Random question; what if Stealth Rock was a different type?

[StrangerDanger]

I think we're fine on spike types, but, i was thinking how awesome it would be to have Burning Spikes! It'd be extremely broken, as one layer would just attack drop and 12%, and two layers would attack drop and 20%, increasing the timer on your life. Obv, avoided by Levitators/Fliers, and then would be absorbed by Fire types.

Still would be extremely broken, destroying a lot of physical attackers, but then i think Heatran usage, and Rest/Talk machamp useage would go up as well.

 

[Firestorm]

Icicle Rocks would be devastating. Halving the damage from Stealth Rock would make it good, but not overpowered.

 

[Hyra]

I vote Stealth Rock should do a flat 18% to all Flyers / Levitators, and not screw with the ground-bound crew. Stealth Rock did nothing to decrease the prevalence of Levitators, some of the most common ones resist it (looking at Bronzong).

 

[Vilocon]

Stealth Rock is one helluva move, undeniably. Not only does it ruin all focus sashers, it has screwed over plenty of pokemon (Butterfree, Scyther, Charizard, pure fire and Ice types, Regice to an extent, and so on). This is mostly thanks to its rock typing.

What if, though, SR was a different type? One that still has no immunities but isn't rock type. What if it was steel type? Ice type? Dragon type, even. How would that change things in terms of what pokemon see more use or how often the move is used.

I mean, let's say it's steel type; Ice types still would like it, but pokemon like Tyranitar or Rhyperior or something could have a harder time coming in, no? Not to mention pure fire types and all those part bug 4x rock weaks wouldn't be AS bad now.

And if it were Ice type? So long dragons. Regice could have SOMETHING over Blissey, fire types wouldn't be as screwed. And what about all the grass and ground pokemon, like Tangrowth, Sceptile, Donphan, Gliscor, Marowak and stuff? The bulky ground probably would see less action, I would think.

And then--and this is truly crazy--what if there were a SR of every type? How broken would the metagame be if that happened? If it did happen, how could it be worked so that it didn't completely own everything? Only one type of SR at a time, or one use on the Stealth whatever (is expended when enemy switches into it, so you have to set it up again)?

First off, Ice is weak to Steel. Fire types resist Steel and Ice.

Honestly, Rock is kinda the best typing for it. Not to mention it opposites the Ground typed Spikes, getting most of the fliers for SE damage since theyre immune to Spikes.

Besides, only Steel, Ground, and Fighting resist Rocks. And to my knowledge, only Steelix and Lucario resists it 4x. Rock is one of the best offensive types in the game.

The typing of Stealth Rock is undeniably the best type Game Freak could have chosen for it.

 

[Syberia]

If only Defog didn't only remove spikes on the opponent's side of the field. Then quite a few more things could get rid of them. And an utterly useless HM would have a use.

 

[jujuomi]

Doesn't defog remove it from both fields?

 

[Thunderhorse]

I think we're fine on spike types, but, i was thinking how awesome it would be to have Burning Spikes! It'd be extremely broken, as one layer would just attack drop and 12%, and two layers would attack drop and 20%, increasing the timer on your life. Obv, avoided by Levitators/Fliers, and then would be absorbed by Fire types.

I was thinking it would just burn, like Toxic Spikes just poisons/toxics the incoming Pokemon. It might also go away after x amount of turns (as fires eventually burn out) to keep it from being too broken, but I'm not sure if that would balance it or make it useless. Fire types not named Charizard, Moltres, or Ho-oh would absorb it as well (as you mentioned).

Doesn't defog remove it from both fields?

No, Defog removes spikes from the opponent's side. Like if you both used Stealth Rock on each other, then you used Defog, it would remove the Rocks on the opponent's side, and do nothing to the ones on yours.

 

[Abacus]

Confusion spikes, counterpart to toxic spikes, would make confusion actually viable. One use and the opponent misses 50% of the time?
...okay not just viable but rigged.

 

[Swimrunner]

i think stealth rock was a horrible idea. lots of pokemon out there such as scyther or charizard/moltres are used in very narrow contexts simply because stealth rock makes them a liability much of the time.

 

[Boa1891]

And if it were Ice type? So long dragons. Regice could have SOMETHING over Blissey.
What is implied that blissey wouldn't learn it, It gets stealth rocks... but then again, blissey has better things to do, spreading paralisis and Aromatheropeeing, then spreading this fictional spikes, or the actual stealth rocks. Water types though, seeing as how almost all of them learn an Ice attack, might become a nice type to abuse these Ice spikes. We even have a strange array of defensive watertypes...

I think you missed the point- Regice would resist it, and I guarantee it would be more often used than SR unless there were only like 2 Pokémon that learn it.