Yay for bad titles. There's a PokeMoshPit tournament coming up soon (Saturday), and I need a team for it. I've been testing Sun and it isn't all that bad, if at all. There are a few problems - that are kind of big - but I think in general, this team works. This isn't really an all out team, more so a bit of a slow one.
Leftovers, Timid Nature (HP Ground)
Drought
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Will-O-Wisp
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Energy Ball
All sun teams need Ninetales, so this is fairly self explantory. Outside of the possible OHKO miss on Gliscor, the lack of Life Orb isn't all bad, and Leftovers helps against weather wars. Will O Wisp burns Tyranitar, and they never expect it as well. A lot of people lead with a slower physical attacker against Ninetales, and unless they're named Conkeldurr, they won't enjoy Will O Wisp. Fire Blast is self explantory, and has great power in the sun, despite the lack of Life Orb and Ninetales's average SpA. Hidden Power Ground is to deal with Heatran, and other Fire types, though it only 2HKOs the former. Energy Ball is for Water types and for a slightly stronger hit on Tyranitar. I'd run SolarBeam, but it isn't worth it due to other weather.
Leftovers, Adamant nature
Sturdy
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
-Rapid Spin
- Ice Shard
Stealth Rocker of choice. Due to Dragonite and Ninetales, I believed a Rapid Spinner was necessary, and Donphan works pretty well; good synergy with the team, and gets its Water weakness reduced. Donphan always does its job for me: lay up rocks, spin away hazards, and deal some nice damage. Earthquake hurts anything coming off Donphan's great attack stat, and Ice Shard helps finish off weakened foes and is great against Landorus, Gliscor and other 4x Ice weak Pokemon. It lacks power, but still works. Rapid Spin gets rid of hazards, which really hurts this team, though I prefer switching into Venusaur for Toxic Spikes. Stealth Rock is nice support, helping with K.O.s, opposing weather starters and the like. Donphan has some sort of Defensive core with Heatran, as well.
Leftovers, Calm Nature
Flash Fire
248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpDef
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Toxic
My main check/counter to other sun abusers, certain Dragons (specifically, EQ lacking Dragonite, Lati@s that lack Trick, and the like) Steel types, and other Heatran. Can serve as a decent Tyranitar check in some scenarios, though the rise of Earthquake makes this shaky. Lava Plume actually hits hard in the sun despite this being a Defensive set, and the burn rate is nice as well. Earth Power is specifically for Pokemon weak to it and Heatran, since Donphan is too slow to hit Heatran first, and Ninetales does not always get the KO. Toxic is better on Polited than the other weather starters, but is still useful for Hippowdon. Protect is to scout, and get extra Leftovers recovery.
Life Orb, Modest nature. [HP Fire]
Chlorophyll
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Growth
- Giga Drain [might have to change to energy ball for this tourney]
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power
OMG SOMETHING THAT DOESNT HAVE LEFTOVERS?! Yeah, Giga Drain is why. Venusaur is this team's main sweeper, and quite possibly the best Chlorophyll sweeper. It has solid bulk, ok speed with Chlorophyll, and nice Special Attack. Growth takes this even farther, meaning only specially defensive tanks can take a hit. Giga Drain is great on Venusaur, healing off recoil and keeping Venusaur healthy, while also helping against Tyranitar and Politoed [the latter cannot do anything to Venusaur; only Specs Ice Beam will OHKO and this can still fail,while Giga Drain heals this off the damage] and the power is still solid. The only problem is it fails to OHKO Tentacruel without some prior damage. Sludge Bomb is for the Dragons, dealing a nice hit, while HP Fire takes out any Steel types, and thanks to Sun, it takes out almost all of them.
Leftovers, Adamant nature
Multiscale
216 HP / 80 Atk / 212 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Claw
Secondary sweeper, helps with Venusaur's checks. That aren't named Heatran. Bulky Dragonite cleans up well, and with the sun boosting Fire Punch, even Skarmory can't stand up to the might of the original Dragon. The spread gives some extra power (enough to OHKO Metagross with Fire Punch in the sun at +1, for instance), and a Leftovers number while maximizing the number of times Dragonite can switch in with Stealth Rock. Dragon Claw is reliable STAB, as Outrage is counter productive on this set. Dragon Dance is obvious, while Roost brings Dragonite to Multiscale, heals off all damage and gets rid of any Flying weaknesses.
Choice Scarf, Naive nature [HP Ice]
Regenerator
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-Turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power
Revenge killer of choice, able to deal with other Dragon Dancers and Quiver Dancers. Also able to take out Heatran, and the blobs while provide a last resort sweeper. Hi Jump Kick, although surprisingly really unreliable, gets the job done. The only problem are that the blobs and Heatran carry Protect. And frequently get double Protect. U-Turn is for scouting, not much else. Does good damage to anything weak to it though, which is nice. Hidden Power is for Gliscor, and anything else weak to it. Stone Edge takes out Quiver Dancers and other Flying types, dealing more damage to the latter than HP Ice.
Final Thoughts, Changes and Problems
This team can work fairly well, getting off sweeps pretty easily. It's really stopped easily though, and it's hard to work around things. Heatran is a thorn in this team's side, as are the blobs. Even though Mienshao can hit them hard, they love their protection. Additionally, bar Abomasnow, opposing weather is a pain. I can actually work around them fairly easily through status, but still not easy. Really, Drizzle teams are possibly the worst because Venusaur and Dragonite are my only Water resists, and they can be taken out by Ice attacks. The Water weakness on this team also limited my options quite a bit, as I'd run Scarf Terrakion in Mienshao's place for higher speed and power, but it'd compound the Water weakness.
Changes I'd think I'd make:
- Tangrowth can work in the place of Venusaur, taking out Heatran and the blobs no problem on its own. It's just too slow though, and even at a +speed nature, base 86 +speed scarfers still outspeed it. That, and Dragons wall it.
- Hidden Power fighting on Ninetales? I think for now HP Ground.
- Physically Defensive Donphan to deal with Physical attackers better, and getting rid of Ice Shard for Roar in that case.
- Fully offensive Dragonite, either Choice Band or Max Speed and Attack with ExtremeSpeed or Earthquake over Roost. It can work pretty well.
- Volcarona over maybe Dragonite or Venusaur. It really does work in the sun, and is hard to stop without Stealth Rock.
- Rotom-W? I saw in another Sun RMT that Rotom-W worked well in it.
- Either Mixed or Dragon Dance Salamence can work over Dragonite here with a slight tweak to the team, helping to clear the way for Venusaur.
- Specially Defensive Jirachi, with Terrakion over Mienshao, actually really helps this team out despite its Fire weakness being compounded. It can take out Tyranitar easily, and Flinch Polited to death. Abomasnow cannot do anything to Jirachi. Wish Support also helps the rest of the team.
Leftovers, Timid Nature (HP Ground)
Drought
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Will-O-Wisp
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Energy Ball
All sun teams need Ninetales, so this is fairly self explantory. Outside of the possible OHKO miss on Gliscor, the lack of Life Orb isn't all bad, and Leftovers helps against weather wars. Will O Wisp burns Tyranitar, and they never expect it as well. A lot of people lead with a slower physical attacker against Ninetales, and unless they're named Conkeldurr, they won't enjoy Will O Wisp. Fire Blast is self explantory, and has great power in the sun, despite the lack of Life Orb and Ninetales's average SpA. Hidden Power Ground is to deal with Heatran, and other Fire types, though it only 2HKOs the former. Energy Ball is for Water types and for a slightly stronger hit on Tyranitar. I'd run SolarBeam, but it isn't worth it due to other weather.
Leftovers, Adamant nature
Sturdy
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
-Rapid Spin
- Ice Shard
Stealth Rocker of choice. Due to Dragonite and Ninetales, I believed a Rapid Spinner was necessary, and Donphan works pretty well; good synergy with the team, and gets its Water weakness reduced. Donphan always does its job for me: lay up rocks, spin away hazards, and deal some nice damage. Earthquake hurts anything coming off Donphan's great attack stat, and Ice Shard helps finish off weakened foes and is great against Landorus, Gliscor and other 4x Ice weak Pokemon. It lacks power, but still works. Rapid Spin gets rid of hazards, which really hurts this team, though I prefer switching into Venusaur for Toxic Spikes. Stealth Rock is nice support, helping with K.O.s, opposing weather starters and the like. Donphan has some sort of Defensive core with Heatran, as well.
Leftovers, Calm Nature
Flash Fire
248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpDef
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Toxic
My main check/counter to other sun abusers, certain Dragons (specifically, EQ lacking Dragonite, Lati@s that lack Trick, and the like) Steel types, and other Heatran. Can serve as a decent Tyranitar check in some scenarios, though the rise of Earthquake makes this shaky. Lava Plume actually hits hard in the sun despite this being a Defensive set, and the burn rate is nice as well. Earth Power is specifically for Pokemon weak to it and Heatran, since Donphan is too slow to hit Heatran first, and Ninetales does not always get the KO. Toxic is better on Polited than the other weather starters, but is still useful for Hippowdon. Protect is to scout, and get extra Leftovers recovery.
Life Orb, Modest nature. [HP Fire]
Chlorophyll
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Growth
- Giga Drain [might have to change to energy ball for this tourney]
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power
OMG SOMETHING THAT DOESNT HAVE LEFTOVERS?! Yeah, Giga Drain is why. Venusaur is this team's main sweeper, and quite possibly the best Chlorophyll sweeper. It has solid bulk, ok speed with Chlorophyll, and nice Special Attack. Growth takes this even farther, meaning only specially defensive tanks can take a hit. Giga Drain is great on Venusaur, healing off recoil and keeping Venusaur healthy, while also helping against Tyranitar and Politoed [the latter cannot do anything to Venusaur; only Specs Ice Beam will OHKO and this can still fail,while Giga Drain heals this off the damage] and the power is still solid. The only problem is it fails to OHKO Tentacruel without some prior damage. Sludge Bomb is for the Dragons, dealing a nice hit, while HP Fire takes out any Steel types, and thanks to Sun, it takes out almost all of them.
Leftovers, Adamant nature
Multiscale
216 HP / 80 Atk / 212 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Claw
Secondary sweeper, helps with Venusaur's checks. That aren't named Heatran. Bulky Dragonite cleans up well, and with the sun boosting Fire Punch, even Skarmory can't stand up to the might of the original Dragon. The spread gives some extra power (enough to OHKO Metagross with Fire Punch in the sun at +1, for instance), and a Leftovers number while maximizing the number of times Dragonite can switch in with Stealth Rock. Dragon Claw is reliable STAB, as Outrage is counter productive on this set. Dragon Dance is obvious, while Roost brings Dragonite to Multiscale, heals off all damage and gets rid of any Flying weaknesses.
Choice Scarf, Naive nature [HP Ice]
Regenerator
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-Turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power
Revenge killer of choice, able to deal with other Dragon Dancers and Quiver Dancers. Also able to take out Heatran, and the blobs while provide a last resort sweeper. Hi Jump Kick, although surprisingly really unreliable, gets the job done. The only problem are that the blobs and Heatran carry Protect. And frequently get double Protect. U-Turn is for scouting, not much else. Does good damage to anything weak to it though, which is nice. Hidden Power is for Gliscor, and anything else weak to it. Stone Edge takes out Quiver Dancers and other Flying types, dealing more damage to the latter than HP Ice.
Final Thoughts, Changes and Problems
This team can work fairly well, getting off sweeps pretty easily. It's really stopped easily though, and it's hard to work around things. Heatran is a thorn in this team's side, as are the blobs. Even though Mienshao can hit them hard, they love their protection. Additionally, bar Abomasnow, opposing weather is a pain. I can actually work around them fairly easily through status, but still not easy. Really, Drizzle teams are possibly the worst because Venusaur and Dragonite are my only Water resists, and they can be taken out by Ice attacks. The Water weakness on this team also limited my options quite a bit, as I'd run Scarf Terrakion in Mienshao's place for higher speed and power, but it'd compound the Water weakness.
Changes I'd think I'd make:
- Tangrowth can work in the place of Venusaur, taking out Heatran and the blobs no problem on its own. It's just too slow though, and even at a +speed nature, base 86 +speed scarfers still outspeed it. That, and Dragons wall it.
- Hidden Power fighting on Ninetales? I think for now HP Ground.
- Physically Defensive Donphan to deal with Physical attackers better, and getting rid of Ice Shard for Roar in that case.
- Fully offensive Dragonite, either Choice Band or Max Speed and Attack with ExtremeSpeed or Earthquake over Roost. It can work pretty well.
- Volcarona over maybe Dragonite or Venusaur. It really does work in the sun, and is hard to stop without Stealth Rock.
- Rotom-W? I saw in another Sun RMT that Rotom-W worked well in it.
- Either Mixed or Dragon Dance Salamence can work over Dragonite here with a slight tweak to the team, helping to clear the way for Venusaur.
- Specially Defensive Jirachi, with Terrakion over Mienshao, actually really helps this team out despite its Fire weakness being compounded. It can take out Tyranitar easily, and Flinch Polited to death. Abomasnow cannot do anything to Jirachi. Wish Support also helps the rest of the team.
