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Nidoking

Yeah, frankly I really should remove the sets, but I haven't gotten around to it. Claw Sharpen is really a terrible move overall. Do you guys really see viability in them, or should I just get rid of them altogether?

Realistically, people should be using special LO, which is why it's at the top.

However, it's really a pity that Nidoking is so heavily reliant on Baton Passes.
 
claw sharpen just doesnt work well on nido.

even a set like

Claw sharpen
Megahorn/FireBlast/EQ
Thunder
Blizzard

looks pretty powerful but nido can't even set up because of his horrible speed.
 
Claw Sharpen is really a terrible move overall.
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That's going a little too far. Claw Sharpen is a really handy move for Pokemon like Aianto, Meloetta, and mixed sweepers that can feasibly set up, but unfortunately, that just isn't Nidoking's territory. He doesn't need Thunder or Blizzard to do his job when he has counterparts with better accuracy that get the job done all the same and he certainly won't be running through any remotely offensive teams.
 
Yeah, Claw Sharpen is an ideal move for certain things and it's by no means terrible.

I think Nidoking boils down to either a stallbreaker (very powerful) that gets outsped by faster, stronger things, or a Scarf variant that loses a lot of power. Sort of a hard choice to make, in my opinion.
 
ya know, another thing nidoking has to its advantage is knowing your opponents team before hand so you can use certain attacks on predicted switches.

it outspeeds the likes of heatran, scizor, nattorei, gyarados, and dragonite and can strike them for 4x damage.

Nido@scarf/life orb
encourage
jolly
252 sp.atk/252 spe
~Tbolt
~Ice Beam
~Fire blast/flamethrower
~earth power

a scarf can allow it to outspeed the other dragons, but they are most likely scarfed too, so i think life orb is the way to go.
 
Khan!!! said:
ya know, another thing nidoking has to its advantage is knowing your opponents team before hand so you can use certain attacks on predicted switches.

it outspeeds the likes of heatran, scizor, nattorei, gyarados, and dragonite and can strike them for 4x damage.

Nido@scarf/life orb
encourage
jolly
252 sp.atk/252 spe
~Tbolt
~Ice Beam
~Fire blast/flamethrower
~earth power

a scarf can allow it to outspeed the other dragons, but they are most likely scarfed too, so i think life orb is the way to go.
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I think you want Timid, seeing as Jolly decreases SpA.

I've tried this thing on PO, and it's Speed lets it down. I cannot get it to work. I'm thinking a Modest Scarf set might be necessary as opposed to Timid LO to keep enough power to be useful but have the speed to get the kills.
 
Sajak said:
I think you want Timid, seeing as Jolly decreases SpA.

I've tried this thing on PO, and it's Speed lets it down. I cannot get it to work. I'm thinking a Modest Scarf set might be necessary as opposed to Timid LO to keep enough power to be useful but have the speed to get the kills.
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yea i meant timid. i would think it has enough power to ohko things 4x weak to its attacks, but theres only a handful of these pokes. luckily, they are very common, but ur right, it lacks power even when it hits things for 2x.
 
Khan!!! said:
yea i meant timid. i would think it has enough power to ohko things 4x weak to its attacks, but theres only a handful of these pokes. luckily, they are very common, but ur right, it lacks power even when it hits things for 2x.
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My problem was it would get KOd before it could hit anything, or it would miss the KO and get taken out itself. It's a lot like Electivire.
 
I use a scarf Nidoking and I am far from disappointed. He generally takes down poke after poke and his typing makes toxic spikes about as threatening as a sedated poodle. I don't like LO on him, because it leaves him too vunerable to speedier stuff,and to me, he serves better as a special revenge killer. Just my two cents.
 
I can't believe people are really complaining about Nidoking having to rely on his Special movepool for Encourage. It's AMAZING, and even though it's his SpAtk is lower than his Atk, Encourage AND Life Orb make up for it easily. More power than Choice Specs, yet the ability to choose different moves? Yes plz. I run a slightly different set though.

NidoKING@Life Orb
Timid(+Speed/-Atk)
Encourage
Moves:
~Earth Power
~Slime Wave
~ThunderBolt
~Ice Beam

I've yet to really feel the need for Flamethrower, cept against the Nattorei/Scizor, but basically everything else gets OWNED by the King. I usually start off with Slime Wave if I expect a switch, because 95 Power + STAB + Encourage + Life Orb = Pain. Most people expect Earth power right off the bat, so Grass types often come in, rarely ever steels. Even if it's neutral, it still hits the hardest. Timid is because he NEEDS the speed, and though Power is wanted, it isn't really needed.

But yeah, the King rules.
 
More power than Choice Specs alone you mean. As Nidoking is perfectly capable of having Encourage and Specs. No you can't change moves though. 1.3 x 1.3 = 1.69 1.3 x 1.5 = 1.95. Technically a free Nasty Plot.
 
The Claw Sharpen set is absurd. Firstly, Claw Sharpen sucks even when using it to boost attack, but you are using it to boost only accuracy, meaning you waste an entire turn of set up in order to make Thunder less crap
 
Jaroda said:
More power than Choice Specs alone you mean. As Nidoking is perfectly capable of having Encourage and Specs. No you can't change moves though. 1.3 x 1.3 = 1.69 1.3 x 1.5 = 1.95. Technically a free Nasty Plot.
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Yeah, that's what I was really going for. But even with the immense power from Specs, I feel it's better to stick with Life Orb. The power AND freedom to switch moves proves itself invaluable, as I often save the King as my last poke simply because his coverage.
 
Sucker Punch could possibly be slashed to most sets alongside some Atk EVs (something like 120 almost guarantees it) so Nidoking can take out Scarf Shandera after SR, the most common pokemon in play at the moment and one that can assuredly revenge OHKO Nidoking.

Of course this is detrimental to Nido's SpA, but it's a more conservative route.
 
greatest thing happend to me yesterday. i was rolling with special life orb king.

i used Tbolt to kill his suicune at 60% hp, he sends in celebi, so i fire blast it leaving like 10% hp, i survive a leaf storm (he was probably defensive) so instead of fire blasting again i go for stab 100 accurate earth power as he switches into heatran. :happybrain:

another time i think used ice beam on gyarados and he switched to donphan.

thats whats great about king is that if you can KO an opponent with a NVE or neutral move instead of the obvious super effective, you can catch your opponent switching into something that resists the obvious SE move and theres your chance at KO'ing the switch in.

and thats why the new pre-battle team viewer is so useful. take note of the opponents team and try to predict those switch ins.
 
^Yes, a lot of people switch stupidly because they don't expect you to switch moves.

Also since everybody is posting sets I feel like I should post mine =D

Nidoking @ Focus Sash
120 Atk/252 SpAtk/136 Spe
Rash(Naive) / Encourage

Sucker Punch
Earth Power
Thunderbolt
Ice Beam

With sash he beats almost any lead 1v1, as he can use his coverage move of choice and then sucker punch for the KO. Having a sash means that if you can clear hazards (or keeping them off with something like Espeon) before he comes in again that he can appropriately deal with lategame sweepers by taking a hit and finishing them off. He can definitely use the power of LO but as a lead he makes better use of sash since he already has enough power. Speed EVs outpace max-speed 70s, which makes him a decent switch-in to Technician Breloom.
 
Breludicolo said:
This is why I really suggest Butterfly Dance passing (if you can get 2 it's gg, but really for what isn't it gg?)
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This statement ridiculously true. Lead Moth + TimidLOKing = win. Poison typing makes Mach Punch NVE, which is easily the most common priority. With the Special Def boosts from Butterfly Dance, you can take a hit from the Special Side switching in. As a poison type you're immune to both Poison Spikes AND Thunder Wave, and being a special sweeper means burn doesn't end your sweep. I'd say it could be GG at +1, but you're still being outsped by some scarfers at 403 Speed.
 
Nidoking is my favorite Pokemon,so seeing it get such an awesome ability is great.Here's a set I use to abuse Encourage.


034.gif

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability:Encourage
Timid Nature (+Speed,-Attack)
EV's:252 Speed/252 Special Attack/4 Special Defense
Earth Power
Fire Blast
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt

I've swept many a team with this animal.Earth Power is a great STAB move,and has enough power to OHKO even Reshiram after Stealth Rock damage,while the rest of the moves give fantastic coverage.Fire Blast kills off the Bug/Steels and Nattorei with ease,as well as many other Pokemon who are weak to it.Ice Beam puts the Dragons in their place (along with Grass,Ground,and Flying-types),and Thunderbolt makes quick work of Water and Flying-types.

All I have to say is this:Bow down to the King!!
 
Sajak said:
If you're going to use a Life Orb set, you better have plenty of Thunder Wave support.
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295 Speed isn't terrible. You can outspeed plenty of pokes. You'll have trouble with some of the Glass cannons, but he's still extremely efficient. Plenty of other pokes get by with lower speed.
 
Celest said:
295 Speed isn't terrible. You can outspeed plenty of pokes. You'll have trouble with some of the Glass cannons, but he's still extremely efficient. Plenty of other pokes get by with lower speed.
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The problem is you outspeed things you can't OHKO, and anything you could KO is faster and can OHKO you. I tried an LO set, and it would either miss the OHKO, or be KOd before being able to do anything. It doesn't have the bulk to do much if it isn't faster.

When I switched to a Scarf, it started working wonders, and I haven't looked back since. Scarfking is awesome, and is an amazing revenge killer.
 
Sajak said:
The problem is you outspeed things you can't OHKO, and anything you could KO is faster and can OHKO you. I tried an LO set, and it would either miss the OHKO, or be KOd before being able to do anything. It doesn't have the bulk to do much if it isn't faster.

When I switched to a Scarf, it started working wonders, and I haven't looked back since. Scarfking is awesome, and is an amazing revenge killer.
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Y'know, you might just have a point there, since many of the Dragon Dancers and bulky sweepers in the 80~ range are slower and/or are weak to Nidoking's attacks. This could be taken into consideration.
 
Sajak said:
The problem is you outspeed things you can't OHKO, and anything you could KO is faster and can OHKO you. I tried an LO set, and it would either miss the OHKO, or be KOd before being able to do anything. It doesn't have the bulk to do much if it isn't faster.

When I switched to a Scarf, it started working wonders, and I haven't looked back since. Scarfking is awesome, and is an amazing revenge killer.
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While scarf is an amazing revenger, life orb is still a great late game threat just because of the sheer number of pokes he hits for SE. While what you say is true early on, one passive damage and multiple resisted hits have taken place, those kos start coming in.
 
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