Current Events > Lol @ people who think flamethrower is always better than fireblast

(+) Yeah! (+)

If a fireblast is a OHKO, and a flamethrower is a 2HKO, then fire blast is clearly better as there is only a 2% chance fireblast will miss both times but an 85% chance it will hit the first.
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Fireblast has a little pp
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GODTIER posted...

Fireblast has a little pp

Can't you just do pp up? Or is that banned?

Fireblast also has higher expected damage (0.85*110=93.5 for fireblast vs 90*1.0=90 for flamethrower)
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I soundly remember OHKO anything with either moves.
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Did you know?

Fire Blast is shaped like the kanji for the word "big"!
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Veggeta_EDGE posted...

I soundly remember OHKO anything with either moves.

Well it depends on the situation. In situations where you expect to OHKO most of the time with flamethrower, that will be superior. Fireblast was especially useful on non-fire type that lacked STAB and high special attack.
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if a pokemon has access to both, i've always felt that if you're a fire type you go with flamethrower and everyone else should get fire blast
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I don't think it is always better, I just think it is better most of the time.
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Fireblast has high damage, low power points, not sure about accuracy.
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ChainedRedone posted...

Can't you just do pp up? Or is that banned?

It can only have a maximum of 8 PP, whereas Flamethrower has 15 PP from the get-go.
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prince_leo posted...

if a pokemon has access to both, i've always felt that if you're a fire type you go with flamethrower and everyone else should get fire blast

That's true if flamethrower doesn't OHKO most of the time. Fireblast still has higher expected damage. But that only really matters if flamethrower won't be OHKO.

BLAKUboy posted...

ChainedRedone posted...

Can't you just do pp up? Or is that banned?

It can only have a maximum of 8 PP, whereas Flamethrower has 15 PP from the get-go.

In a competitive setting, won't 8PP be enough for fireblast?
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I read TC's username as "ChainedRedbone," and came in to call him a freak.
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which is better depends on a ton of factors but in general, in the current generation of pokemon, I think fire blast is almost universally preferred over flamethrower
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PikachuMaxwell posted...

Did you know?

Fire Blast is shaped like the kanji for the word "big"!

Whoa I thought it was just supposed to be a stickman. Like. To represent the whole pokemons body is on fire.
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Overheat is better than both of them

The lower pp is irrelevant as anyone who is running fire blast is a sweeper and wants to kill quickly. Plus they likely won't survive for all 8 shots unless facing pressure or the game will be over. Also you still have 3 other moves.

If you are trying to stall then flamethrower is better unless you can learn lava plume.
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MegaCamerupt posted...

Overheat is better than both of them

Kinda. It's good on choice sets because you'll likely be forced to switch out anyways. But many sweepers don't really want to drop their sp atk on overheat as they can stay in and kill the next one.
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Choice specs fire blast all day erryday
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If we don't go into the metagame, Fire Blast is worthless compared to Flamethrower because of its low PP and imperfect accuracy. Why would you bother to gimp yourself that way, when Flamethrower already kills everything for you? Flamethrower is always better here. Always.

I'll grant that there are likely more situations where the tables are turned and Fire Blast is superior if you go competitive or postgame/Battle Frontiers/etc., but that's a whole different way to play the game.
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

If we don't go into the metagame, Fire Blast is worthless compared to Flamethrower because of its low PP and imperfect accuracy. Why would you bother to gimp yourself that way, when Flamethrower already kills everything for you? Flamethrower is always better here. Always.

I'll grant that there are likely more situations where the tables are turned and Fire Blast is superior if you go competitive or postgame/Battle Frontiers/etc., but that's a whole different way to play the game.

Well generally flame blast is learned late game unless taught by tm. So for the most part the option of fire blast vs flamethrower won't be an issue for main story.
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Tmaster148 posted...

MegaCamerupt posted...

Overheat is better than both of them

Kinda. It's good on choice sets because you'll likely be forced to switch out anyways. But many sweepers don't really want to drop their sp atk on overheat as they can stay in and kill the next one.

https://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/dallas-regionals-2018/vg-masters/

Of the two charizard Y sets listed here, both had heat wave, one had overheat and the other had flamethrower

MegaCamerupt posted...

Tmaster148 posted...

MegaCamerupt posted...

Overheat is better than both of them

Kinda. It's good on choice sets because you'll likely be forced to switch out anyways. But many sweepers don't really want to drop their sp atk on overheat as they can stay in and kill the next one.

https://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/dallas-regionals-2018/vg-masters/

Of the two charizard Y sets listed here, both had heat wave, one had overheat and the other had flamethrower

Vg is doubles which is why heat wave is more common since it hits both targets.

I imagine tc is talking about singles.
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I think the BP nerf hurt Flamethrower a hell of a lot more than it hurt Fire Blast at the very least.
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Tmaster148 posted...

Distant_Rainbow posted...

If we don't go into the metagame, Fire Blast is worthless compared to Flamethrower because of its low PP and imperfect accuracy. Why would you bother to gimp yourself that way, when Flamethrower already kills everything for you? Flamethrower is always better here. Always.

I'll grant that there are likely more situations where the tables are turned and Fire Blast is superior if you go competitive or postgame/Battle Frontiers/etc., but that's a whole different way to play the game.

Well generally flame blast is learned late game unless taught by tm. So for the most part the option of fire blast vs flamethrower won't be an issue for main story.

Fire Blast TMs are dirt cheap and freely sold in quite a few games. If you wanted, you could load every Poke capable of using Fire Blast with it as a semi-desperation move or a placeholder until you could get them Flamethrower. For your main Fire-type move user, you should make that substitution as early as possible, to reduce trips to the Poke Centers or money/time spent on PP restoration items/berries.
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This reminds me that I had an idea to hack Pokemon Stadium to give rental pokemon decent moves and I couldn't decide if I wanted to give Ember/Flamethrower to Charmander or Charizard.

Like it would balance out if I gave the weaker attack to the stronger pokemon... but thats already what PS tries to do and it's lame.
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@Distant_Rainbow posted...

If we don't go into the metagame, Fire Blast is worthless compared to Flamethrower because of its low PP and imperfect accuracy. Why would you bother to gimp yourself that way, when Flamethrower already kills everything for you? Flamethrower is always better here. Always.

I'll grant that there are likely more situations where the tables are turned and Fire Blast is superior if you go competitive or postgame/Battle Frontiers/etc., but that's a whole different way to play the game.

Uh no. This is not true for low special attack pokemon, like wheezing. That's what I said that unless flamethrower is expected to OHKO most of the time, fire blast is better. Plus it depends how the game is being played. Do you expect them to switch to a pokemon that's tanks it better? Then fire blast is better.

Edit: Nevermind, you said ignoring the metagame.
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