Summary

Arcanine is a well-rounded mixed attacker whose excellent ability, Intimidate, and access to the powerful priority move of Extremespeed give it a niche over other faster fire types like Entei and Typhlosion. These traits allow it to be an answer to a lot of Salac Berry sweepers that pop up in ADV Draft as it can switch in, Intimidate before the enemy gets its substitute up, and Extremespeed to either break the substitute of a faster opponent off the back of its base 110 attack stat or finish off those that get down to 1 HP to use Reversal or Flail. Arcanine is also surprisingly bulky -- in a pinch, its natural bulk plus Intimidate allow it to live such attacks as an unboosted Adamant Tyranitar Rock Slide with proper investment. Intimidate also synergizes well against some of its pure Fire-type weaknesses in Ground and Rock, which are themselves two of the most common attacking types in ADV Draft.

Arcanine is often used as a special-leaning mixed attacker and will usually run Extremespeed, a Fire-type attack between Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Overheat depending on how much damage it wants to deal, and Hidden Power plus one of Bite or Crunch for coverage. Its movepool is quite limited, but it has options such as Howl and Agility to allow it to raise its stats and become a self-sufficient sweeper, Charm to further increase its bulk aginst physical threats, Toxic and Body Slam to spread poison and paralysis respectively, Rest with Chesto or Lum Berry, Thief with Lum Berry, or even White Herb when paired with Overheat. It has some tricky physical options it can utilize such as Aerial Ace or Iron Tail in a pinch, as well.

Due to its lack of special coverage, enemy number one for Arcanine are bulky Water types such as Milotic, Vaporeon, and Blastoise. This makes its best partners fast electric types, such as Raikou and Zapdos, which can double switch in right after Arcanine and wreak havoc. It also works well as part of a classic Water-Fire-Grass defensive core alongside teammates such as Celebi & Sceptile and Vaporeon & Starmie. With its other ability, Flash Fire, it also has great synergy with Pokemon that can be targeted by fire moves such as Forretress and Scizor. Forretress in particular can set spikes that Arcanine appreciates to get KOs, spin away the spikes Arcanine is vulnerable to, and bait in Fire attacks thanks to its own 4x Fire weakness.

Overall, Arcanine brings a lot to the table that any team lacking a Fire-type, priority, or Intimidate should consider. It is straightforward, easy to use, malleable to many roles, and additive to almost any team.

Summary written by JBL

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