[OVERVIEW]
Rock
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Rhyperior is the best physical blanket check on Rock teams due to its fantastic HP and Defense stats and access to great coverage. With the ability Solid Rock, Rhyperior is able to absorb powerful super effective hits from various physical attackers. Access to Fire Punch and Ice Punch lets it beat physical attackers like Choice Scarf Landorus-T, Mega Scizor, and Garchomp. Its Ground typing allows it to target threats like Excadrill and Terrakion, as well as frail Pokemon like Lopunny and Mega Sharpedo, with Earthquake. Rhyperior's high Attack stat in tandem with Weakness Policy allows it to break past defensive Pokemon like Toxapex and Ferrothorn. Unfortunately, its poor special bulk leaves it largely susceptible to special attackers like Landorus, Latios, and Kyurem-B. Its typing gives it an extreme weakness to Grass and Water, leaving it largely threatened by Pokemon such as Tapu Bulu and Keldeo. As a Mega Scizor check, it faces competition from Alolan Golem, which can trap Mega Scizor with Magnet Pull before KOing it with Fire Punch and can also trap and remove many other bulky Steel-types like Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Celesteela. However, Rhyperior can blanket check a wider range of threats with its superior physical bulk and defensive ability.
[SET]
name: Physical Blanket Check (Rock)
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Fire Punch
move 3: Ice Punch
move 4: Rock Slide / Roar
item: Weakness Policy
ability: Solid Rock
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Earthquake is Rhyperior's strongest STAB move, allowing it to beat potent physical attackers like Excadrill and Terrakion. Fire Punch is important coverage, letting Rhyperior beat Steel-types like Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn. Ice Punch is another important coverage move to beat Ground-types like Landorus-T and Gliscor as well as Dragon-types like Dragonite and Garchomp. Rock Slide is preferred over Stone Edge for its accuracy, allowing Rhyperior to beat Pokemon like Mega Aerodactyl and, provided Sticky Web is up, Araquanid more consistently. Roar is another option as a means of phazing setup sweepers that Rhyperior is unable to offensively threaten, such as Mega Gallade and Mew.
Set Details
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Maximum investment in HP and Defense with an Impish nature makes Rhyperior as physically bulky as possible, avoiding 2HKOs from Choice Scarf Terrakion's Close Combat and Choice Scarf Landorus-T's Earthquake. Solid Rock lets Rhyperior take less damage from super effective moves, which is especially helpful against +1 Mega Lopunny's High Jump Kick and +2 Mega Scizor's Superpower. The Weakness Policy doubles Rhyperior's Attack when it's hit by a super effective move and gives it the power it needs to OHKO Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Mega Sharpedo with Earthquake.
Usage Tips
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For threats such as +2 Mega Scizor and Mega Lopunny, it's best to keep Rhyperior as healthy as possible so that it can survive a hit from these threats and remove them. However, if Rhyperior does get worn down, it can still avoid a 2HKO from Pokemon like Choice Scarf Terrakion, Landorus-T, and Stakataka, so it can still be used to blanket check them. Because of Rhyperior's terrible Special Defense, it's best to keep it away from special attackers such as Landorus and Latios. If the Rock team already has an offensive answer to Pokemon like Mega Lopunny and Excadrill such as Choice Scarf Terrakion, Rhyperior can still be useful for dealing with teammates of these Pokemon like Ditto and Dugtrio. Keep Rhyperior away from status conditions such as burn and poison, since burn will make it unable to OHKO various physical attackers and poison will quickly wear it down. Rhyperior's Weakness Policy boosts will go away the moment it switches out, so make sure to know when to keep it around for Pokemon like Mega Sharpedo and Mega Lopunny. Try forcing out Pokemon like Mega Scizor and Landorus-T to double switch into another offensive Pokemon like Terrakion or Mega Diancie to gain momentum and threaten their teammates.
Team Options
========
Mega Diancie can beat special wallbreakers like Keldeo and Hydreigon for Rhyperior and bounce back Toxic Spikes with Magic Bounce to keep Rhyperior healthy. Shuckle can switch into Grass-type attacks for Rhyperior thanks to its Grass neutrality. In return, Rhyperior can check Steel- and Rock-types like Excadrill and Terrakion that Shuckle can't do anything against. Terrakion appreciates Rhyperior's ability to check threatening physical attackers like Ditto and Mega Scizor so that it can sweep Normal and Steel, respectively. Tyranitar can break past physical walls like Slowbro and Mega Venusaur for Rhyperior and can beat special attackers like Latios and Greninja. Nihilego can beat Grass-types like Tapu Bulu and Celebi with its Poison-type STAB attacks as well as Water-types like Mega Swampert and Suicune with its coverage moves. It can also remove Toxic Spikes to keep Rhyperior healthy. Cradily can switch into Water-type attacks for Rhyperior and can beat bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon and Gastrodon. Omastar beats physical walls like Skarmory and Hippowdon after a Shell Smash and appreciates Rhyperior's ability to beat Excadrill and Dugtrio so that it can effectively sweep Ground teams.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Rock
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Leftovers is an item option to give Rhyperior passive recovery to increase its survivability. However, without Weakness Policy, it's forced to rely on Counter to achieve important OHKOs against Mega Lopunny and Mega Sharpedo, which is much more reliant on prediction and isn't as consistent.
Checks and Counters
===================
Rock
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**Water-types**: Greninja and Keldeo are able to exploit Rhyperior's quadruple Water weakness and poor Special Defense in order to OHKO it with Hydro Pump.
**Grass-types**: Tapu Bulu and Breloom are able to beat Rhyperior with their 4x effective Grass STAB moves despite Rhyperior's great physical bulk. Special Grass-types like unboosted Celebi and Serperior can also capitalize on this severe weakness.
**Special Wallbreakers**: Latios, Nidoking, and Landorus take advantage of Rhyperior's bad Special Defense in order to OHKO it with their STAB moves.
**Physically Defensive Pokemon**: Slowbro, Mega Venusaur, and Porygon2 can survive all of Rhyperior's hits while simultaneously sustaining themselves, and can slowly wear it down.
**Residual Damage**: Status conditions such as burn and poison are a large hindrance to Rhyperior. Burn halves its Attack and mitigates its offensive presence, while poison quickly eats away at its health.
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