Monotype Spotlight: Victini (Psychic)

Art by Tikitik.

Introduction

Victini has played a huge role on Psychic teams throughout the history of Monotype and continues to impress even with all the huge changes in the metagame in USM. Although Victini is rather one dimensional, it offers Psychic teams so much offensively thanks to its amazing Psychic / Fire typing as well as its access to some of the most powerful moves in the tier in V-create, Blue Flare, and Bolt Strike. With these moves in its arsenal, it can use its Choice Scarf and Choice Band sets to give Psychic the ability to break through a lot of types. Not only does Victini have a gigantic offensive presence, it also offers itself to the team defensively; with its Fire typing, it is able to check Steel- and Bug-type Pokémon effectively. Thanks to its ability to use both Choice Scarf and Choice Band effectively, a lot of types struggle to check it, as it can 2HKO many of its checks with Choice Band V-create. Due to all of this, Victini finds itself at the top of the Viability Rankings; let's take a closer look at how it earns this high ranking.

Victini

HP 100

100 Atk 100

100 Def 100

100 SpA 100

100 SpD 100

100 Spe 100

Victini's Hot Sets

[Choice Scarf]

Victini @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Victory Star

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

Hasty Nature

- V-create

- Bolt Strike

- U-turn

- Blue Flare

Breaking It Down

Victini's Role |

When using a Choice Scarf, Victini can act as an offensive pivot, a revenge killer, and a late-game sweeper. As Victini has great natural Speed, especially with a Choice Scarf, it forces a lot of switches, especially against offensive teams. This allows Victini to make use of U-turn and can gain huge swings of momentum throughout a match. Thanks to its ability to outpace a lot of Pokémon and pivot reliably, it is often great to use as a lead to scout other leads and pivot into the relevant check. Victini also can use its great Speed to finish off weakened teams with V-create or Blue Flare. As Victini has good Speed and a high damage output, it can easily revenge kill Pokémon such as Choice Scarf Heracross and Excadrill.

How Does Choice Scarf Victini Help Psychic-type Teams? |

Choice Scarf is very important on Victini in the current metagame, as it allows Victini to outspeed a lot of threats to Psychic such as Choice Scarf Buzzwole, Landorus-T, and Excadrill. Not only is Choice Scarf important on Victini in order to revenge kill Pokémon, but it also enables Victini to force out Pokémon and gain momentum with U-turn without having to worry about being outsped and damaged.

What Use Does Blue Flare Have When V-create Deals More Damage? |

Although Blue Flare is considerably weaker than V-create, as Choice Scarf Victini is primarily a physical attacker, it is very useful when used against teams weak to Fire-type attacks, such as Bug- and Steel-type teams. This is because Blue Flare does not cause Victini to lose Speed, letting it stay in against Pokémon such as Excadrill and Buzzwole even after multiple uses. V-create's Speed drop, however, makes Victini more susceptible to revenge killers that are either above base 100 Speed or use a Choice Scarf and forces another Pokémon to be used as fodder in order to bring Victini back in. V-create also makes Victini weaker to Pursuit trappers such as Scizor and Heracross after multiple uses, which makes the Bug matchup that much harder.

Good Teammates

When teambuilding with Choice Scarf Victini, there are three crucial kinds of teammates that help Victini perform to its fullest: entry hazard setters, defensive Pokémon, and wallbreakers. With that being said, let's take a look at the options Victini has.

- Entry Hazards Setters ( / / ): Entry hazards such as Stealth Rock and Spikes are crucial to help chip away at opposing teams, pressuring them when Victini pivots and setting Victini up to break and sweep teams more easily. One Pokémon that gets both of these hazards is Deoxys-S, which works tremendously well on hyper offensive Psychic teams because it can not only set up hazards but also Taunt other leads, and it even has the option to set up Light Screen and Reflect to help protect Victini from attacks. However, other Pokémon such as Jirachi and Mew can offer Victini Stealth Rock support as well as defensive utility. Jirachi works really well to absorb attacks that are super effective against Victini, and Mew is able to offer Defog and Taunt support to Victini to lower the amount of pressure put on it.

( / / ): Entry hazards such as Stealth Rock and Spikes are crucial to help chip away at opposing teams, pressuring them when Victini pivots and setting Victini up to break and sweep teams more easily. One Pokémon that gets both of these hazards is Deoxys-S, which works tremendously well on hyper offensive Psychic teams because it can not only set up hazards but also Taunt other leads, and it even has the option to set up Light Screen and Reflect to help protect Victini from attacks. However, other Pokémon such as Jirachi and Mew can offer Victini Stealth Rock support as well as defensive utility. Jirachi works really well to absorb attacks that are super effective against Victini, and Mew is able to offer Defog and Taunt support to Victini to lower the amount of pressure put on it. - Defensive Pokémon ( / / ): Defensive Pokémon can be hugely important when using Victini, as they are able to check Pokémon that threaten it. Jirachi is able to check common threats to Victini such as Nihilego and offers Wish support for Victini to stay healthy. Both Mew and Slowbro are able to take on physical attackers, as Mew has access to Will-O-Wisp and Slowbro has good Defense. These Pokémon allow Victini to pivot comfortably around a lot of teams with U-turn and can also cripple teams with status conditions and chip damage to help Victini sweep. Due to V-create lowering Victini's Speed and defenses, Victini is often forced out by Pokémon looking to revenge kill it and is reliant on these teammates to deal with them.

( / / ): Defensive Pokémon can be hugely important when using Victini, as they are able to check Pokémon that threaten it. Jirachi is able to check common threats to Victini such as Nihilego and offers Wish support for Victini to stay healthy. Both Mew and Slowbro are able to take on physical attackers, as Mew has access to Will-O-Wisp and Slowbro has good Defense. These Pokémon allow Victini to pivot comfortably around a lot of teams with U-turn and can also cripple teams with status conditions and chip damage to help Victini sweep. Due to V-create lowering Victini's Speed and defenses, Victini is often forced out by Pokémon looking to revenge kill it and is reliant on these teammates to deal with them. - Wallbreakers ( / ): Strong attackers such as Mega Gallade and Mega Latios are able to break through walls that can easily check Choice Scarf Victini such as Porygon2 and Hippowdon. This is important to building with Victini, as it will need support to weaken or get rid of Pokémon that can reliably recover on it. These Pokémon work especially well in supporting Victini, as they have the power to hit ridiculously hard after just one boost from Swords Dance or Calm Mind.

[Choice Band]

Victini @ Choice Band

Ability: Victory Star

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- V-create

- Bolt Strike

- U-turn

- Trick

Breaking It Down

Victini's Role |

Similar to its Choice Scarf set, Choice Band Victini is able to act as a pivot for Psychic-type teams; with its good natural Speed, it can force out a lot of Pokémon and use U-turn for momentum. However, it is unable to do this as well as the Choice Scarf set, as it is outsped by a lot of Pokémon in the tier and finds itself forced out more often. On the other hand, Choice Band Victini is much better at breaking bulkier teams and running through offensive teams. It has the benefit over Choice Scarf of having no decent switch-ins in the tier outside of physically defensive Gastrodon, as even Swampert fears taking multiple hits from Victini because it has no reliable recovery.

How Does Choice Band Victini Help Psychic-type Teams? |

Choice Band Victini can help break through many Pokémon that Psychic might usually struggle with otherwise. Notably, Victini can OHKO Landorus-T and 2HKO amazing physical walls such as Hippowdon and Porygon2 with V-create, and it can 2HKO Toxapex with Bolt Strike. The power does not end there, though, as Victini can also break through Fire-resistant Pokémon such as Mantine, which it 2HKOes with V-create after Stealth Rock damage. The use of a Choice Band makes it nearly impossible to find good checks to Victini when it hits the field.

What Makes Trick More Useful Than a Move Such as Zen Headbutt? |

It is fair to say that Zen Headbutt would deal huge amounts of damage paired with a Choice Band, and you may be wondering why Trick would be more useful than a second STAB attack. This is due to the fact that V-create and Bolt Strike are so powerful that there is not much in the meta that can take any of these attacks, making Zen Headbutt more of a redundant move. On top of this, Trick can be used when facing teams that have Ground / Water type Pokémon such as Gastrodon and Swampert. These Pokémon will find themselves switching in on Victini quite comfortably, especially Gastrodon, as it has reliable recovery and as such is hugely crippled when given a Choice Band.

Good Teammates

Choice Band Victini has similar team options to its Choice Scarf variant. However, it is a wallbreaker rather than a revenge killer, so it needs extra support elsewhere. Choice Band Victini will benefit more from having a defensive backbone, as it is forced out more often. It also benefits from having partners that can clean late-game with Choice Scarf or set up and sweep. As Choice Band Victini likes the same defensive support as Choice Scarf Victini, this segment will focus more on the offensive partners it could have.

- Choice Scarf Users ( / ): Due to the fact that Victini is not using Choice Scarf, it is beneficial to use another Choice Scarf user on the team, with both Latios and Meloetta being great options. Latios can outspeed other Choice Scarf users such as Hydreigon, Keldeo, and Terrakion that threaten Victini and can use Draco Meteor to pick off Pokémon that Victini has damaged. Latios works extremely well, as the opponent has to guess at Team Preview whether Latios or Victini is using a Choice Scarf. Meloetta is immune to Ghost, which helps it check Pokémon such as Gengar that can outspeed Victini.

( / ): Due to the fact that Victini is not using Choice Scarf, it is beneficial to use another Choice Scarf user on the team, with both Latios and Meloetta being great options. Latios can outspeed other Choice Scarf users such as Hydreigon, Keldeo, and Terrakion that threaten Victini and can use Draco Meteor to pick off Pokémon that Victini has damaged. Latios works extremely well, as the opponent has to guess at Team Preview whether Latios or Victini is using a Choice Scarf. Meloetta is immune to Ghost, which helps it check Pokémon such as Gengar that can outspeed Victini. - Setup Sweepers ( / / / ): Victini has a huge amount of breaking power on Psychic-type teams and opens the doors for setup sweepers such as Mega Latias, Double Dance Mew, Z-Happy Hour Jirachi, and Calm Mind Mega Slowbro to come in and clean up after significant damage has been dealt. They all appreciate Victini's ability to get rid of specially defensive Pokémon such as Alolan Muk, Chansey, and Mantine.

How to Beat Victini

- Heatran ( ): Heatran is the only Pokémon on Steel-type teams stopping Victini from running wild. Due to Heatran having the ability Flash Fire, Victini is unable to spam V-create or Blue Flare consistently. With Stealth Rock on the field, it can be quite easily to chip at Victini and limit how much it can switch in, as it can only switch in four times per game if Stealth Rock is up. Pairing this with a Pokémon such as Mega Scizor to Pursuit trap the opponent's hazard remover or even Victini itself can be key to a clean victory against Victini. Watch out, though, as Choice Band Bolt Strike can 2HKO Heatran.

( ): Heatran is the only Pokémon on Steel-type teams stopping Victini from running wild. Due to Heatran having the ability Flash Fire, Victini is unable to spam V-create or Blue Flare consistently. With Stealth Rock on the field, it can be quite easily to chip at Victini and limit how much it can switch in, as it can only switch in four times per game if Stealth Rock is up. Pairing this with a Pokémon such as Mega Scizor to Pursuit trap the opponent's hazard remover or even Victini itself can be key to a clean victory against Victini. Watch out, though, as Choice Band Bolt Strike can 2HKO Heatran. - Dragon-types ( / ): Dragon-type Pokémon resist both Fire- and Electric-type coverage and can shut down any attempt Victini makes at sweeping when using a Choice item. Using a Pokémon such as Garchomp or Dragonite on Ground- or Flying-type teams, respectively, can help stop it from causing a lot of havoc throughout a match.

( / ): Dragon-type Pokémon resist both Fire- and Electric-type coverage and can shut down any attempt Victini makes at sweeping when using a Choice item. Using a Pokémon such as Garchomp or Dragonite on Ground- or Flying-type teams, respectively, can help stop it from causing a lot of havoc throughout a match. - Water / Ground Types ( / ): Water / Ground type Pokémon such as Gastrodon and Swampert are able to take any hit from Victini; additionally, Gastrodon can heal itself with Recover, whereas Swampert can set up hazards while forcing Victini out. Be wary of which Victini set you are facing, as you do not want to have Victini give them a Choice Band with Trick, making them no longer reliable switch-ins.

( / ): Water / Ground type Pokémon such as Gastrodon and Swampert are able to take any hit from Victini; additionally, Gastrodon can heal itself with Recover, whereas Swampert can set up hazards while forcing Victini out. Be wary of which Victini set you are facing, as you do not want to have Victini give them a Choice Band with Trick, making them no longer reliable switch-ins. - Revenge Killers ( / / / ): Super effective damage is obviously a great way to deal with Victini, with four notable Pokémon that can provide this being Greninja, Keldeo, Excadrill, and Nihilego. One thing they all have in common is that they all have the ability to outspeed Victini, with Greninja, Keldeo, and Nihilego outspeeding Victini naturally and Excadrill using its ability Sand Rush to outspeed it in sand.

( / / / ): Super effective damage is obviously a great way to deal with Victini, with four notable Pokémon that can provide this being Greninja, Keldeo, Excadrill, and Nihilego. One thing they all have in common is that they all have the ability to outspeed Victini, with Greninja, Keldeo, and Nihilego outspeeding Victini naturally and Excadrill using its ability Sand Rush to outspeed it in sand. - Pursuit Trappers ( / / / / ): Pursuit trappers can effectively remove Victini from a match, with Mega Scizor and Alolan Muk being the most common in the tier. However, Victini will usually have to have used V-create first in order for them to threaten it out to use Pursuit effectively. Other trappers such as Mega Aerodactyl and Tyranitar are much more effective at threatening Victini out but are generally used less throughout the tier.

( / / / / ): Pursuit trappers can effectively remove Victini from a match, with Mega Scizor and Alolan Muk being the most common in the tier. However, Victini will usually have to have used V-create first in order for them to threaten it out to use Pursuit effectively. Other trappers such as Mega Aerodactyl and Tyranitar are much more effective at threatening Victini out but are generally used less throughout the tier. - Physical Walls ( / ): Physical walls such as Porygon2, Mega Slowbro, and Hippowdon can easily shut out Choice Scarf Victini throughout a match up and force it out. Watch out for the Choice Band set, though, as it has the ability to deal tons of damage throughout a match up.

What are you waiting for?!

There you have it! Victini is a staple on Psychic-type teams and is not going anywhere anytime soon. Now that you have all the information, what are you waiting for? Go out there and build around both of its amazing sets and endless teambuilding options, or, if you are struggling against it, use a tip or two on how to beat it in a match.