Top 100 Pokemon #82: Roserade

Roselia was okay as a Pokemon when she was introduced in Gen III. She obviously had the thorny-rose theme going on, and while her stats weren't that good, she could be annoying to face as she could throw all sorts of status at you, including poisoning you with Poison Point if you indiscriminately used contact moves against her. Still, she didn't have that much going for her, until Gen IV introduced her evolution, Roserade, who is more powerful and a whole lot more... fabulous?

Much more fabulous, indeed.

#82: Roserade

Roserade takes the outward elegance of a rose and the prickly, poisonous interior within and dresses it all up with the mystique of a masquerade host. That last part is what helps Roserade be more interesting of a Pokemon, adding a lot of flair to what could be an otherwise boring Pokemon. It also makes everything Roserade do very stylish.

A natural at taking bows.

Aside from the visual appeal of Roserade, she's also great on the battlefield. Roserade got a much-needed boost in stats from her pre-evolution, now having a very strong Base 125 Special Attack, a decent Base 105 Defense, and a Base 90 Speed that does help her accomplish her tasks. She has abilities like Poison Point and Technician (in Dream World), but her Natural Cure ability is definitely her most useful one, as it means she is not as crippled by status.

As a Grass-type, she has access to a wide variety of Grass-type attacks as well as support moves. To work off her excellent Base 125 Special Attack, she can use STAB attacks like Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, and Sludge Bomb; she can also use certain secondary attacks like Extrasensory and Weather Ball if you're using her on a weather team. (Of course, depending on circumstances, Hidden Power is an option.) This is augmented by her great selection of support moves; she can use both Toxic Spikes and Sleep Powder, making her a good choice for a lead if Toxic Spikes support is what you want. She can also use regular ol' Spikes, but be warned that she cannot legally learn both Spikes and Sleep Powder, since both are Egg Moves and cannot both be learned by any compatible Pokemon.

Roserade can also heal herself with Synthesis, if weather is not too much of an issue. She can even use Rest effectively, since Natural Cure means she will wake up as soon as she switches out, making that a potentially potent option.

She can also learn Petal Dance, which might be competitively inferior to Leaf Storm, but it sure looks prettier.

That's all I have to say about Roserade; she really is cool and a definite improvement over Roselia, even if I didn't have as much to say about her. I apologize for the long delay in getting this post out; I think I might have gotten a bit burnt out from trying to find enough to say (and enough good pics) for this entry. In order to try to get all this done before Gen VI comes out, I'll probably have all following entries be a bit shorter overall.

The next post should come soon, so until then, I shall bid you goodbye with a bit of "Marisa Stole The Precious Thing".

Yi er san, yi er san, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, ichi ni san
Yi er san, yi er san, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, ichi ni san
Yi er san, yi er san, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, ichi ni san
...uh, something, something, Guten Morgen...