|
-
Poison Point
- 30% chance to poison when struck by a contact move.
-
Rivalry
- Move power depends on gender of the opponent.
-
Sheer Force
- Increases power of moves with secondary effects by 30%, but removes the effects.
|
Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
90
|
- |
321 |
384 |
- |
| Atk |
82
|
180 |
200 |
263 |
289 |
| Def |
87
|
189 |
210 |
273 |
300 |
| SpA |
75
|
167 |
186 |
249 |
273 |
| SpD |
85
|
185 |
206 |
269 |
295 |
| Spe |
76
|
169 |
188 |
251 |
276 |
Overview
As a defensive Ground-type with a resistance to Fighting-type moves, Nidoqueen is generally overshadowed by Gliscor. However, she holds two key assets over Gliscor: the ability to lay and absorb Toxic Spikes. These two assets make Nidoqueen preferable for full stall teams in need of a Toxic Spikes user. She provides her team with vital resistances to Rock-, Bug-, and Fighting-type attacks, as well as an immunity to Electric-type attacks, allowing her to function as a sturdy switch-in to many top threats such as Tyranitar, Lucario, Scizor, Toxicroak, and Terrakion. Nidoqueen is a particularly handy defensive pivot for hail teams, as such teams are particularly vulnerable to Rock- and Fighting-type assaults.
However, Nidoqueen similarly lacks two key assets that make Gliscor the preferable choice. Firstly, she lacks any reliable recovery outside of Black Sludge, making her very susceptible to being worn down. She also suffers from a Ground-type weakness, making her unable to counter top threats such as Landorus. If your team doesn't require Toxic Spikes support and / or absorption, then Gliscor is generally the superior choice. Even as a defensive Toxic Spiker for hail teams, Nidoqueen finds competition with Tentacruel, which arguably performs a better job fending off Jirachi, Scizor, and Heatran, all top threats to hail teams, as well as providing crucial Rapid Spin support. Also, any attempts to sweep or wall-break are better left to her male counterpart, Nidoking, who boasts higher speed and better attacking stats.
With respectable 90 / 87 / 85 defenses and a unique typing that resists both Rock- and Fighting-type attacks, Nidoqueen has an easy time switching into the ubiquitous Tyranitar, as well as the countless new Fighting-types released this generation. From there, she provides her team with Stealth Rock, or Toxic Spikes support, while scaring off grounded Poison-types with her STAB Ground-type attacks. Thanks to Sheer Force, Nidoqueen has the equivalent of uninvested 112 / 104 offensive stats, allowing her to hit back hard enough to avoid being setup bait.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
HP and Defense EVs are maximized in order to make her as physically bulky as possible so that she can abuse her good resistances. The choice between Earth Power and Earthquake is choosing between running all special attacks with a neutral speed nature versus hitting Tyranitar and Terrakion harder as well as being harder to switch into due to being able to attack both physically and specially. Her Ground-type STAB hits three common absorbers, Nidoking, Toxicroak and Tentacruel, for super effective damage, preventing them from absorbing her Toxic Spikes and ruining her hard work. Fire Blast is a fantastic coverage attack that does great damage to Pokemon immune to Poison, including Steel-types such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress, as well as preventing Venusaur from absorbing Nidoqueen's Toxic Spikes with impunity. Ice Beam helps Nidoqueen hit Flying-types who evade her Toxic Spikes, most notably Gliscor.
Dragon Tail and Roar are interchangeable on this set, as both moves allow Nidoqueen to discourage potential set up by threatening to phaze out the opposing pokemon, racking up potential hazard damage. Dragon Tail has excellent synergy with Fire Blast, as it hits the dragon pokemon Nidoqueen would stuggle against without Ice Beam, while Roar does an excellent job at forcing out Sub CM Jirachi, although Nidoqueen needs to beware a boosted Psychic.
Nidoqueen has a number of other options it can use successfully. Super Fang, is an good utility move for Nidoqueen, letting it strip 50% of a switch in. This can be very damaging with hazard support, however Super Fang does come at the cost of getting weaker the lower the health of the target is, generally encouraging a single use of the move. In addition, it leaves Nidoqueen lacking a coverage move, or a phazing move, while increasing its weakness to Gengar. Likewise, Thunderbolt is an alternative to Fire Blast or Ice Beam for hitting Gyarados and Skarmory in the one move. Despite this, both Fire Blast and Ice Beam enjoy better coverage on other key threats outside of Gyarados, often making them the better option. Lastly, Flamethrower is an option over Fire Blast if the accuracy of Fire Blast proves distasteful. Flamethrower does come with the downside of failing to OHKO Ferrothorn but outside of that it is an acceptable choice.
With weaknesses to Water-, Ice-, Ground-, and Psychic-type moves, Nidoqueen really appreciates bulky Water-types as teammates. They shrug off Water- and Ice-type attacks, while Nidoqueen absorbs their worst enemy, Toxic Spikes. Jellicent stands out as one of the better Water-types to pair Nidoqueen with, spinblocking any foes attempting to rid the field of Toxic Spikes. Slowbro also synergizes well with Nidoqueen, being able to also resist Psychic-type attacks, as well as handling Landorus, a sand threat Nidoqueen has trouble with. Blissey, Jirachi, and Vaporeon all help to cover Nidoqueen's specially oriented weaknesses, while providing Wish support to alleviate her recovery issues. Nidoqueen covers Tyranitar's Fighting weakness, while Tyranitar provides Nidoqueen with eternal sandstorm to wear down her opponents. Abomasnow also appreciates Nidoqueen's capability to sponge Fighting- and Rock-type assaults, while it can switch into Water- and Ground-types that threaten Nidoqueen. Skarmory synergizes well with Nidoqueen, setting up with Spikes and being able to phaze; its immunity to Ground-type attacks also allows it to handle Landorus, among other Ground-types. Celebi also boasts Water-, Ground-, and Psychic-type resists, and serves as a free switch-in to Nidoqueen's biggest counter, Rotom-W, while Nidoqueen cushions the U-turns that prey on Celebi's dangerous 4x weakness to Bug-type moves.
Other Options
Balanced teams can invest more EVs in Special Attack and equip a Life Orb in order to net some important OHKOs at the cost of sacrificing Nidoqueen's precious bulk and ability to recover her health from Black Sludge. Super Fang can be used to punish switch-ins that Nidoqueen cannot hurt. Nidoqueen also has the option of running Taunt, but is generally too slow to abuse it. Her strongest Poison-type STAB attack, Sludge Wave, allows her to hit Rotom-W and Celebi—who shrug off Ground-type attacks—on the switch, but generally lacks in coverage beyond those two.
Checks and Counters
Pokemon that do not fear Nidoqueen's coverage attacks while taking no damage from Toxic Spikes can cause a lot of trouble. Rotom-W is the prime example, taking no significant damage from any of Nidoqueen's attacks and scaring her out with a STAB Hydro Pump. Starmie also proves to be a nuisance with Natural Cure, Rapid Spin, and Recover, giving it the ability endlessly force out and ruin Nidoqueen's set up. Without Ice Beam, Nidoqueen provides a free switch in to Flying-types who evade her Toxic Spikes. Without Fire Blast, Steel-types such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress use Nidoqueen as setup bait. Without Dragon Tail, Taunt Dragon Dance Gyarados and Latios wreak complete havoc on Nidoqueen's team. Reuniclus laughs at any hazards set up by Nidoqueen's team and begins to set up its devastating Calm Minds.
