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I am thinking of Water type in my Pokemon Showdown team..
Which is better? Starmie or Milotic?
I have Milotic but, here is it
Yes he is male (Milotic) (M) @ Mystic Water
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 148 HP / 32 Atk / 36 Def / 252 SpA / 40 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Ice Beam
- Mirror Coat
- Hail
- Surf
Note: "Yes he is male" is nickname
Should I replace it with Starmie?

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edited by
It depends on the rest of the team and the format. Starmie and Milotic are so different that they can't really be compared without the context.

3 Answers

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Milotic

Milotic is a great water Pokemon if you're looking for a bulky water-type. It has a great amount of defenses, and a lot of HP; Plus, your ability will help significantly raise defense (50%) when inflicted with a status condition. When looking at your Milotic, I'm guessing you're willing to use Milotic more offensively since you have it holding Mystic Water, to help boost it's water STAB moves, such as Surf. If you do continue to use it offensively, I suggest replacing moves such as Hail and Mirror Coat.

Hail is a good move, but since Milotic isn't an ice-type, you will start to receive damage, and you'd find yourself wasting a turn because its a better idea to switch out, and Milotic would need to manually do it, as none of its moves can double with this effect. So, it's better to give Hail to an ally ice-type partner. With Mirror Coat, you would need the opponent to use a Special Move, but Milotic is much lower in Def than SpDef, so it's more likely to get hit by a physical move - plus, if Milotic's Marvel Scale ability is not in use, you can find Milotic getting easily knocked out. If you wish to keep Mirror Coat, the best idea is to have a faster-ally with a move like surf, so Milotic can resist it and still receieve the 2x power gain when it's its turn to move. So overall, you may choose to keep Mirror Coat if you wish to take a strategy like this, but I recommend replacing Hail with a move like Dragon Pulse, if you're using Milotic offensively.

In my opinion, Milotic is much better used defensively since it's very bulky, and Marvel Scale helps raise defense. Although it's HA Cute Charm works much better, to make use of Marvel Scale, maybe try using a Flame Orb instead of Mystic Water, therefore you can raise your defense but lower the unnecessary attack stat. You may also continue to use attacking moves, but definitely try using Toxic or a Rest/Sleep Talk combination.

Starmie

Starmie is slightly more of a sweeper, since it's base Spd stat is much higher. It does still provide moderate defenses, but it should definitely be used offensively. Abilities like Illuminate and Analytic are very useless in terms of battling (unless you wish to choose Analytic/Trick Room), so Natural Cure is the ability to choose. You want to give it strong STAB moves like Scald and Psychic, and other strong moves like Thunderbolt or Ice Beam - although you can mix around with other strong moves and possibly status moves.

Overall, your decision should be made based on a overall look at your team. If you think you have a lot of bulky defenders, then definitely use Starmie. However, Milotic can work great either way, but choose your moves based on your battle style. For example, for 1v1, give Milotic Surf, but Scald for 2v2 unless you have a partner with good defenses/resistance to water, or an ally with an ability such as Water Absorb. But in my opinion, I would choose Milotic > Starmie, but distribute your EV's more appropriately to your style rather than having a little bit here and there (for example, use SpAtk EV's but not Atk EV's if you don't have physical moves; and Milotic is much better in SpAtk).

Hope I helped! :)

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0 votes

I really like Milotic, at least in Generation 3. Even though she's a pain to get, you can still get her earlier than Starmie. I got her right before battling Winona (previously just relying on Wingull/Pelipper, Azumarill, and Tentacruel as my water types) and it was worth it. They have identical offensive power, but Starmie is way faster while Milotic is way sturdier. If you need a diverse movepool, then Starmie is the way to go. Starmie can outspeed dragons, whereas Milotic cannot. In Generation 6 this could be a major problem, since although Milotic's defense is good, it's got nothing on its special defense and Dragon type attacks are now almost always physical (which boosts STAB and the extraordinarily high attack power of dragons).

Starmie is my preferred Leaf-Green Pokemon though if I pick Bulbasaur (otherwise, it's Vaporeon). I used my Starmie in three gym battles (Koga, Blaine, and Giovanni), three Elite Four Battles (Bruno, Agatha, and Lance), and Champion Blue. In Ruby and Sapphire you could only really use him against Tate and Liza, Drake, and Steven.

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The question was asking about Showdown!, not Ruby or Sapphire or Leaf Green. Even if it was asking about Ruby or Sapphire, Milotic is so hard to get that it's usually faster to beat Winona and fight your way through Lilycove City without a Milotic. By then, you can get a Staryu, so there's no good reason to use Milotic anymore.
–1 vote

I would recommend Starmie because of a couple of things. For one, Starmie has access to a STAB Surf and STAB Pyschic. It get recover and rapid spin, so it get rid of thing like toxic spikes. Finally, it gets thunderbolt, THUNDERBOLT.

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Milotic is a lot more bulky, both in terms of stats and ability, and it can learn haze. Why are Starmie's advantages more important than being bulky and knowing haze?