Reserving roserade
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Synthesis
- Toxic Spikes / Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
These 2 form a pretty neat core of Grass and Water, 2/3 of a FWG core. Probably one of the more popular cores back in BW.
Roserade checks/counters for Milotic: Whimsicott, Sceptile, Celebi/Shaymin (When Weakened),Overgrow Chesnaughts and a plethora of Bulky Waters.
252 SpA Life Orb Shaymin Psychic vs. 240 HP / 252+ SpD Roserade: 148-177 (46.1 - 55.1%) -- 10.5% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
0 SpA Celebi Psychic vs. 240 HP / 252+ SpD Roserade: 134-162 (41.7 - 50.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
Specially defensive Roserade can sponge of electric and grass type attacks with ease while being able to Synthesise off the damage it takes. Roserade also help deal with Bulky Waters that beat Milotic 1v1 such as Suicune. Milotic also helps Roserade take on physical threats due to its poor defense. Natural Cure allows Roserade to take status aimed at Milotic even with marvel scale and can easily switch out to cure it. Toxic Spikes can help Milotic stall out the opponent easier by tanking hits, racking up toxic damage, recovering and applies great pressure to the opponent. Black Sludge can also be useful sometimes as some people would want to trick/switcheroo a choice item onto Milotic. Giga Drain can also help with longevity while doing significant amount of damage. Roserade also has a slight edge over other grass types in the tier due to its secondary poison type. Sludge Bomb is very useful for dispatching fairies and grasses while having a
80% good chance to poison. 240 HP EVs are used to gain maximum Black Sludge recovery and take less damage from entry hazards. 252 Special Defense EVs are used to make Roserade as specially bulky as possible. 16 Speed EVs allow Roserade to outspeed maximum Speed neutral-natured base 60 Speed Pokemon.
Milotic check/counters for Roserade: Entei, Arcanine, Darmanitan, Infernape (Physical), Defensive Rotom-H, and a plethora of physical attackers.
Milotic on the other hand helps with offensive oriented fire types which threatens Roserade. Recover is mandatory and helps Milotic live longer. Milotic serves as one of the tier's best stops to setup sweepers with its access to utility moves such as Haze and Recover as well as a great Special Defense stat and a good defensive typing in pure Water. Roserade also helps Milotic have Haze/Dragon Tail>Toxic due to Toxic Spikes. Scald as the most broken move in the game aids Milotic in taking on physical threats by burning them and Ice Beam is just a great coverage move overall and can deal with Specially Offensive Mence and other dragons a bit easier. Haze resets all stat changes on the field, which is especially useful against setup sweepers such as Gyarados, Reuniclus, Slowking, Suicune, and Snorlax. Leftovers provides passive recovery that goes along well with Recover in keeping Milotic healthy. The ability Marvel Scale provides Milotic with a Defense boost if it is poisoned or burned, though the status ailments severely compromise its longevity.