Mothim, The Moth Pokémon. It loves the honey of flowers and steals honey collected by Combee. It does not keep a nest. It flies over fields and mountains in constant search of floral honey.
Overview
The Bug-Flying typing is the first sign that Mothim hasn't gotten the best of luck. The dual-typing is fairly crippling, but worse still, it has to try and stand out amongst one of the most over-populated dual types. Other UU (Underused) Bug-Flying Pokémon include: Scyther, Masquerain, Ledian, Butterfree, Vespiquen and Beautifly.
The problems of being a Bug-Flying Pokémon are fairly obvious. The 50% Stealth Rock weakness sticks out like a sore thumb and it come with a lot of weaknesses: Fire, Electric, Ice, Rock and Flying (and all of these weaknesses are fairly common as well, which exacerbates the problem).
The positives aren't too plentiful. As a UU, it doesn't have enough available to it to justify its use, but in NU (Never used), its offensive stats are decent enough. Poor Speed hinders sweeping attempts however, and defensively, it can only really hope to survive moves it resists.
Trait
Swarm: gives a 1.5x boost to Bug moves when Mothim's HP drops below 1/3rd. It's a pretty solid boost towards one of its core moves, so it's a pretty useful ability when it kicks in.
Move Sets
Special Attacker - Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Shadow Ball / Psychic / Energy Ball / U-Turn
Item Attached: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
Trait: Swarm
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) / Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
It's an undeniable Yanmega impersonation, but it's probably its only viable set. Both of its offensive stats are quite usable, however its physical move-pool is shallow, meaning it'll almost always have to rely on its special move-pool. With Choice Specs, it can pull off some respectable damage, but it's severely hindered by its poor Speed stat. With Choice Scarf, it has a good amount of Speed, but it's lacking in power. Either way, the lack of raw stats will make sweeping attempts much harder.
Bug Buzz is its core attack. Good power, STAB, 'perfect' accuracy and a 10% chance of lowering the opponent's Special Defence. Its other core attack is Air Slash, which also has good power, STAB, slightly less than perfect accuracy and a useful 30% flinch rate.
Hidden Power is a near necessity. With both of its STAB moves being resisted by Steel types (as well as a few odd dual-types), Hidden Power is the only way to get around them. Ground is 4x effective against Probopass, Bastiodon and Aggron, as well as Magcargo. In addition to this, it catches a super-effective hit on the Bug-resistant Poison and Fire types. Ground is arguably the most preferable choice, but Hidden Power alternatives it has for thwarting Steel types are Fire and Fight.
The final move-slot is something of a filler. Shadow Ball is useful for Rotom, who resists Bug Buzz, Air Slash and Hidden Power [Ground]. Psychic catches a strong hit on Bug-resistant Poison types. Energy Ball is useful for 4x weak Water types, as well as some Rock types. U-Turn is quite useful for scouting the opponent's next move. If they switch, you can switch to an appropriate counter. However, since it isn't backed by Attack EVs, the damage it deals can be rather forgettable.
EVs and Nature:
You haven't got much to work with aside from the 252/252 sweeper spread. If you intend to use U-Turn, you'll want a nature that doesn't hinder its Attack stat, but aside from that, the only decision is a Special Attack boost or a Speed boost. Obviously, using Choice Scarf or Choice Specs will weigh in on this decision.
The (max IV) Speed stats breakdown to: 231 (Specs/no nature boost), 254 (Specs/nature boost), 346 (Scarf/no nature boost) and 381 (Scarf/nature boost).
Other Options
Aerial Ace, Camouflage, Return, Hyper Beam, Toxic, Protect, Roost,.
Aerial Ace represents its physical Flying STAB. Alongside U-Turn, it's really the only other worthwhile physical move it has access to.
Camouflage is a unique move to Mothim and Starmie. It actually has some mild use. Bug-Flying is a poor combination to be cursed with, so being switched to Normal type (or other varying types on PBR, depending on the arena) has its benefits. In the case of it being used, Return can become a worthwhile move for STAB, and the same just about applies to Hyper Beam (which is best utilised as a suicidal 'Explosion' imitation, rather than a core STAB move).
Mothim can utilise Toxic, and along with Protect and Roost, it represents its stalling options. It can cause some frustration for its opponents, but with its awful defensive capabilities, it's not an advisable route to be following.
Countering Mothim
Steel types are the obvious 'first choice' as far as counters are concerned, particularly Probopass and Bastiodon. Hidden Power is all that Steel types have to watch out for. Unfortunately, in the case of those two, they need to pay special attention to Fight and Ground, which'll strike at their 4x weaknesses. Magcargo also has a resistance to both of Mothim's STAB moves, but once again, needs to avoid Hidden Power, particularly Ground. Rotom resists both of Mothim's STABs as well, but fears Shadow Ball.
Muk can deal with most of Mothim's offence. Bulky defensive stats and a Bug resistance leaves it in a fairly comfortable position, it just needs to watch out for Psychic. The same is true for Nidoqueen, as well as bulky Poison types in general. Mantine isn't bad off either, again, benefiting from a Bug resistance, without really having any weaknesses Mothim can exploit. Ninetales, and other Fire types with solid Special Defence can manage as well. All of these counters need to watch out for some Specs-boosted Air Slashes, and in the case of the Poison and Fire counters, Hidden Power [Ground] as well.
Mothim is awful defensively, and as a result, it doesn't take much to bring it down. An added 4x weakness to Stealth Rock does it no favours in that regard either. Being as fragile as it is, exploiting its common weaknesses isn't even necessary, although it's a fairly sure-fire way to be rid of it.
Locations in Games
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Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Not In Game Colosseum/XD Not In Game Fire Red/Leaf Green Not In Game Diamond/Pearl Evolve Burmy
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Animé Appearences
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Mothim has had a few Animé Appearences. First it evolved from a Burmy that Cheryl caught in Eterna Forest. After that, it was used to hunt down some sweet honey
Episode 498: Some Enchanted Sweetening! |
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