Why is Stealth Rock so good? | Competitive Pokemon EXPLAINED

Today I answer a question I've been getting a few times on stream from newer players. The idea might seem extremely basic, but it's important that people understand because it's foundational to how competitive singles works. If you have any other questions you'd like to see answered, comment below or stop by my stream and ask: www.twitch.tv/nathanlikeschicken1
Music used:
• Professor Rowan's Poké...
#Pokemon # PokemonSwordShield #PokemonShowdown #CompetitivePokemon

[@AlexRiversMusic]

I think it was worth mentioning that mons weak to rocks should have an odd HP number to come in 3 times against rocks instead of 2, or 5 times instead of 4.

[@bamf940]

I agree with this statement!

[@GIR177]

Well it's not just SR rock mons, but any Pokémon whose HP will be divisible by 8. That's why you see some non-rock weak mons like Scizor running 248 HP on bulky sets, because 252 HP means it'll die after switching into stealth rock 8 times.

[@johnpaulmanlulu8708]

Thanks for the basic idea. This likely gets used more in competitive, rather than regular playthrough as in-game trainers don't switch as often during battles on generation 4 or lower.

[@Randomdudefromtheinternet]

Loving the content, and the music is giving me Gen 4 nostalgia :)

[@shaggytheshaman]

Fyi, the "double-edged sword" metaphor refers to a sword which is sharp on each side of the blade, not a sword with two blades. The phrasing alludes to the idea that there's always a sharp edge pointed at you as well as at your opponent. :)

[@dunktastic2247]

Your production value is really good

[@bamf940]

Enjoying the vid on comp stuff. Not easy to get it from a newcomer(to Comp) perspective so it was nice to at least get something from someone nearer my level.

[@rkr3761]

Keep up the good work bro

[@dondeeman]

This was a great explanation

[@akki3030]

Thankyou sooo much sir..... u have explained.....from the tip of the root to the highest branches..... thankYou.... Big big big fan of u sir!!!!

[@ChikaJihyo]

great video!

[@Vorusen]

Playing white 2 and caught an onix that was 15 levels lower than my team but the badge I was on, the leader just kept spamming volt switch. Put onix in lead with study and used stealth rocks, made that gym a joke lol

[@rasendestroyer2701]

The thing i don't get is why it has to be based on a type. Why cant all pokemon get equal damage from it?

[@dianauwu1312]

Because Spikes was introduced before Stealth Rock, and Flying Types or Levitate 'mons are immune to spikes. Stealth Rocks not only hurts flying types, but does more damage to them.

[@rasendestroyer2701]

@@dianauwu1312 Thanks for your explanation, I appreciate it, I really do :) But pokemon has deleted moves in the past. From gen 7 to gen 8 as many moves as pokemon where cut. They could've just deleted spikes to make room for a neutral Stealth Rock 🙈

[@salpheaus8435]

I'll be your first subscriber bud

[@NathanLikesChicken]

Appreciated man! Thank you

[@gregorymirabella1423]

good on you, i'll add to the pile.

[@taotaozhang4568]

I see that creatine on the shelf, get those sweet +EVs my dude!

[@roberteriksen6434]

One thing I think is often overlooked is the idea of defensive/offensive typing and how Stealth Rock abuses it. Rock is an offensive type, meaning it's super effective against a lot of moves(4), but is in turn weak to a lot of types(5). That's usually the tradeoff for offensive types. However, SR is almost universally available to Mons with a DEFENSIVE typing(even the ones that are DEFENSIVELY statted), which honestly to me looks like a design flaw from the beginning, since it completely deletes the rock type out of the game. The move should have followed the same philosophy as Extreme Speed, where only really fast Mons gets it(as in, only offensive Rock types should get it). If stuff like Snorlax got Extreme Speed it would eliminate the 'flaws' and identity of the Mon. Stealth Rock as is not only nullifies the weaknesses and therefore identity of a lot of slow/defensive Mons by giving them access to an extremely damaging move, it also removes the identity of Rock typing by never having to use another rock move in the game. It's just such a design fail from the very start and its unexcusable that it went on for so long. Commenting for the algorithm.

[@naejimba]

I agree completely... many rock types don't get much use as it is, and there is a risk/reward factor to it that would fit nicely if it was limited to rock types. This would be a great way to see them get more use, and could lead to people building teams around it. As is, it is far too overpowered since so many pokemon can use it and on top of it all it takes type weaknesses into account for its damage. This is made worse since some of the types it is effective against either tend to be lacking in defense or overall usefulness (ice and bug come to mind) or a type like flying which is a common secondary type. I would argue it could also be useful if available on an underpowered pokemon that doesn't get much play, to perhaps give them a niche use. Then again, it really doesn't seem like balance in design was a priority from the very beginning, all the way through their attempts to fix it to date. Hell, even the vast difference in total stat values and the fact that a majority of pokemon are not viable is a great example of this. I remember during gen 3, I decided to make my own type chart and added a "light" type to balance it and changed a few things around, and it was a much better solution then what they came up with (I still have the file somewhere). Many type combinations are also horrible (another thing I mostly fixed), and using abilities similar to how levitate or thick fat work would allow them to create viable pokemon (an easy solution). The game is filled with lazy design and it took far too long to get the changes that occurred. I feel like the genre is ripe for some indie developer to create something superior.

[@LegendaryCaptain]

When you mentioned tradeoff for offensive types it made me think THANK GOD there isn't an ice version of stealth rock that would be every dragon pseudo's worst nightmare alongside fairies.

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

It’s baffling that this move hasn’t been nerfed at all.

[@macklinwright3966]

The way I see things is that if this wasn’t a move to begin with we would be constantly be seeing people switch Pokémon constantly with very little risk and don’t forget that defog does remove it so it a direct counter and in a sense it does balance it out

[@GeneralForster]

Doesn't need to be

[@internetmovieguy]

just a little bit of damage. Charizard would like a word with you.

[@ASHURAXCZ]

Rapid spin don’t work no more

[@NathanLikesChicken]

Not sure what you mean but it's actually better than ever! Sword and Shield gave it a huge power boost (now 50 BP!) and it also now grants a +1 speed boost. This is insane as it lets pokemon like excadrill come in and safely rapid spin, as they are then too fast to be revenge killed by faster pokemon like zeraora and terrakion. If you're referring to it not working against ghost type pokemon, that's always been the case and in my opinion is a great piece of balancing by game freak. If not for the proliferation of ghost types this gen, I think rapid spin might have gotten too good.

[@aceclover758]

SR over centralized and ruined the game since everything revolves around it and made fire and ice types even more useless than before. The fact SR didn’t have immunity like spikes was a huge problem. SR is part of the reason I quit gen 4: too many SR Want to punish switching? That is what spikes, set up moves are for

[@gregorymirabella1423]

i absolutely hate this move. as if bug and ice types didn't have it bad enough, there has to be a move that makes them completely butt-fucking useless. but of course, whenever i use "the best move in the game" it never has any noticeable effect, even if my opponent never uses rapid spin or defog. it's one thing to punish an opponent for something, but punishing players for utilizing THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT MECHANIC IN THE GAME is where i stop tolerating. FUCK. THIS. MOVE.

[@Veinelso]

Just use heavy duty boots lmao

[@gregorymirabella1423]

@@Veinelso i don't know if you've noticed, but that takes up your entire item slot.

[@PKMN649]

It's literally the point of this move. To make it so battles aren't eternal and you need to use your brain and consider if the swap is worth the chip damage. It also really helps deal with stall. Also none of the Pokemon who would take 50% from rocks that see no use would see any use without rocks, it just makes the things it checks more oppressive.

[@friendlyanomaly6109]

Why hasn't stealth rocks been banned yet? Lol.

[@rasendestroyer2701]

The thing i don't get is why it has to be based on a type. Why cant all pokemon get equal damage from it?

[@CantusTropus]

That was Game Freak's decision. But just like Smash Melee, the competitive Pokémon community has to deal with balance decisions made by a company that has no idea what is and isn't balanced, and which probably doesn't care anyway. They made this move and we have to live with it.

[@jianchristian1367]

​​​​@@CantusTropusbecause there is a hazard that already does that, spikes and the important part was spikes came first before stealth rocks, so wouldn't make sense if they just copied the concept of spikes..