Pokemon Focus: #135 - Jolteon

Introduction

In this column, we cover the first of the Eevee evolutions. Eevee's evolutions have long been popular in some form or another, and Jolteon is among the most popular. Its biggest asset is a massive Speed stat; base 130 Speed will outrun almost any Pokemon, tie with several others, and can even outpace some Pokemon who have boosted their Speed. Add in a strong Special Attack stat and the excellent Volt Absorb ability, and throw in the ability to Baton Pass stuff, and you have a Pokemon with a very useful niche on many teams.

It's biggest problem is that training it in-game is a pain, especially now as it hardly learns anything in the way of special attacks. Get a Thunderbolt TM from somewhere pronto to maximize its effectiveness.

Capture/Training

Eevee. It's practically handed to you as a gift, so take it.

Jolteon's key move, Baton Pass, is learned at Level 36. Evolve it with a Thunderstone then, and prepare to teach it some good Electric moves, as I doubt you'd want to wait until Discharge at Level 78 to have one...

Stats

65 HP, 65 Atk, 60 Def, 110 SpA, 95 SpD, 130 Spe

You'll see this come up again. With any Eeveelution, one stat will get a strong 130 base stat, one will get a nice 110, one will get a decent 95, two will get 65, and one will get 60. Any Eeveelution will likely be judged on which stats get the powerful stats, so keep that in mind.

With that in mind, Jolteon's forte is clearly Speed. Jolteon is tied for the sixth-fastest Pokemon out there, being outsped only by three Deoxys forms, Ninjask, and Electrode, and tying speed with Aerodactyl, Crobat, and Mewtwo. Its Speed is high enough to even outrun many Pokemon after they raise their own Speed a level or two. Not only that, but it also has the Special Attack to seriously wound opponents with its moves. Essentially, Jolteon hits fast, and it can hit hard. And if that weren't enough, it also has the ability to sneak into battle, throw up a Substitute, then Baton Pass out before the opponent can even touch it, at which point a teammate essentially got in for free... and if you switch well, that Sub, weak as it might be, might still be intact after your opponent's attack... which gives you a free turn to set up. This is Jolteon's most infamous role, and it is extremely difficult to stop.

Abilities

Volt Absorb is your only choice. In many ways, it's a great choice. Jolteon needs a good way to sneak into a battle, and Volt Absorb provides a handy immunity with which, if a teammate can draw the Electric attack, it can switch in and start wreaking havoc. The extra healing helps, too, especially with a Pokemon as frail as it is that likely needs as much health as it can get back to make Substitutes with.

Moves

Jolteon possesses one of the fastest and hardest-hitting Thunderbolts in the game. It is Jolteon's primary attack, plain and simple. The only reason you would ever use something else is if you want the paralysis chance of Discharge or are running a Rain team and thus using Thunder.

Jolteon doesn't have much in the way of secondary attacks, either: it gets Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, and if you can manage a good one, Hidden Power. And that's it, really. I mean, you could play with Hyper Beam in-game, where a KO with Shift rules allows you to switch out, or a single-use base-200-power Trump Card...

Jolteon has one other attack option, Charge Beam. While it's not bad at all for increasing Jolteon's Special Attack to ridiculous levels, it's even better as a Baton Pass move to power up special sweepers.

Speaking of cards, Jolteon's true ace in the hole is Baton Pass. It might not have much to pass, but it really needs to pass little more than Substitutes. Fast Sub-Passing will be covered in-depth later. It can also pass the aforementioned Charge Beams, and Agility boosts. In general, it can scout-pass, (called dry-passing), scouting the opposing team for a switch-in and sending in an appropriate counter.

(At this point, I should mention that since Eevee itself gets Baton Pass, so does every one of its evolutions, and is oftentimes a key component in any Eeveelution.)

Jolteon can learn Thunder Wave to paralyze enemies. Jolteon himself might not need the Speed drop, but his teammates certainly might.

Roar is an option on Jolteon, albeit somewhat of an unappealing one due to being unreplenishable as a TM and pretty much negating its high Speed. Its main use would be to Roar away an opponent before they Roar your Subs and stat boosts out, or to screw up a Ninjask (one of the few Pokemon definitively faster than Jolteon in base speed).

Light Screen is situational, but can help against special attackers in keeping your Sub intact once it is passed.

Jolteon fits pretty well on Rain Dance teams thanks to an Electric immunity and access to Thunder. It can also start its own Rain Dance if you so choose.

A couple of options are available to all Eeveelutions, involving one Move Tutor move and several Egg Moves. (Hint: use Smeargle to breed Egg Moves onto Eevee more easily.) Wish is a good way to support the team (Jolteon is a bit frail to be using it himself). Charm, Tickle, Yawn, and Fake Tears all generally do the same thing: force the opponent to switch. Tickle is a bit less useful for Jolteon; as for the other three, if the opponent decides to stay in, Charm lowers Attack and allows Jolteon to take hits a little better, Yawn can put the opponent to sleep, and Fake Tears allows you to hit your opponent harder. Heal Bell is another team support option.

Effective Movesets

1. Standard SubPasser
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Thunderbolt/Charge Beam
- Shadow Ball/Charge Beam
Note: Here's the theory behind SubPassing. You switch Jolteon in on an Electric attack. While it switches to something that can hurt you, you Sub. Next turn, you Pass out, preferably to something that resists whatever attack you think is coming your way. (For example, pass it to a Gyarados or Salamence, who dodge incoming Ground attacks.) Then, behind that sub, that Pokemon can set up safely and start dismantling the opposing team.
This strategy works well against human players; however, keep in mind that many computer players don't switch and will simply keep going with their current Pokemon. (Also, many computer players don't use Choice items that would force them to switch.) When using against a CPU trainer, you will have to judge whether your opponent's "backup attack" can break your Sub. If it can, you might be better off just striking with Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball. Or, you might predict a status attack... in which case, sub away. Careful planning should allow you to pull off a successful SubPass even against CPU foes.
Charge Beam is available if you want to pass some Special Attack boosts before you pass on.

2. Choice Specs
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Signal Beam
- Baton Pass
Item: Choice Specs
Note: This Jolteon is obviously more offensive, and with base 130 Speed and base 110 Special Attack, it can be quite a fearsome threat. Or, at least, if you don't think so, Baton Pass out to scout.

3. Charge Beam Sweeper/Passer
- Charge Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Baton Pass/Signal Beam
Item: Life Orb
Note: Once you get the Charge Beam boost, this set can sweep nicely. Baton Pass allows you to throw those boosts to a teammate if you so choose.

4. Pure Baton Pass
- Baton Pass
- Charge Beam
- Agility
- Substitute
Note: This Jolteon is designed to fit on dedicated Baton Pass teams. Its goal is to simply pass as much as possible; as such, it won't pose an offensive threat on its own.

5. AgilityPass
- Baton Pass
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball/Substitute
Note: Some sites say Zapdos does it better. Zapdos only gets Baton Pass from XD, which I have no access to at the moment. At any rate, Jolteon functions fine as an Agility-passer, and if you don't care about the whole "outclassing" thing, then here it is. Unlike other Jolteon, this one doesn't really need that much Speed, since Agility takes care of that, although Speed is still an option.

6. Wish Jolteon
- Thunderbolt/Discharge
- Wish
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
Note: This Jolteon is team support. As such, Discharge is an option for the higher paralysis chance.

7. Switch-Forcing SubPassing
- Charm/Yawn/Fake Tears
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
Note: You can force a switch against human foes with your choice of the first three moves. Charm works well in-game, due to it reducing opponent attack power and increasing the chances that your Sub stays intact. Yawn is to be used strategically; in-game the opponent likely won't switch, so you may want to wait until after the opponent falls asleep before throwing up the Sub. Fake Tears offers a pseudo-offensive route: if the opponent doesn't switch, they're going to be facing some nasty Thunderbolts. Since the first three moves are not readily interchangeable, this set is really three different sets with a common goal.

8. Offensive Fake Tears
- Fake Tears
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Signal Beam
Note: This is best as an in-game team, to prey on opponents who don't switch out much. After a Fake Tears, your other attacks will hit hard. Against human foes, it will force switches, and is best when paired with a Pokemon that can abuse entry hazards.

9. Status
- Thunder Wave/Discharge
- Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball
- Yawn
- Shadow Ball/Signal Beam/Heal Bell
Note: Thunder Wave and Thunderbolt allows for more reliable paralysis and a more powerful primary attack, while Discharge combines the two to open up a moveslot for further options. This is the best moveset I can fit Heal Bell on; the set is mostly team support anyways, and Heal Bell can relieve Jolteon if it accidentally paralyzed a Synchronize Pokemon. Baton Pass is another option that can be thrown on there if Jolteon accidentally paralyzed the wrong Pokemon.

10. Rain Dance
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Shadow Ball
- Signal Beam
Note: Really, though, the last two slots are filler. They can be replaced by elements of any previous Jolteon set, such as Substitute/Baton Pass.

Overview

Despite a sparse movepool, Jolteon functions well as a team supporter and a fast offensive threat. Used well, it can definitely secure the victory for you.

Postscript: SubPassing in Action

Here's an example of how SubPassing might work.
- You have a Gyarados out. Opponent has a Magnezone out.
- Magnezone trys to slay Gyarados with a Thunderbolt. You switch out to Jolteon first. Jolteon absorbs the Thunderbolt.
- Magnezone has a Choice item, and thus is in no position to harm Jolteon, so it switches out to a Gliscor. During the switch, Jolteon throws up a Substitute.
- Jolteon Baton Passes back to Gyarados. Gliscor, thinking Jolteon will stay in, tries hitting it with an Earthquake, which Gyarados obviously dodges.
- Gliscor hits Gyarados with a Stone Edge to break the Sub, but it's too late: Gyarados got in a Dragon Dance safely, and now nothing is going to be in its way...

Here's an in-game example:
- You have a Gyarados out. Opponent has an Electrode out.
- Gyarados is switched for Jolteon, who absorbs the Electrode's Thunderbolt.
- Jolteon has been EV-trained, so it's faster than the Electrode. Having some knowledge of the Electrode's moveset, it knows the Electrode will either hit it with a weak attack or a status move, so it Subs. Electrode uses Screech... nope, that won't work.
- Jolteon passes back to Gyarados. Electrode tries a Rollout. No matter how super-effective the move is, it just isn't that powerful, and the Sub stays.
- Gyarados Dragon Dances. Game over.

Gyarados is a great example of a classic Jolteon teammate. Not only is Gyarados a veritable lightning rod for opponents' Electric attacks, but it also dodges the Ground-type attacks likely to be launched at Jolteon after it goes in. In general, any Pokemon that has a set-up move, or can resist/is immune to a Ground attack can pair up with Jolteon. Here are some examples of Pokemon to pair with Jolteon:

Salamence: Avoids Ground attacks. Can use the Sub to Dragon Dance.
Gengar: Avoids Ground attacks. Already likes Subs behind which to attack from.
Azelf: Avoids Ground attacks. Can use Sub to Nasty Plot.
Metagross: Resists many non-Ground/Fire attacks. Can use Sub to use Agility.
Infernape: Uses Sub to Nasty Plot.
Lucario: Uses Sub to Swords Dance.
Vaporeon: Draws Electric attacks. Can Baton Pass between each other.
Breloom: Resists Ground attacks, draws Flying attacks which Jolteon resists. Hides behind Sub to Focus Punch.
Latias: Avoids Ground attacks. Can Calm Mind behind Sub.
Aerodactyl: Draws Electric attacks, avoids Ground attacks.
Skarmory: Draws Electric attacks, avoids Ground attacks. Uses Spikes to take advantage of opponents switching around a lot.
Snorlax: Good defenses allow it to survive Ground attacks. Can Curse behind Sub.
Kingdra: Can Rain Dance or Dragon Dance behind Sub.
Ludicolo: Resists Ground attacks. Can use Rain Dance behind Sub.
Heracross: Resists Ground attacks, draws Flying attacks which Jolteon resists.

This is just a start. Jolteon has many potential partners in the game of SubPassing.