Should Stealth Rock be banned from competitive play?

[sleeping darkness]

Well, should it? I, for one being a huge fan of fliers get really hurt by it. Having the best Pidgeot means nothing when you lose 25% of hp because you're weak to it on a switch it. I'll give some valid points to why. Moltres could easily be OU, not that I care about tiers, but does not see play because it loses 50% of its hp when switching in, despite its good movepool. Articuno being the most definitive bird in the game can't that a Thunderbolt or a super effective attack because it loses half its hp. Just look at your Bug-Flying types, Charizard and others with 4x weakness to rock type attacks and means that a Pokemon that loses 50% of it health can only afford 1 switch it and thats assuming they somewhat have Articunos defense .

The other field attacks like Spikes and Toxic Spikes can be avoided by Fliers and Pokemon with Levitate while Stealth Rocks hits EVERYTHING with some kind of damage. It ruins Focus Sash users, kills Shedinja, and makes just about 20 or so Pokemon NOT USABLE AT ALL. No attack should limit what Pokemon should or should not be played.

With Platinums release with Rotom-a, it kills any spinner and all good players know that so there is really not way to stop a good player from keeping Stealth Rocks out . No Pokemon should take damage switching into a battle be it Stealth Rock or Spikes and for only on turn of set up. With the ban of of Stealth Rock, the metagame with open up a lot and re-allow Pokemon like Articuno and Moltres to be played or even Vespiquen. The attack is over powered and should be banned. I have to tell people when they play me, no stealth Rocks because I can't use a lot of my Pokemon when you use it. Most of you might not see it as a problem because a lot of you might use Ground/Steel types but all I am saying it, one no Pokemon should lose 25 or even 50% of their hp when switching in or even take damage switching in.

I think I covered most of it that I know and I'm sure I can anwser any question you might have about this.

I agree with vaporeon it should be banned I mean whole Tornoments have been upset by that move

 

[vaporeon]

defog?
so....you're going to lower it's evasiveness? How does that stop stealth rock? Uh, maybe foresight would make ghost types sesseptable to normal/fighting moves, but who would waste a turn with a move that doesn't work 90% of all battles?
suicide leads....
erm, they set up stealth rock, then die. That's why we have anti-leads like weavile to work against them. :smile:
besides, you are practically given a 6-5 advantage in the beginning, with occasional 25% chance of stealth rock damage. do you know what shoddy is? Because stealth rock is pretty common there, I doubt they would go for a ban of stealth rock, though stealth rock/toxic spikes/spikes clause is sometimes asked about in advance not to be used. (all three at the same time)
Ugh, stealth rock just forces teams to be prepared for battles. It does hinder certain pokemon from battling, because they can't switch in, but you should just try to counter that with some item, etc. It doesn't decrease the skill needed to win a game, like OHKO moves and evasion moves do, it increases it, because if you're going to run pokemon that are weak to it, you need a counter-strategy. If not, then you are fine, but it is your choice.. Besides, you're not even throwing out valid points on why it should be banned. Certain pokemon can't take a stealth rock. Certain pokemon can't take the spikes drop, or the poisoning toxic spikes gives. And certain ones can't take stealth rock. Run taunt if you need to, but don't ban stealth rock.

Whats not valid about it? Lets see, Articuno, Moltres and other Pokemon with 4x lose 50 of their health ON A SWITCH IN which means 1 safe switch but are still one shotted by a faster Pokemon, your flying type, which can't really take a hit lose 25% of health. What about Fire, Bug and Ice types. That's 4 Pokemon that take at least 25% damage from stealth Rock in the switch in, thats about half if not more of the Pokemon that take massive damage for 1 turn of setup. It ruins Focus Sash users so fragile Pokemon Like Zangoose don't see play or suffer from it. Any smart player would switch a Ghost type in on a suspected spinner which does not do much because that Pokemon still has a chance to setup Stealth Rock later on in the battle.

Those are valid points, the metagame would be better off without it. I should not have to use only 10 Pokemon just to fight other people.

 

[sar86]

Stealth Rock encourages you to have an actual strategy. Without it, an entire battle can be spent switching back a forth between certian Pokemon. It makes you think before making a move. There are lots of ways to work around it, but you just have to be open minded and creative. So stop whining, and throw a Rapid Spinner on your team, or stop using Birds. No attack is going to get banned just because you like using Flying-type Pokemon. Maybe Earthquake should get banned next because I like Heatren and it's the strongest, 100% accurate attack in the game, which no negitive side effect.... oh no

 

[vaporeon]

Stealth Rock encourages you to have an actual strategy. Without it, an entire battle can be spent switching back a forth between certian Pokemon. It makes you think before making a move. There are lots of ways to work around it, but you just have to be open minded and creative. So stop whining, and throw a Rapid Spinner on your team, or stop using Birds. No attack is going to get banned just because you like using Flying-type Pokemon. Maybe Earthquake should get banned next because I like Heatren and it's the strongest, 100% accurate attack in the game, which no negitive side effect.... oh no

Its not like that. Pokemon can get around Earthquake. If you know someone is going to use it, you switch out. No Pokemon should take weakness damage from Stealth Rock switching in. Like I said, Stealth Rock will keep coming back even if you have a spinner. Its just like the Evasion and OHKOs. Someone said something about them and it got banned for being overpowered. Stealth Rock, 1 attack, put more then half of the Pokemon that can be used out of the game. 1 attack should not have that much control over what Pokemon can and can't be used.

I'm not whining about anything, I'm bring valid facts to the table. Yeah, I could just not use birds or Pokemon weak to it but, why would I do that, I like what I use.

 

[SPARTA]

Lol no banneg stealth rock. If your team is weak to rocks use Rapid Spinners or stop using birds. Most people are quite content with the rock filled metagame, SR isn't getting banned (who the heck would want to face all the Sash pokemon that would come out as a result).
The answer is no vaporeon.

 

[vaporeon]

Lol no banneg stealth rock. If your team is weak to rocks use Rapid Spinners or stop using birds. Most people are quite content with the rock filled metagame, SR isn't getting banned (who the heck would want to face all the Sash pokemon that would come out as a result).
The answer is no vaporeon.

Why not, no one attack should have control over the game. People should be able to play without losing 25 or 50 percent of their HP to Stealth Rock just like you all play the game without having to worry about OHKOs, Evasion and Hax Item clauses. You banned them because it was too broken and yet there are ways to stop them and your reasons are "because I don't want to use a Pokemon or move slot to counter those attacks". I don't want to use a Pokemon and a move slot to stop Stealth Rocks.

The attack is too powerful for competitive play. The reason why is because it kills of like most of the good Pokemon that can be used and it revels items and kills Focus Sash.

 

[LegacyEeveeVGC]

Yes it should be banned or at least have a 3 turn limit or something to tune it down.
It kills over sse many tatics and when you send out a new Pokemon to replace a KOed one it does damage that could decide the match.

 

[Varna]

People should be able to play without losing 25 or 50 percent of their HP to Stealth Rock just like you all play the game without having to worry about OHKOs, Evasion and Hax Item clauses. You banned them because it was too broken and yet there are ways to stop them and your reasons are "because I don't want to use a Pokemon or move slot to counter those attacks".

Ah, thank you for pointing out the failed logic of the tiers.

Your answer is still no, though. Nothing should be banned. Ever.

 

[vaporeon]

The way I see it is, if its overpowered, ban it. I mean, people follow outside site rules like they are law and what outside site says goes. But for us people who don't follow outside site rules, suffer from outside site created metagame when you use Stealth Rock with the only few Pokemon that can fight in that metagame. Why was evasion attacks banned, how about 1 hit KO attacks, 'luck items'? I mean, we are not play the game the way it was made, so why not go all out. Articuno lose 50% of its HP which means it can't take a Thunderbolt for a Jolteon any more, how about Moltres, it has a great movepool and can counter a lot of things but, Stealth Rocks prevents it from being played. How about Flareon, the Bug-Flying types. and all the other Pokemon that are weak to it.

No Pokemon should switch into battle losing HP and no Pokemon should be KO on a switch in due to Stealth Rocks. it limits the Pokemon that can be used and kills strategies.

But I guess you all don't see it because you don't play outside your OU tier. If you're going to ban all the broken stuff in the game, get rid of all of it. Stealth Rock is hands down the most broken attack in the game with no setup time at all.

 

[Varna]

vaporeon: I understand your frustration with the rules that a large majority like to follow, but no amount of complaining will get them to change their minds. You have to understand that these people think they know better than the creators of the game itself as far as balance goes, so you certainly won't be able to convince them otherwise. Just breathe, take a step back, and deal with it. It's unfortunate, but if you want to continue to play against said people, it's really all you can do.