Anyway, I feel it is time to address a Pokemon that a plethora of SPL spectators along with RU players have been complaining about:Defensive Pokemon are always extraordinarily more difficult to prove unbalanced than offensive Pokemon. This is especially true when they do not utilize set-up moves, such as another menacing bulky Water-type we had in this tier for a short while in Suicune. However, when the Pokemon in question walls aof the tier with essentially the same set with minor differences, I feel we have a duty to address it. Milotic runs the potent combination of Scald + Recover + Haze on basically every set, and complements it with 1 of the following 3 moves: Toxic, Ice Beam, and Refresh. Anyone who's ever played Pokemon before knows how frustrating it is to play a Pokemon with Scald, as it has a solid chance of crippling one's entire team. Haze is the move that diversifies Milotic from many other Pokemon we've seen, as stops any set-up sweeper from setting up on it. This makes Milotic much more difficult to aggressively pressure than other walls in the tier. It's ability, Marvel Scale, is a boon to its defensive capabilities, as it is able to switch in on Scalds heighten its Defense stat, thereby mitigating the issues that arise from being afflicted with a burn. Toxic is useful for crippling walls and sweepers alike, while Ice Beam can hurt pesky Grass-types that would otherwise be able to switch in on Milotic. Refresh, meanwhile, makes the serpent even more impossible to kill, as it removes any status conditions that would hinder this monster.Milotic possesses an excellent base Special Attack stat of 100 along with a very respectable base Speed stat of 81; both of these marks are extremely high for a wall. This in tandem with its excellent bulk makes it very difficult to handle. The main problem that arises when facing Milotic is how specially defensive it is even without investment; this is best illustrated by the following damage calculation:252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Milotic: 165-196 (41.8 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recoveryAnyone who has played RU before knows just how ridiculously powerful that Sludge Wave is. And yet, Milotic manages to avoid the 2HKO despite not having any investment in its Special Defense stat. It is due to this bulk that Milotic becomes a massive pain for both special and physical attackers alike, as it can run mixed defensive spreads to handle devastating physical and special attackers like.252 SpA Choice Specs Yanmega Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 120+ SpD Milotic: 139-165 (35.2 - 41.8%) -- 83.5% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recoveryThis damage calculation again illustrates this point, as the serpent is able to easily avoid the 2HKO from one of the strongest special attacks in the tier, despite not even having maximum Special Defense investment. With maximum Special Defense investment, it reaches absurd levels of Special bulk, as evidenced by the following calculation:+2 252 SpA Salazzle Acid Downpour (175 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Milotic: 315-372 (79.9 - 94.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recoveryIts 81 Base Speed adds to this problem, as it allows it to easily outrun otherwise-threatening Pokemon such as Doublade, CB Rhyperior, Dragalge, and the like. This Speed and bulk in tandem with its access to both Scald and Haze (and Toxic) make it nearly impossible to take advantage of Milotic as is possible with basically every other wall in the tier. Hardly anything in RU can immediately threaten Milotic enough without a boost to create an opportunity to set up on it in a 1-on-1 situation; unlike other walls, the aforementioned combination invalidates any attempt to overpower the serpent through the heightening of one's own stats. Its typing is excellent, and leaves it only weak to Grass-type moves in addition to the rare Electric-move. Milotic is bulky enough to live many boosted hits as well, with only exceedingly strong Z-moves being able to knock it out; this is obviously problematic because these attacks can only be used once in a given game.Due to the aforementioned reasons, it is extremely difficult to find any sort of reason to not use Milotic on a balance team. The serpent has currently been used on 55% of RU teams in SPL, a number that is sure to increase as the weeks progress. While obviously not as splashable as SM OU Landorus-Therian due to the multitude of sets the latter can run in tandem with its access to Stealth Rock, the serpent still fits on a ridiculous amount of teams; one could easily argue that it is the most splashable Pokemon in any non-Ubers SM tier, bar the aforementioned Landorus. The statistics in SPL currently would back this notion up as well. In Snake Tour, Gligar received much more usage than Milotic, but this can easily be attributed to the lack of defoggers that existed in the tier, a problem that has now been alleviated due to the changes that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon have brought about; needless to say, with the banning of Durant, it is essentially guaranteed that Milotic will the most-used Pokemon for the rest of the tournament, if not extraordinarily close to Gligar. The fact that a Pokemon without any set-up moves, Stealth Rock, or Defog can match and potentially exceed the usage of Gligar is utterly ridiculous, and highlights the former's effectiveness. The influx of Defoggers introduced into the tier in addition to Pokemon such as Mega Blastoise and Tsareena make it easier to rid one's field of entry hazards, thereby alleviating one of Milotic's weaknesses.In conclusion, I feel that Milotic is definitely worthy of a suspect test. Even if you do not agree that it is broken, it is clearly more influential than anything else in the tier, and walls a myriad of physical and special attackers. It invalidates numerous Pokemon, and was almost single-handedly responsible for the epic decline in viability of Doublade; it also completely walls another S-rank Pokemon in Feraligatr, the alligator needing to run SD + Superpower to have any chance of killing the demonic serpent. Milotic, as mentioned earlier, is also a hard counter to another S-rank Pokemon in Salazzle. Ultimately, Milotic is a stone-cold answer to far too many Pokemon in the tier; one can even customize its spread to handle specific threats better if they so wish. Even with minimal specially defensive investment, it can still counter a plethora of special attackers. It is ridiculously splashable, and is by far the best glue Pokemon in the tier. Its movepool is perfect for it, and fits in wonderfully with its typing and base stats to create a menace that is almost impossible to take down without a super effective move. It can even do ludicrous things like survive a Life Orb Roserade's Leaf Storm 100% of the time, highlighting its massive bulk (you can even tech Mirror Coat in the last slot if you want). Due to the nature of Pokemon, it is much more difficult to examine a defensive Pokemon's broken qualities compared to a more offensive one, especially when the Pokemon in question lacks a set-up move. However, Milotic is clearly an exception, and deserves to be suspect tested.-GOAT RUTL