|
-
Levitate
- The wielder is immune to Ground-type moves.
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Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
85
|
- |
311 |
374 |
- |
| Atk |
115
|
239 |
266 |
329 |
361 |
| Def |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
| SpA |
105
|
221 |
246 |
309 |
339 |
| SpD |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
| Spe |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
Overview
Eelektross is special in that it is only the third Pokemon to have no elemental weaknesses; this is due to its ability, Levitate, which removes the lone Ground-type weakness of its Electric typing. Except for Speed, it has excellent stats all around, making it a good bulky attacker that has the capacity to attack physically or specially; it can even go mixed. Additionally, Eelektross has a huge special movepool, as well as access to the new physical boosting move Coil. However, as with its other no-weaknesses counterparts, Eelektross has few useful resistances, and its low Speed means it often must endure many hits before it is able to strike back. As such, while OHKOing it is no mean feat, Eelektross is not hard to wear down. In the RU tier, Eelektross faces competition from Electivire as a mixed wallbreaker, and Rotom-C and Galvantula as special attackers. Nonetheless, it is a very unique Pokemon, with the potential to be very effective.
This set utilizes Eelektross's high Special Attack, good bulk, and wide special movepool to turn it into a dangerous attacker. Thunderbolt is Eelektross's best STAB move, as it combines power with reliability. Flamethrower is a powerful attack with good coverage in general, and is also super effective against the bulky Grass-types that resist Eelektross's STAB attack. Grass Knot gives Eelektross a strong option against the numerous Ground-types in the tier, such as Sandslash, Rhydon, and Quagsire. U-turn, which grants Eelektross scouting ability, is preferred over Volt Switch because the latter is stopped by Ground-types switching in. Acid Spray grants Eelektross a pseudo-Nasty Plot boost by sharply dropping the opponent's Special Defense; it is worthy of consideration simply because Eelektross doesn't really need the moveslot for more coverage.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Life Orb is the primary choice because Eelektross doesn't hit hard enough without a boosting item, but Leftovers can be used along with Acid Spray if you don't want to compromise Eelektross's excellent bulk. As is typical, maximum Special Attack investment is used together with a boosting nature to allow Eelektross to hit as hard as possible. Unlike most other special sweepers, however, Eelektross should invest the rest of its EVs in HP because of its low Speed, letting it take hits better. However, one can invest in Speed if they wish to outspeed specific threats. For the more ambitious, 244 Spe EVs (and a neutral Speed nature) let Eelektross outrun unboosted base 80 Speed foes, particularly bulky Gallade, Mandibuzz, and Altaria. However, do note that this detracts significantly from Eelektross's bulk. In a similar vein, paralysis support from Pokemon such as Uxie and Ferroseed, or Trick Room support from Uxie and Slowking, will be appreciated to patch up its Speed. On a dedicated Trick Room team, Eelektross should utilize a Quiet nature along with 0 Speed IVs.
With its wide movepool, there are many other moves Eelektross can feasibly run. Hidden Power is worth consideration for any special attacker, but Eelektross already receives near-perfect coverage; furthermore, a neutral STAB Thunderbolt is more powerful than a 2x effective Hidden Power. As an alternative, Volt Switch, which packs both scouting capability and STAB, can be used to replace both U-turn and Thunderbolt, freeing up a moveslot. Again, as more coverage is largely unnecessary, moves to consider include Substitute, which supplements Eelektross's bulk by blocking crippling status, and Thunder Wave, which supports both Eelektross and possibly its slow teammates as well.
Coil, a move that raises its user's Attack, Defense, and accuracy by one stage each, is one of the new boosting moves introduced in BW. While Eelektross is more commonly seen running special attacks, this move complements its stat distribution excellently, and allows it to function as an effective slow, boosting attacker. Although the recoil is a pity, Wild Charge is Eelektross's best—in fact, its only usable—physical STAB move, as its physical movepool is unfortunately rather underwhelming. Dragon Tail lets Eelektross phaze and rack up token damage; due to its naturally low Speed, Eelektross hardly minds the negative priority at all. Substitute protects Eelektross from status, making it incredibly hard to take down with physical attacks after a few Coil boosts. Lastly, Return has good neutral coverage, and can be used over either utility move.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Leftovers is the perfect item for this set, allowing Eelektross to regain HP lost to making Substitutes, as well as recoil from Wild Charge. If you're using Return, a more offensive EV spread, such as 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def, can be run for more immediate power. Other moves Eelektross can consider include Brick Break and Crunch, which mainly target Ferroseed and Uxie, respectively. However, these have less general utility than the listed moves. Dragon Claw may seem like a good move, but has similar coverage to Return and less power to boot.
Due to its low damage output off the bat, Eelektross needs help breaking through dedicated physical walls, particularly those that resist or are immune to its attacks, namely Tangrowth, Rhydon, and Steelix. Ferroseed and Magneton can trouble Eelektross not running Brick Break, so be sure to pack solid switch-ins to them. Special attackers, particularly Fire-types such as Moltres and Entei, as well as Water-types such as Slowking and Ludicolo, fare well against these Pokemon.
For Coil Eelektross to reach its fullest potential, it should be used in conjunction with entry hazards. Qwilfish, Ferroseed, and Roselia are solid Spikes users, while Uxie is a reliable source of Stealth Rock support, and is a useful bulky pivot in general. Sandslash has access to both Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock, making it an excellent teammate. Finally, after the opposing team has been sufficiently weakened, fast late-game sweepers are useful to mop up the remnants; some examples are Rock Polish Torterra, Choice Scarf Typhlosion, and Choice Scarf Galvantula.
Other Options
I hope you're comfortable, as thanks to Eelektross's massive movepool, this is going to take a while. First of all, Eelektross can take on the role of a specially based mixed sweeper, with Brick Break to surprise its normal counters: Brick Break 2HKOes Munchlax and OHKOes Cryogonal, both of whom stop the standard Special Attacker. A Mixed Coil set is feasible as well: Thunder and Zap Cannon get their poor accuracy patched up by Coil, and lack the distasteful recoil of Wild Charge. On the whole, however, mixed sets are largely outclassed by Electivire, who packs higher Attack and Speed stats, as well as the stronger Cross Chop. Eelektross's good offenses and bulk can lend themselves to Choice items, but unless you have perfect prediction, it will likely be a waste of its excellent coverage. Generally, Rotom-C and Galvantula are better users of Choice items due to their useful secondary STAB and greater Speed.
Other than Thunderbolt and Volt Switch, Eelektross gets several alternative special STAB attacks. It will appreciate Discharge's paralysis chance, but the power drop is noticeable. Thunder is too unreliable outside of rain, and Rotom-C is generally the superior Electric-type to use on a rain team. Charge Beam is Eelektross's only way of boosting its Special Attack, but Acid Spray is generally the superior move. While Eelektross's special movepool is excellent, its physical movepool is less so: the only other moves worth noting are Rock Slide, which has similar coverage to Wild Charge and does nothing to solve Eelektross's problems with Ground-types, and Acrobatics, which can surprise Tangrowth but still leaves Eelektross walled by Steel-types.
Checks and Counters
What makes Eelektross threatening is that its counters are dependent on the variant: physically based and specially based Eelektross have two different sets of counters. The special attacker is stopped by special walls; as it is the more immediately threatening variant, the likes of Munchlax, Lanturn, Cryogonal, Regice, and specially defensive Hariyama should be your initial switch-in if you're unsure. The physically offensive variant does not pose much of a threat off the bat, as it is lacking in both coverage and power. Even after a few boosts, physically defensive bulwarks, such as Tangrowth, Steelix, Magneton, and Rhydon, can still sponge its attacks, but may struggle to do significant damage in return, particularly against Substitute variants. Last of all, Clefable and Quagsire deserve mention because Unaware enables them to ignore Eelektross's Coil boosts.
