Competitive Pokemon History - Miltank Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Miltank's stats are all around quite decent, and they contribute towards it being a good force in second generation standard play. Miltank is also an excellent check to Snorlax, the king of the tier, and provides its teams with a much needed backbone in that regard. However, Miltank is unique for using a strange move to check Snorlax with. What move is that?

Answer: Growl

Miltank has excellent physically defensive capabilities, and unlike other Snorlax checks, its base 100 speed is excellent as well. Growl seems like a weird move to see serious use, but it allows Miltank to override Curse's Attack boosts on Snorlax, so that it will be unable to power its way through Miltank. With great natural Defense and the ability to disarm most Curselax variants, Miltank can check most Curselax variants at all stages of the game, most notably the deadly last-Pokemon Curselax.

Miltank is, by no means, a Snorlax hard-counter, however. Belly Drum Snorlax can overwhelm Miltank's Growl, while Curselax with Lovely Kiss will eventually prevail, as it boosts while Miltank is asleep. However, any Snorlax without Lovely Kiss or Belly Drum is soundly checked by Miltank, which automatically gives Miltank a very useful niche in the meta.

2. Skarmory is both physically bulkier than Miltank while being able to more consistently check Snorlax. This means Miltank needed something off to the side to distant itself from Skarmory. Indeed, a lowly distributed move which was enormous for common teams to have did give Miltank an important niche Skarmory, or anything else, couldn't cover. What move allowed Miltank to do this?

Answer: Heal Bell

Psych Up is fairly unique to Miltank, but the move itself is gimmicky, and doesn't necessarily let Miltank beat anything it couldn't already beat, or do anything notable with consistency.

Heal Bell was an important move to have in the second generation meta. Blissey also had access to the move, but Miltank's ability to check physical attackers, most notably Snorlax, let it easily distinguish itself from Blissey in the clerical role.

3. Third generation Miltank would probably not have been viable in standard play, were it not for its signature move, granting it reliable and instant 50% healing. What move was this?

Answer: Milk Drink

Milk Drink, as far as competitive play is concerned, is a Recover-clone: using it immediately heals Miltank for half its max HP.

4. Like all other Pokemon, Miltank received an ability in the third generation. What ability was this?

Answer: Thick Fat

Thick Fat grants Miltank a resistance to Ice and Fire type moves. Miltank's slightly below average Special Defense does appreciate the minor buff granted by this, as Miltank's Normal typing afforded it no specially offensive resistances otherwise.

5. Fourth generation indeed saw Miltank fall to the UnderUsed tier. Here, it attempted to pull off a mono-attacking Curse sweeping set that was generally quite successful. This might seem strange, considering the abundance of Ghost types that Normal cannot touch, but Miltank had one thing going for it that let it work. What was this?

Answer: The ability to hit Ghost types with Normal type moves

Thanks to Miltank's new ability in Scrappy, it can hit Ghost types with Normal type moves. This allows it to only run one attacking move in Body Slam without worrying about being stone walled by some random Ghost type. With Spiritomb and Mismagius being extremely common threats, Scrappy was necessary for this set to be able to function against most teams.

6. Miltank's excellent support movepool gave birth to a new set with a funny nickname that would follow Miltank for generations to come. What was the name of this set?

Answer: Mootility

Miltank's access to Stealth Rock, Heal Bell and instant recovery in Milk Drink alongside good overall bulk let it be an excellent support Pokemon for the tier. Miltank could check physical attackers, cure the team of status, and put up entry hazards to start pressuring the opposing team with.

Its offensive presence, while not overbearing by any means, wasn't overtly passive either, meaning it had great longevity and workable offenses to fit teambuilds of many kinds. This made Miltank a genuinely great Pokemon in fourth generation UnderUsed.

7. Miltank's offensive potential and defensive synergy grew in the fifth generation, thanks to its new hidden ability. What ability was this?

Answer: Sap Sipper

Sap Sipper not only grants Miltank an immunity to Grass moves (including Spore), but also raises Miltank's Attack stat by one stage anytime it gets hit by a Grass move. This gave it some interesting synergy alongside offensive and defensive stalwarts which were critically weak to Grass, such as Gastrodon, Quagsire and Omastar.

8. Miltank may have dropped to NeverUsed in the sixth generation, but it was a very strong check to three of the best, most dangerous Pokemon in the tier, and thus had a fantastic niche. Who were these three Pokemon?

Answer: Tauros, Kangaskhan and Swellow

Given that these three threats were overbearing physical attackers, Miltank could confidently take them all on with its great physical Defense. With the help of Milk Drink, Miltank could easily switch in and keep itself healthy, to check them all game long.

Miltank's special defense was still quite mediocre, allowing strong special attackers such as Samurott, Magmortar, Mesprit and Mismagius to overcome it fairly easily. Its inability to often run more than a Normal type move, usually Body Slam, also made it setup fodder for Rhydon and Klinklang. Its Normal typing gave it a weakness to Fighting, letting Hariyama and co. make rather short work of it. Finally, Substitute users such as Articuno could protect themselves from Miltank's status moves, while also generally forcing Miltank to Body Slam the Substitute twice in order to break it, making them good checks to it.

9. The seventh generation was not kind to Miltank. The existence of one Pokemon in NeverUsed ultimately served to make Miltank rather unviable for the tier, due to how it hard countered Miltank and stopped it from doing its job the vast majority of the time. What Pokemon countered Miltank?

Answer: Xatu

Xatu's Magic Bounce denied Miltank its entry hazards and status, instead forcing Miltank and its team to suffer if it was on the field as Miltank attempted to set up on it. It was also bulky enough to take hits from Miltank quite easily, and could even boost with Calm Mind against it. This made Xatu into an excellent Miltank counter.

10. As a utility Pokemon in seventh generation NeverUsed, Miltank ultimately suffers from one negative trait that causes it to be outclassed and generally unviable in the tier. What negative trait is this?

Answer: Passivity; lack of offensive capability

Miltank's lack of a good boosting move, mediocre offenses off the bat, and Normal typing not giving it STAB on anything super effective meant it had a hard time threatening foes without status moves. In comparison, Steelix can more viably boost its offenses with Curse, gets a STAB Earthquake, and can Roar or Dragon Tail out anything it couldn't immediately threaten. Druddigon had far higher Attacking stats and a good Dragon typing, alongside Mold Breaker to ignore Xatu's Magic Bounce. Finally, Rhydon could boost with Swords Dance, plow over Xatu with Stone Edge, and had a great offensive Rock/Ground typing.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Competitive Pokemon History - Miltank Quiz

Every six year old's worst nightmare, it's Whitney's signature Pokemon, Miltank! See how much you know about this iconic cow in the competitive scene, from generations 2-7!

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