(Gen 1) Rhydon or Golem

[the voice of reason]

I frequently use both. I switch Golem into Zapdos and immediately use explosion. Usually it takes out their Starmie on the switch-in, which is good, because I always have trouble with starmie on my teams.

After that, my Rhydon can still counter their Zapdos and normals just fine, and doesn't have to worry about starmie.

I know that that seems a little weird, but it works pretty well for me.

[JMC]

Basically, I've come to see exploders a lot more sufficent for the "omg last chance gotta kill that Exeggutor" shot. Golem can kill Exeggutor. Rhydon doesn't. Rhydon is a powerhouse, however, and perhaps with a mixture of Chansey, Alakazam, Hypno, and/or Exeggutor, to paralyze/special absorb, he's pretty dandy. You have to be pretty damn precise to try to predict with Rhydon, however, since the misprediction can lose him. Basically, he's a heckova lot more risky than Golem is, but hey, is can work from time to time.

Though I'd like to adress something Jackal said about Rhydon:

Originally Posted by Fat Jackal

1) All they have left is chansey, you have starmie (or a random sleeping pokemon or something) and [golem or rhydon]. If its golem, you win bar an ice beam critical hit becuase you can explode, rhydon has to settle for hoping for a bslam para. This situation also works for something like eggy/snorlax, even a paralyzed tauros. Explosion is AMAZING. I cannot stress this.

You used Starmie as an example. If this is the endgame with Pokemon like this, one would think that Chansey would have some status ailment against her. People fail to realize that if Chansey gets fp'd at the wrong time against a physical attack, she's dead. If one can paralyze her (in this case with Starmie), one can easily switch to Rhydon, since I don't precisely think that they'll use Ice Beam. If you didn't want to risk prediction, it's not that much of a problem, as Earthquake 2ko's no matter what just like Ice Beam. The exception is if they critical hit. Golem means sure-fire win with a paralyzed chansey, but Rhydon is pretty damn manuverable in reality.

[Carl]

Personally I have always used Golem. RBY battles are so easy to win with Explosion once you get an early advantage. A simple critical hit or even good prediction allowing you to take the lead 6-5 and one or two explosions in the face of key pokemon like Starmie or Exeggutor make Tauros's job at cleaner very easy. Generally, both Golem and Rhydon are midgame pokemon and I simply prefer my midgame pokemon to be able to blow up and shift the game.

[pokedude7]

Rhydon, if you want to use the game's strongest recoil-free attacks.
Golem, if you want to use the games strongest attacks.

[GreenPikachu]

as far as physical attacks go, i'm pretty sure you're wrong. a snorlax hyper beam is much more devastating than a rhydon earthquake. O_o

[smog777]

Well, I used both and they're both awesome but I think that Golem is more versatile than Rhydon cuz of Explosion. Rhydon rocks only with much para support, but eh, it can own a paralyzed Starmie with EQ, Golem can't. Also Rhydon is the better Zapdos counter cuz of more HP, but Golem does also his job well. Also Explosion is one of the best RBY moves, it can give you a big advantage if u use it right, so pick Golem.

[Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Fat smog777

Rhydon rocks only with much para support, but eh, it can own a paralyzed Starmie with EQ, Golem can't.

Everyone always seems to forget that Golem can learn Substitute just like Rhydon. The old standard used to be Rock Slide, Earthquake, Substitute, Explosion.

But yeah, I always use Golem because the little defensive advantage Rhydon has over it doesn't matter most of the time. They both do the same job, but what it comes down to is that Golem can explode and Rhydon can't.

[dawnrider]

Golem = Versatility
Rhydon = Specialized powerhouse

[Borat]

Golem is generally better, if even just for the Explosion. I don't recall too many things falling quicker to Rhydon than Golem.

And if you have to choose one, I'd go with Body Slam over Rock Slide for Golem. Just personal preference though.

[waterwizard]

Originally Posted by Fat Borat

Golem is generally better, if even just for the Explosion. I don't recall too many things falling quicker to Rhydon than Golem.

And if you have to choose one, I'd go with Body Slam over Rock Slide for Golem. Just personal preference though.

I agree. Golem's pressure w/ Explosion makes him better. And Body Slam is my preference.

However, Rhydon does have the edge in that he always 2hkos Chansey, and he can 2hko Starmie, unlike Golem. Still, not really worth it. Boom.


Also, pokedude, if we're throwing around superlatives, Snorlax's MK is stronger than Rhydon's EQ, making it the strongest physical attack without turn-loss. Articuno's Blizzard takes the cake for the strongest attack in the standard game (barring self-KO).

[Ulisses]

I use rhydon because:
Rhydon is sightly more bulky and i like to use blizzard on it, it may look ridiculous, but deals a lot of damage when they switch into counters that aren't water type, plus, the freeze is a win on a counter.
And then, golem explosion can be predicted, and makes it less usefull.

[Crystal_]

Rock Slide still does more to eggy than Blizzard does (and freeze eggy may not be what you want to). If you even want to use a special move on Rhydon use Surf, but it won't ohko golem and you will lose to it anyway.
I definitely think that it depends on your team, but imo Golem is better more often than Rhydon is. Rhydon imo is for teams that plan to sweep with Lax and a ground-type after a lot of para support, while I think that Golem is the better overall for standard teams.
ANd yeah, Explosion can be predicted, but you can predict his rock or his Gengar with EQ, and explosion can be your salvation against Bros and AmnesiaLaxs and kills ZAms, Starmies and Chanseys if needed.

[420]

Originally Posted by Fat waterwizard

Articuno's Blizzard takes the cake for the strongest attack in the standard game (barring self-KO).

You're forgetting Zapdos' Thunder, Moltres' Fire Blast, and lol Exeggutor's Solarbeam

On the subject of Rhydon vs. Golem, it's really down to preference. Typically, those that prefer Rhydon tend to underestimate Golem's explosion, and those that prefer Golem tend to underestimate Rhydon's power. Personally, I always use Golem.

EDIT: Fun fact, the weakest attack in RBY is Tangela's Constrict. A level 1 Omastar with reflect up and +6 defense will always survive a level 100 Tangela Constrict

[~Eon~]

Originally Posted by Fat 420

You're forgetting Zapdos' Thunder, Moltres' Fire Blast, and lol Exeggutor's Solarbeam

On the subject of Rhydon vs. Golem, it's really down to preference. Typically, those that prefer Rhydon tend to underestimate Golem's explosion, and those that prefer Golem tend to underestimate Rhydon's power. Personally, I always use Golem.

EDIT: Fun fact, the weakest attack in RBY is Tangela's Constrict. A level 1 Omastar with reflect up and +6 defense will always survive a level 100 Tangela Constrict

And how do you get a level 1 omastar?

[Crystal_]

Nope, both Tentacool and Omanyte learn Constrict and have a lower attack (178).
However, Tangela's Constrict will always OHKO that Omanyte, and the 178s constrict will OHKO 2/3 of the times.

Omastar though who is the poke that takes the lower damage from constrict and learn reflect is OHKOed by Tangela 2/3 of the time and takes 77-92% from 178 constricts.

The move that wins here I think is Poison Sting
From a Tentacool that mimics Conversion from Porygon to lose the STAB (kakuna and weedle can't learn Mimic) against a Onix with +6 def that mimics Reflect and uses it (Rhydon cannot learn Harden to boost his defense and can't mimic both reflect and harden/barrier/whatever)
The damage = Between 50% and 66'67%
LOL: If Tentacool is burned and has a -6 ATK it will only do 1 damage (8%)!!!

LOL I couldn't imagine me doing this =P

[waterwizard]

I wasn't forgetting the other three 120s @ 348. But Articuno's the only viable one of those four in standard. Also, SolarBeam is a two-turn move, so you might call its power 60. Next, Blizzard proves the most accurate, and over a testing period of 10 attacks Blizzard would inflict the most damage.

Also I am absolutely loving Crystal's weakest-attack-in-the-game solution.

[420]

I was only counting fully evolved level 100 pokemon =P

and omanyte's constrict is a tradeback move

[Borat]

Originally Posted by Fat waterwizard

I wasn't forgetting the other three 120s @ 348. But Articuno's the only viable one of those four in standard. Also, SolarBeam is a two-turn move, so you might call its power 60. Next, Blizzard proves the most accurate, and over a testing period of 10 attacks Blizzard would inflict the most damage.

Careful if you're nitpicking. "A testing period of 10 attacks" isn't something logical you'd use.

Anywho, having just failed a Stats final, I'd like to bolster my very pessimistic ego by doing some elementary stuff in an elementary way that doesn't rape my brain.

Analysis: Rhydon over the course of 8 attacks will have dealt 8*150*358=429600 points (not HP, obviously)

Over the course of 8 attacks, Articuno will have dealt x*180*348=62640x points

Simple algebra on the two to find x>6.858

And because attacks are whole, Articuno needs to land at least 7 of 8 attacks to surpass Rhydon. Odds of that are:

1 way to arrange 8 successful Blizzards (C(8,8)) @ .9^8 = 38.7%
8 ways to arrange 7 successful Blizzards (C(8,7)) @ .9^7*.1 = 38.3%

Odds of Articuno doing more damage than Rhydon over the course of 8 turns: 77%

[Bravo]

I would use Golem because of its explosion in competitive battle and it learns Rock Throw, Earthquake and Explosion on its own where Rydon does not.

Earthquake
Explosion
Rock Slide(TM)
Your choice(I'd go with Mega Punch)

[Crystal_]

Originally Posted by Fat Bravo

I would use Golem because of its explosion in competitive battle and it learns Rock Throw, Earthquake and Explosion on its own where Rydon does not.

Earthquake
Explosion
Rock Slide(TM)
Your choice(I'd go with Mega Punch)

In competitive battle TMs do not exist and it does not matter whether Golem learns Rock Throw or not =P, because you are going to use Rock Slide. The last slot is for Body Slam, which has the same power as MegaPunch, 100% accuracy and 30% para chance. Sub can also be used though.

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by Fat Crystal_

In competitive battle TMs do not exist

??/

and it does not matter whether Golem learns Rock Throw or not =P

If you dont use TM rock slide it would, rhydon doesnt learn it. Rock slide dominates the three legendary brids

last slot is for Body Slam, which has the same power as MegaPunch, 100% accuracy and 30% para chance. Sub can also be used though.

Yeah body slam would be good

[Torchic]

Originally Posted by Fat the voice of reason

I frequently use both. I switch Golem into Zapdos and immediately use explosion. Usually it takes out their Starmie on the switch-in, which is good, because I always have trouble with starmie on my teams.

After that, my Rhydon can still counter their Zapdos and normals just fine, and doesn't have to worry about starmie.

I know that that seems a little weird, but it works pretty well for me.

Quote it because it works!

[waterwizard]

Originally Posted by Fat Borat

Careful if you're nitpicking. "A testing period of 10 attacks" isn't something logical you'd use.

sigh. you and vineon keep me on my feet. truthfully, i had serious reservations about putting that line in my post. i just went with it, though.

incidentally, we've been having good success with the RBY community. you should show up on netbattle and try your hand.

[MasterLuc]

golem, easily. Rhydon was ok with megahorn and all, but golem just owns

[Aether Nexus]

Originally Posted by Fat MasterLuc

golem, easily. Rhydon was ok with megahorn and all, but golem just owns

This thread is only for which you prefer in RBY competitive battling. Rhydon didn't have Megahorn until the 3rd generation.

~ Aether Nexus