What is a good moveset for Charizard?

Question

Share your best competitive movesets for Charizard on this thread! Movesets for Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y can also be posted here, as well as for Charmander and Charmeleon.

Check the submission guidelines before posting! Only competitive movesets with all relevant details (item, nature, exact EVs, ability, moves) and a solid explanation will be accepted.

Charizard Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Here's my Charizard moveset

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability : Solar Power / Drought
Evs : 252 SpA, 4 HP, 252 Spe
Modest Nature (+SpA -Atk)
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Ancient Power
- Fly / Scorching Sands

Solar Beam - This move is mainly for coverage for Rock / Water types, Rock types being 4x Super effective and water types being 2x Super Effective and while Solar Beam takes a turn to charge and will fire on the second turn either mega evolving Charizard into mega Charizard Y or running Charizard with solar beam will make it instantly fire when used but preferably you should use Mega Charizard Y as he is then stronger and his ability changes to drought allowing him to instantly use Solar Beam

Fire Blast - This move is for the more bulky Pokemon (namely, Zacian, Aggron, Melmetal, Metagross and Zamazenta and some other fast steel types like Scizor and Lucario) and Fire Blast will also be boosted by Sunny Day / Drought making this move even more devastating than it already is and it is also good if Fire type attacks are neutral with no super effective moves and also has a chance to burn

Ancient Power - I don't feel the need to explain this but let's do it anyway, Good Coverage for Flying types (Gyarados, Pelipper, Maybe even for setting up due to the 10% Omni boost chance) And some dangerous Ice types (Cloyster, Lapras) with moves like hydro pump and whirlpool and it also does high damage and has the added chance to boost all of your Pokemon’s stats

Scorching Sands - Scorching Sands is a great choice for a special charizard as it provides coverage for another dangerous weakness that he has, The electric type. So, to fix that problem charizard lends himself to max speed evs to potentially outspeed some electric types and hit them heavily for huge damage and this may also burn the target then allowing them to receive even more damage the next turn if charizard didn't already one shot them with the 252+ SpA investment

Note : Blaze Or Solar power doesn’t matter if you are running M Char Y but if you are running any other item / Another sun setter use Solar Power as it enhances damage done in sunlight but damages you a bit, Like a built in LO

Comments

Fly isn't good on Charizard. Why Thunder Punch with a -Atk Nature? Charizard can't learn Earth Power.

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In that case give it Scorching Sands and Ancient Power to still cover Flying types because you have 5 other members and it also has that sweet, sweet 10% omni-boost chance

also i did see someone else comment that charizard can’t learn Scorching sands, Its a move tutor move on him.

And Lastly if you want you can switch out a move for Weather Ball because drought turns it into a slightly less powerful and more accurate move

Answer 2

Okay, even though I am a 12 year old, I have vast Pokemon knowledge. Stats, IVs, EVs, everything. Here is my regular Zard variant.

Charizard @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast / Overheat / Blast Burn
- Air Slash / Hurricane
- Dragon Pulse / Tera Blast
- Roost

The plan is simple. Life Orb adds even more power to Its Fire and Flying STAB. If you want a hyperattacking variant, and don't mind sacrificing a bit of HP or power, Life Orb+Blast Burn+ Hurricane is the set for you. If you want to play the long game, and are building the team around it, Flamethrower + Air Slash is perfect. Dragon Pulse provides STAB for its Dragon TT, with Tera Blast also being a good option. You may or may not run Roost, depending on yr playing style. You can also alternatively run two Fire moves instead of Roost.

Comments

This set isn't quite much viable because most of the move choices can miss. Tera Dragon isn't quite as good as Tera Ground because of defensive purposes, and Blast Burn isn't really good for a Charizard, unless you want to switch after (you can't). Your EVs are out of wack. Also, where is your Nature?

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Is the Fire Gem even in S/V? I swear it wasn't...

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https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Fire_Gem

Fire Gem isn't even coded into any game on the Switch, and hasn't been obtainable since B2W2

Answer 3

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze --> Drought
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Special Attack / 4 HP
Nature: Modest
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam/Scorching Sand/Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
- Air Slash

Use it in the starting (Helps to avoid stealth rock damages). Mega evolve it immediately. It will be a clean sweeper. Drought powers up fire moves. High special attack will increase the damage. Solar Beam, Scorching Sand and Focus Blast is good against rock types, Charizard's 4x weakness. Scorching Sand specifically helps in dealing with both electric and rock type Pokémon.

The weaknesses it may face is a higher level opponent (obviously) or electric/rock flying types. Since Solar Beam is a 2 moves attack, it is possible Charizard may be one shot easily by any rock type or electric type move.

Answer 4

Charizard @ Shell Bell / Sitrus berry / Leftovers
Ability: Solar Power
Terra Type: Ground
EV's: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 2 Hp / 2 Def / 2 SpD
Modest Nature
- Scorching Sands
- Weather Ball
- Solar Beam
- Sunny Day

meant to be a sun team heavy hitter with good coverage
- Scorching sands is good coverage for electric and rock and gets stab when tera as well as a chance to burn
- weather ball is 50 base power, but goes to 100 base power in a terrain (sunny day in this case), and gets extra boosts from fire type stab, sunny day boosting fire moves, and solar power boosting special attack. its also good for coverage for grass and ice when tera
- instant use solar beam because sunny day, coverage against water in base and when tera
- sunny day to set up sun if its not already set up

ground tera gives it defense against rock and electric moves and weaknesses are covered by the moveset. given healing item to combat the health lost from solar power and to make up for its defenses not having more ev's put into them

Comments

If you're going to use this as a nuke on a Sun team, why not put Choice Specs on it to boost its offensive power further? Choice Specs Solar Power Charizard in Sun has some really crazy damage output with its Fire-type moves, to the point of not even needing coverage moves if in Sun.
Example: 252 SpA Choice Specs Solar Power Charizard Overheat vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex in Sun: 233-274 (76.6 - 90.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Answer 5

VGC Charizard
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze —> Tough Claws
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Protect
- Swords Dance

Dragon Claw and Flareblitz for good STAB damage. I pair this with Tailwind, so I didn’t think the Dragon Dance speed boost was needed, thus Swords Dance instead. Protect if you see a scary fairy type or predict a double and want tailwind up for free.

Answer 6

Charizard @ Leftovers/Shell Bell
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk & 252 Spe
Nature: Mild

• Flamethrower
• Earthquake
• Solar Beam
• Brick Break

Leftovers & Shell Bell are both good items for Charizard to heal (I personally prefer Leftovers, but since Charizard can deal a lot of
damage, Shell Bell also works).

Flamethrower is your STAB move, & paired with Blaze Ability, it's deadly (if you somehow get your HP that low).

Earthquake is also a really strong move, which also covers your Electric & Rock type weaknesses.

Solar Beam takes time to hit, but when it does, it deals a ton of damage, and also covers your Water type weakness.

Brick Break breaks Screens (& also bricks), & can cover your Rock type weakness.

Comments

Why an Impish nature with Flamethrower and Solar Beam, it decreases SpA? In fact, why the Impish nature with Defense EVs? Your Charizard seems to be an attacker so that defensive investment is worthless.

Answer 7

Charnizard @ Grip Claw
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Fire Spin
- Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
- Roost

Aerial ace is a Charizard's main STAB attack capable of OHKOing threats such as leavanny and parasect which, when left unchecked, are able to setup on most teams and sweep. Fire spin is a secondary STAB attack used to trap opponents and wear them down over time which is used alongside grip claw to maximize the number of turns the opponent is trapped. In the next slot, is your choice of a status move. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attacks whilst toxic can be used to deal with Pokémon that check this set. Roost is the last move in this set, which provides Charizard with reliable recovery which allows it to stall out foes in combination with fire spin and the status move of your choice.

Comments

Is this some kind of sick joke? Why are you even using a defensive charizard, especially one without heavy duty boots? It will straight up die to stealth rocks. I might be wrong, but I highly doubt leavanny and parasect are serious threats. Lastly, Fire Spin and Aerial Ace are not good. Fire spin may be a fun gimmik, but you can't deny that running flamethrower and air slash are just straight up better.