Flame Orbs: What Are They and How Do You Use Them?

Flame Orbs are an item that is not particularly easy to come across in the wild, but you can buy unlimited amounts of them in specific areas depending on what Pokémon game you have. But what are Flame Orbs and how do you use them?

Flame Orbs are best obtained from Battle areas like the Battle Frontier, Battle Park, Battle Tower, or Battle Subway and are bought with BP. You can also find them on wild Pokémon but this is very hard to do and requires certain Pokémon to do effectively.

We’ll look at Flame Orbs, where to find them for all the Pokémon games, and also some interesting strategies and techniques to use them for a unique way to battle. 

How Do You Get Flame Orbs?

Flame Orbs are best obtained by purchasing from certain vendors.

Some wild Pokémon will also be holding them, but it is less than a 1% chance so you’re better off just buying them in most situations.

In Diamond/Pearl and Pokémon Platinum, you can purchase it for 16 BP at the Battle Park and Frontier respectively. For Heart Gold and Soul Silver, go to the Battle Frontier where again the price is 16 BP.

In Heart Gold and Soul Silver, you can also drop by the Fighting Dojo, where you’ll find Flame Orbs held by Falkner’s Swellow during rematches.

If you have a Pokéwalker you can find them on the Volcano Path but that is very rare even after 4000 steps.

For Black and White, visit the Battle Subway and shell out 16 BP, and similarly for Black 2 and White 2 you can get them in the Battle Subway or at the Pokémon  World Tournament for 16 BP.

Only in White 2, you can head to Reversal Mountain and near the entrance to 1F, you’ll also find a single Flame Orb. There is also the chance to grab one off wild Heatmors, but again you’re looking at a 1% chance.

You’ll have to search in the dark grass as the orb-holding Heatmors won’t spawn from the normal patches of grass. Use the move Thief to steal the item off the wild Pokémon so you don’t have to go through the whole ordeal of catching them.

You can also put a Pokémon with the ability Compound Eyes in the first position of your party, as this will greatly increase the chance a wild Pokémon will have a held item. It’s also useful to get a Pokémon with Frisk, as this will check the enemy Pokémon’s held item.

For Pokémon XY, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire, go to the Battle Maison to purchase a Flame Orb for, you guessed it, 16 BP.

Pokémon Sun and Moon as well as Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon require you to go to the Battle Tree if you want to purchase a Flame Orb, whereas the Ula’ula Meadow has a trainer called Golfer Dean who will give you a Flame Orb for defeating him.

For Pokémon Sword and Shield, head to the Wyndon Stadium and win a tournament, your reward will be a Flame Orb from the Ball Guy. Otherwise, go to the Potbottom Desert on Isle of Armor in the Galar region, and northeast of the entrance you’ll see it near some trees.

You can also feed the correct items to the Cram-o-matic in order to output a Flame Orb, which you can find in Mustard’s room in the Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor.

Finally, in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, go to Battle Park to purchase for 16 BP.

What Does a Flame Orb Do?

The Flame Orb is a held item that will burn the holder at the end of the turn. The Burn status effect means that Pokémon will lose a set amount of HP every turn on top of a 50% reduction in physical attacks.

As the order of Flame Orb means it activates after the Pokémon would take damage from a burn, on the turn it is burned by the Flame Orb, it won’t take burn damage.

Flame Orb only activates after a Pokémon is cured of its status condition.

If a Pokémon is already burned or some other status affect, the Flame Orb will have no effect.

There are some interesting tactical usages for this item, such as when using the move Facade, it will have double power if the user is burned, and also ignores the 50% Attack reduction effect from burns. 

Combined with the ability Guts, which gives a 50% Attack boost if burned, and also ignores the 50% Attack reduction from the same status effect. This essentially means you get a Choice Band without being forced to use one move.

Pokémon with Magic Guard are not affected by burn damage, and as you can only be affected by one status effect, this means Flame Orb can burn them and they won’t take damage, and also become immune to other status effects like paralysis.

Items like Trick or Switcheroo give enemies a harmful item like a Flame Orb.

You can also combine this with the Marvel Scaleability, as it will give a 50% boost to Defense if a status condition is present. 

Finally, the move Fling will inflict a burn on your opponent using the held Flame Orb when used.

Can Flame Orb Burn Fire Types?

Fire type Pokémon cannot have the Burn status effect, so holding the Flame Orb will not burn these Pokémon.