Introduction
Heliolisk fills a unique niche by providing valuable speed control, offensive pivot (using its base 109 special attack), immunity to paralysis, and the ability to wall Basculegion.Even with Dugtrio still running around at 24% usage rate, Heliolisk is able to put in good work.
Movepool
Heliolisk’s access to the ability Dry Skin in conjunction with its part-normal typing allows it to wall most Basculegion-F sets. Heliolisk also has STAB Thunderbolt, a 12.5% chance to OHKO Basculegion-F with 252 Special Attack EVs. Its other STAB option, Hyper Voice, can be used to bypass Substitutes or hit common switch-ins like Amoonguss or Jolteon. Surf serves as valuable coverage against Dugtrio, Dark Pulse can be used to hit more pokemon for neutral damage, and Focus Miss Blast can be used to OHKO Weavile getting greedy with Swords Dance or to 2HKO Incineroar or Cobalion. Heliolisk also gets Volt Switch to pivot but U-turn is recommended to avoid getting trapped by Dugtrio. But the most noteworthy move that this Pokemon gets is Glare, which offers valuable speed control in a tier with ridiculous speed tiers and is only ignored by a select few Pokemon. It’s a very annoying move in general and can often cheese wins by preventing an opposing Pokemon from moving or be paired with Substitute to stall and continuously wear down something.
Sets
The first set to consider is a Glare spam set with Substitute. With Dry Skin and its Ghost immunity, it can find opportunities to switch into a choice locked Basculegion-F or other attacks, set up a Substitute, and freely click Glare against whatever tries to switch in. U-turn can be used over Substitute to pivot into teammates after paralyzing something, or if a Glare-immune Pokemon switches in. Thunderbolt is used to hit Basculegion-F super effectively and the last move can be Hyper Voice for STAB or a coverage move, the best one being Surf for Ground types. While Leftovers can be used in combination with paralysis to stall opponents, Shed Shell or Ability Shield are also worth considering. Shed Shell allows Heliolisk to escape Arena Trap Dugtrio looking to revenge kill it while Ability Shield hard counters Basculegion-F by ignoring Mold Breaker. Choice Specs Heliolisk is a set that focuses on its high special attack. With the Choice Specs, Heliolisk is able to semi-reliably OHKO Cobalion with Focus Blast, OHKO physically defensive Incineroar 75% of the time by using Focus Blast, as well as 2HKO Arcanine, physically defensive Amoonguss, +1 SpD Jolteon, and a standard Calm Mind Hatterene before it can set up. Life Orb can be used instead to boost damage like Choice Specs while not getting locked into an exploitable move. Heliolisk can also heal off the recoil damage by switching into non mold breaker Basculegion-F and Cramorant using Surf. Additionally, Life Orb sets are able to slot in Glare more comfortably, but miss out on the OHKO against Incineroar. Choice Scarf can also be used as an alternative form of speed control to Glare. With max speed and a timid nature, Heliolisk is able to reach 522 speed which allows it to get the jump on faster and equally frail Pokemon. It no longer automatically loses against Dugtrio as it can outspeed it and OHKO with Surf. It revenge kills Weavile with Focus Blast or a STAB option if chipped enough, uses Thunderbolt to OHKO Yanmega even after it gets a turn of Speed Boost, outspeeds Brambleghast after rapid spin and kill with Dark Pulse after a bit of chip damage, kills scarfed Chandelure with Surf, and even outspeeds Agility Basculegion-F. However, it is unable to outspeed Maushold after it uses Tidy Up and cannot survive a Life Orb boosted +2 Weavile Ice Shard.
Weaknesses
The biggest and most obvious weakness is Dugtrio. Without Shed Shell, Heliolisk is forced to play very carefully when Dugtrio is on the other team lest it gets trapped and killed. It has to run U-turn or Surf to avoid getting OHKOed. It is also unable to do much against the fellow electrics Jolteon and Oricorio-Pom-Pom aside from using Toxic since they absorb Glare and can use Calm Mind and Quiver Dance respectively to take less damage from Heliolisk. Toxic is also hard to fit in as it often prefers to run other moves. Hatterene also doesn’t care about Glare or Toxic due to its Magic Bounce ability, and easily sets up against Heliolisk. Non-scarf sets have to be careful of scarf Chandelure and Flygon as they can easily OHKO Heliolisk. Scarf Flygon is also able to generate momentum for its team by forcing Heliolisk and using U-turn. Cobalion and Incineroar are also able to do the same by threatening an OHKO with Body Press and Flare Blitz, respectively, and using a pivot move when Helioptile switches out.
Teamates
As a Basculegion-F check, it naturally is able to work alongside Pokemon weak to the fish. Among these, Gardevoir stands out as it can remove Dugtrio by tracing its Arena Trap which enables Heliolisk to play more aggressively. Incineroar also benefits from Heliolisk walling Basculegion-F and can switch into any attacks from Chandelure while freely generating momentum with Knock Off or Parting Shot. Flygon is also able to remove the electric types that would absorb Glare while also using U-turn to bring in the lizard. Many offensive Pokemon can also benefit from the speed control that Heliolisk offers to win a mirror match up against themselves without risking a speed tie.
Written by AlfrexFrostStaff
Quality Checked by Qbking
Grammar Checked by Typhon & Aryecki