Venusaur (Bluff)

Status: Skeleton

I'm surprised this is not a set yet. This is the set I've been using for a while now.

[SET]
name: Bluff
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Sleep Powder / Earthquake
move 3: Power Whip
move 4: Sludge Bomb
item: Life Orb
nature:Jolly
evs: 240 Atk / 16 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]

Perks:

-Able to successfully lure in bulkier team's finest checks to SD Venusaur: SD Leafeon and Tangrowth. After revealing Swords Dance to the opponent, it can easily dispose Leafeon and Tangrowth with Sludge Bomb even with a Jolly nature. Tangrowth is always OHKO'd with Sludge Bomb with Stealth Rock in play.

-A Jolly nature is recommended so that you don't have to run any stat-altering natures that hamper your Defenses. 16 SpA is all you need to guarantee the OHKO on it.

-It can sweep for itself with Tangrowth and Leafeon lured in successfully.

-Earthquake can replace Sleep Powder if you truly wish to hit Registeel and Fire-types after a boost.

Partners:

-Sub Torterra from experience is something you can consider. With Tangrowth and Leafeon successfully lured in, Sub Torterra can wreck havoc now. With Registeel switching in after finding out your entire moveset, Torterra can switch in with relative ease (provided it doesn't pack Ice Punch) and create an easy Substitute. If Registeel remains persistent and refuses to let you get behind Substitute, Earthquake can easily dispose it, making Venusaur's sweep easier.

-Azumarill makes a fantastic back-up for Fire-types. Sludge Bomb will not inflict as much damage as usual so Azumarill is needed to apply pressure on these Fire-types.

-Arcanine with Flash Fire can switch into Weezing and threaten it with Flare Blitz. You can form a simple FWG core in Venusaur/Azumarill/Arcanine to make double-switching much easier.

Counters:

- Weezing
- Venusaur (defensive variant, though it has to watch out for Sleep Powder or boosted Earthquake)

Pretesting notes:

- In my experience the lack of synthesis is a major annoyance, especially as your main bulky water switch-in. And the followup, maybe just replace the current mixed set with this one and slash Synthesis/Swords Dance?

- Is Earthquake really worth a slash? Sleep Powder or Synthesis would be far more useful in my opinion.

Testing now (Torterra/Scarf Absol/SubWoWRotom/LOArcanine/SubAzu/This Venusaur is the team I'm using)

the theory behind this set is definitely sound but i'm unsure if it deserves an analysis spot since it is very situational. the main issue is that the set needs your opponent to carry a pure grass, which are pretty rare (39 for leafeon, 44 for tangrowth, 98 for meganium). otherwise it is just a swords dance set that is much less effective because of the loss of either a coverage move or its "signature move" (sleep powder). when your opponent doesn't have one of those three pokemon, this set just leaves you repeatedly wondering "why am i using this if it only works one out of ten battles and only makes a real difference one out of twenty or thirty?"

i can see this being very good in tournament battles vs someone like twist of fate or eo if you anticipate tangrowth/leafeon. but even if it is a good idea and works in particular high level battles, i dunno if that means it should get a set for itself. there are many many tournament sets that don't get written up because they are custom made to fit team and opponent. (standard blah blah about not counterteaming per se but "counterstyling" etc etc)

personally, i think this idea should get written into optional changes just because it is very situational. but more opinions would be a good idea.

edit: oh yeah weezing is still a dick. that's not really the point of the set but it is sort of an alternate wall that can wall your other sweepers but cannot be successfully baited by bluff venusaur, so i suppose that is a reason this set is not as effective as it "claims"

Just my 2 cents: Using the Mixed set works as a fantastic lure or "bluff". Most times, I only need to use one attack so when my opponent sends in their "counter" they get smacked with the appropriate attack. I honestly don't see the point to have Swords Dance and only Power whip benefit from it. Most things that need to be hit with power whip are 1-2HKOed without the +2 boost. I'm not a QC member, but I'd have to say no. If anything, it should get a mention somewhere in other options or whatever it's called now. xD

Since this set is working as a lure and mostly for attacking, I can't see any reason why you can't run Hasty or Naive so Sludge Bomb can actually sting somewhat. Consider:

Jolly 16 SpA Sludge Bomb vs sweeper Moltres: 39.56% - 46.73%
Hasty/Naive 16 SpA Sludge Bomb vs sweeper Moltres: 43.30% - 51.40%

Not the biggest difference, but Moltres can no longer switch in certainly for free if Stealth Rock is up, and it would hurt more in general.

I personally didn't like the Swords Dance aspect of this set, but that's probably because I'm not a fan of SD Saur. I used this spread with the Mixed Sweeper moveset and I actually found it more effective. The mixed set doesn't really work as effectively in this current metagame with centralization at base 80. This spread works pretty well, so I think it would probably be fair to just changed the mixed spread to this current one and mention the old spread in set comments.

I tried it, and it was okay. The thing is, my auxiliary move (Earthquake/Sludge Bomb) didn't make much of a difference in most cases; however, Earthquake would've probably been better on average. I feel that it would be more apt to just slash Sludge Bomb or mention it in the SD's set comments.

locking since most qc members have posted itc and the general consensus is that the idea is pretty good, but we can just change one of venusaur's other sets to accommodate that idea. there is a venusaur revamp currently (well if flashstorm doesn't do it i'm doing it) so that would be a better place to discuss this.