CHANDELURE STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

The Fifth Generation introduced 156 new Pokémon, many determinants for Competitive Pokémon . Many of the Legendaries and Pseudolegendaries determine the competitive every time they are usable, but today we bring you the guide of a Pokémon that overshadows them… or gives them light. We bring you a favorite from our newsroom, one of the best-designed Ghost Pokémon: Chandelure .

This Pokémon is difficult to use due to its high versatility and great offensive potential, so today we bring you all the information you need to take advantage of it. Go for it.

? CHANDELURE’S STATS

Its statistics add up to a total of 520 points , an average amount for many third-state Pokémon (third evolution):

• Health: 60.
• Attack: 55.
• Defense: 90.
• Special Attack: 145.
• Special Defense: 90.
• Speed: 80.

Chandelure is one of the Pokémon with the highest Special Attack, comparable to legendary ones like Rayquaza, Calyrex Shadow , or Kyogre. His great offensive power is conditioned by his Speed, those 80 leave us in no man’s land, being neither too fast nor too slow.

Defensively Chandelure suffers more. His 60 HP makes him very weak despite having a respectable 90 on both defenses.

With such balanced stats, with well marked strengths and weaknesses, Chandelure is a Pokémon with great potential if we prepare and use it correctly. Let’s see how.

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Chandelure is a Phantom Fire-type , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

• He is immune to Normal and Fighting.
• It is resistant to Fire, Grass, Ice, Poison, Bug, Steel, and Fairy.
• It is weak to Water, Ground, Rock, Ghost, and Dark.

6 resistances, 2 immunities and 5 weaknesses. The Normal immunity is fantastic against Surprise, and the Fighting immunity is a great switch to cover Pokemon like Umbreon or Bisharp.

The problem is its resistances to Ice, Poison and Bug are not very decisive (they are rare types), while its weaknesses are very common. On his weaknesses:

• Water : One of the best and most common types in the game. Dracovish and Primarina are very troublesome.
• Earth : Even though it is not a very common type, there are great threats to our favorite chandelier. Excadrill is one of the most dangerous.
• Rock : They are usually slow Pokémon, but with a lot of offensive power. A great example is Coalossal .
• Ghost : This is where those 80 Speed ​​are problematic, since other Ghosts will attack us before. Dragapult or Gengar are great examples.
• Sinister : This type is complicated because we do not have good coverage. Keep an eye out for Pokémon like Krookodile that hits us with Sinister and Ground.

CHANDELURE SKILLS

Let’s now see their abilities and which ones could be interesting:

ABSORBS FIRE

This ability makes our Pokémon immune to Fire-type attacks, and if it receives one, it boosts our Chandelure’s Fire attacks by 50%. This ability allows Chandelure to be used as a defensive switch by giving it a third immunity .

FLAME BODY

If our Pokémon receives contact attacks (such as Carantoña, Point Blank… etc), the attacker has a 30% chance of being burned. Great ability against physical attackers.

TRAP SHADOW – HIDDEN ABILITY

This ability prevents opposing Pokémon from being switched out, forcing them to stay on the field until Chandelure leaves the field or they are KOed.

TRESPASSING – HIDDEN ABILITY

With this ability our Chandelure will ignore the effects of Reflection, Screen of Light, Sacred Veil, Fog and Substitute when attacking. Very useful in singles against those awkward Subs.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

Perfect Iv’s on the fast version and 0 Speed ​​on the slow version. We will see that for the EV’s we will vary depending on the version:

For the quick version :

• EV’s : We will boost his Special Attack and Speed ​​to the maximum (252), placing the remaining 4 points in Health.
• Nature : Fearful will be the perfect nature to improve his Speed, lowering his Attack (statistic that we will not use if we go support).

For a slow version for Trick Space :

• EV’s : 252 in Health and 252 in Special Attack. The remaining 4 for Special Defense.
• Nature : We will use the Tame Nature (+Special Attack, -Speed).

RECOMMENDED ITEM

These are the objects that we recommend for Chandelure:

• Vidasfera : Enhances the damage produced by 30% and damages our Pokémon for 10% of its life. A great alternative to still have high damage and retain versatility.
• Choice Scarf : Increases the Pokémon’s Speed ​​by 50%, but forces us to use only one movement. We will see that this object will give us a very good chance.
• Leftovers : The Pokémon recovers 1/16 of its total Health points at the end of the turn. In strategies to lengthen the game (Stall) it can be very useful.
• Focus Band : This object will leave us at 1 point of Health if an attack is going to weaken us with 100% Health.

BEST MOVES FOR CHANDELURE

Chandelure has a plethora of options at your disposal. Let’s see the ones that we recommend the most:

• Shadow Ball : STAB Ghost, Special, 80 power and 100% accuracy, with a 20% chance to lower the target’s Special Defense by one level. Very effective against Ghost and Psychic. Great option for Pokemon like Alolan Marowak or Hatterene , for example.
• Flamethrower : Fire STAB, Special, 90 power, 100% accuracy and a 10% chance to burn the opponent. It is very effective against Steel, Bug, Ice and Grass. It’s our go-to move against Pokemon like Ferrothorn , Galar Darmanitan, or Corviknight .
• Energy Ball : Grass, 90 power, 100% accuracy and a 10% chance to lower the opponent’s Special Defense by one level. Our coverage for the Water, Rock and Ground Types that are so annoying for our Chandelure, such as Rotom Wash or Barraskewda .
• Hidden Power Ice : Movement that will have a type depending on our IV’s and we will take it in Ice type, Special, with 60 power and 100% precision. Very effective against Dragon, Grass, Ground and Flying. We’re bringing this move so we can hit Ground-Types when they think they’re safe. our way to take down Garchomp .
• Trick Room : Normal, State, for 5 turns the order of Speed ​​is reversed, with the slowest Pokémon attacking first.
• Trick : Psychic, Status, change the item equipped by our Chandelure for the item of the rival. Great way to lock down your opponent with one of your choice items.
• Substitute : Normal, State, uses 25% of our Pokémon’s maximum Health to create a substitute that will receive damage from rival movements. This substitute will have the same type, stats, and ability as our Chandelure, but its Health will be that 25% we lose to create it.
• Mental Peace : Psychic, State. Our Pokémon will increase its Special Attack and its Special Defense by one level. Great boost move.
• Fire Wave : STAB Fire, Special, 95 power, 90% accuracy, and a 10% chance to burn the opponent. Our Fire STAB alternative for doubles, as it hits both foes.
• Wisp Fire : Fire, Status, 85% accuracy. Burns the opponent, reducing their physical damage by 50%.

CHANDELURE STRATEGIES

This Pokémon has a wide variety of options and very surprising movements. This range of options allows us to run sets that are very difficult to predict, even if we want to take advantage of its great damage we can have an Ace up our sleeve. We show you the strategies that we liked the most for Chandelure:

CHANDELURE ATTACKER (SWEEPER) BUT WITH SURPRISE – SINGLES

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 4 Defense, 252 Special Attack and 252 Speed.
• Nature: Fearful.
• Object: Election Scarf.
• Skill: Body Flame/Absorb Fire.
• Movements:
  • Shadow ball.
  • flamethrower.
  • Trick.
  • Hidden Power Ice.

This set gives us a lot of options, both offensive and defensive. With Shadow Ball and Flamethrower we can do a lot of damage by hitting before in many cases thanks to the Choice Scarf.

Trick is our defensive option, or rather disruptive, especially against Pokémon that use boosting moves (Sword Dance, Scheming… etc) or defensive walls (I’m looking at you Toxapex ). Using Trick will place the Choice Scarf on them, forcing them to only use one move each time they enter the field. Fantastic tech that will give you many games.

Hidden Power Ice is fantastic against dragons like Dracovish , or the aforementioned Dragapult and Garchomp.

The choice of skill is personal, although we recommend Absorb Fire. It’s more consistent and gives us another chance to cover our Pokemon with a safe switch into Chandelure.

CHANDELURE THE ELUSIVE (SET WITH SUBSTITUTE) – SINGLES

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 in Special Attack, 252 in Speed ​​and 4 in Health.
• Nature: Fearful.
• Object: Remains.
• Skill: Body Flame/Absorb Fire.
• Movements:
  • Substitute.
  • Shadow ball.
  • flamethrower.
  • Peace of mind.

This set is more complicated to play, because we must know when we are faster than the opponent, or we are a threat, to safely place the substitute. Once the  substitute is in play, we will use Peace of Mind to raise our Special Attack and Special Defense.

If we manage to raise our Special Attack a couple of times, our Chandelure will be unstoppable. And if the opponent has special attackers like Kingdra or Inteleon we will withstand a lot of damage from these thanks to our Special Defense +2.

CHANDELURE FOR RARE SPACE – VGC DOUBLES

• IVs: Perfect, except Speed ​​that we will leave at 0.
• EVs: 252 Health, 4 Special Defense and 252 Special Attack.
• Nature: Mansa.
• Item: Focus Band/Lifesphere.
• Skill: Trespassing/Fire Absorb.
• Movements:
  • Rare Space.
  • Shadow ball.
  • Igneous Wave/Energiball.
  • Protection/Wisp.

This set is focused on Trick Room , but it is very important that we identify the opponent. Most of the Ghosts present in competitive are faster than Chandelure, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some that are slower (Alolan Marowak or Aegislash for example). This is how we should use Rare Space when our Pokémon is slower than the rival Attackers.

The choice of item depends on our ability to protect Chandelure from the opponent and the dependence on Trick Room. If we want to set up Trick Space no matter what and have no way to protect our Chandelure from the opponent, Banda Focus will ensure that it doesn’t go down in one hit against Pokemon like Calyrex Shadow. Be very careful with Urshifu Fluid Style that with Torrential Lash will hit us 3 times, making the Focus Band useless. In case we can protect it well, Life Orb will give us that damage so that Chandelure can sweep the opponent.

The use of Energibola or Igneous Wave depends on the coverages of our team, since Energibola can be decisive against Pokémon like Gastrodon or Groudon . Protection is usually a safer option, but Wisp is great for removing opposing threats.

Finally, the choice of skill is based on needs. The sheer number of screens in VGC gives Raid a lot of value, but Absorb Fire again gives us a very good option to cover our Pokémon.

HOW TO DEFEAT CHADELURE AND COUNTERS

Defensively Chadelure is a weak Pokémon, so quickly wearing it down may be our best option, but there are more ways to remove its threat. We go like:

• Take him down in one hit : Water, Ground, Rock, Ghost and Dark all do very effective damage to him. But noteworthy is Tyranitar , which with Arena Storm will ensure that it gets nerfed even if it runs Focus Band thanks to chip damage. As well as the aforementioned Fluid Urshifu.
• Taunt : Most Chandelure sets use some status move before going on the offensive, so using Taunt to prevent them from being able to use these is a very effective way to limit their action. Incineroar is one of the best possibilities, since it also has access to Dark damage to hit him hard