Howdy folks! Got just a quick analysis today on the Charcadet family. Sorry for this coming at the end of their event rather than the start, but this was a very busy week for ol’ JRE, so… better late than never?
Let’s start with our customary Bottom Line Up Front and then see how these fiery warriors look.
B.L.U.F.
- These warriors all come with Incinerate and potent charge moves, which is at least a promising start.
- ARMAROUGE enters the game as perhaps the best Fire/Psychic type in PvP, but how much does that really matter?
- CERULEDGE, conversely, enters the game in an already-crowded Fire/Ghost field.
- CHARCADET itself may be a standout in Little League, so there’s that, at least!
Alright, hopefully that gives you an idea of what follows. Here comes the details!
In the interest of time, I’m not going to spend a ton of time on the stats and typings, but I want to give you at least the basics.
As you may rightly guess by the names, Armarouge is the (slightly) bulkier of the two, though that’t saying a ton, since its “bulk” is in line with Fire types Arcanine and Heatran, and just above Charizard. Ceruledge is even worse off, down in Magmar and Infernape territory. If you’re wondering why you don’t often see those Fires in PvP… well, the lack of bulk is a big part of it. You have to have some pretty great moves (like Charizard does) to overcome that weight dragging you down.
Thankfully, they DO come with some tricks up their sleeves, but is it enough?
Fast Moves
- Incinerate – Fire type, 4.0 DPT, 4.0 EPT, 2.5 CoolDown
- Ember – Fire type, 3.5 DPT, 3.0 EPT, 1.0 CD
Sadly no non-Fire fast moves to take advantage of their secondary typings (Ceruledge in particular, which in MSG can learn every Ghost fast move in GO except for Lick), but hey, we see Incinerate these days, and we’re running Incinerate. Such is the case here, and you’ll see why shortly.
Charge Moves
- Flame Charge – Fire type, 65 damage, 50 energy, Raises User Attack +1 Stage
- Flamethrower – Fire type, 90 damage, 55 energy
- Heat Wave – Fire type, 95 damage, 75 energy
- Armarouge: Psyshock – Psychic type, 70 damage, 45 energy
- Ceruledge: Shadow Ball – Ghost type, 100 damage, 55 energy
Yet again, almost entirely Fire moves… but thankfully, each DO get a STAB move of their respective subtyping here, and pretty good ones overall. Psyshock is one of the cheapest Psychic (the type!) moves and very solid in terms of damage per energy, and obviously checks in as Armarouge’s cheapest charge move, which is always nice. And Shadow Ball is obviously one of the best all-around moves in PvP, and slides in as an easy replacement for Flamethrower for the same cost.
Alright, trying to keep this short and sweet, let’s look at each of them in turn.
ARMAROUGE
Armarouge
FirePsychic
At least in theory, Psyshock and Flamethrower should work very well together. After all, Skeledirge does a ton with its own 45 energy (Disarming Voice or Crunch) and 55 energy (Shadow Ball).
However, starting in Ultra League, it seems both Flamethrower and Flame Charge work pretty equally. (Literally no difference between them in 1v1 shielding.) But while this shouldn’t come as a great surprise, Flamethrower and its higher damage is better than Flame Charge with shields down (picking up Pidgeot and Granbull), while the exact opposite is true with both shields up, where Flame Charge can beat Talonflame, Tentacruel, and Gyarados thanks to it buffing Incinerate and Psyshock (and Flamethrower falls short).
As for Master League? Frankly, while Armarouge reaches a respectable 3628 CP, I don’t think you’d ever want to push it into Master League territory… even in Premier, it’s very iffy at best. But if you absolutely HAVE to burn through Steels and Fairies while also fending off Psychic types, then hey, here’s your guy, I guess.
Now, a note as we move on. I took the time to examine these in Great League too, as I typically do in these analyses, before realizing that being egg-locked for now, you can’t even GET them in Great League without some shenanigans. So consider this a view of the future… hopefully. And forgive this foolish old man! 😅 Here goes.
It seems that Flame Charge works (slightly) better alongside Psyshock in Great League, beating Talonflame in 1v1 shielding and adding wins versus Galarian Stunfisk, Vigoroth, Lickitung, Dewgong, and Annihilape in 2v2 shielding. The only real advantage Flamethrower seems to have is with shields down, where its superior power can take down Galarian Stunfisk.
I do want to take a brief moment to highlight that, even though it’s not great overall, there is an argument to be made that Armarouge may now be the best Fire/Psychic type in PvP. As much as I have hyped Victini and (to a lesser degree) Delphox in the past, neither of them hold a candle (no, not the puns!) to Armarouge, both beating Dewgong in Great League and Walrein in Ultra League but watching as Rogue beats Talonflame and Shadow Poliwrath (and Trevenant in Delphox’s case) that they cannot match in Great League, and things like Annihilape, Trevenant, Toxicroak, and Ampharos that Victini and Delphox struggle against in Ultra League. And thanks to buffs from Flame Charge, Armarouge blows Delphox and Victini out of the water in 2v2 shielding, gaining Annihilape, DDeoxys, Gyarados, Onstagoon, Steelix, Talonflame, Tentacruel, Toxicroak, Trevenant, and Walrein that at least one and often both of the others can’t finish off. Just for a few examples.
So yeah. New best Fire/Psychic type in PvP? For what that’s worth.
CERULEDGE
Ceruledge
FireGhost
Cereuledge looks destined for slightly more success, but not much. With its non-Fire move being the 55 energy Shadow Ball, Flame Charge becomes its cheapest move, giving it much more closing power but also meaning it’s a bit slower than Armarogue. No matter how you do it, firing off two charge moves (other than back-to-back Flame Charges, which requires exactly 100 energy) requires charging up over 100 energy, meaning a full six Incinerates, seeing as how each one generates exactly 20 energy. (Flame Charge + Shadow Ball = 105 energy, or back-to-back Shadow Balls = 110 energy.) This means that in some scenarios, such as versus Talonflame and especially Defense Deoxys, it may make just as much sense to go straight Shadow Ball and not even worry about Flame Charge. If they shield the first one, you win. If they let the first one through expecting Flame Charge, you still win. Flame Charge still makes sense sometimes, of course, and is needed to guarantee some wins like Ampharos, Toxicroak, Trevenant, Annihilape, and Ghost-resistant Obstagoon. But turns out that Incinerate + Shadow Ball is pretty good on its own. Just ask Skeledirge.
But that is also the issue: Skeledirge. While Armarouge may now be the best Pokemon in PvP of its rare typing combination, Ceruledge enters the game already behind multiple existing Fire/Ghost types, Skeledirge chief among them. Ceruledge DOES have a unique shot at Talonflame (Skele typically loses, at least when running Disarming Voice), but Skeledirge gets Mandibuzz, Poliwrath, Walrein, Charizard, and sometimes Altered Giratina that Ceruledge cannot overcome without some kind of advantage. At least Ceruledge is a little better (and a little bulkier) than Chandelure?
Oh… nevermind. In Master League, Chandelure is better than Ceruledge. And that’s really about all I have to say about this shadowy soldier in Master League.
So down to Great League, which again is not doable now (gotta wait until you can get Ceruledge via research or in the wild), but maybe one day. Again, though, Skeledirge and even Alolan Marowak already have a straglehold on the role Ceruledge would want to carve out. Ceruledge can beat Mantine and the other two cannot, but they instead beat stuff like Galarian Stunfisk, Dewgong, Vigoroth, Talonflame (for Skeledirge), and Pelipper and Shadow Gligar (for Shadow A-Wak).
So again, while Armarouge enters as PvP as perhaps the best of its kind, Ceruledge is (ironically for a Ghost) perhaps dead on arrival.
And unfortunately, no, that doesn’t look likely to change even if Niantic gives it the Shadow Claw it probably deserves. It’s still overall better with Incinerate.
CHARCADET…?
Charcadet
Fire
As for the base form, it doesn’t get nearly big enough for Great League… but tracks very closely to spooky Fire type Litwick (and decidedly less spooky Fire type Tepig) in stats in Little League. And thanks in large part to having the awesome power of Incinerate, it generally performs a bit better than either of them too, beating things they cannot like Galarian Stunfisk, Toxicroak, and the mighty (annoying!) Bronzor, something that even fellow Incinerate user Fuecoco cannot even reliably replicate (nor G-Fisk). It may not quite reach the lofty heights of Vulpix, widely recognized as the best “little” Fire type, but it’s not far off, and will easily enter the top tiers of Fire types next time Little League comes around. So yay for that!
Alright, that’s all I got for today. Thanks for reading! Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with regular Pokémon GO analysis nuggets, or Patreon, if you’re feeling extra generous.
Happy hatching for those taking a stab at it! Stay safe out there, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!
