What is a good moveset for Carracosta?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Carracosta, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some explanation, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Carracosta Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Carracosta (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

• Aqua Jet
• Rock Slide
• Earthquake
• Shell Smash

Comments

this is a good moveset but i think this is a golden opportunity to make him a mixed sweeper ^_^

i would give him a naive nature (cuz his sp. d sucks so much it doesnt really matter)
i would give him the same evs as u did except give the other 4 to sp. att and give him sturdy too
and teach him:
- waterfall
- rockslide (these two are obvious stabs)
- ice beam (i feel this will be a lot better than earthquake cuz u can already kill steel types with this guy except ferrothorn but thats why u got this move to begin with it'll do more damage than earthquake especially if its a cursing ferrothorn)
- shell smash (obvious move)
theses movesets make carracosta like the best mixed sweeeper

Answer 2

Set for Tirtouga

Tirtouga (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature

• Toxic
• Knock Off
• Sandstorm
• Protect

Answer 3

Tirtouga (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature

• Curse
• Waterfall
• Earthquake
• Stone Edge

Role: Tank

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Defenses maxing out at 305 & 207 ( Sp Defense raising nature ). You then get an Evoilite boost, which beasts you up more.
You need to stay away from grass mainly, I suggest having something with Sap Sipper in your team with a Pokemon like this. Curse sky rockets your defense to where you're pretty much untouchable. It also boosts his Atk stat, which rests at a wimpy 193, but can be boosted.
Waterfall and Stone Edge both give STAB, and have some pretty nice coverage with Earthquake, the king move of coverage.

Comments

With this moveset, can't you run Toxic/Protect since you can stall for so long

Answer 4

Carracosta @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge

The goal is simple. Keep Sturdy intact, hit Shell Smash, and get hit with a Super Effective move, effectively giving you +4 attacking stats and +2 Speed. Aqua Jet to attempt to patch up faulty speed, and the rest to hit anything you outspeed like a truck.

Answer 5

Gen VII
Carracosta (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Tail / Waterfall / Liquidation
- Stone Edge / Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt / Shell Smash

Moveset:

• Aqua Tail/Waterfall/Liquidation - Aqua Tail hits for more power than Waterfall, but with a little less accuracy. Waterfall has slightly less power, but has a 20% chance to make the target flinch. Liquidation hits with slightly less power than Aqua Tail, slightly more power than Waterfall, and has a 20% chance to lower the opposition's defense by 1. All 3 moves are equipped with STAB.
• Stone Edge/Rock Slide - Stone Edge is easily the hardest, critically damaging, Rock type move to date...if not, the only. It has more power than Rock Slide, but slightly less accuracy than Rock Slide, which is already less than 100%. Rock Slide hits multiple targets with reduced damage and has a 30% to make the target flinch. Both moves are equipped with STAB.
• Earthquake - Earthquake is Earthquake. It does reduce damage in multi-target battles. In addition, it covers your electric weakness. It is used by most players and highly recommended. I personally prefer other ground moves and hope they come up with other great competitive ground moves aside from Earthquake and Bonemerang just to give us more of a variety.
• Zen Headbutt/Shell Smash - Zen Headbutt covers your fighting weakness and is pretty damn decent as far as power is concerned, but has 90% accuracy, which I over look anyway. It also has a 20% chance of causing the target to flinch. Shell Smash raises your Atk, SAtk, and Spd by 2 at the cost of lowering your Def and SDef by 1.

Comments

No. No. Why shell smash with assault vest? Assault vest makes you unable to use shell smash.

Answer 6

Role- irritating tank

Carracosta (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 108 HP / 200 Atk / 200 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail
- Curse
- Swagger / Toxic

• earthquake- High power & uses that powerful attack
• aqua tail- STAB, good power
• curse- ultimate tank boosting move
• swagger/toxic- good status moves, swagger confuses & toxic does slow damage while cursing

Answer 7

Carracost @ Shell Bell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Hidden Power [Rock] / Ancient Power / Focus Blast
- Shell Smash

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Special Caracosta! Surf is STAB. Ice-beam is coverage. Hidden-power can be Rock type if you want more STAB or Ground type if you want more coverage, also you could go with the risky Ancient-power which could potentially recover your lowered defenses and further boost your offenses and speed also there is Focus-blast for coverage. Shell-smash is to raise those Speed and S.Attack stats.

Note: For more power but less reliability you can use Hydro-pump and Blizzard instead of Surf and Ice-beam

Comments

I like Shell Smash + Special Carracosta, but may a recommend Shell Bell as an item?

If he doesn't OHKO, he's usually screwed. While having Shell Smash let's him do a LOT more damage, Shell Bell will also give him a little bit of insurance in case he has to take a priority hit or something of that nature. He can also get all the way back to full HP with Shell Bell and re-use Sturdy. The chances of that happening with Lefties... Yeah. Regardless, nice set.

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Thanks Josh, I forgot about using Shell-bell. The amount of damage it heals is 1/8 of damage dealt. So that could be useful if used on high HP Pokemon. So thanks for the tip.

Answer 8

Carracosta @ Lum Berry
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rest
- Curse
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge

Rest - Healing + Operates with Lum Berry
Curse - Boosting
Aqua Jet - Makes great use of the attack boost from curse, and ignores the speed drop
Stone Edge - STAB for when you don't mind going last

Comments

put that as an answer!

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or... i will :3

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what is with the weird picture? and whats that blue, er, dog thing in the background? not trying to be rude, just asking.

Answer 9

FOR A RAIN TEAM!!

Blastoise Sr. (Carracosta) (M) @ White Herb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Aqua Jet / Waterfall
- Superpower
- Crunch / Earthquake

I learned from PB-10 that Shell Smash can be quite deadly. After the first Shell Smash, the White Herb will activate. Now you have +1 Atk & +1 Spe. Go ahead and destroy.

Comments

+2* sm is the reason cloysters so used it wouldnt be as good with plus 1

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I'd suggest going Sturdy or Solid Rock. Sturdy is pretty much a Focus Sash which is great for a stat boosting move and on a Pokemon with so many weaknesses. It is made useless from hazards though, so Solid Rock is the choice there. If you are using it in a tier where Rain is available, you are betetr off with Omastar, Gorebyss, or Huntail anyways.

Answer 10

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My new favorite Rain Abuser, this guy can wreck if played right.
Focus Sash allows for at least one Shell Smash Set up, ensuring the defense drop doesn't get you killed right away (Unless you've run into entry hazards, making him a no-go). Coupled with his Swift Swim ability, his speed goes insanely higher than your average sea turtle (or any turtle for that matter). Doubling his decent 340 Attack total, you're given Edge-Quake coverage along with a Rain-boosted, STAB priority move to help you get the drop on those annoying Mach Punchers, as well as most Choice Scarfed Pokemon in its tier. It should let you clean up at least a couple of the opponents Pokemon, with the only major counters being Entry Hazards, Priority Abusers, and some Decent power Grass-Type Walls (Virizion -_-) Note that this set ONLY functions in a RAIN TEAM. This is straight-forward Hyper Offense in an unprecedented strategy.

Carracosta @ Focus Sash
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 24 HP / 232 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Earthquake
- Shell Smash
- Stone Edge

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Answer 11

DISCLAIMER: I have not tested this build. It is risky. Take with a grain of Shoal Salt.

Carracosta @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 12 HP / 172 Atk / 72 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Ice Beam / Focus Blast
- Shell Smash

Come in with full HP when you can predict a super-effective attack and Shell Smash on the same turn to trigger Weakness Policy for +4 attacking stats and +2 Speed.
Go with Aqua Jet for STAB priority. Rock Slide for STAB and flinch (or use in doubles), or Stone Edge for more brutal STAB.
(If you're feeling really crazy, you can opt for Ancientpower and cross your fingers for more stat boosts.)

[NOTES ON THIRD MOVE]
Water/Rock/Fighting is not resisted by any Pokémon in the game.
(Neutral vs 376, Super-effective vs 423)
Water/Rock/Ice is only resisted by Poliwrath, Keldeo, and Empoleon.
(Neutral vs 386, Super-effective vs 409)

• Naive nature, the EVs listed above, and a +2 Speed boost puts Carracosta at a decent 358 Speed as well as a massive 1180 Attack and 880 Special Attack (all stats at Lv100). You don't have to be a mixed sweeper, but you have the ability to do so.
• Use Jolly if you don't care about special attacks for a bit more special bulk.
• Consider supporting with Sticky Web or Follow Me, or Tailwind in doubles.
• Other move options include Waterfall, Scald, Hydro Pump, Knock Off, Crunch, Earthquake, Iron Head, or Giga Impact for devastation.

You could also opt for Solid Rock (or even Swift Swim on a rain team), but your options for triggering Weakness Policy become slimmer and require better prediction.

Definitely risky, but the payoff is a "turtle" powerhouse.
GET IT?

Answer 12

Carracosta huh? okay than, I think I have an idea for this Pokemon.

Carracosta @ White Herb
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 SpD
Careful / Sassy Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Crunch / Low Kick
- Curse
- Shell Smash

• Aqua Jet (STAB)
• Crunch/Low Kick (None Stab)
• Curse (for a power boost on ATK and DEF)
• Shell Smash (for even more power boost on ATK and SPEED)

now, it's best used if you use shell smash first BEFORE using curse (i know that sounds weird but hear me out) cause shell smash decreases DEF and SpD, so best if you use shell smash so that way you can get your DEF and SpD back to normal from the White Herb, then curse as much as you want. this move set is best for last minute sweeps.

Answer 13

Carracosta @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash
- Liquidation
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake

Any attack moves can be substituted by aqua jet for priority or any coverage move.

Alternate set up for rain team:
Carracosta @ Focus Sash / Weakness Policy
Ability: Swift Swim

As for teammate, it would need rain setter + defogger/rapid spinner
I recommend

Pelipper @ Leftovers / Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 204 SpD
Calm Nature
IV: 0 Atk
- Defog
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Hydro Pump / Scald

U-turn can safely bring carracosta in due to low speed