Though Rotom might not have the most favorable defensive stats, its immunities to Fighting, Ground and Normal coupled with its Speed allow it to support the team by crippling the opposition's physical attacks. Reflect is always used first, and depending on the situation, Will-O-Wisp is used to reduce a physical attack's power to 1/4. 304 HP and 190 defenses aren't exactly bulky, but Rotom's 309 Speed can allow it to essentially "double" a defense by using either Reflect or Light Screen. The final slot is a matter of preference; if the team is vulnerable to Gastrodon or Quagsire, by all means run Hidden Power Grass. However, if the team has some frail sweepers (like Primeape, Sunflora or Raticate), Light Screen might be the better choice. Hidden Power Ground can also be considered, both to hit Rock / Steel Pokemon like Aggron and Nosepass, and Poison Pokemon that are immune to Thunderbolt, like Nidoking and Nidoqueen. Leftovers, coupled with Reflect and the possibility of Light Screen or Will-O-Wisp, give Rotom increased survivability. However, should more team support be desired, Light Clay would allow Reflect and Light Screen to defend the team for three additional turns.
Rotom is generally not used as a defensive Pokemon, mainly due to its 50/77/77 defenses. However, handy immunities to Ground, Normal, Fighting, as well as resists to Bug and Flying allow Rotom to comfortably counter quite a few of the UU metagame's biggest threats, notably the Fighters, Swellow, and Scyther. With maxed HP and Defense, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and Hitmontop all fail to 2HKO with Stone Edge, with the only exception being the occasional Adamant Choice Band Hitmonlee who can 2HKO 17% of the time. You can then begin to Will-O-Wisp to cripple them, or you can fire off STAB Thunderbolts that will 2HKO Life Orb Hitmonlee and 3HKO Hitmonchan and Hitmontop. Swellow fails to even 3HKO on average with Brave Bird and falls prey to Thunderbolt in just a single hit. Scyther fares even worse, failing to 3HKO with Aerial Ace unless it has a Life Orb and a Swords Dance under its belt. This set also deals with any Dark-types thinking they will catch Rotom off guard by switching in and Pursuiting on the switch for the OHKO. At worst, Absol's Choice Band Pursuit does 61% if you stay in. This is only a 2HKO while you burn and cripple it for the rest of the battle. This luxury is not afforded by the other Rotom sets that are OHKOed by Pursuit whether you switch or not. When Rotom has taken a few hits, just Rest off the damage and it will be good as new. Sleep Talk is there in order to prevent Pokemon from setting up on you during your sleep. Thunder or Charge Beam could be used in place of Thunderbolt. Thunder gives added power which could mean the difference in OHKOing or not on some threats, such as Scyther and Poliwrath, and has a high chance of paralyzing the opponent. Charge Beam can turn this into a tanking sweeper of sorts; however, its Special Defense really lets it down when attempting this. In the long run these two can be effective, but Thunderbolt is still the most consistent.
Cripple opponents with the appropriate status move and plug away with Rotom's STAB moves. Will-O-Wisp takes care of physical attackers, while Thunder Wave can hinder speedier special attackers. Toxic is a good alternative to give walls like Lanturn a harder time absorbing hits. Confuse Ray can be used in place of Shadow Ball which can help to further annoy your opponent or allow a team mate a better chance of a free switch-in.
430+ Special Attack and 309 Speed is pretty good, especially with all those immunities to switch in on. Plus, you can Trick your Choice Specs onto a tank/physical attacker. Hidden Power Grass hurts Quagsire, Gastrodon, and Lanturn. HP Fighting is mostly for Dark-types coming in to Pursuit Rotom, and to hit Probopass who can sponge hits from Thunderbolt reasonably well. Choice Scarf is also optional if you want to outrun some of the faster sweepers. Other OptionsThunder if you're feeling lucky, or have Rain support on your team. Besides that, its movepool is limited. EVsTimid nature with max Speed is recommended on every set. Modest is an option for a little extra power, but being able hit 300+ Speed with Timid is the better choice. Choice Specs set should have maxed out Special Attack. For the support sets, you can max out HP or Special Attack, depending on whether you want to have a better chance to survive an attack or two, or hit a little harder. OpinionGengar and Mismagius both outclass Rotom easily thanks to their higher Speed and Special Attack and vastly superior movepools. Even Banette gives it some competition as he can Calm Mind to boost his Shadow Balls and Thunderbolts, although he doesn't receive a STAB boost on Electric attacks like Rotom. Although Rotom is not that potent as a special sweeper, it does have good STAB moves, three very useful immunities and a handful of good support moves. It also make a decent choice for blocking Rapid Spin as its STAB moves or a potential burn scare off some of the more useful Spinners. Repeated hits from Blastoise's Surfs and Sandslash's Stone Edge or Night Slash do Rotom no favors though. Overall, Rotom is an asset to most UU teams. Just make sure you send it in on one of its immunities, as even resisted attacks will do a lot of damage to those piss poor defenses. CountersCamerupt is immune to both status attacks, just watch out for repeated hits from Shadow Ball, especially on the Choice Specs set. Ninetales and Rapidash won't like getting paralyzed, but both can absorb Will-O-Wisp and can easily kill off Rotom with their STAB attacks. Meganium and Vileplume can use Aromatherapy to remove status, but won't enjoy Trick. They are both resistant to Electric and have decent Special Defense to take hits from Shadow Ball. Lanturn absorbs Electric attacks and can handle three Shadow Balls and wear down Rotom with Surf. Rotom isn't hard to kill off, most neutral attacks can at least 2HKO him but any potential switch-ins have to be wary of Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp or being Tricked. |
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