Is Fire Punch a good alternative for Flare Blitz on an Infernape with Iron Fist holding a Focus Sash?

Question

Here's the deal. I have an account on a site called Pokémon Showdown!, a site in which you create one or more teams of Pokémon and battle randomly selected people with them. You can also set your Pokémon's Item, Ability, Nature, etc. I've replaced my Iron Fist Infernape's Flare Blitz with Fire Punch and saw that it might be a fairly good replacement, given the fact that Flare Blitz's recoil has ruined the effect of my Focus Sash more times than I can count. I did the math: if Fire Punch has 75 power and gains half as much because of STAB, it turns into 112.5. It gains even more power from Iron Fist, which will increase it by one fifth the original power. This will give it an excellent base power of 127.5, but that still won't beat the STAB gain that raises Flare Blitz from 120 to 180, as far as I'm concerned. It's more of a tactical situation. So what do you guys think? Improvement or liability?

Comments

lol, you're introducing showdown even tho everyone knows what it is xD

Answer 1

The extra power provided by Flare Blitz is generally too important too miss from experience in my opinion as it gives Infernape the firepower for other OHKOs and 2HKOs. You should probably take Flare Blitz and replace your item with Life Orb or Choice Band rather than focus sash. While I understand the logic behind using Fire Punch is that you can survive longer Infernape has horrible bulk of 71/76/76 which it means it won't survive very long anyway. You'll probably take less damage from an extra Flare Blitz than an extra attack by an opponent which Fire Punch wasn't enoough to kill. Alternatively you could run other infernape sets like mixed attacker which utilises overheat or the anti lead set.
You can go check Smogon for their movesets which are generally considered some of the best.
Infernape @ Choice Band
Trait ; Iron Fist
EVs : 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
~ Flare Blitz
~ Close Combat
~ U-turn
~ ThunderPunch / Mach Punch
Thats one of the gen 5 sets on smogon.

Comments

In 2 flare blitzs, infernape fainted

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Infernapes bulk is horrible it isnt going to survive long anyway. With Flare Blitz yo can do some serious damage abd take out a threat or two

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Well, Infernape's horrible defensive stats are some of the reasons I asked this question.

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Don't get me wrong, though. That was some great advice and you tipped it off with a great moveset! I just want my Infernape to survive longer in the field as a sweeper. :)

Answer 2

252 Atk Life Orb Infernape Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 307-367 (94.7 - 113.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Life Orb Iron Fist Infernape Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 234-276 (72.2 - 85.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

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252 Atk Life Orb Iron Fist Infernape Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 232+ Def Skarmory: 190-226 (56.8 - 67.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Life Orb Infernape Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 232+ Def Skarmory: 252-299 (75.4 - 89.5%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

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Those calcs should tell you enough. Fire Punch does not have the power to kill things. Infernape is a brute Pokemon who should come in and rape stuff. Don't bother to try keeping it alive longer, you'll just waste time doing that.

Instead what you can do is run a mixed set with Expert Belt, Overheat, Close COmbat, Thunderpunch, and Mach Punch/U-Turn. This will prevent Infernape from taking the recoil damage, but still does some crazy damage. It will keep him alive longer as well.

Comments

2HKOs are actually the entire purpose of my Focus Sash, but you're pretty much right about the fact that Fire Punch isn't exactly the biggest powerhouse. On the other hand, it also knows Close Combat, which pretty much holds the OHKO part down.

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But tell ya what? I'll take your advice. I'll go back to Flare Blitz and slap a Life Orb on him. See how it goes for a while. Thanks. :)

Answer 3

Fire punch is better because of the STAB of 75 which takes fair damage with the added power of iron fist ability. Flare Blitz gives ur opponent lots of damage but there's no point in that move because of your ability and it causes recoil damage.
Try this for Infernape.
Ability: Iron Fist
Moveset: Fire punch, Close Combat, Bulk up and ThunderPunch.
Item: Life Orb.
Nature: Adamant. You could replace Bulk Up with a different move.
Hope this helps.

Comments

Well, I have the same exact moveset, except I have Mach Punch instead of Bulk Up. Just for those high-speed encounters.

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It also has a Jolly Nature, also for Speed reasons. You can't have an Infernape that's not a sweeper.

Answer 4

Fire Punch

Since Fire punch also receives STAB, it's better to go with Fire Punch

Also, infernape can only do about -3 flare blitzs because of recoil damage and the opponents attacks.

Here's a example:

Infernape
Adamant
Life orb
Iron fist

thunder punch, close combat, ice punch, fake out

Better to have fire punch and stay alive longer than die and have flare blitz

Hope I helped!

Comments

It cant learn Ice punch :P

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Yeah, dude, you definitely did.

Answer 5

Hello guys ! First post .

I have a really great infernape with 5 max Ivs . I am just a beginner breeder so I was’nt able to get it with jolly nature . My Infernape setup aint that great but is pretty good for battle tree . It runs a full offensive set with its ability Iron fist . I make it hold the flame plate . My main move is fire punch . Because of stab and ability boost it gets crazy powerful , with the flame plate ,it can even compare to just a stab flare blitz . But now its your choice , power ( flare blitz ) or better liablity (fire punch ) . Its a very basic offensive setup. Hope this helps !

Infrnape@flame plate
Trait : iron fist
Evs:252 attack , 252 speed , 4 def
Jolly nature
- Shadow claw
- Fire punch
- Thunder punch
- Brick break