venusaur and moltres are not comparable as sweepers - they are completely different in their sweeping approaches.
moltres doesn't boast the ability to switch in the game with consistency like venusaur can.
moltres holds tremendous power but lacks the defensive typing and important sets of resistances venusaur has.
Moltres has better defenses, immunity to the
most common attack in the game, and resistance to the main attack of the most common Pokemon in the metagame (Venusaur itself). You are flat out incorrect, and to be honest, I have no idea how you arrived at that conclusion. Sure, "Stealth Rock", but we all know you can keep that off the field if you specifically play for it. It doesn't take away from the fact that Moltres is bulkier and has an easy (if not easier) time switching in.
Anyway, they are quite comparable, as you have shown:
Franky said:
venusaur has sets of important resistances to common attacking moves and passable defensive stat on both ends.
"Moltres has sets of important resistances to [the most]
common attacking moves and [more than]
passable defensive stats on both ends."
Franky said:
venusaur sweeps teams with a slower approach with synthesis, albeit it still packs a punch while doing so.
"Moltres sweeps teams with a slower approach with synthesis, albeit it still packs a punch while doing so."
The thing is, when you compare them, Moltres seems better (though it isn't). This puts things in perspective at the very least.
franky said:
i'm not a big fan of comparing two different pokemon when you are trying to justify a pokemon's tiering. for your information, raikou's counters were also viable and great: specially defensive venusaur, chansey, steelix, and registeel. raikou is a fantastic sweeper though and will often bypass its soft checks but the main point is it had viable counters like venusaur as well.
1. Venusaur is
not a counter for Raikou (very common misconception)
2. Registeel is a
one time check. Once it has less than 75% (without entry hazards!), Raikou actually beats it most of the time.
3. Chansey sucks.
4. Steelix is good. Raikou has one good counter.
Venusaur has a huge list of offensive checks and counters that are threatening as well as many defensive checks that don't suck (and are actually counters, unlike Registeel for Raikou).
Franky said:
the difference between another attack and sleep powder is that sleep powder mitigates prediction games and places an opponent in deep slumber for x amount of turns. sleep powder not only easens predictions, it also provides another pokemon to sweep sufficiently easier. venusaur to me lingers between offensive/support characteristics - it can sweep a significant portion of the metagame and can provide oppurutnies to help another teammate sweep via sleep powder.
After the first line, all you're doing is trying to explain that Sleep is better than attacking because it removes a Pokemon, temporarily, from a battle (where as attacking would result in completely removing a Pokemon from the battle). Moltres is not a prediction heavy sweeper. You literally open with Fire Blast and 1-2HKO something. Venusaur opens(?) with Sleep Powder, sleeps something, and then has to play like a weaker Moltres (in a sweeping sense, not in a playstyle sense).
Sleep Powder is one of the most over-glorified moves. It's inaccurate and Sleep only lasts 1-4 turns, meaning if you are faster than something and Sleep it, it will have a decent chance to wake up immediately after your next move.