ohayo im here again to drop some more thoughts after using a team that features some of these guys, which i used to reach v high on ladder :3
Rotom-Frost @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot
- Discharge
- Blizzard
kinda reinventing the wheel right? some variation of this has been used in like every upper tier for the other rotom forms, but i dont think rotom-f is getting enough love in NU atm. a lot of the slower, more defensive cores that are prevalent in the meta of today are absolute food for this thing, as it can set up substitutes against prevalent defensive tools such as mantine, ferroseed (lacking gyro ball), many sandaconda sets, pyukumuku, most qwilfishes, and obviously many more. while its speed tier isnt godlike, its good enough to outspeed the likes of banded sawk, qwilf, toxicroak, skunk, etc. i think that a lot of teamks simply arent prepped adequately for rotom-f, and it almost always goes 1-for-1 at worst, if played well. i do think that sub/willo/dual stab is pretty good too, but thats for you to decide for yourself i guess.
Mawile @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off / Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Toxic
this thing has gone criminally overlooked as a rocker, simply put. i originally started using it because its a serviceable check to slurpuff, but it ended up being wayyy more useful than i wouldve expected. it has an excellent set of resistances, access to rocks and toxic which is always nice, and a super useful ability in intimidate. mawile carries its weight fantastically well, providing a solid check to SD silvally forms, scrafty, sneasel, togedemaru, mr. mime-galar, physical skuntanks, unfezant, and a whole host more. i think its typing and ability alone make mawile a shockingly good rocker, and one that i'd love to see more people experiment with in due time.
some more stray thoughts that arent as fully fleshed out:
togedemaru is very good. defensive sets have a cool niche in checking vika, klinklang, other toges, butterfree, mantine etc. scarf is also excellent and has an awesome speed tier.
cofag is nutty good. super resilient, great ability, and an assload of viable moves like willo, body press, hex, tspikes, haze, knock off, pain split, toxic. just an absolute defensive staple rn.
abomasnow still underrated! gives you an instantly great matchup vs weather, applies huge pressure w/ dual stabs, has priority, and a-veil is the best move in the game.
still feel like toxicroak hasnt been used enough lol. it might very well be the best mon in the tier and idt its being played adequately for how great its matchup seems to be vs like every team i see.
jolteon still terrible lol
swoobat very overrated i think, still super frail and rarely finds adequate turns to set up. also sever 4MSS because you kinda want substitute (for salac berry), nasty, stored power, giga, air slash, heatwave, but having to only run 4 moves is rufff and feels like youre always failing to cover some big defensive staple.
aurora veil is a very silly playstyle at the moment thanks to an abundance of setup sweepers like slurpuff, gearguy, butterfree, dual dance kingler, etc. lmfao who'da thought
thx for reading! hope my insight is worth anything to anybody :3