Manectric

[tofucocoa]

manectric is a little something i've come across that i think might have some potential because of its new mega evolution granting it access to both lightningrod and intimidate (aka two of the best doubles abilities) in the same match, making it an incredibly useful utility attacker. movepool wise, manectric has a bunch of neat options; flamethrower, fast volt switch, snarl, light screen, overheat, electric terrain, thunder wave, and of course its STAB moves, so it doesn't even have to come crawling to hidden power for that last moveslot. so, here's what the standard manectric will probably look like;

Manectric @ Manecnite
Timid, Lightningrod
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Thunderbolt
Flamethrower/Overheat
Volt Switch / Hidden Power Ice / Snarl
Protect

probably the only move i'll have to explain is snarl. it may look weird, but if you're not already aware, some raikou have been known to use the move to weaken special attackers while dealing chip damage, and manectric might be able to pull it off as well, perhaps to greater effect because of intimidate. volt switch helps you pull off intimidate spam while not letting up on the offense (try double intimidate sometime for cool volt switch shenanigans :D), and hp ice is mostly for garchomp, who will probably curbstomp poor thundog. overheat for power of course, and is my choice because i'll be switching it out constantly, but some of you pussies people use stuff like sitrus talonflame, so you might enjoy the comfort of flamethrower.

manectric is requires more finesse than other megas like kangaskhan and charizard imo. you shouldn't blindly mega evolve it unless you're not making much use of lightningrod anyway, and the only reason you should mega evolve it in front of special attackers is for the speed/power, and in both cases i think it would be best to conserve your mega evolution for a neat priority intimidate.

ok so i haven't really used it yet, but i'm just curious to see what you guys think of the new and improved thundog. will it be worth using over pokemon like raikou and thundurus-t? how valuable is lightingrod, and when do you think you should evolve your manectric?

 

[BLOOD TOTEM]

Like you said Manectric is not a mega that you can just stick on any team. The real trouble it faces is it's mediocre bulk, sure 135 / 135 Spa and Spe are great for punching holes and playing mind games with volt switch but one mispredict can result in your mega down and put you at a disadvantage for the rest of the match. Lightningrod is cool but given Manectric's typing it struggles to form a Disquake core and limits you in your spam of spread moves which is a shame. That said it works well with other Electric immune Pokemon so long as they aren't trying to EQ everything. Gaining a Lightningrod boost and then going mega makes Manectric a real threat but it isn't too hard to force out; it's low bulk means it's scared of a lot of the priority in the tier like mega Kangas dual Fake Out / Sucker Punch. Snarl is one of Manectric's cooler moves imo and it catches out things like gastrodon or opponent volt absorbers that expect to come in for free and even puts in work after a Spa drop from Overheat. Intimidate combined with a fast Volt Switch does a lot of favors for Manectric allowing it to switch out into another intimidate mon like top who then has even more utility in Fake Out and Wide Guard or a Togekiss to provide Follow Me support. A tactic like this can reduce a physical threat to a shitmon in a single play and/or gives the partner pokemon set up opportunities to wreak havoc for itself.
In summary I would say Mega Manectric has the potential to be useful from both a utility and power standpoint depending on how you play it. That said it requires more prediction than the standard offensive mega as a misplay can leave you in a poor position.

 

[Pen Ink]

i'm not really a fan of snarl on manetric. it's always a nice utility move to have in case you're really fucked, but raikou actually has pretty decent bulk (90 / 75 / 100) so it makes better use of snarl because it can actually tank special moves fairly well after a -1 drop. manetric has shitty bulk all around and i feel like hidden power ice would just serve a much better purpose in general.

manetric suffers from the fact that it has a hard time dealing with two opposing pokemon on the field. good megas like mawile, khan, and garchomp actually have very good bulk so even if they don't land an ohko they can take hits. those megas also had the added bonus of being able to hit practically just as hard as manetric while retaining that appealing bulk. intimidate is very interesting though and the ability to have a priority intimidate is extremely appealing.

all in all i just don't really feel like manetric is worth it since there are better megas to run and thundurus basically fulfills the same role manetric does while being a being a better utlity mon. if you need lightningrod that badly, just run rhyperior.

 

[Speedholes]

This thing is actually pretty dope

Manectric @ Manectite
Lightningrod
Timid Nature
16 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Volt Switch
- Protect

I probably don't need to explain the moves. Overheat > Flamethrower because Flamethrower is weaksauce. Snarl is kinda eh I find but I guess you can run it. Volt Switch is good as lucariojr pointed out, it lets you get in hits while Intimidate does its thing. The EVs ensure that Manectric outspeeds max speed Garchomp before MEvo. 135 base speed is so unique there isn't much point to maxing it. 8 Def means that even with a lowered defense IV from Hidden Power, Genesect gets a SpA increase so Intimidate still has its full effect.

This thing owns alongside other Intimidate users like Gyarados (Lightningrod is great here too if you can afford to hold off on the MEvo) and Hitmontop. One of the cool things about Manectric is that it is really threatening to common Defiant mons like Bisharp and Tornadus. Also it can switch in on predicted Thunder Waves from stuff like Togekiss thanks to its paralysis immunity.

 

[Darkflagrance]

^That's a pro set right there. My worry is that losing your Mega on Manectric makes team building much harder. If I'm using Mane in doubles I'm not using Mega Latis, Mega CharY/Abom/Houndoom or MegaKhan for fake out. With hp ice it's a good counter to ground/dragon mons in an anti-meta sort of way though. If you want him to get the LightningRod boost, you'd probably want to partner him with Zapdos/Thundurus/Rotom to avoid stacking ground weak.

 

[Zipzo]

This thing is actually pretty dope

Manectric @ Manectite
Lightningrod
Timid Nature
16 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Volt Switch
- Protect

I probably don't need to explain the moves. Overheat > Flamethrower because Flamethrower is weaksauce. Snarl is kinda eh I find but I guess you can run it. Volt Switch is good as lucariojr pointed out, it lets you get in hits while Intimidate does its thing. The EVs ensure that Manectric outspeeds max speed Garchomp before MEvo. 135 base speed is so unique there isn't much point to maxing it. 8 Def means that even with a lowered defense IV from Hidden Power, Genesect gets a SpA increase so Intimidate still has its full effect.

This thing owns alongside other Intimidate users like Gyarados (Lightningrod is great here too if you can afford to hold off on the MEvo) and Hitmontop. One of the cool things about Manectric is that it is really threatening to common Defiant mons like Bisharp and Tornadus. Also it can switch in on predicted Thunder Waves from stuff like Togekiss thanks to its paralysis immunity.

Not sure your EV calcs are correct.

Since a different IV is now required for HP Ice (sad face), 236 Speed EVs would be necessary on a Volt Switch Manectric to get the jump on max Speed chomp, and given you play on Pokemon Showdown or are god-given blessed with a perfect 30 IV in speed on your 4x31 IV Elektrike baby (such a PITA to breed 30s), it would require 240 EVs in Speed to go first utilizing pre-mega Manectric speed. The Defense IV does not need to be lowered in order to achieve HP Ice anymore, I believe the min/max IVs to ensure HP Ice now is 31/30/31/31/31/30.

Given the pain that is breeding non-31 stats in to a baby, I am utilizing a Volt Switch Mega Manectric lacking HP Ice, and attempting to plug those holes elsewhere in my team. Especially if I Volt Switch in to another Intimidate user, and especially if it's Gyarados (earthquake immune), I'm not really fearing Chomp too much after 2 Intimidates unless he goes mega and runs a mixed set.

It's fun to lead with Manectric, pop the mega in to Volt Switch over to Gyarados, then run Bulky Gyarados along side a screener or a helping hand wall like Togetic or Sylveon (and both of these guys are Fairy, meaning you've already made it half way to covering the lack of HP Ice on your MM).

 

[Stellar]

Not sure your EV calcs are correct.

Since an odd IV is now required for HP Ice (sad face), 236 Speed EVs would be necessary on a Volt Switch Manectric to get the jump on max Speed chomp, and given you play on Pokemon Showdown or are god-given blessed with a perfect 30 IV in speed on your 4x31 IV Elektrike baby (such a PITA to breed 30s), it would require 240 EVs in Speed to go first utilizing pre-mega Manectric speed. The Defense IV does not need to be lowered in order to achieve HP Ice anymore, I believe the min/max IVs to ensure HP Ice now is 31/30/31/31/31/30.

Given the pain that is breeding non-31 stats in to a baby, I am utilizing a Volt Switch Mega Manectric lacking HP Ice, and attempting to plug those holes elsewhere in my team. Especially if I Volt Switch in to another Intimidate user, and especially if it's Gyarados (earthquake immune), I'm not really fearing Chomp too much after 2 Intimidates unless he goes mega and runs a mixed set.

Most people tend to drop Defense rather than Speed on offensive Pokémon. You can achieve HP Ice with 31/30/30/31/31/31, which is probably what he is using.

 

[Zipzo]

Most people tend to drop Defense rather than Speed on offensive Pokémon. You can achieve HP Ice with 31/30/30/31/31/31, which is probably what he is using.

I guess I need more clarification on the new HP IV requirements, because I was now under the impression Speed was required to be an even number for HP Ice, no questions asked.

For some reason I am not "qualified" to look at the Hidden Power uncharted territory thread and googling "X and Y Hidden Power IVs" is yielding me nothing :(

 

[Stellar]

I guess I need more clarification on the new HP IV requirements, because I was now under the impression Speed was required to be an even number for HP Ice, no questions asked.

Nothing has changed regarding the determination of Hidden Power's type. The only difference is that it will always be 60 Power.

 

[Zipzo]

Nothing has changed regarding the determination of Hidden Power's type. The only difference is that it will always be 60 Power.

Ah okay. I have no idea how I got under the impression that they changed, maybe reading rumors about the addition of the Fairy type? Who knows. I'll go to my corner.

But wait, wouldn't you still need to be at 236 EVs to outspeed max speed Chomp? 232 puts you at 169 which just nets you a tie. If you don't wanna face the coin flip you'd still need more than the given EVs he put to ensure you outspeed max speed Chomp.

 

[BlankZero]

Ah okay. I have no idea how I got under the impression that they changed, maybe reading rumors about the addition of the Fairy type? Who knows. I'll go to my corner.

But wait, wouldn't you still need to be at 236 EVs to outspeed max speed Chomp? 232 puts you at 169 which just nets you a tie. If you don't wanna face the coin flip you'd still need more than the given EVs he put to ensure you outspeed max speed Chomp.

SmogDubs is lvl 100 btw, not 50.

 

[tofucocoa]

actually, we will be including level 50 evs in analyses when they open up, so thinking about level 50 evs now isn't a bad idea

and can we get back on topic please

 

[Speedholes]

I should point out the HP [Ice] is actually pretty situational. The only dragons it really works against are Garchomp, who commonly runs a Yache Berry, and Mence, who isn't all that common. Vs stuff like Lati@s, Hydreigon and Multiscale Dragonite it falls short, so Manectric really appreciates teammates who can help against them too. TTar is a good one since it can beat the Latis pretty soundly, pairs up well with other good teammates like Gyarados, and can set up SR - even in Doubles Manectric can take advantage of SR by forcing switches with Intimidate and Volt Switch. It also pretty much Talonflame-proofs your team which is nice.

 

[Zipzo]

Hidden Power Ice or Grass would also be Manectrics only possible answer to ground types which are assuredly going to show their face given he's on the field. Manectric has the Speed and SpAtt to ensure a OHKO using HP especially after a LR boost. Volt Switch seems to be an incredibly powerful tool for MM, and I find the choice to be quite difficult between that of it or HP Ice.

I do like Overheat over Flamethrower but something in my bones tells me it's a bit counter-intuitive to the Manectric > MM design given the usefulness of Lightning Rod. It almost seems wasteful for your only fire move to completely eject any boost you might have strategically received through good prediction.

What are your guys' thoughts on these choices? I love using Manectric so I'd love to discuss the absolute best possible way to utilize him in the doubles format.

 

[LordRandomness]

Given that Mega Manectric has Intimidate, Overheat seems like a solid choice since it encourages switch-outs which will trigger Intimidate again. It even gets Volt Switch and high Speed to boot!

 

[n3ther]

252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mawile: 160-190 (101.91 - 121.01%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Metagross: 148-176 (90.24 - 107.31%) -- 43.75% chance to OHKO (Klefki)
252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Occa Berry Scizor: 180-214 (101.69 - 120.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Flamethrower just lacks the power to get kills compared to Overheat. Lightning rod boost isn't guaranteed so you shouldn't rely on it.

 

[Laga]

Alright I think i'll just analyze Manectric's newfound role, since all the information itt is pretty damn loose. (and because I want to get back to posting quality stuff like i ofc always did before my minor cooldown / break)

Manectric will usually be played like this:

RIDE (for Redirect, Intimidate, Damage, Escape); First you switch into an electric attack, mega evolve to get off the intimidate, deal damage with one of it's coverage moves, and then Volt Switch out. Exceptions are of course 1) redirecting dick all and 2) going straight for Volt Switch to combine D and E.

The first main role is to Lightningrod is really useful in Doubles, especially since Thunder Wave is so abundant. Lightningrod will therefore be extremely useful for fast-paced offensive teams, due to Klefki (and soon Thundurus again) completely denying those team archetypes if not for Manectric's Lightningrod. We have even seen desperate examples to counter T-Wave such as Pwnemon's fast Rhyperior built for Tailwind (which actually did work to an extent), but now that we have a legitimate reason to use Manectric, we don't have to use Rhyperior or Marowak (i guess) anymore. This reason, though, was honestly not enough justification for the use of Manectric back in gen 5, but now that it has a Mega Evolution with a different, also useful ability in Intimidate combined with much better stats, there are plenty of reasons to use Manectric over other Electric-type mons such as Thundurus and Rotom-W.

The next role is the one that Manectric recently attained with the event of generation 6 and the "megas" arriving. Not only did this grant Manectric the possibility to hit harder and faster, but it also gave it Intimidate (which is like the best ability in Doubles besides a mon weak to EQ getting Telepathy). This, combined with extremely speedy Volt Switch, makes it a fantastic offensive pivot. That said, it isn't especially powerful with no boosting item, so I would say Volt Switch > Thunderbolt tbh, just because it will want to get a free switch out most of the time. Overheat misses out on key KOs listed above, contributes to the whole RIDE thing much better, and is generally more manly than Flamethrower. HP Ice is my preferred option because fuck Ground-types. That should be about it.

RIDE (Manectric) @ Manectite
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Thunderbolt
- Protect

The reason why Volt Switch > T-Bolt is because RIDE.

 

[Mymble]

I've been running mega-manectric along side mega-scizor. There will be situations when the extra power and speed can be compensated for by the utility of lightning rod and although base 105 speed isn't ridiculously fast it often times will be enough allowing scizor to get the extra bulk and swords dance more easily. However if the mega-evolution is necessary it isn't a huge hindrance for scizor to effectively lose it own item due to the fact that it is still a very threatening swords dance sweeper in it's own right.

I personally use t-bolt and volt switch, because my team has ice type coverage over enough pokemon for the loss in a more powerful stab move that doesn't force you out covers you for more situations than having to use a weak coverage move or potentially wasting overheat or protecting where it isn't necessary.

I think it will still have a niche once pokebank comes out as a faster, better pivot (thanks to intimidate) than thundurus-t with far less in the way of sweeper capabilities.

 

[Pocket]

Spamming Volt Switch to re-activate Intimidate is certainly appealing. Another cool way of using Manectric is to absorb Thunder Waves to boost its SpA, and then mega evolve it into a mean +1 Electric sweeper with 135 SpA / 135 Spe, while softening the opponent's physical assault in the process ;d I would certainly want to pair this with a Politoed / Rain Dance user to dish out Thunder - Politoed would appreciate the protection from Electric moves, and can support Manectric with Helping Hand.

 

[Josh Williams]

Alright I think i'll just analyze Manectric's newfound role, since all the information itt is pretty damn loose. (and because I want to get back to posting quality stuff like i ofc always did before my minor cooldown / break)

Manectric will usually be played like this:

RIDE (for Redirect, Intimidate, Damage, Escape); First you switch into an electric attack, mega evolve to get off the intimidate, deal damage with one of it's coverage moves, and then Volt Switch out. Exceptions are of course 1) redirecting dick all and 2) going straight for Volt Switch to combine D and E.

The first main role is to Lightningrod is really useful in Doubles, especially since Thunder Wave is so abundant. Lightningrod will therefore be extremely useful for fast-paced offensive teams, due to Klefki (and soon Thundurus again) completely denying those team archetypes if not for Manectric's Lightningrod. We have even seen desperate examples to counter T-Wave such as Pwnemon's fast Rhyperior built for Tailwind (which actually did work to an extent), but now that we have a legitimate reason to use Manectric, we don't have to use Rhyperior or Marowak (i guess) anymore. This reason, though, was honestly not enough justification for the use of Manectric back in gen 5, but now that it has a Mega Evolution with a different, also useful ability in Intimidate combined with much better stats, there are plenty of reasons to use Manectric over other Electric-type mons such as Thundurus and Rotom-W.

The next role is the one that Manectric recently attained with the event of generation 6 and the "megas" arriving. Not only did this grant Manectric the possibility to hit harder and faster, but it also gave it Intimidate (which is like the best ability in Doubles besides a mon weak to EQ getting Telepathy). This, combined with extremely speedy Volt Switch, makes it a fantastic offensive pivot. That said, it isn't especially powerful with no boosting item, so I would say Volt Switch > Thunderbolt tbh, just because it will want to get a free switch out most of the time. Overheat misses out on key KOs listed above, contributes to the whole RIDE thing much better, and is generally more manly than Flamethrower. HP Ice is my preferred option because fuck Ground-types. That should be about it.

RIDE (Manectric) @ Manectite
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 16 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Thunderbolt
- Protect

The reason why Volt Switch > T-Bolt is because RIDE.

I really enjoy this idea of RIDE and was wondering about any ideas of the use of Overheat on a sunny day/drought team....I am currently breeding one to these specs to try it out but I think with the assistance of the sun+volt switch he would be an invaluable asset for teams of the like and also a major counter to the new threat of flying mon (eg gale wing talonflame)

 

[SomeoneStoleTheNameIWant]

Does anyone have any ideas as to good partners for Mega-Manectric? I know that Singles-wise, Landorus-T is phenomenal, but that probably changes in Doubles, since you can't Earthquake without killing your own Manectric.

 

[Deoxymoron]

Does anyone have any ideas as to good partners for Mega-Manectric? I know that Singles-wise, Landorus-T is phenomenal, but that probably changes in Doubles, since you can't Earthquake without killing your own Manectric.

Mega Manectric shits on Talonflame and Gyarados, so anything that has trouble with those mons makes a good partner. Hitmontop and Scrafty, for instance, hate Talonflame's Brave Bird, but with a second Intimidate, they can sponge the hit and Manectic can KO.

 

[Plasma.EXE]

Since fighting one online, I decided to make one and luckily got hidden power ice on my 2nd egg with near perfect IV pokemon and one that had 26 IV's in defense. I'm still trying to decide whether it was the right choice to go Modest. I can give it light screen, wide-guard, or fake out support to protect it from dying on turn one if it does happen to get outsped so it's not like it's the most frail thing ever. It still can't outspeed pokemon like Starmie or Greninja with a Timid nature without mega evolving anyway (both of which will likely switch out on you whether you're timid or modest) and pokemon that are over 369 speed can't really OH-KO it that easily with the above support. I want to ensure it can OH-KO pokemon like Amoongus, Ferrothorn, Scizor, etc with overheat and am wondering if Modest would be enough to make a difference in doing that with 205 sp. atk (also whether the power difference would be enough to ensure some pokemon are a 2 hit kill instead of a 3 hit kill).

187 special attack with a timid nature seems a tad underwhelming even at 205 speed due to the nerfs towards a lot of the special moves it can use including hidden power. It needs all the power it can get with the nerfed special moves since it's speed is still pretty excellent after mega evolving on a neutral speed nature.

 

[tofucocoa]

if we're talking level 50 stats, then yeah modest megatric can still outspeed some key stuff like scarftar, but you lose out on other things like noivern (which would be a prime target for HP ice), greninja, and base 80 scarfers, most notably mamoswine, chandelure, and if you're playing battle spot in the near future, smeargle. what kills does it get in exchange for being outsped by such things?

 

[Plasma.EXE]

On second thought you might be right. It sucks being outsped by Charizard initially (who OH-KO's with drought boosted Flamethrower and always has 100 base speed before and after) and you won't always know whether it runs flamethrower or heatwave which can be wide-guarded. KOing Salamence and Garchomp with Hidden Power ice on mega evolve turn is very useful (though there's still a chance that Garchomp can survive and a 100% chance both would survive with a Yache berry). Modest forces me to have to use protect on turn one before mega evolving against more pokemon. It sucks though it'll have to deal with some pokemon not dying to 4x weak moves 100% of the time, at least with hidden power ice.