RU Spotlight: Virizion

By Arifeen. Art by aXl.
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RU Spotlight: Virizion

Virizion's history

Virizion was introduced not too long ago in Generation 5, as part of the Swords of Justice. Back then, in the BW era, it was not in the RU tier. It was in OU, being a decent Grass-type Pokémon, as it was a nice setup sweeper with Swords Dance and Calm Mind sets. When BW2 came along, the hype of Tornadus-T caused its usage to decline and it to fall down to UU. However, at that point in time, it failed to establish itself as a dominant threat in the UU metagame.

With the arrival of Generation 6, the hype of Mega Evolutions resulted in Virizion dropping all the way to NU. It was NU for a short period of time because RU had Pokémon like Azelf, Kyurem, Tornadus, and Shaymin. When these Pokémon got banned, Virizion became RU and started to dominate the metagame. When ORAS came out, Serperior and Mega Sceptile caused Virizion to drop to NU again. The same thing happened, however; Virizion got back up to RU after they got banned, becoming a top threat in the tier once again.

Virizion's qualities

Virizion has quite an interesting typing offensively: Grass / Fighting. This typing allows Virizion to beat a lot of defensive Ground-, Water-, Steel-, or Rock-types, which are abundant in RU. Examples include Seismitoad, Blastoise, Poliwrath, Slowking, Alomomola, Mega Steelix, Rhyperior, and Diancie. Moreover, due to its high Special Defense stat, Virizion can freely switch into many special attackers, such as Seismitoad, Rotom-C, and Blastoise. Virizion also boasts a high base 108 Speed, making it hard to revenge kill, as only a handful of Pokémon can outspeed it without the use of Speed-boosting items. Despite its mediocre base 90 Attack and Special Attack stats, Virizion has powerful STAB moves in Close Combat and Focus Blast, as well as useful coverage moves to take down its checks.

As stated earlier, Virizion is the dangerous threat it is because it has the ability to set up with both of its offensive stats thanks to its access to Swords Dance and Calm Mind. Notably, while the Swords Dance set is checked by the likes of Tangrowth, Spiritomb, Granbull, and Drapion, they easily fall to the Calm Mind variants. Similarly, Calm Mind Virizion is checked by Sigilyph, Golbat, Togetic, and Escavalier, but the former three Pokémon lose to a +2 Stone Edge, while the last doesn't like taking a +2 Close Combat. Moreover, Virizion can decide what can check it: Amoonguss usually checks both Swords Dance and Calm Mind variants, but it loses if Virizion is carrying Zen Headbutt instead of Stone Edge. On top of that, one of the best qualities of Virizion is that its STAB moves allow it to break down teams that rely on Slowking, Spiritomb, and Qwilfish as their Fighting-type checks. All these qualities are what make Virizion one of the best Pokémon in the tier.

Playing with Virizion

Virizion

This set allows Virizion to be a strong physical threat. Swords Dance raises Virizion's mediocre Attack stat to dangerous levels, which, when coupled with a powerful STAB move in Close Combat, allows it to deal a ton of damage to any Pokémon that do not resist it. Leaf Blade is a nice reliable Grass-type STAB move for Virizion, which allows it to break down bulky Water-types. Stone Edge is the preferred coverage move in the current meta, as it hits Sigilyph, Delphox, and Togetic. Carrying Stone Edge also allows Virizion to knock out Fletchinder, which tends to switch into it. Alternatively, Zen Headbutt can also be used to hit Venusaur and Amoonguss, which otherwise can check Virizion. Lum Berry is used to ensure Virizion can set up against bulky Water-types such as Alomomola and Jellicent, as they rely on Toxic and Scald burns to wear down their foes.

Virizion

This is Virizion's specially offensive set. The best part about this set is that Virizion can beat the usual checks to its physical set. In fact, this set works better nowadays due to specially defensive Pokémon being less common than physically defensive ones in the current metagame. Calm Mind allows Virizion to boost its Special Attack and Special Defense stats, making it harder to take down. Giga Drain gives Virizion a form of recovery, restoring some of its lost health from Life Orb recoil and damage taken while setting up, and thus making it even harder to revenge kill. Focus Blast, although it has shaky accuracy, hits Pokémon that don't resist it really hard. Hidden Power Ice is used to hit Sigilyph, Togetic, and Golbat, which otherwise wall this set. On the other hand, Hidden Power Fire is used to hit Escavalier, which can otherwise check Virizion quite well.

Playing against Virizion

Despite its staggering Speed and Special Defense stats, Virizion has a poor Defense stat that hinders it from setting up on physical attackers. Remember that Virizion needs to set up in order to be threatening, as it has mediocre Attack and Special Attack stats. Also, the first thing to do when you see a Virizion on the opposing team is to figure out what set it is. If the opponent's team has more physical attackers than special attackers, it's likely to be specially offensive Virizion, and vice versa. Moreover, try to figure out what threats Virizion would take down in order to help the opponent's team. Choice Scarf users such as Emboar, Flygon, Braviary, Delphox, and Tyrantrum can be switched into Virizion, provided it doesn't use Close Combat or Focus Blast, as Virizion isn't that powerful without a stat boost. Fletchinder can also switch in, as Virizion is not likely to use Stone Edge on a bulky Water-type; it would rather set up or use its Grass-type STAB move. Garbodor, Weezing, and Uxie are guaranteed switch-ins for Virizion and thus are able to counter it.

Putting Virizion in the team

Virizion is quite easy to put onto a team, as it can check bulky Water-types, such as Slowking, Alomomola, and Seismitoad. Virizion can also find its way onto balanced teams, being a decent late-game setup sweeper.

Virizion is a great partner to Pokémon that lure in Water-types, thus giving Virizion a free switch in and allowing it to threaten the opposing team. Therefore, Pokémon like Mega Steelix, Rhyperior, and Mega Camerupt are nice partners. Virizion can also be used alongside Pokémon that can beat its checks, making Virizion ever more dangerous. Samurott, Diancie, Tyrantrum, Emboar, Houndoom, and Delphox are such examples, as the former three can handle Fire-types, while the latter three can handle Grass-type Pokémon.

Swords Dance Virizion appreciates Pokémon that can beat Amoonguss, Venusaur, Fletchinder, and Golbat. Tyrantrum and Emboar are fantastic partners for Virizion, as the former can deal with Fletchinder and Golbat, while the latter can deal with Amoonguss and Venusaur easily.

Calm Mind Virizion also likes Fire- and Steel-types as partners, as they can beat Escavalier and Togetic, which bother Virizion. Emboar, Mega Steelix, Houndoom, and Delphox are great partners in this regard.

Get out there!

Virizion is a Pokémon that has risen and fallen over the past few years and finally found a home in the RU metagame. Having two completely different yet very viable sets, Virizion is a very unique and dangerous threat to be reckoned with.

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