Pokémon Arcanine-Hisui

[TheTraininator]

(Approved by Ausma)

Fire / Rock

Base Stats: 95 HP / 115 Atk / 80 Def / 95 SpA / 80 SpD / 90 Spe
Abilities: Intimidate | Flash Fire | Rock Head (H)
Notable Moves:
- Head Smash
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat
- Wild Charge
- Morning Sun
- Substitute
- Agility
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch
- Tera Blast
- Solar Beam
- Flame Charge
- Will-O-Wisp
- Howl

Overview: When initially released in Pokémon Legends Arceus, Hisuian Arcanine was commonly theorized to be a worse counterpart to its already-niche Kantonian cousin due to a dramatically worse defensive typing and worse speed tier. Boy were we wrong; between the release of Legends Arceus and the release of Scarlet and Violet, the Hisuian Pokémon were still having their abilities tuned behind-the-scenes, and come the release of generation 9, it was discovered that Arcanine-H was gifted the immensely powerful ability of Rock Head, synergizing excellently well with its STAB combination of Head Smash and Flare Blitz. As a result, Arcanine-H may potentially thrive as a terrifying wallbreaker in the post-HOME metagame.


Pros:
- Incredible STAB combo of recoil-less Head Smash and Rock Head 2HKOS most of the meta with no coverage
- Extreme Speed enables powerful priority option vs faster threats
- Wide movepool and only 3 required moveslots allows for a lot of flexibility
- 95/80/80 bulk is solid for an offensive Pokémon, often letting it take strong neutral hits, especially when combined with Tera
Cons:
- Base 90 speed leaves it outpaced by a good chunk of offensive threats
- Fire/Rock typing leaves Arcanine-H with practically nonexistent defensive utility, making it a poor user of its other abilities Intimidate and Flash Fire
- Very weak to hazards if not running Boots
- 80 Accuracy on Head Smash will make you occasionally in the mood to recite ancient curses
- Hard-walled by physically defensive Great Tusk without resorting to drastic measures (Banded Flare Blitz in Sun is still only a 3HKO)


Potential Sets:
Choice Band
Arcanine-H @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Normal / Flying
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed
- Close Combat / Stealth Rock

Very simple and self-explanatory set. The combination of Head Smash and Flare Blitz is ridiculously hard for the majority of the meta to switch into, allowing Arcanine to scare out slower Pokémon to wrack up massive damage multiple times a battle. Banded Extreme Speed is used to pick off weakened faster Pokémon or occasionally get in a bit of extra damage before sacking it. In the last slot Close Combat can be used as a strong and accurate option for physically bulky fire resists such as Garganacl, though Stealth Rock can be used instead for suicide hazards or on a predicted switch. Jolly is the preferred nature over Adamant on this set to outspeed all varieties of non-Scarf Gholdengo and Great Tusk. Tera Normal is usually preferred to give Extreme Speed a 50% power boost while getting rid of most of its weaknesses, sometimes allowing Arcanine-H to act as a cleaner lategame. Tera Flying is a decent alternative to allow Hisuian Arcanine to dodge Earthquakes and swap to a fighting resistance, giving it a better matchup against Great Tusk and Landorus-Therian in a pinch.

Heavy-Duty Boots
Arcanine-H @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Normal / Flying
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Head Smash
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed / Agility
- Substitute / Morning Sun

Similar to the Banded set, but you exchange raw breaking power for greater longevity and less reliance on prediction. Agility can be used instead of Extremespeed on this set to enable a lategame sweep vs offense without having to rely on Tera, in which case Tera Normal should not be run. Substitute is the preferred option for the last slot as it guarantees that Arcanine can choose correctly between Head Smash and Flare Blitz on the switch without need for prediction, but Morning Sun can be used for even greater longevity, allowing Hisuian Arcanine to stick around for entire games vs teams that are weak to it.

Tusk Lure (Sun)
Arcanine-H @ Expert Belt
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Normal / Grass
Naive / Naughty Nature
- Head Smash
- Flare Blitz
- Extreme Speed / Agility
- Solarbeam

With sun support, Hisuian Arcanine can act as a solid lure for Great Tusk even without the need of Terastalization. The combination of sun-boosted Flare Blitz followed by Expert Belt Solarbeam will usually 2HKO Great Tusk after Leftovers from full, being guaranteed if a single entry hazard is in play or if Tusk is running Boots instead of Leftovers. If chosen, Tera Grass allows Hisuian Arcanine to OHKO Tusk from full, allowing it to beat it 1v1 while also increasing the general power of Solar Beam in other matchups, such as against TankChomp.

 

[Magcargo]

TBH CB Tera Fire in Sun might be the only Tusk lure you need considering the insane damage its dealing.

252 Atk Choice Band Arcanine-Hisui Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Protosynthesis Great Tusk in Sun: 186-220 (42.8 - 50.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Tera Fire Arcanine-Hisui Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Protosynthesis Great Tusk in Sun: 248-294 (57.1 - 67.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

(Second calc is assuming lowest roll possible on the first hit + Leftovers Recovery)

The Solar Beam set could still have a niche since its also useful vs Tera Water Tusk, but the big numbers from Tera Fire CB under sun are pretty tempting.

I think this Pokemon will be a very scary nuke, though its speed tier is a bit unfortunate since its outsped by some key Pokemon like Lando-T. Still, its outspeeding most other relevant targets like Gholdengo, Hatterene, Samurott-H, etc, has good bulk to take a neutral hit from Faster Pokemon if needed, and is immune to burn. Still, the SR weakness and 4x weakness to Ground Moves does suck for this Pokemon, makes it prey for many faster Pokemon like Enarmous & forces it to burn its Tera to deal w/ these Pokemon.

 

[TheTraininator]

I still think the fact that the Ebelt lure set can do it without having to Tera is notable, but that’s actually really cool and important that Band Tera Fire can 2HKO in sun!

 

[all_right_gentlemen]

Hyped for this mon! It'll likely drop to UU after new toy syndrome ends, but hopefully it stays relevant enough in OU. Fire/Rock is just a beautiful dual STAB, and with Rock Head, Arcanine-Hisui is what happens when you combine Marowak-Alola and Tyrantrum and make it faster.

Also I recommend substituting Stealth Rock in the CB set for Close Combat, it's a solid option for Garganacl, Roaring Moon and Hydreigon if a team has problems with those mons!

 

[Hiddenfreezer]

Tera makes this one way more potent. Do not be surprised when its Breaks your Team.

 

[Sonikgav]

Tera Blast Grass is absolutely a Choice for this guy. It's generally enough to one shot the Targets that aren't expecting it.

 

[5camp]

Willowisp is a fantastic 4th moveslot choice on this guy, especially as the mons it invites in (Chomp, Tusk) hate being burned. There's also the option of Morning Sun, but willo is probably the best unless you're going terablast grass/water/ice

 

[Vengeance417]

Hisuian Arcanine does NOT get Play Rough. Only Kantonian Arcanine has access to it.

 

[AztecCroc]

Hisuian Arcanine does NOT get Play Rough. Only Kantonian Arcanine has access to it.

Really? That's an odd oversight on Gamefreak's part, given its a TM and it did get it in PLA.

 

[TheTraininator]

Hisuian Arcanine does NOT get Play Rough. Only Kantonian Arcanine has access to it.

I just noticed this myself, thank you! How bizarre; I’ll fix the first set ASAP.

 

[Maxicheese]

Honestly when I saw Hisuan Arcanine I literally said "Oh such a shame that a so good looking pokemon is such trash, Fire/Rock even if good offensively is one of the worst type defensively and he is a little slower than arcanine (even if 90 speed is still a correct speed).

But then I saw that he obtain rock head and I realised that he is the best rock head user and will be UU material, for me all the rock head user has two major problem that ruins their potential, first except Aerodactyl they are very slow and even if some tactic like trick room exist, this is still very hard to use them as they require a lot of placement and the other is that they have a very bad movepool who goes well with this like Aerodactyl who doesn't have head smash or the pokemon who have just one attack who benefit from this ability like Marowak or Tyrantrum but Hisuan Arcanine has the best movepool for the ability with head smash,flare blitz, wild charge and double edge (even if this one will be never used because of extreme speed) and has decent speed of 90 which can be used has a scarf or a band.Really, one of the most disastrous pokemon of the Hisuan version become a future top UU threat.