Monotype Team: ROCK (-type) 'N ROLL~!
The Rock-type seems almost unfairly maligned as the easiest to conquer. Ostensibly, there's a good reason for this. Most Rock-types carry the Ground-type as a secondary, which makes them sitting ducks for Water and Grass-type attacks. It doesn't help that a lot of them have shitty Special Defenses, and most Water and Grass attacks are special in nature. This is enough to scare people away from this type, despite the fact that it boasts the second highest average Defense per critter and has some pretty useful STAB. Rock-type moves crush Bugs, crack Ice, ground the Flying and put out Fires like no one's business. (In fact, you'd do a lot worse than to have a Rock move on your Grass-type to ward off weaknesses... the only one it doesn't hit for Super Effective damage is Poison) Of course, a lot of those moves have varying degrees of inaccuracy, but nothing's perfect. Anyway, onto the team...
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Impish Nature, 252 EVs in HP, 156 in Atk, 100 in Def
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Aerial Ace
Yeah, so I just found out that Sandstream only ends if someone else does a weather-changing move, so Tyranitar moves to the lead spot, and what a lead it is. Earthquake will at least every Steel except Skarmory and Levitating Bronzongs, but you can get 1x damage on Skarm with SE and on Bronzie with Crunch. Aerial Ace is there as a last resort against Fighting-types, but if you see Breloom, you should probably book ass out of the arena before it SporePunches you into oblivion.
Golem @ Focus Sash
Careful Nature, 208 EVs in SpDef, 172 in HP and 128 in Def
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Explosion
Golem's attack is high enough that you could build a sweeper/tank set out of it, but this set seems like it could be useful too. For one, if your opponent has a pesky Charizard or Articuno on their team, you could pretty much ravage them good with the SR/Roar combo. Earthquake is for Ground STAB, and the Focus Sash/Explosion combo is a guarantee that you'll do some damage to a Water or Grass type even if you can't switch out.
Cradily @ Leftovers
Bold Nature, 252 EVs in HP, 132 in Def, 128 in SpAtk
- Amnesia
- Toxic
- Confuse Ray
- Energy Ball
Cradily's here because I need to switch something in if Golem meets an unfriendly Venusaur, Gyarados, Exeggutor etc. This is more of a counter for Water-types though, but Amnesia + Suction Cups can produce some good tankage no matter what. Leftovers over Ingrain because I don't want to waste a move for gradual HP replacement unless it's sapping the opponent. Sucks that Cradily doesn't get Leech Seed at all.
Kabutops @ Choice Scarf
Adamant Nature, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Waterfall
- Aerial Ace
I was originally going to go with Rampardos in this spot, but it has a shitty physical movepool and you need everything including the kitchen sink to get its speed to an adequate level. Anyway, Kabutops is an improvement, but the fact that it doesn't learn Earthquake means that it needs even more improvement as a physical threat. It does get X-Scissor, which takes out its only 4x weakness, and both its STAB moves are good. You could do better for a Scarfer, but you could do much worse too. I didn't even realize how thin Rock was before I started to do this without having a team full of 4x weak critters against something common.
Bastiodon @ Chesto Berry
Relaxed Nature, 252 EVs in HP and SpDef
- Iron Defense
- Taunt
- Rest
- Metal Burst
I know having Metal Burst and Iron Defense on the same team sorta defeats the purpose, but Bastiodon needs to have some way of attacking. Such an investment in Defense so that it can weather Fighting and Ground moves, but you're probably better off running for the hills if you see a STABed Close Combat or Earthquake coming your way. It's such a damn shame that Solrock and Lunatone are both on the crappy side or else you'd have something to switch into.
Sudowoodo @ Life Orb
Sassy Nature, 252 EVs in HP and Atk
- Sucker Punch
- Wood Hammer
- Stone Edge
- Explosion
Sudowoodo has always been one of my favorites. It's got pretty good Atk and Def ratings, and it benefits a lot from having a Sandstorm set up. Stone Edge is for STAB, Wood Hammer to take out the Grounds and Waters, and Sucker Punch is for if you're good at prediction. Explosion is another prediction risk/reward move, since without a Focus Band, you have to rely on your defenses to aid you through a strong attack, but unlike Golem, you don't have a secondary Ground on Sudo, so your survivability is increased anyway.
All comments, criticisms, complaints, Wobbuffet/Wynaut YouTube postings, etc. are not only welcome but encouraged. Although I have a feeling this team is going to get torn apart, but I admit this is the team I feel least strongly about.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Impish Nature, 252 EVs in HP, 156 in Atk, 100 in Def
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Aerial Ace
Yeah, so I just found out that Sandstream only ends if someone else does a weather-changing move, so Tyranitar moves to the lead spot, and what a lead it is. Earthquake will at least every Steel except Skarmory and Levitating Bronzongs, but you can get 1x damage on Skarm with SE and on Bronzie with Crunch. Aerial Ace is there as a last resort against Fighting-types, but if you see Breloom, you should probably book ass out of the arena before it SporePunches you into oblivion.
Golem @ Focus Sash
Careful Nature, 208 EVs in SpDef, 172 in HP and 128 in Def
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Explosion
Golem's attack is high enough that you could build a sweeper/tank set out of it, but this set seems like it could be useful too. For one, if your opponent has a pesky Charizard or Articuno on their team, you could pretty much ravage them good with the SR/Roar combo. Earthquake is for Ground STAB, and the Focus Sash/Explosion combo is a guarantee that you'll do some damage to a Water or Grass type even if you can't switch out.
Cradily @ Leftovers
Bold Nature, 252 EVs in HP, 132 in Def, 128 in SpAtk
- Amnesia
- Toxic
- Confuse Ray
- Energy Ball
Cradily's here because I need to switch something in if Golem meets an unfriendly Venusaur, Gyarados, Exeggutor etc. This is more of a counter for Water-types though, but Amnesia + Suction Cups can produce some good tankage no matter what. Leftovers over Ingrain because I don't want to waste a move for gradual HP replacement unless it's sapping the opponent. Sucks that Cradily doesn't get Leech Seed at all.
Kabutops @ Choice Scarf
Adamant Nature, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Waterfall
- Aerial Ace
I was originally going to go with Rampardos in this spot, but it has a shitty physical movepool and you need everything including the kitchen sink to get its speed to an adequate level. Anyway, Kabutops is an improvement, but the fact that it doesn't learn Earthquake means that it needs even more improvement as a physical threat. It does get X-Scissor, which takes out its only 4x weakness, and both its STAB moves are good. You could do better for a Scarfer, but you could do much worse too. I didn't even realize how thin Rock was before I started to do this without having a team full of 4x weak critters against something common.
Bastiodon @ Chesto Berry
Relaxed Nature, 252 EVs in HP and SpDef
- Iron Defense
- Taunt
- Rest
- Metal Burst
I know having Metal Burst and Iron Defense on the same team sorta defeats the purpose, but Bastiodon needs to have some way of attacking. Such an investment in Defense so that it can weather Fighting and Ground moves, but you're probably better off running for the hills if you see a STABed Close Combat or Earthquake coming your way. It's such a damn shame that Solrock and Lunatone are both on the crappy side or else you'd have something to switch into.
Sudowoodo @ Life Orb
Sassy Nature, 252 EVs in HP and Atk
- Sucker Punch
- Wood Hammer
- Stone Edge
- Explosion
Sudowoodo has always been one of my favorites. It's got pretty good Atk and Def ratings, and it benefits a lot from having a Sandstorm set up. Stone Edge is for STAB, Wood Hammer to take out the Grounds and Waters, and Sucker Punch is for if you're good at prediction. Explosion is another prediction risk/reward move, since without a Focus Band, you have to rely on your defenses to aid you through a strong attack, but unlike Golem, you don't have a secondary Ground on Sudo, so your survivability is increased anyway.
All comments, criticisms, complaints, Wobbuffet/Wynaut YouTube postings, etc. are not only welcome but encouraged. Although I have a feeling this team is going to get torn apart, but I admit this is the team I feel least strongly about.