Fun in the sun

[phalanx]

yup, weather team i have been using for a while, a good win record (doesnt help when ladder doesn't update). may look rather Generic, but why not, stick to keeping it simple, people running multiple types in a sun team, that have zero benifit for it. why not use the pool of decent stuff that can be even better for the boost.

Ninetales @ Life orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
- Hypnosis
- Solar Beam
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower

erm... yea we know WHY this is here. but with the moveset it can also fight back Hypnosis can force a switch on turn one, giving me a setup for Nasty Plot or picking my switch putting me on the Front foot from the off, a prefered tactic of mine, and had few problems keeping it around. the point of posting an RMT is to get others opinions so, to find out if the Bulky set is better or not.

Leafeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
- Yawn
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor

the forgotton one, Yawn to force switches, so SD can go up, then if you do not have anything to deal with it, the devastation it can leave, Leaf Blade with Sword dance can defeat a lot of things, and x-scissor is there to beat other grasses. with chlorophyll active very little is getting in first. and it has very good Bulk in the Physical depeartment, making it ideal for bringing in on Physical hitters. a fave of mine, but underperformaing in the current metagame.

Venusaur @ Black sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Solarbeam
- HP fire

the other grass type in the team. similar to leafeon, it's bulk allows it to come in, resistance to poison is always good, and abosrbing of toxic spikes is always a wonderful benefit, HP fire works better as steel types like to come in here, sludge bomb always a must due to the STAB, only problem it has is Heatran in that department, and speaking of which.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Lava Plume
- Dragon Pulse
- Toxic

quite a lot of ground weak here, and an ideal cover for Venusaur as this can come in on moves that counter him.
Toxic and WoW are both interesting choices but Toxic is better on the stallers which I feel is currently more of a threat, Dragon Pulse is there to deal with the number of dragons which will come in and try and exploit thier resistances especially with toxic.

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 Speed
Nature: Bold (+SpA, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Roost
- Fiery Dance

Decided on the Bulky Volcarona as Quiver Dance and Fiery Dance are there for boosting and because of Roost, even Stealth Rocks are not an issue for it, definatly the strongest poke in the team, as it can function out of sun, due to having no boosts from it except damage. Definatly the strongest pokemon in the team due to ease of boosting and working out of sun, which is a situation that can happen.

Infernape @ Focus Sash
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
- Mach Punch
- Swords Dance
- Fire Punch
- Stone Edge

a bit of type coverage and a strong poke with High damage, perhaps the one in need of most work, but a recent metagame change could help it. currently the weak link in the team perhaps, along with leafeon one of the pokes to change. as you can see quite a bit of a Heatran poblem, this is brought in to fix that, but is struggling to the experimental nature of it. Fire punch and Stone Edge are obvious strong attacks Stone edge deals with flying types, Fire Punch a powerful STAB, Mach punch and Swords dance are there to complement Iron Fist.

 

[alamaster]

Hey there, nice looking Sun team, but I have a couple of suggestions that could make it even better for you.

1)Using Volcarona without a Rapid Spinner.

There's no question that once Volcarona gets a couple of boosts under its belt, it becomes the most fearsome sweeper in the game. Stealth Rock severely hinders its chances of sweeping however, and your team unfortunately has no way of preventing an opponent from setting them up. Roost is a great move for sure, but all that does is allow you to recover back to 100%, only to switch out again as your opponent switches in something to check Volcarona.

I also noticed your team has 3 Fire types not counting Ninetales, which is a little redundant, even on a Sun team. Keeping with the offensive theme, I'd like to suggest using Donphan in place of Infernape, who is your most replaceable member. Here is the set I would recommend:

Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Not only do you get Rapid Spin support with Donphan, you also get a Stealth Rock user! Keeping with the offensive theme of the team, this set has maximum Attack EVs to deal as much damage as possible. You can always tweak them to create a more defensive spread if that suits you better. Donphan also gets its Water weakness erased because of Sun and can check a number of threats to Sun teams, namely Dragon types and Terrakion.

2)Small move and EV changes.

• Starting with Leafeon, I would suggest using Return over X-Scissor since you'll be able to hit Flying types for Neutral damage. The only problem Leafeon has is with Steel types, which is why most people use Sawsbuck over it, since it gets Nature Power (Earthquake). I have no problems with trying out Sun sweepers that aren't used as much because they need love too!
• Venusaur is now able to use Giga Drain, and I would suggest using it over Solar Beam as its main Grass attack. It allows you to recover and attack in the same turn which is incredibly useful. Since Giga Drain has recovering properties, I would replace Synthesis with either Growth or Sleep Powder. Growth allows for you to make up the lost power with Giga Drain compared to Solar Beam, and it gives the other attacks a boost as well. Sleep Powder is just an all around great move to have. If you want some extra power use Life Orb over Black Sludge, but with Growth Venusaur is a powerhouse either way.
• For Heatran, I think you could benefit a lot more with maximum Speed EVs in combination with your maximum Special Attack. Using a Timid Nature as well could help, as you'd then outspeed threats such as Adamant Dragonite. Lava Plume and Toxic are a little out of place for a Heatran without Leftovers. Air Balloon is used more for a sweeper set. So because of this, I would recommend upgrading Lava Plume to Fire Blast or Flamethrower, and Toxic to Hidden Power Ice/Grass for added coverage.
• Just a small change on Volcarona, I'm not sure what you outspeed given your current EVs, so I would add enough to get 260 Speed (96 EVs), which outspeed Scarf Keldeo/Terrakion after 2 boosts.

Since that was quite a few changes I suggested, here's an Importable option if you wanted to play around with it:

Hide

Ninetales @ Life orb
Trait: Drought
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hypnosis
- Solar Beam
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower

Leafeon @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Yawn
- Return
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
Venusaur @ Black sludge
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- HP fire

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 240 HP / 172 Def / 96 Spd
Bold Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Roost
- Fiery Dance

Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

I hope this helps! Best of luck with your team!

 

[Harsha]

This is a solid build but the team has a bit of work to be done in order to compete at a high level. Currently there are various mistakes, but after a bit of sorting out this team is actually decent. Nasty Plot Ninetales is generally useless, especially for a team so dependent on Drought support. It's worn down far too quickly for this team, so I'd recommend starting off with a specially defensive set there to give your team as much longevity as possible. A spread of 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD with Leftovers, a Calm nature, and a set of Will-O-Wisp / Flamethrower / Hidden Power Fighting / Protect should suit you fine. You get much more longevity for your team out of this change.

Right now, you're extremely weak to rain teams. Not a single Pokemon will switch in for Politoed's Choice Specs Hydro Pump well, and you have four Fire-types. I'd definitely consider removing both Leafeon and Infernape because they by far and away look like the weakest points on your team. Your team would benefit a lot from Rapid Spin support in particular, so I'd recommend Starmie over Leafeon. This leaves you with two Pokemon that resist Water, and while Leafeon was a sweeper, it looked fairly useless on this team. It's really not the most viable Pokemon in OU, to be honest. I think a set with a spread of 32 HP / 248 SpA / 228 Spe with a Timid nature, an Expert Belt, and a set of Hidden Power Fire / Ice Beam / Thunderbolt / Rapid Spin would be best here in order to take advantage of coverage and sun, as well as to provide crucial Rapid Spin support.

Dugtrio looks like it would really be appreciated on this team, so I'd try it over Infernape. Infernape really looks kinda useless here because it struggles in such a rain-filled metagame, but Dugtrio aids you tremendously in KOing other important weather starters, namely Politoed and Tyranitar. I'd run a spread of 252 Atk / 252 Spe with a Jolly nature and 21 HP IVs. Make sure you use a Focus Sash and a moveset of Stealth Rock / Reversal / Earthquake / Memento. The general goal of this set is to trap something, lay Stealth Rock, and then do damage to whatever comes out. The cool thing about Memento is that if Rock Polish Landorus attempts to set up, it's screwed, and you can set up all over it.

On Venusaur, definitely run Growth over Synthesis. You'll never get a chance to recover health, and Growth allows you to sweep in the late-game. You should also replace SolarBeam with the much more reliable Giga Drain, which also provides invaluable recovery without wasting a turn. You can try diverting some Speed EVs into HP and using a Timid nature in order to outpace Choice Scarf Latios, but that's completely your call. I believe the spread is 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe with a Timid nature, so you might consider trying that because beating out Latios can be helpful for sun teams as it can pose a threat when Heatran is out.

On Heatran, go with the weather set. It shares offensive capabilities but it also traps Politoed and Tyranitar, changes weather, and packs quite a punch. A set with a spread of 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe and a Timid nature, along with the Air Balloon and a set of Magma Storm / SolarBeam / Sunny Day / Earth Power should suffice. Basically you aim to trap other weather starters or stressful Pokemon and KO them outright, which can lead to a late-game sweep with either Volcarona or Venusaur. It's much more effective as an attacker than your current Heatran.

Finally, this metagame is based on Speed. On your Volcarona, I think you should run a simple, fast spread of 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with a Timid nature to make sure you can sweep immediately. Giga Drain over Roost is a possibility to hit Keldeo hard, and it gives you a bit of recovery in a pinch. While bulky Volcarona is decent, it has a much harder time sweeping in this metagame than all-out offensive Volcarona has, and with all this offense you'll continually maintain pressure on your opponent. There were a lot of changes in this rate which may be hard to stomach, but a lot of them were simply moveset changes. I think you should give all of them proper thought because I think they will make your team better. Take what you want from them, though. I hope I helped.

 

[alamaster]

@Harsha

I just wanted to point out that Starmie is a risky switch-in to Toed's Specs Hydro Pump:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 32 HP / 0 SpD Starmie in rain: 216-254 (80.29 - 94.42%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Either way he'd still have to sac something to get Starmie in and even then:

252 SpA Expert Belt Starmie Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Politoed: 209-247 (54.42 - 64.32%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

 

[BKC]

A few of your descriptions are in violation of RMT rules, please expand them or I'll have to lock this thread.

Backing up what ala & Harsha have suggested btw.

 

[phalanx]

A few suggestions I never thought of, will have a good look at them, i can agree that Ape and Leafeon are the weak links here, and am glad there are plenty of things to try, I prefer the all out attacking method, so it helps to post these to hear what others who prefer or play differant styles can give. especially as the threats posted I havn't really seen much of.
thanks guys, i will look into a few of these.