Your standard Rock Monotype team......or is it?
Hey all, I'm A Certain Guy. I've been playing Rock monotype since Generation 6 and I figure its been long overdue that I give a proper Iteration of my team and its weird yet standard members. So here we are, Let's see what the community thinks of my progress after a few yearsof eating the dirt match after match.
The Goon Squad:
Terrakion:
Terrakion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
While I did use choice scarf terrakion for a long time, the more I used it the more I felt like rock would end up with too many choice users, draining even more momentum than the type already deals with by running things like shuckle and cradily. Common sets like Choice Scarf Terrakion, Choice band Golem-A and Tyranitar made predicting Rock as a whole too easy to accomplish, so I went into the workshop and tried out non-choiced sets for these mons. This terrakion set is the best case I could come up with regarding non-choiced Terrakion.
So why Double Dance Terrak? Well, Terrakion already boasts an amazing base 129 Attack stat and 108 speed tier, so Double Dance works well on both of its major stats. Swords dance now allows terrak to be the wallbreaker for M-Venusaur with +2 Rockium Z completely obliterating it even with Max Defense and Max HP investment, removing a major problem that plagues all Rock teams. The Rock Polish also allows Terrakion to outspeed now common scarf threats and being able to take on excadrill after a Rock Polish boost in sand. This also allows Terrakion the flexibility to adapt to the threats and even force some 50/50's in matchups where the game was just guessing what move it was locking into.
Shuckle:
Shuckle @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Sticky Web
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Encore
Hey look, it's standard shuck-that's not a mental herb! Blasphemy!
So its Shuckle with a weird item choice In Safety Goggles and Relaxed nature with a 0 speed IV. Not a whole lot to describe here, but why these choices? Well the safety goggles are the natural enemy of one of the biggest pains for Rock: Breloom. Breloom's spore guarantees a sleep status the second it enters and there wasnt any really reliable way to deal with it. If on fighting its a free sleep on Tyranitar and once you lose Tyranitar it comes back in for a second sleep and mach punches the team into oblivion. The response of "just let it spore ttar and the sand will chip it out of its sash." doesn't really work for me, as I don't feel like taking a passive option on a type that already has the most weaknesses in the game where it should be taking momentum where it can. This item lets Shuckle do exactly that. Leading Breloom into rock isnt an uncommon strategy and Shuckle abuses this to its fullest. On the spore turn you simply Encore lock Breloom into a useless Spore, forcing it out and getting a free hazard up. You also now have the liberty to mindgame the mental herb and make cheeky switches in specific matchups (Going into Golem-A on a Cobalion's Taunt Vs. Fighting for example).
As for the choice of Relaxed Nature and 0 Speed IV's, Shuckle has no business being faster than anything to start with, and on top of this Terrakion and Diancie hate Trick Room. This guarantees shuckle is the slowest mon and can Encore the Trick Room out of play.
Cradily
Cradily @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Toxic
Ayeee is one of the most controversial mons in Rock! Cradily has plenty going for it but there are plenty of arguments against it as well, mainly being its a momentum drain and as stated above, Rock needs all the momentum it can get. But I digress, so lets look at this set. Well the obvious is already known, Cradily's role is to soak water attacks meant for the type to fall over to, and its Grass typing lets it fight back with STAB Giga Drain. Nothing new here, same for toxic and recover. Earth power on the other hand was something I had been trying out for a while now, and the reason is simple: Cradily is useless in the Steel and Poison matchups otherwise. When you have a mon that is completely useless in a matchup, that Isnt a good mon or set in my opinion. The goal of Cradily is to soak physical hits and water attacks, then toxic stall or Giga Drain these threats away. Steel types are Resisted to its Grass STAB which already has a rather bad Special Attack backing it, and they are immune to Toxic. Poison types are also automatically walling cradily for the same reasons, leaving it as a sac and nothing else in 2 matchups. Earth Power hits both types Super Effectively. This now leaves what was once a useless mon in 2 matchups with something to do, as it now threatens some of the things that walled it originally. Keep in mind, it is still walled by things like Skarmory, Celesteela, Toxapex Etc so its not perfect, but now It can actually do something productive where it originally couldnt.
Why 48 Speed Iv's though? 1 word: Azumarill. Belly Drum Azumarill runs through Rock nearly for free with little to no answers for it. Enter Cradily, After entering on Sticky Webs from Shuckle, Azumarill is now slower than cradily. The Rocky Helmet It holds makes sure that azu falls, since Storm Drain prevents it from spamming aqua jet at it and while Play Rough will KO Cradily, the Rocky Helmet combined with STAB Giga Drain now KO's Azumarill.
0 SpA Cradily Giga Drain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Azumarill: 164-194 (48 - 56.8%) -- 85.5% chance to 2HKO
Diancie-Mega:
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Hidden Power [Ice]
- Moonblast
There isn't a ton to talk about regarding Diancie here, this is your only standard set in the team. STAB Moonblast and Diamond Storm for mixed sweeping potential, with Earth Power for Steel Types and Hidden Power [Fire] for coverage and bopping the occasional hard Scizor switch into Diancie. The only suggestion I could say is possible to change is Hidden Power [Ice] If you are uncomfortable with Hidden Power [Fire] for whatever reason. Everything else is pretty much standard and that way for a reason.
Golem-Alola:
Golem-Alola @ Firium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Brick Break
- Fire Punch
- Stone Edge
Here comes the bane of Scizor! Golem-A is the type's Steel trapper and key Scizor removal for the type. This is nothing new to any Rock player or any experienced player, but there are some key differences compared to standard Golem-A sets, It's item choice, nature choice and Brick Break?! Brick break must be a typo, right? Surely that should be Earthquake or something else that is good coverage for Golem-A? Wrong. Brick break has 1 key use, and with the pun intended: Klefki. In the Cradily summary I described how that set can help deal with Azumarill after the Belly Drum boost. However, that does not account for klefki's screens being in play. If Azumarill Belly Drums behind screens, the match is over. You can click x and walk away knowing you tried. Golem-A however takes the initiative in permanently removing screens that klefki can set. Foul Play doesnt beat Golem-A in the DPS race due to its amazing Defense stat and Thunder Wave is ineffective as Golem-A is an Electric Type, therefore immune to Thunder Wave. This leaves either spikes from Klefki or it just chips golem as best it can before it dies doing nothing important, which is a huge win for Rock in the Fairy matchup.
Why Firium-Z then? Well, when you reach higher sections of ladder, people like to start sniping at your team(s), and sniping rock with steel is the most base instinct. Most people sniping Rock with Steel will also know that Scizor loses to Golem-A, so they will try to prevent this if possible. BUT, in that occasion it gets trapped, they have a (admittedly bad) out to the situation: max Defense M-scizor.
252+ Atk Choice Band Golem-Alola Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Scizor-Mega: 292-344 (84.8 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Scizor-Mega Superpower vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Golem-Alola: 232-274 (77 - 91%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
If you are looking to snipe, you will know those calcs (Rock doesnt have hazard removal bar Dianice-M, which wants to be in vs almost nothing in the Steel matchup). This is simply a preemptive way to guarantee Scizor-M will drop no matter what, as Z-Fire Punch is a KO vs any scizor variant. This also explains why I am running Adamant vs Jolly nature as well.
252+ Atk Golem-Alola Inferno Overdrive (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Scizor-Mega: 360-428 (104.6 - 124.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Tyranitar:
Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 64 HP / 24 Atk / 104 Def / 64 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Ice Beam
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
Good lord what on earth is that spread?! Calm down, i'll explain, even I have to admit if I looked at this without an explanation I'd call it "random EV's".
So, Tyranitar with Assault Vest in sand is nothing short of one of the best Special Attack Soakers in rock and in some cases, the game. With a whopping 738 Special Defense in sand, Tyranitar is the types Special Wall, which can take even a majority of STAB special water and grass moves and only be 3HKO'd, making it invaluable against types with more special attacks, something Rock doesnt handle too well.
As for the spread: 64 HP and 252 SpD Ev's let Tyranitar take on Landorus-I and eat its Focus Blast and Revenge OHKO with Ice beam, while 64 HP, 104 Def EV's let it take Earthquake from Landorus-T and live to Revenge again, with Ice beam. The 64 SpAtk EV's let Ice Beam KO both Landorus and let Fire Blast hit that little bit harder while the last 24 Atk EV's are leftover, so we put those into Atk to let Stone Edge and Pursuit Hit as hard as possible.
Summary:
Well this was fun to type outno it wasnt. If anyone wants to put out ways I can improve the team further without giving up too much (as thats what happens when you change literally anything in rock lol), the advice would be appreciated. Im always open to weird techs as you can see, so dont be afraid to throw out a crazy idea, I might just try it.
Hey all, I'm A Certain Guy. I've been playing Rock monotype since Generation 6 and I figure its been long overdue that I give a proper Iteration of my team and its weird yet standard members. So here we are, Let's see what the community thinks of my progress after a few years
The Goon Squad:
Terrakion:
Terrakion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
While I did use choice scarf terrakion for a long time, the more I used it the more I felt like rock would end up with too many choice users, draining even more momentum than the type already deals with by running things like shuckle and cradily. Common sets like Choice Scarf Terrakion, Choice band Golem-A and Tyranitar made predicting Rock as a whole too easy to accomplish, so I went into the workshop and tried out non-choiced sets for these mons. This terrakion set is the best case I could come up with regarding non-choiced Terrakion.
So why Double Dance Terrak? Well, Terrakion already boasts an amazing base 129 Attack stat and 108 speed tier, so Double Dance works well on both of its major stats. Swords dance now allows terrak to be the wallbreaker for M-Venusaur with +2 Rockium Z completely obliterating it even with Max Defense and Max HP investment, removing a major problem that plagues all Rock teams. The Rock Polish also allows Terrakion to outspeed now common scarf threats and being able to take on excadrill after a Rock Polish boost in sand. This also allows Terrakion the flexibility to adapt to the threats and even force some 50/50's in matchups where the game was just guessing what move it was locking into.
Shuckle:
Shuckle @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Sticky Web
- Stealth Rock
- Knock Off
- Encore
Hey look, it's standard shuck-that's not a mental herb! Blasphemy!
So its Shuckle with a weird item choice In Safety Goggles and Relaxed nature with a 0 speed IV. Not a whole lot to describe here, but why these choices? Well the safety goggles are the natural enemy of one of the biggest pains for Rock: Breloom. Breloom's spore guarantees a sleep status the second it enters and there wasnt any really reliable way to deal with it. If on fighting its a free sleep on Tyranitar and once you lose Tyranitar it comes back in for a second sleep and mach punches the team into oblivion. The response of "just let it spore ttar and the sand will chip it out of its sash." doesn't really work for me, as I don't feel like taking a passive option on a type that already has the most weaknesses in the game where it should be taking momentum where it can. This item lets Shuckle do exactly that. Leading Breloom into rock isnt an uncommon strategy and Shuckle abuses this to its fullest. On the spore turn you simply Encore lock Breloom into a useless Spore, forcing it out and getting a free hazard up. You also now have the liberty to mindgame the mental herb and make cheeky switches in specific matchups (Going into Golem-A on a Cobalion's Taunt Vs. Fighting for example).
As for the choice of Relaxed Nature and 0 Speed IV's, Shuckle has no business being faster than anything to start with, and on top of this Terrakion and Diancie hate Trick Room. This guarantees shuckle is the slowest mon and can Encore the Trick Room out of play.
Cradily
Cradily @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Toxic
Ayeee is one of the most controversial mons in Rock! Cradily has plenty going for it but there are plenty of arguments against it as well, mainly being its a momentum drain and as stated above, Rock needs all the momentum it can get. But I digress, so lets look at this set. Well the obvious is already known, Cradily's role is to soak water attacks meant for the type to fall over to, and its Grass typing lets it fight back with STAB Giga Drain. Nothing new here, same for toxic and recover. Earth power on the other hand was something I had been trying out for a while now, and the reason is simple: Cradily is useless in the Steel and Poison matchups otherwise. When you have a mon that is completely useless in a matchup, that Isnt a good mon or set in my opinion. The goal of Cradily is to soak physical hits and water attacks, then toxic stall or Giga Drain these threats away. Steel types are Resisted to its Grass STAB which already has a rather bad Special Attack backing it, and they are immune to Toxic. Poison types are also automatically walling cradily for the same reasons, leaving it as a sac and nothing else in 2 matchups. Earth Power hits both types Super Effectively. This now leaves what was once a useless mon in 2 matchups with something to do, as it now threatens some of the things that walled it originally. Keep in mind, it is still walled by things like Skarmory, Celesteela, Toxapex Etc so its not perfect, but now It can actually do something productive where it originally couldnt.
Why 48 Speed Iv's though? 1 word: Azumarill. Belly Drum Azumarill runs through Rock nearly for free with little to no answers for it. Enter Cradily, After entering on Sticky Webs from Shuckle, Azumarill is now slower than cradily. The Rocky Helmet It holds makes sure that azu falls, since Storm Drain prevents it from spamming aqua jet at it and while Play Rough will KO Cradily, the Rocky Helmet combined with STAB Giga Drain now KO's Azumarill.
0 SpA Cradily Giga Drain vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Azumarill: 164-194 (48 - 56.8%) -- 85.5% chance to 2HKO
Diancie-Mega:
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Hidden Power [Ice]
- Moonblast
There isn't a ton to talk about regarding Diancie here, this is your only standard set in the team. STAB Moonblast and Diamond Storm for mixed sweeping potential, with Earth Power for Steel Types and Hidden Power [Fire] for coverage and bopping the occasional hard Scizor switch into Diancie. The only suggestion I could say is possible to change is Hidden Power [Ice] If you are uncomfortable with Hidden Power [Fire] for whatever reason. Everything else is pretty much standard and that way for a reason.
Golem-Alola:
Golem-Alola @ Firium Z
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wild Charge
- Brick Break
- Fire Punch
- Stone Edge
Here comes the bane of Scizor! Golem-A is the type's Steel trapper and key Scizor removal for the type. This is nothing new to any Rock player or any experienced player, but there are some key differences compared to standard Golem-A sets, It's item choice, nature choice and Brick Break?! Brick break must be a typo, right? Surely that should be Earthquake or something else that is good coverage for Golem-A? Wrong. Brick break has 1 key use, and with the pun intended: Klefki. In the Cradily summary I described how that set can help deal with Azumarill after the Belly Drum boost. However, that does not account for klefki's screens being in play. If Azumarill Belly Drums behind screens, the match is over. You can click x and walk away knowing you tried. Golem-A however takes the initiative in permanently removing screens that klefki can set. Foul Play doesnt beat Golem-A in the DPS race due to its amazing Defense stat and Thunder Wave is ineffective as Golem-A is an Electric Type, therefore immune to Thunder Wave. This leaves either spikes from Klefki or it just chips golem as best it can before it dies doing nothing important, which is a huge win for Rock in the Fairy matchup.
Why Firium-Z then? Well, when you reach higher sections of ladder, people like to start sniping at your team(s), and sniping rock with steel is the most base instinct. Most people sniping Rock with Steel will also know that Scizor loses to Golem-A, so they will try to prevent this if possible. BUT, in that occasion it gets trapped, they have a (admittedly bad) out to the situation: max Defense M-scizor.
252+ Atk Choice Band Golem-Alola Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Scizor-Mega: 292-344 (84.8 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Scizor-Mega Superpower vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Golem-Alola: 232-274 (77 - 91%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
If you are looking to snipe, you will know those calcs (Rock doesnt have hazard removal bar Dianice-M, which wants to be in vs almost nothing in the Steel matchup). This is simply a preemptive way to guarantee Scizor-M will drop no matter what, as Z-Fire Punch is a KO vs any scizor variant. This also explains why I am running Adamant vs Jolly nature as well.
252+ Atk Golem-Alola Inferno Overdrive (140 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Scizor-Mega: 360-428 (104.6 - 124.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Tyranitar:
Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 64 HP / 24 Atk / 104 Def / 64 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stone Edge
- Ice Beam
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
Good lord what on earth is that spread?! Calm down, i'll explain, even I have to admit if I looked at this without an explanation I'd call it "random EV's".
So, Tyranitar with Assault Vest in sand is nothing short of one of the best Special Attack Soakers in rock and in some cases, the game. With a whopping 738 Special Defense in sand, Tyranitar is the types Special Wall, which can take even a majority of STAB special water and grass moves and only be 3HKO'd, making it invaluable against types with more special attacks, something Rock doesnt handle too well.
As for the spread: 64 HP and 252 SpD Ev's let Tyranitar take on Landorus-I and eat its Focus Blast and Revenge OHKO with Ice beam, while 64 HP, 104 Def EV's let it take Earthquake from Landorus-T and live to Revenge again, with Ice beam. The 64 SpAtk EV's let Ice Beam KO both Landorus and let Fire Blast hit that little bit harder while the last 24 Atk EV's are leftover, so we put those into Atk to let Stone Edge and Pursuit Hit as hard as possible.
Summary:
Well this was fun to type out
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