Nidoran♀ is available in Routes 35, 36 and the Savannah area of the Safari Zone with a 30% encounter rate during the day. Nidorina can be encountered in the Safari Zone at nights with the same encounter rate, and in Kanto in Routes 13, 14, 15 with a 30% rate during the day.
A Moon Stone will be given by the player's mom to the player if the player lets her save money. Another Moon Stone is available in the Tohjo Falls. Further Moon Stones may be obtained by visiting Mt. Moon Square on Mondays, winning the first prize at the Bug-Catching Contest, at the Pokéathlon Dome on Mondays and Wednesdays (the latter only after the National Dex is obtained), and are also held by wild Lunatone.
Nidoran♀’s line is known for being the first female Pokémon of the series, as it was implied in its name. But Nidoran♀ and her evolutions aren’t really damsels in distress, with one of the widest movesets of the game and the ability to reach its final evolution earlier than most other Pokémon; this line can look at the Johto threats straight in the eyes and prove that they really rule the place. A decent bulk and half of the TMs of the fourth gen is all Nidoran♀’s line needs to prove itself; notably, the three elemental beams - Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Flamethrower - are available as early as in Goldenrod, and offer great coverage throughout the game.
Gym #3 - Whitney (Goldenrod City, Normal-type): One good thing that Nidorina has for this battle is that you don’t have to worry about her gender as it is always is going to be female, making the Pokémon immune to Whitney’s Attract. Her abilities work perfectly in this place too, as Rivalry is going to be active throughout the battle, giving Nidorina a boost in her Attack, while Poison Point takes advantage of the contact moves that Miltank has to poison it. Double Kick and the TM Dig are going to be your friends in this battle. Knock down the Clefairy with Double Kick before it can summon a super effective move with Metronome and then prepare for the cow. Nidorina can tank most of the Miltank’s hits, including critical ones. Go with straight Double Kick and use Dig when Miltank uses Rollout to evade it, and cut the chain at the same time. Heal all you need as this monster has a really good bulk. Other TMs, such as Thunder, Blizzard or Rock Smash can also help in this battle. Those who are lucky enough to get a Moon Stone before this battle can destroy the place with Nidoqueen's Focus Blast.
Rival (Burned Tower): If you invest on TMs like Thunderbolt or Blizzard, you are going to have a really good time kicking your rival’s ass. Ice Beam or Blizzard deal with Bayleef, as well as Flamethrower, whilst Thunderbolt or Thunder are good for Croconaw and Zubat, and Gastly and Quilava can be beaten with a neutral move. If you don't have those moves, you can deal with Magnemite using Double Kick or Dig. Dig again to 2HKO Quilava, Bite to OHKO or 2HKO Gastly and the other three can be fought with neutral moves or poison status. Naturally, this battle is a piece of cake for Nidoqueen.
Gym #4 - Morty (Ecruteak City, Ghost-type): You can use Bite to 2HKO Morty’s Gastly and the level 23 Haunter, but only this Haunter as the second one has Dream Eater and will deal serious damage, if you can’t use items to wake up your Nidorina. Gengar hits really hard with Shadow Ball and Bite is not going to beat it fast enough to avoid the damage, unless once again, you already have a Nidoqueen.
Eusine (Cianwood City): Drowzee is a really risky opponent due to STAB Psychic-type moves, so let another teammate start the battle. Haunter has Hypnosis, but not Dream Eater so go with Bite, and for Electrode use Dig.
Gym #5 - Chuck (Cianwood City, Fighting-type): Except if you are planning on teaching Crunch to your Nidorina, you should have a Nidoqueen for this battle. Gaining the Ground-type is going to make the matchup against Poliwrath plain bad due to its Surf, but it will also give Nidoqueen the Rock resistance against Primeape's Rock Slide. Poison Point Nidoqueen is going to be really helpful here as Primeape likes to go with Focus Punch, a contact move that can activate the ability and poison it. Attack the monkey with 100% accuracy moves like Thunderbolt, Flamethrower or Ice Beam and use Dig to avoid Focus Punch in the case you have a Rivalry Nidoqueen. You can use Attract too, remember that all of Chuck’s Pokemon are male. Avoid Poliwrath even if you have Nidorina, it's too strong.
Gym #6 - Jasmine (Olivine City, Steel-type): Teaching Flamethrower to your Nidoqueen is the only thing you need to make Jasmine give you the badge. Nidorina can go with Dig to get the same results, but Steelix needs to be avoided in that case.
Petrel (Team Rocket HQ): Ice Beam or Thunderbolt for his Zubat, Focus Blast for the Raticate and any neutral moves for the Koffing. Once again, Nidorina can go with the neutral moves, but needs to be wary of Raticate's Hyper Fang.
Ariana (Team Rocket HQ, tag battle with Lance): Although the Rocket grunt that is with her has a Drowzee, it is at a really low level, so go with Surf until Gloom appears or you knock all of the grunt’s Pokémon. Then hit Gloom with Ice Beam or Flamethrower and don’t worry about Lance’s Dragonite, it is going to be using Fly.
Gym #7 - Pryce (Mahogany Town, Ice-type): Ice moves, don’t risk your Nidoqueen in this battle, except with the Seel as Icy Wind isn’t going to kill your Pokémon and you can beat it with Thunderbolt. Nidorina can deal with Seel and Dewgong with less problems as it suffers neutral damage from Ice moves, but its stats are lower too, so you need to be more careful. They should be respectively a 2HKO and 3HKO with Thunderbolt. You can try it against Piloswine using Flamethrower, but a Blizzard under Hail can be fatal, and it also has Mud Bomb.
Petrel (Goldenrod Radio Tower): You still kept Dig on your Nidorina/Nidoqueen? Use it in this fight, the Koffings are going to be slower than your Pokémon, so if they decide to end their lives with SelfDestruct you can avoid it. However, bear in mind that this strategy is entirely focused on prediction, as they have Levitate and will take no damage from Dig; it may be easier to just knock them down with a special move instead. Weezing is a bit faster than Nidorina and packs Explosion that can easily kill your Pokémon, so let a more tanky teammate finish it off.
Rival (Goldenrod Underground): Everything is exactly as it was last time, only that you have to add a Flamethrower, Focus Blast (Nidoqueen only) or Double Kick for the new Sneasel, the rest... Thunderbolt or Ice Beam for Golbat, Dig or Surf for Quilava, Dig or a Fighting move for Magneton and Bite or a neutral move for Haunter. Feraligatr packs Water Gun as its only Water-type move, but it has Ice Fang too to rain on Nidoqueen's parade; the same with Meganium, as the dinosaur knows Petal Dance which is nothing to joke at, but still doable with Meganium's stats. Nidorina doesn’t suffer this move as much as Nidoqueen so it can battle Meganium more easily, but both should still avoid the fully evolved croc.
Proton (Goldenrod Radio Tower): He has a Golbat and a Weezing, the first one is weaker than Silver’s and the other doesn’t know Explosion or SelfDestruct. Enjoy.
Ariana (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Arbok dies to Dig while Murkrow can’t stand more than one Thunderbolt or Ice Beam. Vileplume can be a little bit annoying with Sleep Powder and Mega Drain, as it has a decent bulk to survive an Ice Beam or a Flamethrower, but both Nidorina and Nidoqueen can hard-wall it. Remember that all of her Pokémon are female, so a Rivalry Nido is going to be even stronger in this battle.
Archer (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Surf and Dig deal with Houndour and Houndoom without problems and the Koffing doesn’t have any explosive moves, so you can knock it down with a neutral move.
Gym #8 - Clair (Blackthorn City, Dragon-type): You should have a Nidoqueen for this battle, with or without Crunch (level 43 for Nidorina). Sadly, Nidoqueen can’t do a lot at this battle as Kingdra is an automatic no and one of her two Dragonairs know Aqua Tail and there isn’t any way to know which one of the two it is, short of beating the other. If you're feeling brave, you can target the Dragonair with Ice Beam and hope that you get the right one, or that they go down in one hit, but the latter is unlikely; still, at full health, Nidoqueen can take a non-critical Aqua Tail. Funny thing, Gyarados is your easiest target as it doesn’t know any Water-type move and you can OHKO or 2HKO it with Thunderbolt. If you managed to discover what Dragonair has Aqua Tail and beat it with another Pokémon, go with Ice Beam for the second one. As Clair’s team is entirely female, you can try to take advantage of Rivalry and NeverMeltIce to one-shot the Dragonairs before they can use any move.
Kimono Girls (Ecruteak Dance Theater): A lead Nidoqueen can do well, but will also encounter some trouble. Umbreon is not too bad, it will just take some time (and possibly healing items) to take down; Double Kick is good, but elemental beams are also okay. Espeon can destroy Nidoqueen with Psychic, just switch out. Flareon goes down to Earth Power in a couple hits, but watch out for Last Resort. Jolteon almost can't touch Nidoqueen at all. Vaporeon is a nope.
Ho-Oh (Bell Tower, HeartGold only): Although Ho-Oh also has a Psychic type move, a non-critical Sacred Fire for this bird can 2HKO without problems Nidoqueen. Let another Pokémon tank this beast or throw the Master Ball to catch it.
Lugia (Whirl Islands, SoulSilver only): Psychic-type Legendary with Psychic-type STAB... throw the Master Ball, please.
Rival (Victory Road): Sneasel, Golbat, Magneton and Haunter work as before, as well as Meganium, that it’s still a really dangerous fight. Silver’s new Pokémon, Kadabra, is OHKOed by a non-Rivalry Crunch or Shadow Claw, but sadly, Kadabra is really fast and has a high Special Attack that can put Nidoqueen in a pinch; if you have a Choice Scarf and this is Nidoqueen’s first turn, go with Crunch and destroy the Kadabra. Feraligatr finally has a powerful Water move named Waterfall, so don’t try it. Typhlosion is knocked out by Earth Power, but watch out if Nidoqueen is really damaged as Lava Plume can be dangerous.
Elite Four Will (Indigo Plateau, Psychic-type): Two words: Psychic. Types. Actually, another three words: Don't. Do. This.
Elite Four Koga (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Ariados and Forretress are 2HKO-ed and OHKO-ed by Flamethrower, Muk can be a little bit annoying with Minimize, but is going to go down after some Earth Powers or Earthquakes; just watch out for any Defense reduction that Muk can inflict on you with Screech, as that can give you problems with Crobat. Talking about the bat, it can’t hurt Nidoqueen a lot, but it can be a pain in the ass thanks to Double Team. You probably need more than two Ice Beam or Thunderbolt to knock it down, so you may prefer to battle Crobat with something that has STAB Ice, Rock, Electric or Psychic moves. Venomoth knows Psychic and while a non-Rivalry Nidoqueen can survive two Psychics and 2HKO the moth with Flamethrower, is a somewhat risky match that you should have a better counter for at this point.
Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): Hitmontop is faster and is probably going to try to hit Nidoqueen with Dig; if you teach Nidoqueen Earthquake, this is a good moment to use it, but switch out immediately if it doesn't nail the OHKO. Onix is weak and would go down with one Surf, but Hitmonlee can be a problem with Swagger; the rest of its moves are resisted or deal neutral damage, though, so you can heal the confusion and keep the +2 Attack to beat Hitmonlee with Earthquake. Nidoqueen resists all of Machamp's moves, but it has to be careful of Revenge as Machamp is going to be slower than Nidoqueen in any case; this shouldn't be a problem if your health is high enough, or if you piled up Attack boosts from Swagger. Hitmonchan has the great combination of the elemental Punches and Iron Fist, a buffed Attack Earthquake can OHKO it but the risk is high enough to think about switching to another Pokémon.
Elite Four Karen (Indigo Plateau, Dark-type): Umbreon is really annoying thanks to Double team and Confuse Ray and has a really good bulk to tank a Focus Blast from Nidoqueen; no Rivalry abuse here as Umbreon is male, so lead with another Pokémon that can secure the OHKO or don't have to rely on non-100% accurate moves. Vileplume is mostly annoying because it can inflict paralysis, aside from that you can 2HKO with Ice Beam or Flamethrower; the same with Murkrow, it dies to an Ice Beam or a Thunderbolt. Gengar is dangerous, really dangerous, a Crunch or Shadow Claw can OHKO it easily, but the ghost is faster and packs Destiny Bond; you can go with Choice Scarf and wait until Gengar comes around to send Nidoqueen, hoping to outspeed. Houndoom goes down to an Earthquake, a Rivalry Nidoqueen can secure the OHKO easily.
Champion Lance (Indigo Plateau, Flying-type): Your best matchups here are Aerodactyl, the ace Dragonite and Charizard. The first one would go down after a Surf, Ice Beam or Thunderbolt without options to damage Nidoqueen all that much, while the Dragonite is 2HKOed by Ice Beam with or without Rivalry. Charizard dies to Surf or Thunderbolt. About the rest of Lance’s team, Gyarados is a no as it has Waterfall and the level 49 Dragonite pose the same problem as Clair’s Dragonair: one of them has nothing dangerous, but the other knows Blizzard that can be fatal for Nidoqueen. Don't fight them until you know which one you're facing.
Kanto[]
From this point onwards, you can fight the gyms in any order, though you will need to retrieve the Machine Parts from the Cerulean City gym before you have access to the earlier portion of Kanto. Feel free to anticipate or postpone any battles as needed.
Gym #9 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): Surf destroys Onix, Graveler and Rhyhorn before they can say hi, Earth Power can OHKO or 2HKO Kabutops as it doesn’t have any dangerous Water move aside from Aqua Jet, but don’t try to battle it with low HP for obvious reasons. Take care of Omastar and its STAB Brine with another Pokémon, preferably, as if your Nidoqueen is very damaged, the move is going to buff from 65BP to 130BP securing the KO. Nidoqueen can 2HKO Omastar with Earth Power or Earthquake if you feel up to it, but you should just rely on someone else if you can.
Rival (Mt. Moon, optional): Sneasel, Golbat and Magneton as the same as before so knock them down and prepare for the big threats. Stay away from Alakazam and Feraligatr, the first one can be KOed with Crunch and the Choice Scarf, but better to go with something that can really deal with Alakazam like a Dark- or Steel-type. Gengar can be knocked out with Crunch or Shadow Claw as Shadow Ball is going to 3HKO Nidoqueen at best. Meganium now knows Light Screen, making your Ice Beam and Flamethrower marginally less useful, but if you battle Janine before this fight, you can teach Poison Jab to Nidoqueen and hit the dinosaur with a super effective physical STAB move at long last. Typhlosion is 2HKOed by Earthquake with or without Rivalry, but the Fire-type has a slim chance of 2HKOing Nidoqueen too with Flamethrower, which means an OHKO if it crits. Your call whether you want to take that risk or not.
Gym #10 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): No. Although Misty’s team has Water Pulse as its only Water move, none of her Pokémon is going to be OHKOed by Thunderbolt and all of them have a secondary move (in case of Lapras and Quagsire STAB) that is super effective on Nidoqueen.
Gym #11 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): Step one: press Earthquake or Earth Power. Step two: take the badge and the useless TM Surge gives to you. Be mildly careful against the Electrode, though, as they can Double Team in your face and make the fight significantly more annoying by wasting your PP. Bring X Accuracy if you can, and equip Nidoqueen with the Choice Scarf.
Gym #12 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): Rivalry is going to give her a great advantage to Nidoqueen as her offensive stats probably aren’t able to OHKO some of Erika’s Pokémon with Poison Jab or Ice Beam/Flamethrower. Jumpluff is quite dangerous as it can set up Sunny Day activating all of Erika’s Team's Chlorophyll making them faster than Nidoqueen, but you can avoid this by teaching Nidoqueen Fire Blast and equipping a Choice Scarf to OHKO the Jumpluff and leave the rest of the team without chances to outspeed you. Fire Blast is suggested over Blizzard because, in the event that you didn't manage to outspeed, you would at least have the sun up which boosts the power of Fire moves. If you can't use the Choice Scarf, Tangela isn’t a really hard Pokémon and the only one of Erika’s mons that doesn’t pack Sunny Day, so you can tank it and set up X items (or heal other teammates) until Sunny Day is over.
Gym #13 - Janine (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): Thunderbolt and Flamethrower or Rock Slide deals with Crobat and the two Ariados. Switch to a physical tank or a Ghost-type for Weezing and use Flamethrower or Rock Slide again when Venomoth comes around; don’t worry about Psychic, if you were able to tank Koga’s Venomoth at the League you can do the same with this one.
Gym #14 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): There are some chances that Nidoqueen can sweep this gym with a Choice Scarf as the combination of Rivalry and Crunch can OHKO everything at Sabrina’s team, but you probably have something with a Dark-type move and that isn’t weak to Psychic in your team. Nidoqueen that can't rely on both Rivalry and Crunch should also stay away from this battle. Mind Mr. Mime in particular: it has Filter, which effectively negates the weakness to Crunch.
Gym #15 - Blaine (Seafoam Islands, Fire-type): The usage of Choice Scarf is recommended here as Nidoqueen can tank a move from Rapidash, but not if Magmar and Magcargo are able to set up Sunny Day. Earthquake OHKOs both Magcargo and Magmar and 2HKOs Rapidash with Rivalry; without Rivalry, it should OHKO.
Gym #16 - Blue (Viridian City): Choice Specs can help you a lot at this battle if you have a Rivalry Nidoqueen, as two of Blue’s Pokémon have Intimidate as an ability and others have a higher Defense than Special Defense. You can lure, with another Pokémon, Exeggutor to use Trick Room so Nidoqueen is able to outspeed Gyarados and Arcanine (do this only in Switch mode), Earth Power would deal with Arcanine and Thunderbolt with Gyarados. Without the Trick Room, Nidoqueen can OHKO Rhydon with Surf and 2HKO or 3HKO Pidgeot with Thunderbolt, Ice Beam or Rock Slide (or secure a 2HKO with Thunder or Blizzard). Nidoqueen can tank Machamp’s moves (including Earthquake), but it’s going to take her a lot of time to KO the Fighting-type and Machamp can put you in a pinch due to No Guard Dynamic Punch; plus, critical hits are always a thing. Don't risk it if you can help it.
Rival (Indigo Plateau, optional): The only new thing in his team is Crobat and it can be dealt with through Ice, Rock and Electric coverage, the rest is the exact same as it was in the battle at Mt. Moon; just watch out for Typhlosion’s Will-O-Wisp if you have a physical Nidoqueen.
Red (Mt. Silver): Teaching Blizzard to Nidoqueen is a good idea if she is your only check for Venusaur; thanks to the permanent hail, Blizzard will always hit, and beat Venusaur without problems. For the rest of the team, Blastoise and Lapras are a no, Pikachu is OHKOed by Earth Power or Earthquake, and Charizard can be knocked down with Rock Slide, Surf or Thunderbolt (or Thunder if you are planning on using Rain Dance to counter the Hail). Snorlax is too bulky for Nidoqueen and it can 2HKO it with Blizzard, so better let another Pokémon deal with this sleepy monster.
Moves[]
A freshly captured Nidoran has the following moves: Growl, Scratch, Tail Whip and Double Kick, a Safari Zone Nidoran would have three of these four plus Poison Sting. The next move would come as a Nidorina at level 20 and is going to be Fury Swipes, a decent upgrade for Scratch. At level 23 Nidorina gets Bite to deal with Psychic- and Ghost-types. The level 28 Helping Hand, level 35 Toxic Spikes and level 38 Flatter aren’t the best moves to use during a nuzlocke and probably are only going to be useful as a replacement for Growl or Tail Whip, if you haven't already purchased good TMs. A new upgrade comes at level 43 with Crunch. The really late level 50 Captivate and level 58 Poison Fang are going to be two moves you probably end up not knowing about as there are high chances you will be traveling with a Nidoqueen at this point of the game. Nidoqueen gets Body Slam at level 23 as an upgrade for Scratch. At level 43 gets its first natural Ground STAB move in the form of Earth Power, a really good option for specially oriented Nidoqueen. The last moves Nidoqueen learns is Superpower at level 58, the physical Fighting coverage that trumps the meh accuracy of Focus Blast.
In the TM department, Nidorina and Nidoqueen are literally queens. Nidorina can learn two of the elemental beams and their strongest versions, while Nidoqueen can learn the three of them having the choice to learn really early Thunderbolt, Thunder, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Flamethrower or Fire Blast (the last two are available to Nidoqueen alone). For STAB Poison options there is Sludge Bomb as special option in Johto and Poison Jab as a physical one in Kanto, and for Ground STAB Nidorina can get Dig really early and Nidoqueen is able to upgrade it to Earthquake later. Other options for Nidorina would be Aerial Ace, Shadow Claw or Toxic, while Nidoqueen has access to these three as well as Focus Blast, early special Fighting coverage, Shadow Ball, Dragon Pulse, Rock Slide, Stone Edge or Avalanche for physically oriented Nidoqueen. Looking at the HMs, Nidorina and Nidoqueen can work with them as well, learning Cut, Strength, Surf (Nidoqueen only), Rock Smash, Whirlpool and Rock Climb. However, as their movepools are so ample and varied, they are probably wasted on HM moves.
Recommended movesets:
Physical (before the postgame): Earthquake, Crunch / Shadow Claw, and any two other filler moves
Physical (postgame): Earthquake, Poison Jab, Superpower, and any other filler move
Mixed (before the postgame): Earthquake / Earth Power, Ice Beam, Crunch / Shadow Ball, and any other filler move
Mixed (postgame): Earthquake / Earth Power, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and any other filler move
Special: Earth Power, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and any other filler move
Red: Earth Power / Earthquake, Ice Beam / Flamethrower (Sun only), Rock Slide / Thunderbolt / Thunder (Rain only), Superpower
Other[]
Nidoran♀'s stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
55
115 - 162
220 - 314
Attack:
47
46 - 108
89 - 212
Defense:
52
51 - 114
98 - 223
Sp.Atk:
40
40 - 101
76 - 196
Sp.Def:
40
40 - 101
76 - 196
Speed:
41
41 - 102
78 - 199
Total:
275
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Nidorina's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
70
130 - 177
250 - 344
Attack:
62
60 - 125
116 - 245
Defense:
67
64 - 130
125 - 256
Sp.Atk:
55
54 - 117
103 - 229
Sp.Def:
55
54 - 117
103 - 229
Speed:
56
54 - 118
105 - 232
Total:
365
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Nidoqueen's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
90
150 - 197
290 - 384
Attack:
82
78 - 147
152 - 289
Defense:
87
82 - 152
161 - 300
Sp.Atk:
75
72 - 139
139 - 273
Sp.Def:
85
81 - 150
157 - 295
Speed:
76
72 - 140
141 - 276
Total:
495
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Nidoran♀ Line Ratings
Availability
Matchups
Movepool
Survivability
Type Usefulness
Team Role
Offensive Utility
Defensive Utility
Tankiness
Fun Factor
Overall
What Nature do I want? Knowing that Nidoqueen can work with any kind of moveset and it has a great bulk to stand a lot of moves, you may either want a neutral nature so you don’t lose any point in any stats, or go with Modest for special sets and Adamant for physical sets. Alternatively, Speed-lowering natures work well, since Nidoqueen doesn't need to outspeed enemies all that often and it can take blows fairly well.
Which Ability do I want? Poison Point. The Nidoran line is quite bulky and can resist a lot of moves, so having an ability that can poison your rival when using contact moves is a good option, not counting that Nidoran’s second ability Rivalry is fairly unreliable as not all the trainers or bosses carry female Pokémon.
At what point in the game should I be evolved? You should have a Nidorina for Whitney, so evolve Nidoran as soon as you can. About Nidorina, you can wait until level 40 to get Crunch and then evolve it, or get a Moon Stone before level 23 so you can get Body Slam on your Nidoqueen; whatever you choose, before the battle with Clair you should already have a Nidoqueen on your team.
How good is the Nidoran♀ line in a Nuzlocke? Very good and very versatile. It can reach it final evolution really early and thanks to its bulk Nidoqueen has a high survivability rate, helped by one of the widest movesets a non-Legendary Pokémon can have, access to elemental beams before before the third gym, Ground and Fighting coverage, can work as HM user... its offensive stats probably aren’t the best out there and it can’t increase them with stat-boosting moves, but its coverage compensates for this.
