Manectric

Manectric got a peek of the light from beneath the piles and piles of under-used Pokemon when Lightningrod became a useable ability in Doubles in Gen IV. The advent of priority Thunder Wave in the present generation has given further opportunity for Manectric to shine, and an above-average special movepool means it can utilize the SpA boost it gets from a correct switch-in to proceed to do some damage.


Manectric -> Double Battles


->Thunder Eater<-



Manectric @ Life Orb
TIMID
+Lightningrod+
6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt / Discharge
-Flamethrower / Overheat / Flame Burst
-Hidden Power [Grass] / Hidden Power [Ice]
-Protect

Time a switch right to get +1 SpA. It's not too hard to tell when an average player, one who just packed a bunch of attack moves on his team, will use an Electric attack on your Water- or Flying-type Pokemon. The experienced foe, who will take note of your roster, won't fall as easily. Of course, Manectric can still do some damage without the boost, but if you're just looking for an elemental sweeper then Manectric isn't your ticket.

There are several options for moves on this set. Discharge can be used if you are sure you will have a Ground-type in tandem with Manectric when it comes in or if, in the case that the ally has to use Protect to avoid it, it is worth the sacrifice of that one ally's turn. Flame Burst's secondary hit has the effect of ignoring Protect, like a sort of pseudo-Feinting (let's call it "pheinting"), but the 25 attack point loss between it and Flamethrower means it only sometimes compensates by hurting another foe. Overheat's impressive base power makes it occasionally useful, but against a seasoned player you will find that it ends up targetting a newly switched-in Fire-resistant Pokemon, and you're left with -1 or -2 SpA. HP Grass is the preferred option because of the prevalence of the anti-Rain Pokemon Gastrodon and other Water/Ground-types, and because, if Manectric came in to save a Water-type ally, that Water-type will often have the stronger Ice Beam handy.

->Rain Set<-



Manectric @ Life Orb
TIMID
+Lightningrod+
6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Thunder / Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power [Grass]
-Volt Switch / Thunder Wave
-Protect

Here, HP Grass is chosen because there is a very good chance of Gastrodon coming in to spoil things, and because this Manectric will be allied with at least one Water-type who can take care of the 4x Ice weak Pokemon. Thunder is the obvious main choice, but Thunderbolt can be useful when going against the faster Crobat, who will set up Sunny Day and make the subsequent Thunder inaccurate. Volt Switch, besides being a generally useful move, is especially good in a Drizzle team as it can allow a just-switched-out Politoed to come right back in and renew the rain.
 
I don't see much in Manetric as a Lightning Rod user. Something that needs to be in the analysis should be by it outclasses other users of the ability with superior stats like speed (Zebstrika).
 

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