Looking at Pokemon: Chimchar

September 24, 2008

Chimchar

Looking at Chimchar

Chimchar is a Fire Pokemon that is one of the three starter Pokemon from the Diamond and Pearl games. Chimchar sits at spot 390 in the National Pokedex and can evolve into Monferno (Lvl 14) and then Infernape (Lvl 36). Many compare Chimchar to Torchic from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. More specifically they refer to Infernape as the Pokemon Blaziken always wanted to be.

Chimchar (and his higher evolved forms) are unusual in that they can perform equally well as Physical Attackers or Special Attackers. Their base Attack (58/78/104) and Special Attack (58/78/104) scores are equal through each evolution. Similarly their Defense (44/52/71) and Special Defense (44/52/71) scores are also equal across evolutions. This allows Chimchar to work as either a Physical or Special Attack Pokemon.

Chimchar has the ability Blaze (Boosts power of Fire moves 50% when at 1/3 HP or less).

Chimchar can be acquired either as your starter Pokemon or via trading with a friend or over the GTS. Unlike in previous games there is a third trainer you encounter who takes the Pokemon neither you nor your rival took at the beginning of the game. Once you have seen a Chimchar you will be able to get one off of the GTS (provided you have made it far enough into the game to unlock the GTS).

Chimchar has a good mix of moves in its move pool that allow a trainer to easily mold it into the role of Physical or Special Attacker (though its complete move pool sets it up better as a Physical Attacker). Flame Wheel (Lvl 17) is the only Physical Fire move this Pokemon learns while leveling up but it does have access to the moves Fire Punch and Blaze Kick via its pool of Egg moves.

On the Special Attack side Chimchar can learn several Fire moves beginning with Ember (Lvl 7), Fire Spin (Lvl 33) and Flamethrower (Lvl 41). Its Egg move pool only contains Heat Wave for Special Attacks while it’s TM/HM pool contains Flamethrower, Fire Blast and Overheat.

Chimchar in Adventure Mode

Most players will find that Chimchar is a very rewarding Pokemon to pick as a starter. Among the starter selection Chimchar is the one who becomes dual type the fastest (Monferno, Lvl 14, Fire/Fighting). Fire Pokemon are also extremely rare in Sinnoh during the early part of the game. Ponyta is the Fire Pokemon you will first encounter in the wild and it only becomes available after you have defeated the Grass/Poison Gym in Eterna City.

A fresh Chimchar (with no special breeding) will know the moves Scratch and Leer. Not a Fire move on the list but that comes quickly with Ember at level 7.

I realize that most players will want to evolve their Chimchar at the first opportunity but there are those who like to keep their Pokemon from evolving and the rest of this article will be written with that idea in mind.

At Level 9 Chimchar will learn the move Taunt and (assuming you have not used any TMs/HMs on him) all further moves learned beyond this point will require replacing an existing move already known.

It is important to understand that Chimchar’s level up moves put him in a better position to be a Special Attacker than they do a Physical Attacker. I say this because the move Nasty Plot becomes available at level 23 while Swords Dance is only available via a TM. These moves do essentially the same thing though one applies to Attack and the other to Special Attack. If you choose not to learn Nasty Plot you can always regain it by going to the Move Maniacs house in Pastoria City but only as long as your Pokemon remains a Chimchar. Nasty Plot is not in the move pool of his later evolutions.

When it comes to Physical moves your first option is to replace Scratch with Fury Swipes at level 15. After that comes Flame Wheel at level 17 and Facade at level 31. Personally I would opt for Fury Swipes at level 15 and replace Ember with Flame Wheel at level 17. If I have not acquired a better Physical move by level 31 Facade will replace Fury Swipes.

When it comes to Special moves Fire Spin at level 33 and Flamethrower at level 41 are your only options. Fire Spin is low power (15) but it also prevents the opponent’s Pokemon from fleeing for 2-5 turns. Fire Spin is also only 70% accurate. Flamethrower is a power house at 95 with a 100% accuracy. It also has a 10% chance of inflicting a Burn condition on your opponent.

Taking a quick look at the Status moves in Chimchar’s move pool we find Nasty Plot (Lvl 23), Torment (Lvl 25) and Slack Off (Lvl 39). We have already discussed Nasty Plot above but what about these other two? Should we drop Taunt (Lvl 9) or Leer to learn these?

Taunt and Torment are similar moves. While Taunt forces the opponent’s Pokemon to only use Attack moves for the next 2-5 turns Torment prevents them from using the same move two turns in a row. Pulling these two off can really annoy an opponent but is it worth setting up? Slack Off is a healing move and restores up to ½ of your max HPs. If you want to go the annoying way then pick Taunt and Torment. If you want to go a little more all-purpose than stick with Nasty Plot and Slack Off.

Adventure Mode Move Breakdown:

Move 1: Scratch -> Fury Swipes -> Facade
Move 2: Leer -> Torment
Move 3: Ember -> Flame Wheel -> Flamethrower
Move 4: Taunt

You might be wondering why I have not bothered to learn Nasty Plot in the above breakdown of moves and why I have instead gone with the Taunt/Torment option. The simple reason is that Nasty Plot is not really useful until you learn Flamethrower. With the low power (15) of Fire Spin it’s simply not worth having Nasty Plot taking up a slot. You could keep Ember until you learn Flamethrower but Flame Wheel has 20 more points of power behind it before boosting with a Nasty Plot/Swords Dance.

Remember, the above breakdown assumes no TM/HM usage during game play.

Competitive Battling Chimchar

As an un-evolved Pokemon Chimchar is not a major player in the competitive battling scene. His fully evolved form Infernape is a major player and it sits in the OU (Over Used) tier. It is at this point that you are likely wondering why anyone would want to field a Chimchar in competitive play.

There are occasions where you will find yourself in a tournament or league with special rules in place. That is where you will find yourself battling with a Chimchar. The un-evolved three stage Pokemon tournament is where you will find Chimchar in use. If the tournament rules allow for non-evolving Pokemon don’t use Chimchar. Pokemon who do not evolve are almost always stronger than un-evolved three stage Pokemon.

All-Purpose Chimchar

This Chimchar does a little bit of everything. It makes good use of its Blaze ability and has a few tricks up its sleeves.

IV: Atk: 252 / SpA: 252 / Spd: 8
Nature: Lonely (Atk+/Def-), Naughty (Atk+/SpD-), Mild (SpA+/Def-), Rash (SpA+/SpD-), Hasty (Spd+/Def-), Naive (Spd+/SpD-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Heat Wave (Fire 100/90 Egg move)
Move 2: Fire Punch (Fire 75/100 Egg move)
Move 3: Hidden Power (Ice TM10)
Move 4: Thunder Punch (Electric 75/100 Egg move)

Yes, this variant requires proper breading to create but it covers all but one of Chimchar’s weaknesses, Rock. You can swap Brick Break (TM31) in place of Hidden Power (TM10) but then you will still find yourself weak against Ground types and you will no longer have the 50/50 split among Special and Physical moves.

Even though Chimchar has access to Grass Knot (TM86) most Pokemon in his class will be light, thus negating the effectiveness of Grass Knot.

Special Attack Chimchar

This Chimchar focuses entirely on Special Attack and Speed. He hits hard and he hits fast!

IV: HP: 8 / SpA: 252 / Spd: 252
Nature: Modest (SpA+/Atk-), Timid (Spd+/Atk-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Nasty Plot (Dark Status Lvl 23)
Move 2: Fire Blast (Fire 120/85 TM 3 / Flamethrower (Fire 95/100 Lvl 41/TM 35)
Move 3: Hidden Power (Ice TM 10)
Move 4: Torment (Dark Status Lvl 25)

The option to use Fire Blast or Flamethrower is based on personal preference and risk taking. While Fire Blast is more powerful it is also less accurate. If you have a hold item that increases your Pokemon’s accuracy than feel free to go with Fire Blast. If you find yourself getting “burned” by attacks that miss you can go with flamethrower.

Hidden Power Ice should help take out those pesky Ground types while Torment lets you annoy those Pokemon who only have one attack that can hurt you.

Attack Chimchar

This Chimchar focuses entirely on Attack and Speed. He hits hard and he hits fast!

IV: HP: 8 / Atk: 252 / Spd: 252
Nature: Adamant (Atk+/SpA-), Jolly (Spd+/SpA-)

Move Pool:

Move 1: Swords Dance (Normal Status TM 75)
Move 2: Fire Punch (Fire 75/100 Egg move)
Move 3: Thunder Punch (Electric 75/100 Egg move)
Move 4: Focus Punch (Fighting 150/100 TM 1)

This Chimchar is very similar to the Special Attack Chimchar except he is a little bit better. By starting off with a Swords Dance you set in motion a nearly unbeatable Chimchar. With his high speed Focus Punch is practically guaranteed to result in a series of OHKOs in battle. The only thing this Chimchar can not defend against is a Ground type who is faster than he is.

Other Chimchar:

There are many options for Chimchar and being in the un-evolved tier most competitive battlers are not familiar with it. Some may consider him to be a smaller version of Infernape but that would be a mistake. Many of the power moves associated with Infernape are not in Chimchar’s move pool.

Posted by HMTKSteve | Filed Under Tips  9,931 views

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5 Comments »

Comment by Nobby
2008-09-27 08:22:01

i picked chimchar wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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Comment by Tom
2008-09-28 10:52:29

woooooo hooooooooooooo so did i but ive got every pokemon

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Comment by sergio
2009-06-02 16:26:31

i picked a chimchar and its a level 60, but how do you reach it blaze kick?

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Comment by Rosii
2009-09-07 15:04:50

Sergio: Blaze Kick is an egg move. Only a breeded Chimchar can learn Blaze Kick. So you can’t get that move unless you breed a Chimchar and it comes with Blaze Kick.

I picked Chimchar in Platinum, but I have a Empoleon in Diamond, which I love more. My Chimchar is level 35 and the Empoleon is level 100, lol.

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Comment by $$=D\
2009-10-18 11:41:22

weeeeeeeeee chicaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar he is the best him and piplup

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