Victini
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[Overview]
<p>Hailed as the Victory Pokemon, Victini may not seem very strong with only base 100 Attack. This little guy is not to be underestimated, however. The Movie 14 giveaway has brought to Victini two huge assets. The first is Fusion Bolt, a drawback-free attack that allows Victini to zap any wayward Kyogre daring to rain on its parade. The second, and most important, is V-create. V-create is a move with staggering power—so powerful that, when backed by sun and STAB, it reaches an incredible 405 Base Power. Victini also boasts a fair number of other useful qualities, namely base 100 Speed, which is good enough to outpace most of the metagame, and solid bulk with 100 / 100 / 100 defenses. Victini also packs useful resistances to Psychic-, Fire-, Ice-, Grass-, and Fighting-type attacks, which makes it an excellent check to dangerous threats such as Mewtwo.</p>
<p>However, not all of Victini's traits are positive. It is vulnerable to the dreaded Stealth Rock, which makes it somewhat difficult to switch in and out repeatedly. Victini is also shackled by weaknesses to Water-, Ground-, Rock-, Ghost-, and Dark-type attacks, which can make switching it in even more trying. It is also extremely reliant on sunny weather to provide the majority of its power. Despite this, Victini is still an amazingly powerful threat that can easily nuke teams at a moment's notice.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: V-create
move 2: Fusion Bolt
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Flare Blitz
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Naive / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Victini possesses several qualities that make it a fine user of a Choice Scarf. For one, it reaches an impressive 492 Speed when equipped with said item, allowing it to outpace any Pokemon slower than Jolly Rayquaza that has used Dragon Dance once. Victini's typing is also useful. It can switch into nearly every move the standard Mewtwo possesses except for the rarely used Shadow Ball and destroy it with a sun-boosted V-create. A Choice Scarf also allows Victini to retain a decent amount of Speed after a single use of V-create, possibly giving it a chance to cause some more damage. These qualities all make Victini a superb revenge killer that can take out menacing threats such as Mewtwo, Darkrai, Shaymin-S, and most types of Arceus quite easily.</p>
<p>V-create is Victini's move of choice—backed by harsh sunlight and STAB, it reaches a crippling 405 Base Power. This is enough to always OHKO 4 HP / 0 Def Mewtwo without any prior damage and cause insane amounts of damage to anything else that does not resist it. Fusion Bolt strikes down Kyogre that are normally eager to come in on Victini, easily 2HKOing 4 HP / 0 Def variants. U-turn is another incredibly useful move for Victini. With it, Victini can pepper its counters for a bit of damage, switch to a more suited ally, and maintain offensive momentum. Hidden Power Ice rounds off Victini's coverage nicely by enabling it to revenge kill Dragon Dance Rayquaza and Garchomp, as both take little damage from all of Victini's other moves. However, this leaves Victini without a consistent STAB move due to V-create's nasty drawback of lowering its defenses and Speed by one stage. For this reason, Flare Blitz can be used instead. Although much weaker than V-create, it is still quite powerful in the sunlight and can be used to clean up weakened teams nicely. That said, it is only recommended for use if your team has plenty of coverage against Rayquaza and Garchomp.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs are very basic, with Victini's Attack and Speed maximized for the best revenge killing potential. A Naive nature should be used if running Hidden Power Ice so as to not weaken the move. When not running Hidden Power Ice, a Jolly Nature should be used so Victini's defenses aren't needlessly lowered.</p>
<p>When using Victini, don't ever leave home without Groudon. It provides the glorious sun, which is necessary for Victini's attacks to pack a stronger punch. Groudon can further help out Victini by setting up Stealth Rock, making revenge killing easier. Also, it counters Tyranitar, who otherwise comes in effortlessly and crushes Victini with its powerful STAB Crunch. As Victini is weak to all forms of entry hazards and will most likely be needing to switch quite a bit, Rapid Spin support will be necessary. Forretress is perfect for this role, as it can also set up more entry hazards to help Victini smash through enemies. It also baits Fire-type attacks more easily than a block of cheese baits a mouse, giving Victini some easy switch in opportunities.</p>
<p>Victini is greatly troubled by foes that can take V-create without issue. Kyogre kills the sunlight with Drizzle and rains on Victini's parade with the threat of a STAB Surf. Palkia and Reshiram both 4x resist V-create, so they can easily hop in and blast Victini away with a STAB Draco Meteor. Trying to use Victini to break Giratina is like trying to beat down a truck with a toothpick—it won't happen. Giratina can tank Victini's hits all day while obliterating it with Dragon Claw. Giratina-O doesn't take V-create nearly as well as its bulkier cousin, but it possesses super effective STAB priority in Shadow Sneak to easily swat Victini away. Heatran's Flash Fire ability also allows it to take V-creates with no repercussions whatsoever. Furthermore, none of Victini's other moves will really hurt the giant lava beast. Palkia and Grass Arceus are the premier answers to Kyogre—both can switch in fairly comfortably and blast it apart with super effective hits. Giratina and Giratina-O are also easily brought down with Dialga, who can switch in without difficulty and take the ghostly dragons apart with its own STAB Draco Meteor. Palkia and Reshiram are unfortunately difficult to handle, but Rock Arceus can perform well against both of them. Palkia cannot KO it as the sun will weaken Palkia's STAB Water-type attacks, and Reshiram cannot win either unless it packs Focus Blast.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: V-create
move 2: Fusion Bolt
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Brick Break / Flare Blitz
item: Choice Band
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Although 448 Attack may not seem like much in Ubers, especially considering that Victini needs a Choice Band to reach such strength, the sheer might of V-create more than makes up for it. Backed by sun, V-create is so mighty that it stands a chance at OHKOing 252 HP / 252 Def Impish Groudon after it takes damage from Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes—quite impressive as Groudon is one of the most physically bulky Pokemon in the game. Even Palkia and Reshiram, who both 4x resist V-create, are always 2HKOed by V-create from this set after taking Stealth Rock damage.</p>
<p>As V-create is Victini's main form of offense, the other three moveslots are dedicated to taking down what V-create cannot. Fusion Bolt OHKOes 4 HP / 0 Def Kyogre after it takes damage from Stealth Rock once and will 2HKO all other forms of the leviathan, while also leaving a huge dent in Palkia. U-turn is still useful for scouting out the nature of Victini's counters and for maintaining offensive momentum. Brick Break is strong enough to OHKO Tyranitar with no problems while also 2HKOing most variants of Heatran, who cannot outspeed Victini without a Choice Scarf. Flare Blitz is also present to have a consistent STAB attack, though the lack of Speed provided by a Choice Scarf coupled with recoil damage makes it a less useful sweeping option. Because of this, Brick Break is generally preferred.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The only four things that can take a Choice Band-boosted V-create more than twice are Heatran, Tyranitar, Kyogre, and Giratina. Out of these, the first and second are wrecked by Brick Break, whereas the third is zapped off the planet by Fusion Bolt, so only Giratina can reliably take on this set. Dialga once again works well, and Darkrai and Dark Arceus are also fantastic Giratina counters. Palkia and Grass Arceus are also recommended for dealing with Kyogre and Tyranitar. Palkia is also valuable against Heatran thanks to its STAB super effective Water-type attacks. Groudon and Forretress are also needed for reasons discussed in the Choice Scarf set.</p>
<p>Palkia and Reshiram are still very dangerous as well. Although they can only switch in on Victini once if Stealth Rock is up, they can still handle the first attack and then blast Victini to pieces with Draco Meteor before it can make another move. Rock Arceus backed with sun support is a solid answer to both of these threats.</p>
<p>Playing with this set is a lot like using a real nuclear bomb. It is extremely powerful, but the fallout is very dangerous. In Victini's case, this fallout is the reduced defenses and Speed that come with Victini using V-create, so it is very prone to getting revenge killed by nearly everything. Pokemon that can take attacks that prey on its weaknesses to Water-, Ground-, Ghost-, Dark-, and Rock-type moves are necessary. Grass Arceus handles Water-, Ground-, and most Rock-type attacks very well, Groudon doesn't care about any Rock-type, and Steel-types do well against Ghost- and Dark-type moves. Steel-types can also take Dragon-type moves such as Draco Meteor that Pokemon such as Reshiram and Palkia may use against it.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: V-create
move 3: Fusion Bolt
move 4: Brick Break
item: Life Orb
nature: Brave
evs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Victini often finds it difficult to actually sweep due to the Speed-centric Ubers metagame as well as V-create's unfortunate Speed drop side effect. However, these hindrances actually become advantages when Trick Room is brought into play. Although 100 base Speed seems fast for Trick Room, V-create's Speed drop actually works as a buff under this field effect. Combined with Victini's sheer power, it can easily wreck teams as well as support Trick Room teams very well.</p>
<p>V-create is still Victini's go-to move for causing insane amounts of pain to its foes—things that are faster than Victini under Trick Room, such as Ferrothorn and Chansey, are obliterated by it, making them non-issues. Everything else not resisting it is utterly destroyed, and even Palkia and Reshiram are both 2HKOed after eating damage from Stealth Rock. Fusion Bolt is once again there to wreck Kyogre's life, although this time Victini has the advantage of always outspeeding it under Trick Room. Brick Break stops Tyranitar from ruining the sweep while still 2HKOing Heatran, although without Stealth Rock damage, bulky Heatran sets can avoid the 2HKO with Leftovers.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>With 252 Attack EVs and a Brave nature, Victini reaches its maximum power. As Victini wants to be as slow as possible for Trick Room, a 0 IV in Speed as well as a speed reducing nature (Brave) is necessary. Victini reaches 403 HP with 248 EVs, giving it plenty of bulk and the ability to switch into Stealth Rock up to four times. The rest of the EVs go into Defense to protect Victini against priority attacks. Life Orb is the preferred item, as it affords Victini both massive power and the freedom to switch moves.</p>
<p>The ideal partners for this set are Dialga, Palkia, and Groudon; all three of them work excellently in Trick Room. Groudon provides sunlight and can abuse Trick Room as well thanks to its sub-par Speed making it faster than nearly everything. Dialga can set up Trick Room reliably and plow through many of Victini's checks with its titanic hits. It can also cover all of Victini's weaknesses save Ground-type attacks. Palkia can set up and abuse Trick Room, and it has the added bonus of being able to come in easily on Kyogre. If enemy Palkia or Reshiram get a chance to come in and threaten Victini with Draco Meteor, Scizor and Bronzong are good choices to take the assault.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Although Victini has a ton of moves at its disposal, most of them either aren't worth it in the slightest or only have specific, situational uses. Victini has a pretty good special movepool, with Fire Blast, Searing Shot, Thunder, Grass Knot, Psyshock, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast as viable options. However, it is usually outclassed at special attacking by Reshiram, who is far stronger than Victini on the special side and also possesses a far better secondary STAB. Flame Charge allows Victini to boost its Speed, but since V-create, its most powerful attack, lowers Speed, the boost is usually not useful. Work Up is Victini's only way to boost its offensive stats, but it is usually better off just attacking due to its raw power. Light Screen offers some protection against special attacks, but again, Victini should be using its time in battle to attack instead of trying to set up defensively due to its poor defensive typing. Zen Headbutt gets STAB and is Victini's best attack against Palkia and Reshiram, but the extra damage it does over a sun-boosted V-create is miniscule and has poor coverage otherwise.</p>
<p>Taunt allows Victini to stop other Pokemon from trying to set up on it, but Victini's sheer offensive strength usually discourages set-up attempts. Substitute eases prediction and gives Victini a safety net against status moves. Victini can also make 101 HP Substitutes, which Blissey cannot break with a single Seismic Toss, but since Victini primarily uses physical attacks, it is usually suicide for Blissey or Chansey to stay in. Victini gets Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Will-O-Wisp as ways to support the team, but Victini has no recovery options (bar Rest) and many weaknesses, so it is not wise to play it as a defensive Pokemon. Finally, Final Gambit is an interesting option on the Choice Scarf set. Victini can reach 404 HP maximum, which will allow Victini to lure in and always KO some of its biggest checks—Tyranitar, Kyogre, Palkia, and Reshiram—without needing to predict at the cost of its life, provided Victini is at full HP. However, Victini's biggest enemies are Giratina and Giratina-O (to a lesser extent), who are both completely immune to Final Gambit, so more often than not the move will be useless.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Despite Victini's amazing strength, it will still find itself hopelessly doomed when pitted against Giratina. The great beast can handle any and all of Victini's attacks and severely hurt it with Dragon Claw. Reshiram packs solid defenses and a quadruple resistance to Fire-type attacks while also resisting Electric-type attacks, meaning it switches in on Victini fairly well and can OHKO it with Draco Meteor. Palkia can do the same, although Fusion Bolt will leave a huge dent in it, and both Palkia and Reshiram dislike taking repeated blows from V-create in the sun. Kyogre is able to come in on any attack not named Fusion Bolt, cancel out the sun that is so vital to Victini's power thanks to Drizzle, and drown it with a mighty Surf. If Victini leaves home without Brick Break, Tyranitar and Heatran can come in with impunity and wreck Victini with strong super effective hits. Tyranitar is particularly dangerous since it can trap Victini with Pursuit, leaving the Victory Pokemon hopelessly lost. Giratina-O, although it absolutely hates taking sun-fueled V-creates, possesses STAB priority in Shadow Sneak to easily snipe Victini if need be.</p>
<p>Finally, Victini loathes entry hazards. It will lose a quarter of its health every switch in while Stealth Rock is in play, and Toxic Spikes will cut its sweep short. Finally, V-create's nasty drawback of lowering Victini's Speed and defenses leave it vulnerable to being revenge killed by anything faster after it has used its signature attack.</p>
I almost produced man-tears. Instead, I chain smoked and produced an amateur GP check. 
