Roserade, the Bouquet Pokémon. The poison in its right hand is quick acting. The poison in its left hand is slow acting. Both are life threatening. After captivating opponents with its sweet scent, it lashes them with its thorny whips. With the movements of a dancer, it strikes with whips that are densely lined with poison thorns.
Overview
Roserade returns with a little aplomb in the 8th generation with its brand of support and offense. As in generations past, the combination of Sleep Powder and entry hazards is potent, enabling Roserade to shutdown a check or counter and get up multiple layers of Spikes and Toxic Spikes as their opponent flounders for an answer. And Roserade is far from passive. Base 125 Special Attack is fantastic enabling Roserade to hit like a truck.
However, Roserade finds itself little changed in the generational shift, a distressing fact as old threats and new continue to make Roserade’s life difficult. Roserade finds itself completely stymied by Steel types without Weather Ball in either Rain or Sun and struggles to fit coverage outside of STABs in, leaving it exposed to Poison types as well. Furthermore, Roserade’s paltry Defense and below average HP leaves it exposed to many physical attackers who can easily prey on it for an easy KO, considering how often Roserade’s base 90 Speed falls just short of other threats. And these facts make it hard to justify over other Grass types and Spikers. Having to compete against Ferrothorn for a teamslot is never an attractive prospect. However, Roserade’s unique blend of traits, both offensive and supportive still leave it one to watch. While Roserade can be a game closing sweeper, its ability to shape a match is what makes it a fascinating option to use.
Positives
Great Support movepool. Sleep Powder and Spikes + Toxic Spikes is a fantastic combination and makes Roserade stand out as a hazard setter.
Base 125 Special Attack is impressive, ensuring Roserade to deal noticeable damage even when uninvested.
Great Special Defense, several resistances and recovery options give Roserade the ability to pivot in and stay healthy over a match.
Negatives
Offensive movepool is lacking, having only a situational answer for Steel types and suffers heavily from Four Moveslot Syndrome preventing it from running the coverage it needs.
Poor HP and Defense compromises Roserade’s bulk, limiting its switch in opportunities and making it easy to KO
Outclassed by other Grass types and Entry Hazard setters like Ferrothorn and Venusaur.
Movesets
Killer Kunoichi
-Sleep Powder
-Toxic Spikes
-Venoshock
-Giga Drain
Ability: Natural Cure
Item: Focus Sash
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Roserade flexes both its supportive and offensive capabilities in this set. Get Roserade in against something it scares out, sleep the check/counter and setup Toxic Spikes. Later, when the opposing team is suffering from Poison, Roserade can return and clean up with the boosted Venoshock. Giga Drain rounds out the set, giving Roserade great coverage and longevity, important when you need to re-establish entry hazards.
DYNAMAX:
Once entry hazards are setup, Roserade can make for a decent Dynamax sweeper. STAB Max Ooze is great to enable Roserade to start escalating its offense and Max Overgrowth boosts itself and Giga Drain both in and out of Dynamax. However, the lack of coverage is noticeable, and Roserade often will be focusing on Entry Hazards over Dynamax.
EVs and Items:
Max Speed is necessary, so Roserade can get the jump on as many targets as possible to shutdown with Sleep Powder and get up as many layers of Spikes/Toxic Spikes as possible. Max Special Attack is recommended to give Roserade some teeth and prevent it from being completely passive, while buffing Giga Drain’s damage and healing. HP investment can be considered to help Roserade survive extra attacks to setup entry hazards. Focus Sash is to help ensure the Spikes or Sleep, though Black Sludge can be considered for longevity and Wide Lens to patch up Sleep Powder’s accuracy issues.
Partners:
Ground types like Krookodile, Nidoqueen/Nidoking and Rhyperior make excellent partners for Roserade, taking out the Steel and Poison types that wall it. Krookodile additionally excels against Psychic types and draws Fairies in for a pivot opportunity for Roserade. The Nidos and Rhyperior have super effective coverage/STAB against most Defoggers that likewise trouble Roserade and remove its hard-won work.
Magnezone likewise excels in eliminating Steel types as well as most Flying types (re: Defoggers) and walls most Poison types while providing Speed control with Thunder Wave and pivoting with Volt Switch. Rotom-Wash is another stand out option, easily dispatching Fire and Flying types thanks to its STABs while providing pivot options and status support of its own.
Other Options:
Spikes -doesn’t synergize with Venoshock, but is very reliable, not being cleared by grounded Poison types and offers instant damage that can be vital in reaching for KOs.
Sludge Bomb/Leaf Storm -other STAB options offering more immediate power and greater oomph while Dynamaxed.
Extrasensory -offers coverage against Poison types that wall Roserade’s STABs
Shadow Ball -coverage against Psychic types as well as troublesome Ghosts like Chandelure and Gengar
Sunny Day + Solar Beam + Weather Ball -Offers a decent bit of Synergy, and Roserade’s only way to reliably eliminate Steel types on its lonesome.
Synthesis -offers more reliable recovery than Giga Drain.
Countering Roserade
Like other Grass types, Roserade has many checks that would be counters, but are shutdown hard by Sleep Powder, which makes true counterplay difficult. Ferrothorn and Overcoat Escalvier stand out as the closest to being a counter for Roserade and will ignore anything except the rare Sunny Day-Weather Ball set. That being said, Sleep Powder is unreliable and a miss can often spell a KO’d or forced out Roserade.
Ignoring Sleep Powder, Steel types are the best checks for Roserade’s offense, resisting its STABs, immune to Toxic Spikes and outright ignore any coverage aside from the aforementioned Weather Ball. However, even then they need a modicum of Special Defense. Roserade hits hard, and can do serious damage even through a resist. Metagross, Registeel, and Celesteela all have the special bulk to spare and can easily weather Roserade’s assaults and strike back.
On sets lacking Extrasensory, Poison types generally fare well, resisting Roserade’s STABs, potentially wiping away Toxic Spike and able to strike neutral with their same STABs for considerable damage. Salazzle, Scolipede, and Galarian Slowking are excellent examples of Poison types that suffice.
Poison resistant defoggers are annoying to Roserade, able to clear away entry hazards while often ignoring STABs and can use Roserade as setup bate. Coriknight, Crobat and Scizor stand out at this role.
In the end, if you ignore Sleep Roserade is rather manageable. Base 90 Speed is not a difficult threshold to clear and with Roserade’s poor Defense and low HP, there are many faster Physical Attackers that can outspeed and take Roserade out.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Roselia
Black/White:
Evolve Roselia (White)
Trade from White/Black 2/White 2 (Black)
Black 2/White 2:
Route 12, Abundant Shrine, Victory Road
X/Y:
Evolve Roselia
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Evolve Roselia
Sun/Moon:
Evolve Roselia
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Trade from Sun/Moon
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Hammerlocke Hills
Max Raid Battles: Dappled Grove, Forest of Focus, Training Lowlands
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Evolve Roselia
Legends: Arceus:
Crimson Mirelands: Cloudpool Ridge or nearby
Crimson Mirelands: Massive Mass Outbreak
Anime Appearences
