Serebii Dex Page
[Overview]
<p>The latest in the line of cute event legendaries is Victini, the Pokemon said to bring victory to the trainer that owns him. In the competitive arena, Victini can assist his trainer in numerous ways. Victini has excellent stats, which give him high Speed, great natural bulk and good offenses. Coupled with a excellent offensive movepool and the unique ability of Victory Star, Victini can be a very versatile offensvie threat, much like his predecessors Celebi and Jirachi.</p>
<p>For all that is great about Victini though, there are some flaws that inhibit his ability to cause damage. Victini's typing, Fire/Psychic, is most certainly on the lower end when it comes to defensiveness. Being weak to Stealth and vulnerable to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, having a Pursuit weakness and having weaknesses to common types such as Ground, Water and Ghost means that survivability isn't Victini's strong point. Aside from typing, Victini also suffers from four moveslot syndrome. Just about every one of Victini's checks can be beaten in some fashion, but he can't beat them all in just four moveslots. Despite these flaws, if Victini is utilized in the right manner, he can certainly live up to his name of the victory Pokemon.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Victini
move 1: Fire Blast / Flame Bomb
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Thunderbolt / Grass Knot
move 4: Substitute / Psycho Shock / Shadow Ball
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Timid
Set Comments
- Doesn't have the utility of Nitro Charge and U-turn like the physical set does, but packs more power due to the higher base power of its attacks.
- Victory Star helps this set nicely, boosting Fire Blast's accuracy to 93.5% and Focus Blast's accuracy to 77%.
- Focus Blast covers Heatran and Tyranitar. Thunderbolt can take care of Water-types, but you can use Grass Knot if Swampert is a concern, though you won't be able to threaten Gyarados.
- Flame Bomb has a higher chance of burn than Fire Blast, so it is a viable alternative to Fire Blast.
- The last slot has numerous options, all with great benefits. Substitute lets Victini scout for Pursuit users and take them out before they can trap Victini. Psycho Shock allows Victini to harm Blissey. Shadow Ball can hurt Shandera, who would otherwise wall this set.
- Leftovers is an option if Victini is running Substitute, so recoil damage doesn't add up.
- U-turn isn't a terrible option for the last slot if you desire
- The teammates that provided general support for physical Victini work just fine with special Victini as well.
- Fighting types such as Machamp, Lucario, Roobushin and Kojondo are excellent partners for special Victini. They stop Blissey, Snorlax, Tyranitar, Warubiaru and Sazandora, all of whom are common checks to special Victini.
- If Victini lacks Psycho Shock, it can't do a thing to Blissey or Snorlax. Blissey can Seismic Toss Victini to death or paralyse Victini, crippling it. Snorlax is capable of setting up with Curse or just taking Victini with Earthquake.
- Without Substitute, Choice Scarf Tyranitar and Choice Scarf Warubiaru can Pursuit trap Victini. Choice Scarf Sazandora doesn't pack Pursuit, but it can still endanger Victini with STAB Dark Pulse.
name: Physical Victini
move 1: Flare Blitz / Nitro Charge
move 2: Brick Break
move 3: Wild Volt
move 4: U-turn
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Set Comments
- Aims to clean up weakened teams with its nice type coverage and access to Nitro Charge to increase its Speed.
- Brick Break hurts Tyranitar and Heatran who would otherwise wall Victini and Wild Volt takes care of Water-types.
- U-turn lets Victini escape from foes it cannot hurt such as Shandera and Swampert and scout the opposing team.
- Nitro Charge will give Victini a Speed boost which enables it to outspeed Choice Scarf Tyranitar and Choice Scarf Sazandora, but Flare Blitz packs a lot more raw power.
- If you are running Flare Blitz, Leftovers can be considered as an item to minimise the amount of recoil damage Victini takes.
- Stealth Rock and Spikes work great in conjunction with U-turn, letting Victini cause multiple switches and rack up damage against the opponent.
- Rapid Spin support is highly recommended to stop Stealth Rock from hurting Victini badly, so packing a Forretress, Starmie or Doryuuzu is a good option.
- Groudon can set up sun to boost the power of Victini's STAB Fire attacks.
- Victini cannot seriously harm Garchomp and Garchomp can take out Victini with Earthquake or get a Swords Dance.
- Shandera also stops Victini from doing much damage and can take Victini out with Shadow Ball.
- Much like Garchomp, Swampert takes little from Victini's attacks and has STAB Earthquake to take Victini down.
name: Life Gamble
move 1: Life Gamble
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Thunderbolt
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Timid
Set Comments
- Victini is the best user of Life Gamble in the game, thanks to its high HP and Speed.
- With Life Gamble, Victini is almost guaranteed to take out a Pokemon.
- Early in the game, Victini should scout the opponent's Victini check with U-turn. When it next switches in, Victini should then use Life Gamble to take it out.
- Choice Scarf is a necessity on this set, to prevent Victini from being damaged before getting Life Gamble off, since lowering Victini's HP lowers the power of Life Gamble.
- If you don't want Victini to be using Life Gamble right away, Fire Blast and Thunderbolt are the best options for attacking, thanks to lack of recoil.
- Rapid Spin support is vital on this set. Without it, Stealth Rock will limit the power of Life Gamble.
- Pokemon that share similar counters to Victini such as Heatran, Starmie and Shandera can benefit by having their counter knocked out.
- If you don't manage to hit them on the switch, priority users can limit the power of Life Gamble and prevent a KO. Sucker Punch and Aqua Jet users in particular can trouble Victini.
- Stealth Rock and Spikes will greatly benefit Victini, especially if it packs U-turn.
- Rapid Spin support stops Stealth Rock from causing immense problems for Victini.
- Drought support from Groudon makes Victini's STAB Fire attacks very powerful.
- If you are using the Special Victini set, it is important to pack some Fighting types to counter Blissey and Dark-types.
- Victini has the movepool to run a mixed set, but you'll usually find that Infernape will do a better job.
- Cheer Up and Charge Beam are available to boost Victini's stats, but Cheer Up is a rather clunky and situational set-up move and Charge Beam isn't reliable.
- Victini can run a supporting set with Will-o-Wisp, but its typing isn't defensively potent and Heatran poses serious competition for a defensive Fire type.
- If the boost from Victory Star isn't enough for your tastes, Wide Lens can boost the accuracy of Victini's moves further.
- Dark types are Victini's biggest concern, especially those with Pursuit such as Tyranitar and Warubiaru.
- Ground-types such as Garchomp and Swampert can handle Victini if it lacks Grass Knot.
- Special sets cannot do much to Blissey, Snorlax and other special walls.
- Victini gets no Dream World ability.
