Roserade (Bulky Lead)

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/roserade
[SET]
Name: Bulky Lead
Move #1: Sleep Powder/ Stun Spore
Move #2: Toxic Spikes / Spikes
Move #3: Grass Knot / Leaf Storm
Move #4: Hidden Power Fire / Rest
Item: Black Sludge / Leftovers
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SpAtk

Strengths:
-Harder to kill than other lead set
-Makes trick leads regret it with Black Sludge
-Item choice doesn't immediately become useless when you have to switch out

Additional Comments:
-Entry hazard choice around what your team needs
-Grass Knot or Leaf Storm
-Hidden Power Fire or Rest
-Stun Spore for Spike leads
-Black Sludge or Leftovers

Teammates and Counters:
-Pairs well with Heatran, who lures out bulky waters and Blissey for Roserade to set up on
-Should have partners who can abuse entry hazard, like Empoleon and Rotom-A for Toxic Spikes and Agiligross for Spikes (just examples, many teammates can abuse entry hazards)
-Needs Rotom-A, Dusknoir or Gengar to spinblock
-This lead is stopped by Infernape, Jirachi, Lum Metagross and Lum Tyranitar

This is my first C&C post so if I'm breaking any rules, let me know.

Sleep Powder and Spikes are illegal together. If you were to use Spikes, you'd need to use Stun Spore or the shaky Grass Whistle.

Why use Black Sludge? Even though the Pokemon that Trick Roserade take damage, they can Trick the Black Sludge to something such as Swampert which would become crippled because of it.

Also, why use this over the regular lead or the Spikes set? This set loses to the same things that a regular lead Roserade does if not more. For mid game, the Spikes set is superior as it focuses on Roserade's strengths.

Örly said:

Sleep Powder and Spikes are illegal together. If you were to use Spikes, you'd need to use Stun Spore or the shaky Grass Whistle.

Why use Black Sludge? Even though the Pokemon that Trick Roserade take damage, they can Trick the Black Sludge to something such as Swampert which would become crippled because of it.

Click to expand...

I wasn't aware those were illegal together, I'll fix that. And yes, that actually slipped my mind as well- I'll ad Leftovers as an alternate item.

EDIT: I actually devised this set because I was sick of switching out and switching in to have my focus sash broken. Trying to set up on weak special attacks was very difficult as well, so I wanted Rose to have more bulk so that it didn't have to rely on focus sash to survive hits.

I don't approve this set. As a lead, Roserade should be able to stand against most of the common OU leads, and the #1 right now is Azelf, which has a small chance of burying Roserade in a single hit from Psychic (notice that Fire Blast OHKOs 100% of the time); although it can also use Taunt and render it practically useless without having to worry about a powerful Leaf Storm, as without any Special Attack investment it could leave Azelf in a percentage of health that permits him to switch in and out one more time even with SR down. By using Focus Sash, Roserade has at least an opportunity to avoid the aforementioned fact, or reduce Azelf's HP to the minimum. Black Sludge isn't just worth it because it doesn't propitiate Roserade any insurance against an attacking lead or a missed Sleep Powder in the first turn. Additionally, another weak point this set has is that even by implementing all those HP EVs Roserade does not turn any 2HKO into a 3HKO, which is kind of pointless actually -- Jirachi will still 2HKO you with Iron Head, as well as Metagross, Aerodactyl, and Machamp, to name a few.

Setsuna. said:

I don't approve this set. As a lead, Roserade should be able to stand against most of the common OU leads, and the #1 right now is Azelf, which has a small chance of burying Roserade in a single hit from Psychic (notice that Fire Blast OHKOs 100% of the time); although it can also use Taunt and render it practically useless without having to worry about a powerful Leaf Storm, as without any Special Attack investment it could leave Azelf in a percentage of health that permits him to switch in and out one more time even with SR down. By using Focus Sash, Roserade has at least an opportunity to avoid the aforementioned fact, or reduce Azelf's HP to the minimum. Black Sludge isn't just worth it because it doesn't propitiate Roserade any insurance against an attacking lead or a missed Sleep Powder in the first turn. Additionally, another weak point this set has is that even by implementing all those HP EVs Roserade does not turn any 2HKO into a 3HKO, which is kind of pointless actually -- Jirachi will still 2HKO you with Iron Head, as well as Metagross, Aerodactyl, and Machamp, to name a few.

Click to expand...

Yes, this lead loses to Azelf, but didn't the old one as well? Whenever I ran old Roserade, I still never kept her in against azelf, and this set is no different. It's like the old set in that you have to switch out against all of the same leads, but when you switch it back in again, it's item choice isn't useless and it can actually survive some weaker hits.

I partially agree with you, mate. However, there is one big difference between Focus Sash Roserade and the one you have propounded here: the ability to decide whether to stay in or not in front of the likes of Azelf, Aerodactyl, Machamp, and Heatran leads, primarily. While using Focus Sash you have the certainty that Roserade will have at least two opportunities to use Sleep Powder, which brings us to the scenario in which Roserade faces Heatran in the first turn of the battle -- Fire Blast/Flamethrower won't kill you off in one hit due to the item you're holding, therefore giving Rade another turn to utilize Sleep Powder in case it missed before, then proceed to set up TS, etcétera. On the other hand, by using 252 Special Attack EVs Roserade will deal with Leaf Storm a 93~110% of damage to 4 HP Aerodactyl, 100% to 4 HP Azelf, 65~76% to 252 HP / 16 SpD Machamp, and 82~98% of damage to max HP / max SpD Forretress, to name a few. This tell us that the Focus Sash set (besides having other great chances while using this item) can also hit harder some of the common leads in OU, something that the proposed set misses. Now after having shown some calcs and given previous commentary, the question is: If the idea is to use a variant of Roserade, who relies on being bulky, in order to set up a hazard easier than in other conditions, why don't just use a support set such as the Spike, or SubSeed ones, without having to place Roserade in the lead position? In terms of overall effectiveness and success, Focus Sash>"Bulky Lead" for the stated reasons above.

Don't see this set viable as a lead, focus sash is probably the best item for roserade as a lead, and the loss of power really hurts it to even be in a lead position. Focus sash also helps vs tran leads if sleep powder misses. going to have to say no

Yeah, I'm gonna have to say no... and that's 3.

Like SDS said, that's three, so I'm locking.