Excluding Pokemon not available to all players (Charizard), it’s clear that Arcanine is the best fire Pokemon in Fire Red. However, it’s a version exclusive so Leaf Green players can’t get one without trading.
Aside from Arcanine and Charizard, other good Fire Pokemon in Fire Red/Leaf Green include Magmar, Ninetales, Moltres and Flareon. Read more about each option below!
Fire Red/Leaf Green: Best Fire Pokemon
Arcanine is the best Fire type Pokemon in Fire Red/Leaf Green. Remember, though, that it’s a Fire Red version exclusive so if you have Leaf Green you can only obtain it via trading.
Arcanine
Arcanine is known as the ‘Legendary Pokemon’ and was originally planned to be just that – a legendary Pokemon.
It’s in the Kanto Pokedex as a regular Pokemon but Arcanine’s near-legendary status goes some way to explaining its outrageous stats. Arcanine’s Intimidate ability is also highly useful.
Arcanine base stats (Fire Red/Leaf Green)
Arcanine’s base stat total is 555:
- HP: 90
- Attack: 110
- Defense: 80
- Sp. Attack: 100
- Sp. Defense: 80
- Speed: 95
With beneficial nature plus EVs and IVs, Arcanine’s max base stat total at level 100 is 1947.
Best Arcanine moveset Fire Red/Leaf Green
Flamethrower is very effective with same type attack bonus (STAB) plus Arcanine’s 100 special attack stat.
Your second STAB boosted Fire type move is a choice between Fire Blast and Overheat. Overheat is stronger and more accurate but reduces special attack after use, so I prefer Fire Blast (which can also burn the opponent).
ExtremeSpeed is a must have for Arcanine to make up for its sub-100 speed stat. It’s a powerful and 100% accurate move with a +1 priority.
It’s a good idea to take full advantage of Arcanine’s huge move pool by filling your final slot with a strong move of a different type such as Aerial Ace, Dig, or Iron Tail (my preference is Aerial Ace because it’s unavoidable).
One thing to remember is that when you evolve Growlithe into Arcanine using a Fire Stone, it won’t be able to learn any more moves via level up.
That means if you want access to the full suite of moves with Arcanine, you should wait until your Growlithe is level 49 (when it learns Flamethrower) before evolving it.
What is Arcanine strong against?
Arcanine is fairly quick, has good attack and special attack stats, reasonable defense, and a decent HP. In short, it’s strong against pretty much everything excluding the natural Fire type weaknesses.
Arcanine’s Intimidate ability further underlines its status as the best Fire Pokemon in Fire Red/Leaf Green. Intimidate weakens the attack of all opposing Pokemon when it enters (or starts) a battle.
What is Arcanine weak against?
Fire types like Arcanine are naturally weak against Water, Ground, and Rock Pokemon.
However, Arcanine’s stats are pretty solid all-round, so there isn’t a particular class (i.e. fast, strong, etc.) of Pokemon that it really struggles against.
How to get Arcanine in Fire Red/Leaf Green
In order to obtain Arcanine in Fire Red, you will need to find a Growlithe and evolve it using a Fire Stone.
You can buy a Fire Stone on the fourth floor of the Celadon Department Store, or you can find one on Mt. Ember.
Yet another advantage to stack up in favor of Arcanine is that you can get your hands on it relatively early on (in Fire Red at least – Leaf Green players will need to trade for one).
Where to find Growlithe in Pokemon Fire Red
Growlithe can be found on Route 8 (cut the tree to enter the fenced-off area of long grass just to the west of Lavender Town).
Other strong Fire Pokemon in Fire Red/Leaf Green
Even if you can’t be bothered to trade with a Fire Red player for Arcanine and you didn’t pick Charizard, there are still several handy Fire Pokemon in Fire Red/Leaf Green:
Magmar
Magmar is another version exclusive but this time for Leaf Green, so, Leaf Green players: Magmar is your strongest natively obtainable Fire Pokemon (i.e. without trading).
Magmar is the ‘Spitfire’ Pokemon. It has well-rounded stats and, crucially, can be taught the very OP move, Psychic.
Magmar base stats (Fire Red/Leaf Green)
Magmar’s base stat total is 495:
- HP: 65
- Attack: 95
- Defense: 57
- Sp. Attack: 100
- Sp. Defense: 85
- Speed: 93
With beneficial nature plus EVs and IVs, Magmar’s max base stat total at level 100 is 1821.
Best Magmar moveset in Fire Red/Leaf Green
A STAB boosted Flamethrower used by Magmar will cause all sorts of trouble to opponents.
Many players consider Fire to be a relatively weak type in Fire Red/Leaf Green. In contrast, Psychic type moves are generally considered to be the most powerful, so you should definitely teach Magmar the move Psychic.
Psychic TM 29 can be found in Saffron City: Head east from the Saffron City Poke Center and walk into the house second from the end of the row. Talk to the man (Mr. Psychic) sitting inside and he’ll give you TM 29.
I like to use sub-punch with Magmar. Substitute (learn this via Move Tutor) takes 25% from your Pokemon to create a decoy Pokemon that will take any hits until it is out of HP.
While your decoy is taking a pummeling, you can charge up and then unleash Focus Punch (TM 01) for 150 power with 100 accuracy. Magmar’s decent attack stat makes this a super effective combo.
What is Magmar strong against?
Fire Red/Leaf Green Grass type Pokemon are naturally weak against Fire type moves, as are Ice, Bug, and Steel. Magmar’s 100 special attack stat will make light work of them.
Magmar’s useful speed stat also often gives it a head start against slower Pokemon.
What is Magmar weak against?
Magmar’s defense is relatively poor, so Pokemon that make good use of physical attacks can be fairly effective against it.
Otherwise, Magmar is vulnerable to the standard Fire type weaknesses: Water, Ground and Rock.
Where to catch Magmar in Fire Red/Leaf Green
For those of you playing Leaf Green, Magmar can be found in the Power Plant on Route 10.
On Fire Red, a very good Electric type Pokemon – Electabuzz – is there instead.
Ninetales
Ninetales is one of my favorite-looking Pokemon so I have one on my team for most Leaf Green playthroughs (note: Ninetales is a Leaf Green exclusive so Fire Red players will have to trade for one).
Bias aside, the ‘Fox Pokemon’ is a still very good Fire Pokemon with great speed and special defense stats.
Ninetales base stats (Fire Red/Leaf Green)
Ninetales’ base stat total is 505:
- HP: 73
- Attack: 76
- Defense: 75
- Sp. Attack: 81
- Sp. Defense: 100
- Speed: 100
With beneficial nature plus EVs and IVs, Ninetales’ max base stat total at level 100 is 1842.
Best Ninetales moveset in Fire Red/Leaf Green
Make sure to level up your Vulpix to at least level 29 so it can learn Flamethrower before you evolve it into Ninetales.
Nintales’ special attack is not the best, but still decent enough for STAB Flamethrower to be an obvious choice.
The best Fire type move that Ninetales can learn through level up is Fire Spin, which traps the opponent and inflicts a chunk of damage for up to five turns.
By level 17, your Vulpix will have learned Will-o-Wisp, too. This is a nice move for Ninetales that burns the opponent if it hits, cutting their attack in half and taking ⅛ of their HP each turn.
For the final move, I would go with the tried and trusted Quick Attack.
What is Ninetales strong against?
Nintales will burn through Grass, Ice, Bug and Steel type Pokemon with ease.
Opponents that rely heavily on special category moves are not so effective against Ninetales owing to its 110 special defense stat.
What is Ninetales weak against?
As usual for Fire type Pokemon, Ninetales will enjoy little to no success against Water, Ground and Rock type foes.
Where to catch Ninetales in Fire Red/Leaf Green
Ninetales is a fairly easy Pokemon to obtain. You’ll need to use a Fire Stone (buy one from the Celadon Department Store or find one on Mt. Ember) to evolve a Vulpix.
Vulpix itself can be found quite early on in Leaf Green on Routes 7 and 8. Fire Red players can only obtain Vuplix/Ninetales via trading.
Moltres
Moltres is one of the three Kanto region legendary bird Pokemon (along with Zapdos and Articuno).
It’s a dual Fire/Flying type Pokemon with an absolutely massive special attack.
Moltres base stats (Fire Red/Leaf Green)
Moltres’ base stat total is 580:
- HP: 90
- Attack: 100
- Defense: 90
- Sp. Attack: 125
- Sp. Defense: 85
- Speed: 90
With beneficial nature plus EVs and IVs, Moltres’ max base stat total at level 100 is 2002.
Best Moltres moveset in Fire Red/Leaf Green
While Overheat might not be the best choice for Arcanine, it’s a far more useful option for Moltres. That’s because of Moltres’ super high special attack stat:
Overheat will reduce that stat significantly after use but with 125 special attack on a STAB Fire type move, the damage will hopefully be done before that becomes a problem.
Sticking with the theme of this enormous special attack, Flamethrower is an obvious choice, as is Heat Wave.
Toxic is a great move for the final slot. Toxic ‘badly’ poisons the target and the damage this status inflicts increases each turn. Moltres can learn Toxic via TM.
What is Moltres strong against?
Ground Pokemon in Fire Red/Leaf Green are usually a weakness for Fire types, but these moves have no effect on Moltres as it is also a Flying type.
Moltres’s Flying type moves are super effective against Grass, Bug and Fighting types; its Fire type moves also do heavy damage against Grass and Bug in addition to Ice and Steel.
The vast majority of Pokemon with a less than stellar special defense will get blown away by Moltres.
What is Moltres weak against?
The biggest drawback to using Moltres is its x4 vulnerability against Rock Pokemon, which it suffers from due to being a dual type Fire/Flying Pokemon.
Water and Electric Pokemon are both highly effective against Moltres.
Where to catch Moltres in Fire Red/Leaf Green
Moltres can be found on the top of Mt. Ember.
In order to catch a Moltres you will need a Pokemon that knows Strength and a Pokemon that knows Surf, and be able to reach One Island.
In order to get One Island, you’ll need to beat Blaine on Cinnabar Island.
The fact that you can’t obtain Moltres until fairly late in the game is definitely a mark against it.
Flareon
Flareon is known as the ‘Flame’ Pokemon and it has one of the biggest attack stats in the game (130).
I see a lot of people saying that it’s the weakest of the three Eevee evolutions in Fire Red/Leaf Green: I don’t disagree with that, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a very useful Fire type option.
Flareon base stats (Fire Red/Leaf Green)
Flareon’s base stat total is 525:
- HP: 65
- Attack: 130
- Defense: 60
- Sp. Attack: 95
- Sp. Defense: 110
- Speed: 65
With beneficial nature plus EVs and IVs, Flareon’s max base stat total at level 100 is 1886.
Best Flareon moveset in Fire Red/Leaf Green
With that eye-poppingly large attack stat and a pretty decent special attack, both physical and special STAB boosted moves are viable options for Flareon.
In contrast to Ninetales and Arcanine, One nice thing about Flareon is that it doesn’t lose its level up moveset after evolving from Eevee via a Fire Stone.
For a STAB Fire type move, Flamethrower is, unsurprisingly, a good choice for Flareon.
I would opt for Fire Blast instead of Overheat for the same reasons as discussed in relation to Arcanine above, but either can work.
To take advantage of Flareon’s high attack stat and decent move pool, I like to add Shadow Ball and Double Edge to the set.
Double Edge is a bit risky as it will deal ⅓ damage to Flareon due to its recoil effect but with 120 power it has a good chance of wiping out opponents.
What is Flareon strong against?
If your Pokemon has defense and HP stats that are average or worse, Flareon will cut through you like butter with its 130 attack stat.
Defeating Grass, Ice, Bug and Steel Pokemon is a piece of cake for any Fire Pokemon and Flareon is no exception.
What is Flareon weak against?
One of the reasons many players consider Flareon to be a weak option is its trash speed stat.
At 65, it’s considerably slower than any of the other options covered in this article and this, combined with a relatively low HP, means it will struggle against hard-hitting fast Pokemon.
Otherwise, Flareon is naturally weak against Water, Ground and Rock type Pokemon.
Where to catch Flareon in Fire Red/Leaf Green
In order to get a Flareon, you need to evolve an Eevee using a Fire Stone.
You can buy a Thunder Stone in the Celadon City Department Store on the 4th floor.
For Eevee, head to the Celadon Mansion and enter via the back door. Keep climbing the stairs until you enter a room with a bandana-clad man standing in it.
There’s a Pokeball on the table behind his left shoulder. Simply walk up and grab it – it has an Eevee inside it!
Fire Red/Leaf Green best Fire Pokemon – conclusion
Arcanine is comfortably the best Fire Pokemon in Fire Red/Leaf Green (if we exclude Charizard and with the caveat that Arcanine is a Fire Red version exclusive). Other great options include:
- Magmar
- Ninetales
- Moltres
- Flareon
