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The release of Pokémon: Scarlet and Violet feature the biggest Pokédex to date. On top of that, the setting of Paldea also manages to be the biggest region ever released, with a true open-world setting and plenty of fire-type Pokémon to find within it.
With all the options a player has available in Paldea, players will naturally want to keep the best for their teams, especially if they’re planning to battle legendary Pokémon or take down other trainers. Generation 9 of Pokémon has shaken up the meta, and with it still being early days since its release the best Pokémon are still subject to change, but there are still some Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet that can be meta competitors based on their stat blocks and move sets.
Eevee-Evolved Flareon
Flareon is a great choice for getting raw damage output from a Fire-type in Pokémon: Scarlet and Violet, with the highest base attack stat of any Fire-type that can be found in Paldea at 130, while also being a mono Fire-type. Besides its very high base attack and special defense that make it a top-tier physical attacker, it also has access to the ability “Flash Fire”, which can be used to hard counter any Fire-types on the opponent's team and hit them back even harder.
Flareon can be acquired by giving Eevee a Fire Stone at any level. Eevee can be caught in the second area of South Province, while Fire Stones can be purchased at the Delibird shop.
The Fire Blades Pokémon, Ceruledge
The newly introduced Pokémon: Scarlet and Violet duo of Ceruledge and Armarouge to were expected to be a fixture of the meta, they’ve somewhat underperformed in of expectations, but they’re still both decent picks with very high base stats at 525. Both are evolutions of Charcadet, but Ceruledge has a bit of an edge in competition with dual Ghost/Fire-type.
What’s already a great type combo is even further ed with a solid moveset including Shadow Claw and Flare Blitz, and the second-highest base Attack of any Fire-type at 125 (while being immune to normal and fighting moves itself) that makes it able to hit extremely hard when it can start learning other moves like Close Combat.
Fire/Ghost-type Skeledirge
Another new entry for Gen 9, Skeledirge is the final evolution of the Fire-type starter Fuecoco, where it becomes a dual Fire/Ghost type for its final evolution. As mentioned, this is a great type combo for any Pokémon, and Skeledirge uses it well with its high base stats of 530. While these are spread pretty evenly, so it never excels in any one area, it still has a pretty high Special Attack of 110 that’s compounded by its unique move, Torch Song, which lets trainers ramp up their damage output over time.
Skeledirge evolves from Crocalor at level 36, while Crocalor evolves from Fuecoco at level 16. One of the positives of going for a Skeledirge in your team is that players can get Fuecoco as their starter Pokémon in Scarlet or Violet, meaning they’ll instantly have access to start grinding levels.
The Legendary Arcanine
Arcanine has been a feature of the Pokémon meta for some time and Pokémon: Scarlet and Violet are no different, the extremely high base stats of 555 make them above average in every category, which means it can be used for both physical and special attacks while maintaining high survivability. It’s a mono Fire-type Pokémon and has the special ability “Intimidate”, which lowers the attack of opposing Pokémon when being switched in. Along with this, it has access to a great range of Fire-type moves, including Will-O-Wisp, which can be used to punish any Pokémon that resist the Intimidate ability.
Players can find Arcanine’s Prevolution, Growlithe, early on, in the third area of South Province – close to Artazon town.
Iron Moth, A Fire/Poison Paradox Pokémon
Iron Moth is a new form of Volcarona that is exclusive to Pokémon Violet, and with Volcarona already being a top-tier Fire-type since its introduction, Iron Moth is a Pokémon that improves upon it in almost every way. With incredibly high base stats at 570, it has the second-highest base stats of any Fire-type, along with 140 Special Attack and very high Speed and Special Defense too.
Iron Moth is a dual Poison/Fire-type, giving it resistances to 8 types and a single double weakness, making it one of the most resistant types in the game. Poison moves are also some of the best you can acquire in Pokémon, and Iron Moth gets access to a wealth of them by default. With all the ways to make Iron Moth a heavy-hitting offensive Pokémon, while still maintaining good survivability, it almost tops the list of the best Fire-types you can get in Gen 9.
The Dark/Fire-type Legendary Chi-Yu
Chi-Yu is yet another new introduction to Gen 9 in Pokémon: Scarlet and Violet, and the only new and also the most powerful one you can get by base stats, with a total of 580 which includes the highest Special Attack of any Pokémon in the game at 145, and the highest Special Defense of any Fire-Type at 120. Its Ability, “Beads of Ruin”, essentially further boost its destructive power by lowering the defense of all Pokémon on the field by a flat 25%.
Chi-Yu can easily sweep other Pokémon with such high Special Attacks combined with the high damage moves it gets access to, like Inferno and Dark Pulse, while the Ruination skill exclusive to the new four Legendary's that comprise the Treasures of Ruin can cut the health bar of any high HP stall Pokémon in half. This makes Chi-Yu not only the perfect counter to physical attackers that have relatively low Special Defense, but also a powerhouse that can go toe-to-toe with some extremely tough Pokémon by wearing down their Special Defense.
Chi-Yu can only be acquired after finding its shrine by completing Raifort’s history exam at the Academy, after which you’ll have to find the 8 blue stakes to open the shrine. It's possible to catch Chi-Yu inside, but players should be aware that this fight will be their only chance to do so unless they reload a save.
