Status: Analysis written: awaiting GP checks.
QC Approval: Iconic, Delta 2777, Bloo
GP Checks: jc104, Ray Jay (stamping Accidental Greed's check)
[Overview]
<p>Carracosta is one of the newest fossil Pokemon, and it seems to be bringing in some of its own brand of turtle power. It can be an effective physical tank with its stellar Defense, five resistances, and Solid Rock; when backed by Sandstorm, it can also take some special hits. However, it is with Shell Smash where it shines. Carracosta is arguably the strongest user of Shell Smash in terms of sheer power, sporting Base 108 Atk and Base 83 SpA, which are doubled thanks to Shell Smash.</p>
<p>While Carracosta has many things going for it, it is not without faults. It is horribly slow; even with a Shell Smash boost, a neutral-natured Carracosta won't be outrunning Base 100 Speed Pokemon. Its movepool is also lackluster, consisting of mostly Water-, Rock-, and Normal-type attacks. While Solid Rock helps in tanking hits, Carracosta's base Special Defense is also poor, in addition to lacking any recovery move outside of the unreliable Rest. To top it off, the Water / Rock typing brings about four common weaknesses, including a crippling Grass-type weakness. Still, don't let those faults convince you to forgo Carracosta. It can be a great sweeper or wallbreaker if played correctly.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Waterfall / Aqua Jet
move 3: Stone Edge / Rock Slide
move 4: Earthquake
item: Life Orb / White Herb
ability: Solid Rock
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Carracosta is one of the few Pokemon to receive the blessings of Shell Smash, doubling its great offenses and boosting its lackluster Speed to acceptable levels. Bring in Carracosta on something it can easily take on and set up a Shell Smash. After one Shell Smash, Carracosta reaches an attack stat of 630 (819 with Life Orb) and a speed stat of 358, outspeeding Base 113 Pokemon by one point. From there, use the coverage of Water-, Rock-, and Ground-type attacks to deal destructive damage. Waterfall is Carracosta's primary Water-type STAB move, with the added advantage of possibly flinching opponents. However, there are still some notable Pokemon, such as Sand Rush Excadrill under Sandstorm, who will still outrun Carracosta. For that reason, Aqua Jet is perfectly acceptable, especially if you go with an Adamant nature. Although not as damaging as Waterfall, after one boost, Carracosta can OHKO Excadrill, possibly the most threatening sweeper under Sandstorm. Even without a boost, Carracosta can 2HKO Excadrill with Aqua Jet.</p>
<p>The choice of Rock-type STAB between Stone Edge and Rock Slide comes down to the age-old power vs. accuracy argument, but note that Rock Slide has the potential to flinch foes, much like Waterfall can. Earthquake rounds out the coverage in this set, hitting Steel-type foes, such as Metagross and Cobalion, harder while also helping against Electric-types.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Although Aqua Tail isn't listed here, it can still be used over the other two Water type moves, being slightly more powerful. The risk it poses is its minor inaccuracy, which Carracosta can't really afford, having weakened its defenses after Shell Smash. If you aren't satisfied with the offensive output from a Jolly nature, an Adamant nature can be used to sport an impressive 899 Attack (accounting for Life Orb). The downside is that at most, Carracosta will tie with Base 99 Speed Pokemon, meaning Carracosta will most assuredly want Aqua Jet to get the jump on faster foes while taking advantage of that increased Attack by using Stone Edge. The item choice comes down to survivability versus power output. Life Orb is the best choice should you desire a higher damage output after one boost. However, White Herb deserves a special mention for preserving Carracosta's defenses after a Shell Smash boost. If played correctly, Carracosta may even snatch a second boost.</p>
<p>This set has no reliable way to battle Ferrothorn and bulky Grass-types, since Ferrothorn takes neutral damage from Earthquake and most bulky Grass-types can survive a boosted Stone Edge. For that reason, the best partners are Magnezone and Infernape. Magnezone can trap Ferrothorn and proceed for the quick OHKO with Hidden Power Fire while Infernape can do the same to Ferrothorn in addition to having STAB on Fire-type attacks, making combating Grass-types an easy prospect.</p>
[SET]
name: Cursing Turtle
move 1: Curse
move 2: Aqua Jet / Aqua Tail
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Solid Rock
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Though Shell Smash is one of Carracosta's most valued moves, Curse should definitely not be overlooked. It may be slower to set up than the Shell Smash set, but this way, Carracosta can boost its stellar Defense in conjunction with its Attack, which, when paired up with Solid Rock, means it can sponge hits more efficiently while still dealing enough damage to the opponent. Aqua Jet is chosen as your primary Water-type STAB because Carracosta has low Speed which is further decreased by Curse. Priority is also crucial against threatening sweepers, such as Excadrill under Sandstorm. If you want more power, Aqua Tail is preferred over Waterfall, seeing as the chances of flinch are negligible (barring Trick Room). It also has the merit of 2HKOing common variants of Hippowdon after one boost. Stone Edge is dominant over Rock Slide because of the power difference while Earthquake rounds out the set yet again to combat bulky Steel-types such as Metagross.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Careful is chosen to bolster that underwhelming Special Defense to acceptable levels, but it can't be emphasized enough: Sandstorm is necessary to make the best of this set. After one boost from Curse, Carracosta sports an impressive 352 HP / 453 Def / 376 SpD, not to mention a nice 379 Attack stat. If you'd rather sponge physical hits even better with Curse, go with Impish and allocate those Special Defense EVs into Defense.</p>
<p>Much like the physical Shell Smash set, this set has no reliable way of battling Ferrothorn, since Earthquake will be hitting for paltry damage even after the boost. For this reason, Magnezone is the perfect partner; it can trap Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory with Magnet Pull and proceed for the easy KO with Hidden Power Fire or Thunderbolt. With no reliable way to battle against bulky Grass-types, Fire-types of your own, such as Infernape, help while also doubling the efforts against Steel-types immune or neutral to Earthquake. As for the preferred Sand Streamer, Tyranitar edges out Hippowdon, since Tyranitar has a usable Special Attack to battle against bulky Grass-types.</p>
[SET]
name: Wallbreaking
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Surf / Hydro Pump
move 3: Stone Edge / Rock Slide
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Focus Blast
item: Life Orb / White Herb
ability: Solid Rock
nature: Rash / Naive
evs: 48 Atk / 208 SpA / 252 Spe
ivs: 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Shell Smash also boosting Carracosta's decent Special Attack, it would be a shame not to make a mixed set. After one Shell Smash and Life Orb's boost, Carracosta reaches 686 Atk / 657 SpA / 356 Spe, set up for some nice wallbreaking action. Surf is chosen over Hydro Pump for the reliability, but Hydro Pump hits foes harder. The given Attack EVs ensure that Rock Slide, after the boost, will OHKO Physically Defensive Zapdos and Bulky Dragon Dance Gyarados; however, Stone Edge is noticeably more powerful. The final moveslot is up for grabs; with Hidden Power Fire, you can reliably KO Ferrothorn after the boost. However, Focus Blast deserves merit as it can do the same (provided it hits), in addition to providing coverage against foes such as Hydreigon and Empoleon.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>An alternative spread to go for is 20 Atk / 236 SpA / 252 Spe with a Rash nature. After Shell Smash, you can easily OHKO Ferrothorn 100% of the time with Focus Blast without prior damage (percentage not including accuracy issues with Focus Blast). This ensures you don't sacrifice any IVs to get a perfect Hidden Power Fire. Finally, though not mentioned, Ice Beam is also an option to batter Grass types harder than HP Fire while hitting Dragon-types with a secondary typing harder, such as Salamence.</p>
<p>Naive is a perfectly acceptable nature to use, as with Focus Blast and the given spread you still have the chance of OHKOing Ferrothorn, dealing 84.7% - 100% damage. Again, you'll be sacrificing a bit of power to outrun additional foes, and Stone Edge once again becomes the premier option as your Rock-type attack to achieve any OHKOs or 2HKOs.</p>
<p>Unlike the previous sets, this Carracosta is less dependent on teammates such as Infernape and Magnezone since it alone can defeat its previous counters. However, as repeatedly mentioned, Shell Smash still isn't enough to outspeed threats such as Starmie. For that reason, Ferrothorn becomes a great teammate to this set, helping in setting up Spikes and Stealth Rock and scaring or beating Starmie. Priority from Conkledurr is more troublesome, especially if you lack White Herb, so bulky Ghost- and Psychic-types such as Cofagrigus and Reuniclus, can be used as set up on it.</p>
[SET]
name: Banded Turtle
move 1: Aqua Jet
move 2: Aqua Tail
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Earthquake
item: Choice Band
ability: Solid Rock / Sturdy
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With a decent physical movepool and a great Attack stat, Carracosta is a good candidate for a Choice Band. With Choice Band attached, Carracosta reaches 519 Attack. From there proceed to attack with Carracosta's combination of powerful coverage moves. By not having a boosting move, you free up a moveslot, which can be filled up with any move, but Aqua Tail helps in combating bulky Ground-types, such as Hippowdon.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Carracosta's other notable offensive option is Crunch, which can be used to break through Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon. It may also choose to forgo a moveslot for a Normal-type move, such as Body Slam or Flail. Normal-type moves generally provide good coverage with Carracosta's Water-type STAB attacks. However, the all-around coverage provided by the main options far surpasses the coverage from choosing to use the aforementioned moves.</p>
<p>Hitting hard from the get-go is great, but one must not forget that this particular Carracosta is extremely slow; with no Speed EV investment, this Carracosta sits at a paltry 100 Speed. In addition, Ferrothorn yet again becomes the greatest threat to this set. Infernape and Magnezone are great partners yet again in this respect. Meanwhile, Virizion, with its Grass- and Fighting-type STAB and resistance to Grass- and Electric-type moves, teams up well with Carracosta, as Carracosta can deal with the Flying- and Fire-types that plague Virizion in return.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Rock Polish is largely outclassed by Shell Smash, and even when used, Carracosta has much competition with other Rock Polish users. Hidden Power has very little utility save for Hidden Power Fire, the most effective way with dealing with Ferrothorn and Forretress. Return is the best way for Carracosta to hit Breloom and Virizon if you go with a physical set. Rest is a risky option, especially with no Sleep Talk, but it is the only way to heal any damage or status. Sturdy, while being greatly improved this generation, has little merit on Carracosta; though it could serve to provide an extra Shell Smash should the opponent switch out.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Ferrothorn is the best counter to Carracosta, being able to take any attacks it dishes out aside from a risky Focus Blast or the very rare Hidden Power Fire. Otherwise, any bulky Grass type, such as Tangrowth, can easily take any boosted physical attack. Carracosta is terribly slow; one boost provided by Shell Smash on a positive natured Carracosta is only large enough to outrun Base 113 Speed stat Pokemon, so faster sweepers such as Starmie or Jolteon, to name a few, can easily prey on the weaker Special Defense stat. Also, while Shell Smash does provide a sharp boost to its attacking prowess, it comes at the cost of cutting Carracosta's great Defense and already lackluster Special Defense, meaning priority from the likes of Fighting types will easily KO, most notably a boosted Mach Punch and Vacuum Wave.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Carracosta's Dream World ability is Swift Swim, which has yet to be released. If ever released, it will be the superior choice on any offensive sets using Shell Smash. This can also free up any EVs in Speed to be put in another stat. However, note that currently, Drizzle and Swift Swim on the same team are banned, so one must adjust accordingly, either by bringing a Pokemon with the move Rain Dance or hope that their opponent runs Drizzle on their team; this latter event should not be counted on though.</p>
