Pokémon Nihilego

[Oshim]

Nihilego
Also known as the Parasite Pokémon.
Nihilego is an Ultra Beast, also known by the code name UB-01 Symbiont.

Pokedex Number - [793]
Type(s) - Rock/Poison
Base Stats* - 109 HP / 53 Atk / 47 Def / 127 SAtk / 131 SDef / 103 Spe

Abilities
Ability - Beast Boost: This Pokemon's highest stat is raised by 1 if it attacks and KOes another Pokemon.

Learn Set -

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Level up moves
L1 - Power Split
L1 - Guard Split
L1 - Tickle
L1 - Acid
L1 - Constrict
L1 - Pound
L7 - Clear Smog
L13 - Psywave
L19 - Headbutt
L23 - Venoshock
L29 - Toxic Spikes
L31 - Safeguard
L37 - Power Gem
L43 - Mirror Coat
L47 - Acid Spray
L53 - Venom Drench
L59 - Stealth Rock
L67 - Wonder Room
L73 - Head Smash

TM Moves

TM03 - Psyshock
TM06 - Toxic
TM09 - Venoshock
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM16 - Light Screen
TM17 - Protect
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM24 - Thunderbolt
TM25 - Thunder
TM27 - Return
TM29 - Psychic
TM32 - Double Team
TM33 - Reflect
TM34 - Sludge Wave
TM36 - Sludge Bomb
TM37 - Sandstorm
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM48 - Round
TM49 - Echoed Voice
TM57 - Charge Beam
TM59 - Brutal Swing
TM73 - Thunder Wave
TM84 - Poison Jab
TM86 - Grass Knot
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM92 - Trick Room
TM99 - Dazzling Gleam
TM100 - Confide

Analysis of Nihilego
With a decent speed and HP stat and access to both stealth rock and toxic spikes, Nihilego can serve as an excellent suicide lead. Nihilego also has a great sp. attack stat to be used offensively. However, it has a mediocore defensive typing being weak to common ground and water type moves and no recovery either outside of leftovers/black sludge.

Potential Movesets:
Suicide Lead
Nihilego @ Focus Sash/Black Sludge
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 80 HP / 176 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb/Acid Spray
- Power Gem

Set Description
The given EV spread makes Nihilego's speed stat 1 point higher than it's Sp.Atk so after a beast boost it recieves a +1 speed to stack hazards more freely. Rest of the EVs are set into HP for some bulk. Toxuc Spikes and Stealth Rocks are it's main utility while power gem and sludge bomb can be used as Dual STABs. Acid Spray is also and option to drop the target's Sp.Def by 2 stages. Focus Sash can also used to always survive an earthquake while managing to get up another layer of hazard which black sludge can also be used for passive recovery.

Choice Specs
Nihilego @ Choice Specs/Life Orb
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt/HP Fire
- Grass Knot
- Power Gem
- Sludge Wave

Set Description
An all out attacker set can also be used. The given EV spread is to maximize it's offensive stats while also being fast. Power Gem and Sludge Wave are mandatory STABs while thunderbolt can be used on bulky water types and grass knot for fat ground types which otherwise walls it.

Personal Opinion
While Nihilego may have a devestating x4 weakness to ground types, it's definitely a new and niche addition to the metagame being the fastest user with access to both tspikes and stealth rocks with a speed tier faster than garchomp as well while having a decent offensive stats too.

 

[Lordemort]

Pretty good offensive mon. Good speed tier meaning it can outspeed a lot of pokemon and together with its versatile moveset it can be a force to be reckoned with life orb. Though with its crippling weakness and the return of Dugtrio it remains to see how viable it'll be

 

[lighthouses]

It can make 404 hp subs, so maybe take advantage of that?

 

[Cacturne of Events]

specs is incredibly fun and really good, though i have hpfire > thunderbolt because i think hitting steels is more valuable that hitting waters a bit harder than sludge bomb already does. glad this is the pokemon i kept my eye on though, it seems like its gonna be great

 

[Tias]

I'm guessing if you have two stats that are equal that beast boost doesn't boost them both right? It's been hard to find a solid source to confirm this.

 

[Cirdec]

I'm guessing if you have two stats that are equal that beast boost doesn't boost them both right? It's been hard to find a solid source to confirm this.

It boosts only one, priority goes from attack being the highest, and speed the lowest.

 

[viol and bass]

Nihilego is so interesting. I would really love to find some way to make use of that 109/131 SpDef on some sort of supportive or tank set. A suicide lead set seems to waste that honestly enormous special bulk. Its typing comes with some unfortunate weaknesses, but it has a few things to offer, such as resistances to Fairy, Flying, and Bug, while the Poison typing neutralizes some of Rock's worst weaknesses in Fighting and Grass. It also hits like a truck, but its STABs are resisted by Ground- and Steel-types, while its coverage isn't great, so basically this is a perplexing mon. This is the best I've come up with:

Nihilego @ Air Balloon
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fire / Toxic Spikes

 

[Cacturne of Events]

I would really love to find some way to make use of that 109/131 SpDef on some sort of supportive or tank set.

some support set would be cool but its support movepool isnt really expansive (hazards, toxic, twave and screens) so i cant really see it happening. im thinking an offensive set is always gonna be the way to go, tho its always gonna need some support to deal with steels for it. its a real shame that it and magnezone are both 4x ground weak because this thing would love steel types to just disappear

 

[zferolie]

So Is Clear Smog bad? it seems like a way to screw over baton passers well.

 

[Force Majeure]

I'm a huge fan of this Mon, its creepy eldritch monster vibe, its wonderfully weird typing, and the fact that we get a powerful special Rock type to mess around with. it might just be me but GF may have succeeded in making the poison type mons suck a little less than usual. 103 speed is nice n weird, gets the jump on chomp although that's not worth a hill of beans unless you're running hp ice because rock/poison has some coverage holes to put it mildly.

Slight digression: there's some cool Freudian stuff here for old school existentialists playing along at home, especially because its typing suggests qualities of the id (poison) and superego (sort of crystallized around a poisonous id or something).

 

[Cacturne of Events]

So Is Clear Smog bad? it seems like a way to screw over baton passers well.

oh true i forgot about clear smog, that probably does have some cool niche use in stopping a special setup. though it might be worth testing later since aegi, genesect, pheromosa etc. are running rampant atm, and i dont think there's much clear smog would catch atm anyway

 

[zferolie]

oh true i forgot about clear smog, that probably does have some cool niche use in stopping a special setup. though it might be worth testing later since aegi, genesect, pheromosa etc. are running rampant atm, and i dont think there's much clear smog would catch atm anyway

Those guys would be a pain thats for sure. I just think it would be great against teams that have some sort of set up, mostly the quiver dancers

 

[Albacore]

I've tried this out for a spin and it's pretty damn good. I've actually had trouble finding good SR setters that aren't complete bait for stuff like Manaphy and Tapu Bulu, and this thing fills the role really well thanks to its really solid special bulk giving it ample opportunities to set SR up. Oh, and it's also a pretty scary offensive threat that snowballs pretty fast. It has a bit of a tricky time fitting everything it wants in 4 moveslots, but SR / Sludge Bomb / Power Gem / HP Fire hits most of the tier pretty hard, it does have trouble vs Ground-types but outside of Lando-T I haven't seen too many of those.

The only real problem with it is that it's huge Dugtrio bait, but hey, what are you gonna do about that.

 

[viol and bass]

I've tried this out for a spin and it's pretty damn good. I've actually had trouble finding good SR setters that aren't complete bait for stuff like Manaphy and Tapu Bulu, and this thing fills the role really well thanks to its really solid special bulk giving it ample opportunities to set SR up. Oh, and it's also a pretty scary offensive threat that snowballs pretty fast. It has a bit of a tricky time fitting everything it wants in 4 moveslots, but SR / Sludge Bomb / Power Gem / HP Fire hits most of the tier pretty hard, it does have trouble vs Ground-types but outside of Lando-T I haven't seen too many of those.

The only real problem with it is that it's huge Dugtrio bait, but hey, what are you gonna do about that.

You might try running Air Balloon. Helps with getting rocks up and dealing with grounds, and there isn't really much competition for that item slot. I was running lefties for awhile and they felt mostly useless.

 

[BENDIEZ]

That physical bulk is crap though. It dies quite easily to SE priority hits. The suicide lead is probably going to be the norm. Nihilego getting access to double entry hazards is great. STAB wise, it has major problems dealing with Steel types. Duggy also gets rid of it extremely easy. Though, not a major problem if you succeed in setting up SR. Don't know what to choose between Sash or Air Balloon. 103 may not be great nowadays, though it gets a jump on Jolly Garchomp who Nihilego outspeeds by one point.

HP Ice could be a decent, more orthodox choice for Nihilego, allowing it to deal with lead non scarf Landorus and Garchomp. At the cost of leaving it as set up fodder for steel types.

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Nihelgo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Power Gem
- Grass Knot
- Thunder/Filler

You can actually revenge a lot of pokemon with Nihelgo and can switch in easily because of its great special bulk and also has Special Moxie so late game it can clean up. Many of the fastest pokemon in the game are weak to Rock and this set takes advantage of it.

 

[OLD GREGG (im back baby)]

This is my favorite ultra beast, mostly due to good design. It has some uses competitively too. An offensive hazard setter with just enough physical bulk to make use of its neat fire/flying resistances with some investment. It tanks special fairy attacks very well even without investment. I think it will be a nice hazard lead that can also dish out some nice damage. I know that poor physical defense looks bad on paper but with investment it tanks resisted hits comfortably. Neutral attacks will still hurt but it can at least get off a hazard or two for me, usually.

 

[Carrier]

HP Ice could be a decent, more orthodox choice for Nihilego, allowing it to deal with lead non scarf Landorus and Garchomp. At the cost of leaving it as set up fodder for steel types.

Fair warning, extremely new so I'm talking a bit out of my ass here, but I decided to run some calcs just to see how this guy fares. It seems it needs LO/Specs for the Garchomp kill on the timid set and is gambling with the modest set, and comes frustratingly close to a guaranteed OHKO on Landorus with the Timid but sails smoothly with the Modest. Timid calcs are

• 252+ SpA Timid Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 156-184 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Choice Scarf Modest Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Jolly Garchomp: 168-200 (91.8 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
• 252 SpA Timid Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Landorus: 164-196 (99.3 - 118.7%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
• 252+ SpA Modest Nihilego Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Landorus: 180-212 (109 - 128.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Of course, it goes without saying that an Earthquake from either of these two blasts it to smithereens, so that Modest set HAS to have that Scarf. Chomp gets a stab at a OHKO off of an Iron Head so unfortunately tossing an air balloon on it doesn't guarantee 2 turns minimum, though it does give a good chance for Modest to beat the Scarfed variants.

• 252 Atk Scarf Jolly Garchomp Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Nihilego: 164-194 (88.6 - 104.8%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

 

[ChainsawSamurai]

This thing is annoying as hell. It's fast, strong, and has a pretty diverse movepool. All in all its speed is the biggest deal about it, especially in a gen where a bug/electric pokemon, two types known for being quick, has a base 43 speed.

While it is good, it suffers from Ultra Beast syndrome and has an appalling Def and Att combined with an incongruous typing. While it is viable to a point, in my opinion it's just a matter of it coming up against the wrong unexpected Earthquake and its done for.

 

[StickyRobot]

Pretty cool looking Ultra Beast. Timid Nihilego has just a tiny bit more Special Attack than any other stat so if it manages a KO it could start steamrolling pretty hard. Of course its typing and defense are terrible and its movepool is somewhat bland. It has just enough to make it a passable suicide lead I guess, but who knows if that will be enough to see it in OU.

 

[Cipher Admin Lovrina]

Which Hidden Power will be preferred on it: Ice, Ground, Fire, or Ghost? I think this mon has the coverage for a good expert belt set though Stealth Rocks, Toxic Spikes, and above average speed and special bulk make a hazards layer very tempting.

 

[Force Majeure]

Which Hidden Power will be preferred on it: Ice, Ground, Fire, or Ghost? I think this mon has the coverage for a good expert belt set though Stealth Rocks, Toxic Spikes, and above average speed and special bulk make a hazards layer very tempting.

It depends on what troubles you but Ice lets you trade rocks with Garchomp/lando-t and 2HKO if you're using focus sash, or at worst get rocks up and cripple them.

 

[Aurinko]

Which Hidden Power will be preferred on it: Ice, Ground, Fire, or Ghost? I think this mon has the coverage for a good expert belt set though Stealth Rocks, Toxic Spikes, and above average speed and special bulk make a hazards layer very tempting.

Aegislash won't be a thing for long I suppose, so I'd drop Ghost; if you're planning to go for the lead, I'd use HP Ice, you're walled to death by steels then, but Fire nets you only Ferro while Ground nets you Heatran which you're already hitting neutral with Power Gem (and so you do Scizor; and Landorus-T for that matter, but this you really want to kill, I'd say).

 

[StickyRobot]

Which Hidden Power will be preferred on it: Ice, Ground, Fire, or Ghost? I think this mon has the coverage for a good expert belt set though Stealth Rocks, Toxic Spikes, and above average speed and special bulk make a hazards layer very tempting.

Fire is likely the best as it prevents being walled by Steels. Ice is a good second pick depending on how badly dragons and Landorus bother you. Ghost and Ground are relatively worthless comparably.

It also depends on your other moves and on if you're using this as a suicide SR lead or an offensive set.

 

[viol and bass]

Fire is likely the best as it prevents being walled by Steels. Ice is a good second pick depending on how badly dragons and Landorus bother you. Ghost and Ground are relatively worthless comparably.

It also depends on your other moves and on if you're using this as a suicide SR lead or an offensive set.

I agree with HP Fire, since a strong Power Gem should do enough to Landorus and most dragons that aren't Garchomp. Fire snags steels including Aegislash and prevents you from being walled by Ferrothorn and the like.