Competitive Pokémon History - Rhydon + Rhyperior Quiz

Answer: No

Rhydon had the tools to threaten quick KOs against a ton of Pokémon, while its good bulk let it handle some pain in return. Even the king of RBY standard play, Tauros, could only check Rhydon, and while it could defeat it in an even one on one, the matchup wasn't particularly comfortable for it. Exeggutor seems like it might be a counter, but it plays a deadly game of both prediction and heavy amounts of RNG trying to achieve this. If Rhydon hits Exeggutor on the switch with Body Slam, it paralyzes, and then the follow up Rock Slide denies Exeggutor that turn via paralysis or flinching, a perfectly realistic scenario, then it's done for. That general dynamic was how Rhydon evaded would-be counters such as Starmie, Cloyster and Lapras.

Answer: Speed

Because of this advantage, Golem could actually check Rhydon quite efficiently, 2HKOing it with Earthquake before falling to a similar fate due to winning the Speed war. However, Golem's inferior Attack and movepool meant that, apart from checking Rhydon, it was typically worse at achieving everything else Rhydon set out to do, resulting in Rhydon often getting chosen over it.

Answer: Marowak

Marowak was even stronger than Rhydon thanks to its signature item in the Thick Club. It held the same typing, retained STAB on Earthquake, and because of its superior offenses, it was preferred to Rhydon most of the time on the average team. In particular, Marowak could turn nuclear quickly due to its access to Swords Dance, while Rhydon was limited to trying a Curse set to generate momentum, much more slowly at that.

Answer: Tank

Rhydon had a good Attack stat, good bulk, and access to a selection of utility moves that were quite interesting. Roar could allow it to phase Snorlax, removing its boosts. Curse could allow Rhydon to more directly check Snorlax. Rest was a usable option to allow Rhydon to absorb status and give it more leeway to switch into attacks for its team. Toxic was also an option, as it could force Rest from its checks, such as Suicune, Exeggutor and Machamp. Finally, though bizarre, Zap Cannon was an option to spread paralysis and deal decent damage to Water type checks.

Its viability was held back by Rhydon's pathetic Special Attack, but it was still usable.

Answer: Rock Head

Rock Head prevents moves with a recoil inducing side effect from hurting Rhydon at all. Unfortunately, the only move in Rhydon's repertoire that actually did this was Double Edge. Double Edge was a powerful move for sure, but it simply didn't hit anything that Rhydon couldn't already cover with either Earthquake or Rock Slide, rendering it rather redundant.

Lightning Rod, however, was even more redundant. Rhydon already was immune to Electric due to its Ground typing, and it certainly did not benefit from a Special Attack boost in the slightest.

Frankly , the player could choice either ability and the difference would be quite minimal. Because Rhydon sometimes had room for Double Edge in its moveset, though, Rock Head was generally preferred.

Answer: 140

140 in Attack for a Pokémon not banned to Ubers was just obscene. It eclipsed the Attack stat of Tyranitar and Ho-Oh, and was the second highest out of every Pokémon not banned to Ubers, falling short of Rampardos' 165.

With a Base 130 in Defense and 115 in HP, Rhyperior had a fairly easy time outslugging physically offensive threats that did not have a type advantage against it. Unfortunately, very low 55s for Special Defense and Speed meant it struggled to fend off special attackers in the same vein.

Answer: Solid Rock

Solid Rock mitigates incoming super effective damage by 25%. This was quite helpful to a fairly bulky Pokémon like Rhyperior, giving it more of a chance against physically offensive Fighting and Ground types as well.

Answer: The need to recharge and do absolutely nothing on the next turn

Rock Wrecker was a genuinely horrible move despite its impressive base power. Rhyperior's inability to do anything at all after using it left it passive and easily exploitable on this turn. Also, because Rock Wrecker's damage output can be tracked over a two move span, it was outdamaged even by the fairly modest Rock Slide, as well as the strong and drawback-free Stone Edge. Thus, Rock Wrecker was a terribly inadvisably move to run on one's Rhyperior.

Answer: Tank

With Solid Rock and massive Defense, locating opportunities to setup Stealth Rock was relatively easy. What distinguished Rhyperior from the competition was its gargantuan 140 Attack stat, by far the highest out of any Pokémon that could contest it for its role.

It definitely was not the best overall Tank, as Garchomp and Landorus-T were plainly better than it in both generations. However, utilizing Rhyperior enabled the trainer to do something else with Garchomp and/or Landorus-T, such as use them as sweepers. Thus, Rhyperior was a valuable Pokémon to have during these generations.

Answer: UnderUsed

Rhyperior was actually in RU the previous two generations, so it received a promotion in the eighth. It was still definitely viable in standard play, and was a genuinely good Pokémon, especially before Garchomp and Landorus-T were released to the game.

It set and maintained Stealth Rock even more easily than before, able to heavily threaten all methods of entry hazard removal and be a good wallbreaker on the side.