What is a good moveset for Butterfree?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Butterfree, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Butterfree Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Gen V

Butterfree (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 36 SpD / 220 Spe
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Energy Ball
- Psychic

Okay, you set up Quiver Dance with the help of your Focus Sash, then hit with your attacks. Bug Buzz gets STAB, while Energy Ball and Psychic provide type coverage. Especially helpful for Psychic in particular is Tinted Lens, which will allow you to get at least a neutral hit against pretty much every foe. However, this is just a weaker Venomoth, and even a weaker Mothim.

Answer 2

Gen V

Butterfree (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 248 SpA / 16 SpD / 244 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain / Psychic
- Sleep Powder

Okay, this is a reliable sleep inducer that also happens to be fast after Quiver Dance. Sleep Powder will have high accuracy thanks to Compound Eyes, and after Quiver Dance, you'll be like the Darkrai of NU. I mean, the Spore users aren't very fast. You won't get outsped by Amoonguss or Parasect, and even Breloom has below average Speed, so put the foe to Sleep. You can also do pretty nice damage with Bug Buzz (STAB) and Giga Drain (type coverage and healing). Psychic can be used over Giga Drain to deal with the Poison types of NU, especially since Bug Buzz deals with Dark types. However, you won't get the benefit of Giga Drain's healing. The EVs are focused at providing enough Speed and Special Attack after Quiver Dance to do some damage.

Answer 3

Evoilite Metapod
Role: Annoyer who bosses of physical moves.

Metapod (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Shed Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Iron Defense
- Bug Bite
- String Shot
- Tackle

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With like 1 Iron Defense it's hard as crap to touch this thing with anything physical, which is hilarious! Then you can use things like String Shot to be a butt hole, or Bug Bite to do barely anything.

Comments

little cup caterpie FTW

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Just pointing out, I walled someone's Garchomp, who knew Stone Edge with this, Luckily Stone Edge missed and I get to set up Iron Defense!

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OMG TACKLE ATTACK

Answer 4

Double/Triple Battle

Butterfree (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Safeguard
- Tailwind / Quiver Dance / Swagger
- Air Cutter
- Bug Buzz / Struggle Bug

Yeah, Butterfree sucks in multi-battle. This is because stat boosting does not work well at all, so Quiver Dance is going to be almost impossible to pull off, especially since the foe will be targeting Butterfree to stop you from using Quiver Dance. Safeguard provides some status protection for the team. Tailwind also provides support. There isn't much else Butterfree can do. You can be incredibly risky and run Quiver Dance, use it for all of one turn. Swagger can be used to help out Own Tempo Pokemon. Air Cutter is STAB and can hit multiple Pokemon. It won't do much, but Butterfree does not have much else. Bug Buzz is more powerful STAB, but it still won't do much, so you can use Struggle Bug to lower the Special Attack of the foes, while doing a tiny bit (tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny) of damage.

Answer 5

I actually want to try out this Caterpie set for some weird reason:

Caterpie @ Eviolite
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- String Shot
- Bug Bite
- Electroweb
- Tackle

This set is too OP for Pokemon: String Shot lowers Speed, Bug Bite is STAB that is so powerful, can 2HKO Deoxys-A. (Keep in mind that is a super effective move on a Deoxys-A) Electroweb is insanely powerful coverage against absolutely nothing, having a chance to 6HKO a Luvdisc. Tackle is the only other attacking move, other then Snore caterpillars can have. It can do a max of a massive 1.5% to Zygarde-C.

The EVs are to allow Caterpie to have some physical bulk. Shield Dust is... well, not Run Away. An Eviolite is to make Caterpie at least a little bulky. Finally, an Impish nature maxes Caterpie’s physical bulk at the cost of lowering Electroweb’s power.

Counters:

Instead of listing counters, I will list everything that does not counter this Caterpie:

Cosmog

Comments

I love this.

Answer 6

Gen 8 NU

Butterfree @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder

Pretty simple. You can put a foe to sleep with Sleep Powder, then start using Quiver Dance. Hurricane and Bug Buzz are STAB moves. Heavy Duty Boots is the item so Butterfree won't be crippled by its 4x weakness to Stealth Rock.

Answer 7

Gen 8 ZU

Butterfree @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

• Bug Buzz
• Giga Drain
• Quiver Dance
• Sleep Powder

Bug Buzz is STAB, and thanks to Tinted Lens it isn't terrible coverage. Giga Drain covers Rock types and heals. Quiver Dance makes Butterfree strong. To set up a Quiver Dance in the first place, use Sleep Powder and put the enemy to sleep.

Answer 8

Role: Sunny Sweeper

Butterfree (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Solar Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance

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Hey! Its that NU Volcorona!

Well, There have been many times that people have made NU weather teams.

Solar Beam is amazing in the Sun, while Hidden Power [Fire] basically gets STAB from the sun. Bug Buzz is STAB. Quiver Dance is to make him into a sweeper.

Its a pretty simple Pokemon, very nice in the sun.

Answer 9

Gen III

Butterfree (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Dream Eater
- Giga Drain
- Nightmare

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Sleep Powder gets much better accuracy with Compound Eyes, making for a reliable Sleep Powder.

Dream Eater covers those annoying Rock Slide Fighting types, and anything that dares cross this butterfly's path.
Giga Drain is more coverage, and against Rock too! Nightmare is added on Sleep kills. So overall he's not too bad, but still not a favorite of mine.

Answer 10

Doubles / Triples

Butterfree (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Air Cutter
- Bug Buzz
- Sleep Powder
- Tailwind

Yes, I suggested Choice Scarf + Tailwind. At least it will accomplish something before it dies. No, it won't faint. IT WILL DIE.

Piece of crap taken to a new level... And I like Butterfree!
It gets 100% accuracy Air Cutter, so that's a treat. Sleep Powder as well. Heck, it would be worth it to just have something really fast alternating putting opponents to sleep right? Despite Sleep Clause, if it isn't active... good! To be honest, this thing is most likely going to take down 1 Pokemon, or clean 2 up. OR Use Tailwind to support Pokemon that can actually do something or put a decent threat to sleep.

Answer 11

First off, you need to be listening to this while you read my set http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEA_hodDXBg&feature=related

It's borderline essential.

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Now that we have that out of the way, I'm going to listen to something different while I write this set out :P

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Butterful (Butterfree) @ Life Orb
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Sleep Powder
- Psychic / Shadow Ball

Quiver Dance - Let the boosting begin. Try to use this when you're pretty darn sure your opponent will switch out. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND using Stealth Rocks as team support before bringing this thing out (and spinning away any rocks on your side) so that you can land OHKOs on opponents that are abusing Sash. They are out there!

Bug Buzz - STAB. Tinted Lens makes your not very effective hits neutral. That's pretty darn awesome if you ask me. This will be your primary attacking move.

Sleep Powder - Even though I'm not running the Ability where this becomes accurate, it's still ridiculously useful for boosting. Taking the risk normally pays off..... normally.

Psychic / Shadow Ball - Choose your coverage. Both work remarkably well. Both hit Gengar / Haunter for super effective damage (he 4X resists Bug Buzz, so he'd still 2X resist you even after Tinted Lens.)

Answer 12

So, it seems your Butterfree has Modest as its Nature. As for a set, I have been tinkering all kinds of different ideas for sure to make use of Butterfree. Here's one I just had in mind:

Butterfree @ Wise Glasses
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
- Energy Ball
- Quiver Dance

This would be a set mostly to have Butterfree get in with some quick special attacks and sweep them. With this set, Butterfree would cover Grass, Psychic, Dark, Fighting, Poison, Water, Rock, and Ground, with Butterfree having a quadruple weakness to Rock, so that helps.

Here is another set:

Butterfree @ Big Root
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Sleep Powder
- Dream Eater
- Quiver Dance

Put the enemy to sleep with Sleep Powder thanks to its accuracy going up due to Compound Eyes, as well as the Big Root giving you more HP from Dream Eater than normal. Bug Buzz for STAB, as well as Quiver Dance to raise Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed so Butterfree can do more damage with Bug Buzz and Dream Eater, as well as perhaps the pre-emptive strike too.

Answer 13

Good moveset for Butterfree
Butterfree does pretty poor in competitive, but I think that a medium fast Specs user could work extremely well for Butterfree.

Butterfree @ Choice Specs
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Psychic
- Quiver Dance

Bug Buzz - 135 Base Power thanks to STAB, and a 10% chance to lower the opponent's Special Defense.
Air Slash - 112.5 Base Power thanks to STAB, and a 30% chance to flinch the opponent.
Psychic - 90 Base Power, coverage for Poison and Fighting types, 10% chance to lower the opponent's Special Defense.
Quiver Dance - Great setup, raises Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed by one stage.

Hope this helps anyone who dares to try and use Butterfree competitively, use that tiny 395 base stat total to the fullest.

Answer 14

Best moveset for butterfree, This butterfree is an special sweeper.

Butterfree (F) @ King's Rock
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Psychic

Setting up one or two quiver dances will let you literally 0utspeed and OHKO anything on its way

Bug Buzz is reliable strong stab

Air Slash + King's Rock is flinching hax no doubt plus powered up by stab very reliable move

Coverage like Psychic means death for opponents on a special attacker.

Just setup quiver dance and kill anything with bug buzz. If required use the flinch hack air slash.

Just smash tiers with this underrated bug.

Comments

King's Rock doesn't affect moves that already have a chance to flinch.

Answer 15

Butterfree @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Hurricane

This set is basically a Gen 8 version of the Gen 6-7 Vivillion Sleep Powder sets, being super annoying in metagames without sleep clause (Which honestly, I'm not sure if there's any where Butterfree is viable). Compound Eyes allows for Hurricane and Sleep Powder to be a lot more accurate than without the ability (91% and 97% accuracy respectively). Hurricane and Bug Buzz are strong STAB, and Sleep Powder + Quiver Dance works like bread and butter (pun intended). Use Sleep Powder on your opponent, which will either make them force to swap out, or result in them staying in and losing a turn from sleeping, giving you at least one free Quiver Dance. Now enjoy sweeping! Heavy-Duty Boots is so Butterfree isn't absolutely crippled by Stealth Rock, and the EVs and nature are self-explanatory.

Answer 16

BDSP competitive moveset:

Butterfree @ Focus Sash
Ability: Tinted Lens
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance

Butterfree is very fragile, so I recommend the Focus Sash to get in a free Quiver Dance. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are great STAB moves. Giga Drain for rock types, or Defog to remove hazards.

Answer 17

Butterfree @ Salac Berry
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Endure
- Bug Buzz
- Hurricane
- Sleep Powder

When you know Butterfree will get KOd use endure, which triggers salac Berry increasing butterfrees already decent speed.
Hurricane and sleep powder being low accuracy moves take advantage of compound eyes. And bug buzz is for the bug STAB.

Comments

Even with Compound Eyes, Hurricane is still a low accuracy move.

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Hurricane gets boosted to 91 accuracy with Compound Eyes which isn't bad

Answer 18

Butterfree @ Wide Lens
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 Atk / 152 SpA / 152 Spe
Hardy / Docile / Serious / Bashful / Quirky Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Dream Eater
- Protect
- U-turn

Butterfree's defenses aren't the best. Decent Speed, you go in, move first, and put the opposing Pokemon to sleep. Hopefully not taking a lot of damage. Its attack stinks, so put all you can into it.

Sleep Powder - May not have a lot of accuracy, but with the Wide Lens, it's not that bad.

Dream Eater - When the opposing Pokemon is asleep, you can get back some health.

Protect - Use when you think the opposing Pokemon will wake up or when you know something's coming.

U-turn - If all else fails, get this in first and switch.

Comments

Sleep Powder with Compound Eyes already has 97.5% accuracy, so wide lens is not needed. Maybe use something like Focus Sash.

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use timid and 252 spe and SpA, U-turn would only be for switching