RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

This week, we’ll be fulfilling a reader request and peering under the hood of one of the most popular Eevee evolutions. Jolteon has some pretty serious issues, but it still manages to see a lot of play thanks to an exceptionally useful ability and speed that makes the Road Runner look positively sluggish. Take a look inside for ways to turn your Jolteon into a  purring engine of destruction!

Jolteon
Electric
HP: 65 Atk: 65 Def: 60 Sp Atk: 110 Sp Def: 95 Spd: 130
Ability: Volt Absorb: This Pokemon absorbs Electric-type attacks, up to 25% of its maximum HP.

Jolteon’s biggest, most obvious advantage is that incredible Spd. At 130, Jolteon ties or even outruns some of the fastest Pokemon in the game, including Gengar, Crobat, and Darkrai. Combined with its above-average Sp Atk, Jolteon is perhaps the best special sweeper out of all the Eevee evolutions. Jolteon’s high Spd also allows it to make unexpected use of various support options, such as Substitute, Baton Pass, and Wish.

Its biggest problems are mainly drawn from the conventions of Eevee evolutions and the Electric type as a whole. As with practically every critter that evolves from an Eevee, Jolteon’s movepool ranks somewhere between an evaporating puddle and the kiddie pool. This is further compounded by the fact that Electric-type Pokemon tend to suffer from the same shallowness of available moves, meaning that Jolteon ends up with a movepool which severely limits its usefulness. Jolteon’s stat distribution is fairly solid, thankfully, and its Electric typing means that it has only one weakness, but as is common to Electric Pokemon, it can’t take a physical hit to save its life.

To make Jolteon really effective, players need to capitalize on its ability to get it into play, and its astronomical Spd to make it effective once there. This critter doesn’t really have a wealth of options when it comes to movesets, but we’ve come up with a few suggestions for the electric kitten.

Thunderbolts and Lightning
Jolteon @Choice Specs
Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
252 Sp Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice / Signal Beam
-Baton Pass
Slapping a pair of Specs on Jolteon is a good way to make the most of its solid Sp Atk, although that poor movepool gives this kind of set fits. Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball are a good place to start, but without a specific Hidden Power, Jolteon loses fairly badly against Pokemon like Gliscor or Swampert, so they make great additions to this set if you have the patience to breed for specific Hidden Power types. Signal Beam makes a respectable replacement if you don’t want to bother with Hidden Power’s complications, but it’s much, much less effective.

In the fourth slot, a bit of strange. Baton Pass might seem like a pointless addition to a set without anything to pass on. However, given that it goes after your opponent switches out, it makes a very useful way to scout your foe out. This is especially effective in the early part of a match, since it allows you to see what your opponent is using to counter Jolteon without actually putting your Pokemon in danger.

Sheet Lightning
Jolteon @Leftovers
Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
252 Sp Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Thunderbolt / Charge Beam
-Baton Pass
-Substitute / Agility
-Wish
This Jolteon is a fair bit harder to use than Choice Specs Jolteon, but it’s also a good deal less expected. Jolteon’s options for passing are actually fairly varied, and if successful, it can throw around some impressive bonuses.

Thunderbolt is probably the better choice for attack, just based on its raw power, but using the much lower-powered Charge Beam will give you the ability to pass Sp Atk bonuses. On the whole, Charge Beam is a solid choice if you have another powerful special attacker who can make up for the lack of oomph on Jolteon’s part. In the third slot, both Substitute and Agility are extremely useful things to Baton Pass, but which one is most effective will depend on who else is on your team. Substitute is a great way to get other fragile attackers into play, or it can give Pokemon who need a bit of time to set up the breathing room they need. Agility, on the other hand, works best in a team with Pokemon who tend towards the slow side, like Metagross, Ursaring, or Scizor. Of the two, Substitute is the more broadly useful, but both moves have their uses.

In the third moveslot, Wish is really more filler than anything else. It can be useful as a way to refill Jolteon’s HP after repeated Substitutes, and it works decently as a way to spread healing to the rest of the team, but Jolteon’s extreme fragility is going to make it tough to use. This slot is a good place for Hidden Power Grass or Ice, if you have access to them.

Thunderhead
Jolteon @Damp Rock
Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
252 Sp Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Thunder
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power Water / Baton Pass
-Rain Dance
Jolteon’s high Spd makes it a solid choice for starting off a Rain Dance team. Since it outruns most common leads with Taunt, Jolteon won’t have to worry about some nasty Azelf stopping it from setting up. Jolteon also makes a solid sweeper in the rain just by itself, especially if you have access to Hidden Power Water. Baton Pass is also a solid choice for that slot, since, as with the Choice Specs set, it’ll allow you to scout your opponent’s next switch.

In all honesty, though, this set is really done a bit better by Electrode. Electrode has access to much of the same movepool as Jolteon, but also gets Taunt, Explosion, and another ten points of Spd, allowing it to outrun Aerodactyl. What Jolteon has over Electrode is durability, surprisingly enough. Whereas Electrode’s purpose is to set up Rain Dance and then Explode, clearing the way for the next sweeper, Jolteon can use his ability to get back into play over and over again, providing a useful Electric resist for Rain Dance teams that are usually packed full of Electric-weak Pokemon.

Thanks to Jolteon’s miniature movepool, there just isn’t much that can be done with the critter that’ll actually be effective. Still, Jolteon plays its role and plays it well, making it a great asset on a wide variety of teams. Next week, we’ll be doing another reader request; Breloom, the premier user of Pokemon’s only perfect-accuracy sleep move.