Vespiquen, The Beehive Pokémon. It releases various pheromones to make the grubs in its body do its bidding while fighting foes. When endangered, grubs from its six-cell honeycomb strike back. There is only one in a colony. Its abdomen is a honeycomb for grubs. It raises its grubs on honey collected by Combee.

Overview

Vespiquen has got to be one of the coolest Bug Pokemon to have ever existed. It looks like something you wouldn't want to mess with and it has the best cry in the Pokemon world. Unfortunately.. it's a bad Pokemon. It's stats are ok (well at least the defenses are) but it's a Bug / Flying type. Bug / Flying is arguably the worst typing in the game, up there with Ice / Flying. This means the poor Bee loses half it's HP switching in on Stealth Rocks while also being weak to common Ice, Electric, Fire and Rock moves. It's such a bad typing that most things you face will hit you for Super Effective. Oh and Vespiquen's entire usable offensive movepool basically consists of Attack Order and Hidden Power.

Abilities

Pressure: Opponent's moves use 2 PP instead of one when used around this Pokemon. Pretty cool as stalling is all Vespiquen is good for. Sucking up that last Fire Blast PP can be the difference between winning and being roasted.
Unnerve: Prevents opponents from eating berries. Utterly useless. So few Pokemon use Berries in competitive battles you might as well just run Pressure.

Movesets

You just gotta BEELIEVE

- Attack Order
- Pursuit / Hidden Power Ice / Fire / Ground
- Heal Order / Roost
- Defend Order / Toxic
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)

These bee puns really sting. Anyhow this is THE set most people think of when they see a Vespiquen. For good reason too. Vespiquen's movepool is so shallow this is about all it CAN do. Attack Order is the primary move and it's a pretty good one. 90 base power with 100% accuracy and a high Critical Hit rate? Besides maybe Megahorn this is the best Bug move in the game. Pursuit is a decent second attacking option to really put the pain on Psychic types like Reuniclus or Alakazam that flee from your royal might. Hidden Power is another good option as people seem to forget Vespiquen has 80 base Attack AND Special Attack which is just enough to hit something hard with it. Ice takes out Dragons and Flying types while Fire chars Ferrothorn, Scizor and Forretress. Hidden Power Ground is acceptable to smash Heatran with. Heal Order vs Roost is pretty much a matter of which animation you like better as Vespiquen is so slow that Roost removing your flying type for the turn won't matter. Defend Order works like a bug-themed Cosmic Power. It boosts both your defensive stats but it's pretty useless overall. Anything with a Rock move will make swift work of Vespiquen even after a few Defend Orders. Toxic is good for hurting Fire types and bulkier things that your Attack Order can't take out in time. EVs focus on Special Defense as Psychic types are some of the only Pokemon commonly used that don't run Ice / Electric / Fire / Rock / Flying moves meaning you have a slight chance to take them out.

Plan Bee

- Attack Order
- Toxic / Protect
- Roost
- Substitute
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 248 HP / 96 SDef / 164 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)

So here is another option. SubRoost with Pressure is incredibly annoying. The idea is to use Substitute + Roost to PP stall your counters out of PP (particularly Stone Edge, with its low 8 PP). Toxic and Attack Order are your main ways to deal damage. Speed EVs outrun base 60 or slower Pokemon like Donphan, Blissey, Conkledurr and if in lower tiers Tangela, Exeggutor, and Muk. The rest goes into Special Defense as again, Vespiquen's typing makes it ok at preying on Psychic types. Protect is an option over Toxic as Sub + Roost + Protect + Pressure = a lot of PP stall.

EVs & Natures

Vespiquen
Run 248 HP EVs to maximize bulk while allowing yourself to survive two hits from Stealth Rocks, or make 4 Substitutes. 164 Speed EVs outruns base 60s that don't run any speed. 172 outruns slow Tyranitars. If you don't want to run any speed you can throw everything else into Defense or Special Defense. Defend Order sets can afford to run max HP and max attack if you want as the defense boost makes defense EVs negligible.

Other Options

So little. Confuse Ray, Power Gem, Destiny Bond, Acrobatics, U-turn, Secret Power.
Confuse Ray might slow down your opponent and in a pinch save you from a lethal blow but is generally useless and luck based.
Power Gem has 70 base power and can be used to hurt Moltres but doesn't hit very much else.
Destiny Bond can net a KO but Vespiquen is so insanely slow you will probably never get a successful KO with it.
Acrobatics is Vespiquen's strongest Flying move. It can be used alongside Flight Gem to get a solid hit on a Fighting type that thinks you only have bug moves.
U-turn is just a great move in general. You can hit your counters for light damage and get a free switch in.
Secret Power is basically a weak Body Slam. 30% chance of Paralysis? That's about all it can do.

Double & Triple Battle Options

So you want to use Vespiquen in a tier where Blizzard, Heat Wave, Discharge and Rock Slide are all common? Don't use Vespiquen in Doubles / Triples. It won't last long.

Partners

Rapid Spin is the big one. Keeping Stealth Rocks off the field will keep Vespiquen alive for a very long time. You can also use Magic Bounce Xatu or Espeon to reflect Stealth Rocks. It's hard to say what pairs well with Vespiquen as it's such a bad Pokemon that very few people have experience with it to say what works well. Try it yourself, maybe you can figure out a way to use it that no one else has yet!

Countering Vespiquen

Stealth Rocks! Vespiquen will lose half it's health each time it switches in. Past that anything that survives a Bug move plus Toxic will probably counter Vespiquen. Poisoning or Burning Vespiquen also beats it as the residual damage will be too much for it. Basically just look up the list of Fire / Electric / Ice / Rock / Flying Pokemon and pick one. It will probably beat Vespiquen. The SubRoost set is a little more tricky to take out but you will probably do fine as long as you aren't relying on low PP and Accuracy moves like Fire Blast or Stone Edge.

Pre-Evolution Corner

Level One

- Endeavor
- Tailwind
- Ominous Wind
- Mud-Slap
Item Attached: Focus Sash
Ability: Honey Gather
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)

First off let me say Combee has absolutely no place in Little Cup. Use this in standard play. Its so impossibly tough you have to! The goal is to use Endeavor. BOOM. Endeavor coming off a Combee with those powerful level one stats can strip 99% off a Blissey. 252 Attack EVs and Brave nature because Combee isn't afraid of anything. Focus Sash makes sure it can get off one Endeavor though your opponent will probably be too afraid to actually attack the terror bee. Tailwind can be useful if you are feeling particularly supportive but Ominous Wind sums up how your opponent will feel in battle. Mud Slap lower's accuracy and can do as much as 8 HP of damage to Heatran! Don't underestimate the mighty Combee.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game.

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Combee

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Combee

Black/White:
Route 12
Evolve Combee

Animé Appearences

Vespiquen has made only a couple of appearances. First, one was in a hive when Ash & Co. traveled with Cheryl. Second, the Elite Four member Aaron had one. # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 500 An Angry Combeenation! Vespiquen of the Amber Castle! Pics 567 A Trainer and Child Reunion Elite Four Aaron! Forest of Seperate Encounters! Pics M13 Zoroark - Master of Illusions Phantom Champion Zoroark Pics 807 A Shockingly Cheeky Friendship! Pikachu & Dedenne! Nuzzle!! Pics 14 Fly! Wattrell Fly, Wattrel Pics 44 TBC The Plan for Capturing Rayquaza! Pics