Smogon Community - Quality Control Milotic (QC 2/3)

[Overview]

The UnderUsed tier is filled to the brim with various bulky water types and all of them fill some sort of niche the others lack - Blastoise has the all important Rapid Spin, Slowbro and Slowking boast Fighting resistances and nearly endless recovery with Regenerator, Suicune has more overall bulk than all her competitors and Empoleon and Swampert have unique typings with access to Stealth Rock.
It is getting harder to see the niche Milotic holds but she alone has access to instant recovery and naturally spectacular special defense with pure water typing.
Also unlike the other bulky waters she has good speed combined with very good special attack making an attacking set plausible. (i'll take this part off if my lo set is rejected).
Despite a rather weak defense stat and the metagame's ever increasing power creep Milotic can still be used on any team needing a solid check to most of the tiers top threats - just keep in mind Milotic has no chance to directly counter the most powerful attackers like Mienshao and Heracross.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Scald
move 2: Recover
move 3: Dragon Tail / Haze
move 4: Toxic / Ice Beam / Refresh
item: Leftovers
ability: Marvel Scale
nature: Calm
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 56 SpD / 8 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

This set takes everything Milotic has over all the other bulky waters in the tier and crams it into a single set.
Recover means Milotic will be healthy throughout the match to check various threats including Darmanitan and Yanmega very well.
Dragon Tail is useful to help ensure Milotic can stop some sweeps although Haze goes through Subsitute and makes Milotic possibly the best Bisharp counter in the game.
Despite this Milotic still has some really solid counters such as Shaymin and Zapdos who can massively harm Milotic while taking little in retaliation. A solid switch in to these threats is needed to maintain momentum, Rotom-H fits in decently for more offensive teams while Snorlax can fill a much more defensive role.
The last slot generally goes to Toxic which works well with Recover to allow Milotic to stall out many defensive threats like Slowbro and Sableye and offensive threats like Cofagrigus. It may occasionally conflict with Scald however when for instance trying to burn a Virizion or Toxic a Slowbro one status may get in the way of the other.
This is partially why Milotic can use some strong moves to replace Toxic, refresh being a notable one clearing her of status that would shorten her lifespan despite Marvel Scale and Ice Beam which actually gives Milotic a fighting chance to check Choice Band Flygon and physical Tornadus.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

Because of her great special defense Milotic becomes one of the best counters to powerful attackers like Yanmega and Chandelure.
On the other hand without more significant defense investment she loses the ability to even check Mienshao and similarly strong physical attackers which can potentially OHKO her with a simple set of hazards.
A physical defender complements Milotic very well, Gligar adds more resistances to the team taking in Fighting and Ground moves easily for Milotic which generally trouble her.
Defensive Hitmontop can take all but the strongest physical attacks for Milotic and then spin away hazards that could shorten Milotic's life span as she is affected by all of them.
It is not recommended to actively try and abuse Marvel Scale by switching Milotic into Scalds hoping for a burn or something similar to that because the residual damage Milotic takes from that is usually greater than the health she saves from heighted defense.
However switching into paralysis is not a terrible option and should Milotic get herself statused then it is not nearly as crippling as it would be for other defenders and you should take note of that by using Milotic to defend against Flygon or Darmanitan, something she would not be able to do without the Marvel Scale boost.

[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Scald
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Recover
move 4: Haze / Dragon Tail
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Because of her pure water typing and strong defensive move pool which includes access to recover Milotic makes for a deceptively bulky physical defender being a good counter to almost all the Fire-types present in the metagame.
Scald is very useful because a good burn chance makes Milotic much more difficult to switch into and if she gets a burn on a physical attacker she can generally wall them effortlessly adding to her overall utility.
Ice Beam is also essential to thisset because Milotic is aiming to counter quite a few threats weak to Ice including Flygon which is instantly KOd by Ice Beam after hazard damage and Tornadus which would have a much easier time against Milotic if she didn't carry Ice Beam.
However it is important to know when to gamble for the Scald burn; if your Milotic is up against a Swords Dance Virizion and you have nothing to switch into it then hoping for a Scald burn would be more appropriate than doing relatively little damage with Ice Beam.
Haze allows Milotic to comfortably counter Bulk Up Scrafty and Swords Dance Bisharp, something she would not be able to do with only Dragon Tail. Even Dragon Dance Kingdra has a harder time against Haze Milotic because Kingdra cannot simply set up a Substitute to block Dragon Tail (which will not break the Substitute). It stops her from being set up bait in general 100% of the time.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

With this set Milotic still retains enough special bulk to check most special threats but can no longer directly counter them as Chandelure can easily take out Milotic in two hits with Choice Specs now and even Nidoking leaves a serious dent with Earth Power not to mention he can fry Milotc with Thunderbolt.
A secondary defender with heavy special defense is needed to make the most out of Milotic's bulk and help ensure the opponent cannot simply apply pressure to break down walls.
Snorlax fits very well as he is perhaps the best response to Shaymin, Zapdos and Raikou all of which can potenetially KO Milotic with their super effective STAB moves. Umbreon also works well as he can relieve Milotic of Toxic status which hurts more than helps her despite Marvel Scale.
It is very important to remember that despite investing in her physical defense Milotic still cannot counter a number of physical attackers such as Virizion or Bolt Strike Victini or Mienshao.
Setting up hazards really helps Milotic as it takes away your opponent's switching freedom so they cannot just immediately go to a wallbreaker. Froslass is a strong option as despite her low defenses she can quickly set up several layers of Spikes making it difficult to switch into Milotic.

[Other Options]

Refresh can eliminate crippling status, but it's hard to fit into valuable moveslots
Dragon Pulse can check Kingdra, but Dragon Tail already does that
HP Electric allows Milotic to hit Empoleon, but it doesn't do enough to be worth it
Hypnosis has the potential to 60% accurate OHKO move, but it's very risky
Light Screen can provide team support

[Checks and Counters]

Roserade can come into battle not fearing Scald, and can threaten Sleep, strong STAB moves, or Spikes
Shaymin is even bulkier, and can dish out powerful Seed Flares
Togekiss can try to stallbreak Milotic, healing with Roost and clearing status with Heal Bell
Raikou and Zapdos can threaten Milotic with strong STABs, but if they're hit by Dragon Tail, passive damage can rack up.
Virizion has super effective Grass STAB, but physical variants must be mindful of Scald burns
The tier's good stallbreaker, Crobat, Sableye, Mew, and Swords Dance Heracross, can try to break Milotic, but between Scald burn chances and phazing, none are a surefire response
Snorlax can absorb hits with it's high Special Defense and hit with strong neutral attacks, but offensive variants are in danger of Scald burns