5 Fire-type moves to avoid in Pokemon

Modified Mar 15, 2021 03:25 GMT

Like any other type in the Pokemon franchise, there are both must-have Fire-type moves and moves that should be overwritten whenever possible.

The Fire-typing has garnered its fair share of moves over the generations, and not every single one can be a winner. Ember is excused for being the go-to move for Fire-type starter Pokemon, but all others should have their uses in one way or another. But unfortunately, not all of them do.

For trainers aspiring to be champions of Fire-type Pokemon, here are a few moves that should likely be avoided when considering their options.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's views and opinions.

5 Fire-type moves to avoid in Pokemon

#5 - Heat Crash

Heat Crash (Image via ishmam on DeviantArt)

Heat Crash isn't necessarily a bad move. It has its place on a few Pokemon, such as Emboar. But it's a very situational move whose effectiveness is mainly dictated by how heavy the opponent's Pokemon is, making it a risky choice over the guaranteed damage of moves like Flare Blitz.

For reference, Heat Crash's max base power is 120 (equal to Flare Blitz's), but it can only reach that power if the user has 5 times its target's weight. But Heat Crash can have as little as 40 base power in case the opponent matches or outweighs the user, meaning that the heavy Steel type has an advantage against Heat Crash even though they're weak to Fire-type moves.

#4 - Fire Pledge

Fire Pledge (Image via Umbrascythe on DeviantArt)

Once again, this is not an inherently bad move. A guaranteed 80 power and 100% accurate move is not awful. And if a trainer can manage to get it off, the two possible secondary effects of this move are pretty powerful.

However, Fire Pledge's secondary effects can only occur during double battles, and if the trainer's second Pokemon sacrifices their turn to use Water Pledge or Grass Pledge. And on top of that, only starter Pokemon can learn the Pledge series of moves, meaning that this combination is much harder to achieve for casual playthroughs.

While Fire Pledge is a decent enough move, it's outclassed by most moves that have any kind of secondary effect. Unless gamers are playing Generation V. With a base power of 50 in that generation, Fire Pledge is next to useless most times.

#3 - Flame Wheel

Flame Wheel gets props for being a decent intermediary move between Ember and Flamethrower, Flare Blitz, or any other high-power move the trainer wishes.

But it's outclassed by moves like Flame Charge, which has a more useful secondary effect, or Fire Fang, which has higher base power and a second secondary effect. Both moves have the potential to be used by a few Pokemon until the end of a casual playthrough, but Flame Wheel shares no such fate.

#2 - Incinerate

Incinerate's claim to fame is that it destroys the target's held berry. While this may be annoying to go up against casually, few trainers (NPCs or otherwise) actually hold berries, making dedicating an entire move slot to Incinerate fairly pointless. And since it only has 60 base power, it really would be in a moveset just to burn berries.

Basically, Incinerate should only be used in the same way that Flame Wheel should, as a bridge between Ember and anything else that's even slightly more useful during a casual playthrough.

#1 - Fire Spin

Fire Spin has low damage, has only 85% accuracy, and needs a held item to have its special effect of damaging the opponent at the end of the turn to do any damage worth mentioning.

And even Fire Spin's best feature, stopping the opponent's Pokemon from switching out, can be circumvented either by using a move like U-turn or Volt Switch to forcibly switch out or by just KO'ing the user.

Tanky Fire-type Pokemon may get some mileage out of the end-of-turn chip damage, but the move slot is much better being dedicated to almost anything else.

Note: This article reflects the author's views.