Best Ground Type Pokemon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet introduce players to a new line of awesome Pokemon to battle with and collect in the Paldea Region. But some Pokemon stand out among the rest, with certain types being particularly essential for the move and offensive coverage. Ground Type Pokemon are as essential as ever in Scarlet and Violet, and while they don’t crack into the top spots like Flying, Psychic, or Water, Pokemon bearing their type benefit from being excellent checks to other dangerous opponents. Let’s see which Ground Type Pokemon can bring other contenders back down to Earth in Scarlet and Violet.

Who Are the Best Ground Type Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet?

The best Ground Type Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet range from a variety of purposes, with some being offensive sweepers, some being infuriating recurring tanks, and others being potent hazard-setters. Their coveted Earthquake move is essential for its devastating output and checking power against multiple powerful opponents like Electric, Fire, Rock, Steel, and Poison Types. It also nullifies Electric attacks completely, making Ground Pokemon viable switch-ins when predicting a Thunderbolt, and they can also shrug off a Poison or Rock Type hit. The best Ground Types are listed below, in no particular order:

Ting-Lu

One of the Treasures of Ruin in Scarlet and Violet, Ting-Lu is a bulky behemoth, perhaps limited by a lackluster move pool, but it carves out a niche for itself. On top of having great HP, Attack, and Defense, it bears the ‘Vessel of Ruin’ Ability lowering the Special Attack stats of all other Pokemon on the field by 25%. This makes Ting-Lu able to survive whatever it usually needs to survive, and get work done. Ting-Lu’s base stats are the following:

• HP: 155
• Atk: 110
• Def: 130
• Sp. Atk: 55
• Sp. Def: 80
• Speed: 45

Ting-Lu might not have the greatest move pool, lacking even reasonable Dark Type moves, but it’s great at laying down hazards like Spikes and Stealth Rocks. Access to Stone Edge, Heavy Slam, Body Press, and STAB Earthquake is also reasonable assets to consider. Ting-Lu might not be the most versatile Pokemon, but it’ll get the job done, whether with an Assault Vest or Leftovers to tank your competition.

Gastrodon

Gastrodon is a sometimes slept-on Pokemon that can be a great check against Water Type Pokemon in the right circumstances. Despite perhaps an underwhelming spread of stats, Gastrodon has coverage where it is needed, and great ability, Storm Drain, absorbing Water attacks and drawing them to itself while raising its Sp. Atk. This can increase Gastrodon’s viability in Doubles as well as a switch-in for Singles. Gastrodon’s base stats are the following:

• HP: 111
• Atk: 83
• Def: 68
• Sp. Atk: 92
• Sp. Def: 82
• Speed: 39

Gastrodon is slow, but it does several things well. It has great offensive moves at its disposal while being able to tank threats reasonably well thanks to great Water-Ground Typing. While it is far from the greatest of Ground Type Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet, access to Ice Beam, Earth Power, Protect, and Recover makes it reliable in the right circumstances when put in the right team composition.

Clodsire

Clodsire is one of the Pokemon in this list to feature among the best of its secondary Typing, in this case, Poison. Clodsire is already well-known on this site, having plenty of coverage for its weaknesses and how to counter them. Clodsire’s base stats are the following:

• HP: 130
• Atk: 75
• Def: 60
• Sp. Atk: 45
• Sp. Def: 100
• Speed: 20

Clodsire’s Poison-Ground Type status in Scarlet and Violet makes it a bulky Pokemon capable of shrugging off heavy offensives while wearing down its opponents. While there certainly are checks and balances against this creature, it’s going to be seen fairly often being used by competitive players thanks to Curse, Substitute, Poison Jab, and Earthquake.

Garchomp

A deadly sweeper since its introduction in Generation IV, Garchomp is and always will be a solid Pokemon, outranking even its Mega form in useability back in Gen VI. Garchomp is fast, and hits like a monster with a great physical attack, although its bulk is unfortunately undermined by Ice Types due to it being Ground-Dragon. Garchomp is also slightly threatened by other Dragons and Fairy Types to a lesser degree, but still has an excellent enough move pool and stats to make it a common sight in competitive circles. Garchomp’s base stats are the following:

• HP: 108
• Atk: 130
• Def: 95
• Sp. Atk: 80
• Sp. Def: 85
• Speed: 102

Garchomp has assets in the form of its ‘Rough Skin’ Ability which can deter physical attacks on it. Despite this Pokemon being reasonably bulky, the stats could have potentially been spread better, but if you hand Garchomp a Choice Scarf to boost its speed when you’re set up for a mean-spirited sweep, you’ll get work done, and fast. Access to Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Scale Shot, Swords Dance, Fire Fang, and even Toxic or Stealth Rock make this Pokemon surprisingly versatile.

You can even potentially make this Pokemon a tank in the right scenarios, especially if you have it wear a Rocky Helmet to stack damage against unsuspecting attackers with that from Rough Skin.

Iron Treads

Taking the tank metaphor perhaps to a new extreme, Iron Treads trades the enormous physical offensive capabilities and bulk and spreads them to other stats, giving it a needed Speed boost too. This Pokemon is also decently powerful, although with more focus on general coverage, especially with the best defensive Typing in the game, Steel. Iron Treads’ base stats are below:

• HP: 90
• Atk: 112
• Def: 120
• Sp. Atk: 72
• Sp. Def: 70
• Speed: 106

Iron Treads can handle different threats that Great Tusk perhaps couldn’t, including the all-important Fairy Type threats, among others. It has access to Knock Off as well, and even Ice Spinner, allowing it to dispel Ice threats, and either of these moves would work well if you were to choose a Tera Type to reflect it. Iron Head and Earthquake make for solid coverage as well, potentially flinching the opponents into submission, and Assault Vest might help provide additional coverage for this Pokemon, or Leftovers.

Great Tusk

A fixture from our Fighting Type list for Scarlet and Violet, Great Tusk is a great Pokemon. Enormous physical bulk and Protosynthesis to further boost its greatest stat turn this Pokemon into a beast and a potential nuisance, along with access to some great STAB moves for 2 very physical types, Fighting, and Ground. Great Tusk’s base stats are below:

• HP: 115
• Atk: 131
• Def: 131
• Sp. Atk: 53
• Sp. Def: 53
• Speed: 87

Rock Types don’t stand a chance against Great Tusk in a lot of cases. This Pokemon can punch through walls, and screens, and serve as a reliable partner in Doubles, especially if you can get off an Instruct from Oranguru for double Earthquake action. Having this Pokemon hold Booster Energy, or join a Sun team, will do wonders, and you can certainly build around its deficits in Special Defense coverage.

Some of the best, most interesting Ground Type Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet have a variety of uses. They offer great opportunities as secondary typing for many hyper-offense Pokemon as well as those looking to set up or take down hazards. So dig into any of these as a member of your team, and take your opponent down a peg before you bury their team.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet released on November 18, 2022, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.