Rotom-W QC [1/2 Written]

Nuxl

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[OVERVIEW]

Rotom-W is an astoundingly good glue Pokemon that can check a lot of top threats in the metagame, such as Landorus-T, Heatran, Milotic, and Celesteela due to its great typing and ability. Rotom-W is also useful in every weather matchup and can even disable some Pokemon that take advantage of Trick Room, such as Scrafty. Rotom-W carries a decently strong support movepool that allows it to cripple the opposing team and is a generally solid choice for most teams if they are looking for a bulky all-rounder.

However, Rotom-W is plagued by some flaws that hold it back from being a top threat in the metagame. Rotom-W’s HP stat is extremely low and circumvents its otherwise good defenses, so multiple strong attacks will be able to KO it easily. Rotom-W only has an average speed stat at best, so it may not be much help if it is the slowest Pokemon on the field. Rotom-W also cannot deal with Dragon or Grass types well, and has a linear movepool. Still, Rotom-W can be a great asset to a team that is looking to cover its weaknesses.

[SET]
name: Specially Offensive Tank
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Will-O-Wisp/Thunder Wave
move 4: Protect
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Levitate
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 120 SpA / 24 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Hydro Pump is Rotom-W's strongest STAB move, capable of OHKOing Landorus-T and dealing major damage to Pokemon that are weak to it. Thunderbolt is Rotom-W’s second STAB move which targets things Hydro Pump cannot and deals with Water-Types such as Azumarill and Tapu Fini that would otherwise wall Rotom-W. Will-O-Wisp is used to cripple physical attackers such as Tapu Bulu immensely and deals slight damage over time. Alternatively, Thunder Wave is a slight form of speed control and can cripple faster Pokemon such as Mega Salamence- the choice is dependent on what your team needs. Protect is a useful move to allow allies to deal with an opposing threatening Pokemon and to stall out field conditions.

Set Details
========

This EV spread allows Rotom to reach important defensive benchmarks and to retain enough bulk and offenses to be used as a pivot. 252 HP and 112 Defense lets Rotom-W survive +1 Zygarde’s Thousand Arrows and evade the 2HKO from Mega Metagross’s Zen Headbutt. 24 Special Defense EVs with a Calm nature enables Rotom-W’s survival from Mega Charizard’s Solarbeam and eludes the 2HKO from Tapu Lele’s Psychic under Psychic Terrain. The rest of the EVs are dumped into Special Attack to boost Rotom-W’s otherwise middling offensive presence. Sitrus Berry is a form of consistent healing for Rotom-W that prolongs its longevity and allows Rotom-W to survive most attacks that would otherwise 2HKO it.

Usage Tips
========

Rotom-W is meant to be a bulky glue for a team, so it should ideally be used to switch in on moves it can resist or sent out whenever it can check something on the opposing side. Rotom-W should be used to check threatening Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Heatran, or Celesteela. Conversely, Rotom-W is borderline useless when against Grass or Dragon types as they resist Rotom-W’s STAB moves and can deal major damage back. Rotom-W should spread status on apparent threats such as Azumarill to nullify their offensive utilities, and should stay alive until all the Pokemon it’s needed to deal with are fainted. Even with Rotom-W’s bulk investments, unresisted Z-Moves from strong attackers like Tapu Lele and Aegislash will more likely than not OHKO Rotom-W so they have to be played around.

Team Options
========

Rotom-W is usually meant to be a team’s support pillar, as it is not strong enough to deal with things on its own. However, Rotom-W appreciates strong fire types like Heatran that can deal with Grass-types that Rotom-W can’t touch, and Rotom-W partners well with them back by defeating their Ground and Water weaknesses. Steel-types like Aegislash partner well with Rotom as they cover each other’s weaknesses well. Fairy-types such as Sylveon respectively can deal with the Dragon-types that can plague Rotom-W, and appreciate Rotom-W checking the Fire-types that they cannot break through. Ice-types like Kyurem-B and Weavile can achieve this to a similar effect, except they can cover both the Grass-types and Dragon-types that Rotom-W is nulled by. Fast and strong attackers can take advantage of the status Rotom-W imposes on its opponents, as it allows them to clean up the field to a greater effect.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Rotom-W can use Electroweb if its team needs more speed control, but it is usually better off carrying Thunder Wave. Volt Switch can be used to gain momentum in a battle if Rotom-W is needed to switch out often. Hidden Power Ice can be used as a lure to target Pokemon that deal with Rotom-W well such as Zygarde and Salamence, but it 2HKOs them at best. A fully offensive Choice Scarf set can be used to outspeed otherwise faster Pokemon up to base 151 speed and allows Rotom-W to impact slower, more defensive Pokemon such as Cresselia or Necrozma with Trick, but leaves Rotom-W with very little bulk.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Grass-type Pokemon**: Amoonguss is a gigantic counter to Rotom-W, as it shrugs off any attack that Rotom throws at it, can redirect its STABs with Rage Powder, and threatens it back with Giga Drain and Spore. Offensive Grass types such as Tapu Bulu and Shaymin-S can deal with Rotom-W well as they will likely outspeed and OHKO it, but have to be wary of status. Grass-type moves coming from faster Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y's Solar Beam can do major damage to Rotom.

**Dragon-Type Pokemon**: Dragon Types such as Hydreigon, Salamence, and Latios deal with Rotom-W well as they resist both its STAB attacks and can hit hard back with theirs, but cannot take any form of speed control well. Kyurem-B is especially dangerous as it can set up a Substitute or fire back with Earth Power.

**Strong Unresisted Attackers**: Rotom-W's bad HP stat leaves it easily KOd by strong attacks, so Pokemon such as Mega Kangaskhan and Tapu Lele can defeat Rotom-W usually as long as Rotom-W has taken damage earlier in the match.

**Taunt**: Taunt users such as Thundurus and Tapu Lele prevent Rotom-W from using its status moves, which dampens part of its role as a supportive Pokemon.
 
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Nuxl

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qc ready!

1/5 edit: edited some stuff. didn't remove anything i think, shouldn't have done it after i said it was ready but i wanted to clean it up a bit.
 
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amcheck

General:
  • The analysis is pretty solid, but in some places the wording is kind of awkward and could be difficult for an unfamiliar reader to understand. I know that there's a GP stage to deal with all that, but I'd still like to leave some grammar/syntax suggestions so the analysis flows better and will be easier to write up. Just be aware that some of these corrections will be a bit subjective, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
  • Suggestions to add are in blue
  • Suggestions to remove are in red and slashed through
Overview:
  • "bulky glue mon that can be catered to a team's need": I wouldn't really say Rotom can be "catered to a team's need" because, as you say later in the overview, it is pretty one dimensional in terms of moveset and the like. You could incorporate the first part of the bullet in the other bullet that says "great typing and levitate...blah blah blah"
  • "good spatk that can do lots of damage to stuff it doesn't resist": This bullet seems like fluff to me because that statement could describe literally any special attacker lol. Remove it imo.
  • "can't really touch grass or dragon types at all so don't keep it in there": That sort of statement belongs in Usage Tips, not in the Overview.
Moves:
  • "Hydro Pump is a fairly strong STAB move off of 107 base spatk, can OHKO standard Landorus-T Rotom-W's strongest STAB move, capable of OHKOing common threats such as Landorus-T and Heatran": One of those subjective changes I mentioned above, mentioning its exact SpA stat in this section seemed awkward so I removed that and gave more examples of what Hydro hits.
  • "alternatively, Thunder Wave is a slight form of speed control and can cripple other mons (give some examples)"
  • "Protect is a useful move to negate attacks that may affect Rotom-W allow allies to deal with a threatening opposing Pokemon and to stall out turns field conditions"
Set Details:
  • "Modest allows Rotom-W to deal as much damage as it can boost its otherwise underwhelming offensive presence"
Usage Tips:
  • "You can use Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt when you're in a decent position freely": Fluff and awkward, remove imo
Checks and Counters:
  • Remove the **Gastrodon** and **Abilities that nullify Levitate** tags because the former is not very relevant and the later is not worth mentioning so specifically.
  • The **Taunt** and **Resisted/Bulky Substitute Users** are also questionable but someone from QC can tell you what to do with those.

Anyways, I hope this helps. I didn't cover everything I saw because I didn't want to be too much of a stickler, so keep in mind that you should definitely brush up the analysis in the write up. Also, don't incorporate these changes until someone from the QC team gives you the go ahead, cause there are a fair amount of suggestions and some of them might be objectionable.

:toast:
 

talkingtree

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nadando's changes above are all good, so follow all of them!

In addition, just a few more things to take care of:
  • 252 HP / 96 Def / 136 SpA / 24 SpD; Calm should be the spread, Zygarde's Thousand Arrows only hits neutrally on the first hit so it can't OHKO at +1 and surviving Zard Y Solar Beam is generally quite useful
  • EDIT: Turns out I was wrong and Thousand Arrows hits super effectively, I assumed it was the same mechanic as Flying-types (oops). 252 HP / 112 Def / 120 SpA / 24 SpD; Calm should be the spread, no need to mention others in set details
  • Get rid of HP Grass and HP Ice from OO, both are super situational
Do all of those and tag me so that I can look again
 
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Pocket

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Thunder Wave > Will-o-Wisp imo, as paralysis affects both physical and special attackers equally. TWave Rotom-W would fare worse against Zygarde than Wisp Rotom-W, but Rotom-W shouldn't really be trying to burn Zygarde who will most likely sub until Rotom-W is in KO range.

I think there are enough Pokemon susceptible to HP Ice (ie: Mega Mence, Skymin, Zygarde, Landorus-T (when you don't want to risk Hydro Miss)) to warrant mentioning it in OO. HP Grass is too situational, though.

Offensive Rotom-W with Waterium Z + Rain Dance & Hydro Pump & Thunder would be worth an OO mention imo.

Rindo Berry may be worth an OO mention to better handle Solar Beams / Bloom Dooms / Seed Flares. Make sure Grassy Terrain isn't up >_<
 

Idyll

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Waterium-Z RD Rotom-W is too gimmicky to be mentioned. Rindo Berry's considerable but too iffy, it can't really deal much to grasses except skymin and trying to take a possible hit from a lure set of all things is too irrational.
 

Nuxl

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done! with the set that talkingtree provided, it no longer has a chance to OHKO uninvested Heatran, so I removed that part. Removed the bulky sub users thing since it should probably fit better in Usage Tips, but left Taunt because it seems common enough to be a slight threat.

thank you for the checks, really appreciated! i'll check the awk. wording when it gets to the GP phase.

done! talkingtree

both are useful for what you want to check- but I think WoW might be a bit better because the ability to cripple physical attackers is really useful.

I mentioned the HPs as more of a "just in case use this for lure purposes", but after looking it over it's probably best to remove it (as well as the given QC response) since it's probably not a good enough lure to be super useful b/c of speed issues, better options, and not enough power. that and the things you want it to hit usually beat Rotom one on one anyway.
 
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talkingtree

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  • [Overview] Keldeo isn't the best example of a Water-type to check right now, so replace that with Milotic
  • [Moves] Don't forget the words "Hydro Pump" at the beginning of the first bullet point haha
  • [Set Details] This is more to help you during writeup, but I'd organize the bullets in the order HP -> SpD -> Def -> SpA -> Sitrus Berry. The Special Attack is just a dump stat, it's not for anything in particular.
  • [Usage Tips] Get rid of the point about Substitute users, Kyurem-B is indeed a threat to it but Rotom-W breaks Aegislash's subs most of the time with Thunderbolt and Kyurem-B is already discussed in C&C
  • [Other Options] Pocket convinced me HP Ice can go back, right after Volt Switch.
Do those^ and you're good for QC 1/2 and the go-ahead to start writing!
 

Nuxl

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that's great, thanks! will get to work.

ftr, I tried looking to optimize the spread but only found exact copies ):
but for what it's worth 248 HP avoids both +1 Zygarde and Char Y's KOs anyway.

EDIT: implemented

EDIT2: Written up. don't wanna double post
 
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marilli

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I'm not QC but I have 4 months of hindsight on the metagame so it seems to me that the current analysis is overselling Rotom-W by a large margin.


Here are some things that we have missed the first time around, that I think should be mentioned on the analysis.

  • Rotom-W is better than what most people give credit for, but it is mostly a symptom of people thinking Rotom-W is unusable, not a testament to how good it is. It's fairly clear to me (and other people who have been playing the metagame for the last few months) that Rotom cannot be described as "a generally solid choice for most teams if they are looking for a bulky all-rounder"
  • Rotom-W is more of a situational Pokemon that sees heavy competition from other bulky Water-types like Tapu Fini, as well as Electrics such as Tapu Koko and Zapdos.
  • Not only do they act as competition, they are also fairly good vs Rotom-W. Rotom-W struggles against general bulk, against Pokemon such as Zapdos or Snorlax, which it cannot do much direct damage.
  • Talking of not being able to directly damage Snorlax, Tapu Fini and Misty Terrain stopping Will-O-Wisp really sucks for Rotom-W. Being able to burn bulky physical attackers like Snorlax and Tyranitar is Rotom's main draw over other Electric-types, but Misty Terrain takes that away.
  • 50% berries should be mentioned on the analysis for the sole fact that they provide so much value if it can be activated.

I know it does suck for the writer if your work gets 0 feedback and gets ignored, so hopefully you're still interested we can get something going here!
 

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