TL;DR Main Ideas are in bold.
This thread is about finding out how much damage your team will roughly take from a first turn Stealth Rock that stays on the field the whole game, using simple math, to decide whether Stealth Rock might be a problem for a certain team. This formula is just an idea and is by no means perfect, so I appreciate all constructive criticisms and ideas.
Stealth Rock is an interesting move that deals large amounts of damage slowly over the course of the battle. Turn by turn it's damage seems low, but if all the damage is added together, Stealth Rock has the highest average damage per PP point of any move in the game. It is also interesting because its damage can theoretically be controlled by the player affected by the move, though most people would say that the player is being controlled by the damage.
I can estimate how much damage my team will take from stealth rock by deciding how many times each of my Pokemon is most likely to switch in
The damage I receive from stealth rock is determined by how many times I decide to switch my Pokemon and which Pokemon I decide to switch in. Thus, I can theoretically determine how much damage I will take from stealth rock during the course of the battle by using my past battle experience to predict approximately how many times I will switch in each Pokemon in my team. This can be represented as a percentage.
The estimated damage a team will take from stealth rock over the entire battle can be shown as a percentage between 0% and 100%.
The % will be between 0 and 100%, with 0% being a team of Magic Guard Clefables. The highest percentage you can have is 100%, which would be switching all your Pokemon in and out till their dead while your opponent spams protect or something.
1. First, determine how much damage each of your Pokemon takes as a % from switching in on Stealth Rock
First, we have to figure out much % damage each of our Pokemon take when switching into Stealth Rock. Stealth Rocks damage is based on your Pokemon's weakness to rock attacks. Here's how it works:
x4 resistance: 3.12%
x2 resistance: 6.25%
x1 neutral: 12.5%
x2 weakness: 25%
x4 weakness: 50%
So if both your Pokemon's types resist rock attacks, you'll only lose 3.12% from each switch, vs if both your Pokemon's types are weak to rock, you'll lose 50% on each switch. Easy right? Remember, don't factor leftovers into your equation. Leftovers do not activate when a pokemon switches in after a KO. Next step then.
2. Next estimate how often you usually switch each Pokemon in after the first turn during battle, and multiply that number by the % of damage that Pokemon takes from switching into stealth rock.
The next step is to assign each of your Pokemon a number for how many times you usually send that Pokemon in after the first turn of battle, which is when stealth rock is usually setup. Some of you maybe scoffing already, saying how there is no way to know this as no two battles are alike. You'd be right, except that like Chess, all Pokemon battles have a limited number of variables that make them follow a predictable pattern. If you were to chart how many times you switched a certain Pokemon into battle over hundreds of battles, the chart would clearly point to one number. We'll call this the Arbitrary Switch number, as this is an arbitrary number that you will have decide for yourself, based on your own battling style and experience. Make sure your factoring in stealth rock being on the field, that's the entire point of this exercise. Experienced battlers should be able to easily project how often they switch in a certain Pokemon that they're familiar with. If you have trouble estimating how often you might switch a particular Pokemon in, here are some guidelines I've come up with from battling in the competitive DP scene since the game was released back in April and having used hundreds of teams and move sets. EDIT:Note that I am basing these on my own observations, experiences, and playstyle, so will have to examine your own playstyle to know what your Arbitrary Switch number is.
0: Suicide leads who set up something and then die (Aerodactyl, Azelf) will usually never switch into stealth rock. Also remember that if you switch on the first turn to something that's going to suicide or attempt a full sweep, that would also be 0 because the switch occurs before stealth rock can be put up.
1: Frail Sweepers who have few resistances or rare immunities to help them switch in (Infernape, Rampardos, Weavile) and are vulnerable to many types of hazard damage will generally only be switching in once, mostly for lack of opportunity. These pokemon usually have to brought in off of the ko of a teammate. More skilled battlers may be able to switch them in with prediction, but they still rarely come out more than once.
2: Sweepers with many immunities/resistances (Lucario, Gengar, Heatran) or abilities that aid in their switching in but who have exploitable weaknesses or defenses or are slightly bulky but forgo instant recovery moves/use recoil items/are weak to stealth rock (choice users, DD/Mixmence, Honchkrow, Electivire, Arcanine) will usually switch in around two times before being put down.
3: Bulky Sweepers (Bulky Gyarados, Bulkymence, Starmie, Scizor) tanks and walls who lack instant recovery moves (Machamp, Bronzong, Suicune, Tangrowth, Forretress, moonlightless-Cresselia, Vaporeon, Donphan) walls/tanks who are weak to stealth rock but have instant recovery moves (Zapdos, Togekiss) usually switch around three times before they succumb. Lesser walls like Miltank, Porygon2, defensive Scizor and Slowbro also tend to fall into this category.
4+: These are your sturdy walls who have 50% recovery moves, and take neutral or reduced damage from stealth rock (Celebi, Gligar, Cresselia, Skarmory, Blissey, Hippowdon, Milotic). These are the self-rebuilding steel walls that just don't die to normal attacks. Offensive teams who use them to fall back on in an emergency will usually only send them in 3 times or less, while all out stall teams will send them in around 4-6 times.
3. Now take your Arbitrary Switch number and multiply it by each Pokemon's Stealth Rock damage %. 4. Find the average of the six numbers, Projected Indv. Damage, produced and you have your estimated SR damage.
Now that we have estimated how many times each of our Pokemon will be switching into Stealth Rock on average we can multiply each Arbitrary Switch number the Pokemon's individual Stealth Rock % damage. So if a Pokemon would take 12.5% from each switch in, and I project that I switch that Pokemon in around 3 times per battle, that Pokemon's Projected Individual Damage, or PID for short, will be 37.5%
I then find the average of all of my Pokemon's PIDs, and that is my SR weakness number!
Examples:
My team:
1.SashAero
2.MeditateE-Vire
3.GyarakillingDDGyarados
4.DDOutragemixmence
5.SDBPbulkyscizor
6.FlinchhaxTogekiss
Step 1.
Find Team members stealth rock %S
1. 25%
2. 12.5%
3. 25%
4. 25%
5. 12.5%
6. 25%
Step 2.
Project each members average amount of switch ins
1. 0 lead that stealth rocks and dies
2. 1 switches in on motor drive, meditates for a sweep. high recoil
3. 3 abuses intimidate and stone edge to chase out other gyaras
4. 2 Life Orb, SR and Outrage make it hard to switch in and out
5. 3 Bulkiness and resistances let it switch in often
6. 3 Tank that can heal but is weak to SR
Step 3.
Multiply Step 1 numbers by Step 2 numbers
1. 0 = 25 * 0
2. 12.5 = 12.5 * 1
3. 75 = 25 * 3
4. 50 = 25 * 2
5. 37.5 = 12.5 * 3
6. 75 = 25 * 3
Step 4.
Find the average of these numbers and show as a %
(0+12.5+75+50+37.5+75) / 6 = 41.6%.
This is the average total damage I will take from switching if I let my opponent set up stealth rock on the first turn and keep it on the field. With 1 attack, my opponent will be able to to take 41.6% of my teams total starting hp from me if I don't prevent them from getting Stealth Rock set up or get rid of it.
So what does my SR% weakness number mean? How can I use it?
The number that you got at the end of the formula shows you a rough average of how much damage your team will take from Stealth Rock, where 100% is your entire teams hp added together. You can use this number to decide of your team should be changed to lessen the damage done by Stealth Rock, or if you should think about using a spinner or taunter lead to keep the rocks off the field. Barring some circumstances like teams that have reversalers, berry users etc. that are messed up by SR, you can grade your team based on this rubric:
0~20%: Can comfortably play with Stealth Rock up without having to worry about using a spinner or taunter.
21~30%: Can play around the rocks, but might be somewhat restricted in how much they can switch.
31%~40%: Switching is restricted by Stealth Rock, and pokemon being kod a turn earlier than they normally would is not rare. A spinner/fast taunter might be beneficial, but is not nessecary.
41~50%: Stealth Rock damage will be high, and unless your pokemon are bulky and heal reliably, switching will be difficult. Using or spinner/fast taunter, numerous healing moves and items, or using less rock weaks is recommended.
51%+: Switching safely quickly becomes impossible. Attaining victory without ridding the field of stealth rock will be very difficult and unlikely.
This thread is about finding out how much damage your team will roughly take from a first turn Stealth Rock that stays on the field the whole game, using simple math, to decide whether Stealth Rock might be a problem for a certain team. This formula is just an idea and is by no means perfect, so I appreciate all constructive criticisms and ideas.
Stealth Rock is an interesting move that deals large amounts of damage slowly over the course of the battle. Turn by turn it's damage seems low, but if all the damage is added together, Stealth Rock has the highest average damage per PP point of any move in the game. It is also interesting because its damage can theoretically be controlled by the player affected by the move, though most people would say that the player is being controlled by the damage.
I can estimate how much damage my team will take from stealth rock by deciding how many times each of my Pokemon is most likely to switch in
The damage I receive from stealth rock is determined by how many times I decide to switch my Pokemon and which Pokemon I decide to switch in. Thus, I can theoretically determine how much damage I will take from stealth rock during the course of the battle by using my past battle experience to predict approximately how many times I will switch in each Pokemon in my team. This can be represented as a percentage.
The estimated damage a team will take from stealth rock over the entire battle can be shown as a percentage between 0% and 100%.
The % will be between 0 and 100%, with 0% being a team of Magic Guard Clefables. The highest percentage you can have is 100%, which would be switching all your Pokemon in and out till their dead while your opponent spams protect or something.
1. First, determine how much damage each of your Pokemon takes as a % from switching in on Stealth Rock
First, we have to figure out much % damage each of our Pokemon take when switching into Stealth Rock. Stealth Rocks damage is based on your Pokemon's weakness to rock attacks. Here's how it works:
x4 resistance: 3.12%
x2 resistance: 6.25%
x1 neutral: 12.5%
x2 weakness: 25%
x4 weakness: 50%
So if both your Pokemon's types resist rock attacks, you'll only lose 3.12% from each switch, vs if both your Pokemon's types are weak to rock, you'll lose 50% on each switch. Easy right? Remember, don't factor leftovers into your equation. Leftovers do not activate when a pokemon switches in after a KO. Next step then.
2. Next estimate how often you usually switch each Pokemon in after the first turn during battle, and multiply that number by the % of damage that Pokemon takes from switching into stealth rock.
The next step is to assign each of your Pokemon a number for how many times you usually send that Pokemon in after the first turn of battle, which is when stealth rock is usually setup. Some of you maybe scoffing already, saying how there is no way to know this as no two battles are alike. You'd be right, except that like Chess, all Pokemon battles have a limited number of variables that make them follow a predictable pattern. If you were to chart how many times you switched a certain Pokemon into battle over hundreds of battles, the chart would clearly point to one number. We'll call this the Arbitrary Switch number, as this is an arbitrary number that you will have decide for yourself, based on your own battling style and experience. Make sure your factoring in stealth rock being on the field, that's the entire point of this exercise. Experienced battlers should be able to easily project how often they switch in a certain Pokemon that they're familiar with. If you have trouble estimating how often you might switch a particular Pokemon in, here are some guidelines I've come up with from battling in the competitive DP scene since the game was released back in April and having used hundreds of teams and move sets. EDIT:Note that I am basing these on my own observations, experiences, and playstyle, so will have to examine your own playstyle to know what your Arbitrary Switch number is.
0: Suicide leads who set up something and then die (Aerodactyl, Azelf) will usually never switch into stealth rock. Also remember that if you switch on the first turn to something that's going to suicide or attempt a full sweep, that would also be 0 because the switch occurs before stealth rock can be put up.
1: Frail Sweepers who have few resistances or rare immunities to help them switch in (Infernape, Rampardos, Weavile) and are vulnerable to many types of hazard damage will generally only be switching in once, mostly for lack of opportunity. These pokemon usually have to brought in off of the ko of a teammate. More skilled battlers may be able to switch them in with prediction, but they still rarely come out more than once.
2: Sweepers with many immunities/resistances (Lucario, Gengar, Heatran) or abilities that aid in their switching in but who have exploitable weaknesses or defenses or are slightly bulky but forgo instant recovery moves/use recoil items/are weak to stealth rock (choice users, DD/Mixmence, Honchkrow, Electivire, Arcanine) will usually switch in around two times before being put down.
3: Bulky Sweepers (Bulky Gyarados, Bulkymence, Starmie, Scizor) tanks and walls who lack instant recovery moves (Machamp, Bronzong, Suicune, Tangrowth, Forretress, moonlightless-Cresselia, Vaporeon, Donphan) walls/tanks who are weak to stealth rock but have instant recovery moves (Zapdos, Togekiss) usually switch around three times before they succumb. Lesser walls like Miltank, Porygon2, defensive Scizor and Slowbro also tend to fall into this category.
4+: These are your sturdy walls who have 50% recovery moves, and take neutral or reduced damage from stealth rock (Celebi, Gligar, Cresselia, Skarmory, Blissey, Hippowdon, Milotic). These are the self-rebuilding steel walls that just don't die to normal attacks. Offensive teams who use them to fall back on in an emergency will usually only send them in 3 times or less, while all out stall teams will send them in around 4-6 times.
3. Now take your Arbitrary Switch number and multiply it by each Pokemon's Stealth Rock damage %. 4. Find the average of the six numbers, Projected Indv. Damage, produced and you have your estimated SR damage.
Now that we have estimated how many times each of our Pokemon will be switching into Stealth Rock on average we can multiply each Arbitrary Switch number the Pokemon's individual Stealth Rock % damage. So if a Pokemon would take 12.5% from each switch in, and I project that I switch that Pokemon in around 3 times per battle, that Pokemon's Projected Individual Damage, or PID for short, will be 37.5%
I then find the average of all of my Pokemon's PIDs, and that is my SR weakness number!
Examples:
My team:
1.SashAero
2.MeditateE-Vire
3.GyarakillingDDGyarados
4.DDOutragemixmence
5.SDBPbulkyscizor
6.FlinchhaxTogekiss
Step 1.
Find Team members stealth rock %S
1. 25%
2. 12.5%
3. 25%
4. 25%
5. 12.5%
6. 25%
Step 2.
Project each members average amount of switch ins
1. 0 lead that stealth rocks and dies
2. 1 switches in on motor drive, meditates for a sweep. high recoil
3. 3 abuses intimidate and stone edge to chase out other gyaras
4. 2 Life Orb, SR and Outrage make it hard to switch in and out
5. 3 Bulkiness and resistances let it switch in often
6. 3 Tank that can heal but is weak to SR
Step 3.
Multiply Step 1 numbers by Step 2 numbers
1. 0 = 25 * 0
2. 12.5 = 12.5 * 1
3. 75 = 25 * 3
4. 50 = 25 * 2
5. 37.5 = 12.5 * 3
6. 75 = 25 * 3
Step 4.
Find the average of these numbers and show as a %
(0+12.5+75+50+37.5+75) / 6 = 41.6%.
This is the average total damage I will take from switching if I let my opponent set up stealth rock on the first turn and keep it on the field. With 1 attack, my opponent will be able to to take 41.6% of my teams total starting hp from me if I don't prevent them from getting Stealth Rock set up or get rid of it.
So what does my SR% weakness number mean? How can I use it?
The number that you got at the end of the formula shows you a rough average of how much damage your team will take from Stealth Rock, where 100% is your entire teams hp added together. You can use this number to decide of your team should be changed to lessen the damage done by Stealth Rock, or if you should think about using a spinner or taunter lead to keep the rocks off the field. Barring some circumstances like teams that have reversalers, berry users etc. that are messed up by SR, you can grade your team based on this rubric:
0~20%: Can comfortably play with Stealth Rock up without having to worry about using a spinner or taunter.
21~30%: Can play around the rocks, but might be somewhat restricted in how much they can switch.
31%~40%: Switching is restricted by Stealth Rock, and pokemon being kod a turn earlier than they normally would is not rare. A spinner/fast taunter might be beneficial, but is not nessecary.
41~50%: Stealth Rock damage will be high, and unless your pokemon are bulky and heal reliably, switching will be difficult. Using or spinner/fast taunter, numerous healing moves and items, or using less rock weaks is recommended.
51%+: Switching safely quickly becomes impossible. Attaining victory without ridding the field of stealth rock will be very difficult and unlikely.