Equal Stats Tournament V2: Twilight Sparkle vs Nidoking (Pokemon)

[DemonicDude]

Round 2:
(Match 8)
Same Rules as stated in the Tournament.
(Cartoon) vs (Video Games) match ! Finale of round 2 ! Will Twilight continue to win or Nidoking wins in his debut.

Results:
Twilight Sparkle (MLP): 7 (DD, Cool, Pepper, Imag, Lightbuster, JustANormalLemon, XXKINGXX69)
Nidoking (Pokemon):
Inconclusive:

 

[Coolboy6]

If Twilight realize her attack gets lowered via intimidate or gets poisoned, she will likely use transmutation GG on the Pokémon.

 

[DemonicDude]

Does the pokemon has stat and speed amps to dodge (I haven't really seen how is transmutation works is it a projectile based ?)

 

[Coolboy6]

Does the pokemon has stat and speed amps to dodge

I don’t think so, he mostly seems to reduce the opponent’s stats

(I haven't really seen how is transmutation works is it a projectile based ?)

It is a projectile based

 

[DemonicDude]

I don’t think so, he mostly seems to reduce the opponent’s stats

It is a projectile based

Then it can be dodge tho this is an equal stats match but if someone specifically has Stats amps then they indeed can boost themselves up to the point they can dodge however I lack input for this Pokemon so I'll wait and see what the supporters of Pokemon has to say.

 

[Imaginym]

This is Equal Stats? Which Evolutionary Stage, then? That influences behaviour as well as which Abilities it has. (Nidoking has Sheer Force instead of Hustle.)
Nidoking, I presume?

If Twilight realize her attack gets lowered via intimidate or gets poisoned, she will likely use transmutation GG on the Pokémon.

Intimidate?
Where did this come from?
As far as I know, Intimidate has never been a valid ability for any member of Nidoking's line, nor is it listed as an Ability for Nidoking on its profile.

 

[Coolboy6]

Intimidate?
Where did this come from?
As far as I know, Intimidate has never been a valid ability for any member of Nidoking's line, nor is it listed as an Ability for Nidoking on its profile.

Its listed on the profile...

 

[Lightbuster30]

Actually, it's not projectile-based. Projectile based is entirely optional. I was wrong and overlooked a feat when I said that. Here she does it and it simply affects the target. Here again, in the same scene, she turns mice into mice-horse hybrids. And here again, she fixes Pinkie Pie's mouth (Or lack thereof) without any beams at all.

 

[DemonicDude]

Ah so it's thought based, So one good hit it should be over unless the Pokemon has defense against it.

 

[Imaginym]

Its listed on the profile...

What? Where?

Nidoking

Tier: At most Low 7-B | 7-B | High 7-A Key: Nidoran♂ | Nidorino | Nidoking Name: Nidoran♂ | Nidorino | Nidoking Origin: Pokémon Gender: Male Age: Varies Classification: Poison Pin Pokémon | Drill Pokémon Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Expert hand to hand combatant...

vsbattles.fandom.com

Have you & I been reading the same profile?
I CTRL+F'd "Intimidat" & the only thing I found in any of its tabbers was:

• Leer: Nidoking gives an intimidating leer with sharp eyes at the opponent to diminish morale and incite fear.

& that's not the Intimidate ability!

 

[Coolboy6]

What? Where?

Nidoking

Tier: At most Low 7-B | 7-B | High 7-A Key: Nidoran♂ | Nidorino | Nidoking Name: Nidoran♂ | Nidorino | Nidoking Origin: Pokémon Gender: Male Age: Varies Classification: Poison Pin Pokémon | Drill Pokémon Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Expert hand to hand combatant...

vsbattles.fandom.com

Have you & I been reading the same profile?
I CTRL+F'd "Intimidat" & the only thing I found in any of its tabbers was:

• Leer: Nidoking gives an intimidating leer with sharp eyes at the opponent to diminish morale and incite fear.

& that's not the Intimidate ability!

Omg it’s literally right here! I’m reading the same profile in case you didn’t realize!

• Intimidator: Nidoking can potentially induce fear into the opponent to the point of non-action, and they lose their chance to attack.

 

[Imaginym]

Omg it’s literally right here! I’m reading the same profile in case you didn’t realize!

Ah. Somehow I didn't see that. Sorry. Nonetheless, that is still technically not the Intimidate Ability, but an IQ Skill distinct from the Ability; Twilight Sparkle would not suffer a drop in offensive power from Nidoking's presence.

 

[Peppersalt43]

Anyway this isn't really going anywhere so I'll just drop this. Twilight does not start with transmutation but will proceed to use it along with her various other haxes once her opponent starts doing crazy or haxy shit.

 

[Imaginym]

Anyway this isn't really going anywhere so I'll just drop this. Twilight does not start with transmutation but will proceed to use it along with her various other haxes once her opponent starts doing crazy or haxy shit.

Well, truthfully, I was going to debate this, but TBH, I have NO CONFIDENCE in Nidoking.

Spoiler: A lot of words about why Nidoking's chances are awful

Nidoran has good hearing, which presumably carries over to its evolution, & its opening move if it feels threatened is stabbing with its Poisonous horn. Plus there's toxic barbs all over its body that it extends. Similar is presumably true of Nidorino & Nidoking; I'd assume they also have these qualities, but.... About Nidoking:

Red Blue	It uses its powerful tail in battle to smash, constrict, then break the prey’s bones.
Yellow	Its steel-like hide adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond.
Gold	It swings its big tail around during battle. If its foe flinches, it will charge with its sturdy body.
Silver	Its tail is thick and powerful. If it binds an enemy, it can snap the victim’s spine quite easily.
Crystal	It uses its thick arms, legs and tail to attack forcefully. Melee combat is its specialty.

Ruby Sapphire	NIDOKING’s thick tail packs enormously destructive power. With one swing, it can topple a metal transmission tower. Once this POKéMON goes on a rampage, there is no stopping it.

Shield	Nidoking prides itself on its strength. It’s forceful and spirited in battle, making use of its thick tail and diamond-crushing horn.

Going by Pokedex entries at least, it's abundantly clear Nidoking goes in close.
I do recall it using moves like Sludge Wave & Earth Power in the anime when a wild one battled Mew, but yeah.

& what's worse is a lot of this implies that its tail is its opening move.

Nidoking does not learn moves typically associated with attacking with the tail, other than Poison Tail.... As an Egg Move. (& it's not like its tail is implied to be one of the poisonous parts anyway.) It doesn't learn Tail Whip (Which is actually a Cute category move in contests, as it's more accurately translated as Tail Wag.), nor Pound or Slam, moves commonly presented as though they attack with the Tail.

It does learn Tackle, though.... As a Level-Up move exclusive to its Pre-Evolutions (Limited movepool due to being a Stone Evolution Pokemon.), only in Generation 1.


What's worse for it is current Pokemon Profiles give Pokemon all their "Abilities" at once.
Of course, Nidoking doesn't have the Hustle Ability its Pre-Evolutions have, which, for Physical Attacks, reduces their Accuracy by 20%, but increases their Power by 50%, because upon evolving into Nidoking, Hustle is replaced with Sheer Force, which removes the secondary effects of Attacks, & gives the affected Attacks an extra 30% power.

Poison Point is nice, since in gameplay, it's a 10% chance of inflicting Poison "on contact"; In gameplay, that's when the foe hits Nidoking with a move that makes contact, but, especially if Nidoking has barbs that, based on Nidorino's Pokedex entries, release toxins on impact, would make this especially likely, if Twilight Sparkle got too close. Problem is, I doubt she would.

The biggest problem, though, is two-fold?
Remember how Nidoking has all of its abilities? Including "+30% power but no secondary effects attacks Sheer Force"?
It also gets Rivalry, which powers up its attacks by 25%.... If it's against a foe of the same gender/sex. Nidoking is an exclusively male species. Against foes of the opposite gender/sex (& since Rivalry applies no matter what species Nidoking faces, this means ANY Female opponent.), it reduces the power of Nidoking's Attacking moves by 25%.

100 + 30 = 130. 25% of 130 is 32.5. 130 - 32.5 = 97.5
100 - 25 - 75. 30% of 75 = 22.5. 75 + 22.5 = 97.5

Crazy as it may sound, but 30% buff & 25% debuff result in 97.5% of usual power; About one 40th weaker than normal.
But the real kicker is that not only are Nidoking's attacks weaker than normal against Twilight Sparkle, they ALSO don't have any Secondary Effects, although it might still be able to Poison, since its horn is explicitly Poison, & Poisoning is a secondary effect added even to moves that don't involve its horn.

& of course, Nidoking's tactics do it no favors; It's aggressive, specialized in Melee combat, known to go into uncontrollable rampages, & favors smashing with its tail, especially to coil it around the foe & bind them, then crush their bones/spine. (Although, Nidoking cannot learn Coil, Wrap, nor Bind.) & also sometimes tackle or maybe stab with its horn. & its only tail-related attack is Poison Tail, a somewhat weak move.

Even if modifiers that come into effect after the match/passives are negated by the Stats Equalization, too, Nidoking is still operating with its moves effectively unboosted by Sheer Force, with their secondary effects practically negated.

Meaning Nidoking, seeing this flying pony, might still have its first instinct to be try & run at her, Tackle her, &/or then smash/bind her with its tail, if it somehow gets her in her grip, try to crush her bones/spine, &/or maybe try to stab her with its horn at some point.
All while weaker than usual, with no secondary effects to its attacks, against an intelligent, flying foe with telekinesis & teleportation.

Oh, & if Lifting Strength isn't Equalized, & this is any Pony Twilight Sparkle except Unicorn Twilight, Nidoking trying to bind Twilight Sparkle with its tail likely gets its tail snapped by Stellar Class Lifting Strength via Telekinesis, assuming she doesn't Teleport out or hit it with an effectively point blank magical blast or transmutation or hypnosis spell or something, lol.

Like I said at the start of my post, I have no confidence in Nidoking.

The best chances it has that's in-character for it are:
Flatter: Confuses the foe (As of Generation 7 onwards, however, victims of the Confusion status only have a 33% chance of hitting themselves.) & gives them +1 Sp. Atk, meaning it'd probably boost Twilight Sparkle's AP with her Magic.
Horn Drill: Astonishingly, this is only a Pre-Evolution move (Early Generation Stone Evolution Limited Movepool.) for Nidoking. Or an Egg Move, as of Generation 8. Using its horn, which can shatter diamonds, this move is supposed to be a OHKO. But Nidoking seems to favor tackling, tail-smashes, & bones-breaking bindings with said tail too much to use this before it's too late.
Toxic: This will "badly poison" the victim. In gameplay, it deals 6% & a further 6% each turn the damage is inflicted. 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36; If this were game mechanics which it isn't, a typical foe would faint after 6 iterations. But I'm not too sure of Toxic's feats as portrayed in other media.
Amnesia: Another Egg Move. A single use boosts Nidoking's Sp. Def by 2 stages. At an unchanged stage, this is 50% per stage, up to 6 stages added. Base 100% of Sp. Def + 6 stages of 50% each =100 + 300, for 400%, or 4x the usual durability against non-physical attacks, presumably including Twilight Sparkle's magic.... But I'm pretty sure she has ways to win even if she ends up losing a damage race, & I'm not sure this is very in-character for Nidoking.
Oh & I guess there's the chance that maybe it could bind Twilight Sparkle with its tail & crush her bones/spine before she can use her magic, thus killing her or making her faint or whatever; In theory, MAYBE she wouldn't be able to muster the focus/adrenaline/strength/stamina in time to save herself, but even without using her magic, I think there's too many issues & points of failures for this to be reliable, however.


So yeah. Twilight Sparkle is smarter, she flies, has telekinesis, transmutation, maybe better LS (Depending on how the Stats Equalization works.), & because Nidoking's Abilities range from unhelpful to actively working against one another or Nidoking itself here, & because Nidoking's tactics are, frankly, kinda garbage, here, especially.

I'm voting Twilight Sparkle.

 

[DemonicDude]

Lifting strength is not equal, Alright voted counted so far.

 

[Peppersalt43]

The better purple creature FRA

 

[JustANormalLemon]

Voting frindly horse fra

 

[XXKINGXX69]

Nidoking via passive fear manip

 

[JustANormalLemon]

Nidoking via passive fear manip

...

 

[XXKINGXX69]

...

You got a problem with that?

 

[JustANormalLemon]

Only will ask you to elaborate

 

[XXKINGXX69]

Twilight sparkle is paralysed due to fear, Nidoking shoots out poison, the horse is weakened and dies

 

[JustANormalLemon]

Sinse the fear manipulation only work as a temporary paralizes that stops working fast

not to mention the horse hax work faster them poison and this isn't even 100% in character to use toxic as Imaginym said here:

Well, truthfully, I was going to debate this, but TBH, I have NO CONFIDENCE in Nidoking.

Spoiler: A lot of words about why Nidoking's chances are awful

Nidoran has good hearing, which presumably carries over to its evolution, & its opening move if it feels threatened is stabbing with its Poisonous horn. Plus there's toxic barbs all over its body that it extends. Similar is presumably true of Nidorino & Nidoking; I'd assume they also have these qualities, but.... About Nidoking:

Red Blue	It uses its powerful tail in battle to smash, constrict, then break the prey’s bones.
Yellow	Its steel-like hide adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond.
Gold	It swings its big tail around during battle. If its foe flinches, it will charge with its sturdy body.
Silver	Its tail is thick and powerful. If it binds an enemy, it can snap the victim’s spine quite easily.
Crystal	It uses its thick arms, legs and tail to attack forcefully. Melee combat is its specialty.

Ruby Sapphire	NIDOKING’s thick tail packs enormously destructive power. With one swing, it can topple a metal transmission tower. Once this POKéMON goes on a rampage, there is no stopping it.

Shield	Nidoking prides itself on its strength. It’s forceful and spirited in battle, making use of its thick tail and diamond-crushing horn.

Going by Pokedex entries at least, it's abundantly clear Nidoking goes in close.
I do recall it using moves like Sludge Wave & Earth Power in the anime when a wild one battled Mew, but yeah.

& what's worse is a lot of this implies that its tail is its opening move.

Nidoking does not learn moves typically associated with attacking with the tail, other than Poison Tail.... As an Egg Move. (& it's not like its tail is implied to be one of the poisonous parts anyway.) It doesn't learn Tail Whip (Which is actually a Cute category move in contests, as it's more accurately translated as Tail Wag.), nor Pound or Slam, moves commonly presented as though they attack with the Tail.

It does learn Tackle, though.... As a Level-Up move exclusive to its Pre-Evolutions (Limited movepool due to being a Stone Evolution Pokemon.), only in Generation 1.


What's worse for it is current Pokemon Profiles give Pokemon all their "Abilities" at once.
Of course, Nidoking doesn't have the Hustle Ability its Pre-Evolutions have, which, for Physical Attacks, reduces their Accuracy by 20%, but increases their Power by 50%, because upon evolving into Nidoking, Hustle is replaced with Sheer Force, which removes the secondary effects of Attacks, & gives the affected Attacks an extra 30% power.

Poison Point is nice, since in gameplay, it's a 10% chance of inflicting Poison "on contact"; In gameplay, that's when the foe hits Nidoking with a move that makes contact, but, especially if Nidoking has barbs that, based on Nidorino's Pokedex entries, release toxins on impact, would make this especially likely, if Twilight Sparkle got too close. Problem is, I doubt she would.

The biggest problem, though, is two-fold?
Remember how Nidoking has all of its abilities? Including "+30% power but no secondary effects attacks Sheer Force"?
It also gets Rivalry, which powers up its attacks by 25%.... If it's against a foe of the same gender/sex. Nidoking is an exclusively male species. Against foes of the opposite gender/sex (& since Rivalry applies no matter what species Nidoking faces, this means ANY Female opponent.), it reduces the power of Nidoking's Attacking moves by 25%.

100 + 30 = 130. 25% of 130 is 32.5. 130 - 32.5 = 97.5
100 - 25 - 75. 30% of 75 = 22.5. 75 + 22.5 = 97.5

Crazy as it may sound, but 30% buff & 25% debuff result in 97.5% of usual power; About one 40th weaker than normal.
But the real kicker is that not only are Nidoking's attacks weaker than normal against Twilight Sparkle, they ALSO don't have any Secondary Effects, although it might still be able to Poison, since its horn is explicitly Poison, & Poisoning is a secondary effect added even to moves that don't involve its horn.

& of course, Nidoking's tactics do it no favors; It's aggressive, specialized in Melee combat, known to go into uncontrollable rampages, & favors smashing with its tail, especially to coil it around the foe & bind them, then crush their bones/spine. (Although, Nidoking cannot learn Coil, Wrap, nor Bind.) & also sometimes tackle or maybe stab with its horn. & its only tail-related attack is Poison Tail, a somewhat weak move.

Even if modifiers that come into effect after the match/passives are negated by the Stats Equalization, too, Nidoking is still operating with its moves effectively unboosted by Sheer Force, with their secondary effects practically negated.

Meaning Nidoking, seeing this flying pony, might still have its first instinct to be try & run at her, Tackle her, &/or then smash/bind her with its tail, if it somehow gets her in her grip, try to crush her bones/spine, &/or maybe try to stab her with its horn at some point.
All while weaker than usual, with no secondary effects to its attacks, against an intelligent, flying foe with telekinesis & teleportation.

Oh, & if Lifting Strength isn't Equalized, & this is any Pony Twilight Sparkle except Unicorn Twilight, Nidoking trying to bind Twilight Sparkle with its tail likely gets its tail snapped by Stellar Class Lifting Strength via Telekinesis, assuming she doesn't Teleport out or hit it with an effectively point blank magical blast or transmutation or hypnosis spell or something, lol.

Like I said at the start of my post, I have no confidence in Nidoking.

The best chances it has that's in-character for it are:
Flatter: Confuses the foe (As of Generation 7 onwards, however, victims of the Confusion status only have a 33% chance of hitting themselves.) & gives them +1 Sp. Atk, meaning it'd probably boost Twilight Sparkle's AP with her Magic.
Horn Drill: Astonishingly, this is only a Pre-Evolution move (Early Generation Stone Evolution Limited Movepool.) for Nidoking. Or an Egg Move, as of Generation 8. Using its horn, which can shatter diamonds, this move is supposed to be a OHKO. But Nidoking seems to favor tackling, tail-smashes, & bones-breaking bindings with said tail too much to use this before it's too late.
Toxic: This will "badly poison" the victim. In gameplay, it deals 6% & a further 6% each turn the damage is inflicted. 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36; If this were game mechanics which it isn't, a typical foe would faint after 6 iterations. But I'm not too sure of Toxic's feats as portrayed in other media.
Amnesia: Another Egg Move. A single use boosts Nidoking's Sp. Def by 2 stages. At an unchanged stage, this is 50% stage, up to 6 stages added. Base 100% of Sp. Def + 6 stages of 50% each =100 + 300, for 400%, or 4x the usual durability against non-physical attacks, presumably including Twilight Sparkle's magic.... But I'm pretty sure she has ways to win even if she ends up losing a damage race, & I'm not sure this is very in-character for Nidoking.
Oh & I guess there's the chance that maybe it could bind Twilight Sparkle with its tail & crush her bones/spine before she can use her magic, thus killing her or making her faint or whatever; In theory, MAYBE she wouldn't be able to muster the focus/adrenaline/strength/stamina in time to save herself, but even without using her magic, I think there's too many issues & points of failures for this to be reliable, however.


So yeah. Twilight Sparkle is smarter, she flies, has telekinesis, transmutation, maybe better LS (Depending on how the Stats Equalization works.), & because Nidoking's Abilities range from unhelpful to actively working against one another or Nidoking itself here, & because Nidoking's tactics are, frankly, kinda garbage, here, especially.

I'm voting Twilight Sparkle.

 

[Coolboy6]

Twilight sparkle is paralysed due to fear, Nidoking shoots out poison, the horse is weakened and dies

The sheer downplay in this comment just hurts my ******* brain.

Twilight would not let herself die knowing that she is weakened and will immediately go for transmutation GG. Plus Twilight’s flight and telekinesis would be a pain in the ass to deal with. Plus Nidoking’s fear manip isn’t that good, it lowers stats pretty much. And on,3 the horse realizes that, transmutation GG.

 

[FinePoint]

Twilight sparkle is paralysed due to fear, Nidoking shoots out poison, the horse is weakened and dies

Only a 33% chance to stop an attack, and also only works on short-range attacks.

 

[FinePoint]

Plus Nidoking’s fear manip isn’t that good, it lowers stats pretty much.

It doesn't lower stats. See my above comment for what Intimidator actually does.
Leer does lower stats, but Nidoking is dead if they waste time using leer.

 

[JustANormalLemon]

The sheer downplay in this comment just hurts my ******* brain.

You and me...

 

[Coolboy6]

It doesn't lower stats. See my above comment for what Intimidator actually does.

Elaborate on what you mean by “stop an attack”

 

[XXKINGXX69]

Sinse the fear manipulation only work as a temporary paralizes that stops working fast

not to mention the horse hax work faster them poison and this isn't even 100% in character to use toxic as Imaginym said here:

Nidoking is a poison type and has used poison type ranged moves before. It does like to use tail attacks, but that doesn't mean he won't use sludge wave or poison sting

Only a 33% chance, and also only works on melee attacks.

That's a game mechanic, its always venomous

The sheer downplay in this comment just hurts my ******* brain.

Twilight would not let herself die knowing that she is weakened and will immediately go for transmutation GG. Plus Twilight’s flight and telekinesis would be a pain in the ass to deal with. Plus Nidoking’s fear manip isn’t that good, it lowers stats pretty much. And on,3 the horse realizes that, transmutation GG.

Nidoking resists that but its not on profile, bout to make a CRT now. He also simply dodges it because the horse is ******** itself due to fear

 

[JustANormalLemon]

There is so much wrong into your analizes that I'm feeling sad... I don't even know were to start...

 

[Coolboy6]

Nidoking resists that but its not on profile, bout to make a CRT now. He also simply dodges it because the horse is ******** itself due to fear

Based on what? Also it has literally been explained that Nidoking’s “fear manip” doesn’t just make you scared shitless.

 

[Lightbuster30]

Mind hax resistance says no. Either it's a supernatural type of intimidation, which would point to mind hax or it just looks intimidating, in which case, Twilight shouldn't be remotely phased given the monsters she's dealt with.

 

[FinePoint]

That's a game mechanic, its always venomous

I meant the fear hax, it's not that good.

Nidoking resists that but its not on profile, bout to make a CRT now. He also simply dodges it because the horse is ******** itself due to fear

How does Nidoking resist transmutation?

 

[JustANormalLemon]

First of all, why being a poison type means It's in character to try to poison the oponent? Being poison type means you have poison and It's pokedex entrances are the one thing we can go by to "how it fight" and It don't say nothing about poison at all

 

[XXKINGXX69]

Based on what? Also it has literally been explained that Nidoking’s “fear manip” doesn’t just make you scared shitless.

It does, it makes enemies unable to attack most of the time

First of all, why being a poison type means It's in character to try to poison the oponent? Being poison type means you have poison and It's pokedex entrances are the one thing we can go by to "how it fight" and It don't say nothing about poison at all

Poison types tend to use poison attacks, it is also known for its poison

 

[JustANormalLemon]

Poison types tend to use poison attacks, it is also known for its poison

And ice types tend to use water moves

 

[Lightbuster30]

It does, it makes enemies unable to attack most of the time

"Most of the time"

I'm sorry, what happened to it being gameplay mechanics?

 

[Imaginym]

Plus Nidoking’s fear manip isn’t that good, it lowers stats pretty much. And on,3 the horse realizes that, transmutation GG.

What?
Nidoking's Fear Manipulation Lowers Stats?

I thought we were done with arguing over if Nidoking has the Intimidate Ability or not, which it doesn't.

Nidoking does not have the Intimidate Ability, it has the Intimidator IQ Skill!
But yeah, the details:

IQ - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

560

C,E,I,J

Intimidator

All Pokémon

Under certain conditions the Pokémon can intimidate an enemy that attacks, which gives it a Cringe status condition.

33% chance to cancel an incoming close-ranged attack, regardless of the direction the attacker is facing. PP is still deducted from the attacker. Attackers with Inner Focus are unaffected. Does not affect line-of-sight moves, room-range moves, or thrown items. Can affect allies if they target the Intimidator with a close-ranged move for any reason.

Based on this, Intimidator isn't going to indiscriminately immobilize Twilight Sparkle.
But yeah.
Nidoking is more likely to smash Twilight with its tail, or bind her with its tail, or tackle her, or stab her with its horn, as opposed to using a lot of its Poison moves.

Also, most of its moves CAN'T inflict Poison because of Sheer Force, & due to Rivalry, Nidoking is actually slightly weaker than Twilight Sparkle, & even without Sheer Force, the probability of most of them inflicting it is low, Toxic excepted.

But in theory, its horn & barbs should still be poisonous, assuming Sheer Force doesn't negate that.

Also, we don't know the potency of its Poison. Though, to its credits, Nidoran-Male's horn's Poison is described as "powerful", & Nidorino's Poison has the statement that "The potency of its poison increases along with the level of adrenaline present in its body.". If the same are true for Nidoking, it should be decently potent.

But it would still have to approach Twilight Sparkle, & even if Intimidator did indiscriminately immobilize Twilight Sparkle, it might not hold her long enough before she can fly away or teleport or laugh in Stellar level telekinesis, or Transmutation.

Going by Nidoking's Pokedex entries, it overwhelmingly favors melee.
Going by the anime, there are a few wild Nidoking we've observed attacking:

Spoiler: Wild Nidoking in "In the Pink"

"In In the Pink, a pink Nidoking was a resident of Pinkan Island. He attacked Jessie and James as they were attempting to capture a pink Nidoran couple. He was eventually subdued by Officer Jenny."

"They use their Pokémon, and Lickitung chases two pink Nidoran into a cave, only to encounter a Nidoking that chases Team Rocket away."
"They find Team Rocket being chased by Nidoking, and as the trio performs their motto, Ash has Pikachu use Thunder Shock on Nidoking. It throws Team Rocket's Pokémon at their Trainers and they blast off. Nidoking then chases the trio and Jenny; both Psyduck and Marill attempt to battle him, but ultimately run off scared.
Pikachu tries to shock him, but Jenny informs Ash that Nidoking is on a rampage and cannot be stopped. Nidoking uses Hyper Beam, but Togepi uses Metronome again and creates a Barrier. Jenny tells the trio to get out and run. She engages Nidoking and lassos him, and Nidoking drops to the ground dizzy."

So that Nidoking just charged its foes, & later used Hyper Beam. Unsure if it tried to use any moves against Psyduck & Marill.

Spoiler: Wild Nidoking in "Mystery on a Deserted Island"!

"In Mystery on a Deserted Island!, a Nidoking was a resident of the Deserted Island. He was first seen chasing a trio of Eevee before being intimidated into leaving by Pikachu's Iron Tail. He later attacked Team Rocket but was defeated by them."

"Out of blue, a Nidoking is seen attacking three Eevee who are rescued by Pikachu. Iris then wonders the reason for attacking the Eevee and Cilan suggests that it might be for food.
Team Rocket watches the entire commotion from a cliff and decides to sneak up on the gang. However, they end up infuriating Nidoking, who attacks them with Poison Sting, but James calls out Yamask to attack with Shadow Ball.
Elsewhere, Team Rocket reaches the mountain top after successfully beating Nidoking and notice the variety of statues on the mountain top."

That Nidoking used Poison Sting. IDK if it used other moves.

Spoiler: Wild Nidoking in "Enter Pikachu!"

"In a flashback in Enter Pikachu!, a young Goh and Chloe saw a Nidoking battling a Mew that was copying its moves. He reappeared in flashbacks in Mind-Boggling Dynamax! and Time After Time!."

"The cry of a Nidoking attracts their attention, and Goh hones in on Nidoking's opponent, a Mew. Nidoking uses Earth Power, but Mew simply Teleports to evade. Mew replies with the same move, which easily hits the Nidoking. As Nidoking attempts a Sludge Wave, Mew Teleports away again before retaliating with the same move once again. Nidoking becomes frustrated and launches a Fire Blast at his shifty opponent, though Mew again evades and then proceeds to defeat Nidoking with its own Fire Blast."

Earth Power, Sludge Wave, Fire Blast, in that order, after each fails.

So yeah. Anime Nidoking's opening moves have ranged from "charge foes", to "use Poison Sting" to "lead with Earth Power against the levitating foe, use Sludge Wave when they teleport & copy the move, & use Fire Blast when that's ALSO evaded & copied".

& here's all of the entries that mention its horn (Because that's a common means for its pre-evolutions to inject poison.) or its poison/toxins/venom, in any capacity:

Yellow	Its steel-like hide adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond.

FireRed	It is recognized by its rock-hard hide and its extended horn. Be careful with the horn as it contains venom.

X	It is recognized by its rock-hard hide and its extended horn. Be careful with the horn, as it contains venom.

Let's Go Pikachu Let's Go Eevee	Its steel-like hide adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond.

Shield	Nidoking prides itself on its strength. It’s forceful and spirited in battle, making use of its thick tail and diamond-crushing horn.

Not much suggests Nidoking goes for Poison; It used Poison Sting (Which has a 0% chance to Poison here due to Sheer Force.) when angered by Team Rocket, but it's a notoriously aggressive Pokemon to begin with. It used Sludge Wave after Earth Power was evaded & copied against it by Mew.
But otherwise, its Pokedex entries suggest it goes for melee, especially with its Tail, & even if it used Poison Tail (Which it only gets as an Egg Move.), Sheer Force seems to mean it can't poison with that,


I doubt it'd lead with Poison, & even if it did, I don't think the Poison would defeat Twilight fast enough, even if we assume Nidoran's vague statement of its horn's poison being powerful, & Nidorino's statement of its poison getting more potent with adrenaline apply for Nidoking.

 

[FinePoint]

Well, XXKINGXX69's objections aside, I'm officially voting for Twilight.

 

[JustANormalLemon]

What?
Nidoking's Fear Manipulation Lowers Stats?

I thought we were done with arguing over if Nidoking has the Intimidate Ability or not, which it doesn't.

Nidoking does not have the Intimidate Ability, it has the Intimidator IQ Skill!
But yeah, the details:

IQ - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

560

C,E,I,J

Intimidator

All Pokémon

Under certain conditions the Pokémon can intimidate an enemy that attacks, which gives it a Cringe status condition.

33% chance to cancel an incoming close-ranged attack, regardless of the direction the attacker is facing. PP is still deducted from the attacker. Attackers with Inner Focus are unaffected. Does not affect line-of-sight moves, room-range moves, or thrown items. Can affect allies if they target the Intimidator with a close-ranged move for any reason.

Based on this, Intimidator isn't going to indiscriminately immobilize Twilight Sparkle.
But yeah.
Nidoking is more likely to smash Twilight with its tail, or bind her with its tail, or tackle her, or stab her with its horn, as opposed to using a lot of its Poison moves.

Also, most of its moves CAN'T inflict Poison because of Sheer Force, & due to Rivalry, Nidoking is actually slightly weaker than Twilight Sparkle, & even without Sheer Force, the probability of most of them inflicting it is low, Toxic excepted.

But in theory, its horn & barbs should still be poisonous, assuming Sheer Force doesn't negate that.

Also, we don't know the potency of its Poison. Though, to its credits, Nidoran-Male's horn's Poison is described as "powerful", & Nidorino's Poison has the statement that "The potency of its poison increases along with the level of adrenaline present in its body.". If the same are true for Nidoking, it should be decently potent.

But it would still have to approach Twilight Sparkle, & even if Intimidator did indiscriminately immobilize Twilight Sparkle, it might not hold her long enough before she can fly away or teleport or laugh in Stellar level telekinesis, or Transmutation.

Going by Nidoking's Pokedex entries, it overwhelmingly favors melee.
Going by the anime, there are a few wild Nidoking we've observed attacking:

Spoiler: Wild Nidoking in "In the Pink"

"In In the Pink, a pink Nidoking was a resident of Pinkan Island. He attacked Jessie and James as they were attempting to capture a pink Nidoran couple. He was eventually subdued by Officer Jenny."

"They use their Pokémon, and Lickitung chases two pink Nidoran into a cave, only to encounter a Nidoking that chases Team Rocket away."
"They find Team Rocket being chased by Nidoking, and as the trio performs their motto, Ash has Pikachu use Thunder Shock on Nidoking. It throws Team Rocket's Pokémon at their Trainers and they blast off. Nidoking then chases the trio and Jenny; both Psyduck and Marill attempt to battle him, but ultimately run off scared.
Pikachu tries to shock him, but Jenny informs Ash that Nidoking is on a rampage and cannot be stopped. Nidoking uses Hyper Beam, but Togepi uses Metronome again and creates a Barrier. Jenny tells the trio to get out and run. She engages Nidoking and lassos him, and Nidoking drops to the ground dizzy."

So that Nidoking just charged its foes, & later used Hyper Beam. Unsure if it tried to use any moves against Psyduck & Marill.

Spoiler: Wild Nidoking in "Mystery on a Deserted Island"!

"In Mystery on a Deserted Island!, a Nidoking was a resident of the Deserted Island. He was first seen chasing a trio of Eevee before being intimidated into leaving by Pikachu's Iron Tail. He later attacked Team Rocket but was defeated by them."

"Out of blue, a Nidoking is seen attacking three Eevee who are rescued by Pikachu. Iris then wonders the reason for attacking the Eevee and Cilan suggests that it might be for food.
Team Rocket watches the entire commotion from a cliff and decides to sneak up on the gang. However, they end up infuriating Nidoking, who attacks them with Poison Sting, but James calls out Yamask to attack with Shadow Ball.
Elsewhere, Team Rocket reaches the mountain top after successfully beating Nidoking and notice the variety of statues on the mountain top."

That Nidoking used Poison Sting. IDK if it used other moves.

Spoiler: Wild Nidoking in "Enter Pikachu!"

"In a flashback in Enter Pikachu!, a young Goh and Chloe saw a Nidoking battling a Mew that was copying its moves. He reappeared in flashbacks in Mind-Boggling Dynamax! and Time After Time!."

"The cry of a Nidoking attracts their attention, and Goh hones in on Nidoking's opponent, a Mew. Nidoking uses Earth Power, but Mew simply Teleports to evade. Mew replies with the same move, which easily hits the Nidoking. As Nidoking attempts a Sludge Wave, Mew Teleports away again before retaliating with the same move once again. Nidoking becomes frustrated and launches a Fire Blast at his shifty opponent, though Mew again evades and then proceeds to defeat Nidoking with its own Fire Blast."

Earth Power, Sludge Wave, Fire Blast, in that order, after each fails.

So yeah. Anime Nidoking's opening moves have ranged from "charge foes", to "use Poison Sting" to "lead with Earth Power against the levitating foe, use Sludge Wave when they teleport & copy the move, & use Fire Blast when that's ALSO evaded & copied".

& here's all of the entries that mention its horn (Because that's a common means for its pre-evolutions to inject poison.) or its poison/toxins/venom, in any capacity:

Yellow	Its steel-like hide adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond.

FireRed	It is recognized by its rock-hard hide and its extended horn. Be careful with the horn as it contains venom.

X	It is recognized by its rock-hard hide and its extended horn. Be careful with the horn, as it contains venom.

Let's Go Pikachu Let's Go Eevee	Its steel-like hide adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond.

Shield	Nidoking prides itself on its strength. It’s forceful and spirited in battle, making use of its thick tail and diamond-crushing horn.

Not much suggests Nidoking goes for Poison; It used Poison Sting (Which has a 0% chance to Poison here due to Sheer Force.) when angered by Team Rocket, but it's a notoriously aggressive Pokemon to begin with. It used Sludge Wave after Earth Power was evaded & copied against it by Mew.
But otherwise, its Pokedex entries suggest it goes for melee, especially with its Tail, & even if it used Poison Tail (Which it only gets as an Egg Move.), Sheer Force seems to mean it can't poison with that,


I doubt it'd lead with Poison, & even if it did, I don't think the Poison would defeat Twilight fast enough, even if we assume Nidoran's vague statement of its horn's poison being powerful, & Nidorino's statement of its poison getting more potent with adrenaline apply for Nidoking.

You are amazing at debating here, you are a true inspiration for us