A PvP Analysis on Community Day Typhlosion (Electrifying Edition)

Good day, Pokémon Trainers! In a rather surprising turn of events, I will be the one providing the PvP analysis of the star of this month’s community day classic, Cyndaquil. It is a task I’m more than happy to take up. As mentioned previously, Cyndaquil happens to be one of my favorite Pokémon. 

However, personal bias does it cut it in PvP. So, does Typhlosion and its newly acquired move, Thunder Punch, along with the C-day move Blast Burn, make an impact? Or is this community day best spent without caring at all about Typhlosion’s PvP potential? To find out, let’s be lightning fast as we jump right into our Bottom Line Up Front.

B.L.U.F

• As with all Fire type starters, Typhlosion gets Blast Burn for its Community Day. This isn’t anything new for Typhlosion as it’s the exact move it had in its previous Community Day. And as the past shows, it wasn’t enough for Typhlosion to be a favored Pokémon for PvP.
• What has changed since then is that Typhlosion gained access to the charged attack Thunder Punch. This is just the move Typhlosion needed to get both a reliable bait move and decent coverage.
• So now with both Blast Burn and Thunder Punch, Typhlosion is actually fairly decent. And if you didn’t have a Typhlosion with Blast Burn saved up already, this is a fantastic time to pick one up.
• With that being said, I would say Typhlosion is still somewhat of a spice pick. It is still very frail, and Thunder Punch, while being the right move for Typhlosion to have, could still use a buff.

Typhlosion Stats and Moves

Typhlosion

Fire

Great League Stats

Ultra League Stats

Master League Stats

The thing that immediately jumps out with Typhlosion is that Attack stat. Especially compared to the two most popular Fire types in the Great League and the Ultra League, Skeledirge and Talonflame. In fact, Typhlosion is a full 10 points ahead (Actually a bit more) compared to those two in Attack. Instead, it is closer, almost toe-to-toe with Charizard, in that regard.

But of course, this insane attack stat comes at a cost. And that cost is its low bulk. Not being particularly noteworthy in terms of Defense or HP. Especially, in the HP department. In fact, Typhlosion is entirely 1:1 with Charizard in terms of stats. So if you’ve ever used Charizard, especially in the Great League, you know how glassy it can feel to use. Though, it is a bit more reliably bulkier in the Ultra League.

This brings us to Typhlosion’s type. A fun fact, all 3 of the Johto starters are mono types, even when fully evolved. Which is to say, Typhlosion is a pure, mono Fire type Pokémon. Which resists SteelIceGrassFireFairy and Bug. This is very respectable. But it’s weak to GroundRock and …Water. Oh no. Ground is bad enough as is. But you definitely don’t want to be particularly weak to Water types in recent metas. Considering that’s like the most dominant type. Thankfully, this is where the other side of the equation, the moves comes in.

FAST ATTACKS

• Incinerate – Fire type, 4.8 DPT, 4.0 EPT, 5 Turns
• Shadow Claw – Ghost type, 3.0 DPT, 4.0 EPT, 2 Turns
• Ember – Fire type, 4.2 DPT, 3.0 EPT, 2 Turns

So let’s just get one of these three moves out of the way quickly. Ember. While not a bad move, it is strictly worse than the other options. And fails to get Typhlosion any unique wins while increasing the losses. So the competition is between Incinerate and Shadow Claw.

Even then, in terms of pure stats, Incinerate is still objectively better. Not only do you have more damage with equal energy generation per turn, but you get STAB advantage too. This means Incinerate does more damage thanks to sharing the same time as Typhlosion. However, there is still still a case to be made for Shadow Claw.

For starters, it is easier to play with (And more difficult to play around for the opponent) thanks to it being a two-turn move. As opposed to the very slow five-turn Incinerate. Not only that, Shadow Claw does make matchups against Pokémon weak to Ghost a bit better. This means you beat Cresselia a bit more cleanly and actually beat out Sableye, which incinerate can’t do. However, Incinerate still ultimately wins out in my opinion. Especially thanks to its synergy with:

CHARGED ATTACKS

• Blast Burnᴱ – Fire type, 132 damage, 50 energy
• Thunder Punch – Electric type, 55 damage, 40 energy
• Solar Beam – Grass type, 150 damage, 80 energy
• Overheat – Fire type, 156 damage, 55 energy, 100% Chance: Reduce Self Defense -2 Stages
• Fire Blast – Fire type, 168 damage, 80 energy

That’s quite the healthy selection of heavy-hitting Fire type Charged Attacks Typhlosion has there. But let’s be real here. There’s a reason why for fire-type starters, Blast Burn is a vital part of their toolkit. The damage output per energy is second to none! Fire Blast just has too high of an energy requirement. Very unrecommended for a squishy Pokémon like Typhlosion. And Overheat comes with the double debuff. Which means you have to switch out or make Typhlosion useless. Really, you need to go with the Community Day move for Typhlosion.

Which brings us to the real decision point between Thunder Punch and Solar Beam. After all, Solar Beam is what Typhlosion was running before Thunder Punch. So there have to be some benefits still left for it right? Well, kind of. When shields are down, Solar Beam can take out two bulky Pokémon, Azumarill and Lickitung. And in a scenario where you have 1 shield and your opponent has none, you can take out the mudbois, Quagsire, and Whiscash as well.

However, that is pretty much where the benefits end. Again, Solar Beam just requires too much energy for the frail Typhlosion to handle. It just won’t stay in the field long enough to properly make use of it. So, Thunder Punch is just better in even shielding scenarios. Though, in some miracle moment where you have both a shield advantage and an energy advantage Solar Beam can perform better, such a lucky scenario is rare.

Great League

So we have more of an idea of the ideal kit for Typhlosion. But what can it do with it? Well, just by getting a cursory glance at the results PVPoke has to show us, Thunder Punch and Blast Burn win out in every equal shielding scenario. And interestingly, Keeping Incinerate and Blast Burn but moving Thunder Punch around with the other charged attacks yield the same results. “But what are those results?” You might be thinking to yourself.

Well in the 0-0 shields and the 1-1 shields scenarios against the meta we get 38.1% wins and 61.9% losses. Not impressive but not the worst either. In 2-2, we see a perfect 50-50 win-loss split. This only improves with Shadow Typhlosion. Which is to be expected for an attack-weighted Pokémon. Here, in 1-1 we have a much more agreeable 45.2% win rate. Improvements can be seen in the 0-0 scenario as well with a 40.5% win rate. While the 2-2 scenario win rates have actually slightly dropped to a 47.6% win rate.

Despite that, Shadow Typhlosion definitely performs better and more consistently overall. And it is now where I think it’s worth noting that you don’t typically want to run Typhlosion in even shields. Typhlosion dominates with even just 1 shield advantage. Looking at wins reaching up to 70-80%. Regular and Shadow seem to even out in terms of win rates with a shield advantage as well.

But so far, I’ve just been throwing numbers at you. Who are these Pokémon that Typhlosion beats? Are they here with us right now? Well, the first thing that comes to mind are the Steel and Ice types. Especially the terror of the skies, Skarmory. Ohhh boy Skarmory. The bane of my existence as someone who likes Fairy types. Typhlosion just destroys Skarmory with every one of its moves!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Of course, Typhlosion can beat things it has a type advantage against like meta Grass and Bug types along with the aforementioned types, and also most Fairy types. What makes Typhlosion really respectable is that in even shields it’s beating the very bulky Cresselia, and two popular water types in Feraligatr and Mantine. Granted that Mantine isn’t running Water Pulse of course. So that Thunder Punch is really helping out. Typhlosion is even coming close to beating Gligar now. And these successes become all the more impressive with a shield advantage. Now beating bulky Dark types like Umbreon, Guzzlord, and Mandibuzz and adding a few more Water types into the mix like Dewgong.

Ultra League

Let’s keep this brief as most of the things said so far apply to the Ultra League as well. Except Typhlosion might actually be even better in the Ultra League. It has more bulk and there are more prevalent targets. Not only is Cresselia prevalent in this meta as well, there are also more Steel types in Registeel, Steelix, and Cobalion used more regularly. Shadow Typhlosion can even beat out Walrein.

But of course, it’s worth remembering that this is also a meta where Swampert, Tapu Fini, Giratina (Altered), and Tapu Fini run free and often. All Pokémon that Typhlosion very much does not want to see.

Master League

We’re talking about using a Pokémon with a max stat total slightly above 5000 in a meta where there’s a Pokémon whose stat total reaches above 10000? Simple advice: DO NOT.

Conclusion

And there you go! Typhlosion is a frail but powerful Pokémon with a lot of potential now that it has Thunder Punch along with its Community Day move Blast Burn. It is really only prevented from being a top meta Pokémon due to the leagues it can do well in being dominated by Water type Pokémon. With a significant meta shakeup or buff to Thunder Punch Typhlosion can do really really well. But for now, it is still a decent Pokémon that needs to be maneuvered consciously.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Community Day analysis from me this time. Like I said, I love Typhlosion and I also love JRESeawolf’s analysis so I hope I have done it justice. Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!