13 Nidoking

[WaterWizard]

Nidoking

Type	HP	ATK	DEF	SPD	SPE
Poison/Ground	363	328	248	298	278

4x
2x	Bug, Ground, Ice, Psychic, Water
1x	Fire, Flying, Ghost, Grass, Normal
0.5x	Fighting, Rock
0.25x	Poison
0x	Electric

Bide, Blizzard, Body Slam, Counter, Double Kick, Double-Edge, Earthquake, Fire Blast, Fissure, Flamethrower, Fury Attack, Fury Swipes, Horn Attack, Horn Drill, Hyper Beam, Ice Beam, Leer, Lovely Kiss, Mimic, Poison Sting, Reflect, Rest, Rock Slide, Rock Throw, Seismic Toss, Skull Bash, Submission, Substitute, Surf, Take Down, Thunder, Thunderbolt, Toxic

Nidoking continues to be a quick, powerful mixed sweeper, utilizing Earthquake and his new Poison Sting. Nidoking now has Lovely Kiss, making him one of the fastest sleepers. Double Kick, Fury Attack/Swipes, and Rock Slide are also very effective, and his type coverage stays diverse. His ability to come in on Electrics, Poisons, Rocks, and Fightings and hit hard in any direction is his forte. Be prepared to bow to this king! Nidoking is a powerful hybrid sweeper and is one of the fastest Sleepers. He works like Nidoqueen, only outspeeding more and doing more damage on average, but should take a turn less to faint.

[Isa]

Nidoking has lower stats than his wife, but has superior stats for an offensive role. 298 speed and Lovely Kiss gives him a good opportunity to sleep his opponent if so desired, while hitting heavily on the physical side with Earthquake, Poison Sting, Submission, Rock Slide and various Normal moves. Don't neglect 278 Special though - you might find yourself taking an unexpected Blizzard out of nowhere. Hail to the king!

[Isa]

Slightly more in-depth and specific, while also personal.

Nidoking is one of my favorite Plus Pokémon. His STAB alone gives him great coverage, only Golbat resists both. For him (and other Flyings, as well as Ice mons etc.), there's Rock Slide. Rock Throw is more reliable, but the lower damage output isn't worth it. I consider these three to be staples.
The last move is as I see it either Double Kick or Lovely Kiss. Double Kick is for hitting mainly Normals (Ice mons also work - all Rocks should be hit with Earthquake), while Lovely Kiss is for disabling something and following it up with other deadly attacks. Body Slam could also be used to cause paralysis on annoying switch-ins (Starmie could potentially cause much trouble to Nidoking, who lives through two Earthquakes and Poison Sting is unreliable, while threatening with any Water/Ice/Psychic move), but I haven't tried it in practice yet. Leer is also an option versus something that can recover off your damage but doesn't have high enough damage output to 1/2HKO you. This could include stally Clefable/Wigglytuff sets. I don't really see any of the special moves as options unless you want to dent something like Venusaur badly with an Ice Beam. Likewise is Seismic Toss not ideal at all as your damage output can always be better. Hyper Beam is not really worth it as EQ deals the same on everything that doesn't resist it due to STAB and Poison Sting deals more in 5/8 of all the cases. Rest is his only recovery move, but not really worth it due to average-at-best defenses. Finally, Submission has higher base power than Double Kick, but also recoil. Against someone like Clefable or Chansey, you're going to get worn down by the recoil very quickly. Double Kick also has (at the moment due to faulty PO mechanics) a better chance of dealing more damage due to Critical Hits, as each hit is counted seperately for a CH, unlike RBY where it's all or nothing. Therefore you'll deal more than the regular 100 damage in 35,1% of the cases, making it very potent.

As for playstyle, it depends slightly on whether you carry Lovely Kiss or not, but generally you want to come in on a Thunder Wave, Softboiled or the like from something you can threaten with a STAB Super Effective attack. Exeggutor is a good one, as you can OHKO it with some Poison Sting luck. Try to hit for super effective damage if it's a non-LKiss variant, otherwise, consider sleeping your foe. You'll have to rely on prediction if your foe has a paralyzed Pokémon that can threaten you, as you're likely to dent them badly with a regular move. You can use him early on to pressure your opponent, but be careful and only come in on Pokémon who you can OHKO while taking little damage (Aerodactyl comes to mind, as you resist Rock moves and OHKO with Earthquake). Paralysis is tech; be sure to pack Glare and Thunder Wave on your supporters.

Some good allies are Psychics to take the Psychic attacks thrown at you. Water is also very good, taking the Water/Ice attacks thrown at you neatly, while threatening the Grounds with super effective damage. Combined, we get Starmie as an ideal partner who can take most attacks thrown her way very well, Recover the damage off and paralyze a foe. Speedy bugs with powerful attacks can be an issue though, especially Beedrill who outspeeds both of Starmie and Nidoking. Pokémon like Blastoise who appreciate having someone like Exeggutor gone also likes Nidoking as an ally.