The Annoyance: Crippler Nihilego
Nihilego @ Air Balloon
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave / Stealth Rock
- Power Gem
Who does Nihilego hate? Steel and Ground types.
What can Nihilego do to weaken them? Use the Meteor Beam set, true, but what can Nihilego also do?
Annoy the living crap out of them.
Air Balloon allows Nihilego to hover above Earthquakes and Earth Powers, which can give it crucial defensive and offensive utility when dealing with the Ground types it hates so much. Sludge Bomb and Knock Off are its primary weapons to combat those, with the former boasting a 30% poison rate and the latter removing potential Leftovers. This combination is deadly against the two main Ground types of the tier, Landorus-T and Garchomp.
As for the plethora of Steel types, Knock Off is even more deadly coming from a Pokémon that they are directly trying to check due to most of them still relying on Leftovers for recovery (Heatran, Ferrothorn, Melmetal) or they need their item to fulfill their function in the first place (Assault Vest Melmetal). Thunder Wave is Nihilego's other option for annoying Steel types, as every Steel type that isn't Magnezone or Excadrill really doesn't want to switch into one. Thunder Wave is also devastating against Kartana, because Nihilego (especially with Air Balloon and thus without the immediate threat of +1 Meteor Beam) is one of the few mons that it can actually switch into. However, if no one else on the team can fulfill that role, Nihilego can devote this slot to Stealth Rock and provide passive chip damage every time its checks come in.
Power Gem is a secondary STAB option to hit birds like Tornadus-T and Zapdos against which Nihilego still has a great matchup, but also against other miscellaneous threats such as Volcanion and Heatran.
This set is obviously geared towards supporting a lot of other potential teammates as it targets arguably the two most important defensive typings in SS OU, Steel and Ground, which means pretty much every Pokémon that has trouble breaking through them is going to appreciate this Nihilego set. However, unlike the Meteor Beam set, this one holds more defensive utility thanks to Air Balloon and can be played on more bulky/less fast paced teams that will appreciate its combination of status and Knock Off.