Why exactly is wild charge considered Arcanine's optimal moveset in the event guide? I get that it can be useful against Gyarados. But if that's all, I'd still say fire blast and flame thrower are (at least) just as useful. I mean what are we assuming here, that someone is less likely to have Jolteon, Ampharos, Magneton, Dragonite, Tyranitar, or Golem than to have Flareon or Charizard? Not to mention the contradictory ratings on the Arcanine page and in the tier list.
The article literally says "Arcanine is actually a pretty decent Gyarados counter. If for some reason you are without a Jolteon, Ampharos, Magneton, Dragonite, Tyranitar, or Golem, Arcanine will rule the day against it." and explains that Arcanine's currently available fire-type movesets are strictly inferior to those of Flareon and Charizard.
Reading is THE TECH these days.
I'm aware of that. But its electric type move set is also strictly inferior to those of Jolteon, Ampharos and Magneton, or the optimal move sets of Dragonite, Tyranitar and Golem in a Gyarados match-up. Especially if wild charge is combined with "any" quick move which obviously includes fire fang.
Reading AND THINKING may in fact be even better
I took it to mean with that moveset Arcanine has more coverage than a normal fire Arcanine not that it was necessarily better. I have one and even powered him up a little but still haven't used it. It could be a nuisance defender that first time through a gym but after that see comment from Mike1344!
I was equally confused and hoped to see the author jump in here to explain the benefit of a nonSTAB (albeit awesome) move that seems mostly useful only against its natural counters (lookin' at you, Vape). Interestingly even little Raichu's WC has higher true dps compared to Arc's - I recently had the right CP spark/WC Raichu to prestige against Gary and it was a blast!
