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3 votes
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If you have a good competitive moveset for Nidoking, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Nidoking Pokédex and learnset for reference.

PLACEHOLDER sprite

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29 Answers

10 votes

Gen V

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Flamethrower

Just an incredible sweeper. Sheer Force and Life Orb (which has no recoil) make Nidoking do a ton of damage. You'll also be hitting pretty much every foe for neutral or super-effective damage. This thing tears through Pokemon in UU.

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i have tried this and works out amazingly
if you are already planning on using a life orb with another pokemon in your team, expert belt works really well with this set as an alternative since it has such good super effective type coverage.
Life Orb is on this set because it boosts the moves without getting recoil due to sheer force.
Life orb doesn't stack on life orb the best item to use here is wise glasses or the expert belt
Ganja, that comment was either gibberish or wrong, I can't tell which. Life Orb does stack on Sheer Force and anything boosted by Sheer Force won't induce Life Orb recoil.
even though alot of people already tested it and this answer is really old
i tested it and it works
nidoking uses flamethrower+sheer force on aggron at half hp lost
nidoking uses flamethrower+sheer force+life orb on aggron ALOT MORE HP LOST
The life orb does a set amount of damage. It only takes off 10% of your max HP each turn, so sheer force does absolutely nothing to the life orb. You could inflict 300 Hp damage and still only lose a small portion of health.
Kiadthenickl, Life Orb increases damage by 30%. Sheer Force increases damage by 30% but removes secondary effects (chance to inflict status effect, stat increase for user, stat decrease for target, etc.). Combined they increase the power of a move with a secondary effect by 69% AND it will induce no damage from Life Orb.
No poison STAB?
As this post predates Fairy typing by two years, Poison stab was completely worthless if you had anything else to use.
4 votes

Nidoking
Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature
- Earthquake / Bulldoze
- Thunder Punch / Rock Slide
- Ice Punch / Fire Punch
- Poison Jab

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very nice one, it doesn't have too many overlap between the types effetivenes.
Earthquake is better. With Sheer Force, Bulldoze is weaker. Yes, no hp damage from Life Orb, with Bulldoze, but sacrificing power.
2 votes

enter image description here

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature / Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam

I've been using this set for a while now and it hasn't failed to make an impact in battle yet. I actually prefer Modest nature to Timid just because his Special Attack Isn't great and needs all the boosts it can get. I feel as if he can exploit his Special Attacking move pool better than his Psychical Attacking moves.

This works best when you can switch in on a Pokemon vulnerable to Nidoking or manage to get a free switch and then set up a Sub now you're guaranteed a free hit on something and if you're running Timid maybe two free hits. Nidoking also benefits a lot from Sticky Web support but he manages without it as well.

Dual STAB Earth Power + Sludge Wave also exploit Sheer Force. You could run Thunderbolt but I prefer Ice Beam just to hit Flying Dragons and Gliscor. All of his moves are boosted 30% by Sheer Force and on top of that another 30% from Life Orb. However you will want to keep in mind Nidoking is a 'glass cannon' so don't try switching him in on an attack even if it's neutral as he'll take big damage and won't be able to Sub. He prefers free switch ins.

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WHY! SPECIAL! NIDOKING!
It's usually a more reliable set than physical, as most dragons are bulkier on the Def side than sp def, (cough cough Garchomp, and Salamence with INTIMIDATE), same with most ground types (cough cough Gliscor Hippowdon and Rhyperior).
1 vote

Role: Mixed King


Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 144 Atk / 108 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Sludge Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]


Okay, With the Ev's in that manner, he has equal Attacking Stats.

Sheer Force Boosts Sludge Wave into Pretty monstrous Power to anything that Nidoking is Hitting Neutral Damage on.

Earthquake Takes out Poison and Steel Which he Can't use Sludge Wave on.

Sucker Punch is a Form of Priority used to hit Psychics before they can hit him.

And hidden power Grass takes out Water types and Other Grounds. Plus Rock types like Rhyperior with insane Defense, that Earthquake wouldn't do great agaisn't.

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Btw, Who else things that Nidoking looked the most awesome in FR/LG?
He's the most awesome in every game.
Very very impressive Josh, takin movesets to another level huh?
replace s-punch with payback and mild with quiet to complement payback because of threats like reuniclus and cofagrigus who are slower even with quiet natures
Tyson, this is for a Sweeping King, not a tanking king.
Hence forth the 252 Ev's in Speed.
1 vote

Gen III

Nidoking (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Def / 72 SpD
Brave Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball


Why not a sub puncher?
Same coverage as The Queen, only he isn't choiced, and doesn't have Poison STAB. Big deal.

He's got the bulk for Substitute, and from there you can Sub punch, and if he someone doesn't break your sub, or heck. Tries to set up. You've got a good 2 or 3 kills on your hands.

Earthquake is STAB, and Shadow Ball is coverage against Gengar mainly, but others aswell.

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1 vote

Nidoking @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rivalry
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Brick Break
- Shadow Claw

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"Nidoking (F) @ Choice Scarf"  :P  You made me laugh.
Haha, Glad to hear that! :)
What? Nidoking can't be female!!! You hacker :D
Nidoking can't be female! Lol. But I can see how you made that mistake...SHINY Nidoking looks a bit like Nidoqueen. xP
It wasn't a mistake, I purposely put it there for the lolz.
Oh. Lol. Sorry, my bad. :P
Nice one, almost thought Nidoking was Nidoquenn while I was browse-scrolling!  LOL
I'm sure we all did. People nickname their shiny Nidokings ''Nidoqueen''. :P
1 vote

Double/Triple Battle

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 100 Atk / 156 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Blizzard

Same moveset as Nidoqueen, but with different EVs, nature, and item due to being faster and having better offensive stats. Nidoqueen was amazing, Nidoking is even more amazing. Earthquake and Rock Slide as always are amazing in multi-battles, with Earthquake getting STAB and Rock Slide Sheer Force. Blizzard hits multiple Pokemon and is boosted by Sheer Force. Sludge Wave gets STAB, hits multiple Pokemon, and is boosted by Sheer Force. An incredible mixed sweeper and one of the best Pokemon for a multi-battle.

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1 vote

GRAVITY!!!

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb / Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature / Modest Nature
- Blizzard
- Fire Blast
- Thunder
- Earth Power

Nidoking frickin' loves Gravity support. 100% accurate Blizzard, Thunder, and Fire Blast. Earth Power that hits levitators and Flyings? Hell yeah, Nidoking is simply the best Pokemon to use in Gravity. It evens trumps Regice. Just put it on a team with a Regi, Cressalia, Chansey, you know, the bulky guys that can keep on using it when it runs out. Use Modest with Scarf, Timid with Orb btw.

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1 vote

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Posion Jab
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch

This moveset is good, is powered by Sheer Force and by Life Orb. A lot of people will train in SpA for some reason I don't know why is only good on ATK. So yeah this is the moveset.

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Why not earthquake? I agree with you on the “Atk on Nidoking is better than SpA” part
While the Atk stat is better than the SpA stat, Nidoking’s Special move pool is much better with Sheer Force. Earth Power’s additional effect gives it more base power than Earthquake, and access to Fire Blast and Thunderbolt , as well as Focus Blast, Thunder, and Blizzard, just means that it will do as much, if not more, than the Physical equivalents of Fire/Thunder Punch.
1 vote

Nidoking @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Ice Punch / Fire Punch

Ok, So this is an interesting Choice scarf set. I used it on my Mono-poison team, though, like most Nidoking, it can fit anywhere. Poison Jab is the Sheer Force boosted STAB. Although not Sheer force boosted, Earthquake is, well, EQ. And a STAB one at that. Rock Slide hits a few types, Flying- being notable. Finally, Fire Punch hits Skarmory and Ferrothorn hard, while Ice punch nails Dragon-types and Gliscor for the super effective hit. Works wells with a Baton Passed Swords Dance.

P.S. Wasn't Nido's attack upped to 102 in Gen 6?

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Yes, it’s base attack was upgraded to 102, not sure which gen though
1 vote

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Rivalry
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Megahorn
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

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1 vote

Standard Nidoking with a bit of a twist.

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Sucker Punch

Now, Sucker Punch off of Nidoking's high Attack allows for a lot of revenge kills that the opponent wouldn't suspect. Picture they've got a weakened Crobat and you have Nidoking in. You've already established you're not Scarf, and he's about to go for the kill with Brave Bird when WHAM. A Sucker Punch to the face.

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Nice way to use the high attack
1 vote

Nidoking

Gen 6 UU/OU Wallbreaker

Nidoking is my all-time favorite Pokemon in the entire franchise. I can't play through Fire Red / Leaf Green without it. With it being such a great addition to my playthrough teams I had always assumed it had to be amazing competitively. Sadly, Nidoking isn't given the arsenal to keep up with many top tier threats like Mega Metagross, Landorus-T, etc. That being said, in the right hands, it can be an extremely big threat in hundreds of situations when played correctly. It is often a very prediction reliant Pokemon so it works well with those who have a fair amount of competitive experience. I've been using Nidoking competitively ever since I started the competitive scene and I believe this set to be the most effective for Generation 6. I've found that it works somewhat similarly in some of the newer titles, but with a shifting meta game the results may vary.

Nidoking (M) @ Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature / Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Ice Punch
- Sucker Punch / Fire Punch / Thunder Punch / Substitute

This is a physical Nidoking moveset that utilizes the buff to the Attack stat that it received from Generation 6 onward. Most commonly, you will see people use a special Nidoking set due to the fact that its special movepool takes advantage of its ability Sheer Force better than most of it's physical movepool. Since this is the more common variant for this Pokemon I have found that, at times, using a physical set may catch an opponent off guard. A special wall with frail physical defense does NOT want to switch into a Poison Jab. With that little explanation out of the way, let's go over the moveset.

Earthquake

Unfortunately, Nidoking lacks a great physical ground-type move that gets a boost from Sheer Force. This is part of the reason people opt for special Nidoking who uses a boosted Earth Power. Despite that, Earthquake sits at a base power of 100 which is still fair enough to punch some holes into the other team. More often than not, you'll be using Poison Jab as your go-to stab option either way. Earthquake scares off common threats such as Heatran, Magnezone, and it even threatens Metagross if it hasn't Mega Evolved yet.

Poison Jab

As mentioned before, this is your go-to stab move. Poison Jab is nearly guaranteed to drop off a target that is weak to poison, and put a sizable dent into neutral targets. This move is a terror for Clefable. Only once or twice have I seen a fully invested physically defensive Clefable live from a Poison Jab; even at full HP! Jab also causes problems for Breloom if it hasn't put up a substitute yet.

Ice Punch

This is a very important move for Nidoking mainly due to the threat of Landorus-T, Garchomp and Gliscor. The way you decide to use Ice Punch will vary based on the sets being used, so if possible you may want to try and figure that out first with a few switches. All of these threats, most commonly Lando-T, feel very comfortable switching into Poison Jab due to the fact that they take absolutely pitiful amounts of damage from it. While this may seem like a weakness at first, you can exploit this over confidence with Ice Punch. Even after an Intimidate drop, Ice Punch (Life Orb) will commonly OHKO all before mentioned threats with the exception of Lando-T and Gliscor if they are max HP/Def. Without the drop from Intimidate, both are OHKO'd. How to prevent the drop will be mentioned later.

- Sucker Punch
- Fire Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Substitute

Your last move slot has a lot of room for preference. I believe Ice Punch is not interchangeable due to the important threats it can check. The other punches, however, can be selected to fit the needs of the rest of your team. Sucker Punch is very useful for handling fast psychic-types such as Alakazam, Latias and Latios, Mega Metagross, Azelf, etc. It's also great for finishing off other quick low health threats. Fire Punch has quite a bit of use in OU as well. It deals massive damage to Ferrothorn, Scizor, and although it may not deal huge heaps of damage to Skarmory, it's a decent move to deal a bit of damage and put some pressure on it. Thunder Punch has slightly less use than some of the other options, but still has it's occasional uses. It can put some decent sized dents into bulky water types and may catch flying-types neutral to Ice Punch off guard. Examples of this may include Talonflame, Skarmory, and Gyarados. Lastly, we have Substitute. As mentioned before, there is an option you may use to avoid the drop from Intimidate users such as Landorus-T. Substitute! This may take a bit of prediction to use properly as Landorus could switch in as you go for a Substitute and give you a drop anyway, but I can say it's worked well for me a number of times. However, if you can't escape intimidate, no worries! Congratulations! You have protection from Substitute now! You may not OHKO your intended target but you'll still be unleashing a heavy load of damage onto them if they decide to stay. Substitute works very well for those without a great sense of prediction since it gives you a bit of a safety net if you make the wrong move. This is also where (Leftovers) comes into play. While you can use Leftovers without Substitute, I highly recommend using it exclusively with this move included. You'll be losing a fair amount of HP every time you set up a Substitute so Leftovers is almost a must. You may be sacrificing a bit of damage output, but I promise that it's worth it.

Conclusion

As it has been mentioned multiple times already, Nidoking is a very prediction reliant Pokemon. Whether you use an Adamant nature or a Jolly nature is up to you. Adamant is usually my go-to since you're not out speeding too many important threats with a Jolly nature. No need to give up power if you don't need to! When in the hands of an experienced player it can become a monstrous threat. Give this set a try and practice your prediction making as you use it. In the end, you may find that Nidoking has become one of your new favorite Pokemon just as he is mine! Overall, Nidoking is an incredibly fun Pokemon to use and I think you'll enjoy experimenting with him. Hope this helps everyone!

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Why would you use Nidoking instead of Gengar?
As with many things in Pokemon, it's about preference. Gengar is for sure the better Poison-Type out of the two, but I personally enjoying using Nidoking. For a reason other than it being one of my favorites, I find it's coverage and physical damage output pairs well with some of the other Pokemon I tend to use on my teams. Also, as mentioned under the moveset explanations, it deals with multiple OU threats very well if you're good at predicting the opponent. (My favorite playstyle. :D)
Those reads were great. As to Nidoking v Gengar, Nidoking is physically bulkier and a Ground type, so it can easily work if your team need more of either. For the bulky side, though, you might need a Nidqueen.
1 vote

Gen 8 BDSP OU

This set is for the BDSP OU format on Pokemon Showdown.

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Ice Beam
- Focus Punch

Nidoking is a very strong wallbreaker with sheer force and life orb. It is reccomended to use it with webs support, as one of the best ways to beat is outspeed and ko it, and webs puts a wrench into that. Smeargle is one of the best mons for this purpose, as it also learns Spore, Nuzzle and Stealth Rock. It fits best on webs hyper offense teams. Moves boosted by sheer force cause no life orb recoil.

Earth Power and Sludge Wave are strong stab moves. Ice Beam hits dragons like Garchomp and Dragonite very hard. DragMag is a common strategy in BDSP OU at present. Focus Punch is this set's main innovation. It hits mons like Blissey and Chansey very hard. If you catch Blissey on the switch with it, it allows other special sweepers like Mew and Alakazam to run wild.

4 Atk Life Orb Nidoking Focus Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 517-611 (72.4 - 85.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Checks and counters

  1. Bulky psychic types: Most bulky psychics can take a hit and ko back with their STABs. Special mention to Latios and Latias as they are unaffected by webs and outspeed Nidoking.
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The EVs and Nature are incorrect in the damage calculation, but otherwise, this is an interesting, yet rather gimmicky set.
You're right, should've changed it to Naive nature.
0 votes


Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Fire Punch / Sucker Punch

Earthquake is STAB. Ice and Thunder Punch are BoltBeam coverage. Fire Punch is coverage while Sucker Punch is priority. This set without Sucker Punch is the physical version of the special based Nidoking I use. This guy is just awesome.

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Aight, nice set, would prefer poison jab over thunder punch tho, just for that reliable stab, but I understand thunder punch for water types, mega-sharpedo, Tentacruel and others
0 votes


Nidoking (M) @ Choice Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Punch
- Fire Punch
- Poison Jab
- Bulldoze

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EQ is still more powerful despite the Sheer Force boost from Bulldoze.
0 votes

This is absolutely the best special set for Nidoking out there. I use it as a lead on my team because it covers so many types.

Nidoking @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt

STAB, coverage, coverage, and more coverage!

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0 votes

enter image description here
Nidoking (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Rivalry
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Naughty Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Toxic Spikes
- Megahorn
- Venoshock

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0 votes

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave
- Thunderbolt

Earth Power - STAB
Ice Beam - Coverage
Sludge Wave - STAB
Thunderbolt - Coverage

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0 votes

Yes, I know special Nidoking is better than physical. And that Sheer Force Nidoking outclasses every other Nidoking. But here's a set that goes with the latter on both.

Nidoking @ Lum Berry
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Focus Energy
- Stone Edge
- Drill Run

This set takes a sort of Double Dance approach. Hone Claws boosts attack and accuracy, as both attacks tend to miss. Focus Energy makes it so that you will get a crit every time with those moves. Sticky Web support is vital, as Nidoking is quite slow.

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