[OVERVIEW]
Jolteon is one of the best leads and paralysis spreaders in RBY Ubers, being one of the fastest Pokemon in the tier. With the rather uncommon Electric-type and great speed control, Jolteon can easily slide into a team that may need something to check the likes of Zapdos, Starmie, or Slowbro. Although worse than the Jolteon in OU, Ubers Jolteon is still a force to recognize and account for.
Jolteon, thanks to the aforementioned points, is one of the best leads in RBY Ubers. Jolteon can also work into opposing leads like Alakazam, Gengar, and Tauros, hindering each of them. In Gengar's case, Jolteon is able to resist powerful Thunderbolts, forcing Gengar to go for a slower KO with Night Shade, trade with Explosion, or switch, which can grant many paths for the rest of Jolteon's team. Not only does Jolteon wall out Zapdos, but Jolteon can easily switch in on and out damage the two best Water-types, being Slowbro and Starmie, the latter of which sometimes meets Jolteon in the lead slot.
Jolteon does unfortunately speed tie with Mewtwo, which can sometimes force lower HP Jolteon out in fear of Psychic. Jolteon also happens to be quite frail, being susceptible to powerful Earthquakes from Rhydon, Snorlax, Mew, and Tauros. Jolteon can also easily get walled out by some of the tier's most common threats, with Exeggutor and Rhydon being really scary. Jolteon can also fail to do enough damage, with its Special being about on par with the likes of Chansey.
[SET]
name: Paralysis Lead
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Pin Missile
move 4: Double Kick
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Thunder Wave acts as the main option for paralysis, granting Jolteon a near perfect accuracy paralysis move. This allows Jolteon to slot well on paralysis spam teams, slowing foes for slower allies like Snorlax to go in and close out the KO. Thunderbolt is Jolteon's primary STAB, hitting decently hard while again granting the chance for paralysis. Jolteon, because of its decent power and paralysis capabilities, favors the early game, which includes attempts at breaking and hindering opponents by removing tools or just rendering them useless.
Although Jolteon loves partners that help into Exeggutor, Pin Missile works as a way to take down a lower HP Exeggutor, either on the switch or in a 1v1 situation. Due to Thunderbolt out damaging Pin Missile in almost every other situation, this move becomes very situational. One of the few other situations Pin Missile does more damage than Thunderbolt is in the Amnesia Mewtwo matchup, in which Mewtwo is boosted too far for Thunderbolt to do any meaningful damage. Multi-hit moves in Gen 1 also work weirdly, because one hit gets a critical hit, all of them do. This combined with Jolteon's ___ crit rate makes this move more powerful than the base power says so. Pin Missile, however, is still quite unreliable, with its lower accuracy and multi-hit nature making this move do undesirable damage. To fix this gamble, allies such as Self-Destruct Snorlax and other boomers work nicely to help remove stuff like Exeggutor.
Double Kick rounds out Jolteon's standard kit, which serves one intended purpose; hitting Rhydon and Chansey for, damage. This is really Jolteon's only way of dealing with them, as Rhydon is immune to Thunderbolt and Thunder Wave while shrugging off Pin Missile, while Chaney easily takes Pin Missile and Thunderbolt while not really caring about Thunder Wave due to its already lower speed. Thunder Waving a Chansey can be suboptimal, as Jolteon's partner Sing Chansey or allies with freeze capabilities would much rather sleep or freeze them, respectively. Double Kick doesn't even do great damage, but on a critical hit can deal upwards 50% to Chansey, while still only doing 33% maximum to Rhydon. For these matchups, partners like Submission Mewtwo and Swords Dance or Boom Mew can help take these down.
As mentioned before, Jolteon is very effective at what it does; that being spreading paralysis. This allows allies such as Snorlax and Exeggutor to be great allies, as these slower threats appreciate the provided speed control. Mew is another great option as an ally, as well as Mewtwo. This is because paralysis can be very helpful in the mirror. For Mew specifically, since it isn't that fast compared to other threats, this speed control can allow for end games where Mew simply can't be stopped.
Jolteon can work well offensively, which is why Slowbro fits so well, as it helps threaten Rhydon that runs around, while also helping into Mewtwo, stalling with Rest+Amnesia, while also helping in the spreading of paralysis. Another option is a good and strong Blizzard abuser in Tauros, being able to hit both Rhydon and Exeggutor hard, but can sometimes get ignored and KOed via opposing Mewtwo. Speaking of, Ice Beam Mewtwo works greatly with Jolteon on the offensive side for the same reasons mentioned with Tauros, while being a better and easier Pokemon to drop on teams, especially since normally Tauros takes the lead spot on teams.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Unfortunately, Jolteon has very few variations when it comes down to move choices. One of these very few choices is Thunder, which is more inconsistent than Thunderbolt, but provides a higher paralysis chance while also doing more damage, dealing 81% minimum to Slowbro and has potential to OHKO Starmie. Very important thing you note is that Thunder does about 50% to Tauros, making it almost always 2HKO it, which can potentially flip the matchup on the switch. Overall this move is way too inconsistent, and in almost all scenarios Thunderbolt is a better option.
The only other move you consider on Jolteon is Rest, although you could argue Substitute can catch opponents switching into already paralyzed Pokemon in fear of Thunder Wave. Rest has the capability to remove status, while also keeping Jolteon healthy. This can be very weird in many cases though due to Jolteon's below optimal bulk, especially in a meta where Jotleon is always in fear of strong physical attackers with Earthquake (and boy are there a lot).
Checks and Counters
===================
**Non-STAB Earthquake**: Mentioned above, but Pokemon such as Mew, Tauros, etc. can all take a Thunderbolt/Double Kick and hit hard back. Jolteon can tolerate this though, as trying to just throw an Earthquake can result in a paralysis, which, in some cases, can leave Pokemon to be completely useless. Getting a Earthquake on a switch in from Jolteon is the best way to dull it, nullifying the risk of paralysis.
**Grass-types**: Exeggutor and the less common Victreebel can quite comfortably take a hit without sudden Pin Missile RNG kicking into overdrive and either put Jolteon to sleep, retaliate with Razor Leaf on Victreebel, or even just trade with Explosion on Exeggutor, which most of the time results in a OHKO onto Jolteon.
**Ground-types**: Rhydon and Golem are bulky Ground-type that Jolteon is very afraid of, although the latter is way less common. Earthquake on Golem still almost always takes a OHKO, but Explosion is there for the guaranteed OHKO onto Jolteon. Rhydon and Golem, due to the little damage Double Kick does without a crit, can also just set a substitute, scouting for a switch.
[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user1.100/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user2.101/
Quality checked by:
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Jolteon is one of the best leads and paralysis spreaders in RBY Ubers, being one of the fastest Pokemon in the tier. With the rather uncommon Electric-type and great speed control, Jolteon can easily slide into a team that may need something to check the likes of Zapdos, Starmie, or Slowbro. Although worse than the Jolteon in OU, Ubers Jolteon is still a force to recognize and account for.
Jolteon, thanks to the aforementioned points, is one of the best leads in RBY Ubers. Jolteon can also work into opposing leads like Alakazam, Gengar, and Tauros, hindering each of them. In Gengar's case, Jolteon is able to resist powerful Thunderbolts, forcing Gengar to go for a slower KO with Night Shade, trade with Explosion, or switch, which can grant many paths for the rest of Jolteon's team. Not only does Jolteon wall out Zapdos, but Jolteon can easily switch in on and out damage the two best Water-types, being Slowbro and Starmie, the latter of which sometimes meets Jolteon in the lead slot.
Jolteon does unfortunately speed tie with Mewtwo, which can sometimes force lower HP Jolteon out in fear of Psychic. Jolteon also happens to be quite frail, being susceptible to powerful Earthquakes from Rhydon, Snorlax, Mew, and Tauros. Jolteon can also easily get walled out by some of the tier's most common threats, with Exeggutor and Rhydon being really scary. Jolteon can also fail to do enough damage, with its Special being about on par with the likes of Chansey.
[SET]
name: Paralysis Lead
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Pin Missile
move 4: Double Kick
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Thunder Wave acts as the main option for paralysis, granting Jolteon a near perfect accuracy paralysis move. This allows Jolteon to slot well on paralysis spam teams, slowing foes for slower allies like Snorlax to go in and close out the KO. Thunderbolt is Jolteon's primary STAB, hitting decently hard while again granting the chance for paralysis. Jolteon, because of its decent power and paralysis capabilities, favors the early game, which includes attempts at breaking and hindering opponents by removing tools or just rendering them useless.
Although Jolteon loves partners that help into Exeggutor, Pin Missile works as a way to take down a lower HP Exeggutor, either on the switch or in a 1v1 situation. Due to Thunderbolt out damaging Pin Missile in almost every other situation, this move becomes very situational. One of the few other situations Pin Missile does more damage than Thunderbolt is in the Amnesia Mewtwo matchup, in which Mewtwo is boosted too far for Thunderbolt to do any meaningful damage. Multi-hit moves in Gen 1 also work weirdly, because one hit gets a critical hit, all of them do. This combined with Jolteon's ___ crit rate makes this move more powerful than the base power says so. Pin Missile, however, is still quite unreliable, with its lower accuracy and multi-hit nature making this move do undesirable damage. To fix this gamble, allies such as Self-Destruct Snorlax and other boomers work nicely to help remove stuff like Exeggutor.
Double Kick rounds out Jolteon's standard kit, which serves one intended purpose; hitting Rhydon and Chansey for, damage. This is really Jolteon's only way of dealing with them, as Rhydon is immune to Thunderbolt and Thunder Wave while shrugging off Pin Missile, while Chaney easily takes Pin Missile and Thunderbolt while not really caring about Thunder Wave due to its already lower speed. Thunder Waving a Chansey can be suboptimal, as Jolteon's partner Sing Chansey or allies with freeze capabilities would much rather sleep or freeze them, respectively. Double Kick doesn't even do great damage, but on a critical hit can deal upwards 50% to Chansey, while still only doing 33% maximum to Rhydon. For these matchups, partners like Submission Mewtwo and Swords Dance or Boom Mew can help take these down.
As mentioned before, Jolteon is very effective at what it does; that being spreading paralysis. This allows allies such as Snorlax and Exeggutor to be great allies, as these slower threats appreciate the provided speed control. Mew is another great option as an ally, as well as Mewtwo. This is because paralysis can be very helpful in the mirror. For Mew specifically, since it isn't that fast compared to other threats, this speed control can allow for end games where Mew simply can't be stopped.
Jolteon can work well offensively, which is why Slowbro fits so well, as it helps threaten Rhydon that runs around, while also helping into Mewtwo, stalling with Rest+Amnesia, while also helping in the spreading of paralysis. Another option is a good and strong Blizzard abuser in Tauros, being able to hit both Rhydon and Exeggutor hard, but can sometimes get ignored and KOed via opposing Mewtwo. Speaking of, Ice Beam Mewtwo works greatly with Jolteon on the offensive side for the same reasons mentioned with Tauros, while being a better and easier Pokemon to drop on teams, especially since normally Tauros takes the lead spot on teams.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Unfortunately, Jolteon has very few variations when it comes down to move choices. One of these very few choices is Thunder, which is more inconsistent than Thunderbolt, but provides a higher paralysis chance while also doing more damage, dealing 81% minimum to Slowbro and has potential to OHKO Starmie. Very important thing you note is that Thunder does about 50% to Tauros, making it almost always 2HKO it, which can potentially flip the matchup on the switch. Overall this move is way too inconsistent, and in almost all scenarios Thunderbolt is a better option.
The only other move you consider on Jolteon is Rest, although you could argue Substitute can catch opponents switching into already paralyzed Pokemon in fear of Thunder Wave. Rest has the capability to remove status, while also keeping Jolteon healthy. This can be very weird in many cases though due to Jolteon's below optimal bulk, especially in a meta where Jotleon is always in fear of strong physical attackers with Earthquake (and boy are there a lot).
Checks and Counters
===================
**Non-STAB Earthquake**: Mentioned above, but Pokemon such as Mew, Tauros, etc. can all take a Thunderbolt/Double Kick and hit hard back. Jolteon can tolerate this though, as trying to just throw an Earthquake can result in a paralysis, which, in some cases, can leave Pokemon to be completely useless. Getting a Earthquake on a switch in from Jolteon is the best way to dull it, nullifying the risk of paralysis.
**Grass-types**: Exeggutor and the less common Victreebel can quite comfortably take a hit without sudden Pin Missile RNG kicking into overdrive and either put Jolteon to sleep, retaliate with Razor Leaf on Victreebel, or even just trade with Explosion on Exeggutor, which most of the time results in a OHKO onto Jolteon.
**Ground-types**: Rhydon and Golem are bulky Ground-type that Jolteon is very afraid of, although the latter is way less common. Earthquake on Golem still almost always takes a OHKO, but Explosion is there for the guaranteed OHKO onto Jolteon. Rhydon and Golem, due to the little damage Double Kick does without a crit, can also just set a substitute, scouting for a switch.
[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user1.100/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user2.101/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user6.105/
Last edited:
