Summary

Jolteon is an expensive option in ADV Draft, but serves arguably the most important role in any drafts checklist. In draft, Zapdos and Raikou are impossible threats that often require specific, rare picks to get. Jolteon sits alongside Blissey, Regice, or Snorlax as the handful of strong Thunderbolt resists that can effectively check these top Pokemon and is often drafted within the first few rounds.

Jolteon's most notable role is its defensive profile. Its pure Electric typing means that it resists Mixed Zapdos's Drill Pecks and isn't weak to any hidden power Raikou or Zapdos might use on the special side. Jolteon'a largest advantage by far, however, is its Volt Absorb ability. Thanks to Volt Absorb, instead of a simple resistance like Ampharos has or the immunity shared by ground types, Jolteon makes up for its poor defensive stats by draining electric attacks instead, healing it when it switches into one. This enables Jolteon to work as an extremely effective Electric check despite the its low bulk. While it does have a strong defensive niche against Electric types, it also has many offensively powerful traits. Jolteon has a reasonably high special attack stat of 110, enough to threaten most pokemon that don't resist Thunderbolt and enough to threaten those that do with other special coverage. Jolteon's extremely high speed is also very potent, as it ties with Aerodactyl and is only outsped by Ninjask and Electrode. In addition, Jolteon has deep movepool -- Toxic is a great tool to chip down pokemon alongside Protect and Substitute, Thunder Wave is a fantastic form of status thay cripples offensive threats who rely on their speed to maintain their dominance, Roar allows Jolteon to phaze out setup threats, Wish offers recovery and Baton Pass supports all of these moves through strong pivoting that can also heal a teammate with wish or pass stats. It can even use Quick Attack on pesky Reversal sweepers, or Double Kick against Tyranitar. It should also be noted that thanks to Jolteon's high speed, many would be Salac sweepers lose power by being forced invest more in speed -- prime examples are Medicham which can only hit 388 with Adamant or Tyranitar, who peaks at 364, which pales to Jolteon's mark of 394.

Jolteon is not without flaw, however. Like many other special attackers, it can struggle with the special walls of the tier such as Blissey and Regice. However, these pokemon are weak to status and forced to either switch out or use passive moves like Rest. It also gets trapped by Dugtrio and must use Baton Pass to pivot out until Dugtrio is chipped enough for Hidden Power to get the kill. Jolteon in particular can have trouble with Celebi or Steelix that can effectively wall most of Jolteon's common sets. These checks aren't without counterplay opportunity, though: Blissey and Regice can be limited by a Toxic/Protect/Wish set that either forces Rest (and by extension switches) or it can Baton Pass for a high-momentum pivot to a Blissey/Regice check. Another thing to note is that all of these Pokemon are susceptible to Spikes, and Jolteon's high pivot abilities force constant switches from most teams.

Jolteon has many strong partners -- Skarmory and Glalie are both great, since many of Jolteon's checks are weak to Spikes. Other Pokemon that play well off of Spikes that may struggle with speed or Thunderbolt users, such as Metagross, Gyarados, and Salamence, also highly appreciate Jolteon's prescence to enable their stronger offenses. Due to its hit-and-run based nature, Jolteon does enjoy having spinners such as Starmie and Blastoise alongside it that prevent it from taking constant chip damage.

Jolteon is a fantastic pokemon in the draft metagame -- despite its low stats, it remains useful thanks to how they're spread and its ability more than makes up for its lackluster HP stat. Jolteon has powerful offenses thanks to a STAB Thunderbolt and 110 Special Attack, alongside its wicked fast 130 Speed stat which outspeeds most pokemon and can threaten a 2HKO against almost everything it hits neutrally. Not only that, this Pokemon makes for a fantastic Electric resist, a coveted trait when there are only so many ways to check Zapdos or Raikou. Its superb movepool can support just about any team and it will always pull its weight in a match. Jolteon is not without its weaknesses, but these pokemon are exploitable by other just as powerful pokemon such as Skarmory, Salamence, and Starmie, and is absolutely worth using if other special walls are unavailable or a more offensive prescence is desired.

Summary written by Wraxius

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