Howdy! Here it is, just under three months after reservation... Anyhow, this is mostly done so I wanted to post it now so I can start getting feedback and we can get this uploaded. I'm not 100% happy with this analysis (I thought it would be longer honestly), so you might see sudden edits, especially early on, so be mindful of that. One thing in particular that is worth noting is how I approached the Swords Dance Set. This set is barely viable, so I tried my best to both sell it and illustrate its drawbacks without spending to much time on it. Hopefully it looks alright. This is my first RBY OU Analysis, so I look forward to working with the QC Team here. Cheers!
[OVERVIEW]
Victreebel got lucky in RBY OU. It doesn't have any very obvious strengths, having decent offensive capabilities, mediocre bulk, and a lousy typing. However, Victreebel has a good variety of tools to play with that allow it to exploit certain practices that are commonplace in the meta. Its Speed tier sets it right in the middle of OU and is shared with Cloyster. Thanks to Wrap and Sleep Powder, Victreebel is able to keep itself safe while bullying much of the tier's slowest staples, like Exeggutor, Chansey, and Snorlax. Likewise, anything paralyzed is liable to fall victim to Victreebel's repetitive Wrapping. Victreebel also has a very powerful Razor Leaf that can deal hefty damage to several key Pokemon, like Starmie, Slowbro, Lapras, and Rhydon, the last of which it will always OHKO. Victreebel has plenty of other toys to play with if it wishes as well, such as Stun Spore and Swords Dance. These traits make Victreebel a menace against slower teams and mismanaged paralysis. It is undoubtedly one of the best Pokemon for closing games against weakened teams.
Victreebel, however, has numerous flaws that have reduced it to more of a niche threat than a tier staple in recent times. In the modern meta, teams are typically much faster and leads, like Starmie, Alakazam, and Jynx, are more inclined to switch early on and dodge paralysis. While Chansey is very likely to be paralyzed, Victreebel may find it difficult to pressure anything else and its mere presence is often an item invitation for fast Psychic-type Pokemon. Additionally, the slight decrease in Exeggutor usage has ironically been to Victreebel's detriment as well. While the two compete as Grass-type sleepers, its reduced role in the meta has contributed to faster teams and took away a prime Pokemon Victreebel could dominate with Sleep Powder or Wrap. Aside from recent metagame shifts, some of the same old issues continue to plague Victreebel. These include its horrendous weaknesses to Ice and Psychic, terrible vulnerability to paralysis, inability to threaten Gengar, and poor consistency, owing to the imperfect accuracy of Wrap, Razor Leaf, and its status moves.
[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Sleep Powder
move 2: Wrap
move 3: Razor Leaf
move 4: Stun Spore / Hyper Beam
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Thanks to its middling Speed, Victreebel is capable of threatening about half of the tier with Sleep Powder. In general, Victreebel is most effective as a sleeper when it can get in against a slower foe with minimal risk. For example, when Chansey is likely to use Soft-Boiled or Snorlax is about to wake up from Rest, Victreebel can usually sneak in and use Sleep Powder. Likewise, if a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Slowbro is likely to come in, Victreebel can usually find an entry point. Practically speaking, however, Victreebel tends to be confined to the late-game, as revealing it too early may make paralyzing some of your opponent's faster Pokemon more difficult. As such, Sleep Powder is often an endgame tool, something it can use to threaten Tauros and other common end-game Pokemon. Wrap makes Victreebel a capable pivot and occasional sweeper; Victreebel can use the move to quickly get its teammates great matchups with little risk. For example, Wrapping a Chansey can provide passage for Snorlax and Wrapping an Exeggutor can provide passage for Jynx. Faster Pokemon are also vulnerable; if something like Alakazam, Starmie, or Zapdos tries to come in and threaten paralysis, then something like Chansey, Jolteon, or Rhydon can come in for free. Finally, if the opposing team is entirely slower than Victreebel, it can gradually chip away the team's health until it can pick its members off with its attacks or swap out to a sweeper like Tauros to finish the job. Razor Leaf is Victreebel's strongest STAB move and primary attacking move. Water- and Rock-type Pokemon typically fold after just a hit or two, allowing Victreebel to reliably force switches when facing Pokemon like paralyzed Starmie, paralyzed or resting Cloyster, Slowbro, and Rhydon. In the case of Slowbro, Razor Leaf's guaranteed critical hit enables Victreebel to deal hefty damage regardless of how many times it used Amnesia. Victreebel's ability to pressure both Starmie and Rhydon is fairly unique and one of the key traits that allowed it to rise to OU. Victreebel's last move is its least important and most flexible. Stun Spore improves Victreebel's utility with Wrap and gives it the ability to pressure faster Pokemon even after Sleep Clause has taken effect. This is especially potent when the opponent's only Pokemon faster than Victreebel is Tauros. Hyper Beam makes Victreebel a more effective sweeper in late-game scenarios. The move is actually quite strong, picking up early KOs on Pokemon like Chansey and Alakazam.
Depending on how Victreebel is played, it has a number of strong potential teammates. Starmie and Rhydon are typical partners as they create a potent offensive core. Starmie can stymie Pokemon that threaten Victreebel like Alakazam, Jynx, Cloyster, and Articuno while Victreebel can take advantage of Starmie’s ability to spread paralysis with Wrap and apply pressure to Starmie’s strongest check, Chansey. Rhydon rounds out the core by handling Electric-type Pokemon, particularly Zapdos, who threaten both Starmie and Victreebel while similarly benefiting from paralysis. Electric-type Pokemon also tend to work well with Victreebel on offensive teams as Wrap can be a valuable tool for allowing them to pivot in. Fast attackers like Zapdos and Jolteon are quite good at finishing a team that has been chipped by Wrap. Victreebel can also punish the switches to Rhydon or Golem that Electric-type Pokemon tend to encourage. Victreebel is also a fixture of Wrap teams. While less common in competitive play, Victreebel can be paired with Pokemon such as Cloyster and Dragonite to easily maintain momentum and annihilate paralyzed teams. Due to the many free switches generated by Wrap, these such teams often feature multiple fast offensive Pokemon such as Tauros, Zapdos, Jolteon, and Alakazam.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Hyper Beam
move 3: Razor Leaf
move 4: Wrap / Sleep Powder / Stun Spore
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
While Victreebel often gets the most value from a utility set based around pivoting and spreading status, it can make use of a Swords Dance set. Victreebel boasts an above-average Attack stat and can secure many important KOs after a Swords Dance. Frailer Pokemon such as Alakazam and Jynx will drop to a single +2 Hyper Beam and Chansey will drop from full health about 17.9% of the time. Thanks to its decent Speed tier, Victreebel can severely weaken or outright sweep a team with Swords Dance after only a little chip and paralysis. Razor Leaf complements Hyper Beam quite well, as it threatens many of the most physically bulky Pokemon in the tier, such as Rhydon, Cloyster, and Slowbro. The final move on the set largely comes down to team structure and personal preference. Wrap remains useful as a pivot move and can help Victreebel get a little more chip on a Pokemon to bring it into range of Hyper Beam or Razor Leaf. Sleep Powder helps Victreebel find turns to set up with Swords Dance and punish Pokemon that might be brought in to stop a sweep, like Tauros or an Electric-type Pokemon. Stun Spore acts similarly, heavily punishing common switchins in the endgame. While paralysis is generally weaker than sleep, Stun Spore may be preferred as it is not inhibited by Sleep Clause so it can be used at any point in the match. Moreover, because Victreebel is often best at switching in and setting up on Pokemon that are already asleep, the move may be redundant.
While Victreebel can succeed with this set, it has several notable limitations. Victreebel’s poor typing, underwhelming bulk, and vulnerability to paralysis make setting up quite difficult, forcing Victreebel to rely on free turns from sleep and risky double switches. Victreebel needs a lot of support to not only set up with Swords Dance but also to weaken the team enough that Victreebel can do real damage. This generally means all Psychic-type Pokemon on the opposing team need to be paralyzed and hard walls like Gengar need to be eliminated. Finally, while Victreebel is arguably the best user of Swords Dance in the tier, it is not necessarily the best fit for every team. Pokemon like Sandslash, Kingler, Venusaur, Pinsir, and Kabutops all offer a variety of positive traits and give Victreebel pretty stiff competition for an already niche role.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Body Slam is Victreebel’s most notable alternative option for either set. The decent base power and paralysis chance allow Victreebel to punish switch-ins without committing to moves like Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, which can potentially be blocked by a statused Pokemon or just miss. However, the middling payoff and rather high value of Victreebel’s move slots make it a rare sight. Double-Edge can potentially be run on the Swords Dance set for additional power without risking a recharge turn, but it is generally outclassed by the utility moves that give Victreebel its niche. Toxic is another possible option because it pairs well with Wrap, causing damage to accumulate much faster. Once again, however, Victreebel seldom has room to run a move like this.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Gengar**: Gengar is a hard counter to Victreebel. Aside from status moves, Victreebel is incapable of threatening Gengar at all, as it takes no damage from Wrap or Hyper Beam and very little from Razor Leaf. Gengar, on the other hand, can put Victreebel to sleep with Hypnosis or quickly KO it with Night Shade or the occasional Psychic. Wrap still immobilizes Gengar despite not doing any damage, so it can’t switch in entirely for free.
**Paralysis**: Victreebel is severely incapacitated by paralysis. With all of its healthy foes faster than it, Victreebel will no longer be able to use Wrap to pressure slower targets and pivot. Additionally, Wrap will hit only a mere 66% of the time once Victreebel is paralyzed, making it an inconsistent option even against paralyzed targets. Likewise, the imperfect accuracies of Razor Leaf, Hyper Beam, Sleep Powder, and Stun Spore are exacerbated by paralysis. Pokemon like Alakazam and Starmie will typically try to use Thunder Wave to dispatch Victreebel as fast as possible and slower Pokemon like Chansey and Exeggutor will be happy to punish any Wrap misses with Thunder Wave and Stun Spore, respectively.
**Psychic- and Ice-type Moves**: Psychic and Ice-type moves deal hefty damage to Victreebel, typically scoring a 2HKO. Alakazam, Starmie, and Jynx all outspeed Victreebel and can 2HKO Victreebel with Psychic or. in the case of the latter two, Blizzard. Slower Pokemon can also harshly punish misses and poor switches. Exeggutor and Lapras both score 2HKOes with their super effective STAB moves, though the latter takes a lot from Razor Leaf. Chansey can also get a 3HKO if it happens to carry Ice Beam. Cloyster is an incredibly awkward matchup, as the two Speed tie and 2HKO with their primary STAB moves, with Victreebel potentially getting the KO outright if Cloyster has sustained even the slightest chip.
**Flying-Type Pokemon**: Considering they resist Razor Leaf, Flying-type Pokemon tend to be strong answers to Victreebel. Zapdos is by far the most common and can easily dispatch Victreebel with Thunder Wave or 2HKO it with Drill Peck. The other two Legendary Birds, Articuno and Moltres, also outspeed and can 2HKO with Blizzard and Fire Blast, respectively. All three birds also have impressive bulk, so they can typically survive even a +2 Hyper Beam if necessary. Dragonite is also a rather sturdy check, as it shrugs off most of Victreebel’s moves and can inhibit it with Thunder Wave or its own Wrap.
**Faster Pokemon**: Victreebel has difficulty threatening Pokemon faster than it, as it typically cannot stay in and use Wrap safely. Essentially every common Pokemon faster than Victreebel has the potential to simply wait out Victreebel’s Wrap turns and eventually punish it with a super effective attack or paralysis. Victreebel can typically punish these Pokemon before going down, such as hitting Starmie with Razor Leaf or Tauros with Stun Spore, but the matchup is generally losing for Victreebel overall.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Volk, 530877]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
[OVERVIEW]
Victreebel got lucky in RBY OU. It doesn't have any very obvious strengths, having decent offensive capabilities, mediocre bulk, and a lousy typing. However, Victreebel has a good variety of tools to play with that allow it to exploit certain practices that are commonplace in the meta. Its Speed tier sets it right in the middle of OU and is shared with Cloyster. Thanks to Wrap and Sleep Powder, Victreebel is able to keep itself safe while bullying much of the tier's slowest staples, like Exeggutor, Chansey, and Snorlax. Likewise, anything paralyzed is liable to fall victim to Victreebel's repetitive Wrapping. Victreebel also has a very powerful Razor Leaf that can deal hefty damage to several key Pokemon, like Starmie, Slowbro, Lapras, and Rhydon, the last of which it will always OHKO. Victreebel has plenty of other toys to play with if it wishes as well, such as Stun Spore and Swords Dance. These traits make Victreebel a menace against slower teams and mismanaged paralysis. It is undoubtedly one of the best Pokemon for closing games against weakened teams.
Victreebel, however, has numerous flaws that have reduced it to more of a niche threat than a tier staple in recent times. In the modern meta, teams are typically much faster and leads, like Starmie, Alakazam, and Jynx, are more inclined to switch early on and dodge paralysis. While Chansey is very likely to be paralyzed, Victreebel may find it difficult to pressure anything else and its mere presence is often an item invitation for fast Psychic-type Pokemon. Additionally, the slight decrease in Exeggutor usage has ironically been to Victreebel's detriment as well. While the two compete as Grass-type sleepers, its reduced role in the meta has contributed to faster teams and took away a prime Pokemon Victreebel could dominate with Sleep Powder or Wrap. Aside from recent metagame shifts, some of the same old issues continue to plague Victreebel. These include its horrendous weaknesses to Ice and Psychic, terrible vulnerability to paralysis, inability to threaten Gengar, and poor consistency, owing to the imperfect accuracy of Wrap, Razor Leaf, and its status moves.
[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Sleep Powder
move 2: Wrap
move 3: Razor Leaf
move 4: Stun Spore / Hyper Beam
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Thanks to its middling Speed, Victreebel is capable of threatening about half of the tier with Sleep Powder. In general, Victreebel is most effective as a sleeper when it can get in against a slower foe with minimal risk. For example, when Chansey is likely to use Soft-Boiled or Snorlax is about to wake up from Rest, Victreebel can usually sneak in and use Sleep Powder. Likewise, if a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Slowbro is likely to come in, Victreebel can usually find an entry point. Practically speaking, however, Victreebel tends to be confined to the late-game, as revealing it too early may make paralyzing some of your opponent's faster Pokemon more difficult. As such, Sleep Powder is often an endgame tool, something it can use to threaten Tauros and other common end-game Pokemon. Wrap makes Victreebel a capable pivot and occasional sweeper; Victreebel can use the move to quickly get its teammates great matchups with little risk. For example, Wrapping a Chansey can provide passage for Snorlax and Wrapping an Exeggutor can provide passage for Jynx. Faster Pokemon are also vulnerable; if something like Alakazam, Starmie, or Zapdos tries to come in and threaten paralysis, then something like Chansey, Jolteon, or Rhydon can come in for free. Finally, if the opposing team is entirely slower than Victreebel, it can gradually chip away the team's health until it can pick its members off with its attacks or swap out to a sweeper like Tauros to finish the job. Razor Leaf is Victreebel's strongest STAB move and primary attacking move. Water- and Rock-type Pokemon typically fold after just a hit or two, allowing Victreebel to reliably force switches when facing Pokemon like paralyzed Starmie, paralyzed or resting Cloyster, Slowbro, and Rhydon. In the case of Slowbro, Razor Leaf's guaranteed critical hit enables Victreebel to deal hefty damage regardless of how many times it used Amnesia. Victreebel's ability to pressure both Starmie and Rhydon is fairly unique and one of the key traits that allowed it to rise to OU. Victreebel's last move is its least important and most flexible. Stun Spore improves Victreebel's utility with Wrap and gives it the ability to pressure faster Pokemon even after Sleep Clause has taken effect. This is especially potent when the opponent's only Pokemon faster than Victreebel is Tauros. Hyper Beam makes Victreebel a more effective sweeper in late-game scenarios. The move is actually quite strong, picking up early KOs on Pokemon like Chansey and Alakazam.
Depending on how Victreebel is played, it has a number of strong potential teammates. Starmie and Rhydon are typical partners as they create a potent offensive core. Starmie can stymie Pokemon that threaten Victreebel like Alakazam, Jynx, Cloyster, and Articuno while Victreebel can take advantage of Starmie’s ability to spread paralysis with Wrap and apply pressure to Starmie’s strongest check, Chansey. Rhydon rounds out the core by handling Electric-type Pokemon, particularly Zapdos, who threaten both Starmie and Victreebel while similarly benefiting from paralysis. Electric-type Pokemon also tend to work well with Victreebel on offensive teams as Wrap can be a valuable tool for allowing them to pivot in. Fast attackers like Zapdos and Jolteon are quite good at finishing a team that has been chipped by Wrap. Victreebel can also punish the switches to Rhydon or Golem that Electric-type Pokemon tend to encourage. Victreebel is also a fixture of Wrap teams. While less common in competitive play, Victreebel can be paired with Pokemon such as Cloyster and Dragonite to easily maintain momentum and annihilate paralyzed teams. Due to the many free switches generated by Wrap, these such teams often feature multiple fast offensive Pokemon such as Tauros, Zapdos, Jolteon, and Alakazam.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Hyper Beam
move 3: Razor Leaf
move 4: Wrap / Sleep Powder / Stun Spore
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
While Victreebel often gets the most value from a utility set based around pivoting and spreading status, it can make use of a Swords Dance set. Victreebel boasts an above-average Attack stat and can secure many important KOs after a Swords Dance. Frailer Pokemon such as Alakazam and Jynx will drop to a single +2 Hyper Beam and Chansey will drop from full health about 17.9% of the time. Thanks to its decent Speed tier, Victreebel can severely weaken or outright sweep a team with Swords Dance after only a little chip and paralysis. Razor Leaf complements Hyper Beam quite well, as it threatens many of the most physically bulky Pokemon in the tier, such as Rhydon, Cloyster, and Slowbro. The final move on the set largely comes down to team structure and personal preference. Wrap remains useful as a pivot move and can help Victreebel get a little more chip on a Pokemon to bring it into range of Hyper Beam or Razor Leaf. Sleep Powder helps Victreebel find turns to set up with Swords Dance and punish Pokemon that might be brought in to stop a sweep, like Tauros or an Electric-type Pokemon. Stun Spore acts similarly, heavily punishing common switchins in the endgame. While paralysis is generally weaker than sleep, Stun Spore may be preferred as it is not inhibited by Sleep Clause so it can be used at any point in the match. Moreover, because Victreebel is often best at switching in and setting up on Pokemon that are already asleep, the move may be redundant.
While Victreebel can succeed with this set, it has several notable limitations. Victreebel’s poor typing, underwhelming bulk, and vulnerability to paralysis make setting up quite difficult, forcing Victreebel to rely on free turns from sleep and risky double switches. Victreebel needs a lot of support to not only set up with Swords Dance but also to weaken the team enough that Victreebel can do real damage. This generally means all Psychic-type Pokemon on the opposing team need to be paralyzed and hard walls like Gengar need to be eliminated. Finally, while Victreebel is arguably the best user of Swords Dance in the tier, it is not necessarily the best fit for every team. Pokemon like Sandslash, Kingler, Venusaur, Pinsir, and Kabutops all offer a variety of positive traits and give Victreebel pretty stiff competition for an already niche role.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Body Slam is Victreebel’s most notable alternative option for either set. The decent base power and paralysis chance allow Victreebel to punish switch-ins without committing to moves like Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, which can potentially be blocked by a statused Pokemon or just miss. However, the middling payoff and rather high value of Victreebel’s move slots make it a rare sight. Double-Edge can potentially be run on the Swords Dance set for additional power without risking a recharge turn, but it is generally outclassed by the utility moves that give Victreebel its niche. Toxic is another possible option because it pairs well with Wrap, causing damage to accumulate much faster. Once again, however, Victreebel seldom has room to run a move like this.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Gengar**: Gengar is a hard counter to Victreebel. Aside from status moves, Victreebel is incapable of threatening Gengar at all, as it takes no damage from Wrap or Hyper Beam and very little from Razor Leaf. Gengar, on the other hand, can put Victreebel to sleep with Hypnosis or quickly KO it with Night Shade or the occasional Psychic. Wrap still immobilizes Gengar despite not doing any damage, so it can’t switch in entirely for free.
**Paralysis**: Victreebel is severely incapacitated by paralysis. With all of its healthy foes faster than it, Victreebel will no longer be able to use Wrap to pressure slower targets and pivot. Additionally, Wrap will hit only a mere 66% of the time once Victreebel is paralyzed, making it an inconsistent option even against paralyzed targets. Likewise, the imperfect accuracies of Razor Leaf, Hyper Beam, Sleep Powder, and Stun Spore are exacerbated by paralysis. Pokemon like Alakazam and Starmie will typically try to use Thunder Wave to dispatch Victreebel as fast as possible and slower Pokemon like Chansey and Exeggutor will be happy to punish any Wrap misses with Thunder Wave and Stun Spore, respectively.
**Psychic- and Ice-type Moves**: Psychic and Ice-type moves deal hefty damage to Victreebel, typically scoring a 2HKO. Alakazam, Starmie, and Jynx all outspeed Victreebel and can 2HKO Victreebel with Psychic or. in the case of the latter two, Blizzard. Slower Pokemon can also harshly punish misses and poor switches. Exeggutor and Lapras both score 2HKOes with their super effective STAB moves, though the latter takes a lot from Razor Leaf. Chansey can also get a 3HKO if it happens to carry Ice Beam. Cloyster is an incredibly awkward matchup, as the two Speed tie and 2HKO with their primary STAB moves, with Victreebel potentially getting the KO outright if Cloyster has sustained even the slightest chip.
**Flying-Type Pokemon**: Considering they resist Razor Leaf, Flying-type Pokemon tend to be strong answers to Victreebel. Zapdos is by far the most common and can easily dispatch Victreebel with Thunder Wave or 2HKO it with Drill Peck. The other two Legendary Birds, Articuno and Moltres, also outspeed and can 2HKO with Blizzard and Fire Blast, respectively. All three birds also have impressive bulk, so they can typically survive even a +2 Hyper Beam if necessary. Dragonite is also a rather sturdy check, as it shrugs off most of Victreebel’s moves and can inhibit it with Thunder Wave or its own Wrap.
**Faster Pokemon**: Victreebel has difficulty threatening Pokemon faster than it, as it typically cannot stay in and use Wrap safely. Essentially every common Pokemon faster than Victreebel has the potential to simply wait out Victreebel’s Wrap turns and eventually punish it with a super effective attack or paralysis. Victreebel can typically punish these Pokemon before going down, such as hitting Starmie with Razor Leaf or Tauros with Stun Spore, but the matchup is generally losing for Victreebel overall.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Volk, 530877]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
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