Competitive Pokemon History - Roselia & Roserade Quiz

Answer: Entry hazard setter

Roselia's poor overall stats made outright walling or sweeping sets very mediocre to say the least. However, its high 100 Special Attack stat by NU standards made an offensive hazard setting set quite good. Its respectable Base 80 Special Defense and Grass typing meant it could often deal with ubiquitous Water types, like Huntail and Wailord, rather easily.

It could force them to switch and set up Spikes quite easily as they fled the field. Thus, Roselia was a good Pokémon in third generation NU.

Answer: Natural Cure

Natural Cure relieves the user of their status effects the moment they switch out of battle. Thus, Roselia basically got a free switch in on status moves like Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave.

Answer: 125

Out of anything which could even be slightly viable in fourth generation standard play, Roserade was in a four-way tie for third highest Special Attack stat. It trailed Heatran and Magnezone by five points, and it was tied with Zapdos (who predominantly ran defensive sets and scarcely took advantage), Moltres (to say it was actually fourth gen standard play viable is a huge stretch), and Azelf (frequently used as a lead, not using its high Special Attack stat much). Roserade also had an excellent movepool to abuse this advantage, with goodies like Leaf Storm and Sludge Bomb to best put to use.

Answer: Poison Point

Poison Point gives Roserade a 30% chance to poison the opponent on turns when they physically strike it. Roserade's physical Defense was abysmally poor, which meant it would get 2HKOed at worst by just about any moderately strong physical attack. Poison Point, by no means, deterred a single threat in the meta from attempting to dispatch Roserade and its high octane offenses with physical attacks.

The status-absorbing utility of Natural Cure was far, far more useful.

Answer: Technician

Technician boosts the power of any moves with a base power of 60 or less by 50%. Hidden Power has exactly a base 60 power, meaning Roserade had a very powerful coverage move, usually Fire, to smack around Pokémon who could tolerate its two STAB attacks. With Extrasensory to round off Roserade's coverage, letting it hit popular Fighting types and Poison types that resisted its STAB, Roserade was essentially impossible to defeat defensively. Technician dethroned Natural Cure as Roserade's best offensive ability, though the latter was still a good pick for its less common defensive sets.

Answer: Eviolite

Eviolite made Roselia very tanky from the Specially Defensive side. This was with its respectable Base 80 Special Defense, which in itself was above average by NU standards before getting buffed further by Eviolite. Its Base 50 HP was extremely bad, but it was offset somewhat by its inflated Special Defense. With unique access to Spikes, Roselia was once again a very decent entry hazard setter in both tiers.

A high Base 100 Special Attack was also a nice quality to have for a bulky Pokémon, too.

Answer: No

The combination of Sleep Powder to incapacitate a potential switch in, Roserade's good offensive movepool and its high Special Attack meant that Roserade can never reliably be countered. If the player predicts a problematic switch in, such as Heatran, Scizor, or Crobat, clicking Sleep Powder would minimize the threat of this switch in completely. From there, Roserade can slam the threat with its strong attacks and win, or it can give a teammate a free switch in, without the worry of having said switch in get hit hard by Roserade's problematic would-be counter. Thus, Roserade is functionally impossible to counter.

However, its poor physical bulk and merely average speed makes checking it rather straightforward.

Answer: Alolan Sandslash

Alolan Sandslash's Ice/Steel typing let it resist both of Roselia's STABs. Unlike Roserade, Roselia's defensive sets that kept it viable did not afford it the room for Hidden Power Fire to exploit Alolan Sandslash's severe weakness to Fire. Alolan Sandslash could easily switch in to Roselia, use Rapid Spin to get rid of its entry hazards, and could obliterate it with a super effective, physical, Icicle Crash if the Roselia dared contest Alolan Sandslash's entry hazard removing.

As Alolan Sandslash was a very highly regarded PU threat, this was quite a problem.

Answer: UnderUsed

Roserade was ultimately on the bubble for standard play viability in the eighth generation. It could be used respectfully in the tier, but it didn't fulfill any sort of niche better than anything else could, and was thus rather unviable for standard play. Fortunately, in UU, Roserade was an absolute monster and a definitive top ten, arguably top five for the tier. Once Mamoswine got banned, Roserade lost its most potent offensive check and its viability shot up exponentially.

It would run mostly the same sets it had been known for since its inception, and it would rock the entire tier in doing so.

Answer: PartiallyUsed

Roselia was really only viable in PU, but it was definitely at least quite decent here. Here, it pulled the same exact tricks it had been pulling for roughly sixteen years; set Spikes. Its good Eviolite-augmented bulk and respectable offenses once again let it be quite decent at doing this. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.