This a thread to discuss one of my favorite Pokemon and how it can possibly be used in this season of VGC. With new move tutors and more threats out there, does Milotic stand a chance? Lets see...
Base Stats: 95/60/79/100/125/81
Abilities
Marvel Scale: Defense is increased by 50% when induced with a status (BURN, PARALYZE, SLEEP, POISON, FREEZE).
Can be pretty useful if a status does get induced but I think Milotic has plenty of bulk as is and in fast paced Double Battles, it isn't that great. But, because this ability exists, your opponents may think twice before inflicting status on Milotic.
Competitive: Raises Sp. Atk stat by two stages whenever a stat is lowered
This stuck out to me as an amazing ability to have in VGC. It's basically a special attack version of Defiant, and in my own experience, quite a lot of Bisharps have been running around lately.
Hidden Ability (Available):
Cute Charm: The opponent has a 30% chance of being induced with Attract when using an attack, that requires physical contact, against this Pokémon.
Kinda gimmicky considering that I anticipate many Pokemon being used in VGC2015 will be genderless(Legendary Pokemon).
So for now let's focus on Competitive as our main ability. The easiest way for this ability to be activated would be through an opponent's Pokemon having the Intimidate ability. What Pokemon come to mind that have this ability?
Salamence
Mawile
Gyrados
Landorus-T
Scrafty
Hitmontop
Mega Manetric
Staraptor
Krookodile
Arcanine
As we all know, Intimidate was a very popular ability to have on at least 1 Pokemon on your team in VGC 2014.
Competitive seems to be a winner.
Moves
We know that Milotic has a decent movepool from previous generations; having access to Scald for a good STAB move with that 30% Burn chance, and as any water Pokemon does, has Ice Beam. Hypnosis, Mirror Coat, and Confuse Ray come through breeding. But what interesting moves did it get through the new ORAS move tutors?
Aqua Tail
Bind
Dragon Pulse
Icy Wind
Iron Head
Iron Tail
Magic Coat
Snore
Water Pulse
Since Milotic's Attack stat is a mere base 60, we can ignore the physical attacks it gets.
But what is this? Icy Wind? This attack hits both Pokemon your opponent has in play and has a 100% chance to lower your opponents Speed stat. This can be an amazing move, especially for Pokemon partnered along side Milotic. Milotic appreciates this herself as her Speed stat is a decent base 81.
Magic Coat can also be a great move to use if you want to shut down those Pesky Prankster users and reflect any status moves you don't want hitting Milotic, especially if you are not running Marvel Scale.
Items
There are a plethora of hold items to choose from in Pokemon ORAS. Let's talk berries first.
Sitrus Berry- Restores health by 25% when health becomes 50% or lower. It turns those all important 2HKO's on Milotic into 3HKO's. A good choice since Milotic quite bulky at 95/79/125 defenses.
Custap Berry(Unreleased)- Allows the user to move first in its priority bracket when health becomes 25% or lower. This can take many players by surprise and perhaps give you the chance to pick up a needed KO.
Salac Berry- Gives +1 to Speed stat when health becomes 25% or lower. Assuming no investment and 31IVs in speed. Milotic's speed can go from 101 to 151. I consider Custap Berry to be a little more effective for speed control, if it was available..
The other berries like Kee Berry,Petaya Berry,etc. seem to be much too situational for Milotic to use. If you are using a berry, Sitrus might be the one for you.
Onto the other hold items...
Life Orb- Coming from base 100 Special Attack, Milotic can do some damage to other Pokemon, but I feel that Milotic may not necessarily have the best movepool to utilize it best. Also, if you do get that +2 from competitive, the extra damage is negligible.
Choice Specs- Same as above. Can be quite effective but doesn't really have a niche on Milotic.
Focus Sash- Milotic is quite bulky and OHKO's on her are very far and in-between.
Assault Vest- Ahh, the bulky get bulkier. Coming from base 125 Special Defense having the weakness of Grass and Electricity; which have mainly special attacks, Assault Vest can work wonders when taking on a bad match up.
EV Spread and Natures
When it comes to Natures, there are a few that can take advantage of Milotic's bulk.
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Calm(+SpDef, -Atk)
For Trickroom Lovers:
Relaxed(+Def, -Spe)
Sassy(+SpDef,-Spe)
If you want something a little more offensive:
Modest(+SpAtk,-Atk)
Quiet(+SpAtk, -Spe)
Since Milotic has a laughable base 60 in Attack, special attacks are the way to go and the nature you use should reflect that. You can also choose to lower speed if speed isn't all that important to you or if you want to rock Milotic on a Trickroom team.
Just as a small sample, I will share my current spread with you below:
Mahvel Baybee (Milotic) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 36 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Speed
202/72/126/137/146/101
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Icy Wind
- Dragon Tail
Scald is a staple for STAB and possible burn chance. Ice Beam nets great damage on things that are weak to it. Icy Wind is good to support slower Pokemon. Dragon Tail is there mainly because I am forced to use attack moves because of Assault Vest. You might even force your opponent to switch in to their Intimidate Pokemon and it also allows Milotic to attack into an Aegislash's King's Shield. It is (sort of) a gimmick but you can be surprised by the results. If you don't like Dragon Tail, i would recommend Hidden Power Grass just for type coverage.
Hidden Power Fire also works great on the last move slot if you don't want Milotic getting walled by the likes of Ferrothorn or Abomasnow(thanks Cherub Agent).
Now what exactly does this spread do and why am I using it? Well...
Offensively
36+ SpA Milotic Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 172-204 (100.5 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This calculation is without the +2 from Competitive. Consistent OHKO on a big threat.
+2 36+ SpA Milotic Scald vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Manectric: 124-147 (84.9 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
Easily allows a partner to pick up the KO with a spread move. If Manetric gets burned, even better.
+2 36+ SpA Milotic Scald vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Mega Mawile: 94-112 (59.8 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Pretty good damage for what it is worth.
Defensively
252 SpA Mega Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 86-104 (42.5 - 51.4%) -- 5.9% chance to 2HKO
This is hilarious. It turns what one would expect to be a bad match up into something more of a joke. Especially when you consider the above calculation that featured Mega Manetric.
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 66-79 (32.6 - 39.1%) -- 99.8% chance to 3HKO
Sheer Force Landorus is unreleased. This is just a testament to Milotic's special bulk.
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 88-104 (43.5 - 51.4%) -- 6.3% chance to 2HKO
Not bad, not bad at all.
252 SpA Mega Latios Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 216 Def Milotic: 76-91 (37.6 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 93-109 (46 - 53.9%) -- 46.5% chance to 2HKO
Further testament to how bulky Milotic is.
There are probably more calculations out there, and this is just a small sample.
Team Options
We know that Milotic has amazing bulk on the special side thanks to that good base 95 HP, base 125 Special Defense and the Assault Vest. Most of Milotic's threats would be Pokemon that wall Milotic because of its movepool, or Pokemon that hit hard from the physical side. What might come to mind could be...
Mega Medicham
Mega Mawile
Mega Kangaskhan
Mega Charizard X/Y
Ferrothorn
the list goes on...
It would seem a good partner for Milotic might be a Pokemon with the Intimidate ability we talked about earlier. Intimidate support provides some extra physical bulk for Milotic and other members of your team. Landorus-T has access to Intimidate for support and a good spread move in Rock Slide to help deal with opponents like Charizard Y, or Thundurus.
You should also have a Pokemon that can deal with steel types like Mawile, Aegislash, and Ferrothorn while also having a Pokemon that can deal with pesky sun teams. A good fire type can do the trick and I usually side with Chandelure, but you can use whatever you are comfortable with.
Conclusion
Milotic is one of my favorite Pokemon and I feel she may have a good role to fill in VGC2015. I hope this may influence you to at least try Milotic out this season and hopefully, you find some success. Please feel free to discuss any pros and cons to Milotic, make some new spreads, and suggestions and critique are always welcome.
P.S. This was the first time I have ever written an article on anything Pokemon related so please let me know how I did. Hopefully I can write more in the future :)
Base Stats: 95/60/79/100/125/81
Abilities
Marvel Scale: Defense is increased by 50% when induced with a status (BURN, PARALYZE, SLEEP, POISON, FREEZE).
Can be pretty useful if a status does get induced but I think Milotic has plenty of bulk as is and in fast paced Double Battles, it isn't that great. But, because this ability exists, your opponents may think twice before inflicting status on Milotic.
Competitive: Raises Sp. Atk stat by two stages whenever a stat is lowered
This stuck out to me as an amazing ability to have in VGC. It's basically a special attack version of Defiant, and in my own experience, quite a lot of Bisharps have been running around lately.
Hidden Ability (Available):
Cute Charm: The opponent has a 30% chance of being induced with Attract when using an attack, that requires physical contact, against this Pokémon.
Kinda gimmicky considering that I anticipate many Pokemon being used in VGC2015 will be genderless(Legendary Pokemon).
So for now let's focus on Competitive as our main ability. The easiest way for this ability to be activated would be through an opponent's Pokemon having the Intimidate ability. What Pokemon come to mind that have this ability?
Salamence
Mawile
Gyrados
Landorus-T
Scrafty
Hitmontop
Mega Manetric
Staraptor
Krookodile
Arcanine
As we all know, Intimidate was a very popular ability to have on at least 1 Pokemon on your team in VGC 2014.
Competitive seems to be a winner.
Moves
We know that Milotic has a decent movepool from previous generations; having access to Scald for a good STAB move with that 30% Burn chance, and as any water Pokemon does, has Ice Beam. Hypnosis, Mirror Coat, and Confuse Ray come through breeding. But what interesting moves did it get through the new ORAS move tutors?
Aqua Tail
Bind
Dragon Pulse
Icy Wind
Iron Head
Iron Tail
Magic Coat
Snore
Water Pulse
Since Milotic's Attack stat is a mere base 60, we can ignore the physical attacks it gets.
But what is this? Icy Wind? This attack hits both Pokemon your opponent has in play and has a 100% chance to lower your opponents Speed stat. This can be an amazing move, especially for Pokemon partnered along side Milotic. Milotic appreciates this herself as her Speed stat is a decent base 81.
Magic Coat can also be a great move to use if you want to shut down those Pesky Prankster users and reflect any status moves you don't want hitting Milotic, especially if you are not running Marvel Scale.
Items
There are a plethora of hold items to choose from in Pokemon ORAS. Let's talk berries first.
Sitrus Berry- Restores health by 25% when health becomes 50% or lower. It turns those all important 2HKO's on Milotic into 3HKO's. A good choice since Milotic quite bulky at 95/79/125 defenses.
Custap Berry(Unreleased)- Allows the user to move first in its priority bracket when health becomes 25% or lower. This can take many players by surprise and perhaps give you the chance to pick up a needed KO.
Salac Berry- Gives +1 to Speed stat when health becomes 25% or lower. Assuming no investment and 31IVs in speed. Milotic's speed can go from 101 to 151. I consider Custap Berry to be a little more effective for speed control, if it was available..
The other berries like Kee Berry,Petaya Berry,etc. seem to be much too situational for Milotic to use. If you are using a berry, Sitrus might be the one for you.
Onto the other hold items...
Life Orb- Coming from base 100 Special Attack, Milotic can do some damage to other Pokemon, but I feel that Milotic may not necessarily have the best movepool to utilize it best. Also, if you do get that +2 from competitive, the extra damage is negligible.
Choice Specs- Same as above. Can be quite effective but doesn't really have a niche on Milotic.
Focus Sash- Milotic is quite bulky and OHKO's on her are very far and in-between.
Assault Vest- Ahh, the bulky get bulkier. Coming from base 125 Special Defense having the weakness of Grass and Electricity; which have mainly special attacks, Assault Vest can work wonders when taking on a bad match up.
EV Spread and Natures
When it comes to Natures, there are a few that can take advantage of Milotic's bulk.
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Calm(+SpDef, -Atk)
For Trickroom Lovers:
Relaxed(+Def, -Spe)
Sassy(+SpDef,-Spe)
If you want something a little more offensive:
Modest(+SpAtk,-Atk)
Quiet(+SpAtk, -Spe)
Since Milotic has a laughable base 60 in Attack, special attacks are the way to go and the nature you use should reflect that. You can also choose to lower speed if speed isn't all that important to you or if you want to rock Milotic on a Trickroom team.
Just as a small sample, I will share my current spread with you below:
Mahvel Baybee (Milotic) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Competitive
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 36 SpA / 4 SpD / 4 Speed
202/72/126/137/146/101
Modest Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Icy Wind
- Dragon Tail
Scald is a staple for STAB and possible burn chance. Ice Beam nets great damage on things that are weak to it. Icy Wind is good to support slower Pokemon. Dragon Tail is there mainly because I am forced to use attack moves because of Assault Vest. You might even force your opponent to switch in to their Intimidate Pokemon and it also allows Milotic to attack into an Aegislash's King's Shield. It is (sort of) a gimmick but you can be surprised by the results. If you don't like Dragon Tail, i would recommend Hidden Power Grass just for type coverage.
Hidden Power Fire also works great on the last move slot if you don't want Milotic getting walled by the likes of Ferrothorn or Abomasnow(thanks Cherub Agent).
Now what exactly does this spread do and why am I using it? Well...
Offensively
36+ SpA Milotic Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 172-204 (100.5 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This calculation is without the +2 from Competitive. Consistent OHKO on a big threat.
+2 36+ SpA Milotic Scald vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Manectric: 124-147 (84.9 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
Easily allows a partner to pick up the KO with a spread move. If Manetric gets burned, even better.
+2 36+ SpA Milotic Scald vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Mega Mawile: 94-112 (59.8 - 71.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Pretty good damage for what it is worth.
Defensively
252 SpA Mega Manectric Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 86-104 (42.5 - 51.4%) -- 5.9% chance to 2HKO
This is hilarious. It turns what one would expect to be a bad match up into something more of a joke. Especially when you consider the above calculation that featured Mega Manetric.
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 66-79 (32.6 - 39.1%) -- 99.8% chance to 3HKO
Sheer Force Landorus is unreleased. This is just a testament to Milotic's special bulk.
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 88-104 (43.5 - 51.4%) -- 6.3% chance to 2HKO
Not bad, not bad at all.
252 SpA Mega Latios Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 216 Def Milotic: 76-91 (37.6 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 93-109 (46 - 53.9%) -- 46.5% chance to 2HKO
Further testament to how bulky Milotic is.
There are probably more calculations out there, and this is just a small sample.
Team Options
We know that Milotic has amazing bulk on the special side thanks to that good base 95 HP, base 125 Special Defense and the Assault Vest. Most of Milotic's threats would be Pokemon that wall Milotic because of its movepool, or Pokemon that hit hard from the physical side. What might come to mind could be...
Mega Medicham
Mega Mawile
Mega Kangaskhan
Mega Charizard X/Y
Ferrothorn
the list goes on...
It would seem a good partner for Milotic might be a Pokemon with the Intimidate ability we talked about earlier. Intimidate support provides some extra physical bulk for Milotic and other members of your team. Landorus-T has access to Intimidate for support and a good spread move in Rock Slide to help deal with opponents like Charizard Y, or Thundurus.
You should also have a Pokemon that can deal with steel types like Mawile, Aegislash, and Ferrothorn while also having a Pokemon that can deal with pesky sun teams. A good fire type can do the trick and I usually side with Chandelure, but you can use whatever you are comfortable with.
Conclusion
Milotic is one of my favorite Pokemon and I feel she may have a good role to fill in VGC2015. I hope this may influence you to at least try Milotic out this season and hopefully, you find some success. Please feel free to discuss any pros and cons to Milotic, make some new spreads, and suggestions and critique are always welcome.
P.S. This was the first time I have ever written an article on anything Pokemon related so please let me know how I did. Hopefully I can write more in the future :)
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