Is Moltres better than Ho-Oh?
A lot of ppl say Moltres is the better fire legendary out of the two gens but is this really true? If you take a quick glance at the stats for Moltres and Ho-Oh, you'll see that Ho-Oh ranks a lot better than Moltres based off the stats. Not to mention, Ho-Oh's highest CP is at a whopping 4650 compared to Moltres' 3272.
Answers
Ho-Oh loses the 1.2x STAB multiplier for both of its fast attacks due to no fire attacks. Fire blast is inferior to Overheat in both terms of cooldown and damage output
Also using the main series as a direct reference is irrelevant. The main series allows Pokémon to have greater access to movepools, abilities, as well as speed/SpA/SpD stats. Obviously a Pokémon that is in the uber tier (Ho-Oh) will perform better than a Pokémon BL3 (Moltres). As well Ho-Oh'd ability regenerator nearly compensates for its double weakness to stealth rock, adding to its longetivity throughout battle where as Moltres can only switch in once (takes 50% damage each time)
http://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/moltres/
Yes you are very correct (in regards to the main series)-I frequent Pokémon showdown (through smogon) nearly daily and I think their analysis for a lot of things is a fairly accurate reflection; from my experience their analyses are relative to the Pokémon that reside in their respective tiers, which is why some write-ups may seem "out of place" at a first glance.
If you are really into the main series as well, check out Pokémon showdown! It's a free online emulator where you customize teams without putting the time that was necessary in the games. I'll post a link when I get a chance (I'm sorry if you already know this!!)
DPS vs targets weak to fire from Moltres will be better, due to having FS/OH moveset, instead of SW/FB (which will still deal excellent damage)
But Ho-oh's base stats are absurdly high - while his DPS will be lower, he'll still be a godly attacker, and with STAB being only 20% now, remember that his SoB will do as much damage as his FB. He's almost twice as bulky as Moltres, and has slightly higher base attack; he's clearly a stronger pokemon all around.
Moltres is better fire pokemon than Ho-oh. Simply because Ho-oh has no access to fire quick move, and his only fire type charge move is Fire Blast (worse than Overheat).
Ho-oh will be a really strong pokemon as a generalist, but not as a fire type attacker.
Example: Golem is much better counter against Moltres than Tyranitar is, even though both are rock type and Tyra has much better stats and cp. Tyranitar cannot learn rock type quick move, so he will never be a rock type attacker.
In terms of match ups that are weak against fire (except perhaps ice) Moltres is more ideal for reasons others have already mentioned. What Ho-Oh has going for it in favor of Moltres:
- Ex/BB is super effective against fighting types
- SW/FB is super effective against ice, although a lack of STAB on steel wing and the fact that FB is inferior to Overheat makes these two about equal going up against ice types. Ho-Oh's attack is its saving grace in this scenario
- Ho-Oh gets Solar Beam, which is going to make taking it out extremely difficult
