ZU Venusaur [QC 1/2]

[sleid]

[SET]
Defensive (Venusaur) @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overgrow
Tera Type: Water / Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain / Leech Seed
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Synthesis

[SET COMMENTS]
Venusaur is a phenomal wall in ZU with its great bulk, defensive typing, and utility movepool. Leech Seed is an option over Giga Drain to help its teammates deal with Venusaurs typical switch-ins like Mesprit, Toxicroak, and Magneton. Knock Off cripples walls that rely on Leftovers for healing like Orthworm and Weezing, offensive Pokemon that needs Heavy-Duty Boots like Oricorio and Glastrier, and Eviolite users like Magneton and Hisuian Sneasel. Synthesis helps Venusaur's longevity, allowing it to take on pivots like Passimian, Jolteon, and Basculin over the course of the game. Leftovers is great for extra healing on teams with entry hazard removers such as Hitmontop and Sandslash while Heavy-Duty Boots is better at taking on hazard stack teams and when Venusaur doesn't have any removal options on its team. Tera Water helps Venusaur take on Fire-types like Charizard and Oricorio, Ice-types like Beartic and Glastrier, and Ice-type coverage users like Hitmontop in a pinch. Tera Dark is also a great option to help Venusaur take on Mesprit and Spiritomb. 88 Speed EVs allows Venusaur to outspeed Modest Clawitzer.

Balance teams appreciate Venusaur's ability to check a myriad of top Pokemon such as Jolteon and Basculin, as well as providing utility in Knock Off and Leech Seed. Snorlax makes for a great partner, dealing with the Fire- and Ice-types, like Charizard and Sneasel, that threaten to KO Venusaur. Poison- and Steel-types like Hisuian Sneasel and Orthworm can sit on Venusaur and threaten to set up on it, making teammates like Weezing and Sableye great for deterring them. Venusaur helps fend off fast offensive threats like Jolteon, Passimian, and Basculin which frail teammates like Sneasel, Houndoom, and Lycanroc appreciate. Venusaur does a great job at crippling defensive walls, that are forced to switch in on it, with Knock Off such as Snorlax and Cryogonal which special attackers like Jolteon, Oricorio, and Spiritomb need to help get a sweep going. Opposing Grass-types hate seeing Venusaur since it can defend its Water- and Ground-type teammates like Lanturn and Sandslash. Non Heavy-Duty Boots Venusaur appreciate hazard removal so it doesn’t fear coming in multiple times over the course of a game, this makes Hitmontop and Sandslash helpful teammates.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Venusaur can opt for a more offensive set with Sunny Day + Chlorophyll, allowing it to outrun most of the metagame and hit like a truck with its colorful coverage in Solar Beam, Sludge Bomb, and Weather Ball. Unfortuntately, this set can flop if it can't find a good opportunity to set up Sunny Day or if it runs into special walls like Snorlax, Muk, and Fire-types. Other offensive sets like Life Orb or Eject Pack with Leaf Storm are more reliable as a wallbreaker/momentum grabber against teams that don't have sturdy Venusaur checks. Earth Power is a solid option over Knock Off or the Grass-type move slot to hit Magneton and Poison-types like Muk, Hisuian-Sneasel, and Toxicroak.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Poison-types**: Muk, Hisuian-Sneasel, and Toxicroak all can take advantage of Venusaur's inability to hit them for significant damage. Muk can pressure Venusaur with Knock Off + Zen Headbutt, while the ladder Pokemon can set up on Venusaur with Swords Dance to muscle past it.

**Steel-types**: Orthworm, Magneton, and Perrserker can shrug off anything Venusaur throws at them. Orthworm can set up hazards or Coil up in its face, while the other two can out damage and wear it down with their STABs.

**Fire-types**: Charizard, Oricorio, Typhlosion, Pyroar and Houndoom all can switch in at least once and threaten Venusaur with their Fire-type attacks. Although, they should fear losing their item with Knock Off or getting poisoned with Sludge Bomb.

**Ice-types**: Beartic, Sneasel, Abomasnow, and Glastrier force Venusaur to leave the field or Terastallize in order to avoid getting OHKO'd, but they can't switch in safely without fear of losing their item or getting poisoned.

**Defensive Walls**: Mesprit, Snorlax, and Cryogonal can all stomach multiple hits and threaten it back with super effective attacks. They don't really like losing their item, but Snorlax minds the least and can heal off poisons with Rest.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sleid.601970/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kriegueur.634210/

Grammar checked by:

 

[kriegueur]

Great work, was hard to find anything worthwhile to say

Merry Christmas

Ho ho ho

add remove comment

[SET]
Defensive (Venusaur) @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overgrow
Tera Type: Water / Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spe
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain / Leech Seed
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Synthesis

[SET COMMENTS]
Venusaur is a phenomal wall in ZU with its great bulk, defensive typing, and utility movepool. Leech Seed is an option over Giga Drain to help its teammates deal with Venusaurs typical switch-ins like Mesprit, Toxicroak, and Magneton. Knock Off cripples walls that rely on Leftovers for healing like Orthworm and Weezing, offensive Pokemon that needs Heavy-Duty Boots like Oricorio and Glastrier, and Eviolite users like Magneton and Sneasel-Hisui (This Knock Off section seems like it's overly complicated, I've noticed no such long part in other analyses, granted most mons don't run knock for pure utility, maybe just listing differents archetypes of pokemon that hate loosing their item would make it better. Regardless this should mention Choice Scarf pokemon as they basically wouldn't even dare switch in on venu because of knock). Synthesis helps Venusaur's longevity, allowing it to take on pivots like Passimian, Jolteon, and Basculin over the course of the game. Leftovers is great for extra healing on teams with entry hazard removers such as Hitmontop, Sandslash and Braviary, while Heavy-Duty Boots is better at taking on hazard stack teams and when Venusaur doesn't have any removal options on its team. Tera Water helps Venusaur take on Fire-types like Charizard and Typhlosion and Oricorio-Baille and Ice-types like Beartic and Glastrier in a pinch, or just being able to stomach Hitmontop's Triple Axel (maybe not the best place to put this but I feel like it should be stated). Tera Dark is also a great option to help Venusaur take on Mesprit and Spiritomb. 88 Speed EVs allows Venusaur to outspeed Modest Clawitzer.

Balance teams appreciate Venusaur's ability to check a myriad of top Pokemon (such as ?) as well as providing utility in Knock Off and Leech Seed. Snorlax makes for a great partner, dealing with the Fire- and Ice-types, like Charizard and Beartic, that threaten to KO Venusaur (Although Snorlax is indeed a good partner for venu, it doesn't really "deal" with the ice types of the tier, as they pretty much always run a fighting type move to deal with a barely weakened snorlax themselves, granted I'm unsure how this nuance could be highlighted, if it even needs to be, this is mostly just food for thought). Poison- and Steel-types like Hisuian Sneasel and Orthworm can sit on Venusaur and threaten to set up on it, making teammates like Weezing and Sableye great for deterring them. Venusaur helps fend off fast offensive threats like Jolteon, Passimian, and Basculin which frail teammates like Sneasel, Houndoom, and Grafaiai appreciate. Venusaur does a great job at crippling defensive walls, that are forced to switch in on it, with Knock Off such as Snorlax, Cryogonal, and Braviary, which special attackers like Jolteon, Oricorio, and Spiritomb need to help get a sweep going. Grass-types hate seeing Venusaur on opposing teams since it can defend them from (this seems like it's missing a word or worded in an unclear way no ?) its Water- and Ground-type teammates like Lanturn and Sandslash. Non Heavy-Duty Boots Venusaur appreciate hazard removal so it doesn’t fear coming in multiple times over the course of a game, this makes Braviary, Hitmontop, and Sandslash helpful teammates.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Venusaur can opt for a more offensive set with Sunny Day + Chlorophyll, allowing it to outrun most of the metagame and hit like a truck with its colorful coverage in Solar Beam, Sludge Bomb, and Weather Ball. Unfortuntately, this set can flop if it can't find a good opportunity to set up Sunny Day or if it runs into special walls like Snorlax, Muk, and Fire-types. Other offensive sets like Life Orb or Eject Pack with Leaf Storm are more reliable as a wallbreaker/momentum grabber against teams that don't have sturdy Venusaur checks. Earth Power is a solid option over Knock Off to hit Magneton and Poison-types like Muk, Hisuian-Sneasel, and Toxicroak. Earth Power can also be run over your grass type move in some situations, as your opponent cannot afford to bet that you don't have one.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Poison-types**: Muk, Hisuian-Sneasel, Toxicroak, and Grafaiai all can take advantage of Venusaur's inability to hit them for significant damage. Muk can pressure Venusaur with Knock Off + Zen Headbutt, while the ladder Pokemon can set up on Venusaur with Swords Dance to muscle past it.

**Steel-types**: Orthworm, Magneton, and Perrserker can shrug off anything Venusaur throws at them. Orthworm can set up hazards or Coil up in its face, while the other two can out damage and wear it down with their STABs.

**Fire-types**: Charizard, Oricorio, Typhlosion, Pyroar and Houndoom all can switch in at least once and threaten Venusaur with their Fire-type attacks. Although, they should fear losing their item with Knock Off or getting poisoned with Sludge Bomb.

**Ice-types**: Beartic, Sneasel, Abomasnow, and Glastrier force Venusaur to leave the field or Terastallize in order to avoid getting OHKO'd, but they can't switch in safely without fear of losing their item or getting poisoned.

**Defensive Walls**: Mesprit, Snorlax, Cryogonal, and Braviary can all stomach multiple hits and threaten it back with super effective attacks. They don't really like losing their item, but Snorlax minds the least and can heal off poisons with Rest.

(Unrelated but there are many Braviary mentions in this analysis, if it so happens to leave the tier in January those will obviously have to be changed)