I had a team in need of SR that I was making with TropiOUs that had to do well against sun, tacked this on, and it did great.
[SET]
name: Stealth Rock
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Taunt / Swords Dance
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Close Combat
item: Focus Sash
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While other Terrakion sets are more focused towards sweeping and punching holes, this set focuses more on supporting its teammates by setting up Stealth Rock. Terrakion makes for an excellent user of Stealth Rock due to the many switches it forces with its heralded STAB
attacks (subjective but I find this to sound better). This Terrakion set is best used in the lead position, as it can get up Stealth Rock right off the bat and threatens common weather inducer
s and entry hazard leads. It can prevent Deoxys-D from getting up any entry hazards with Taunt and can stop most setup sweepers that might choose to lead in their tracks. Another reason why Terrakion is an excellent setter of Stealth Rock is that it can beat a common Rapid Spinner—Forretress—as well as Espeon and Xatu
, which reflect Stealth Rock and Taunt. Very few Stealth Rock users can beat Espeon and Xatu, so this is a major advantage over other users. In addition, Terrakion is pretty much the only Stealth Rock user not named Tyranitar that is legitimately threatening to sun and its most common methods of preventing Stealth Rock from being set up, namely Forretress and Xatu. Stone Edge and Close Combat hit most of a sun team for heavy damage and Stealth Rock is a pain for Fire-types such as Volcarona, Victini, and Ninetales on said teams. Terrakion also is not setup bait for opposing
entry hazard setters
, unlike Landorus-T, Ferrothorn, and Mamoswine
(are Landy-T and Mamo really setup bait? I'd say Ferro and Forre would be better here). Swords Dance can be used over Taunt to bluff one of the more traditional Terrakion sets and to provide immediate pressure in the lead position and later in the game after Stealth Rock has already been set up. As a final note, Stealth Rock Terrakion is unexpected,
which gives it more opportunity to set up.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs are fairly obvious, with maximum investment in both Attack and Speed for Terrakion to function as efficiently as possible. The remaining 4 EVs are invested in Special Defense to prevent Genesect from getting a Special Attack boost and putting a decently-sized dent in Terrakion with Thunderbolt. A Jolly nature is used to best abuse Terrakion's high Speed stat, but an Adamant nature is an option, allowing Terrakion to always OHKO standard Breloom. However, this would cause Terrakion to never win
Speed ties with other Terrakion, Keldeo, and other Pokemon
with 95 base Speed or above that choose to run positive natures, as well as making it impossible to test whether opposing Landorus and Genesect are using a Choice Scarf or not with Terrakion's Focus Sash, but it is often worth the trade-off should one desire Terrakion hit harder. Speaking of Focus Sash, it guarantees the setup of Stealth Rock in the lead position and allows Terrakion to stay in and go for the KO on opposing Starmie and Jolteon, among other Pokemon that outspeed it.</p>
<p>Where other move options are concerned, there are two that can boost Terrakion's effectiveness in certain situations. Substitute can be used to allow Terrakion to beat every common spinner, including Forretress, Starmie, and Tentacruel, as well as threaten sun teams even more by having a method to bypass Venusaur with a Chlorophyll boost. In that case, a Stone Plate may be used to boost the power of Stone Edge or a Fist Plate to boost the power of Close Combat due to the fact that Substitute is redundant with Focus Sash. However, Focus Sash already does this and more, so Substitute is very niche and usually less effective than Focus Sash + Taunt. X-Scissor is an option to OHKO Celebi, but its use would be solely for that purpose and so is not recommended unless one's team has trouble with Celebi. Lastly, a Rock Gem can be used to OHKO bulky Starmie and 2HKO standard Tentacruel, but Focus Sash has a myriad of uses that make Rock Gem inferior.</p>
<p>In the realm of support, there is nothing mandatory as Terrakion does very well as a standalone Pokemon. However, there are many optional forms of support that are beneficial to Terrakion. A spinblocker such as Gengar, Jellicent, or Sableye is helpful due to the fact that Terrakion will have trouble setting up Stealth Rock multiple times due to its partial reliance on Focus Sash to do so. Toxic Spikes support may be helpful if one wants Terrakion to beat bulky Water-types, with the two best users being Tentacruel and Forretress. There are many Pokemon that partner well with Terrakion thanks to its overwhelming power and utility. Since this Terrakion is a nightmare for sun teams, Tyranitar loves it as a partner, freeing up a moveslot for another coverage move and in return providing a 50% boost to Terrakion's Special Defense. With Terrakion being used in tandem with it, Suicide Lead Deoxys-D
(consider "Fast Lead Deoxys-D" as per the currently on-site analysis, or simply "lead Deoxys-D")can run 3 attacks, and Terrakion resists Bug- and Steel-type attacks that threaten Deoxys-D while Deoxys-D resists Fighting-type attacks that threaten Terrakion. Dragonite boasts excellent defensive synergy with Terrakion and enjoys Stealth Rock not being set up
thanks to Taunt preventing it as well as having Ferrothorn removed. Latias is in the same boat as Dragonite and always beats Starmie, a major threat to Terrakion if its Focus Sash is already broken. Politoed enjoys the fact that Terrakion can remove its two most common rival weather inducers, Tyranitar and Ninetales, both of which hinder Politoed and its teammates. Lastly, it should be mentioned that every team pretty much requires Stealth Rock in one way or another, and Terrakion is an amazing user of it.</p>
