In this post i wanna talk a bit about the stealth rockers in the current pu tier. Note: I tested every single one so my descriptions should be pretty accurate
Here are all pokemon that have stealth rock and may be viable in the current meta:
The first one is clefairy. Being a fairy type rocker allows it to setup rocks in front of fighting types, although it has to be wary of knock off, because it doesnt tank very much once its eviolite is gone. Having magic guard and reliable recovery also makes it easy to setup rocks multiple times in a game and its plethora of support and status moves make it not very easy to spin against it without taking a para, toxic or just getting teleported out on into something threatening. Having magic coat also helps against opposing rocks, although it is a gimmicky option.
Next up is diglett, an offensive rocker. It is almost only used with sash and you usually get up the rocks after you have succesfully trapped and eliminated something and use the turn after that to get up rocks at 1 hp; it is able to do that because it is the 14th fastest pokemon in the tier(but it speed ties with silvally, which is almost on every team) and with 25 points its the fastest stealth rocker in the current tier. Its better to use this pokemon with another rocker on the team, because you most likely wont have the time nor the hp to setup rocks. But you can still always getup rocks and eliminate something, for example if the opposing manectric locks into an electric type move. It is better as an offensive pokemon and you should not rely on it getting up rocks, rather trapping and eliminating something
I also tried rhyhorn, but unfortunately it gets outclassed by carkoal in almost every aspect, the only things i found
where rhydon is better were:
1.no stealth rock weakness
2. better at checking manectric due to its ground typing
3. a little more physical bulk
4. Stab edgequake ( earthquake and stone edge)
Sadly, rhyhorn is worse in every other way ( even Pupitar is better in every way, so dont use rhyhorn)
Shuckle is one of the best suicide leads in the current metagame. It has a focus sash in sturdy and can hold a mental herb against taunt or encore users. Its 230 def stats also let it often get up both hazards, sticky web and stealth rock. Shuckle is thus often seen on HO teams that wont let their opponent spin or defog and focus on getting many kills in a short amount of time. Its sticky web allows slower pokemon, like stonjourner, to be an offensive threat on those kind of teams.The combination of stealth rocks and sticky web itself is a great combination; ninjask avoids webs but takes 50 % stealth rock damage and if it has heavy duty boots, then it hasnt got acrobatics.
Palpitoad has one of the best type combinations; pairing with its ability, it has 4 weaknesses and two immunities and the only weakness is the 4x grass weakness. The resistance to electric and fire allows it to wall manectric completely and to setup rocks in manectrics face. It also counters all stonjourner sets without toxic and choose to either kill it or get up rocks as it switches out. Palpitoad is good in combination with clefairy not because of type synergy, rather because clef absorbs status, has wish and can even cure palpitoads status with aromatherapy. Palpitoads 75 hp with 55 defenses does not sound very bulky, but it can eat up a lot of hits due to its typing and eviolite and it can be run physically and specially defensive.
The next pokemon with a very good typing is mawile; its typing is probably the best typing that currently exists. It has 9 normal resistances, one 4x resistance to bug and immunities to dragon and poison. Mawiles stats are what is holding it back from success in higher tiers but 50 hp with 85 base defense with intimidate, one of the best abilities, Mawile becomes very hard to handle for teams that dont have good ground or fire types but you can let your team handle those. Mawile walls many important pokemon, like ninjask, leafeon, silvally flying and the list goes on. Mawile isnt just all about defense though, it also has a terrifying life orb sheer force set that can get up rocks while it threatens a ko with its 104 base power iron heads and 117 base power play roughs, which are also boosted by life orb. Mawile apreciates wish support, especially the rocky helmet set but it can also make use of its 50 base hp and use pain split. Overall, Mawile is one of the best walls and stealth rockers in the current tier.
Next up are the sun and moon pokemon, solrock and lunatone. Which one you take just comes down to whether you want a
special or a physical rocker. Both have reliable recovery in morning sun and in moonlight, have the same typing, just the physical and special stats are reversed. Solrock gets flare blitz and will o wisp and lunatone gets moonblast. I used them as offensive rockers, I gave solrock a life orb and max speed and max attack and i was often able to set up rocks while the opponent switched out, fearing a flare blitz or stone edge. I gave lunatone max hp and special attack to be a more bulky rocker, although i like solrock more due to its superior movepool and the fact that solrocks physical bulk is more useful than lunatones special bulk. If you find any cool lunatone set that i didnt find, then please tell me and I will try it out.
Hippopotas seems to be a decent stealth rocker due to its high defense in combination with its hp and eviolite. In the few games i tried it out, it worked well. Thanks to reliable recovery in slack off it was able to get up rocks multiple times in one game. I used in in combination with gloom, which covers all of hippos weaknesses except for ice, but ice types dont want to get toxiced or earthquaked. However, physically defensive hippo does not check specs manectric reliably; one overheat did 73% to my hippopotas. But that isnt the biggest flaw of it. Mono ground doesnt have many resistances and it struggles to switch into many offensive teams unlike silvally ground, which is faster and can u turn out on pokemon like bellossom or arctovish but it doesnt have stealth tock. Hippopotas also cant really hit many pokemon its supposed to check, for example balloon raichu and ninjask got free setup and you dont want to give up on toxic for rock slide.
The next one is bronzor, a very passive pokemon. It saw much success in the last generation's ZU but it lost one of its two damage options, psywave. It is very good at getting up rocks but it has no reliable recovery unless you have a heal bell user(rest). Bronzor walls silvally ground and can get up rocks the turn it defogs. But bronzor is hit very hard by knock off, not only losing its eviolite but also taking a massive hit. Bronzor walls many pokemon of the metagame but it cant do anything against any steel type. But it is good on a stall based team that has wish support and trapinch to trap those steel types.
Next up is Pupitar, the hard shell pokemon. It has the same typing as rhyhorn so it has the same strenghts, like checking manectric or having Stab edgequake. The things that make pupitar better are:
1.W
ay better sp.def stat
2. Enough speed to outrun mawile naturally
3.The incredible ability shed skin. Shed skin lets you use rest and have a 33% chance to get rid of your 'sleep' status. But it also helps against toxic if you dont want to use rest and this ability also doesnt make you require clef, unlike rhyhorn ,which needs clef for wish and heal bell. But Pupitar's typing isnt the best, a weakness to eathquake and two 4x weaknesses,grass and water. That said, my pupitar got up rocks at least once a game but there are better and more consistend stealth rockers, like mawile or palpitoad, which also checks manectric but is immune to water and has no weakness agsint ground, thus checking stonjourner
The next one is one of the gen8 pokemon, carkol. It is currently the only fire rock type pokemon, and can check pokemon other rockers cant as good as it. The best example is ninjask, ninjask is even afraid of u turning agaisnt carkol because it does not want to get burned by flame body and carkol also resists acrobatics and kills ninjask with a simple rock blast. What makes carkol unique is not only its typing, rather its movepool. Although it does not have a great offensive movepool, it has rocks, spikes AND rapid spin so it can be the role of a hazard setter, a haza
rd removal or simply both at the same time. Its good hp stat and good defenses plus the eviolite make it really bulky on both sides, even able to tank a life orb stomping tantrum from heatmor, although you dont want to stay in on that. Carkols biggest flaw is its stealth rock weakness and so it basically always has to be played in combination with wish. Carkol is also very vulnerable to toxic and thats why it often struggles against bulkier teams it wants to spin. Also one weakness is that its often not able to get a spin off because it cant hit ghost types very hard. It also is part of the 4 moveslot syndrom, you want toxic for ghosts rapid spin as removal, rocks and spikes as hazards, rock blast to break substitutes and to have a stab move and flame
thrower to hit gourgeist. But it does its role as a spinner or remover pretty well.
Stonjourner is an intersting case. Its low sp.def only lets it set up rocks on physical pokemon or walls that arent going to attack you. I used a stonjourner with adamant nature, life orb and three attacks + rocks. Stonjourner isnt really good at setting up rocks. If it is on the field, which it rarely ever does because of its sp.def, you more likely want to get a really strong hit off on an opposing wall, even mawile gets 2KOd by heat crash as it switches in. You should either use a second rocker on your team or give stonjourner four attacks to hit more things super effectiffely.
The next is mudbray, the literal goat :) . Its ability stamina lets it wall klang, which otherwise destroys any balance without throh but mudbray gets a +2 defense boost every time klang attacks and even 2kos it with earthquake. It also gets free entry on mawile if you are having rest. It is also able to get up rocks against stonjourner, which only raises your defense. The most common defogger at the time is silvally ground and you can simply toxic it and then spam rocks until he is forced out. It is also a rocker that isnt scared of trapinch at all, unlike mawile. Here is the team (the other teams arent here because I didnt have much success)
https://pokepast.es/5d61e04684163fae
Well thats it. I hope this threat helps you decide which stealth rocker to take for your team! Now please dont point out every grammar or spelling mistake. Have some mercy for a german 8th grader.
SS PU Alpha Tour usage stats - R3 
SS PU Alpha Tour usage stats - Finals 
