PotW # 8 - Darmanitan

[Blah]

PotW #8​

Darmanitan is one of those Pokemon that sacrifices all defenses and defensive typing to pack some serious power that OHKO’s or 2HKO’s a huge amount of Pokemon in OU. With a fantastic ability in Sheer Force, not much can handle a sun boosted Flare Blitz from this monkey gone wild. While it’s fire typing is a double edged sword that gives it a weakness to Stealth Rock and other common attacking types, there is no doubt that this Pokemon can tear through opponent’s teams with ease, as almost nothing can take Sheer Force boosted attacks coming off of 140 base attack unscathed.​

Darmanitan @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Nature: Adamant
EV’s: 252 Attack/4 Sp Def/252 Speed
- Apocalypse cannon Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- U-Turn
-Superpower/Earthquake​

This is a very potent set for Darmanitan. With Life Orb, it’s moves become even more powerful, and Sheer Force also cancels out the Life Orb recoil on Flare Blitz and Rock Slide. It obviously throws every bit of EV’s into attack and speed, as it’s pitiful defenses (except for HP, which is nice for absorbing recoil) are not taking strong attacks no matter how many EV’s you put into them. Flare Blitz is obviously the move of choice, obliterating everything in its path. In fact, in the sun, it pretty much 2HKO’s every Pokemon in OU that isn’t immune. Even most dedicated physical walls can’t take the assault unscathed. Rock Slide works in harmony with Sheer Force, nabbing an extra boost while adding some extra coverage alongside Flare Blitz. U-Turn is great for scouting and is simply a safety move if you don’t know what your opponent is going to switch to. The last move is for extra coverage. Earthquake works in conjunction with Rock Slide for pseudo EdgeQuake coverage, while Superpower allows you to not kill yourself when facing Blissey.

Countering Darmanitan is difficult. Coming in it with anything other than a really defensive wall that resists it is really difficult. Some of those walls include Vaporeon, Jellicent, Swampert, and Milotic. Besides that, your best approach is revenge killing. Scarf Landorus is a great example that obliterates Darmanitan. Just be warned, don’t switch a revenge killer in on Darmanitan as Flare Blitz will flatten anything that comes it way.

So how do you like using Darmanitan? Do you like the Scarf version instead? Or do you like using unique sets like Belly Drum to make Darmanitan capable of, as Smogon, puts it, razing large cities? Discuss!

 

[The Yoshi]

First off, I'd like to say that Darmanitan would be that more powerful if Sheer Force blocked recoil and boosted Flare Blitz. At least it blocks Life Orb recoil, though.

And really, that's the reason why I feel the physical attacker set with Life Orb is the best. It out speeds a lot of junk with its decent 95 Base Speed Stat (reaching 317 Speed), and entry hazard support makes this guy even better. Personally, I feel that Darmanitan works best when functioning under the sun because of the extra boost for Flare Blitz, but it can work very well without the sun. It does out speed a decent portion of the meta game, tying Houndoom and Yanmega (with no Speed Boost), and I feel that Darmanitan has a very respectable position in UU.

However, I think OU is a step too high for Darmanitan to reach. First off, 22 Pokemon out of the 50 Pokemon in OU out speed Darmanitan according to Base Stats (Gliscor ties it, but nobody runs a 252+ Spe Gliscor), which isn't too bad, but many of the Pokemon that do out speed are able to make quick work of it, even if Darmanitan is Scarfed (which results in a drop of Darmanitan's raw power). Unfortunately, Stealth Rock is too common in the OU meta game for Darman to not require a Rapid Spinner, which isn't bad by all means. The one thing that really holds Darmanitan back is that Heatran can absorb Flare Blitz from it and proceed to KO it with Earth Power if Darmanitan is not running EQ. A lot of Pokemon in the OU meta game resist Flare Blitz as well, and are able to hit it back with just as much power as Darmanitan plans to hit for.

Overall, though, I think Darmanitan found a nice home in UU. It's decent Speed and monstrous Attack stat combined with Sheer Force makes it one heck of a sweeper. A Choice Scarf can be used to make for a nice revenge killer, and the Belly Drum set, although risky, is plain awesome if it is executed correctly. Darmanitan is quite the fire monkey; beware, Infernape.

 

[King Arceus]

I think Jolly Nature is more required unless the team Darmanitan is on does a lot of paralyzing because there are a fair number of Pokemon that will outpace Darmanitan otherwise. This isn't good because of its frail Defense and Special Defense.

I am going to agree that it is UU material; it just isn't fast enough to be OU. The team needs to be built to support it. Entry hazards are a requirement so it isn't losing as much of its HP each time it uses Flare Blitz for a KO.

 

[PMJ]

Flare Blitz has a 10% burn rate, so Sheer Force does boost its damage.

Darmanitan is like the physical version of specs Latios. You send him out, click Flare Blitz, and watch something die. His Flare Blitzes are so powerful that literally all his other moves are just filler. You have Superpower exclusively for Heatran and U-turn for trolling. I guess Rock Slide for Gyarados?

Has anyone used Belly drum effectively? He seems too frail and too slow to make use of such a move.

 

[The Yoshi]

^Wow, I didn't know that Flare Blitz had a burn rate. Thanks for the trivia PMJ.

I tried out Belly Drum Darmanitan yesterday, and it just didn't work in the UU tier. Azumarill constantly crushed it with Aqua Jet, Chandelure and Houndoom welcomed its Flare Blitz (Houndoom retaliated with Sucker Punch), and Suicune actually survived a Flare Blitz and revenge KOd it with Scald. The loss of HP is really devastating for such a gimmicky move. Maybe it could hold a Sitrus Berry, perhaps? Then it would accommodate for the loss in HP.

 

[PMJ]

Suicune actually survived a Flare Blitz

Uh, what?

Detailed Result: 252 +6 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Darmanitan (+Atk) Flare Blitz vs 252 HP/252 Def Suicune (+Def) : 124.01% - 146.04%
100% chance to OHKO

What kind of weak Darmanitan are you using?

Even without Life Orb:

Detailed Result: 252 +6 Atk Sheer Force Darmanitan (+Atk) Flare Blitz vs 252 HP/252 Def Suicune (+Def) : 95.54% - 112.38%
75% chance to OHKO

Jolly

Detailed Result: 252 +6 Atk Sheer Force Darmanitan Flare Blitz vs 252 HP/252 Def Suicune (+Def) : 86.88% - 102.48%
18.75% chance to OHKO

That's pretty much a OHKO with rocks

Keep in mind these calcs are assuming 252/252 Bold Suicune and I still can't make him survive this hit

 

[Blah]

I assume it was in rain.

 

[The Yoshi]

PMJ, I honestly have no idea. I was running 252+/252 Atk/Spe, and it still didn't kill it. Keep in mind I was using Sitrus Berry (yeah, I'm a loser; I just wanted to try it out), not Life Orb, so the 25% chance may have triggered.