Newcomers to competitive Pokémon are often surprised by just how deep the battle system can be. On the surface, the game is super, super RNG-heavy and the whole Water-beats-Fire concept is easy to understand, but there’s so much more to get to grips with here. EVs, IVs, movesets, natures, held items… Pokémon is a complex business, friends. There’s a whole world of jargon to wade through.

Speaking of held items, one that often trips up new players is the Flame Orb. Why would a Trainer want their Pokémon to hold something that burns them at the end of the turn? The burn status halves the Attack stat and deals a little residual damage each turn, after all. As it turns out, though, this item has a surprising range of uses and can even be crucial for some Pokémon. Here are some of the Pokémon Sword & Shield critters that make fantastic use of it.

10 Conkeldurr

One of the most formidable powerhouses in the history of Fighting-types, Conkeldurr is a force to be reckoned with. Partly thanks to one of its excellent Abilities, Guts. The key to many Flame Orb users’ success, Guts gives the Pokémon an Attack boost when they’re afflicted by a status. They’re also exempt from the Attack reduction from the burn itself.

In exchange for taking a little damage at the end of each turn, Guts Pokémon become very, very powerful. While other items (such as the Life Orb) give damage buffs, the bonus here is that Conkeldurr is also immune to other statuses because it’s burned. It can be very threatening with Sheer Force and Iron Fist too, but Guts Conkeldurr is one of the most prominent Flame Orb users.

9 Obstagoon

Like Conkeldurr, this new Normal/Dark Pokémon has other nice offensive Abilities available to it. Both Reckless and its Hidden Ability Defiant can be very nice (the latter in doubles in particular, for getting a boost from Intimidate), but it has a moveset that goes very well with the Flame Orb and Guts combination.

Obstagoon learns Facade, a Normal-type move that doubles in power if the user is statused. Throw in STAB and this can be monstrously powerful, even with Obstagoon’s modest 91 Base Attack.

8 Machamp

Granted, Machamp is often seen making use of the No Guard Ability, which allows it to throw out Dynamic Punch to its muscular heart’s content (yes, the heart is a muscle, but there’s no time to dwell on that sentence now) without fear of missing. If it wants to roll with Flame Orb and Guts, though, it sure as heck can. This thing can move mountains with one arm, according to the Pokédex, so we’re not about to question any life decisions it wants to make.

What we have on our (four) hands, then, is another Fighting Pokémon that gets a handy damage boost and status immunity from the Flame Orb.

7 Sigilyph

As much as Fighting-types enjoy the Flame Orb, lots of other Pokémon benefit from it too. Psychic types, those banes of Fighting Pokémon’s existence, can utilise the item in various tricky ways. As far as the critters that are available in Sword & Shield go, Sigilyph has something very unique up its sleeve.

This curious creature has access to Psycho Shift, which only a couple of other Pokémon in the game boast. This move allows it to pass on a (non-volatile) status it’s suffering from to its target. The sneaky strategy, then, is to allow the Flame Orb to activate and then pass on the burn to the opponent. The issue here is that Sigilyph will be burnt again the next turn, but as we’ll see later, that’s not such a problem.

6 Heracross

More often than not, Heracross is seen sporting a Choice Scarf and its Hidden Ability, Moxie. With this setup, it fixes its average Speed while potentially snowballing as it gains KOs. Alternatively, if the player has speed control covered on their team, a Guts set can also work very well.

The immunity to burn’s secondary effect is huge as it is, because a simple Will-o-Wisp can render many physical attackers all but useless. Like Conkeldurr, Machamp and Obstagoon, though, Heracross need not worry about this once its Flame Orb activates.

5 Milotic

Generally speaking, Milotic probably isn’t the first Flame Orb candidate that comes to mind. It’s an excellent defensive Pokémon, but doubles players tend to ensure it has the Competitive Ability (for the +2 Special Attack when it’s hit by Intimidate). It has another unique Ability that suits the Flame Orb perfectly, however.

Marvel Scale is a very rare Ability Milotic shares only with Dratini and Dragonair. It gives the Pokémon a +1 boost to Defense if it’s afflicted by a status. As is the case with the rest of the Pokémon on this list (arguably), the Toxic Orb’s effect racks up a lot over time, making the Flame Orb the preferred choice to reliably activate Marvel Scale.

4 Driflblim

Drifloon and Drifblim are very special cases when it comes to the Flame Orb. Subject to their Hidden Ability being available in Sword & Shield (which it isn’t at the time of writing), the item could make them super strong indeed.

Flare Boost is their Hidden Ability, exclusive to this evolution line. In a nod to their hot air balloon inspiration, fire powers them (up): when they’re burned, they receive a boost to their Special Attack. It’s an offensive take on Marvel Scale, and is a very powerful tool for this Ghost/Flying Pokémon where it’s available to them. Not that Unburden isn’t great for it too.

3 Whimsicott

We know what you’re thinking: why the heck would Whimsicott want a Flame Orb? It’s incredibly common in the metagame at the moment (Tailwind shenanigans), almost always sporting a Focus Sash so it can survive a little longer and throw out another Prankster-boosted support move or two.

That’s true enough, but there’s another niche use this fiery orb can be put to. One of the many tricky moves Whimsicott can learn is Switcheroo, allowing it exchange held items with its target. Just like Psycho Shift, then, this is a way to effectively move the Flame Orb’s burn to an opponent, while stealing away an item that could be essential to their gameplan at the same time. The more common Trick has exactly the same effect, meaning several other critters (such as the various forms of Rotom) can pull this off too.

2 Luxray

The final Guts Pokémon in our rundown is the often-overlooked Luxray. It often prefers to use the excellent Intimidate Ability (Rivalry is too situational), but it can also use Guts and does darn well with it too.

As a pure Electric-type, its powerful STAB can only get it so far, but wide coverage options like Play Rough, Superpower and Ice/Fire Fang combine well with its high Attack. Its Speed is very average, though, so that’s something that’ll have to be played around to get the best from Luxray. Nevertheless, it certainly appreciates that Flame Orb.

1 Alakazam

Earlier in this rundown, we saw that Sigilyph can not only pass on those Flame Orb burns with Psycho Shift, but it doesn’t really mind being burned itself. Why? Because it has the Ability Magic Guard.

Another super useful one, this Ability prevents indirect damage (from weather, status and the like). Only direct attacks will damage this Pokémon, which is very nice for Alakazam. Like Whimsicott, this gloriously mustachioed ‘mon usually favors a Focus Sash, being as frail as a sheet of toilet paper in a rainstorm. However, where Magic Guard is concerned, a Flame Orb can essentially render a Pokémon immune to non-volatile status without any drawbacks. Other Magic Guarders may be able to use it better, but Paralysis would be far more detrimental to Alakazam than, say, Reuniclus, which is far too slow to really mind.

NEXT: 10 Weird Facts You Might Not know About Psychic-Type Pokémon