Heliolisk [QC 1/3]

[OVERVIEW]

* Heliolisk is one of NU's premier wallbreakers, this is thanks to its great Speed tier, a good Special Attack stat, and its offensive typing.
* Heliolisk has a very potent Speed tier which allows it to outspeed a majority of Pokemon in NU, mainly Delphox, Virizion, and Toxicroak.
* Heliolisk's offensive typing allows it to threaten many Pokemon in the tier, such as Slowbro, Xatu, Vivillion, and Sigilyph.
* It also has good coverage moves in Focus Blast, Surf, and Grass Knot, which allow it to deal with Togedemaru, Steel- or Ground-types, and Gastrodon, respectively.
* It also has a very good ability in Dry Skin, which allows it to check and switch into most Water-types like Omastar, Vaporeon, and Samurott, which not many offensive Pokemon can do.
* While Heliolisk's typing may be very potent offensively it also breaks a few weaknesses with it most notably to Fighting- and Ground-types like Toxicroak, Virizion, Hitmonlee, Steelix, and Rhydon; Heliolisk is also weak to Fire-types thanks to its ability Dry Skin.
* Heliolisk may have very potent offenses but its physical bulk is rather terrible and even resisted physical hits will do a lot to it.
* It heavily relies on Life Orb and is thus prone to getting worn down.

[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Volt Switch
move 2: Hyper Voice
move 3: Focus Blast / Thunderbolt
move 4: Surf / Grass Knot
item: Life Orb
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Timid
evs: 252 Spa / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Volt Switch allows Heliolisk to generate momentum for its team.
* Hyper Voice is a good secondary STAB move as it hits Ground-types for at least neutral damage, it also hits through Substitutes, which may be useful in some instances.
* Thunderbolt may be used if Togedemaru isn't a problem but Calm Mind Slowbro and Assault Vest Slowking are.
* Focus Blast lets Heliolisk bypass Togedemaru, as well as Type: Null and Cryogonal, which are capable of taking most of Heliolisk's moves.
* Surf is Heliolisk's most reliable way of dealing with the many Ground-types there are, such as Steelix, Rhydon, and Piloswine; it's also useful to OHKO Fire-types that can otherwise take a hit, like Emboar and Houndoom.
* Grass Knot can be used instead of Surf as it also hits Ground-types and Gastrodon, though it doesn't give coverage for Fire-types.

Set Details
========

* Maximum Special Attack and Speed investment in tandem with a Timid nature make Heliolisk as strong and fast as possible.
* Life Orb boosts Heliolisk's damage output while letting it switch up moves.
* Dry Skin allows Heliolisk to offensively check Water-types, it can also be useful to recover a bit of health to negate Life Orb recoil damage.

Usage Tips
========

* Heliolisk can successfully act as a lead due to its Speed tier and access to Volt Switch, which allows it to grab momentum early game.
* It's useful to predict what the opponent might switch in on Heliolisk, as Heliolisk does have access to coverage moves that deal with a large majority of the tier, for example, if the opponent has a Steelix they may switch it in predicting a Volt Switch, but if Heliolisk uses Surf instead predicting Steelix to come in it can effectively beat Steelix.
* Try to bring Heliolisk in on Water-types like Samurott, Omastar, and Vaporeon, which it can beat thanks to its ability Dry Skin.
* Heliolisk can be brought in via U-turn, this allows it to safely switch in and get off a hit.
* Similarly, Heliolisk can be brought in after one of its teammates has been KOed.
* Heliolisk can generate momentum with Volt Switch against Pokemon that it can't beat itself.
* Heliolisk should avoid taking hits unnecessary damage because it gets worn down relatively fast.

Team Options
========

* Heliolisk fits exceptionally well on offense and bulky offense thanks to its Speed tier, a good Special Attack stat, and a good offensive typing.
* Pokemon that can set up hazards like Omastar, Garbodor, Piloswine, and Steelix are greatly appreciated by Heliolisk as hazards allow it to break Pokemon like Type: Null and Venusaur easier.
* Fire- and Ground-types like Delphox, Emboar, Houndoom, Steelix, and Rhydon appreciate Heliolisk's ability to check Water-types like Samurrot, Omastar, and Vaporeon thanks to Dry Skin. In return the aforementioned Fire-types can help Heliolisk with Grass-types while the aforementioned Ground-types can set up Stealth Rock, allowing Heliolisk to break walls easier.
* Fighting-types like Emboar, Toxicroak, and Medicham are capable of beating Type: Null, this is especially useful as Heliolisk tends to struggle against Type: Null, unless it's running Focus Blast, which is unreliable due to its accuracy.
* Flying-type Pokemon like Vivillion, Sigilyph, and Xatu have good type synergy with Heliolisk as they resist Fighting-type attacks and are immune to Ground-type attacks, which heavily bother Heliolisk, they're also capable of breaking Grass-types that Heliolisk can't break.
* Similarly, Haunter is another good teammate as it is immune to both Fighting-type attacks as well as Ground-type attacks, and can also deal with Grass-types. It can also cripple Type: Null thanks to trick, which makes Type: Null a lot less bulky and allows Heliolisk to effectively beat it.
* U-turn users like Braviary and Scyther can form a potent VoltTurn core with Heliolisk.
* Heliolisk can benefit from Pokemon that can set up rain with Rain Dance like Liepard and Uxie as rain lets it recover HP thanks to Dry Skin and thus negate Life Orb damage. Heliolisk can also run Thunder on rain teams as Thunder is 100% accurate in the rain and it is generally a lot stronger.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

* It can potentially run a variety of Z-Moves like Normalium Z, Electrium Z, and Fightinium Z as they let Heliolisk bluff a Choice Scarf and potentially blow back many initial answers to Heliolisk, Fightinium Z is especially good as it means Heliolisk does not have to rely on Focus Blast's accuracy. While Z-Moves are very useful, they do come with a few drawbacks, mainly being that another member on its team can't utilize a Z-Move effectively and the fact that after Heliolisk uses its Z-Move it is relatively weak.
* Heliolisk can utilize a Choice Specs instead of Life Orb for a slightly better damage output, though losing out on the ability to switch up moves is very unfortunate.
* Heliolisk can effectively utilize a Choice Scarf too thanks to its already great Speed stat which allows it to outspeed +2 Klinklang for example, however, similarly to Choice Specs, losing out on the ability to switch up moves is unfortunate, the drop in power is also very noticeable when using Choice Scarf.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Specially Defensive Pokemon**: Pokemon like Venusaur, Togedemaru, Altaria, Hariyama, and Gastrodon can take any hit from Heliolisk with relative ease and recover back HP to stall it out of HP thanks to Life Orb recoil damage. Togedemaru does have to be wary of Focus Blast, however. Gastrodon should also be careful with switching in as Heliolisk can defeat it with Grass Knot. Type: Null warrants a special mention as it has a great Special Defense when coupled with Eviolite and it can effectively take on and set up on Heliolisk, it does however, have to be wary of Focus Blast, which can 3HKO it, though Focus Blast does have accuracy issues. Virizion can take any of Heliolisk's attacks 2 times and retaliate with a strong STAB Close Combat, it does lack recovery however and can thus get worn down relatively fast.

**Choice Scarf Users**: Heliolisk falls flat to a lot of Choice Scarf users like Delphox, Emboar, Medicham, Braviary, Hitmonlee, and Passimian thanks to its terrible bulk, despite its good Speed stat it cant outspeed any of these Choice Scarf users.
 
Last edited:

asa

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not qc, but i think altaria should maybe have a mention in specially defensive pokemon bc

252 SpA Life Orb Heliolisk Hyper Voice vs. 248 HP / 164+ SpD Altaria: 129-152 (36.5 - 43%) -- 22.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
 

Finchinator

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I'd front slash Focus Blast -- I feel like you do not need TBolt a ton when you have Hyper Voice and Focus Blast hits a number of Pokemon for big damage (pre-Mega Audino, Type Null, Steelix, Guzzlord, Togedemaru, Cryogonal, etc.)

Mention the prospect of a Z move that can go with STAB or even a coverage move like Focus Blast (avoid miss, nuke some of the pkmn mentioned above) in the OO -- also bluffs choice and simply is a viable option even if not the main pick due to other Z move users on teams being more common and the consistency of other items in comparison.

If you're going to include a point on Dark Pulse, which you can or can not -- idc much, but it's not rlly ever seeing usage afaik -- then at least include Rotom as it is actually common and perhaps killing/damaging Haunter without having to switch out via Volt Switch.

I think the way you approached CC is weird -- perhaps combine the first two points to say "Specially Defensive Walls/Tanks" and then list Gastrodon, Type Null, Togedemaru, and Hariyama (he didn't get mentioned in your original and def should, btw) and perhaps a few other checks you come up with. You could also make one point for hard walls like gastrodon and then one for pivots like hariyama, but I'll leave that up to you

implement this and 1/3
 
I'd front slash Focus Blast -- I feel like you do not need TBolt a ton when you have Hyper Voice and Focus Blast hits a number of Pokemon for big damage (pre-Mega Audino, Type Null, Steelix, Guzzlord, Togedemaru, Cryogonal, etc.)

Mention the prospect of a Z move that can go with STAB or even a coverage move like Focus Blast (avoid miss, nuke some of the pkmn mentioned above) in the OO -- also bluffs choice and simply is a viable option even if not the main pick due to other Z move users on teams being more common and the consistency of other items in comparison.

If you're going to include a point on Dark Pulse, which you can or can not -- idc much, but it's not rlly ever seeing usage afaik -- then at least include Rotom as it is actually common and perhaps killing/damaging Haunter without having to switch out via Volt Switch.

I think the way you approached CC is weird -- perhaps combine the first two points to say "Specially Defensive Walls/Tanks" and then list Gastrodon, Type Null, Togedemaru, and Hariyama (he didn't get mentioned in your original and def should, btw) and perhaps a few other checks you come up with. You could also make one point for hard walls like gastrodon and then one for pivots like hariyama, but I'll leave that up to you

implement this and 1/3
implemented
 

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