Battle Moveset

A Good Moveset for Venusaur would have to be this:

Attacks:

Sludge Bomb
Leech Seed
Sleep Powder
Synthesis / Hidden Power [Grass] / Razor Leaf

Items Attached:

Leftovers

Preferred Nature:

Careful OR Sassy

Strategy Using Venusaur

The standard Venusaur for competitive play, Venusaur definitely reaches into the Borderline and Low-OU area, you only see it pop up in standard play once in a while but it definitely fits it's niche nicely. Very few OU things like being Leech Seeded and the only Pokémon immune to it are Venusaur's fellow Grass types, who get promptly met with a Sludge Bomb. With Venusaur's great defensive stats and Leech Seed Venusaur can out-stall a fair majority of Pokémon and it always has Sleep Powder as a back-up move to catch trouble-makers trying to counter it.

The last move is really the only area where there's any variety to this Venusaur set, Synthesis is a bit like Recover but it has fewer PP, but what's worse is it's effect is severely reduced during Sandstorm (which is unfortunately fairly common with Tyranitar running around), so some people will opt to go with a second STAB attack in the form of HP Grass or Razor Leaf. Hidden Power Grass has a significant power advantage over Razor Leaf but Razor Leaf's high critical hit ratio can make a significant difference, especially when dealing with opponents who can raise their special defence (Calm Mind Suicune is a notable example).

EV Corner:

There's many ways to handle EV set-ups with Venusaur depending on the niche it fits on your team. If you expect it to be handling a fair few super-effective special attacks (such as Ice Beam off of Water types) significant Special Defence will be a difference maker, on the other hand if you need this Pokémon to handle some physical attackers you'll also want some significant boosts to your physical defence, although certainly not at a large expense to your special defence. Regardless, Max HP is a given.

The only other area of variety is in Venusaur's Speed stat (which can be boosted from EVs taken from Venusaur's defences). Venusaur's Base Speed leaves it in an area where many Overused Pokémon fall and with a few EVs placed in Speed it has the potential to outrun these common opponents. Assuming Max Speed IVs from both Pokémon, at their Base Milotic outruns Venusaur. But, with a minor investment of 12 Speed EVs Venusaur will outrun it. Suicune at it's Base will have 206 Speed but with 44 Speed EVs Venusaur outruns it. There are further Speed stats that are reachable such as 222 (for Adamant Tyranitar) and 237 (for Minimum Speed Celebi and Jirachi) and 240 (for Max Speed Magneton and Metagross) but those require a highly significant number of EVs that may put a dent in your tanking abilities. It's also worth noting that with a minus Speed nature Venusaur ties Base Speed with Skarmory, Magneton, Metagross and a bunch of other common opponents, so minor investments of Speed can also make a difference.

Aside from that, you can place minor investments into your offensive stats, although it usually won't make a significant difference.

EVs: 252 HP / 108 Def / 148 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) / Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)

A simple and effective EV spread, a lot of Special Defence with a fair bit of Defence for the occasional hit it would be required to take.

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) / Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)

A heavily defensive but somewhat balanced EV set-up. The nature boost alone should cover Venusaur's Special Defence while the EV boost covers it's physical defence, placing it at a very respectable 265 assuming Max IVs.

Other Optional Sets

Venusaur @ Leftovers
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Sludge Bomb
- Swords Dance
- Sleep Powder / Substitute / Synthesis

The Swords Dancing physical attacking variation of Venusaur, if you can get Venusaur's counters out of the way as well as Skarmory (who is immune to both of Venusaur's attacks) you have the potential to sweep, but this set is pretty much a novelty in comparison to the standard set since in the competitive environment there's plenty of other Pokémon with better sweeping potential than Venusaur. Sleep Powder can give Venusaur a free turn to fire up a Swords Dance, Substitute can block potential statuses which ruin this set and Synthesis can give Venusaur the time and survivability to set-up a Swords Dance and sweep successfully.

Other Optional Moves

Magical Leaf, Giga Drain, Hidden Power [Ice], Hidden Power [Fire], Roar, Light Screen, Curse, Charm.

Magical Leaf and Giga Drain are simply options to use over Hidden Power [Grass] or Razor Leaf. Both HP Ice and Fire catch opposing Grass types but Ice will catch Dragons (like Salamence) while Fire catches Steels (such as Skarmory). Roar can Psuedo-Haze opponents, some Pokémon will try to set-up against Venusaur (Suicune and Celebi with Calm Mind, Metagross with Agility, a lot of Pokémon with Substitute) and with some Spikes support and well-timed prediction you have the potential to do some damage as well as prevent your opponent from gaining an advantage. Light Screen gives a handy boost to Venusaur's Special Defence, Ice, Fire and Psychic attacks can be out-stalled with Leech Seed or Synthesis support fairly easily when a Light Screen is in place. Curse boosts Defence and Attack and can be tried on a physical set but usually isn't worth it and Charm makes a lot of physical attackers cringe (like Salamence and Snorlax) and makes it easier to switch to your counters.

Strategy Against Venusaur

It's pretty much a given that Venusaur will have Sleep Powder, it's fairly rare to see Venusaur without it. Anything with Sleep Talk can absorb Venusaur's Sleep Talk for your team, alternatively if you have a Pokémon with Aromatherapy or Heal Bell you can let something absorb it and sort it out later. Some other options include Sleep Talk on Guts Heracross or Machamp as well as Pokémon with Vital Spirit or Insomnia. If you have Substitute and can fire it up faster than Venusaur you have protection against Sleep Powder as well as Venusaur's Leech Seed, and Leech Seed happens to be the next thing that can cause some problems, especially with some Spikes support. All Grass types are immune to Leech Seed but don't take Sludge Bomb too strongly, if you have a Pokémon with Rapid Spin you can Spin off Leech Seed fairly easily but a lot of the common spinners (Starmie, Donphan, Cloyster and Claydol) are weak to Grass attacks unfortunately. There are two Pokémon with Liquid Ooze (Tentacruel and Swalot) but both aren't common in Standard Competitive play so it's only an after thought.

Strong Ice types cause Venusaur a lot of problems, Articuno and Regice are the notable ones who can shrug off all of Venusaur's attacks and can hit it with a STAB Ice Beam for a lot of damage, but neither like being Seeded. Most common physical attackers: Salamence, Gyarados, Metagross and Heracross for example, place a huge dent in Venusaur's defences and have the potential to KO it. Blissey and Snorlax completely wall most of Venusaur's defences but with Leech Seed they can be forced into a long stall battle. A few special attackers can also place dents into Venusaur's, Gengar is a good example with its handy resistances.

As previously mentioned, Substitute is a strong choice since it blocks Leech Seed and Sleep Powder. 90% of Poison or Steel types with Substitute who can place it faster than Venusaur will counter it. If it lacks a Grass attack most Rock and Ghost types can be added to that list as well as bulky Pokémon who take less than 25% from Venusaur's attacks. If Venusaur doesn't have Sludge Bomb then Fire, Grass, Flying, Bug and Dragon types equipped with Substitute will wall it adequately as well.

Contest Moveset

A good Contest Moveset for Venusaur would have to be this for the Cool Contest best with Lonely, Adament, Naughty or Brave Nature:

Attacks:

Leech Seed
Sunny Day
Solar Beam
Hyper Beam

Items Attached:

Red Scarf

Strategy Using Venusaur

If you do the attacks in this following order you should have very few problems; 1st - Leech seed, 2nd - Sunny day, 3rd - Solarbeam, 4th - Leech seed, 5th - Hyper beam

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Trade from FRLG Colosseum/XD Trade from FRLG Fire Red/Leaf Green Evolve from Ivysaur

Animé Appearences

Venusaur has had a few Animé Appearence. First it was a Robot in the Giant Pokémon Island Amusement Park. After that, it was leading the Bulbasaur evolution Ceremony. A Trainer, who went to New Island had one called Brute Root which ended up getting Cloned by Mewtwo and lived with all the Pokémon Clones later in Johto. The Orange Champion, Drake, also had a Venusaur in his team that he used to battle Ash's Tauros. An Artist, Gan Gogh, who was searching for Remoraid for pictures had one too and used it against Team Rocket. Team Rocket used one in the Battle Park in a battle against Ash's Cyndaquil in an elaborate plan to get Pikachu. One also lived in a forest ruling over many Grass Type Pokémon. This forest was classed as forbidden by the village folk, however May got kidnapped by a Skarmory and landed in it by a Bulbasaur. The Venusaur had a hand in defeating Team Rocket and protecting the forest. After that, Spenser had one and used it in his Frontier Match against Ash Episode 017: Island Of The Giant Pokémon! Episode 051: Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden! Movie 1: Mewtwo Strikes Back! Episode 114: Enter The Dragonite! Special 2: Mewtwo Returns! Episode 182: Houndoom's Special Delivery! Episode 187: The Light Fantastic! Episode 250: One Trick Phoney! Episode 349: Grass Hysteria! Episode 440: Cutting the Ties That Bind! Episode 441: Ka Boom With A View!