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Rotation Battle Discussion - The Best Format You're Not Playing

Cipher

Nothing to be done
At 1722 I'm currently #18 on Battle Spot worldwide and jockeying back and forth for #1 in the U.S. right now.

That doesn't necessarily make me amazing, because this is a very underplayed format (that rank is fairly low for those spots even this early in the season in other formats). I do, though, think I have at least a decent understanding of what makes it tick, what threats are, and overall how to start off playing it versus other versions of the game. It's also, in my opinion, narrowly the best, and I'd love to get more people playing it.

Let's talk about rotation battles. Ask questions, share strategies, etc. This is currently the only format without a simulator, so sussing out top threats and getting a good handle on it can be a bit more difficult.

I'll start things out with a little beginner's guide below:



General notes on the format:

1. Field effects including Tailwind, Trick Room, and screens, as noted above, are particularly potent, with three Pokemon being able to take advantage of them. In this way, you have dedicated "support" Pokemon something akin to doubles, though unlike doubles it's much safer to give them some sort of offense of their own. You don't want to have a Pokemon in rotation your opponent knows can't attack.

Because of how potent these effects can be, particularly Trick Room, don't be afraid to pack one Pokemon with Protect. That turn of stall can be vital.

2. Hazards or any other tactics that rely on switching (ex. Regenerator ability) are more useless in this format than in any other, as you only take one Pokemon in reserve. Switching is usually (though not always) a sub-optimal turn.

3. Status is high-risk, high-return. All Pokemon are, essentially, trapped on the field. This means status effects are going to stick around, and you could conceivably end up crippling your opponent's entire team. It's also high-risk, as your opponent can rotate in an already afflicted Pokemon to absorb the status move and get a free turn. Play accordingly. Be really careful with Swagger, as landing it on the wrong Pokemon and letting them recover from it can leave you with a +2 physical attacker on the opponent's field for the rest of the match.

Recoverable statuses and psuedo-statuses like Sleep and Taunt present prediction problems for both sides as well. The Pokemon can only chip down its recovery timer while active, so you have to weigh whether or not you/they will rotate the Pokemon out, or keep it active to move toward recovery.

Having an Electric, Ground or Fire Pokemon on the field can effectively dissuade the opponent from using either Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp respectively.

4. The best move is often the one with the most neutral coverage. You have to weigh this one, and predictions become a huge factor in move-selection. Sometimes those big predictions are what win games (not unique to this format, but even more important in it). Early in the game or if your opponent has multiple viable options, though, the safest move is often what you know can hit most of the field hard; not just what relies on a certain Pokemon being on the receiving end.

Winning often comes down to whittling the field down to the point where one safe move can KO everything as well. You need to watch out for the same thing happening on your side. There's nothing worse than realizing you just took a hit on the only thing that wouldn't be OHKO'd by one of their faster remaining Pokemon.

5. Team-building can come down to to approaches: One is coming up with a sweeping strategy that can hit all/most of a field, and giving it the support/crippling Pokemon to make that happen. Some surprising things become viable this way. The other is around immunity and weakness synergy. If you have Pokemon that can form a triangle of immunities or resistances, you really minimize your opponent's optimal moves. Want to Thunderbolt that Azumarill? Think twice, because Therian Thundurus is also on the field.

6. Sweeping is easier with friends. This is part of what I was getting at above when I said some surprising things become viable. That frail Pokemon that can OHKO most things but only 2HKO others? Well, you'd never use it in singles (where it's going to eat it on the return hit), or doubles (where it'll get doubled up on), but here? Rotate in teammates to chip off a little damage across the field, and suddenly your 2HKO-er can OHKO everything in sight.



Big threats (at least that I've noticed/for my own team/from Global Link stats):

1. Talonflame. No surprise. As with other formats, the ability to just hit most things with hard priority is valuable here. The frail sweepers mentioned above can't do much until this is off the field.

2. Mega Mawile. Without Sucker Punch this thing wouldn't be on here. With it? No fun. You'd better pack something to take advantage of that turn. As mentioned above, as long as its teammates have chipped off a bit of damage across your team, that Sucker Punch can quickly become a priority OHKO against all your Pokemon, with Huge Power requiring no setup and Dark having great neutral coverage.

Watch out for this on Trick Room teams, too. It gets into sweeping range on your team so easily in that setting.

3. Substitute Aegislash. This thing gets my number-one vote. All it has to do is correctly predict a support move on one turn to throw up Substitute, and it becomes incredibly hard to remove, tossing around powerful attacks at everything that rotates in. The most common multi-hit moves can't hit it for anywhere near enough damage. You also have the pressure of having to keep track of its King Shield turns, lest it rotate in on a contact move and cripple you.

Because of this, you'll see a lot of Taunt Talonflame (its fourth most common move, similar to doubles), Earthquake Kangaskhan (who gets much less use out of Fake Out in this format), and the Pokemon below.

4. Perish Song Azumarill. You'll see this less than the three above, but it's still in top usage, and if you're coming form another format it'll take you by surprise. Perish Song becomes a great fourth move for Azumarill, with everything being trapped on the field. It can take out any pesky threats and hits Aegislash through Substitute (particularly deadly for it as you have to weigh whether to use any of its last three turns to King's Shield).



Winning, and what to keep in mind:

Identify what needs to go for one of your Pokemon to sweep the field. Generally there will be one threat preventing you from doing this either through typing, priority, bulk, etc. Give yourself setup and cripple and/or chip away at the opponent's field with teammates until you have something that can reliably knock out the opponent's Pokemon with one move. Conversely, be aware of what your opponent needs to do to make the same thing happen, and keep your team from having too much damage spread around accordingly.

Always be aware of your safe plays, but on a higher level, be aware of your opponent's safest plays. This way it's not a game of wild prediction. If you can identify your opponent's most ideal move, nine times out of ten you can rotate in an otherwise risky Pokemon and take advantage of it.



Ridiculous gimmick stuff that can be surprisingly scary (though not reliable enough to run most of the time) in this format:

FEAR Aron. I'll let you figure out why.



Why should I play rotation?

1) It’s balanced. If you aren’t interested in doubles or triples and want to play something slightly more similar to the mechanics of singles with an inherently balanced game, try rotation. The ability to switch on the fly removes a lot of “uncounterability” from uncounterable singles threats.

2) It’s skill-based. You won’t win as consistently because that’s the game you play when you play with predictions. But if singles is based on predictions and experience, this is doubly so. Reading your opponent’s safe moves, your safe moves, and keeping track of both your win scenarios is incredibly important. You also have the added layer of needing to be mindful of damage across your team while contributing chip damage to theirs. Whoever lets their whole team fall into sweeping range for an opponent’s Pokemon first has, in many cases, sacrificed the game.

Let me know if you have questions, if you've noticed things of your own, etc. I can also throw up some battle videos, other interesting Global Link stats, etc. Really hoping to get some other people interested in this.
 
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