(Quality Control) Milotic (QC 2/3)

[Ace Emerald]

[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

[Super Mario Bro]

I don't think Milotic needs to invest 8 EVs in Speed. Aggron is rare, and Milotic shouldn't switch into it anyway. It's more beneficial to put those 8 EVs in Defense, where Milotic needs all the bulk it can get to eat physical fire attacks more easily.

[PK Gaming]

There's no reason not to run 8 Speed though. 8 EVs in defense will accomplish nothing (it basically provides an inconsequential boost to defense) while the 8 evs guarantee that you outspeed Adamant natured Aggron. Yes, they're rare (i'd say practically non-existent) the guaranteed insurance of outspeeding Adamant Aggron is still a good thing to have on hand. (and its one Milotics best niches over other bulky water-types actually).

I'm going to test Resttalk (i'm kind of doubting its legitimacy)

[Super Mario Bro]

Suicune almost completely outclasses Milotic as a RestTalker. We should focus on Milotic's role as a defensive pure water pivot with instant recovery, since those characteristics distinguish Milo from her bulky water counterparts.

I'd also mention that (Toxic) Milotic is a good Cofagrigus switch, since Will-O-Wisp activates her Marvel Scale, and she can proceed to stall him out. Slowbro and Slowking get mauled by Shadow Ball, while other bulky waters don't have access to reliable recovery.

[hilarious]

if nobody minds i think i will take down both the offensive set and rest talk set as i've asked some people and they say no no no. speak now or forever hold your peace!!!!

[cim]

i'm all for ditching both sets, milotic is a worse suicune in both regards even with marvel scale in effect. way more effective to absorb a twave or a wow and just use recover like a man

all for 8 speed milotic. speed is the "absolute stat" where every number matters every time consistently, and it's not speed creep in this scenario

how often is refresh really useful? i figure the teams that would most need it would have a cleric

please don't tell me you meant to leave cute charm as an option on the physically defensive set

[hilarious]

i don't really know what i was thinking when i put refresh i guess i can take it off. it just seems so pretty to put refresh on a pokemon as pretty as milotic...

i thought i was only supposed to put the ability once. is this not true?!!?!?!

[cim]

Nah, if there is one viable ability for a Pokemon and both are released, you put it on every set. Not putting an ability implies you should use either one for that set.

[DestinyUnknown]

Refresh should (at least) be an AC mention on any set not using ResTalk, and maybe leave it as a slash on the Specially Defensive set as it's actually pretty useful.

[kokoloko*]

Ditch the offensive set, not RestTalk though. The metagame is slowing down a ton cause of Chansey, so RestTalk might actually be good again.

Also Refresh to OO, imo.

[Super Mario Bro]

My question is: Why would anyone use RestTalk Milotic over RestTalk Suicune? Suicune has better overall bulk, and Roar is better than Dragon Tail in most circumstances, especially with SubBoosters like Bisharp running around.

[kokoloko*]

Because Milotic is bulkier than Suicune when it's sleeping and Dragon Tail is better is some situations, such as versus Venomoth and Taunt users. It also has slightly higher SpA.

[hilarious]

although i am going to be a bit inactive i will probably finish ALL of my analysis still by tomorrow so yeah (or at least get them to gp stage) i am sorry i have been a lazy ass :ccc

[Ace Emerald]

Finished the WIP, ready for QC.

[kokoloko*]

QC Approved 1/3

[PK Gaming]

Ice Beam should be slashed over Refresh imo.

QC APPROVED (2/3)