I have heard it many times, but in practise someone does it? It's really worth it? I never saw it.
Like using Cloud Nine in OU, anybody uses a Pokemon with it?
I've used it a few times but I generally find it less useful than it seems on paper due to two reasons;
1) Finding an opportunity to set it up can be rough if you don't put it on a bulky enough Pokemon
2) Bulky enough Pokemon usually can't afford the moveslot
3) Most decent weather players these days aren't stupid enough to sack their weather inducer.
4) I've developed better, more reliable ways to handle weather in their own element without having to shove a situational move onto one of my Pokemon.
Still, it does happen and can screw you over. I did make a couple weather people rage quite when my tentacruel suddenly called in hail right after they let their ninetails or politoed die :P
I think non-weather is a very good prospect on paper as you don't have to use trash like Abomasnow, Politoed or Ninetales to set up weather (Hippowdon is usable, Tyranitar is a beast), and you don't have to rely on over-reliant abusers of the weather (Tentacruel, Excadrill (pre-ban), and Venusaur) to have a good team that can pull its weight. But it has three key problems; You have avoid using Pokémon like Tentacruel, Venusaur and most Fire and Water Types in general, as an alternate weather from their preferred one can and will screw them up; Your team can get torn apart by things like Keldeo, Blaziken (RIP), Kyurem or Excadrill (RIP), or it will stalled to death by things like StallRien or Tentacruel; and lastly, it can just use there terrible weather inducer as a sacrifice against your sweeper to gain the opposition's team momentum.
However, non-weather is perfectly viable as you can use 6 superb Pokémon with synergy, you don't have to waste up to three teamslots for winning the weather war, and you don't have to use generic and predictable strategies. Because of these points you can acheive good coverage, and good momentum and you can abuse the fact if the opponent is using weather the main trend is to slap 5 weather abusers/ set-up onto a team and add dugtrio to destroy other weather set-up (WHY?!). But non-weather absolutely MUST be played cleverly, as must weather, and if you don't play non-weather cleverly you end up with a team that loses ever match. But if you ask me, non-weather is very viable, and it can outdo normal weather. But the same does apply for weather.
As already mentioned, you do not in any way have to avoid using fire and water types. Firstly, their STAB will only be nerfed in like 1/5 games at most as even Politoed only sees 22% usage. Secondly, even when it is nerfed they aren't usually rendered helpless as most OU water and fire types either have a secondary STAB they can use or just plain don't rely on the damage from their STAB exclusively to win. For example, my Sp.Def Heatran doesn't become useless in rain. It can still spread burns, wall certain threats on rain teams (especially Tornadus-T if it can avoid a Super-Power) and set up rocks even if its Lava Plume is doing less damage than normal.
CrackinSkulls said:
Now onto the main topic, lets face it weather is a huge part of the metagame. Non-weather is completely viable and should not be underestimated. However, sometimes its easier to just slap on a weather inducer because of how damn effective they are. For example if i wanted a specially bulky Stealth Rocker that can dish out a few hits in non-weather the first person i would look upon is Heatran. However i should ask myself do i benefit more from having a Tyranitar who can do the same thing, provide weather and also function as an even better switch in for things such as Tornadus-T and Thundurus.
Although non-weather is very viable you really must ask yourself whether you are better off using a weather inducer. The reason being that weather is already a huge advantage to your opponent. Letting it freely be summoned and utilized is a dangerous game.
The reason being that weather doesn't only mean a 1.5x boost to water/ fire moves, it doesn't only mean a 0.5x resistance, it doesn't just activate abilities. Weather is a straight up advantage over your opponent. Similar to Stealth Rock even if your opponent doesn't have any Stealth Rock weak pokemon. It gives you a mental edge over your opponent. Thats why on my current OU team i run a Tyranitar, though it's weather does not greatly help anyone on my team however, it strips away my opponents advantage, it makes me gain the mental edge over my opponent. Even though it doesn't benefit me as much to win the weather war it is a huge defining point in the match. As any good card player would no, it doesn't matter what i actually have, it matter more what my opponent thinks i have.
That said i'm not stupid, TTar isn't there just for show. He has a specific role that he accomplishes reliably almost every match. If you do choose to run non-weather and have decided that a weather inducer does not benefit you as much as another member of your team then you still need a check to weather. Most notably things like Sunny Day Heatran are very effective because when people see you have no weather they are quick to sack their weather inducer Politoed sucks. Anyway my main point is that while non-weather is viable it is generally easier to slap on a weather for the aforementioned reasons.
See, this exactly proves my point. It's EASIER to do, but frequently it's not BETTER to do. Sandstorm, for example, really hampers a lot of Pokemon from doing their job correctly. It makes walls less able to wall, shortens the lifespn of Life Orb abusers not immune to it even more, breaks Multiscale for Dragonite... while it's true that Tyranitar can fill a lot of roles I usually find myself avoiding him like the plauge because it'd mean half my team was always crippled. The key isn't having 1 specific Pokemon to deal with weather; it's having a team that jells together well and can handle all playstyles between them. Essentially, you just need a
well built team. With the existence of so many formulaic approaches to Pokemon in the current metagame (not just weather but also High Offense, Volt-Turn, 4 drag 2 mag, etc) it seems a large portion of the player-base has forgotten completely how to build a team without a set formula to follow. While this can be disheartening, it also gives those who have not forgotten an edge, as a predictable enemy is an enemy that is easy to defeat.
EDIT: Also your paragraph about how weather / SR gives a "mental edge" I just... what? I suppose if your opponent panics easily or something. I personally don't let it bother me when I face a weather team. I don't think of it as "oh he has his weather therefore he has an advantage". I think "Ok, this guy is running a weather team I know how to beat this". I suppose that's another reason why new players might have trouble with using non-weather; they're so used to being fucked if the opponent has their own weather up they don't know how to handle it.
