(VGC 2017) Arcanine  - Physical / Support Movesets


Deviant Art by blastertwo

Alright then. With the lack of Fire-type Pokemon in the Alolan Dex, players have only a few options to consider for this rather critical slot. The new VGC 17 format has been rather kind to the Fire-type Arcanine as it stands out as one of the best offensive and defensive options against opposing VGC teams. To start out, Arcanine has a remarkably high BST for a 1st-Stage-Only Pokemon with a respectable 110 Atk / 110 SpA / 95 Spe for offense and 90 HP / 80 Def / 80 SpDef for overall bulk. Both offensive stats for Arcanine are great to make use of either a physical or special attacking variant, though lacks a strong movepool to abuse can hurt at times. Much of Arcanine's main physical movepool usage consist of the STAB Flare Blitz, coverage options (Wild Charge, Close Combat, Crunch), and priority in Extreme Speed.  In terms of speed, base 95 Spe is rather above average as Arcanine is capable of outpacing a good chunk of the format when invest, though is outspeed by faster threats such as Garchomp or Tapu Koko. 

From a support standpoint, Arcanine is viewed as one of the best "splashable" Pokemon in the current VGC format given its naturally above high average defensive stats with access to a decent support coverage to assist its team. One of Arcanine's best saving grace is the capability of switching into numerous resisted types and most notably the Intimidate ability to suppress opposing physical attackers' damage. If that weren't enough, Arcanine's support coverage is rather strong with moves like Snarl / Will-O-Wisp to hinder opposing physical/special damage output, powerful Special Fire-type attacks ( Overheat / Burn Out / Heat Wave ), and other random decent coverage options ( Morning Sun / Roar / Helping Hand ) for niche roles. On this note, Arcanine is one of the best Firium Z users abuse its strong Fire-type options like Z-Flare Blitz or Z-Overheat to pin down or deal heavy damage against most super effective or neutral targets.

While Arcanine is a fairly popular and strong choice in this VGC format, the Fire-type doge still suffers some notable weaknesses. Despite Arcanine resists a good number of Pokemon with its Fire-typing, it is weak to opposing Water-, Ground-, and Rock-type Pokemon, which all three type easily pressure. Said this before, though remind everyone that Arcaine's movepool is still rather limited exclusively to a select number of moves. The special movepool is almost non-existent with Arcanine having to rely heavily on its special Fire-type movepool (and some niche options) and a physical movepool that's predictable at best. On a final note, Arcanine's BST is only above average at best given none of its stats "stand out" compared to other mons which has one notably stat.

Even with these notable flaws, Arcanine still finds a role to fit on almost any team archetype given how its only few "Fire-type" Pokemon which nautrally high stats, high support / disruption value, a strong defensive Ability Intimidate, and its unpredictability despite its limited movepool. Keep in mind, there's a rise of powerful Fairy-, Steel-, Ice-, Grass-, and Bug-type Pokemon with the new Alola Dex, and almost all of these Pokemon are weak or held down by Arcanine itself. To put this perspective, there isn't even a few Pokemon who can check / counter threats like Alolan Ninetales, Tapu Bulu, Kartana, Metagross, Celesteela, Pheromosa, etc as well as Arcanine for both a defensive and offensive point. Arcanine's main use in this format is not only due to its the lack of strong Fire-types, rather the need to fill a necessary void in placing some of the most used Pokemon in check with its STAB Fire-type attacks or support options.  

Arcanine

Type:
Base Stats: 90 HP / 110 Attack / 80 Defense / 100 Special Attack / 80 Special Defense / 95 Speed
Weaknesses:  x2   x2  x2
Resistances:    x0.5   x0.5 x0.5    x0.5 x0.5   x0.5
Immunities: None (except with Flash Fire ability is immune to   )
Ability 1: Intimidate - Reduced the foe(s) attack stat by one stage.
Ability 2: Flare Fire - Gives the user Fire-type immunity and raises Fire-type attacks by 50%.
Hidden Ability: Justified - Raises the Attack stat one stage every time the user is hit by a Dark-type move.

Arcanine (M) @ Firium Z  / Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate  
Level: 50  
EVs: 76 HP / 220 Atk / 4 Def / 12 SpD / 196 Spe  
Adamant Nature  
- Flare Blitz  
- Wild Charge  
- Extreme Speed / Crunch / Close Combat
- Protect

Milestones:
-Outspeeds Base 75 Speed
-Hail / Sand Damage is lessen thanks to HP number

Choice Band

Arcanine @ Choice Band  
Ability: Intimidate  
Level: 50  
EVs: 244 Atk / 12 SpD / 252 Spe  
Jolly Nature  
- Flare Blitz  
- Wild Charge  
- Close Combat  
- Extreme Speed

Milestones:
- Speed ties with opposing base 95 speed Pokemon
- Cleanly OHKOs offensive Gyarados even with an Intimidate 
- OHKOs Offenive Tapu Koko / Tapu Lele / Tapu Bulu with CB Flare Blitz

The biggest standout of this Choice Band Arcanine set is the potential to knockout most of the Tapus in one blow with the damage from a Choice Band Flare Blitz. The goal is to attempt to setup some form of speed control like Tailwind to abuse Choice Band Arcanine's power and hit things hard. The damage output from Choice Band speaks for itself as Arcanine is capable of getting some rather quick OHKOs or severely denting Pokemon Porygon2, Aranaquid, Gyarados, Celesteela, etc. Likewise, Flare Blitz is Arcanine's strongest physical attack which is capable of nuke down most Pokemon either to Fire-type or with frail defenses. Wild Charge with the Choice Band can now pickup the OHKO against Gyarados, so Arcanine doesn't have to fear the opposing Intimidate. Close Combat is listed for coverage against Pokemon like Gigalith, Snorlax, or Porygon2 who all three are rather bulky and tough to take down. CB Close Combat won't OHKO, but can certainly do major damage to them. Finally Extreme Speed is there for priority purposes, especially now that Arcanine has that extra damage output from Choice Band. Will list down the offensive Calcs for Choice Band Arcanine with a Jolly nature down below: 

Offensive Calcs