|
-
Illuminate
- Increases wild encounter rate.
-
Swarm
- Boosts power of Bug moves 50% when at 1/3 HP or less.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
65
|
- |
271 |
334 |
- |
| Atk |
73
|
163 |
182 |
245 |
269 |
| Def |
55
|
131 |
146 |
209 |
229 |
| SpA |
47
|
117 |
130 |
193 |
212 |
| SpD |
75
|
167 |
186 |
249 |
273 |
| Spe |
85
|
185 |
206 |
269 |
295 |
Other than Smeargle, Volbeat is the only Pokémon that can learn Tail Glow; even its female counterpart Illumise cannot learn it. Tail Glow, and attack anything that wants to phaze or Haze you, Baton Pass out when you cannot kill. You can Substitute down to activate a Salac Berry, which is pretty much a guaranteed sweep if you pass to something with high Speed and Special Attack.
Parafusion set. Bug and Rock will hit most Pokémon at least neutral, except for Steels and pure Fighters. Speed isn't needed because Thunder Wave makes Volbeat faster than whatever is out, unless it's something like Gligar or Hitmonlee, but you cannot harm them with this moveset, anyway.
A fun Choice Band set. It can work to an extent, especially if you want some pizazz in your team. If you can Trick something that doesn't want a Choice Band, Volbeat has done it's job. Focus Punch is great for predicting switches, especially to stuff like Aggron, but Return can be used to hit Gligar a bit harder.
A mix of the Tail Glow set and the Choice Bander. Trick an unsuspecting opponent, and then try to get in a Tail Glow. Hit stuff, or Baton Pass away.
Other Options
You can always steal the opponent’s item right when you’re about to get KOed with Thief. Moonlight for some healing reasons if you think you can survive a hit.
EVs
Volbeat will generally want 270 Speed if he has Ice Punch, as this beats Adamant Gligar. This requires 160 EVs and a +Speed nature. If Volbeat doesn't have moves to hit Gligar hard, this is much less important, as most Pokémon Volbeat needs to outspeed don't invest in Speed EVs and have a lower base Speed (such as Solrock), so a minimal investment is all that is needed.
Opinion
Speed is really Volbeat's only decent stat, and its only advantage over other Pokémon is that it can Baton Pass Tail Glow. It has a typing that gives it few useful resistances outside of Earthquake, as well. However, it does have some interesting options in Baton Pass, Trick, and a decent offensive movepool, so it's not entirely bad.
Counters
OU counters: Skarmory, Steelix, Weezing, and Suicune can all stop physical versions. Skarmory and Suicune can stop any that don't use Tail Glow + Thunderbolt, really. Salamence, although killed by Ice Punch after a Tail Glow, is faster than Volbeat and OHKOs with Hidden Power Flying. Heracross has the Special Defense to take any hits and can just use Megahorn for the easy OHKO. Any phazer that isn't weak to Electric (and sometimes Ice) can prevent it from Baton Passing, and any fast, heavy-hitter can OHKO Volbeat before it can use Baton Pass.
UU counters: Gligar can defeat those without Ice Punch, although a Choice Band set has a chance to 2HKO with Return if Gligar doesn't have any HP EVs. Aggron is safe as long as it stays out of Focus Punch. Fearow makes a good counter with its superior Speed and STAB on Drill Peck, but it doesn't like switching into Hidden Power Rock or Thunderbolt (although Thunderbolt won't do that much without a Tail Glow). Hitmonlee will usually outspeed Volbeat, and can OHKO with Rock Slide; Hitmonlee resists Hidden Power Rock and Signal Beam, and has the Special Defense needed to take Thunderbolt and Ice Punch. Kangaskhan just absorbs any of Volbeat's weak hits, except Choice Band Focus Punch, and retaliates with STAB Return. Basically any heavy hitter that is either faster than Volbeat or isn't weak to one of his moves (and even if it is weak, Volbeat won't do that much) can counter him.