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Writer's pictureDakota Ricci

Charizard Dragon Breath And December Community Day

Updated: Nov 10, 2020


Charmander Community Day is just a day away! Yesterday we covered everything you need to know in preparation for the event and how to maximize on all of the bonuses and features. In today's article, we will discuss the impact Dragon Breath will have on Charizard in the Go Battle League. To do this we will be going to PvPoke to see how Charizard stacks up against each meta. We will also discuss the possibility of getting a double legacy move set Charizard during December Community Day if we choose to evolve a Charmander we kept from tomorrow's event. Will you get both Dragon Breath and Blast Burn, just one, or neither? That is what we will be discussing today.


First things first, is Dragon Breath any good in any of the leagues? Short answer, no.


Great League: Left Is Fire Spin and Right is Dragon Breath


Left is Fire Spin, Right is Dragon Breath

In the Great League Charizard is not at its best. Dragon Breath doesn't help flip any of the negative match ups like Azumarill down to Swampert and in fact, weakens the most favorable match up between Registeel. Fire Spin is the super effective move you want in that fight and although Dragon Breaths do add up, it is the weaker move in this situation. Some match ups do get slightly better like Altaria, Machamp, and Umbreon, but that is quite insignificant and doesn't make up for the worse Registeel match up. I'm sure a more seasoned Battler may see something that I am not but all in all, Dragon Breath on Charizard is not at all necessary for the Great League.



Ultra League: Left Is Fire Spin and Right is Dragon Breath



Unfortunately, things don't get any better for Dragon Breath Charizard as we move up the to Ultra League. It's the same story in the Ultra League as we had in the Great League. No matches really get any better and all of our hard wins become close wins. We lose the close win against Cresselia which is never fun. We do gain close wins against both Giratina's, but with most of the match ups becoming worse against Registeel and Articuno, Dragon Breath doesn't seem worth it unless you're aggressively targeting Giratina's. Do things get better for Dragon Breath Charizard in the Premier Cup?



Ultra League Premier Cup: Left Is Fire Spin and Right is Dragon Breath




The pattern is becoming obvious with Charizard losing consistency in its most important match ups. The close wins against Gengar, Toxicroak, and Drifblim all become close losses. We lose all hope of winning against Empoleon and Magnezone and the Escavalier match up also becomes weaker. The only bonus to running Dragon Breath over Fire Spin is the close wins we gain over Blaziken and Typhlosion, but with these fire mons being so squishy we don't need our Charizard to take them down. Lastly, we'll check out the Master League Premier Cup to see what happens there.



Master League Premier Cup: Left Is Fire Spin and Right is Dragon Breath



Now we come to the final disappointment of Dragon Breath Charizard. The strength of Fire Spin Charizard is that it can break apart a team with Togekiss and Metagross. Having an answer for Steel types is important in the Master League and Charizard being able to resist Charm damage is huge. Dragon Breath can handle Togekiss as well as the Fire Spin user with that match up coming down to Blast Burn damage, but that weaker match up to Metagross really hurts it. The fact that Dragon Breath doesn't offer anything against Dragonite makes this move even more of a let down. You do get a closer match up against Haxorus, but that weakened game against Metagross and Escavalier makes that all irrelevant. You also lose that win against Mamoswine and you struggle more against Magnezone which are two prevalent Pokemon in the meta.


So we now know that Dragon Breath on Charizard doesn't do anything spectacular in the Go Battle League, but as we discussed in yesterday's article it will most certainly be important on Mega Charizard X. But is there a way to get both Dragon Breath and Blast Burn on our Mega Charizard X if we wait to evolve our Charmander on December Community Day?


From what we already know about December Community Days it makes sense to assume that we will get both moves on our Charizard when we evolve it in December. However, people are speculating that the bonus of getting old Com Day moves in December is over because of the debut of Elite TM's. Niantic is promoting this speculation by not responding to Trainers asking for clarification. If this is the case and we've had Trainers wait all year to get those old moves just for Niantic to announce at the last minute that they're taking it away, people will be rioting in the streets.


Another popular opinion is that we will only be able to get Blast Burn in December. This would be nice given that Blast Burn is by far the best move for a Charizard. Elite Fast TM's are also more disposable because not many Pokemon have legacy fast moves worth unlocking, while there are plenty of charge moves from Pokemon such as the starters. Unfortunately I do have a problem with this assumption because it is just an assumption. What is to say that we end up with only Dragon Breath instead of Blast Burn since there has been no guarantee for either.


Now I will cautiously explain what I plan on doing to make sure I reduce my chances of missing out on either move. For Dragon Breath I will play it safe by evolving one of the better Charmanders I have on the day of the event to walk away with a Charizard X Dragon meta attacker with both Dragon Breath and Dragon Claw. Then since we established that Dragon Breath doesn't help us at all in the Go Battle League I will evolve any PvP IV Pokemon on December Community Day and hope we get Blast Burn. I will also apply this to anything close to the hundo if I'm lucky. If I need to use either a Elite Charged TM Or Elite Fast TM then so be it. If we end up getting screwed over and get neither of the moves, then I will burn Utica to the ground.

I hope this article answered all of your questions regarding Dragon Breath Charizard in the Go Battle League and what you should do regarding Charizard and December Community Day. I will say that I am disappointed with Niantic's lack of transparency regarding the future of December Community Day and then the unprecedented occurrence of a Pokemon having two Community Day exclusive moves. Regardless, I hope this article has helpful and make sure you have a great time during Charmander Community Day tomorrow. Make sure you head over to our Instagram check out our wonderful graphic for Community Day. You can also get in touch with us by joining our Discord server! It would also be amazing if you could subscribe to our YouTube Channel to watch Matt, Sue Ann, and I compete to see who can catch the most shinnies in our and you can join the fellowship!

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