As seen in the epic junior division finals at the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet North America International Championships this past weekend, Torkoal is incredibly powerful next to an Oranguru with Trick Room and Instruct. But one player might’ve found another Fire-type Pokémon that can give Torkoal a run for its money without having to rely on the sun.
In a July 5 Reddit post, a crafty Scarlet and Violet player put their own little twist on the Oranguru/Torkoal strategy. Instead of using Torkoal, the player opted for Camerupt, a Pokémon rarely seen in VGC.
The video showed Camerupt destroying the opposing Flutter Mane and Gyarados in a single turn with help from Oranguru. Once Trick Room got set up in a previous turn, Camerupt was free to use its strongest attack, Eruption, twice in the same turn thanks to Oranguru’s signature move, Instruct. Neither Flutter Mane nor Gyarados ever stood a chance.
The most impressive part was the knockout on Gyarados, who naturally resists Camerupt’s Fire-type attack thanks to its Water typing. Between Gyarados’ type advantage and natural bulk, it’s surprising to see it get taken down so easily.
But aside from the massive damage output shown in the video, is there a reason to run with Camerupt instead of Torkoal? Yes.
Torkoal’s whole existence relies on the sun, which it can set up with its Drought ability. This works well with the Scarlet Paradox Pokémon to give them their Protosynthesis boosts, but it can also work against you if you’re facing down a Choice Specs Flutter Mane, for example. And if Torkoal happens to lose the weather war to rain, sand, or snow, it’ll be doing a lot less damage since its base special attack is only 85.
Meanwhile, Camerupt was still getting those huge knockouts without the sun thanks to its base 105 special attack. And unlike Torkoal, Camerupt doesn’t have to waste its Ability slot on Drought to set up the sun. Instead, Camerupt gets access to Solid Rock, which is supposed to help its quad-weakness to Water-type attacks. Pairing this handy ability with Terastallization minimizes the damage of super-effective attacks, and should keep Camerupt on the field longer.
Given how dominant Camerupt looked against two of the strongest Pokémon in the meta, perhaps players can start cooking up some new strats with the fire camel. Who knows—this may even spark inspiration to find other Pokémon that pair well with Oranguru rather than sticking with Torkoal.
