Earthquake is your main attack, with the rest of the set offering great type coverage. Stone Edge is for Flying-types and Pinsir; Megahorn rips through Grassers and Psychics and Sucker Punch takes out speedy Ghosts, like Rotom and Froslass. This is more suited to UU competition, but if you wish to use it in OU there are a few alternative moves to consider. Ice Punch can replace Stone Edge to take care of Dragons and Gliscor more easily. Losing Stone Edge leaves you open to Gyarados, so you can replace Sucker Punch with ThunderPunch, which also puts a dent in Skarmory. Fire Punch is also worth considering as it handles Heracross, Bronzong, Skarmory and Forretress. Life Orb can replace Choice Band if you wish to ease your prediction worries, at the expense of a little power and 10% of Nidoking's health each turn he attacks. The big advantage of Life Orb is you don't get stuck using a futile attack. This also turns Nidoking into a better sweeper, rather than a "hit and run" attacker.
The main advantage here is the ability to take down bulky Ground and Water-types more easily. This is partly due to having a powerful super effective attack to fire at most of them and also that you will usually be hitting their weaker defensive stat. Shadow Ball is recommended in the last slot if you're using this in UU, as it hits Solrock and Lunatone. Its also your best attack against Grumpig and Hypno. In OU, Flamethrower (or Fire Blast if you want more power) is useful for dealing with Bronzong and Heracross. Alternatively, you can go with Focus Punch to hit OU special walls such as Blissey, Regice and Snorlax.
With Life Orb and Nidoking's incredible movepool, this set can cause serious problems for anything trying to switch in. If you hit them with the correct move on the switch, this at least 2HKOs practically everything in UU. As this is a predomination special attacking set, you'll need something to take out Grumpig and Hypno. Earthquake does the job with two hits, unless they have an inordinately large amount of Defense. Obviously, the Rock/Steel-types walls like Aggron will have no chance against Earthquake. Between Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Grass, every Water-type will be at least 2HKOed. Hidden Power Grass also covers the floating Rocks, Lunatone and Solrock. Ice Beam covers Altaria and hits some Ground-types harder than Hidden Power Grass, like Sandslash. Grass-types like Meganium will also hate switching into Ice Beam. Splitting Nidoking's offensive stats does come at a cost - you can't use as many Speed EVs. As is, this hits 220, beating neutral natured base 60s. Some of the more offensive minded Grumpig will outrun Nidoking, but the investment required to avoid this severely cuts into your attacking power.
The OU version of the previous set. This is great for breaking many of the walls Nidoking may encounter in OU battles. Megahorn rips into Cresselia and Celebi; Ice Beam handles Dragons and Grounds like Hippowdon and Gliscor. Fire Blast covers Skarmory, Forretress, Bronzong and also 2HKOs Weezing. Or you can switch to Thunderbolt for Suicune and Gyarados, while still retaining coverage on Skarmory. Thunder is also usable if you are willing to trade accuracy for power and a higher Paralysis chance. It should be noted that Tyranitar is offensively superior with this style of set. Nidoking's only real advantages are his immunities to Toxic and Thunder Wave, and his ability to absorb Toxic Spikes. Nidoking's good set of type resists (Bug, Fighting, Rock) don't count for a great deal, especially with Life Orb and no HP investment. Speed EVs allow Nidoking to outrun everything from minimum Speed Cresselia and Suicune, up to Adamant Tyranitar and finally, minimum Speed Gliscor. Other OptionsYou can use Poison Jab and Sludge Bomb in the appropriate sets, but very rarely will they outdamage Nidoking's other options. Nor will Surf, which Nidoking can also learn. Thief is somewhat of a filler move—which seems an odd idea on something as diverse as Nidoking—but it can be used to steal Leftovers from a tank. Nidoking can set up Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock, but that's better left to his more defensive counterpart, Nidoqueen. The same goes for options like Rest/Sleep Talk, Roar, Taunt and Counter. Rivalry can provide a very welcome boost provided you are facing a male opponent, although you will have your offense dropped when facing a Pokémon of the opposite gender. However, boosting items like Life Orb and Choice Band do compensate for this somewhat. Overall, Poison Point is the safer option. EVsA simple 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe spread is fine for the Choice Band and Choice Specs set. HP EVs aren't that useful, and you may win the 50/50 against other Nidoking. Adamant or Modest natures are recommended, although if you desire more Speed, Jolly and Timid are fine too. Make sure your EV stat is odd if you're using Life Orb, so the damage rounds down. OpinionNidoking is easily one of the most diverse attackers around, and woe betide most Pokémon that attempt to wall him. He has a really awesome movepool and decent but unspectacular stats to use it with. In OU, it requires a bit of skill to get the most of, and you will often find better candidates for a team slot. However, in the lower environments it is very deadly. CountersThe best way to "counter" Nidoking is to send in a generic wall, find out its set and item, and work from there. Even with a boosting Nidoking's power is a bit low in OU, so a bulky sweeper like Garchomp or Gyarados will work as long as you stay away from the super effective moves. Against a Choice item set, prediction is key, but smart prediction will ruin Nidoking, particularly if it finds itself using a futile Choice Band Earthquake. The Ground/Water-types, like Quagsire and Swampert are fairly safe bets. Thanks to their good defensive stats, they should survive most attacks well enough. Watch out for Choice Specs Earth Power, as it is a likely 2HKO on both. Beware of the occasional HP Grass too. Poliwrath does ok if he avoids boosted Thunderbolts. Grumpig and Hypno do their special walling bit in UU, just watch out for repeated hits from Shadow Ball, although both can be EVed to survive three hits. Either of them will fall to the Choice Band or Life Orb sets, especially to a well timed Megahorn. |
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