[Overview]
<p>The king of DPP UU before Heracross's short stint in the tier, Venusaur gained a tremendous boost in the transition to 5th
Generation with its Dream World ability, Chlorophyll. In addition, the move Growth now doubles both attacking stats in sunlight, making Venusaur one of sun's premiere sweepers. Unfortunately, Venusaur cannot use Power Whip or the now-buffed Giga Drain with Chlorophyll, somewhat limiting its offensive capabilities. However, even without these moves it is quite dangerous, as although its attacking stats are not exceptional, Growth allows them to reach very threatening levels. Venusaur has plenty of opportunities to set
up, with its resistances to Fighting-, Water-, and Electric-type moves and decent bulk. It is very difficult to counter thanks to its access to Sleep Powder, which is even more difficult to handle due to the new
BW sleep mechanics. Although it is rather lackluster without its preferred weather in play, Venusaur is a menace in the sun and should not be taken lightly.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Growth
move 1: Growth
move 2: Energy Ball / SolarBeam
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Sludge Bomb / Sleep Powder
item: Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
ivs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Venusaur is a monster under the sun, capable of running through any team that isn't prepared for it. Life Orb is the preferred item as it provides a substantial boost to Venusaur's offenses. Growth is the most important move in the set, as it boosts Venusaur's Special Attack to deadly levels. As Giga Drain is illegal with Chlorophyll, Energy Ball is Venusaur's preferred STAB move. If sufficient team support is run to remove enemy weather inducers,
then SolarBeam becomes a viable choice for its raw power. Hidden Power Fire is essential, as with it Venusaur can kill any Steel-type, bar Heatran, under the sun with a Growth boost. Sludge Bomb provides a
secondary powerful
secondary STAB move, but Sleep Powder is also an option for its ability to remove nearly any of Venusaur's counters from the game.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs grant maximum offensive potential. Under the sun Venusaur outspeeds Deoxys-S and anything with lower
Speed, including most Choice Scarf users. A Timid nature can be used to outspeed base 110 Speed Pokemon
with who hold a Choice Scarf, but the power loss is noticeable. A Lum Berry can be used to avoid status, but Venusaur needs the power that Life Orb provides. Hidden Power Fighting can be used to kill Heatran, who otherwise walls the set. Petal Dance provides a powerful cleaning move, but locks Venusaur into an attack with an easily resisted typing, making it a poor choice overall. Grass Knot is another option over Energy Ball, but the low damage output against Politoed and Rotom-W makes it
a problem problematic. Lastly, Synthesis can be used to heal off Life Orb recoil and
any other damage, but Venusaur almost always prefers having an attacking move in the moveslot Synthesis occupies.</p>
<p>It cannot be stressed enough that Drought Ninetales is mandatory support for this set, as without it Venusaur is a subpar sweeper. Venusaur also wants the opponent's weather inducers out of the way, so Wobbuffet is an excellent choice for trapping and killing them. Heatran walls the set completely once Sleep Clause has been activated. Arcanine can switch in on a Fire-type move used by Heatran and KO it with Close Combat, and also benefits from sunlight. Blissey and Eviolite Chansey wall this set completely, and can even negate Sleep Powder with their Natural Cure ability, so a strong Pursuit user such as Scizor can be used to trap and kill them. If Hidden Power Fire is not being run it is recommended that Magnezone be used to trap and kill bothersome Steel-types.</p>
[SET]
name: Mixed Growth
move 1: Growth
move 2: Seed Bomb
move 3: Return / Earthquake
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Sleep Powder
item: Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Lonely
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
ivs: 30 Atk / 30
Spe SpA / 30 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set works off of Venusaur's lesser Attack stat in order to catch some of its usual counters off guard. Life Orb is even more important on this set due to Venusaur's substantially lower Attack stat. Growth allows Venusaur to reach an acceptable Attack stat in sunlight. Seed Bomb is Venusaur's strongest physical
Grass move, as Power Whip is illegal with Chlorophyll. Return provides fantastic neutral coverage
together with Seed Bomb, and the combination is resisted only by Steel-types, Chandelure, and Gengar, while Earthquake can kill any Chandelure and Heatran without Air Balloon at the cost of poorer neutral coverage. Hidden Power Fire kills most Steel-types at +2 Special Attack, although Heatran is immune to the move and specially defensive Jirachi can survive it and paralyze Venusaur with Thunder Wave or severely injure it with Fire Punch. Sleep Powder can be used instead to incapacitate a counter, but the inability to harm Steel-types is a problem.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As Venusaur resists most of the commonly used priority attacks and has enough bulk to take Scizor's Bullet Punch, Lonely is the preferred nature
as since it allows Venusaur to maintain its special bulk. The EVs given maximize offensive potential. A Hasty nature can be used to outspeed
Scarfed base 110 Speed Pokemon
with a Choice Scarf in
the sun, but this is not advisable as the power drop is much more detrimental on this set. If Sleep Powder is being run over Hidden Power Fire an Adamant nature should be used instead, as well as perfect IVs, and Swords Dance should be used over Growth so that Venusaur is not completely useless out of sunlight, although it should be noted that Venusaur is not likely to be scoring many KOs without its favorite weather.</p>
<p>This set should never be used without Drought Ninetales. Wobbuffet can trap and kill enemy weather inducers, which is very important for this set. Volcarona greatly benefits from the surprise 2HKOs this
set can net on Blissey and Eviolite Chansey, and also loves sunlight and
having the opponent's Toxic Spikes removed Venusaur's ability to absorb Toxic Spikes upon switching in.
If Hidden Power Fire is not being run, then Magnezone makes a fine partner
if Hidden Power Fire is not being run for its ability to trap and kill problematic Steel-types. If Earthquake is not being used Arcanine
can be used to deal is a good teammate for dealing with Heatran, and if Earthquake is being used
Scizor can be used to trap and kill then Scizor does well at trapping and killing Latios and Latias, who otherwise wall the set. Likewise Slowbro
with Ice Beam can be employed to deal with Salamence and Dragonite
with Ice Beam.</p>
[SET]
name: Subseed
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Substitute / Protect
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Sleep Powder
item: Leftovers
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Bold
evs: 192 HP / 252 Def / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
ivs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set allows Venusaur to act as a quick-staller.
This set's Its advantages over Whimsicott include Sleep Powder,
allowing which allows a free use of Substitute,
a resistance to the abundantly used Fighting-type, and auto-absorption of Toxic Spikes, which helps substantially against stall teams. In sunlight Venusaur outspeeds most threats and can use Leech Seed on them before they can attack, allowing it to stall them out with Substitute until Leech Seed bleeds them dry. Substitute blocks status while shielding Venusaur from hits, and the HP lost from creating it is almost fully restored by a turn of Leftovers and Leech Seed recovery. Protect can be used instead to scout for a phazing move or
to gain a free turn of recovery, but it cannot be used as frequently as Substitute. Hidden Power Fire allows Venusaur to 2HKO most Grass-types in sunlight, who would be untouchable with Leech Seed alone. Sleep Powder gives Venusaur a free turn to do as it pleases, allowing it to set up a Substitute with no cost or throw out a free Leech Seed, letting it begin its stall.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>With 12 Speed EVs Venusaur reaches 198 Speed, outpacing positive-natured base 130 Speed Pokemon under the sun. 192 HP EVs give Venusaur a Leftovers number, increasing the amount of healing it receives each turn. 252 Defense EVs with a Bold nature gives maximum physical bulk, and the remainder is placed in Special Defense. An
alternate alternative spread of Bold with 192 HP / 86 Def / 232 Spe can be used
to be so Venusaur isd able to use Substitute first on Deoxys-S and anything slower. Synthesis can be used to to heal almost all of Venusaur's health, but
with Leech Seed in play Venusaur actually can never gain full use from the move as the net HP recovery would be over 100%. In addition, the low 8 PP hurts Venusaur when it comes to stalling. Protect can be used over Sleep Powder for more efficient stalling, but at the cost of ease of
setup. Toxic can be used to poison Pokemon who would otherwise avoid Toxic Spikes used by an ally, but Venusaur needs the moves it has in order to work efficiently.</p>
<p>Like the sweeper set, Drought Ninetales is critical to this set's success, although this set is not as dependent on it. In addition, Toxic Spikes support is heavily recommended. Tentacruel can set them while also using Rapid Spin to clear away opposing entry hazards, and provides a useful resistance to Fire-type moves, which Venusaur greatly appreciates. Reuniclus is immune to both poison and Leech Seed, so Pokemon that can remove it are greatly appreciated. Specially-defensive Spiritomb can trap and kill Reuniclus while also blocking opponents that try to use Rapid Spin in order to clear Toxic Spikes. Wobbuffet makes an excellent partner for this set, as it can trap and kill problematic Pokemon and absolutely loves the bolstered recovery a seeded Pokemon provides. Liquid Ooze Tentacruel
is a problem as it causes Leech Seed to backfire and absorbs Toxic Spikes upon arrival. Slowbro with Psyshock deals with Tentacruel rather easily while also countering sand sweepers,
who are in fact a serious threat to sun teams. A
paired Magnezone can trap and kill Ferrothorn, allowing Venusaur to run Protect over Hidden Power Fire. In this case 4 Speed EVs can be shifted to Special Defense.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>A Choice set can be used, but the lack of power makes it a poor choice when compared to a boosting set. An Overgrow Swords Dance Venusaur can be used to take advantage of Power Whip, but is mostly outclassed by other physical sweepers. Worry Seed can be used to remove a troublesome Pokemon's ability, but the unreliability of the move and general waste of a moveslot make it a poor choice to use. Venusaur can give up Chlorophyll to gain access to its extensive list of egg moves, including Power Whip and Leaf Storm, but this is inadvisable as Venusaur only
truly shines in the sunlight.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Venusaur is very difficult to safely counter before Sleep Clause has been activated, but once it has it becomes much more managable. Heatran walls any set without Hidden Power Fighting or Earthquake. Blissey and Eviolite Chansey are hard stops to special Venusaur thanks to their great Special Defense. Steel-types
in general wall Venusaur lacking Hidden Power Fire, with the exception of ones that have a secondary typing weak to Grass. Auto-weather inducers can't switch in on Venusaur, but can take away its sunlight and its speed, allowing it to be effortlessly revenge-killed. Whimsicott can switch in while Venusaur uses a boosting move and lock it into that move with a Prankster Encore, or
it can paralyze Venusaur with Stun Spore to end any chance of a sweep.</p>
