What is a good moveset for Charizard?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Charizard, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Charizard Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Roost / Earthquake

Dragon Dance allows Charizard to boost its Attack and Speed simultaneously. Dragon Claw is a powerful STAB attack that is boosted by Tough Claws. Flare Blitz is a nuke able to take on Steel-types, which resist Dragon Claw. Roost improves Charizard's longevity, eases setup, and allows it to stay out of range of revenge killers. Earthquake is an option to deal great damage to Tyranitar and Toxapex as well as OHKO Heatran.

Comments

This setup is good, so i'm upvoting, but would be better without roost since his maim EV's are on speed and attack. Also outrage would be better than dragon claw on most situations.

Answer 2

Defensive Charizard

Charizard @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp

Gen 8 graced Charizard with the amazing held item in the form of Heavy-Duty Boots, so that 4x Stealth Rock weakness is no more. Defog is a perfect pair with Heavy-Duty Boots to get rid of hazards for your teammates, Roost is for recovery, Flamethrower is so that you aren't Taunt bait and serves as a simple STAB attack. Will-O-Wisp can burn pesky Rock types on the switch, hindering their usefulness.

Comments

This setups is moderately good, but Charizard is better suit to fulfill other roles while also having better pokémons than Charizard to fulfill this role. Also Roost would be good on this setup only if the EV configuration was another, making use of special def, HP or def.

Answer 3

Gen 8 OU

Charizard @ Choice Specs
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Weather Ball / Flamethrower
- Focus Blast
- Solar Beam
- Scorching Sands

Weather Ball is STAB in the sun, Flamethrower is a more consistent STAB move out of Sun. Focus Blast is coverage, most importantly for Tyranitar, which has Sand Stream to disrupt Sun. Solar Beam covers Rock and Water types and takes 1 turn to use in the sun. Scorching Sands is strong coverage and has a chance to burn

Answer 4

Gen 7 Doubles OU

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Solar Beam
- Tailwind / Protect
- Focus Blast

Under the sunlight caused by Drought, Heat Wave is absurdly strong STAB that causes spread damage and ignores redirection. Solar Beam is coverage and doesn't need to charge thanks to Drought. Tailwind provides speed control, which is always nice in doubles. Protect keeps Charizard safe for a turn while its ally can take out a threat to it. Focus Miss Focus Blast is solely for Incineroar.

Answer 5

I have been experimenting with Defensive Charizard in the OU ladder and saw a bit of success with it.

SET
Charizard @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 100 HP / 60 SpA / 108 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Hurricane

240 Speed EVs let it outspeed Timid Hydreigon

Defensive Calcs:
Urshifu-RS: 252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Aqua Jet vs. 100 HP / 0 Def Charizard: 242-288 (75.1 - 89.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Hydreigon: 252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 100 HP / 108 SpD Charizard: 273-321 (84.7 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Swampert: 252 Atk burned Swampert Flip Turn vs. 100 HP / 0 Def Charizard: 108-127 (33.5 - 39.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Offensive Calcs:

Urshifu-RS: 60 SpA Charizard Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 408-482 (119.6 - 141.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Rillaboom: 60 SpA Charizard Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rillaboom: 362-428 (106.1 - 125.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Just letting you know, this Charizard set gets hard-walled by Heatran.

Answer 6

Charizard is my favorite Pokemon since I was five yo. I simple can't play without him, so it become my main.

Role: Sweeper

Charizard-Mega-X (M) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 128 Atk / 128 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance

• Fire Punch: Nice STAB with 97 base power thanks to Tough Claws. It's here over Flare Blitz for longevity
• Dragon Claw: STAB, 104 base power. Is here over Outrage for the same reason of Fire Punch
• Earthquake: Great move, Great Coverage
• Dragon Dance: The heart of It.

It's simple: set it once with DD and both his Attack and Speed go to 492. It can outspeed anything that isn't scarfed or called "Regieleki"; 492 Attack + Tough Claws + STAB do a nice damage. Set it twice with DD and both his Attack and Speed go to 656. It can outspeed anything and beat anything unprepared. But, set it up twice can't let you OHKO Gliscor and Blissey. You i'll need to set it up 3 times, and when it reach the SSJ 3, it's done. I preffer X-zard than Y-zard because he's really bulky, and a better Fighter than any other common dragon in the game (LO Salamance, Policy Dragonite, average Garchomp, etc), but he isn't absolute: Unaware Cleffairy is the natural counter of It. Sash-Counter can also put it to rest, and Sturdy/Toxic can piss you off. Otherwise, he's really a great Fire/Dragon type.

-

Role: Lead

Charizard-Mega-Y (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Pulse
- Solar Beam
- Scorching Sands / Air Slash

• Flamethrower: Nice STAB
• Dragon Pulse: Mandatory Coverage
• Solar Beam: Cover all his Fire Weakness
• Scorching Sands/Air Slash: Choose your Coverage

Don't need explanation. 417 Base SpA and super-effectiveness against 11 different Types (Grass, Bug, Ice, Steel, Dragon, Water, Ground, Rock, Poison, Fire and Electric). Nice STAB Power (Sun Flamethrower) and great Coverage. Work better on Sun Team's or Doubles with Arcanine/Venusaur.

Answer 7

I swept 3 teams with this on showdown. It's amazing.

Charizard @ Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Claw / Acrobatics / Dual Wingbeat
- Belly Drum

I saw a similar one somewhere and I basically use the same set, but I just changed a few things. Predict a switch or setup move to get the substitute off, which also means a free belly drum. Sub + belly drum gets you to 1/4 health which gives you a speed boost from salac and also gets you into blaze with makes fire punch literally steamroll everything. Dragon claw is coverage, which I prefer, but if you want you can use Acrobatics for a solid stab with 165 power. However, its walled by rock types. You could use Dual wingbeat if gen 8 but then I prefer a dynamax sun sweeper.

Hope you like it

Answer 8

GIGANTAMAX CHARIZARD Gen 8 AG

Charizard-Gmax (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Blaze / Solar Power
Shiny: Yes
Gigantimax: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Solar Beam / Scorching Sands
- Dragon Pulse

Fire Blast --> G-Max Wildfire
Air Slash --> Max Airstream
Solar Beam --> Max Overgrowth / Scorching Sands --> Max Quake
Dragon Pulse --> Max Wyrmwind

- Fire Blast very powerful STAB but has a chance to miss but when Gigantamaxed Fire Blast turns into G-Max Wildfire which will be backed up by Fire Blast's great power and will cause all non-Fire type Pokemon on the opposing team to lose 1/6 of their maximum HP after each turn, for 4 turns after it hits.
- Air Slash STAB and has a chance to cause the opposing Pokemon to flinch, when Gigantamaxed Air Slash turns into Max Airstream which boosts Charizard's speed by one stage when it hits which is nice because Charizard's speed is not that fast compared to all the new fast Pokemon in Gen 8.
- Solar Beam is coverage for rock and water types and will turn into Max Overgrowth and summons grassy terrain for 5 turns after it hits.
- Dragon Pulse dragon type coverage and will turn into Max Wyrmwind and lowers the target's Atk stat.
- Scorching Sands can replace Solar Beam and provides rock and electric type coverage, its another way to take out Tyranitar and you are not walled by Heatran. When Gigantamaxed Scorching Sands turns into Max Quake and raises the special defense of the user and its teammates.

Answer 9

Gen 9 NU Belly Drum

Charizard @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Acrobatics
- Flame Charge
- Earthquake

If you decide to use Charizard in NU, here is a Belly Drum set you can use. Belly Drum is used to max out Charizard's Attack stat in order to make Charizard a scary sweeper should a team not have anything to stop it. Acrobatics becomes a powerful STAB move once Charizard eats its Sitrus Berry. Flame Charge is used for the Fire STAB to boost Charizard's speed so it can outspeed Choice Scarf Pokemon such as Rotom, Bombirdier, and Medicham. Earthquake is used for a nice coverage move that is useful against Pokemon such as Magneton, Tera Steel Appletun, and can be used against Sandaconda to avoid making contact should Sandaconda have Rocky Helmet. This set should be used on HO teams, so lead Bombirdier is a required teammate for this set due to its ability to setup Stealth Rock, prevent Stealth Rock being up via Taunt, use Knock Off to remove Sandaconda's Rocky Helmet, and use Memento to bring in Charizard safely. Tera Ground is used for the set to turn Charizard's Electric weakness into an immunity. Tera Ground is also useful to let Charizard setup vs a Sandaconda using Stone Edge.

Answer 10

Mega Charizard X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Roost
- Dragon claw

One of the great things about this is that it is unexpected. Charizard has respectable defenses and takes neutral damage to the water type they are probably switching in. With Thunder Punch (gen 5 move tutor move) getting a boost from Tough Claws, it is great water bait. If it happens to get worn down by the water types, use Roost. Dragon Claw and Fire Punch both provide good Tough Claws boosted STAB.

Answer 11

"Charizard X Will Rip Your Face Off With A Well Aimed Fart"

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws (Only Ability, but increases the power of Physical attacks)
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpD / 6 Spe
Brave Nature
- Flare Blitz / Fire Punch / Flame Charge
- Outrage / Dragon Claw
- Solarbeam / Earthquake
- Swords Dance / Sunny Day

Flare Blitz/Fire Punch/Flame Charge- Flare Blitz has 120 Damage, STAB, increase from Tough Claws, and has a boost from Charizard X's huge Attack and Attack EV's. However, after doing a lot of damage, it takes a third of the immense damage it dealt, which, when OHKOing a Pokemon, will take serious health off the bar. It also has a chance to burn, and with 100 accuracy, to some it might be worth the risk. Then, there is Fire Punch. Less damage, same PP, same accuracy, and same chance to burn. However, all of Charizard X's boosts make it still do a lot of damage, and without the risk of recoil. And finally, there is Flame Charge. Still less damage, same accuracy, and doesn't have a chance to burn. However, I'll say it again, boosts from Charizard X make it do a lot of damage, and increases Speed every time. Holy crap, that took a minute.

Outrage/Dragon Claw- Outrage does 120 Damage, had 100 Accuracy, and hits multiple times. However, it then confuses Charizard X, so if it hits itself in confusion, it will do a pretty good amount of damage, for the hit from confusion is Physical (I don't know if hits from confusion actually are affected by Tough Claws, but I know that having high Attack does.) Now, for Dragon Claw. Less damage, same accuracy, and more PP. Nothin' else to it, besides not causing confusion. Both deal with Dragon types, one of it's weaknesses.

Solarbeam/Earthquake- Charizard X is weak to Rock and Ground types as well as the Dragon type, so Solarbeam works well. Charizard X already has powerful Sp. Attack, so paired with Sunny Day, this could potentially eliminate most of Charizard X's weaknesses. Then there's Earthquake. Paired with Swords Dance, this move can be devastating. This provides coverage against types that resist Fire and Dragon types, or those who are weak to Ground.

Swords Dance/Sunny Day- Along with Charizard X's Ability, his high Attack/Attack EV's, most of his moves STAB, and his Attack friendly nature, now increasing his Attack by 2 Stages sounds OP... I like it! However, if you want Solarbeam to hit immediately, I would recommend Sunny Day. As well as making Solarbeam hit without charging, it also increases the power of Fire type moves used in battle until it fades.

Answer 12

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Air Slash
- Dragon Pulse

Flamethrower: STAB, plus when he mega evolves into Charizard Y, his ability is Drought which boosts fire-type moves.

Solar Beam: Drought turns this onto a 1-turn move.

Air Slash: STAB, there is also a chance to make the opponent flinch.

Dragon Pulse: Just because.

Answer 13

Here's mine

And it's surprisingly good.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Solar Power -> Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Solar Beam
- Roost
- Heat Wave / Flamethrower
- Air Slash

Lemme explain. EVs are pretty self explanatory. The nature is depending whether you have Sticky Web and/or Tailwind support or not. Solarbeam is a nice coverage move and covers most of its weaknesses. Roost is for it to last longer on the field and provides recovery from Stealth Rocks which it is x4 weak to but Roost solves that problem right there. Heat Wave is for doubles and Flamethrower is for Singles. Air Slash is is a good move while also giving STAB which boosts it up to 112.5 BP. Hope this set brings victory to manY! :D

Answer 14

Has anybody thought of

Role: Lead Pokemon

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Belly Drum
- Dragon Claw
- Flame Charge
- Roost / Earthquake

• Belly Drum (First move, maximize attack)
• Dragon Claw (Strong, accurate STAB with Tough Claws and only having to worry about fairy and steel)
• Flame Wheel (for fairy and steel but also to guarenteed further increase speed) Even though it's only 50pwr, with Belly Drum max attack does damage + STAB + Tough Claws

With this set, once he has max attack, you wouldn't really have to worry about ANYTHING. I didn't put outrage because of the confusion afterwards and if the opponent switches in a fairy or steel and counters your screwed. So with a max attack it's best to try and keep as much control as possible.

Answer 15

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Trait: Solar Power----->Drought
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Spe/252 SAtk/4 HP
Moveset:

• Flamethrower
• Air Slash
• Solar Beam
• Dragon Pulse

This set works nicely in the sun. Flamethrower and Air Slash are its two main STAB moves, and they deal a good amount of damage, especially Flamethrower in Drought. Solar Beam occurs right away in the sun, and gives good coverage, along with Dragon Pulse.

Answer 16

Yea I know this is a late answer....but still.
Charizard (M) @ Leftovers(Charcoal might be a choice but I prefer Leftovers)
Ability:Blaze obviously
EVs:252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe,-SAtk.)
-Dragon Claw(decent attack and STAB if you are going M Charizard X)
-Flare Blitz(Nice attack,only payback is it's recoil,but it's worth it)/Outrage(DEFINITELY)
-Earthquake(I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain)
-Rock Slide(Surely you know why)/Air Slash(decent attack,a little less accuracy but flinching chance is worth it and STAB)/Aerial Ace(Decent Attack,has STAB and guaranteed hit if you are looking for that)

Answer 17

I'll give you three diffrent answers cause of the megas.

Charizard Trait: Blaze @Leftovers/Lum berry (I highly recommend Lum berry)

Evs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP

Nature: Adamant (+ Atk - Sp Atk)
If you want to you can go for Jolly Nature (+Spd -Sp Atk)

Moveset: Substitute: User hides behinds a Decoy or whatever how you say it. Belly Drum: Cuts half of it's own hp but maximize his attack.
Fire Punch: Works with Belly Drum and covers Bug, Steel, Grass.
Thunder Punch/Earthquake: Either cover water 2x weakness or rock 4x weakness.

Charizard Y Trait: Drought @Charizardite Y

Evs 252 Sp Atk/252 Spd/4 Sp Def

Nature: Timid or Modest. Timid (+Spd - Atk) Modest (+Sp Atk -Atk)

Moveset:
Air Slash: Deals with other Charizards and flinch chance.
Solar Beam: You knew this was coming right? High power, Covers 2x Weakness from water and 4x Weakness from Rock.
Heat Wave/Flamethrower/Fire Blast: Heat Wave is for doubles. Flamethrower has high accuracy, High power and boostes power in drought. Fire Blast is a very high power move but has a low accuracy (If you don't like this kind of moves go for flamethrower)
Dragon Pulse: Egg move (I'll give you information about that in the end) Good power, Deals with dragon types, High accuracy.

Charizard X Trait: Tough Claws @Charizardite X

Evs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 Def

Nature Adamant, Jolly. (I've explained both of the natures above)

Moveset:
Dragon Dance: (Egg move I'll give you information in the end) Raises attack and speed by one stage.
Dragon Claw: After using Dragon Dance and being powered up by tough claws Dragon Claw does tons of damage.
Flare Blitz: High power, Recoil damage.
Roost: Heals half hp but loses flying type in that turn, Great move for healing up Flare Blitz's Recoil.

Egg moves in this answer:
Dragon Dance: The easiest way to get that is to get a female charmander or the family and a male Altaria that knows Dragon Dance. And breed of course.
Dragon Pulse: Can also be breeded for egg move by Altaria.

Hope you enjoyed this! This was my 2nd answer after I made an account.

Answer 18

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

• Dragon Claw
• Will-O-Wisp / Dragon Dance
• Fire Punch
• Earthquake

Fire Punch is STAB, Dragon Claw is STAB and coverage against Dragon-types, and Earthquake is coverage against Rock-types. Dragon Dance boosts Attack and Speed. Will-O-Wisp burns the target and halves the damage caused by their attacks.

Answer 19

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 112 Atk / 68 Def / 6 Speed
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Dance

• Dragon Claw (Very good STAB move for dragon types (Tough Claws ability)) (Lvl 1 and TM 02)
• Earthquake (Good physical Move for Rock, Steel) (TM 26)
• Flare Blitz (Good STAB move, but user receives recoil damage (Tough Claws ability)) (Lvl 77)
• Dragon Dance (Very good move, raises attack and speed) (Breeding)

Comments

why not full EVs??

Answer 20

This is a moveset for a Charizard Y

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Air Slash
- Solar Beam
- Roost

Flamethrower - Stab, 10% chance to burn
Air Slash - Stab, 30% chance to flinch
Solar Beam - Coverage for all of Fire’s weaknesses, base 120 power, no need to charge with Drought
Roost - Always a good idea to heal
Hope this helps you guys

Comments

You probably want 0 EV's in attack because of foul play.