Carbink is the Bastiodon that can beat Medicham. At the time of this article, Carbink is Ranked #1 on PvPoke.com, despite being hard-countered by the 3 Pokemon that generally reign at the top. Of course, Pokemon GO is paywalling this XL Pokemon. Given that Carbink is a big XL Pokemon, you’ll want to make sure you have the best possible PvP IVs before dropping all that XL Candy and Stardust. The Carbink PvP IV Deep Dive aims to highlight the most important stat checks and associated PvP IVs for Carbink in the Great League.
Note: this guide discusses the hidden true stats of Pokemon in Pokemon GO. In order to see these true stats you need to use an IV checking app (CalcyIV, Pokegenie) or an IV checking website (GOStadium, PvPIVs.com, or PvPoke itself). To make things simple, the guide also features standard PvP IV tables.
If you’re not familiar with PvP IVs, check out this PvP IVs Simplified video:
PvP IV Tables
- Attack: 95
- Defense: 285
- Stamina: 137
Fast Moves: Tackle, Rock Throw
Charged Moves: Rock Slide, Moonblast, Power Gem
The tables hyperlinked below feature the IV spreads that meet some of the more important stat checks highlighted in the article. It’s important to review the guide itself to make sure you’re getting what you want out of your Carbink. For example, you may want a slightly higher Atk or Def weight for higher Breakpoint potential.
Premium Bulk (247.67 Def, 128 HP) [Best in general]
- Rank 2>26>5>46>1
- <31920 Bulk Product generally isn’t “worth” the Best Buddy slot
Slight Atk Weight (85.81 Atk, 239.06 Def, 124 HP) [Good for Rock Throw]
- 85.81 Atk is for Lanturn, Noctowl, Trevenant, & Shadow Sableye matchups
- See guide for details
- 239.06 Def for Froslass 0-1 (Rock Throw) & 0-0 (Tackle) vs Premium CMP Froslass
General Good (246 Def, 124 HP)
- Non-Best Buddy list
- Higher Def for better Toxapex and Shadow Venusaur protection
- Starting at 246.74 Def
- 85 Atk can reasonably gain the Slight Atk Weight’s advantages
- 127 HP for the 1-1 mirror (Rock Throw), Cresselia 0-0 (Rock Throw), and Sableye 2-2 (Tackle)
- 128 HP for Cofagrigus 0-1 (Rock Throw) & 0-0 (Tackle) & 2-2 mirror (Rock Throw)
Carbink in the Great League
Overall, regardless of Fast Move, Carbink likely wants as much bulk as possible in the Great League. 128 HP can enable the 2-2 Rock Throw Mirror, the Azumarill 0-0 with Rock Throw, the Cofagrigus 0-1 with Rock Throw, the Cofagrigus 0-0 with Tackle, and the Noctowl 0-1 with Tackle. Notably, the Noctowl 0-1, requires as much Def as possible, as it becomes unreachable if Noctowl has a higher Atk weight than its Azu/GFisk Slaying build. Thrifting down to 127 HP can maintain the 1-1 Rock Throw Mirror, Cresselia 0-0 with Rock Throw, and Sableye 0-1 with Tackle + Rock Slide only. As for Carbink’s Def, at least 247.67 Def is desired to stay strong vs Toxapex (Rock Throw: 1-0, 1-1, 2-2 Tackle: 1-0, 2-1) and Cresselia.
Aside from the above matchups, Carbink doesn’t have any major bulk demands. If you don’t have one of the 7 “Premium Bulk” Carbink highlighted in the PvP IV Tables section, settling for 124 HP and roughly 246.74 Def is safe. The 124 HP covers the Medicham 0-1, high Atk Scrafty 0-1, Aqua Tail Shadow Dropion 1-1, and Shadow Venusaur 1-0, all with Rock Throw, as well as the same Toxapex matchups. Higher Def is recommended if you want higher consistency vs Shadow Venusaur and Toxapex. The lower bulk demands also enable Carbink to tinker with some slight Atk weights.
Carbink’s Rock Throw Atk Breakpoints are as follows, vs Rank 1 opponents unless stated otherwise:
- 83.58, Togedemaru 0-1
- 84.47, Shadow Sableye 1-2
- 84.65, Swampert 2-0
- 84.85, Trevenant 2-2
- Up to 85.81 Atk for high Def Trevenant
- 84.96, Spark Lanturn 1-1, Water Gun Lanturn 1-0 & 2-1
- Up to 86 Atk for high Def Lanturn
- 87.74 Atk for Moonblast BP for 1-1 vs R1 Spark
- 85, Noctowl 3rd Charge Move avoid
- 85.88, Umbreon no flips
- 86.45, Shadow Walrein no flips
- 87.55, Azumarill 2-2 full bait
- 86.76, Alolan Sandslash 0-0 & 2-2 if they don't bait
- 89.12, non-Aqua Tail Drapion possible 1-2 pick up
- possible 0-1 drop d/t bulk loss
- 89.92, Dunsparce 1-1 & 2-2
- <90.37 Shadow Alolan Sandslash 2-0 full farm
If Carbink is trying to maintain 124 HP with 246.74 Def, then its maximum possible Atk stat is 85.37. The 85 Atk stat does offer solid benefits against Trevenant, Lanturn, and Noctowl, but to get some of these benefits consistently, you’d have to roll up to an 86 Atk weight. Given that Def only really hurts you vs Toxapex, it could be reasonable to thrift down to 239.06 Def to support an even higher Atk weight. 239.06 Def to keep Carbink strong vs slight Atk weighted Froslass.
Rock Throw or Tackle? High Bulk or High Atk?
Rock Throw vs Tackle comes down to which matchups you want Carbink to navigate better. If you want an easier time vs Ghost-types and neutral matchups, Rock Throw is likely the way. If you expect your Carbink to meet trouble (such as using Carbink as a Safe Swap or Pivot), Tackle can let it manage its counters better. If you’re unsure, just roll Rock Throw until some wisdom guides you otherwise.
As for bulk vs Atk Carbink, 85 Atk is really nice for Rock Throw to bully Lanturn, Noctowl, and Trevenant better. The Tackle Carbink has no notable Atk Breakpoints though, so Atk is wasted on it. That, and huge bulk has payoffs for the mirror match, Cofagrigus, and other matchups. As with the Fast Move choice, which stat weighted Carbink you want to bring will come down to the meta you expect to face. Given how steep the requirement for “high bulk” is, many of us won’t have to make a choice though.
Closing
Carbink is either the dawning of a new meta or is just a slightly improved Bastiodon that the meta has to adjust for. Like Bastiodon, Carbink can be pretty relaxed on its PvP IVs, unless you have specific jobs you want to hone in on. Hopefully Carbink will be available outside of Raids and paid events in the future.
