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Change your preferences here. Rock Blast
DescriptionDeals damage. It has a 1/3 chance for the move to hit either 2 or 3 times, and a 1/6 chance to hit either 4 or 5 times. If a Focus Sash or the ability Sturdy is activated through one of the hits, another hit will KO the target. Each hit is treated as a separate attack, and thus abilities such as Weak Armor will activate for every hit taken, and every hit has a separate flinch rate if used with King's Rock, Razor Fang, or Stench, and a separate critical hit chance. Color Change will only activate on the last hit of the move. However, the items Life Orb and Metronome treat all the hits as a single attack. If this move breaks a Substitute, the attack can still continue and hurt the target. If the target holds a type-resistance Berry item, it will only affect the first hit of this move. If the user has the ability Skill Link, this move will always hit five times. Competitive UseThe main advantage of Rock Blast over other Rock-type moves is that it can bypass Focus Sash and partially bypass Substitute. This can be especially helpful against Substitute stallers such as SubToxic Zapdos. However, this move has a very low distribution, and it is weaker than Stone Edge on average. Consequently, few Pokemon use it in OU and UU. Cloyster is the main user of Rock Blast in OU, and with its Skill Link ability, it can use all five hits of the move, causing massive damage to Water- and Ice-types that would otherwise switch in to resist its STABs. In UU, Rhyperior enjoys STAB from Rock Blast, which makes it a nice choice for dealing with Substitute users. In the lower tiers, Cinccino uses Rock Blast because, like Cloyster, it can land all five hits with Skill Link. Powerful Rock-type Pokemon in NU and RU such as Golem also occasionally use Rock Blast to destroy Substitutes. Although a bit risky, Octillery can also use Rock Blast in conjunction with its Sniper ability to increase the chance of landing a critical hit. Related MovesBone Rush is a Ground-type equivalent. Bullet Seed is a Grass-type equivalent that has 100% accuracy. Icicle Spear is an Ice-type equivalent that has 100% accuracy. Tail Slap is a Normal-type equivalent that has 85% accuracy. |
