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>
