Ah, Rotom. What started out as a strange little Electric/Ghost-type that didn't fear Ground-types thanks to Levitate became a truly threatening force thanks to the presence of alternate forms that give it a stat boost and five possible powerful secondary attacks. Its versatility allows it to fulfill all sorts of roles, and it can also be fun to use for playing mind-games with opponents.
Capture/Training
Rotom has to be traded over from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Once done so, take it over to Silph Co. where you can access a secret room for form-changing.
Rotom is not a Legendary Pokemon, and can be bred with Ditto.
Stats
Base:
50 HP, 50 Atk, 77 Def, 95 SpA, 77 SpD, 91 Spd
Alternate:
50 HP, 65 Atk, 107 Def, 105 SpA, 107 SpD, 86 Spd
The base form doesn't have particularly special stats to take advantage of. The Alternates, though, have solid defenses as well as solid Special Attack, making them great on both defensive and offensive fronts. The slight drop in Speed is, really, almost negligible.
As far as EV-training goes, defensive sets will gain much mileage out of HP EVs, as they go well with Rotom-A's solid defenses. Offensive sets will be more likely to just go all-out Special Attack and Speed.
Abilities
Rotom has the distinction of being the only Electric-type with Levitate. In fact, it's probably simpler to say that Rotom is a Levitating Ghost with Electric-type resistances. All-in-all, you have a Pokemon that is immune to Normal, Fighting, and Ground moves while resisting Electric, Flying, Bug, and Steel. Just watch out for Gravity.
Moves
Rotom's core attacks are its Electric and Ghost moves. On the Electric side, you have the basic quadruplet: Thunderbolt for one of the best moves in the game, Discharge if you'd rather have a higher chance of paralysis, Thunder if Rain is active, and Charge Beam, which can fit on certain sets well thanks to Rotom's good defenses. Rotom then gets Shadow Ball to compliment those moves with a good, consistent Ghost attack, or it can use Ominous Wind for that chance at the stat boost.
However, Rotom's true trump card is its access to additional powerful secondary attacks, thanks to its alternate forms. Keep in mind only one of the following five attacks can be active at one time.
Cut Forme (Rotom-C) gets Leaf Storm, which gives Rotom a powerful attack to obliterate Ground-types with, especially the Water-based types that resist its other forms' moves. Freeze Forme (Rotom-F) gets Blizzard; though inaccurate, it gives Rotom something resembling the infamous BoltBeam combination (which no Pokemon not named Magnezone, Shedinja, or Lanturn resists, and the latter two don't resist Shadow Ball), and works well on a Hail team, where the move has perfect accuracy. Heat Rotom (Rotom-H) gets Overheat, which comes with one of the best special attack types in the game, destroying everything from Ice-types to those pesky Steel-types. Spin Rotom (Rotom-S) gets Air Slash, arguably the worst of the special moves, although that 30% flinch rate could be useful on an annoyer set thanks to access to paralysis and confusion-inducing moves. Finally, Wash Rotom (Rotom-W) gets Hydro Pump, which really turns Rotom into a wild-card that can punish Ground-types as well as get in a nice neutral hit on many Pokemon; in fact, with the move, combined with its Electric and Ghost moves, only Dialga and the Grass/Dark types resist all its moves. Just watch out for the times it misses.
All these moves are much fun to play with, but they aren't absolutely required on their respective forms. In fact, one fun thing to try if facing a human opponent familiar with these Rotom forms is to use a certain form without using its associated move, trying to bluff your way past an opponent. After all, even if your Rotom-C doesn't actually have Leaf Storm, your opponent doesn't know that, and he still probably won't leave his Swampert in on it.
Other than these moves, though, Rotom only has one other non-Hidden Power secondary attack: Signal Beam, which overall isn't that useful. Hidden Power is an option, though.
Rotom's other trump card is the wide variety of ways it can cripple its opponents. Want to paralyze a fast foe without having to rely on Discharge? Thunder Wave has you covered. Want to compound that with confusion? Confuse Ray away. Want to burn a dangerous physical threat? Will-o-Wisp will be right up your alley. Want to Toxic an opponent? ...Well, okay, any Pokemon can do that, but still. Want to steal your opponent's item and give them some painful Choice item in return? You're in luck, because all Rotom needs is a Heart Scale to learn Trick. Want to heal Rotom while putting the hurt on high-HP opponents? Rotom can learn Pain Split thanks to the HG/SS Move Tutors, and is Rotom's best way to heal.
Rotom also gets the distinction of being one of the few Pokemon to learn Substitute on its own, and it can certainly make good use of it.
Aside from the usual goods, Rotom can also use Reflect and Light Screen. It can also provide Sunny Day and Rain Dance support, the former of which could be interesting with the Heat form and the latter of which works particularly well with the Wash form.
Effective Movesets
Note: On all sets with Thunderbolt, the move can be replaced with Discharge.
1. All-Purpose Rotom
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Leaf Storm/Blizzard/Overheat/Air Slash/Hydro Pump
- Will-o-Wisp/Reflect
Note: Want a Rotom that can adapt to any situation by changing forms readily? Here it is. The last attack can easily be replaced by a number of other possible support moves, so just choose one listed in the above analysis.
2. All-Purpose Choice
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- (Forme Attack)
- Will-o-Wisp/Trick (Battle Frontier only)
Item: Choice Specs/Choice Scarf
Note: This Rotom is notably more offensive. Trick is only to be used in the Battle Frontier. If you absolutely cannot do anything to an opponent, Will-o-Wisp for the burn and switch out.
3. SubCharge
- Substitute
- Charge Beam
- Shadow Ball/Ominous Wind
- Thunderbolt/(Forme Attack)/Will-o-Wisp
4. Status
- Discharge
- Will-o-Wisp/Toxic
- Toxic/(Forme Attack)
- Shadow Ball/Confuse Ray/Pain Split
5. Defensive Substitute
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball/Ominous Wind
- Will-o-Wisp
6. Annoyer (Spin)
- Discharge/Thunder Wave
- Confuse Ray
- Air Slash
- Shadow Ball
Note: Paralysis+confusion+flinch = parafuseflinch = opponent only has a 26% chance of attacking. Brutal. Spin Rotom is the worst of the Rotom forms, so it's nice that it has access to this kind of moveset that allows it to have something to have fun with.
7. Dual Screens
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Discharge/Shadow Ball
- (Forme Attack)/Shadow Ball/Discharge
Item: Light Clay
8. Washing in the Rain (Wash)
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
Item: Damp Rock
Note: With solid defenses and great attacking type coverage, Rotom-W makes a great Rain Dance supporter.
9. Cooking in the Sun (Heat)
- Sunny Day
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
Item: Heat Rock
Note: Sunny Day, Overheat something, then switch to another Pokemon to keep the heat on. Could be fun.
Closing Notes
Rotom is such a fun Pokemon to play around with. Have fun with its alternate forms, for sure, whether you're using those alternate attacks to smack various foes around, or you're just using the forms to try to bluff your way past suspicious human foes.
Future Sight
Oh goodness. A major change has occurred to the way Rotom works with its alternate forms: said alternate forms now replace its Ghost-type! (It makes sense; when Rotom is possessing an appliance, it's not like the appliance suddenly becomes intangible...) This has both good and bad points for each form, so let's go over each.
Heat Forme is now a Fire-Electric type, which means it's 4x weak to Ground... or would be if it didn't have Levitate. (Which means Heat Forme Rotom is now the new winner of the Pokemon Who Loves Levitate The Most Award.) That said, be careful with Water-types, who can now hit you as hard as you hit them... Also, this Rotom form is Stealth Rock-weak, so be careful of that. Still, it has potential. Interestingly enough, this Rotom form resists BoltBeam, although since many BoltBeam users carry Water attacks...
Mow Forme is a Grass-Electric type; alas, not the Christmas Tree Pokemon we wanted, but not bad. It resists both Water and Electric, a combination seen on many Pokemon.
Frost Forme is an Ice-Electric type, which means it is the first Pokemon to get STAB on Boltbeam... except it has to use Blizzard instead of Ice Beam, so it's more of a BoltBlizzard. This Rotom form is as effective as ever in hail (moreso with it not affected by Hail itself), but it's not too effective outside of Hail. Also, it's Ice-typing gives it a fair amount of weaknesses, although at least Steel isn't one of them... and at least it resists BoltBeam.
Spin Forme was trolled. Flying-Electric type is great, except... it's a Flying-type... with Levitate. What.
Of all the changed forms, the form to arguably have gotten the best end of this change is the Wash Forme. Wash Forme Rotom now officially joins Lanturn in the unique group of Water-Electric types. However, instead of an Electric immunity, it now has a Ground immunity... which means it's only weak to Grass. And while it is neutral to Electric, it still resists a large number of common types, namely Fire, Water, Ice, and a 4x Steel-resist.
Overall, losing its Ghost-type means it can no longer block Rapid Spin and is no longer immune to Fighting-types. On the flip side, it is now no longer Pursuit-weak. Overall, the changes go multiple ways, but one thing's for sure: Rotom has completely changed in the way it is played.
No comments:
Post a Comment