As something with a fairly strong Volt Switch, he pairs really well with things that have Intimidate. Arcanine, Gyarados, Landorus-T, and Salamence all have some offensive and defensive synergy. Gyarados, Lando, and Salamence all can come into ground moves aimed at Heliolisk. Heliolisk can come back in to absorb water moves aimed and Lando or Arcanine. A good VoltTurn team can be made with Heliolisk as an offensive pivot.
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Pokémon Heliolisk
- Thread starter gsumbreon
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Choice sets are the only ones I've seen making a noticeable impact, and the synergy of the flyers improves this a lot. Also Arcanine works great as a bait for water attacks that Heliolisk gets a free switch in for. A team of Arcanine, Gyarados, and Heliolisk definitely has potential, especially because of its naturally high speed compared to other common volturn users.
With a single setter that is true, but with dual setters they are usually worth it(as char Y can actually wallbreak and sweep, so his only use isn't dedicated sacrificing and setting)and helio has an easy time tearing through teams
Anybody know if solar power's hp drain works if he volt switches? A MegazardY team up could work indefinitely with spin/defog support that way
Pretty sure Solar Power only triggers at the very end of the round if Heliolisk is still in play, so it should be fine there :)
This lizard is surprisingly useful against some current top tier threats with its typing and dry skin ability. Immune to two common priority attacks (Aegislash shadow sneak and Azumarril's aqua jet) is great, and being able to switch into thunderwaves is nice too since electric types can no longer be hit with that move. I'm trying out a choice scarf set, although expert belt/life orb can be useful too. Would be nice if it had a bit better special attack, it's rather mediocre without any weather or item boosts if you opt to run timid (and its speed isn't perfect either, + frail defenses aren't helping..) Substitute can also be useful to screw over a Choice Item Pokemon locked into one of the common types its immune to and get an extra hit in or so.
Gastrodon's been my answer to this guy.
Immune to rain-boosted surf with storm drain, immune to electricity....without grass knot, heliolisk can't touch it, and honestly, I've not seen a heliolisk running grass knot, simply because it relies on many other moves.
In the lower tiers (whenever things settle out this gen), I suppose water absorb quagsire functions the same, but not many people choose water absorb over unaware.
Grass types also screw over rain variants of heliolisk. Of those, I'd say roserade is one of the best, having great special defense to eat up pretty much anything heliolisk throws at it.
There's also flygon and garchomp.
My friend's heliolisk has screwed me up in battles several times now, and it's forced me to re-examine my team.
Immune to rain-boosted surf with storm drain, immune to electricity....without grass knot, heliolisk can't touch it, and honestly, I've not seen a heliolisk running grass knot, simply because it relies on many other moves.
In the lower tiers (whenever things settle out this gen), I suppose water absorb quagsire functions the same, but not many people choose water absorb over unaware.
Grass types also screw over rain variants of heliolisk. Of those, I'd say roserade is one of the best, having great special defense to eat up pretty much anything heliolisk throws at it.
There's also flygon and garchomp.
My friend's heliolisk has screwed me up in battles several times now, and it's forced me to re-examine my team.
Yeah, I think Heliolisk struggles with a variety of grass Pokemon. I'm unsure whether Grass Knot OKO's Gastrodon anyway.
You either take Grass Knot and get to hit Gastrodon/Quagsire/Swampert/ hard or go with HP ice to deal with Grass type Pokemon. But I don't think he has room on his moveset for both.
You either take Grass Knot and get to hit Gastrodon/Quagsire/Swampert/ hard or go with HP ice to deal with Grass type Pokemon. But I don't think he has room on his moveset for both.
Maybe if its lucky, it can get heat wave when pokemon "z" comes out. Then it can handle grass types much better. I'm sure GF would be nice enough to give a lizard who gets its energy from the sun be able to learn a fire move from a better tutor. But knowing them, I guess we cant hold our breath.
But for what it has right now, expert belt hp ice works well enough to hit grass/dragons Like you guys said, it cant do it all so it needs support since it doesnt hit hard enough to break walls but having teamates that handle them like talonflame and fairy types work best. But I'm telling you, sub works wonders on him regardless of its low bulk. With its high speed and immunities, it has plenty of chances to put up it sub. Still with all its perks, its in uu at the very minimum.
But for what it has right now, expert belt hp ice works well enough to hit grass/dragons Like you guys said, it cant do it all so it needs support since it doesnt hit hard enough to break walls but having teamates that handle them like talonflame and fairy types work best. But I'm telling you, sub works wonders on him regardless of its low bulk. With its high speed and immunities, it has plenty of chances to put up it sub. Still with all its perks, its in uu at the very minimum.
I wouldn't count on that. So far, Heliolisk has kind of been Gamefreak's butt monkey this gen. (it gets Dry Skin when it's a solar energy lizard, hilariously making it more suited to rain teams. It gets Solar Power but can't learn Sunny Day. It's a normal type but doesn't get any decent special normal attacks. It has a decent physical movepool but has laughable physical attack stat, it gets a defensive, healing electric attack that turns out to be incredibly weak and can't benefit a frail sweeper anyway. It gets a signature move 'Electrify' that it can't really use all that well, etc.)
Against what? I'll post some calcs if you tell me who to do it on.
So I've started using Heliolisk basically just because it's such a great switch in against Rotom-W. Right now, every team needs to be prepared for the washing machine as it's everywhere, and dry skin Heliolisk does that very well. I'm using a specs set with volt switch, but honestly, the set doesn't matter, just the fact that Rotom can't touch it.
Thats what I found also. It can absorb hydro pump and doesnt particularly mind wilo wisp. It can have slight trouble breaking through sp defensive rotoms though if helio lacks a sub since it will attempt to use pain split and let the burn finish it off.
Also, although its not optimal, it can take a banded talonflame brave bird (65-80ish % damage at max) and hit it back with t-bolt. But I am suprised it doesnt 1hko excadrill with surf even with expert belt. (specs and probably life orb could 1hko it) It does leave them in the red though.
Also, although its not optimal, it can take a banded talonflame brave bird (65-80ish % damage at max) and hit it back with t-bolt. But I am suprised it doesnt 1hko excadrill with surf even with expert belt. (specs and probably life orb could 1hko it) It does leave them in the red though.
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i like heliolisk
because of his battle animation
how his frills open up & junk
probs the best thing about him.
because of his battle animation
how his frills open up & junk
probs the best thing about him.
I agree that not learning sunny day is dumb, but his three abilities all have to do with different weather so he can be more versatile. If he was introduced when weather wars were a thing he probably would've been a much bigger deal, I think.
Weather ball would've been pretty cool to get for sun teams though.
I can see it being used in doubles if you pair it with something with volt absorb. Unfortunately it doesn't work with lightning rod (lightning rod just absorbs the electrify before it affects anything, making it useless)
Surf spamming volt absorb lanturn + electrify/discharge dry skin heliolisk? Might be fun
I can't help but feel this lizard came a generation too late. Being able to abuse 3 weathers with his abilities is unrivaled. I feel like this guy will be an interesting Double battles pokemon though as weather will be more effective there without the necessity of switching. Parabolic Charge and Electrify both shine in a Doubles setting with Electrify being able to set up Lightninrods/Motor Drives/Volt Absorbs and also triggering them on his own with Parabolic Charge.
Amusingly enough, Lanturn can return the favor now with Soak, rendering targets weak to Heliosk's electrical and health-draining attacks even as Heliosk heals it in turn- since you apparently now can breed Soak onto the zapper in question. Unlike ToT or Forest's Curse, it turns the target into a full-on Water type, wiping it's previous typing. If you don't have Volt Absorb/Lightningrod, life is gonna become unpleasant in a hurry.
Electrify isn't as useful as you think it is with lightningrod -- it's redirected to and absorbed by the lightningrod pokemon before it affects anyone else. It doesn't affect the lightningrod pokemon's next move, either.
By "the zapper in question" do you mean the lanturn or the heliolisk?
How viable is a Special Bulky Heliolisk in the rain?
Assuming Rain Support;
Heliolisk @ Leftovers
Calm Nature - Dry Skin
252 HP / 252 SpD / 6 SpA or 252 HP / 252 SpA / 6 SpD
- Glare
- Substitute
- Thunder / Volt Switch / Parabolic Charge (?)
- Surf / Dark Pulse / Focus Blast
Heal like 3/16 (18.75%) each turn while having decent special bulk. Assuming rain support Thunder is the move of choice but I guess the option for the much weaker Parabolic Charge is worth mentioning if you want even more HP recovery. Setting up a sub might be troublesome when you face physical based attackers so my advice is to not set up on those :p.
Assuming Rain Support;
Heliolisk @ Leftovers
Calm Nature - Dry Skin
252 HP / 252 SpD / 6 SpA or 252 HP / 252 SpA / 6 SpD
- Glare
- Substitute
- Thunder / Volt Switch / Parabolic Charge (?)
- Surf / Dark Pulse / Focus Blast
Heal like 3/16 (18.75%) each turn while having decent special bulk. Assuming rain support Thunder is the move of choice but I guess the option for the much weaker Parabolic Charge is worth mentioning if you want even more HP recovery. Setting up a sub might be troublesome when you face physical based attackers so my advice is to not set up on those :p.
Lanturn now gets Soak as an Egg move. Lanturn can Soak targets to render them SE for Heliolisk, or Surf to heal it outright, while Heliolisk gets to drain Soaked targets for SE damage with Parabolic Charge/spread status with Discharge and heals Lanturn in the process, or can Electrify an attack and have it heal Lanturn for them.
Soak neatly removes the one real problem- that is, something that would normally laugh off damage from either one, and incidentally kills any rival Electric-type's Paralysis immunity in the process, letting stuff like Thunder Wave or Discharge do their work unimpeded. In doubles, it's a pretty nice pairing and takes advantage of one of Heliolisk's handy talents.
G-liolisk is amazing in singles.
@Choice Scarf
Modest (or Timid, but Modest is fast enough)
Dry Skin
252 SpAtk/252 Speed/4 HP
-Volt Switch
-Surf
-Focus Blast
-Thunderbolt/HP Fire/HP Ice/Thunder Wave/anything
Probably the best lead I've seen in all of singles, and useful throughout the whole game cause his super fast and strong Volt Switch/coverage moves really do a number on everything. Super underrated.
Edit: He's also immune to Ghost and Water, only has two weaknesses, and outspeeds almost everything. +Speed Scarf Genesect outspeeds and OHKOes Modest with U-Turn, but Bug is a pretty shitty attacking type and you can easily switch into something that can tank it.
@Choice Scarf
Modest (or Timid, but Modest is fast enough)
Dry Skin
252 SpAtk/252 Speed/4 HP
-Volt Switch
-Surf
-Focus Blast
-Thunderbolt/HP Fire/HP Ice/Thunder Wave/anything
Probably the best lead I've seen in all of singles, and useful throughout the whole game cause his super fast and strong Volt Switch/coverage moves really do a number on everything. Super underrated.
Edit: He's also immune to Ghost and Water, only has two weaknesses, and outspeeds almost everything. +Speed Scarf Genesect outspeeds and OHKOes Modest with U-Turn, but Bug is a pretty shitty attacking type and you can easily switch into something that can tank it.
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Here's something a bit odd I've been working on: DerpTank Heliolisk
Heliolisk @ Assault Vest
Modest, 156 sAtt, 252 sDef, 100 Speed
Dry Skin
- Parabolic Charge
- Dark Pulse
- Surf
- Thunder/bolt / Volt Switch
What this guy does for me: Stop Azumarill pretty damn well. Vs. mGengar prediction (or if I'm faster), 2HKO and can eat a Focus Blast. Switches against predicted Ice Beams, Surfs, etc (usually from my Gliscor or Arcanine). Hangs in front of special attackers, and Surf works well when I see the switch coming (usually ground types switching in). It seems very niche, it's not a great sweeper or staller (he's a Special Tank, I call him DerpTank for a reason), but he does a good job of weakening on and off switches, making clean-up a lot easier. It may just be the team I'm running him on, or luck, but this guy rarely fails me.
Heliolisk @ Assault Vest
Modest, 156 sAtt, 252 sDef, 100 Speed
Dry Skin
- Parabolic Charge
- Dark Pulse
- Surf
- Thunder/bolt / Volt Switch
What this guy does for me: Stop Azumarill pretty damn well. Vs. mGengar prediction (or if I'm faster), 2HKO and can eat a Focus Blast. Switches against predicted Ice Beams, Surfs, etc (usually from my Gliscor or Arcanine). Hangs in front of special attackers, and Surf works well when I see the switch coming (usually ground types switching in). It seems very niche, it's not a great sweeper or staller (he's a Special Tank, I call him DerpTank for a reason), but he does a good job of weakening on and off switches, making clean-up a lot easier. It may just be the team I'm running him on, or luck, but this guy rarely fails me.
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