Base Stats: 109/64/91/103/83/45
Abilities: Electromorphosis*/Static/Damp
Electomorphosis: Upon being hit by a direct attack, the user becomes charged. (Note: Doesn't wear off until switch-out)
Relevant Moves: Acid Spray, Discharge, Slack Off, Soak, Thunder Wave, Volt Switch
Pros:
-Decent bulk alongside Slack Off and Volt Switch give Bellibolt potential as a defensive pivot.
-Resistances to Flying and Electric alongside a Water neutrality and reliable recovery makes it a great answer to Kilowattrel, as well as a decent switch-in to other Flying type special attacker such as Salamence or Iron Jugulis.
-Electromorphosis doubling the damage of your electric moves can make Bellibolt deal an impressive amount of damage after taking a hit.
Cons:
-Its low amount of resistances means it has issues dealing with most strong attackers, especially those with boosting items.
-Vulnerability to chip from hazards and status alongside its decent but not amazing bulk forces Bellibolt to heal very often, draining momentum and Slack Off PP.
-Aside from Slack Off and Volt Switch, its utility is extremely limited, having to rely on the threat of paralysis with Discharge or Thunder Wave, or moves like Acid Spray and Soak to force an opponent to switch.
-Faces competition from the Rotom forms which have much better resistances, Levitate to deal with Spikes and Ground types moves and better ways to threaten opponents with their secondary STAB and Will-O-Wisp.
Tera Types:
Due to its poor resistances, Bellibolt wants to use a Tera type that gives it more useful resistances to allow it to counter a wider variety of threats and activate Electromorphosis more reliably.
-Steel is the first type that comes to mind, granting Bellibolt a wide amount of resistances while keeping its important Flying resistance. However, Steel keeps a poor matchup against Ground types and adds weaknesses to Fighting and Fire making its matchup against special Dragons such as Salamence and Noivern as well as Hawlucha and Flamigo worse as those can now hit it super effectively.
-Water can make it match up better against Water-types it already has an advantage against and can turn the tides against rain boosted threats like Barraskewda and Floatzel that think they can safely take it out. However, aside from that, Water doesn't grant it any other useful resistances, as offensive Ice and Fire types are very rare. It also adds a weakness to Electric which means it can no longer shrug Kilowattrel's Thunders or Rotom's Volt Switches.
Viable Sets:
Bellibolt @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electromorphosis
Tera Type: Steel / Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Slack Off
- Volt Switch
- Acid Spray
- Soak / Discharge / Thunder Wave
In Bellibolt's case, its small niche is pretty much only available through the specially defensive set making it a decent switch-in to previously stated special attacking Electric or Flying types. Slack Off and Volt Switch are mandatory, as Bellibolt absolutely needs recovery and pivoting to distinguish itself from its competition. Acid Spray provides a way to hit Volt Absorb Kilowattrel, though it could also be replaced with a more immediately threatening option such as Muddy Water. Acid Spray can also be used to pressure setup sweepers and force switches. Bellibolt's last slot is pretty flexible, Soak can be used to make opponents lose their STABs and force them to switch out due to Bellibolt's now super-effective Electric moves while Discharge and Thunder Wave can be used to threaten paralysis, with Discharge giving you an Electric move that doesn't force you to switch and Thunder Wave landing the paralysis more consistently.
Other Options:
-With Electromorphosis doubling the power of its Electric moves, Bellibolt can run maximum special attack investment as well as Thunderbolt and a coverage option in Muddy Water or Grass Tera Blast alongside the essentials of Slack Off and Volt Switch to attempt to wallbreak. However, its low Speed and lack of resistances can make actually getting a hit through difficult and its coverage is also very limited.
-Bellibolt learns Reflect, Light Screen and has slow pivoting option with Volt Switch, making it a potential Screens setter, though it faces competition from the many other Screen setters in the format.
Example Team:
The other five mons on this team can function fairly well without Bellibolt, making up for its lack of overall utility while letting it perform fine as an overall Electric and Flying answer. However, while Bellibolt doesn't perform too badly on this team, it's also not making it that much better and could be easily replaced. This shows the overall trend that, while Bellibolt does technically have a niche, it's very specific and it will work very poorly on a majority of teams.
Conclusion
While Bellibolt does indeed have a very small niche, its limited resistances, poor movepool and painfully average bulk makes it overall much worse than other Electric types or specially defensive mons, notably the Rotom forms and Blissey. But if you want to dedicate yourself to Bellibolt, it's not unviable and you can probably find a team where it's a better option than the rest of its competition. As one of the only Electric types with reliable recovery and by far the bulkiest of this small group, there is at least a glimmer of light for our frog friend.
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