Rotom-Wash
Type:
Ability: Levitate
Stats
HP: 50
Attack: 65
Defense: 105
Special Attack: 107
Special Defense: 105
Speed: 86
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Notable Moves
STAB
- Discharge
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
Coverage
- Dark Pulse
- Foul Play
- Hex
- Shadow Ball
Utility
- Eerie Impulse
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Night Shade
- Pain Split
- Substitute
- Thunder Wave
- Trick
- Will-o-Wisp
Setup
- Nasty Plot
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Pros and Cons
+ Amazing Defensive Profile: Rotom-Wash has access to the combination of one of the best defensive typings and abilities in the game. This allows it to have only a single type weakness to Grass and 5 solid resistances to common attacking types such as Fire, Water, Ice, Steel and Flying, as well as a very important Ground immunity.
+ Stack of Utility Moves: Rotom-Wash's movepool includes some of the best utility moves in the game. It has access to both Reflect and Light Screen which it can use to help the setup sweepers on its team. Will-o-Wisp and Thunder Wave are two of the best status moves as inflicting burn or paralysis on opposing threats is very beneficial for the entire team, and it also makes Rotom very unpredictable as you never know which of these two it's running until the damage is done. Furthermore, Pain Split is a great recovery move on a low HP Pokémon such as Rotom gives it a big advantage as it heals significantly more against high and full HP Pokémon. Trick is a great move on Choice Scarf sets to cripple bulky or stall Pokemon.
+ Versatility: Great defensive profile, a STAB pivot move, huge stack of utility moves and a good setup move makes Rotom-Wash a very versatile Pokémon and its possible sets very flexible. It usually almost always runs Hydro Pump and Volt Switch, but you can never know what it's hiding in its last two moveslots. There are also some Nasty Plot sets without Volt Switch making it even more unpredictable. It can also utilise some of the available items pretty well, such as Choice Scarf, Sitrus Berry, Leftovers and Rindo Berry.
- Low Base Stats: Rotom-Wash suffers with low-mid base stats in everything. Its base HP is only 50 which means it's easy to OHKO or 2HKO with strong neutral attacks. Its base Speed stat of 86 is decent but not great as it gets outsped by almost any offensive threat. Even if its highest stat being Special Attack is only 107, which requires high EV investment or Modest Nature to hit hard. It shares a good 105 base Defense & Special Defense but its bulk is held back by its low HP and one of its defenses need to be invested heavily in to make it live strong hits and avoid getting 2HKO'd by almost any strong neutral STAB attack. Rotom-Wash's bulk feels not as bad despite its low HP and mid Defense stats because of its good defensive profile and utility moves like Will-o-Wisp and Pain Split, but sometimes these tools cannot save it from being underwhelming.
- 4-Moveslots Syndrome: The "4MS syndrome" means something which usually requires more than 4 moves to reach its full potential in most situations. Rotom-Wash's best tool is its vast amount of great utility moves to choose from, but it cannot fit in everything. Most Rotom sets require both STAB moves, usually being Hydro Pump and Volt Switch. With just these two attacks, it becomes hard to hit Dragon and Grass types for considerable damage. Thunder Wave can be used to cripple them but it's blocked by both Ground and Electric types. Will-o-Wisp is great to dismantle physical attacking Dragon and Grass types but does nothing to special attackers. Its low HP also means it needs a recovery move like Pain Split to maintain longevity. Choice Scarf sets are almost always running Trick which makes the choice of the other 3 moves even tougher. All these options makes other viable moves such as Hex for coverage paired with Will-o-Wisp or Thunder Wave, Reflect & Light Screen or Thunderbolt for stronger electric STAB without switching itself out hard to fit into its moveslots.
- Loss of Defog in S/V: As it may be well-known, all Rotom forms including Rotom-Wash lost Defog from its movepool going into S/V and also carrying it into Champions. This was a big loss as Rotom-Wash used to be one of the best defoggers in the SW/SH and US/UM meta and carried the move in almost every set.
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Possible Sets
Choice Scarf
Rotom-Wash is currently an excellent Choice Scarfer in the format. Max Speed EVs and Timid Nature with the Scarf helps it out outspeed every fast threat in the format, without any boosts or opposing faster Scarfers. It also speed ties with opposing Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Heat and outspeed common Scarfers like Hisuian Samurott, Kleavor and Mamoswine, as well common setup threats like Dragon Dance Dragonite, Mega Altaria and Gyarados, Aqua Step Quaquaval and Clangorous Soul Kommo-o. It can KO many threats with its STAB Hydro Pump, burn or paralyze threats with Wisp/Thunder Wave and Trick its Scarf to check bulky walls with recovery such as Toxapex, Clefable and Galarian Slowking.
Defensive
A defensive Rotom-Wash is very flexible as it can utilise a number of different items, EV spreads and moves in its kit. It can either be physically or specially defensive to check specific threats. Pain Split helps it maintain its longevity, Hex can be a good strong coverage option paired with Will-o-Wisp and it can also run double status moves which can be very annoying for the opponent to deal with. Rindo Berry helps it survive a STAB hit from Grass types like Meowscarada and burn them. Depending on the EV spread, it can check many offensive threats in the format such as Dragonite, Garchomp, non-Mold Breaker Excadrill, Mamoswine, Mega Greninja, Scizor and Mega Skarmory.
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Potential Teammates
Grass Resists: The most important teammates Rotom-Wash needs are the ones who can reliably switch into the Grass type attacks, which is the only type weakness of Rotom. Since the most common Grass type in the format is Meowscarada, Pokémon which can also reliably switch into its other STAB & coverage moves (Knock Off, Triple Axel, U-Turn) are amazing teammates for Rotom. Teammates like Galarian Slowking are also great checks to other popular Grass types such as Mega Meganium and Mega Venusaur.
Breakers and Setup Sweepers: Rotom-Wash with its essential tools such as Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave and pivot move Volt Switch makes it a great enabler for many powerful breakers and setup sweepers in the format.
U-Turn Pivots: Pairing Rotom-Wash with U-Turn users creates the "Volt-Turn" core in your team. This is the core which utilizes the two most common pivot moves, U-Turn and Volt Switch to make a pivoting duo/trio which can chip opposing pokemon, get in your own threats safely or scout for switches while maintaining your momentum in the game.
Ice Types: Since Rotom-Wash's STAB moves are resisted by Grass and Dragon types, and Ice types can hit both of these for super-effective damage, having an Ice type Pokémon on the team heavily benefits Rotom.
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Checks and Counters
Grass Types: As it's been mentioned already before, Rotom-Wash is only weak to the Grass type, as well as the type resisting both of its STABs; which means they are the most obvious checks to Rotom-Wash. Special attacking Grass types work even better as they are not crippled by Will-o-Wisp.
Dragon Types: Although Dragon STAB doesn't hit Rotom-Wash for super-effective damage, the type still resists both of its STABs and strong Dragon moves like Draco Meteor are able to deal massive damage to Rotom.
Excadrill: Mold Breaker Excadrill is the only ground type which can hit Rotom-Wash with super-effective STAB Earthquake. Although it is weak to Rotom's Hydro Pump, it is also faster and is able to OHKO Rotom, unless in the case of face to face with Scarf Rotom-Wash. It can also run items such as Passho Berry or Lum Berry to properly counter Rotom-Wash.
Lum Berry and Substitute: Every Rotom-Wash has either Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave or both in it's moveslot. Having the means to block these two moves and catch Rotom off-guard gives a big advantage to get the chance to KO it while it wastes a turn trying to status your Pokémon.
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In conclusion, Rotom-Wash manages to be a great defensive piece in the format even after its loss of Defog and the immense power creep, due it's solid pool of utility moves and defensive profile. It checks many of the top offensive threats in the format while also being somewhat of a threat itself as its able to run both offensive and defensive sets very flexibly. It is very easy to fit into almost any team structure and will always provide satisfactory results if used well.
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