Poke-Types: Rock

INTRODUCTION

With 47 species, the Rock-type is certainly not as abundant as Water-types in the Pokemon world. But, it's also not the most scarce either. Perhaps originally made popular by Brock on the TV show way back in the '90s, the Rock-type has more going for it than what meets the eye.



Most Rock-types tend to have high Attack and Defense stats, with poor Speed and Special stats. In the first few generations, many of the Rock Pokemon also had the dual type of Ground, which made them more vulnerable to types like Grass and Water. Most of the time, Rock-types tend to either be superb physical walls or physical attacking beasts. Who doesn't like beasts?

GENERAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

STRENGTHS

We begin with the obvious: fantastic attacking ability. Nearly all Rock-types have a base Attack stat of over 100, with some being upwards of 140. These things are POWERFUL. Add a STAB bonus onto their attacks and they can instantly rip holes through most teams.

Defense is another priority. Rock-types can take hits with the best of them, with much higher than average Defense stats. This makes them great at walling physical attackers and especially useful in warding off annoying Normal and Flying attackers.

He will mess you up. Unless your team uses Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Steel, is fully evolved, uses special attacks, or is good.

Rock offers some advantages when it comes to having a type advantage over an opponent. Rock is super-effective against Fire, Flying, Bug, and Ice. While this is only four types, Flying is an extremely popular type choice especially in competitive battles. Also note Rock's ability to trump many "go-to" Pokemon like the Kanto legendary birds, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Victini, Reshiram, and Charizard.


WEAKNESSES

The Rock-type suffers from 5 weaknesses, including Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, and Steel. With many of the Pokemon also having Ground as a second type, Water and Grass become 4x effective. As noted, the Water weakness can be a costly one specifically with it being the most popular type and it having a variety of moves not exclusive to only Water-types.

Poor Special stats (both Attack and Defense) hinder the Rock-type's ability to be a succesful all-around Pokemon. With the physical and special split originating in Gen IV, moves like Power Gem and Ancientpower have become mostly unusable by many Rock-types because of their awful Special Attack stats. Many of them who can also learn amazing coverage moves like Fire Blast, Thunder, and Blizzard cannot capitalize because of the lack of power. In addition, most Water and Grass moves are special, leaving Rock-types even more vulnerable.

Let's do a visual for this example. The Water and Grass special moves make Onix look like this:

OMFG

And then like this:

That's real Onyx right there yo

When he should look like this:



Honey Onix don't care.

Moving on...

Most of the Rock population is stuck using either Stone Edge or Rock Slide, as there are not many other choices for a STAB move. The moves themselves are good, but they suffer from accuracy woes and low PP.

Speed is often an issue for Rock-types. Some of the base stats for Speed hover around the disgusting 40 mark, a full 100 below the Attack and Defense stats for some. In Gen IV this problem finally got somewhat of a remedy with the addition of Rock Polish. Without it, 90 percent of Rock-types will move dead last in any given turn, which gives a clear advantage to quicker Water and Grass types.

ATTACKS

This section will be like two sections in one, considering there are only 2 legendaries for the Rock-type.

Stone Edge and Rock Slide are staples. In Double Battles, Rock Slide can be especially useful to attack both opponents at once. It also has a chance to make the opponent flinch, but with most Rock-types being as slow as they are, the chances are this effect will be meaningless. Stone Edge has a respectable 120 power, but with only 5 PP and 80 percent accuracy, it certainly has its downfalls.

Pebbles from hell. Relentlessly poking you and making you drop your 2x4's since 2007.

Rock Throw is not even worth discussing, but Rock Tomb is a completely different story (even though it has identical power with Rock Throw). It's secondary effect of reducing the opponent's Speed 100 percent of the time it hits can be a very effective gimmick.

Smack Down is an interesting move which grounds "raised" Pokemon like ones with the Levitate ability and Flying-types, making them susceptible to Ground-type moves like Earthquake. Seems to be more of a novelty move with only 50 power.

Rollout is best used after Defense Curl, as it gains a 2x bonus when used in that order. Rollout attacks for 5 turns consecutively or until the user misses, increasing in power each turn.

Rock Polish is Agility for Rockies, essentially. It raises the Speed stat by 2 levels upon each use, and is fantastic for leveling the playing field for the pokey Rock-types. Combined with Attack powerhouses like Rhyperior or Rampardos, it can create an almost unfair advantage.

Head Smash is an unbelievably powerful move, with a whopping 150 power rating (and 80 percent accuracy), but deals 50 percent of the damage inflicted back on the user in recoil. Not many Pokemon have access to this technique, with the only Rock-types having access to it in Black and White being Relicanth and the Rampardos line. The Aggron and Archeops lines can also obtain it through breeding if wanted.



Impressive headwear 101

Rhyperior and the Crustle line can learn Rock Wrecker through level-up, which is basically the physical Rock equivalent of Hyper Beam. The move has 150 power with 90 percent accuracy and forces the user to rest on the following turn.

On the special side of the spectrum, the main attacks are Power Gem and Ancientpower. Ancientpower is the highlight here, with a 10 percent chance to raise all of the user's stats at once.

Stealth Rock is used for entry hazards and harming Pokemon entering the fray.

For utility, the move Sandstorm alters the weather and damages all non-Steel, Rock or Ground types for 5 turns. Rock-type Pokemon also see an impressive 50 percent increase in their Special Defense while this weather condition remains active.

Believe it or not, this isn't Dragonball Z.

LEGENDARIES

It took 3 Generations before Gamefreak finally decided to include a Rock-type as a legendary. Regirock came as a package deal of legendaries with Registeel and Regice. Boasting a ridiculously high Defense stat of 200, Regirock also has a fairly diverse set of moves to pull from for a Rock-type (like ThunderPunch and Ice Punch) complimented by a not-too-shabby 100 Attack stat. Clear Body is its ability, which guards Regirock from having its stats lowered and can be useful when facing a Charm-happy opponent. Perhaps Regirock's largest threat is Explosion, which can decimate teams. Not only can Regirock use Explosion, but it can take the brunt of several of them as well. I often wonder what would happen if one were to "accidentally draw a happy face on one of his rocks...

He lives in a tomb of other rocks!

Terrakion belongs to the trio of dog-like legendary Fighting Pokemon of Gen V. Why a Fighting dog thingy? We have no idea. Terrakion is both Rock and Fighting type, with fairly balanced stats (with a little more emphasis on Attack and Speed), and a semi-useful ability in Justified, which raises Attack when hit by a Dark-type move. Sacred Sword is the most interesting of Terrakion's moves, first because it can only be learned by 4 Pokemon (Verizion, Coballion, Terrakion, and Keldeo), and second because it has 90 power (plus a STAB bonus for being a Fighting move) with 100 percent accuracy and a secondary effect of ignoring the foe's stat changes. So, kiss all of your frustrations from your opponents spamming Iron Defense and Double Team goodbye. Overall, Terrakion isn't great and in fact isn't as useful as Regirock. But the Rock-type will take what it can get.

How is this thing a Fighting-type again?

GYM LEADERS/ELITE FOUR

First, let's get the obvious one out of the way. Brock, the gym leader from Pewter City in the Kanto region, was the first trainer to make the Rock-type popular. Countless times we saw Brock taunting everyone he could with his stupid Geodude and Onix (he was an even bigger douche in Yellow). Brock loves his Onix and his Geodude. In the Johto games, Brock uses the evolved fossils, Kabutops and Omastar as well.

Relicanth is in this picture.

The gym leader of Rustboro City in the Hoenn region also makes the list, though she doesn't make too much of a splash in a popularity contest. In fact she's so unpopular that we couldn't even find a picture of her by herself. That doesn't make sense, but she's the one on the bottom. She also used a Geodude but would rather annoy the crap out of trainers with her Nosepass.

She looks more llike a Yu-Gi-Oh! character...

Roark calls the Oreburgh Gym in Sinnoh his training grounds. Like the previous two, he was the first gym to be conquered in his respective game. Cranidos is his go to Pokemon, which has an incredible Attack stat, especially for so early in the game.

I can definitely see how the headlamp is necessary.

How 'bout some favorites now?

CULLINATION FAVORITES

TYRANITAR: Boasting much more than just being the only Rock and Dark-type in the game, Tyranitar is a powerhouse among powerhouses. A huge movepool with a unique typing combine with Tyranitar's devastating stats to make one scary Pokemon. Upon entering battle, the Sand Stream ability kicks in and creates the Sandstorm weather condition (thereby raising his SpDef by 50 percent immediately, and reducing SolarBeam's power). Earthquake is learned through level up, plus Hyper Beam, Stone Edge, and Crunch, making Tyranitar a devastating mixed attacker. Add Dragon Dance or Rock Polish and this rocky dino becomes unbeatable in a hurry.

He's so badass, his arms are slightly longer than a T-Rex's arms. Bam.

 

AERODACTYL: We had to include a fossil Pokemon in here somewhere, and Aerodactyl is the clear choice. Among the fastest Pokemon in the game, Aerodactyl can make quick work of a lot of opponents with his high Attack power as well. Being as fast as he is, Aerodactyl can quickly set up Stealth Rock or Taunt, unleash an Earthquake, or actually get a flinching opportunity with Rock Slide. Not only is Aerodactyl fast, but he also has the ability to cover his weaknesses with a large movepool including amazing coverage moves like Fire Fang, Iron Head, and even Aqua Tail. Want an annoying lead Pokemon? Look no further.

 

Fastest Rock-type ever. No really, he is the fastest. LOOK IT UP



SHUCKLE: Yep, you're reading correctly. Shuckle. Why on Earth would we like this little bug/turtle thingy? Very simple. 230 base for both its defense stats and the move Power Trick, which will switch Shuckle's awful Attack stat with its amazing Defense. After using Withdraw, the boost is even higher. But how to overcome the Speed issue? 3 Rock Polishes before using Power Swap, that's how. Using this method, it's possible to have a little turtle guy with max speed and an Attack Stat of over 2,000 using STAB Rock Slides or Stone Edges. Not only is he a pain in the ass, but little ol' Shuckle can be turned into a killing machine.

Prepare to be slaughtered.