What it does
Poison Point has one trigger: when an opponent hits the holder with a contact move, there's a 30% chance the attacker gets Poison. No turn spent, no move used — it just fires on contact.
30% isn't guaranteed, but it applies constant pressure. A physical attacker that wants to go through Roserade has to accept a 30% poison roll every time it uses a contact move. Switch to a special attacker or a non-contact move, and Poison Point does nothing at all. That's the core dynamic: the ability punishes one specific type of approach and does nothing to others.
Poison-type and Steel-type attackers are fully immune to Poison — they can hit the holder with contact moves all day with no risk. Keep that in mind when reading the matchup.
Who runs it
Roserade runs Poison Point at 69% in Champions. It has decent Speed and solid Special Attack, but its physical Defense is thin — a physical attacker going straight through it is the worst-case scenario. Poison Point adds a layer of uncertainty to that scenario: you can try to KO me, but you're rolling 30% poison every time.
Roserade also has Natural Cure and Technician as alternatives. Both have real value in the right builds, but Poison Point being the majority pick suggests that offloading poison pressure onto the opponent beats both self-healing and move-power boosts in most team contexts.
How to use it
You don't actively use Poison Point — it runs passively. Your job is to keep Roserade alive long enough to generate contact opportunities.
When the opponent has a clear physical attacker, put Roserade in front of it and make them use contact moves. If poison triggers, great — the opponent is losing 1/8 HP per turn and the clock is now ticking against them. If it doesn't trigger, you've at least gathered information about what moves they're clicking.
Non-contact moves skip this ability entirely. Special attackers with no contact moves face no risk at all. That's a real limitation — don't count on Poison Point to cover matchups where the opponent has easy ways around it.
Tips & strategy
The real payoff from Poison Point is the hesitation it creates. Even when poison doesn't trigger, the opponent has to decide whether to keep attacking with a contact move or adjust their approach. That decision cost is free for you.
Once poison lands, staying on the field is usually correct — Roserade can keep dealing damage while the opponent bleeds. If they switch out to remove the contact risk, the poisoned Pokémon carries the status back onto the bench; when it comes back in, the poison clock resumes.
Against Poison-type and Steel-type opponents, Poison Point is completely inert. Plan around that — don't rely on it in those matchups.