My experiences using Milotic so far (thank you random gts person for the feebas!):
Using Bold, 252 Hp, 252 Def, 4 SpDef
Leftovers
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Scald
-Dragon Tail
First of all, Milotic is still amazing. Lots of burn being passed around, able to control switching with dragon tail, great physical and special bulk and lots of survivability. I never found myself lacking in attack moves either, and any water absorb pokemon could either be out-stalled or dragon tailed out. Her teamwork has also been great as usual, piling on damage with dragon tail/burn where they can be easily finished off by a moxie sweeper. I remember a battle where milotic only burned one pokemon but dragon tailed many times through the long battle and didn't take any out alone, but allowed me to much more easily sweep later on. And then there were those where I took out their electric attacker and milotic just walled the rest of their team. And I can't count the times I had to outstall some pokemon (vaporeon, togekiss, etc) which made the difference in the battle. Not fun, but necessary to win in that situation.
Now for the downsides: The main one is that scald doesn't seem to burn as easily as last gen. I remember using 7 scalds in a row and not getting a burn. Another problem is that the special bulk is rarely used. Milotic's weaknesses are electric and grass, which are the few things she loses to head on. The few times milotic got ko'd were by getting 2shot by a choiced EQ or some physical equivalent. Then it seems I NEED scald to burn or I die. A few times I had to rest immediately after getting hit to be able to survive 2 hits before resting again. A decent strategy to live one on one but not great for early-mid game.
My next thought is Suicune. I know he lacks on stats in SpDef, and Def while asleep, but I want to try Rest talk suicune now for a few reasons: The main one being that suicune has roar, which can go through subs (which rarely came up as a problem in battle testing) and through protect now. Also that suicune gets water absorb. Not bad at all. Going with bold and the same EV investment, suicune gets much more Def and a little less SpDef. This seems like it would be better because neither pokemon is going to stay in on, say, a jolteon or venasaur. And switching in on a physical attack gives an advantage to suicune (given both of their mediocre speeds). Calm mind sounds nice on suicune too since it can burn any physical pkmn that wanted to set up on it (after realizing roar isn't there) and can wall/reverse sweep and specials trying to set up.
Any opinions on Suicune over Milotic (assuming rest, sleep talk, scald, roar/calm mind on suicune) or some milotic experiences/advantages/disadvantages? I can't get suicune from any early bankers yet so idk. Somehow Milotic felt better/more reliable/survived better in earlier gens. Milotic seems more the team player while suicune seems more independent.
