[Overview]
<p>Venusaur is, without a doubt, the best Chlorophyll sweeper available. Access to a fantastic boosting move in Growth and a versatile movepool make Venusaur a top tier threat. In addition, Venusaur's decent bulk and typing allow it plenty of opportunities to use Growth, with great resistances to common Water-, Electric-, Grass-, and Fighting-type attacks. Furthermore, it wields the dangerous move Sleep Powder, which can incapacitate a foe, making Venusaur's job much easier. If that weren't enough, Venusaur's DW Egg move illegalities are no longer in effect, so it can now use powerful moves such as Power Whip and Giga Drain to put even more offensive pressure on the opponent. Even though Venusaur has average stats and is heavily reliant on weather, it is more than capable of plowing through teams.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Growth
move 1: Growth
move 2: Giga Drain / SolarBeam
move 3: Sludge Bomb
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Sleep Powder
item: Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Venusaur is a complete and utter terror under the sun, as each of its offensive stats are doubled, factoring in a Growth boost and Chlorophyll. After one Growth, Venusaur can use its strong moves to at least 2HKO every Pokemon in the tier, besides Heatran, which is quite an impressive feat. Giga Drain is Venusaur's best STAB option, as it is quite powerful and can heal off the Life Orb recoil. It also has the benefit of being able to take on Tyranitar and Politoed without too much trouble. However, SolarBeam is absurdly powerful under the sun, so it's a perfectly viable option. Unfortunately, it only has 60 Base Power in sand and rain and it needs two turns to work, making it an unattractive option against Tyranitar and Politoed.</p>
<p>Sludge Bomb is a great coverage move, as it gets STAB and is Venusaur's only hope against Dragon-types, especially Dragonite, Salamence, and Latias. The final slot usually goes to Hidden Power Fire because without it, Venusaur has no way around Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory. It also gets pseudo STAB due to the boost to Fire-type moves in the sun. However, Sleep Powder is a devious option to bring the opponent to a full stop, which gives Venusaur plenty of opportunities to use Growth.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Venusaur can use a Timid nature to outspeed base 108 Choice Scarf users such as Terrakion and Infernape. However, the drop in power is significant. Venusaur can utilize a Lum Berry to protect it once from paralysis, but it greatly appreciates the boost from a Life Orb. Venusaur also has a few other STAB moves at its disposal. Energy Ball has 5 more Base Power than Giga Drain, but Giga Drain's ability to recover HP is generally more desirable. Leaf Storm is Venusaur's most power option, coming off at 210 Base Power after STAB, though the -2 drop in Special Attack is unfortunate. In addition to its STAB attacks, Hidden Power Fighting can be used in the last slot against Heatran, which would otherwise wall this set entirely.</p>
<p>Venusaur cannot, and should not, run this set without the support of Drought Ninetales, who makes most of Venusaur's monstrosity possible. Politoed and Tyranitar are huge trouble-makers for Venusaur, so trappers such as Wobbuffet, Chandelure, and Dugtrio are good partners for trapping and KOing these weather inducers. Dugtrio deserves a special mention for being able to trap Heatran, one of Venusaur's biggest counters. Fighting-types, such as Terrakion, Mienshao, and Conkledurr help Venusaur immensely because they are great counters to Heatran, Blissey, and Chansey, who all wall Venusaur to hell and back. Chandelure is great for trapping defensive Steel-types, who wall Venusaur that lack Hidden Power Fire, as its powerful Fire STAB is boosted in the sun.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Growth / Swords Dance
move 2: Power Whip
move 3: Earthquake / Return
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Sleep Powder
item: Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Lonely / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Venusaur's Attack stat is good enough to use a physical set to surprise its usual counters. Heatran will always be OHKOed by a +2 Earthquake while Power Whip is a guaranteed 2HKO on both Blissey and Chansey, which is quite impressive. Power Whip is the obligatory STAB move, 2HKOing anything that doesn't resist it after a Growth. In addition to Power Whip, Venusaur can use a coverage move in the third slot. Earthquake is the best option, because it allows Venusaur to fight back against its usual counters, such as Heatran. Earthquake is also the best option against standard Bulky Quiver Dance Volcarona, since the move has a good chance to 2HKO. However, Return can be used to provide decent neutral coverage with Power Whip, being resisted solely by Steel-types and Gengar. It is also Venusaur's only option against Levitating Dragon-types, such as Dragonite, Salamence, Latios, and Latias. In the last slot, Hidden Power Fire is generally the best option because it hits bulky Steel-types, such as Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory where it hurts: their lesser Special Defense. However, Sleep Powder can be used instead if Venusaur would like more opportunities to use Growth.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>If Sleep Powder is chosen in the last slot, this set can be slightly altered to compensate for the loss of a special move. An Adamant nature should replace the Lonely nature that's given so Venusaur doesn't lose some of its decent bulk. Swords Dance should also replace Growth since it is not affected by weather like Growth is. However, as previously stated, these options shouldn't be considered unless Venusaur chooses to use Sleep Powder over Hidden Power Fire. Other options include running Seed Bomb over Power Whip for more reliability, but Power Whip's power is generally too good to pass up, and using a Hasty nature to outspeed Choice Scarf Terrakion and Infernape, though Venusaur loses the 2HKO with Power Whip on Blissey and Chansey.</p>
<p>Once again, Drought Ninetales and weather trappers, such as Chandelure, Wobbuffet, and Dugtrio, are great partners for Venusaur, as they ensure that Venusaur stays in the sun. Choice Band Scizor is also a great partner because it removes Latios and Latias, who wall this variant of Venusaur to no end. Chandelure is also a great partner for Hidden Power Fire-less Venusaur, as it can trap and kill defensive Steel-types that resist Earthquake, such as Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory. Volcarona loves being paired with physical Venusaur, as it removes Blissey, Chansey, and Heatran who all wall Volcarona, as well as absorbing Toxic Spikes.</p>
[SET]
name: SubSeed
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Giga Drain / Protect / Sleep Powder
item: Leftovers
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Bold
evs: 192 HP / 252 Def / 52 SpD / 12 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Venusaur can even forgo its incredible offensive potential to run a SubSeed set. Venusaur's blazing fast speed, decent bulk, and good typing make it a surprisingly effective staller. Leech Seed and Substitute form the exceedingly obnoxious combo that will make your opponent rip their hair out and cuss at the screen in frustration. Hidden Power Fire is a must on this set; it removes the pesky Grass-types who are immune to Leech Seed, most notably Ferrothorn and Breloom. The last option is up to preference; Giga Drain is useful for providing a strong STAB option and added healing, while Protect is a great choice for providing additional stall with Substitute and Leech Seed, however Sleep Powder allows Venusaur to set up Substitute much more easily.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>This EV spread is used so Venusaur can be fairly bulky and extremely fast in the sun. Choice Band Scizor's Bullet Bunch is only a 3HKO, giving plenty of time to use Leech Seed or Hidden Power Fire. 12 Speed EVs allow Venusaur to hit 396 Speed in the sun, which is enough to outspeed positive-natured base 130 Speed Pokemon such as Jolteon. Move-wise, Synthesis can be used to recover 2/3 of its total HP in the sun, however, Venusaur already has good enough recovery between Leech Seed, Leftovers, and Giga Drain, and Synthesis's low 8 PP hurts it. Toxic is an option in the last slot to provide additional stall, however Venusaur desperately needs the STAB move in Giga Drain or the utility in Sleep Powder.</p>
<p>Drought Ninetales is one of this set's best friends, however this variant of Venusaur doesn't depend on it as does the offensive ones. Toxic Spikes support is also crucial so Venusaur can stall much more quickly and efficiently, so support from Tentacruel is recommended, mainly because it resists Fire-type attacks as well as being able to provide Rapid Spin support. Magic Guard users such as Reuniclus and Alakazam love switching into Leech Seed and KOing Venusaur with their powerful Psychic-type attacks, so Scizor is a great Pokemon to take care of these Pokemon. Liquid Ooze Tentacruel enjoys switching into Leech Seed, so Pokemon such as Psyshock Starmie or Slowbro are excellent partners for disposing of that.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>While Venusaur has a fairly good movepool, most of the options it has available to it have already been mentioned. A Choice Specs set can be used with a moveset of SolarBeam, Hidden Power Fire, Sludge Bomb, and Giga Drain, but the additional power and the ability to switch moves makes the Growth set more favorable. Petal Dance is an option on the Special Growth set, however it is generally a bad idea to lock Venusaur into a Grass-type move, due to its poor coverage. On the SubSeed set, Roar is an option if one needs a phazer, however Roar's negative priority clashes a bit with Venusaur's high speed, making it a sub-par option.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Venusaur's only niche in DW, or even regular OU for that matter, is its crazy offensive prowess in the sun. Take that sun away, and Venusaur will become another run-of-mill offensive Grass-type with slightly better coverage. While it's true weather inducers such as Politoed and Tyranitar do have slight issues taking powerful Grass-type moves from Venusaur, they are great counters because they can potentially beat Drought Ninetales, start their own weather, and begin their own wave of terror, rendering Venusaur near useless. In addition, Heatran can take any attack Venusaur throws at it bar Earthquake, and even then, Heatran can avoid that with an Air Balloon. Heatran can then proceed to KO Venusaur with a strong Fire-type attack. Blissey and Chansey are great counters to the Special Growth set due to their amazing HP and Special Defense, however they struggle against the SubSeed set and cannot stay in on the Physical Attacker set at all.</p>
