Pokémon Ground Type Strategy Guide and Analysis

Hints, Tips, Strategies, FAQ, and Info on the Ground Pokémon Type

Aug 5, 2009

Ground Pokémon make opponent trainers tremble with devastating attacks. This comprehensive Pokémon strategy guide details Ground's strengths and weaknesses.

With immense attack and powerful moves, Ground Pokémon really shake things up. Ground attacks deal double-damage against five types, but must be wary of the many Flying Pokémon and Pokémon with Levitate who are immune to Ground attacks.

Ground Pokémon FAQ

General Strategies for Ground Pokémon

Ground Pokémon are one of the strongest offensive types in the game. Ground attacks deal super-effective damage to five types, while only two resist them. Additionally, their weaknesses to Grass, Ice, and Water, while common, are all usually fairly predictable.

All Pokémon with the Flying type, or with the ability Levitate, are not effected by Ground-type moves, so any Ground Pokémon should learn an additional attack (preferably Rock to counter Flying Pokémon), so the Pokémon doesn't get stranded against a type it cannot attack.

The move Gravity will ground Flying Pokémon and Pokémon with Levitate allowing Ground attacks to hit, but since it requires a turn to use it, it's usually better just to save the move slot for another attack. However, Gravity can come in handy in some cases. Wheezing, for instance, is a Poison type with Levitate, but when grounded with Gravity, Ground attacks will hit it for super-effective damage.

Since Ground is immune to Electric, and Ground attacks are super-effective against Electric Pokémon, Ground is the perfect counter to Electric types. However, they're not one-trick ponies, as their strengths against Fire, Poison, Rock, and Steel make them versatile offensive fighters.

Ground Pokémon - Dual Types

By and large, Ground dual types don't have too many Pokémon associated with it, except for Ground/Rock, but that type suffers terribly from the combination. The following are all the Ground dual types: Ground/Fire, Ground/Water, Ground/Grass, Ground/Ice, Ground/Poison, Ground/Flying, Ground/Psychic, Ground/Bug, Ground/Rock, Ground/Dragon, Ground/Steel.

Amongst the dual types, the best combinations are Ground/Fire, Ground/Flying, Ground/Dragon, and Ground/Steel. Even though Ground/Fire is x4 weak to water, it has good resistances and two strong offensive STABs (same type attack bonus).

Ground/Flying is x4 weak to ice, but only has one other weakness in water, and covers an unexpected range of attacks. Ground/Dragon may actually be an improvement over the typical Dragon/Flying combo, but it still suffers from a x4 Ice weakness. And Ground/Steel is weak against four types, but has a huge amount of resistances.

As for bad dual types, Ground/Rock is so bad it's one of the worst in the game. Two x4 weaknesses (Water, Grass) and four x2 weaknesses makes these almost impossible to use. Ground/Ice isn't too fantastic either, with five normal weaknesses.

Powerful Ground Pokémon

Ground includes many powerful Pokémon. In fact, most Ground Pokémon that are bad are only bad due to unfortunate type combos with x4 weaknesses. Most Ground Pokémon have good stats, along with some powerful attacks.

Strong, pure Ground Pokémon include: Dugtrio, Marowak, Donphan, and Hippowdan. Dugtrio is the fastest Ground type in the game, but lacks the attack power to KO easily. Marowak is a unique type with a distinctive move (Bonemerang) and it's own item to double its attack (Thick Club). Donphan has strong defenses and attack, and can learn Rapid Spin to get rid of Spikes and Stealth Rock. And, Hippowdan has huge attack, defense, and HP, and can learn Slack Off to recover HP.

Strong dual types with Ground include: Nidoking and Nidoqueen, Camerupt, Flygon, Garchomp, Rhyperior, Mamoswine, Steelix, Sawmpert, and more. There's too many to go into detail, but the two Nidos benefit from a large movepool variety, Flygon and Garchomp are good alternatives to normal Dragon/Flying types, Mamoswine is a unique Ground/Ice type, and Steelix is one of the best defensive Pokémon in the game.

Advanced Ground Strategies

Ground is a fairly cut-and-dry type, as it typically focuses on the offensive. Even the more defensive-oriented Ground Pokémon like Hippodawn have enormous attack, so the key to using a Ground type effectively is knowing when to hit and hit hard.

Using Sword's Dance or other boost moves helps to add even more to Ground Pokémon's already high attack.

Even Ground types that aren't mixed with Rock can learn rock attacks, which can add to move variety and definitely helps to counter Flying Pokémon. But Rock moves can also vary for more than just direct attack, such as Stealth Rock, which damages Pokémon when switching in.

The speed for most Ground Pokémon verges on below-average, with a few exceptions (particularly Dugtrio). Having a baton passer in the team that can pass speed (like Ninjask) helps Ground types immensely. Or, alternatively, the psychic move Trick Room reverses the order (slower Pokémon goes first), but only lasts for a few turns.

Some Ground Pokémon automatically create a Sandstorm with the ability Sandveil. Keep this in mind, as Sandstorm can hurt the user's team as well. So teams that aren't specifically designed for Sandstorm might find that it's more hurtful than helpful.

Ground Pokémon Conclusion

Ground attacks cover five types, so even if a Ground type specifically won't work well within a team, every team should have at least one Pokémon with a Ground attack. However, any team in need of a strong offensive type would benefit from a strong Ground Pokémon.

The copyright of the article Pokémon Ground Type Strategy Guide and Analysis in Role-Playing Video Games is owned by Bradley Kairis. Permission to republish Pokémon Ground Type Strategy Guide and Analysis in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.