I Have Played Every Pokemon Game, And These Are the 10 Best Ground-Types

With the recent release of Pokemon Champions, I ended up catching the bug (pun intended). I spend a lot of time theorycrafting teams, perfecting stats and moves, testing out new combos, and taking each Mega Evolution to the arena at least once. I try to keep up with the meta, the best teams, what works for the top-rated players in the world, and what can work for me as a Master Ball Rank player approaching Division 3. Doing this means that I inevitably go through mental gymnastics for teambuilding purposes with each team that I try, and after around 27 years playing Pokemon games (yes, all of them) and many hours spent in competitive, I have a pretty good grasp of the best Pokemon for each type.

Some types have better entries overall, others have fewer, and some types are the most award-winning when you look at the results of their respective Pokemon. In the case of Ground-type Pokemon, I think the selection is extremely good, but it’s also hard to find anything that’s better than the 10 Pokemon I have in mind. Not because Ground is a bad type, even if it’s not among the top five ones, in my opinion, but because only a handful of Ground-type Pokemon are that good to be among the best in the series.

Nidoking and Nidoqueen: Bulky Pokemon With Incredible Coverage

To be honest, I think Nidoking and Nidoqueen in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are a perfect example of what they bring to the competitive scene. You can beat the whole game with them because they learn so many good coverage moves, and it’s not a common feature. They can learn Thunderbolt, Flame Blast, Surf, Rock Slide, Earth Power, Dragon Pulse, Focus Blast, Icy Wind, Sludge Bomb, Crunch, and more. It’s hard to beat such a vast coverage, and for the same reason, I think it’s hard to figure out exactly whether Nidoking or Nidoqueen is the better pick. Granted, they have been absent from Gen 9, and they’re still missing in Pokemon Champions, so things may change in the future.

Gliscor: A ‘Toxic’ Sweeper Pokemon With Great Staying Power

If you’ve ever played in a competitive format where Gliscor and Toxic Orb were both available, you’ll know that you need at least one or two strong Ice-type moves in your team if you don’t want to straight up lose. Gliscor is a Ground/Flying Pokemon, which means it’s only weak to Water for double damage and to Ice for quadruple damage, making it very good defensively. It also has three resistances and two immunities, specifically to Ground and Electric, both very common types. Thanks to its Poison Heal ability, giving Gliscor a Toxic Orb means it can poison itself to heal damage over time and become immune to other, more problematic status conditions, like burn and sleep. With moves like Earthquake, High Horsepower, Dual Wingbeat, and Swords Dance, Gliscor can be a very powerful sweeper.

Mamoswine: A Bulky Attacker With Amazing Offensive Options

It’s no secret that Garchomp is one of the best Pokemon in Gen 4, if not the single best, and Mamoswine came out alongside it to become a fantastic counter to it. With its Ground and Ice types, Mamoswine can be very good offensively, even if its defensive side is less enticing. Still, Mamoswine has a whopping 130 base Attack stat paired with 80 Defense and Speed, and a good 110 HP. Combined with items like Life Orb and Assault Vest, it can become a huge threat offensively, or increase its staying power, all while having access to powerful STAB moves like Ice Shard, Earthquake, and Icicle Spear. On top of that, Mamoswine’s Oblivious ability means it’s immune to Intimidate, which is found everywhere in the best teams in Pokemon Champions and VGC as a whole.

Rhyperior: One of The Best Dynamax Users Ever

What made Rhyperior so strong in Gen 8 is that it could pair its Solid Rock ability with the immense power and utility of Max Rockfall and Max Quake, with the former summoning a sandstorm to increase its Special Defense and the latter increasing the Special Defense of its team. While Ground/Rock can have its downsides defensively, being 4x weak to both Water and Grass, Solid Rock reduces supereffective hits’ damage by 25%, making Rhyperior more bulky. Rhyperior had a decent presence in VGC leading to the Pokemon Sword and Shield era, but then it peaked. Often used with Weakness Policy to increase its Attack massively when hit by supereffective moves, it became one of the best Dynamax Pokemon to use in Gen 8. There were a few use cases for Rhyperior in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, too, and it may peak again in the future.

Excadrill: One of The Best Sand Pokemon Ever

With a powerful type combination of Ground and Steel and the ability Sand Rush, Excadrill can be an absolute demon with a standstorm active. In fact, Excadrill and Tyranitar are the most popular and powerful leads for the best sand teams in Pokemon Champions, as they both pack immense damage output with spread moves like Earthquake and Rock Slide, while also having options for single-target damage, like Iron Head. Speaking of Iron Head, Excadrill can OHKO the new Mega Floette with this move, and it’s going to be difficult for Floette to outspeed it if it’s in a sandstorm. On top of that, Excadrill received a new Mega Evolution with the ability Piercing Drill, which is basically Unseen Fist — it lets Excadrill deal 25% of the damage it normally would through Protect.

Ursaluna and Bloodmoon Ursaluna: Two of The Best Ground-Type Pokemon Ever Made

Ursaluna saw its introduction to VGC a while after Gen 9’s competitive scene began, but it immediately skyrocketed to the top of the meta. This is because it has access to Guts, an ability that increases the user’s Attack stat by 50% when it’s affected by a status condition, and also negates the Attack reduction from burn, making it perfect with Flame Orb. Not only that, but Ursaluna is Ground/Normal, and it has access to Facade, a Normal move with 70 base power that ends up doubling its base power if the user is affected by a status condition, making Ursaluna hit like a truck. It’s also a formidable Pokemon in Trick Room teams. Similar to Ursaluna is its Kitakami equivalent, Bloodmoon Ursaluna shares the same Ground/Normal type combo, but it’s a special attacker instead. Bloodmoon Ursaluna has the Mind’s Eye ability to ignore opponents’ evasiveness, while also being able to hit Ghost-type Pokemon with Normal and Fighting moves. Lastly, it has the Blood Moon signature move, which has a base power of 140 and the only downside of not being usable twice in a row.

Gastrodon: A Bulky Support Pokemon With a Broken Ability

Gastrodon has respectable stats and decent moves overall, but its main perks are its Water/Ground type combination and its Storm Drain ability. Swampert shares the same type combo as Gastrodon, and that’s a reason why Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s Mega Swampert may be very strong when it comes to Pokemon Champions, but Gastrodon also has a broken ability in Storm Drain. Its only weakness is 4x Grass, but then it draws in all Water-type moves, which it becomes immune to, and then also gets a Special Attack boost if hit with one. Gastrodon can single-handedly destroy Water-based teams, like Rain, just by being on the field — and the same goes even for some otherwise OP Legendary Pokemon, like Kyogre.

Garchomp: The Most Iconic Ground-Type Pokemon Ever

Garchomp was a star in Gen 4 games, as it was the games’ pseudo-Legendary, it had the fantastic type combo of Ground/Dragon, it had incredibly strong moves like Earthquake and Dragon Claw, and its design appealed to many fans. On top of that, Garchomp is the ace in Cynthia’s Pokemon team as the Champion, further cementing its status. Nowadays, Garchomp is still one of the best Pokemon of all time, and it’s always meta in every generation it’s in. Be it on sand teams, be it as a standalone attacker, Garchomp has it all, and it even got a second Mega Evolution in Pokemon Legends: Z-A as Garchomp Z. It’s unclear how Z Megas will translate into classic turn-based combat, but it’s already primed to be a very powerful Pokemon with its 151 base Speed and high Special Attack.

Landorus: One of the Best Intimidate Users in Pokemon History

Landorus has two forms: Landorus Therian and Landorus Incarnate. They are extremely powerful for different reasons, and the main one is their respective abilities. Landorus Incarnate is the least used of the two, but it can be an outstanding attacker on any team because it has the Sheer Force ability, which works in a way that removes Life Orb’s “recoil” damage when the two are used together. For this reason, Landorus Incarnate is a strong special attacker that can deal massive damage with little consequences, even if it means giving up secondary effects on its moves. However, Landorus Therian is where things get even more nuts, as this Pokemon is Ground/Flying with the Intimidate ability and a great move pool. This makes it a huge threat in VGC, and it can compete with Incineroar as the best Intimidate user, if not outright surpass it. And it’s not easy to counter Incineroar in Pokemon Champions, let alone Landorus Therian when it shows up.

Groudon: The Best Ground Pokemon of All Time

It’s hard to argue against Groudon as the best Ground-type Pokemon ever. It’s a box Legendary with 670 BST, sporting 100 HP, 150 Attack, 140 Defense, 100 Special Attack, 90 Special Defense, and 90 Speed. Groudon is simply phenomenal, and it also gets the Drought ability to power up Fire-type moves while also decreasing the power of Water moves, which would normally be supereffective against it. Its signature move is equally broken — called Precipice Blades, it has a base power of 120 at the price of 85 accuracy, but it hits both opposing Pokemon in double battles. Last but not least, Groudon also has access to a Primal form, which is essentially a Mega Evolution. It becomes a Ground/Fire-type, with increased Attack, Defense, and Special Attack, and it gains the Desolate Land ability, which makes sun impossible to replace by other weather conditions, and Water-type attacks have no effect. There is a reason why Groudon is one of the strongest Legendary Pokemon ever, and possibly a top three Pokemon of all time, and this is it.