Rotom-S (OU Analysis - QC 0/3)

shrang

shrang

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What is this? Shrang is putting another seemingly subpar Pokemon that seems to be outclassed by everything through QC? Not again!

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http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/rotom-s


[Overview]
- Levitate + Flying-type + Air Balloon + Baton Passed Magnet Rise = OMGWTFBBQ
- While it gets heaps of shit, Rotom-S is actually a very good Scarfer to run on a rain team, since it takes out many Pokemon that give rain teams problems.
- While Zapdos appears to be better, Rotom-S's access to Air Slash (reliable Flying-STAB without resorting to Hidden Power) and Trick differentiates it from the legendary bird.

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Volt Switch / Thunder
move 2: Air Slash
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Trick / Thunder
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
- While this set may outclassed by the more prevalent Rotom-W, Rotom-S's access to a reliable Flying-STAB allows it to take out many Pokemon that give rain teams problems that Rotom-W simply fails against. These include Virizion, Bulk Up Breloom, Toxicroak and weakened Celebi. It is also resistant to 3/4 of CB Scizor's moveset, something that no other Rotom form apart from Ghost Rotom has. It can check these threats while abusing STAB Electric attacks.
- While Zapdos can use HP Flying for similar damage output, Rotom-S's access to Air Slash allows it run a different Hidden Power, extending its coverage. Zapdos cannot use Trick either.
- So, the number of things that Rotom-S can revenge kill is actually quite a lot. These include the aforementioned Virizion, Breloom, Celebi, but also Gyarados, Dragonite, slower Haxorus and Starmie.
- Volt Switch and Thunder are obviously your preferred STAB moves in a rain team. Air Slash is probably the main reason for using Rotom-S in the first place, while HP Ice revenge kills Dragons.
- Trick is preferred in the last slot to cripple walls, but Thunder can be used if you used Volt Switch was your first preference and you want a stronger Electric-STAB.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Will-O-Wisp can be used in there somewhere for a quick burn, but Choiced Will-O-Wisp is always kind of questionable.
- Obviously Rotom-S functions best in a rain team, since that's what benefits most from it, which means Politoed is essential. Politoed also covers Rotom-S's Ice weakness, which is very nice.
- Rotom-S is Stealth Rock weak, so Rapid Spin or Magic Bounce support is good. Tentacruel fits well onto rain teams, as does Starmie, if you're after more offense. Xatu is generally a better fit onto rain teams than Espeon with as it has more reliable recovery, although Espeon is better offensively.
- Rotom-S hates Tyranitar with a passion, since it takes little damage from Rotom-S and can Pursuit for a lot of damage. Fighting-types like setting up on Tyranitar. Lucario and Terrakion are excellent sweepers to set up on Tyranitar, while Conkeldurr is available if you want something bulkier.

[Other Options]
- Most other sets that Rotom-S can run are either outclassed by other Rotom forms or Zapdos. These include Choice Specs, Life Orb and bulky sets.
- HP Fighting can hit Tyranitar for good damage, while HP Grass can be used to hit Gastrodon and Quagsire.
- A paraflinch set is annoying, but is really a waste of potential.
- In general, take advantage of Rotom-S's very narrow niche, or you're better off running something else.

[Checks and Counters]
- Tyranitar - Takes little from anything Rotom-S uses, takes away the rain while Pursuiting the fan for a lot of damage.
- Ferrothorn can take Rotom-S's attacks quite easily and set up Spikes, although it won't enjoy Trick very much.
- Latias and Latios don't particularly mind Rotom-S all that much, since they have excellent Special Defense stats, but Latias will not enjoy Trick.
- Jolteon does quite well against Rotom-S, since it's immune to Electric, resists Air Slash and doesn't take much from HP Ice, while doing a lot of damage in return with its own Electric STAB. In a similar vein, Raikou takes little damage from everything that Rotom-S can use and set up Calm Minds.
- Mamoswine is immune to Electric, can take an Air Slash or HP Ice and retaliate hard with Ice-STABs, or just pick off slightly weakened ones with Ice Shard.
- While Rotom-S is fast, there are faster Scarfers out there. Choice Scarf Salamence outspeeds it and can take out slightly weakened Rotom-S with Outrage while gaining a Moxie boost. Choice Scarf Landorus, Jolly Haxorus, Timid Hydreigon and Terrakion can all outspeed and hit Rotom-S very hard.
- Rotom-S is Stealth Rock weak, so getting up SR will limit the amount of Volt Turning it can do significantly.
 
Well, it's niche is very small, but it is definitely a useful one for rain teams. The amount of times mine has been totally destroyed by Bulk Up Breloom if it gets one boost in makes me want to try this out.
 
I can see the usefulness that this pokemon has. It's niche is really small but it seems worth it. Great set :]
 
If you're running a rain team, wouldn't a Hurricane user eg Tornadus or Dragonite be a lot better option to deal with the threats you mentioned?
 
They can't revenge kill Dragon Dancers like Dragonite and Gyarados though. Rotom-S is kind of like your one-stop shop for taking out a multitude of threats. Plus, they can't participate in VoltTurn.
 
Well Tornadus does have U-turn, and if you want you can run a Scarf Tornadus set which is able to revenge kill Dragons as well. Not to mention Tornadus has priority Tailwind which is pretty much the best way of stopping a sweep, though it does come at the cost of saccing Tornadus.
 
shrang said:
They can't revenge kill Dragon Dancers like Dragonite and Gyarados though. Rotom-S is kind of like your one-stop shop for taking out a multitude of threats. Plus, they can't participate in VoltTurn.
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Scarf Tornadus can easily revenge kill these dragons with a Scarf set, and HP Ice. Also Tornadus gets U-turn which allows it to be part of Volt-turn chains. Finally by using Tornadus, you can also use Rotom-W, which is a very good poke for rain teams and volt-turn teams, obviously, while with Rotom-S you can't.
 
the main drawing point of this is to be able to beat both bulky waters and bulky grass types both are threats for rain teams. Tornadus can handle grass types but isn't doing too well with water types especially when running Scarf. Rotom-F also isn't stopped by Scizor thanks to resisting 3/4th of his moveset as shrang already pointed out and considering that Scizor is the most used Pokemon this counts towards this set. He also isn't so super reliant on rain like Tornadus (i know it learns Air Slash too, but nobody ever uses this since Hurricane spam is the only thing Tornadus is good at).

Tornadus U-Turn also doesn't really hurt anything, because its a 70 BP unstabed attack that comes from an uninvested attack stat and you are likely to run a hindering nature.

Tornadus is a late game sweeper or hole puncher (depending on the team you are facing) that likely comes in once or twice in the game and has done its job.
Rotom-F is played much like Rotom-W and will be one of the Pokemon you switch in very often (Rapid Spin support actually seems mandatory for me) to abuse its resistances and threaten with a strong Volt Switch that can't be stopped by Grass types like Rotom-Ws ( Rotom-W and F seem like good team mates its a shame Species Clause prevents you from doing this^^).

I actually think a bulky set could work with T-Bolt/Air Slash/WoW/Pain Split, but i am not too sure because of the SR weakness and the fact that Pain Split blows as Recovery for defensive Pokemon.
 
This rotom acts as more of a defensive pivot in a sense, being able to take hits that pokemon like tornadus would shy away from. Its dual STABs, also when paired with HP Ice provides great coverage and with a scarf it acts as a great revenger. Tornadus may have more power, and can participate in a Volt-Turn chain, but it isnt as effective against opposing chains(for example). This set has its niche in being able to take hits and deal strong blows back. Like BurningMan said tornadus is a nuke that is made to punch holes in the opponents team, while this set is more of a bulky pivot. I do believe that tornadus and this set have their differences, and those differences are pretty big imo.
 
alexwolf said:
Scarf Tornadus can easily revenge kill these dragons with a Scarf set, and HP Ice. Also Tornadus gets U-turn which allows it to be part of Volt-turn chains. Finally by using Tornadus, you can also use Rotom-W, which is a very good poke for rain teams and volt-turn teams, obviously, while with Rotom-S you can't.
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It can't revenge kill Gyarados o_0. Anyway this is less of a "Rotom-S being outclassed and trying to do Tornadus's job" than a "Tornadus trying to a Rotom-S job" than anything. While not being able to run Rotom-W is a bit of a letdown, you have to consider the other options running Rotom-S provides. Since you can pretty much do Rotom-W's revenge-killing job as well as Tornadus/Dragonite's taking on bulky Grass-types all in one, this frees up a teamslot for you to run something else that could be good in your rain. Don't have room for Ferrothorn / Jellicent / Tentacruel or something else? Free it up here. If you have all the support Pokemon's slots allocated, you can easy free that slot up for a spare Pokemon for a more wildcard-ish Pokemon, like Salamence or something.

Another thing to note is that Tornadus and Hurricane Dragonite's efficiency is dramatically dropped out of rain. Hurricane gets dropped down to 70% or even worse, 50% in the sun. Rain specific Dragonites are frankly terrible out of rain, especially that Hurricane / Thunder / Aqua Tail / Roost. Rotom-S, on the other hand, isn't really affected by loss of rain at all, it just does what it normally does, which is abuse Volt Turn and Air Slash. Unless you're running Thunder and Trick, Rotom-S doesn't really care about loss of rain.
 
Yeah Rotom-S has some little things it can do and others can't, it is just that in a rain team i would pick Scarf Torandus over Scarf Rotom-S 9 out of 10 times, since he has greater power, can actually kill Ttar with FB or hit him harder than Rotom-S's Volt Turn with U-turn, and they revenge kill almost the same things, except Gyarados as you said. But anyway it propably deserves an analysis, since it isn't completely outclassed, by the strict meaning of the word.
 
it is just that in a rain team i would pick Scarf Torandus over Scarf Rotom-S 9 out of 10 times
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Really? That sounds like the biggest waste of potential ever o_0. Why would you slap a Scarf on your nuking Pokemon when you can just do it to Rotom-S? Sounds like you're trying to force Tornadus to do something that it doesn't like doing when you can just get Rotom-S to it, lol.
 
shrang said:
Really? That sounds like the biggest waste of potential ever o_0. Why would you slap a Scarf on your nuking Pokemon when you can just do it to Rotom-S? Sounds like you're trying to force Tornadus to do something that it doesn't like doing when you can just get Rotom-S to it, lol.
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Of 'course Specs Tornadus is better, but this just means that Scarf Rotom-S is not so good. I am just telling that even a not so good poke such as Scarf Tornadus, seems better for me to use in a rain team than Scarf Rotom-S. But anyway all this is theorymon, and as i said before this thing probably deserves an analysis so we are fine.
 
This is sort of a "well, why-not dawg" concept than anything else. Rotom-S can handle some stuff that other comparable Pokemon can't, and maintains itself well enough against a range of overused threats so that it's usable in any battle. Also, you did the Rotom-N analysis yourself, Shrang, so I know you're not grasping at any straws here. This is essentially a Rotom-W with Flying-type STAB (a rare but happy occurrence) and a convenient typing with usability.

My couple of complaints for this while taking it out for a dozen of battles is the Stealth Rock weakness (given, and I've grown too used to using Flying-types to know this) and the fact that Rotom-S lacks a solid KOing move aside from Thunder. I couldn't really KO anything with moves around the base 70 BP range, but that's ignoring its revenge killing capabilities.

Overall, Rotom-S as a contender in OU is kinda "ehhhhhh why?," but I'll give it a few points for actually having some value. Just give me a few more battles, and I'll mull it over.
 
modest Zapdos is faster, bulkier, has much more SpA (309 vs 383) and his Air Cutter is comparable in strength to Rotom-S's Air Slash.

Timid Rotom-S Air Slash vs 252/0 Celebi = 52.48% - 62.38%
Modest Zapdos Air Cutter vs 252/0 Celebi = 47.52% - 56.44%

sure Rotom hits a bit harder on the Flying front but Zapdos hits a shitload harder with every other attack

Timid Rotom-S Thunder vs 252/0 Mew = 41.83% - 49.26%
Modest Zapdos Thunder vs 252/0 Mew = 51.98% - 61.14%

Trick is good, but I'm not convinced it's that good...and besides, the extra moveslot gives Zapdos the freedom to use both Volt Switch and Thunder or use Heat Wave for those times when Rain isn't up.
 
yeah pretty much just elaborating on what lee said...

timid rotom-s gives 242 HP / 250 Def / 309 SpA / 250 SpD / 298 Spe
modest zapdos gives 322 HP / 206 Def / 383 SpA / 216 SpD / 299 Spe

so zapdos has the advantage in every category considering its HP makes it bulkier on both the physical and special side.

with that in mind, i'm pretty sure scarf zapdos with volt switch / air cutter / hp ice / thunder can do everything that scarf rotom-s does but better even though its air cutter is slightly weaker than rotom-s's air slash. air cutter does 125.00% - 147.50% to bulk up breloom, it does 96.30% - 114.81% to virizion, thunder does 96.43% - 113.96% to croak, calcs on celebi are above, etc. i could go on but you get it. i don't think trick is enough to warrant its own set, especially since you probably need thunder to kill things like jellicent since volt switch just lets it recover stall you. even still i've used scarf zapdos and it's actually pretty bad (unlike specs which is awesome). sorry but i can't see a reason at all to use rotom-s in OU so this gets a no from me.
 
I haven't even thought of Zapdos.

I'm sorry. Due to Lee's and Iconic's reasoning on Zapdos, in addition to further testing, I'm gonna have to say no too, despite my defenses of it a few posts back. I know you had good reasons for attempting to put this on-site, so feel free to defend this.
 
Yeah, I did think of Zapdos, but did not think about Air Cutter. Oh well, here I did think that Rotom-S had a use in OU (it still does). The only thing I can really say is that being outclassed is no reason to not have an analysis, but still, I may as well write a Scarf Zapdos set then!
 
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