Rock Slide

[Nevermind]

To me this move was just a standard that you could expect to see on just about any physical sweeper. But now this move has seriously ruined the game for me. I get haxed by this move way too much I mean it critical hits frequently and causes flinch even more and considering that rock slide can 2hko just about any guy if you have choice band (maybe) this was really frustrating. This move always screws me over. I've seriously seen my skarm get flinched three times in a row and then die, and skarm should NOT die against physical sweepers unless they have really set up. I'm taking a long break from pkmn pvp, if I could get rid of anything in this game and that's taking into account that skarmory isn't fair and that blissey screws teams over, I would just get rid of rock slide completely and remake the same attack with no flinch. Anyone else think this move is too good or I'm a noob, feel free to post.

[Kuiper]

Rock Slide doesn't critical any more often than, say, Surf. In fact, it CH's less frequently than Cross Chop. The flinch chance can tend to kill you, though. 30% flinch rate when combined with paralysis can make you unable to move. When combined with STAB or Choice Band (both in Aerodactyl's case), Rock Slide can do significant amounts of damage and 3HKO even if you've got good defensies.

If you think your Skarmory is going to be able to completely stall out Aerodactyl and company, think again. Skarmory was meant to take flying, ground, and normal blows. It does NOT like getting hit by Focus Punch and Rock Slide. You NEED some sort of Rock resistance. Rock resist is almost as important as Spikes protection or something to take Will-o-Wisp and Thunder Wave. Rock Slide is a major threat, and you know what? You have to go out of your way to counter it. Get something like Machamp that can take Rock Slide and then hit hard with Focus Punch. Flygon can smack some stuff pretty hard with CB STAB EQ. Heck, even something like Magneton can take Rock Slide reasonably well and hit hard with Thunderbolt. The thing is, you can't just have Skarmory on your team and expect your problems to solve themselves. Because, eventually, Rock Slide WILL flinch-hax you three times in a row.

If Rock Slide is a major issue for you, use Donphan. It has Rock resistance and sturdy defense allowing it to wall physical attacks to an extent. Plus, it makes a nice phazer or Rabid Spinner if you don't already have one. Claydol works similarly, although pogeyz like Dugtrio like to carry HP:bug and that can give you a problem.

In addition to having Rock resistance, you can't have a team majorly weak to Rock Slide. Fliers are nice, but don't think that Salamence's Intimidate is going to help it any. If you've got three or more Pokemon weak to Rock, you should probably have two or more pokemon resistant to it.

If you're using something slower, you don't really have the right to complain when it gets flinched. If you're just trying to kill whatever it is before they kill you, make sure you don't take more than 30% or so damage from Rock Slide and be faster than they are.

Bottom line is, Rock Slide is a good move. It has a MAJOR influence on the current metagame. And just like you use Rapid Spin to stop Spikes or Roar to halt Dragon Dancers, you've got to have some kind of Rock resist on your team. There's a plethora of pokemon out there that can do the job. Donphan and Flygon are my personal favorites. (Flygon especially because it gets ground immunity and has great attack and his high speed helps him avoid flinch.) Swampert and Metagross are two more common choices. Claydol, Jirachi, Machamp, Hariyama, Medicham, whatever. Take your pick and if you're only using one, make sure it's something that won't die easily.

(By the way, although your post is not as well-informed as some might be, it is definitely not "noobish" in any way. Rock Slide is a HUGE problem for a LOT of teams. You have to do something about it. If there's something that beats your team, don't waste time complaining about it, find a way to counter it. That's the way to strengthen your team and makes you a better, more versatile player.)

[Nevermind]

I don't really rely on skarmory to completely stop rock slide though I do expect it to be able to take atleast two hits from it atleast. I have flygon on my team to counter rock slide. Even suicune, who is a good physical stopper imo, is on my team and I still have trouble. Hehe I do like donphan a lot and I might try him out if I get back on. I woudn't say magneton can counter the slide very well since a lot of physical sweepers outspeed him and can just eq next turn anyway. Might put swampert back on my team now though. I still will not be playing for awhile though and I realize I was complaining, but I still wanted to know what everyone else thought. It CHs against me a lot, especially when I'm about to make a winning play and that CH wreaks me everytime and I lose because of it. Thanks for posting.

[Kuiper]

Side note for Magneton, it should only switch into CB'd Rock Slides and still gets hit pretty hard by them. (~35% in most cases) Regardless usually whatever it is doesn't want to stay in, Salamence and Aerodactyl especially get hit hard by Thunderbolt. Anyway Magneton doesn't even need that much HP, it gets Sandstream immunity and once it's taken out Skarmory doesn't really have to perform beyond that, although being able to do some damage before it goes down is nice. Anyway Magneton, while it can be used in a pinch to take CB'd Rock Slide or even hits from a paralyzed Heracross definitely can't do the job alone and should definitely not be the only thing on your team capable of taking Rock Slide. It's just that if your team already has some sort of rock vulnerability it's better to have Magneton than, say, Zapdos or something.