|
-
Levitate
- This Pokémon is immune to Ground moves.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
70
|
- |
281 |
344 |
- |
| Atk |
95
|
203 |
226 |
289 |
317 |
| Def |
85
|
185 |
206 |
269 |
295 |
| SpA |
55
|
131 |
146 |
209 |
229 |
| SpD |
65
|
149 |
166 |
229 |
251 |
| Spe |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
This was by far Solrock's most common set in Advance. Thanks to his nice Earthquake immunity and resistance to Normal and Flying he can come in on Choice Banders and other physical attackers, throw up a screen and start to pound on enemies until they drop. Will-O-Wisp is new to Solrock's movepool and lets him inflict some more permanent damage to physical attackers that have no way to cure themselves. When the battle gets a little too hot for you and Solrock's tastes (which takes a while because Solrock is a sun!) just press button four and maniacally laugh as nearly anything that doesn't outright resist Normal gets knocked out instantly.
While Lunatone makes a superior Special Attacker to Solrock thanks to Hypnosis, Ice Beam and higher Special Attack, Solrock tends to be more durable, so it's easier for him to get Calm Minds in. Calm Mind on your opponent's switch, then Baton Pass out to some evil Special sweeper. Grass Knot catches Quagsire off-guard, and generally deals with Waters and Grounds nicely. Fire Blast can be used for Grassers like Meganium, though the Grass/Poison ones can also be taken care of with Psychic.
Of course, a Solrock set without Explosion as a possibility is like a cookie jar without cookies in it. So yeah, Explosion is a possibility! Will-O-Wisp is great as well to tank from both sides of the spectrum.
Solrock boasts a very acceptable 95 Attack to tear opponents apart with. It has one problem though: I was looking through its physical movepool for a fourth handy move, and came to the conclusion that it has none that comes really handy. So we're torn between Grass Knot for all these Waters, Grounds or Water/Grounds, Baton Pass for scouting (U-Turn would have been preferable though) or Fire Blast if you're insane enough to use Solrock in standard and you want to scare Skarmory.
I've heard people say it works, so you'll just have to take their word for it. If it doesn't, sue them. The idea is to Swagger something, copy the Attack boost with Psych Up, then Baton Pass it to something that didn't waste three moveslots on non-attacking moves. Hopefully the confusion prevents your opponent from smacking Solrock or the recipient into oblivion.
Other Options
Solrock can set up both Stealth Rock and Trick Room very nicely. He can also Baton Pass Charge Beam boosts and Rock Polish, and obviously Rest/Sleep Talk and Toxic sets are optional.
EVs
Unless you're trying to hit hard with Solrock, max out his HP and put most investment in Defense so he does what he does best. You need these EVs to help him out because, while nowhere near bad, 70 HP and 85 Defense could always use a boost.
Opinion
Solrock's reign in standard is over. Gyarados, Tyranitar and Salamence can hit him really hard in Diamond/Pearl (while he could live up to them a bit in Advance), a lot of things gained Pursuit and other new toys to hit him and he's not enjoying it at all. However, he remains a monster in UU. One of the best Baton Passers in the lower tiers with Rock Polish, Calm Mind, Swagger/Psych Up and Charge Beam to work with as well as a huge bunch of resistances. His Psychic-type doesn't really help him defensively, but at least it gets him cool moves. He can also wall quite effectively, though one of his main purposes in UU (Gligar) has evolved, so you might see less action from him for that. Either way, Solrock is clearly one of the better Pokémon in UU environment and will certainly be worth its weight in gold if you put him on your squad.
Counters
Sturdy Water-types stop Solrock, especially the ones with a secondary Ground-type. Swampert, Milotic, Slowbro, Suicune, Quagsire, Whiscash, Gastrodon, Blastoise and Poliwrath are all good to go against him. Grassers with good defense will always work too: Torterra is his worst nightmare, but Meganium, Celebi, Venusaur, they all counter him pretty well. However, note that Solrock will escape from slower counters with ease thanks to Baton Pass.