Gen 3 Beedrill (NU Revamp)

[Oglemi]

https://www.smogon.com/dex/rs/pokemon/beedrill/

[Overview]

Beedrill is just on the cusp of being a decent Pokemon in NU, but alas, it falls a little short due to a few factors. Base 75 Speed is annoyingly middling, putting Beedrill above every major defensive Pokemon in the tier including Dewgong, but just under almost every offensive threat including the accursed Hitmonchan. Super low HP and Defense stats mean Beedrill is hard to bring in safely, and while base 80 Attack is decent—especially after a Swords Dance—it's nothing spectacular. Beedrill won't be dead weight if you do decide to bring it, but you will almost assuredly be better off bringing one of its competition such as Golbat, Arbok, or Mawile.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance + Baton Pass
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Sludge Bomb
move 4: Hidden Power Bug / Substitute
item: Leftovers
ability: Swarm
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
- Beedrill is one of the few Pokemon with access to both Swords Dance and Baton Pass, and is the best one at it after Mawile
- Sludge Bomb will hurt a lot of things at +2, and Beedrill is fast enough to threaten stall teams on its own
- HP Bug gives Beedrill more staying power, and can beat Sableye one-on-one if it lacks Shadow Ball
- Substitute gives Beedrill safe from status and gives it a free BP to a teammate

[ADDITIONAL SET COMMENTS]
- Jolly needed to outrun Timid Tangela and tie with Kingler, outrun the rare Adamant Hitmonchan
- Salac or Liechi Berry can work over Leftovers as Beedrill is probably too frail anyway
- Works well on either BP chains or as a short passer. Works better as a short passer due to its physical frailty
- Has good synergy with a number of mons that like being passed an SD, namely Pidgeot, Pupitar, Relicanth, and Vigoroth

[SET]
name: Substitute + Endeavor
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Sludge Bomb
move 4: Hidden Power Bug / Swords Dance
item: Salac Berry
ability: Swarm
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
- Beedrill is one of the few with access to Endeavor and probably the best user in NU. Has immediate Speed over Crawdaunt and power over Grovyle
- Get in on something like Roselia and force it out, set up Sub on the switch, Sub down to 1 HP, get the Salac boost, and use Endeavor, get the kill with Sludge Bomb, and then Endeavor the revenge kill before going down
- Last slot is open to HP Bug to make use of Swarm, or SD to really make Beedrill a menacing threat

[ADDITIONAL SET COMMENTS]
- Jolly needed to outspeed as much as possible to get Sub up
- No HP to give odd HP stat number to get to 1 HP
- Works well on hyper offense teams that need a wall or even two crippled
- Is not a very good late-game sweeper, the strategy is too easily ruined to be relied on and not really a "sweeper" since you can only get them to 1 HP. Works better as a wallbreaker that can sweep under the right circumstances

[Other Options]
- Choice Band
- Agility + BP
- Brick Break
- Thief

[Checks and Counters]
- Mawile and Metang
- Relicanth
- Roar Wailord
- Whiscash
- Arbok and Golbat
- Swalot
- Faster attackers - Murkrow, Pidgeot, Haunter, Raticate

 

[Fakes]

The Endeavor set should really, really mention Swagger as the primary option for its 4th move. And if any attacking move is omitted there, it should be Sludge Bomb rather than HP Bug, because otherwise Beedrill struggles to finish off Mawile.

Since Beedrill's offensive capabilities are so easily dismantled by Mawile, Golbat and even Haunter, it isn't completely unreasonable to ditch the attacking moves altogether by combining Substitute/Endeavor and Swords Dance/Baton Pass.

In fact, I think this is the best Beedrill: At first you attempt to wreck havoc with Endeavor and as soon as you're met with an obstacle, you just switch strategies and use the remaining Substitute to get a Swords Dance in order to be Baton Passed.

 

[Bughouse]

This looks good to me and I begrudgingly agree with Fakes about slashing Swagger (ew) with Sludge Bomb and also about Endeavor perhaps being the most important move (hence I'd put the Endeavor set first). I would not combine it all into one set though. Do those two things and it's good to go.