Welcome to Pokemon of the Week! This week we'll be focusing on one of my absolute favorite Pokemon in the 5th gen OU metagame. This week, we'll be focusing on Rotom Wash Form!

Rotom-W is faaantastic. Honestly, it's one of the best Pokemon in OU, period. Not only does Electric/Water with Levitate grant it a single uncommon weakness, but Rotom's movepool gives it a ton of fantastic options that allows it to take on nearly any role your team needs. Rotom's re-type in 5th gen made most forms much worse, but Rotom-W hit the jackpot. Between common Rain boosting it's Hydro Pump and Volt Switch allowing it to do damage and escape the fray, both of Rotom's STABs are beyond useful in this metagame.

As I've said, Rotom-W has a plethora of moves and uses in the metagame. It can go bulky, with access to moves like Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, and Thunder Wave, while great attacking moves like Hydro Pump, Thunder, Volt Switch, Trick and Hidden Power Fire, Ice, or Grass allow it to be a wonderful offensive presence for your team. Simply put, Rotom-W is amazing, and you should always prepare for it.

Rotom-W@ Leftovers Levitate Modest nature (+Sp. Attack, -Attack) EVs: 232 HP / 56 Sp. Attack / 220 Speed Volt Switch Hydro Pump Will-O-Wisp Pain Split / Hidden Power Ice

Don't expect the laundry puns to stop any time soon. This kind of Rotom-W is the one most often seen, and it performs very well. Volt Switch is one of the crux moves of the set, allowing you to do damage to the opponent and immediately put you at an advantage by switching to something that resists their predicted move or puts you in a favorable position in some way. Hydro Pump pairs well with this, hitting the only type that is immune to Electric (Ground) for Super Effective damage. Will-O-Wisp is one of the best moves Rotom gets access to, Burning the likes of any Ferrothorn that dares to switch in, expecting to resist a STAB move and setup entry hazards.

The last slot offers a choice, and it's an important one. Pain Split is the only method of healing that Rotom has access to, but it can be very helpful for when Rotom gets low on health, or if the opponent's main answer to Rotom is Chansey or Blissey, and is generally useful to keep Rotom alive for more turns than it otherwise might have. Hidden Power Ice, however, gives Rotom-W a means to deal with Dragonite much easier, and giving it a move that can at least do some damage to Latios, Celebi, and Latias, although weak.

When playing this set, you've got to keep in mind that Volt Switch isn't meant for big hits on everything, it's meant for good chip damage and putting you in a more favorable position. Hydro Pump does more damage on average, especially if boosted by Rain.

Rotom-W@ Leftovers Levitate Calm nature (+Sp. Defense, -Attack) EVs: 248 HP / 232 Sp. Defense / 28 Sp. Attack Volt Switch Hydro Pump Thunder Wave / Will-O-Wisp Pain Split

Rotom-W makes a great special wall in an era where Choice Specs Politoed is a dangerous threat. This Rotom will take those boosted Hydro Pumps, which deal 43.23 - 51.15%, ensuring a 3HKO in Rain, and immediately threatening back with a STAB Volt Switch. Rotom-W's own Hydro Pump is no slouch either, and the EVs ensure that it'll OHKO max HP Gliscor, preventing a Toxic stall war that you'd end up losing.

The third move is a toss-up, but Thunder Wave is suggested first because this set aims to take on special attackers. Not only does this cripple fast special and physical attackers, it buys your slow Rotom-W an extra turn for Leftovers recovery before Volt Switching out, or dealing a finishing blow with Hydro Pump. Will-O-Wisp is certainly an option, though, allowing Rotom-W to take on both special and physical attackers with relative ease, and not giving Ferrothorn's Gyro Ball extra power like Thunder Wave would (even though Rotom-W quad resists it).The final move is Pain Split, which is essential on this more defensive set for staying healthy through the barrage of attacks you have to withstand.

Rotom-W@ Choice Scarf / Choice Specs Levitate Timid nature (+Speed, -Attack) EVs: 252 Sp. Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP Volt Switch Hydro Pump Hidden Power Ice Trick / Thunderbolt / Thunder

Okay, I'm out of laundry brand puns now, and just in time. Choice Scarf Rotom makes for a threatening and effective offensive Pokemon on your team. Volt Switch gives Rotom a fast, effective hit that allows you to bring in a Pokemon that will put you at an advantage depending on what you think your opponent will do, while also putting a hurt on many common Water types in the OU tier. Hydro Pump, especially when backed by Rain (but not mandatory), will deal wonderful amounts of damage to many Pokemon, and is Rotom-W's strongest attack. Hidden Power Ice allows Rotom-W to hit Dragon types hard, which is especially nice for revenge-killing Choice Band Garchomp locked into Outrage, but helps vs. most Dragons.

Once again, the last slot offers a choice. Trick can rid you of your Choice item, potentially crippling a Chansey, Blissey, Ferrothorn, or many other defensive Pokemon that would otherwise annoy you. Thunderbolt is an option, however, for a stronger Electric type move that doesn't force you to immediately switch, which can be useful in dealing with teams that have lost their Pokemon that resist or are immune to Electric type moves, Rain teams in particular. Thunderbolt also provides a 75% chance to OHKO Keldeo after Stealth Rock damage, which is very useful, so the choice comes down to what your team would benefit most from. Thunder is an option if you plan on using Politoed, as Drizzle gives it perfect accuracy, as well as boosting Hydro Pump to insane levels of power. Be careful about this, though, because if the opponent can remove Drizzle, Thunder's accuracy will drop back down to 70%, or even 50% in Sunlight, so keep that in mind.

Choice Specs is a viable option instead of Scarf, granting Rotom-W much more power than it would have otherwise, but losing a fair bit of Speed. When choosing Choice Specs, I'd recommend a Modest nature and 252 HP / 252 Sp. Attack / 4 Speed, since more Speed won't help it too much, and the added bulk can give Specs Rotom more time to deliver powerful hits.

Scizor makes a great partner for any Rotom-W set, forming a wonderful VoltTurn core that has good type synergy, but this set in particular loves it as you can deliver fast Volt Switches into Scizor, and hit hard with Choice Band U-Turns back to Rotom-W, or even another Pokemon to play mind games with the opponent. Keeping this in mind, Rapid Spin support is essential, otherwise all the switching you'll be doing will set you up for taking massive damage from Stealth Rock and Spikes. Forretress makes a good Rapid Spinner, as Fire attacks can be handled by Rotom-W, while Grass attacks are quad resisted by Forry. Forretress can additionally lay entry hazards on the opposing side of the field, making your VoltTurning even easier, since they'll be reuluctant to switch in and take more damage from entry hazards, only to lose their switch-in advantage.

Rotom can be obtained via trade on Route 15, requiring you to trade a Ditto, though it will always be Calm nature (+Sp. Defense, -Attack) and have a 20 IV in every stat except Sp. Defense, which will be a perfect 31. Still, Calm isn't a bad nature at all, and 20 IVs in every stat is pretty decent for in-game Pokemon where IVs don't matter that much. However, Rotom can also be obtained from the Spooky Manor in the Dream World with the same ability that all Rotom have (Levitate), if you'd like to get one that way. Rotom's form-changing items can be found in Shopping Mall 9 on Route 9. For an in-game Rotom-W, I'd recommend this:

Rotom-W Thunderbolt Hydro Pump Ominous Wind / Shadow Ball Signal Beam / Volt Switch

Rotom really does have a very small movepool, but it has everything it needs right here. Thunderbolt provides a solid, reliable STAB attack for any Rotom form, and the TM for it is obtained before most people even have access to the Rotom trade, if memory serves. Hydro Pump is this form's signature attack, and it pairs very well with Thunderbolt to hit most types of Pokemon for at least neutral damage. Ominous Wind is there because Rotom has a small movepool, and it has a 10% chance to boost your stats. It also hits Psychic and Ghost types hard so that's something. Right? Sure. Finally, Signal Beam is given to all Rotom that come from the Dream World, and really helps Rotom-W the most, giving you an attack that can hit Grass types hard. Alternately, you can purchase it with BP, if you'd like. If not, Volt Switch lets you hit the opponent and escape to another Pokemon, which can be useful at times. Though, most of the time you'll just be... Oxi-Cleaning the opponent with Hydro Pump.

...Okay, I'm really done now.

I'll be covering Rotom as a whole here, for the sake of simplicity. Rotom is undoubtedly one of the coolest and best Pokemon to come out of D/P for me. Personally, I find the majority of Sinnoh Pokemon to be extremely boring and unmemorable (some evos of old Pokemon aside), but Rotom really stands out among the crowd for his very unique and inspired forms. An electrical ghost that possesses appliances? That's... BRILLIANT. While my favorite Rotom form may be the worst of them all (Fan), I certainly have a spot in my heart for Rotom after having used him on so many competitive teams. I have to say, though, there is one Rotom that infuriates me to no end... Utack, stop using Double Team and Confuse Ray on Glitch. :|

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