Darmanitan, The Blazing Pokémon. Its internal fire burns at 2,500° F, making enough power that it can destroy a dump truck with one punch. When weakened in battle, it transforms into a stone statue. Then it sharpens its mind and fights on mentally.

Overview

I actually really like this guy. Its design always makes me laugh, and it hits like a truck. It has an alright physical movepool too. Not to mention, that awesome ability. It's a pure Fire type, which only leaves it with one STAB move, but that's fine. Pure Fire seems to be a rarity nowadays. It has another ability too, which is pretty strange, called Zen Mode. It's... interesting, to say the least.

Abilities

Sheer Force: Oh my god, this ability. It makes you hit so much harder, it's crazy. There's also a weird trick with Life Orb, where if you use a move that has recoil, you don't get the Life Orb recoil. It's strange. Anyway, Sheer Force cancels the secondary effect of attacks like Rock Slide's flinch and Flare Blitz's burn, but doesn't get rid of recoil or stat downs.
Zen Mode: activates when you have 50% HP or less, and stops when you get more than 50% HP again. It changes Darmanitan to a... tank of sorts, with a huge Special Attack rather than a huge Attack. It's really weird.

Hit hard as many times as you can before you faint

- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Earhtquake / U-turn
Item Attached: Life Orb / Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) / Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Welcome to how to use Darmanitan 101. What you do is attack as much as you can, switch out, switch back in and repeat. Flare Blitz actually gets the Sheer Force boost as it can burn, meaning it's a scary powerful attack. Superpower decimates Heatran, which absorbs your Flare Blitz like it's nothing. Rock Slide gets the Sheer Force boost and loses its flinching ability, but it's a more accurate, a little more powerful version of Stone Edge. Earthquake is alright, but doesn't cover much more than Superpower. U-turn helps you scout, which is always good.
Life Orb allows you to change your moves and still have a load of power. Choice Band hits harder but you're locked into the move you pick. Same with Choice Scarf, but it adds to your Speed.

Bulkmanitan

- Bulk Up
- Flare Blitz / Fire Punch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) / Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Bulk Up increases your Attack and your... Defence... which nobody cares about! Attack boost is all you should care about. Flare Blitz is as powerful as you'd expect, although Fire Punch is an option if you don't want the recoil. Earthquake is a great physical move. Rock Slide or Stone Edge, your choice. Both are good.

Drumanitan

- Belly Drum
- Fire Punch
- Substitute / Earthquake
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge / Earthquake
Item Attached: Life Orb / Leftovers / Salac Berry
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

Belly Drum makes your Attack ridiculous. As in, insane. Fire Punch is way safer than Flare Blitz as it has no recoil. Substitute brings you into Salac Berry range and protects you from damage. Earthquake is an amazing physical move. Rock Slide is another great move, hitting stuff like Gyarados and Salamence really hard.

Nitromanitan

- Flame Charge
- Flare Blitz / Fire Punch
- Earthquake / Superpower / Rock Slide
- Earthquake / Superpower / Rock Slide
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

Flame Charge is weak. However, it boosts your Speed, which makes you really dangerous. Flare Blitz hits crazy hard, and Fire Punch is a safer version. Earthquake is a great move, as is Superpower, although that lowers your stats. Rock Slide partners well with either.

Zen Mode Activate!

- Substitute
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Psychic
- Focus Blast / Grass Knot
Item Attached: Wise Glasses / Petaya Berry
Ability: Zen Mode
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

Substitute is the most reliable way of getting to 50% HP. Flamethrower is your Fire STAB, but you can use Fire Blast. Psychic is your secondary STAB, and Focus Blast hits Heatran. Grass Knot helps for taking out bulky Waters.
Wise Glasses is probably the best item you can hold, considering you have to stay below 50% health. However, a Petaya Berry gives you a big boost when you have 25% or lower health.

EVs & Natures

Every set except for Zen Mode
Max Attack and max Speed. Hit hard and as fast as possible. There's no point in adding to bulk because... you don't want to be taking hits.

Zen Mode
Max Special Attack so you can abuse that amazing base Special Attack, with enough HP to give you 101 Substitutes. The rest in either Defence or Special Defence, as it has such poor Speed.

Other Options

Encore, Focus Punch, Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, Yawn
Encore works on a sort of support set, as it is an amazing move that forces switches.
Focus Punch can be really effective. Use it with Substitute and you have a great SubPuncher on your team..
Taunt is another great move that just isn't ideal on Darmanitan. It's good and could be on a support set, but why would you ignore that huge power?
Will-O-Wisp burns the opponent. Makes up for Sheer Force leaving you with no burning attacks.
Yawn forces a switch or puts the opponent to sleep.

Double & Triple Battle Options

Weak to Water, Ground and Rock... not a good Pokémon for taking hits in doubles what with Surf, Earthquake and Rock Slide being common. However, it does hit hard. It has a powerful Earthquake of its own, as well as that Fire STAB. 107 base power Rock Slide is also nice. However, you can only hit hard if you're there to do it. Considering how... frail Darmanitan is, it won't be around for too long. Zen Mode would be way too difficult to use in multiple Pokémon battles. Like, insanely hard to use well.

Partners

You want to be able to take out bulky Waters, Heatran and other Flash Fire users. They will be your main downfall, although Dragon/Flying Pokémon can switch in. Zapdos, bulky Grass Pokémon, Cresselia, you want to be able to take these Pokémon out as soon as possible. Running your own ScarfChomp is a good way of taking most of them out. Another idea is using Darmanitan in a sun team. It'd help it take hits from bulky Waters and give Flare Blitz a huge boost. Honestly, there isn't much to talk about in terms of partners. You want stuff that can remove the things that can possibly switch into Darmanitan, so you really limit their options of what to switch in.

Countering Darmanitan

Gyarados, Jellicent, Suicune, Vaporeon, Swampert, bulky Waters wall Darmanitan silly. Seriously, the best switch ins are bulky Waters. Although, Arcanine and Heatran do well with Flash Fire or Intimidate. Just avoid Earthquake, Superpower and Rock Slide. Dragon/Flying Pokémon do well too, just avoid Rock Slide. Salamence and Dragonite are probably the best, with Intimidate and Multiscale. Revenge killing Darmanitan is the safer option, rather than relying on it using a move you resist. Starmie, Dugtrio, be faster and hit it for super effective damage and it'll go down.

Zen Mode only activates when you hit 50%, so if you hit it hard enough before then, it'll go down with its awful defences. Rock Blast from Cloyster or any other Skill Link user will destroy Darmanitan. To be honest, even after Zen Mode activates it'll still go down fairly easily. Big HP and big defences mean nothing when you have 50% HP. Blissey and Snorlax still wall you crazy like they do most special attackers.

Oh yeah, and it's weak to Stealth Rock. 25% each switch in isn't ideal.

Pre-Evolution Corner

Darmanitan's pre-evo is a king of Little Cup. It hits so hard, it's unreal. 40 Attack might not seem like much, but it really is when you're level 5. There's so few Pokémon that can switch into Darumaka that, if you can get it onto the field, you will be destroying at least something.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in Game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in Game.

Colosseum/XD:
Not in Game.

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in Game.

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in Game.

Black/White:
Desert Resort (Zen Mode - Requires RageCandyBar)
Evolve Darumaka

Animé Appearences

Darmanitan has had a few anime appearances. First, one was stuck in Zen Mode to protect a bell that had fallen. After that, it has had a few cameo appearances. # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 667 Saving Darmanitan From the Bell! Darumaka and Darmanitan! The Secret of Clock Tower!! Pics 681 A Venipede Stampede Castelia City - Venipede Panic! Pics M14 White: Victini & Zekrom Victini & The Black Hero: Zekrom Pics 701 Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia!! Fierce Fighting Don Battle! Snivy VS Pawniard!! Pics 704 Meowth's Scrafty Tactics Negotiator Meowth! Scrafty Persuasion Tactics!! Pics 710 Enter Elesa, Electrifying Gym Leader! Charismatic Gym Leader Appears! Elesa Enters! Pics 714 A Maractus Musical Somewhere, Over The Rainbow! A Maractus Musical! Pics 715 The Four Seasons of Sawsbuck! Sawsbuck: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, All Present!! Pics 720 Stopping the Rage of Legends! (Part 1) Tornadus VS Thundurus VS Landorus!! (Part One) Pics 721 Stopping the Rage of Legends! (Part 2) Tornadus VS Thundurus VS Landorus!! (Part Two) Pics 730 Climbing the Tower of Success! Obstacle Breakthrough! Climb The Tower of the Sky!! Pics 750 Iris and the Rogue Dragonite Iris and the Roughneck Dragonite! Pics 751 Jostling for the Junior Cup! The Junior Cup Gets Underway! Dragonite VS Beartic!! Pics 763 Team Eevee and the Pokemon Rescue Squad! Team Eevee, Depart! The Pokémon Rescue Squad!! Pics 769 A Unova League Evolution Unova League Conclusion! Lucario VS Pikachu!! Pics 773 Team Plasma's Pokémon Power Plot! Colress VS Looker! The Team Plasma Conspiracy! Pics 795 The Journalist from Another Region! Alexa Appears! Helioptile & Gogoat!! Pics 977 A Crowning Moment of Truth! A Fire Battle! Marowak Shows Up! Pics 1103 Raid Battle in the Ruins! The First Visit to the Unova Region! Raid Battle at the Ruins!! Pics 1105 A Chilling Curse! Ash Has Been Cursed...! Pics 1106 Kicking it from Here Into Tomorrow! Scorbunny Use Your Flaming Kick! Face Tomorrow!! Pics 1108 A Talent for Imitation! I Am Ditto! Pics 1112 Panic in the Park! Massive Panic! Cerise Park!! Pics 1120 The Cuteness Quotient! Feebas and the Prism Scale! Pics 1124 Gotta Catch a What?! I Got Pikachu Pics 1136 Crowning the Chow Crusher! Pokémon Champion! The Battle of Big Eaters!! Pics 1143 Sobble Spies a Stealthy Strategy! Sobble In Possible Pics 1151 Not Too Close for Comfort! Woebegone Drizzile! Pics 1167 Detective Drizzile! The Cerise Laboratories Become a Target!! Pics 1169 Trial on a Golden Scale! Trial Mission! Volcarona's Golden Scales!! Pics 1183 Suffering the Flings and Arrows! The Heracross Loss and the Pinsir in Love Pics 1191 Battling in the Freezing Raid! Trial Mission: A Frozen Raid Battle!! Pics 1202 Chasing to the Finish! Last Mission! Get Regieleki & Regidrago!! Pics 1215 TBC Go for Dream! Goh's Road to Mew!! Pics 1225 These Could be the Start of Something Big! Ash and Goh! Setting Off Anew!! Pics 1 The Pendant That Starts It All: Part One The Pendant It All Started With! (Part 1) Pics 25 Rivals in the Dark of Night! Rivals in the Moonless Night Pics