[Overview]
Deprived of consistent sun following the Chlorophyll + Drought ban, Venusaur is trapped in a tier it no longer belongs in. It can still be used on non-Drought teams as a way to "countersweep" opposing sun teams, but considering sun teams are almost always stall oriented, Venusaur is not exactly a great answer to them. Being forced to manually set its own sun if not facing a Drought team and then having to find turns to set up Growth to be threatening means the effort-to-reward ratio is way too imbalanced to merit using Venusaur in most situations. Outside of sun, Venusaur is outclassed by Ferrothorn, Amoonguss, and Celebi in pretty much all aspects despite sporting nice balanced stats and the ability to check Keldeo.
[SET]
name: Sun "Sweeper"
move 1: Sunny Day / Sleep Powder
move 2: Growth
move 3: Giga Drain
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Sludge Bomb
item: Life Orb / Heat Rock
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Timid
evs: 72 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 180 Spe
ivs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Venusaur can be used on a dedicated manual sun team, or on any other non-Drought using team, as a late-game sweeper. If using it on a dedicated manual sun team, you can replace Sunny Day with Sleep Powder or Sludge Bomb to give Venusaur a bit more coverage. Growth is needed so Venusaur has enough power to threaten bulkier Pokemon like Tentacruel, Landorus-T, and Celebi. Giga Drain is Venusaur's most reliable STAB move and allows it to threaten Pokemon like Keldeo, Politoed, Tyranitar, and Excadrill even outside of sun. Hidden Power Fire provides the best two-move coverage with Giga Drain, becomes a pseudo-STAB move in the sun, and allows Venusaur to blow through Ferrothorn and Scizor; however, Sludge Bomb is far stronger and gives Venusaur another reliable STAB move outside of sun to threaten Pokemon like Latios, Hydreigon, Breloom, and Thundurus-T.
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