[OVERVIEW]
Vileplume bears a fantastic Grass / Poison typing, allowing it to defensively check many top-tier threats, such as Passimian, Steelix, and Rhydon. Vileplume also has access to a plethora of different utility moves—most notably Strength Sap and Moonlight—giving it a reliable form of recovery, making it much more menacing to face, and enabling it to pivot in against threats consistently. Vileplume's ability Effect Spore can punish physical attackers tremendously by having a 30% chance to inflict the foe with a status ailment, greatly deterring or punishing physical attackers like Passimian and Hariyama. Furthermore, Vileplume's surprisingly high Special Attack stat and access to STAB Sludge Bomb, which has a 30% chance to inflict poison, allow it to deal sufficient damage to its checks such as Incineroar and Xatu. Unfortunately, Vileplume falls short to prominent threats such as Vanilluxe, Guzzlord, and Assault Vest Slowbro. Vileplume's lack of investment in Special Defense makes it susceptible to any powerful special attacker, with offensive variants of Diancie even breaking past it. Due to Vileplume's lack of offensive presence and limited coverage options, it has a tendency to let in many dangerous setup sweepers, such as Klinklang, Braviary, and Type: Null.
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Giga Drain
move 2: Sludge Bomb
move 3: Strength Sap / Moonlight
move 4: Sleep Powder / Moonblast
item: Black Sludge
ability: Effect Spore
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Giga Drain is a reliable STAB attack, dealing with Ground-, Water-, and Rock-types like Rhydon, physically defensive Slowbro, and Diancie well while also giving it recovery. Sludge Bomb is Vileplume's strongest STAB move, allowing it to deal with Fairy- and Grass-types like Whimsicott, Mega Audino, and Sceptile, dealing efficient damage to its traditional checks such as Incineroar and Xatu, and having a 30% chance to poison foes, which makes Vileplume even more of an annoyance. Strength Sap lowers a foe's attack to recover Vileplume's HP significantly, enabling it to deter more physical attackers like Incineroar and Stoutland. Moonlight is an alternative to Strength Sap that consistently recovers half of Vileplume's HP, but Moonlight only has 8 PP compared to Strength Sap's 16 PP. Additionally, Strength Sap arguably recovers more HP in most cases, restoring its HP fully against powerful physical attackers such as Incineroar and Steelix. Sleep Powder mitigates Vileplume's passivity, putting foes like Klinklang, Braviary, and Golbat to sleep. Moonblast is also a viable option for Vileplume, allowing it to completely counter Scrafty and deal more damage to the likes of Sneasel and Guzzlord. Aromatherapy can be used on more defensively oriented teams to heal Vileplume's teammates of any status ailments.
Set Details
========
Maximum investment in HP and Defense alongside a Bold nature allows Vileplume to be as bulky as possible, checking Pokemon like Passimian and Steelix to the best of its abilities. Black Sludge provides Vileplume with passive recovery and is encouraged over Leftovers to deter any Trick and Switcheroo users like Whimsicott and Rotom. Effect Spore is one of Vileplume's main beneficial qualities, having the chance to inflict status conditions on foes that make contact with Vileplume such as Passimian and Hariyama.
Usage Tips
========
Vileplume should always be switched in against Fighting-types that can't deal too much damage to it like Passimian, Hariyama, Scrafty, and Hitmonlee, as Vileplume can tank a majority of their hits, threaten them with Effect Spore, and retaliate back with its own attacks such as Moonblast and Giga Drain. Vileplume also walls most Stealth Rock setters—namely Steelix, Rhydon, Palossand, and defensive Diancie—making it a safe switch-in to these Pokemon. Sludge Bomb should be used consistently unless the opponent has a Steel-type that checks Vileplume, as the damage output is satisfactory and the 30% chance to poison foes can help cripple them much more easily. If opting for Moonlight, use it sparingly due to its low PP. However, Vileplume can and should attempt to recover health with Giga Drain and Black Sludge as well. Vileplume is also capable of checking fellow Grass-types thanks to its typing, meaning it should aim to come in against Decidueye, Whimsicott, Dhelmise, and Sceptile.
Team Options
========
Vileplume works best as a Fighting-type check and deterrent, so Dark-types like Incineroar, Sneasel, Guzzlord, and Scrafty work well with Vileplume. These Dark-types can also take care of problematic Psychic-types such as Delphox, Assault Vest Slowbro, and Assault Vest Slowking. Water-types such as Slowbro, Slowking, Vaporeon, and Quagsire can take care of the Fire-types that greatly threaten Vileplume. Vileplume is highly susceptible to many Flying-types like Braviary, Vivillon, and Golbat, which Rock-types like Diancie and Rhydon and Steel-types like Steelix are capable of dealing with. Fire-types such as Incineroar, Magmortar, Delphox, and Houndoom are appreciated as teammates when using Vileplume, checking fearsome Ice-types like Vanilluxe, Sneasel, and Cryogonal. Sneasel is another good partner that can Pursuit trap and eliminate these Ice-types.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Fire is an option for Vileplume's fourth moveslot, catching Steel-types like Klinklang, Ferroseed, and Silvally-Steel that typically wall Vileplume, although Sleep Powder can prove to be more troublesome for Silvally-Steel. Leech Seed is a move Vileplume can opt to run, giving it passive recovery while chipping away at the foe. However, in most cases, Vileplume is better off attacking foes with Sludge Bomb. Stun Spore can be used to slow down faster foes to assist Vileplume's teammates. Worry Seed can be used as a last resort to attempt to cripple RestTalk Malamar by negating its ability, Contrary, while barring it from using Rest. However, Worry Seed is an extremely situational move that usually isn't worth using.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-types**: Golbat is capable of walling Vileplume endlessly, taking minuscule amounts of damage from Vileplume and landing a 2HKO with Brave Bird. Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary can set up against Vileplume and can almost OHKO it with an unboosted Brave Bird, while Choice Scarf Braviary can eat a hit from Vileplume and OHKO with Brave Bird. Furthermore, Braviary benefits greatly from Strength Sap thanks to Defiant. Sigilyph, Vivillon, and Dodrio can all check Vileplume with their STAB attacks as well.
**Fire-types**: Incineroar, Houndoom, Magmortar, and Delphox are all capable of OHKOing Vileplume with their Fire-type attacks without any difficulty. However, these Fire-types may struggle to switch into Vileplume's Sludge Bomb if Stealth Rock is on the field, as it deals decent damage and has a chance to poison foes.
**Ice-types**: Cryogonal tanks any hit from Vileplume and deals massive damage in return with its STAB attacks. Similarly, other prominent Ice-types like Sneasel, Piloswine, and especially Vanilluxe can dent Vileplume significantly with their STAB attacks. Lastly, Alolan Sandslash takes little to no damage from Vileplume's STAB attacks while dealing sufficient damage in return with its Ice-type attacks.
**Psychic-types**: Assault Vest Slowbro and Assault Vest Slowking can both check Vileplume semi-reliably with their coverage or STAB attacks and their boosted Special Defense, but they must remain wary of Vileplume's Giga Drain. Additionally, Sigilyph, Delphox, and Uxie all check Vileplume with relative ease, taking Sludge Bomb decently well and having Psychic-type attacks to threaten it in return. Medicham also deals with Vileplume with Zen Headbutt but takes a substantial amount of damage from Sludge Bomb thanks to its poor defensive stats. Z-Happy Hour Malamar is capable of beating Vileplume, although RestTalk variants fall short to Moonblast or Worry Seed variants of Vileplume and to the annoyance of Effect Spore. Xatu can also prevent Vileplume from healing if Vileplume is using Strength Sap over Moonlight.
**Setup Sweepers**: Pokemon such as Incineroar, Klinklang, Type: Null, Vivillon, and Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary can all set up against Vileplume thanks to either them resisting its attacks or just due to their sheer bulk. However, Incineroar, Vivillon, and Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary may struggle to set up against Vileplume effectively if they have been chipped. On the other hand, Klinklang and Type: Null can set up against Vileplume with ease; the only thing they have to fear is Sleep Powder, which Klinklang can avoid with Substitute, and potential side effects from Effect Spore.
Vileplume bears a fantastic Grass / Poison typing, allowing it to defensively check many top-tier threats, such as Passimian, Steelix, and Rhydon. Vileplume also has access to a plethora of different utility moves—most notably Strength Sap and Moonlight—giving it a reliable form of recovery, making it much more menacing to face, and enabling it to pivot in against threats consistently. Vileplume's ability Effect Spore can punish physical attackers tremendously by having a 30% chance to inflict the foe with a status ailment, greatly deterring or punishing physical attackers like Passimian and Hariyama. Furthermore, Vileplume's surprisingly high Special Attack stat and access to STAB Sludge Bomb, which has a 30% chance to inflict poison, allow it to deal sufficient damage to its checks such as Incineroar and Xatu. Unfortunately, Vileplume falls short to prominent threats such as Vanilluxe, Guzzlord, and Assault Vest Slowbro. Vileplume's lack of investment in Special Defense makes it susceptible to any powerful special attacker, with offensive variants of Diancie even breaking past it. Due to Vileplume's lack of offensive presence and limited coverage options, it has a tendency to let in many dangerous setup sweepers, such as Klinklang, Braviary, and Type: Null.
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Giga Drain
move 2: Sludge Bomb
move 3: Strength Sap / Moonlight
move 4: Sleep Powder / Moonblast
item: Black Sludge
ability: Effect Spore
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Giga Drain is a reliable STAB attack, dealing with Ground-, Water-, and Rock-types like Rhydon, physically defensive Slowbro, and Diancie well while also giving it recovery. Sludge Bomb is Vileplume's strongest STAB move, allowing it to deal with Fairy- and Grass-types like Whimsicott, Mega Audino, and Sceptile, dealing efficient damage to its traditional checks such as Incineroar and Xatu, and having a 30% chance to poison foes, which makes Vileplume even more of an annoyance. Strength Sap lowers a foe's attack to recover Vileplume's HP significantly, enabling it to deter more physical attackers like Incineroar and Stoutland. Moonlight is an alternative to Strength Sap that consistently recovers half of Vileplume's HP, but Moonlight only has 8 PP compared to Strength Sap's 16 PP. Additionally, Strength Sap arguably recovers more HP in most cases, restoring its HP fully against powerful physical attackers such as Incineroar and Steelix. Sleep Powder mitigates Vileplume's passivity, putting foes like Klinklang, Braviary, and Golbat to sleep. Moonblast is also a viable option for Vileplume, allowing it to completely counter Scrafty and deal more damage to the likes of Sneasel and Guzzlord. Aromatherapy can be used on more defensively oriented teams to heal Vileplume's teammates of any status ailments.
Set Details
========
Maximum investment in HP and Defense alongside a Bold nature allows Vileplume to be as bulky as possible, checking Pokemon like Passimian and Steelix to the best of its abilities. Black Sludge provides Vileplume with passive recovery and is encouraged over Leftovers to deter any Trick and Switcheroo users like Whimsicott and Rotom. Effect Spore is one of Vileplume's main beneficial qualities, having the chance to inflict status conditions on foes that make contact with Vileplume such as Passimian and Hariyama.
Usage Tips
========
Vileplume should always be switched in against Fighting-types that can't deal too much damage to it like Passimian, Hariyama, Scrafty, and Hitmonlee, as Vileplume can tank a majority of their hits, threaten them with Effect Spore, and retaliate back with its own attacks such as Moonblast and Giga Drain. Vileplume also walls most Stealth Rock setters—namely Steelix, Rhydon, Palossand, and defensive Diancie—making it a safe switch-in to these Pokemon. Sludge Bomb should be used consistently unless the opponent has a Steel-type that checks Vileplume, as the damage output is satisfactory and the 30% chance to poison foes can help cripple them much more easily. If opting for Moonlight, use it sparingly due to its low PP. However, Vileplume can and should attempt to recover health with Giga Drain and Black Sludge as well. Vileplume is also capable of checking fellow Grass-types thanks to its typing, meaning it should aim to come in against Decidueye, Whimsicott, Dhelmise, and Sceptile.
Team Options
========
Vileplume works best as a Fighting-type check and deterrent, so Dark-types like Incineroar, Sneasel, Guzzlord, and Scrafty work well with Vileplume. These Dark-types can also take care of problematic Psychic-types such as Delphox, Assault Vest Slowbro, and Assault Vest Slowking. Water-types such as Slowbro, Slowking, Vaporeon, and Quagsire can take care of the Fire-types that greatly threaten Vileplume. Vileplume is highly susceptible to many Flying-types like Braviary, Vivillon, and Golbat, which Rock-types like Diancie and Rhydon and Steel-types like Steelix are capable of dealing with. Fire-types such as Incineroar, Magmortar, Delphox, and Houndoom are appreciated as teammates when using Vileplume, checking fearsome Ice-types like Vanilluxe, Sneasel, and Cryogonal. Sneasel is another good partner that can Pursuit trap and eliminate these Ice-types.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Fire is an option for Vileplume's fourth moveslot, catching Steel-types like Klinklang, Ferroseed, and Silvally-Steel that typically wall Vileplume, although Sleep Powder can prove to be more troublesome for Silvally-Steel. Leech Seed is a move Vileplume can opt to run, giving it passive recovery while chipping away at the foe. However, in most cases, Vileplume is better off attacking foes with Sludge Bomb. Stun Spore can be used to slow down faster foes to assist Vileplume's teammates. Worry Seed can be used as a last resort to attempt to cripple RestTalk Malamar by negating its ability, Contrary, while barring it from using Rest. However, Worry Seed is an extremely situational move that usually isn't worth using.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-types**: Golbat is capable of walling Vileplume endlessly, taking minuscule amounts of damage from Vileplume and landing a 2HKO with Brave Bird. Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary can set up against Vileplume and can almost OHKO it with an unboosted Brave Bird, while Choice Scarf Braviary can eat a hit from Vileplume and OHKO with Brave Bird. Furthermore, Braviary benefits greatly from Strength Sap thanks to Defiant. Sigilyph, Vivillon, and Dodrio can all check Vileplume with their STAB attacks as well.
**Fire-types**: Incineroar, Houndoom, Magmortar, and Delphox are all capable of OHKOing Vileplume with their Fire-type attacks without any difficulty. However, these Fire-types may struggle to switch into Vileplume's Sludge Bomb if Stealth Rock is on the field, as it deals decent damage and has a chance to poison foes.
**Ice-types**: Cryogonal tanks any hit from Vileplume and deals massive damage in return with its STAB attacks. Similarly, other prominent Ice-types like Sneasel, Piloswine, and especially Vanilluxe can dent Vileplume significantly with their STAB attacks. Lastly, Alolan Sandslash takes little to no damage from Vileplume's STAB attacks while dealing sufficient damage in return with its Ice-type attacks.
**Psychic-types**: Assault Vest Slowbro and Assault Vest Slowking can both check Vileplume semi-reliably with their coverage or STAB attacks and their boosted Special Defense, but they must remain wary of Vileplume's Giga Drain. Additionally, Sigilyph, Delphox, and Uxie all check Vileplume with relative ease, taking Sludge Bomb decently well and having Psychic-type attacks to threaten it in return. Medicham also deals with Vileplume with Zen Headbutt but takes a substantial amount of damage from Sludge Bomb thanks to its poor defensive stats. Z-Happy Hour Malamar is capable of beating Vileplume, although RestTalk variants fall short to Moonblast or Worry Seed variants of Vileplume and to the annoyance of Effect Spore. Xatu can also prevent Vileplume from healing if Vileplume is using Strength Sap over Moonlight.
**Setup Sweepers**: Pokemon such as Incineroar, Klinklang, Type: Null, Vivillon, and Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary can all set up against Vileplume thanks to either them resisting its attacks or just due to their sheer bulk. However, Incineroar, Vivillon, and Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary may struggle to set up against Vileplume effectively if they have been chipped. On the other hand, Klinklang and Type: Null can set up against Vileplume with ease; the only thing they have to fear is Sleep Powder, which Klinklang can avoid with Substitute, and potential side effects from Effect Spore.
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