Joltik Movesets & Competitive Sets

Moves Thunderbolt is Joltik's strongest Electric-type STAB move and is a good tool to use for revenge killing. Bug Buzz is an equally powerful secondary STAB move that hits Grass-types and through Substitute. Volt Switch allows Joltik to scout early- and mid-game. Finally, Giga Drain provides important coverage against opposing Ground-types and Chinchou, which could otherwise switch into Joltik with ease. Set Details The EV spread maximizes Special Attack and Speed. As Joltik is already very fast with Choice Scarf, a Modest nature is preferred to maximize its damage output; however, a Timid nature can be used to ensure you outspeed threats such as +2 Jolly Tirtouga and Jolly Choice Scarf Pawniard. The chosen ability is Swarm, as Joltik lacks moves that can take advantage of Compound Eyes, and Unnerve is almost completely useless, as it doesn't prevent Berry Juice consumption. Swarm, while situational, is the best option, as it can power up Bug Buzz when Joltik is significantly weakened. Usage Tips Be careful when scouting with Joltik. Don't click Volt Switch right away if your opponent still has Chinchou or a Ground-type, as this could potentially lose a lot of momentum for your team. Instead, consider using Giga Drain or a tactful double switch. As a Choice Scarf user, Joltik can be used to scout early-game, then brought in for revenge killing throughout the game. It can switch into resisted hits if needed, but you must be wary of what Joltik is switching into, as strong neutral hits can KO it. Team Options Joltik works best in a VoltTurn core to keep momentum flowing and the opponent at a disadvantage. Mienfoo makes for a great partner thanks to its resistance to Rock and ability to hit special walls on their weaker physical side. Mienfoo is able to heavily damage Magnemite and Munchlax, two Pokemon that wall Joltik. Having an entry hazard remover is critical because Joltik is weak to Stealth Rock and switches in and out a lot. Archen can also form a VoltTurn core with Joltik and keep entry hazards away with Defog, but one must keep in mind that the two Pokemon share a weakness to Rock. Several Rapid Spin users pair very nicely with Joltik. Staryu can take on Fire-, Rock-, and Ground-types with ease, while Joltik resists Staryu's weaknesses to Electric- and Grass-types. Drilbur and Tentacool also pair well with Joltik due to their abilities to take on Fire- and Rock-types. Finally, teammates that can set up entry hazards are useful, as this takes advantage of the switches Joltik forces and can net it KOs that it would otherwise miss.

Moves Substitute can ease prediction and allows Joltik to scout powerful attacks and shield itself from status. Thunderbolt and Bug Buzz are Joltik's strongest STAB moves and are quite powerful when backed by Life Orb. Bug Buzz allows Joltik to hit Grass-types hard, and Giga Drain allows Joltik to hit Ground-types and Chinchou for a lot of damage while recovering health lost from Substitute and Life Orb recoil. Set Details The EV spread maximizes Joltik's Special Attack and Speed, with the remaining EVs put into HP. A Timid nature is preferred, as it allows Joltik to hit 17 Speed and outspeed the common Pokemon with 16 Speed. Life Orb provides Joltik with more power than Choice Scarf, but Berry Juice is a decent alternative because it gives Joltik more longevity and works well alongside Substitute. Usage Tips Joltik can use its decent Speed to scout the foe's moves with Substitute and then proceed to hit the foe hard with Thunderbolt or Bug Buzz. If the opponent switches in a Pokemon meant to absorb an Electric-type move, such as Chinchou, it'll get smacked by Giga Drain and Joltik will regain the HP it lost from setting up the Substitute. Substitute can also be used to dodge Sucker Punch from Sucker Punch users such as Pawniard. Team Options Damage piles up quickly on Joltik due to its vulnerability to Stealth Rock, Life Orb recoil, and use of Substitute, so teammates that can remove hazards with Rapid Spin or Defog, such as Staryu, Archen, and Drilbur, help immensely. As a special attacker, Joltik struggles getting past special walls, so teammates with high Attack and access to Knock Off, such as Pawniard, Timburr, and Mienfoo, can help wear them down. Finally, a teammate that can set up Stealth Rock or Spikes is useful for taking advantage of the opponent's switching and can net Joltik some extra KOs.

Joltik's speed and access to Agility make it a formidable late-game cleaner. Hyper offensive teams will appreciate this ability to clean up weakened teams. This set aims to boost up with Agility when the opponent switches to a Ground-type or Chinchou in an attempt to absorb a Volt Switch. With a boost under its belt, Joltik can attack with Bug Buzz, Thunderbolt, or Giga Drain. Bug Buzz will be the most-used STAB, as nothing is immune to it and it has a handy Special Defense drop chance, which can turn the tides of a tight match. Thunderbolt is the strongest STAB in Joltik's movepool and hits Fighting- and Flying-type opponents, which resist Bug Buzz, hard. Giga Drain allows Joltik to defeat all Ground-types except for Numel and gives it a little recovery so it can last longer. The EV spread and nature aim to maximize damage output. Defense EVs are useful to defend Joltik from priority. It's possible to move those EVs to HP, but they won't make any difference in survivability because of such recoil. A Life Orb is needed for this set, as it adds power to all of Joltik's attacks. Eviolite, however, is another option to help Joltik boost up in front of threats it can't scare out, but the damage output won't be enough to secure many OHKOs, such as the ones on non-Eviolite Mienfoo, Pawniard, Houndour, and Dwebble. A Timid nature should also be dismissed even though it allows Joltik to outspeed Adamant Drilbur in the sand and Naughty Drifloon after a boost. Drifloon will easily defeat non-boosted Joltik if Unburden has been activated; if it isn't, it has to be wary of Joltik's Thunderbolt. Drilbur, on the other hand, has to take a major risk switching in due to Joltik's Life Orb-boosted Giga Drain, which can potentially OHKO it, making Timid an inferior option. Unnerve is the ability of choice, as Compoundeyes is nearly useless, and Joltik's frailty in addition to Life Orb recoil means that Swarm will give a one-time boost to Bug Buzz and then Joltik will die, making it an inferior option. Unnerve, however, will prevent the odd Oran Berry user, such as Dwebble or Recycle Bronzor, from stalling out Joltik. Rapid Spin users are good partners. Drilbur, Staryu, and Tentacool are excellent choices, having good defensive synergy with Joltik. Entry hazard setters are also a great option because they allow Joltik to secure OHKOs on threats such as Eviolite Drilbur, bulky Houndour, Murkrow, Vullaby, and Slowpoke. Dwebble and Ferroseed are also solid partners, as they can lay both Stealth Rock and Spikes. Dwebble can act as a suicide lead on hyper offensive teams, while Ferroseed can defeat opposing Rapid Spin users. Bulky Ghost-type partners, such as Misdreavus, can also help in keeping entry hazards up. Golett can set up Stealth Rock and defeat common Joltik counters, most notably Magnemite and Numel; Joltik, in turn, can easily beat the Water- and Grass-types that can stop Golett. It can also defeat Natu so that Golett won't have to worry about its Stealth Rock being bounced back. Creating setup opportunities is needed for Joltik to succeed, as it is very frail. Memento Diglett can provide such opportunities and wear down special walls and Rock-types under sand with its own Life Orb-boosted attacks. Joltik's coverage and Speed make it a good Nasty Plot recipient through Baton Pass. Mime Jr. can use Encore on a weak attack, use Nasty Plot, and then Baton Pass the boost allowing Joltik to more easily sweep through the opposing team. Hard-hitting offensive partners can overwhelm the opposing team so Joltik can clean up afterwards. Bulky Chinchou can form a devastating offensive core with it, as it attracts Joltik's counters and can weaken them enough for Joltik to defeat them. Houndour is also a nice option, being able to take out Bronzor and Magnemite; it can also take advantage of the Fire-type attacks Joltik lures with Flash Fire. Ponyta can defeat Magnemite and cripple physical priority users with Flame Body. Roost Archen is also a very good offensive partner, as it has a high Attack stat and can thus obliterate walls. Heavy hitters such as Nasty Plot Misdreavus, Dragon Dance Scraggy, and Life Orb Murkrow can also weaken teams enough so Joltik can switch in, boost up, and sweep through the opposing team. Joltik can also switch roles with many of these Pokemon by weakening walls so the other can finish them off. Electro Ball is a decent option over Thunderbolt, as it can reach 150 Base Power against slow threats such as Slowpoke and Munchlax. However, it isn't useful against Joltik's common counters, as they are not OHKOed. Energy Ball is a similar case because it always OHKOes Life Orb Drilbur, something Giga Drain fails to do sometimes.

Joltik's typing leaves it with only two weaknesses—Fire and Rock—that are both fairly uncommon. This coupled with its good resistances to Fighting and Grass makes Joltik a viable user of a bulky set. With its decent offensive coverage, Joltik plays an important role on balanced teams. Thunderbolt and Bug Buzz are reliable STABs that have useful secondary effects. Discharge is a good option over Thunderbolt, as this set is meant to slowly wear down the opposing team, and Discharge can spread paralysis on fast threats, such as Misdreavus and Murkrow. Giga Drain rounds off Joltik's coverage and provides much-needed recovery. In the last slot, Thunder Wave can be used to guarantee paralysis on opponents that aren't Ground-type. Volt Switch, however, provides a scouting move and works well if Discharge is used. The EV spread gives Joltik a high and odd-numbered HP to minimize damage from Stealth Rock. The defensive spread with a Bold Nature is useful for switch into Fighting-type attacks. It also gives Joltik a chance to survive two Brave Birds from Murkrow and retaliate with an Electric-type attack. Special Defense investment provides Joltik the ability to switching into Grass-type attacks, while the Special Attack EVs boost its offensive presence. Modest is an option to deal more damage, as is Calm to balance its defenses, but those natures won't make any notable difference in damage dealt or given, while the listed Bold nature will significantly help in taking physical attacks. Either of the two listed abilities can be used, as both are equally situational. Oran Berry users are uncommon, so Unnerve won't be helping too much, and getting into Swarm range would only slightly boost Bug Buzz, which won't be enough because this set lacks power. This set has many other possible move choices, such as Disable and Sucker Punch, but paralysis and scouting are usually superior to situational extra threat coverage. Having a Rapid Spin user is mandatory. Drilbur can set up Stealth Rock, while Staryu's Speed and offenses enable it to revenge kill threats weakened by Joltik. Tentacool has high Special Defense, allowing it to tank special attacks aimed at Joltik; can spread Toxic to wear down special walls, such as Lileep and Porygon; and use Knock Off to get rid of Eviolite. Water- and Ground-type Pokemon in general can help Joltik defeat Numel and Magnemite, two common Joltik counters. Chinchou and Golett can defeat said counters one-on-one, so they are the top choices for teammates. Knock Off users can help Joltik into wearing the opponent down and benefit from the paralysis spread by Joltik, as they are slow and durable. Mienfoo can threaten special walls with its Fighting-type STAB, while Vullaby can carry Taunt to stop recovery moves which greatly adds entry hazard damage set by other teammates. As this set causes a lot of switches, entry hazard setters are good partners: Dwebble can defeat Fire-type Pokemon and set up Stealth Rock and Spikes at the same time. Defensive Steel-types are difficult to handle for Joltik, so bulky Magnemite makes for a very good partner. As Joltik can switch into Fighting-types and deal heavy damage to them, Pokemon that benefit from seeing them gone or weakened are good partners. Swords Dance Pawniard, Curse Lickitung, Rock Polish Cranidos, and Nasty Plot Zorua are some decent examples of such Pokemon.

Joltik can use its great typing, access to Volt Switch, and decent Speed to fulfill a classic scout role. STAB Volt Switch is the main attacking option, as it will hit hard while keeping momentum on your side. Thunderbolt is a more powerful option, hitting many threats harder while having a chance of paralysis. Although, in most cases, Bug Buzz is a more reliable STAB move as nothing is immune to it and hits Grass-types trying to tank Joltik's Electric attacks for super effective damage. Giga Drain is the main selling point of Joltik, as it lets it hit Pokemon immune to Electric-type moves, such as Ground-types and Chinchou, for super effective damage. It even gives Joltik some nice recovery, which it appreciates because of its frailness. With the listed EV spread, Joltik can also work as an effective revenge killer, as it hits 16 Speed, which, when coupled with a Choice Scarf, lets it outspeed the whole unboosted metagame and common Pokemon at +1 such as Scraggy, Snover, Dratini, and Axew. It also maximizes damage output when running a Modest nature. The small investment in Defense lets Joltik better handle most common priority attacks, such as Murkrow's Sucker Punch and Tirtouga's Aqua Jet. The only specially-based priority move, Vacuum Wave, deals little damage thanks to Joltik's Bug typing. Joltik can run a Timid nature to avoid Speed ties against common Choice Scarf users, such as Adamant Mienfoo, Modest Chinchou, Cranidos, and Larvesta; however, the loss of power is very noticeable and Joltik has trouble against all of them either way. Swarm is the ability of choice, as without HP investment switching into Stealth Rock four times will give Bug Buzz a much-needed boost. Although it could be seen as contradictory when running Giga Drain, the other abilities are less useful. Unnerve could be used, but Oran Berry is rare and Joltik shouldn't be staying in against Dwebble, the most common user of it. Compoundeyes is even more situational, as all of the listed moves have perfect accuracy, so it would only be helpful against Sand Veil and Snow Cloak users, but neither ability is used enough to warrant Compoundeyes. Rapid Spin users are the best teammates for Joltik, as entry hazards heavily limit its switch-ins. Drilbur is the best choice, boasting the ability to set up Stealth Rock on the opponent's side as well, allowing Joltik to take better advantage of the numerous switches it forces. As this set is intended to support the team and not the other way around, it can fit into most teams. Unlike most other Electric-types, however, Joltik cannot defeat Murkrow without team support, so Roost Archen and Tirtouga make excellent partners. Archen can also form a VoltTurn core with Joltik; just note that the stacked Rock-type weaknesses make a Rapid Spin user mandatory. Mienfoo can also form a VoltTurn core with Joltik due to its great defensive synergy, resisting Rock-type attacks. Defensive Pokemon such as Porygon, Munchlax, and Lickitung can tank most hits and recover their health. Magnemite, the only Pokemon in the tier that resists every attack on this set, can also switch into Joltik without fear. Additionally, Fighting-type attackers, such as Timburr and Mienfoo, can defeat all of the Pokemon mentioned above. Bulky Misdreavus only resists Bug Buzz, but it won't be bothered by Joltik's other attacks, so a Pokemon that can handle Ghost-types, such as Stunky, Houndour, or Vullaby is appreciated. Payback Timburr and bulky Croagunk can also defeat Misdreavus while retaining the ability to hit defensive walls, so they make great Joltik partners.