Venonat Movesets & Competitive Sets

Moves Toxic Spikes can wear down all Pokemon that are grounded and not Poison-type, and it also breaks Focus Sashes and Sturdy while putting a timer on setup sweepers. Sleep Powder allows Venonat to further support its team by taking an opposing Pokemon out of the battle for a while and giving Venonat free turns to set up Toxic Spikes. Signal Beam is Venonat's most consistent and powerful move. Alternativey, Giga Drain gives Venonat a small source of recovery and has better super effective coverage. Morning Sun gives Venonat a lot of longevity and works well with Eviolite. Thief should only be used with Berry Juice, as it allows Venonat to steal items after using its Berry Juice or getting hit by Knock Off. Set Details The given Speed EVs allow Venonat to reach 15 Speed, while the bulk EVs and Eviolite allow it to almost always survive an Acrobatics from Fletchling of the time. The remainder EVs are placed in Special Attack for a small boost in damage. The EVs also make sure Venonat has an odd HP number to take less damage from Stealth Rock. Berry Juice can be used to steal items along with Thief and lets Venonat switch in on Stealth Rock more times. Compound Eyes increases Sleep Powder's accuracy to 97.5%. Tinted Lens could be used to give Venonat more offensive presence, but it comes with the cost of missing Sleep Powder more often. Usage Tips Switch Venonat into Fighting- and Fairy-types to easily tank a hit and set up Toxic Spikes or put something to sleep. Venonat's primary role is to set up Toxic Spikes, so be aware of opposing grounded Poison-types, as they can absorb them. Venonat is not particularly useful late-game and should often be sacrificed early in the game, after setting up Toxic Spikes and putting something to sleep. Team Options Pawniard and Ghost-types such as Pumpkaboo make for good partners to discourage or prevent the foe from using Defog and Rapid Spin, respectively. Diglett and Gothita can trap opposing Poison-types that can absorb Toxic Spikes; Diglett can handle Stunky and Croagunk better, while Gothita works better against Foongus, and both of them do equally well against other Poison-types like Trubbish and Skrelp. Pokemon that can check Flying- and Fire-types make for good teammates, with Onix, Tirtouga, and Chinchou being particularly good for this because of their ability to check both. Pursuit trappers such as Stunky and Munchlax can stop Abra from posing too much of a threat to Venonat. Pokemon that appreciate the Toxic Spikes support like Venoshock + Hex Gastly and walls such as Spritzee and Porygon are also good teammates. Hard hitters and sweepers, such as Carvanha, also synergize well with Toxic Spikes because of the important chip damage it provides. Finally, Rapid Spin users like Drilbur and Staryu can help improve Venonat's longevity by removing Stealth Rock.

This set takes advantage of Venonat's excellent movepool and its ability Compound Eyes. The main goal of this set is to put your opponent to sleep, set up an Agility, and pass it on to a slower sweeper. Signal Beam is the STAB of choice, thanks to its confusion chance, making Baton Passing easier. Since Fighting-type Pokemon are common in the metagame and Venonat 4x resists their STAB moves, it can find many opportunities to switch in, cripple them with Sleep Powder, and begin boosting with Agility. As for your item of choice, it mostly comes down to your playstyle. If you plan on setting up just one Agility and passing it on, Focus Sash is the better option. If you plan on setting up more than one Agility, Eviolite is the better option since it increases Venonat's defenses. Venonat can run Stun Spore over Signal Beam, allowing it to cripple more than one Pokemon, but Signal Beam also has a chance to confuse your opponent, so it comes down to preference. As for teammates, Venonat helps hard-hitting slow Pokemon, such as Litwick, Cranidos, Cubone, and Aron. Eviolite Bronzor with Heatproof is probably the best teammate Venonat can have, as it covers all of its weaknesses, except those to Fire-type moves, to which it is neutral.

Substitute + Disable is a great combination for Venonat, as it can Substitute on the first turn to let the Substitute take damage and proceed to Disable the opponent's attack, preventing it from hitting Venonat for super effective damage. If you plan on using Substitute + Sleep Powder or Disable + Sleep Powder, Venonat becomes the perfect setup bait for Riolu due to Sleep Clause. Mienfoo can cause problems for Venonat, as it can keep using U-turn to stall out Venonat's Morning Sun PP and eventually KO it. Signal Beam isn't the strongest move, but it has a chance to confuse the opponent, which can be quite helpful. Tinted Lens improves Signal Beam, increasing its coverage, and Morning Sun recovers 1/2 of Venonat's maximum health when used in normal weather conditions. Venonat 4x resists one of the most common types: Fighting. Heatproof Bronzor is the best teammate for this set, as it resists all of Venonat's weaknesses and deals well with opposing Pokemon with which Venonat has trouble such as Taillow. This set works well with entry hazard support, particularly Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes.

Venonat's main role on a team is to pass Speed boosts to a slower sweeper. Compound Eyes is a great asset for Venonat, giving its Sleep Powder an almost perfect accuracy of 97.5%. Putting an opponent to sleep allows it to get an Agility in for free and sometimes even get the recipient of the Speed boost in without harm. The final slot provides Venonat with a reliable attack in case it is hit by Taunt. With the given EVs, Venonat hits 30 Speed after an Agility, which is enough to outrun almost all of the metagame, at worst tying with max Speed Choice Scarf Voltorb. This enables Venonat to put any Pokemon that comes in to sleep without taking a hit, bar a priority move. The fourth move has many different options to choose from. Sludge Bomb gets STAB and allows Venonat to hit opposing targets relatively hard. Psychic hits the most popular sleep-immune Pokemon, Mankey, for super effective damage, as well as hitting opposing Poison-type Pokemon hard. Protect can be used if Venonat is leading so that Aipom and Meowth don't break its Focus Sash, but it will leave Venonat completely vulnerable to Taunt leads such as Gligar and Voltorb. Sweepers such as Cranidos, Cubone, Gligar, Machop, and Houndour and all work well after they receive a Speed boost from Venonat. Cranidos and Cubone are on the same boat; both of them are heavy hitters that unfortunately lack the Speed to threaten anything, so passing an Agility to them can really turn the tables. Machop and Gligar can both receive a boost and continue to stat up, or, alternatively, just take the boost and start sweeping with their good Attack stats. Lastly, Houndour is a good Pokemon to pair with Venonat because its Flash Fire ability allows it to freely switch into Fire-type attacks directed at Venonat while boosting its own Fire-type attacks.

Venonat is not exactly an offensive powerhouse, but a Choice Scarf set is a viable alternative since it possesses the ability to stop sweepers with a fast Sleep Powder. This set can be used as a lead to give you an advantage from the get-go or to take care of a sweeper later in the game with Sleep Powder or Sludge Bomb. If you're using Venonat as a lead, Compound Eyes is the preferred ability in order to neutralize the opponent's Pokemon 97.5% of the time. Venonat's movepool isn't particularly broad, so the best special attacking options are used. Sludge Bomb is Venonat's main and strongest attack when factoring in STAB and Tinted Lens. Psychic hits Poison- and Fighting-types for super effective damage. The fourth move depends on what it needs to hit; Hidden Power Ice OHKOes Gligar, Taillow, and Diglett while Hidden Power Fire is Venonat's best bet against Bronzor, although Bronzor will shrug off Hidden Power Fire without too much trouble. The ability comes down to personal preference. Compound Eyes ensures that Venonat's Sleep Powder will hit most of the time, making it the desirable choice on the lead slot. Tinted Lens will give Venonat more power, since resistances still take the same amount of damage as they would if they were neutral. Having Stealth Rock is always a good idea, as Choice Scarf Venonat will cause a lot of switches. Stealth Rock helps by chipping away HP every time a Pokemon switches in. Also, having Pokemon able to stat up, especially behind a Substitute, is not a bad idea since the opponent's Pokemon will be asleep, allowing for a free switch to a sweeper. Magnemite and Machop are good partners to use with Venonat, since they can beat most Pokemon that commonly switch into Venonat, such as Bronzor and Munchlax, respectively.

Thanks to Compound Eyes, Venonat's Stun Spore's and Sleep Powder's accuracy skyrockets to 97.5%, making Venonat an ideal double powder user. Taking advantage of this, Venonat can attempt to cripple the opponent by using the successful double powder strategy: sleep one opponent and paralyze another when it switches in. Bug Bite can help Venonat steal Berries, most notably Oran Berry, from assorted foes. Venonat can use Baton Pass to scout whether the foe has an Insomnia user waiting in the wings, or to see what Pokemon the opponent is willing to sacrifice as a sleep absorber. Another option is Hidden Power Fire, which can hit both Bronzor and Croagunk relatively hard. Slow Pokemon such as Cranidos, Cubone, Houndour, Machop, and Wailmer all work exceptionally well with this set. Venonat can put a counter to sleep and start spreading paralysis to the other Pokemon, allowing slow, heavy hitters to have an easier time in the match. If Venonat runs Baton Pass, it makes switching in your Pokemon a lot easier; you don't have to run the risk of a double switch, and if the opponent decides to stay in, you can generally tell what he is going to do.