#494 Victini
Typing: Psychic / Fire
Base Stats: 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100 / 100
Ability: Victory Star (raises accuracy of Victini and its teammates)
Level Up Moves:
Lv1: Flame Bomb, Lv1: Focus Energy, Lv1: Confusion, Lv1: Complete Burn, Lv1: Quick Attack, Lv9: Endure, Lv17: Headbutt, Lv25: Nitro Charge, Lv33: Reversal, Lv41: Fire Burst, Lv49: Zen Headbutt, Lv57: Purgatory, Lv65: Double-Edge, Lv73: Flare Blitz, Lv81: Desperation, Lv89: Assist Power, Lv97: Overheat
TM Moves:
TM03 - Psycho Shock, TM06 - Toxic, TM10 - Hidden Power, TM11 - Sunny Day, TM12 - Taunt, TM15 - Hyper Beam, TM16 - Light Screen, TM17 - Protect, TM19 - Telekinesis, TM20 - Safeguard, TM21 - Frustration, TM22 - Solar Beam, TM24 - Thunderbolt, TM25 - Thunder, TM27 - Return, TM29 - Psychic, TM30 - Shadow Ball, TM31 - Brick Break, TM32 - Double Team, TM35 - Flamethower, TM38 - Fire Blast , TM42 - Facade, TM43 - Nitro Charge, TM44 - Rest, TM48 - Troll, TM50 - Overheat, TM52 - Focus Blast, TM53 - Energy Ball, TM56 - Fling, TM57 - Charge Beam, TM59 - Complete Burn, TM61 - Will-O-Wisp, TM63 - Embargo, TM68 - Giga Impact, TM70 - Flash, TM73 - Thunder Wave, TM77 - Psych Up, TM83 - Cheer Up, TM86 - Grass Knot, TM87 - Swagger, TM89 - U-Turn, TM90 - Substitute, TM92 - Trick Room, TM93 - Wild Bolt, TM94 - Rock Smash
Nitro Charge: 50 BP Physical Fire move, 100 Acc, boosts Speed 1 stage upon use.
Flame Bomb: Special Fire PP: 5 Power: 100 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: May burn opponent. (30%)
Wild Bolt: Physical Electric PP: 15 Power: 90 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: Returns to user 1/4 of HP lost by opponent due to this attack (recoil).
Victini definitely has plenty of things going for it. Victory Star is one of the best things about Victini, because it allows Victini to effectively use high-power, low accuracy moves such as Fire Blast, Focus Blast and Thunder. Victini's movepool is pretty nice as well, getting some nice type coverage and hitting fairly hard from both sides of the damage spectrum. STAB Fire is also very good, so pairing Victini with Drought Ninetales will guarantee some devastating results. Finally, 100 / 100 / 100 defenses makes sure Victini won't go down to a light wind.
Victini isn't without its faults though. Namely, its partial Psychic typing hinders it more than it helps it. Although a Fighting resistance is nice, being weak to Pursuit means that Tyranitar will be a natural enemy to Victini if you don't burn it or hit it with a Focus Blast / Brick Break on the switch-in. The Fire typing can also cause problems if Stealth Rock is still relatively common in Gen 5.
Now let's look at some potential sets.
Victini @ Life Orb / Leftovers
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Fire Blast / Flame Bomb
- Focus Blast
- Thunder / Grass Knot / Shadow Ball
Sub + 3 Attacks Victini. The idea behind this set is to scout for the opponent's Victini check, then knock it out with the appropriate attack. Choice Scarf Tyranitar ready to Pursuit Victini to kingdom come? Focus Blast it away. Gyarados looking to get a few Dragon Dances on the victory Pokemon? Thunder will teach it a lesson. Swampert wants to Roar it away. Stop it with Grass Knot. Shadow Ball is another option for the last slot if the Fire / Ghost chandelier Pokemon gives you the blues. For the choice of STAB, Fire Blast is more powerful, but Flame Bomb has a higher chance of burning a potential counter in the case of a misprediction.
Victini @ Life Orb / Leftovers
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -SpA)
- Flare Blitz / Nitro Charge
- Brick Break
- Wild Bolt
- U-turn
Physical Victini. This is a useful set to catch any Blissey that plan on switching into Victini expecting a Special set. Seeing how Victini's STAB Fire attacks will stop Skarmory and Forretress, physical Victini will probably be an excellent stall breaker. For the main STAB, there's the choice between power and utility again. Flare Blitz is much more powerful than Nitro Charge, but with Nitro Charge, Victini can hit Choice Scarf Tyranitar on the switch, boost its Speed so it outspeeds Tyranitar, then KO Tyranitar with Brick Break. Brick Break also covers Heatran switch-ins. Wild Bolt hurts Water-types and U-turn can be used to escape from a counter or just simple scouting.
Victini @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- U-turn
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
Support Victini. With a high accuracy Will-O-Wisp, Victini is quite capable of crippling any physical checks to it. Fellow Fire-types such as Blaziken and Heatran will be able to perform much better when their counters cannot OHKO them. After burning something, Victini can provide some more support by using U-turn to get frail Pokemon free switch-ins. Fire Blast and Focus Blast provide general coverage so Victini isn't helpless against some Pokemon like Heatran.
Anyway, that's enough from me, now it's your turn. Discuss anything else Victini related here.