ADV 50 Analysis - Venomoth

    Venomoth
    Type: Bug / Poison
    Stats: 70 | 65 | 60 | 90 | 75 | 90
    Abilities: Shield Dust

    Introduction

    Venomoth might not look like a great Pokemon in ADV 50 - it's quite frail, with a subpar typing - but in fact it's a decent Pokemon in ADV 50, due to its decent speed, Sleep Powder, and its resistances, particularly to Fighting and Poison. It is more than acceptable as a lead, albeit it will often run into fast Fire-types such as Typhlosion and Rapidash, and Pokemon carrying a Lum Berry such as Glalie.

    Sets

    Sleep Powder

    Venomoth @ Leftovers
    Ability: Shield Dust
    EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
    Timid Nature
    IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
    - Sleep Powder
    - Psychic
    - Hidden Power [Fire] / Baton Pass
    - Stun Spore / Giga Drain / Substitute

    Set Details

    Sleep Powder is a big part of Venomoth's draw, disabling one Pokemon on the opponent's team, and guarantees it some minimum usefulness in a match. Psychic 2HKOs Hitmonlee, and, at the least, 4HKOs Muk - turning into a 3HKO if Psychic gets a special drop. It also has a good chance to 2HKO Nidoqueen, albeit depending on the set. Hidden Power Fire 2HKOs Forretress, but Baton Pass is an alternative that enables Venomoth to maintain momentum. It can also 2HKO Glalie, depending on Glalie's EVs. The final slot is dedicated to a utility move: Stun Spore lets Venomoth spread paralysis in addition to sleep, while Giga Drain prevents it from being bait for Golem (having about an 80% chance to OHKO it) and, more importantly, does heavy damage to Whiscash, turning it into a decent check. Substitute is a possible option too in the last slot, when used alongside Baton Pass, as it allows Venomoth to pass a substitute onto its partners; it works best alongside mixed attackers such as Typhlosion or Sharpedo.

    The EVs maximise speed and power; no benchmarks are achieved when EVs are shifted from Speed and Special Attack that are relevant to Venomoth that are run outside of on dedicated Rain teams, so speed tieing other Venomoth and hitting as hard as possible is prioritised. However, if Venomoth is used on a dedicated rain team, it shouldn't run Hidden Power Fire, and it should move some EVs into Defense to prevent Muk's Sludge Bomb 2HKOing after a Curse boost; as Fire Blast 2HKOs outside of Rain, investing to meet that benchmark is not worth it on other variants. Such a Venomoth would run an EV spread of 44 HP / 212 SpA / 252 Spe, virtually guaranteeing a 4HKO on all standard variants of Muk, as well as virtually guaranteeing thata +1 Sludge Bomb from standard variants of Muk cannot 2HKO Venomoth, with as many EVs in HP as possible. It should be noted that, if you would rather invest in bulk than speed and power as much as possible, 232 Speed EVs with a Timid nature are required to outspeed Hitmonlee, and 212 Special Attack EVs are needed to guarantee the 4HKO on the most specially defensive variants of Muk commonly seen.

    Other Options

    Sludge Bomb and Signal Beam, its two strongest STAB options, are both notable - STAB basically makes up for Venomoth's low attacking stat - and they are an option to hit Grass, Dark, and Psychic-types super-effectively. However, running those moves would require splitting EVs if run alongside any of the special attacks it usually carries, or sacrificing the ability to meaningfully hurt Pokemon such as Muk and Forretress otherwise. Toxic is another status it can spread (and could be used in tandem with Substitute), but as Venomoth oftenly enough attracts steel-types such as Aggron, it is not the best user of the move. Thief is another option to punish switch-ins, but is not as potent as Sleep Powder (though note that the two moves could be run together) and has a risk of backfiring (say, if Choice Band Fearow switches into it). A Substitute + Baton Pass set with a pinch berry such as Salac or Petaya could be used, but it's easily phazed by Mightyena or Steelix and is quite niche and specific. Running a Petaya berry over Leftovers could be used on the Sleep Powder set could be used to bolster the power of its moves when its HP is low, but is difficult to reliably activate, and Leftovers helps it check Pokemon such as Muk far better. Protect has some very limited utility as a scouting tool and to rack up Leftovers recovery, but is hard to fit or justify. And finally, Venomoth gets Sunny Day (and Solar Beam!) but it doesn't directly benefit from it itself - however, as Venomoth is somewhat of a support Pokemon by nature, it merits the briefest of mentions.

    Checks and Counters

    Banette is slow and frail, but notably is the only Pokemon in the tier immune to Sleep Powder. Altaria can also be used to attempt to neutralise Venomoth, thanks to Natural Cure, and Heal Bell users such as Chimecho, Altaria and Mightyena can clear the status Venomoth spreads. Any fast or bulky Pokemon without a weakness to Venomoth's attacks, such as Fearow, carrying Sleep Talk, make for particularly good switch-ins. Once something has taken sleep, fast or bulky Pokemon without a weakness to Psychic-, Fire-, or Grass, such as Typhlosion, Aggron, Chimecho, are great checks to it too. Most teams will naturally carry a couple of checks to Venomoth at least, so beyond handling its status options there is little to worry about preparing for.

    Analysis written by Disaster Area