Emboar made his debut as a Pignite in Minccino-Neat and Tidy! when Bianca attempted to use him to capture a wild Minccino that had stolen the dirty badge case that she had given to Ash. He fought with an impressive Flame Charge attack but Minccino managed to escape it. Though he had overwhelming power, he was taken down by Minccino with a combination of Hyper Voice and Tickle.
Bianca later used Pignite to battle Ash's Pikachu. He managed to catch Pikachu off guard by rushing it with Take Down followed by a powerful Heat Crash attack. Despite him having the upper hand at first, the Fire Pig Pokémon was taken down by a single Volt Tackle from Pikachu.
Bianca used Pignite to help track down an Emolga that she wanted to capture in Emolga the Irresistible!. Unfortunately, he ended up making a wild Scolipede angry when he attacked it with Flamethrower. She used him again in Emolga and the New Volt Switch! where he battled Iris's Emolga who infatuated him with Attract. Later when Emolga brought out Ash's Snivy with Volt Switch he continued his battle against her instead. He struggled in the battle, but the winner of the battle was not seen.
In Reunion Battles In Nimbasa!, Bianca offered to trade Pignite for Luke's Zorua, but later changed her mind, after he declined anyway.
Bianca used Pignite in her battle against Elesa in Enter Elesa, Electrifying Gym Leader!. Her two other Pokémon had been knocked out by her Zebstrika and he was her last hope of winning. Though he outlasted his teammates, Pignite eventually fell to Zebstrika which resulted in a loss for Bianca.
In BW071 it was revealed that Pignite had evolved into an Emboar sometime before the Donamite tournament. He began a battle against Trip's Conkeldurr in the first round. Demonstrating his new capabilities, Arm Thrust and Hammer Arm, Emboar fought hard, but was unable to break through Conkeldurr's defenses. He was soon smashed into the ground, after Conkeldurr powered up with Bulk Up, and then trapped by Rock Tomb. Emboar attempted to use Arm Thrust to destroy the rocks surrounding him but grew tired, just as his opponent launched a Stone Edge attack. In the next episode Emboar was shown to have caught Conkeldurr's Stone Edge then used Fling to send them back at it. While Conkeldurr was blocking the stones with its concrete pillars, Emboar got closer, snatched the pillars, and used Fling to hurl them at Conkeldurr, defeating the Muscular Pokémon and allowing Bianca to proceed to the next round of the tournament. Later in the second round, Emboar faced Georgia's Bisharp. He started the battle with Flamethower which did a lot of damage to the Template:Type2 Pokémon. He next defended against Bisharp's Guillotine attack with Hammer Arm and after enduring a Metal Sound-Iron Head combo, Emboar won the match with a second Flamethower. In the next episode, Emboar faces off against Stephan's Sawk, where Emboar loses.