Jolteon

Jolteon stands out as one of the few Pokemon able to stop Zapdos's rampage, resisting its STAB moves while having the capacity to beat it one-on-one. Tradebacks gifts it Growth, making it a threatening setup sweeper as well. Otherwise, Jolteon remains largely the same: having the highest Speed just behind Electrode also gives it one of the highest critical hit rates in the game, standing at 25.39%, which distinguishes it as a strong special attacker. Crucially, this means it outruns tier king Tauros while threatening it with Thunder Wave, a trait shared with only Alakazam, Starmie, and the unviable Electrode. Thus, Jolteon will frequently get off uncontested paralysis that forces predictable plays out of the opponent, taking back momentum very quickly. Finally, Jolteon possesses useful physical coverage in Double Kick and Pin Missile, which gives it the potential to specialize in the matchup against Chansey or Exeggutor.

However, much like Zapdos, Jolteon is also countered by Rhydon, which means teams featuring Jolteon will often come across similar weaknesses. Being weak to Ground also doesn't bode well for it, as it means Pokemon like Tauros can exploit it if it gets paralyzed, which frequently happens in the matchups Jolteon comes across. Jolteon is frail in general, taking significant damage from Body Slam. Its damage output outside of Thunderbolt is also quite meager and reliant on its critical hit rate, which makes Jolteon quite inconsistent. While Growth is a useful tool that can patch up Jolteon's power issues, it gives Jolteon four-moveslot syndrome, as it's forced to drop Rest and forfeit its ability to be a Zapdos answer as well as making it deathly afraid of Thunder Wave.