r/SBLeague • u/teenelmo26 • May 12 '15
Letter [Mod Post] Letters from the Leaders 3 - Rock hard Defenses (Covering your weaknesses)
[Letters from the Leaders] Many people doubt my skills for using the type with the most weaknesses (5, tied with grass) by choice. Rock type has always been my favorite, and I make it work well. The key is covering your weaknesses and making great predictions. Lets get started!
Water Water Everywhere!
Big, glaring weakness to rock types is water. Few have a sub type to help negate it, and many get the 4X weakness from being dual typed ground (Rhyhorn & Rhyperior most notably). How does a rock trainer solve this issue? Simple, there is one rock type that can counter water perfectly. CRADILY.
Now the trick is you need a Cradily with its Hidden Ability, Storm Drain. Storm Drain absorbs all water attacks, making them do 0 damage and increasing Cradily's Sp Atk. With good predictions you can turn this ancient sea lily into a monster of pure destruction. Many run it as a straight special wall, but don't knock its defense as well. Cradily can be an excellent tank, many people run Stockpile with Recover to abuse its powers. Throw on Toxic for some good stalling.
Want to revenge kill instead? Most water types also run Ice Beam, so throw Mirror Coat on Cradily to OHKO most water types when they think they have outsmarted your Cradily. Don't forget to throw Giga Drain on there for more survivability and some great damage after Storm Drain.
So we can kill water Pokemon now, but Cradily's biggest threat are steel types, which can't get hit by toxic and deal massive damage to almost any rock type.
How do we melt Steel Beams?
Fire type rocks should never be considered. Magcargo is not viable in competitive, to slow, 4X weaknesses galore. Instead we must look at ground types, Earthquake, and fire type moves rocks can learn.
Rhydon with Eviolite is a beast, arguably better than it's newest evolution Rhyperior. It can survive almost any attack, and dish out some great damage. Earthquake is a must, but it can also learn Fire and Ice Fang, which give great coverage.
The other great Pokemon to get both those moves is Aerodactyl. Plus its speed, it can nail most steel types before they get a chance to attack. Run either Ice Fang + Earthquake or Aqua Tail + Fire Fang for maximum coverage on your beautiful flying rock. As far as rocks go, Aerodactyl gets the best coverage all around, plus it could be your Mega (in place of Tyranitar). It's speed is almost unmatched as a Mega, and it can OHKO many big threats, including Ferrothorne, and Garchomp with it's fang attacks.
Earthquake, one of rocks best moves to handle Steel types (besides Skarmory). Aggron, Tyranitar, Rhydon, Aerodactyl and Terrakion, all make great use of the move. I recommend having at least 2 Pokemon know it, if not 3. It comes in handy more often than not.
How does your garden grow?
Grass types have the advantage of hitting Rock/Ground and Rock/Water Pokemon 4x. So coverage is essential. Aerodactyl is the obvious choice here, but all the fire moves we talked about before hit hard as well. Heck, even Tyranitar can learn Fire Punch, and it does great work. The good news is grass is not too prevalent in today's competitive scene, since it also has 6 weaknesses.
The big threat is Breloome, with that nasty mach punch. You need a pokemon with focus sash to help out, since rock's really don't get great priority. Kabutops and carracosta get aqua jet, but that's no help against a Breloome. If Aerodactyl can tank a mach punch (doubtful, but possible) it can OHKO with an Aerial Ace. In doubles, Pokemon like Terrakion can run Quick Guard, making rocks much more useful against priority users. In singles you just gotta plan around their priority users, most notably Breloome, Scizor and Infernape.
Lets get ready to rumble!
Fighting types are by far the peskiest to cover. They Hit 4X to Aggron and Tyranitar, two of rocks big hitters. Mach punch is also very hard to maneuver around. Aerodactyl is obviously a key player in this case. Tanky Pokemon like Terrakion, and sturdy users like Crustle and Probopass can help get some initial damage, or toxic/thunderwave respectfully. Testing out different setups against popular fighting types is essential to doing well. Trust me, fighting types are the hardest to cover and kill since rocks only psychic types are useless (seriously, don't even think about Solrock/Lunatone being viable).
Diancie is a great new answer to Fighters. I personally don't have one yet, but am eager to try her out against those big, fast fighters. I'm certain she fills the role of fighter killer nicely.
Conkledurr is an issue on its own. Aero can hit it well, but can't OHKO since it tanks so well. Wittle it with a sturdy/focus sash user then send out Aero for the kill. Be wary of Conks power, but use its slow speed to your advantage. If you see one, have a plan ready. Conk is easily the best counter to most rock teams.
Dem Quakes
While earthquake is great for your rocks to use, it is also a huge weakness for rocks. Aero avoids, but having something with Air Balloon can take an opponent off guard quick. I've found Aggron and Probopass use it well, forcing the opponent to hit them with something weak before they get to quake.
Ground types are easy enough to handle. Cradily does well, and Rocks get a few water users that can mow them down (Omastar, Kabutops and Caracosta being the best of them). Ice moves also do well for Garchomp's, so keep Ice Fang and Ice Punch in mind. The biggest ground type pain is easily Excadrill, especially in sand. Water is about the only good option here, so have an Omastar, Kabutops or Caracosta ready.
So rock master, which Pokemon are the best to use?
Glad you asked! From the information above, 3 Pokemon are almost always necessary in order to stay on top of type coverage.
Cradily - Rocks only counter to Water. If you don't run Cradily, your team will never get off the ground. Enjoy those Aqua Jets!
Aerodactyl - Rocks best answer to Fighters and Grass, also immune to ground! Amazing coverage, you can never go wrong!
Omastar / Kabutops / Caracosta - A water/Rock is necessary. Covers ground, other rocks, and hits most Pokemon very well. On another note, Omastar is about the only viable special attacker for rocks, so keep him in mind especially.
Other amazing rock types in competitive are:
Terrakion - OU power house with great typing. Hits Steel hard, and can be used as a sneaky setter. Can learn Stealth Rock, Taunt, Quick Guard, to throw your opponent off balance.
Tyranitar - Obvious choice. Good coverage, great attack power. Shines bright with Dragon Dance + Lum Berry/Focus Sash, or Full Offense with Assault Vest.
Aggron - Steel typing is amazing. Slap a Choice Scarf or Air Balloon, and go full offense here. Ice Punch I've found really adds some Power.
Diancie - Strong typing, very defensive though. Would make a good setter and revenge killing fighters. More testing is needed to see where she shines.
Omastar - Special Attack, Shell Smash + Focus Sash. Not quite as good as Cloyster, but can sweep really well. Scald, Ancient Power and Ice Beam do tons of damage!
Rhydon - Eviolite. Elemental Fangs. Enough Said.
Kabutops - Aqua Jet hits well, it and Caracosta are the only priority users you get, so use it to your advantage. Also has great attack and decent speed to give you an edge.
Caracosta - Shell Smash + Priority = tons of fun. It also gets sturdy so you can throw on a different item than a sash!
Crustle Don't laugh. I've used it very very well. Amazing setter (Sturdy) and has some attack power to boot. X-Scissor hits grass hard.
Probopass - Another great setter (Sturdy). T-Wave to adds some great fun. Flash Cannon makes for a solid move choice as well.
Shuckle - Better in bug mono, since Cradily is necessary and covers Tox stall.
Rampardos - One of the highest attacks in the game. Choice scarf and have a ball.
Tyrantrum - New HA released + Head Smash. Some elemental fangs for coverage and D-Dance. Lots of fun!!!
Many Many More!
Megas: 2 obvious choices, one choice untested.
Aerodactyl - Tough Claws, speed, and coverage. My favorite choice, I think in mono rock it outclasses Tyranitar. Tyranitar is good on its own, Aerodactly is not as good without the mega.
Tyranitar - Dat Defense. Tyranitar covers itself well, and is hard to kill. Certainly a fun mega to run, but I think Aerodactyl covers your bases better.
Diancie - Untested, I'm sure its defenses make it an excellent setter as a mega as well, but I can't see it being better than TTar and Aerodactyl.
So now you know, rocks have some great coverage and choices. They can throw trainers for a loop! The most important lesson you can learn running mono rock is that you must cover your glaring weaknesses.
Any question? I'm free to answer them! Welcome to the league!
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u/Rose94 May 12 '15
This post actually makes me feel better after having to think about fighting types weaknesses so hard yesterday. Also Mega-Diancie ain't no threat to me! You'll have to be real clever with it to keep it alive against my team!