
GP: Kris
[OVERVIEW]
Ground
========
* Nidoking's access to Sheer Force coupled with Life Orb makes it a great special wallbreaker.
* Its Poison typing helps tremendously in type matchups against Grass and Fairy, notably being able to check Tapu Bulu and Mega Venusaur.
* Nidoking's wide movepool includes strong STAB moves in Earth Power and Sludge Wave, and coverage moves like Flamethrower and Ice Beam.
* Unfortunately, Nidoking's poor bulk means that it cannot switch in often and makes it easily revenge killed.
* While Nidoking can outspeed Pokemon like Xurkitree, Zapdos, and Mega Venusaur, it's still outsped by a vast majority of the metagame.
* It also faces competition from Landorus as a special wallbreaker due to its higher Speed, which lets it outspeed Mega Charizard Y, and Special Attack.
* However, using Nidoking opens up the team to use Landorus-T, which is a powerful sweeper.
[SET]
name: Wallbreaker (Ground)
move 1: Sludge Wave
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Flamethrower / Fire Blast
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Sludge Wave is Nidoking's strongest STAB move, which lets it hit Grass- and Fairy-types like Tapu Bulu and Clefable.
* Earth Power is a secondary STAB move that lets Nidoking hit Steel-, Electric-, and Rock-types like Heatran, Magearna, Xurkitree, and Tyranitar.
* Ice beam lets Nidoking hit Ground-, Dragon-, and Flying-types like Gliscor, Garchomp, Zapdos, and Dragonite, as well as Cradily.
* Flamethrower completes Nidoking's coverage by allowing it to hit Pokemon like Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Scizor.
* Fire Blast is an alternate option that allows Nidoking to 2HKO Celesteela at the cost of lower accuracy and PP.
Set Details
========
* Maximum Special Attack and Speed investment with a Timid nature is used in order to let Nidoking hit as hard and as fast as possible, notably being able to outspeed and KO Tapu Bulu and Xurkitree.
* Sheer Force coupled with Life Orb boosts the damage of Nidoking's attacks considerably without it having to take recoil damage from Life Orb.
Usage Tips
========
* Bring Nidoking in as often as possible early-game in order to wallbreak.
* Due to its bad bulk, bring Nidoking in safely through a U-turn or a fallen teammate.
* However, Nidoking can switch into weaker Pokemon like Clefable and a predicted Toxic from Pokemon like Zapdos thanks to its Poison typing.
* Keep it healthy in Grass and Fairy matchups to check Pokemon like Mega Venusaur and Tapu Bulu.
* Especially in Steel matchups, make sure to keep Nidoking healthy to avoid letting it get picked off by priority, such as from Mega Scizor.
* Against bulkier teams, Nidoking should generally play safer by choosing moves without overt prediction.
* As it's easily revenge killed by faster Pokemon, Nidoking should try to choose the appropriate coverage move to hit Pokemon that can switch into its other moves, such as Landorus-T and Latios, against more offensive teams.
Team Options
========
* Nidoking's ability to check Grass-types and wallbreak is appreciated by all of its teammates.
* Nidoking and Landorus-T are fantastic partners. Nidoking can wallbreak and remove checks to double dance Landorus-T like Skarmory and weaken Hippowdon, both of which can phaze Landorus-T out. In return, Landorus-T can set up Swords Dance and break checks to Nidoking like Rotom-W and Chansey. Choice Scarf Landorus-T can bring Nidoking in safely through U-turn.
* Hippowdon can sponge many attacks from Pokemon that threaten Nidoking, such as from Excadrill and Victini. Hippowdon also allows Nidoking to safely switch in thanks to Eject Button, and it can set Stealth Rock to wear the opposing team down and make it easier for Nidoking to wallbreak.
* Water-immune Pokemon like Gastrodon and Seismitoad can switch into Water-type moves. They can additionally switch into Ice-type attacks thanks to their Water typing. Seismitoad, in particular, can check Belly Drum Azumarill. In return, Nidoking can check Grass-types like Mega Venusaur and Cradily.
* Gliscor is a great stallbreaker that can beat walls that Nidoking cannot, such as Chansey and Porygon2.
* Physical wallbreakers like Garchomp, Mamoswine, and Excadrill can weaken Nidoking's checks such as Chansey and Mantine. Conversely, Nidoking can deal with physically defensive walls like Skarmory.
* Dugtrio can trap and remove checks to Nidoking like Kyurem-B and Chansey. Nidoking can beat Flying-types like Skarmory and Zapdos that aren't trapped by Arena Trap, in return.
* Choice Scarf Krookodile is an option on more offensive teams to Pursuit trap checks to Nidoking like Latios and Mega Alakazam.
* While most Ground teams generally don't have the space to run two special wallbreakers, Landorus and Nidoking can make good partners, as both of them can weaken their shared checks.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
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* Toxic Spikes is a viable option on more offensive teams; however, it forces Nidoking forgo one of its important coverage moves.
* Thunderbolt can be run exclusively to hit Mantine and Gyarados; however, the coverage provided by Ice Beam and Flamethrower is greater.
* Choice Scarf lets Nidoking outspeed and take out Pokemon it lures in, such as Garchomp and Landorus. However, its damage output is quite low without Life Orb and it's still outsped by common Choice Scarf users like Victini and Kyurem-B.
* Sucker Punch can be run in order to KO Mega Alakazam and Alolan Raichu after a little prior damage; however, it is generally useless in other matchups and not worth giving up on one of Nidoking's coverage moves.
Checks and Counters
===================
Ground
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**Chansey**: Chansey completely walls Nidoking and can KO it with Seismic Toss.
**Specially Defensive Pokemon**: Pokemon like Mantine, Araquanid, and Mew can easily switch into Nidoking. Mantine and Araquanid can KO it with a Water-type move, and Mew can use Knock Off and remove Life Orb, making Nidoking weaker. Mantine, however, needs to watch out for Thunderbolt.
**Revenge Killers**: Faster Pokemon like Terrakion, Victini, and Mega Charizard Y can easily take out Nidoking. Priority users like Azumarill, Dragonite, and Bisharp can revenge kill Nidoking with Aqua Jet, Extreme Speed, and Sucker Punch, respectively.
**Water-types**: Offensive Water types like Keldeo, Greninja, and Manaphy can KO Nidoking with their Water-type STAB moves. Defensive Water-types like Swampert and Rotom-W can take any hit from Nidoking and KO it back.
**Psychic-types**: Psychic-types like Mega Alakazam, Latios, and Alolan Raichu can easily outspeed and KO Nidoking.
**Ground-types**: Offensive Ground-types like Excadrill and Landorus can outspeed and KO Nidoking. Dugtrio can additionally trap it. Bulkier Ground-types like Seismitoad, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon can take a hit from Nidoking and take it out with their Ground-type STAB moves.
**Ice-types**: Ice-types like Weavile and Kyurem-B can take Nidoking out with their STAB moves. Mamoswine can survive any attack from Nidoking and KO it back. Most Ice-types can't switch into Flamethrower or Fire Blast, however.
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