OU Spotlight: Mega Charizard X (2024)

Introduction

Charizard is one of the most well-known Pokémon in the history of the franchise, and it's not hard to see why. It's a dragon. It was one of Ash's strongest Pokémon in the anime. It graced the cover of the first Pokémon games. It is not an exaggeration to say Charizard is one of the most iconic Pokémon ever.

Charizard's competitive past is a much different story, specifically its OU history. In the first generation, Charizard had very little use whatsoever. It had a niche Swords Dance set that could surprise an opponent and clean late-game—nothing to write home about. In GSC, Charizard held the title of being the fastest Belly Drummer. It could also use Fire Blast on that set to beat Skarmory, which gave it somewhat of a niche. In ADV, Charizard again returned as a Belly Drummer, with several variations of the set making appearances in competitive play. In DPP, Charizard really took a hit in viability, however. Our Fire dragon gained a 4x Stealth Rock weakness, which created a huge burden in using Charizard. This is the first generation where Charizard does not even have niche use. In BW, Charizard experienced a resurgence due to Solar Power, allowing it to take part in the weather wars that dominated that generation.

In X&Y, it looked to be more of the same for Charizard—that is, until it received not one, but two Mega Evolutions. This skyrocketed Charizard to the top of OU, where it has consistently held a place as one of OU's the tier's top Pokémon. Some players have even called for a Mega Charizard X suspect test at various points. In terms of OU, it is quite possibly the most constantly consistently dominant Mega Evolution introduced to this point.

Mega Charizard X's Qualities

Mega Charizard X has several qualities that make it a top OU threat. Its typing gives it nearly unresisted STAB coverage across most of the tier. In addition, it provides it with some defensive benefits, namely the ability to check most of OU's Electric-types. Mega Charizard X also has a wide coverage movepool with options such as Earthquake, Iron Tail, and Outrage to beat what would otherwise be solid answers to it. Base 100 Speed is a great Speed tier for a Dragon Dancer, as Mega Charizard X outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame at +1; other popular Dragon Dancers such as Mega Altaria and Mega Gyarados cannot make the same claim. In addition, Mega Charizard X has access to Swords Dance, which turns it into a fearsome wallbreaker that can blow past conventional checks to it.

Not is all positive for Mega Charizard X, however, as a 4x Stealth Rock weakness before Mega Evolution and a 2x Stealth Rock weakness afterwards can limit its lifespan considerably, especially if not running Roost. It also has a degree of four moveslot syndrome, as it can't easily break past balanced or stall teams that carry multiple answers to it. For example, if carrying Iron Tail and not Earthquake, Heatran becomes a solid counter to it. However, carrying Earthquake to beat Heatran leads to some offensive teams checking it with Diancie, and so on and so forth.

Playing with Mega Charizard X

• Charizard @ Charizardite X
• Ability: Blaze
• EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
• Jolly / Adamant Nature
• - Dragon Dance
• - Flare Blitz
• - Dragon Claw
• - Roost

• Charizard @ Charizardite X
• Ability: Blaze
• EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
• Jolly / Adamant Nature
• - Dragon Dance
• - Flare Blitz
• - Dragon Claw
• - Iron Tail / Earthquake

Dragon Dance sets are among Mega Charizard X's most common ones, and for good reason. At +1, Mega Charizard X outspeeds the majority of the metagame and still has an Attack stat that matches that of most wallbreakers. The two different variations of this set play quite differently. The choice of Roost allows Mega Charizard X to recover health from Flare Blitz recoil, in addition to allowing it to mitigate its Stealth Rock weakness and set up on more passive Pokémon. A three attacks set plays more aggressively, as it can't come in on Stealth Rock multiple times, unlike the Roost set. The addition of Earthquake can eliminate Heatran, and Iron Tail can take out Mega Altaria. Both options also break Mega Diancie. This reduces Mega Charizard X's relatively small pool of checks even further.

• Charizard @ Charizardite X
• Ability: Blaze
• EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 Spe or 248 HP / 100 SpD / 160 Spe
• Impish / Careful Nature
• - Will-O-Wisp
• - Flare Blitz
• - Roost
• - Dragon Claw / Earthquake / Dragon Tail

The tank set rose to prominence some time near the midpoint of XY. Its original purpose was to use Mega Charizard X's unique typing and burn immunity to become a hard check to Rotom-W, although the EV spread shifted from a specially defensive spread to a physically defensive one. This set takes the role of a burn-spreading tank while also using Mega Charizard X's access to Tough Claws to still hit hard, and instead of taking the role of a sweeper, it is often included in defensive cores on balance and bulky offense teams.

• Charizard @ Charizardite X
• Ability: Blaze
• EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
• Adamant Nature
• - Swords Dance
• - Tailwind / Roost
• - Flare Blitz
• - Dragon Claw / Outrage

This is the most niche of Mega Charizard X's sets. It uses the combination of Swords Dance and Tailwind to potentially attain more effectiveness than the Dragon Dance set. Swords Dance allows Mega Charizard X to break past some defensive answers to it that can handle the Dragon Dance set. Tailwind allows Mega Charizard X to outspeed Choice Scarf users, opposing weather sweepers, and other fast offensive answers that attempt to beat Mega Charizard X by outspeeding it.

Playing against Mega Charizard X

Playing against Mega Charizard X is a difficult task. As most sets are simply offensive Dragon Dance sets, balance and stall teams can use checks such as Mega Altaria, Hippowdon, (Mega) Slowbro, Heatran, and Quagsire to deal with it. Defensive teams do have to be on the lookout for the rare Swords Dance sets, especially the combination of Swords Dance and Outrage, which can OHKO some conventional checks such as Slowbro and Hippowdon. Conversely, offensive teams' best bet to beat it is to keep up pressure with Stealth Rock, as just one round of damage brings Mega Charizard X within range of several priority attacks, such as Talonflame's Brave Bird or and Bisharp's Sucker Punch. In general, due to Mega Charizard X's somewhat middling maximum Speed of 328 before a Dragon Dance boost, offensive teams can often keep up pressure using faster threats such as Latios and Mega Diancie.

One of the more unique things about playing against a Mega Charizard X team is that there's always a chance that you could guess wrong, send out Hippowdon or Slowbro, and suddenly be faced with a Mega Charizard Y. Similarly, you can anticipate Mega Charizard Y, send out Latias, and suddenly be faced with a +1 Mega Charizard X. While most Mega Charizard Y teams are dual weather hyper offense teams with Tyranitar, there's never a guarantee of which Mega it is going to be.

Fitting Mega Charizard X on a team

Mega Charizard X needs minimal support when fitting onto a team. Regardless of the set, entry hazard removal is preferred, but most teams generally have some form of entry hazard removal to begin with. OU has several good entry hazard removers that pair well with Mega Charizard X, such as Latios and Starmie. If you're using a standard Dragon Dance set, partners that can break down bulky Water- and Ground-types are appreciated. For example, Serperior can switch into both Slowbro and Hippowdon, both of which are common defensive answers to Mega Charizard X. If using the defensive tank set, Spikes support from a Pokémon such as Ferrothorn is helpful when wearing down checks to the defensive set. Burn damage combined with entry hazard damage can stack up quickly.

Get out there!

There is no substitute for in-battle experience. After reading this overview, get out there and play around with one of the most dominant forces ever to grace OU! You won't be disappointed with the results.