[Overview]
<p>Nidoqueen is one of the most influential Pokemon in the RU tier. It'sHer (consistency) unparallelled power, perfect coverage, amazing ability, and lack of Life Orb recoil, as welll asll in tandem with her good bulk and typing, make her one of the best special attackers in the tier. When not spending time ripping apart the entire opposition, Nidoqueen is able to set up Stealth Rock, making her one of the best offensive users of the move, due to the many switches she forces, not to mention the fact that she can 2HKO every spinner in the tier. Despite all of thoese advantageous traits, Nidoqueen does have a major flaw,: her mediocre Speed, which means that s. She can be easily revenge killed by most offensive Pokemon, and the fact that she has four very common weaknesses doesn't help either. Just make sure that you cover Nidoqueen's few flaws, and rest assured, she will always pull her weight by destroying defensive cores and setting up Stealth Rock!</p>
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 3: Thunderbolt
move 4: Sludge Wave / Stealth Rock
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is Nidoqueen's best and only set. With full investement, a Modest nature, Sheer Force, and a Life Orb, she hits a sky-high 461 Special Attackher power is incredible (removed the raw stat since Sheer Force affects the Base Power of the move rather than the stat; Life Orb is debatable too). This monstrous power coupled with her perfect neutral coverage means that with the right prediction, nearly the entire RU tier can be O2HKOed, excluding Clefable and Munchlax, which are both quite (the mighty specially defensive Uxie isn't rare). Earth Power is her main STAB move that destroys anything that does not resist it. A Fire-type move is the best option to deal with Grass-, Bug-, Steel-, and Ice-types that could tank a few hits otherwise, such as Cryogonal, Escavalier, Rotom-C, and Ferroseed. Fire Blast is preferred for theits greater power, but Flamethrower can be used if you prefer the perfect accuracy and higher PP. The next piece of Nidoqueen's impeccable coverage is Thunderbolt, which allows Nidoqueen to get past Water- and Flying-types, such as Slowking, Aerodactyl, and Moltres. In the last slot, she can use Sludge Wave to lessen the need for prediction, as it hits many targets for neutral damage, while also 2HKOing Uxie and Mesprit (the first requir (while this is true, the big reason for using Sludge Wave is that a lot of things are 2HKOed by Sludge Wave + coverage move; i would mention it), while also 2HKOing Mesprit as well as Uxie that don't invest enough ing Stealth Rock), or Stealth Rockpecial Defense. Stealth Rock can also be used for great team support, as Nidoqueen will find many opportunities to set it up with the many switches she forces.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Nidoqueen's Special Attack stat is maxed and Modest is the chosen nature to hit as hard as possible. Maximum Speed investement allows Nidoqueen to outspeed max Speed Absol and minimum Speed Cryogonal, while the 4 remaining EVs are dumped into HP. A Timid nature can be used to outspeed many important Pokemon, such as max Speed base 80s, max Speed Jolly Smeargle, 156 Speed Klinklang, and max Speed Feraligatr. However, it is worth noting that the power loss is quite large, turning several OHKOes and 2HKOes into 2HKOes and 3HKOes. Ice Beam hits Dragon-types very hard, OHKOing max HP Druddigon after Stealth Rock, and at least 2HKOing any of the NU Dragon-types, such as Fraxure, Dragonair, and Altaria. Focus Blast can be run to 2HKO Clefable and Munchlax, but its low accuracy makes it undesirable, as it serves no purpose otherwise. Shadow Ball is the only move Nidoqueen learns that can 2HKO support Gardevoir and Misdreavous, however rare they may be, and also deals the best damage out of any other move to Psychic-types, namely Uxie and Mesprit. Substitute is an option to ease prediction against offensive teams. Lastly, a more bulkyier spread can be used, with 96 HP / 244 SpA / 168 Spe and a Modest nature, outspeeding max Speed Jolly Crawdaunt. With those HP EVs, Nidoqueen always survives a Fire Blast from Life Orb Moltres and a Leaf Storm from Life Orb Sceptile and can OHKO back with Thunderbolt and Fire Blast respectively.</p>
<p>As with most offensive Pokemon, entry hazards are very helpful, as Nidoqueen forces many switches, while also protecting those hazards, due to its aforementioned ability to 2HKO every spinner in RU. Smeargle, Uxie, Ferroseed and Aerodactyl can all set up hazards and synergize well with Nidoqueen. Smeargle works well because of its ability to maintain the hazards it sets up by using Explosion, and the rest becaus (most people use whirlwind in the last slot so i dont really think this is relevant), and the otheyrs have decent synergy with Nidoqueen, resisting one or more of her weaknesses. Partners tohat can handle the Pokemon that can outspeed and hurt Nidoqueen badly, if not OHKO it, are valuable. A good one is Slowking, which resists three of Nidoqueen's weaknesses, while Nidoqueen checks most Electric-types that threaten Slowking. Aerodactyl also works well with her, as it checks most Fire-types that can force her out, while also outspeeding anything else that might give Nidoqueen trouble, such as Sceptile, Rotom-C, Sigilyph and Uxie.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Nidoqueen can run a mixed defensive set with and EV spread of 252 HP / 132 Def / 126 SpD, a Bold nature, Leftovers and the moves Earth Power, Fire Punch, Ice Beam and Stealth Rock. This set can check a decent number of threats, such as Manectric, Galvantula, Electivire and Choice locked Fighting-type attacks, while having better longevity than offensive Nidoqueen but much less power. However, you are better off not using Nidoqueen as a defensive Pokemon, because her very exploitable weaknesses and lack of reliable recovery will let you down. A set utilizing a Choice Scarf can be used, mainly for the surprise factor, which can lead to some OHKOes against Pokemon that would otherwise outspeed you, but other than that, she is outclassed as a Choice Scarf user by Pokemon with better Speed, power and STABs. Lastly, Toxic Spikes can be used over Stealth Rock, but in a tier where the one of the most used Pokemon is a Poison-type, Nidoqueen herself, you will rarely manage to keep them up for longer than a few turns. However if you manage to kill opposing Poison-type Pokemon, then Toxic Spikes can become very effective as they affect many dangerous Pokemon such as Entei, Cofagrigus and Sceptile.</p>
[Check and Counters]
<p>Nidoqueen has only a handful of counters, but plenty of checks. Clefable and Munchlax are the only true counters she has in RU, as aside from Focus Blast, they are not 2HKOed by any move she carries, while they can slowly kill her back with Seismic Toss and Body Slam respectively. Lickilicky, Misdreavus and Gardevoir work too if you want to look in NU, walling Nidoqueen and killing it with Body Slam, Shadow Ball and Psychic respectively. Slowking and Cryogonal are good checks, as they are able to come into half of Nidoqueen's moveset and deal great damage back, if not OHKO. Other than that, anything that can switch into some of her attacks, outspeed and hit her super effectively will do the trick. For this reason, Moltres, Entei, Aerodactyl, Uxie, Mesprit, Sigilyph, Sceptile, Rotom-C, Gallade and Kabutops are all great checks (yeah, i think you should do what you mentioned in your last post about being more specific when it comes to these; it's as simple as saying "Moltres and Aerodactyl can both switch in easily on Earth Power and Fire Blast, but they are both OHKOed by Thunderbolt." it's obvious to anyone who knows RU but we want to make it as easy as possible for the reader to understand the metagame).</p>