[OVERVIEW]
Milotic is the best bulky Water-type in the tier thanks to its solid bulk and access to Haze allowing it to wall a whole host of top threats, including Doublade, Feraligatr, Mega Glalie, and Snorlax. Milotic is also quite hard to take down thanks to Recover and Refresh keeping it healthy throughout the match. However, Milotic is somewhat passive, as its only damage output comes from uninvested Scald and potentially Toxic. Also, Milotic's bulk only goes so far; strong neutral physical hits such as Choice Band Durant's X-Scissor, Honchkrow's Brave Bird, and Choice Band Zygarde-10%'s Outrage are capable of breaking through it.
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Scald
move 2: Recover
move 3: Haze
move 4: Refresh / Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
ability: Marvel Scale
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Scald is Milotic's main attacking move; it spreads burns and does moderate damage. Recover keeps Milotic healthy throughout the match and allows it to consistently check what it needs to. Haze allows Milotic to beat a wide variety of setup sweepers, including Doublade, Dragon Dance Feraligatr, and Curse Snorlax. Refresh keeps Milotic free of status, which is valuable because it is often the target of Toxic from the likes of Mega Steelix, Gligar, and Porygon2. It also allows Milotic to stall out trapping variants of Araquanid by avoiding Toxic damage. Ice Beam is an alternative to target common Milotic checks such as Kommo-o, Dragalge, Sigilyph, and offensive Grass-types. It also allows Milotic to OHKO Flygon, which is useful because Milotic can take +1 Devastating Drake from Jolly Flygon when at full health, allowing it to serve as a stop to boosted Flygon in a pinch. Toxic can be used instead in the last slot to make Milotic somewhat less exploitable and passive. It can also be used over Haze, but this is not recommended because it removes Milotic's value in countering setup sweepers.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP and Defense investment maximizes Milotic's physical bulk, allowing it to take on threats such as Mega Steelix, Durant, and Feraligatr. Marvel Scale is used because it gives Milotic an increase in bulk when statused, making it quite difficult to break if it is burned or paralyzed. Competitive can be used alongside Refresh to allow Milotic to take advantage of stat-lowering moves like Defog and have a bit more offensive presence, but it is still often less beneficial than getting a Defense boost from status. Leftovers gives Milotic a bit more passive recovery. 80 EVs can be put into Special Defense to make sure Milotic is not 2HKOed by Modest Nidoqueen's Sludge Wave after Stealth Rock damage, but this isn't particularly necessary given the increasing rarity of Modest-natured Nidoqueen.
Usage Tips
========
Use Milotic's bulk to comfortably switch into threats like Dragon Dance Feraligatr, Durant, Araquanid, Mega Glalie, and Doublade, among others. Despite Milotic's lack of Special Defense investment, its raw bulk means it can still take on Pokemon such as Nidoqueen, Choice Specs Yanmega, and Choice Scarf Gardevoir. If not using Refresh, keep clear of Toxic; it does activate Marvel Scale, but it still greatly decreases Milotic's longevity. Ice Beam is useful for pressuring Defog users like Sigilyph and Rotom-C, leading to Stealth Rock staying on the field more. Watch out for strong Z-Moves such as from Fightinium Z Durant and Dragonium Z Kommo-o, as these are capable of taking Milotic out despite its bulk. Also of note are strong attacks from Choice Band Durant and Zygarde-10%—while Milotic can comfortably take on most of their moves, it can be 2HKOed by X-Scissor and Outrage.
Team Options
========
Teammates that check offensive offensive Grass-types, like Moltres, Roserade, and Dragalge, are able to patch up Milotic's most prevalent weakness. Pokemon like Gligar, Registeel, and Mega Steelix are setup fodder to threats such as Dragon Dance Feraligatr, Curse Snorlax, and Doublade, so they enjoy Milotic taking pressure off of them. Special walls, such as Umbreon, Cresselia, and Snorlax, can take on threats that Milotic can't handle alone like Salazzle and Swellow.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A mixed defensive spread of 252 HP / 132 Def / 120 SpD with a Calm nature lets Milotic switch into special attackers such as Life Orb Moltres, Choice Specs Kommo-o, and Swellow more easily but comes at the cost of being able to reliably take on more prominent threats like Durant and Mega Steelix and makes Milotic very unreliable versus Dragon Dance Feraligatr. An offensive set with Hydro Pump / Ice Beam / Toxic / Recover and an EV spread of 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe with a Modest nature and Competitive is a useful asset to Sticky Web and hazard stacking teams to deter the use of Defog, but this comes at the cost of almost all of Milotic's bulk.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Offensive Water-resistant Pokemon**: Offensive Water-resistant Pokemon like Roserade, Shaymin, Tsareena, and Decidueye take little damage from Scald and often threaten to 2HKO Milotic back. Physically offensive foes have to be wary of being burned by Scald, however. A special mention goes to Toxicroak, as it is immune to both Scald and Toxic and can therefore use Milotic as setup fodder.
**Strong Physical Moves**: Despite Milotic's solid bulk, very strong physical hits such as those from Choice Band Bewear and Durant or from boosting sweepers like Swords Dance Feraligatr's Superpower, Hone Claws Durant's All-Out Pummeling, and Dragon Dance Kommo-o's Devastating Drake are able to break through it.
**Status**: If you're not running Refresh, Toxic poison and burns are greatly detrimental to Milotic's success. Even with Refresh, being hit by Toxic means you have to dedicate a turn to removing it, which can provide opportunities to foes.
**Trick and Taunt**: Due to Milotic's passivity and reliance on status moves,users of Trick or Taunt such as Choice Scarf Gardevoir and Chesnaught make Milotic practically useless.
Milotic is the best bulky Water-type in the tier thanks to its solid bulk and access to Haze allowing it to wall a whole host of top threats, including Doublade, Feraligatr, Mega Glalie, and Snorlax. Milotic is also quite hard to take down thanks to Recover and Refresh keeping it healthy throughout the match. However, Milotic is somewhat passive, as its only damage output comes from uninvested Scald and potentially Toxic. Also, Milotic's bulk only goes so far; strong neutral physical hits such as Choice Band Durant's X-Scissor, Honchkrow's Brave Bird, and Choice Band Zygarde-10%'s Outrage are capable of breaking through it.
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Scald
move 2: Recover
move 3: Haze
move 4: Refresh / Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
ability: Marvel Scale
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Scald is Milotic's main attacking move; it spreads burns and does moderate damage. Recover keeps Milotic healthy throughout the match and allows it to consistently check what it needs to. Haze allows Milotic to beat a wide variety of setup sweepers, including Doublade, Dragon Dance Feraligatr, and Curse Snorlax. Refresh keeps Milotic free of status, which is valuable because it is often the target of Toxic from the likes of Mega Steelix, Gligar, and Porygon2. It also allows Milotic to stall out trapping variants of Araquanid by avoiding Toxic damage. Ice Beam is an alternative to target common Milotic checks such as Kommo-o, Dragalge, Sigilyph, and offensive Grass-types. It also allows Milotic to OHKO Flygon, which is useful because Milotic can take +1 Devastating Drake from Jolly Flygon when at full health, allowing it to serve as a stop to boosted Flygon in a pinch. Toxic can be used instead in the last slot to make Milotic somewhat less exploitable and passive. It can also be used over Haze, but this is not recommended because it removes Milotic's value in countering setup sweepers.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP and Defense investment maximizes Milotic's physical bulk, allowing it to take on threats such as Mega Steelix, Durant, and Feraligatr. Marvel Scale is used because it gives Milotic an increase in bulk when statused, making it quite difficult to break if it is burned or paralyzed. Competitive can be used alongside Refresh to allow Milotic to take advantage of stat-lowering moves like Defog and have a bit more offensive presence, but it is still often less beneficial than getting a Defense boost from status. Leftovers gives Milotic a bit more passive recovery. 80 EVs can be put into Special Defense to make sure Milotic is not 2HKOed by Modest Nidoqueen's Sludge Wave after Stealth Rock damage, but this isn't particularly necessary given the increasing rarity of Modest-natured Nidoqueen.
Usage Tips
========
Use Milotic's bulk to comfortably switch into threats like Dragon Dance Feraligatr, Durant, Araquanid, Mega Glalie, and Doublade, among others. Despite Milotic's lack of Special Defense investment, its raw bulk means it can still take on Pokemon such as Nidoqueen, Choice Specs Yanmega, and Choice Scarf Gardevoir. If not using Refresh, keep clear of Toxic; it does activate Marvel Scale, but it still greatly decreases Milotic's longevity. Ice Beam is useful for pressuring Defog users like Sigilyph and Rotom-C, leading to Stealth Rock staying on the field more. Watch out for strong Z-Moves such as from Fightinium Z Durant and Dragonium Z Kommo-o, as these are capable of taking Milotic out despite its bulk. Also of note are strong attacks from Choice Band Durant and Zygarde-10%—while Milotic can comfortably take on most of their moves, it can be 2HKOed by X-Scissor and Outrage.
Team Options
========
Teammates that check offensive offensive Grass-types, like Moltres, Roserade, and Dragalge, are able to patch up Milotic's most prevalent weakness. Pokemon like Gligar, Registeel, and Mega Steelix are setup fodder to threats such as Dragon Dance Feraligatr, Curse Snorlax, and Doublade, so they enjoy Milotic taking pressure off of them. Special walls, such as Umbreon, Cresselia, and Snorlax, can take on threats that Milotic can't handle alone like Salazzle and Swellow.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A mixed defensive spread of 252 HP / 132 Def / 120 SpD with a Calm nature lets Milotic switch into special attackers such as Life Orb Moltres, Choice Specs Kommo-o, and Swellow more easily but comes at the cost of being able to reliably take on more prominent threats like Durant and Mega Steelix and makes Milotic very unreliable versus Dragon Dance Feraligatr. An offensive set with Hydro Pump / Ice Beam / Toxic / Recover and an EV spread of 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe with a Modest nature and Competitive is a useful asset to Sticky Web and hazard stacking teams to deter the use of Defog, but this comes at the cost of almost all of Milotic's bulk.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Offensive Water-resistant Pokemon**: Offensive Water-resistant Pokemon like Roserade, Shaymin, Tsareena, and Decidueye take little damage from Scald and often threaten to 2HKO Milotic back. Physically offensive foes have to be wary of being burned by Scald, however. A special mention goes to Toxicroak, as it is immune to both Scald and Toxic and can therefore use Milotic as setup fodder.
**Strong Physical Moves**: Despite Milotic's solid bulk, very strong physical hits such as those from Choice Band Bewear and Durant or from boosting sweepers like Swords Dance Feraligatr's Superpower, Hone Claws Durant's All-Out Pummeling, and Dragon Dance Kommo-o's Devastating Drake are able to break through it.
**Status**: If you're not running Refresh, Toxic poison and burns are greatly detrimental to Milotic's success. Even with Refresh, being hit by Toxic means you have to dedicate a turn to removing it, which can provide opportunities to foes.
**Trick and Taunt**: Due to Milotic's passivity and reliance on status moves,users of Trick or Taunt such as Choice Scarf Gardevoir and Chesnaught make Milotic practically useless.
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