Competitive Pokemon History - Rotom Appliances Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The only ability that all Rotom forms have shared in common.

Answer: Levitate

Levitate gives all the Rotom appliances an immunity to Ground type attacks. With the exception of the Mow and Fan variants, this turns what would have been a super effective attack into an attack that does absolutely nothing, which is about the best ability they could have asked for. Notably, the Heat variant would've been 4x weak to Ground, so it appreciates this ability more than the other forms. Funnily enough, despite being a Flying type and naturally immune to Ground attacks, the Fan variant also got this ability, making it mostly useless for that particular Rotom appliance.

2. The only non-Hidden Power Flying type attack that Rotom-Fan can learn.

Answer: Air Slash

A fairly ho-hum attack, this fortunately at least does not come with any noticeable drawbacks like the other exclusive STAB attacks the other variants received.

3. The only non-Hidden Power Ice type attack Rotom-Frost has access to.

Answer: Blizzard

Blizzard's accuracy is very poor, at a meager 70%. Its damage output sure is good, but its accuracy is too crippling to make Rotom-F consistently threatening. Combine that with its Stealth Rock weakness and lack of reliable recovery, and Rotom-F has unfortunately no doubt been the least viable out of all of its formes. Fortunately, Rotom-F has been a low tier hero, being pretty great in the low tier it has ended up in for the most part.

4. The only damaging, non-Hidden Power Fire move that Rotom-Heat has access to.

Answer: Overheat

If Rotom-H had been given access to Flamethrower or Fire Blast, it would have been far better off than Overheat. Rotom-H's saving grace stems from its access to Volt Switch, so that it can nuke something with Overheat, take the nasty drawback of the move halving its Special Attack, then proceed to retain most of its momentum with Volt Switch to keep the player honest. Overall, Rotom-H has been fairly average for most of its career, though it did really begin to catch on quite well in the seventh and eighth generation, with it becoming an excellent standard play threat in the latter.

5. The only non-Hidden Power Grass type move Rotom-Mow has access to.

Answer: Leaf Storm

Leaf Storm, much like Rotom-H's Overheat, halves Rotom-M's Special Attack in exchange for nuking the target with a strong Grass type attack. Rotom-M has, much like Rotom-H, been mostly average throughout its competitive career, though it has unfortunately lacked the resurgence Rotom-H has experienced through the seventh and eighth generations. Still, it has been a pretty good RarelyUsed threat since its inception, being a staple of the tier from generations 4-8, so that's pretty good at least.

6. The only non-Hidden Power Water type move that Rotom-Wash has access to.

Answer: Hydro Pump

It certainly could have received a worse move, although Scald or even Surf would likely have been preferred. Still, Hydro Pump gives Rotom-W decent raw power to not be setup fodder. It can utilize its Levitate ability and Hydro Pump to adequately deal with most Ground type Pok�mon, being notably one of few Electric types able to consistently do this.

7. A status move that all Rotom appliances have had access to that can cripple physical attackers and has been consistently useful on all of them.

Answer: Will-O-Wisp

The Rotom appliances all began as part Ghost types. The majority of Ghost types have had access to Will-o-Wisp, and the appliances were no exception. Even after having all but the Base forme have their Ghost typing removed, Will-O-Wisp remained in their movepools. Defensive Rotom-Fan and Rotom-Wash were the most common users of the move due to its great utility.

It is notably the only thing that the latter has had to stop Ferrothorn from hard-countering it over the years.

8. A useful pivoting move that all Rotom appliances gained access to in the fifth generation, useful for getting out of sticky situations unless confronted by a Ground type.

Answer: Volt Switch

Volt Switch synergized greatly with Rotom-Mow and Rotom-Heat, allowing them to use their nuking moves and then keep up the otherwise lost momentum by pivoting out of battle. While the move was blocked by Ground types, most of the appliances had ways to mitigate this problem. Rotom-Frost, Rotom-Mow, Rotom-Wash and, to an extent, Rotom-Heat could threaten to destroy Ground types with their alternate STAB move of choice. All Rotom appliances in general could also threaten to cripple the target with status, mostly Will-O-Wisp.

9. Apart from Rest, this move is the only move the Rotom appliances can use to heal themselves.

Answer: Pain Split

While inconsistent, this move is at least somewhat benefitted from the fact that the appliances all have a very low Base 50 HP stat. This means they will generally heal themselves decently when using the move.

10. This move could be used for the Rotom appliances to disable defensive threats by swapping held items with the target.

Answer: Trick

Trick was great for deterring Pok�mon like Blissey or Steelix from just brainlessly switching in. Once the Choice Scarf or Specs had been forced onto them, they would be heavily crippled to the point of near uselessness.

11. This damaging move could be used to spread status on defensively inclined Rotom appliance variants.

Answer: Discharge

While the appliances' iffy defenses for the most part discourage the idea of a support set, Rotom-Wash and Rotom-Fan can at least try the dynamic out with decent potential for success.

12. The Rotom appliances all gained access to this helpful entry hazard removing move in the seventh generation.

Answer: Defog

Rotom-Fan, Rotom-Heat and especially Rotom-Frost were pretty horrible users of the move, but any other variant could try the move out for added utility. Rotom-Mow is the most notable user of this move of the appliances, using it to aid its already bloated support set in the seventh generation RarelyUsed.

13. A move all the Rotom appliances gained access to in the eighth generation that directly punishes Electric Terrain based teams, or could be used to aid one's own Electric Terrain team.

Answer: Rising Voltage

This move is extremely gimmicky, but might have some very light potential on a team which is absurdly weak to Electric Terrain teams yet didn't decide to invest a teamslot on a Ground type Pok�mon for some reason. Its Base Power is 70, which is doubled when used on a grounded Pok�mon in Electric Terrain.

14. A new boosting move that all Rotom appliances gained access to in the eighth generation.

Answer: Nasty Plot

This new move gave them all newfound utility that made them immensely more threatening. It was notably enough for Rotom-Frost to get banned from PU along with Rotom-H, Rotom-M, Rotom-Fan and even Rotom-Wash becoming viable sweepers even in Ubers.

15. The strongest Electric type attack that all Rotom appliances used effectively over many years.

Answer: Thunderbolt

Fortunately, all appliances gained access to the drawback-free Thunderbolt, and did not have to resort to options like Thunder like their other STAB attacks.

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.

Questions		Choices
1. The only ability that all Rotom forms have shared in common.		Volt Switch
2. The only non-Hidden Power Flying type attack that Rotom-Fan can learn.		Thunderbolt
3. The only non-Hidden Power Ice type attack Rotom-Frost has access to.		Levitate
4. The only damaging, non-Hidden Power Fire move that Rotom-Heat has access to.		Trick
5. The only non-Hidden Power Grass type move Rotom-Mow has access to.		Hydro Pump
6. The only non-Hidden Power Water type move that Rotom-Wash has access to.		Nasty Plot
7. A status move that all Rotom appliances have had access to that can cripple physical attackers and has been consistently useful on all of them.		Defog
8. A useful pivoting move that all Rotom appliances gained access to in the fifth generation, useful for getting out of sticky situations unless confronted by a Ground type.		Air Slash
9. Apart from Rest, this move is the only move the Rotom appliances can use to heal themselves.		Rising Voltage
10. This move could be used for the Rotom appliances to disable defensive threats by swapping held items with the target.		Leaf Storm
11. This damaging move could be used to spread status on defensively inclined Rotom appliance variants.		Overheat
12. The Rotom appliances all gained access to this helpful entry hazard removing move in the seventh generation.		Discharge
13. A move all the Rotom appliances gained access to in the eighth generation that directly punishes Electric Terrain based teams, or could be used to aid one's own Electric Terrain team.		Pain Split
14. A new boosting move that all Rotom appliances gained access to in the eighth generation.		Will-O-Wisp
15. The strongest Electric type attack that all Rotom appliances used effectively over many years.		Blizzard

Competitive Pokemon History - Rotom Appliances Quiz

Matching the quirkiness of the Rotom Appliances' competitive history is the quirkiness of this quiz! Try your hand at this series' first matching quiz and try to get your motor running for this piece on their competitive history from generations 4-8!