Battle Moveset

A Good Moveset for Miltank would have to be this:

Attacks:

Heal Bell
Milk Drink
Return/Body Slam/Focus Punch
Shadow Ball/Thunder Wave

-or-

Heal Bell
Milk Drink
Seismic Toss
Thunder Wave/Shadow Ball/Counter

Items Attached:

Leftovers

Preferred Nature:

Jolly

Strategy Using Miltank

Miltank is a solid alternative to Blissey (and Celebi) when in search of a cleric. Although it doesn’t have godlike HP, it is a lot more stable than Blissey as far as taking hits are concerned. It doesn’t have quite the same issue with surviving physical attacks and doesn’t fear Focus Punch in the same way. Unlike Blissey, it has decent offensive ability and good speed. Its trait doesn’t suit the “in and out” function of a cleric and Miltank must sacrifice Heal Bells in order to recover from status ailments. On the bright side, it can take Ice and Fire hits pretty effectively. It’s the fire resistance that makes this an especially good physical wall, since unlike Skarmory, it fears neither physical attacks or Fire attacks. The Ice resistance makes it an okay Pokémon against cursing Swampert. Think of it as a Skarmory/Bliss combo, the cleric utility of Blissey with the physical wall side effect of Skarmory (though its walling abilities are nowhere near on par with Skarmory’s).

The first set is a cleric that separates itself from Blissey, using its clear advantage over Blissey by using offensive manoeuvres. Return and Body Slam are for STAB. Body Slam is if you want a chance at inflicting paralyse while Return has a solid power advantage. Focus Punch works quite nicely with Thunder Wave. The idea is to lure Blissey out by Paralysing one of its partners. As it comes in you hit it with a tough (and super effective) Focus Punch. Shadow Ball handles any ghosts that would take no damage from Normal or Fighting attacks as well as making for a solid KO against Alakazam and his other psychic buddies.

The second set is imitation Blissey. Using Seismic Toss saves you from diverting EVs into attack but Blissey is better overall with this move set (excluding the Shadow Ball part). Like mentioned above, Shadow Ball gets those evil ghosts and KOs Alakazam and his psychic buddies. Thunder Wave supplies the utility bonus of nullifying sweepers. Counter is pretty effective on this Pokémon, since it can take Dragon Danced hits with ease and with a good HP stat, Counter takes chunks out of your opponent.

The basic strategy, like all clerics, is to supply your team with protection from status ailments. This could also include the common stall strategy: having the majority of your team use Rest and then send in the cleric to wake them all up with Heal Bell. Just remember, Heal Bell won’t aid members of your team who have the Soundproof trait, so if you use those Pokémon you’d be better off with an Aromatherapist.

EV Corner:

Some speed is nice, since Miltank has a solid speed stat. I wouldn’t suggest dedicating too many EVs there. Jolly Nature + 20 Speed EVs allows it to outrun Pokémon using Base 264 as a springboard for their single speed boost (allowing them to outrun Jolteon and friends). Getting HP to the maximum Leftover recovery at 384 is important, requiring 212 HP EVs. A little Special Defence such as 96 Special Defence EVs gives a nice 200 SDef stat, meaning it can take Special hits pretty decently. The rest of the EVs you want to pump into Defence.

Jolly/Timid [+Speed, -SAtk/Atk] - 212 HP / 182 Def / 20 Speed / 96 SDef

When using offensive moves, you’ll want to take away some Defence EVs and put them into attack. If you want to use Focus Punch and intend to 2KO Blissey you need around about a 220 Attack stat (costs 96 Atk EVs).

Jolly [+Speed, -SAtk] - 212 HP / 96 Atk / 86 Def / 20 Speed / 96 SDef

Without Focus Punch, 200 Attack should be enough to launch a solid offence with Return/Body Slam.

Jolly [+Speed, -SAtk] - 212 HP / 16 Atk / 166 Def / 20 Spd / 96 SDef

Shadow Ball will hurt most Ghosts and Psychics regardless of EVs due to the majority of them possessing terrible Defence stats, so if that is your only offensive manoeuvre, there isn’t much need for excess EVs to increase its power.

Other Optional Sets: Miltank@Choice Band

Return
Shadow Ball
Earthquake
Focus Punch
It has a decent Choice Band move set. Return, Shadow Ball, EQ and FP access is a wide-enough move pool for someone good at predicting switch ins. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the same kind of power as other Choice Banders so reliance will be on super-effective hits, so I wouldn’t suggest this in the hands of someone lacking experience. Fortunately, with good defence and HP, it can make an easy switch in.
Miltank@Leftovers/Liechi/Lum Berry
Return
Earthquake
Shadow Ball
Psych up
A fun way to turn a Cursing Snorlax or Dragon Dancing Salamence against your opponent. Make sure it has a decent speed stat so that it can outrun an opposing Dragon Dancer with the same boosts.
Miltank@Salac/Liechi Berry
Reversal
Substitute/Endure
Shadow Ball
Return
Miltank doesn’t really have the attack stat to pull this off successfully, but I figured it deserves a mention. With Liechi it gets good attack but is at risk from anything faster while with Salac it leaves something to be desired in its Attack stat. A variation of this could include a Choice Band and switching out after you’ve Substituted down to 1HP, however both the Choice Band Reversal and Salac/Liechi Reversal sets are better used on other Pokémon.

Strategy Against Miltank

Miltank is really a substitute for someone who thinks Blissey is cheap or is having difficulty using Blissey effectively (it can have some serious issues at times). Solid Defence, usable Special Defence and all-round good stats (excluding Special Attack). Its trait is okay, but there are better ones out there. Ice attacks tend not to be the main offence of the majority of special sweepers, same for Fire attacks. Both types are underused so STAB is rarely seen when concerning Fire or Ice attacks.

Don’t underestimate it is the main rule. Miltank can take physical hits pretty well, so you may need to dig into your third or fourth Dragon Dance to take it down. With a good amount of EVs and a super effective hit, it can cause some issues when going on the physical offensive.

Taunt and Snatch can mess around with its attempts at Heal Bell and Milk Drink and feel free to inflict statuses on it, since that’ll force it to waste Heal Bells (which at an 8 PP limit, are pretty precious).

As for taking it down, STABed Special Attacks work wonders. Focus Punch puts a decent dent in it. If neither of those are available, it can be out-stalled pretty easily. Skarmory, Suicune, Weezing, Regirock and Registeel as well as numerous other commonly used Pokémon can take its offence with ease and end up forcing it to switch/waste its PP. If the Pokémon can’t be paralysed it helps tremendously and the ability to take numerous Seismic Tosses/Returns is favourable. Contest Moveset

A good Contest Moveset for Miltank would have to be this for the Cute Contest best with Timid, Hasty, Jolly or Naive Nature:

Attacks:

Milk drink
Rest
Sleep talk
Thunderbolt

Items Attached:

Pink Scarf

Strategy Using Miltank

If you do the attacks in this following order you should have very few problems; 1st - Rest, 2nd - sleep talk, 3rd - Milk drink, 4th - Rest/Sleep talk, 5th - Milk drink/Thunderbolt

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Trade from C/FR/LG/E (Ruby/Sapphire) Altering Cave & Safari Zone (Emerald) Colosseum Snatched From Bodybuilder Jonas in Realgam Tower Fire Red/Leaf Green Altering Cave

Animé Appearences

Miltank has had a few Animé Appearences. First Whintey used it in her Gym Battle against Ash at Goldenrod. After that Ash & Co. encountered one in a desert who was in charge of a special Pokémon Only Area. After that Harrison had one and used it to calm some Pokémon down in the Silver Conference Episode 160: A Goldenrod Opportunity! Episode 161: A Dairy Tale! Episode 209: Got Miltank?! Episode 270: Tie One On!