[OVERVIEW]
Milotic has very unique assets that distinguish it as one of the most solid defensive pieces for certain defense-oriented teams. Its Water typing gives it key resistances to Fire, Ice, and Water while only being weak to Grass- and Electric-type attacks. In addition, its 95 / 79 / 125 defenses are impressive. While its Defense is lacking comparatively, it can more than compensate for this with full investment thanks to its amazing Special Defense. These traits allow it to perform nicely against a variety of foes, namely Heatran, Jirachi, Gengar, Swampert, Metagross, Bronzong, Gliscor, Flygon, and Dragonite.
Milotic also has a few other neat traits that make it even stronger. While status is a huge issue for Milotic on paper, it can compensate for this to an extent thanks to Marvel Scale. In addition, Milotic is one of few Pokemon with access to Haze, a high-PP move that keeps a large number of potent setup sweepers in check, like Calm Mind Clefable, CroCune, Swords Dance Scizor, and even Dragon Dance Gyarados.
Milotic's main flaws are its weakness to entry hazards, passiveness due to its lack of power, and low Speed. This means that aggressive play and a decent number of offensive threats can pressure it, and it also has difficulty against opposing defensive teams. Its weakness to status, even with Marvel Scale, is still an issue, and it detests sand because it limits Milotic's walling capabilities, especially against the likes of Swampert and Jirachi. In addition, Clefable can easily force Milotic out, as it takes any of Milotic's attacks and threatens it with Knock Off. Milotic needs to actively stay healthy in order to maintain its defensive utility, so with enough chip damage and offensive pressure, it can crumble.
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Surf
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Haze
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
ability: Marvel Scale
nature: Bold / Calm
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Surf is Milotic’s most consistent STAB move, and its higher PP compared to Hydro Pump makes it better for longer games. Ice Beam hits Breloom, Dragonite, Flygon, Latias, and Celebi for super effective damage and can also threaten to freeze Pokemon like Skarmory and Clefable. Haze is essential to check CroCune, Calm Mind Clefable, Swords Dance Scizor, and many other setup sweepers. Its gargantuan 48 PP gives Milotic increased staying power, which can help force a setup sweeper out. Recover rounds out the set and sets Milotic apart from other bulky Water-types like Suicune and Swampert.
Toxic and Hidden Power Electric can be used as alternatives to either Ice Beam or Haze. Toxic can be more effective against offensive Suicune, opposing Milotic, and Latias. Hidden Power Electric is mainly used if it is deemed necessary for Milotic to be a very secure Gyarados check. However, these moves are generally not recommended, as losing the coverage to hit Breloom and Dragon-types or the ability to remove stat changes can backfire tremendously.
Set Details
========
Maximizing HP and Defense investment is essential for taking on physical attackers like Swampert, Gyarados, Flygon, Metagross, Jirachi, and Dragonite as well as possible. The 8 Special Defense EVs are surprisingly important, crucially reducing damage from mixed Dragonite's Draco Meteor, Starmie's Thunderbolt, Gengar's Shadow Ball, and even Empoleon's Grass Knot. Since Milotic is vulnerable to chip damage from sand and entry hazards, Leftovers grants it crucial passive recovery. Even though Marvel Scale could make one consider an item like Flame Orb to boost its Defense, this is never worthwhile. A Calm nature with some Special Defense investment can be used to better take on Gengar, Grass Knot Infernape, Latias, and mixed Dragon-types, but Milotic will be worse off against foes like Swampert and Metagross.
Usage Tips
========
Teams with Milotic often depend on it to check some strong physical attackers, so it can be especially important to keep it healthy with Recover. Try to avoid taking damage-inflicting status if possible even with Marvel Scale, as the Defense bonus generally doesn't compensate for chip damage from the likes of burn and poison largely due to making Milotic more prone to losing to flinches from physical Jirachi variants. If you're playing against a Toxic Spikes team and have no means to remove them, try to switch Milotic into only one layer rather than two. In addition, Milotic will often find itself staying in for longer periods of time against such teams, so taking two layers of Toxic Spikes can render it unable to fulfill its role. Ice Beam can be used against foes like Clefable and bulky Jirachi to fish for a freeze, as they can shrug off Surf. Be mindful of Haze's PP when using the move versus foes like CroCune and Swords Dance Scizor.
Team Options
========
Despite Milotic's incredible defensive utility, it does not fit on a wide range of teams. Due to its lack of synergy with popular spinners like Starmie, Forretress, and Tentacruel, it must be built with entry hazards in mind. Magnezone is a solid partner to provide hazard control against Skarmory, preventing it from setting up enough Spikes to give Milotic trouble. Defensive behemoths immune to Spikes like Gliscor, Clefable, your own Skarmory, defensive Latias, and even Rotom-A can create strong cores with Milotic. In particular, while Milotic is excellent at warding off physical onslaughts, specially defensive Clefable can invalidate a large number of special attackers, which makes these two Pokemon incredible together. In addition, Clefable's Knock Off can help compensate for Milotic's lack of offensive presence, assisting it in keeping Suicune in check by allowing the damage from Milotic's Surf to stick. Skarmory's ability to set entry hazards is especially helpful, as Milotic can utilize its impressive staying power to do quite a bit of residual damage to offensive teams.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Milotic can run an offensive set with moves like Hydro Pump and Hidden Power Electric, which is similar to an offensive Calm Mind Suicune set but with an instant healing move in Recover instead of Calm Mind. However, the omnipresence of Clefable and lack of sufficient spinning support for Milotic means this set is quite difficult to make work. Refresh and Protect are all-around great moves on defensive Pokemon, and they could certainly work well on Milotic, but there's almost never room for them due to Haze's incredible utility and Ice Beam's coverage. A RestTalk set can be considered due to Milotic's Marvel Scale, but Recover is more than sufficient for Milotic to do its job. Confuse Ray is gimmicky, but it could be generally disruptive. Dragon Breath can make Milotic a paralysis spreader, which may have some potential on paralysis spam teams, but it's still difficult to ever justify it over Ice Beam. Hypnosis is a potent move, but its lack of accuracy and the aforementioned difficulty in replacing any of Milotic's standard moves holds it back. Lastly, Mirror Coat can catch foes like Latias, Gengar, and Zapdos by surprise, but it has the same issues as many other alternative moves.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Special Walls**: Special walls like Clefable, Blissey, Latias, and even Jirachi don't mind taking Milotic's attacks too much and have the potential to cripple it with a variety of moves like Toxic, Thunder Wave, Trick, and even Knock Off. That said, Clefable, Latias, and Jirachi may need to watch out for the chance of an Ice Beam freeze.
**Grass-types**: Grass-types like Celebi, Roserade, Shaymin, Abomasnow, and Breloom can threaten Milotic with their powerful STAB Grass-type attacks. Celebi, Roserade, and Shaymin won't be 2HKOed by Ice Beam, and Breloom should be able to survive one, meaning they can always threaten Milotic in some capacity.
**Electric-types**: Electric-types like Zapdos, Rotom-A, and Magnezone don't mind Milotic's attacks too much, and they threaten it with a naturally powerful STAB Thunderbolt.
**Water-types**: Water-types like Starmie, Suicune, Kingdra, and Tentacruel take very little damage from Milotic's attacks and can often force it out. Although Haze can be effective against certain variants of Suicune and Kingdra, Suicune's Pressure and Kingdra's Dragon-type attacks can still threaten Milotic or force it out.
**Status Inducers**: Milotic detests status, so any Pokemon with Toxic can significantly neuter it if they can inflict it with the move. Will-O-Wisp users like Gengar and even Heatran can also put Milotic on a timer by burning it.
**Super Effective Coverage**: Grass Knot from users like Jirachi, Infernape, and Empoleon has the potential to do significant damage to Milotic thanks to its relatively high weight. Foes like Latias, Jirachi, and even Metagross may use Electric-type attacks, of which Milotic must be wary.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Excal, 456373]]
- Quality checked by: [[Emeral, 72767], [DeepBlueC, 307789], [BKC, 52012]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Estronic, 240732], [Rabia, 336073]]
Milotic has very unique assets that distinguish it as one of the most solid defensive pieces for certain defense-oriented teams. Its Water typing gives it key resistances to Fire, Ice, and Water while only being weak to Grass- and Electric-type attacks. In addition, its 95 / 79 / 125 defenses are impressive. While its Defense is lacking comparatively, it can more than compensate for this with full investment thanks to its amazing Special Defense. These traits allow it to perform nicely against a variety of foes, namely Heatran, Jirachi, Gengar, Swampert, Metagross, Bronzong, Gliscor, Flygon, and Dragonite.
Milotic also has a few other neat traits that make it even stronger. While status is a huge issue for Milotic on paper, it can compensate for this to an extent thanks to Marvel Scale. In addition, Milotic is one of few Pokemon with access to Haze, a high-PP move that keeps a large number of potent setup sweepers in check, like Calm Mind Clefable, CroCune, Swords Dance Scizor, and even Dragon Dance Gyarados.
Milotic's main flaws are its weakness to entry hazards, passiveness due to its lack of power, and low Speed. This means that aggressive play and a decent number of offensive threats can pressure it, and it also has difficulty against opposing defensive teams. Its weakness to status, even with Marvel Scale, is still an issue, and it detests sand because it limits Milotic's walling capabilities, especially against the likes of Swampert and Jirachi. In addition, Clefable can easily force Milotic out, as it takes any of Milotic's attacks and threatens it with Knock Off. Milotic needs to actively stay healthy in order to maintain its defensive utility, so with enough chip damage and offensive pressure, it can crumble.
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Surf
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Haze
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
ability: Marvel Scale
nature: Bold / Calm
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Surf is Milotic’s most consistent STAB move, and its higher PP compared to Hydro Pump makes it better for longer games. Ice Beam hits Breloom, Dragonite, Flygon, Latias, and Celebi for super effective damage and can also threaten to freeze Pokemon like Skarmory and Clefable. Haze is essential to check CroCune, Calm Mind Clefable, Swords Dance Scizor, and many other setup sweepers. Its gargantuan 48 PP gives Milotic increased staying power, which can help force a setup sweeper out. Recover rounds out the set and sets Milotic apart from other bulky Water-types like Suicune and Swampert.
Toxic and Hidden Power Electric can be used as alternatives to either Ice Beam or Haze. Toxic can be more effective against offensive Suicune, opposing Milotic, and Latias. Hidden Power Electric is mainly used if it is deemed necessary for Milotic to be a very secure Gyarados check. However, these moves are generally not recommended, as losing the coverage to hit Breloom and Dragon-types or the ability to remove stat changes can backfire tremendously.
Set Details
========
Maximizing HP and Defense investment is essential for taking on physical attackers like Swampert, Gyarados, Flygon, Metagross, Jirachi, and Dragonite as well as possible. The 8 Special Defense EVs are surprisingly important, crucially reducing damage from mixed Dragonite's Draco Meteor, Starmie's Thunderbolt, Gengar's Shadow Ball, and even Empoleon's Grass Knot. Since Milotic is vulnerable to chip damage from sand and entry hazards, Leftovers grants it crucial passive recovery. Even though Marvel Scale could make one consider an item like Flame Orb to boost its Defense, this is never worthwhile. A Calm nature with some Special Defense investment can be used to better take on Gengar, Grass Knot Infernape, Latias, and mixed Dragon-types, but Milotic will be worse off against foes like Swampert and Metagross.
Usage Tips
========
Teams with Milotic often depend on it to check some strong physical attackers, so it can be especially important to keep it healthy with Recover. Try to avoid taking damage-inflicting status if possible even with Marvel Scale, as the Defense bonus generally doesn't compensate for chip damage from the likes of burn and poison largely due to making Milotic more prone to losing to flinches from physical Jirachi variants. If you're playing against a Toxic Spikes team and have no means to remove them, try to switch Milotic into only one layer rather than two. In addition, Milotic will often find itself staying in for longer periods of time against such teams, so taking two layers of Toxic Spikes can render it unable to fulfill its role. Ice Beam can be used against foes like Clefable and bulky Jirachi to fish for a freeze, as they can shrug off Surf. Be mindful of Haze's PP when using the move versus foes like CroCune and Swords Dance Scizor.
Team Options
========
Despite Milotic's incredible defensive utility, it does not fit on a wide range of teams. Due to its lack of synergy with popular spinners like Starmie, Forretress, and Tentacruel, it must be built with entry hazards in mind. Magnezone is a solid partner to provide hazard control against Skarmory, preventing it from setting up enough Spikes to give Milotic trouble. Defensive behemoths immune to Spikes like Gliscor, Clefable, your own Skarmory, defensive Latias, and even Rotom-A can create strong cores with Milotic. In particular, while Milotic is excellent at warding off physical onslaughts, specially defensive Clefable can invalidate a large number of special attackers, which makes these two Pokemon incredible together. In addition, Clefable's Knock Off can help compensate for Milotic's lack of offensive presence, assisting it in keeping Suicune in check by allowing the damage from Milotic's Surf to stick. Skarmory's ability to set entry hazards is especially helpful, as Milotic can utilize its impressive staying power to do quite a bit of residual damage to offensive teams.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Milotic can run an offensive set with moves like Hydro Pump and Hidden Power Electric, which is similar to an offensive Calm Mind Suicune set but with an instant healing move in Recover instead of Calm Mind. However, the omnipresence of Clefable and lack of sufficient spinning support for Milotic means this set is quite difficult to make work. Refresh and Protect are all-around great moves on defensive Pokemon, and they could certainly work well on Milotic, but there's almost never room for them due to Haze's incredible utility and Ice Beam's coverage. A RestTalk set can be considered due to Milotic's Marvel Scale, but Recover is more than sufficient for Milotic to do its job. Confuse Ray is gimmicky, but it could be generally disruptive. Dragon Breath can make Milotic a paralysis spreader, which may have some potential on paralysis spam teams, but it's still difficult to ever justify it over Ice Beam. Hypnosis is a potent move, but its lack of accuracy and the aforementioned difficulty in replacing any of Milotic's standard moves holds it back. Lastly, Mirror Coat can catch foes like Latias, Gengar, and Zapdos by surprise, but it has the same issues as many other alternative moves.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Special Walls**: Special walls like Clefable, Blissey, Latias, and even Jirachi don't mind taking Milotic's attacks too much and have the potential to cripple it with a variety of moves like Toxic, Thunder Wave, Trick, and even Knock Off. That said, Clefable, Latias, and Jirachi may need to watch out for the chance of an Ice Beam freeze.
**Grass-types**: Grass-types like Celebi, Roserade, Shaymin, Abomasnow, and Breloom can threaten Milotic with their powerful STAB Grass-type attacks. Celebi, Roserade, and Shaymin won't be 2HKOed by Ice Beam, and Breloom should be able to survive one, meaning they can always threaten Milotic in some capacity.
**Electric-types**: Electric-types like Zapdos, Rotom-A, and Magnezone don't mind Milotic's attacks too much, and they threaten it with a naturally powerful STAB Thunderbolt.
**Water-types**: Water-types like Starmie, Suicune, Kingdra, and Tentacruel take very little damage from Milotic's attacks and can often force it out. Although Haze can be effective against certain variants of Suicune and Kingdra, Suicune's Pressure and Kingdra's Dragon-type attacks can still threaten Milotic or force it out.
**Status Inducers**: Milotic detests status, so any Pokemon with Toxic can significantly neuter it if they can inflict it with the move. Will-O-Wisp users like Gengar and even Heatran can also put Milotic on a timer by burning it.
**Super Effective Coverage**: Grass Knot from users like Jirachi, Infernape, and Empoleon has the potential to do significant damage to Milotic thanks to its relatively high weight. Foes like Latias, Jirachi, and even Metagross may use Electric-type attacks, of which Milotic must be wary.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Excal, 456373]]
- Quality checked by: [[Emeral, 72767], [DeepBlueC, 307789], [BKC, 52012]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Estronic, 240732], [Rabia, 336073]]
Last edited:
Hi user Excal! 
