ORAS Competitive Analysis: Vileplume

Official Ken Sugimori artwork

Introduction

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have been out for some time now, and while I haven't had enough time yet to fully beat the game, I figured I would start a competitive analysis series similar to the fashion in which I've been reviewing SSB4 characters. To start off I'll go with Vileplume, who is the final form of Oddish. In ORAS, Gamefreak took the opportunity to update a lot of Pokemons' movesets, making them learn stronger moves sooner and sometimes even adding new moves. Vileplume originally caught my interest because it's base evolution Oddish was one of the lucky Pokemon to gain a new move; it now learns Moonblast at level 43. Even though it is not a Fairy-type, Oddish has always been associated with the moon according to its Pokedex entries (and it already learns the other 'moon' move Moonlight at level 33), so this was a welcome change that is actually pretty cool and goes along with the established lore of the games.

"Awakened by moonlight, it roams actively at night. In the day it stays quietly underground." - Original Gold Pokedex Entry

"During the day, it stays in the cold underground to avoid the sun. It grows by bathing in moonlight." - Original Crystal Pokedex Entry

Stat Breakdown

Image from Smogon

As you can see from the picture, the only thing really holding Vileplume back is it's Speed, which at base 50 is not going to be outrunning anything half-decent. Thankfully this can somewhat be made up for with it's first ability, Chlorophyll, which doubles Vileplume's Speed in the sun (making it a solid base 100). However this is purely situational and requires some form of set-up (Drought Ninetails comes to mind) so it is not totally reliable. Apart from Speed Vileplume has pretty solid stats, the strongest being Special Attack at a respectable base 110, which is good for us because we're building ours to be a Special Sweeper.

Nature: Bold (-Attack, +Defense)
Ability: Chlorophyll
Effort Values: 252 Sp. Attack, 252 HP//or//252 Speed

The above are the stats my in-game Vileplume has. For the nature I would recommend anything beneficial which in Vileplume's case is anything that lowers the Attack and raises something else. The one I captured was Bold so that makes it a little more bulky on the Defense side, can't go wrong with that. I was originally searching for a Hidden Ability Oddish so my Vileplume would evolve to have Effect Spore as it's ability, but I got tired of grinding and moved on. So instead it has Chlorophyll as its ability which is alright for the time being. As far as EV's go, when I get around to it I am definitely going to max out Special Attack, and then either HP or Speed. I haven't decided yet whether I want him to be a little bit faster or a little bit bulkier.

Moveset

• Giga Drain
• Sleep Powder
• Sludge Bomb
• Moonblast

With this spread, Vileplume takes advantage of both its STABs as a powerful special attacker. The Grass-type Giga Drain provides super effective coverage against Water/Ground/Rock and comes with a bonus of extra healing. Sleep Powder allows Vileplume to threaten opponents with the possibility of sleep-status, which is always good to have. Playing competitively sleep clause mandates that only one Pokemon may be inflicted with sleep but that's still one incapacitated opponent Pokemon so it can be a big help. Sludge Bomb is a powerful Poison-type attack that comes with a nice 30% chance to inflict poison-status, and it provides super effective coverage against Fairy/Grass. Finally there's Moonblast, which rounds out the set by providing super effective coverage against Dark/Dragon/Fighting, which is a great and unique advantage that Vileplume has over other similar Grass or Grass/Poison types thanks to ORAS.

Conclusion

Altogether Vileplume boasts super effective coverage against 8 different types, and has solid stats to back it up. With the addition of Moonblast to its movepool Vileplume became more versatile and well-rounded, able to take on a larger variety of Pokemon than it could before. Vileplume is weak to Fire/Flying/Ice/Psychic so it really does not appreciate taking hits of any of those types. Be sure to have a Pokemon on your team that complements Vileplume and is able to cover its weaknesses. In-game I am testing out a Hidden Ability Ninetails as a complementary partner.