RU Spotlight: Aromatisse

History

Aromatisse hasn't had a very long history as it was only introduced this generation. With other powerful Fairy-types such as Gardevoir, Clefable, Togekiss, and Florges roaming about in higher tiers, Aromatisse has made quite a name for itself in XY RU. However, it wasn't until the late Beta stages of XY RU that people started to play around with Aromatisse. Once some of the top players began to try it out after the Tornadus quick-ban at the end of XY RU Beta, they discovered one of the best defensive threats in the entire tier. Ever since, Aromatisse has become one of the top defensive threats to prepare to face and consider to use on any RU team. Even with Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and possible competition from Mega Audino on the horizon, it's hard to imagine Aromatisse not being a perfectly viable Pokemon in RU.

Aromatisse's Qualities

Aromatisse has quite a few good qualities and not many bad ones. Aromatisse's two biggest positive qualities are in its typing and ability. As previously alluded to, Aromatisse is one of a number of Pokemon with the Fairy typing which was introduced in XY. This is a fantastic defensive typing as it gives Aromatisse notable resistances to Fighting-, Dark-, and Bug-type moves, as well as an immunity to Dragon-type moves. These resistances are very important considering that Hitmonlee, Sharpedo, and Druddigon are some of the top offensive threats in RU. Aromatisse's hidden ability, Aroma Veil, is a godsend. The downfall of many slow defensive Pokemon, such as Aromatisse, is an extreme vulnerability to Taunt. However, Aroma Veil gives Aromatisse a complete immunity to Taunt, as well as Encore, to allow Aromatisse to get around its weakness.

Aside from its typing and ability, Aromatisse has a solid stat distribution and an amazing support movepool. Wish, combined with a base 101 HP stat, enables Aromatisse to pass fairly large Wishes to its teammates, thus allowing it to keep balanced and stall teams alive quite reliably. Although its Wishes may be small in comparison to Alomomola's Wishes, Aromatisse makes up for this with much more balanced defenses and the ability to use Wish in the face of a Taunt user. Aromatisse's access to Aromatherapy + Wish makes it one of the easiest options to put on a stall team as these types of teams are already pressed for teamslots as it is and it performs the job of being a Wish passer and a cleric in one Pokemon. Through all of the defensive prowess Aromatisse has, it also has access to Calm Mind, thus allowing it to boost its solid Special Attack and Special Defense stats and become a win condition for stall teams.

Perhaps the biggest flaw for Aromatisse is its complete inability to deal with the slew of powerful Steel-, Fire-, and Poison-types in RU. This is further complicated by the fact that Doublade, Moltres, and Delphox are three of the most used Pokemon in RU. Although Aromatisse provides great team support, it also struggles to keep itself and its teammates healthy at the same time as, unlike Alomomola, Aromatisse lacks Regenerator.

Playing With Aromatisse

As mentioned already, Aromatisse is a great defensive Pokemon in the current metagame. Aromatisse should typically be used on balanced or stall teams, as its defensive nature will naturally cause its team to lose offensive momentum when it enters battle, making it unsuitable for hyper offensive teams. Thanks to its great defensive typing, finding good teammates isn't a hard thing to do; Its two weaknesses to Poison- and Steel-type moves are ironically covered by Steel-types of your own. Registeel, Doublade, and Escavalier are all very capable Steel-types to use with Aromatisse. While Registeel is definitely the go-to option for stall teams and Escavalier is best suited for balanced teams, Doublade has the flexibility to be used with both types of teams, though it obviously fits better with balanced teams. Aside from Steel-types to cover Aromatisse's weaknesses, a switch-in for dangerous Fire-types, such as Moltres and Delphox, is an absolute must considering Moonblast is usually the only offensive move Aromatisse carries. Slowking is the best answer to most Fire-types and it appreciates the cleric support Aromatisse provides as Slowking has a major disdain for status, especially Toxic. Slowking also handles Cobalion, the one Fighting-type that can get past Aromatisse with ease.

If you are using Aromatisse on a balanced team, some good offensive teammates include Druddigon, Meloetta, Rhyperior, and Escavalier. All of them have solid defensive synergy with Aromatisse and appreciate the Wishes Aromatisse can give them, thus allowing them to continue pressuring the opposing team with their powerful attacks. On stall teams, Aromatisse works well with most Toxic Spikes users as they take Poison-type attacks with ease. Weezing and Drapion are the best two out there, and both bring other elements to the table. Weezing brings Will-O-Wisp to burn Flying-types and Levitate Pokemon, while Drapion can absorb an opponent's Toxic Spikes upon entry and has Knock Off to remove items like Life Orb and Choice Band to lower the damage output of opposing Pokemon. A sturdy spinblocker such as Spiritomb, Doublade, and Gourgeist-XL is a worthy addition as well to protect the Toxic Spikes Aromatisse is generally supported with on stall teams. While it may seem redundant, using Alomomola with Aromatisse on a stall team can make for an incredibly annoying double Wish core to bring down. Note that Alomomola's access to Regenerator can make it the primary Wish passer for the stall team, thus allowing Aromatisse to focus more on cleric duties and keeping itself healthy.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when using Aromatisse doesn't really involve actually using it in battle. Instead, it's about how you EV Aromatisse when teambuilding. As Aromatisse has a great defensive typing and solid mixed defenses, you can EV Aromatisse to be a physical / mixed wall or a pure special wall depending on what your team needs. The moveset that should be used won't be changed, so it's best to decide how to EV Aromatisse after the rest of your team is complete with their movesets and EVs. For example, Aromatisse should be EVed as a special wall when used with Weezing, but it should be EVed as a physical / mixed wall when used with Slowking. If you use Aromatisse with both Weezing and Slowking (which is a common core for stall teams) then EVing Aromatisse should come down to the rest of your team. If you still need the win condition, Aromatisse should have a physically defensive spread with Calm Mind, Rest, Sleep Talk, and Moonblast, thus forming Aromatisse's version of CroCune. Keep in mind that you should only use this set if you're using a stall team that needs a win condition. Otherwise, a simple set of Aromatherapy, Wish, Protect, and Moonblast will serve Aromatisse well regardless of whether Aromatisse aims to take physical or special hits.

Playing Against Aromatisse

Things are made fairly simple if you have a Fire-type. Simply put, Aromatisse struggles to do much of anything to fend off Delphox and Moltres. Steel-types such as Durant, Escavalier, Registeel, Doublade, and even Cobalion can either threaten Aromatisse with their powerful STAB moves or simply use Aromatisse as an opportunity to support their teams. As alluded to already, Aromatisse can struggle to keep itself and its teammates healthy at the same time. By switching into a dangerous sweeper such as Calm Mind Delphox, Swords Dance Doublade, and Hone Claws Durant on an obvious Wish situation, you can force the Aromatisse player to either go to their counter for the threat at hand and have it healed back up with Wish, or heal Aromatisse and risk giving up a free turn to a devastating sweeper. Generally any Pokemon that isn't weak to Moonblast or doesn't have frail defenses can be considered a decent switch-in against Aromatisse. However, most Pokemon that take neutral damage from Moonblast can only hit Aromatisse back with a neutral attack, and that's where Aromatisse's ability to be a physical and special wall complicates matters.

To beat Aromatisse with neutral attacks, you must first determine how it is EVed. Often times, this can be done through Team Preview. On many occasions, the kinds of Pokemon Aromatisse is being used with will dictate how the user EVs it. However, as mentioned before, Aromatisse will sometimes be with both physical and special walls, thus making it difficult to determine just from Team Preview. When this is the case, a strong user of Volt Switch such as Jolteon, Rotom-C, Eelektross, and Heliolisk can generally give you an idea based on the damage they deal. Against physically defensive sets, Meloetta, Exploud, and Clawitzer have a much easier time breaking down Aromatisse. However, Virizion, Rhyperior, and Swords Dance Mega Abomasnow can easily break down Aromatisse if it's using a specially defensive spread.

Beating the Mono-attacking set is fairly similar to other Mono-attacking Calm Mind sets out there. However, keep in mind that Taunt and Dragon Tail will not work thanks to Aroma Veil and Aromatisse's Fairy typing. Using Pokemon such as Roar Rhyperior, Clear Smog Amoonguss, Wood Hammer Mega Abomasnow, and any physical Steel- or Poison-type like Escavalier, Drapion, Durant, and Cobalion works very well as Aromatisse will need multiple boosts to pose any sort of offensive threat to these Pokemon thanks to their typing, bulk, or both. You can also use your own Calm Mind user if they have Psyshock. This includes Reuniclus, Meloetta, Delphox, and Slowking, but be careful of Moonblast possibly lowering their Special Attack stats or scoring an untimely critical hit. If all else fails, you can use a specially defensive Meloetta with Perish Song to ensure that Aromatisse will never have a chance of sweeping.

Get Out There!

Aromtisse is one of the top defensive threats in all of XY RU, and it's easy to see why. With its great ability, typing, movepool, and stats, Aromatisse is a great option for any balanced or stall team in the tier. So what are you waiting for? Give Aromatisse a try and enjoy its qualities to their fullest extent!

« Previous Article

Home