Metagame SS OU Metagame Discussion Thread v7 (Usage Stats in post #3539)

I know that it took a long time for the realization that Arena Trap Dugtrio was broken af, but why would suddenly Magnet Pull be broken? First of all, trapping for Magzone has never been easy: either failing to come in, failing to KO the trapped mon before getting KO'ed itself, or it's simply unable to successfully trap the steel (Like, for ex, Jirachi could pivot out with U-turn, or Heatran just outspeeds and KOs Zone). And second, while some offensive sets can work, Magnezone really only exists to trap steels and it's kinda just there.

But what's the difference with Arena Trap and Shadow Tag? As it has already been established, MP only traps a small portion of the metagame, while AT traps anything that isn't a Flying-type, has levitate or it's a ghost, STag literally traps all but Ghosts. So even if the users of those abilities are used for trapping, they trap a way bigger portion of the meta compared to what MPull does.
And the users also better abuse the targets they trap.

Finally, when it comes to banning and ability or the pokemon, it really comes down to the broken aspect of it. For ex: Libero Cinderace was broken, but Libero Raboot sees like no usages anywhere, therefore, the ability ain't broken itself. This also applies to other mons outside of the evolutionary line. You can argue that Protean Greninja is broken, but no Protean Kecleon. The same with Spees Boost Blaziken and Ninjask.
Digglett, Gothorita and Wynaut can pull similar tricks to their evolutions by using the same abilities, so the ability is the broken aspect.
 
i literally don't see the point in banning magnet pull at all, honestly. the only mons with magnet pull are the magnezone line (which aren't broken in the slightest and, if anything, help take down steel types which are more difficult to deal with) and...meltan. if in a future generation a new, broken pokemon gets the ability then that'd be time for discussion, but as of now even though it is a trapping ability...not all are made equal
 
Ok, I've seen this "for consistency's sake" argument a hundred times, and after getting my brain thoroughly melted in OU Chat I think I'm ready to address why I dislike it.

(I'm not a pro who's peaked the ladder or anything so take the following with a healthy dose of salt)

There seems to be this idea that banning Magnet Pull should happen in accordance with the bans of the other two trapping abilities, Shadow Tag and Arena Trap, simply to maintain a consistent track record of banning trapping abilities, as if the three abilities are on the same footing in terms of how wide their scope is, what playstyles they enable, how easy (or difficult) it is to counterplay them, etc etc. They simply are not. Let's go over them one by one.

1) Targets:
To start, Zone targets a relatively small pool of Pokemon, that being the OU-relevant Steels not named Aegislash. Meanwhile, Dugtrio and Gothitelle were trapping a much, much wider pool of mons, ranging from fast, frail offensive threats that couldn't take an Earthquake to a variety of slower bulky mons which aren't limited by their type. That alone puts STag and ATrap far ahead of MPull in how versatile and applicable they are on a game-to-game basis, which leads to why they were banned. Preying on 5-7 mons is different from preying on almost anything with a speed stat <120 and in range of EQ.

2) Counterplay:
What's that, you're a Pex at 70% and your opponent just Teleported into Duggy? Nice knowin' ya. In a similar vein, the faster offensive Pokemon getting trapped by Dug had very little in the way of preventing the trap, outside of awkward play and predicted pivoting. And the vast majority of them could not afford to drop their preferred item for Shed Shell; you weren't running Shed Shell Pult on your offensive mons, you were getting Sucker Punched as soon as your mon faces a Dug (I used Pult as an example of a target without remembering Ghosts' immunity to trapping, it's late and I'm tired sorry). I haven't seen much of Gothitelle in action myself but looking at previous gens it's a similar scenario; if you lacked a pivoting move or a move that seriously damages it you were getting trapped. Meanwhile, looking at OU's Steels, they aren't exactly helpless in the face of Magnezone. Looking at individual matchups,

Corviknight: U-turns in most situations, can afford to run Shed Shell as its item with not much opportunity cost, and recently has been running faster spreads to surprise Zone. Still a hard matchup but Zone's existence isn't an immediate 5-6 for the Corv user.

Skarmory: Also affords Shed Shell, Zone doesn't come in directly for fear of Body Press, and it has a much easier time running a fast variant with 176 Spe EVs thanks to its already superb physical bulk. Again, rough but not an immediate 5-6.

Heatran: Outspeeds the majority of ID Zone sets with minimal investment, easy Earth Power. Specs Zone is trickier but it needs to be Timid to outspeed 120 Spe Tran, which greatly reduces its power output.

Melmetal: Starting to shift back to EQ lately to combat the rise in Chople Zone meant to handle Superpower variants. You'd have to run something like Chople + Magnet Rise, an extremely rare combination, to get full insurance against every possible Melm set.

Ferrothorn: Harder since it's one of ID Zone's easier targets, but it's still possible to pull some tricks with it. Shed Shell has been seen on it, and it can run its own ID Press to win the 1v1.

Bisharp: No Zone besides 252+ Timid is used to trap Bish, and even then it's 50/50's. Slower Zones don't take a +2 Knock.

In a nutshell, ATrap/STag targets huge portions of the meta which find themselves helpless and can't ever afford to run Shed Shell, while MPull targets a smaller pool of mons that have their own ways of ensuring that they aren't dead meat in Zone's presence and can afford to use Shed Shell without incurring heavy opportunity cost. The distinction between Magnezone's strength as a trapper versus the other two should be clearing up.

3) Playstyles enabled:
Zone is primarily used to enable Offense by eliminating Steel-type checks to your wallbreakers. Which is cool and all, but it ain't a guaranteed victory. Opposing Offense can still retain an edge over you simply by maintaining good positioning and playing well, while opposing balance/stall can prepare via Shed Shell / Techs and still retain most of their matchups. However, ATrap and STag were infamously used to support both Offense and Stall, and there it becomes much harder. If your answers to Stall were Pokemon vulnerable to being trapped by Dug/Goth (which, given how vast those mons' target pool is, they probably were), what were you going to do after the trap inevitably happens? Magnezone isn't nearly as broad in its application on playstyles (Zone Stall, anyone?) and its traps don't define the tempo of a match from preview to gg.

4) A note about consistency vs individuality:
Going back to the first sentence, it doesn't make sense to me that people want MPull gone solely because that's "consistent" with other trap bans. It isn't. Magnet Pull hasn't had such a warping effect on everything in the meta that it warrants a ban, its abuser isn't as versatile or lethal on a game-to-game basis as the others, and banning Magnet Pull because it looks similar to other trapping abilities when it's wildly different in practice makes no sense. What makes sense is banning individual pokemon based on their unique combinations of ability, strengths and applications that make them unsuitable for a meta, and that's what Smogon's been consistently doing for years. It would actually be inconsistent if Magnet Pull was banned out of the blue when it clearly doesn't reach the threshold of meta-warping that's been established and demonstrated by Arena Trap and Magnet Pull. What matters are the effects of the trapper itself within the context of the meta, not a perceived consistency in the removal of trapping abilities as a whole.

And before anyone approaches with the "Well, if individuality matters so much, then ban the LC Trappers!" argument... People were peaking the ladder with TRAPINCH on their teams. The pre-evos may lack raw BST but they possess more or less the same toolkits that make their fully-evolved forms broken, and they can make very good use of them.

Anyway that was a huge, unprompted 3 am essay and my fingertips hurt, y'all have a great day/evening and please change the subject soon.
 
Last edited:
the consistency arguement is a silly one. using kings rock as an example, cloyster was a geniunely problematic pokemon that forced a ridiculous amount of coinflips, and had a large presence in the tier (it was on track to become ou before kr was banned). Items like bright powder and quick claw have not been as problematic and strats with them have almost never evolved from a pure gimmick that in unworthy of geniune tournament use, and the only reason i say almost is because glowbro is barely viable. if they ever were to become problems, they could simply be looked at by the community and suspected.
 
Ok, I've seen this "for consistency's sake" argument a hundred times, and after getting my brain thoroughly melted in OU Chat I think I'm ready to address why I dislike it.

(I'm not a pro who's peaked the ladder or anything so take the following with a healthy dose of salt)

There seems to be this idea that banning Magnet Pull should happen in accordance with the bans of the other two trapping abilities, Shadow Tag and Arena Trap, simply to maintain a consistent track record of banning trapping abilities, as if the three abilities are on the same footing in terms of how wide their scope is, what playstyles they enable, how easy (or difficult) it is to counterplay them, etc etc. They simply are not. Let's go over them one by one.

1) Targets:
To start, Zone targets a relatively small pool of Pokemon, that being the OU-relevant Steels not named Aegislash. Meanwhile, Dugtrio and Gothitelle were trapping a much, much wider pool of mons, ranging from fast, frail offensive threats that couldn't take an Earthquake to a variety of slower bulky mons which aren't limited by their type. That alone puts STag and ATrap far ahead of MPull in how versatile and applicable they are on a game-to-game basis, which leads to why they were banned. Preying on 5-7 mons is different from preying on almost anything with a speed stat <120 and in range of EQ.

2) Counterplay:
What's that, you're a Pex at 70% and your opponent just Teleported into Duggy? Nice knowin' ya. In a similar vein, the faster offensive Pokemon getting trapped by Dug had very little in the way of preventing the trap, outside of awkward play and predicted pivoting. And the vast majority of them could not afford to drop their preferred item for Shed Shell; you weren't running Shed Shell Pult on your offensive mons, you were getting Sucker Punched as soon as your mon faces a Dug (I used Pult as an example of a target without remembering Ghosts' immunity to trapping, it's late and I'm tired sorry). I haven't seen much of Gothitelle in action myself but looking at previous gens it's a similar scenario; if you lacked a pivoting move or a move that seriously damages it you were getting trapped. Meanwhile, looking at OU's Steels, they aren't exactly helpless in the face of Magnezone. Looking at individual matchups,

Corviknight: U-turns in most situations, can afford to run Shed Shell as its item with not much opportunity cost, and recently has been running faster spreads to surprise Zone. Still a hard matchup but Zone's existence isn't an immediate 5-6 for the Corv user.

Skarmory: Also affords Shed Shell, Zone doesn't come in directly for fear of Body Press, and it has a much easier time running a fast variant with 176 Spe EVs thanks to its already superb physical bulk. Again, rough but not an immediate 5-6.

Heatran: Outspeeds the majority of ID Zone sets with minimal investment, easy Earth Power. Specs Zone is trickier but it needs to be Timid to outspeed 120 Spe Tran, which greatly reduces its power output.

Melmetal: Starting to shift back to EQ lately to combat the rise in Chople Zone meant to handle Superpower variants. You'd have to run something like Chople + Magnet Rise, an extremely rare combination, to get full insurance against every possible Melm set.

Ferrothorn: Harder since it's one of ID Zone's easier targets, but it's still possible to pull some tricks with it. Shed Shell has been seen on it, and it can run its own ID Press to win the 1v1.

Bisharp: No Zone besides 252+ Timid is used to trap Bish, and even then it's 50/50's. Slower Zones don't take a +2 Knock.

In a nutshell, ATrap/STag targets huge portions of the meta which find themselves helpless and can't ever afford to run Shed Shell, while MPull targets a smaller pool of mons that have their own ways of ensuring that they aren't dead meat in Zone's presence and can afford to use Shed Shell without incurring heavy opportunity cost. The distinction between Magnezone's strength as a trapper versus the other two should be clearing up.

3) Playstyles enabled:
Zone is primarily used to enable Offense by eliminating Steel-type checks to your wallbreakers. Which is cool and all, but it ain't a guaranteed victory. Opposing Offense can still retain an edge over you simply by maintaining good positioning and playing well, while opposing balance/stall can prepare via Shed Shell / Techs and still retain most of their matchups. However, ATrap and STag were infamously used to support both Offense and Stall, and there it becomes much harder. If your answers to Stall were Pokemon vulnerable to being trapped by Dug/Goth (which, given how vast those mons' target pool is, they probably were), what were you going to do after the trap inevitably happens? Magnezone isn't nearly as broad in its application on playstyles (Zone Stall, anyone?) and its traps don't define the tempo of a match from preview to gg.

4) A note about consistency vs individuality:
Going back to the first sentence, it doesn't make sense to me that people want MPull gone solely because that's "consistent" with other trap bans. It isn't. Magnet Pull hasn't had such a warping effect on everything in the meta that it warrants a ban, its abuser isn't as versatile or lethal on a game-to-game basis as the others, and banning Magnet Pull because it looks similar to other trapping abilities when it's wildly different in practice makes no sense. What makes sense is banning individual pokemon based on their unique combinations of ability, strengths and applications that make them unsuitable for a meta, and that's what Smogon's been consistently doing for years. It would actually be inconsistent if Magnet Pull was banned out of the blue when it clearly doesn't reach the threshold of meta-warping that's been established and demonstrated by Arena Trap and Magnet Pull. What matters are the effects of the trapper itself within the context of the meta, not a perceived consistency in the removal of trapping abilities as a whole.

And before anyone approaches with the "Well, if individuality matters so much, then ban the LC Trappers!" argument... People were peaking the ladder with TRAPINCH on their teams. The pre-evos may lack raw BST but they possess more or less the same toolkits that make their fully-evolved forms broken, and they can make very good use of them.

Anyway that was a huge, unprompted 3 am essay and my fingertips hurt, y'all have a great day/evening and please change the subject soon.
Just a note, I used Dragapult as an example of a Sucker Punch-vulnerable target while accidentally forgetting its immunity to trapping, I guess that's what midnight essays do to you. The other points still stand though.
 

pulsar512b

ss ou fangirl
is a Pre-Contributor
But what's the difference with Arena Trap and Shadow Tag? As it has already been established, MP only traps a small portion of the metagame, while AT traps anything that isn't a Flying-type, has levitate or it's a ghost, STag literally traps all but Ghosts. So even if the users of those abilities are used for trapping, they trap a way bigger portion of the meta compared to what MPull does.
And the users also better abuse the targets they trap.
I would argue that while AT and STag theoretically trap more, they have a similarly limited pool of viable targets (in the current metagame, i would say that arena trap can only viably target ground-weak mons (and perhaps the odd mon that loses for weird reasons, and stag passive mons)
 

Aberforth

is a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
Ubers Leader
In spite of what people talk about with regards to uncompetitiveness, I believe that the trapping abilities aren't banned because of uncompetitiveness or whatever. They're banned because they're broken. They simply provide too much team support to too many pokemon with too few viable answers.

Maybe I'm wrong, it's been many years since I paid genuine attention to the OU tier at large, but Gothitelle/Dugtrio simply enabled far far far too many offensive threats by being the best possible support, and when the STAG/Arena Trap things were originally being discussed, people did try Gothorita/Diglett and used them to consistently do the exact same thing from a support perspective. The abilities were then determined to be the problem on everything (look at Digletts stats and movepool), as they were simply too powerful, and you could customise their users to beat exactly what you needed them to, and the viable counterplay to trappers were either a) being omniscient regarding your opponent or b) using Shed Shell.

The whole, switching is a fundamental mechanic of pokemon, its uncompetitive, is an argument I really dont think applies to Trapping. Uncompetitive elements, to my personal definition, are ones that drastically alter the gamestate such that neither player is in control of the outcome on a consistent basis. This fits the 40% flinch that Kings Rock enabled, but not the 10% evasion Brightpowder enables. Shadow Tag and Arena Trap didnt do that, they were broken. The question shouldnt be 'is trapping inherently uncompetitive' it should be 'is Magnet Pull broken as a Supporting ability'.

People saying ban Magnezone or unban Zen Mode Darmanitan-G are in my opinion being obtuse, they know perfectly well that Magneton could trap Skarm/Corvi exactly as well as Magnezone, and there are probably ways to customise Magneton to trap the other Steels Magnezone can even without Body Press. It isnt the same thing and you're wasting everyone's time.
 

Clone

Free Gliscor
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Thanks Finch for opening the floodgates!

I'm gonna be brutally honest here. I'm seeing bad take after bad take in this thread. It gets old and this discussion has been mostly painful to read.

Magnet pull, and trapping in general, are not uncompetitive. Trapping is a valid strategy and often the cornerstone of team strategies. It's the reason why Whirpool fini is so strong. It's also why you'll see niche stuff like Whirlpool galarian slowking pop up from time to time. Its pretty conceited to say you're entitled to switch whenever you want because you don't like being trapped, or that trapping as a whole should be banned. That being said, it has the potential to be OP just like anything else. It's why shit like shadow tag and arena trap got banned the last few gens. Hell, heatran is more oppressive than magnezone and I'd rather see that get looked at first. Magnet Pull on its own isn't OP, so let's look at its abusers and see what their impact is on the metagame

It's abusers are the following:

Magnezone
Magneton
Magnemite
Nosepass
Probopass
Alolan Geodude
Alolan Graveler
Alolan Golem
Meltan

Lets Go through each mon and see how they affect the metagame.

Nosepass: literally irrelevant
Probopass: literally irrelevant
Alolan Geodude: literally irrelevant
Alolan Graveler: literally irrelevant
Alolan Golem: literally irrelevant
Meltan: literally irrelevant
Magnemite: literally irrelevant
Magneton: was used a bit in previous gens as a scarfer that was faster than base 115s since magnezone was slower, and was part of ADV strategies. This gen its literally irrelevant.

Magnezone: here we are, the only Magnet Pull user that it worth using. The meat and potatoes of this whole debacle. Magnezone has been part of OU since DPP. I can't speak for BW or SM since I didn't really play that much of either, but every other generation is been completely manageable in the metagame. SS is no different.

In fact, magnezone is the weakest It's ever been thanks to hidden power being nuked. If it wants to trap ferrothorn effectively, it can no longer simply just run choice specs. It has to cut its damage output significantly and run Iron Defense Body Press, which are decent moves, but not what a special attacking Steel/Electric type with a 130 base special attack is looking to use. So let's break down the steel types in OU and see how they are affected by magnezone. Spoiler: most don't fear it very much

Heatran: wins the 1v1. Only has to worry about Volt Switch chip from specs. Can't switch in unless it's on rocks or taunt/toxic Can be trapped by ID BP if weakened and not running speed/flame body. AV mirror coat heat kills it, but that set is super uncommon

Corviknight: has U Turn. Only OHKOed by specs. Matchup isn't good, but it has outs

Skarmory: dies unless it's speedy and IDs or BPs 2x

Melmetal: only fears Volt Switch chip as it eats any of Mags attacks and strikes back with Superpower or Earthquake. Mag has to be careful of switching in directly

Ferrothorn: only fears ID BP set, and can still set up at least 2 layers of Spikes before being KOed. Is even capable of winning the 1v1 if it leeches on the switch in and is physically defensive with Body Press against non chople variants

Scizor: can U-Turn out. Specs is scary, but ID BP sets aren't very threatening to it.

Excadrill: lol

Bisharp: ID BP can trap, and Timid specs can OHKO it if chipped. Mag can't switch in very well

Kartana: mag ain't switching in unless it's scarfed or maybe a banded leaf blade if it's ID BP

Magnezone: lol

The metal birds have a terrible matchup against mag, but every other steel type (except maybe ferrothorn depending on the sets) in the tier has at least some counterplay to mag. This is my problem with the pro ban side. Mag is an enabler, yes, but it's not even consistent at its job. On top of this, outside of its trapping abilities magnezone isn't particularly impressive. It doesn't have the typical defensive utility of a more traditional steel type, as it doesn't check traditional steel targets particularly well. It can situationally check things like weavile and lele, but it's not consistent at this and it's switchins are limited. Specs is a decent breaker, and if paired with koko, rising voltage hits like a nuke, but it still has a very poor speed tier and isn't particularly outstanding in its role

Magnezone is a good mon. It's an A Tier mon for sure, but it's not the broken uncounterable God some people in this thread are trying to say. It hasn't been on my radar for a suspect test, and unless something changes I doubt it will be. If you keep losing to kartana because your corviknight gets trapped by magnezone, it might be time to look at your team building and try some new things out.

I'm not very interested in a magnet pull suspect and I'd rather see other mons looked at. Arctozolt, weavile, heatran, urshifu, and dragapult are all mons I'm more interested in exploring*** before I'd consider a magnet pull suspect or vote ban


***I'm not saying they should be banned, are OP/oppressive, or need to be suspected right away
 

pulsar512b

ss ou fangirl
is a Pre-Contributor
Thanks Finch for opening the floodgates!

I'm gonna be brutally honest here. I'm seeing bad take after bad take in this thread. It gets old and this discussion has been mostly painful to read.

Magnet pull, and trapping in general, are not uncompetitive. Trapping is a valid strategy and often the cornerstone of team strategies. It's the reason why Whirpool fini is so strong. It's also why you'll see niche stuff like Whirlpool galarian slowking pop up from time to time. Its pretty conceited to say you're entitled to switch whenever you want because you don't like being trapped, or that trapping as a whole should be banned. That being said, it has the potential to be OP just like anything else. It's why shit like shadow tag and arena trap got banned the last few gens. Hell, heatran is more oppressive than magnezone and I'd rather see that get looked at first. Magnet Pull on its own isn't OP, so let's look at its abusers and see what their impact is on the metagame

It's abusers are the following:

Magnezone
Magneton
Magnemite
Nosepass
Probopass
Alolan Geodude
Alolan Graveler
Alolan Golem
Meltan

Lets Go through each mon and see how they affect the metagame.

Nosepass: literally irrelevant
Probopass: literally irrelevant
Alolan Geodude: literally irrelevant
Alolan Graveler: literally irrelevant
Alolan Golem: literally irrelevant
Meltan: literally irrelevant
Magnemite: literally irrelevant
Magneton: was used a bit in previous gens as a scarfer that was faster than base 115s since magnezone was slower, and was part of ADV strategies. This gen its literally irrelevant.

Magnezone: here we are, the only Magnet Pull user that it worth using. The meat and potatoes of this whole debacle. Magnezone has been part of OU since DPP. I can't speak for BW or SM since I didn't really play that much of either, but every other generation is been completely manageable in the metagame. SS is no different.

In fact, magnezone is the weakest It's ever been thanks to hidden power being nuked. If it wants to trap ferrothorn effectively, it can no longer simply just run choice specs. It has to cut its damage output significantly and run Iron Defense Body Press, which are decent moves, but not what a special attacking Steel/Electric type with a 130 base special attack is looking to use. So let's break down the steel types in OU and see how they are affected by magnezone. Spoiler: most don't fear it very much

Heatran: wins the 1v1. Only has to worry about Volt Switch chip from specs. Can't switch in unless it's on rocks or taunt/toxic Can be trapped by ID BP if weakened and not running speed/flame body. AV mirror coat heat kills it, but that set is super uncommon

Corviknight: has U Turn. Only OHKOed by specs. Matchup isn't good, but it has outs

Skarmory: dies unless it's speedy and IDs or BPs 2x

Melmetal: only fears Volt Switch chip as it eats any of Mags attacks and strikes back with Superpower or Earthquake. Mag has to be careful of switching in directly

Ferrothorn: only fears ID BP set, and can still set up at least 2 layers of Spikes before being KOed. Is even capable of winning the 1v1 if it leeches on the switch in and is physically defensive with Body Press against non chople variants

Scizor: can U-Turn out. Specs is scary, but ID BP sets aren't very threatening to it.

Excadrill: lol

Bisharp: ID BP can trap, and Timid specs can OHKO it if chipped. Mag can't switch in very well

Kartana: mag ain't switching in unless it's scarfed or maybe a banded leaf blade if it's ID BP

Magnezone: lol

The metal birds have a terrible matchup against mag, but every other steel type (except maybe ferrothorn depending on the sets) in the tier has at least some counterplay to mag. This is my problem with the pro ban side. Mag is an enabler, yes, but it's not even consistent at its job. On top of this, outside of its trapping abilities magnezone isn't particularly impressive. It doesn't have the typical defensive utility of a more traditional steel type, as it doesn't check traditional steel targets particularly well. It can situationally check things like weavile and lele, but it's not consistent at this and it's switchins are limited. Specs is a decent breaker, and if paired with koko, rising voltage hits like a nuke, but it still has a very poor speed tier and isn't particularly outstanding in its role

Magnezone is a good mon. It's an A Tier mon for sure, but it's not the broken uncounterable God some people in this thread are trying to say. It hasn't been on my radar for a suspect test, and unless something changes I doubt it will be. If you keep losing to kartana because your corviknight gets trapped by magnezone, it might be time to look at your team building and try some new things out.

I'm not very interested in a magnet pull suspect and I'd rather see other mons looked at. Arctozolt, weavile, heatran, urshifu, and dragapult are all mons I'm more interested in exploring*** before I'd consider a magnet pull suspect or vote ban


***I'm not saying they should be banned, are OP/oppressive, or need to be suspected right away
I would disagree with many of your assessments of mus vs magnezone- while I agree with Bisharp, Kartana, Skarmory Heatran and Scizor entirely, Corviknight, and Melmetal are ehhhh, and and I'd add minor notes to ferrothorn and give more details on the mirror mu.

Magnezone v Magnezone
basically, one dies, one doesnt die but takes a lot of chip
Corvi
you tbolt it w/o specs and it's at 20% as it uturns out. what the fuck is a 20% corv doin
plus you trap it again later after it roosts and kills it
Melmetal
iron defense body press (with balloon optional) can beat down some melmetal sets pretty well. It's not great, and it can't swap in consistently, but it exists. it's not a good matchup.. honestly for either side, but it's certainlly possible for zone to beat it down.
Ferrothorn
id body press exists sorta idk how many ppl are running that tho and beats it, otherwise yeah
 
Hi, just wanted to add some things that I haven't seen raised yet that could be useful for the discussion.

I think the key thing to note this generation is the prevalence of physically offensive grass pokemon, as well as how common the move 'knock off' has become. It is very easy to knock shed-shell(s) off of Corviknight, Skarmory & Ferrothorn, and is often done by pokemon that these steels like to check, such as Rillaboom, Kartana, Weavile ect.

Another thing that I have not seen raised is the fact that the Steel typing is the best defensively, and is thus often used as a (the?) defensive touchstone on teams; Magnezone can bypass team structures that rely on common steel types to enable these threats.

Also, just referencing a couple of other posts / articles to throw it into the mix:
- Switching is viewed as a fundamental part of how we play competitive Pokemon. (Finchinator)
- Even Chansey began sometimes running Skill Swap to escape Dugtrio, which meant it lost out on running an otherwise more useful support move such as Heal Bell. (DeathByWobbaffett)

There definitely seems to be some past material that seems relevant to the discussion here. Should Corviknight really have to run 241Spe to escape Magnezone, or is this considered sub-optimal, as it drops so much bulk when its express purpose is to act as a bulky defensive steel type? While you could argue that Corviknight does not have to strictly fulfill the roll of a defensive steel type, an argument that I agree with in part as we have seen fringe power trip sets; to my knowledge, Corviknight is only running 241Spe because of Magnezone to escape magnet pull.
This seems awfully similar to the reasoning outlined above, about Chansey running skill swap to escape arena trap. Indeed many seemed to agree, at least in-part, with this reasoning (among others, of course) as arena trap was ultimately banned.

I will leave this post at that, as I am sure others will be able to extrapolate further, and I'm not really weighing in on whether magnet pull is ultimately unhealthy, but in short:
- Offensive grass types and the move knock off are very common
- Steel typing is the best defensively and so will find its way on to many teams, usually in the form of a few common pokemon
- These common pokemon are pressured by Magnezone using magnet pull.
 

pulsar512b

ss ou fangirl
is a Pre-Contributor
There definitely seems to be some past material that seems relevant to the discussion here. Should Corviknight really have to run 241Spe to escape Magnezone, or is this considered sub-optimal, as it drops so much bulk when its express purpose is to act as a bulky defensive steel type? While you could argue that Corviknight does not have to strictly fulfill the roll of a defensive steel type, an argument that I agree with in part as we have seen fringe power trip sets; to my knowledge, Corviknight is only running 241Spe because of Magnezone to escape magnet pull.
This seems awfully similar to the reasoning outlined above, about Chansey running skill swap to escape arena trap. Indeed many seemed to agree, at least in-part, with this reasoning (among others, of course) as arena trap was ultimately banned.
worth noting w the 241 speed thing- in particular, corv would probably prefer 0 speed 0 ivs, to outslow other corvs for slower uturns, so it's a very clear example of losing effectiveness due to magnezone
 
I think that Magnet Pull is neither broken nor uncompetitive.It provides a way of dealing with one of the BEST types in the game while having counterplay at the same time without slapping Shed Shell on all of your Steel types unnaturally.Corv and Skarm can both U-Turn out or run Shed Shell rather easily and Melm and Tran can both beat it in the 1v1.The Steel that's on the shakiest ground is Ferro,however it can run ID Press of its own to beat Zone.The fact that Zone has trouble successfully trapping and eliminating the Steels of the tier means that the user of Zone must play carefully and skillfully to avoid it turning into a 5v6 in the opponent's favor.Therefore,I think that Magnet Pull is completely fine in OU.
 
I think it's worth noting that Magnezone hasn't prevented the Pokemon it can theoretically trap from being among the best in the meta. Pretty much all of them have tools to give themselves at least a fighting chance against Zone, meaning the Zone user may have to try for a risky double switch to get meaningful use out of Magnezone. Ferrothorn also effortlessly litters the field with Spikes while Zone sets up. I think running suboptimal EV spreads to deal with Zone is a huge difference from what we saw with Dugtrio, which simply invalidated quite a few mons from being viable at all in the tier. Zone doesn't have the speed, movepool or ability necessary to come in and collect one free kill after another. I think the preparation required in team builder for it is reasonable.
 
I don't Understand why we are suddenly talking about Magnet pull when stuff Like Sand veil still exists, Volcarona massivly pressure's team-building or Ghost Spam and Arcozolt have a field day on the Ladder (I dont think either of these are broken just stating they've been complained about more). Did I miss something? Seriously, what has suddenly changed in the Meta to bring this up now right as the game is stabilizing?

Magnet Pull is in no-way Comparable to Arena Trap or Shadow tag whom have proven far to generic and tailorable to the teams needs and no matter which pokemon there on (See Diglett and Gothita) They've proven Consistent and broken. Of all the pokemon that get magnet pull only 1 maybe 2 have seen any real play accross 4 Generations of pokemon and Even then stuff they trap can potentially perform there tasks and only now are we talking about it?. I just don't see how its broken and Honestly this debate should be put aside along with any notion that trapping itself is broken. If someone whats to dedicate a moveslot (which is a gamble and comes at the expense of coverage/Utility) or teamslot which is visible at preview and also gamble since mag only traps 1 type let them I say.

If we're gonna insist on talking about this then I'll only support a test of Magnezone not Magnet pull and Even then I'd vote No ban
 
I don't Understand why we are suddenly talking about Magnet pull when stuff Like Sand veil still exists, Volcarona massivly pressure's team-building or Ghost Spam and Arcozolt have a field day on the Ladder (I dont think either of these are broken just stating they've been complained about more). Did I miss something? Seriously, what has suddenly changed in the Meta to bring this up now right as the game is stabilizing?

Magnet Pull is in no-way Comparable to Arena Trap or Shadow tag whom have proven far to generic and tailorable to the teams needs and no matter which pokemon there on (See Diglett and Gothita) They've proven Consistent and broken. Of all the pokemon that get magnet pull only 1 maybe 2 have seen any real play accross 4 Generations of pokemon and Even then stuff they trap can potentially perform there tasks and only now are we talking about it?. I just don't see how its broken and Honestly this debate should be put aside along with any notion that trapping itself is broken. If someone whats to dedicate a moveslot (which is a gamble and comes at the expense of coverage/Utility) or teamslot which is visible at preview and also gamble since mag only traps 1 type let them I say.

If we're gonna insist on talking about this then I'll only support a test of Magnezone not Magnet pull and Even then I'd vote No ban
I mean Magnezone only really reliably traps a few mons and as far as the stuff it typically clears the way for, there's definitely still ways to effectively check stuff like Rillaboom and Kartana. Tapu Lele is probably the biggest culprit as far as creating issues when it comes to Magnet Pull teams. I'm not saying Lele is necessarily the highest priority right now, but if there's anything commonly run with Magnet Pull that I'd look at, I'd start there, definitely moreso than Magnet Pull or Magnezone itself.
 
Manectric
"Wahahaha! The secret to good health is being willing to laugh!" - Gym Leader Wattson


BASE STATSMAX STAT TOTAL
HP:
70
250 - 344
Attack:
75
139 - 273
Defense:
60
112 - 240
Sp. Atk:
105
193 - 339
Sp. Def:
60
112 - 240
Speed:
105
193 - 339

(I'm sorry this post took longer than I promised you all; I was tinkering with EVs and moveset options and had to do a LOT of testing. I'd also like to thank BoomFantastic for all his team-building help. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to finalize the wonderful core team combinations that I'll talk about later in the post, nor would I have discovered some of the synergies Manectric had with specific Pokemon in OU).

DISCLAIMER: MANECTRIC REQUIRES CAREFUL PREDICTION PLAY FOR BOTH ITSELF AND ITS PARTNERS AND A BROAD INNATE UNDERSTANDING OF MAINTAINING MOMENTUM AND READING YOUR OPPONENT'S POTENTIAL SWITCHES. DO NOT JUST SLAP IT ONTO A TEAM WITHOUT THINKING. IT'S A GREAT POKEMON, BUT IT REQUIRES THINKING AND A RELATIVELY BROAD GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF COMMON OR CURRENTLY TRENDING OU SETS THANKS TO MANECTRIC'S LOWER DEFENSIVE PROFILE.

Cue the shocked gasps by absolutely no one if you have seen most or really any of my large essay sized OU posts; you all know my style as a competitive player is to bring the forgotten and cool Pokemon to light with usable niches in what is (in my opinion) one of the most fun OU metagames I've ever been a part of. Moving onto Manectric, though, oh goodness, what can I say about this spiky electric wolfdoggo currently residing in the dark depths of ZU (or untiered for those who don't consider that tier official yet)? Manectric was the absolute crux of my main laddering team for the last few weeks and has been crucial in enabling powerful monsters like Specs Kyurem to swoop in and have a much easier time firing off damage along with crippling and taking out key threats. But you're probably asking yourself, "what makes Manectric work in OU like you're describing?" Let's dig into Manectric's advantages, its sets, and why it works in OU. In addition to this, I'll be sharing some FAQs I got from people on Showdown when testing and laddering with the set; along with this, we'll be talking about what playstyles suit Manectric the best, what team partners Manectric's talents enable the best, as well as what partners Manectric has a better chance of succeeding in OU with.

Manectric's Advantages and Functions:

- Manectric's ability Lightningrod combined with access to powerful moves in Switcheroo, Volt Switch, and Overheat give Manectric a very usable and dangerous niche as a Pokemon with the ability to cripple or destroy certain powerful threats such as Ferrothorn, Toxapex, stat boost, or hazard setup sets (such as Dragon Dance Multiscale Dragonite or Leftovers Defensive Landorus-T), and a wide variety of others. In addition to being an incredible momentum-based Pokemon with fantastic combined role compression.
  • Lightningrod gives Manectric many possible opportunities to entirely ignore its lackluster (but in some cases underrated [which I'll get to later]) defensive profile and gain a free Special Attack boost thanks to its immunity to Electric-type attacks. This is absolutely crucial as it means Pokemon like Defensive Zapdos cannot touch Manectric and are cleanly 2HKO'd in return. Along with this, Manectric also outspeeds all variants of Zapdos (bar the extremely uncommon Scarf Zapdos), which means either the opponent is going to make the smart play and switch into something else (which you can then predict and use Switcheroo or Overheat to cripple or maim the switch-in) or stay in thinking it can tank, in which you still cripple it with Switcheroo and then you've taken out one of your opponent's keystone defensive profiles.
- Speaking of the above Switcheroo, Scarf Manectric is outspeeding most other Scarfers and boosted sweepers. Timid nature with base 105 speed means that Manectric will have a whopping 508 speed, which means that unless the opponent is running something like Scarf Dragapult, you've got the advantage. Crippling defensive profiles is absolutely key and prevents so many Pokemon from properly functioning; want to prevent Futureport Teleport Spam? Trick a Scarf, want to prevent Pokemon from utilizing Swords Dance boosts? Trick a Scarf. Want to prevent multi-hazard setters and bulky slow-mons from being able to deal with your whole team? Trick a Scarf. Ferrothorn, Toxapex, Blissey, Corviknight, some Clefable variants, Hawlucha, Defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, Mandibuzz, Substitute Arctozolt, Icy Rock Alolan Ninetales, Melmetal, Mew, Skarmory, the Slowtwins, Slowking-G, and Bulky / Quiver Dance Volcarona variants do not appreciate being crippled like this, as it gives you either great momentum opportunity, or entirely removes a Pokemon's purpose in the game. In addition to this, Manectric can then adapt to your team's specific needs depending on the item it steals from an opposing Pokemon. It's both a useful tool for scouting while maintaining momentum. In addition to this, you could forgo Switcherooing Scarf entirely to utilize Manectric's insane speed Scarfed to hit some impressive speed feats, which can work wonders in tandem with a predicted incoming Electric-type attack boosting Manectric's Special Attack up to surprisingly notable levels.

- The previously mentioned Overheat is an absolutely fantastic coverage tool, allowing even unboosted Manectric to get some impressive feats, while +1 Lightningrod boosted variants can hit some impressive damage benchmarks. This also means that the average 1500+ ELO opponent won't want to switch in certain Ground-types like Excadrill willy nilly; it puts pressure on the opponent, allowing you to score a unique opportunity to gain momentum or regain lost momentum. (I won't be putting Pokemon weak to both Thunderbolt and Overheat in these calculations, we'll get to that).


Overheat Damage Calculations:

252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Arctozolt: 328-386 (102.1 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (also can switch into Bolt Beak without worry and gain a free Special Attack boost, pretty nifty, right?)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Scizor: 408-480 (118.9 - 139.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rillaboom: 328-386 (96.1 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) --
guaranteed 2HKO (If you chose to hit Melmetal on the switch-in)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (If you don't have a Lightningrod boost and chose to Switcheroo on switch-in)
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 504-596 (143.1 - 169.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 340-400 (96.5 - 113.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 252-298 (69.8 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 376-444 (104.1 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 268-316 (95.3 - 112.4%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
-2 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 580-684 (223.9 - 264%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Lmao)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 1160-1368 (447.8 - 528.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

- Before we go further, I'd like to run two scenarios by you all, specifically revolving around Manectric's Defensive profile. Manectric's 70 / 60 / 60 may seem unusable, but it's JUST enough to survive crucial hits in absolutely critical scenarios; it also has an advantageous resistance to Flying-type moves, meaning that it can take certain attacks in a pinch, an incredible Electric immunity thanks to Lightningrod, and a more niche resistance to Steel-type moves. Let's take the following scenario as an example (something that has happened to me quite a few times in my testing); let's say your opponent uses Zeraora as a fast, physical pivot, and you've already tricked your Scarf onto another Pokemon. You predict a Plasma Fists, then switch in Manectric to get the Special Attack boost. You're then thinking, well, now Zeraora is gonna decimate me because Manectric is so weak, and Zeraora is faster right? This is actually not what will happen. More often than not, by this point in the match, players will want to keep their Zeraora in to hit Close Combat as you will have likely (if you played right) taken care of the Ground-type switch-ins. So Zeraora will most of the time click Close Combat. Manectric (even with chip) survives Close Combat, and then with +1 SpA and the -1 SpD drop from Close Combat, Manectric can OHKO in return.

252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 177-209 (62.9 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. -1 0 HP / 0 SpD Zeraora: 331-390 (104.4 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Well, now you're wondering, "well, there's the other common Zeraora option, Knock Off! Why not use that?" Well, you can, but the damage output does not reach the same level, and if Manectric has Switcheroo'd a Rocky Helmet onto itself (probably the most common item I've stolen in higher-level play), it puts Zeraora into critical damage ranges. In addition to this, unless your opponent calls a double bluff and uses Knock Off a second time (which rarely happens as Manectric has a chance to survive two Knock-Offs from full health), you can then switch to a Pokemon that either resists Close Combat (which will commonly be used) or is completely immune to it (such as Dragapult who is immune to Close Combat) and then you once again have momentum.

252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 143-169 (50.8 - 60.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 96-114 (34.1 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

In addition to this, Manectric could have also been Switcheroo'd some other item. Life Orb, Choice Specs, Leftovers, the momentum is unpredictable, allowing Manectric to create these mind games. As for the second scenario, let's say you're up against Bisharp (which may seem dumb as Manectric does not like to switch into Bisharp, but this is specifically for double switching, which is key to maintaining momentum in some cases and has happened way more often than you think). Your opponent already knows that Manectric has access to Overheat (which, especially as you ladder higher up, is far more likely). Your opponent understands that they will not have the opportunity to set up a Swords Dance (if they do Swords Dance, it's curtains for Bisharp) and will likely click Sucker Punch hoping to get a smack on Manectric. But since Manectric is relatively easy to keep at full health (even more so with Wish or Grassy Terrain support), Bisharp cannot score an OHKO even with an Adamant nature, full 252 attack EV investment, and the power boost given to its STAB Priority by Blackglasses.

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 220-261 (78.2 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Even with Stealth Rock chip, the chance to OHKO Manectric is less than 50%

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 220-261 (78.2 - 92.8%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

These are just a few examples from dozens I could list; Manectric's defensive profile is very situational. Still, it scores critical moments that other Pokemon can't reach or don't want to risk reaching. It's also worth noting that Manectric defensively comfortably survives Choice Band Weavile's Ice Shard and can take a +2 Ice Shard from Swords Dance Weavile in a pinch, while Manectric almost always OHKOs in return with a non-boosted Overheat (we're talking about Shard here as Manectric generally wants to keep its Scarf when dealing with Weavile).

252 Atk Choice Band Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 139-165 (49.4 - 58.7%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 204-241 (72.5 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Weavile: 280-330 (99.6 - 117.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
- Manectric's impressive 508 speed with a Choice Scarf is notable, but just as notable is its speed without Choice Scarf. 339 Speed with a Timid nature means that Manectric will be faster than a wide margin of OU, including the pesky base 102 Speed Garchomp (which with a +1 Overheat has a chance to 3HKO offensive variants and 4HKOs tanky variants that have max HP investment, meaning you can Switcheroo cripple set-up sets or pick off weakened Garchomp switch-ins). This means the only Pokemon that outspeed Manectric in OU are Dragapult, Hawlucha (who doesn't like to switch into or stay in on Manectric anyways), Kartana (which is easily OHKO'd by Overheat so Scarf variants that outspeed cannot switch-in without fear of getting melted), Tapu Koko (who wouldn't want to switch-in anyways as a boosted +1 Overheat OHKOs with hazard damage), Tornadus-Therian (which cannot handle STAB Thunderbolt or Volt-Switch, and Assault Vest Variants are easily crippled by Switcheroo), Weavile (which is also melted by Overheat), and Zeraora (which does not appreciate taking a boosted Overheat or being locked into Scarf thanks to Switcheroo).

- Mono-Electric typing means that defensively, Manectric only has one weakness, Ground types. However, this weakness to Ground-type moves can easily be worked around, and in many cases, Manectric actually counts on this weakness for prediction plays. Offensively, STAB Thunderbolt is fantastic; 105 Special Attack is a solid stat, and especially with a Lightningrod boost, can 2HKO or OHKO some of the most threatening Pokemon in the OU Metagame.


Thunderbolt Damage Calculations (Neutral):

252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 368-434 (123.9 - 146.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 264-312 (66 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 204-242 (51 - 60.5%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (By this time you've most likely already Switcheroo'd Corviknight's Leftovers or Rocky Helmet, making it an assured 2HKO)
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 230-272 (54.3 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory: 338-398 (101.1 - 119.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 306-360 (77.6 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 170-204 (43.1 - 51.7%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 204-240 (59.3 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 278-330 (92.9 - 110.3%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 144-170 (47.3 - 55.9%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO (Even the rare fully Special Defense Calm or Careful Nature invested Toxapex has a high chance to be 2HKO'd by Thunderbolt, while every single other variants of Toxapex is cleanly 2HKO'd).
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 384-452 (112.6 - 132.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

So uninvested base 105 Special Attack Thunderbolt's chunk a lot of dangerous OU threats, or outright KO them, while 2HKOing a lot of neutrally hit Pokemon in OU as well (meaning there are way fewer safe-switch-ins than you think for Manectric. So now, let's take that oh-so-common Lightningrod boost and apply it here to some of the specific damage thresholds we talked about in the uninvested section.


Thunderbolt Damage Calculations (+1 Lightningrod):

+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 392-464 (98 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 306-360 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 342-404 (80.8 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 456-536 (115.7 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 258-306 (65.4 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 306-360 (88.9 - 104.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 282-332 (92.7 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO (for those Toxapex with higher Special Defense investment, Manectric still has a chance to OHKO all the way up to 252 HP / 123 SpD investment)
In addition, there are other aspects such as if Manectric Switcheroo'd itself a Life Orb (which is not as common but is still easy to attain if you predict Magic Guard Life Orb Clefable switch-ins), in which case, those chanced OHKOs become assured OHKOs, and some 2HKOs have a chance to OHKO or become OHKOs themselves.

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 398-468 (99.5 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 445-525 (105.2 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 335-398 (85 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Toxapex: 307-361 (100.9 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 281-330 (92.4 - 108.5%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

- STAB Volt Switch is absolutely crucial and a powerful part of Manectric's ability to maintain momentum. It deals a good amount of damage (not quite as much as Thunderbolt, but it will still be chunking things hard, especially at +1). Still, there's another critical advantage to Manectric's specific Volt Switches that other users don't have. First, we need to address SlowTurning or Slowporting. Many of the Pokemon who utilize SlowTurn strategies do not want to risk getting hit by Manectric at all, especially with the chip of hazards, so they're likely to switch out and allow you to Volt Switch on the Pokemon being brought in, giving you a free opportunity and regaining momentum. The only real slow-turning mon that Manectric doesn't like to deal with is Physical Pivot Flip Turn Swampert; on the flip side (hah), Swampert itself does not appreciate getting Switcheroo'd and losing its Leftovers or Rocky Helmet and getting locked into a move with Choice Scarf. We'll talk more about specific Volt-Switch situations and Pokemon v Pokemon Utility in the FAQ section.


Frequently Asked Questions:

Question 1: Why would I not use one of OU's other electric types, such as Tapu Koko, Zapdos, Zeraora, or Magnezone?

Answer: Great question. Let's tackle each of these individually, starting with Tapu Koko.

Tapu Koko has a higher speed and a great attack stat but actually lacks in two critical areas comparatively, in its Special Attack and in the specific utilization of its movepool (Manectric's base Special Attack is 105, base 10 higher than Tapu Koko's 95). Sure Electric Terrain makes Tapu Koko's Electric-type moves hit nicely. Still, that lack of power in its coverage moves and inability to hit Steel-types super effectively (or cripple them, as Tapu Koko does not get access to Switcheroo or Trick) is where Manectric shines over it, along with Manectric's useful immunity to Electric moves. In addition to this, Tapu Koko's Electric attacks actually are a perfect switch-in opportunity for Manectric, as it not only gets a +1 boost from Lightningrod absorbing Thunderbolt, Discharge, or Volt Switch, but it benefits heavily from the Electric Terrain. If Tapu Koko is chipped, it has a chance to be OHKO'd by Overheat and is comfortably 2HKO'd by Manectric's RESISTED Thunderbolt. At the same time, STAB Dazzling Gleam from Tapu Koko only 2HKOs even with chip damage on Manectric (which is even less relevant if you predict correctly). If Manectric still has its scarf, it also has the benefit of outspeeding Tapu Koko as well.

+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko: 231-272 (82.2 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko in Electric Terrain: 156-183 (55.5 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Manectric: 159-187 (56.5 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Second, let's talk about Zapdos. You're probably wondering, "well, Zapdos gets powerful Fire and STAB Flying coverage in Heat Wave and Hurricane respectively (along with Weather Ball in Sun, Hail, or Rain) along with having a much better Special Attack stat and a better defensive profile, why wouldn't I use Zapdos instead?" Great points; let's talk about Zapdos. Zapdos is often required to run Heavy-Duty Boots to avoid taking a quarter of its health in chip damage from Stealth Rock, meaning that it's a little easier to play around. Zapdos also falls into the crowded base 100 Speed tier, meaning that it cannot outspeed Pokemon such as Garchomp, Mew, Volcarona, opposing Zapdos, or the rarer Victini and Galarian-Zapdos. Zapdos's additional Flying-type gives it an incredible immunity to Earthquake but also means that Zapdos is absolutely clipped by Rock and Ice-type attacks while only having neutrality to Electric attacks compared to Manectric's immunity to them and its subsequent Lightningrod boost. Similar to Tapu Koko, Zapdos is an easy target for Manectric to switch in on if predicted correctly, as the Lightningrod boost is phenomenal and allows Manectric to 2HKO both Offensive and Defensive variants of Zapdos with +1 consistently and comfortably.

+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 208-246 (64.7 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 208-246 (54.3 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Zapdos also does not like potentially losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, Leftovers, or Rocky Helmet to Manectric and being limited by Scarf, as it then becomes prone to chip, hazard damage, and repeated attacks. However, Manectric does not have such worries, as it's meant to zip in and out as quickly as possible and does not take a quarter of its Stealth Rock damage specifically, which is more common than Spikes or Toxic Spikes.

Third, Zeraora. "Well, Zeraora is fast, powerful, can run mixed sets, is faster than Manectric, has that fire coverage, and has Volt Absorb; why not him?" Another great set of points. Zeraora seems to outclass Manectric at first glance. However, taking a deeper look at Zeraora, it has many of the same issues that Tapu Koko has, along with some additional issues that counterbalance Koko's issues that Zeraora does not have. For example, Zeraora's Special Attack is still slightly lower than Manectric's (Zeraora's base 102 compared to Manectric's base 105), and Volt Absorb does not boost Zeraora's Special Attack, only restores HP. This means that Zeraora is most likely (bar some fringe sets) going to be losing out on comparative Special Attacking power by a wide margin compared to Manectric and does not have Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain to make up for it. In addition to this, Zeraora again does not get Switcheroo or Trick, meaning that it still does not have that niche to cripple certain Pokemon. In one of the above examples, I listed a common situation where Manectric handles Zeraora, but it goes deeper than that. While Zeraora indeed gets Fire coverage, if you'll notice, Zeraora does not get any Special Fire-Type coverage; it's all physical and with much lower base power than Manectric's Overheat. This means not only will you be missing certain damage benchmarks, but you'll be wearing down Zeraora quickly in some cases as both of its Fire-type coverage moves (Fire Punch and Blaze Kick) are contact moves. On top of this, Zeraora has a tough time slotting in Fire-type coverage due to the other moves it wants to use, such as Close Combat.

252 Atk Zeraora Blaze Kick vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 248-296 (70.4 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 176-208 (50 - 59%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Damage from Iron Barbs (and Rocky Helmet) is going to add up quickly. In addition, Zeraora's already shaky defensive profile of 88 / 75 / 80 is lowered after a Close Combat, making it squishier than Manectric. This combination and trouble with Zeraora's moveset keep Manectric's niche above Zeraora nice and solid, despite Zeraora's options.

Finally, we reach Magnezone. "Well, Magnezone hits way harder than Manectric on the Special side and can not only trap Steel-types but nail them with Body Press as well. So why would I not use Magnezone?" Another great question, let's dive into Magnezone some more. Magnezone is slow (base 60), meaning that some of the crucial Pokemon it wants to trap (Corviknight, Skarmory, and Scizor) can U-Turn out, spread more hazards, or heavily damage Magnezone before going down, respectively. Magnezone's secondary Steel typing actually works against it as well, as it means that additional common weaknesses hamper Magnezone's great 70 / 115 / 90 defensive profile to Fighting, Fire, along with a now 4x weakness to Ground. Along with this, Magnezone's reliance on Body Press means that it suffers from the same wear-down issues that Zeraora has, and without Iron Defense boosts, it's not able to hit certain damage Benchmarks.

252+ Def Magnezone Body Press vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 132-156 (37.5 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

In addition, the lack of Fire coverage (thanks to the removal of Hidden Power Fire) means that it cannot hit Steels on their Special side super effectively, which means that Steel types that Manectric would have a chance to cripple and take out (such as Melmetal who cannot be handled by Magnezone's Body Press quickly enough since Melmetal has access to Earthquake, or Specially Defensive Scizor which is neutral to all of Magnezone's attacks), cannot be anywhere near as easily handled by Magnezone. Finally, as mentioned before as well, Magnezone cannot Trick or Switcheroo its items as well, meaning that beyond a low-chance paralysis from one of its moves (or some other fringe options), Magnezone's support capabilities are more limited as well.

Question 2: Does Manectric have to use Choice Scarf? Would another item be perhaps viable?

Answer: Probably my favorite question involving Manectric, and the answer is both "yes" and "no" for a few simple reasons.

Manectric's Scarf Switcheroo set is, without a doubt, its best set (which we will get into after the FAQ, along with other parts of its movepool). However, other items have their benefits as well. For example, Choice Specs allows Manectric to hit power benchmarks immediately while easily being able to cripple Physical threats that you may feel uncomfortable giving a Scarf depending on your team building (such as Garchomp). Still, then you lose out on Manectric's incredible 508 Scarf speed benchmark. You can make this argument with Choice Band as well. Flame Orb or Toxic Orb are also interesting options as they can be incredible for shutting down certain Physical threats or wearing down stall like Blissey. Still, at the same time, this means to avoid getting status yourself, you'll only be able to switch Manectric in when a Pokemon of your own has gone down, or you'll have to run a cleric on your team to anticipate this. So while having the additional options are nice, it means you need to dedicate additional support to a Pokemon that already needs support, and thus, in my opinion (and some testing with other items), descends from Scarf Switcheroo's great niche to the other items usable but gimmick niche.

Question 3: Does Manectric gain other moves or options beyond the ones listed?

Answer: Absolutely, but we'll get into those in a moment.

Question 4: I saw your post on the forum! Can you share a Manectric team you've been using?

Answer: Of course, I'd be happy to! I hope you enjoy using it! (Also thanks to BoomFantastic for helping me build this). This team contains Manectric, Heatran, Toxapex, Landorus-T, Corviknight, and Kyurem. Please note the special EVs on a few of the bulkier Pokemon, if you have any questions feel free to message me! - https://pokepast.es/5a397b29122433c9

Manectric's Main Set

Switcheroo Scarf Set
Manectric @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Switcheroo
- Volt Switch​

Since we've described what this set does in painstaking detail above, let's talk about the additional movepool options Manectric has. (As a fair warning, I do not recommend deviating too far from this set or really using another set at all, as the options I'm about to talk about while being able to work are still very niche and do ruin Manectric's niche a little bit). With a bit of investment, Ice Fang gets some surprise 2HKOs on specific threats like Garchomp but is still incredibly niche, and you really don't want to remove Special Attack EVs to accommodate the 32 or more Attack EVs you'd need to reach the 2HKO benchmark on those threats. Flamethrower is also in Manectric's movepool and can be useful in specific situations where you need to stay in on something (where the -2 drop from Overheat really doesn't appreciate that approach) along with the 100% accuracy. Still, the power drop from Overheat's 130 to Flamethrower's 90 is felt in a big way in many other damage calculations. The situations where Flamethrower's consistency and higher accuracy would be more relevant are few in number compared to Overheat's power. Roar, Toxic, Substitute, Light Screen, Protect, and Snarl are additional options, but their utility is generally not as useful on Manectric and, as a result, are generally outclassed. Thunder is a great option on Rain teams and pushes Manectric's damage output even higher, but we'll get to that. Manectric has Curse and access to a great Physical movepool, including Psychic Fangs, STAB Wild Charge, Crunch, the previously mentioned Ice Fang, and Fire Fang. Still, if this kind of gimmick were really usable beyond joke teams, we'd see Electivire everywhere. Manectric also gains Hyper Voice, which could technically be useful in some very niche situations. Still, overall Normal coverage really provides nothing for Manectric and has a tough time fitting it onto a set.

What Manectric Appreciates:

Grassy Terrain | Wish and/or Cleric Support: Are you finding that Manectric gets worn down too quickly? Grassy Terrain is absolutely incredible support for Manectric, as it passively recovers Manectric's health, along with halving the damage to Earthquake. Rillaboom as a Pokemon itself is great, thanks to Grassy Glide's priority and its nice synergy with Manectric as is, but we'll get into that later. Finally, Wish support is charming for Manectric, giving it additional longevity, and as is it partners well with Pokemon commonly used for Wish passing. In addition to this, having a dedicated Cleric (or a Pokemon that can compress Wish passing and Clerical healing into one slot) is wonderful for Manectric to stay overall healthy and avoid dipping into potentially dangerous Defensive percentage ranges.

Hazard and/or Status Support | Defog or Rapid Spin Support | Knock Off: Depending on the type of team you're building, Manectric appreciates your side of the field being clear of hazards or the opponent's side of the field having hazards planted on them. The chip from Stealth Rock, Spikes, or the status wear down of Toxic Spikes, or other status-inducing moves allow Manectric to quickly wear down your opponent's team either through repeated heavy hits or continued switch-outs with Volt Switch. Knock Off support is wonderful as it allows Manectric to deal with Leftovers, Assault Vest variants, or other pesky builds if Manectric has received an item via Switcheroo that it doesn't want to get rid of.

Rain: This may seem counterproductive given that it weakens Overheat, but in actuality, it means that Manectric can run STAB Thunder, which potentially means it could ease the burden of prediction on yourself (provided you've taken care of Landorus-T, Garchomp, etc. ahead of time) and Overheat still hits nasty useful benchmarks even when weakened a little by rain. +1 Lightningrod STAB Thunder under the rain is absolutely not to be underestimated.

Potential Manectric Partners

Disclaimer: I will only be talking about Pokemon that I have personally tested. I'm sure there are more incredible partners for Manectric out there, and if you wish to bring that up, that would be wonderful! But I'm only going to be talking about the Pokemon I have personally had good results using Manectric in conjunction with. I would also like to thank BoomFantastic for his wonderful help with Kyurem, Corviknight, Toxapex, Landorus-T, and Heatran.

Kyurem

Kyurem is an absolute monster in OU right now, and thanks to its coverage and powerful attacks, Specs variants are absolutely brutal alongside Manectric's support and bulky mon crippling abilities. Kyurem will be able to come in easier on a predicted switch thanks to Manectric's Volt Switch and be able to fire off absolutely nuclear STAB Ice Beams, STAB Freeze-Dry's, Earth Powers, and Focus Blasts. Kyurem's resistances, courtesy of being half Dragon-type, along with it being one of the few Dragons neutral to Ice, is absolutely complimentary for your team's defensive profile as well as its offensive profile. Between Kyurem and Manectric's vicious attacks, you also have the coveted STAB BoltBeam coverage that is absolutely deadly against a large portion of the metagame.

Corviknight
Corviknight handles many of the Physical threats that Manectric doesn't want to stay in on really well. It is immune to Earthquake, has access to both Defog and Roost to keep itself healthy while indirectly keeping Manectric healthy due to Defog clearing hazards off of the field (this can also patch up Overheat's accuracy thanks to Defog's evasion drop). In addition to this, Corviknight has a complimentary slow U-Turn that eases the burden of prediction on your team as well while forming the dreaded VoltTurn core. Corviknight has a wealth of additional options on the defense and support spectrums. Corviknight is one of the (arguably) best Pokemon in OU, and the synergy between Corviknight and Manectric should not be underestimated.

Swampert

Physical Pivot Swampert sets are a great partner for Manectric. Not only does Manectric's Electric / Fire offensive combination work really well with Swampert's Water / Ground offenses, but Swampert can also set up Stealth Rock, then use a slow Flip Turn out to form another variant of the VoltTurn core. Of course, Swampert itself requires support but compressing Rocks, Water/Ground typing, and slow Flip Turns into one team slot, and combining that with Manectric's support capabilities is absolutely something worth looking into.

Rillaboom

Not only is Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain wonderful in helping to keep Manectric healthy as outlined above, but having priority STAB Grassy Glide along with a wide variety of powerful coverage and utility moves such as High Horsepower, Knock Off, and Superpower are an absolute boon to Manectric's survivability thanks to Rillaboom's ability to pick off key threats with ease and severely maim others into range for Manectric to pick off with either Overheat or Thunderbolt. In addition, Rillaboom gains access to and commonly uses U-Turn, which is absolutely stellar once again, thanks to the previously mentioned VoltTurn core.

Landorus - Therian

If you think we'd be leaving off arguably the best glue in OU as a great partner for Manectric, you'd be wrong. Landorus-T not only compliments Manectric extremely well with its Ground / Flying typing, but is immune to Earthquake, has Intimidate to further deal with Physical switch-ins to Manectric, and can Defog hazards away or set up its own Stealth Rocks. Knock Off and U-Turn are both parts of Landorus-T's arsenal and provide wonderful support as well. Specially Defensive Landorus-T variants are an absolute gem as well. Still, I could go on all day about Landorus-T's presence in OU, so we'll leave the gushing about Landorus-T individually here for now. With that being said, the combination synergy between Landorus-T and Manectric can absolutely throw your opponent off balance and invalidate quite a few important cores.

Scizor

Scizor is a wonderful partner for Manectric as it can pick off troublesome Pokemon or weaken them with options such as STAB Bullet Punch, Knock Off, or Superpower. In addition to this, Scizor has reliable recovery in Roost to keep itself heavy, along with a powerful STAB U-Turn which, combined with Manectric's STAB Volt Switch, is one of the most dangerous VoltTurn variant cores in sheer damage output. Powerful priority is always a boon when supporting any defensively squishy Pokemon, and Manectric is no exception.

Heatran

Heatran has the ability to set up Stealth Rock, trap Pokemon with STAB Magma Storm, wear them down with Toxic, and has excellent coverage in Earth Power to go along with its potent Fire / Steel STABs, and is generally one of the most flexible and respected Pokemon in OU, particularly Specially Defensive variants. So while Manectric doesn't like going up against Heatran (at least not the Specially Defensive sets), it absolutely loves having it as a partner due to its combined Defensive and Support capabilities.

Toxapex

The Pex, the GOAT, the Pokemon that made people absolutely tear their hair out for years. Toxapex's Defensive and Support capabilities speak for themselves, and Manectric partners with it fantastically. Regenerator is absolutely clutch for Toxapex, keeping it healthy, along with access to Recover. So whether you need to set up Toxic Spikes, shut down setup sweepers with Haze, cripple Physical attackers with Scald, or cripple anything with Knock Off, Toxapex has you covered.

Concluding Thoughts

Manectric surprised me in how quickly it became tied for the MVP of one of my most used main teams alongside Choice Specs Kyurem, and I absolutely love Manectric from both a competitive and design standpoint. I'm also pretty shocked (hah) that a post about Manectric's competitive OU viability became my longest Smogon post of all time (and probably one of the longest posts I've done on any forum in general). It's fast, powerful enough for what it needs to do, and absolutely deadly with the way it affects many of the common Pokemon and team archetypes jumping around OU at the moment. Manectric can be a wonderful asset for your team. If high prediction play and switch strategy are your forte, I highly recommend giving it a shot if you want a strong, reliable member of your team that can, if played properly, cripple or take down two or more of your opponent's Pokemon reliably.



"Wahahaha! A battle with you is always charged with shocking power!" - Gym Leader Wattson
 
Last edited:
^Bro, you should be an author instead of wasting your time on smogons forums lol. Real talk tho these posts are really interesting to read, keep them up!

to avoid this being a one liner, I’d like to discuss a set that I think is super underrated: Sp. Def Hydreigon. I’m too lazy to find a picture of Hydreigon, but sp. def Hydreigon is capable of checking quite a bit in the current metagame. When it comes to notable things,It checks heatran, glowking, the slowtwins, and most Volcarona. but when it comes to weird off meta picks on the rise, Hydreigon typically shines. Mons like blacephalon,Victini, rotom formes, Volcanion, Sun and Aegislash. I think it’s a pretty neat option in the current metagame if you’re struggling with mons like blacephalon. It obviously loses to like almost everything it doesn’t check, but it can be a really effective glue mon in the current metagame.
 

Keem

formerly Nezloe
Manectric
"Wahahaha! The secret to good health is willing to laugh!" - Gym Leader Wattson


BASE STATSMAX STAT TOTAL
HP:
70
250 - 344
Attack:
75
139 - 273
Defense:
60
112 - 240
Sp. Atk:
105
193 - 339
Sp. Def:
60
112 - 240
Speed:
105
193 - 339

(I'm sorry this post took longer than I promised you all; I was tinkering with EVs and moveset options and had to do a LOT of testing. I'd also like to thank BoomFantastic for all of his team-building help. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to finalize the wonderful core team combinations that I'll talk about later in the post, nor would I have discovered some of the synergies Manectric had with specific Pokemon in OU).

DISCLAIMER: MANECTRIC REQUIRES CAREFUL PREDICTION PLAY FOR BOTH ITSELF AND ITS PARTNERS AND A BROAD INNATE UNDERSTANDING OF MAINTAINING MOMENTUM AND READING YOUR OPPONENT'S POTENTIAL SWITCHES. DO NOT JUST SLAP IT ONTO A TEAM WITHOUT THINKING. IT'S A GREAT POKEMON, BUT IT REQUIRES THINKING AND A RELATIVELY BROAD GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF COMMON OR CURRENTLY TRENDING OU SETS THANKS TO MANECTRIC'S LOWER DEFENSIVE PROFILE.

Cue the shocked gasps by absolutely no one if you have seen most or really any of my large essay length OU posts; you all know my style as a competitive player is to bring the forgotten and cool Pokemon to light with usable niches in what is (in my opinion) one of the most fun OU metagames I've ever been a part of. Moving onto Manectric, though, oh goodness, what can I say about this spiky electric wolfdoggo currently residing in the dark depths of ZU (or untiered for those who don't consider that tier official yet)? Manectric was the absolute crux of my main laddering team for the last few weeks and has been crucial in enabling powerful monsters like Specs Kyurem to swoop in and have a much easier time firing off damage along with crippling and taking out key threats. But you're probably asking yourself, what makes Manectric work in OU like you're describing? Let's dig into Manectric's advantages, its sets, and why it works in OU. In addition to this, I'll be sharing some FAQs I got from people on Showdown when testing and laddering with the set; along with this, we'll be talking about what playstyles suit Manectric the best, along with what partners Manectric enables the best or partners with the best as well.

Manectric's Advantages and Functions:

- Manectric's ability Lightningrod combined with access to powerful moves in Switcheroo, Volt Switch, and Overheat give Manectric a very usable and dangerous niche as a Pokemon with the ability to cripple or destroy certain powerful threats such as Ferrothorn, Toxapex, stat boost, or hazard setup sets (such as Dragon Dance Multiscale Dragonite or Leftovers Defensive Landorus-T), and a wide variety of others. In addition to being an incredible momentum-based Pokemon with fantastic combined role compression.
  • Lightningrod gives Manectric many possible opportunities to entirely ignore its lackluster (but in some cases underrated [which I'll get to later]) defensive profile and gain a free Special Attack boost thanks to its immunity to Electric-type attacks. This is absolutely crucial as it means Pokemon like Defensive Zapdos cannot touch Manectric and are cleanly 2HKO'd in return. Manectric also outspeeds all variants of Zapdos (bar the extremely uncommon Scarf Zapdos), which means either the opponent is going to make the smart play and switch into something else (which you can then predict and use Switcheroo or Overheat to cripple or maim the switch-in) or stay in thinking it can tank, in which you still cripple it with Switcheroo and then you've taken out one of your opponent's keystone defensive profiles.
- Speaking of the above Switcheroo, Scarf Manectric is outspeeding most other Scarfers and boosted sweepers. Timid nature with base 105 speed means that Manectric will have a whopping 508 speed, which means that unless the opponent is running something like Scarf Dragapult, you've got the advantage. Crippling defensive profiles is absolutely key and prevents so many Pokemon from properly functioning; want to prevent Futureport Teleport Spam? Trick a Scarf, want to prevent Pokemon from utilizing Swords Dance boosts? Trick a Scarf. Want to prevent multi-hazard setters and bulky slow-mons from being able to deal with your whole team? Trick a Scarf. Ferrothorn, Toxapex, Blissey, Corviknight, some Clefable variants, Hawlucha, Defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, Mandibuzz, Substitute Arctozolt, Icy Rock Alolan Ninetales, Melmetal, Mew, Skarmory, the Slowtwins, Slowking-G, and Bulky / Quiver Dance Volcarona variants do not appreciate being crippled like this, as it gives you either great momentum opportunity, or entirely removes a Pokemon's purpose in the game. In addition to this, Manectric can then adapt to your team's specific needs depending on the item it steals from an opposing Pokemon. It's both a useful tool for scouting while maintaining momentum. In addition to this, you could forgo Switcherooing Scarf entirely to utilize Manectric's insane speed Scarfed to hit some impressive speed feats, which can work wonders in tandem with a predicted attack boosting Manectric's Special Attack up.

- The previously mentioned Overheat is an absolutely fantastic coverage tool, allowing even unboosted Manectric to get some impressive feats, while +1 Lightningrod boosted variants can hit some impressive damage benchmarks. This also means that the average 1500+ ELO opponent won't want to switch in certain Ground-types like Excadrill willy nilly; it puts pressure on the opponent, allowing you to score a unique opportunity to gain momentum or regain lost momentum. (I won't be putting Pokemon weak to both Thunderbolt and Overheat in these calculations, we'll get to that).


Overheat Damage Calculations:

252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Arctozolt: 328-386 (102.1 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (also can switch into Bolt Beak without worry and gain a free Special Attack boost, pretty nifty, right?)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Scizor: 408-480 (118.9 - 139.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rillaboom: 328-386 (96.1 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) --
guaranteed 2HKO (If you chose to hit Melmetal on the switch-in)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (If you don't have a Lightningrod boost and chose to Switcheroo on switch-in)
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 504-596 (143.1 - 169.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 340-400 (96.5 - 113.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 252-298 (69.8 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 376-444 (104.1 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 268-316 (95.3 - 112.4%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
-2 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 580-684 (223.9 - 264%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Lmao)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 1160-1368 (447.8 - 528.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

- Before we go further, I'd like to run two scenarios by you all, specifically revolving around Manectric's Defensive profile. Manectric's 70 / 60 / 60 may seem unusable, but it's JUST enough to survive crucial hits in absolutely critical scenarios; it also has an advantageous resistance to Flying-type moves, meaning that it can take certain attacks in a pinch, an incredible Electric immunity thanks to Lightningrod, and a more niche resistance to Steel-type moves. Let's take the following scenario as an example (something that has happened to me quite a few times in my testing); let's say your opponent uses Zeraora as a fast, physical pivot, and you've already tricked your Scarf onto another Pokemon. You predict a Plasma Fists, then switch in Manectric to get the Special Attack boost. You're then thinking, well, now Zeraora is gonna decimate me because Manectric is so weak, and Zeraora is faster right? This is actually not what will happen. More often than not, by this point in the match, players will want to keep their Zeraora in to hit Close Combat as you will have likely (if you played right) taken care of the Ground-type switch-ins. So Zeraora will most of the time click Close Combat. Manectric (even with chip) survives Close Combat, and then with +1 SpA and the -1 SpD drop from Close Combat, Manectric can OHKO in return.

252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manectric: 178-210 (63.3 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. -1 0 HP / 0 SpD Zeraora: 331-390 (104.4 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Well, now you're wondering, "well, there's the other common Zeraora option, Knock Off! Why not use that?" Well, you can, but the damage output does not reach the same level, and Manectric has tricked a Rocky Helmet (probably the most common item I've stolen in higher-level play); it puts Zeraora into critical damage ranges. In addition to this, unless your opponent calls a double bluff and uses Knock Off a second time (which rarely happens as Manectric has a chance to survive two Knock-Offs from full health), you can then switch to a Pokemon that either resists Close Combat (which will commonly be used) or is completely immune to it (such as Dragapult who is immune to Close Combat) and then you once again have momentum.

252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manectric: 144-170 (51.2 - 60.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manectric: 97-115 (34.5 - 40.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

In addition to this, Manectric could have also been Switcheroo'd some other item. Life Orb, Choice Specs, Leftovers, the momentum is unpredictable, which allows Manectric to create these mind games. As for the second scenario, let's say you're up against Bisharp (which may seem dumb as Manectric does not like to switch into Bisharp, but this is specifically for double switching, which is key to maintaining momentum in some cases and has happened way more often than you think). Your opponent already knows that Manectric has access to Overheat (which, especially as you ladder higher up, is far more likely). Your opponent understands that they will not have the opportunity to set up a Swords Dance (if they do Swords Dance, it's curtains for Bisharp) and will likely click Sucker Punch hoping to get a smack on Manectric. But since Manectric is relatively easy to keep at full health (even more so with Wish or Grassy Terrain support), Bisharp cannot score an OHKO even with an Adamant nature, full investment, and a boost from Black Glasses.

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manectric: 222-262 (79 - 93.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Even with Stealth Rock chip, the chance to OHKO Manectric is less than 50%

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manectric: 222-262 (79 - 93.2%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock. These are just a couple of examples from dozens I could list; Manectric's defensive profile is very situational. Still, it scores critical moments that other Pokemon can't reach or don't want to risk reaching. It's also worth noting that Manectric defensively comfortably survives Choice Band Weavile's Ice Shard and can take a +2 Ice Shard from Swords Dance Weavile in a pinch, while Manectric almost always OHKOs in return with a non-boosted Overheat (we're talking about Shard here as Manectric generally wants to keep its Scarf when dealing with Weavile.

252 Atk Choice Band Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 139-165 (49.4 - 58.7%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 204-241 (72.5 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Weavile: 280-330 (99.6 - 117.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
- Manectric's impressive 508 speed with a Choice Scarf is notable, but just as notable is its speed without Choice Scarf. 339 Speed with a Timid nature means that Manectric will be a wide margin of OU, including the pesky base 102 Speed Garchomp (which with a +1 Overheat has a chance to 3HKO offensive variants and 4HKOs tanky variants that have max HP investment, meaning you can Switcheroo cripple set-up sets or pick off weakened Garchomp switch-ins). This means the only Pokemon that outspeed Manectric in OU are Dragapult, Hawlucha (who doesn't like to switch into or stay in on Manectric anyways), Kartana (which is easily OHKO'd by Overheat so Scarf variants that outspeed cannot switch-in without fear of getting melted), Tapu Koko (who wouldn't want to switch-in anyways as a boosted +1 Overheat OHKOs with hazard damage), Tornadus-Therian (which cannot handle STAB Thunderbolt or Volt-Switch, and Assault Vest Variants are easily crippled by Switcheroo), Weavile (which is also melted by Overheat), and Zeraora (which does not appreciate taking a boosted Overheat or being locked into Scarf thanks to Switcheroo).

- Mono-Electric typing means that defensively, Manectric only has one weakness, Ground types. This can easily be worked around, and in many cases, Manectric actually counts on this weakness for prediction plays. Offensively, STAB Thunderbolt is fantastic; 105 Special Attack is a solid stat, and especially with a Lightningrod boost, can 2HKO or OHKO some of the most threatening Pokemon in the OU Metagame.


Thunderbolt Damage Calculations (Neutral):

252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 368-434 (123.9 - 146.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 264-312 (66 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 204-242 (51 - 60.5%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (By this time you've most likely already Switcheroo'd Corviknight's Leftovers or Rocky Helmet, making it an assured 2HKO)
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 230-272 (54.3 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory: 338-398 (101.1 - 119.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 306-360 (77.6 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 170-204 (43.1 - 51.7%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 204-240 (59.3 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 278-330 (92.9 - 110.3%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 144-170 (47.3 - 55.9%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO (Even the rare fully Special Defense Calm or Careful Nature invested Toxapex has a high chance to be 2HKO'd by Thunderbolt, while every single other variants of Toxapex is cleanly 2HKO'd).
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 384-452 (112.6 - 132.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

So uninvested base 105 Special Attack Thunderbolt's chunk a lot of dangerous OU threats, or outright KO them, while 2HKOing a lot of neutrally hit Pokemon in OU as well (meaning there are way fewer safe-switch-ins than you think for Manectric. So now, let's take that oh-so-common Lightningrod boost and apply it here to some of the specific damage thresholds we talked about in the uninvested section.


Thunderbolt Damage Calculations (+1 Lightningrod):

+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 392-464 (98 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 306-360 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 342-404 (80.8 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 456-536 (115.7 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 258-306 (65.4 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 306-360 (88.9 - 104.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 282-332 (92.7 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO (for those Toxapex with higher Special Defense investment, Manectric still has a chance to OHKO all the way up to 252 HP / 123 SpD investment)

In addition, there are other aspects such as if Manectric Switcheroo'd itself a Life Orb (which is not as common but is still easy to attain if you predict Magic Guard Life Orb Clefable switch-ins), in which case, those chanced OHKOs become assured OHKOs, and some 2HKOs have a chance to OHKO or become OHKOs themselves.

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 398-468 (99.5 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 445-525 (105.2 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 335-398 (85 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Toxapex: 307-361 (100.9 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 281-330 (92.4 - 108.5%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

- STAB Volt Switch is absolutely crucial and a powerful part of Manectric's ability to maintain momentum. It deals a good amount of damage (not quite as much as Thunderbolt, but it will still be chunking things hard, especially at +1). Still, there's another critical advantage to Manectric's specific Volt Switches that other users don't have. First, we need to address SlowTurning or Slowporting. Many of the Pokemon who utilize SlowTurn strategies do not want to risk getting hit by Manectric at all, especially with the chip of hazards, so they're likely to switch out and allow you to Volt Switch on the Pokemon being brought in, giving you a free opportunity and regaining momentum. The only real slow-turning mon that Manectric doesn't like to deal with is Physical Pivot Flip Turn Swampert; on the flip side (hah), Swampert itself does not appreciate getting Switcheroo'd and losing its Leftovers or Rocky Helmet and getting locked into a move with Choice Scarf. We'll talk more about specific Volt-Switch situations and Pokemon v Pokemon Utility in the FAQ section.


Frequently Asked Questions:

Question 1: Why would I not use one of OU's other electric types, such as Tapu Koko, Zapdos, Zeraora, or Magnezone?
Answer: Great question. Let's tackle each of these individually, starting with Tapu Koko.

Tapu Koko has a higher speed and a great attack stat but actually lacks in two critical areas comparatively, in its Special Attack and in the specific utilization of its movepool (Manectric's base Special Attack is 105, base 10 higher than Tapu Koko's 95). Sure Electric Terrain makes Tapu Koko's Electric-type moves hit nicely. Still, that lack of power in its coverage moves and inability to hit Steel-types super effectively (or cripple them, as Tapu Koko does not get access to Switcheroo or Trick) is where Manectric shines over it, along with Manectric's useful immunity to Electric moves. In addition to this, Tapu Koko's Electric attacks actually are a perfect switch-in opportunity for Manectric, as it not only gets a +1 boost from Lightningrod absorbing Thunderbolt, Discharge, or Volt Switch, but it benefits heavily from the Electric Terrain. If Tapu Koko is chipped, it has a chance to be OHKO'd by Overheat and is comfortably 2HKO'd by Manectric's RESISTED Thunderbolt. At the same time, STAB Dazzling Gleam from Tapu Koko only 2HKOs even with chip damage on Manectric (which is even less relevant if you predict correctly). If Manectric still has its scarf, it also has the benefit of outspeeding Tapu Koko as well.

+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko: 231-272 (82.2 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko in Electric Terrain: 156-183 (55.5 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Manectric: 159-187 (56.5 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Second, let's talk about Zapdos. You're probably wondering, "well, Zapdos gets powerful Fire and STAB Flying coverage in Heat Wave and Hurricane respectively (along with Weather Ball in Sun, Hail, or Rain) along with having a much better Special Attack stat and a better defensive profile, why wouldn't I use Zapdos instead?" Great points; let's talk about Zapdos. Zapdos is often required to run Heavy-Duty Boots to avoid taking a quarter of its health in chip damage from Stealth Rock, meaning that it's a little easier to play around. Zapdos also falls into the crowded base 100 Speed tier, meaning that it cannot outspeed Pokemon such as Garchomp, Mew, Volcarona, opposing Zapdos, or the rarer Victini and Galarian-Zapdos. Zapdos's additional Flying-type gives it an incredible immunity to Earthquake but also means that Zapdos is absolutely clipped by Rock and Ice-type attacks while only having neutrality to Electric attacks compared to Manectric's immunity and Lightningrod boost. Along with Tapu Koko, Zapdos is an easy target for Manectric to switch in on if predicted correctly, as the Lightningrod boost is phenomenal and allows Manectric to 2HKO both Offensive and Defensive variants of Zapdos with +1 consistently and comfortably.

+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 208-246 (64.7 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 208-246 (54.3 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Zapdos also does not like potentially losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, Leftovers, or Rocky Helmet to Manectric and being limited by Scarf, as it then becomes prone to chip, hazard damage, and repeated attacks. However, Manectric does not have such worries, as it's meant to zip in and out as quickly as possible and does not take a quarter of its Stealth Rock damage specifically, which is more common than Spikes or Toxic Spikes.

Third, Zeraora. "Well, Zeraora is fast, powerful, can run mixed sets, is faster than Manectric, has that fire coverage, and has Volt Absorb; why not him?" Another great set of points. Zeraora seems to outclass Manectric at first glance. However, taking a deeper look at Zeraora, it has many of the same issues that Tapu Koko has, along with some additional issues that counterbalance Koko's issues that Zeraora does not have. For example, Zeraora's Special Attack is still slightly lower than Manectric's (Zeraora's base 102 compared to Manectric's base 105), and Volt Absorb does not boost Zeraora's Special Attack, only restores HP. This means that Zeraora is most likely (bar some fringe sets) going to be losing out on comparative Special Attacking power by a wide margin compared to Manectric and does not have Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain to make up for it. In addition to this, Zeraora again does not get Switcheroo or Trick, meaning that it still does not have that niche to cripple certain Pokemon. In one of the above examples, I listed a common situation where Manectric handles Zeraora, but it goes deeper than that. While Zeraora indeed gets Fire coverage, if you'll notice, Zeraora does not get any Special Fire-Type coverage; it's all physical and with much lower base power than Manectric's Overheat. This means not only will you be missing certain damage benchmarks, but you'll be wearing down Zeraora quickly in some cases as both of its Fire-type coverage moves (Fire Punch and Blaze Kick) are contact moves. On top of this, Zeraora has a tough time slotting in Fire-type coverage due to the other moves it wants to use, such as Close Combat.

252 Atk Zeraora Blaze Kick vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 248-296 (70.4 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 176-208 (50 - 59%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Damage from Iron Barbs (and Rocky Helmet) is going to add up quickly. In addition, Zeraora's already shaky defensive profile of 88 / 75 / 80 is lowered after a Close Combat, making it squishier than Manectric. This combination and trouble with Zeraora's moveset keep Manectric's niche above Zeraora nice and solid, despite Zeraora's options.

Finally, we reach Magnezone. "Well, Magnezone hits way harder than Manectric on the Special side and can not only trap Steel-types but nail them with Body Press as well. So why would I not use Magnezone?" Another great question, let's dive into Magnezone some more. Magnezone is slow (base 60), meaning that some of the crucial Pokemon it wants to trap (Corviknight, Skarmory, and Scizor) can U-Turn out, spread more hazards, or heavily damage Magnezone before going down, respectively. Magnezone's additional Steel typing actually works against it as well, as it means that additional common weaknesses hamper Magnezone's great 70 / 115 / 90 defensive profile to Fighting, Fire, along with a now 4x weakness to Ground. Along with this, Magnezone's reliance on Body Press means that it suffers from the same wear-down issues that Zeraora has, and without Iron Defense boosts, it's not able to hit certain damage Benchmarks.

252+ Def Magnezone Body Press vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 132-156 (37.5 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

In addition, the lack of Fire coverage (thanks to the removal of Hidden Power Fire) means that it cannot hit Steels on their Special side super effectively, which means that Steel types that Manectric would have a chance to cripple and take out (such as Melmetal cannot be handled by Magnezone's Body Press quickly enough, or Specially Defensive Scizor which is neutral to all of Magnezone's attacks), cannot be anywhere near as easily handled by Magnezone. Finally, as mentioned before as well, Magnezone cannot Trick or Switcheroo its items as well.

Question 2: Does Manectric have to use Choice Scarf? Would another item be perhaps viable?
Answer: Probably my favorite question involving Manectric, and the answer is both "yes" and "no" for a few simple reasons. Manectric's Scarf Switcheroo set is, without a doubt, its best set (which we will get into after the FAQ, along with other parts of its movepool). However, other items have their benefits as well. For example, choice Specs allows Manectric to hit power benchmarks immediately while easily being able to cripple Physical threats that you may feel uncomfortable giving a Scarf depending on your team building (such as Garchomp). Still, then you lose out on Manectric's incredible 508 Scarf speed benchmark. You can make this argument with Choice Band as well. Flame Orb or Toxic Orb are also interesting options as they can be incredible for shutting down certain Physical threats or wearing down stall like Blissey. Still, at the same time, this means to avoid getting status yourself, you'll only be able to switch Manectric in when a Pokemon of your own has gone down, or you'll have to run a cleric on your team to anticipate this. So while having the additional options are nice, it means you need to dedicate additional support to a Pokemon that already needs support, and thus, in my opinion (and some testing with other items), descends from Scarf Switcheroo's great niche to the other items usable but gimmick niche.

Question 3: Does Manectric gain other moves or options beyond the ones listed?
Answer: Absolutely, but we'll get into those in a moment.

Manectric's Main Set

Switcheroo Scarf Set
Manectric @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Switcheroo
- Volt Switch​

Since we've described what this set does in painstaking detail above, let's talk about the additional movepool options Manectric has. (As a fair warning, I do not recommend deviating too far from this set or really using another set at all, as the options I'm about to talk about while being able to work are still very niche and do ruin Manectric's niche a little bit). With a bit of investment, Ice Fang gets some surprise 2HKOs on specific threats like Garchomp but is still incredibly niche, and you really don't want to remove Special Attack EVs to accommodate the 32 or more Attack EVs you'd need to reach the 2HKO benchmark on those threats. Flamethrower is also in Manectric's movepool and can be useful in specific situations where you need to stay in on something (where the -2 drop from Overheat really doesn't appreciate that approach) along with the 100% accuracy. Still, that power drop from Overheat's 130 to Flamethrower's 90 is felt in many other damage calculations. The situations where Flamethrower's consistency and higher accuracy would be more relevant are few in number compared to Overheat's power. Roar, Toxic, Substitute, Light Screen, Protect, and Snarl are additional options, but their utility is generally not as useful on Manectric and, as a result, are generally outclassed. Thunder is a great option on Rain teams and pushes Manectric's damage output even higher, but we'll get to that. Manectric has Curse and access to a great Physical movepool, including Psychic Fangs, STAB Wild Charge, Crunch, the previously mentioned Ice Fang, and Fire Fang. Still, if this kind of gimmick were really usable beyond joke teams, we'd see Electivire everywhere. Manectric also gains Hyper Voice, which could technically be useful in some very niche situations. Still, overall Normal coverage really provides nothing for Manectric and has a tough time fitting it onto a set.

What Manectric Appreciates:

Grassy Terrain / Wish Support: Are you finding that Manectric gets worn down too quickly? Grassy Terrain is absolutely incredible support for Manectric, as it passively recovers Manectric's health, along with halving the damage to Earthquake. Rillaboom as a Pokemon itself is great, thanks to Grassy Glide's priority and its nice synergy with Manectric as is, but we'll get into that later. Finally, wish support is charming for Manectric, giving it additional longevity, and as is it partners well with Pokemon commonly used for Wish passing.

Hazard and/or Status Support | Defog or Rapid Spin Support | Knock Off: Depending on the type of team you're building, Manectric appreciates your side of the field being clear of hazards or the opponent's side of the field having hazards planted on them. The chip from Stealth Rock, Spikes, or the status wear down of Toxic Spikes, or other status-inducing moves allow Manectric to quickly wear down your opponent's team either through repeated heavy hits or continued switch-outs with Volt Switch. Knock Off support is wonderful as it allows Manectric to deal with Leftovers, Assault Vest variants, or other pesky builds if Manectric has received an item via Switcheroo that it doesn't want to get rid of.

Rain: This may seem counterproductive given that it weakens Overheat, but in actuality, it means that Manectric can run STAB Thunder, which potentially means it could ease the burden of prediction on yourself (provided you've taken care of Landorus-T, Garchomp, etc. ahead of time) and Overheat still hits nasty useful benchmarks even when weakened a little by rain. +1 Lightningrod STAB Thunder under the rain is absolutely not to be underestimated.

Potential Manectric Partners

Disclaimer: I will only be talking about Pokemon that I have personally tested. I'm sure there are more incredible partners for Manectric out there, and if you wish to bring that up, that would be wonderful! But I'm only going to be talking about the Pokemon I have personally had good results using Manectric with. I would also like to thank BoomFantastic for his wonderful help with Kyurem, Corviknight, Toxapex, Landorus-T, and Heatran.

Kyurem

Kyurem is an absolute monster in OU right now, and thanks to its coverage and powerful attacks, Specs variants are absolutely brutal alongside Manectric's support and bulky mon crippling abilities. Kyurem will be able to come in easier on a predicted switch thanks to Manectric's Volt Switch and be able to fire off absolutely nuclear STAB Ice Beams, STAB Freeze-Dry's, Earth Powers, and Focus Blasts. Kyurem's resistances, courtesy of being half Dragon-type, along with it being one of the few Dragons neutral to Ice, is absolutely complimentary as well. Between the two, you have the coveted STAB BoltBeam coverage that is absolutely deadly.

Corviknight
Corviknight handles many of the Physical threats that Manectric doesn't want to stay in on really well. It is immune to Earthquake, has access to both Defog and Roost to keep itself healthy while indirectly keeping Manectric healthy due to Defog clearing hazards off of the field (this can also patch up Overheat's accuracy thanks to Defog's evasion drop). In addition to this, Corviknight has a complimentary slow U-Turn that eases the burden of prediction on your team as well while forming the dreaded VoltTurn core.

Swampert

Physical Pivot Swampert sets are a great partner for Manectric. Not only does Manectric's Electric / Fire offensive combination work really well with Swampert's Water / Ground offenses, but Swampert can also set up Stealth Rock, then use a slow Flip Turn out to form another variant of the VoltTurn core.

Rillaboom

Not only is Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain wonderful in helping to keep Manectric healthy as outlined above, but having priority STAB Grassy Glide along with a wide variety of powerful coverage moves is an absolute boon to Manectric's survivability thanks to Rillaboom's ability to pick off key threats with ease. In addition, Rillaboom gains access to and commonly uses U-Turn, which is absolutely stellar once again, thanks to the previously mentioned VoltTurn core.

Landorus - Therian

If you think we'd be leaving off arguably the best glue in OU as a great partner for Manectric, you'd be wrong. Landorus-T not only compliments Manectric extremely well with its Ground / Flying typing, but is immune to Earthquake, has Intimidate to further deal with Physical switch-ins to Manectric, and can Defog hazards away or set up its own Stealth Rocks. Knock Off and U-Turn are both parts of Landorus-T's arsenal and provide wonderful support as well. Specially Defensive Landorus-T variants are an absolute gem, and the combination synergy can absolutely throw your opponent off balance.

Scizor

Scizor is a wonderful partner for Manectric as it can pick off troublesome Pokemon or weaken them with options such as STAB Bullet Punch, Knock Off, or Superpower. In addition to this, Scizor has reliable recovery in Roost to keep itself heavy, along with a powerful STAB U-Turn which, combined with Manectric's STAB Volt Switch, is one of the most dangerous VoltTurn variant cores in sheer damage output.

Heatran

Heatran has the ability to set up Stealth Rock, trap Pokemon with STAB Magma Storm, wear them down with Toxic, and has excellent coverage in Earth Power to go along with its potent Fire / Steel STABs, and is generally one of the most flexible and respected Pokemon in OU, particularly Specially Defensive variants. So while Manectric doesn't like going up against Heatran, it absolutely loves having it as a partner due to its combined Defensive and Support capabilities.

Toxapex

The Pex, the GOAT, the Pokemon that made people absolutely tear their hair out for years. Toxapex's Defensive and Support capabilities speak for themselves, and Manectric partners with it fantastically. Regenerator is absolutely clutch for Toxapex, keeping it healthy, along with access to Recover. So whether you need to set up Toxic Spikes, shut down setup sweepers with Haze, cripple Physical attackers with Scald, or cripple anything with Knock Off, Toxapex has you covered.

Concluding Thoughts

Manectric surprised me in just how quickly it became tied for the MVP of one of my most used main teams alongside Choice Specs Kyurem, I absolutely love Manectric from both a competitive and design standpoint. I'm also pretty shocked (hah) that a post about Manectric's competitive OU viability became my longest Smogon post of all time (and probably one of the longest posts I've done on any forum in general). It's fast, powerful enough for what it needs to do, and absolutely deadly with the way it affects many of the common Pokemon and team archetypes jumping around OU at the moment. Manectric can be a wonderful asset for your team. If high prediction play and switch strategy are your forte, I highly recommend giving it a shot if you want a strong, reliable member of your team that can, if played properly, cripple or take down two or more of your opponent's Pokemon reliably.



"Wahahaha! A battle with you is always charged with shocking power!" - Gym Leader Wattson
Tsym for making post like these,I feel like youre opening a lot of peoples eyes to cool niches than others would laugh at or call unviable. Youre literally the only reason i keep running back to this thread even though i stopped playing OU heck I might as well start playing it again! I hope to see more post from you in the future :heart: rip your fingers god damn
 
^Bro, you should be an author instead of wasting your time on smogons forums lol. Real talk tho these posts are really interesting to read, keep them up!

to avoid this being a one liner, I’d like to discuss a set that I think is super underrated: Sp. Def Hydreigon. I’m too lazy to find a picture of Hydreigon, but sp. def Hydreigon is capable of checking quite a bit in the current metagame. When it comes to notable things,It checks heatran, glowking, the slowtwins, and most Volcarona. but when it comes to weird off meta picks on the rise, Hydreigon typically shines. Mons like blacephalon,Victini, rotom formes, Volcanion, Sun and Aegislash. I think it’s a pretty neat option in the current metagame if you’re struggling with mons like blacephalon. It obviously loses to like almost everything it doesn’t check, but it can be a really effective glue mon in the current metagame.
What's the difference between this set and Leftovers NP Hydreigon with some bulk investment? You still check the same stuff like Slowbro, Slowking, Blacephalon, etc. but still have the offensive presence and speed tier to threaten stuff like Tapu Lele and Landorus-T.
 
^Bro, you should be an author instead of wasting your time on smogons forums lol. Real talk tho these posts are really interesting to read, keep them up!

to avoid this being a one liner, I’d like to discuss a set that I think is super underrated: Sp. Def Hydreigon. I’m too lazy to find a picture of Hydreigon, but sp. def Hydreigon is capable of checking quite a bit in the current metagame. When it comes to notable things,It checks heatran, glowking, the slowtwins, and most Volcarona. but when it comes to weird off meta picks on the rise, Hydreigon typically shines. Mons like blacephalon,Victini, rotom formes, Volcanion, Sun and Aegislash. I think it’s a pretty neat option in the current metagame if you’re struggling with mons like blacephalon. It obviously loses to like almost everything it doesn’t check, but it can be a really effective glue mon in the current metagame.
Thank you so much! I used to write a lot, but in recent times I haven't been writing as much and I'd love to get back into it more, maybe I might make some Youtube videos revolving around competitive Pokemon again as I did in the distant past.

In regards to your post, I think Specially Defensive Hydreigon is an interesting idea with some potential, what movesets and EVs have you been running for it? Or have you been trying out multiple Specially Defensive sets? Hydreigon really is a versatile, incredible mon whatever the case is and I'm glad it's had a resurgence this generation. With the recent resurgence of Blacephalon and other key threats as well, Hydreigon is becoming more useful than ever in regards to team building.

Tsym for making post like these,I feel like youre opening a lot of peoples eyes to cool niches than others would laugh at or call unviable. Youre literally the only reason i keep running back to this thread even though i stopped playing OU heck I might as well start playing it again! I hope to see more post from you in the future :heart: rip your fingers god damn
Thank you so much, I seriously appreciate that! This is the most fun I've had in OU in quite a long time, so I'd definitely recommend jumping back into OU, teambuilding is really varied, flexible, and interesting right now. My fingers actually didn't feel that bad after finishing typing that Manectric post (which was actually longer than my English College dissertation if you could believe that lol and frankly took just as much research). Typing the post up after I gathered up all my notes from weeks of testing and laddering took me roughly... five hours I think?

I'm definitely going to be testing even more Pokemon, and I'll probably be making another massive post in a couple of weeks to a month depending on how successful I am with them. I'm currently testing G-Moltres, Froslass, and Klefki in OU, so depending on how that goes I'll probably end up making a post in the future on one of them, unless the success / niche isn't notable enough to be more than a gimmick.

Manectric
"Wahahaha! The secret to good health is being willing to laugh!" - Gym Leader Wattson



BASE STATSMAX STAT TOTAL
HP:
70
250 - 344
Attack:
75
139 - 273
Defense:
60
112 - 240
Sp. Atk:
105
193 - 339
Sp. Def:
60
112 - 240
Speed:
105
193 - 339

(I'm sorry this post took longer than I promised you all; I was tinkering with EVs and moveset options and had to do a LOT of testing. I'd also like to thank BoomFantastic for all his team-building help. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to finalize the wonderful core team combinations that I'll talk about later in the post, nor would I have discovered some of the synergies Manectric had with specific Pokemon in OU).

DISCLAIMER: MANECTRIC REQUIRES CAREFUL PREDICTION PLAY FOR BOTH ITSELF AND ITS PARTNERS AND A BROAD INNATE UNDERSTANDING OF MAINTAINING MOMENTUM AND READING YOUR OPPONENT'S POTENTIAL SWITCHES. DO NOT JUST SLAP IT ONTO A TEAM WITHOUT THINKING. IT'S A GREAT POKEMON, BUT IT REQUIRES THINKING AND A RELATIVELY BROAD GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF COMMON OR CURRENTLY TRENDING OU SETS THANKS TO MANECTRIC'S LOWER DEFENSIVE PROFILE.


Cue the shocked gasps by absolutely no one if you have seen most or really any of my large essay sized OU posts; you all know my style as a competitive player is to bring the forgotten and cool Pokemon to light with usable niches in what is (in my opinion) one of the most fun OU metagames I've ever been a part of. Moving onto Manectric, though, oh goodness, what can I say about this spiky electric wolfdoggo currently residing in the dark depths of ZU (or untiered for those who don't consider that tier official yet)? Manectric was the absolute crux of my main laddering team for the last few weeks and has been crucial in enabling powerful monsters like Specs Kyurem to swoop in and have a much easier time firing off damage along with crippling and taking out key threats. But you're probably asking yourself, "what makes Manectric work in OU like you're describing?" Let's dig into Manectric's advantages, its sets, and why it works in OU. In addition to this, I'll be sharing some FAQs I got from people on Showdown when testing and laddering with the set; along with this, we'll be talking about what playstyles suit Manectric the best, what team partners Manectric's talents enable the best, as well as what partners Manectric has a better chance of succeeding in OU with.

Manectric's Advantages and Functions:


- Manectric's ability Lightningrod combined with access to powerful moves in Switcheroo, Volt Switch, and Overheat give Manectric a very usable and dangerous niche as a Pokemon with the ability to cripple or destroy certain powerful threats such as Ferrothorn, Toxapex, stat boost, or hazard setup sets (such as Dragon Dance Multiscale Dragonite or Leftovers Defensive Landorus-T), and a wide variety of others. In addition to being an incredible momentum-based Pokemon with fantastic combined role compression.
  • Lightningrod gives Manectric many possible opportunities to entirely ignore its lackluster (but in some cases underrated [which I'll get to later]) defensive profile and gain a free Special Attack boost thanks to its immunity to Electric-type attacks. This is absolutely crucial as it means Pokemon like Defensive Zapdos cannot touch Manectric and are cleanly 2HKO'd in return. Along with this, Manectric also outspeeds all variants of Zapdos (bar the extremely uncommon Scarf Zapdos), which means either the opponent is going to make the smart play and switch into something else (which you can then predict and use Switcheroo or Overheat to cripple or maim the switch-in) or stay in thinking it can tank, in which you still cripple it with Switcheroo and then you've taken out one of your opponent's keystone defensive profiles.

- Speaking of the above Switcheroo, Scarf Manectric is outspeeding most other Scarfers and boosted sweepers. Timid nature with base 105 speed means that Manectric will have a whopping 508 speed, which means that unless the opponent is running something like Scarf Dragapult, you've got the advantage. Crippling defensive profiles is absolutely key and prevents so many Pokemon from properly functioning; want to prevent Futureport Teleport Spam? Trick a Scarf, want to prevent Pokemon from utilizing Swords Dance boosts? Trick a Scarf. Want to prevent multi-hazard setters and bulky slow-mons from being able to deal with your whole team? Trick a Scarf. Ferrothorn, Toxapex, Blissey, Corviknight, some Clefable variants, Hawlucha, Defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, Mandibuzz, Substitute Arctozolt, Icy Rock Alolan Ninetales, Melmetal, Mew, Skarmory, the Slowtwins, Slowking-G, and Bulky / Quiver Dance Volcarona variants do not appreciate being crippled like this, as it gives you either great momentum opportunity, or entirely removes a Pokemon's purpose in the game. In addition to this, Manectric can then adapt to your team's specific needs depending on the item it steals from an opposing Pokemon. It's both a useful tool for scouting while maintaining momentum. In addition to this, you could forgo Switcherooing Scarf entirely to utilize Manectric's insane speed Scarfed to hit some impressive speed feats, which can work wonders in tandem with a predicted incoming Electric-type attack boosting Manectric's Special Attack up to surprisingly notable levels.

- The previously mentioned Overheat is an absolutely fantastic coverage tool, allowing even unboosted Manectric to get some impressive feats, while +1 Lightningrod boosted variants can hit some impressive damage benchmarks. This also means that the average 1500+ ELO opponent won't want to switch in certain Ground-types like Excadrill willy nilly; it puts pressure on the opponent, allowing you to score a unique opportunity to gain momentum or regain lost momentum. (I won't be putting Pokemon weak to both Thunderbolt and Overheat in these calculations, we'll get to that).


Overheat Damage Calculations:

252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Arctozolt: 328-386 (102.1 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (also can switch into Bolt Beak without worry and gain a free Special Attack boost, pretty nifty, right?)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Scizor: 408-480 (118.9 - 139.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rillaboom: 328-386 (96.1 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) --
guaranteed 2HKO (If you chose to hit Melmetal on the switch-in)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (If you don't have a Lightningrod boost and chose to Switcheroo on switch-in)
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 504-596 (143.1 - 169.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 340-400 (96.5 - 113.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 252-298 (69.8 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 376-444 (104.1 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 268-316 (95.3 - 112.4%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
-2 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 580-684 (223.9 - 264%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Lmao)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 1160-1368 (447.8 - 528.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

- Before we go further, I'd like to run two scenarios by you all, specifically revolving around Manectric's Defensive profile. Manectric's 70 / 60 / 60 may seem unusable, but it's JUST enough to survive crucial hits in absolutely critical scenarios; it also has an advantageous resistance to Flying-type moves, meaning that it can take certain attacks in a pinch, an incredible Electric immunity thanks to Lightningrod, and a more niche resistance to Steel-type moves. Let's take the following scenario as an example (something that has happened to me quite a few times in my testing); let's say your opponent uses Zeraora as a fast, physical pivot, and you've already tricked your Scarf onto another Pokemon. You predict a Plasma Fists, then switch in Manectric to get the Special Attack boost. You're then thinking, well, now Zeraora is gonna decimate me because Manectric is so weak, and Zeraora is faster right? This is actually not what will happen. More often than not, by this point in the match, players will want to keep their Zeraora in to hit Close Combat as you will have likely (if you played right) taken care of the Ground-type switch-ins. So Zeraora will most of the time click Close Combat. Manectric (even with chip) survives Close Combat, and then with +1 SpA and the -1 SpD drop from Close Combat, Manectric can OHKO in return.

252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 177-209 (62.9 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. -1 0 HP / 0 SpD Zeraora: 331-390 (104.4 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Well, now you're wondering, "well, there's the other common Zeraora option, Knock Off! Why not use that?" Well, you can, but the damage output does not reach the same level, and if Manectric has Switcheroo'd a Rocky Helmet onto itself (probably the most common item I've stolen in higher-level play), it puts Zeraora into critical damage ranges. In addition to this, unless your opponent calls a double bluff and uses Knock Off a second time (which rarely happens as Manectric has a chance to survive two Knock-Offs from full health), you can then switch to a Pokemon that either resists Close Combat (which will commonly be used) or is completely immune to it (such as Dragapult who is immune to Close Combat) and then you once again have momentum.

252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 143-169 (50.8 - 60.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 96-114 (34.1 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

In addition to this, Manectric could have also been Switcheroo'd some other item. Life Orb, Choice Specs, Leftovers, the momentum is unpredictable, allowing Manectric to create these mind games. As for the second scenario, let's say you're up against Bisharp (which may seem dumb as Manectric does not like to switch into Bisharp, but this is specifically for double switching, which is key to maintaining momentum in some cases and has happened way more often than you think). Your opponent already knows that Manectric has access to Overheat (which, especially as you ladder higher up, is far more likely). Your opponent understands that they will not have the opportunity to set up a Swords Dance (if they do Swords Dance, it's curtains for Bisharp) and will likely click Sucker Punch hoping to get a smack on Manectric. But since Manectric is relatively easy to keep at full health (even more so with Wish or Grassy Terrain support), Bisharp cannot score an OHKO even with an Adamant nature, full 252 attack EV investment, and the power boost given to its STAB Priority by Blackglasses.

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 220-261 (78.2 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Even with Stealth Rock chip, the chance to OHKO Manectric is less than 50%

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 220-261 (78.2 - 92.8%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

These are just a few examples from dozens I could list; Manectric's defensive profile is very situational. Still, it scores critical moments that other Pokemon can't reach or don't want to risk reaching. It's also worth noting that Manectric defensively comfortably survives Choice Band Weavile's Ice Shard and can take a +2 Ice Shard from Swords Dance Weavile in a pinch, while Manectric almost always OHKOs in return with a non-boosted Overheat (we're talking about Shard here as Manectric generally wants to keep its Scarf when dealing with Weavile).

252 Atk Choice Band Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 139-165 (49.4 - 58.7%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 204-241 (72.5 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Weavile: 280-330 (99.6 - 117.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

- Manectric's impressive 508 speed with a Choice Scarf is notable, but just as notable is its speed without Choice Scarf. 339 Speed with a Timid nature means that Manectric will be faster than a wide margin of OU, including the pesky base 102 Speed Garchomp (which with a +1 Overheat has a chance to 3HKO offensive variants and 4HKOs tanky variants that have max HP investment, meaning you can Switcheroo cripple set-up sets or pick off weakened Garchomp switch-ins). This means the only Pokemon that outspeed Manectric in OU are Dragapult, Hawlucha (who doesn't like to switch into or stay in on Manectric anyways), Kartana (which is easily OHKO'd by Overheat so Scarf variants that outspeed cannot switch-in without fear of getting melted), Tapu Koko (who wouldn't want to switch-in anyways as a boosted +1 Overheat OHKOs with hazard damage), Tornadus-Therian (which cannot handle STAB Thunderbolt or Volt-Switch, and Assault Vest Variants are easily crippled by Switcheroo), Weavile (which is also melted by Overheat), and Zeraora (which does not appreciate taking a boosted Overheat or being locked into Scarf thanks to Switcheroo).

- Mono-Electric typing means that defensively, Manectric only has one weakness, Ground types. However, this weakness to Ground-type moves can easily be worked around, and in many cases, Manectric actually counts on this weakness for prediction plays. Offensively, STAB Thunderbolt is fantastic; 105 Special Attack is a solid stat, and especially with a Lightningrod boost, can 2HKO or OHKO some of the most threatening Pokemon in the OU Metagame.


Thunderbolt Damage Calculations (Neutral):


252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 368-434 (123.9 - 146.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 264-312 (66 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 204-242 (51 - 60.5%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (By this time you've most likely already Switcheroo'd Corviknight's Leftovers or Rocky Helmet, making it an assured 2HKO)
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 230-272 (54.3 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory: 338-398 (101.1 - 119.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 306-360 (77.6 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 170-204 (43.1 - 51.7%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 204-240 (59.3 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 278-330 (92.9 - 110.3%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 144-170 (47.3 - 55.9%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO (Even the rare fully Special Defense Calm or Careful Nature invested Toxapex has a high chance to be 2HKO'd by Thunderbolt, while every single other variants of Toxapex is cleanly 2HKO'd).
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 384-452 (112.6 - 132.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

So uninvested base 105 Special Attack Thunderbolt's chunk a lot of dangerous OU threats, or outright KO them, while 2HKOing a lot of neutrally hit Pokemon in OU as well (meaning there are way fewer safe-switch-ins than you think for Manectric. So now, let's take that oh-so-common Lightningrod boost and apply it here to some of the specific damage thresholds we talked about in the uninvested section.


Thunderbolt Damage Calculations (+1 Lightningrod):


+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 392-464 (98 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 306-360 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 342-404 (80.8 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 456-536 (115.7 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 258-306 (65.4 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 306-360 (88.9 - 104.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 282-332 (92.7 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO (for those Toxapex with higher Special Defense investment, Manectric still has a chance to OHKO all the way up to 252 HP / 123 SpD investment)

In addition, there are other aspects such as if Manectric Switcheroo'd itself a Life Orb (which is not as common but is still easy to attain if you predict Magic Guard Life Orb Clefable switch-ins), in which case, those chanced OHKOs become assured OHKOs, and some 2HKOs have a chance to OHKO or become OHKOs themselves.

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 398-468 (99.5 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 445-525 (105.2 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 335-398 (85 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Toxapex: 307-361 (100.9 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 281-330 (92.4 - 108.5%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

- STAB Volt Switch is absolutely crucial and a powerful part of Manectric's ability to maintain momentum. It deals a good amount of damage (not quite as much as Thunderbolt, but it will still be chunking things hard, especially at +1). Still, there's another critical advantage to Manectric's specific Volt Switches that other users don't have. First, we need to address SlowTurning or Slowporting. Many of the Pokemon who utilize SlowTurn strategies do not want to risk getting hit by Manectric at all, especially with the chip of hazards, so they're likely to switch out and allow you to Volt Switch on the Pokemon being brought in, giving you a free opportunity and regaining momentum. The only real slow-turning mon that Manectric doesn't like to deal with is Physical Pivot Flip Turn Swampert; on the flip side (hah), Swampert itself does not appreciate getting Switcheroo'd and losing its Leftovers or Rocky Helmet and getting locked into a move with Choice Scarf. We'll talk more about specific Volt-Switch situations and Pokemon v Pokemon Utility in the FAQ section.


Frequently Asked Questions:

Question 1:
Why would I not use one of OU's other electric types, such as Tapu Koko, Zapdos, Zeraora, or Magnezone?

Answer: Great question. Let's tackle each of these individually, starting with Tapu Koko.

Tapu Koko has a higher speed and a great attack stat but actually lacks in two critical areas comparatively, in its Special Attack and in the specific utilization of its movepool (Manectric's base Special Attack is 105, base 10 higher than Tapu Koko's 95). Sure Electric Terrain makes Tapu Koko's Electric-type moves hit nicely. Still, that lack of power in its coverage moves and inability to hit Steel-types super effectively (or cripple them, as Tapu Koko does not get access to Switcheroo or Trick) is where Manectric shines over it, along with Manectric's useful immunity to Electric moves. In addition to this, Tapu Koko's Electric attacks actually are a perfect switch-in opportunity for Manectric, as it not only gets a +1 boost from Lightningrod absorbing Thunderbolt, Discharge, or Volt Switch, but it benefits heavily from the Electric Terrain. If Tapu Koko is chipped, it has a chance to be OHKO'd by Overheat and is comfortably 2HKO'd by Manectric's RESISTED Thunderbolt. At the same time, STAB Dazzling Gleam from Tapu Koko only 2HKOs even with chip damage on Manectric (which is even less relevant if you predict correctly). If Manectric still has its scarf, it also has the benefit of outspeeding Tapu Koko as well.

+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko: 231-272 (82.2 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Koko in Electric Terrain: 156-183 (55.5 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Manectric: 159-187 (56.5 - 66.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Second, let's talk about Zapdos. You're probably wondering, "well, Zapdos gets powerful Fire and STAB Flying coverage in Heat Wave and Hurricane respectively (along with Weather Ball in Sun, Hail, or Rain) along with having a much better Special Attack stat and a better defensive profile, why wouldn't I use Zapdos instead?" Great points; let's talk about Zapdos. Zapdos is often required to run Heavy-Duty Boots to avoid taking a quarter of its health in chip damage from Stealth Rock, meaning that it's a little easier to play around. Zapdos also falls into the crowded base 100 Speed tier, meaning that it cannot outspeed Pokemon such as Garchomp, Mew, Volcarona, opposing Zapdos, or the rarer Victini and Galarian-Zapdos. Zapdos's additional Flying-type gives it an incredible immunity to Earthquake but also means that Zapdos is absolutely clipped by Rock and Ice-type attacks while only having neutrality to Electric attacks compared to Manectric's immunity to them and its subsequent Lightningrod boost. Similar to Tapu Koko, Zapdos is an easy target for Manectric to switch in on if predicted correctly, as the Lightningrod boost is phenomenal and allows Manectric to 2HKO both Offensive and Defensive variants of Zapdos with +1 consistently and comfortably.

+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 208-246 (64.7 - 76.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 208-246 (54.3 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Zapdos also does not like potentially losing its Heavy-Duty Boots, Leftovers, or Rocky Helmet to Manectric and being limited by Scarf, as it then becomes prone to chip, hazard damage, and repeated attacks. However, Manectric does not have such worries, as it's meant to zip in and out as quickly as possible and does not take a quarter of its Stealth Rock damage specifically, which is more common than Spikes or Toxic Spikes.

Third, Zeraora. "Well, Zeraora is fast, powerful, can run mixed sets, is faster than Manectric, has that fire coverage, and has Volt Absorb; why not him?" Another great set of points. Zeraora seems to outclass Manectric at first glance. However, taking a deeper look at Zeraora, it has many of the same issues that Tapu Koko has, along with some additional issues that counterbalance Koko's issues that Zeraora does not have. For example, Zeraora's Special Attack is still slightly lower than Manectric's (Zeraora's base 102 compared to Manectric's base 105), and Volt Absorb does not boost Zeraora's Special Attack, only restores HP. This means that Zeraora is most likely (bar some fringe sets) going to be losing out on comparative Special Attacking power by a wide margin compared to Manectric and does not have Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain to make up for it. In addition to this, Zeraora again does not get Switcheroo or Trick, meaning that it still does not have that niche to cripple certain Pokemon. In one of the above examples, I listed a common situation where Manectric handles Zeraora, but it goes deeper than that. While Zeraora indeed gets Fire coverage, if you'll notice, Zeraora does not get any Special Fire-Type coverage; it's all physical and with much lower base power than Manectric's Overheat. This means not only will you be missing certain damage benchmarks, but you'll be wearing down Zeraora quickly in some cases as both of its Fire-type coverage moves (Fire Punch and Blaze Kick) are contact moves. On top of this, Zeraora has a tough time slotting in Fire-type coverage due to the other moves it wants to use, such as Close Combat.

252 Atk Zeraora Blaze Kick vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 248-296 (70.4 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 176-208 (50 - 59%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Damage from Iron Barbs (and Rocky Helmet) is going to add up quickly. In addition, Zeraora's already shaky defensive profile of 88 / 75 / 80 is lowered after a Close Combat, making it squishier than Manectric. This combination and trouble with Zeraora's moveset keep Manectric's niche above Zeraora nice and solid, despite Zeraora's options.

Finally, we reach Magnezone. "Well, Magnezone hits way harder than Manectric on the Special side and can not only trap Steel-types but nail them with Body Press as well. So why would I not use Magnezone?" Another great question, let's dive into Magnezone some more. Magnezone is slow (base 60), meaning that some of the crucial Pokemon it wants to trap (Corviknight, Skarmory, and Scizor) can U-Turn out, spread more hazards, or heavily damage Magnezone before going down, respectively. Magnezone's secondary Steel typing actually works against it as well, as it means that additional common weaknesses hamper Magnezone's great 70 / 115 / 90 defensive profile to Fighting, Fire, along with a now 4x weakness to Ground. Along with this, Magnezone's reliance on Body Press means that it suffers from the same wear-down issues that Zeraora has, and without Iron Defense boosts, it's not able to hit certain damage Benchmarks.

252+ Def Magnezone Body Press vs. 252 HP / 80 Def Ferrothorn: 132-156 (37.5 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

In addition, the lack of Fire coverage (thanks to the removal of Hidden Power Fire) means that it cannot hit Steels on their Special side super effectively, which means that Steel types that Manectric would have a chance to cripple and take out (such as Melmetal who cannot be handled by Magnezone's Body Press quickly enough since Melmetal has access to Earthquake, or Specially Defensive Scizor which is neutral to all of Magnezone's attacks), cannot be anywhere near as easily handled by Magnezone. Finally, as mentioned before as well, Magnezone cannot Trick or Switcheroo its items as well, meaning that beyond a low-chance paralysis from one of its moves (or some other fringe options), Magnezone's support capabilities are more limited as well.

Question 2: Does Manectric have to use Choice Scarf? Would another item be perhaps viable?

Answer: Probably my favorite question involving Manectric, and the answer is both "yes" and "no" for a few simple reasons.

Manectric's Scarf Switcheroo set is, without a doubt, its best set (which we will get into after the FAQ, along with other parts of its movepool). However, other items have their benefits as well. For example, Choice Specs allows Manectric to hit power benchmarks immediately while easily being able to cripple Physical threats that you may feel uncomfortable giving a Scarf depending on your team building (such as Garchomp). Still, then you lose out on Manectric's incredible 508 Scarf speed benchmark. You can make this argument with Choice Band as well. Flame Orb or Toxic Orb are also interesting options as they can be incredible for shutting down certain Physical threats or wearing down stall like Blissey. Still, at the same time, this means to avoid getting status yourself, you'll only be able to switch Manectric in when a Pokemon of your own has gone down, or you'll have to run a cleric on your team to anticipate this. So while having the additional options are nice, it means you need to dedicate additional support to a Pokemon that already needs support, and thus, in my opinion (and some testing with other items), descends from Scarf Switcheroo's great niche to the other items usable but gimmick niche.

Question 3: Does Manectric gain other moves or options beyond the ones listed?

Answer: Absolutely, but we'll get into those in a moment.

Question 4: I saw your post on the forum! Can you share a Manectric team you've been using?

Answer: Of course, I'd be happy to! I hope you enjoy using it! (Also thanks to BoomFantastic for helping me build this. This team contains Manectric, Heatran, Toxapex, Landorus-T, Corviknight, and Kyurem. Please note the special EVs on a few of the bulkier Pokemon, if you have any questions feel free to message me)! - https://pokepast.es/5a397b29122433c9

Manectric's Main Set

Switcheroo Scarf Set
Manectric @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Switcheroo
- Volt Switch

Since we've described what this set does in painstaking detail above, let's talk about the additional movepool options Manectric has. (As a fair warning, I do not recommend deviating too far from this set or really using another set at all, as the options I'm about to talk about while being able to work are still very niche and do ruin Manectric's niche a little bit). With a bit of investment, Ice Fang gets some surprise 2HKOs on specific threats like Garchomp but is still incredibly niche, and you really don't want to remove Special Attack EVs to accommodate the 32 or more Attack EVs you'd need to reach the 2HKO benchmark on those threats. Flamethrower is also in Manectric's movepool and can be useful in specific situations where you need to stay in on something (where the -2 drop from Overheat really doesn't appreciate that approach) along with the 100% accuracy. Still, the power drop from Overheat's 130 to Flamethrower's 90 is felt in a big way in many other damage calculations. The situations where Flamethrower's consistency and higher accuracy would be more relevant are few in number compared to Overheat's power. Roar, Toxic, Substitute, Light Screen, Protect, and Snarl are additional options, but their utility is generally not as useful on Manectric and, as a result, are generally outclassed. Thunder is a great option on Rain teams and pushes Manectric's damage output even higher, but we'll get to that. Manectric has Curse and access to a great Physical movepool, including Psychic Fangs, STAB Wild Charge, Crunch, the previously mentioned Ice Fang, and Fire Fang. Still, if this kind of gimmick were really usable beyond joke teams, we'd see Electivire everywhere. Manectric also gains Hyper Voice, which could technically be useful in some very niche situations. Still, overall Normal coverage really provides nothing for Manectric and has a tough time fitting it onto a set.

What Manectric Appreciates:

Grassy Terrain | Wish and/or Cleric Support:
Are you finding that Manectric gets worn down too quickly? Grassy Terrain is absolutely incredible support for Manectric, as it passively recovers Manectric's health, along with halving the damage to Earthquake. Rillaboom as a Pokemon itself is great, thanks to Grassy Glide's priority and its nice synergy with Manectric as is, but we'll get into that later. Finally, Wish support is charming for Manectric, giving it additional longevity, and as is it partners well with Pokemon commonly used for Wish passing. In addition to this, having a dedicated Cleric (or a Pokemon that can compress Wish passing and Clerical healing into one slot) is wonderful for Manectric to stay overall healthy and avoid dipping into potentially dangerous Defensive percentage ranges.

Hazard and/or Status Support | Defog or Rapid Spin Support | Knock Off: Depending on the type of team you're building, Manectric appreciates your side of the field being clear of hazards or the opponent's side of the field having hazards planted on them. The chip from Stealth Rock, Spikes, or the status wear down of Toxic Spikes, or other status-inducing moves allow Manectric to quickly wear down your opponent's team either through repeated heavy hits or continued switch-outs with Volt Switch. Knock Off support is wonderful as it allows Manectric to deal with Leftovers, Assault Vest variants, or other pesky builds if Manectric has received an item via Switcheroo that it doesn't want to get rid of.

Rain: This may seem counterproductive given that it weakens Overheat, but in actuality, it means that Manectric can run STAB Thunder, which potentially means it could ease the burden of prediction on yourself (provided you've taken care of Landorus-T, Garchomp, etc. ahead of time) and Overheat still hits nasty useful benchmarks even when weakened a little by rain. +1 Lightningrod STAB Thunder under the rain is absolutely not to be underestimated.

Potential Manectric Partners

Disclaimer: I will only be talking about Pokemon that I have personally tested. I'm sure there are more incredible partners for Manectric out there, and if you wish to bring that up, that would be wonderful! But I'm only going to be talking about the Pokemon I have personally had good results using Manectric in conjunction with. I would also like to thank BoomFantastic for his wonderful help with Kyurem, Corviknight, Toxapex, Landorus-T, and Heatran.

Kyurem


Kyurem is an absolute monster in OU right now, and thanks to its coverage and powerful attacks, Specs variants are absolutely brutal alongside Manectric's support and bulky mon crippling abilities. Kyurem will be able to come in easier on a predicted switch thanks to Manectric's Volt Switch and be able to fire off absolutely nuclear STAB Ice Beams, STAB Freeze-Dry's, Earth Powers, and Focus Blasts. Kyurem's resistances, courtesy of being half Dragon-type, along with it being one of the few Dragons neutral to Ice, is absolutely complimentary for your team's defensive profile as well as its offensive profile. Between Kyurem and Manectric's vicious attacks, you also have the coveted STAB BoltBeam coverage that is absolutely deadly against a large portion of the metagame.

Corviknight

Corviknight handles many of the Physical threats that Manectric doesn't want to stay in on really well. It is immune to Earthquake, has access to both Defog and Roost to keep itself healthy while indirectly keeping Manectric healthy due to Defog clearing hazards off of the field (this can also patch up Overheat's accuracy thanks to Defog's evasion drop). In addition to this, Corviknight has a complimentary slow U-Turn that eases the burden of prediction on your team as well while forming the dreaded VoltTurn core. Corviknight has a wealth of additional options on the defense and support spectrums. Corviknight is one of the (arguably) best Pokemon in OU, and the synergy between Corviknight and Manectric should not be underestimated.

Swampert


Physical Pivot Swampert sets are a great partner for Manectric. Not only does Manectric's Electric / Fire offensive combination work really well with Swampert's Water / Ground offenses, but Swampert can also set up Stealth Rock, then use a slow Flip Turn out to form another variant of the VoltTurn core. Of course, Swampert itself requires support but compressing Rocks, Water/Ground typing, and slow Flip Turns into one team slot, and combining that with Manectric's support capabilities is absolutely something worth looking into.

Rillaboom


Not only is Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain wonderful in helping to keep Manectric healthy as outlined above, but having priority STAB Grassy Glide along with a wide variety of powerful coverage and utility moves such as High Horsepower, Knock Off, and Superpower are an absolute boon to Manectric's survivability thanks to Rillaboom's ability to pick off key threats with ease and severely maim others into range for Manectric to pick off with either Overheat or Thunderbolt. In addition, Rillaboom gains access to and commonly uses U-Turn, which is absolutely stellar once again, thanks to the previously mentioned VoltTurn core.

Landorus - Therian


If you think we'd be leaving off arguably the best glue in OU as a great partner for Manectric, you'd be wrong. Landorus-T not only compliments Manectric extremely well with its Ground / Flying typing, but is immune to Earthquake, has Intimidate to further deal with Physical switch-ins to Manectric, and can Defog hazards away or set up its own Stealth Rocks. Knock Off and U-Turn are both parts of Landorus-T's arsenal and provide wonderful support as well. Specially Defensive Landorus-T variants are an absolute gem as well. Still, I could go on all day about Landorus-T's presence in OU, so we'll leave the gushing about Landorus-T individually here for now. With that being said, the combination synergy between Landorus-T and Manectric can absolutely throw your opponent off balance and invalidate quite a few important cores.

Scizor


Scizor is a wonderful partner for Manectric as it can pick off troublesome Pokemon or weaken them with options such as STAB Bullet Punch, Knock Off, or Superpower. In addition to this, Scizor has reliable recovery in Roost to keep itself heavy, along with a powerful STAB U-Turn which, combined with Manectric's STAB Volt Switch, is one of the most dangerous VoltTurn variant cores in sheer damage output. Powerful priority is always a boon when supporting any defensively squishy Pokemon, and Manectric is no exception.

Heatran


Heatran has the ability to set up Stealth Rock, trap Pokemon with STAB Magma Storm, wear them down with Toxic, and has excellent coverage in Earth Power to go along with its potent Fire / Steel STABs, and is generally one of the most flexible and respected Pokemon in OU, particularly Specially Defensive variants. So while Manectric doesn't like going up against Heatran (at least not the Specially Defensive sets), it absolutely loves having it as a partner due to its combined Defensive and Support capabilities.

Toxapex


The Pex, the GOAT, the Pokemon that made people absolutely tear their hair out for years. Toxapex's Defensive and Support capabilities speak for themselves, and Manectric partners with it fantastically. Regenerator is absolutely clutch for Toxapex, keeping it healthy, along with access to Recover. So whether you need to set up Toxic Spikes, shut down setup sweepers with Haze, cripple Physical attackers with Scald, or cripple anything with Knock Off, Toxapex has you covered.

Concluding Thoughts

Manectric surprised me in how quickly it became tied for the MVP of one of my most used main teams alongside Choice Specs Kyurem, and I absolutely love Manectric from both a competitive and design standpoint. I'm also pretty shocked (hah) that a post about Manectric's competitive OU viability became my longest Smogon post of all time (and probably one of the longest posts I've done on any forum in general). It's fast, powerful enough for what it needs to do, and absolutely deadly with the way it affects many of the common Pokemon and team archetypes jumping around OU at the moment. Manectric can be a wonderful asset for your team. If high prediction play and switch strategy are your forte, I highly recommend giving it a shot if you want a strong, reliable member of your team that can, if played properly, cripple or take down two or more of your opponent's Pokemon reliably.



"Wahahaha! A battle with you is always charged with shocking power!" - Gym Leader Wattson
Also sorry to quote my own post, but I got asked and messaged about my Manectric post so much on both the forums and the Showdown client that I felt the need to edit some things. I added some new images to make the huge wall of text easier to read, I fixed up some formatting, fonting, grammatical, and spelling errors along with some minor EV typos (nothing relevant or noticeable to the information, more or less just a pet peeve).

Along with this, a bunch of people asked me for a Manectric team, so I dropped a team under the FAQ section of the Manectric post that I've been using for the last two weeks predominately, it's easily pasteable into Showdown. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
 
Last edited:
What's the difference between this set and Leftovers NP Hydreigon with some bulk investment? You still check the same stuff like Slowbro, Slowking, Blacephalon, etc. but still have the offensive presence and speed tier to threaten stuff like Tapu Lele and Landorus-T.
7EC77BFF-4612-4033-A938-4832E93BBF19.jpeg

gonna be completely honest here and say that I just wanted to compliment the dudes post without breaking the forum rules, so I just chose to talk about something I had ran recently. Extra sp def (not max) helps it check mons like volcanion, venusaur and Victini. It forms a pretty nice defensive core with ferrothorn and Tapu Fini. Albeit, the standard bulky spread is probably better in almost every situation, but with volcanion on the rise, it can become a p neat role compression option.
 

adem

yap
is a Tutoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Hi, I am not really that much of a CG OU player, but I play a bit and lurk in the subforum occasionally and when I came across this post being mentioned in the discord, I saw that there were some points here which I want to address.

Lightningrod gives Manectric many possible opportunities to entirely ignore its lackluster (but in some cases underrated [which I'll get to later]) defensive profile and gain a free Special Attack boost thanks to its immunity to Electric-type attacks. This is absolutely crucial as it means Pokemon like Defensive Zapdos cannot touch Manectric and are cleanly 2HKO'd in return. Along with this, Manectric also outspeeds all variants of Zapdos (bar the extremely uncommon Scarf Zapdos), which means either the opponent is going to make the smart play and switch into something else (which you can then predict and use Switcheroo or Overheat to cripple or maim the switch-in) or stay in thinking it can tank, in which you still cripple it with Switcheroo and then you've taken out one of your opponent's keystone defensive profiles.
TMK, even Defensive Zapdos runs some sort of non-Electric type move, be it Heat Wave or Hurricane, which, if you look at some of the calcs:

0 SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Manectric: 124-147 (44.1 - 52.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

0 SpA Zapdos Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Manectric: 108-127 (38.4 - 45.1%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

“Walled” is a bit farfetched. It also, unfortunately, does not force out Zapdos:

252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 139-165 (36.1 - 42.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

The best you can do is threaten it with a Switcheroo, which cripples it, yes, but doesnt really achieve much that a lot of other Pokemon with much more defined niches in the tier can also accomplish, such as Tapu Fini.

Speaking of the above Switcheroo, Scarf Manectric is outspeeding most other Scarfers and boosted sweepers. Timid nature with base 105 speed means that Manectric will have a whopping 508 speed, which means that unless the opponent is running something like Scarf Dragapult, you've got the advantage. Crippling defensive profiles is absolutely key and prevents so many Pokemon from properly functioning; want to prevent Futureport Teleport Spam? Trick a Scarf, want to prevent Pokemon from utilizing Swords Dance boosts? Trick a Scarf. Want to prevent multi-hazard setters and bulky slow-mons from being able to deal with your whole team? Trick a Scarf. Ferrothorn, Toxapex, Blissey, Corviknight, some Clefable variants, Hawlucha, Defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, Mandibuzz, Substitute Arctozolt, Icy Rock Alolan Ninetales, Melmetal, Mew, Skarmory, the Slowtwins, Slowking-G, and Bulky / Quiver Dance Volcarona variants do not appreciate being crippled like this, as it gives you either great momentum opportunity, or entirely removes a Pokemon's purpose in the game. In addition to this, Manectric can then adapt to your team's specific needs depending on the item it steals from an opposing Pokemon. It's both a useful tool for scouting while maintaining momentum.
This is really what all scarfers with access to a item switching move can do, ie, the aforementioned Tapu Fini. This is all also assuming you dont get Knocked, and when you, as referenced later in this post, switch into the likes of Zeraora, one of the most prolific Knockers in the tier, you are bound to get Knocked Off, so having your scarf ready all the time to cripple something is not really realistic.

In addition to this, you could forgo Switcherooing Scarf entirely to utilize Manectric's insane speed Scarfed to hit some impressive speed feats, which can work wonders in tandem with a predicted incoming Electric-type attack boosting Manectric's Special Attack up to surprisingly notable levels.
Issue is, Manectric is far to weak to actually utilising this speed tier, as even Pokemon such as Corviknight can easily stay in and scout your move, and faster Pokemon that you are suppose to actually revenge kill with, say, Zeraora, cant be, because you are using Manectric. Pokemon such as Dragapult is a prime example of this. This means, yeah sure, you are fast as fuck, but you cant exactly put that speed to good use if you dont force things out.

The previously mentioned Overheat is an absolutely fantastic coverage tool, allowing even unboosted Manectric to get some impressive feats, while +1 Lightningrod boosted variants can hit some impressive damage benchmarks. This also means that the average 1500+ ELO opponent won't want to switch in certain Ground-types like Excadrill willy nilly; it puts pressure on the opponent, allowing you to score a unique opportunity to gain momentum or regain lost momentum. (I won't be putting Pokemon weak to both Thunderbolt and Overheat in these calculations, we'll get to that).
Overheat is really an impressive coverage tool, as Fire / Electric is hard to deal with outside of Ground-types, issue is, Manectrics pitiful 105 SpA means this hardly is ever threatening, outside of mons with pitiful bulk / a horrid weakness to it. The Excadrill point is also not really relevant, as for one, it is a mon dropping in usage drastically, and 2, anyone who has played the game will know that if there is a Manectric, there will always be Fire coverage, because thats the main draw to it.

252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Arctozolt: 328-386 (102.1 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO (also can switch into Bolt Beak without worry and gain a free Special Attack boost, pretty nifty, right?)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Scizor: 408-480 (118.9 - 139.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rillaboom: 328-386 (96.1 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (If you chose to hit Melmetal on the switch-in)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 128 HP / 252+ SpD Melmetal: 230-272 (51.9 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (If you don't have a Lightningrod boost and chose to Switcheroo on switch-in)
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 504-596 (143.1 - 169.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 176+ SpD Ferrothorn: 340-400 (96.5 - 113.6%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 252-298 (69.8 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Excadrill: 376-444 (104.1 - 122.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 268-316 (95.3 - 112.4%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
-2 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 580-684 (223.9 - 264%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Lmao)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 1160-1368 (447.8 - 528.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
All of these Calcs are also completely irrelevant as they are never happening in a legitimate battle scenario, as, for example, no one is swapping their Kartana in on Manectric. The closest one to relevancy is the AV Melm one, but even that is pushing it, and on the contrary, shows how weak Manectric is.

Before we go further, I'd like to run two scenarios by you all, specifically revolving around Manectric's Defensive profile. Manectric's 70 / 60 / 60 may seem unusable, but it's JUST enough to survive crucial hits in absolutely critical scenarios; it also has an advantageous resistance to Flying-type moves, meaning that it can take certain attacks in a pinch, an incredible Electric immunity thanks to Lightningrod, and a more niche resistance to Steel-type moves. Let's take the following scenario as an example (something that has happened to me quite a few times in my testing); let's say your opponent uses Zeraora as a fast, physical pivot, and you've already tricked your Scarf onto another Pokemon. You predict a Plasma Fists, then switch in Manectric to get the Special Attack boost. You're then thinking, well, now Zeraora is gonna decimate me because Manectric is so weak, and Zeraora is faster right? This is actually not what will happen. More often than not, by this point in the match, players will want to keep their Zeraora in to hit Close Combat as you will have likely (if you played right) taken care of the Ground-type switch-ins. So Zeraora will most of the time click Close Combat. Manectric (even with chip) survives Close Combat, and then with +1 SpA and the -1 SpD drop from Close Combat, Manectric can OHKO in return.

252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 177-209 (62.9 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. -1 0 HP / 0 SpD Zeraora: 331-390 (104.4 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO



Well, now you're wondering, "well, there's the other common Zeraora option, Knock Off! Why not use that?" Well, you can, but the damage output does not reach the same level, and if Manectric has Switcheroo'd a Rocky Helmet onto itself (probably the most common item I've stolen in higher-level play), it puts Zeraora into critical damage ranges. In addition to this, unless your opponent calls a double bluff and uses Knock Off a second time (which rarely happens as Manectric has a chance to survive two Knock-Offs from full health), you can then switch to a Pokemon that either resists Close Combat (which will commonly be used) or is completely immune to it (such as Dragapult who is immune to Close Combat) and then you once again have momentum.

252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 143-169 (50.8 - 60.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 96-114 (34.1 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
This scenario is so extremely far fetched, than at most, it’ll happen 1/100 times vs players who dont bother to Calc, and 0/0 times for people who do. This is all assuming:
-You predict correctly and Zera Plasma’s into you
-You have not sustained 2 rounds of Stealth Rock chip (swap in on rocks once before, and once as you switch into Zera)
-They dont bother to Calc, and CC you.

Alternatively, for the Knock off scenario:
-You predict correctly and Zera Plasma’s into you
-You have not sustained 3 rounds of Stealth Rock chip (swap in on rocks twice before, and once as you switch into Zera)
-They dont bother to Calc, and Knock you.
-Instead of CCing you once they realise Knock isnt enough to kill, they Knock again

This scenario is extremely unrealistic and will never happen in any form of high level gameplay.

In addition to this, Manectric could have also been Switcheroo'd some other item. Life Orb, Choice Specs, Leftovers, the momentum is unpredictable, allowing Manectric to create these mind games. As for the second scenario, let's say you're up against Bisharp (which may seem dumb as Manectric does not like to switch into Bisharp, but this is specifically for double switching, which is key to maintaining momentum in some cases and has happened way more often than you think). Your opponent already knows that Manectric has access to Overheat (which, especially as you ladder higher up, is far more likely). Your opponent understands that they will not have the opportunity to set up a Swords Dance (if they do Swords Dance, it's curtains for Bisharp) and will likely click Sucker Punch hoping to get a smack on Manectric. But since Manectric is relatively easy to keep at full health (even more so with Wish or Grassy Terrain support), Bisharp cannot score an OHKO even with an Adamant nature, full 252 attack EV investment, and the power boost given to its STAB Priority by Blackglasses.

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 220-261 (78.2 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 328-386 (121 - 142.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Even with Stealth Rock chip, the chance to OHKO Manectric is less than 50%

252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 220-261 (78.2 - 92.8%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

These are just a few examples from dozens I could list; Manectric's defensive profile is very situational. Still, it scores critical moments that other Pokemon can't reach or don't want to risk reaching. It's also worth noting that Manectric defensively comfortably survives Choice Band Weavile's Ice Shard and can take a +2 Ice Shard from Swords Dance Weavile in a pinch, while Manectric almost always OHKOs in return with a non-boosted Overheat (we're talking about Shard here as Manectric generally wants to keep its Scarf when dealing with Weavile).

252 Atk Choice Band Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 139-165 (49.4 - 58.7%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Manectric: 204-241 (72.5 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Weavile: 280-330 (99.6 - 117.4%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
I dont know how you can think a pivot prone to all forms of Hazards is easy to keep at 100%, and if you are relying on Wish support to keep it at 100, (which i couldnt see on the example team you posted on the discord, and not grassy terrain either), then it makes the Pokemon seem much frailer than it already is. And the bisharp could also be Life Orb, so even assuming you take no chip, you still die. The Weavile calcs also mean the same, as getting literally 1 round of Rocks chip on this Pokemon, as you say, its curtains for Manectric.

+2 252+ Atk Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manectric: 205-243 (72.9 - 86.4%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

And if you keep your scarf you also are unable to cripple anything, meaning the big part of your niche is gone. Weavile also has much more longevity than Manectric, as being able to hold boots is extremely valuable, and aids it greatly.

Manectric's impressive 508 speed with a Choice Scarf is notable, but just as notable is its speed without Choice Scarf. 339 Speed with a Timid nature means that Manectric will be faster than a wide margin of OU, including the pesky base 102 Speed Garchomp (which with a +1 Overheat has a chance to 3HKO offensive variants and 4HKOs tanky variants that have max HP investment, meaning you can Switcheroo cripple set-up sets or pick off weakened Garchomp switch-ins). This means the only Pokemon that outspeed Manectric in OU are Dragapult, Hawlucha (who doesn't like to switch into or stay in on Manectric anyways), Kartana (which is easily OHKO'd by Overheat so Scarf variants that outspeed cannot switch-in without fear of getting melted), Tapu Koko (who wouldn't want to switch-in anyways as a boosted +1 Overheat OHKOs with hazard damage), Tornadus-Therian (which cannot handle STAB Thunderbolt or Volt-Switch, and Assault Vest Variants are easily crippled by Switcheroo), Weavile (which is also melted by Overheat), and Zeraora (which does not appreciate taking a boosted Overheat or being locked into Scarf thanks to Switcheroo).
A lot (Too much, even) of your mentions here include the fact that Manectric will be at +1, which, unfortunately, is extremely unlikely in most cases, barring extremely smart predictions, especially considering Electric moves in general arent that easy to click with Lando and Hippo everywhere. The points about the Pokemon you mentioned are also just wrong or confusing. Hawlucha can easily stay in and KO Manectric, so I dont get why it cant stay in, it also can even swap in at least once if it has a +SpDef speed, so the point about it not switching in at least partly wrong. Kartana isnt going to be swapping into a Pokemon with special Fire-type coverage, but it definitely forces it out, which is the main point that should be addressed. Tapu Koko, as previously mentioned +1 Overheat is unrealistic, and unironically also eats a +1 Overheat, in case that ever happens, and can also switch in multiple times and roost of the damage dealt, and hazard damage isnt happening as they run boots most of the time. I dont think you realise how weak Manectric is, as Torn can switch in on a Thunderbolt and not even get OHKOed, and even a Volt Switch as realistically, after a few turns it heals off the damage dealt. Weavile isnt switching nor staying in, and again outspeeds if you drop the scarf. The Zera scenario is also never going to happen, but yes, all of them fear being fucked by Switcheroo.

252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hawlucha: 368-434 (123.9 - 146.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 264-312 (66 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 204-242 (51 - 60.5%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (By this time you've most likely already Switcheroo'd Corviknight's Leftovers or Rocky Helmet, making it an assured 2HKO)
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 230-272 (54.3 - 64.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skarmory: 338-398 (101.1 - 119.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 306-360 (77.6 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 170-204 (43.1 - 51.7%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 204-240 (59.3 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 278-330 (92.9 - 110.3%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 144-170 (47.3 - 55.9%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO (Even the rare fully Special Defense Calm or Careful Nature invested Toxapex has a high chance to be 2HKO'd by Thunderbolt, while every single other variants of Toxapex is cleanly 2HKO'd).
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 384-452 (112.6 - 132.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
A bit overplaying here, dont think Mandibuzz is really the “most threatening Pokemon in the OU Metagame” but eh, and to be honest, most of these calcs just show how weak this Pokemon is. Slowking switching into and easily scouting the TBolt is just sad. Plus the fact that literally non of these will actually happen in game, as no one is switching say, Corviknight into an Electric type.

+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88 SpD Corviknight: 392-464 (98 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 306-360 (76.5 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 342-404 (80.8 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 456-536 (115.7 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 258-306 (65.4 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 306-360 (88.9 - 104.6%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 282-332 (92.7 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO (for those Toxapex with higher Special Defense investment, Manectric still has a chance to OHKO all the way up to 252 HP / 123 SpD investment)


In addition, there are other aspects such as if Manectric Switcheroo'd itself a Life Orb (which is not as common but is still easy to attain if you predict Magic Guard Life Orb Clefable switch-ins), in which case, those chanced OHKOs become assured OHKOs, and some 2HKOs have a chance to OHKO or become OHKOs themselves.

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 398-468 (99.5 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 144 SpD Mandibuzz: 445-525 (105.2 - 124.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 335-398 (85 - 101%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tapu Fini: 398-468 (115.6 - 136%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Toxapex: 307-361 (100.9 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex: 281-330 (92.4 - 108.5%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
Again, +1 Calcs not realistic and all of these will literally never happen in game, as no one is staying in with Toxapex on a boosted Electric type, lol.

STAB Volt Switch is absolutely crucial and a powerful part of Manectric's ability to maintain momentum. It deals a good amount of damage (not quite as much as Thunderbolt, but it will still be chunking things hard, especially at +1). Still, there's another critical advantage to Manectric's specific Volt Switches that other users don't have. First, we need to address SlowTurning or Slowporting. Many of the Pokemon who utilize SlowTurn strategies do not want to risk getting hit by Manectric at all, especially with the chip of hazards, so they're likely to switch out and allow you to Volt Switch on the Pokemon being brought in, giving you a free opportunity and regaining momentum. The only real slow-turning mon that Manectric doesn't like to deal with is Physical Pivot Flip Turn Swampert; on the flip side (hah), Swampert itself does not appreciate getting Switcheroo'd and losing its Leftovers or Rocky Helmet and getting locked into a move with Choice Scarf. We'll talk more about specific Volt-Switch situations and Pokemon v Pokemon Utility in the FAQ section.
252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 170-204 (43.1 - 51.7%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO

Yeah im staying in and porting.

Anyways, I gotta head to sleep now, and this was definitely an interesting read BlackMalachite . Im glad to see people experimenting with new Pokemon, but I feel that there is a limit, and I think this is one. Thanks for the fun read!
 
Hi, I am not really that much of a CG OU player, but I play a bit and lurk in the subforum occasionally and when I came across this post being mentioned in the discord, I saw that there were some points here which I want to address.


TMK, even Defensive Zapdos runs some sort of non-Electric type move, be it Heat Wave or Hurricane, which, if you look at some of the calcs:

0 SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Manectric: 124-147 (44.1 - 52.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

0 SpA Zapdos Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Manectric: 108-127 (38.4 - 45.1%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

“Walled” is a bit farfetched. It also, unfortunately, does not force out Zapdos:

252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 139-165 (36.1 - 42.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

The best you can do is threaten it with a Switcheroo, which cripples it, yes, but doesnt really achieve much that a lot of other Pokemon with much more defined niches in the tier can also accomplish, such as Tapu Fini.



This is really what all scarfers with access to a item switching move can do, ie, the aforementioned Tapu Fini. This is all also assuming you dont get Knocked, and when you, as referenced later in this post, switch into the likes of Zeraora, one of the most prolific Knockers in the tier, you are bound to get Knocked Off, so having your scarf ready all the time to cripple something is not really realistic.



Issue is, Manectric is far to weak to actually utilising this speed tier, as even Pokemon such as Corviknight can easily stay in and scout your move, and faster Pokemon that you are suppose to actually revenge kill with, say, Zeraora, cant be, because you are using Manectric. Pokemon such as Dragapult is a prime example of this. This means, yeah sure, you are fast as fuck, but you cant exactly put that speed to good use if you dont force things out.



Overheat is really an impressive coverage tool, as Fire / Electric is hard to deal with outside of Ground-types, issue is, Manectrics pitiful 105 SpA means this hardly is ever threatening, outside of mons with pitiful bulk / a horrid weakness to it. The Excadrill point is also not really relevant, as for one, it is a mon dropping in usage drastically, and 2, anyone who has played the game will know that if there is a Manectric, there will always be Fire coverage, because thats the main draw to it.



All of these Calcs are also completely irrelevant as they are never happening in a legitimate battle scenario, as, for example, no one is swapping their Kartana in on Manectric. The closest one to relevancy is the AV Melm one, but even that is pushing it, and on the contrary, shows how weak Manectric is.



This scenario is so extremely far fetched, than at most, it’ll happen 1/100 times vs players who dont bother to Calc, and 0/0 times for people who do. This is all assuming:
-You predict correctly and Zera Plasma’s into you
-You have not sustained 2 rounds of Stealth Rock chip (swap in on rocks once before, and once as you switch into Zera)
-They dont bother to Calc, and CC you.

Alternatively, for the Knock off scenario:
-You predict correctly and Zera Plasma’s into you
-You have not sustained 3 rounds of Stealth Rock chip (swap in on rocks twice before, and once as you switch into Zera)
-They dont bother to Calc, and Knock you.
-Instead of CCing you once they realise Knock isnt enough to kill, they Knock again

This scenario is extremely unrealistic and will never happen in any form of high level gameplay.



I dont know how you can think a pivot prone to all forms of Hazards is easy to keep at 100%, and if you are relying on Wish support to keep it at 100, (which i couldnt see on the example team you posted on the discord, and not grassy terrain either), then it makes the Pokemon seem much frailer than it already is. And the bisharp could also be Life Orb, so even assuming you take no chip, you still die. The Weavile calcs also mean the same, as getting literally 1 round of Rocks chip on this Pokemon, as you say, its curtains for Manectric.

+2 252+ Atk Weavile Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manectric: 205-243 (72.9 - 86.4%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

And if you keep your scarf you also are unable to cripple anything, meaning the big part of your niche is gone. Weavile also has much more longevity than Manectric, as being able to hold boots is extremely valuable, and aids it greatly.



A lot (Too much, even) of your mentions here include the fact that Manectric will be at +1, which, unfortunately, is extremely unlikely in most cases, barring extremely smart predictions, especially considering Electric moves in general arent that easy to click with Lando and Hippo everywhere. The points about the Pokemon you mentioned are also just wrong or confusing. Hawlucha can easily stay in and KO Manectric, so I dont get why it cant stay in, it also can even swap in at least once if it has a +SpDef speed, so the point about it not switching in at least partly wrong. Kartana isnt going to be swapping into a Pokemon with special Fire-type coverage, but it definitely forces it out, which is the main point that should be addressed. Tapu Koko, as previously mentioned +1 Overheat is unrealistic, and unironically also eats a +1 Overheat, in case that ever happens, and can also switch in multiple times and roost of the damage dealt, and hazard damage isnt happening as they run boots most of the time. I dont think you realise how weak Manectric is, as Torn can switch in on a Thunderbolt and not even get OHKOed, and even a Volt Switch as realistically, after a few turns it heals off the damage dealt. Weavile isnt switching nor staying in, and again outspeeds if you drop the scarf. The Zera scenario is also never going to happen, but yes, all of them fear being fucked by Switcheroo.



A bit overplaying here, dont think Mandibuzz is really the “most threatening Pokemon in the OU Metagame” but eh, and to be honest, most of these calcs just show how weak this Pokemon is. Slowking switching into and easily scouting the TBolt is just sad. Plus the fact that literally non of these will actually happen in game, as no one is switching say, Corviknight into an Electric type.



Again, +1 Calcs not realistic and all of these will literally never happen in game, as no one is staying in with Toxapex on a boosted Electric type, lol.



252 SpA Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 170-204 (43.1 - 51.7%) -- 7.4% chance to 2HKO

Yeah im staying in and porting.

Anyways, I gotta head to sleep now, and this was definitely an interesting read BlackMalachite . Im glad to see people experimenting with new Pokemon, but I feel that there is a limit, and I think this is one. Thanks for the fun read!
Thank you so much for the detailed reply! These are all some really good points, but I'd like to address some of the criticisms you've made, which I feel are absolutely valid and I'm going to be editing in some more details on my Manectric post as a result, but I feel you're really underestimating just how much Manectric forces mind games.

Starting with Zapdos, and an overarching theme I noticed throughout your reply is that prediction is being underlooked, at 1700+ I'm pretty easily able to get a Lightningrod boost, which is why I've found a lot of the calcs relevant, including the 2HKO Zapdos calcs I posted in the FAQ section. Thanks to the team composition, Zapdos is hesitant to click either Heat Wave or Thunderbolt because of Flash Fire Heatran and Lightningrod Manectric. For rain variants, you can also apply this logic to Weather Ball sets with something like Storm Drain Gastrodon as a partner. As for G-Slow, in a lot of cases I'd actually prefer that it does what you say. If you stay in, by that point I'm Switcherooin' a Scarf onto either Future Sight (in which case you have to manually switch), or onto your Teleport. Either way your G-Slow is practically deadweight, and the item Manectric gets from it (usually AV) helps it live even more benchmarks on the special side (and is useful as Manectric gets its utility from its offensive combinations as well, so AV limiting Switcheroo isn't much of an issue, if one at all actually).

I don't think 105 SpA is "pitiful" as I showed above with the Overheat damage calculations. If 105 was pitiful, then 100 and 95 (which are some commonly used SpA stats on OU staples) are dire. It's all about carefully predicting your opponent's switches and capitalizing on Manectric's 105 base speed to swing momentum in your favor. Manectric has the ability to outright OHKO some mons, but that's not its strength, the 2HKO is more important because of wear-down and matchups. I didn't list Mandibuzz as one of the most threatening mons, just double-checked my post, I just listed it as a good match-up for Manectric along with some damage calcs. Also in the case of Tapu Koko, I wouldn't consider taking up to 92% from +1 Overheat as "eating it", that's a pretty reliable OHKO with rocks if you play right.

A lot of the points you made ring a similar tune like "no-one is staying in with Toxapex", that's not the point of Manectric. The point is to predict via double switching to grab momentum, use the Scarf speed or Switcheroo something that absolutely hates scarf, then goes to town, slowly wearing things down with properly built cores and hazard. You're meant to make Manectric force your opponent to shuffle via that prediction and momentum, which is where the strength comes in. It wears down teams quickly, which is where the damage calculations become relevant (especially so at higher play I've found). Also, slight minor nitpick but the Manectric I posted runs 4 Def EVs, not 0. It may not seem as relevant, but oh boy it saves in some really critical situations.

Manectric is not meant to be an overpowering force, and a lot of those calcs (both neutral and +1) were meant to show how it capitalizes on a situation with its unique combination of moves and utility, the role compression and subsequent momentum are deadly, and even if Manectric only cripples one bulky mon like Pex with Scarf and dents something with Overheat, it will have opened a hole for your team to exploit nicely. This is where the strength of the Lightningrod, Switcheroo, Elec + Fire coverage, V-Switch, and base 105 Speed come in handy above all else and why comparing Trick users like Tapu Fini isn't really something to note as they serve completely different functions despite Trick's functionality. Tapu Fini cannot maintain momentum in the same way Manectric does.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 7)

Top