LegacyLucarioXTaken directly from smogon.com
I would have to say Flareon is at the near bottom of my choice of ALL fire types. Why? Overheat does NOT help if you can't allow switches. With Stealth Rock in play, switches are generally not affordable with Fire types. Not only that, but the one you suggested requires a Choice item to be effective, which, again sucks if you can't allow switches and nowhere does it mention Superpower (this is for one of the other Flareon setups).
I would rather use Magmortar with Lava Plume for burn chance, as well as being a mixed attacker with Cross Chop (see Mixed Attacker entry) without losing SpA each time you use it, but really this is still just an inferior Blaziken and Infernape (even though the entry says otherwise, it still is just an inferior setup with 30% burn rate, ooh!). Flareon is a poor choice even to Magmortar who has a usable SpA, where Flareon has a useless base 130 Attack, and has to deal with a base 95 SpA instead...If you do Specs for Specs, Magmortar has better options (boltbeam, Focus Blast) and a more feasible SpA.
The Scarf Blaziken setup is better than the Specs Flareon setup that you suggested, having better coverage and purpose, but even then, I don't like either, because it practically requires you to switch, which like I said before, Fire types can't afford.
If you have the chance to use Infernape, use it. There's a reason why it's OU and the rest are UU or worse. Fire types are extremely disappointing because there are so few viable Fire types in all of Pokemon. I hope they change this in the 5th gen. You really only have Infernape or Heatran for OU, Moltres, (oh God) Blaziken, Arcanine and Houndoom for UU, and Magmortar and pals for NU. Scizor DOMINATES OU because there are really only two Fire types in OU, one of which can safely switch in and counter it, the other is too damn frail to do anything about a boosted CB or +2 BP. By the time Infernape switches in, it suffers from a little bit of SR, gets hit by a boosted BP on the way in, and another boosted BP before it gets a chance to strike.
I don't like the fact that some Fire types pack two Fire moves...or Fire Blast's shaky accuracy and low PP...Blaziken is fun to play with but you usually have Superpower and Vacuum Wave on the same set...bleh.
If you like a change of pace, Arcanine is really fun to play with Sunny Day on the field. It works in tandem with a Chlorophyll user and sets up a great opportunity to check Water types with either Arcanine's Thunder Fang or a Chlorophyll user. I tend to use FlashFire in secret, set up Sunny Day with my Grass type to see if the opponent will fall for using a Fire attack due to the boost, switch to Arcanine, get a FlashFire boost, Sunny Day boost, STAB Flare Blitz with a Life Orb, Extremespeed what's left of the guy, and then Morning Sun off the damage.
