[Overview]
<p>The UU tier is home to a plethora of insanely powerful Fire-types. Most of them hit very hard physically, putting dents in many teams with their Flare Blitzes or V-Creates. However, one Pokemon stands out for hitting just as hard specially. That Pokemon is Chandelure. Armed with the highest Special Attack of any non-legendary Pokemon, Chandelure can be a prominent threat in UU. Chandelure's powerful Fire-type attacks are by no means the only thing it has going for it; it's Ghost typing is incredibly useful as well. UU is littered with Fighting-types and is heavily focused on entry hazards, making which makes Ghost a very important type. In addition, Chandelure has two great abilities to choose from. Flash Fire being , the more commonly used of the two, grants Chandelure immunity to the many powerful Fire-type moves in the tier. Flame Body should not be overlooked, however, as it allows Chandelure to get past one of its major walls, Porygon2.</p>
<p>That being said, Chandelure doesn't come without its flaws, and some of them are abundant. For starters, Chandelure has extremely inconvenient weaknesses to Water-, Ground-, Dark-, and Rock-type attacks. The latter two make for crippling weaknesses to Stealth Rock and Pursuit, two fairly common sights in UU. Not only that, but Chandelure is also quite frail, and has inconveniently below average subpar Speed. Having considered Despite all of these flaws, Chandelure is still a very powerful threat in the current metagame, and should always be prepared for.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Fire Blast / Overheat
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting / Trick
move 4: Energy Ball
item: Choice Specs
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Modest
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With base 145 Special Attack, boosted 50% by Choice Specs, Chandelure is easily one of the most powerful special attackers in the tier. Whenever it switches in, there is a very high possibility that something from the opposing team will faint. Choice Specs is chosen to further improve Chandelure's already massive Special Attack, making it very difficult to take on. Fire Blast is the standard attack because it prolongs the time in which Chandelure can break walls, rather than having to switch-out after one attack lets Chandelure stay in to break walls for more turns. Overheat is a good alternative, as it provides even more power, but the fact that if it usually forces Chandelure to switch out after using one move merely one turn usually outweighs the increase in power. Shadow Ball is another powerful STAB attack that can be used to break most of the things threats that resist Chandelure's more powerful STAB move, namely such as bulky Waters (especially Slowbro) in general and Slowbro in particular.</p>
<p>Hidden Power Fighting is a great option to fill the third moveslot, as it allows Chandelure to 2HKO most of the Pokemon that wall its first two moves, namely Trace Porygon2, Houndoom, and Snorlax, with some prior damage. If that move doesn't suit your fancy, another alternative is Trick. Trick will target the same type of Pokemon, and cripple them for the rest of the match, rather than just put some damage on them. Energy Ball is a great coverage move to round off the set. It allows you Chandelure to score a 2HKO on the likes of Suicune and Milotic, and allows you to hits Rhyperior incredibly hard as well.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Choice Specs is chosen to further improve Chandelure's Special Attack, which makes it very difficult to take on. The given EV spread and nature similarly maximizes Chandelure's already huge Special Attack stat, and provides a decent amount of speed. While Chandelure is by no means fast, 252 Speed EVs are helpful to outspeed a few select threats (such as what?). Modest is used to add even more power to Chandelure's attacks, basically eliminating foes that can take every hit from the set twice, with the exception of a few: Snorlax and Trace Porygon2, along with Houndoom if the set lacks HP Fighting. (doesnt belong here) The 4 Special Defense EVs are put in place to give deny Download users such as the Porygon family an Special Attack boost upon switching in. Flamethrower can be considered as in the last moveslot if you aren't particularly worried about bulky Water-type Pokemon, such as Milotic and Suicune, and it can be used in is handy for times when a Fire Blast miss would be deadly. However, the 2HKOs and coverage that Energy Ball provides will usually outweigh the reliability provided by Flamethrower. </p>
<p>As Chandelure is weak to Stealth Rock, and is hurt even more by Spikes, a Rapid Spinner Rapid Spin user or Xatu is usually a great partner to have on the team. A powerful Fighting-type attacker is also of great use, to picking off bulky Normal-types hyphen —namely Snorlax and Porygon2—that haunt Chandelure. (for both: recommend some that work particularly well with chandelure)</p>
[SET]
name: Substitute
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Pain Split / Energy Ball
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Modest
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Due to the sheer power that Chandelure provides possesses, it will force the opponent to switch out often. This provides a perfect opportunity to set up a Substitute. Substitutes do a great job of making up for Chandelure's frailty, and can allow it to turn it into a deadly sweeper. Fire Blast is again the STAB of choice, providing as it provides more power than Flamethrower does. Overheat does not work well for this set because most of the time, it will often use more than one attack will be used before switching out. Shadow Ball is very strong, reliable secondary STAB, It and can hit many things extremely hard that can take a few threats that resist Fire Blasts. Without the Choice Specs boost, Shadow Ball loses a few of the 2HKOs and OHKOs it gets otherwise (such as on who?), but it is still a reliable STAB move.</p>
(rearranged the two sentences)
<p>Pain Split is a great move in the last slot because Chandelure has a relatively low HP stat, and it can prolong Chandelure's lifespan while shortening the enemy's. Alternatively, Energy Ball is a nice coverage move that makes up for some of the power loss in comparison to the Choice Specs set, as it gets some nice 2HKOs and OHKOs on bulky Water-types and defensive Pokemon weak to Grass-type attacks</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread again maxes out maximizes Chandelure's huge Special Attack, and provides enough Speed for it to function (why does it "not function" with less speed? outspeeds who?). Modest is used for even more power, as the Speed boost Timid provides will only allow Chandelure to outspeed a few select Pokemon, none of which are extremely important for the Substitute set insignificant Pokemon (who?). The 4 Special Defense EVs are put in place to give a physical boost to the likes of give Download Porygon-Z and Porygon2 an Attack boost rather than a Special Attack one. Taunt is a decent option in the last slot, as it can stop Pokemon from healing off the damage Chandelure causes, or using a combination of Foresight and Rapid Spin to get rid of hazards. Will-O-Wisp can also work in the fourth slot to cripple physical attackers that will come in and attempt to break the Substitute Chandelure has set up. </p>
<p>As for every set, a spinner, for example such as Blastoise, is a great teammate to have, as it keeps away the hazards that severely cripple Chandelure. Roserade is also a good teammate because it takes can take Water-type attacks that hurt Chandelure and lays down Spikes to help Chandelure sweep.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Trick / Hidden Power Fighting
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As usual, the EVs are to maximize raise Chandelure's Special Attack to the fullest, and the Speed boost to lets it beat out as many threats as possible. The 4 Special Defense EVs are used to give Download users an Attack boost rather than a Special Attack boost upon switch-in. Modest is still the nature of choice for this set, because Chandelure really appreciates the extra power it gives, but Timid becomes is much more viable on this set, here because the Speed boost allows Chandelure to outspeed a few more important threats, These include Adamant Choice Scarf Heracross and Krookodile, and Lilligant after a boost namely neutral-natured Choice Scarf Heracross and Krookodile, as well as +1 Lilligant, to name a few.</p>
<p>As Chandelure is weak to Stealth Rock, and is hurt even more by Spikes, a Rapid Spinner Rapid Spin user or Xatu is usually a great teammate to have. A powerful Fighting-type is again a great teammate, because of its ability to break through Pokemon that can take both of Chandelure's STABs well.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Chandelure has a very expansive movepool for a Fire-type, and this does come with a few more moveset options. Calm Mind is Chandelure's best boosting option, and makes its attacks even more powerful. The problem with this such a set is the fact that Chandelure is relatively slow and will usually get outsped and killed before getting too many boosts up. A support set is somewhat viable, —consisting of moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Taunt, Pain Split, and other support moves. Usually though, —is somewhat viable, but Chandelure's offensive FIREpower is too good to pass up. As mentioned before, Flame Body is by no means a bad ability, and can be considered for on basically every set. The biggest perk to Flame Body is the fact that it allows Chandelure to get past Porygon2, one of its biggest counters. The biggest downside to that ability, however, is the fact that Chandelure is usually However, Chandelure is otherwise too frail to use the ability effectively.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>As for all of the sets, there are few counters to Chandelure largely due to its sheer offensive power. Snorlax, Porygon2 (bar scenarios where Chandelure runs Flame Body), and Houndoom are some of the few the Pokemon in the tier that resist or are immune to both of Chandelure's STABs, making them the only true counters to it in the tier. Pursuit users can be considered checks, because Chandelure is pretty frail, and obviously weak to said move. A Pursuit user can be very crippling, but However, note thatt Chandelure can usually kill beat most of the Pursuit users in the tier (such as who? are there any exceptions?). Again, Chandelure is crippled by hazards, so a Rapid Spinner or Xatu is almost always a necessary teammate. (you're writing this to help someone looking to BEAT chandelure, not a chandelure user. instead of ways to remove hazards, provide some good reliable hazard layers, spinblockers, ways to take out xatu if it's common, etc) (also, this section is pretty short. i'm no qc, but if you're looking for ways to expand it perhaps consider mentioning some good initial switch-ins and moves they need to watch out for, checks or counters to specific sets, good revenge killers, you could even spare a line or two explaining how snorlax, p2, and houndoom take out chandelure)</p>
[Unreleased]
<p>Shadow Tag is Chandelure's amazing unreleased ability that an amazing ability, but it is currently limited only to the a single evolutionary line that has an insanely shallow movepool and can't use it very well. When the ability is released, Chandelure can basically kiss UU goodbye as it will most likely move up to OU or even Ubers.</p>