Featured Pokemon: Venusaur and Victreebel

I like how Venusaur's name implies
a Venus fly trap, but Victreebel is the
pitcher plant (aka fly trapper).

Greetings trainers!

Today we'll be looking at the best two Grass/Poison types in the game. With the swag of a starter, Venusaur is the envy of many trainers, and because of Pokemon GO mechanics, it's probably the best of the three starters for Gym defence. Victreebel is on the opposite end of the spectrum, boasting a massive attack stat and middling Defence and Stamina; that said, it's also a good defender! However, what unites these two is their typing and movesets. Venusaur and Victreebel are not only the same Grass/Poison types, but they also have very similar ideal movesets! What are their differences? Find out below:

Recommended movesets

More Vine Whip, more better

Attacking
Venusaur: Vine Whip + Solar Beam
Victreebel: Razor Leaf + Solar Beam or Acid + Sludge Bomb or Solar Beam

Venusaur makes for the better attacker of the two, as Vine Whip is a great quick attack with a quick cooldown and good DPS. Solar Beam is Venusaur's ideal damage output, though Petal Blizzard is decent as an option. Razor Leaf is also fine, but its longer cooldown makes it more difficult to dodge attacks. Essentially... Venusaur has great move diversity, and each can be utilized for attacking.

Victreebel lacks Venusaur's Vine Whip option, but in exchange picks up Acid. Acid has an easier time dodging compared with Razor Leaf, but it's not your ideal quick attack. However, because of Acid, Victreebel can double down on Poison moves and hit Fairy types like Wigglytuff and Clefable hard (watching out for Zen Headbutt Clefable). Solar Beam is also a fine option for an Acid moveset as its higher base DPS makes up for the lack of super effective damage against the faeries.

I knew Pillsbury crescents were bad
for my health...

Defending
Both: Razor Leaf + Sludge Bomb

The real key tying these two together is their access to both Razor Leaf and Sludge Bomb. Razor Leaf is the best Grass quick attack for defending, and will deal good damage to most anything, even if they resist it; Dragonite and Charizard double-resist Grass though. Sludge Bomb makes up for this however, as it prevents attacking Pokemon from resisting VenuBell's entire moveset. Sludge Bomb is also great damage output, and is unlikely to be resisted by common attackers; few things resist Poison. It's this unique access to Sludge Bomb that separates Venusaur and Victreebel from the other Razor Leaf Grass/Poison type Vileplume, who is stuck with Petal Blizzard. Now... if either Venusaur or Victreebel get Petal Blizzard / Leaf Blade, those are fine attacks too. But because it doubles down on the Grass typing, I wouldn't recommend it. Given that nothing really attacks into a Grass type with a Grass-weak Pokemon, Victreebel's Acid's damage gets closer to Razor Leaf's when on Defence, but is still a bit out-done.

Base stats and typing

Attack: 198

Defence: 200

Stamina: 160

Venusaur has a great stat distribution, with solid Attack and Defence, and a workable Stamina. Its Poison/Grass typing unfortunately make it weak to a number of common attacking types including Fire, Psychic, Ice, and then the more obscure Flying type. Only two of those types also resist Venusaur's Grass moves (Fire and Flying), and coupled with its Poison-type Sludge Bomb, the likes of Exeggutor do not get a free pass.

Attack: 222

Defence: 152

Stamina: 160

Victreebel traded a good Defence for a strong Attack, but wound up with a net minus 24 stat points relative to Venusaur. Not only does this make Victreebel objectively worse in overall stats, but the distribution is far worse for a defensive spread, and Victreebel's lack of a good quick attack make Venusaur the better attacker anyways. As such, Victreebel ends up being a wholely inferior version of Venusaur; Victreebel's maximum CP is even 50 CP lower than Venusaur's, despite its higher Attack stat.

Brutal

Checks and counters

Quite fittingly, Venusaur's arch-nemesis is its fellow starter Pokemon Charizard. Charizard's Fire/Flying typing doubly resist Venusaur's Grass attacks, and Charizard's best quick attack (Wing Attack) even gets to hit Venusaur super effectively. Truly inspirational design.

Tangent: It's kind of funny that Blastoise really ended up with the short end of the stick in Pokemon GO. It's jobs on both offence and defence are done better by the likes of Vaporeon or Slowbro, and it doesn't even get any niche typing or moves to make it perfect for a certain Pokemon. I suppose it gets Flash Cannon as a defensive move... but Vaporeon's Water Pulse is distinctly better.

Beside's Charizard, Dragonite is also a great Pokemon to attack into VenuBell with, as it doubly resists the Grass moves and is a Dragonite. The other Pokemon that deals well with these two is Arcanine. However, really thanks to Sludge Bomb, weaker Fire types don't really get a free pass against VenuBell. Try facing a Venusaur with a Flareon and you'll see what I mean. Even at the same CP, if Flareon is taking Sludge Bomb damage, Venusaur certainly wins. And even if Flareon isn't taking Sludge Bomb damage, its worse Stamina and Defence make it a slog that you likely have to dodge through. Victreebel being the worse Venusaur does worse, but should still give weak Fire types a run for their money.

Final say

Both Venusaur and Victreebel are great Pokemon to add to your team! Venusaur especially, though its rarity makes it desirable for more than just its good gym capabilities. Victreebel is still a cut above other Pokemon out there, and makes for a strong defender in friendly gyms. While there are subtle differences in VenuBell's offensive movesets, their defensive moves make them really one and the same. As a result though, you're more likely to get a good attacking moveset by evolving a Venusaur, and more likely to get a good defending moveset by evolving Victreebel. Either way, you should get something good if you evolve one of these Pokemon, which sounds pretty worthwhile!

Cheers,
Let's GO