Torkoal

Torkoal achieves 0.51% usage at the 1760+ bracket (rank 100) in singles, with 0.92% across all ratings. Drought makes it the premier auto-sun setter, but the 6v3 singles format exposes its base 20 Speed and low Special Defense — without team support it is trivially punished by Electric, Rock, and Water coverage. Zero appearances in the top-300 ladder confirms that high-rated players do not rely on it in singles; it functions purely as a role player within sun-team compositions.

Playstyle：Singles Torkoal's core role is Drought setup, pairing Eruption (12.6%) for maximum-HP burst damage or running a defensive Relaxed spread with Earth Power. Item choices split three ways: Charcoal (38.7%) for extra Fire power, Charti Berry (29.3%) to survive Rock moves, and Focus Sash (23.4%) for an extra turn of setup. Stealth Rock (15.2%) and Yawn (15.7%) add entry hazard and sleep pressure. Common teammates include Corviknight (8.5%) leveraging sun synergy, Mega Houndoom (8.2%) as a second sun sweeper, and Hippowdon (6.9%) as a weather counterpart. Player commentary confirms that "Heat Wave is the team's core, Venusaur buys time with Sleep Powder, Talonflame cleans up" — Torkoal in singles depends heavily on teammate support to function.

Torkoal is one of the premier weather cores in the current doubles meta: 5.83% usage at 1760+ (rank 26), 6.59% overall, 103 tournament appearances, and a 50.9% win rate. Drought amplifies both Eruption and Weather Ball with a 1.5x sun bonus, creating massive single-turn burst under sun. Farigiraf (16% co-usage) provides Armor Tail to block priority trapping, then opens Trick Room to offset Torkoal's base 20 Speed — this duo is the backbone of the Trick Room sun archetype. The doubles rotation system effectively masks Torkoal's worst weaknesses: its glacial Speed and mono-Fire typing.

Playstyle：Doubles Torkoal runs nearly universally with Quiet nature, Charcoal (95.8%), and maxed Special Attack with physical bulk (standard spread Quiet 32/0/0/32/2/0, 40.8%). Core moves are Eruption (24.2%) + Protect (22.9%) + Weather Ball (16.3%) + Heat Wave (14.5%). Protect is essential for surviving priority moves before firing. Farigiraf opens Trick Room to cover Torkoal's Speed, Mega Kangaskhan (8.6%) provides Fake Out support, and Mega Blastoise (7.2%) covers Water weaknesses. Player commentary underlines that "Heat Wave is the team's engine, Venusaur's Sleep Powder buys time, Talonflame sweeps, Incineroar manages suppression and weather" — Torkoal in doubles is a pure offensive core. Charcoal + sun + max SpAtk Eruption is among the highest single-target damage outputs in the current doubles format.

✅ Favorable matchups3

SneaslerCharizard-Mega-YVenusaur-Mega

⚠️ Unfavorable matchups3

PelipperKangaskhan-MegaBasculegion