When I was in the beginning stages of building this team I wanted to use Thunderous as the main pokemon to center the team around. First glance at the idea might make you say "but it doesn't even abuse sun so why make a sun team around it?" For the curious minds of those people I will present this: Thunderous gives me a wall-breaking monster who cripples walls I want severely chipped or KO'd directly because of this pokemon such as Heatran, Tyranitar, Garchomp, Toxapex, and many other pokemon. Thunderous also has the ability Prankster, a ability that allows thunder wave to be a great way to annoy other things that might wall/outspeed it like Mega Latios, Mega Zam, Mega Latias, Torn T, and many common set up sweepers get crippled by this annoying monster. Thunderous also gives me a ground immunity, invaluable to any team in general but especially a sun team. The very few pokemon who take these attacks normally end up being complete Venusaur food, so its a match that is fluid overall.
Next up is Garchomp, a pokemon who gives me a fire resist, electric immunity, solid speed tier, and another wall breaker who doesn't need sun but can benefit from sun's ability to boost Fire Fang and the sweepers that break down what annoys it. Dragon+Sun is a pretty common way to use sun back then and even with fairies this trend continues due to fire and poison types doing good against fairies. Garchomp's set takes advantage of these traits to go dragonium Z, normally inferior to Z stone edge, but with the assistance of its teammates lets this set run free. Earthquake and Swords Dance lets it be Garchomp and the already mentioned Fire Fang kets it break Celesteela, Bulu, Skarmory, and Ferrothorn much easier and under sun makes it a legit coverage option that can work outside of it.
Torkoal+Venusaur are the next 2 obvious slots as this is the main sun core, but after that I needed a fire type and something that reliably takes care of pokemon like Heatran and can defog on it, so the last one of the slots go to Hydreion due to its ability to resist water, take on Heatran in a 1v1 and defog, and also gives me yet another Ground immunity. The other slot is taken up by scarf Victini due to its speed tier outside of sun and good power under it as it can be a great revenge killer and a switch in on stuff like Tapu Lele and Mega Zam.
The Team and Sets
Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Lava Plume
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 88 Atk / 168 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Superpower
- Thunderbolt
88 attack is to KO Rocks Mega Tyranitar 100% of the time
Garchomp @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Growth
Victini @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- U-turn
- Bolt Strike
- Trick / Final Gambit
Final Gambit is a fine option on this team if you want to explore with that.
Hydreigon @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 236 HP / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Roost
- Draco Meteor / Dark Pulse
- Defog
Dark Pulse can be used over Draco if you want but be weary of the Kommo-o matchup if so.
Pokepaste:
https://pokepast.es/8388a4c8dc3c0740
How To Use
For most games you want to make sure you identify these things: What blocks a Venusaur/Thundy/Chomp/Victini endgame, what needs thunder wave support, what needs to be checked defensively, and what backup plan do you have for when sun isn't up/unreliable during the game. After you identified these things, all I can honestly say is play your best by not wasting torkoal's health on useless plays and making sure you know what scenario you want to end up with a endgame with what you want.
Matchups to be careful of
Kommo-o Z: Garchomp has to be in or t-wave go off, but generally this can be a annoying matchup but manageable.
Offensive Destroyers: Pokemon like Ditto and Mega Lopunny will be an annoying threat, but both can be t-wave and Victini can deal with Mega Lopunny if you're desperate.
Tapu Lele: This thing will click buttons against anyone and sets up terrain for Mega Zam so it can avoid t-wave, a real headache so taking it out or forcing it to click moonblast if specs might be the only way out. On the Bright side is that once Victini comes in a pokemon dies.
DD Mega Ttar with Ice Punch: This pokemon is immune to thunder wave, takes out Garchomp in 1 hit, and your only real chance of dealing with this is to never let it set up, other Ttar are generally going to be something you can manage well and Ttar is lured in by Victini and Thundy, both who could use moves to take it out.
There could be other potential matchups that I missed but those are the ones that come to my mind first.
Peak: No evidence of peak of 1900+ but I do remember getting at least 1920 with this if not higher.
Who I recommend this to: Newer players who want to experiment with sun but still have something they might still feel familiar with overall. This works for most player skill levels.