What is better on a rhydon as a charge move, earthquake or stone edge?
Is there a difference which charge move is better on offense or defense?
Mathematically Earthquake is a little bit stronger on both offense and defense, but I'd argue that Stone Edge might be a little bit better for defense while Earthquake is a little bit better for offense.
However, with Rhydon's double weakness to water and grass it will already be a pretty bad defender (unless you just want high spot on gym with Rhydon's CP).
Yeah it's true the typing kind of sucks in terms of doing super effective dmg, but keep in mind that it does full dmg to almost everyone, and he's already getting STAB of 1.25x. It's only resisted by fighting, ground, and steel...so you'll still be getting 1.25x dmg to most mons.
It will also be super effective (1.56x total) vs. both Lapras and Dragonite (even if Rhydon may take additional dmg as well) and will have a plus matchup vs. Snorlax. So at the minimum, he has an even type matchup vs. all 3 top gym defenders, meaning it comes down to stats...and now he has the stats to back it up.
Plus, Stone Edge is just a great charge move. It's 2nd in DPS only to Cross Chop. The 80 dmg might seem low for full bar, but the 3.1 sec cooldown is one of shortest of any full bar move
Yes - double weakness to both water and grass is a death sentence on defense, but as an attacker where you'll be able to pick and choose your matchups, he's going to be a serious bada$$
With Stone Edge, Rhydon should be a decent attacker into Dragonite. Yes, Steel Wing is super effective, but it lacks STAB and Rhydon has massive HP and defense, so it doesn't hurt that bad.
Of course ice is still a better attacking option.
EQ and SE are both decent, pick according to how you're gonna use the Rhydon.
As someone who's been using both Rhydon with SE and EQ as well as Golem with SE and EQ, even before they were buffed, I can honestly say I like Stone Edge better...and I wasn't expecting to given every move rank list has EQ higher.
Both have very similar DPS with STAB, but I generally like the shorter cooldown on Stone Edge so you can sneak in a dodge after if needed.
Also, Stone Edge is super effective vs. both Lapras and Dragonite while doing full dmg to Snorlax with basically no weaknesses. By switching over to EQ you're giving up the super effectiveness vs. both Lapras and Dragonite while not really getting anything in return (Poison, Electric, Rock, and Steel). The only one of those that you might encounter is Poison and that's pretty easy to counter with Water
The two moves are so similar that it mostly comes down to which one gives Super Effective damage.
If both hit for neutral against the target (Snorlax) then it comes down to personal preference of speed vs power.
Stone Edge is probably a bit better for defense. Mostly because it hits Gyrados, Dragonite, and Lapras for extra damage. A Double Ground Rhydon would have a spectacularly bad time against a Hydropump Gyrados.
