[OVERVIEW]
Solrock carves itself a niche in NU thanks to its unique typing, respectable bulk, and useful ability, Levitate. This combination allows it to check many dangerous Fire-, Flying-, and Normal-type wallbreakers such as Magmortar, Pyroar, Charizard, Archeops, Swellow, Kangaskhan, and non-Iron Tail Tauros. Levitate complements Solrock's role as a wall nicely, letting it avoid entry hazard damage from Spikes and Toxic Spikes, thus allowing it to consistently switch into targets without being whittled down easily. Moreover, Solrock has a great support movepool including Stealth Rock, Morning Sun, and Will-O-Wisp, which makes it a valuable asset to teams that need its specific resistances. This recovery and access to Will-O-Wisp further aid Solrock in tackling common Stealth Rock setters as well as crippling physical attackers such as Hitmonchan, Garbodor, and Thick Fat Hariyama. Unfortunately, Solrock is weak to common special attacking types including Water, Ghost, and Grass, leaving it vulnerable to common attackers such as Samurott, Floatzel, Rotom, Haunter, Mismagius, Lilligant, Ludicolo, and Vileplume. Furthermore, Solrock does not get to invest in its Defense stat due to its reliance on Special Defense investment to check Fire-types; therefore, it is very dependent on Will-O-Wisp to check strong physical attackers. Solrock also faces huge competition from other Stealth Rock setters such as Rhydon and Steelix, which offer a wider range of resistances and superior overall bulk, as well as greater offensive presence; therefore, it is only suited to teams that require its specific set of traits.
[SET]
name: Special Wall
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Morning Sun
move 3: Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Stone Edge
item: Leftovers
ability: Levitate
nature: Careful
evs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Stealth Rock wears down the opponent's team by punishing switches. Morning Sun provides Solrock with a form of recovery, allowing it to maintain longevity throughout a match. Will-O-Wisp lets Solrock annoy switch-ins and cripple physical attackers, particularly preventing Double Dance Rhydon from freely setting up on it. Stone Edge hits relatively hard and nabs KOs against Pokemon such as Swellow, Archeops, and Magmortar, as well as preventing Xatu from switching in safely.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP and Special Defense investment turns Solrock into a solid special wall, capable of taking repeated hits from Pokemon such as Magmortar, Pyroar, Swellow, and Charizard. With a Careful nature, Solrock avoids getting 2HKOed by Life Orb Pyroar's and Charizard's Hidden Power Grass. Leftovers is necessary to help Solrock avoid getting overwhelmed by passive damage and maintain its ability to switch into powerful Fire-types.
Usage Tips
========
Solrock is an effective pivot that can reliably set up Stealth Rock thanks to a combination of its bulk, typing, and Levitate ability. Switch Solrock into powerful Fire-type attacks from Pokemon such as Pyroar and Magmortar to either force a switch or easily OHKO them with Stone Edge. Morning Sun should be used conservatively, as Solrock will be pivoting into attacks frequently. Solrock can pivot into Normal-type attacks such as Kangaskhan's Double Edge and Tauros's Rock Climb and either heal up with Morning Sun or cripple them with Will-O-Wisp. However, Solrock should scout Tauros's moveset first, as the rare Iron Tail will do huge amounts of damage to it. Use Will-O-Wisp to annoy potential switch-ins and improve Solrock's matchup against strong neutral attackers such as Hitmonchan, Thick Fat Hariyama, Rhydon, and Piloswine.
Team Options
========
Water-type checks such as Poliwrath, Lanturn, and Vileplume are beneficial partners, as they tend to synergize quite well with Solrock. For example, Poliwrath can also handle most Dark-types that Solrock struggles with, Lanturn helps ease matchups with Rotom, and Vileplume can deal with Grass-types. It's important to be well prepared for Grass-types should Pokemon like Poliwrath and Lanturn be used as a partner, as Grass-types such as Shiftry and Lilligant can be very menacing to deal with. Fire-types such as Magmortar and Pyroar can take out the Grass-types that trouble Solrock. Magmortar in particular stands out, as it is able to lure in Water-types such as Mantine and Lanturn and take them out with Thunderbolt and Earthquake, respectively. In return, Solrock provides these Fire-types with a Ground-type immunity and Stealth Rock support. Solrock works well on hazard-stacking teams; therefore, Spikes users such as Garbodor, Ferroseed, and Roselia make solid partners. The former punishes Dark-types such as Skuntank and Shiftry while the latter two cover Solrock's weakness to Water-types. Skuntank is another notable partner due to its Pursuit trapping utility, letting it deal with Ghost- and Psychic-types, such as Rotom, Haunter, Mismagius, Musharna, and Xatu, while also being a good check to Shiftry. Finally, Flying-types such as Vivillon, Scyther, Charizard, and Rotom-S are helpful, as they can dispose of Grass-types as well as Guts Hariyama, which are huge threats to Solrock. Furthermore, these Flying-types love Stealth Rock support and appreciate Solrock's ability to wear down bulky Rock-, Steel-, and Ground-types such as Regirock, Steelix, and Rhydon for them.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Earthquake can be used to hit Rock- and Steel-types as well as Skuntank significantly harder; however, Solrock loses the ability to hit Charizard, and Stone Edge is significantly more powerful against neutral targets. Rock Tomb can be used for reliability and also to help slow down faster threats, although it comes at the cost of being significantly weaker than Stone Edge. Furthermore, Solrock can pull off a decent dual screens set with Light Clay; however, it is generally a niche set. Lastly, Solrock can run a Baton Pass set with Cosmic Power; however, it is very gimmicky, and Morning Sun is illegal with this combination. Overall, Solrock has little room for other options, as the moves on its standard set are all necessities.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Grass-types**: Grass-type Pokemon such as Lilligant, Vileplume, Abomasnow, and Torterra can force Solrock out with their super effective STAB moves, although none of them appreciate being crippled by Will-O-Wisp. Lilligant can even set up a Quiver Dance on Solrock, making it much more difficult to deal with.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Samurott, Floatzel, Ludicolo, Poliwrath, and Omastar can deal huge amounts of damage to Solrock with their STAB moves if not OHKO it with ease. Moreover, Swords Dance Samurott commonly runs Lum Berry, meaning it can set up on Solrock without the fear of being crippled by Will-O-Wisp. Floatzel can also switch into Will-O-Wisp because of its Water Veil ability, although it takes a significant amount of damage from Stone Edge.
**Dark-types**: Solrock is very vulnerable to being Pursuit trapped by Pokemon such as Skuntank and Liepard. Cacturne and Shiftry are both able to deal devastating amounts of damage to Solrock with Dark Pulse and Knock Off, respectively, although they hate switching into Will-O-Wisp, and they take a large chunk of damage from Stone Edge. Finally, Malamar uses Solrock as complete setup fodder, being able to stack Superpower boosts on it and use Rest to cure itself of Will-O-Wisp.
**Ghost-types**: Stallbreaker Mismagius is a hard stop to Solrock, preventing it from using Stealth Rock or any other status moves through Taunt while also being able to cripple it with Will-O-Wisp and hammer it with a boosted Hex. Offensive Ghost-types such as Golurk, Trevenant, and Haunter can easily OHKO Solrock with their STAB moves, therefore preventing it from setting up Stealth Rock. However, Haunter must be wary of switching into Stone Edge, while Golurk should avoid Will-O-Wisp. Finally, Rotom can either cripple Solrock by Tricking a Choice Scarf onto it or simply 2HKO it with Shadow Ball.
**Xatu**: Xatu can prevent Solrock from setting up Stealth Rock or crippling its teammates with Will-O-Wisp thanks to Magic Bounce. Although Xatu cannot switch into Stone Edge or Rock Slide comfortably, it can reliably stall out the former with Roost and proceed to set up Calm Mind or pivot out with U-turn.
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