[OVERVIEW]
Ground
========
Nidoking is Ground's best special wallbreaker due to its various coverage moves boosted by Sheer Force and Life Orb, which let it break past physically defensive walls such as Skarmory, Amoonguss, and Ferrothorn that are otherwise difficult for the type to break through. Nidoking also helps against types like Fairy, Flying, Steel, and Grass, as they lack sturdy defensive switch-ins to it. Its part-Poison typing provides useful defensive utility by letting it switch in on Fairy-type attacks and remove Toxic Spikes. It is additionally the only way for Ground teams to set Toxic Spikes themselves. However, while Nidoking can pressure many physically defensive walls, its Speed tier leaves it outsped and KOed by a plethora of offensive Pokemon, such as Tapu Lele, Excadrill, and Hydreigon, to name a few. Nidoking's mediocre bulk also makes it difficult to come in on Pokemon that it can deal with but can wear it down, such as Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Tapu Bulu. This frailty also makes it vulnerable even to revenge killers lacking super effective moves such as Spectrier.
[SET]
name: Wallbreaker (Ground)
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Flamethrower
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Thunderbolt
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Earth Power is the preferred STAB move, as it covers walls such as Heatran, physically defensive Gastrodon, and Tyranitar. Flamethrower provides great coverage against Steel- and Grass-types such as Skarmory, Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Tapu Bulu, hitting them for massive damage. Ice Beam nails Flying- and Dragon-types such as Zapdos, Dragonite, and Garchomp, as well as potential switch-ins like Landorus-T, Latias, and Hydreigon. It also deals with Cradily better than Earth Power. Thunderbolt hits additional Flying-types that are neutral to Ice Beam such as Mantine, Pelipper, and Celesteela super effectively. Toxic Spikes can be used over Earth Power to support the team and quickly wear down grounded foes such as Porygon2. However, Nidoking's poor bulk gives it limited opportunities to set Toxic Spikes, and Earth Power is needed to break through Heatran. Sheer Force works well in tandem with Life Orb, preventing Nidoking from being worn down by Life Orb recoil and stacking damage boosts. A Timid nature allows Nidoking to outspeed the likes of Tapu Bulu, Choice Band Dracovish, and Heatran.
Teammates such as Mamoswine, Landorus-T, and Excadrill appreciate Nidoking's ability to deal with threats like Skarmory and Celesteela. Hippowdon is a good partner, as its Sand Stream and Stealth Rock support wears down foes quickly for Nidoking. Additionally, its good bulk lets it come in on physical attackers such as Choice Scarf Excadrill, Garchomp, and Galarian Zapdos. Excadrill breaks through troublesome specially defensive walls such as Blissey and Slowking for Nidoking, beats Psychic- and Ice-types that it struggles against such as Tapu Lele, Alolan Ninetales, and Kyurem, and provides Rapid Spin support. Under Hippowdon's sand, Excadrill can also outspeed a handful of other offensive threats for Nidoking such as Choice Scarf Blacephalon, Dragapult, and Spectrier. Gastrodon and Seismitoad both provide a Water immunity for Nidoking; Gastrodon's Recover makes it more reliable against threats like Barraskewda, Keldeo, and Tapu Fini, and Seismitoad can check the highly dangerous Azumarill. Mamoswine is a powerful wallbreaker that can revenge kill some faster threats that give Nidoking trouble such as Latias, Dragapult, and Thundurus-T with Ice Shard. Choice Scarf Landorus-T is able to revenge kill additional fast foes such as Spectrier, Tapu Lele, and Volcarona while providing entry hazard removal with Defog. Its Ground immunity is also useful to handle threats such as Excadrill and Garchomp. Bulk Up + Gravity Landorus-T is another option to make Nidoking's Earth Power more spammable while helping in matchups like Poison. Choice Scarf Krookodile can act as a dangerous revenge killer against Ghost- and Psychic-types like Spectrier, Victini, and Latios. Krookodile also provides an immunity against Psychic-type attacks directed at Nidoking.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
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Sludge Wave can be used over Earth Power to 2HKO defensive Pokemon that can tank the rest of Nidoking's moves easily such as Rotom-W and Moltres. However, forgoing Earth Power means Nidoking can't break through Heatran, limiting its effectiveness in the Steel matchup. Fire Blast over Flamethrower notably 2HKOes specially defensive Celesteela, but it is less reliable. Substitute is an option to make Nidoking harder to revenge kill, but it is very hard to fit.
Checks and Counters
===================
Ground
--------
**Specially Defensive Walls**: Specially defensive walls such as Blissey and defensive Rotom-W can tank multiple hits from Nidoking and retaliate.
**Revenge Killers**: Powerful revenge killers such as Alolan Raichu, Barraskewda, and Spectrier can force out Nidoking easily by threatening an OHKO with their STAB moves. Priority users such as Rillaboom and Mamoswine can outspeed and KO Nidoking with little to no chip damage.
**Super Effective Moves**: Super effective moves from foes faster than Nidoking such as Tapu Lele, Urshifu-R, and Latios can heavily pressure it. Nidoking must also be wary of super effective attacks from slower foes such as Hippowdon, Slowbro, and Swampert, as it fails to OHKO them.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Rotten, 491896]]
- Ground analysis by: [[Rotten, 491896]]
- Quality checked by: [[Conflux, 408641], [Maple, 473171], [maroon, 305839]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [deetah, 297659]]
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