Competitive Pokémon History - Volcarona Trivia Game

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. One of the things which made Volcarona a deadly threat in fifth generation standard play was having arguably the best boosting move in the game at its disposal, to quickly turn nuclear and easily threaten a sweep. What boosting move was this?

Answer: Quiver Dance

Quiver Dance boosts the user's Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed by one stage each upon being used. This made Volcarona out to be quite fast after a boost, hit unbelievably hard, and be fairly sturdy against retaliating special attackers- if it's assailant somehow managed to survive an attack from it first, that is.

2. Volcarona is as easy a candidate for a specially offensive sweeper as it gets, possessing a perfect statbuild for the job. What was Volcarona's Special Attack stat?

Answer: 135

At 135, Volcarona's good complementary movepool meant that it could easily threaten a sweep if the opponent dared falter in allowing their answer to Volcarona to even get slightly chipped. This made it out to be a deadly threat.

3. While Volcarona may seem unbeatable, a sure fire candidate to have been banned to Ubers, it had one enormous weakness that every single team even slightly well built could effortlessly exploit. Volcarona's "counter" in this sense wasn't an individual Pokémon, but instead, a mechanic. What plagued Volcarona in this regard?

Answer: Entry hazards

Volcarona could function or even take advantage of any weather, so weather teams weren't the end of the world.

Stealth Rock in particular took away half of Volcarona's HP if it came onto the field with it in play. Toxic Spikes made sustaining a sweep next to impossible, as they would make it nearly undoable to pick up a Quiver Dance without being KOed or heavily weakened in the process. Spikes were an annoyance as well.

As a result, Volcarona could not simply be slapped onto a team and have that be that. Unbelievably heavy entry hazards removing support was mandatory, no less than two Rapid Spinners and even a Magic Bounce user such as Espeon or Xatu were heavily recommended as teammates for Volcarona.

4. Volcarona had deficiencies with a mechanic, but that was not all, as it had a pretty bad Defense stat that made handling physical attackers a daunting task. What was Volcarona's Defense stat?

Answer: 65

65 with a merely average 85 in HP made Volcarona quite physically frail. This wasn't always the end of the world, but it meant Volcarona had to be very selective about when to set up with Quiver Dance. Doing so when the opponent has a healthy Dragonite, Tyranitar or even Scizor was pointless, as they could easily come in after Volcarona KOed something and ensure Volcarona could get no further, halting its sweep on the spot.

This only served to add to the difficulty of fitting Volcarona on a team- its positives made it worth the effort, but it needed plenty of team support in order to execute a sweep,

5. Volcarona had two interesting in the fifth generation. One of them was Swarm, though its first slotted ability tended to see slightly more use. What was it?

Answer: Flame Body

Flame Body makes it so that any Pokémon making physical contact with Volcarona has a 30% chance to be burned after doing so.

Switching Volcarona in to powerful physical attackers with its meager Defense was not a good idea at all. However, it could be brought in on, say, Scizor's U-Turn and fish for a burn against it. With Scizor pacified, a teammate such as Salamence or Kyurem-B could potentially sweep due to Scizor being unable to stop them as it normally could. As such, it was an okay ability on Volcarona.

6. Volcarona is in possession of a signature move- Fiery Dance. Apart from deal damage, what is Fiery Dance's secondary effect?

Answer: Chance to boost Volcarona's Special Attack stat

Fiery Dance is a Fire type attack with a base 80 power and perfect accuracy. It has a 50% chance to give Volcarona a +1 to its Special Attack upon use. It didn't see much competitive limelight, however, as the move itself is relatively weak and Volcarona already has Quiver Dance for a boosting supplement, which was generally more impactful and far more reliable.

As such, it tended to take a backseat to Fire Blast, which was much stronger.

7. In the seventh generation, a set referred to as "Bulkarona" was born. As the name implies, this is a Volcarona which invests in its defenses while using one move that its more offensive sets do not. What move would this set in particular use?

Answer: Roost

Roost doesn't work very well on Volcarona's standard offensive sets, as they lack the bulk needed to make a recovery option worthwhile. Volcarona's typing is such where it would be able to setup on big metagame threats, such as (Mega) Scizor, Landorus-T or Gliscor lacking a Rock type move or Bronzong lacking Toxic.

However, it's natural bulk is so poor that these Pokémon would still be able to at least hold Volcarona at bay and stop it from taking advantage of them. With the Bulkarona set, this problem was solved. Volcarona's natural Special Attack is still strong enough even without investment to threaten a sweep.

The added bulk and recovery of the set made boosting twice or even three times realistic, allowing Volcarona to remain just as deadly as ever.

8. The Z Move era was particularly kind to Volcarona. Per Smogon usage statistics, which Z Crystal did it use the most?

Answer: Buginium-Z

Butginium-Z turns Bug Buzz one time into Savage Spinout. This was so extraordinarily powerful that it threatened defensive Garchomp with an OHKO after a Quiver Dance. Bug Buzz itself gave Volcarona a good, consistent option against Tyranitar, the Lati Twins, Mega Alakazam, Reuniclus and was a good, safe STAB option in general.

As such, it was a great option for Volcarona that propelled its status in standard play.

9. The eighth generation bestowed Volcarona a blessing so divine that it must've been kissed by Arceus Himself. This new item would allow Volcarona to nullify its biggest weakness. What item was this?

Answer: Heavy Duty Boots

Heavy Duty Boots gives the user an immunity to entry hazards. This meant Volcarona no longer lost half its HP upon entering play with Stealth Rock on the field, greatly reducing its otherwise crippling weakness to it. This made it vastly easier to fit Volcarona on a team, naturally improving its usage statistics greatly.

10. In the eighth generation, Volcarona briefly took advantage of a new mechanic to even start seeing usage in Ubers. Though the mechanic was later banned, and Volcarona's status in Ubers diminished entirely afterward, it was still a good ride at the tippity top, competing with cover legendaries and other terrifying threats. What mechanic allowed Volcarona to ascend to this status?

Answer: Dynamax

A Dynamaxed Volcarona was extremely deadly, setting its own sun to take advantage of, temporarily patching up its bulk deficiencies via Dynamax doubling its HP and having Quiver Dance to boost with beforehand to emphasize these positives. Dynamax as a whole was found to be too overpowered and banned from Ubers, causing Volcarona to fall out of favor in the tier.

But it was a fun, productive run nevertheless that not all Pokémon got to enjoy.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Competitive Pokémon History - Volcarona Quiz

Champion Alder's Ace Pokémon, we have the deadly Bug/Fire type Volcarona! Try not to get roasted or bug out on this competitive history quiz spanning from generations 5-8!

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>