Best Ground & Rock Types in Pokémon ORAS (And RSE)

Ground & Rock typings often get overlooked in favor of their more defensive Steel-type cousins.

But among the best Ground/Rock-types, their lack of defense is made up for by their huge Attack stats.

Knowing how to use Earthquake helps too.

So if you want one of these earthy creatures on your team, here are my suggestions for the best you can get in the Gen 3/Gen 6 roster.

5. Camerupt

Suggested Moves:

• Lava Plume
• Eruption
• Earthquake
• (Undecided)

Camerupt is a Fire/Ground-type Pokémon that moves slow and hits hard.

Its low speed and HP can be overlooked, since it can use the strongest Fire and Ground-type moves in RSE/ORAS.

So let’s look at one suggested build idea:

While it’s still a Numel, teach it Lava Plume at level 22. This will be its best Fire-type move until it evolves.

As soon as it evolves, take Camerupt to Fallarbor Town to have the Move Reminder teach it Eruption, a massive Fire-type move that gets weaker as the user takes more damage.

Be sure to start off fights with Eruption to get the most out of it.

Camerupt can also learn Earthquake by level-up at level 46, so that’s a keeper too.

How to catch: Catch a Numel on Route 112, then raise it to level 33 to evolve it into Camerupt.

Unfortunately, Camerupt’s Mega Stone isn’t available until the post-game, so you won’t get much use out of it unless you plan to face the battle resort.

4. Armaldo

Suggested Moves:

• Rock Tomb
• X-scissor
• Energy Ball
• Dig

Armaldo is a great Rock/Bug-type fossil Pokémon that fills a special niche thanks to a unique move pool.

As soon as you revive it from the Claw Fossil, teach Anorith Rock Tomb via the TM you get as a reward for beating the Rustboro Gym.

For Bug-type STAB, you’ll unfortunately have to wait until Armaldo learns X-scissor at level 46.

And if you’re playing ORAS, you can cover its weakness to Water moves by teaching it Energy Ball (TM53).

And once you reach Route 114, you can also cover Armaldo’s Electric weakness by picking up Dig (TM28).

How to catch: Pick up the Claw Fossil from the tower in the Route 111 Desert, then take it to the Devon Corporation building in Rustboro City to revive it into Anorith. Raise Anorith to level 40 to evolve into Armaldo.

3. Flygon

Suggested Moves:

• Earthquake/Dig
• Dragon Breath/ Dragon Tail
• Sand Attack/Double Team
• (Undecided)

Flygon is a Ground/Dragon-type that can lend a unique flavor to the Ground-type slot in your team.

It’s an all-rounder, but its stats slightly favor physical Attack. So keep that in mind when building its move set.

In ORAS, Flygon will get its best STAB move (Earthquake) when it’s still a Trapinch – specifically learning it at level 33.

Note: If you’re playing RSE, you’ll have to wait a while longer for Earthquake, specifically until you can grab the TM in the Seafloor Cavern.

But you can get Dig (TM28) from Route 114 to tide you over until then.

Shortly after level 33, evolve into Vibrava and you’ll learn your first Dragon-type move at level 35, Dragon Breath.

Once Vibrava evolves into Flygon you can take it to the Move Relearner in Fallarbor Town to teach it Dragon Tail, a decent upgrade over Dragon Breath.

And its final move, use a combo of Sand Attack and Double Team to keep the heat off of Flygon.

Trapinch learns Sand Attack at level 4, while Double Team (TM32) can be found on Route 113 in ORAS, or in Mauville Game Corner in RSE.

How to catch: Catch a Trapinch in the Route 111 desert, then raise it to level 35 to evolve it into Vibrava. Vibrava will evolve again into Flygon at level 45.

2. Mega Swampert

Suggested Moves:

• Surf
• Waterfall
• Earthquake/Dig
• Ice Beam

Mega Swampert is arguably the strongest on this list – but it doesn’t really excel as a Ground-type.

So for a moveset, let’s start with its Water-type STAB moves.

Hoenn has a huge amount of water, so for this build we’ll teach Swampert the Surf and Waterfall HMs to help you get around while dealing some massive damage.

Swampert will eventually learn Earthquake as its best Ground STAB move, but it’s pretty late into the game (level 52).

Until then, Dig (TM28) will work as a good replacement.

Swampert’s has a big x4 weakness to Grass-type attacks, so cover that by teaching it Ice Beam (TM13), found in Sea Mauville in ORAS.

How to catch: Choose Mudkip as your starter Pokémon on Route 10, then level it up to level 15 to evolve it into Marshtomp. Marshtomp will evolve into Swampert, starting at level 36.

If you’re playing ORAS, you’ll get Swampert’s Mega Stone from Steven on Route 120.

1. Mega Aggron

Suggested Moves:

• Iron Head
• Rock Slide
• Iron Tail
• Heavy Slam

As a surprise to almost no-one, Aggron is the strongest Rock-type in Hoenn.

It’s even stronger if you’re playing ORAS because of its mega form.

Aggron’s best stats are its physical Attack and Defense, so focus on buffing its Defense so it can take a beating & keep going.

For a good moveset build, Aron learns the best Defense-boosting move in the game, Iron Head, at level 22.

Once Aron has become Aggron, (or maybe Mega Aggron), using Iron Head 3 times will turn it into an unkillable threat for physical attackers.

Then Aron learns Rock Slide at level 25, a move that will stay as Aggron’s main STAB until the end of the game.

For Steel-type STAB, Aggron does best with Iron Tail and Heavy Slam.

Iron Tail will act as Aggron’s all-purpose Steel-type move, while Heavy Slam is a little more situational, dealing more damage the heavier Aggron is compared to its opponent.

Lairon learns Iron Tail at level 40, while Aggron learns Heavy Slam at level 51.

How to catch: Catch an Aron in Granite Cave, then raise it to level 32 to evolve it into Lairon. Lairon will evolve into Aggron at level 42.

If you’re playing ORAS, you can find the Aggronite in Rusturf Tunnel by breaking rocks with Rock Smash.