Rate my Sun Team

[Aelsorm]

Hi,
I have not play Pokémon for months, but I decided to do something with my team...
I had common sun team...

First I have decided for playing Ninetales, because he's the best Sun opener! Just kidding, he's only one (besides Vulpix). I decided to run him as a Special Attacker.

Then I choosed Venusaur as another Special Attacker, he's great, he has good stats and of course, main reason, he got Chlorophyll ability, so he outspeeds almost everything.

So, I had two Special Attackers, I decided that Salamence would be great Physical Attacker. Now, with Gen 5, he got Moxie ability, which is awesome.
He has also great movepool and base 100 speed isn't bad.

I have done my Attacker's core, so I decided to choose some defenders. Firstly I decided to run Skarmory, he is pretty cool defender, thanks to his average HP (okay, not so average, but it's not so bad) and amazing physical defense!
Normally I would choose Gliscor as my defender, I like him so much, because he's powerful and bulky and thanks to his Poison Heal ability he can become a monster. But I didn't choose Gliscor, I choosed Skarmory, because Gliscor is 4x weak against Ice-types as well as Salamence and it's usually bad.
On the other side, Salamence and Skarmory are both weak to Electric-types, but...

...I run Donphan! He could take Electric attacks instead of Skarmory and Skarmory can take Grass attacks. They two are together pretty awesome.
Donphan has good defense and access to Ice priority move - Ice Shard.
He got also Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin to deal with hazard, which is also awesome.

Then I decided to run Porygon2. He has good defenses and he isn't fully evolved, which means, he can hold Eviolite (x1,5 both defenses).
I decided to have Porygon as a Special Defender, because I didn't have any.
Most people would choose Chansey (or Blissey) over him, but I would say Chansey is worse. Yes, she is bulky, yes, she got Natural Cure, but Porygon...
he got Trace! It's amazing ability, he can copy a lot of useful abilities as mentioned Natural Cure, Poison Heal, Magic Bounce and Prankster.

This was my team for a long while, but I decided to change it...

I had problems with Heatran... so I run Sawsbuck. Venusaur can have only Giga Drain (or Solarbeam) and Hidden Power... but Ground or Fire? He needs both.
Sawsbuck (also has Chlorophyll) is Physical Attacker and he isn't as bulky as Venusaur, but he has access to Swords Dance (Venusaur's Growth), Horn Leech (Venusaur's Giga Drain) and then Return (another STAB - his strongest move) and Earthquake, ehm... Nature Power.

Ninetales @Leftovers
Drought
Timid 4 HP 252 Sp.Atk 252 Spe
-Flamethrower
-Solarbeam
-Sunny Day
-Hidden Power Ground/Substitute/Toxic/Nasty Plot
I have run a lot of versions of Ninetales, but I kept my Special Sweeper Ninetales.
I gave him Leftovers, which is unusual for sweeper, I know, but he is bulky (he doesn't seem bulky, but he is!) and I don't want to let him die, because other option would be Life Orb or one-time-use gems.
Flamethrower is here because I hate Fire Blast, yeah, it hasn't got bad accuracy and it has amazing power, but I am always unlucky and Flamethrower isn't so bad. It has more PP!
Solarbeam is usual attack, it helps against water-types and threats. It also helps against Politoed in some moments.
Sunny Day, yeah double Sun Powa! Sunny Day is here, because Politoeds and T-tars for weather wars (I didn't mention Abomasnow for a good reason, against him is better Flamethrower or switch).
Anyway, Sunny Day is also good against T-tar's Pursuit, opponent usually expects me to switch, so I cannot switch, but I cannot use Solarbeam without sun - so... Sunny Day!
I am not sure what should I play as a fourth move. I played HP Ground and it was quite well, but maybe I should replace it by something else...

Sawsbuck @Life Orb
Chlorophyll
Adamant 112 HP 248 Atk 148 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Horn Leech
-Return
-Nature Power
I choosed Sawsbuck's usual set for OU. I don't think it is bad, but I run Nature Power instead of Jump Kick, because I hate those crashes, when I get one half HP away. Jump Kick is easy to predict (for example against T-tar) and opponent can switch (for example to Jellicent) and HP is gone, Sawsbuck is gone.
Swords Dance is of course to improve attack, Horn Leech is STAB and it can heal Life Orb's recoil damage and Return is main STAB and his most powerful attack.
Nature Power is, as I said, against Heatran and others.

Salamence @Choice Scarf
Moxie
Jolly 4 HP 252 Atk 252 Spe
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge //Sugested by Pokemasta77
-Fire Fang
Salamence is truly monster. He starts to attack and becoming better and better... Thanks to Choice Scarf he outspeed almost everything and thanks to his awesome attacks and ability he kills almost everything.
I use him against opponent's Pokémon with low HP to get Moxie boost and usually he starts to terorize opponent and his Pokémon until he loses.
Only threat for Salamence is priority. Sableye, Donphan, Scizor and Lucario could kill him easily, so I must be careful in choosing moves.
Outrage is his most powerful move and STAB, but it requires hard decisions, because it locks me in using it for next two or three turns.
Stone Edge is good move, and it ruins Volcanrona, but it's usually Stone Miss and I like Dragon Claw more, because it is good against for example Garchomp, when opponent has still Scizor alive. So I use Dragon Claw over Stone Edge.
Earthquake is good move against Heatran and other Steel-types, who resist Dragon Claw and Outrage.
Fire Fang, ah, it was hard decision and I know you will not love it, but I think it isn't bad move, it isn't worse than Fire Blast. It can easily get Moxie boost and in sun it is powerful move. Fire Blast can only miss :/...

Skarmory @Shed Shell/Leftovers
Sturdy
Impish 252 HP 232 Def 24 Spe
-Spikes
-Brave Bird
-Roost
-Whirlwind
This Steel-type Poké is really cool, he can set spikes, he can heal itself and he can blow out opponent's Pokémon.
I am using standart set, with Spikes as entry hazard, Brave Bird as a powerful move, Roost for healing itself and Whirlwind when opponent's Poké cannot be defeated by normal way.
Only problem for Skarmory is Magnet Pull (and sometimes Shadow Tag). Magnezone and Gothitelle can ruin him before I set spikes and losing Physical Defender isn't easy. I have Shed Shell for those cases but sometimes it would be better with Leftovers, because it can heal me for full health for example after Stealth Rock, which is useful for making Sturdy active.

Donphan @Leftovers
Sturdy
Impish 252 HP 4 Atk 252 Def
-Stealth Rock
-Rapid Spin
-Ice Shard
-Earthquake
This guy is very useful, he can set his own entry hazard and blow out those opponent's. He is bulky and he has access to Sturdy ability as Skarmory, which quarantees at least 2HKO for him.
Ice Shard ruins most dragons and Landorus and cause many problems to Gliscor. And it also is priority attack which can be useful (which IS useful!).
Earthquake is his main STAB and it is powerful attack.
I didn't see other options here, maybe I should play Adamant 252 HP 252 Atk 4 Def, who knows...

Jellicent @Leftovers //Suggested over Porygon2 by Alexander.
Water Absorb
Bold 248 HP 216 Def 44 Spe
-Taunt
-Will-O-Wisp
-Recover
-Shadow Ball

I hope you enjoyed my team and please rate it.
Sorry for my bad English, I am just student :)

I will try all your ideas, even good even bad and I will write you results.

 

[Professor Birch]

Hi nice looking team! I have one small suggestion I have for this team off the top of my head. The one thing you are weak to is the way to common rain. For Salamence, I would recommend making Dragon Claw his main STAB move and then put Stone Edge in. A lot of the common rain sweepers are weak to that move(Dragonite, Tornadus, Thundurus). I will edit this if I remember any more. Good luck!

 

[Jacobzilla]

Porygon2 is good, but your team has a big weakness to rain teams as pokemasta77 said. Gastrodon can help fix that weakness with his ability storm drain, and he has decent special bulk just like Porygon2. I would suggest the set:

Gastrodon @Leftovers
Storm Drain
Calm Nature
252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
-Earthquake
-Ice Beam
-Recover
-Toxic

Good luck with your team! :)

 

[Prinz]

Hey!

Really cool team you have here. Sunny teams aren't very common nowadays so props for using it. However, I have some advice to give you so let's start with the rate! Well, first of all, your team is weak to Keldeo, especially the Calm Mind one. Calm Mind Keldeo after a Calm Mind can give you many problems and you can only revenge-kill it with Choice Scarf Salamence and with Sawsbuck if sun is up so it isn't a very reliable revenge-killer. To solve your weakness to Keldeo and in general to rain teams, I suggest you to use Jellicent replacing Porygon2. Jellicent with Water Assorb can counter very well Keldeo and it's a good check to rain teams too, it can also help you to keep up your entry hazards thanks to its ghost typing. Porygon2 otherwise seems the weak line here because it's in general a bad pokemon in the current bw ou metagame since it allows threats like Terrakion, Lucario and so on to setup and also the other your team members are most important than Porygon2. On Jellicent, I'd use a EV spread of 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe, with a moveset of Will-O-Wisp, Recover, Taunt and Shadow Ball, with Bold nature and with Leftovers. Then, I'd change a little Ninetales' EV spread. In my opinion, it needs a more defensive EV spread than its current one because it has to switch into stuff like Politoed many times so it needs more staying power. A EVs spread of 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe should work fine in your team, I'd use also Roar in the 4th slot because it helps you a lot against setupper like Volcarona and because it allows you to take advantage of your entry hazards. As last thing, on Salamence I'd use Stone Edge replacing Dragon Claw because Volcarona can give you some problem since it beats Jellicent, Donphan and Skarmory so Stone Edge would help you much to deal with Volcarona more easily.

Good luck.

 

[Basileus]

I had problems with Heatran... so I run Sawsbuck.

If you were having problems with heatran then I suggest this:

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 18 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spd
Serious Nature
- Spore
- Seed Bomb
- Focus Punch
- Substitute

Spore, Focus punch, DONE.

 

[TGMD]

Hey Aelsorm, nice team!

First of all, you have a rather large problem with rain, the most popular weather, in general. Common spammers of Hydro Pump, such as Specs Politoed can simply switch in on Ninetales, Donphan, Skarmory etc, then proceed to click Hydro Pump which OHKOs most of your team after rocks. Your only Water resists are not only weak to Ice, the single most common coverage type among Water types, but they're also your main sweepers, and you very rarely want to switch them in on Water types and risk losing them. To help remedy this situation, I suggest running a Blastoise over your current Donphan. Blastoise not only resists Water, but it gets HP every turn just by being in rain, due to Rain Dish, making it a great answer to many of the common rain Pokemon that plague your team. Blastoise is also very similiar to Donphan, it has great bulk, it spins, it helps check dragons with Ice coverage (Ice Beam), etc. Overall, it's just a Donphan that's slightly worse in sun, but changes your matchup against rain teams from terrible to pretty good.

With Donphan gone, unfortunately, you no longer have the most crucial move in the game: Stealth Rock. Because of this, it looks like you'll need to run Stealth Rock over Brave Bird on Skarmory. This is very unfortunate, as Skarm is now completely shut down by Taunt, but most of the Pokemon you actually use Brave Bird against (Toxicroak, Breloom, etc) are already covered.

I also highly suggest Fire Blast over Flamethower on Ninetales. Ninetales has simply terrible Special Attack, couple that with no boost nature or item, and you have one hell of a weak Pokemon. Fire Blast actually kinda changes that, I know the accuracy sucks, but overall, there is no reason to invest that much in Special Attack if you're going to run a move as weak as Flamethrower as your main STAB, you just don't get the neccessary OHKOs / 2HKOs.

Finally, you should probably move Salamence and Ninetales' 4 HP EVs into Special Defense. With those extra EVs, their HP is divisable by 4, meaning they will be KOed on the 4th time they switch into Stealth Rock, whereas, when HP is not divisable by 4, they'll survive with a bit of HP on their 4th switch into Stealth Rock.

Anyways, I hope this rate helped and GL with the team :)

Blastoise

Blastoise @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 SDef
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Protect

 

[MewTheDestroyer]

Only thing I would change is Fire Blast over Fire Fang, as this lets you not be walled by a physical wall, and it all in all is just better on ScarfMence.

 

[Basileus]

Only thing I would change is Fire Blast over Fire Fang, as this lets you not be walled by a physical wall, and it all in all is just better on ScarfMence.

I am sorry But I have to disagree, the accuracy drop of 10% to me just isn't worth it. You really only need it for Ferrothorn anyway.

Speaking of salamance, I would suggest DD and life orb instead of outrage, it is rare to find a pokemon in OU that is faster and can OHKO Salamance. I prefer to be very flexible with Salamace's move pool and just a single dragon dance allows it to outspeed almost the entire game. (no to mention the nice attack boost). Unless your opponent has has good priority moves it is game over. The one thing salamance ALWAYS has to watch out for with this set though is stealth rocks, which allows for more chance of an OHKO

 

[Aelsorm]

I am sorry But I have to disagree, the accuracy drop of 10% to me just isn't worth it. You really only need it for Ferrothorn anyway.

Speaking of salamance, I would suggest DD and life orb instead of outrage, it is rare to find a pokemon in OU that is faster and can OHKO Salamance. I prefer to be very flexible with Salamace's move pool and just a single dragon dance allows it to outspeed almost the entire game. (no to mention the nice attack boost). Unless your opponent has has good priority moves it is game over. The one thing salamance ALWAYS has to watch out for with this set though is stealth rocks, which allows for more chance of an OHKO

I also don't like low accuracy, but I don't want to change Salamence's base to DD Salamence, I have Sawsbuck with Swords Dance and Salamence is only revenge-killer, but very useful!
But thanks for your ideas! :)

Hey!

Really cool team you have here. Sunny teams aren't very common nowadays so props for using it. However, I have some advice to give you so let's start with the rate! Well, first of all, your team is weak to Keldeo, especially the Calm Mind one. Calm Mind Keldeo after a Calm Mind can give you many problems and you can only revenge-kill it with Choice Scarf Salamence and with Sawsbuck if sun is up so it isn't a very reliable revenge-killer. To solve your weakness to Keldeo and in general to rain teams, I suggest you to use Jellicent replacing Porygon2. Jellicent with Water Assorb can counter very well Keldeo and it's a good check to rain teams too, it can also help you to keep up your entry hazards thanks to its ghost typing. Porygon2 otherwise seems the weak line here because it's in general a bad pokemon in the current bw ou metagame since it allows threats like Terrakion, Lucario and so on to setup and also the other your team members are most important than Porygon2. On Jellicent, I'd use a EV spread of 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe, with a moveset of Will-O-Wisp, Recover, Taunt and Shadow Ball, with Bold nature and with Leftovers. Then, I'd change a little Ninetales' EV spread. In my opinion, it needs a more defensive EV spread than its current one because it has to switch into stuff like Politoed many times so it needs more staying power. A EVs spread of 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe should work fine in your team, I'd use also Roar in the 4th slot because it helps you a lot against setupper like Volcarona and because it allows you to take advantage of your entry hazards. As last thing, on Salamence I'd use Stone Edge replacing Dragon Claw because Volcarona can give you some problem since it beats Jellicent, Donphan and Skarmory so Stone Edge would help you much to deal with Volcarona more easily.

Good luck.

You're right! I agree with you, but I'm not sure by playing four defenders (physical walls) and no special defender.
Don't you think it would be better to play Jellicent with Special Defense EV?
Just asking... :)

Also I am not sure about giving Ninetales Defensive EV, there starts Rotom to be big threat for my team.
Rotom Wash cannot be stopped!!!
Also Latios and others starts to be big threat and they can be only revenge killed, when I have no special wall...

Anyway thanks for your good idea!

I am not sure if it's Gastrodon better... I played him in Sandstorm team and it is easy to take him down for example with Politoed with HP Grass... And also in Sun team, opponen't can have mirror team, which means Solarbeam... GG Gastrodon ;(
I am afraid of playing him...

Breelom isn't bad, but I don't like his speed and Heatran isn't threat anymore, when I have Salamence and Sawsbuck...

But thanks for your ideas, guys ;)