Arcanine: Best Moveset, Weaknesses & Counters, Stats, and Evolution

The world of Pokémon has been a growing phenomenon since 1996, when the first pair of video games came out in stores. Today, there are almost 900 individual Pokémon identified by the PokéDex and in this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about one of them – Arcanine.

Arcanine is a Fire-type Pokémon first introduced in Generation I of the core video games. It is the first and final evolution form of Growlithe, one of the Generation’s most famous species. Growlithe evolves into Arcanine via the Fire Stone. In Legends: Arceus, a Hisuian variant was introduced, which is a dual Rock- and Fire-type. It is weak only to Ground-, Rock- and Water-type moves, and is super effective against Grass-, Steel-, Bug- and Ice-type Pokémon. It is not immune to any moves.

In this article, we are going to tell you all the information you’ll need if you want to breed an Arcanine in any of the games. You’ll find out about its type, its powers, its strengths and weaknesses, its evolutions, and its moves. We’re going to focus on both the core games, as well as other popular video games based on the Pokémon franchise.

Best moveset

In the Pokémon GO videogame, the best moves for your Arcanine are Fire Fang and Fire Blast if you’re battling Pokémon in Gyms. Namely, this moveset gives you the highest total DPS and is, likewise, the best moveset for PVP battles. The official description for Fire Fang reveals the following: “The user bites with flame-cloaked fangs. This may also make the target flinch or leave it with a burn”; as for Fire Blast, the attack is described as follows: “The target is attacked with an intense blast of all-consuming fire. This may also leave the target with a burn.”

Weaknesses and Counters

As a pure Fire-type Pokémon, Arcanine is weak against Ground-, Rock-, and Water-type moves, and is super effective against Grass-, Bug-, Steel- and Ice-type Pokémon. It is not immune to any specific type. It receives normal damage from Normal-, Fighting-, Flying-, Poison-, Ghost-, Electric-, Psychic-, Dragon-, and Dark-type moves.

The Hisuian variant, a dual Rock- and Fire-type, is – in addition to the above-listed ones – weak to Fighting-type moves, and is damaged normally by Ghost-, Steel-, Grass-, Electric-, Psychic-, Dragon-, Dark-type moves. On the other hand, it is resistant to Normal-, Flying-, Poison-, Bug-, Fire-, Ice-, Fairy-type moves.

Stats

Arcanine’s Stats, based on the most recent available data, are:

Stats	Base Stats	Min-	Min	Max	Max+	Min-	Min	Max	Max+
HP	90	165		197		321		384
Attack	110	117	130	162	178	230	256	319	350
Defense	80	90	100	132	145	176	196	259	284
Special Attack	100	108	120	152	167	212	236	299	328
Special Defense	80	90	100	132	145	176	196	259	284
Speed	95	103	115	147	161	203	226	289	317

In Pokémon GO, Arcanine has a Base Stamina of 207, a Base Attack of 227, and a Base Defense of 166.

As for its abilities, they are:

• Intimidate: Powers up Fire-type moves when the Pokémon’s HThe Pokémon intimidates opposing Pokémon upon entering battle, lowering their Attack stat.
• Flash Fire: Powers up the Pokémon’s Fire-type moves if it’s hit by one.
• Justified: Being hit by a Dark-type move boosts the Attack stat of the Pokémon, for justice. (Hidden Ability)

Evolutions

Arcanine was first introduced in Generation I as the first and final evolution of Growlithe. Growlithe can evolve into Arcanine whenever it is exposed to the Fire Stone. Arcanine has one regional variant, Hisuian Arcanine, which evolves from a Hisuian Growlithe in the Hisui region, also after being exposed to the Fire Stone.

In Pokémon GO, Arcanine is also obtained by evolving Growlithe directly, for which you need 50 Growlithe Candy. Hisuian Growlithe and Hisuian Arcanine are not yet available in this game.

Moves

As of Generation VIII, the movies that Arcanine can learn are:

• Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Arcanine
• Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Arcanine
• × indicates a move that cannot be used in Generation VIII

By leveling up (Kantonian Variant)

Level	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
1	Extreme Speed	Normal	Physical	80	100%	5
1	Burn Up	Fire	Special	130	100%	5
1	Flame Wheel	Fire	Physical	60	100%	25
1	Helping Hand	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
1	Agility	Psychic	Status	—	—%	30
1	Fire Fang	Fire	Physical	65	95%	15
1	Retaliate	Normal	Physical	70	100%	5
1	Crunch	Dark	Physical	80	100%	15
1	Take Down	Normal	Physical	90	85%	20
1	Flamethrower	Fire	Special	90	100%	15
1	Roar	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
1	Play Rough	Fairy	Physical	90	90%	10
1	Reversal	Fighting	Physical	—	100%	15
1	Flare Blitz	Fire	Physical	120	100%	15
1	Ember	Fire	Special	40	100%	25
1	Leer	Normal	Status	—	100%	30
1	Howl	Normal	Status	—	—%	40
1	Bite	Dark	Physical	60	100%	25
Evo.	Extreme Speed	Normal	Physical	80	100%	5

By leveling up (Hisuian Variant)

Learn	Mastery	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
1	9	Tackle	Normal	Physical	40	100%	30
5	14	Ember	Fire	Special	40	100%	25
9	18	Bite	Dark	Physical	60	100%	20
15	25	Fire Fang	Fire	Physical	65	95%	15
21	31	Rock Slide	Rock	Physical	75	90%	10
29	40	Raging Fury	Fire	Physical	90	85%	10
29	40	Crunch	Dark	Physical	80	100%	10
37	48	Double-Edge	Normal	Physical	100	100%	5
47	59	Flare Blitz	Fire	Physical	100	100%	5

By TM

TM	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
TM08	Hyper Beam	Normal	Special	150	90%	5
TM09	Giga Impact	Normal	Physical	150	90%	5
TM11	Solar Beam	Grass	Special	120	100%	10
TM13	Fire Spin	Fire	Special	35	85%	15
TM15	Dig	Ground	Physical	80	100%	10
TM19	Safeguard	Normal	Status	—	—%	25
TM21	Rest	Psychic	Status	—	—%	10
TM23	Thief	Dark	Physical	60	100%	25
TM24	Snore	Normal	Special	50	100%	15
TM25	Protect	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TM26	Scary Face	Normal	Status	—	100%	10
TM31	Attract	Normal	Status	—	100%	15
TM34	Sunny Day	Fire	Status	—	—%	5
TM38	Will-O-Wisp	Fire	Status	—	85%	15
TM39	Facade	Normal	Physical	70	100%	20
TM40	Swift	Normal	Special	60	—%	20
TM41	Helping Hand	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
TM66	Thunder Fang	Electric	Physical	65	95%	15
TM68	Fire Fang	Fire	Physical	65	95%	15
TM76	Round	Normal	Special	60	100%	15
TM79	Retaliate	Normal	Physical	70	100%	5
TM81	Bulldoze	Ground	Physical	60	100%	20
TM85	Snarl	Dark	Special	55	95%	15
TR01	Body Slam	Normal	Physical	85	100%	15
TR02	Flamethrower	Fire	Special	90	100%	15
TR12	Agility	Psychic	Status	—	—%	30
TR15	Fire Blast	Fire	Special	110	85%	5
TR20	Substitute	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TR21	Reversal	Fighting	Physical	—	100%	15
TR24	Outrage	Dragon	Physical	120	100%	10
TR26	Endure	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TR27	Sleep Talk	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TR31	Iron Tail	Steel	Physical	100	75%	15
TR32	Crunch	Dark	Physical	80	100%	15
TR36	Heat Wave	Fire	Special	95	90%	10
TR42	Hyper Voice	Normal	Special	90	100%	10
TR43	Overheat	Fire	Special	130	90%	5
TR53	Close Combat	Fighting	Physical	120	100%	5
TR55	Flare Blitz	Fire	Physical	120	100%	15
TR62	Dragon Pulse	Dragon	Special	85	100%	10
TR74	Iron Head	Steel	Physical	80	100%	15
TR86	Wild Charge	Electric	Physical	90	100%	15
TR90	Play Rough	Fairy	Physical	90	90%	10
TR97	Psychic Fangs	Psychic	Physical	85	100%	10

By transfer from another generation

Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
Aerial Ace	Flying	Physical	60	—%	20
Bide ×	Normal	Physical	—	—%	10
Captivate ×	Normal	Status	—	100%	20
Charm	Fairy	Status	—	100%	20
Confide	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
Curse	Ghost	Status	—	—%	10
Double Team	Normal	Status	—	—%	15
Dragon Breath	Dragon	Special	60	100%	20
Dragon Rage ×	Dragon	Special	—	100%	10
Flame Burst ×	Fire	Special	70	100%	15
Flame Charge	Fire	Physical	50	100%	20
Frustration ×	Normal	Physical	—	100%	20
Headbutt	Normal	Physical	70	100%	15
Hidden Power ×	Normal	Special	60	100%	15
Incinerate	Fire	Special	60	100%	15
Laser Focus	Normal	Status	—	—%	30
Mimic	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
Mud-Slap	Ground	Special	20	100%	10
Natural Gift ×	Normal	Physical	—	100%	15
Odor Sleuth ×	Normal	Status	—	—%	40
Rage ×	Normal	Physical	20	100%	20
Reflect	Psychic	Status	—	—%	20
Return ×	Normal	Physical	—	100%	20
Rock Smash	Fighting	Physical	40	100%	15
Secret Power ×	Normal	Physical	70	100%	20
Skull Bash	Normal	Physical	130	100%	10
Strength	Normal	Physical	80	100%	15
Superpower	Fighting	Physical	120	100%	5
Swagger	Normal	Status	—	85%	15
Teleport	Psychic	Status	—	—%	20
Toxic	Poison	Status	—	90%	10

In Pokémon GO, Arcanine can learn Fire Fang, Snarl, Thunder Fang, and Bite as Fast Attacks, and Fire Blast, Wild Charge, Crunch, Flamethrower, Bulldoze, Frustration, and Return as Charged Attacks. Some of these attacks depend on when you caught and evolved your Arcanine, as they are event-only attacks.