up, neither of which occurs regularly in this metagame. This is mainly do to the presence of rock slide on every other Pokemon.

@Mentlegen?:
HP Ice only hits Landorus harder, who is faster and has rock slide. STAB Bug Buzz covers Hydreigon, and Overheat hits everything else harder. HP ground grants coverage on Terrakion, but Psychic hits it harder, and Terrakion still outspeeds Volcarona. HP Rock is the only viable option (to hit Chandelure and other Fire-type Pokemon), but Volcarona usually can't spare a slot.

 

[Human]

For Overheat I don't think it should really get too much of a mention unless it is Modest because with Modest it gets sure OHKOs while with Timid it has chances of missing out.

Against Max Special Defense Amoonguss Timid Overheat will miss out on the KO about 50% of the time. Against min/min genies it will miss out on the OHKO about 33% of the time and with the spread which you can see quite a few people used at nats if you look at the warstorys of 140 HP / 116 SpA / 252 Spe you will OHKO only about 33% of the time. Against Landorus which has 10 base HP more than the genies odds of OHKOing min HP Landorus is about the same.

These are just some examples. The problems with Modest Volcarona are mainly Landorus, doesn't function as a near 100% Hydreigon counter (but even Timid doesn't anymore with the Focus Sash Hydreigons) and Haxorus.

Also Heat Wave is always superior to Overheat because the consistent damage output and helps much more with getting them in the KO range for allies and similar things from my experience. Bug Buzz obvious for a 100 accuracy attack and the other STAB that lets it be so amazing. Protect is also insanely useful for something that uses Focus Sash because of the fact that it is often targetted by Fake Out and Volcarona in addition to that is weak to the omnipresent Rock Slide and protect will get a lot more usage than Rage Powder. For something always using Focus Sash Rage Powder isn't nearly as useful because it can't consistently take moves away from its partner, but works well in the end when it is about to be KO'd and Overheat functions very similar to that, last ditch effort to help the team by either protecting your ally or KOing a threat.


From my experience this should be the order of attacks.

Heat Wave
Bug Buzz
Protect
Rage Power / Overheat

EDIT: Quiver Dance also works a bit but from my testing I couldn't seem to find an opportunity for it to be better than Overheat, too frail and Tailwind being so common along with the fact Terrakion often carries Quick Attack. So the set up on its own is difficult along with abusing it.

 

[Alaka]

Made changes in accordance with the above posts.

 

[elDino]

Add
Remove
Comments

The Check

[Overview]

<p>Volcarona is a potent special sweeper, with Special Attack nearly matching that of Chandelure. It is also the only Pokemon other than Amoongus with Rage Powder. With its , (comma) and with this unique combination of sheer power and team support through Rage Powder, Volcarona is not a Pokemon that should be overlooked. It is, (comma) however, (comma) plagued by a horrific defensive typing for VGC, with a 4x weakness to Rock Slide, and weaknesses to Surf, Water Spout, and Acrobatics as well. The only positive for its defensive typing is a resistance to Fighting, but most Fighting-type Pokemon carry Rock Slide as well anyway.</p>

[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Heat Wave / Overheat
move 2: Bug Buzz
move 3: Rage Powder / Overheat
move 4: Protect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Flame Body
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Heat Wave hits both opponents hard, but doesn't score many OHKOs., (comma) whereas Overheat on the other hand is all about OHKOes, doing so to 4 HP Tornadus and Thunderus Thundurus a majority of the time, and Amoongus along with many other Pokemon. If you plan to focus more on supporting with Rage Powder while using Volcarona, Overheat is probably the better option because the Special Attack drop won't effect affect you if you just continue to use Rage Powder. Bug Buzz is your second STAB attack and it OHKOes the slower Hydreigon, (comma) while hitting and hits Reunclius Reuniclus and Musharna hard, (comma) too as well. Protect gives your partner time to kill threats to Volcarona such as the numerous Rock Slide users in the metagame. Protect is also needed to waste a turn of Fake Out while protecting your Focus Sash. Note that Volcarona is slower than Mienshao and Liepard and needs to Protect first turn to dodge Fake Out, because it will move before Rage Powder. Focus Sash is used because Volcarona has trouble with the frequency of Water-, Flying- and Rock-type moves.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Volcarona needs 248 EVs in Speed and a Timid nature to outspeed Hydreigon and OHKO it with Bug Buzz. The last four are run just to Speed tie with opposing Volcarona. Volcarona is frail on the defensive side but can take hits decently from the special side of the spectrum thanks to a 105 Special Defense stat. Its weaknesses and the heavy use of Rock Slide make Focus Sash clearly the best item. Life Orb or Charti Berry can also be used, but Life Orb doesn't grant any notable OHKOes or 2HKOes, and Charti Berry often won't prevent Volcarona from being OHKOed by Rock Slide anyway due to its lackluster Defense. (If a Charti Berry doesn't stop it from being OHKOed, what's the point of listing it?)</p>

<p>Volcarona is a strong stand-alone Pokémon Pokemon but still enjoys and supports any kind of setup. The most noteworthy is Sunny Day, (comma) as it which powers up Volcarona's already beefy fire moves. Tailwind is another good choice for support for Volcarona, allowing it to get the jump on the many Pokémon Pokemon faster than it. Volcarona can even work in some kind of Trick Room team despite having 100 base Speed due to Rage Powder and Volcarona's ability to still undercut many common Pokemon. On a Trick Room team, an alternate Ev EV spread of 252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef should be used, along with a Quiet nature. A partner using Wide Guard remedies Volcarona's quadruple Rock Slide weakness and Water Spout weakness and so provides turns for Volcarona to attack. Inner Focus Mienshao stands out as one of the best partners to Volcarona with Fake Out and Wide Guard support.</p>

[Other options]

<p>Sunny Day and Quiver Dance can be used if you utilize a Wide Guard partner to protect yourself from Rock Slide. Flamethrower is an option if you want a powerful Fire-type single target move that won't drop your Special Attack. Fiery Dance's 80 base damage is lower than Flamethrower's 95, but Fiery Dance will give you a +1 Special Attack boost half the time. Finally, Fire Blast is a fourth option for what Fire attack to run. It is much more powerful than Flamethrower, but still doesn't reach many of the OHKOes that Overheat gets, and its accuracy is shaky. Solarbeam is an option if you are using Volcarona with Sun, mainly to hit Jellicent. Hidden Power Rock can be used to hit Chandelure and other Fire-types.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Rock Slide hits Volcarona hard but that can be played around by using Wide Guard. Water Spout Jellicent is also a threat to Volcarona, but again Volcarona can be protected by Wide Guard. Volcarona's Flying-type weakness can be targeted by Acrobatics users like such as Tornadus and Archeops. Chandelure is immune to whatever Fire-type attack Volcarona has, and resists Bug Buzz, meanwhile 2HKOing Volcarona with Shadow Ball.</p> __________________

No more "Pokémon", we use "Pokemon" now instead.
Other than that...
Nice job :D

GP Approved 1/2

 

[Jellicent]

Amateur GP Check:

Add
Remove
(Comments)

Hide

[Overview]

<p>Volcarona is a potent special sweeper, with Special Attack nearly matching that of Chandelure. It is also the only Pokemon other than Amoongus with Rage Powder, with this giving it a unique combination of sheer power and team support. Volcarona is not a Pokemon that should be overlooked. It is, however, plagued by a horrific defensive typing for VGC, with a 4x weakness to Rock Slide, and weaknesses to Surf, Water Spout, and Acrobatics as well. The only positive for its defensive typing is a resistance to Fighting, but most Fighting-type Pokemon carry Rock Slide anyway.</p>

[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Heat Wave / Overheat
move 2: Bug Buzz
move 3: Rage Powder / Overheat
move 4: Protect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Flame Body
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Heat Wave hits both opponents hard, but doesn't score many OHKOs, whereas Overheat on the other hand is all about OHKOes, doing so to 4 HP Tornadus and Thundurus a majority of the time, and Amoongus along with many other Pokemon. Heat Wave hits both opponents hard, but will rarely OHKO either of them. Overheat, on the other hand, scores quite a few OHKOs, including Amoongus, 4 HP Tornadus and Thunderus a majority of the time, and many others. If you plan to focus more on supporting with Rage Powder while using Volcarona, Overheat is probably the better option because the Special Attack drop won't affect you if you just continue to use Rage Powder will be less significant. Bug Buzz is your second STAB attack and it OHKOes the slower Hydreigon, while hitting the Reuncilus and Musharna hard, too. Protect gives your partner time to kill threats to Volcarona such as the numerous Rock Slide users in the metagame. Protect It is also needed to waste a turn of Fake Out while protecting preserving your Focus Sash. Note that Volcarona is slower than Mienshao and Liepard and needs to Protect first turn to dodge Fake Out, because it will move before Rage Powder Because Mienshao and Liepard are faster than Volcarona, it must Protect first turn to dodge Fake Out, which will occur before Rage Powder. Focus Sash is used because Volcarona has trouble with the frequency of Water-, Flying- and Rock-type moves.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Volcarona needs 248 EVs in Speed and a Timid nature to outspeed Hydreigon and OHKO it with Bug Buzz. The last four are run just to Speed tie with opposing Volcarona. Volcarona is frail on the defensive side but can take hits decently from the special side of the spectrum thanks to a 105 Special Defense stat. Its weaknesses and the heavy use of Rock Slide make Focus Sash clearly the best item. Life Orb or Charti Berry seem like good options, but Life Orb doesn't grant any notable OHKOes or 2HKOes, and Charti Berry often won't prevent Volcarona from being OHKOed by Rock Slide anyway due to its lackluster Defense.</p>

<p>Volcarona is a strong stand-alone Pokemon but still enjoys and supports any kind of setup. The most noteworthy is Sunny Day, as it powers up Volcarona's already beefy fire moves. Tailwind is another good choice for support for Volcarona, allowing it to get the jump on the many Pokemon faster than it. Volcarona can even work in some kind of Trick Room team, (comma) despite having 100 base Speed, (comma) due to Rage Powder and Volcarona's ability to still undercut many common Pokemon. On a Trick Room team, an alternate EV spread of 252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef should be used, along with a Quiet nature. A partner using Wide Guard remedies Volcarona's quadruple Rock Slide weakness and Water Spout weakness and so provides turns for Volcarona to attack. Inner Focus Mienshao stands out as one of the best partners to Volcarona with Fake Out and Wide Guard support.</p>

[Other options]

<p>Sunny Day and Quiver Dance can be used if you utilize a Wide Guard partner to protect yourself from Rock Slide. Flamethrower is an option if you want a powerful Fire type single target move that won't drop your Special Attack. Fiery Dance's 80 base damage is lower than Flamethrower's 95, but Fiery Dance will give you a +1 Special Attack boost half of the time. Finally, Fire Blast is a fourth option for what Fire attack to run. It is much more powerful than Flamethrower, but still doesn't reach many of the OHKOes that Overheat gets, (no comma) and its accuracy is shaky. Solarbeam is an option if you are using Volcarona with Sun, mainly to hit Jellicent. Hidden Power Rock can be used to hit Chandelure and other Fire-types.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Rock Slide hits Volcarona hard, (comma) but that can be played around by using Wide Guard. Water Spout Jellicent is also a threat to Volcarona, but again Volcarona can be protected by Wide Guard though Wide Guard can once again protect the moth. Volcarona's Flying-type weakness can be targeted by Acrobatics users such as Tornadus and Archeops. Chandelure is immune to whatever Fire-type attack Volcarona has, and resists Bug Buzz, meanwhile 2HKOing Volcarona with Shadow Ball.</p>

Not much to change, though something about that one paragraph seems to have irked me...

 

[Nix_Hex]

Good check. Just make sure not to add stuff like "the moth" unless it's already in there.

[GP 2/2]
let's get this up!!

 

[sandshrewz]

uploadable

[Overview]

<p>Volcarona is a potent special sweeper, with Special Attack nearly matching that of Chandelure. It is also the only Pokemon other than Amoongus with Rage Powder, giving it a unique combination of sheer power and team support. Volcarona is not a Pokemon that should be overlooked. It is, however, plagued by a horrific defensive typing for VGC, with a 4x weakness to Rock Slide, and weaknesses to Surf, Water Spout, and Acrobatics as well. The only positive for its defensive typing is a resistance to Fighting, but most Fighting-type Pokemon carry Rock Slide anyway.</p>

[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Heat Wave / Overheat
move 2: Bug Buzz
move 3: Rage Powder / Overheat
move 4: Protect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Flame Body
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Heat Wave hits both opponents hard, but will rarely OHKO either of them. Overheat, on the other hand, scores quite a few OHKOs, including Amoongus, 4 HP Tornadus and Thunderus a majority of the time, and many others. If you plan to focus more on supporting with Rage Powder while using Volcarona, Overheat is probably the better option because the Special Attack drop will be less significant. Bug Buzz is your second STAB attack and it OHKOes the slower Hydreigon, while hitting Reuncilus and Musharna hard, too. Protect gives your partner time to kill threats to Volcarona such as the numerous Rock Slide users in the metagame. It is also needed to waste a turn of Fake Out while preserving your Focus Sash. Because Mienshao and Liepard are faster than Volcarona, it must Protect first turn to dodge Fake Out, which will occur before Rage Powder. Focus Sash is used because Volcarona has trouble with the frequency of Water-, Flying- and Rock-type moves.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Volcarona needs 248 EVs in Speed and a Timid nature to outspeed Hydreigon and OHKO it with Bug Buzz. The last four are run just to Speed tie with opposing Volcarona. Volcarona is frail on the defensive side but can take hits decently from the special side of the spectrum thanks to a 105 Special Defense stat. Its weaknesses and the heavy use of Rock Slide make Focus Sash clearly the best item. Life Orb or Charti Berry seem like good options, but Life Orb doesn't grant any notable OHKOs or 2HKOs, and Charti Berry often won't prevent Volcarona from being OHKOed by Rock Slide anyway due to its lackluster Defense.</p>

<p>Volcarona is a strong stand-alone Pokemon but still enjoys and supports any kind of setup. The most noteworthy is Sunny Day, as it powers up Volcarona's already beefy fire moves. Tailwind is another good choice for support for Volcarona, allowing it to get the jump on the many Pokemon faster than it. Volcarona can even work in some kind of Trick Room team, despite having 100 base Speed, due to Rage Powder and Volcarona's ability to still undercut many common Pokemon. On a Trick Room team, an alternate EV spread of 252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 4 SpDef should be used, along with a Quiet nature. A partner using Wide Guard remedies Volcarona's quadruple Rock Slide weakness and Water Spout weakness and so provides turns for Volcarona to attack. Inner Focus Mienshao stands out as one of the best partners to Volcarona with Fake Out and Wide Guard support.</p>

[Other options]

<p>Sunny Day and Quiver Dance can be used if you utilize a Wide Guard partner to protect yourself from Rock Slide. Flamethrower is an option if you want a powerful Fire type single target move that won't drop your Special Attack. Fiery Dance's 80 base damage is lower than Flamethrower's 95, but Fiery Dance will give you a +1 Special Attack boost half of the time. Finally, Fire Blast is a fourth option for what Fire attack to run. It is much more powerful than Flamethrower, but still doesn't reach many of the OHKOs that Overheat gets and its accuracy is shaky. Solarbeam is an option if you are using Volcarona with Sun, mainly to hit Jellicent. Hidden Power Rock can be used to hit Chandelure and other Fire-types.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Rock Slide hits Volcarona hard, but that can be played around by using Wide Guard. Water Spout Jellicent is also a threat to Volcarona, though Wide Guard can once again protect the moth. Volcarona's Flying-type weakness can be targeted by Acrobatics users such as Tornadus and Archeops. Chandelure is immune to whatever Fire-type attack Volcarona has, and resists Bug Buzz, meanwhile 2HKOing Volcarona with Shadow Ball.</p>

Let's do what Komodo did since I can't find a thing to GP. :)

 

[Solace]

thanks sandshrewz! uploaded!