Eelektross is a boss.
Status:
QC: [Oglemi] [Snunch] [PK Gaming]
GP: [NixHex] [Honko]
[Overview]
<p>Eelektross boasts great offensive stats, allowing it to act as a physical, special, or mixed sweeper. In addition, it is actually quite bulky, especially for an Electric-type, and is only the third Pokemon with no weaknesses, the other two being Sableye and Spiritomb. Unfortunately, Eelektross is slower than some walls despite having the perfect movepool for a sweeper or supporter, though this indicates a natural affinity for Trick Room. It is currently the only Electric-type with access to Acid Spray, a pseudo-Nasty Plot. It also has access to moves such as Coil, Dragon Tail, Grass Knot, and Flamethrower. These characteristics, along with its neutrality to Stealth Rock, make it a viable option over its main competition, Zapdos.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Flamethrower
move 3: Grass Knot / Acid Spray
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / U-turn
item: Leftovers
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The purpose of this set is to destroy multiple Pokemon with super effective moves. With Eelektross's excellent coverage, the only Pokemon that resists every move on this set is Rotom-H. Thunderbolt is obligatory STAB, while Flamethrower destroys Grass-types that resist Thunderbolt and Steel-types. Grass Knot comes in handy against Rhyperior, Gastrodon, and Quagsire, all of which are relatively common in the UU metagame and will completely wall this set without Grass Knot. The final move of choice is Hidden Power Ice, which hits Dragon-types hard, especially Flygon and Altaria.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Eelektross is currently the only Electric-type with access to Acid Spray, a Poison-type move that always lowers the opponent's Special Defense by two stages. Because using this move will force many switches, entry hazard support is very beneficial when running Acid Spray. In addition, while Steel-types are immune to Acid Spray, Flamethrower decimates them. The combination of Acid Spray and Hidden Power Ice also beats Rhyperior, Quagsire, and Gastrodon, as Unaware only ignores the opponent's boosts. Unfortunately, certain special walls such as Registeel and Chansey still wall this set no matter the moveset—Registeel is immune to Acid Spray and takes minimal damage from an unboosted Flamethrower, while Chansey has such ridiculous Special Defense that the Special Defense drops won't matter. For this reason, a strong physical attacker such as Heracross is recommended to complement the special aspect of this set.</p>
<p>Because this set is purely special, a Modest nature combined with maximum EV investment in Special Attack is best, while the remaining EVs go in HP to provide bulk. Since Eelektross is so slow, it is ideal as a Trick Room sweeper; in this case, a Quiet nature with 0 IVs in Speed is superior to the main spread. Leftovers provides Eelektross with its only form of recovery through passive healing, but using Life Orb can substantially increase its power output. However, this is not recommended, as Life Orb would shorten Eelektross's lifespan, taking away from its bulk. For this reason, Expert Belt is an option to increase damage on super effective targets without sacrificing health, although Eelektross loses the recovery from Leftovers. Finally, U-turn is an option over Hidden Power Ice for scouting, but it is generally inferior to the coverage on Dragon-types that Hidden Power Ice provides.</p>
[SET]
name: Coil
move 1: Coil
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Wild Charge
move 4: Return
item: Leftovers
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Eelektross is one of the few Pokemon with access to the new boosting move Coil, which raises Attack, Defense, and Accuracy simultaneously. Eelektross is arguably the best user of Coil, with the only other somewhat viable users being Arbok and Serperior. After just one Coil, Eelektross becomes quite bulky and can do a decent amount of damage despite the low Attack investment. Substitute is important on this set to block status from slower walls such as Dusclops and Chansey. Wild Charge and Return provide the best neutral coverage overall; unfortunately, Golurk, Rhyperior, Quagsire, and Steelix all completely wall this combination and force Eelektross out no matter how many boosts it has obtained. Despite these faults, Substitute + Coil is very viable and can be a good late game set-up sweeper, especially if given the correct support.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The given EV spread along with a Careful nature maximizes Eelektross's special bulk, since Coil increases its physical bulk, making Eelektross incredibly difficult to defeat after a few Coil boosts. One could opt for a more offensive spread, but it takes away from Eelektross's all-important bulk. Eelektross's only other physical moves worth noting are Dragon Tail to phaze and Brick Break to hit Steel- and Rock-types that are immune to Wild Charge such as Steelix, and Rhyperior. Eelektross is too slow to be an effective offensive phazer, as opposing phazers will often beat it to the punch. Thus, Return is the more powerful and reliable coverage option. This particular set appreciates Toxic Spikes to wear down opponents trying to break Eelektross's Substitute. With regard to teammates, powerful special attackers such as Kingdra and Nidoking are needed to rid Eelektross of physical walls such as Rhyperior and Steelix.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Eelektross has a fascinatingly diverse movepool, but only a few coverage moves are actually needed, such as Flamethrower, Grass Knot, and Hidden Power. Other coverage moves include Crunch, Rock Slide, and Flash Cannon, but none are particularly attractive on Eelektross. Eelektross also gets Charge Beam, with which it can attempt to set up a sweep, but it is unreliable and weak. Likewise, Discharge is another STAB option that has a 30% chance of paralysis, but is also weak and unreliable. Thunder Wave is a good support option, especially to cripple fast set-up sweepers, but it is hard to fit in Eelektross's movesets. Volt Change is essentially a STAB, special U-turn, but Ground-types are immune to it. While Eelektross has access to Thunder and Zap Cannon, moves which have their accuracy boosted by Coil, they are unreliable, despite the potential for a mixed Coil set. Choice sets are outclassed by Jolteon and Raikou due to their higher Speed and Special Attack, and Eelektross doesn't like having its versatility and coverage limited by a Choice item anyway.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Specially defensive walls such as Registeel and Chansey fear nothing from the Special Attacker set and can wear it down with Toxic. Gastrodon and Quagsire take nothing from any of Eelektross's moves bar Grass Knot or a boosted Return (Quagsire ignores boosts with Unaware). Lanturn, while relatively uncommon, completely walls the Special Attacker set, as Grass Knot doesn't do much damage due to its low weight. However, it will suffer from attacks boosted by Coil or Acid Spray. Pokemon such as Rhyperior and Steelix wall the Coil set, while Golurk takes nothing from the Coil set at all. Fortunately, all three will succumb to the Special Attacker set. Despite Eelektross's natural bulk, powerful neutral attacks, such as Victini's V-create and Choice Band Heracross's Close Combat, will still leave a large dent in Eelektross's health, if not outright OHKO it. Certain status also creates problems for the two different sets, namely burn for the Coil set and Toxic for both.</p>
