Rock Solid: Monotype Team 7

[loco1234]

Well hey there Serebii! I don't usually change teams after only 2 rates but the Mono-Electric was doing really well and this one was pretty easy to make. I'd already done it for someone else, so it was really just a matter of copy/pasting my post there and making a few changes. Anyway, Mono-Rock is next and I've taken a Sand approach to it. I don't really see how Mono-Rock can work without Sand since that SpD buff is tremendously useful on a team with inherent Grass and Water problems. It also means that everything here has at least passable Special bulk, which is excellent. I'm not a huge fan of writing intros though, so let's get to the part I enjoy doing: the team itself!


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Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
Sassy Nature (+SpD, -Spe)
EVs: 240 HP / 64 SpA / 204 SpD
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock

This is Tyranitar's standard Mixed set, and I saw the need for a solid Special attacker immediately while digging through the pool of viable Rock-types. We've got Shell Smash Omastar, and that's it really. In light of that, I've gone mixed on T-Tar. It's a lot better at mixed than it is at pure Special, as I found, and using Rocks here let Cradily have fun with Giga Drain. Meaning it could actually damage the Water-types it checked. Crunch is my STAB move here, nice and reliable with decent power as well. Fire Blast torches Steels not named Heatran alongside Grass and Bug, which is very nice. Ice Beam is for Dragons and Gliscor. Gliscor otherwise laughs at this team once Omastar falls, so having Ice Beam around to handle it is really useful. REALLY useful.


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Cradily @ Leftovers
Trait: Storm Drain
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
- Giga Drain
- Toxic
- Recover
- Hidden Power Fire

Cradily is meh, but it does add a valuable Water immunity. Its defenses are respectable, but it has pitiful Spe. It's here more or less for the Water immunity, but it can take hits well with the Sandstorm boost and Recover. With Stealth Rock on T-Tar, I had a free moveslot to work with on Cradily and I figured that since it's here to handle Water-types, I may as well give it Giga Drain. Giga Drain also has the benefit of some recovery and a potential Storm Drain boost, while murdering Gastrodon and just generally annoying Mono-Water. Toxic is for breaking down opposing walls and just annoying things in general, and HP Fire hurts Steels that are immune. Recover's fairly obvious, as it has a whole one use: recovery. It's here to help stall and keep Cradily around longer.


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Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor
- Stone Edge

It's a pretty simple Scarfed revenge-killer, but Scarf Terrakion is a huge threat to be sure. It's dangerous in OU and it's still dangerous in Monotype. In fact, it may well be the best Rock-type out there. Close Combat gets STAB and hammers Mono-Dark and Mono-Normal, while also further hating on Mono-Steel. Earthquake is an amazing move in general, 100 Base Power with 100% accuracy to boot. Shame it gets no STAB here... X-Scissor hits Psychics that threaten Terrakion, although I typically bring in T-Tar for them which means Scissor really sees use against Grass. Stone Edge completes the EdgeQuake combo and wrecks Fire-types, Flying-types, Bug-types and Ice-types.


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Archeops @ Flying Gem
Trait: Defeatist
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn

I'm using Archeops because I don't need Aerodactyl to set Rocks with that T-Tar set. It can't run LO because of Defeatist and I don't really like 2 Choice users with redundant coverage, so the Acrobatics set is about Archeops's only good one here. It's also very straightforward, with the Flying Gem boosting the first Acrobatics and doubling the base power of all subsequent Acrobatics, which also get STAB. EQ and Stone Edge get great coverage as mentioned above and U-Turn is for scouting and because Defeatist and Head Smash is a bad idea. Archeops is fast and strong, but it's also frail and it has Defeatist, which means Stealth Rock is problematic. I hate Armaldo though, so no spinner for me.


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Rhydon @ Eviolite
Trait: Rock Head
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Rock Polish
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge

DivineRetribution originally suggested this set on that same Mono-Rock RMT, and it seemed better to me than the Rhyperior I had recommended so I went ahead and used it here. DoubleDance Rhydon is a serious offensive threat, and with the Eviolite AND Sand bonuses its atrocious Base 45 SpD becomes a passable 284. Or maybe it's 283. I'm not sure if the game rounds 283.5 up or down, and I never bothered to check in testing. Anyway, Rock Polish doubles Rhydon's Spe, putting that at a usable 392, while Swords Dance doubles its Atk to a staggering 788. Eat your heart out Rampardos. Earthquake and Stone Edge form the same EdgeQuake coverage used twice already, but with a twist: this time, BOTH get STAB.


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Omastar @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
Modest Nature
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 152 Spe
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Grass

Shell Smash is the single best boosting move in the 5th generation, and with the passable Special bulk afforded it by the sand Omastar can actually set it up. This is my go-to Pokemon for Rain teams, since with Swift Swim it outspeeds easily after a Shell Smash and can do some serious damage before going out. Note that Rain teams means Rain Dancing Mono-Water, but still. It has its uses. Hydro Pump is STAB and punches holes in everything after a Shell Smash. Ice Beam handles Gliscor and Dragons, and HP Grass is for opposing Waters, notably Water Absorbers. This is also my only dedicated Special attacker, which gives it some importance in that regard.​

 

[Atrocious]

Not sure how many teams pack SR on Monotype but Archeops just seems like it'll be useless when it enters the field as it isn't blazing fast either, getting it under 50% would seem like an easy task. Rock has another spinner in Kabutops but you already have Omystar with the exact same typing so idk if you want to do that. FEAR Aron could work as you don't see Mono-Ghost often. Pretty standard Mono-Rock lol with not many options and getting wrecked by Fighting haha.

 

[Sparkbeat]

Pretty much what Atrocious said. You could throw a sash on terrakion and run CC/Quick attack/stone edge/Something so you can beat breloom. If you still need a scarfer then I guess you could try scarf Ttar and change Archeops to Dactyl. That's about it :/

 

[silverangel]

Did you consider Aron?

Also, after I did some damage calculations, I found that Rhyperior actually beat out Rhydon on supereffective attacks, because of its leftovers recovery and Solid Rock, Rhyperior will take less damage than Rhydon. And, well.... Who would use a resisted attack on these guys? Consider that well. I'll have to get out my calculations again later on, though.

You want Leech Seed on Cradily so that you can heal the other poke on as well.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Did you consider Aron?

Also, after I did some damage calculations, I found that Rhyperior actually beat out Rhydon on supereffective attacks, because of its leftovers recovery and Solid Rock, Rhyperior will take less damage than Rhydon. And, well.... Who would use a resisted attack on these guys? Consider that well. I'll have to get out my calculations again later on, though.

You want Leech Seed on Cradily so that you can heal the other poke on as well.

This actually might be correct, I usually use Rhydon in UU where there's not as many Scalds and Hydro Pumps flying around. I'll do some calcs later.

Anyways, there's a reason Archeops is NU despite having great stats. You might want to try Banded Aerodactyl, it has just about as much hitting power and no Defeatist.

Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Jolly - Rock Head
252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Aqua Tail
-Crunch / Double Edge / Fire or Ice Fang

Stone Edge is STAB, obviously, with Earthquake completing EdgeQuake. Aqua Tail smacks Ground types around a bit, and then you can stick in the coverage move of your choice. Crunch hurts Ghosts and Psychics more than anything else he carries, although most Ghosts get hit nearly as hard by Stone Edge. Double Edge is an interesting option that makes use of Rock Head, but I find Stone Edge hurts things more normally. Fire Fang can be used on Ferrothorn, Scizor, Genesect, etc, or Ice Fang hits Dragons and Gliscor/Landorus.
​

Oh, you could also run Power Trick Shuckle just for the luls value.

 

[loco1234]

Right, so I'll try Rhyperior over Rhydon, Banded Aerodactyl over Archeops (He's RU now apparently) and Aron in there somewhere. I had originally considered it in terms of the OU environment without considering that only 4 Monotype teams completely resist Aron sweeps, with others containing one, maybe two Pokemon that can avoid getting KOed. The only reason I wasn't using it was because I wasn't sure I had the anti-Ghost support but in Monotype that isn't really a huge issue given every non-Ghost team has maybe one Ghost on it, if that.

Power Trick Shuckle would be totally worth it. I'm thinking of trying a Doubles team based around a Trick Room Shuckle sweep strategy.

Thanks guys!

 

[Divine Retribution]

Right, so I'll try Rhyperior over Rhydon, Banded Aerodactyl over Archeops (He's RU now apparently) and Aron in there somewhere. I had originally considered it in terms of the OU environment without considering that only 4 Monotype teams completely resist Aron sweeps, with others containing one, maybe two Pokemon that can avoid getting KOed.

Anything that doesn't take Sand damage will stop an Aron sweep since has no priority, but it'll die in the process.

 

[loco1234]

Yeah, the 4 teams were Steel, Rock, Ground and Ghost. And then your occasional Steel, Rock, Ground or Ghost type on other teams, some have a few.

 

[Divine Retribution]

Yeah, the 4 teams were Steel, Rock, Ground and Ghost. And then your occasional Steel, Rock, Ground or Ghost type on other teams, some have a few.

You forgot to mention anything that runs hazards. Or Magic Guard. Or status moves. Or Mold Breaker. Or multi-hit moves.


IMO FEAR is a waste of a team slot.

 

[loco1234]

Oh yeah. All that good stuff too. Starting to remember why I disliked FEAR xD

 

[Atrocious]

Rock doesn't have many viable options lol. Out of all rock types 8-9 are viable on monotype lol.

 

[loco1234]

That's what made this one so easy to make xD But I'm pretty sure all of Rock's options have been listed already, so not a whole lot more point to this thread. Thanks again guys!