Pok�mon of the Week

Venusaur, The Seed Pok�mon. After a rainy day, the flower on its back smells stronger. The scent attracts other Pok�mon. By spreading the broad petals of its flower and catching the sun's rays, it fills its body with power. It is able to convert sunlight into energy. As a result, it is more powerful in the summertime. Its flower is said to take on vivid colors if it gets plenty of nutrition and sunlight. The flower's aroma soothes the emotions of people. A bewitching aroma wafts from its flower. The fragrance becalms those engaged in a battle. Its plant blooms when it is absorbing solar energy. It stays on the move to seek sunlight.

Venusaur holds the honor of being the first fully evolved Pokemon in the Pokedex. In Red / Blue Venusaur was considered "easy mode" as it had a type advantage over the first four gyms, as well as having little trouble with Giovanni. Of course this ignores how Venusaur is largely helpless against the three hardest gyms in R/B (Sabrina, Koga, and Blaine) and doesn't handle the rival or Elite 4 particularly well. In game it was decent, but competitively Venusaur never really shined. It just couldn't set itself apart from the many other grass types. It didn't help that Celebi existed who did pretty much everything Venusaur could do better... until Black and White at least. B/W gave the plant starter Chlorophyll. This along with Drought Ninetales and an upgrade to Growth gave Venusaur the bump it needed to rocket itself into standard play. In strong Sunlight Venusaur has blazing speed, a great boosting move, incredible offensive movepool, and stats "good enough" to work with. It has few counters in the correct weather and has the bulk to set up on a terrifying number of enemy Pokemon. Venusaur is one of only two starter Pokemon currently used in standard play (the other is Infernape). Do not underestimate the plant... dinosaur... frog... thing, as it has everything it needs to annihilate virtually everything in the game.

Overgrow: When HP is below 1/3rd, Grass�s power increases to 1.5 times. Useless ability. You should never use this. If you need a boost to your offenses, just use Growth.
Chlorophyll: In strong sunlight the Pok�mon�s Speed doubles. What a nice ability. Great ability, actually. Doubling your speed makes Venusaur a one Pokemon wrecking machine. The problem is, at this point, you can't have it with Egg Moves

- Growth
- SolarBeam / Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sludge Bomb / Sleep Powder
Item Attached: Life Orb / Black Sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

Offensive Growth sweeping is one of the most dangerous things in standard right now. In sunlight your Speed is doubled, and after using growth so will your Special Attack. Solarbeam has crushing power at +2, so much that even Blissey has a slight chance of being 2HKOed with Stealth Rocks and Spikes. Giga Drain is a safer option that actually lets you beat Blissey. At +4 Special Attack Giga Drain will heal more HP than Seismic Toss can damage so unless it runs Thunder Wave or Flamethrower Blissey should always lose. Hidden Power Fire slams bulky Steels hard, OHKOing all of them besides Heatran in sunlight. Sludge Bomb helps take on Dragons such as Latios and Hydreigon. With Stealth Rocks none can really handle a +2 Sludge Bomb, even Dragonite can be OHKOed. Sleep Powder is an option to remove Heatran or Dragonite for a while as they otherwise can end your sweep. EVs are simple, maximized for power and speed. Life Orb is the suggested item as a +2 Life Orb'd Solarbeam can 2HKO even Blissey after Stealth Rocks. Black Sludge however protects you from being worn down from your own attacks, this way something like Dragonite or Scizor can't just wait until you reach 60-70% to finish the job. You lose a lot of power this way though.

- Growth
- Seed Bomb
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk / 80 SAtk / 176 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def) / Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)

This is another take on the Venusaur Sun sweeper. Unlike the previous set this is not expected to bring teams to their knees as easily (though it is still absolutely capable of doing so). Instead this set is designed to take down stuff that the previous set has some trouble with. By running Hasty / Naive with 176 Speed EVs you will reach much higher speeds than the previous set. This allows you to outrun Choice Scarf Latios and Terrakion whom would otherwise outrun and destroy you. Running Seed Bomb and Attack EVs lets you OHKOs Politoed and Tyranitar at +1 (their weather will weaken Growth), something Giga Drain and especially Solarbeam can't always do. Seed Bomb also will rip a huge hole in Blissey, OHKOing it if it is at 75% or less health. Earthquake lets Venusaur get around its #1 counter Heatran. It beats most Steel types and gets a clean OHKO on Ninetales. Hidden Power Ice OHKOs all Dragons after Stealth Rocks besides a very defensive Latias. Ground / Ice has the best super-effective coverage in all of Pokemon. It, along with Grass, has such good Super Effective coverage that it will not be uncommon to hit entire teams for 2x damage with this Venusaur. While it lacks the sheer power of the pure Special Attacker this set gets around by smashing its counters. It does have a lot more trouble with Steels like Scizor and Skarmory though so be careful of that. Hasty nature allows you to keep your nice 100 base Special Defense but Naive pads Venusaur's vulnerability to priority attacks. Life Orb is the only item you should use here. Venusaur may end up with 500+ Attack and Special Attack after a Growth but it still isn't hitting hard with a pitiful 80 base power Seed Bomb.

- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Roar
- Sleep Powder / Knock Off
Item Attached: Black Sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 136 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

"I mean... Venusaur?" Though usually seen as a devastating sweeper (for good reason) Venusaur still has very solid defenses. Usable on both Rain teams and Sun teams Venusaur can reliably check a ton of threats, including Rotom Wash, Terrakion, Sub Toxic Gliscor, Politoed, Breloom, and many others. While you may be saying "why use this when Celebi and Amoonguss exist"? Granted in most situations those two Pokemon are better, with superior defenses and healing. Venusaur however has Roar, Sleep Powder, and Leech Seed all on one set. It also absorbs Toxic Spikes which Celebi can't do. Not to mention it isn't afraid of Pursuit. The only major decision on this set is Sleep Powder vs Knock Off. Sleep Powder is almost a free KO but can be useless if Toxic Spikes are down or another Pokemon on your team runs Sleep / other status. Knock Off however screws up everything and helps scout. In some situations losing your item is absolutely deadly. Specially Defensive Heatran that lose their Leftovers effectively enter a slow downward spiral into death when they can't heal themselves. In strong Sunlight Venusaur is a fast tank, 8 Speed makes sure it can outrun Jolteon and +1 Dragon Dance boosted Gyarados or Dragonite. 136 Special Defense hits a jump point and the rest is dumped into defense to survive Terrakion Close Combats a lot easier.

- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder / Giga Drain / Synthesis
Item Attached: Black Sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 208 HP / 232 Def / 56 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

I guess as with all Grass types who learns it Venusaur can attempt to run Substitute + Leech Seed. A strategy known as "SubSeed" which historically has been a widely used, but frequently noobish and useless strategy. Of those who can use it to any degree of success Venusaur is one of the better ones. Being immune to Toxic and having 2x speed in strong Sunlight gives it some advantages over Sceptile and Whimsicott. It also has much better bulk than either one of them. Substitute + Leech Seed are givens as the set name suggests. Hidden Power Fire assists in breaking apart the Grass types who are immune to Leech Seed and in strong Sunlight it should 2HKO all of them. It also OHKOs Scizor so they don't simply U-turn away from the Leech Seed spamming chaos. Sleep Powder is a great move in the last slot to trike a counter with crippling Sleep. Giga Drain is good for a strong STAB move that can help stop something like Cloyster "before it's too late". Synthesis heals 66% in strong sunlight but is nearly useless if your opponent changes the weather. 208 HP hits a Leftovers number, then goes one higher so you can survive 16 turns of... Burn I guess. 12 Speed outruns Jolteon and +1 Dragon Dance boosted Gyarados or Dragonite while compensating for the HP Fire's Speed IV drop. 56 Special Defense hits a jump point while the rest is dumped in Defense because there's no such thing as too many Terrakion checks.

Petal Dance, Outrage, Power Whip / Curse, Sunny Day, and Ivysaur. Oh, and Leftovers. Not much really.
While not widely focused on Petal Dance got an upgrade this generation. It now is a grass type Special Outrage which has a lot of sheer power regardless of the weather. Grass has terrible offensive coverage when you are locked into it though.
Speaking of Outrage-like moves, Venusaur actually does learn Outrage. It fits over Hidden Power Ice on the physical attacker set as +2 Outrage will OHKO pretty much everything Hidden Power would have hit besides Gliscor.
Power Whip is a great move, but due to breeding issues that I don't fully understand it can't be learned by a Chlorophyll Venusaur. You could in theory run Curse + Power Whip with some Special Defense EVs but there are better Pokemon that learn Curse.
Sunny Day is usable on any offensive set as Sunny weather isn't ever guaranteed. Sometimes Venusaur may have to do it on its own.
With Eviolite Ivysaur has some pretty solid defenses, taking hits better than Venusaur by about 125%. It doesn't get Leftovers either so it will have to make due with Leech Seed + Synthesis. Besides defenses Ivysaur has pretty bad stats though. Not really worth it.
Venusaur is a Poison type and is thus victim to the eternal Leftovers vs Black Sludge debate. Venusaur is pretty effective at countering Rotom Wash and Trick is the only thing it can do back to you. Black Sludge punishes it for Tricking. If you are worried about getting Black Sludge being tricked back on you Leftovers is always a safe option I guess.

While it lacks multi-hit moves besides a fairly weak Earthquake, and doesn't get Fake Out Venusaur in sunlight is a very scary thing indeed. Fastest Sleep Powder in the Video Game Championships by far. The lack of Sleep Clause in Double / Triples means Venusaur can just sit tight the whole game putting everything to sleep freely while its partner cleans up.

Ninetales lol. Without Sun Venusaur is just an average Grass type. With Sun the grass starter becomes an offensive nightmare giving it effectively +2/+2/+2 stats after a Curse and a boost to its Hidden Power Fire. Donphan and Forretress help spin hazards away so Ninetales can keep the Sun shining. Dugtrio eliminates other weather starters so Ninetales will be free to keep the sunlight up forever. Volcarona and Dragonite both enjoy Sunlight to power their moves and can work with Venusaur to weaken the opposition.

Due to Sleep Powder there isn't really a counter to Ninetales besides something weird like Specially Defensive Focus Sash Xatu / Espeon. If you have something to take the Sleep Powder stopping Venusaur becomes a little more manageable. First off getting run of Sunlight is helpful. Politoed and Tyranitar can chase down the source of the problem, Ninetales and its eternal Sun, and eliminate it for good. Abomasnow can't take Ninetales on but it can Ice Shard Venusaur or beat it with Choice Scarf Blizzards. Pokemon that can tank its boosted hits in Sunlight are few and far between but a few do stand up against it. Latias and Chansey are two big ones. Both can take anything it can throw at them and either Thunder Wave, or Roar it away. Blissey works too as long as it's at high health and doesn't take too many Seed Bombs. Dragonite can sort of work with Multiscale intact but has a chance of falling in one hit after Stealth Rocks. Heatran can survive almost everything Venusaur throws at it, however it needs an Air Balloon to maintain hope of beating Earthquake variants. Trying to outright wall Venusaur is impossible. It is bulky, has passable offenses, and a terrifying ability to boost its stats quickly. An easier way of beating it is using priority moves. Mamoswine, Scizor, Dragonite, and Toxicroak all can do solid damage before Venusaur can touch them. Try to blast Venusaur as it tries to use Growth, it can't really beat much until it sets up. Venusaur is a very powerful Pokemon. It has few counters, and those that exist can still be overrun. Luckily most Black and White 2 teams run weather and a ton of priority Pokemon so even without trying your team should have some forms of insurance against Venusaur.

Pre-Evolution Corner - Bulbasaur (Little Cup)

It's Strange, isn't it?

-Sleep Powder
-Giga Drain/Leaf Storm
-Sludge Bomb
-Hidden Power [Fire]
Item Attached: Choice Scarf
Ability: Overgrow
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 240 Sp Atk / 240 Spe
Modest Nature (+Sp. Atk, -Atk)

Bulbasaur is very underwhelming, but this is its best shot at doing something (Until it's possible to get Chlorophyll at level 5). Bulbasaur hits 14 Speed with Modest Nature making it technically a viable Choice Scarf user. Holding the Choice Scarf ramps its Speed up to 21, outspeeding the entire un-boosted tier. Sleep Powder makes it so Bulbasaur can put things to sleep before they can attack. This does cause Bulbasaur to force itself out, due to Sleep Clause, and once it does put something to sleep, it can't use Sleep Powder again until the opponent wakes up. Giga Drain helps Bulbasaur recover health as well as being STAB. On the other hand Leaf Storm is a very powerful STAB and can be used as a �hit-and-run� tactic. Both of these help out in killing Ground Types like Hippopotas. Sludge Bomb is a good alternative STAB that helps against more bulkier Pokemon like Mienfoo. Hidden Power Fire is essential for dealing with Steel-Types such Magnemite and Ferroseed. Modest Nature helps maximize Bulbasaur's Special Attack which allows it to do as much damage as possible. Bulbasaur's main problem is that it is really outclassed by other Pokemon. Foongus is a better Grass/Poison sleep inducer. There are miles of better Choice Scarfers, and if you wanted to run a bulkier set, Ferroseed does the job much better. Bulbasaur's Dream World ability can't be used in Little Cup, as the only Dream World Bulbasaur was male and at level 10. If Bulbasaur's Dream World ability was released, it could pull off a Sunny Day set, making use of Chlorophyl. Even with that, Oddish still outclasses it.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen .

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Evolve Ivysaur

Colosseum/XD:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Trade from HeartGold/SoulSilver.

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Ivysaur

Black/White:
Transfer from Generation IV

Black 2/White 2:
Transfer from Generation IV