I was reading the
ADV OU viability rankings. In particular, I'm a bit puzzled by Jolteon being ranked ahead of Raikou. I understand the niches that Jolteon has over Raikou (Baton Pass, extra Speed, and Volt Absorb), but I thought CM Raikou was one of OU's premier threats in ADV. Is Jolteon the preferred option for most teams?
You mostly answered yourself already. Where Raikou has the edge in access to Calm Mind and better overall bulk, Jolteon takes the cake everywhere else. Its Speed is by far the number one selling point, as it outspeeds everything else in the tier bar tying with other Jolteon and Aerodactyl. Volt Absorb also makes it a fantastic partner for Mons that attract Electric moves (Skarmory, Gengar, any non-Swampert Water Mon) - so much so that the core is a fairly common team archetype in ADV, called "Jolteon Spikes," or similar. Jolteon basically functions as a special wall on these otherwise more frail offensive Spikes teams, where it can pivot Thunderbolts and switch into opposing Gengar at least once. It is more prediction reliant than a Blissey of course, but the trade off is that a well played Jolteon Spikes team can maintain offensive pressure on the opponent from start to finish. The combination of Roar + Baton Pass makes Jolteon the ultimate Spikes abuser, and it can even BP out of a full HP Dugtrio, whereas Raikou would be trapped and immediately OHKO'd, unless behind a Substitute.
In addition to the Dugtrio vulnerability, Raikou has zero way to heal itself outside of Rest (a sleeping Raikou is the ultimate Dugtrio bait), and in general suffers from a lack of offensive firepower, ironically enough. You might bring it in against a Suicune and force it out, Calm Minding on the switch, but everything that switches into Raikou can either OHKO it, while you can not in return (Tyranitar, Snorlax, Swampert if HP Ice, even a Metagross can come in after a sac, etc.), or wall it forever (Blissey). These situations are not as straightforward as I am making them out to be, but once you use Raikou over the course of 10 or so games, you will understand what I'm saying. It is a very flawed Pokemon in general. Another small but important fact is that Jolly DD Tar outspeeds it at +1, so Raikou is not even a reliable revenge killer against all DD Tar - or really any but a <40% HP Adamant one, to be honest.
Regarding the last line, Raikou being considered a premier OU threat, this was true many years ago when the metagame looked completely different. Much of the site's ADV resources were written upwards of 10 years ago, so they are not always reliable.
I hope my answer helped you.
What's a good RSE OU Dugtrio stall team?
Pretty generic question but if I had to give you just one answer I would say Suicune / Skarmory / Gengar / Blissey / Claydol / Dugtrio. It is a rather self explanatory build that aims to sweep around either last Mon CM Cune, or Spikes plus Gengar beforehand.
Alternatively, you can use Skarmory / Blissey / Swampert / Gengar / Tyranitar / Dugtrio. Similar to the team above, but with Sand added to the mix. This version is significantly more Skarmory weak though so beware.
If one were wanting to run a mixed attacker Venusaur set in R/S/E what would a moveset for it look like? I'm working on a comic project which is why I would like to know.
Kind of a tricky question to answer since mixed attacking Venusaur is basically just the bulky special wall set that runs Sludge Bomb / Leech Seed / Grass STAB (I prefer Giga Drain) / Sleep Powder. For this set, you are going to have to use one of a -Att, -SpA, or -Spe nature, so that is up to you to decide. I usually go -Spe but -Att is acceptable too since Sludge Bomb is primarily used for hitting Electrics, who you wall anyway, and other Mons on the switch, like Salamence. 30% chance of Poison is lovely, so the loss of power isn't as noticeable.
Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 24 SpA / 176 SpD / 56 Spe
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leech Seed
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb
Something like this will probably be fine. You have Grass STAB, so it's quite useful to oustpeed things like Bold Suicune, most Tyranitar, Milotic, etc. Venusaur is massive Skarmory bait though so pair this with either a Magneton, a Spinner, or other heavy anti-Skarmory measures.
If you are wanting an offensive mixed attacking set, then perhaps Sludge Bomb / Grass move / HP Fire / Sleep Powder could do the trick. For this one, I'd go 252+ SpA - necessary if you want HP Fire to actually "damage" Steel types (reminder:
252+ SpA Venusaur Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 127-150 (38 - 44.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery), quite a bit of Speed, and the rest in HP. Maybe something like this:
Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Mild Nature
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb
The bulk isn't as important on this set since you are offensive, so the -Def nature doesn't hurt as much.
Hope this helped.