What it does
Eruption scales with the user's remaining HP: 150 × current HP ÷ max HP. At full health that's 150 power, hitting both opponents simultaneously. Every bit of damage you take chips away at the next Eruption — the move is as much about HP management as raw output.
Under sun, Fire moves get 1.5× damage. Add Choice Specs for another 1.5× Special Attack boost, and Eruption at full HP clears a damage threshold that most Pokémon without Fire resistance cannot comfortably absorb in one turn. In doubles, where both opponents receive the hit, that forces your opponent to deal with the spread threat rather than freely attacking elsewhere.
Eruption doesn't flinch on power. What it does is put a clock on your opponent: every turn Torkoal is alive and healthy, another Eruption is coming.
Who runs it
Torkoal (96%) is the definitive Eruption user in Champions. Its Drought sets sun the turn it enters — no partner action needed, no setup turn wasted. The tradeoff is base Speed 20, which makes it a natural Trick Room user. Under Trick Room, Torkoal moves first, sun is up, and the first Eruption lands immediately at max power. Choice Specs is the standard item, locking in maximum Special Attack for the turn it fires.
Typhlosion (98%) takes a different angle: real Speed, no Trick Room required, actionable in normal turn order. It lacks self-sufficient sun setting, so it either runs in sun teams with a dedicated weather setter or functions as a standalone Choice Specs attacker whose Eruption is strong even without sun. Blaze can theoretically contribute at low HP, but Eruption's own power scaling makes low-HP situations counterproductive — you almost never want to be in Blaze range while trying to fire Eruption.
How to use it
The two-layer priority when playing Eruption: keep the user healthy before entry, then convert the on-field turns efficiently.
For Torkoal, that means controlling when it enters. You don't bring it in through a Water or Ground threat, and you avoid sending it in after chip from hazards if you can help it. Every point of HP lost before the first Eruption is a point of permanent damage output lost. Build your team around creating clean Torkoal windows.
Once on the field, the partner slot protects the Eruption. Follow Me and Rage Powder redirect opposing moves onto a sacrifice or redirector, giving Torkoal a free shot. Fake Out from a fast partner freezes one opponent for a turn, limiting their response options. The goal is one clean Eruption per entry — ideally two if you can sustain the HP.
With Choice Specs, switching moves requires switching out. Switching out means potential HP loss and Drought resetting the turn counter. The clean Eruption gameplan typically means: come in, fire once or twice, and if forced out, preserve the option to come back at full HP.
Tips & strategy
Fake Out chip from the opponent doesn't reduce Eruption power — it happens before your move resolves, so Eruption fires after the flinch check, at whatever HP you were at before the hit. What actually hurts Eruption is any damage that lowers your HP between turns: Burn residual, Rocky Helmet contact, Life Orb recoil on a different move.
Intimidate has no effect on Eruption — it's a special move, so Attack drops are irrelevant. If you're facing an Intimidate-heavy team, Torkoal is one of the Pokémon least affected by the strategy.
Double Protect on the opponent's side wastes your Eruption turn. Experienced players watch for Protect-heavy opponents and either hold Eruption for the non-Protect turn or use a different move. Reading when both opponents are likely to Protect and pivoting around it separates skilled Eruption users from ones who just fire every turn blindly.