PU Spotlight: Eelektross

By yogi. Released: 2019/10/12.
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art

Art by Kaiju Bunny.

Eelektross up until now

Eelektross has always been a decent pick in PU, showing up multiple times in tours like PUPL and PU Seasonal, due to its fantastic coverage options, great bulk, and almost complete lack of defensive counterplay; it originally started, however, at a very low VR ranking of C+. Just after PU beta, it quickly rose to the A ranks, and it has stayed there throughout the generation. Due to seeing somewhat decent usage in Exhibition I, Eelektross saw itself move to A+ and became a staple on balance- and offense-based teams thanks to its synergy with Pokémon like Choice Band Passimian. Eelektross did start to drop off mid 2018 due to the dominance of crazy offensive wallbreakers like Magmortar, Pyroar, and Aurorus along with an inability to adequately deal with the previous S rank Archeops, and it saw a gradual decline and basically no usage during PUPL 4. With the previously mentioned Magmortar and Pyroar being banned and the meta shifting to a momentum-heavy meta, Eelektross again saw a surge of usage around the start of February 2019, seeing high usage in PUPL 5.

Eelektross in the current meta

Saying Eelektross is good in the current meta would be a drastic understatement; Eelektross defines the momentum game currently and sees the most usage on the ladder and the second most in Smogon Snake Draft III, behind Mudsdale. Its dominance has even lead to it being the only S rank Pokémon in the current PU meta. During the last few months, Eelektross has had a surge in usage bigger than any Pokémon has had in a very long time, mainly from both PUPL 5 and SSD exposure, featuring an impressive 57% winrate in the latter as of week 5. It also has just below a 20% usage rate from last month's mid-ladder usage stats, edging out one of its most common partners, Mudsdale. It has gotten to the point that most teams carry several ways of luring Eelektross in and taking it out with Z-Moves or have differently EVed sets just to deal with it, such as Grassium Z physical Victreebel. The metagame has even shifted to be a more offensive one to attempt to not always give free momentum to opposing Eelektross.

Why it's so good

Eelektross

Simply put, there's never a match where Eelektross is deadweight; it always does something, and so it's able to fit on almost every balance and offense team. As previously mentioned, Eelektross has, technically, no true defensive counterplay; anything that isn't hit by its already great choice of coverage of Fighting, Fire, Grass, and Dark is taken advantage of for slow momentum from its Volt Switch. Levitate granting it immunity to ground-based hazards and Ground-type moves also helps with longevity during the game. Usual counters to Electric-type Pokémon like Mudsdale and Lanturn are only able to soft check Eelektross because of its access to Giga Drain and Knock Off, with the latter dealing with Mudsdale's Leftovers or pinch Berry and Lanturn's Assault Vest. Having basically a free fourth moveslot makes for a lot a of room for customization, with options like Knock Off, which is a great utility move as mentioned above; Drain Punch, which lets Eelektross beat Cryogonal and restore its health against Aurorus and Alolan Sandslash; Acid Spray, which helps it break bulkier teams more effectively; and even really niche moves like Super Fang.

How to deal with Eelektross

Eelektross has no true counter, so a lot of its counterplay is based on prediction and trying to gain momentum prior to it coming in. Pokémon that often struggle one-on-one with it, such as Mudsdale and Lanturn, can EV themselves and run Toxic combined with other moves like Protect to help whittle down its health. Qwilfish can lure Eelektross in and hope to trade with Destiny Bond, as long as the opponent doesn't predict this. Bringing in strong physical breakers like Kangaskhan, Stoutland, and Absol on a double switch or with slow momentum can force it out; the latter two are even able to predict this and deal a decent chunk of damage with Pursuit. Good management of Stealth Rock to chip it whenever it comes in is also extremely handy, though Eelektross can often take advantage of common Stealth Rock setters like Regirock and Mudsdale with a combination of Knock Off and Giga Drain, even gaining momentum off of the former. More niche Pokémon such as Camerupt are also seeing usage as a way to check Eelektross. Even lure Z-Moves from Pokémon like the previously mentioned physical Grassium Z Victreebel and Rockium Z Regirock can be effective at dealing with Eelektross.

Get out there!

PU has many varied building options open to it currently and a load of viable Pokémon to play around with. Given how the generation is ending soon, now is definitely the time to try it out before Generation 8 hits!

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