DP Solrock

[cim]

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/solrock

I've been using a Solrock on my competitive team as a suicide lead, and it has some very specific advantages over Azelf, Aerodactyl, Bronzong, and Claydol. So, I thought I'd post a peer edit, as the set is perfectly usable as a way to absolutely ensure that Stealth Rock is present bar a Rapid Spinner.

[SET]
name: Suicide Lead
move1: Stealth Rock
move2: Rock Slide
move3: Earthquake
move4: Explosion
item: Focus Sash
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>As a suicide lead, Solrock has a few very specific advantages over other leads like Azelf, Aerodactyl, Bronzong, and Claydol. Unlike Azelf, Solrock is immune to Sand Stream, meaning that it can Explode on Tyranitar after surviving a Crunch with Focus Sash. Unlike Aerodactyl, Solrock is capable of Exploding. Unlike Bronzong and Claydol, Solrock has a more powerful Explosion to KO Swampert and sometimes Hippowdon, after an Earthquake. Solrock also resists every attack Azelf carries barring U-turn and Grass Knot. Solrock can offensively beat Azelf and Aerodactyl if one predicts correctly.</p>

<p>While effective in OU as a lead, Solrock can function just as well as a lead in the UU tier. Common leads such as Electrode will usually Taunt Solrock first to prevent a set up move or Stealth Rock while Solrock can then OHKO with Earthquake. Furthermore, Solrock's dual Psychic/Rock typing allows it to scare off other common leads such as Primeape, Hitmontop, Scyther, and Swellow; this allows Solrock a free turn to set up Stealth Rock. If a counter is sent out to Solrock after it sets up Stealth Rock, it usually takes the counter down with it because of Explosion and the Focus Sash.</p>

<p>As with any suicide lead, Solrock works best on high-offensive teams as a reliable way to Stealth Rock. Thus, unless you anticipate a Taunt, using Stealth Rock on Turn one is preferred. From there, feel free to do as much damage as you can. For example, an Earthquake and Explosion will OHKO Swampert leads in OU (and two Earthquakes, followed by Explosion will OHKO Hippowdon leads). Solrock's Explosion is really its greatest asset in any tier, so it's required on this set.</p>

<p>Feel free to run Will-o-wisp over one of the attacks if you feel like crippling Tyranitar "on your way out".</p>

 

[Caelum]

I'll have to try it out before I comment, but won't Azelf just Taunt + Psychic + Explode and beat you? I have no idea if you can EV it to survive a Psychic + Explosion from 4 Atk / 252 SpA (although I think more run attack now a days), but it might be worth considering. I'll look into it a bit later.

Edit: BTW, I forgot to mention, in theory I think it looks good.

 

[jumpluff]

It DOES look nice in theory *_*~ Just being pedantic, sorry:

Will-O-Wisp, not Will-o-wisp

Azelf loses via the aforementioned resists and Aerodactyl loses to Rock Slide.

Solrock is genderless

Caelum: there's no need for it to Explode because another Psychic would finish Solrock off...!!

 

[jrrrrrrr]

link to the analysis in the OP.

Does Solrock really beat Azelf with that EV spread, like this analysis is suggesting? 70 base HP and 65 base SpDef isn't very much, especially since Azelf also carries Grass Knot (and Taunt lol). This set might work in UU, but since it's written with comparisons to lots of OU pokemon I assume you meant this for use there....where unfortunately it loses really bad :(

 

[cim]

349 Atk vs 166 Def & 282 HP (95 base power): 107 - 126 (37.94% - 44.68%) | Multipliers: 0.5 * 1.5

That's a STAB Psychic.

286 Atk vs 103 Def & 282 HP (250 base power): 248 - 292 (87.94% - 103.55%) | Multipliers: 0.5

That's an Explosion.

So it wins if it uses Psychic / Explosion but is 2HKO'd by Rock Slide which means I EITHER get SR out or if I predict Taunt kill their Azelf and live myself.

 

[jrrrrrrr]

ok, but the whole point of the suicide lead is to use Speed to set up SR before you get Taunted. Azelf Taunts and sets up SR. It then Explodes if its still alive, with SR up and you Taunted. Azelf does its only jobs, which are stop SR and set up SR, regardless of whether you can KO it first. I don't really think that Solrock is cut out for this role in OU, although I have seen it used to some success in UU before with Reflect etc.

The set itself is neat, the write-up just needs to be more UU oriented so that it fits in with the people who are most likely to be using it.

Also, how much does an Azelf's Grass Knot do to this Solrock?

 

[Havak]

Solrock is genderless so should be referred to as "it" rather than "him" or whatever.

Maybe change "turn 1" to "turn one" as well.

 

[cim]

I'll do a UU oriented comments, but I'd like to leave in a paragraph for OU. This set is perfectly viable in OU, as it DOES have some very limited, specific advantages over other Pokémon. However, I've never played UU so some help would be appreciated.

 

[Caelum]

well, not playing UU ever could be a problem when writing about UU lol. Consider it done Chris. I wrote something up quickly but feel free to add/modify. You can see where it is going.

<p>While effective in OU as a lead, Solrock can function just as well as a lead in the UU tier. Common leads such as Electrode and will usually Taunt Solrock first to prevent a set up move or Stealth Rock while Solrock can then OHKO each with Rock Slide and Earthquake, respectfully. Furthermore, Solrock's dual Psychic/Rock typing allows it to scare off other common leads such as Primeape, Hitmontop, Scyther, and Swellow; allowing Solrock a free turn to set up Stealth Rock. If a counter is sent out to Solrock after it sets up Stealth Rock, it usually takes the counter down with it because of Explosion and the Focus Sash.</p>

Feel free to improve on it Chris since I wrote it up quickly but this is a good enough template for you to work off for UU I think.

 

[jumpluff]

well, not playing UU ever could be a problem when writing about UU lol. Consider it done Chris. I wrote something up quickly but feel free to add/modify. You can see where it is going.

<p>While effective in OU as a lead, Solrock can function just as well as a lead in the UU tier. Common leads such as Aerodactyl and Electrode will usually Taunt Solrock first to prevent a set up move or Stealth Rock while Solrock can then OHKO each with Rock Slide and Earthquake, respectively. Furthermore, Solrock's dual Psychic/Rock typing allows it to scare off other common leads such as Primeape, Hitmontop, Scyther, and Swellow, allowing Solrock a free turn to set up Stealth Rock. If a counter is sent out to Solrock after it sets up Stealth Rock, it usually takes the counter down with it because of Explosion and the Focus Sash.</p>

Feel free to improve on it Chris since I wrote it up quickly but this is a good enough template for you to work off for UU I think.

not that my name is chris hurr

although according to djd's statistics, a lot of aerodactyl carry focus sash: 34.1%. combined, more than that are carrying other items though :x

 

[cim]

Added in UU-oriented paragraph. I attempted to make the following paragraph a little more tier-netural as well.

 

[Havak]

<p>As a suicide lead, Solrock has a few very specific advantages over other leads like Azelf, Aerodactyl, Bronzong, and Claydol. Unlike Azelf, Solrock is immune to Sand Stream, meaning that it can Explode on Tyranitar after surviving a Crunch with Focus Sash. Unlike Aerodactyl, Solrock is capable of Exploding. Unlike Bronzong and Claydol, Solrock has a more powerful Explosion to KO Swampert and sometimes Hippowdon, after an Earthquake. Solrock also resists every attack Azelf carries barring U-turn and Grass Knot. Solrock can offensively beat Azelf and Aerodactyl if one predicts correctly.</p>

<p>While effective in OU as a lead, Solrock can function just as well as a lead in the UU tier. Common leads such as Electrode will usually Taunt Solrock first to prevent a set up move or Stealth Rock while Solrock can then OHKO with Earthquake. Furthermore, Solrock's dual Psychic/Rock typing allows it to scare off other common leads such as Primeape, Hitmontop, Scyther, and Swellow; this allows Solrock a free turn to set up Stealth Rock. If a counter is sent out to Solrock after it sets up Stealth Rock, it usually takes the counter down with it because of Explosion and the Focus Sash.</p>

<p>As with any suicide lead, Solrock works best on high-offensive teams as a reliable way to Stealth Rock. Thus, unless you anticipate a Taunt, using Stealth Rock on Turn one is preferred. From there, feel free to do as much damage as you can. For example, an Earthquake and Explosion will OHKO Swampert leads in OU (and two Earthquakes, followed by Explosion will OHKO Hippowdon leads). Solrock's Explosion is really its greatest asset in any tier, so it's required on this set.</p>

<p>Feel free to run Will-o-wisp over one of the attacks if you feel like crippling Tyranitar "on your way out".</p>

All my changes are in red, and I made them straight into the edit so you can just copy and paste.

Like I said earlier, genderless Pokémon shouldn't be referred to as male or female.

Use the words one and two, not the numbers. (In the way you're using them at least).

I didn't like the wording on the parts about KOing Swampert and Hippowdon.

U-turn > U-Turn.

Space missing after Aerodactyl.

 

[Bourbon]

Aerodactyl is now OU, so we don't need to worry about that anymore.

 

[cim]

He was referring to the OU part of the analysis with that line.

Changes added. (If I don't make these posts, I won't remember that I did them...)

 

[Cynthia]

Why is Rock Slide here over Stone Edge? I guess you might be paranoid about missing, but I'm guessing the power boost makes up for it on most instances. I also don't see this set flinching much, even with the speed ev's Solrock won't outspeed very much.Actually you may want to consider 252 Hp/252 Atk just because Solrock just isn't very fast. Base 70 speed isn't horrendous(same as Breloom) but is outsped by nearly all offensive threats barring Tyranitar.

 

[cim]

Tyranitar is exactly why Speed is maxed. I could cut it to 222 though I guess.

Rock Slide is miss paranoia. I figure if he's got one shot, it better hit. I don't think that many 3HKOs turn into 2HKOs or anything with Stone Edge, but I could be wrong.

 

[Poppin]

If people are going to actually consider using this in OU, shouldn't Fire Blast be an option to hit Foretress, who gets an easy set and can Rapid Spin away Stealth Rock? I mean, once your opponent sees you're not running Special attacks, they'll send it right in, along with Tangrowth, Gengar, anything bulky enough to live through Explosion, bulky Steel and/or Flying types, etc. who can setup easily, or, just kill it.

Same can be said for UU with Fire Blast for hitting Aggron, Steelix, etc.

Just my two cents <.< >.>

 

[cim]

Not a lot that doesn't resist Explosion can take it successfully, and most of those resists are hit Super-Effectively by Earthquake.

It doesn't matter if your Explosion is resisted, by setting up SR you've done your job regardless of the switch-in.

Forretress is increasingly less common, and running Fire Blast off of a pitiful Special Attack just to "beat" him when instead you could switch in a Ghost for free or set up something on a hyper offensive team is better than "surprising" it.

 

[Havak]

Just two more minor nitpicks:

"Turn one" should probably be "turn one".

"Explode" should probably be "explode".

That's all I can find for now though, looks good.

 

[Caelum]

Fire Blast is a waste. Just explode on Forry (which blocks Rapid Spin) and then go to something with a Fire attack or go to a ghost straight away. I don't see a fire attack being that useful.

 

[Caelum]

Not to double post but this is on site now so it can be moved to the archive.

 

[cim]

Oh, one minor thing: 252 SpD should be Spe.

 

[Caelum]

Time to start being a nuisance to you mods :)

Posting to remind that this needs to be moved.