Held items are a crucial part of any serious Pokémon trainer’s battle strategy. Since most regular battle items, like Full Restores and Hyper Potions, can’t be used in competitive and online play, your item options are constrained to those that can be held and used by Pokémon automatically. From berries to herbs to bands, there are plenty of items that enterprising players can use as part of combos or to bring their Pokémon back from the brink.
If you plan on including any member of the Charmander evolutionary line on your competitive team, including its evolutions Charmeleon and Charizard, you’ll want to make sure you choose a held item that works well with its stats, type, and moves. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best held items for the Charmander line, including both popular picks and some lesser-known choices for the discerning trainer.
Here are the best held items for Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Charmander line held item choices
Choice Scarf
Speed-boosting items are popular with Charizard thanks to its ability to use powerful offensive moves quickly. While the Speed-boosting Salac Berry is also an option, it only raises Speed when Charizard’s HP falls below 25 percent or less. The Choice Scarf, on the other hand, will raise its Speed by 1.5 times from the get-go. As a counterbalance, Charizard will only be able to use the first move its trainer selects until it’s swapped out from battle. This isn’t a big deal if your team relies on swapping Pokémon frequently through moves like U-Turn or if Charizard has one big, bad attack that you want to use repeatedly.
Assault Vest
The Assault Vest works somewhat similarly to the Choice Scarf, but its differences make it a better choice for players who want their Charmander, Charmeleon, or Charizard to be more defensive. Like the Choice Scarf does with Speed, the Assault Vest automatically raises Charizard and company’s Special Defense by 1.5 times. On the flip side, as long as it’s holding the Assault Vest, it can only use moves that deal damage. This shouldn’t be an issue for Charizard, which typically learns more offensive moves than defensive moves. Assault Vest can be used to shore up a low Special Defense stat while still allowing the Pokémon to retain its offensive potential.
Heavy-Duty Boots
Entry hazard moves are a popular way to give teams an advantage from the start and wear down opposing Pokémon through damage or status conditions. Heavy-Duty Boots negate these effects for the Pokémon holding them: for example, a Charizard holding Heavy-Duty Boots will not be damaged by Stealth Rock, which is a huge boon considering that its quadruple weakness to Rock means it will take half its max HP in damage from the hazard without them. Heavy-Duty Boots also protect against Toxic Spikes, which is a common entry hazard employed by Pokémon acting as tanks.
Leftovers
Leftovers is one of the most popular held items in Pokémon, and it’s not difficult to see why. Its powerful HP restoration over time can shore up the HP of Pokémon who can’t learn many self-healing moves, like the Charmander line. Leftovers is an extremely versatile item: it works well with many popular competitive moves and combos. If you’re building your Charizard as a tank, Leftovers is a good way to restore your health over time while hiding behind defensive moves. It can also take the edge off of powerful attacks from offensive foes. Leftovers doesn’t impose any limitations on Charmander and company, nor does it require any sort of combo to work well; it simply works.
Charti Berry
The Charti Berry is a slightly less popular pick thanks to the relative infrequency of Rock-type moves in competitive play. Even so, it’s a worthwhile held item to consider if only for one reason: Charizard’s quadruple weakness to Rock-type moves. Rock is Charizard’s only quadruple weakness, meaning one powerful Stone Edge or Rock Slide is capable of destroying it. The Charti Berry will cut the damage taken from one Rock-type move in half for Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard, though it’s most useful on Charizard.
