Best Fire Type Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feature many powerful Pokémon on your journey to be the very best. Here’s a quick look at the best Fire-type Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet. Some of these are version-specific and cannot be acquired when playing a certain version of the game, so you’ll have to trade to get them all.

A List of the Best Fire Types in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Pyroar

Pyroar is a Fire/Normal-type feline Pokémon that evolves from Litleo at level 35. It has decent stats overall, but has high Special Attack and Speed. Its Normal typing gives it immunity to Ghost-type attacks, but makes it susceptible to powerful Fighting-type moves. Its Fire typing makes it weak to Water-, Ground-, and Rock-type attacks, but lets you resist difficult and powerful Steel, Ice, and Fairy attacks.

Pyroar’s Rivalry ability is a little hit or miss, depending on the opponent’s gender. Same gender enemies will raise Pyroar’s attack by 25%, but different gender enemies will decrease it by the same. Unnerve is also situational. Moxie, Pyroar’s hidden ability, is more useful, raising its Attack by one stage every time it knocks out an enemy.

Coalossal

Coalossal is a Rock/Fire-type Pokémon that evolves from Carkol at level 34. It is the final form of Rolycoly. It has high HP and Defense and can resist a wide variety of attacks, but it is 4x weak against Water- and Ground-type attacks, so watch out.

It might be very slow, but Coalossal is tanky and has an ability — Steam Engine — that can maximize its Speed when hit with Fire- or Water-type moves. Its other abilities, Flame Body and Flash Fire, enhance its Fire-typing, with Flame Body causing burns to anything that makes contact, and Flash Fire absorbing Fire attacks and boosting its own Fire-type attacks by 50%.

Armarouge

Armarouge is a Psychic/Fire-type Pokémon exclusive to Pokémon Scarlet. It evolves from Charcadet using the Auspicious Armor, which you can get from a man in Zapapico in exchange for Bronzor fragments. This is the only way to get Armarouge, and Violet owners will have to trade for it — perhaps for their own version-exclusive Charcadet evolution Ceruledge.

Armarouge has decent Defense and high Special Attack, which can be enhanced by setting its Nature to Modest. Giving it Wise Glasses and using a moveset that includes Armor Cannon, Expanding Force, and Calm Mind will allow it to knock down opponents with ease. Its default ability Flash Fire makes it immune to Fire-type attacks while also boosting its own, and its hidden ability Weak Armor increases its Speed when hit, at the cost of Defense.

Ceruledge

Ceruledge is a Ghost/Fire-type Pokémon from Pokémon Violet. It evolves from Charcadet using the Malicious Armor, which you can get from a woman in Zapapico in exchange for Sinistea fragments. This is the only way to get Ceruledge, and Scarlet owners will have to trade for it — perhaps for their own version-exclusive Charcadet evolution Armarouge.

It has high Attack and decent Special Defense, making it the opposite to Armarouge. It is slightly slower too, but has a bit more HP than its Scarlet counterpart. It gets a strong movepool of physical attacks, but its standout is its signature move Bitter Blade, which recovers half of damage dealt as HP, giving it real staying power. Flash Fire will also boost Bitter Blade, if Ceruledge gets hit by an opponent’s Fire attack.

Flareon

One of Eevee’s Eeveelutions, Flareon is a very powerful Fire-type Pokémon. It currently is the strongest Fire-type in terms of sheer physical Attack power, but has low HP, Defense, and Speed as a result. It rarely appears in the wild, so the best way to get it is by catching an Eevee and evolving it using a Fire Stone.

A pure Fire-type, Flareon is weak against typical Fire-type Pokémon weaknesses Water, Rock, and Ground, but it has abilities that can increase its firepower or attack on certain occasions. Flareon has the ever-useful Flash Fire, making it immune to Fire attacks and boosting its own in return. Guts, its hidden ability, will boost its Attack by 50% when inflicted with a status ailment, and avoids the Attack reduction of the Burn status. While physical Fire-type moves are somewhat rare, Flareon can learn the super powerful Flare Blitz for same-type attack bonus (STAB), as well as Last Resort, Bite, and Dig for coverage.

Skeledirge

Skeledirge is the final evolution of Fuecoco, one of the Gen 9 starter Pokémon. It evolves from Crocalor at level 36. It’s a Ghost/Fire-type Pokémon that’s weak to Water-, Ground-, Rock-, Ghost-, and Dark-type attacks, but is completely immune to Normal- and Fighting-type attacks. It has high HP and Special Attack, and its other stats are decently rounded as well.

Skeledirge’s Special Attack stats can be enhanced by setting its Nature to Modest, and its Blaze ability can boost Fire-type moves in desperate situations. Its hidden ability Unaware lets it ignore opponents’ stat changes, allowing it to hit through Defense boosts as if they weren’t there. While its movepool is a little shallow, Skeledirge gets decent STAB and coverage, making it a strong and dependable Pokémon in most situations.

Volcarona

Volcarona is a Bug/Fire-type Pokémon that evolves from Larvesta at level 59. It is extremely weak against Rock-type attacks, but can strongly resist Grass-type attacks in return, as well as resisting strong Fighting-, Fairy- and Ice-types. It has high Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed stats, and is a good damage dealer using strong STAB Special Attacks.

Volcarona can be found in the grassy areas of The Great Crater of Paldea, although it appears very rarely. You can also catch Larvesta in the wilds of Asado Desert before endgame. Flame Body allows it to burn enemies that use attacks that make contact, and has the bonus of halving the time it takes to hatch eggs. Its hidden ability Swarm will boost its Bug-type attacks by 50% if it has less than a third of its health remaining, which is powerful but also situational.

Arcanine

This Fire-type good boi has been in the series for a long time now. Arcanine evolves from Growlithe with the help of a Fire Stone at any level. It has good Attack and Special Attack stats, and also has decent HP. Its defenses are relatively good too, with a rounded out stat distribution that doesn’t give it any glaring weaknesses. It’s pure Fire-type, making it weak to Water-, Ground-, and Rock-type attacks, but is  resistant to Fire-, Grass-, Ice-, Bug-, Steel-, and Fairy-type attacks.

Arcanine has abilities that can either Intimidate enemies, lowering their attack; enhance its Fire-type attacks while making them immune to the same (Flash Fire); or increase its attack when hit by a Dark-type attack (Justified). Arcanine is a series staple and a classic design, taking the crown of Pokémon’s original Good Doggo.

Iron Moth

Iron Moth is a rare Fire/Poison-type Paradox Pokémon which resembles Volcarona and is exclusive to Pokémon Violet. It does not have any prior or succeeding evolutions. It is very weak against Ground-type attacks, and weak against Water, Psychic, and Rock-type attacks. Its main selling point is its massvie Special Attack, as well as high Special Defense and Speed.

Iron Moth’s Nature is best set to Modest or Timid in order to raise its special attack or speed stats respectively. It is able to learn powerful Special moves as it levels up, like Overheat, Bug Buzz, Hurricane, and Sludge Wave, and can learn Dazzling Gleam and Flash Cannon via TM. Its type combination and movepool make it the perfect Fairy counter, but since you can only acquire it late in the game, and only if you own Violet, you’ll need to be patient or trade to get your hands on this one.

Chi-Yu

This fish-like Dark/Fire-type legendary is one of the four Treasures of Ruin in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. While Chi-Yu has low base HP, it has the highest Special Attack, Special Defense, and total base stats of any Fire-type Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet. Like other Fire-types, Chi-Yu is weak against Water-type moves, as well as Fighting, Ground, and Rock-type attacks. Its Dark-typing makes it immune to Psychic-type moves.

In order to take advantage of Chi-Yu’s high Special Attack stats, players should set its Nature to Modest. This Special Attack boost is further enhanced by its ability Beads of Ruin, which reduces the Special Defense stat of all other Pokémon in the field by 25%. Chi-Yu has a shallow movepool that focuses on hitting really hard with STAB Fire and Dark attacks. If you feel like Chi-Yu is lacking in the Special Attack department, it can also learn Nasty Plot.

And there you have it — this is our list of the best Fire-type Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. For more information/guides on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, check out this article on the game’s breeding and our comprehensive beginner’s guide to competitive Pokémon battles.