Exploding Rhydon (Golem discussion)

[DoubleX]

Haven't had one of these yet.

GOLEM
Rock/Ground typing

HP: 80
Atk: 110
Def: 130
SpAtk: 55
SpDef: 65
Spd: 45

Traits:

ROCK HEAD: No recoil damage
STURDY: OHKOs fail

Physical movepool:

Rock Blast
Rock Slide
Stone Edge
Double-edge
Explosion
Earthquake
Focus Punch
Gyro Ball
Hammer Arm
Flail

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. The only new additions are Stone Edge, Gyro Ball and Hammer Arm, but they can all be quite useful.

Special movepool:

Fire Blast

lol. Only if you're paranoid about Skarmory.

Other movepool:

Rock Polish
Roar
Rest
Sandstorm
Stealth Rock
Sleep Talk
Block
Substitute

Not as big as the physical movepool, but these have their uses.

Golem was the UU equivalent to Rhydon in Advance, and did do a nice job of being one of the premier physical walls. Let's see if it's changed much (my EVs are probably shit, and I can't give exact numbers, so maybe if there's a better way of doing EVs someone could suggest it):

Golem @ Choice Band
Adamant nature
Rock Head
EVs: Max Atk, plenty of HP, rest in Def
- Double-edge
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Focus Punch/Explosion

I used this set a fair bit in Advance, with Rock Slide over Stone Edge obviously, and it worked quite well. I don't know what else to say, although for the more inexperienced players, if you want to use this set as your wall you'll want Wish support, since with the Choice Band it can't take hits forever.

Golem @ Leftovers
Impish nature
Sturdy
EVs: Max HP, lots of Def, rest in Atk
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Apparently this was also a decent Golem set, which I haven't actually seen anyone use, but I could see it working fairly well. Staying power with Resttalk, and Quakeslide gives decent type coverage.

Golem @ Life Orb
Relaxed nature
Sturdy
EVs: Max Atk, 20 SpAtk, rest in HP (maybe some Def)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Explosion

I listed Fire Blast in its Special movepool, so I thought I should use it in a set. This doesn't get walled by Skarmory, but does get stopped by Flygon and any other Quakeslide resist that also resists Fire; I can't think of any off the top of my head, sorry. The 20 SpAtk EVs get it to 151 SpAtk, which can 2HKO no SpDef max HP Skarmory. Since odds are you're slower than it, even if you don't get the 2HKO, you can knock it far enough to force it to Roost, then you can Earthquake it to hell.

Golem @ Life Orb/Leftovers
Adamant nature
Sturdy
EVs: Max Spd and Atk, rest in HP
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Explosion

Yeah, this thing can also play around with Rock Polish. Without a +Spd nature it can't hit the magic 198, but it can hit a maximum of 189 with a neutral nature, which outspeeds +Spd base 120s, which is quite cool for something that's typically this slow. Life Orb lets Golem hit harder, which it may need since 110 base isn't that intimidating, but Leftovers gives you a bit of staying power. With Life Orb you could theoretically knock stuff down until you reach low HP, then Explode on something, but I dunno if Golem's really fast enough for that.

Golem @ Leftovers
Brave/Impish nature
Sturdy
EVs: Max Atk and HP, rest in Def
- Hammer Arm
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

This is a gimmick I came up with when I was going through Golem's movepool. Gyro Ball will already be fairly powerful against most things with Golem's base 45 Spd and a -Spd nature, but Hammer Arm dropping your Spd even further would make it powerful against nearly everything. Either nature works, depending on if you want more power or if you want to stick around for longer.

Everything suddenly becoming more offensive may hurt Golem's capabilities as a go-to wall, but it does have a decent Atk stat, so one could use that as an attacker, as seen in the sets I came up with. Any other opinions on this walking ball of rocks?

 

[Misty]

Unfortunately for Golem, now that Rhydon has evolved, its chances of becoming OU are damn near nil. Still, I think Golem will be an effective physical tank in the UU environment (Rhydon will probably still be banned), and it has a few new tricks that could prove useful. It'd be interesting to see a Sandstorm-based UU team (probably with Smooth Rock since there won't be Sand Stream), because Golem's special defense could use the boost.

 

[West]

I think Golem can be used to set up Stealth Rock, because it's one pokemon without moveslot problems.

 

[Great Sage]

Golem will probably remain in UU, as Rhyperior takes every single thing good about it and makes it better, except Explosion. Golem essentially should use its Advance sets.

 

[DoubleX]

Dah, there's a set I forgot, a Stealth Rock set. Although to be honest, you could probably stick it over Rock Polish on that set, so I dunno if it's really necessary to post another set just for Rock Polish.

Golem's movepool is of stuff that's fairly powerful, like Stone Edge and Explosion, but it's not particuarly varied, so you're right [leaves], it's one Pokemon without moveset syndrome. Which is interesting, since thanks to all these new moves there's a shitload more things with moveslot syndrome in D/P.

 

[Footnote]

When I see a Pokémon like Golem that seems to be outshined in every way by another Pokémon (Rhyperior), the first thing I ask myself is, "What can this Pokémon do that the other one can't?"

Sadly enough, I only came up with three things for Golem. First, it can explode. Second, it can use Gyro Ball, which is pretty much a waste if you already have a STABed Ground attack and a STABed Rock attack. Gyro Ball's max power is 150, which is the power of Earthqauke and Stone Edge after STAB. Third, it can trap opponents with Block, which might be useful if it worked before the opponent could switch to something that OHKOs Golem.

It can use Rollout, but it turns out that Rhyperior can do that too if you teach it in Advance. I get the feeling that Golem would have gotten an evolution or a new Trait this generation if it didn't already have three stages and two Traits.

Is there anything else it can do that Rhyperior can't? Even if it sounds useless now, it might be useful if applied correctly.

EDIT: OK, Rhyperior can't learn Defense Curl, making Golem possibly the most "practical" user of Rollout. If you could somehow bring it in against something that couldn't hurt it (using a Baton Passed Mean Look or something), use Rock Polish once or twice, use Defense Curl, and start a Rollout, you could potentially KO three or four of your opponent's Pokémon.

 

[TerrickTerran]

Too bad they force Golem to have Sturdy. It needs Rhyperior's trait much more than Rhyperior does. Still, it's my favorite Pokemonand I like Hammer Arm....better on it than Brick Break I think.

 

[Mekkah]

If anything Golem is somewhat helped by the loss of physical hidden powers which means no more HP Ground/Fighting from Normal birdies and such. However, Steel Wing will probably just reign because of that (for Solrock/Lunatone), or even HP Grass (for Omastar/Quagsire).

 

[Deck Knight]

If anything Golem is somewhat helped by the loss of physical hidden powers which means no more HP Ground/Fighting from Normal birdies and such. However, Steel Wing will probably just reign because of that (for Solrock/Lunatone), or even HP Grass (for Omastar/Quagsire).

Solrock/Lunatone are better handled by U-Turn on the CB Birds, and it does nuetral damage to Omastar/Quags, so chances are U-Turn replaces physical HP, not Steel Wing. Except for Dodrio, which doesn't get U-Turn.