Rhyperior, The Drill Pokémon. It puts rocks in holes in its palms and uses its muscles to shoot them. Geodude are shot at rare times.

Overview

Rhyperior is another one of the heavily hyped new Pokémon. Much like its predecessor, Rhydon, it fills a dual-role in teams. Acting both as a defensive wall and an offensive force.

When compared to Rhydon, it isn't the stat boost that makes it vastly superior, rather it's the trait: Solid Rock. The general gist of Solid Rock is that 2x effective attacks become 1.33x effective whilst 4x effective attacks become 2.66x effective. In effect, Rhyperior is able to survive the onslaught of super-effective physical attacks reasonably well and can stand up to some super-effective special attacks.

The other change worthy of note is that Rhyperior benefits from the new and improved Sandstorm. During Sandstorms, Rock types receive a 1.5x Special Defence boost. Since Special Defence is Rhyperior's weaker defensive stat, this boost is very much welcomed and makes Rhyperior pretty durable at both ends of the defensive spectrum. Defensively, the only thing Rhyperior is lacking is a reliable recovery move.

Offensively, Rhydon has two great STABs to work with (Rock and Ground) and a fairly versatile physical move pool. It has a huge (Base 140) Attack stat to work with as well as the possibility of Swords Dance or Curse. Speed is its only offensive letdown (although admittedly, it's an ideal candidate for a Trick Room team).

Basically, Rhyperior is a fantastic blend of offensive prowess and defensive durability. It's been hyped for a reason. Expect to see a lot of it.

Trait

Solid Rock: is the one to use. It reduces super-effective attacks by 33%. As mentioned previously, this makes 2x effective attacks 1.33x effective and 4x effective attacks 2.66x effective. It's one of Rhyperior's greatest assets and there's very little excuse to not take advantage of it.

Lightning Rod: is it's other, much less attractive option. Lightning Rod is only useful in 2v2 battles, and even in the 2v2 environment, its use is somewhat situational. Its best application is with a Pokémon likely to draw Electric attacks (such as Gyarados), but again, this is highly dependant on the situation and on the opponent.

Move Sets

Physical Attacker and Defensive Wall

- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Substitute / Megahorn / Avalanche
- Substitute / Megahorn / Avalanche
Item Attached: Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

The set that appeals best to Rhyperior's strengths. Rhyperior can comfortably switch into moves that it resists (and is particularly effective against Choice item opponents) and can follow through with very strong attacks.

Earthquake and Stone Edge have obvious benefits: STAB, power and fantastic type coverage. Substitute is nice for scouting what your opponent will do and Rhyperior's Substitutes are pretty tough, so they won't break easily. Megahorn is a strong attack, it wipes out several noteworthy Pokémon (particularly those with a Rock and Ground resistance) whilst Avalanche catches the common Dragons for a lot of damage.

EVs and Nature:

Maxing HP is fairly obvious, it increases overall durability as well as making Rhyperior's Substitutes large enough to absorb two Seismic Tosses. The bare minimum HP to shoot for would be 404. The remaining EVs (and nature) should be balanced between Defence and Attack. Rhyperior should generally have 340+ Defence and at least 350+ Attack

Impish with Max Defence is worth consideration. Rhyperior sacrifices a lot of offensive power using it but it increases Rhyperior's defensive durability significantly. Special Defence EVs are also worth consideration, especially if Rhyperior is used in a team that can forcibly activate Sandstorm (through Hippowdon or Tyranitar).

Choice Band

- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
- Avalanche
Item Attached: Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Choice Band Rhyperior, another set that compliments Rhyperior very nicely. It works in pretty much the same way as the aforementioned set, although without Leftovers it's slightly less durable. The exchange is well worth it, since the Choice Band boost gives Rhyperior a significant power increase. Like all Choice sets, it's highly reliant on good prediction to be used to its fullest effect.

EVs and Nature:

Without Leftovers recovery or the possibility of Substitute, HP is slightly less important. Max Attack garners the most benefit from Choice Band. Max Def gives a huge direct boost to Rhyperior's physically defensive durability but the Defence EVs are expendable. Boosting HP or Special Defence is well worth consideration.

Swords Dance Sweeper

- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Substitute / Megahorn / Avalanche
Item Attached: Leftovers
Trait: Solid Rock
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)

Rhyperior can use Swords Dance fairly effectively. Its main letdown is its poor Speed (so more than likely it'll need Paralysis or Trick Room support to pull it off). Nonetheless, given the opportunity to throw up a Swords Dance, very little can stand in its way.

Once again, Substitute is a very nice option. As a defensive buffer, assuming it survives, it grants Rhyperior the opportunity to throw up a Swords Dance. Megahorn and Avalanche give Rhyperior other offensive options to use with its STAB attacks.

EVs and Nature:

Since Swords Dance is in use, Attack EVs are less of a necessity, although they are an option. Maxing Defence and HP is worth the effort, and Special Defence EVs are worth consideration.

Other Options

Hammer Arm, Focus Punch, Crunch, Shadow Claw, Rock Blast, Ice Fang, Sandstorm, Rock Wrecker, Rock Polish, Stealth Rock, Roar, Curse, Counter, Rest, Sleep Talk, Life Orb.

Hammer Arm and Focus Punch are physical options. They're hard hitting moves but, between Stone Edge and Earthquake, there's very little for the Fighting attacks to hit.

Crunch and Shadow Claw are some other physical options but their coverage is limited.

Rock Blast is inaccurate and unreliable, but it can break through Substitutes, which is a big bonus.

Ice Fang is an option over Avalanche, but the difference is minimal and Rhyperior is likely to strike last anyway.

Rhyperior can use Sandstorm to forcibly activate its Special Defence boost, but with Tyranitar and Hippowdon as options, it seems like a waste mostly.

Rock Wrecker can be used as a 'suicide' move in a similar way to Explosion but Rhyperior has better ways to use that move-slot. 'Hyper Beam'-style moves are rarely useful anyway.

Rock Polish can give Rhyperior a big speed boost (the equivalent of Agility), but Rhyperior would still need a large investment of Speed EVs to make it a worthwhile move.

Stealth Rock and Roar are the full extent of Rhyperior's support move pool. Rhyperior is defensive enough to be a decent supporter, but, like with many good offensive Pokémon, Rhyperior should leave supporting to Pokémon designed for that role.

Curse boosts Rhyperior's good Attack and Defence. It can be used in a similar way to Swords Dance. After a Curse or two, Rhyperior physical defence is nearly impregnable.

Counter works very well with Rhyperior's good physical defence, especially since its weaknesses are much more controllable with Solid Rock.

Rest and Sleep Talk present Rhyperior with its only recovery option. It can pull off the combo decently.

Life Orb can give Rhyperior a large offensive boost but it's at the expense of HP. Since Rhyperior fills defensive holes very nicely, costing it HP is a large price to pay. It's worth some consideration though.

Countering Rhyperior

It's obvious enough that Rhyperior's Achilles heel is its two 4x weaknesses (or 2.66x with Solid Rock), Grass and Water. Rhyperior's Special Defence is the one best targeted, since it has a rather bulky Defence stat.

With its Grass and Water weaknesses in mind, bulky Grass and Water Pokémon are ideal. Bulky Water Pokémon ideal for the job include: Slowbro, Milotic, Suicune, Swampert and Manaphy. All of those take a large chunk from STAB Earthquakes (especially if Choice Band is a factor) but they work decently, although Slowbro needs to watch out for Megahorn. Bulky Grass Pokémon ideal for the job include: Venusaur, Torterra, Meganium, Celebi, Shaymin and Leafeon, although most of those need to watch out for Megahorn.

A handful of Pokémon resist the Ground and Rock combination (which is guaranteed on Rhyperior). Claydol, Bronzong, Flygon, Breloom and Torterra are the main ones. All of those take a fairly large chunk from Megahorn though, which is something they need to watch out for, but they all have super-effective STABs which allow them to work decently.

Aside from those, bulky Pokémon with super-effective moves are fairly effective. Cresselia with Ice Beam (watch out for Megahorn), Donphan with Earthquake, Hippowdon with Earthquake and so on.

Rhyperior's main problem is its lack of recovery move coupled with its many common weaknesses (which still hurt, even with Solid Rock taken into account). It can be worn down effectively with repeated beatings.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Not in Game Colosseum/XD Not in Game Fire Red/Leaf Green Not in Game Diamond/Pearl Evolve Rhydon

Animé Appearences

Rhyperior has yet to make an appearance in the anime.