The universal sense of angst the UU community has shown towards sun is interesting, as I believe I'm yet to see anyone even try and argue that it isn't an over-centralizing archetype that is unhealthy for the tier as a whole. However, many people have different views on what pushes this problem over the edge, leaving us with a lack of uniformity when it comes to pinpointing what is actually causing the tier distress.
The first option that I saw getting considered was the abusers themselves.
and
are extremely potent in the current metagame when accompanied by sun, and definitely part of the reason the style as a whole is being looked at in such a negative light. The power of Flare Blitz in the sun from Darmanitan is enough to make some of the tiers premiere fire resists fold. While Venusaur has an incredible speed tier under the sun, great coverage, and the ability to set up to +2 comfortably thanks to its solid bulk making it a match up nightmare. Overall these two are strong, but I fail to see them as the root problem of sun being an unhealthy influence on the UU metagame. While these two definitely contribute to sun being overbearing they get some slack from me, as outside of sun they're far from broken. Darmanitan will be a force in the tier thanks to its tremendous power no matter what, but if you remove sun from the equation mons like
and
begin to regain their ability to come in on Darmantian helping keep it in check better defensively. Venusaur similarly remains a decent looking mon on paper, but without the ability to double its speed and access to a move like Weather Ball make it a shell of what it was with a sunny sky. When it comes down to it I do see removing VenuDarm as a potentially successful option towards the bettering of the UU metagame, but I do not see it as
best.
When I think about the
best way to neutralize sun I cannot help but thinking about
and
. These are two mons that exist solely in UU to set sun reliably and not act as a momentum suck for the rest of the team. I'm not entirely sure if it's the correct way to look at it from a tiering perspective but if UU decides to ban Venu and Darm these two will similarly fall from the tier and lose most sense of relevance. However, if these two are the ones removed from the tier we can preserve two mons that could actually be beneficial. Also it's worth noting that while these two may exist in the tier solely to provide sun for their teammates the general utility and presence they provide do play a role in their success. Torkoal is a mon with solid bulk, access to hazards and removal, and the ability to force some switches with moves like Yawn. While Ninetales has respectable speed for the tier, access to Hypnosis, and The ability to grab momentum in a match and help its teammates set up by way of the move Momentum. The fact these two set sun in such an efficient and successful manner is part of the reason I'd be ok with these two being on the chopping block as opposed to Drought in general, as I believe other sun setting options would diminish the success sun has grown accustom to.
I understand the arguments made around Banning Drought as a whole, using
as the backbone of the argument. I'm just not convinced. While Torkoal and Ninetales provide utility and some ability to aid a team in general, Vulpix fails to do this in my eyes. It's essentially a dead slot that doesn't really provide anything besides initial sun + a weather reset and a sack later in the game. Using something like Vulpix hurts the style and makes it much less flexible. That being said it still provides sun and when combined with mons that take such advantage of the sun like VenuDarm is potentially dangerous. When it comes down to it I can't speak with certainty that Vulpix wont find a way to keep the style going, but I don't see it being as problematic. Since it will will also most likely force teams into investing in winning with sun 110% with vary little variance making them easier to check as a whole, as the teams will have to make up for a mon as lowly as Vulpix. I think people tend to forget how important a good setter truly is to a weather style, but it really does make a big difference. Like how Pelipper, among other things, helped shape Rain into a more consistent and successful archetype in OU as opposed to when Politoed was the sole Drizzle user in the tier.
Overall I would not protest the decision for either Torkoal + Ninetales to get the boot or Drought as a whole, but I lean towards believing a ban of Ninetales + Torkoal will be sufficent. I think both options will leave the meta in a fairly similar place. Sun will be balanced, bringing the tier to a more healthy state. That said, whether it be Vulpix or manual setters carrying the torch I think sun will still find a way to survive and win against teams that just don't have a Venusaur answer or are just weak to a strong Fire type like Darmanitan in general, it will just become much more of a match up fish instead of a consistent seemingly no drawback team choice.