I was never really interested in Roselia when she came out -- that is, until she got a badass superhero evolution!
Roserade
60/70/55/125/105/90
Natural Cure, Poison Point, Technician (DW)
Notable moves (offensive):
Solar Beam
Shadow Ball
Sludge Bomb
Poison Jab
Pin missile
Energy Ball
Grass Knot
Giga Drain
Leaf Storm
Petal Blizzard
Dazzling gleam
Notable moves (status):
Swords dance
Spikes
Toxic Spikes
Venom Drench
Grassy Terrain
Substitute
Cotton Spore
Sleep Powder
Stun Spore
Leech seed
What immediately pops out about Roserade's stats is her special attack and special defence, as well as a decent speed, complementing her spiffy array of special attacks. She is also good in that she can set up both spikes and toxic spikes, which few Pokemon can actually do.
Roserade received some interesting moves in gen 6, such as Venom Drench and Dazzling Gleam. The former, Venom drench, could run beautifully on a toxic spikes Roserade set: Not only will the enemy be poisoned, but they will also have their attack, special attack, and speed lowered, which is pretty brutal. The latter, dazzling gleam, gives Roserade more type diversity in attacking, now allowing her to counter dragon types, and dark types!
I'll also throw in one of my move sets from B/W, a sunny day Roserade:
Gimmicky sunny day
252 sp.atk, 252 spd, 4 HP Heat rock
Sunny day
Sludge Bomb
Solar Beam
Weather Ball/HP fire
I don't know about viability, but running this Roserade alongside Volcarona was pretty fun, aiming to give Roserade some nice, big coverage for attacking. Sunny day gives Roserade's solar beam the instant-use boost it needs, letting you spam a solid 100 BP grass move. Sunny day also creates a nice surprise in weather ball, turning it into a fire-type move to take out steel-types and grass-types. Finally, there is sludge bomb, a move to counter the rise of the fairy types!
Spiker
252 HP, X def, X sp.def (I'm not sure how much to put in both...) @ black sludge
Toxic spikes
Venom Drench/Spikes
Giga drain
HP psychic/HP ground
This set takes advantage of Roserade's ability to use dual spikes -- mainly Toxic Spikes. After setting up a layer or two of toxi-spikes, Roserade can choose to either combo this into spikes, or the decimating Venom Drench. Spikes are what's usually run for the extra switch-in damage, though Venom drench is a good option, allowing Roserade to take a few more hits, whilst sustaining herself with giga drain. Lastly, we have Hidden power Psychic or ground, to sweep out poison-type Pokemon that can remove her toxic spikes (apparently they do this in gen 6).
Status Absorber by lopsided
Roserade @ Life Orb
Natural Cure
Modest
248Hp/252 Sp.Att/8Def
Energy Ball
Hp Fire
Sleep Powder
Rest
This set goes for longevity on Roserade -- Natural cure, combined with rest, lets her shrug off pretty much any status thrown at her. Sleep powder with rest allows for safe resting; and if you want to wake up, you can switch Roserade out for natural cure to cure her! For offence, this set takes energy ball for a STAB stable, and HP fire to murder any Ferrothorn in the way. This set is hard-walled by dragons and Heatran, however, so be sure to pair it up with someone to counter those!
Venus Fly Trap by psylink
Roserade @ Choice Scarf
nature: Timid
@ 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
ability: Technician / Natural Cure
Leaf Storm / Energy Ball
Sludge Bomb
Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Rock / Sleep Powder
Sleep Powder / Dazzling Gleam
This set aims to remedy Roserade's Speed to act as either an effective revenge killer with it's newly buffed offensive typing, letting Roserade kill the likes of Sylveon. Roserade's impressive 115 Special Defense lets it take some hits from the likes of Starmie as well. The STABs are two very different things. Leaf Storm has more power than Energy Ball, but it can't clean teams of more than 1 Pokemon left, whereas the newly buffed Energy Ball has a reliable 90 Base Power with no drawbacks, allowing Roserade to clean weakened teams. Sludge Bomb is solid coverage, hitting the Grass-types that resist the STAB move of choice, as well as revenge killing Fairy-type Pokemon that impede your team. Hidden Power would normally be useless with the nerf, but Technician boosts it up quite well, up to 90 Base Power. HP Fire hits Grass-types that are immune/resistant to Sludge Bomb, such as Venusaur and Ferrothorn, plus it takes out Steel-types. On the other hand, if Fire-types give you trouble, HP Rock is the way to go. Alternatively, if you opt to run Natural Cure as a status absorber, you can run Sleep Powder over Hidden Power to make room for Dazzling Gleam. Sleep Powder takes the fourth slot if you're running Technician, as sleep is pretty great, despite the nerfs lately. If you want to revenge kill Fighting-, Dark-, and Dragon- types that resist it's STABs or that Roserade walls, you can run Dazzling Gleam to kill all three.
All-out offensive by CoolStoryBrobat
Roserade @ Life Orb/Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm/Energy Ball/Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball/Extrasensory
- Sleep Powder/Rest
It's something I've been using more in my game and on the Battle Spot rather than outright on PS, but back in Gen 5 UU this was Roserade's primary Offensive set, and it was pretty threatening to say the least. Leaf Storm coming off base 125 Sp. Atk hits insanely hard, while the newly-buffed Energy Ball packs a respectable 90 BP. Giga Drain is useful though for recovering HP back, especially if you choose to run Life Orb. Both alternatives are good if you don't want Roserade to play as a hit-and-run attacker due to Leaf Storm's power drop (especially if you mispredict). Sludge Bomb is optimal secondary STAB that hits a good amount of Pokemon for neutral damage, such as most Fire-type switchins not named Heatran, as well as being able to give you some leverage against Fairies. Shadow Ball's now able to hit Steel-types, meaning the only Pokemon this Roserade set can't hit for at least neutral damage would be Bisharp. Extrasensory is useful for dealing with Poison-type switch-ins like Crobat and Amoonguss, but most of the time you won't use it outside of predicting a foe to switch in something weak to it. Rest is good with Natural Cure to offset the damage from hazards, prior attacks, and Life Orb, while Sleep Powder can put a Pokemon out of the game for a bit long enough to keep momentum in your favor.
Discussing!: So that's what I've got for Roserade, for now. Although, I also want to see what suggestions you guys have for Roserade movesets, since I'm pretty new to competitive play. Also, what tier do you think she'll end up in this gen?
Interesting notes from people:
- Apparently Roserade got a boost to her defence this gen, up 10 from the old defence.
- Running technician on Roserade lets her use a hidden power of 90 BP, type of your choice :O

Roserade
60/70/55/125/105/90
Natural Cure, Poison Point, Technician (DW)
Notable moves (offensive):
Solar Beam
Shadow Ball
Sludge Bomb
Poison Jab
Pin missile
Energy Ball
Grass Knot
Giga Drain
Leaf Storm
Petal Blizzard
Dazzling gleam
Notable moves (status):
Swords dance
Spikes
Toxic Spikes
Venom Drench
Grassy Terrain
Substitute
Cotton Spore
Sleep Powder
Stun Spore
Leech seed
What immediately pops out about Roserade's stats is her special attack and special defence, as well as a decent speed, complementing her spiffy array of special attacks. She is also good in that she can set up both spikes and toxic spikes, which few Pokemon can actually do.
Roserade received some interesting moves in gen 6, such as Venom Drench and Dazzling Gleam. The former, Venom drench, could run beautifully on a toxic spikes Roserade set: Not only will the enemy be poisoned, but they will also have their attack, special attack, and speed lowered, which is pretty brutal. The latter, dazzling gleam, gives Roserade more type diversity in attacking, now allowing her to counter dragon types, and dark types!
I'll also throw in one of my move sets from B/W, a sunny day Roserade:
Gimmicky sunny day
252 sp.atk, 252 spd, 4 HP Heat rock
Sunny day
Sludge Bomb
Solar Beam
Weather Ball/HP fire
I don't know about viability, but running this Roserade alongside Volcarona was pretty fun, aiming to give Roserade some nice, big coverage for attacking. Sunny day gives Roserade's solar beam the instant-use boost it needs, letting you spam a solid 100 BP grass move. Sunny day also creates a nice surprise in weather ball, turning it into a fire-type move to take out steel-types and grass-types. Finally, there is sludge bomb, a move to counter the rise of the fairy types!
Spiker
252 HP, X def, X sp.def (I'm not sure how much to put in both...) @ black sludge
Toxic spikes
Venom Drench/Spikes
Giga drain
HP psychic/HP ground
This set takes advantage of Roserade's ability to use dual spikes -- mainly Toxic Spikes. After setting up a layer or two of toxi-spikes, Roserade can choose to either combo this into spikes, or the decimating Venom Drench. Spikes are what's usually run for the extra switch-in damage, though Venom drench is a good option, allowing Roserade to take a few more hits, whilst sustaining herself with giga drain. Lastly, we have Hidden power Psychic or ground, to sweep out poison-type Pokemon that can remove her toxic spikes (apparently they do this in gen 6).
Status Absorber by lopsided
Roserade @ Life Orb
Natural Cure
Modest
248Hp/252 Sp.Att/8Def
Energy Ball
Hp Fire
Sleep Powder
Rest
This set goes for longevity on Roserade -- Natural cure, combined with rest, lets her shrug off pretty much any status thrown at her. Sleep powder with rest allows for safe resting; and if you want to wake up, you can switch Roserade out for natural cure to cure her! For offence, this set takes energy ball for a STAB stable, and HP fire to murder any Ferrothorn in the way. This set is hard-walled by dragons and Heatran, however, so be sure to pair it up with someone to counter those!
Venus Fly Trap by psylink
Roserade @ Choice Scarf
nature: Timid
@ 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
ability: Technician / Natural Cure
Leaf Storm / Energy Ball
Sludge Bomb
Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Rock / Sleep Powder
Sleep Powder / Dazzling Gleam
This set aims to remedy Roserade's Speed to act as either an effective revenge killer with it's newly buffed offensive typing, letting Roserade kill the likes of Sylveon. Roserade's impressive 115 Special Defense lets it take some hits from the likes of Starmie as well. The STABs are two very different things. Leaf Storm has more power than Energy Ball, but it can't clean teams of more than 1 Pokemon left, whereas the newly buffed Energy Ball has a reliable 90 Base Power with no drawbacks, allowing Roserade to clean weakened teams. Sludge Bomb is solid coverage, hitting the Grass-types that resist the STAB move of choice, as well as revenge killing Fairy-type Pokemon that impede your team. Hidden Power would normally be useless with the nerf, but Technician boosts it up quite well, up to 90 Base Power. HP Fire hits Grass-types that are immune/resistant to Sludge Bomb, such as Venusaur and Ferrothorn, plus it takes out Steel-types. On the other hand, if Fire-types give you trouble, HP Rock is the way to go. Alternatively, if you opt to run Natural Cure as a status absorber, you can run Sleep Powder over Hidden Power to make room for Dazzling Gleam. Sleep Powder takes the fourth slot if you're running Technician, as sleep is pretty great, despite the nerfs lately. If you want to revenge kill Fighting-, Dark-, and Dragon- types that resist it's STABs or that Roserade walls, you can run Dazzling Gleam to kill all three.
All-out offensive by CoolStoryBrobat
Roserade @ Life Orb/Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm/Energy Ball/Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball/Extrasensory
- Sleep Powder/Rest
It's something I've been using more in my game and on the Battle Spot rather than outright on PS, but back in Gen 5 UU this was Roserade's primary Offensive set, and it was pretty threatening to say the least. Leaf Storm coming off base 125 Sp. Atk hits insanely hard, while the newly-buffed Energy Ball packs a respectable 90 BP. Giga Drain is useful though for recovering HP back, especially if you choose to run Life Orb. Both alternatives are good if you don't want Roserade to play as a hit-and-run attacker due to Leaf Storm's power drop (especially if you mispredict). Sludge Bomb is optimal secondary STAB that hits a good amount of Pokemon for neutral damage, such as most Fire-type switchins not named Heatran, as well as being able to give you some leverage against Fairies. Shadow Ball's now able to hit Steel-types, meaning the only Pokemon this Roserade set can't hit for at least neutral damage would be Bisharp. Extrasensory is useful for dealing with Poison-type switch-ins like Crobat and Amoonguss, but most of the time you won't use it outside of predicting a foe to switch in something weak to it. Rest is good with Natural Cure to offset the damage from hazards, prior attacks, and Life Orb, while Sleep Powder can put a Pokemon out of the game for a bit long enough to keep momentum in your favor.
Discussing!: So that's what I've got for Roserade, for now. Although, I also want to see what suggestions you guys have for Roserade movesets, since I'm pretty new to competitive play. Also, what tier do you think she'll end up in this gen?
Interesting notes from people:
- Apparently Roserade got a boost to her defence this gen, up 10 from the old defence.
- Running technician on Roserade lets her use a hidden power of 90 BP, type of your choice :O
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