Why is Rhydon's ability Lightningrod?!

Question

I know this has probably been asked loads, but I gotta know. Is it in case of a move like Terravolt or Mold breaker??

Answer 1

I don't think I fully understand your question. Do you mean is it to stop a Pokemon such as Zekrom with Terravolt Bolt Striking? Because if so, I think it only passes through abilities, not typing. So it would hit a Pokemon with Bolt Strike but not ground types.

TBH I have considered this before and see little use or reason for it having Lightningrod. Why would a ground Pokemon need to draw in electric attacks. However I think Gamefreaks intention was for it to be used in double battles in conjunction with a Pokemon weak to electric.

A lightning rod is typically a rod placed high in the sky to draw in electricity. Rhydon shares this ability with Seaking who also has a horn that points to the sky, likely to draw in the electricity. This is a possible reason for why it has the ability, despite it being pretty redundant.

Comments

Yeah, something like that xDD

If a Haxorus' ability was Mold Breaker, it would be able to hit Rhydon with an Electric type attack. But, because of Rhydon's ability, it wouldn't work, and would only make it harder to defeat. Or does Mold Breaker erase abilities?!

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Mold breaker ignores the ability. So even with mold breaker the electric type attack would not hit because Mold breaker does not break the ground typing. If Haxorous used a fire move on a Pokemon such as Heatran with Flash Fire, the move would hit Heatran.

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In doubles, Rhydon's typing immunity activates first, before its ability granted immunity activates. It has to hold Ring Target for Lightningrod to be in use.