I've talked to Tyler and he said it would be fine if I took this over. I'm reusing a lot from his skeleton.
Carracosta
[Overview]
<p>Carracosta has excellent Attack and Defense stats, and a brilliant offensive typing which gives it STAB on both Waterfall and Rock Slide, allowing it to hit a huge number of opposing Pokemon for super effective damage. Its ability Sturdy is also incredibly useful, giving it the equivalent of a free Focus Sash, which is extremely helpful. However, its weakness to Fighting-type attacks, low Special Defense, and poor Speed means it has to rely upon Trick Room or Shell Smash to function well. Overall, its excellent dual STAB makes it a strong choice for almost any team.</p>
[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Protect / Aqua Jet
item: Rock Gem / Water Gem
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Carracosta makes a unique attacker in VGC play thanks to its exclusive access to Shell Smash and Sturdy, which gives it almost guaranteed setup and makes it an incredibly powerful attacker. Shell Smash forms the basis of this set, doubling Carracosta's Speed and boosting its Attack to incredible levels. Waterfall and Rock Slide are powerful STAB attacks which gain excellent coverage together, doing huge damage after a boost. Protect allows Carracosta to bypass its many weaknesses, and lets its partner take out a Pokemon which can threaten it, as well as keep its Sturdy intact in the face of an opposing Fake Out. The EVs and nature allow Carracosta to outspeed everything up to maximum Speed Whimsicott after a Shell Smash, and hit as hard as possible after a boost. Rock Gem makes Carracosta's boosted Rock Slide hit ridiculously hard after a boost, doing huge damage to anything that doesn't resist it.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Aqua Jet with the boost from Water Gem OHKOes both Terrakion and Archeops after a Shell Smash, stopping them from using Quick Attack to finish off Carracosta before it can attack. However, it leaves Carracosta open to being double targeted before it can use Shell Smash, as well as being hit by first-turn Fake Outs. Because Shell Smash boosts both Attack and Special Attack, a special or mixed set is also feasible, although Carracosta's Special Attack is significantly lower than its Attack. If such a set is used, Carracosta should use a Naive nature and move some EVs to Special Attack, or use a Timid nature with 252 Special Attack EVs if it's using all special attacks. Some of the special attacks Carracosta can use on such a set are Surf, Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, Scald, Blizzard, Focus Blast, and Hidden Power. An additional perk of a special set is its ability to use Ice Beam, which means it's not as helpless against Amoonguss as a purely physical attacker.</p>
<p>Although somewhat unreliable, a strategy using a Simple Beam partner such as Audino or Beheeyem can make Carracosta nearly unstoppable. If it gets Simple and then uses Shell Smash, it will be at +4 Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, making it an incredibly powerful offensive force. However, Carracosta will also have -2 in both defenses, making it easy to KO if Sturdy has already activated. It cannot be stressed enough how useful Fake Out support is for Carracosta. While Sturdy allows Carracosta to take a single hit, it can easily be double targeted or even Taunted to stop it from setting up Shell Smash and hitting the opposing team. For this reason, Mienshao and Scrafty make excellent partners for Carracosta, allowing it to set up Shell Smash with ease thanks to Sturdy and proceed to outspeed and KO the opposing team. Fake Out also stops opposing Tailwind users such as Tornadus from setting up Tailwind the first turn, as a combination of Fake Out and Rock Slide KOes Tornadus, allowing Carracosta to use Shell Smash without fear of being outsped.</p>
<p>Carracosta has weaknesses to Grass-, Fighting-, Electric-, and Ground-type attacks, and although Sturdy helps to mitigate this somewhat, it is unable to prevent Carracosta from being double targeted. For this reason, a partner which can take hits for Carracosta or remove some of its checks can prove incredibly useful. Amoonguss stands out as the most durable, able to easily take almost any hit and use Spore while Carracosta uses Protect, allowing it to use Shell Smash without fear of being double targeted. However, enemy Amoonguss also pose a huge problem to Carracosta, easily taking any hit and using Spore in return, or OHKOing with Giga Drain. For this reason, a partner such as Archeops or Tornadus can prove useful, OHKOing Amoonguss with Flying Gem-boosted Acrobatics, although a Coba Berry on Amoonguss will stop that. Choice Scarf Chandelure also makes an excellent partner, OHKOing many Pokemon that may threaten Carracosta with Overheat, and also OHKOing Amoonguss that do not hold an Occa Berry. Since Trick Room teams completely shut Carracosta down, negating its Speed boosts and hitting it hard before it can attack, Chandelure with Imprison can make an excellent partner, making it very difficult for the opponent to set up Trick Room, while Carracosta hits them hard with its boosted attacks.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room Attacker
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Aqua Jet
move 4: Wide Guard / Protect
item: Rock Gem / Water Gem
ability: Sturdy
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While a Shell Smash set attempts to remedy Carracosta's poor Speed by boosting it, this set uses it to its advantage, outspeeding many threats with Trick Room in effect. Waterfall and Rock Slide again form Carracosta's powerful dual STAB attack combination, attaining excellent coverage and doing good damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Aqua Jet gives Carracosta a priority attack which outspeeds every other priority user under Trick Room, and allows it to work well outside of Trick Room, doing good damage to Terrakion and Landorus, and activating Archeops's Defeatist ability, making it much less of a threat. Wide Guard allows Carracosta to support a partner using Trick Room, stopping the powerful spread attacks that plague Trick Room teams.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Protect is an option over Wide Guard, allowing Carracosta to stop itself from being KOed while its partner sets up Trick Room, but Carracosta's ability Sturdy, along with Wide Guard's general utility, makes Wide Guard generally the better option. A Water Gem boosts the power of Waterfall and Aqua Jet, allowing Carracosta to take out many weakened Pokemon, or just hit once very hard. While Carracosta's Attack is much higher than its Special Attack, a special attacking set is also feasible due to its large special movepool. Carracosta can use Surf in concert with Jellicent to form a pseudo-SazaJelly combination, but it can also use Ice Beam, or a more powerful STAB option in Hydro Pump.</p>
<p>Since this set will ideally be used in Trick Room conditions, it doesn't have the same reliance on Sturdy as a Shell Smash set, since there is no need to set up. However, Carracosta's terrible Special Defense and multitude of weaknesses makes support absolutely necessary in order to succeed. Amoonguss makes an excellent partner, benefiting from Trick Room and also using Spore to incapacitate a threat to Carracosta. However, opposing Amoonguss also prove to be a thorn in Carracosta's side, outspeeding it in Trick Room and using Spore, or just OHKOing with Giga Drain. For this reason, Chandelure is a good partner, with the ability to set up Trick Room for Carracosta and also OHKO Amoonguss with Overheat or a Fire Gem-boosted Heat Wave. Reuniclus also makes a great partner, setting up Trick Room and forming a potent offensive combination with Carracosta, while also OHKOing most Amoonguss with a Life Orb-boosted Psychic. Although unorthodox, a Vanilluxe with Ice Gem can also prove to be a great partner in Trick Room, OHKOing most Amoonguss with an Ice Gem-boosted Ice Beam and also attaining excellent super effective coverage with its STAB Ice Beam. Beartic can work similarly.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Aqua Tail can be used over Waterfall on any set, but its lower accuracy, loss of the flinch chance, and inability to gain any important KOs makes it an inferior option. Earthquake might seem useful, but it has no coverage not already provided by Waterfall and Rock Slide. Curse allows Carracosta to outspeed everything under Trick Room and also hit hard, while boosting its Defense, but the boost is generally too slow to be useful, and Carracosta is generally far better off just attacking. Rain Dance might seem useful to boost the power of Carracosta's Water-type attacks, but its many weaknesses and terrible Special Defense make Carracosta far more effective just attacking than setting up rain. Tornadus or Thundurus generally accomplish this much more effectively thanks to their ability Prankster giving them priority on the move. Stone Edge is an option over Rock Slide, allowing Carracosta to hit much harder and guarantee an OHKO on the genies, but its shaky accuracy and lack of spread damage makes Rock Slide the better choice in almost all situations.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Ferrothorn is the greatest counter to Carracosta, easily taking any attack and OHKOing in return with its STAB Power Whip. By extension, any Grass-type Pokemon poses a threat to Carracosta, as it is unable to OHKO any of them with an unboosted Rock Slide, while it easily dies to any Grass-type attack. However, Sturdy allows Carracosta to always survive an attack, and if it gets up a Shell Smash, it can do serious damage with its powerful Rock Slide. Whimsicott deserves special mention for completely destroying any Shell Smash sets by locking them into Shell Smash with its priority Encore. Thundurus and Landorus can easily eliminate it with Discharge and Earthquake in concert, but if Carracosta has Wide Guard, it can stop them and allow its partner to set up Trick Room, where it can do huge damage with its powerful dual STAB attacks. Priority users such as Bisharp, Terrakion, Archeops, and Basculin can elim2inate Carracosta if it's down to 1 HP due to Sturdy, but must be wary of a Water Gem-boosted Aqua Jet, which will do major damage to or KO many of them.</p>
Carracosta
[Overview]
<p>Carracosta has excellent Attack and Defense stats, and a brilliant offensive typing which gives it STAB on both Waterfall and Rock Slide, allowing it to hit a huge number of opposing Pokemon for super effective damage. Its ability Sturdy is also incredibly useful, giving it the equivalent of a free Focus Sash, which is extremely helpful. However, its weakness to Fighting-type attacks, low Special Defense, and poor Speed means it has to rely upon Trick Room or Shell Smash to function well. Overall, its excellent dual STAB makes it a strong choice for almost any team.</p>
[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Protect / Aqua Jet
item: Rock Gem / Water Gem
ability: Sturdy
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Carracosta makes a unique attacker in VGC play thanks to its exclusive access to Shell Smash and Sturdy, which gives it almost guaranteed setup and makes it an incredibly powerful attacker. Shell Smash forms the basis of this set, doubling Carracosta's Speed and boosting its Attack to incredible levels. Waterfall and Rock Slide are powerful STAB attacks which gain excellent coverage together, doing huge damage after a boost. Protect allows Carracosta to bypass its many weaknesses, and lets its partner take out a Pokemon which can threaten it, as well as keep its Sturdy intact in the face of an opposing Fake Out. The EVs and nature allow Carracosta to outspeed everything up to maximum Speed Whimsicott after a Shell Smash, and hit as hard as possible after a boost. Rock Gem makes Carracosta's boosted Rock Slide hit ridiculously hard after a boost, doing huge damage to anything that doesn't resist it.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Aqua Jet with the boost from Water Gem OHKOes both Terrakion and Archeops after a Shell Smash, stopping them from using Quick Attack to finish off Carracosta before it can attack. However, it leaves Carracosta open to being double targeted before it can use Shell Smash, as well as being hit by first-turn Fake Outs. Because Shell Smash boosts both Attack and Special Attack, a special or mixed set is also feasible, although Carracosta's Special Attack is significantly lower than its Attack. If such a set is used, Carracosta should use a Naive nature and move some EVs to Special Attack, or use a Timid nature with 252 Special Attack EVs if it's using all special attacks. Some of the special attacks Carracosta can use on such a set are Surf, Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, Scald, Blizzard, Focus Blast, and Hidden Power. An additional perk of a special set is its ability to use Ice Beam, which means it's not as helpless against Amoonguss as a purely physical attacker.</p>
<p>Although somewhat unreliable, a strategy using a Simple Beam partner such as Audino or Beheeyem can make Carracosta nearly unstoppable. If it gets Simple and then uses Shell Smash, it will be at +4 Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, making it an incredibly powerful offensive force. However, Carracosta will also have -2 in both defenses, making it easy to KO if Sturdy has already activated. It cannot be stressed enough how useful Fake Out support is for Carracosta. While Sturdy allows Carracosta to take a single hit, it can easily be double targeted or even Taunted to stop it from setting up Shell Smash and hitting the opposing team. For this reason, Mienshao and Scrafty make excellent partners for Carracosta, allowing it to set up Shell Smash with ease thanks to Sturdy and proceed to outspeed and KO the opposing team. Fake Out also stops opposing Tailwind users such as Tornadus from setting up Tailwind the first turn, as a combination of Fake Out and Rock Slide KOes Tornadus, allowing Carracosta to use Shell Smash without fear of being outsped.</p>
<p>Carracosta has weaknesses to Grass-, Fighting-, Electric-, and Ground-type attacks, and although Sturdy helps to mitigate this somewhat, it is unable to prevent Carracosta from being double targeted. For this reason, a partner which can take hits for Carracosta or remove some of its checks can prove incredibly useful. Amoonguss stands out as the most durable, able to easily take almost any hit and use Spore while Carracosta uses Protect, allowing it to use Shell Smash without fear of being double targeted. However, enemy Amoonguss also pose a huge problem to Carracosta, easily taking any hit and using Spore in return, or OHKOing with Giga Drain. For this reason, a partner such as Archeops or Tornadus can prove useful, OHKOing Amoonguss with Flying Gem-boosted Acrobatics, although a Coba Berry on Amoonguss will stop that. Choice Scarf Chandelure also makes an excellent partner, OHKOing many Pokemon that may threaten Carracosta with Overheat, and also OHKOing Amoonguss that do not hold an Occa Berry. Since Trick Room teams completely shut Carracosta down, negating its Speed boosts and hitting it hard before it can attack, Chandelure with Imprison can make an excellent partner, making it very difficult for the opponent to set up Trick Room, while Carracosta hits them hard with its boosted attacks.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room Attacker
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Aqua Jet
move 4: Wide Guard / Protect
item: Rock Gem / Water Gem
ability: Sturdy
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While a Shell Smash set attempts to remedy Carracosta's poor Speed by boosting it, this set uses it to its advantage, outspeeding many threats with Trick Room in effect. Waterfall and Rock Slide again form Carracosta's powerful dual STAB attack combination, attaining excellent coverage and doing good damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Aqua Jet gives Carracosta a priority attack which outspeeds every other priority user under Trick Room, and allows it to work well outside of Trick Room, doing good damage to Terrakion and Landorus, and activating Archeops's Defeatist ability, making it much less of a threat. Wide Guard allows Carracosta to support a partner using Trick Room, stopping the powerful spread attacks that plague Trick Room teams.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Protect is an option over Wide Guard, allowing Carracosta to stop itself from being KOed while its partner sets up Trick Room, but Carracosta's ability Sturdy, along with Wide Guard's general utility, makes Wide Guard generally the better option. A Water Gem boosts the power of Waterfall and Aqua Jet, allowing Carracosta to take out many weakened Pokemon, or just hit once very hard. While Carracosta's Attack is much higher than its Special Attack, a special attacking set is also feasible due to its large special movepool. Carracosta can use Surf in concert with Jellicent to form a pseudo-SazaJelly combination, but it can also use Ice Beam, or a more powerful STAB option in Hydro Pump.</p>
<p>Since this set will ideally be used in Trick Room conditions, it doesn't have the same reliance on Sturdy as a Shell Smash set, since there is no need to set up. However, Carracosta's terrible Special Defense and multitude of weaknesses makes support absolutely necessary in order to succeed. Amoonguss makes an excellent partner, benefiting from Trick Room and also using Spore to incapacitate a threat to Carracosta. However, opposing Amoonguss also prove to be a thorn in Carracosta's side, outspeeding it in Trick Room and using Spore, or just OHKOing with Giga Drain. For this reason, Chandelure is a good partner, with the ability to set up Trick Room for Carracosta and also OHKO Amoonguss with Overheat or a Fire Gem-boosted Heat Wave. Reuniclus also makes a great partner, setting up Trick Room and forming a potent offensive combination with Carracosta, while also OHKOing most Amoonguss with a Life Orb-boosted Psychic. Although unorthodox, a Vanilluxe with Ice Gem can also prove to be a great partner in Trick Room, OHKOing most Amoonguss with an Ice Gem-boosted Ice Beam and also attaining excellent super effective coverage with its STAB Ice Beam. Beartic can work similarly.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Aqua Tail can be used over Waterfall on any set, but its lower accuracy, loss of the flinch chance, and inability to gain any important KOs makes it an inferior option. Earthquake might seem useful, but it has no coverage not already provided by Waterfall and Rock Slide. Curse allows Carracosta to outspeed everything under Trick Room and also hit hard, while boosting its Defense, but the boost is generally too slow to be useful, and Carracosta is generally far better off just attacking. Rain Dance might seem useful to boost the power of Carracosta's Water-type attacks, but its many weaknesses and terrible Special Defense make Carracosta far more effective just attacking than setting up rain. Tornadus or Thundurus generally accomplish this much more effectively thanks to their ability Prankster giving them priority on the move. Stone Edge is an option over Rock Slide, allowing Carracosta to hit much harder and guarantee an OHKO on the genies, but its shaky accuracy and lack of spread damage makes Rock Slide the better choice in almost all situations.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Ferrothorn is the greatest counter to Carracosta, easily taking any attack and OHKOing in return with its STAB Power Whip. By extension, any Grass-type Pokemon poses a threat to Carracosta, as it is unable to OHKO any of them with an unboosted Rock Slide, while it easily dies to any Grass-type attack. However, Sturdy allows Carracosta to always survive an attack, and if it gets up a Shell Smash, it can do serious damage with its powerful Rock Slide. Whimsicott deserves special mention for completely destroying any Shell Smash sets by locking them into Shell Smash with its priority Encore. Thundurus and Landorus can easily eliminate it with Discharge and Earthquake in concert, but if Carracosta has Wide Guard, it can stop them and allow its partner to set up Trick Room, where it can do huge damage with its powerful dual STAB attacks. Priority users such as Bisharp, Terrakion, Archeops, and Basculin can elim2inate Carracosta if it's down to 1 HP due to Sturdy, but must be wary of a Water Gem-boosted Aqua Jet, which will do major damage to or KO many of them.</p>
