Grass PokéChallenge: Day 6
I'm bored and I've got extra time (since I lolskipped French History since they're just doing presentations e_e) so here's the next Grass challenge, this time with the V-trio plus 1.
VIRIZION
I don't know why but I don't care for this thing. *shrug* Faivuu likes it, lol. And so do other people. I'm not one of them. I like everything about it except the design, hmm. I've got nothing else to say about it; I don't care for it
ability:
Justified
item:
life orb
nature:
adamantium
moves:
Swords Dance, Leaf Blade, Close Combat, Stone Edge
OR
Calm Mind, Hidden Power, Giga Drain, Focus Blast
Use your great speed to set up once or twice, then sweep away. It's pretty basic, really. Since it has good defenses (well, 72 isn't epic, but it does have 90 HP so it's good enough) you don't need to worry much, just do your thing.
VILEPLUME
ability:
Effect Spore
item:
leftovers / black sludge
nature:
bold, calm or modest
moves:
1, 2, 3, 4
I adore Vileplume. <3 This thing is just awesome. So much better than Bellossom. Its stats aren't epic, but they're good enough. It's slow, but it's got decent defenses and a solid 100 sp. atk. If I didn't like Roserade better, I'd have Vileplume in my team all of my times. Fighting resistance for the win, and now that it can has Effect Spore? Winning. It doesn't mean Vileplume will suddenly become OU, but he's cool in UU and has always been.
Okay, let's get to business: Fuck Chlorophyll. This is Vileplume, not Venusaur or Victreebel. Don't run Chlorophyll on it; Effect Spore is better. Not infinitely better, but better all the same. It ges no competition from Breloom because Breloom uses Poison Heal (or Technician) and it's not defensive. And Amoonguss is defensive, but it has Regeneration, so there is zero reason to have Effect Spore on it. And Parasect never runs Effect Spore these days since Dry Skin is an awesome ability which grants him a Water immunity plus healing in the rain (also makes him weaker to Fire, but Parasect can't survive any kind of Fire attack anyway, regardless of what ability it has). So use Effect Spore on Vileplume or gtfo.
Secondly... Vileplume has all the typical Grass moves you'd expect, so just pick your poison. No, seriously. You can run Stun Spore + Teeter Dance (parafusion ftw!) plus two attacks or one attack and Moonlight/Synthesis. You can also run Toxic + Venoshock and then whatever else you want (perhaps Protect, for stalling?), since Vileplume is one of the few poisons that can do this effectively and doesn't truly have "better things to do" like Tentacruel or Roserade do. Finally, it can also use Charm, Sleep Powder and Aromatherapy, all of which are handy in their own way. In terms of STAB, you'll want to almost always have Giga Drain for its Grass move, and/or Sludge Bomb for its Poison move, unless you're running Toxic and Venoshock. Its other options just aren't appealing for a pseudo-bulky guy like him. If you like spreading status like the plague (I know I do), use this guy. :]
VICTREEBEL
Victreebel is a cool guy. Now that Venusaur is running rampant in OU, Victreebel is what you want to use in UU if you like sweeping in sunlight. Unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel does not have 1,111,111 weaknesses. Unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel has 100 and 105 in both offenses and is not afraid to use both. Unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel is actually really fast during Sunny Day. And unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel gets Weather Ball amongst other goodies. I don't like sunlight-sweeping, but if I did I'd use Victreebel. :3
ability:
Chlorophyll
item:
life orb or something
nature:
timid, jolly, hasty or naive
moves:
Growth, Leaf Blade, Weather Ball, Sludge Bomb
Since Growth is now epic in sunlight, Victreebel can double both its offenses as soon as it uses the move, which is amazing. Instead of Leaf Blade, you can have Power Whip, but you'll lose Weather Ball, since both are egg moves. Weather Ball is learned via breeding with Roserade, and Roserade cannot learn Power Whip, therefore Victreebel cannot Power Whip + Weather Ball. If you love the shit out of Power Whip, do as Smogon suggests and run Hidden Power Fire, even though it's vastly inferior to Weather Ball. Like with Venusuar, the last slot can be used for Sleep Powder if you don't care for Sludge Bomb. The reason is obvious: only Grass is weak to Poison, and Grass types will die to Weather Ball as soon as you've used Growth. :]
VENUSAUR
The minute Venusaur got Chlorophyll it became epic. So long as the sun shines, Venusaur is a monster toad. Unfortunately, I actually hate the ability Chlorophyll. Almost as much as I hate depending on the weather in order to do anything. If it's not an auto-weather inducer, I'm not interested. And I don't care for Ninetales at all. So the minute Venusaur got Chlorophyll it basically lost me as a trainer. I do love it, but there's no point in tanky Overgrow Venusaur now that sweeper Chlorophyll Venusaur exists. Especially not since Tangrowth got Regenerator; he has better defenses and better offenses than Venusaur. So use Venusaur with Ninetales, period.
ability:
Chlorophyll
item:
black sludge
nature:
modest
moves:
Growth, Energy Ball/Solarbeam, Hidden Power, Sludge Bomb
By "Hidden Power" I obviously mean "Hidden Power Fire", since you'll be in the sun and its power will increase. You can have Solarbeam, but you'll be screwed if the Sunlight is gone, so Energy Ball is more reliable (but way less powerful). If you want something in-between, go with Grass Knot. No, you cannot have Giga Drain because it's not legal with Chlorophyll. I guess you could try Petal Dance, since it's basically the special Grass version of Outrage. If you don't see much use for Sludge Bomb, run Sleep Powder.
VIRIZION
I don't know why but I don't care for this thing. *shrug* Faivuu likes it, lol. And so do other people. I'm not one of them. I like everything about it except the design, hmm. I've got nothing else to say about it; I don't care for it
ability:
Justified
item:
life orb
nature:
adamantium
moves:
Swords Dance, Leaf Blade, Close Combat, Stone Edge
OR
Calm Mind, Hidden Power, Giga Drain, Focus Blast
Use your great speed to set up once or twice, then sweep away. It's pretty basic, really. Since it has good defenses (well, 72 isn't epic, but it does have 90 HP so it's good enough) you don't need to worry much, just do your thing.
VILEPLUME
ability:
Effect Spore
item:
leftovers / black sludge
nature:
bold, calm or modest
moves:
1, 2, 3, 4
I adore Vileplume. <3 This thing is just awesome. So much better than Bellossom. Its stats aren't epic, but they're good enough. It's slow, but it's got decent defenses and a solid 100 sp. atk. If I didn't like Roserade better, I'd have Vileplume in my team all of my times. Fighting resistance for the win, and now that it can has Effect Spore? Winning. It doesn't mean Vileplume will suddenly become OU, but he's cool in UU and has always been.
Okay, let's get to business: Fuck Chlorophyll. This is Vileplume, not Venusaur or Victreebel. Don't run Chlorophyll on it; Effect Spore is better. Not infinitely better, but better all the same. It ges no competition from Breloom because Breloom uses Poison Heal (or Technician) and it's not defensive. And Amoonguss is defensive, but it has Regeneration, so there is zero reason to have Effect Spore on it. And Parasect never runs Effect Spore these days since Dry Skin is an awesome ability which grants him a Water immunity plus healing in the rain (also makes him weaker to Fire, but Parasect can't survive any kind of Fire attack anyway, regardless of what ability it has). So use Effect Spore on Vileplume or gtfo.
Secondly... Vileplume has all the typical Grass moves you'd expect, so just pick your poison. No, seriously. You can run Stun Spore + Teeter Dance (parafusion ftw!) plus two attacks or one attack and Moonlight/Synthesis. You can also run Toxic + Venoshock and then whatever else you want (perhaps Protect, for stalling?), since Vileplume is one of the few poisons that can do this effectively and doesn't truly have "better things to do" like Tentacruel or Roserade do. Finally, it can also use Charm, Sleep Powder and Aromatherapy, all of which are handy in their own way. In terms of STAB, you'll want to almost always have Giga Drain for its Grass move, and/or Sludge Bomb for its Poison move, unless you're running Toxic and Venoshock. Its other options just aren't appealing for a pseudo-bulky guy like him. If you like spreading status like the plague (I know I do), use this guy. :]
VICTREEBEL
Victreebel is a cool guy. Now that Venusaur is running rampant in OU, Victreebel is what you want to use in UU if you like sweeping in sunlight. Unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel does not have 1,111,111 weaknesses. Unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel has 100 and 105 in both offenses and is not afraid to use both. Unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel is actually really fast during Sunny Day. And unlike Exeggutor, Victreebel gets Weather Ball amongst other goodies. I don't like sunlight-sweeping, but if I did I'd use Victreebel. :3
ability:
Chlorophyll
item:
life orb or something
nature:
timid, jolly, hasty or naive
moves:
Growth, Leaf Blade, Weather Ball, Sludge Bomb
Since Growth is now epic in sunlight, Victreebel can double both its offenses as soon as it uses the move, which is amazing. Instead of Leaf Blade, you can have Power Whip, but you'll lose Weather Ball, since both are egg moves. Weather Ball is learned via breeding with Roserade, and Roserade cannot learn Power Whip, therefore Victreebel cannot Power Whip + Weather Ball. If you love the shit out of Power Whip, do as Smogon suggests and run Hidden Power Fire, even though it's vastly inferior to Weather Ball. Like with Venusuar, the last slot can be used for Sleep Powder if you don't care for Sludge Bomb. The reason is obvious: only Grass is weak to Poison, and Grass types will die to Weather Ball as soon as you've used Growth. :]
VENUSAUR
The minute Venusaur got Chlorophyll it became epic. So long as the sun shines, Venusaur is a monster toad. Unfortunately, I actually hate the ability Chlorophyll. Almost as much as I hate depending on the weather in order to do anything. If it's not an auto-weather inducer, I'm not interested. And I don't care for Ninetales at all. So the minute Venusaur got Chlorophyll it basically lost me as a trainer. I do love it, but there's no point in tanky Overgrow Venusaur now that sweeper Chlorophyll Venusaur exists. Especially not since Tangrowth got Regenerator; he has better defenses and better offenses than Venusaur. So use Venusaur with Ninetales, period.
ability:
Chlorophyll
item:
black sludge
nature:
modest
moves:
Growth, Energy Ball/Solarbeam, Hidden Power, Sludge Bomb
By "Hidden Power" I obviously mean "Hidden Power Fire", since you'll be in the sun and its power will increase. You can have Solarbeam, but you'll be screwed if the Sunlight is gone, so Energy Ball is more reliable (but way less powerful). If you want something in-between, go with Grass Knot. No, you cannot have Giga Drain because it's not legal with Chlorophyll. I guess you could try Petal Dance, since it's basically the special Grass version of Outrage. If you don't see much use for Sludge Bomb, run Sleep Powder.