Flames of Royalty


Welcome to Flames of Royalty, a small tribute to the majestic fire lion, Pyroar, from the newest generation of Pokémon. Please note that most content on this site is based on the handheld game series unless otherwise stated. Unfortunately, Flames of Royalty is just a one page site due to Pyroar only being in one generation so far. Even so, Pyroar was quickly one of my favorites when X and Y were announced and it eventually made its way into my top favorites of all time. So, I hope to expand this as Pyroar's role in the series grows! If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for visiting!


Version one of Flames of Royalty features promotional artwork for the Flash Fire TCG expansion. All other aspects of the layout were made by me or default to the Mac version of Adobe Photoshop CS5, with the exception of fonts downloaded from Dafont and the animated XY model from PkParaíso. ♥ Flames of Royalty is a one page site, so there is no navigation. Please continue to scroll down in order to view the content!

The Royal Pokémon

NAME: Pyroar (カエンジシ Kaenjishi)
TYPE: Fire/Normal
SPECIES: Royal Pokémon
HEIGHT: 4'11.1"
WEIGHT: 179.7 lb
GROWTH RATE: Medium slow
EFFORT VALUES: 2 Special Attack

BEHAVIOR: Pyroar seem to live in prides, much like lions in real life. The male with the biggest mane becomes the leader and will attack any outside challengers. The females, on the other hand, have the responsibility of protecting their Litleo cubs. Both genders can be vicious and fierce when necessary.

Rivalry - Increases damage inflicted to 1.25x against Pokémon of the same gender, but decreases damage to 0.75x against the opposite gender.

Unnerve - Prevents opposing Pokémon from eating held Berries.

Moxie (hidden) - Raises Attack one stage upon KOing a Pokémon.

Gender Differences

Pyroar differ in appearance depending on their gender. The males are slightly larger and have boisterous manes around their heads. Their legs appear more muscular and the tan fur on their front legs doesn't travel as far up the leg as on the females. Also, although the difference is only in Sugimori's artwork, male Pyroar have a heart-shaped nose as opposed to a more triangle one. Female Pyroar have thinner frames and their manes are long and flowing from the top of their heads. These gender differences are likely based on those seen in actual lions. Another gender-related point that is important to note is that Pyroar have a 75% chance of being female and thus only a 25% chance of being male. A lion pride typically only consists of one or two adult males, a group of adult females, and their cubs.1 Further, female lions are more abundant than males due to the differences in lifestyle (see the "lion behavior" section below). I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo considered these things when creating the gender odds for their species.


The cute little Litleo is the pre-evolution of Pyroar. Like Pyroar, Litleo is a dual fire/normal type Pokémon with the appearance of a lion. Litleo doesn't differ in appearance based on gender—it simply has a small mane of fire beginning to grow at the top of its head. Litleo doesn't require anything special to evolve to Pyroar. Simply train your Litleo to level 35 and it will evolve! Pyroar cannot be found in the wild, so if you want one, you'll have to catch a Litleo first. Litleo can be found in both X and Y on Route 22. There is a 20% chance of running into one on level 5 or 6 in the regular grass. If you walk in the yellow flowers later in the game, however, you will have a 10% chance of finding one on level 25! Litleo and Pyroar can only be obtained in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire via trade from X/Y.

Pokédex Entries

X: The male with the largest mane of fire is the leader of the pride.

Y: With fiery breath of more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, they viciously threaten any challenger. The females protect the pride's cubs.

Omega Ruby: The male with the largest mane of fire is the leader of the pride.



There's no question that Pyroar's design is based on a lion with fiery aesthetics due to fire being its primary type. Pyroar's name in various languages seems to reinforce these design choices as well. Pyroar (the English, Italian and Spanish name) is likely a combination of the words "pyro" and "roar." Pyro is the word for someone who has an obsession with setting things on fire, while "roar" is a loud sound made by large animals, typically associated with lions. Similarly, the German Pyroleo is a combination of "pyro" and "leo." Leo is Latin for lion and is also the name of the lion zodiac! カエンジシ (Kaenjishi), its Japanese name, seems to be combining the word for flame/blaze (火炎 kaen) and the word for lion (獅子 shishi). Lastly, in French it is referred to as Némélios—apparently combining Nemean with Helios. The Nemean Lion was a lion-like monster that Hercules killed in Greek mythology and Helios is the Greek god of the sun. Clearly, the combination of fire and lion-related words is a theme in each of these names!

Male Pyroar's Mane

One of the first things I noticed about male Pyroar when I saw its design was that the yellow markings on the mane looked similar to the Japanese kanji for fire (火)! Upon further research, however, it seems as though the markings could also be a reference to the Daimonji Gozan Okuribi festival in Japan. During this festival, different characters are created by lighting small fires so that their overall shape can be seen from miles away (see the picture to the left).2 The first symbol that lights up the Daimonji mountain in Kyoto, and thus seems to be most representative of this festival, is dai (big or large).2 Depending on the calligraphy style of either of these kanji, they could approximate the markings on the mane. The horizontal stroke of 大 in the picture to the left also reminds me of female Pyroar's mane as well, with the fire matching the yellow streak and the illuminated smoke as the darker sections. It's interesting to think about, at least!

Lion Behavior

As I've alluded to in previous sections, Pyroar are based on lions in both appearance and seemingly behavior. Based on Pokédex entries and comments from the Pyroar trophy in Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, their gender-based behavior models that of real lions. The male with the largest mane becomes the leader of their pride in the wild, which is very similar to the strongest male lion becoming the leader of a pride in real life. Competition to be the leader of the pride is thus implied. Real male lions will fight for territory and pride membership and are sometimes killed in the process.1 Female Pyroar are the ones who protect Litleo cubs. This, too, parallels lion gender roles, as one primary role of female lions is cub rearing.3 Even Litleo's Pokédex entry talks about how they leave the pride and live on their own to become stronger. Male lions are forced to leave their pride of birth around 2-3 years old and live on their own until they are strong enough to challenge their way to a spot in their own pride.1 Perhaps, then, male Litleo train on their own until they are strong enough to evolve into Pyroar and secure a spot for themselves in a new pride.

Connection to Royalty

The lion has been a symbol in a variety of human cultures for a long time. Thus, Lions appear in various forms of mythology, media and art. Royalty is arguably one of the more common themes of the lion, though. The lion is called the "King of the Jungle," which is likely why it is often associated with royalty. For example, in heraldry (think coat of arms and family crests), the lion symbolizes undying courage4, valor, strength and royalty.5 Another example of the lion's association with royalty can be found in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians sometimes depicted pharaohs as sphinxes (lions with human heads) and even worshipped the lion goddess Sekhmet. It seems lions are admired for their strength, magnificence and majestic nature. It's no wonder that they've come to be known as the rulers of the animal kingdom. Therefore, Pyroar's classification as the "Royal Pokémon," which it shares with no other Pokémon at this point in time, makes sense.

Lysandre's Partner

A male Pyroar is the iconic partner of Lysandre, much like Persian was to Giavonni in earlier generations/seasons. Lysandre's Pyroar first made an appearance in Pokémon Mega Evolution Special II and appeared again in Special III. Pyroar seems to almost always be outside of his Pokéball and at Lysandre's side. He is even shown napping by a fireplace rather than residing in his Pokéball when not needed! Pyroar's battle prowess at this point is a little unclear because Lysandre hasn't been shown battling outside of a flashback, but his flamethrower was enough to stop the fight between and command the attention of Mega Charizard X and Mega Metagross. Both Lysandre and his Pyroar are supposed to have a larger role in Pokémon XY and Z. I hope to expand this section as I know more!

Versus Lysandre

Pyroar is also one of Lysandre's team members as your opponent in Pokémon XY. While not his strongest Pokémon, Pyroar is one of his higher leveled members. His Pyroar is level 47 during your first battle with him in Lysandre Labs, level 49 when you first encounter him in Team Flare Secret HQ and then level 51 during the final battle in the same location. Lysandre's Pyroar knows the moves Fire Blast, Dark Pulse and Hyper Voice and does not hold an item in any of the battles.

The Flames of Battle

The table below includes Pyroar's base level for each stat, the range for each stat at level 50/100 with max EVS and the overall percentile. Minimum and maximum levels are calculated with 0 and 31 IVs respectively (ranges calculated with Veekun's calculator).


Pyroar is in the 73.2nd percentile and is actually the only Pokémon in the game with a total base stat of 507! Pyroar's best stats are SP.ATK and SPEED. Unfortunately, though, Pyroar is lacking in most of the other areas—especially SP.DEF. With fire/normal typing, Pyroar is weak against FIGHTING, GROUND, ROCK and WATER moves. However, it only takes half damage from BUG, FAIRY, FIRE, GRASS and STEEL moves, and take no damage at all from GHOST moves.

EVs, IVs & Natures

I just want to note before I start explaining my strategy for using Pyroar that I am not a competitive battler by any means. If you are more interested in that kind of things, feel free to head over to a site like Smogon University. If, however, you are okay reading my opinions, feel free to continue forward!

EV training was made much easier in X/Y and ORAS with the usage of Super Training. It can certainly be a tedious process to say the least, but for Pokémon that have poor or average stats, I have found it to be incredibly useful. Pyroar has a number of weaknesses with regard to stats, so EV training may be something to consider if you want to use one in your party. My strategy for Pokémon that excel in special attack and speed is usually to boost both of these stats in order to ensure they hit hard and fast. That being said, Pyroar has poor defense and special defense. Fighting, rock and ground type moves are generally physical rather than special and so I ended up prioritizing Pyroar's defense despite special defense being a bit lower. So, when I EV train my Pyroar, I usually max out SPECIAL ATTACK and split the remaining EVs between DEFENSE and SPEED. It's better to cater toward stats that match your battle style, though. I think that maxing special attack and either defense or special defense would be a smart move, too, if that works for your strategy.

I'm not super familiar with IV training, so I won't be talking about that here. However, personality characteristics are related to IVs and are something slightly easier to cater to. A personality characteristic is the short description about your Pokémon that is listed with their stats. These serve as indicators of your Pokémon's highest IV. I am generally not anal about these, but considering Pyroar's strengths and weaknesses, I'd prefer characteristics that indicate either special attack (highly curious, mischievous, thoroughly cunning, often lost in thought and finicky) or special defense (strong willed, somewhat vain, strongly defiant, hates to lose and somewhat stubborn). Realistically, since Pyroar could benefit in any stat, most characteristics would be beneficial. Again, the ideal characteristic would depend on your battle style/strategy with Pyroar.

Lastly, I wanted to talk briefly about natures. Since Pyroar's attack is so low and most fire moves are special attack rather than regular, I would definitely choose a nature that lowers attack in favor of boosting another stat. Therefore, a Pyroar with a MODEST (↑ special attack, ↓ attack), BOLD (↑ defense, ↓ attack), CALM (↑ special defense, ↓ attack) or TIMID (↑ speed, ↓ attack) nature would be the most useful in my opinion.

Move List

Pyroar learns the following moves in X/Y and ORAS by leveling up or through the heart scale move tutor (marked by a - in the level column). If you are looking for TM/HM or regular move tutor moves, please check a site like Serebii or Veekun. Remember that Pyroar gets STAB bonuses by using fire or normal-type moves!

Hyper BeamNORM-1505
The target is attacked with a powerful beam. The user must rest on the next turn to regain its engery.
The opposing team gains an intimidating leer with sharp eyes. The opposing team's Defense stats are reduced.
The target is attacked with small flames. It may also leave the target with a burn.
Work UpNORM8-30
The user is roused, and its Attack and Sp. Atk stats increase.
The user sticks out its head and attacks by charging straight into the target. It may also make the target flinch.
Noble RoarNORM15-30
Letting out a noble roar, the user intimidates the target and lowers its Attack and Sp. Atk stats.
Take DownNORM209020
Fire FangFIRE236515
The user bites with flame-cloaked fangs. It may also make the target flinch or leave it burned.
An attack move that cuts down the target's HP to equal the user's HP.
Echoed VoiceNORM334015
The target is scorched with an intense blast of fire. It may also leave the target with a burn.
Hyper VoiceNORM489010
The user lets out a horribly echoing shout with the power to inflict damage.
The user attacks opposing Pokémon with fire. If a Pokémon is holding a certain item, such as a berry, the item becomes burned up and unusable.
The user attacks the target at full power. The attack's recoil harshly reduces the user's Sp. Atk stat.

The Pyroar in my team has the moves FLAMETHROWER, HYPER VOICE, DARK PULSE (TM97) and HIDDEN POWER (TM10). I prefer to have a range of types in each of my party member's move pools, which is why I picked special attack moves like Dark Pulse and Hidden Power alongside the strongest special attack move from Pyroar's typing with an accuracy of 100. If you don't mind using moves with a lower accuracy, FIRE BLAST (TM38) and OVERHEAT are other possible moves to think about. I would also consider using HYPER BEAM instead of Hidden Power if the move ended up being a type I deemed not useful (the type changes depending on Pyroar's IVs).


The following are all wonderful sites for Pokémon-related characters. Have a Pokémon fansite not listed here? Feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I will add your site as soon as I can. Happy browsing!









b a c k   .   c l e a r   .   f o r w a r d    Flames of Royalty and its contents are © Samantha, however Pyroar and Pokémon are © Nintendo and other rightful owners. Flames of Royalty is a part of AFTER-DEATH.ORG.