Best Rock Attacker - Golem
There is a recent article published here about Best Attackers by Type. Obviously, rock was Golem. In terms of future-proof, Terrakion and Rhyperior were listed as concerns. So was the possibility of Tyranitar and Rhydon getting a rock quick move. In the games, there were only many rock type moves. Ignoring the ones that would only be charge moves, the only ones left not in-game are Smack Down and Rollout. Rollout can be ignored, as none of the pokemon that may overtake Golem can learn it. Smack Down was a TM that they can all get.
Long story short, any of the rock types that may best out Golem can only do so with a rock type quick move. None can learn Rock Throw. The only possible move that can be a rock quick move they could learn would be Smack Down, which is not currently in the game.
Given this, is Golem more future-proof than it was given credit for?
Answers
Golems are safe, but in the same way that double grass Eggy is - it's not great, but there's nothing better. Vaporeon is getting eclipsed by Kyogre, Rhydon is already eclipsed by Groudon, Rayquaza will make Dragonite less important, and so forth.
The nature of games like this is that if one doesn't have the next best thing to chase after, it's all over. I mean, suppose gen 3 consisted entirely of mon that were similar to but weaker than gen 1 and 2. Would anyone be excited about that? Would lots of people quit the game to play something else? There must always be something to strive for, or the game dies. So Golem will eventually be eclipsed by someone, just like everyone else will be.
Not for total DPS. Maybe if he gets 1, 2, 4, or 5 charged attacks off, but not in general. And Eggy's CP is higher.
Sceptile is good, but if I have to take down Omastar in a raid, I'd rather have 4 eggys than 4 sceptiles on the team. Further, FC/LB isn't double grass, and there's no STAB with FC. Sure, it's fast, energy gain is great, but Solar Beam is the strongest attack in the game, and Eggy has it with STAB, as well as a fast grass quick move with STAB that generates a lot of energy itself.
Nothing is stopping Niantic from adding new moves to the game. Just because gen 3 release didn't have a major move shakeup doesn't mean Niantic is done with them. I think Golem's future proof score is accurate. It has always been a risky Pokemon to invest in due to a lot of potential competition that just lacks the moves.
