Featured Pokemon: Rhydon and Golem

This is an incredibly unfair matchup...

Greetings trainers!

Today we've got an exciting double feature for you! Golem and Rhydon are two of the only worthwhile Rock-type Pokemon in the game (the other being Omastar). Both have a dual Rock/Ground typing, and both have similar movesets involving Rock and Ground quick attacks and charge moves. The differences between these two Pokemon lie in their base stats, and what alternate movesets they get to run. Which is better? Well, that's what today's article is going to talk about! I will preface this by saying that both are solid Pokemon, but to get the most out of Golem and Rhydon, it's good to know where their specialties lie.

Typing

Rock types stole my heart, maybe
you can help me get it back?

Rock/Ground typing provides Golem and Rhydon with a unique set of resistances that few other Pokemon can take advantage of. Here's the full list of move types that these two resist:

• Normal
• Fire
• Rock
• Flying
• Poison
• Electric

Importantly included in this list is Normal! The only types  that resist Normal are Rock, Ghost, and Steel. There is literally one Ghost Pokemon (Gengar) and one Steel Pokemon (Magneton) and neither of them are up to the task of taking on the likes of Snorlax or Kangaskhan. However Rhydon and Golem are solid Pokemon with good stats and strong moves that can try their hand at tackling the 460kg behemoth that is Snorlax.

Their Rock-typing also lets them resist opposing Fire and Poison attacks, while firing back with super effective Rock or Ground moves, which makes Golem and Rhydon two great Pokemon to take on opposing: Arcanine, Charizard, Flareon, or Poison-moves Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Weezing, and Muk. Finally, Rhydon and Golem resist Electric, which is an advantage they hold over their fellow Rock-type competitors Kabutops and Omastar.

Recommended movesets

I don't understand how this happened... isn't
using EQ in the middle of a body of water
a bad idea for a Rock/Ground type?

Attacking
Mud Slap + Earthquake or Stone Edge
(Golem can also use Rock Throw if you want a Rock-type attack)

Mud Slap flat out has the highest damage-per-second (DPS), which even accounts for resistance. A Mud Slap will do just as much damage to an Exeggutor as Rock Throw will, despite being resisted. Both Rock Throw and Mud Slap even have similar cooldown times, which means dodging will be just as hard with both.

However, while Rock Throw is inferior, it still gives Golem a unique advantage in that Rock Throw is more useful for Charizard, and can be used to hit Dragonite and Gyarados super effectively instead of being resisted, while taking neutral attacks in return; unless Gyarados has Hydro Pump, but whatever, just dodge it.

As far as moves go, Mud Slap is the best attack, and both Golem and Rhydon have access to Mud Slap and Stone Edge if you want a Rock attacker and a nice balance, or Earthquake for the best damage possible. Golem's naturally higher Attack stat also gives it a slight edge.

Advantage: Golem (slightly)

Defending
Mud Slap + Earthquake

There's no point in using Rock moves on defence, because no one in their right minds would attack a Rock/Ground type with something weak to Rock. As mentioned above, even resisted, Mud Slap is still just as good as Rock Throw, so Mud Slap is the obvious choice. For the same reason, Earthquake is flat-out superior to Stone Edge in all instances. Ancient Power isn't strong enough to really out-damage the DPS from just using Mud Slap until you charge an Earthquake, but at least it is harder to dodge.

Neither of these Pokemon make great defenders due to their double-weakness to both Water and Grass, not to mention being weak to Ice. To make the most out of a defending Rhydon you really need to find a good lineup that encourages them to use something like Arcanine, Jolteon, or Nidoqueen. For this reason, it's a good idea to sit a Rhydon behind a Pokemon like Lapras, Gyarados, or Clefable/Wigglytuff.

You'll notice I'm only talking about Rhydon as a defender at this point. Why is that? Well...

Advantage: Rhydon

Base stats

Attack: 176

Defence: 198

Stamina: 160

Attack: 166

Defence: 160

Stamina: 210

Golem and Rhydon have totally different stats that are useful for totally different purposes. Golem's higher Attack and Defence make it useful as an attacker, while Rhydon's superior Stamina make it the clear-cut winner in the Defender department. This is because the defending Pokemon receives a 2x boost to their HP to compensate for the gym's AI, and the optimal moveset is Mud Slap + Earthquake anyways, which both get to use. That said, Stamina is also helpful when attacking, so Rhydon can make the argument that it's a strong attacker as well.

So essentially... Rhydon is the superior defender, hands down. But when it comes to taking on an opposing gym, which Pokemon is better to rely on?

I don't know if Snorlax even cares

Who has the better effective HP?

The big question on my mind entering this article was: which of these Pokemon would be better for defeating an opposing Snorlax? Their Rock typing makes them two useful Pokemon that have the ability to resist Body Slam and Hyper Beam, which has to count for something right?

Well, to answer this question I did some quickie "back of the hand" calculations taking Snorlax's DPS into account, as well as the Attack and Defence stats of Rhydon and Golem, and their relative HP. The long story short is this:

Technically, Rhydon takes less net damage against Snorlax, because it has more HP and solid enough Attack and Defence. But the difference is so small (0.16% net damage per second) that it doesn't really matter that much. If you're interested in the optimal attacker, I think there are other things to take into consideration than simply the net damage done.

When comparing both of these Pokemon to Vaporeon, I was discouraged to find out that Vaporeon actually performs better than Golem in net-damage, and practically just as good as Rhydon; Rhydon does ever so slightly better than Vaporen.

HOWEVER, the differences between Golem, Rhydon, and Vaporeon are so minute, that one other factor really breaks the tie for me: Potion efficiency. Rhydon is far and away the better defender of the two, but as an attacker, Golem performs almost just as well, but will use up far less HP in the process. In the long run, that HP loss will add up to quite a lot of resource use, which makes Golem a superior option for taking down non-Earthquake Snorlax compared to Vaporeon, and to Rhydon as well; Rhydon is also superior to Vaporeon for this reason.

Advantage: Golem (slightly)

The victor! ish...

Final say

When all is said and done, I would recommend Golem over Rhydon as an attacker thanks to its Potion efficiency (but it's not a big deal). On defence, Rhydon wins hands-down, but being doubly weak to both Water and Grass prevents Rhydon from accomplishing much on defence. It does make either of these Pokemon a great defender to use as a Prestige punching bag! Golem is also a very capable Pokemon in its own right, so by no means does it make a bad defender. It will be easier to earn Prestige against Golem as well, which gives it the edge as a punching bag too.

So if you're serious about defending with a Rock/Ground type, Rhydon is your 'mon. But if you just want a punching bag, either works. When attacking, Golem has the advantage thanks to its Potion efficiency, but again, either works. I was surprised to find out just how closely matched these two Pokemon were despite their very different stats. I was also just a little surprised to find out that Vaporeon is better than Golem at trading damage with Snorlax, and Vaporeon even comes with the advantage of not being weak to Earthquake.

So, it is what it is. Hopefully this insight has given you a good look at Rhydon and Golem and helped you understand what they're useful for.

Cheers,
Let's GO!