Fun in the Sun

[ShinyFlareon]

So now that I actually have a working battle sim on my computer (courtesty of Pokemon Showdown), I figured I could post a more serious RMT. This one uses my favorite weather: sun. Changes in bold.

Ninetales@Leftovers
Calm nature
Drought
252 HP / 120 Sp. Def. / 136 Spe

Flamethrower
Will-O-Wisp
Substitute
Hypnosis

Rather standard Drought lead. Ninetales has always been a favorite of mine, so it's good to be able to use it in OU. This team doesn't have too much in the way of special bulk, so I decided to make some use of Ninetales' natural special defense. Sub and Hypnosis cripple incoming threats, while WoW helps with physical attackers.

Sawsbuck@Choice Band
Jolly nature
Chlorophyll
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Double-Edge
Nature Power (Earthquake)
Horn Leech
Megahorn

I love Sawsbuck so freakin' much, and this set makes anyone who underestimates him cower in fear. Not much else to say about this set except that it's pretty much raw power. It's capable of OHKOing a Haxorus, and under the sun, it's really fast.

Venusaur@Life Orb
Modest nature
Chlorophyll
4 HP / 252 Sp. Atk. / 252 Spe

Growth
Giga Drain
Hidden Power (Fire)
Sludge Bomb

Pretty standard Growth sweeper. Originally I was going to have Lilligant here, but I figured Venusaur would be able to do more damage with less setup.

Heatran@Air Ballon
Timid nature
Flash Fire
252 Sp. Atk / 4 Sp. Def / 252 Spe

Fire Blast
Earth Power
Hidden Power (Grass)
Dragon Pulse

Replaced Volcarona with some much-needed Flash Fire support. I thought about running a purely specially-bulky set, but the offensive power is too valuable to pass up for this team, where both dedicated sweepers are grass-types. Usually, he stays in the background until the very late game to preserve the Air Ballon. He beats other Heatran one-on-one if he still has his balloon. Dragon Pulse is simply a coverage move, but I'm thinking of making him a backup Stealth Rocker.

Donphan@Leftovers
Impish nature
Sturdy
252 HP / 4 Atk. / 252 Def

Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Earthquake
Ice Shard

My utility spinner and Stealth Rocker. Donphan works pretty well in the sun, and compliments the others on the team pretty nicely.

Arcanine@Leftovers
Impish nature
Intimidate
248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Sp. Def

Flare Blitz
Extremespeed
Morning Sun
Toxic

Defensive Arcanine is surprisingly effective. Intimidate helps to cushion physical hits, and Morning Sun provides that extra bit of longevity.​

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

Solid team. But why cb Sawsbuck? I would rather recommend a sd + 3 attacks set.

 

[Professor Jacel]

I would recommend Energy Ball over Hypnosis. I really do not like it personally and with its terrible accuracy I encounter people who will sack there Pokemon just trying to get success with the move. If you were to lose Ninetales because of a miss with this you might end up losing your Weather Starter. Energy ball would at least guarantee that if you were up against rain you could hit Politeod on the switch in doing decent damage or perhaps killing it.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Solid team. But why cb Sawsbuck? I would rather recommend a sd + 3 attacks set.

Sawsbuck doesn't often get chances to set up like Venusaur or Volcarona do. With a Choice Band, Sawsbuck is able to hit just about anything with enough power to KO it without any setup, and the rest of the team is bulky enough, relatively, to be able to switch in so Sawsbuck can change moves.

I would recommend Energy Ball over Hypnosis. I really do not like it personally and with its terrible accuracy I encounter people who will sack there Pokemon just trying to get success with the move. If you were to lose Ninetales because of a miss with this you might end up losing your Weather Starter. Energy ball would at least guarantee that if you were up against rain you could hit Politeod on the switch in doing decent damage or perhaps killing it.

But the idea with this Ninetales isn't to be able to attack - it's to provide more special bulk to the team, and spread around some status in order to help it attack. Energy Ball doesn't have a shot at killing most Politoeds anyway (even with Modest max Special Attack), especially not specially bulky ones. If I wanted Ninetales to be an attacker, I'd EV it that way. I've got Sawsbuck and Venusaur to deal with Politoed, and Venusaur does a solid job against Tyranitar, too.

After playing a little more with this team, I'm realizing that it has a lot of trouble dealing with Ghost types - Chandelure in particular. Sub+Disable Gengar is still KOed by a resisted Horn Leech, so that's less of a problem, but Chandelure (and to a lesser extent, Heatran) really give this team problems. At the moment, I feel like Volcarona is the most replaceable - I try to keep Donphan alive, but if it goes down, Volcarona has a really hard time coming in and setting up to sweep since it takes so much damage from hazards.

 

[Professor Jacel]

I am not saying make it an attacker I just figure Energy Ball would give you some coverage is all it makes it more of safe bet I guess just so you do not have to risk out missing Hypnosis.
You could always go Calm Mind if you would like that as well. Give you that extra SpecD boost and give you some more special attack but I am not for sure how that would work on Ninetales.

If you are encountering Heatran problems you could always go Jump Kick on your Sawsbuck. I am not for sure what you would replace as you have a good set up but if you find something that could be replaceable for that then that would help.

I do not know what kind of Chandelure's you encounter on PS but I bump into the Choice Scarf'd ones a lot. Well on PO as well. I really do not use a Sun Team as I enjoy rain but Pokemon that are not water that have helped me are. My Latios as I can get off Trick Predictions now and obtain there scarf where they get my Specs. Then its just a quick Psyshock stab for the win. That is just my Latios though The rest of my team tends to handle them well. Then again I am usually in the rain. Really not for sure on what people use to counter it on a Sun Team if they do bump into it though. On My Sun Team(Which Is Terrible) I always just have problems with Heatran.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Hypnosis' accuracy is dealt with by the fact that I also run Substitute. I've got plenty of grass-type coverage already.

Scarf or Specs Chandelures are common. I'm almost considering running one myself, seeing as how I don't have any Flash Fire abusers on this team.

 

[Professor Jacel]

Substitute? Oh thats what that is My Computer Screens all screwy right now so its hard to read sometimes and I was reading that as an entirely different thing. I see what you are doing now!!


You could also run your own Heatran. This way you resist Chandelures attacks and can earthpower him out of there.

 

[Synthesis]

@Feliciano ; The team looks pretty solid as a whole, even if it's primarily offensive. Volca seems a little redundant considering you're using Vena with HP Fire, even though its Fire attacks pale in comparison. I'd suggest swapping Volca out for Chandelure/Tran or running FF on Arcy and scrapping Volca altogether in favour of something that specifically deals with what gives you problems. Banded/Lorb Dugtrio is very underrated but it nails non-balloon Tran and Gengar/other Ghosts with Night Slash/Pursuit depending on what gives you problems the most.

 

[ShinyFlareon]

Changes are made to the first post. Replaced Volcarona with an Air Balloon Heatran.