[RATE MY TEAM] Mega Venusaur Team

[PerchPond]

@cfencl Alright, so Venusaur is a quite decent pick in VGC 2018, but the rest of the Pokémon that you have suggested don't really cut it for various reasons. I'm going to focus on Mega Venusaur.

One step is to look at the macro perspective; Venusaur's strengths and weaknesses relative to the most prevalent Pokémon in VGC 2018. So, it's pretty strong against the Tapus (Posion against Fairies), with Lele being somewhat of a neutral matchup (They threathen each other basically, so speed is crucial). Other good matchups are: Landorus-T, Mega Gardevoir (based alot on speed control), Tyranitar, Manectric, Ludicolo (Rain teams in general) etc.

Another thing is the micro perspective; Venusaur's weaknesses. It's weak defensively to Psychic and Flying predominantly, with Ice and Fire being reduced by Thick Fat after Mega Evolving. So It needs partners that can handle the most common Psychic types in the format, like Tapu Lele, Cresselia, Mega Gardevoir and Mega Metagross.

The Flying type isn't that common as an offensive type in VGC18, with the strongest examples being Mega Salamence and Pelipper, and Z-Bounce/Fly users like Gyarados and Landorus-T. So they need to be covered.

Venusaur also has offensive weaknesses, Pokémon that resist its attacks, examples being Steel, Fire, Flying and Poison.

Here is an example team-building (I will give source-material and some examples, but specific sets are best built by yourself, since you know best how you want to play the game):



Mega-Venusaur
Ability: Thick Fat (Chlorophyll before Mega, to abuse enemy Sun)
Modest Nature  
EVs: 220 HP / 84  Def / 60 SpA / 140 SpD / 4 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Leech Seed
- Protect

This is the most basic and well-rounded Mega Venusar set. It lives 2 Earthquakes from max attack Landorus-T and a Psychic from Mega Gardevoir, while outspeeding base 130 Pokémon liike Koko and Aerodactyl with Tailwind up. It can be tweaked for other foes and benchmarks to fit your team and playstyle.

Sources for Mega Venusaur:
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/venusaur/vgc18/
https://www.pikalytics.com/pokedex/vgc20...usaur-mega

So from a quick overview, speed control is important for Venusaur, not only to win certain matchups, but also because its base 80 Speed places it pretty much in the middle of speed tiers. Base 80 speed is more suited for Tailwind then Trick Room in my opinion, because it's too fast to beat alot of slower foes under Trick Room. So Tailwind it is.


Zapdos is probably the most solid Tailwind setter in VGC18, and it also has good synergy with Venusaur. It resists Flying and can beat Salamence with Hidden Power Ice. It can threathen out Pokémon that wall Venusaur, like Celesteela, with Thunderbolt. Venusaur can threathen Ground, Rock and some Grass types that Zapdos struggle with.

Here are some example sets etc:
http://pokemonforever.com/Thread-VGC-VGC...#pid268910
https://www.pikalytics.com/pokedex/vgc2018/zapdos


A Fire type deals with pretty much all Steel types that wall Venusaur, except the rare Heatran. Incineroar offers Intimidate, which makes Venusaur even tankier, is immune to Psychic type attacks, and it brings Fake Out to help Zapdos set up Tailwind.

Sources for Incineroar:
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/incineroar/vgc18/
https://www.pikalytics.com/pokedex/vgc2018/incineroar


Fini is the best choice for a Tapu here; it beats Fire-types that Venusar and Incineroar struggle with, it cancels enemy terrain (most importantly Psychic Terrain) and it resists Fire and Ice aimed at Venusaur, while Venusaur can beat enemy Water-types that wall Fini.

For Fini:
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/tapu_fini/vgc18/
https://www.pikalytics.com/pokedex/vgc2018/tapu%20fini


A generically good Pokémon that brings offensive pressure, Intimidate, and deals with Poison types like Alolan-Muk, Naganadel and Nihilego  for Venusaur.

Sources for Landorus-T:
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/la...ian/vgc18/
https://www.pikalytics.com/pokedex/vgc20...us-therian

The last slot is somewhat open. Steel types like Aegislash, Celesteela and Bronzong are good defensively with Mega Venusaur. Trick Room setters like Porygon2 and Cresselia are also options, which synergizes well with Incineroar. This would give the option to have both Tailwind and Trick Room, with Trick Room being good against Hyper-offensive teams for example.

Smogon and Picalytics are the foremost sources IMO, YouTubers like Ray Rizzo, Wolfe Glick and Aaron Zheng are good most of the time, and some Twitter-users like ProfShroomish are insightful aswell.

Hope this helps, sorry for the long post...

Cheers

[cfencl]

Hi everybody, thank you for the helpful advice. How about this team. This is for double battles in Pokemon Ultra Moon VGC. Thoughts? 

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1. Venusaur-Mega= Holding Venusaurite
   
   1. Ability= Chlorophyll/Thick Fat
      
   2. Nature= Modest
      
   3. Giga Drain
      
   4. Sludge bomb
      
   5. Leech seed
      
   6. Synthesis
      
2. Garchomp= Holding Groundinium Z
   
   1. Ability= Rough skin
      
   2. Nature= Jolly
      
   3. Earthquake
      
   4. Dragon claw
      
   5. Stealth rock
      
   6. Sword’s Dance
      
3. Greninja= Holding Life Orb
   
   1. Ability= Protean
      
   2. Nature= Timid
      
   3. Scald
      
   4. Ice beam
      
   5. Dark pulse
      
   6. U turn
      
4. Arcanine= Holding Aguav Berry
   
   1. Ability= Intimidate
      
   2. Nature= Adamant
      
   3. Flare blitz
      
   4. Wild charge
      
   5. Extreme speed
      
   6. Roar
      
5. Sylveon= Holding Leftovers
   
   1. Ability= Pixilate
      
   2. Nature= Bold
      
   3. Hyper Voice
      
   4. Protect
      
   5. Wish
      
   6. Heal Bell
      
6. Skarmory= Holding leftovers
   
   1. Ability= Sturdy
      
   2. Nature= Bold
      
   3. Brave Bird
      
   4. Defog
      
   5. Roost
      
   6. Spikes