Why is Arcanine so popular in 2020vgc?

Question

I was looking here
https://www.smogon.com/stats/
And realised that Arcanine was quite popular in vgc, why is that so?

Answer 1

I believe it's for a few reasons.

One, it gets Will-O-Wisp. This is a tremendously useful move capable of hindering physical attackers severely. Two, it gets Snarl. Snarl hits both opponents and lowers their Special Attack, making it harder for special attackers to perform well.

It's fairly fast and has solid Attack and Special Attack, making it able to run either side well. It gets Extreme Speed and Flare Blitz, allowing it to take down opponents easily.

It also gets the incredibly helpful Ability Intimidate, which further lowers an opponent's Attack. This combined with Will-O-Wisp can all but completely cripple a physical attacker. Arcanine can also be used with Justified. Hitting it with a Dark type move such as Beat Up from a Whimsicott teammate can boost Arcanine's Attack quite high, making it a potential sweeper.

Hope I helped!

Comments

Intimidate?

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Edited. Can't believe I missed Intimidate.

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If you see an Arcanine show up but not the Intimidate ability, it's occasionally used for the Justified ability as well, especially if its teammate is a Whimsicott or Dragapult who can use Beat Up to give it a big attack boost prior to its own turn.

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Edited. My bad for not covering Abilities.