Carbink. What could've been a interesting wall ended up mediocre and overshadowed by tons of others. Namely, Shuckle, whose base stats are somewhat similar, although it has much better defenses. Sure, Carbink has higher Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, but those unfortunately don't do much for it as a wall. What Carbink does have over Shuckle, however, is dual screens, but in this case as well, there are plenty of better screen setters, such as Meowstic. Carbink's Fairy typing is another slight niche over Shuckle, but combined with Rock, it leaves it with a painful 4x weakness to Steel begging to be exploited. Well, at least it has Dragon type immunity, for what its worth.
Abilities:
Clear Body: Normally, this wouldn't be too bad an ability for plenty of Pokemon, but for something like Carbink, who is often only used to set up screens, then explode, opponents are more likely to raise their own stats than lower Carbink's.
Sturdy: A decent ability for Carbink, as it prevents the OHKO from any Steel type attack.
Dual Screens
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Stealth Rock/Trick Room/Safeguard
- Explosion
Item: Light Clay/Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Nature and EVs: Impish(+Def, -SpAtk), 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpDef
Generally what you can expect to see on most Carbinks. Prepares the field with screens and rocks, then exits with Explosion to give a free switch in to your next Pokemon.
Toxic Stall
- Toxic
- Rest
- Sandstorm
- Reflect/Gyro Ball/Explosion
Item: Leftovers/Chesto Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Nature and EVs: Impish(+Def, -SpAtk), 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpDef
It's nothing amazing, but Carbink runs a semi-decent toxic stall set in addition to a Sandstorm set up, boosting it's Special Defense and adding on some more damage at the end of the turn. Reflect can cover up the Physical side, although it can be replaced with an attacking move to prevent being completely shut down by Taunt.
Alright, with all the boring, expected sets out of the way, time to show you some offensive sets that are most likely complete garbage and aren't likely to work in any situation.
Even if you sharpen it, it's still only a pebble. It's not likely to hurt anything.
- Sharpen/Substitute
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball/Stone Edge
- Explosion/Stone Edge
Item: Leftovers/Normal Gem
Ability: Clear Body/Sturdy
Nature and EVs: Relaxed(+Def, -Spd) or Brave(+Atk, -Spd), 252 HP/128 Atk/128 Def
Physically offensive Carbink, an unexpected "threat" for your opponent that might actually win you the game. Or maybe it will just have them laughing at the pathetic offensive Carbink set that gives them no trouble. Sharpen raises your Attack by 1 stage, which may not seem like much, but that's probably because it's not. Well, perhaps a Normal Gem boosted Explosion may pose some threat? ...Actually, forget this set. If you're going to be running an offensive Carbink, you might as well as run special.
Keep Calm and Kill Dragons...or at least try to.
- Calm Mind
- Trick Room
- Moonblast
- Power Gem/Ancient Power/Explosion
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body/Sturdy
Nature and EVs: Relaxed(+Def, -Spd) or Quiet(+SpAtk, -Spd), 252 HP/128 Def/128 SpAtk
Ah, now this is a good offensive Carbink set. Well.. as good as it gets, really. Set up with Calm Mind and attempt to bring up your Special stats to the point where it may actually threaten something. Moonblast, at the very least, gives you a wonderful attacking type that is supereffective against the ever-common Fighting and Dragon types. Last move is filler, Power Gem is decent, you can pray for Ancient Power's all-stat boost, or you could just settle with Explosion's reliable power(although coming off of Carbink, it still isn't much).
Other Options
Carbink isn't exactly the most versatile of Pokemon. It's movepool is simply too limited to be able to bring much to the table.
The Swagger/Psych Up combo is a way to increase Carbink's Attack more efficiently then Sharpen. But Sharpen isn't much of a standard to put things against...
A ResTalk set may bring you some fortune, but poor offensive stats don't mesh well with the strategy.
Rock Tomb lowers the opponent's Speed by one stage, which can set them up to be revenge killed or force switch outs.
Nature Power (aka Tri Attack in PvP) can be used in special sets for a chance to burn/freeze/paralyze your foe, if you're feeling lucky.
Rocky Helmet damages foes who come into contact. It's... not much, but worth a mention.
Double and Triple Battle Options
Carbink plays very similarly in Doubles/Triples as it does in Singles, usually just setting up screens. Out of the depths of its not so deep movepool, however, comes one gimmicky move that gives it this subpar alternate set...
Pebble in the Rough
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Trick Room/Safeguard
- Guard Split
Item: Leftovers/Light Clay
Ability: Sturdy
Nature and EVs: Impish(+Def, -SpAtk) or Relaxed(+Def, -Spd), 4 HP/252 Def/252 SpDef or 128 HP/252 Def/128 SpDef
What? A set without 252 in HP? Yes, it may be inefficient for Carbink's own survival, but Guard Split, which splits Carbink and another Pokemon's defensive stats, is used to bring bulk to a frail teammate who could use the boost.
Other Double/Triple battle options include Explosion with Ghost type allies, Rock Slide, which may flinch multiple opponents in Trick Room, and Dazzling Gleam.
Counters
Carbink, not exactly being the most threatening thing around, isn't really something to counter as it is to take advantage of. Taunt shuts down all sets, including the offensive ones due to a reliance on stat boosting moves. Any Pokemon with a set up move can just begin to do so as soon as they see Carbink. Steel types are more or less untouchable by Carbink, as they are immune to Toxic and Sandstorm damage, resist Carbink's Gyro Ball, Power Gem, Moonblast, and Explosion, and then can hit back with a 4x effective Steel type move.
