QC Approvals: (jc104, shrang, Pocket, Harsha) (from TNT's thread)
GP Checks: (GatoDelFuego, Oglemi)
[Overview]
<p>Victini isn't just cute; its V-create is among the most powerful attacks in the game, with only Darmanitan's Flare Blitz as competition. This makes it an excellent choice on sun teams. Its ability, Victory Star, improves the accuracy of its moves by 10%, allowing it to use its great movepool more reliably. Additionally, with Pokemon such as Technician Breloom, Thick Fat Mamoswine, and Regenerator Amoonguss making a strong show in the OU metagame, Victini has even more opportunities to come in and start firing off V-creates.</p>
<p>However, like all Pokemon, Victini suffers from flaws. First and foremost, rain being the most popular weather slightly hurts Victini's potential. Heatran and Tyranitar both consistently sitting in the top 10 of OU usage isn't doing it any favors, as both can easily come in on Choice-locked V-creates and make Victini's life difficult. It also suffers from a vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards, limiting the number of times it can switch in. Victini also faces competition from Darmanitan, although Victini does have many advantages over it, such as better defenses, Fusion Bolt, and an arguably better STAB move. Regardless, if you underestimate Victini, it will show you exactly why it is called the Victory Pokemon.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: V-create
move 2: Fusion Bolt
move 3: Brick Break
move 4: U-turn
item: Choice Band / Life Orb
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>If you look up the word "power" in the dictionary, you will see a picture of Victini. An encounter with this set will show just how hard it is to switch in to V-create; V-create blasts through standard physical walls, such as Skarmory and Forretress, and even OHKOes defensive Gliscor in sun. Not even Hippowdon can switch in safely, as it is 2HKOed by V-create. However, the stat drops of Defense, Special Defense, and Speed that occur after using V-create are very easy to take advantage of, as many Pokemon will outspeed and OHKO it. Fusion Bolt is useful for hitting Politoed on the switch, as well as other bulky Water-types like Slowbro looking to tank a V-create. Brick Break is Victini's best option to hit Heatran and Tyranitar. For the last move, U-turn maintains momentum and eases prediction when using Victini.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>To demonstrate the power of V-create, here are some damage calculations against Pokemon who resist it and/or are very bulky (all calculations assume Choice Band and an Adamant Nature):</p>
<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>V-create vs. 252/244+ Hippowdon: 62.14% - 73.09%</li>
<li>V-create vs. 252/0 Gastrodon: 64.78% - 76.29%</li>
<li>V-create vs. 0/0 Salamence: 73.11% - 86.1%</li>
<li>V-create vs. 0/0 Garchomp: 58.82% - 69.46%</li>
<li>V-create vs. 248/216+ Jellicent: 46.65% - 55.08%</li>
<li>V-create vs. 0/0 Keldeo: 68.11% - 80.18%</li>
<li>V-create vs. 0/0 Rotom-W: 78.51% - 92.56%</li>
</ul>
<p>The move tutors from Black 2 and White 2 gave Victini the move Trick, which gives it the ability to cripple many of the Pokemon commonly found on stall. However, Trick doesn't do much for Victini as it's already hard to wall in the first place. The EV spread maximizes Victini's power and Speed, while the last four EVs are placed into Defense so Victini can switch into Stealth Rock four times instead of three. Choice Band is the preferred item due to the lack of recoil and higher damage output compared to Life Orb, though Life Orb allows Victini to switch moves while keeping similarly high power. However, Life Orb recoil means Victini will be weakened far more quickly. Other item options include Fighting Gem and Charcoal. Fighting Gem can bluff a Choice item, as well as making Brick Break hit Heatran and Tyranitar hard. Charcoal can also be used, as it boosts V-create's damage output by 20%, and allows Victini to bluff a Choice item and avoid recoil. Sleep Talk is a decent move option as Victini performs excellently against Breloom and Amoonguss.</p>
<p>The three best switch-ins to Victini are Dragonite, defensive Salamence, and Heatran. Mamoswine and Starmie are therefore excellent partners, as they can take on all three at once. Dugtrio is a fantastic partner for Victini, as it can trap and KO both Heatran and Tyranitar. Ninetales is Victini's best friend, boosting the already powerful V-create to a godlike power level; for example, Victini's Choice Band V-create 2HKOes Kingdra under sun. You could also use Victini with other weather inducers that are not named Politoed, but it works best with Ninetales. Rapid Spin users, such as Forretress and Hitmontop, are good partners to eliminate entry hazards, although Espeon and Xatu are also effective at preventing entry hazards due to Magic Bounce. Grass-types, such as Breloom, Venusaur, and Virizion, and Dragon-types, such as Dragonite, are excellent partners as well, as they help weaken and eliminate Water-types for Victini.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: V-create
move 2: Fusion Bolt
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Trick / Brick Break / Flare Blitz
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With a Choice Scarf, Victini becomes a great revenge killer and scout. Although it may seem overshadowed by other Choice Scarf users at first glance, its access to U-turn and a powerful STAB move in V-create gives it a niche over them. Even without a boosting item, V-create is still extremely powerful, especially with Drought support. Fusion Bolt allows Victini to revenge kill Tornadus-T and Gyarados in the rain, while also picking off weakened Politoed. U-turn helps maintain momentum as well as making Victini's life easier by giving it an easy way of escaping from its counters. In the last slot, Trick is generally the best choice as it cripples most walls, which are particularly troublesome without any sort of power boost. However, Brick Break is Victini's only way of hitting Heatran and Tyranitar hard, although its low damage output makes it discouraging. Flare Blitz can be a useful move to revenge kill a Pokemon and potentially sweep late-game without lowering Victini's Speed.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>An Adamant nature is preferred because it allows Victini to outspeed Choice Scarf Rotom-W while still having respectable power; for example, Adamant Victini's V-create is just as powerful as Jolly Darmanitan's Flare Blitz. Due to the lower damage output compared to other sets, Hippowdon is an excellent counter to this set as it can take V-creates and stall Victini out; therefore, carrying powerful Grass-types such as Breloom and Venusaur is ideal and recommended. Heatran is also a problem, as it can switch in with ease, and bulkier variants are not even 2HKOed by Brick Break. Therefore, Fighting-types, such as Terrakion, and Dragon-types, such as Salamence and Garchomp, are great partners. With this set, Ninetales support is essentially mandatory as Victini will really need the extra power boost to V-create due to its lack of a power-boosting item. Forretress is a great partner as well, as it can both set up hazards and remove them, both of which are useful assets and increase Victini's effectiveness tremendously. Dugtrio is a fantastic partner because it can eliminate Heatran and Tyranitar, two obstacles to Victini's success.</p>
[SET]
name: Final Gambit
move 1: Final Gambit
move 2: U-turn
move 3: V-create
move 4: Trick
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Victini also has access to Final Gambit, an effective way of guaranteeing a KO early-game. Although it looks similar to the Choice Scarf set, it plays differently, as it attempts to sacrifice itself to eliminate a crucial member of the opponent's team as opposed to revenge killing. Final Gambit is especially useful for eliminating opposing weather inducers, allowing its team to win the weather war. U-turn is useful on this set because it scouts for Ghost-types looking to switch in on Final Gambit. Despite the lowered Attack investment, V-create still does acceptable damage thanks to its high Base Power. For the last moveslot, Trick cripples Ghost-types, Blissey, and Chansey who look to tank a Final Gambit. Because Victini is weaker, it will not mind losing the Scarf.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>A Jolly Nature is used on this set to ensure that Victini uses Final Gambit before the opponent attacks. Fusion Bolt can be used to hit the bulky Water-types who are hit super effectively by it, although it is very weak with no Attack investment. If Victini is not being used to lead, entry hazards will severely cripple it, as this weakens Final Gambit. Although you should be using this set as a lead, Rapid Spin users or Magic Bounce Pokemon are appreciated if Victini is not being used as a lead. As Ghost-types can switch in to block Final Gambit, Pursuit users such as Tyranitar and Scizor are helpful to eliminate them. If Ninetales is used alongside Victini, Chlorophyll sweepers work well with it assuming Final Gambit hits any possible opposing weather inducer, as they will be able to sweep without worrying about an opposing weather inducer coming in.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Victini can run a special set as it has a wide special movepool containing a plethora of moves such as Fire Blast, Psychic, Focus Blast, and Thunder. However, special sets are outclassed by Volcarona, Heatran, Chandelure, and even Charizard due to Victini's inferior Special Attack stat. Zen Headbutt hits a few Pokemon, such as Toxicroak, Keldeo, Amoonguss, Tentacruel, and Terrakion, without lowering Victini's stats, but it is not good coverage-wise. Although a mixed set could work, physical variants of Victini will hit harder because of the sheer wallbreaking power of a maximally invested V-create. A support set can work, as Victini has access to Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave, but this set is discouraged due to Victini's relatively poor defensive typing. However, Will-O-Wisp can make it easier to get past Slowbro. Sleep Talk is another option as Victini can switch in on Breloom and Amoonguss with ease thanks to its typing and bulk. Substitute can be used to help against revenge killers such as Terrakion and Garchomp. Sunny Day makes Victini much more self-sustaining; for example, Sunny Day and Focus Blast can be used to beat Tyranitar. However, these options may cause Victini to lose out on important coverage.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Due to its versatility and power, there are no foolproof Victini counters. Dragonite and defensive Salamence are the closest you can get to Victini counters, although both are still hit very hard by a Choice Band V-create. Bulky Water-types, especially Politoed, can work as switch-ins to V-create, but all of them except Politoed must be wary of switching in on V-create under sun. Additionally, bulky Water-types must be careful about switching in on Fusion Bolt. Out of all of the bulky Water-types, Slowbro and Politoed can switch in the most easily thanks to Regenerator and Drizzle, respectively. Hippowdon can tank hits from Choice Scarf variants, but must look out for Choice Band and Final Gambit variants. Flash Fire users, such as Heatran and Chandelure, can switch in on V-create thanks to their immunity, but Heatran needs to watch out for Brick Break and Chandelure will take a heavy hit from Fusion Bolt due to its frailness.</p>
<p>It is much easier to check Victini than it is to counter it. Dugtrio gets a special mention as it can easily revenge kill Victini locked into V-create or Fusion Bolt. Additionally, Terrakion, Landorus, Salamence, Garchomp, and Tyranitar can all check Victini with ease as they can all hit it for super effective damage. After Victini uses V-create, it is easily revenge killed by the likes of Darmanitan and Sawsbuck under sun. Additionally, V-create's side effect of lowering Speed often eliminates the need for a Choice Scarf to revenge kill Victini.</p>
