This was likely one of the very first Pokemon people used: the cute little fire-type that had such a sad introduction to the anime series, both adorable yet with the promise of power. If you started with it, you probably love it, and if you started with Bulbasaur, you probably don't like it anywhere near as much...
To start off with, Charmander is appreciably weaker than Bulbasaur, with a more mixed-attacking outlook, yet dramatically inferior HP and defence but with more speed than Ivysaur, in fact. Attack and special attack are both decent in value for a first evolution (52 and 60 respectively), yet by level up it's small moveset offers a decent array of special attacks that align well with this to make a decent special attacking Pokemon, only offering two moderately serviceable physical attacks (slash and fire fang). No decent attacks become available until well after you should have evolved it, however.
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| So cute!!! |
The TM list is fairly deep and diverse, offering another smattering of STAB fire-type moves, as well as things like aerial ace, which become STAB when evolving up to Charizard. Also on offer are some claw based moved, such as both dragon and shadow claw, and the stat boosting hone claws, and the basically ever present return/frustration and toxic. I'm still not sure why anyone would ever have frustration on their Pokemon since the act of walking to the next battle can lower its damage output...
From breeding, this evolutionary line actually gets a lot of good moves, too many to go too deep into, but you can get things like bite (not bad, but not great) and crunch (pretty good), dragon pulse, ancient power and air cutter. It can also get belly drum, but putting belly drum on a Charmander is just asking to get one-shotted since the defences and HP stats are in the toilet...
Charmeleon can be fitted with eviolite, making it a moderate option in lower-middle tier battles and still has a good movepool of special attacks and a good special attack (80) to make the most of this, whilst having an indifferent attack stat (62) and still a small set of moves that work with it (it can get fire punch from tutoring in ORAS).
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| What's with the bump on his head? |
Now to the main event: Charizard and it's mega evolutions... Which you will probably see in competitive play far more than they deserve...
All the way through the evolutionary line, you have two abilities: Blaze, which is like the standard starter abilities in that it buffs type damage output for the primary typing (fire) a bit when you're on the verge of death (may work with belly drum if your opponent is useless) and solar power, which is sort of like having a life orb that only works in the sun and only on the special attack stat, so there is no reason to focus attack unless you're trying to catch someone by surprise or aren't using the hidden ability. Mega evolution brings in different abilities, but I'll get to that in a bit.
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| Looks like a big badass, is smaller than mid/late teens.. |
Charizard is 'blessed' with flying typing and can learn fly, so in the story it can get a bit of use as your HM-'slave'. Attack gets to a moderately respectable 84, but is still too low to be properly viable with 109 special attack and not the best defence and HP to cover for not OHKOing everything. Speed is also very respectable at base 100, but there are many faster options out there.
With evolution comes an expanded movepool to account for flying, but only two flying moves get added, one of which is physical and thus pretty useless unless you go for the X-mega. Other than that, the movepool is not really much deeper than before, and so for straight Charziard and Charizard Y, either give it flamethrower, air slash, and then maybe solar beam and ancient power, since Y gets drought, giving 5 turns of charge free solar beam. Charizard Y gets not only this nice ability, but also a little more defensive bulk and a huge 159 base special attack... Too bad it sucks, since if it comes in on stealth rock, it's dead. Minimal HP, inferior defences and it being so overused means that it'll be surrounded by Pokemon that will deal with it swiftly and painfully: rock teams, dragons that will laugh off most of the attacks it learns, and a few teams specifically with countering Charizard Y in mind, all because it is popular and powerful...
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| Pretty cool design, devastating power, killed by leaving Lego around... Charizard Y |
For Charizard X, you get a change in typing to fire/dragon, and a split attack front with both regular and special going to 130, not something to be looked down on too much, but with lacking HP and only 85 special defence, you may not be sticking around too long, especially not if you go Speed and then Attack EVs. If you run attack, fly is a decent option (even without STAB it covers the ground weakness), though not outstanding, and you can also take advantage of crunch, dragon/shadow claw and flare blitz. Running attack, as well, also allows belly drum to not be the worst move possible, but it's still an awful choice...
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| Finally a dragon after nearly two decades, but is it worth it? Charizard X |
Overall, I find myself thinking Charizard is one of the most overrated Pokemon ever. Charmander is adorable, Charmeleon is pretty hideous, and Charizard may look awesome, but is shorter than me: it's only 5'7". It's also too frail: regular and Y get ruined by one of the more usual entry hazards (stealth rock) and X gets nicely demolished by ground and fairy (which are also pretty damn common) as well as getting hit still quite hard by stealth rock, spikes and toxic spikes. Take no offence: Charizard is a great Pokemon, but there are too many easily sorted checks for it. If you manage to clear all of them out of the way, you can run rampant... Also, I don't really like there being two megas...
(All artwork presented by Ken Sugimori, taken from the Bulbapedia image archives)
Charmander is so cute.
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