Competitive Pokemon History - Milotic Quiz

Answer: Recover + Refresh

Instant recovery in Recover and the ability to remove debilitating status with Refresh gave Milotic a niche as the most consistent bulky Water type in the tier. In comparison, in order to both heal themselves and relieve themselves of status, Suicune and Swampert, Milotic's two main sources of competition, had to put themselves out of commission with Rest, and could only semi-reliably remain active with Sleep Talk, taking up two moveslots in a far less efficient manner. Milotic's ability to keep itself healthy while constantly remaining active also made it a better choice on balanced teams, which didn't want to cede momentum with Rest but also wanted a bulky backbone.

This gave Milotic a decent standing in third generation standard play.

Answer: Celebi

Certain variants of Raikou and Zapdos could be outlasted if they didn't have Rest/Sleep Talk, constantly switched in to damaging moves by Milotic, and the Milotic user was both clever and had adequate switchins to the Electric duo. Blissey and Milotic notoriously drew lengthy stalemates with one another, as neither could do a single thing other than try to PP stall the other, their damaging moves doing nothing, and their efforts to afflict each other with status being rendered ineffective.

Celebi, on the other hand, effortlessly switched in to anything Milotic could offer, even a super effective Ice Beam. It could then easily bring Milotic down by spamming some Grass move, or could threaten to just boost in its face, and either Baton Pass the boosts to something, or use them for itself and sweep Milotic and its team. Celebi was arguably the best Pokemon in the whole tier, and Milotic could do absolutely nothing to it, which was a huge problem indeed.

Answer: Marvel Scale

Marvel Scale grants the user a 1.5x Defense buff if they become afflicted by a harmful status condition, such as Poison, Burn or Paralysis. While that does sound like a decent ability for a defensive Pokemon, it was not the most consistently useful ability. For one, as a defensive Pokemon, taking residual damage every turn often hinders Milotic's longevity more than the buff to its Defense can make up for, even though it would grant Milotic phenomenal statistical mixed bulk. Toxic poison especially is no good, as this would kill off Milotic very easily if it stayed in for an extended period of time, and would heavily cripple it. Paralysis would also not really be worth the tradeoff of triggering Marvel Scale even though it doesn't damage Milotic.

The potential to be unable to move in the face of a boosting or generally threatening foe could be gamechanging, causing Milotic to lose matchups it should win, such as against Gyarados, Salamence or Tyranitar. As such, while Marvel Scale looks appealing on paper, in practice, making use of it is often more trouble than it's worth.

Answer: Hypnosis

Hypnosis is one of a few different egg moves Milotic has that has potential. The ability to completely incapacitate something is invaluable, and can sometimes be the difference between a win and a loss if the target is chosen carefully. While Hypnosis' meagre 60% accuracy is often a turnoff, Milotic certainly has the bulk to compensate for a miss or two. Additionally, Pokemon Milotic simply cannot handle can be put to sleep, giving a more appropriate teammate a free switch in.

Other interesting options Milotic had that its competition did not were Haze, Mirror Coat, Safeguard and Light Screen. Haze had a massive 64 PP, which served Milotic well when trying to PP stall. Haze also could not be blocked by Substitute, could effect Soundproof Pokemon, and did not have negative priority like Roar or Dragon Tail did, meaning slower boosting threats could not even strike Milotic with a boosted move before having their boosts wiped away.

Mirror Coat, while definitely gimmicky, took advantage of Milotic's two common weaknesses in Electric and Grass being predominantly specially offensive. Given that Milotic had the special bulk to quite reliably survive a Grass or Electric move, if the player had expert prediction and properly guessed usage of one of these moves, Mirror Coat would score a very likely OHKO on the opposing target, turning the tables on Milotic's old counter in Celebi to an extent, as well as deterring Electric types like Zapdos or Raikou from brainlessly clicking Thunderbolt.

Safeguard was once again more on the gimmicky side, but it was a nifty support move Milotic could use to protect its teammates from harmful status. This was especially useful in stall team vs stall team matchups, making it difficult for the opposing stall team to gain any meaningful momentum while Safeguard was active.

Light Screen was also best used on one's own stall team, but had practical applications on balanced builds as well. Light Screen made Milotic extraordinarily specially bulky, taking a pittance even from strong super effective moves like Celebi's Leaf Storm or Zapdos' Thunderbolt. Light Screen could also be 'passed', giving an allied Skarmory excellent mixed bulk, and likewise for other physically bulky Pokemon.

Answer: Cute Charm

Cute Charms makes it so that an opponent of the opposite gender making physical contact with Milotic has a 30% chance of being afflicted with Infatuation. Milotic can only be female, meaning that if the opposing team were to be also filled strictly with females, or Pokemon with no genders, Cute Charm would be rendered totally useless. Additionally, an Infatuated Pokemon could just be switched out, as the status is removed upon doing so.

As Milotic is not an offensive Pokemon, it does not really do a good job at capitalizing on forced switches, so the ability wouldn't grant it much value in that manner anyway. Marvel Scale, while having its own issues, can at least be mildly useful in some cases when it does activate, and it also doesn't rely on the opponent being a physically attacking male Pokemon to do anything at all, meaning it is far more consistent.

Answer: Togekiss

Togekiss was a renowned stallbreaker for the tier in the fifth generation, even seeing its talents extend to standard play for how good it was at that craft. It would generally run over Milotic quite easily, switching into it with impunity and having no trouble boosting with Nasty Plot against its weak offenses, using Heal Bell to alleviate itself of any status it caught during the battle. Milotic could Haze or Dragon Tail Togekiss out, but Togekiss could just switch right back in to render the latter insufficient in the long haul. For Haze, Togekiss couldn't PP stall it, but it never had to- Air Slash + Serene Grace gave Togekiss a constant 60% flinch chance on Milotic, keeping it on the defensive and making spamming Haze hard when it needed to stay healthy with Recover. Milotic being on the defensive constantly like that means it is destined to eventually lose, as Togekiss will either eventually land a critical hit which flinches, sealing Milotic's fate, or its trainer, who'd be holding all the momentum and offensive pressure, would eventually be able to make a read to pick up a timely Nasty Plot boost as Milotic used Recover and not Haze or Dragon Tail, and Togekiss could then easily flinch Milotic to death from there.

Answer: Competitive

Competitive boosts the user's Special Attack by 2x if another stat if theirs is reduced. Its physical counterpart, Defiant, was put to good work by plenty of Pokemon across competitive play, such as Bisharp in standard play, its pre-evolved form Pawniard in PartiallyUsed, Braviary in NeverUsed/RarelyUsed, etc.

The key trait they have in common within their respective tiers is that they're all viable offensive Pokemon, with good offensive stats and movepools for their respective metagames. All told, Milotic's Base 100 Special Attack isn't by any means terrible for UnderUsed standards, but without any way other than the unreliable Competitive to boost that average mark, constructing an offensive set intended upon utilizing the ability would always yield inconsistent results, making it extremely prediction reliant and not terribly effective anyway.

As such, Marvel Scale remained Milotic's preferred ability in the sixth generation.

Answer: A hard counter to bulky offensive teams

Bulky offensive teams, usually hyper offensive teams but with more of a focus on defensive synergy and instilling more of a defensive backbone, may as well just wave the white flag upon a Milotic sighting. With access to Refresh, Milotic will never go down to status inducing endeavors as a means of wearing it down. With instant recovery and access to Haze, Milotic will never turn into setup bait for literally anything. With a Base 81 Speed, Milotic can actually outspeed certain boosters before they boost, such as Cresselia, Snorlax and Necrozma. Haze's 64 PP also means Milotic can just sit there and stall them straight to death if the situation calls for it. Bulky offensive teams also do not seriously threaten Milotic when unboosted, meaning even coverage moves, such as Porygon2 with Thunderbolt, cannot seriously threaten it. Because of this, Milotic has a better matchup against these archetypes than anything else in the tier, and can often win the game for its team by itself in these matchups.

Answer: UnderUsed

Milotic didn't quite have the tools to reach standard play, but it was an amazing force, splashing into UU with style. Its bulk and utility were so great that a minor, but significant, portion of the playerbase called for it to be suspect tested for a potential ban to standard play.

This was ultimately unsuccessful, but it goes to show that Milotic definitely took advantage of getting a head start in the Galar region.

Answer: Dragonbreath

Dragonbreath has a 30% paralysis chance against the target. It also cannot be blocked by Taunt, and can paralyze Ground types- not that they would often stay in on Milotic in the first place. Spreading burns with Scald, paralysis with Dragonbreath and, if desired, poison with Toxic gave Milotic an underrated offensive presence, underrated utility, but did a wonderful job supplementing its excellent longevity for the tier.