How to unlock Moltres
Getting Moltres means pulling the Kanto banner and hitting its 5★ slot. The 5★ band takes 1.5% of all pulls and holds 103 partners, so one specific Moltres works out to about 0.0146% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter guarantees a 5★, but it does not target Moltres specifically, so a guarantee can still resolve to another 5★. A duplicate Moltres refunds 300 coins at the 5★ rate.
Moltres stats and rank
Moltres carries 110 HP, 116 speed, a ×1.39 attack multiplier, ×1.25 physical, ×1.39 special, 90 defense and 85 special defense, 580 in total. On the three-stat percentile this is 79.9 out of 100, which puts Moltres at rank 75 of 966 and in tier A. What separates it from its neighbours is shape, not size: its strongest slot is special multiplier (93rd percentile) and its weakest is special defense (72nd percentile), so it spreads its value fairly evenly.
Best moves in Moltres's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Gust at 31.2 damage per 0.26s (167.0 effective DPS, ×1.39 multiplier), then Fire Spin at 33.6 damage per 0.30s (155.8 effective DPS, ×1.39 multiplier), then Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (132.6 effective DPS, ×1.25 multiplier). 9 of its 19 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 10 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its special multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.39 against ×1.25), so special moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 11.1 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call.
Evolution cards for Moltres
Its starting move, Ember, evolves into Fire Blast once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. That card has to drop inside the run; nothing in the permanent menu replaces it. 19 of its 23 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Synthesis). The strongest of them is Gust at 167.0 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Moltres compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Hydreigon (+1 HP, +3 speed, same attack multiplier, +20 total) and Zapdos (+0 HP, +4 speed, same attack multiplier, +0 total). Against Hydreigon, Hydreigon is 3 speed faster and the two carry an identical ×1.39 attack multiplier, and the rank gap is 30 places. Treat the gaps as the price of the switch rather than free stats, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.