Helioptile

approved by iss

Helioptile

44 HP / 38 Atk / 33 Def / 61 SAtk / 43 SDef / 70 Spe
Abilities: Dry Skin, Sand Veil
Hidden Ability: Solar Power
Notable Moves

Charge Beam
Dark Pulse
Grass Knot
Hidden Power
Light Screen
Parabolic Charge
Sleep Talk
Substitute
Surf
Thunder Wave
U-Turn
Volt Switch

Overview

Helioptile is the first Electric / Normal type Pokemon and as an electric type fits the norm of having strong Special Attack and Speed but weak defenses. However, Helioptile has a few things going for it that other Electric types don't have. Helioptile has access to Dry Skin, which gives it an immunity to Water attacks, and Solar Power, which allows it to function well as a Sun sweeper. Helioptile's unique Electric / Normal typing also gives it an immunity to Ghost type attacks.

Helioptile is graced with base 70 Speed and base 61 SAtk, which lets it hit 17 Speed with a posititive nature and a decent special attacking stat of 16 with a posititive nature. It's special movepool is good enough to function well as a special attacker. Thunderbolt is a strong STAB move and Volt Switch allows Helioptile to gain momentum. Dark Pulse provides great coverage to hit Ghost and Psychic types. Surf is a godsend for Helioptile, which lets Helioptile nail threatening Ground types.

Helioptile isn't without his flaws, however. He can't outspeed his greatest two checks, Gligar and Diglett, and only Speed ties with Drilbur. He has pitiful bulk in general and compared to his greatest teambuilding rival, Chinchou. Helioptile finds its niche in Dry Skin and a unique typing.


Sets


Helioptile @ Berry Juice / Eviolite
Ability: Dry Skin
Level: 5
EVs: 84 HP / 20 Def / 188 SAtk / 12 SDef / 196 Spd
Modest / Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse
- Surf / Hidden Power [Ice]

This is most likely going to be Helioptile's flagship set. Helioptile hits 17 Speed with a Timid Nature and 16 Special Attack with a Modest nature, mimicing Chinchou. Volt Switch and Thunderbolt are the obligatory STABs; Thunderbolt is strong and Volt Switch gains momentum, allows it to switch out, revenge kill, etc. Dark Pulse is for coverage, to hit Ghost types that Helioptile loves to switch into, along with Psychics like Abra. Surf nails threatening Ground types for good damage, but Hidden Power Ice is a very viable option because of Gligar's return and the fact that Gligar is easily Helioptile's best check. Dry Skin is great, giving Helioptile a Water immunity. Berry Juice is most likely the best option for Helioptile, but Eviolite can increase Helioptile's bulk to let it tank neutral moves and hit back.


Helioptile @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dry Skin
Level: 5
EVs: 84 HP / 20 Def / 188 SAtk / 12 SDef / 196 Spd
Timid / Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Dark Pulse
- Surf / Hidden Power [Ice]

With 17 Speed after max investement and access to Volt Switch, Helioptile can run a viable scarf set. Helioptile hits 25 Speed after Choice Scarf, outspeeding the whole unboosted tier. Thunderbolt and Volt Switch provide good STABs and revenge killing tools, with the former hitting hard and the latter gaining momentum and allowing Helioptile to switch out of checks that aren't Ground type. Dark Pulse is good coverage, hitting Psychic and Ghost types for super effective damage. Surf is probably the best option due to a high base 90 power to nail Ground types that Helioptile doesn't like, but Hidden Power Ice hits Gligar a lot harder and still is super effective against Ground Types.
 

Goddess Briyella

Banned deucer.
I am honestly both shocked and disappointed that nobody has replied to this thread yet. </3

I find Helioptile very unique and interesting. The first thing that stuck out to me is that all three of its abilities can be used with different weather conditions to function well. This is probably the most weather-versatile Pokemon that Little Cup has ever seen. The fact that it gets Surf and Dry Skin just screams "Rain team", and unfortunately there are no auto-Rain inducers in Little Cup, but perhaps Helioptile may encourage the use of teams who make use of manual Rain. Notable users of both Rain Dance and U-turn include but are not limited to Mienfoo, Clauncher, Vullaby, Gligar, the list goes on. It might sound crazy, but I wouldn't be against trying it out. There are other mons that can benefit from Rain in more than one way, including Chinchou & Staryu (Thunder and Water STAB) as well as Swift Swim mons like Mantyke and Anorith. After the metagame settles down a bit and the checks are a bit more defined, I'm hoping manual Rain might see some use. Dry Skin and Surf on an Electric non-Water type is just too cool to not try with Rain! ♥

Apart from Rain, it may be able to function on Sun teams as well with Solar Power. The possibilities are fun to think about. A lot of the Chlorophyll mons like Bellsprout also have Poison STAB for the new Fairy threats, as well as Grass/Fire coverage. There are a lot of cool mons like Ponyta that can function well in Sun, and that's not to mention Morning Sun's high recovery dose in Sun if you need a quick restoration of health!

The only thing that sucks about trying to use Helioptile as a pivot/attacker on a weather based team is that the weather can be changed almost effortlessly by an opponent bringing in an auto-weather inducer of their own, and that thought sort of justifies not trying this out. :(

It has a cool movepool and it can function well in many environments. I hope to see it do well in the metagame after it settles down later on. Its Parabolic Charge attack is awesome and it helps in its survivability as well as serving as a reliable STAB attack. I haven't tried using Helioptile yet but I look forward to that soon!

Edit: Parabolic Charge is 50 Base Power. How disappointing. :(
 
Last edited:

Rowan

The professor?
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To be honest, I think Helioptile's best niche would be a Solar Power set paired with Vulpix and even then, it's not so good. Any sort of Bulky Pivot or Scarf set just screams 'outclassed by Chinchou' in my opinion who has basically the same attacking stats with better bulk, still checks water-types and has access to Ice Beam to nail Grass types much harder and allows it to use a Hidden Power coverage move alongside Ice Beam.
It'd be interesting to experiment with using it in a Sun-team though, using its electric typing to beat the flying types that threaten Tangela and co, whilst Tangela can switch in on any suspected Earthquakes aimed at Helioptile.
 

Expulso

Morse code, if I'm talking I'm clicking
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You can use it on a Volt-Turn team with Larvesta to take water hits, but...Chinchou.

Parabolic Charge, in my opinion, is slightly disappointing. It's about the same power as Mega Drain, which isn't that great. Tried it with Choice Specs, it wasn't bad, but again, outclassed by Chinchou. The Normal typing lets it switch in on Ghosts, though.
 
I could see it as an amazing lc pivot mainly because it has access to both u turn and volt switch meaning with a choice scarf it can pivot out of anything and be able and it can probably take massive advantage of that along with coverage moves such as surf and dark pulse meaning with dry skin you can come in on a ghost or water type move and pivot on anything giving you amazing momentum in just one move.
 

Goddess Briyella

Banned deucer.
To be fair, with STAB factored in, Parabolic Charge from Helioptile is as powerful as a non-STAB Giga Drain. It's not THAT horrible, and the additional damage from a super effective hit can be significant enough and the health restoration can come in handy. Volt Switch and Thunderbolt will probably be preferred though, for their more reliable power/utility.

But I wouldn't write Parabolic Charge off as worthless.
 

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