NationalDex
nidoking
#034

Nidoking

Drill Pokémon

PoisonGround

It is recognized by its rock-hard hide and its extended horn. Be careful with the horn, as it contains venom.

Base Stats

HP 81
Attack 102
Defense 77
Sp. Atk 85
Sp. Def 75
Speed 85
Total 505

Type Effectiveness

Abilities

Evolution Chain

Moves

Details

Category Drill Pokémon
Height 1.4 m
Weight 62.0 kg
Base Exp 227
Growth Rate Medium Slow
Capture Rate 45
Base Happiness 70
Gender 100% ♂ / 0% ♀
Habitat Grassland
Egg Groups Monster ,Ground

Sprites

nidoking Front Front
nidoking Back Back
nidoking Front Shiny Front Shiny
nidoking Back Shiny Back Shiny
nidoking Official Art Official Art
nidoking Official Art (Shiny) Official Art (Shiny)

Competitive

ou Usage: 1.6%
Wallbreaker
Item
Life Orb
Ability
Sheer Force
Nature
Timid
EVs
SpA 252
SpD 4
Spe 252

Strategy Overview

Nidoking is a very scary wallbreaker in the OU metagame thanks to its huge offensive movepool, as well as Sheer Force bolstering its power even further. Its Poison / Ground typing allows it to function as a very solid Clefable switch-in, and thus it has a great matchup against balanced teams that use Clefable. However, despite being able to easily beat one of the biggest threats in the metagame, Nidoking has its fair share of flaws that prevent it from being a top-tier threat. Nidoking's Speed leaves it outpaced by the majority of offensive threats, though it outspeeds Pokemon like Mega Altaria, Gardevoir prior to Mega Evolution, and Heatran. Nidoking also lacks bulk, leaving it vulnerable to faster attackers and priority users. Furthermore, it faces strong competition from other wallbreakers such as Manaphy, Gengar, Alakazam, and Kyurem-B because they are either faster, stronger, or bulkier.

Most Used Moves

Ice Beam
94.8%

Most Used Items

Life Orb
88.7%

Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc