Blaine is the Leader of the Cinnabar Island Gym. He uses Fire-type Pokemon.
His team is as follows: Level 42 Growlithe (Bite/Roar/Take Down/Fire Blast), Level 40 Ponyta (Stomp/Bounce/Fire Spin/Fire Blast), Level 42 Rapidash (Stomp/Bounce/Fire Spin/Fire Blast), Level 47 Arcanine (Bite/Roar/Take Down/Fire Blast). Your reward for defeating him is the Volcano Badge, TM38 Fire Blast, and 4,700 Poke Dollars.
Tips for Beating Blaine[]
- Water rules: Water-type attacks absolutely decimate Blaine's lineup, and you're guaranteed access to a powerful one in Surf (without which you couldn't have arrived on Cinnabar Island in the first place). Most Water-types also resist his team's STAB attacks, which makes the battle quite easy.
- Go special against the Growlithe line: Both Growlithe and Arcanine have the Intimidate Ability, which reduces the Attack stat of your active Pokemon when Growlithe or Arcanine enters battle. If you try to win with Rock and/or Ground attacks (the Fire type's other weaknesses), this will make your life much harder. Fortunately, Blaine can't do anything to debuff your Special Attack, so special moves can sweep those Pokemon aside at full strength.
- Bring your Fire resists: Even though none of Blaine's Pokemon is a dedicated special attacker, Fire Blast will sting due to its high base power and the STAB bonus his team gets on it. A lot of its bite is lost, though, if it hits something that resists Fire and/or has high special bulk.
Good Pokemon to Use[]
- Water types: I cannot stress enough how easy a good Water Pokemon makes this battle. Resisting Fire Blast is a huge plus, as is super-effective Surf. Good examples include Blastoise, Starmie, Gyarados, and Vaporeon.
- Special tanks: Although this is absolutely a secondary strategy, it is also possible to tank your way through this battle with Pokemon like Snorlax, which has good bulk (and the potential of Thick Fat) and good damage output.
- Rock and/or Ground coverage: Again, this strategy is inferior to just using Water types, but Fire is weak to both Rock and Ground. If you have a good user of moves of this type, they can do good damage against his Ponyta and Rapidash in particular; Growlithe and Arcanine are trickier because of Intimidate.