Moltres
Flame Pokémon
MOLTRES is a legendary bird POKéMON that has the ability to control fire. If this POKéMON is injured, it is said to dip its body in the molten magma of a volcano to burn and heal itself.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
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Evolution Chain
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Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
Moltres's position as an offensive Fire-type with a solid Speed tier and a Spikes immunity gives it quite the niche in ADV OU. Its access to STAB Flamethrower and Fire Blast allows it to pressure passive Pokemon like Skarmory and Celebi while offensively checking Metagross, Jirachi, Heracross, and Gengar. Moltres's ability to answer Metagross is particularly crucial, as it can deny Metagross momentum with the threat of a STAB Fire move, which helps protect a team's Skarmory or defensive Water-type from a potential Explosion. Furthermore, Moltres can spread burns with Will-O-Wisp for the purpose of crippling certain physical attackers, inflicting chip damage on Blissey, and forcing Snorlax and Suicune to Rest and become sitting ducks. Moltres's Speed tier of base 90 gets the jump on most of ADV's mid-ranged Speed tiers, beating out neutral-natured base 100 Speed Pokemon as well as the deadly Jolly Heracross with maximum investment, but it falls short of some of the tier's faster threats like Starmie and Jolteon. Moltres's weaknesses to Rock, Electric, and Water make it easy to force out after a KO, and thoughtlessly slapping it onto a team can exacerbate weaknesses to Pokemon like Zapdos, Starmie, and Aerodactyl. Moltres is a Pokemon that demands certain support structures to function at its best, but it serves those structures remarkably well and counters major threats that they would otherwise struggle against.
Most Used Moves
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc