Rotom-C (Analysis)

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Rotom-C

Status: written || done

QC approvals: 3/3 [ PK Gaming || Bloo || Iconic ]
GP approvals: 2/2 [ Ray Jay || Calm Pokemaster ]

[Overview]

<p>Probably the biggest change from the 4th to the 5th generation was implemented upon the five Rotom formes. From now on, their secondary type is influenced by the appliance they take control of. For our cute mower, this means that it now has a unique Electric / Grass typing. This brings a few advantages with it, such as a total of 4 resistances, to Water-, Electric-, Grass-, and Steel-type attacks, which is topped by its typical Ground-type immunity. Leaf Storm now gets STAB, making it a very powerful move. Luckily, Rotom-C didn’t become weak to Stealth Rock with its new typing, something which is only shared with Rotom-W. On the other hand, however, Rotom-C now has a total of 4 weaknesses. Besides uncommon Poison-type attacks, Rotom-C is weak to Fire-, Ice-, and Bug-type attacks, which are all very common and generally have moves with high Base Power, making it a major drawback for Rotom-C. At least it hasn’t lost its great natural bulk though, so you might get over it. The real problem for Rotom-C is that its rivalry pool now changes from 'Rotom-A' to 'Rotom-A and every Grass-type Pokemon', making it quite unlikely for Rotom-C to be viable on a team.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Volt Switch / Thunderbolt
move 3: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Trick
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
ability: Levitate
nature: Modest
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Wielding a ridiculously powerful Leaf Storm is what sets Rotom-C apart from its other variations, which gives it a unique niche to nail Water- and Ground-types, while resisting both their STAB moves. There are some threats around with that typing. Besides Swampert, which was very prominent in 4th gen, Unaware Quagsire became a very potent wall, courtesy of the wealth of Pokemon capable of stat-boosting. To show Rotom's absurd power, even Bold 252 HP / 0 SpD Quagsire sitting at +4 SpD is easily OHKOed at full health. Besides, since it’s Rotom-C's strongest move now, everything netural to it has to take quite some damage. Even Excadrill takes 77% minimum, which just shows again how strong this move is.</p>

<p>Volt Switch is recommended to deal damage and bring something else in to immediately threaten the opponent again. Ground-types won't switch all too often into Rotom-C, because of Leaf Storm. Electric- and Grass-type attacks offer respectable coverage too. The downside is they are resisted not only by any Dragon- and Grass-types, but also by Magneton, Magnezone, Shedinja, Rotom-H and Galvantula to name a few. This means that Hidden Power Ice is thus a must-have on the third slot to have something that hits the majority of them as hard as possible. Since Ferrothorn is very prominent in the current metagame, Hidden Power Fire is also viable; otherwise, it stops Rotom-C cold.</p>

<p>Trick is needed on the last slot. Thanks to the new mechanics, you don’t have to fear getting another Choice item as you can freely switch another attack. However, you should not use it at first chance. Team preview helps to scout walls and setup sweepers for Rotom-C to stop and cripple.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Instead of running a plain 252 / 252 spread, the given EVs are recommended for several reasons. With the given setup, Rotom hits 366 Speed, which is fast enough to outspeed-positive natured base 116s, including Whimsicott, as well as Choice Scarf Tyranitar. Everything faster than that is just too big for Rotom-C to deal with. Scarfed Heatran can't be 2HKOed with Thunderbolt, even with Stealth Rock factored in. Additionally, there aren’t many opponents with a higher base Speed in standard. Aerodactyl, Jolteon, Alakazam, Weavile, and most others can be KOed by either STAB move, but it’s not worth running more Speed just for them as they are just too rare. However, you can use a Timid nature with 252 Speed EVs, which allows Rotom-C to outspeed Gyarados and Dragonite after a Dragon Dance and KO them with Thunderbolt or Hidden Power Ice, respectively, as long as Dragonite can't activate its Multiscale. With Drizzle Politoed, Thunder can be a viable option for the Electric-type STAB, as it gets 100% accuracy and also offers nice 30% chance to paralyze the opponent.</p>

<p>With the loss of its Ghost typing, Rotom also loses its ability to work as a spinblocker, but in exchange it’s not weak to Pursuit anymore, which you can flee from with a good chance to avoid the OHKO. Another niche Rotom-C got due to its type change is that it now can stop any sort of Leech Seed strategy as it's immune to them. This gives most users some major problems to deal with Rotom-C if they don’t run Hidden Power Fire. The only user that might cause a problem is Sceptile as it is faster than Scarfed Rotom-C with the given EVs. Ferrothorn is somewhat problematic; Rotom-C resists both STAB moves and has immunity against Spikes and Leech Seed, making Thunder Wave the only move Ferrothorn can use before it’s forced to switch, but if Rotom-C lacks Hidden Power Fire, it won't deal much damage either.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Leaf Storm
move 3: Will-O-Wisp / Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Pain Split
item: Leftovers
ability: Levitate
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Rotom-C luckily packs many useful resistances for this metagame, including Water-, Electric-, Grass- and Steel-type moves and also has an immunity to Ground-type attacks; all very common attacking types. The given EVs allow Rotom-C to swiftly stop Rotom-W and other Water-types, as it usually takes less than 25% from their STAB moves. However, Ice Beam could cause some problems. Thunderbolt and Leaf Storm offer great coverage, and score many 2HKOs even without any investment in its Special Attack against most Pokemon which are weak to either of them. Will-O-Wisp stops physical attackers, which are more common in OU, and also allows Rotom-C to take most physical attacks with ease. However, it's recommended to invest the EVs into Special Defense, as most Pokemon Rotom-C aims to check or counter are special attackers. Pain Split is used to give Rotom-C a recovery move which helps to keep it alive for a bit longer.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Be very careful with Leaf Storm; it's Rotom-C's strongest move, but after the Special Attack drop, Rotom-C will most likely forced to switch as it won't be able to deal any serious damage. Volt Switch might come in handy to compensate for this, but it's not necessarily the best option. Either way, Rotom-C doesn't lose its great defenses, so less damage isn't all too bad when you can stall out the opponent. Discharge is also somewhat viable to get a smaller status platform variant, as it doesn't care all too much about the damage output this way.</p>

<p>Despite the fact that Rotom-C can stop many potential sweepers in the current metagame, it also lures in quite a number which it is weak to. Looking at its weaknesses, Heatran comes to mind as it can take any of those hits while possessing a huge Special Attack stat it can make good use of. A bulky Water-type Pokemon such as Jellicent or Suicune can complete a solid Water-, Fire-, and Grass-type core, which is still effective in this generation. With so many special attackers, however, you might find yourself in a bad position against opposing special walls; you can use physical oriented or mixed Pokemon instead, such as Arcanine or Gyarados, to avoid such problems.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Basically, Leaf Storm is Rotom-C's main selling point. Without it, it's more about which Rotom forme is most attractive for team synergy; sadly, Rotom-W got the best typing, making it the superior choice most of the time. Still, every Rotom forme can run the same sets, and it's up to you to chose whose typing is best for your team. Both RestTalk and SubSplit are acceptable ways to recover health and prevent Rotom-C from being inflicted with status. Discharge can be used for its solid 30% chance to paralyze the opponent, but Thunder is probably the better option with that many rain teams out there now. Rotom still has plenty of status moves at its disposal, including Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, and Toxic. Other offensive moves are Shadow Ball and Electro Ball, but both don’t offer as much damage output as you get from what is used in the sets. Charge Beam can be used for a boosting sweeper, and makes up for the SpA drops caused by Leaf Storm at least a bit, but Rotom-C usually lacks the time to set up due to its incredibly common weaknesses.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Every Fire-type Pokemon has a STAB move which hurts Rotom-C badly. The same goes for every Ice-type, especially Abomasnow, which can take most moves you have and hit back with an accurate STAB Blizzard. However, Ice-types need to watch out for Hidden Power Fire. Grass-types such as Ferrothorn can stall out Rotom-C somewhat, as Rotom-C is unable to damage them significantly outside of Hidden Power. However, if they lack Toxic or Hidden Power, they won't be able to do damage to Rotom-C either.</p>

<p>Rotom-C also has another huge problem; it’s weak to U-turn. Just too many different Pokemon have access to it, making them all some sort of check for Rotom-C; they can take a hit, U-turn for super effective damage, and bring in an appropriate counter.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Rotom doesn't have a Dream World ability.</p>
 
I was shocked, that no set bar Choice worked.. It has just 4 weaknesses but they are just too common.. and too strong..

Guess skeleton is almost done now. Just need to edit Teamoptions, Counters and OC-
 
This is one I've been fooling with, too, and I just can't figure out what to do with it. Grass is a great offensive type, and the Rotom forms get electric STAB and all sorts of ghost-style support goodies, but none of it synergizes with Leaf Storm or grass typing. Quad electric resist is nice but everyone uses ice (or, failing that, fire) for coverage with electric.

When mentioning teammates, mention that it's a particularly poor partner for dragon types, because it'll be eating many more Ice Beams and HP Ices aimed at the switch.

Nattorei and Abomasnow merit mention in the counters. They both laugh at its STABs, and Natto shrugs off HP Ice and sets up Spikes, while Obama hammers away with STAB perfect accuracy Blizzard.

Good luck finding more uses for it.
 
With the meta so centralized in the 98-115 base speed region I think its hard to justify using specs instead of scarf: suddenly you've lost a speed advantage over quite literally half the meta. Running 86 base speed maxed is pretty useless, maybe you could use specs on a bulky slow set?

Edit: Scarf Rotom W is in a similar situation, and I've been running it at 144 Speed EVs Modest, since once you outspeed scarftar there is pretty much nothing else in the vast wastes ahead of 115 aside from rare Jolteons and Dugtrios.
 
This is one I've been fooling with, too, and I just can't figure out what to do with it. Grass is a great offensive type, and the Rotom forms get electric STAB and all sorts of ghost-style support goodies, but none of it synergizes with Leaf Storm or grass typing. Quad electric resist is nice but everyone uses ice (or, failing that, fire) for coverage with electric.

When mentioning teammates, mention that it's a particularly poor partner for dragon types, because it'll be eating many more Ice Beams and HP Ices aimed at the switch.

Nattorei and Abomasnow merit mention in the counters. They both laugh at its STABs, and Natto shrugs off HP Ice and sets up Spikes, while Obama hammers away with STAB perfect accuracy Blizzard.

Good luck finding more uses for it.
Thanks for your suggestions about counters and less attractive teammates, I'll add them.

I would slash the scarf with specs.
Is Specs an option, or is it too slow/fragile to make good use of it? :0
See quote below:

With the meta so centralized in the 98-115 base speed region I think its hard to justify using specs instead of scarf: suddenly you've lost a speed advantage over quite literally half the meta. Running 86 base speed maxed is pretty useless, maybe you could use specs on a bulky slow set?

Edit: Scarf Rotom W is in a similar situation, and I've been running it at 144 Speed EVs Modest, since once you outspeed scarftar there is pretty much nothing else in the vast wastes ahead of 115 aside from rare Jolteons and Dugtrios.
I already tested to move some EVs from speed to HP for a bit more bulk or simply running Modest along with max speed Scarf, simply because - as you mentioned already - it's just a waste of EVs hence you dont outspeed anything interessting with it. Your spread seems to be interessting, I'll give it definately a try. It'll be at least mentioned in OC. Thanks for the support =)
 
I've been thinking of fooling around with a Sub/Leftovers set with WoW. Gets the jump on Natt, makes it compete setup fodder. Punishes anything immune to WoW with an attack. Tbolt/HP Ice for BoltBeam coverage, of course.

I'll try this when I get the chance, but while the thought is there, I'd like for others test this with me.
 
I've been thinking of fooling around with a Sub/Leftovers set with WoW. Gets the jump on Natt, makes it compete setup fodder. Punishes anything immune to WoW with an attack. Tbolt/HP Ice for BoltBeam coverage, of course.

I'll try this when I get the chance, but while the thought is there, I'd like for others test this with me.

Any set that doesn't use Leaf Storm begs comparison with the other Rotom forms with better defensive typing, particularly Rotom-W. Fire, Ice, and Bug are much worse weaknesses to have than just Grass.
 
And in this comparison...Rotom-C wins for being immune to Leech Seed and resisting Power Whip. This guy doesn't have to just use Leaf Storm to differentiate himself from the other forms; he also has his own set of resistances and things he can set up on and check. Most Grass types force Rotom-W out, while Rotom-C scares them out.

Undoubtedly, he is still competing for a spot with other Grass types like Virizion and Nattorei. I can see where the problem might lie if that were the case.
 
I've been thinking of fooling around with a Sub/Leftovers set with WoW. Gets the jump on Natt, makes it compete setup fodder. Punishes anything immune to WoW with an attack. Tbolt/HP Ice for BoltBeam coverage, of course.
Well.. technically every Rotom bar Rotom-W has an easy time against Nattorei with this set. It doesn't make Rotom-C special in any way as Sub already stops Leech Seed at all. Being immune to them is nice but not a must have. Still I mentioned this ability in text as you have the opportunity to switch into them which again make it unique as any kind of Leech Seed strategy is not a Natto-only phenomenon

That point about luring in and forcing out Grass types is kinda meh. Grass was never that popular, but Breloom and now there is Birijion, Erufuun and Nattorei that competes with it for a team spot not to forget Rotom-C itself.
It's just a too rare seen type in the game plus every Fire type can do the same, especially now that Blaziken comes out with its awesome power and Speed Boost. I wouldn't make the prescence of Grass type the main reason to use Rotom-C.

Oh, btw Analysis is probably done now and even written. I'll maybe add Charge Beam in OC but technically that's it.
 
You only mention Dragon and Shedinja as resistances to Electric/Grass. Almost every grass type, Denchura, Magneton, Magnezone and Rotom-H all resist this offensive combination as well.
 
Edited some typos and extended the list of counters by the named ones. Unreleased Dream World abilities don't need to be mentioned as there's no reason to talk about things you plain can't use.

//EDIT: lol Zeburaika. this thing will end as NU pretty quickly-
 
I'm not a member of the GP team, but I just thought I'd look through the first half of your work and help you out with any grammar issues.

*wroom-wroom*
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Rotom-C

Status: Done || text written || feedback still appreciated || awaiting QC approval


[Overview]

<p>Out of all the Pokemon, probably the biggest change from 4th to 5th generation was the five Rotom forms. From now on, their secondary type is influenced by the appliance they took control of. For our cute mower, this means it now has the unique type combination Electric / Grass. This brings a few advantages with it, like a total of 4 resistances; including Water, Grass and Steel, which, in addition, are topped by its typical ground immunity. Also, Leaf Storm now got STAB, making it one of the most devastating Grass type moves in the game. Luckily, Rotom-C didn’t become weak to Stealth Rock with its new typing; this ability is only shared with Rotom-W. On the other hand, however, Rotom-C now has a total of 4 weaknesses. Besides the uncommon Poison type, it includes Fire, Ice, and Bug, which are all very common and mostly have high base powers, making it a major drawback for Rotom-C. At least it hasn’t lost its great natural bulk, though, so you might get over it. The real problem for Rotom-C is that its rivalry pool now changes from 'Rotom-A' to 'Rotom-A and every Grass type Pokemon' making it really hard to get a spot in a team.</p>


[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Leaf Storm
move 3: Hidden Power Ice / Volt Change
move 4: Trick / Volt Change
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Modest
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SpA / 144 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Probably the only way to use Rotom-C in 5th gen. Wielding an enormously powerful Leaf Storm is the only thing it has over Rotom-W. With it, it found a unique niche to nail very common Water/Ground dual types, while resisting both STAB moves. 4th gen showed that this was already needed to deal with Swampert. Now there are some more threats around with that typing, however. Unaware Quagsire became a very potent wall, for example; Quagsire has access to Curse, Stockpile and high defensive stats. To show Rotom's absurd power, even Bold 252 HP / 0 SpD Quagsire sitting at +4 SpD is easily OHKOed from full health. Besides, it’s Rotom-Cs strongest move now, so everything neutral to Grass has to fear being easily eaten by it. Even a Doryuuzu takes at least 77% which just shows again how strong this move is.</p>

<p>Electric and Grass offer respectable coverage and now even have both STAB. The downside is they are resisted by almost any Dragon and Grass type but also Magneton, Magnezone, Shedinja, Rotom-H, Nattorei, and Denchura to name the most important. This means Hidden Power Ice is almost a must have on the third slot to have something that hits the majority of them as hard as possible. Keep in mind Rotom's Speed isn’t the best, so Dragons that sit on +1 Speed from a Scarf or Dragon Dance will most likely outspeed you and offer an Outrage Rotom-C can’t stand.</p>

<p>Trick is a viable option on the last slot for Choice Rotom. Thanks to the new mechanics, you don’t have to fear getting another Choice Item as you can freely use any other attack you have. Still, you should not use it at first chance. Team preview does help to scout special walls your opponent has and effectively stop and cripple them.</p>

<p>On either of the last slots, Volt Change can be used. It gives Rotom a typical hit and run move which is often seen since 4th gen U-Turn. Thanks to STAB, it deals nice damage and helps to scout your opponents style of battling; but it also saves Rotom-C from bad match ups as well.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Instead of running a plain 252/252 spread, the given one is preferred for several reasons. With nature, item and EVs, Rotom hits 366 Speed in total, which is fast enough to outspeed positive-natured base 116s, including Erufuun, as well as ScarfTar. Everything which is faster than that is just too big for Rotom-C to deal with. Scarfed Heatran isn’t even 2HKOed by Thunderbolt, even with Stealth Rock support. Additionally, there aren’t many opponents with a higher base Speed in standard OU. Aerodactyl, Jolteon, Alakazam, Weavile and most others are KOed by either STAB move, but it’s not worth running more speed just for them.</p>

<p>With the loss of its old Ghost type, Rotom lost its ability to work as a Spinblocker, but therefore it’s not weak to Pursiut anymore. Tyranitar, Scizor, and some others are still there, which you can flee from with a good chance to avoid a 0HKO.</p>

<p>Another small niche Rotom-C has is that it now can serve to stop any sort of Leech Seed strategy thanks to being immune to them. This gives most users some problems to deal with Rotom if they don’t run Hidden Power Fire. The only user that might cause problems is Sceptile as it has too high Speed stat but usually SubSeed Sceptile doesn’t run many SpA EVs. Nattorei in contrast is completely screwed, as Rotom-C resists both STAB moves and has immunity against Spikes and Leech Seed making Thunder Wave the only thing Nattorei can do to you before it’s forced to switch. every other users are slower making them easy prey for Hidden Power Ice.</p>


[Team Options]

<p>Rotom-C doesn’t need much support from your team as its only real working set is Choice Scarf. This makes him a simple revenge killer, whose only wish is some prior damage, so Spikes and Stealth Rock but also Toxic is helps.</p>

<p> You also would like to have strong physical attackers around to stop annoying special walls stopping Rotom. Terakion resist Fire and Bug type moves and is neutral to ice. Combined with its acceptable 91/90/90 Defenses, it’s making a viable option to pair up with Rotom. You might wish to use Burungeru as well in because it can take care of almost every type those both are weak to and leaves you neutral to only Flying, Psychic, Ghost and Dragon. A Pokemon that deals with all of them is for example Heatran, which would also complete a very strong Water/Grass/Fire core with interessting dual types.</p>

<p>Sadly, Rotom-C shares its Ice weakness with any Dragon and its Fire weakness is seen on almost any Steel type. You should be very careful using any of them in your team as it makes your team having a main weakness rather quickly. This makes it harder to build an effective defensive core around those types.</p>


[Optional Changes]

<p>Any set that does not run Leaf Storm is usually done better by Rotom-W simply because of ist way better defensive typing and less weaknesses. Still every Rotom can run same sets. Both RestTalk and SubSplit are acceptable ways to recover health and prevent from being statused. Discharge can be used for its solid 30% chance to get paralyze on the opponent. Rotom still offers a great disposal for status overall, including Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave and Toxic. The only other moves it it could use are Shadow Ball and Eleci Ball but both don’t offer as much damage output as you get from the given three. Charge Beam can be used to increase your power, but you generally lack the time to set up with it.</p>


[Counters]

<p>To make it easy, just grab the list of all pokemon and scratch out water types. Sounds like fun but it’s dead serious. Every Fire type Pokemon has a STAB Fire move which hurts Rotom-C hard. Same goes for every Ice type, especially Abomasnow which can take most moves you have and hit back with an unmissing STAB Blizzard. If you decided to not use Hidden Power Ice, Grass types stops it pretty easy as well but it results more in a stallwar as most of the time as they can’t do much to Rotom neither. Nattorei even makes a bad match up with Hidden Power Ice as it has great natural bulk and is hit only neutral by it.</p>

<p>Rotom-C also has another huge problem, it’s weak to U-Turn. Just too many different Pokemon have access to it, making them all usable checks for Rotom to see what it decides to go for, then U-Turn for super effective damage and bring in a counter for your move of choice.</p>


[Dream World]

Rotom does not have a Dream World ability.
 
Then what is the Dream World section for?
As far as I know Dream World section is only about the Pokemons DW ability the analysis is about but not for possible counters which have a DW ability by theirselves. All those things belong already to another part like Counter, AC and so on. Besides, like Ubers you don't need to mention in OU analyses, same goes for unreleased Pokemon which again means, no unreleased DW abilities in analyses.
 
As far as I know Dream World section is only about the Pokemons DW ability the analysis is about but not for possible counters which have a DW ability by theirselves. All those things belong already to another part like Counter, AC and so on. Besides, like Ubers you don't need to mention in OU analyses, same goes for unreleased Pokemon which again means, no unreleased DW abilities in analyses.
On the contrary, I am under the impression that the Dream World section should cover things like counters using Dream World abilities. While Rotom-C may not have a DW ability, Lightning Rod Zapdos and other counters should be mentioned in the DW section until they are released, where they should be moved to the Counters section. I may be wrong, but this is how I would do it.
 
On the scarf set, no mention of rain? Rotom-C resists both Electric (twice) and Grass, the weaknesses of Water-type Pokemon, and can fit easily on a rain team. To be honest, rain is so common these days, Thunder might want a slash with Thunderbolt or an OC mention
 
On the scarf set, no mention of rain? Rotom-C resists both Electric (twice) and Grass, the weaknesses of Water-type Pokemon, and can fit easily on a rain team. To be honest, rain is so common these days, Thunder might want a slash with Thunderbolt or an OC mention

It's true. Rotom-C is pretty good on rain teams and countering rain teams. It does a great job of removing water types with its unique dual STAB combination. It can use Leaf Storm to hit electric immune water types and Thunder for stuff like Gyarados. I've used it on a rain team before to remove opposing water types that typically wall Swift Swim sweepers.

Also, on an unimportant note: "Any set that does not run Leaf Storm is usually done better by Rotom-W simply because of ist way better defensive typing and less weaknesses. Still every Rotom can run same sets." should be "its way", "fewer weaknesses", and "run the same sets". Sorry, I'm kind of obsessive.
 
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