Moves
Stealth Rock wears down the opponent's team by punishing switches. Morning Sun provides Solrock with a form of recovery, allowing it to maintain longevity throughout a match. Will-O-Wisp lets Solrock annoy switch-ins and cripple physical attackers, particularly preventing Double Dance Rhydon from freely setting up on it. Stone Edge hits relatively hard and nabs KOs against Pokemon such as Swellow, Archeops, and Magmortar, as well as preventing Xatu from switching in safely.
Set Details
Maximum HP and Special Defense investment turns Solrock into a solid special wall, capable of taking repeated hits from Pokemon such as Magmortar, Pyroar, Swellow, and Charizard. With a Careful nature, Solrock avoids getting 2HKOed by Life Orb Pyroar's and Charizard's Hidden Power Grass. Leftovers is necessary to help Solrock avoid getting overwhelmed by passive damage and maintain its ability to switch into powerful Fire-types.
Usage Tips
Solrock is an effective pivot that can reliably set up Stealth Rock thanks to a combination of its bulk, typing, and Levitate ability. Switch Solrock into powerful Fire-type attacks from Pokemon such as Pyroar and Magmortar to either force a switch or easily OHKO them with Stone Edge. Morning Sun should be used conservatively, as Solrock will be pivoting into attacks frequently. Solrock can pivot into Normal-type attacks such as Kangaskhan's Double Edge and Tauros's Rock Climb and either heal up with Morning Sun or cripple them with Will-O-Wisp. However, Solrock should scout Tauros's moveset first, as the rare Iron Tail will do huge amounts of damage to it. Use Will-O-Wisp to annoy potential switch-ins and improve Solrock's matchup against strong neutral attackers such as Hitmonchan, Thick Fat Hariyama, Rhydon, and Piloswine.
Team Options
Water-type checks such as Poliwrath, Lanturn, and Vileplume are beneficial partners, as they tend to synergize quite well with Solrock. For example, Poliwrath can also handle most Dark-types that Solrock struggles with, Lanturn helps ease matchups with Rotom, and Vileplume can deal with Grass-types. It's important to be well prepared for Grass-types should Pokemon like Poliwrath and Lanturn be used as a partner, as Grass-types such as Shiftry and Lilligant can be very menacing to deal with. Fire-types such as Magmortar and Pyroar can take out the Grass-types that trouble Solrock. Magmortar in particular stands out, as it is able to lure in Water-types such as Mantine and Lanturn and take them out with Thunderbolt and Earthquake, respectively. In return, Solrock provides these Fire-types with a Ground-type immunity and Stealth Rock support. Solrock works well on hazard-stacking teams; therefore, Spikes users such as Garbodor, Ferroseed, and Roselia make solid partners. The former punishes Dark-types such as Skuntank and Shiftry while the latter two cover Solrock's weakness to Water-types. Skuntank is another notable partner due to its Pursuit trapping utility, letting it deal with Ghost- and Psychic-types, such as Rotom, Haunter, Mismagius, Musharna, and Xatu, while also being a good check to Shiftry. Finally, Flying-types such as Vivillon, Scyther, Charizard, and Rotom-S are helpful, as they can dispose of Grass-types as well as Guts Hariyama, which are huge threats to Solrock. Furthermore, these Flying-types love Stealth Rock support and appreciate Solrock's ability to wear down bulky Rock-, Steel-, and Ground-types such as Regirock, Steelix, and Rhydon for them.