Daily Pokemon #003: Carracosta

Carracosta 

Tirtouga > Carracosta

Water-Rock is a questionable type at best and a terrible one at worst. Quad-weakness to grass is not something to take lightly and neither are the other weaknesses. (Fighting, Electric and Ground) It is good in terms of coverage mainly because Rock type covers some key types.

Stats:

Not really your typical bulky Water-type, it is more close to a physically defensive Rock type. Anywho, the biggest drawback is that speed stat which makes Carracost very susceptible to get OHKO'd by random Giga Drain users as well as Aura Sphere or really any special sweeper with access to a decent arrange of coverage moves.

Thankfully, Carracost has access to some pretty decent STAB moves. Aqua Jet is probably the most important move in any moveset as it makes up for its lousy speed. and it can also hit relatively hard. Waterfall is another great option to go with its high ATK stat, and Stone Edge as wel. 

One last move worth pointing out is Shell Smash which lowers both DEF and Sp. DEF by 2 stages, but raises ATK, Sp. ATK and Speed by 2 stages each. This moves severely improves Carracosta's offensive abilities, and actually makes it somewhat viable in a semi-competitive scene. 

Abilities:

• Solid Rock: reduces super-effective damage by ¼.
• Sturdy: makes the Pokémon unaffected by OHKO moves and if an attack's hit would have brought it from full health to 0 HP, the Pokémon will survive with 1 HP remaining.
• Swift Swim (hidden): doubles speed under the rain.

Solid Rock is actually a really good ability on Pokemon with x4 weaknesses like Carracosta, so it probably gets the strongest recommendation from me. Sturdy is also an option though. Solid Rock is probably better suited for defensive sets while Study is better for sweeping ones. Swift Swim is a decent ability if you plan to use a Rain Dance team as it will power up Aqua Jet and Waterfall which makes sweeping a lot easier.

Conclusion:

So wrap this: how is Carracosta overall? Mediocre at best is my answer. Lousy type alongside low speed is a terrible combination. However, one has to recognize that it has potential as a sweeper if you give it the correct set-up. The obvious problem is that you are basically making your whole team around a frail and unreliable pokemon. It's bad what else can I say.