However, there’s no denying that burn is easily the more powerful status condition in the Pokémon franchise. It also happens that fire type moves are built to have a percentage chance to burn. At least, most of the good ones are. And if you’re looking for recommendations, I’ve organized this list ranking the strongest fire moves in Pokémon, just to highlight just how overpowered this type is.
20. Blaze Kick
Blaze Kick is a bit of a nothing move compared to many other fire type options. That says more about the quality of fire moves overall, rather than anything to do with Blaze Kick being bad. It’s a 95 accuracy physical move that has 85 power. Those are some pretty good numbers, especially when you consider that the move comes with an increased critical hit rate. Unfortunately, some of the best Pokémon in the entire franchise are fire types. And the strength of the moves reflects that. Blaze Kick could easily be in the top 10 of another type-class, but for this list, it barely makes the cut at all.
19. Incinerate
How do you go from an 85 power move to a 60 power one? Simple: Incinerate isn’t meant to be used to specifically deal damage. The move comes with the bonus effect of burning up any berry that the target is holding, rendering it unusable. So if you do your research going into a competitive matchup, a well-timed incinerate can completely throw your opponent off their game plan, making it a technical move that has massive potential but is difficult to use effectively.
18. Heat Crash
Objectively, Heat Crash shouldn’t be on this list at all. However, I love the mental image of my Emboar literally just throwing itself on top of its opponent as an attack – so I’m giving it a spot. It’s a physical attack, obviously, and has an accuracy of 100. Its damage is determined by how much heavier the user is compared to the target. If anything, this makes it the most realistic move the series has ever seen. There’s a reason boxing and UFC weight divisions exist, after all. The formula the game uses to calculate the damage is r = UserWeight / TargetWeight, where r is ratio. Depending on what number r equals, it falls into a certain damage bracket. It’s complicated, sure. But it’s a hilarious move that would actually be incredibly effective in real life.
17. Flame Charge
Flame Charge only deals 50 damage, making it the weakest fire move on this list. Even with 100 accuracy, it’s pointless to use it with the pure intention of doing damage. However, it does have one additional effect that completely overshadows the lack of power. When you use Flame Charge, the user also gains one stage of speed. So you’re really using it for the speed buff, but you get some extra damage on the side. This makes it great for certain sweepers and Pokémon that need that extra bit of speed to outperform some of the faster and heavier hitters in the meta right now (and it’s also great for in-game play too).
16. Overheat
Whereas Flame Charge is giving you a stat buff, Overheat is going to be debuffing you, in exchange for some serious damage output. The move is special and has 130 power with 90 accuracy. In exchange for just clobbering your opponent with a ton of fire, you’re going to be losing two stages of special attack. If you plan on using Overheat, you’re not going to be hitting anything hard afterward – so make sure you time your usage correctly.
15. Eruption
Eruption is a weird move. It’s super powerful, boasting 150 special power and 100 accuracy, as well as no immediate drawbacks for using it. The power is based on the total HP of the Pokémon using it. But let’s be honest, though, there aren’t many Pokémon that are going to live through one of these with a STAB bonus to be able to hit you in the first place. That’s not too unusual. But what does strike me as odd is the various Pokémon that can learn it. There are only three. One is Entei, the other is Groudon. So who’s the other Pokémon that can learn it? Reshiram? Ho-oh? Nope, it’s Torkoal. I don’t know why, but I figure it’s better not to question it.
14. Lava Plume
As you saw earlier, Eruption gets complicated with how it calculates damage. Lava Plume keeps it simple. It’s a special move with 80 power, 100 accuracy, and a 30% chance to burn your opponent. It’s powerful, accurate, and comes with a great burn chance. What more do you want from a fire type move?
13. Searing Shot
Does anyone remember Victini? Anyone? I remember it being the first event Pokémon I ever got back in Gen V. Since then, though, it hasn’t really done anything. Searing Shot is Victini’s signature move. Given that the move is actually quite powerful, it’s unusual that almost nobody is talking about the potential Victini could have in the future. For all intents and purposes, it’s just a better Lava Plume. It’s a special move with 100 power, 100 accuracy, and a 30% burn chance. For a Pokémon that’s incredibly interesting, it’s sad to see that the move has none of that creative flair. The lack of originality doesn’t take away from how powerful it is, though.
12. Sacred Fire
It’s weird, but we’re going to have a handful of signature fire moves that are good, but not good enough to break into the top five. In most cases, it’s moves like these that dominate the top of these lists. Fire types, however, are just built different. Sacred Fire is Ho-oh’s move of choice. It’s a physical attack that boasts a power of 100 and an accuracy of 95. Yes, Searing Shot is more accurate. However, Sacred Fire also has a 50% chance of inflicting burn, rather than a 30% chance. Sacred Fire could only do 50 damage and it would still be better than moves like Searing Flame with an effect like that.
11. Magma Storm
Magma Storm is Heatran’s signature ability. I couldn’t decide between this one and Sacred Fire, so you could swap either of them for the other. In this case, you’ve got a 100 power special attack that saps 1/8 of your opponent’s health for four to five turns. This is obviously great, but there’s a massive downside in that the move only has 75 accuracy. This is super low, especially for signature moves. And honestly, it’s too low for the power damage that Magma Storm can do.
10. Blue Flare
Blue Flare is easily the most powerful fire legendary signature move in the series. It’s not even close, either. It’s a 130 power special move that has 85 accuracy. The lack of precision isn’t all that great, but it’s worth the trade-off for how much of a punch the move packs. On top of that damage, the move has a 20% chance of inflicting burn. Again, you’re trading off 10% for the fact that the move does 130 damage outright. So I suppose your opinion of it depends on how much you value that power over burning.
9. Blast Burn
Blast Burn is stronger than Blue Flare, with 150 special damage and 90 accuracy. It’s just an outright more powerful move, albeit one without any chance to burn your opponent. It also requires the user to recharge the turn after you use it. But let’s be honest, this is essentially a nuclear option. Drop a Blast Burn on a particularly troublesome opponent and trade it off for whatever ‘Mon is using the move.
8. Flare Blitz
Flare Blitz is an OG fire move that has been seeing play for generations at this point. It’s a physical move, which is uncommon for wildly powerful fire type moves. And on top of that, it has 100 accuracy to complement its 120 power, making it an incredibly precise and almost guaranteed big chunk of damage. That chunk of damage comes out of both Pokémon, though. Flare Blitz takes 1/3 of the damage it does in recoil, which can be scary if you end up OHKO’ing your opponent. It also has a 10% chance of inflicting burn, which really is nothing more than an afterthought this time around.
7. Heatwave
Heatwave is one of the few examples I can think of in Pokémon history of a move getting a nerf, and still being used at the top of competitive play. Although to be fair, the nerf that Heatwave got wasn’t anything more than a courtesy. Game Freak changed its special power from 100 to 95, but kept its 90 accuracy and 10% burn chance. It’s a reliable and powerful fire-type move that has the benefit of burning every now and again – making it a superior version to the 90 power move archetype that dominates competitive play.
6. Burn Up
Burn Up is a newer move, having only been introduced in Pokémon Sun & Moon. That being said, it’s got some serious fire power (get it?) but still doesn’t see much play at the top of the VGC mountain. Burn Up is also unusual. It’s a special move with 130 damage and 100 accuracy. You’re probably wondering what the drawback of this is. Well, it’s not a stat debuff, and it’s not recoil. When your Pokémon uses Burn Up, it loses its fire typing. This is actually more important than you might initially realize. Because your Pokémon loses access to all of its STAB, which is precisely why this move isn’t used all that much. That being said, it’s still a powerful option for more casual gameplay where mechanics like STAB don’t come into the equation so often.
5. Sunny Day
Sunny Day is a weather condition move. If you’ve ever been remotely interested in the VGC, then you’ve seen this move be used at some point – or you’ve seen the ability equivalent of it. Sunny Day causes sunlight that lasts for five turns. During those turns, fire type moves do 50% more damage. Water type moves also do 50% less damage, and there are a whole bunch of other effects relating to specific moves and abilities that can get boosts. Sunny Day is such an in-depth move that entire teams are built around it. So naturally, it’s going to end up towards the top of a list of best fire-type moves.
4. Slizzy Slide
Not only did the Let’s Go games introduce moves that made the entire story comically easy, but Game Freak decided to give them all stupid names like Bouncy Bubble and Slizzy Slide. Thunderbolt was good enough for us as kids back in the day, so what’s changed? In all honesty, Slizzy Slide should be number one on this list. But I’m sick of talking about how overpowered these moves are, especially given that we’re unlikely ever to see them again. So I’m giving it this spot out of frustration. And it’s fair to say this move is stupidly powerful. It’s a 90 power/100 accuracy physical move that guarantees burn. If Game Freak released a legendary with a move like that, it would probably be banned. So why the hell can an Eevee learn this?
3. Flamethrower
You knew that this move was going to end up here somewhere. Flamethrower is the go-to attacking move for special attacking fire types in both competitive and casual play, and is very much the poster child of fire type moves. It’s a special attack with 100 accuracy and 90 power (see what I said about that 90 power meta?) And it also has a 90% chance to inflict burn. Granted, it doesn’t do anything crazy. It’s just a solid and consistent move that eliminates as much RNG from your battles as possible.
2. Pyro Ball
Cinderace got blessed with this signature move. It’s a 10% burn chance archetype that also deals physical damage, and it’s also got 90 accuracy. However, rather than having 90 power, it has 120. That’s 120 with absolutely no drawbacks, as well. It’s a good thing that Cinderace is the only Pokémon capable of learning Pyro Ball, otherwise the meta would be in literal flames.
1. Will-O-Wisp
I think this is the only list I’ve written on Pokémon moves that has a status-inflicting move in the top spot. But that goes to show how powerful burn is. Will-O-Wisp has the highest burn infliction chance out of any non-legendary move in the game. In fact, that’s its only effect. The move has 75 accuracy, meaning it’s a base 75% chance of burn. This might not be all that impressive in a single-player game just playing for fun. But even if the move misses one out of four times, having on-demand burn is more than worth the risk you take by playing it.
