It’s a great choice to have a strong Rock-type Pokémon in your team forPokémon Scarlet & Violet. They are super effective against Fire, Flying, Ice, and Bug-types. They will help carry you through the Bug and Ice gyms, along with the Team Star Fire Crew.
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Many of these Pokémon tend to have solid defensive stats, making them excellent for tougher titan battles where you’ll be getting hammered with powerful attacks. With a total of 400 Pokémon in the game, here are the best Rock-type Pokémon you need to consider adding to your team.
10Sudowoodo
Despite the clear appearance of being a tree, Sudowoodo is a pure Rock-type Pokémon. Being only one type is a give-and-take, allowing for only a few types to be super effective against it but having a smaller variation in its move pool.
Sudowoodo also comes with very strong abilities such as Rock Head. This ability keep Sudowoodo from receiving recoil, allowing you to use powerful physical attacks without their usual recoil penalty. Sturdy is also great for ensuring they will never go down with a surprise super effective one-shot attack.
9Stonjourner
Stonjourner is another Rock-only type Pokémon. Stonjourner has a very high base defense stat, making it a good tank-based Pokémon in battle. It does heavily suffer from its lower special defense, and should only be used against physical-based enemies.
Stonjourner has a unique ability and is the only Pokémon who gets it, Power Spot. This ability has no use in single battles, but in doubles, increases the damage on ally Pokémon attacks by 30%. One gym in Scarlet and Violet is built around double battles, and is the perfect use for this Pokémon’s ability.
Klawf is one of the new additions to this generation of Pokémon, and one isthe Stony Cliff Titan. This Pokémon is only a Rock-type, and does not have an evolution line. Klawf is better used as a physical type, as its Attack and Defense are much higher than its Special stats.
It has two possible abilities that are both great choices based on your play style. Shell Armor protects Klawf from critical hits, protecting it from lucky game-changing critical hits. Its other ability is Anger Shell, which lowers both special defense and defense at half health, but boosts attack, special attack, and speed. This ability is a gamble but can be used to strengthen Klawf halfway through battle.
Dreadnaw is both a water-type and a rock-type. With this additional typing, Grass-type moves are double super effective to it and can decimate Dreadnaw. It is also very resistant to fire attacks and takes little to no damage from them. Dreadnaw’s stats are more well-rounded and have a higher Attack than Defense stats.
Dreadnaw can get the Shell Armor ability to protect it from critical hits. It also has the option to have the Strong Jaw ability, boosting all biting-type moves damage by 50%. There are three dark-type biting moves Dreadnaw learns, and this ability helps branch out this Pokémon’s usage and type advantages.
6Lycanroc (Dusk Form)
Lycanroc’s dusk form is arguably its best. It is only a Rock-type, and has a decently high attack and speed stat, making it a perfect offensive-oriented Pokémon. It does suffer from low defense and special defense, but its higher speed stat makes it best to try and finish off your opponent in one strong hit quickly before they can attack back.
Its best abilities are either Keen Eye or Sand Rush. While Lycanroc doesn’t naturally learn sandstorm, combining a sandstorm with the Sand Rush ability makes Lycanroc’s speed unmatched. Keen Eye ignores the opponents' evasion stat, and ignores abilities that lower your Lycanroc’s accuracy, perfect for focusing on quickly finishing off your opponent.
5Coalossal
Coalossal is a Rock and Fire-type Pokémon. With that type matchup, it takes double super effective damage against water and ground-type attacks, and almost no damage from Fire-type attacks. It excels in its very high defense and health stats, making it difficult to take down without the right type matchup.
Coalossal has an incredibly low Speed stat, but with the ability Steam Engine, it gets a massive boost to speed when hit with water or Fire-type attacks. It also can get the ability Flash Fire, which increases its fire attacks by 50% if it is hit by a Fire-type attack, then it becomes immune to Fire attacks.
4Garganacl
Garganacal is another Rock-type only type Pokémon introduced in generation 9. Garganacl has an incredibly high defense stat, and a decent special defense stat, leaving it less open to high-damage attacks. It does suffer from a low Speed stat, and should mostly focus on physical attacks.
It has the ability Purifying Salt, which protects it from status conditions, and takes only half damage from ghost-type attacks. Its other ability options are Sturdy, to make sure it can’t get one shot, or Clear Body, which keeps its stats from being lowered by your opponent.
Glimmora is another new addition to Pokémon with this generation. It is a rock and poison-type with a very high special attack stat. It learns multiple moves that can increase its defense or survivability in general, making for a deadly combo with its special attack stat.
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It has access to the ability Toxic Debris, which spreads poison spikes around the enemy if this Pokémon is hit with a physical attack. This is the perfect ability to put on your first Pokémon in a battle, getting a free use of the toxic spikes move without using your turn.
2Iron Thorns
Iron Thorns is a very unique Pokémon added to this new generation. Its appearance seems to be a very futuristic and robotic Tyranitar. This Pokémon is a rock and electric type, and much like the original has very high stats across the board.
Like most Paradox Pokémon, Iron Thorns comes with the ability Quark Drive, boosting its best stat further when on an Electric Terrain, or if the Pokémon is holding Booster Energy. Usually its highest stat is its attack, making it deal devastating physical attacks with this boost.
1Tyranitar
While Iron Thorns was supposed to be an upgrade, nothing beats the original. Tyranitar was originally introduced in generation 2, and has always been in the top charts of Pokémon since. Overall Tyranitar has some of the highest stats in the game, and isone of the best Pokémonin any Pokémon game, including Scarlet & Violet.
Its abilities can be useful, but only situationally. Creating a sandstorm can be very effective as long as your next few Pokémon are also able to not take damage from it. Unnerve keeps your opponent from using a held berry, but that is a bonus that would only affect a few battles. Overall Tyranitar is powerful enough to make up for its mediocre abilities, and normally is strong enough to stay out and fight for the full 5 turns of the sandstorm it creates.
