Original Analysis
[Overview]
<p>On paper, Roserade looks mediocre. A bland Grass / Poison type sitting in UU wouldn't stand a chance in a tier rife with such threats as Latios, Tornadus-T, Heatran, and Keldeo, right? It can't take a hit to save its life, right? Surprisingly, these statements are both incorrect. Roserade is totally fabulous; just look at that cape! It's also the strongest special Grass-type in the entire game, sporting a nice Special Attack stat of 125 and a nice Speed stat of 90. Its Special Defense isn't too shabby either at 105, and although its Defense and HP are pretty low, they can easily be manipulated to survive some surprisingly hefty attacks. Despite being a bit starved for coverage, Roserade's offensive movepool is surprisingly varied, and it has pretty much every support move you'd ever want other than Rapid Spin, even packing both Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Roserade's typing allows it to absorb Toxic Spikes without a second thought and makes it immune to Leech Seed and Toxic, while also bringing along nifty resistances to Water, Grass, and Fighting, making it a solid Keldeo check. It's stronger than Celebi and lacks the awful Pursuit weakness, while it separates itself from Ferrothorn with its Speed and resistance to Fighting. Its fantastic ability, Natural Cure, lets it shrug off status by simply switching out. It didn't really gain anything in the transition to BW2, but it didn't really need anything new. All in all, Roserade is a fantastic Pokemon in OU whose flaws can easily be looked past.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Spikes / Toxic Spikes
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Hidden Power Fire / Toxic Spikes
move 4: Rest
item: Black Sludge
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is perhaps Roserade's best set in the OU metagame, using its typing and excellent support movepool to its advantage. Roserade's calling card over other Grass-types is its access to both Spikes and Toxic Spikes, a trait only shared with Forretress and Cloyster in OU. Roserade's typing is quite useful for defensive teams, as it lets Roserade absorb Toxic Spikes and resist Water, Fighting, Grass, and Electric. This typing allows it to go toe-to-toe with Keldeo, Rotom-W, and Jellicent, Pokemon that defensive teams have trouble with, and thanks to Natural Cure it can absorb stray status moves and even set up on bulky Water-types without fearing Scald. It does a decent job at breaking VoltTurn as well if it can avoid Tornadus-T.</p>
<p>Roserade's most important move on this set is definitely Spikes, its best available entry hazard. Giga Drain allows it to take a chunk out of Water-types and Terrakion, while Hidden Power Fire lets it hammer Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Scizor. Rest lets it heal up to full HP in order to continue its job later in a battle. On most Pokemon, Rest is looked down on, as these Pokemon are stuck asleep for two turns or more. Roserade, however, can heal itself just by switching out thanks to Natural Cure. Roserade is an excellent user of Toxic Spikes as well as Spikes, and can run it over Spikes or Hidden Power Fire. The EV spread listed allows Roserade to take a Choice Band Bullet Punch from Scizor and a Choice Specs Secret Sword from Keldeo.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As far as alternate options on this set are concerned, Sleep Powder is your best bet, as putting a Pokemon to sleep practically removes it from the game. Unfortunately, you have to forgo Spikes to use it, as the two moves are illegal together. Aromatherapy, Stun Spore, and Leech Seed are also excellent options, but are generally inferior to the ones listed. Sludge Bomb and Hidden Power Ice can be used over Hidden Power Fire to nail Flying-types, Magic Bounce Pokemon, or Dragon-types on the switch. An EV spread of 252 HP / 44 SpA / 152 SpD / 60 Spe can be used with a Timid nature to outspeed and OHKO Scizor with Hidden Power Fire.</p>
<p>Espeon and Xatu are this set's greatest foes, as they can bounce back Roserade's entry hazards, then outspeed and OHKO with their STAB moves. Tentacruel takes Roserade's attacks like a champ while spinning Roserade's hazards away and setting its own. Latios and Latias resist its attacks and hit back hard with Psyshock or Draco Meteor. Heatran is a pain in the neck because it hits Roserade super effectively and doesn't fear anything but a stray Hidden Power Ground or Sleep Powder. Ironically, Heatran is also Roserade's best friend, taking the Fire-type moves Roserade hates. Heatran and Jirachi can also keep Tornadus-T in check, so Roserade doesn't have to eat a Hurricane. While Roserade won't like the residual damage from sandstorm, Tyranitar and Landorus work well with Roserade. Tyranitar scares off the Lati twins, Espeon, and Xatu; Landorus takes out Tentacruel and Heatran with Sand Force boosted Earthquakes; and Roserade sponges the Water-type attacks that the two fear. Landorus-T can also be used without Tyranitar, as it takes out the same Pokemon while providing Intimidate for a physically defensive partner.</p>
[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Sludge Bomb
move 3: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Sleep Powder / Toxic Spikes
item: Life Orb
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Timid
evs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While Roserade's most common role is as a somewhat offensive user of Spikes and Toxic Spikes, it can pull off a surprisingly good offensive set due to its excellent Speed and Special Attack stats. Its typing and ability provide even more benefits not commonly seen in the OU tier. Due to its Poison typing, it is one of the best offensive Toxic Spikes absorbers, and while its ability might seem redundant in conjunction with its immunity to poison, Natural Cure allows it to practically shrug off paralysis and sleep, which would effectively remove any other offensive Pokemon from the match.</p>
<p>First and foremost, Roserade's powerful STAB Leaf Storm—running off of its high Special Attack—is the strongest unboosted Grass-type attack in OU. Leaf Storm's unfortunate side effect often forces Roserade out after one hit, however, so Sludge Bomb provides a powerful secondary STAB attack with the added benefit of hitting Tornadus-T and Salamence on the switch. Hidden Power Fire rounds off Roserade's coverage and allows it to hit Pokemon such as Skarmory and Ferrothorn super effectively. Hidden Power Ground is an alternative that allows Roserade to hit Heatran, which otherwise walls it, and gives a 31 Speed IV. However, it comes at the cost of the ability to hit many of OU's Steel-types. Sleep Powder is an excellent utility move that can remove a problematic Pokemon from the match, while Toxic Spikes provides nice team support rarely seen on an offensive Pokemon.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The set's 232 Speed EVs allow Roserade to reach 300 Speed and outrun neutral base 100 Pokemon by one point as Hidden Power Fire requires a lowered Speed IV, preventing Roserade from Speed tying with other positive natured base 90s. Although mostly barren, Roserade's movepool is surprisingly large for a Grass / Poison type Pokemon, and as such, it has a a couple more options to run in the fourth slot. Shadow Ball provides the best coverage with the given moves, while Weather Ball is an excellent move on weather teams and allows Roserade to run a different Hidden Power. Growth is Roserade's only boosting move, but Roserade is too frail to boost effectively, and Leaf Storm will simply remove the boost; furthermore, it is outclassed by Venusaur in this regard. Hidden Power Ice can be used in the third slot to hit Pokemon such as Dragonite, but this leaves Roserade helpless against Steel-types. Toxic Spikes can replace Sludge Bomb or Hidden Power to allow for Toxic Spikes and Sleep Powder. A Focus Sash can be used over Life Orb to get in a quick Sleep Powder or hit, but the power drop is huge.</p>
<p>Offensive Roserade can be paired with a wide variety of teammates. It loves fast partners with Ground-, Fighting-, or Water-type moves to remove Steel- and Fire-types from the match. Good options for these Pokemon include Starmie, Terrakion, and Dugtrio, the latter of which can also trap grounded Steel- and Fire-types and destroy them with Earthquake. Furthermore, physical walls can soak up attacks aimed at Roserade's awful Defense stat. A special mention goes to Slowbro, which resists all the elemental types Roserade is weak to bar Flying and can switch out and regain health through Regenerator. Heatran resists Flying, is immune to Fire, and can set up Stealth Rock to help Roserade secure some KOs. Finally, Roserade is an excellent partner for any Pokemon that fears status afflictions, such as bulky Water-types or Choice attackers, due to its innate immunity to Toxic and Natural Cure to remove status. Espeon, Starmie, and Volcarona all pose problems, but thankfully, Choice Scarf Terrakion can easily defeat these Pokemon with a quick Stone Edge or Close Combat.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Weather Ball is pretty awesome on weather teams. Rain and sun essentially give Roserade a 150 Base Power Water- or Fire-type move and grant you the ability to use Hidden Power Ice or Hidden Power Ground respectively, although you're really better off using a Chlorophyll sweeper such as Venusaur on Sun teams. Sandstorm gives Roserade a Rock-type Weather Ball, which provides some useful coverage on Flying-type switch-ins. Hail makes Weather Ball Ice-type, which provides amazing coverage with Hidden Power Fire; this compounds your Hail team's weakness to Fire-type moves, however. Extrasensory smacks Infernape as it switches in and hits Poison-types hard, making it wonderful alongside Toxic Spikes. Leech Seed can be used to bug Heatran and sap ridiculous amounts of health from Blissey and Chansey. Aromatherapy is a great support option, but unless you have a very status-weak team, it's probably outclassed by another move.</p>
<p>A set utilizing Choice Scarf is a nice idea; it might surprise faster Pokemon such as Terrakion and Keldeo. An EV spread of 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe with a Modest nature allows Roserade to outspeed all base 130 Pokemon and OHKO Tornadus-T in any weather with Weather Ball. An offensive set using Technician and Magical Leaf could be used to allow Spikes on an offensive set, but the loss of Natural Cure hurts pretty badly.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Strong priority moves from the likes of Scizor, Mamoswine, and Lucario easily take out Roserade, especially since they target its low Defense stat. SubDisable Gengar resists Roserade's STAB moves, blocks Sleep Powder with Substitute, and can prevent it from using its coverage moves. Most Dragon-types can set up on Roserade, but they are hit hard by Sludge Bomb. Chansey and Blissey wall Roserade all day. Xatu and Espeon reflect its hazards and threaten back with their STAB moves, but must be careful around offensive variants. Heatran is arguably Roserade's best counter, but fears Hidden Power Ground. Latios and Latias take its hits and can use Psyshock to wipe it out. Ferrothorn in the rain is rather annoying as it can set up as many hazards as it wants against Roserade. Most Fire-types can beat Roserade, but if they are outsped, they can be 2HKOed by Sludge Bomb—even Volcarona can't switch in on that. Both formes of Tornadus outspeed and destroy Roserade with Hurricane. Gothitelle can't take repeated hits but can easily trap and OHKO Roserade with Psychic. Dugtrio can trap and kill a weakened Roserade. Tentacruel takes Leaf Storm like a champ and spins away Roserade's hazards. Reuniclus doesn't care about entry hazards, takes Roserade's hits relatively well, and KOes in return with its own STAB moves. Fortunately for Roserade, all of its counters (except Magic Bounce users) can be neutered with a well-timed Sleep Powder.</p>
