In Pokemon Gold and Silver, Cyndaquil is a great choice for a starter since its final evolution, Typhlosion, has terrifying power.
Typhlosion embodies what a good offensive Pokemon should look like. It has high Speed at 100 and 109 Special Attack. The trade-off is that, while this Pokemon is great, its movepool is really shallow.
Typhlosion's value comes from relying on strong Flamethrowers, and its other moves are rarely used. Typhlosion is also great because it practically beats the early game on its own.
Cyndaquil destroys the Sprout Tower, has a good matchup against Faulkner, and makes easy work of Bugsy. Even with a limited movement pool, Typhlosion is a great teammate with this moveset.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the writer.
The best moveset for Typhlosion in Pokemon Gold and Silver
Outside of Fire-type attacks, Typhlosion gets very little coverage. To run Typhlosion effectively, trainers will have to run a couple of physical attacks. Typhlosion’s base Attack isn’t too bad (84), so these moves will fortunately still do damage.
- Flamethrower
- ThunderPunch
- Iron Tail
- Earthquake
Flamethrower is the most important move for Typhlosion. Since its Special Attack is so strong, Typhlosion can spam this move and inflict decent damage against most Pokemon. In fact, it might be worth it to give Typhlosion the Charcoal item. It will power up its Fire-type attacks, and players can pick it up as early as Azalea Town.
The sad part about using Flamethrower is that it takes a long time to get Typhlosion to level 60. The best thing trainers can do in this case is, the moment they reach Goldenrod City, take a quick trip to the Department Store and buy a Fire Punch technical machine.
It’s not the strongest move, but it’s more powerful than the Flame Wheel and certainly stronger than Ember.
While players are at the Goldenrods Department Store, they should also pick up the technical machine for ThunderPunch. This is the only coverage move Typhlosion gets on the special side, but it can also be very effective.
In some situations, Typhlosion can KO Water-type Pokemon with this move. It won’t take down a Slowbro in one shot, but it can do serious damage to most Water-type Pokemon.
Iron Tail is always available to players after beating Jasmine’s Gym, so players might as well use it. There usually aren’t many clear-cut candidates for this move, even though it’s good on Pokemon like Rhydon.
Steel-type Pokemon are scarce in Generation II, and the abundant one (Magnemite) doesn’t use Iron Tail. It’s great to throw on Typhlosion since it needs a high powered attack. It also can counter Rock-type Pokemon.
A basic rule with almost every Pokemon game is, when in doubt, to use Earthquake. It’s the type of strong, consistent physical attack Typhlosion is going to need. The technical machine for Earthquake is located in Victory Road. By then, most players are already planning out their Elite Four run. There may be other candidates for Earthquake, but Typhlosion is simply another option.
Since it’s so hard to decide on moves for Typhlosion, it might be worth it to simply give it a cut. Players will need it to get past Ilex Forest, so it makes sense to give it to the starter Pokemon since it’s guaranteed to be on the team at that point.
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