Pokémon of the Week

Rotom, The Plasma Pokémon. Its electric-like body can enter some kinds of machines and take control in order to make mischief. Research continues on this Pokémon, which could be the power source of a unique motor. Its body is composed of plasma. It is known to infiltrate electronic devices and wreak havoc.

Look at this cute little guy. Great design, unique typing, good support and alright offensive movepool, acceptable stats, and pretty usable in the lower tiers. Rotom is pretty cool, I like it a lot. Platinum brought in alternate formes with unique, which pretty much made Rotom pointless. However, 5th gen made those Rotom formes lose their Ghost typing and gain their unique move's typing, giving Rotom a niche again.

Levitate: Gives you immunity to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and most importantly, Ground moves.

- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt / Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fighting] / Hidden Power [Grass] / Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Fire] / Volt Switch
- Trick
Item Attached: Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) / Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

A set that pretty much every special attacker should have. Shadow Ball is nice and reliable, and can possible reduce Special Defence. Thunderbolt is your strongest move whilst still maintaining great accuracy. Hidden Power [Fighting] hurts Normal Pokémon and Steels, as well as Tyranitar if you are using Rotom in OU. Hidden Power [Grass] breaks down Water/Grounds like Quagsire. Hidden Power [Ice] is for revenge killing Dragons. Hidden Power [Fire] wrecks anything 4x weak, but that'd mostly be useful in OU. Volt Switch is a special Electric version of U-turn. Really useful. Trick is the move you use to really mess up the opponent.

- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Discharge
- Substitute / Volt Switch / Pain Split / Toxic
Item Attached: Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

It's all about inflicting status. Hex has 50 base power normally, and with STAB it reaches 75. That's less than an unSTABbed Shadow Ball! However, if the opponent is inflicted with status, it deals double damage. Yeah, 150 base power. Will-O-Wisp inflicts arguably the best status on the opponent; burn. It is also fairly accurate, having 75 accuracy. Discharge has a 30% chance of paralysis, which is very useful for Pokémon immune to burn. Substitute keeps you from status and damage. Volt Switch scouts and deals some nice damage. Pain Split keeps you healed up whilst damaging the enemy. Toxic is another option if you really feel you need a third status option.

- Discharge / Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp / Shadow Ball
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

Huh? Rotom that focuses on Defence? Well, yeah. Rotom has three immunities; Normal, Fighting, and Ground, which are all predominantly physical. Its other resists, except for Electric, all also mostly physical based. Rotom's typing is ideal for a UU physical wall. Discharge can hit paralysis and is still fairly strong. Will-O-Wisp burns, halving the victim's Attack, allowing you to wall even better. Shadow Ball can be used for two attacks, or as an alternative attack to Discharge. Rest restores you to full HP, and Sleep Talk allows you to use attacks whilst you rest.

- Thunderbolt / Shadow Ball / Will-O-Wisp / Discharge / Pain Split
- Thunderbolt / Shadow Ball / Will-O-Wisp / Discharge / Pain Split
- Reflect
- Light Screen
Item Attached: Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

Sounds like a strange car. No, no, it's a lead Rotom set. The first two slots are open for whichever two of the five moves you want. They all work together. Thunderbolt is your hardest hitting reliable move. Shadow Ball also gets STAB and can lower the opponent's Special Defence. Will-O-Wisp inflicts burn, which is always great. Discharge is a little weaker than Thunderbolt, but it can paralyse. Pain Split keeps you healthy and works with Rotom's dire HP. Reflect and Light Screen effectively double your team's defences, making you pretty damn ridiculous. Again, Rotom does this well thanks to its immunities.

- Substitute
- Pain Split / Charge Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power [Fighting]
Item Attached: Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Right, this is more or less two sets in one space. However, they both focus on Substitute, so I thought I'd just include them both in the same set. Substitute blocks status and damage, whilst only taking 25% of your max HP. Pain Split behind a Substitute is devastating, as you keep lowering your HP with Substitute only to bring it back up with Pain Split, whilst the opponent can just sit there taking damage and wasting PP. This is very similar to a set Gengar uses. Charge Beam however is an anti-counter move. It allows you to set up on your opponent, even if they send out Registeel or what not. Substitute and a rapidly rising Special Attack stat will mean trouble for the opponent. Shadow Ball gets STAB and is a great move in general. Thunderbolt hits hard, it's amazing, blah blah. Hidden Power [Fighting] adds some crazy good coverage with Shadow Ball.

Let's get this motor running
You could run 4 in Defence rather than Special Defence, but as your resists already focus on the physical side, a little boost to the special side isn't a bad thing.

ResTalk
Max HP because Rotom's HP is abysmal. You could add some Speed EVs if you wanted. 16 gets 222, which outspeeds Adamant Tyranitar. 48 beats Adamant Scizor. 88 beats Adamant Breloom. 104 beats Jolly Tyranitar. Basically, if there is something you want to burn, you could add some EVs to outspeed it. Put the rest in Defence.

Dual screen motor?
252 HP adds to Rotom's general bulk a lot more than 128 in each defence. Max Speed allows you to set up screens as soon as possible.

SubRotom
Low HP means Pain Split heals you more and damages the opponent. Max Speed and max Special Attack keeps your damage high and keeps you fast.

Charge, Electro Ball, Rain Dance, Signal Beam, Snatch, Thunder, Thunder Wave
Charge doubles the power of your next Electric attack, but now also adds +1 Special Defence.
Electro Ball's base power is worked out depending on how high your Speed is compared to your opponent's.
Rain Dance can be paired with Thunder for team support and a very strong unmissable attack.
Signal Beam is a special attack Rotom has access to that isn't totally pointless like Dark Pulse.
Snatch can steal certain moves used by the opponent.
Thunder is hardly reliable when used outside of rain, but it is a lot stronger than any other move you have.
Thunder Wave is sort of pointless, as Discharge paralyses often enough.

Rotom isn't an ideal multi battle Pokémon, but it has a few nice points. Firstly, it is immune to Earthquake. It is also immune to Fake Out. Secondly, it has Discharge, which is a great attack as it hits everyone. Its support movepool works with doubles and triples. Protect, Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, and Trick can all be handy.

Rotom can be pretty hard to stop once it has set up, and it can come in quite often thanks to those immunities. However, it does have counters. Most of these Pokémon will not appreciate being trapped by a Choice Band Dugtrio and being hit with STAB Earthquake. Obviously Rotom is hardly bulky, so having its weaknesses covered and having Pokémon there to switch in is required. Rotom and a pure Steel actually resist all but Fire and Water, and only have 5 weaknesses between them. Darks also cover Rotom's weaknesses and vice versa. Registeel, Umbreon, there are a good few options. Entry hazards help Rotom out as, because of its immunities, it can easily switch into choiced Pokémon, forcing the opponent to take damage.

Bulky Steels do well against Rotom, as long as they have a move that can damage it. Steelix and Registeel are the two main guys here. Bulky Grass Pokémon resist Rotom's main STAB and can hurt it badly with a strong STAB move; Torterra, Roserade, there are a few good choices. Bulky Grounds can work well, but are hit fairly hard by Shadow Ball. Standard special walls like Clefable work. Dark types can switch into Shadow Ball and ruin Rotom with a Dark move or ideally Pursuit. Lanturn is a good choice as it isn't hurt by Shadow Ball and absorbs Thunderbolt. Now, let's start talking 5th gen. Excadrill is practically immune to any move but Will-O-Wisp and Hidden Power [Fighting]. Same deal with Krookodile. Also, Sawsbuck is in a similar situation. It is immune to Ghost, and resists Electric. Amoonguss and Ferrothorn are two new Grass Pokémon that can wall Rotom to hell and back. Hydreigon resists both your STAB moves and OHKOs with Dark Pulse. A few more Pokémon got Mold Breaker, which means bye bye Ground immunity. Rotom hasn't really changed much. It hasn't gained much, but it hasn't really gotten worse. It can still be effective. I like Rotom though. It is a pretty cool dude. However, its alternate formes are where things get more interesting.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in Game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in Game.

Colosseum/XD:
Not in Game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Old Chateau.

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Trade from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum.

Black/White:
Trade in Route 15
Transfer from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum