Endgame

[G NuBz]

What's up smogon? I finally got back to competitive since I finally beat Pokemon Black :). So I decided to make my first drought team, and it's actually done fairly well. Only problem is "fairly well" isn't good enough. It has done quite a bit of testing, but it definitely needs a lot of improvement. If anyone was curious, I named it this only because Rise Against (my favorite band)'s new album came out recently, and it was titled Endgame. It's one of the best albums I've ever listened to.

The Team

Ninetales (M) @ Wide Lens
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Extrasensory
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Will-O-Wisp
​

Role: Bring the sun.

Description: Flamethrower is for the obvious STAB, plus the extra power it gets in the sun. I don't feel a need to run Fire Blast since the specs, sun, and STAB are good enough and I can't deal with miss hax. Extrasensory is for basic type coverage, since not too many thing's resist Psychic. It work's decently well with the Choice Specs, so it fit. Solar Beam is for getting rid of bulky waters (i.e. Swampert) and whatever else resists Fire and Psychic (Tyranitar). Hypnosis is kind of just a filler, since I wasn't too sure what else to put there. Surprisingly, it has worked well putting some threats to sleep early, then letting me come in with Heatran and set up on it. If I know they're just going to switch to a counter to Ninetails, I'll go to Jumpluff and begin to subseed. The Timid nature is needed with the Choice Specs, since Ninetails naturally fast but it was a bit lacking in Special Attack, and the Choice Specs make it a powerhouse.

Tentacruel (M) @ Leftovers
Calm Nature
Trait: Liquid Ooze
252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
- Boiling Water
- Toxic spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Rapid Spin​

Old Leafeon description, read last comment posted.

Role: Revenge Killer.

Description: Leaf Blade is Leafeon's basic STAB, and X-Scissor works great with Leaf Blade for type coverage. Aerial Ace covers things like Virizion even though X-Scissor would probably kill it anyway. Like Hypnosis on Ninetails, Yawn is just another filler. It doesn't work very well due to Sleep Clause, but Leafeon's movepool is absolute garbage. I feel the need to keep it though since it reaches over 500 Attack and Speed in the sun with the Choice Band, and it covers things like Starmie which could be a pain, especially if my sun ever goes out. Since it's Speed doubles in the sun, I don't see a need to run Jolly Nature; with a movepool like this, Leafeon needs all the power I can get. For those of you looking to add something to my team, replace Leafeon. He's just not pulling his weight.

Heatran (M) @ Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Nitro Charge
- Dragon Pulse​

Role: Main Sweeper

Description: I absolutely love this guy. He's swept just about every team that doesn't have a Blissey. Heatran usually comes in on a Ferrothorn, sets up with a Nitro Charge (now Flame Charge I believe) and begins to sweep. Fire, Ground, and Dragon have perfect type coverage, and Heatran's Special Attack is high enough to take out just about everything. If I don't have a Super Effective move, STAB Fire Blast, in the sun OHKOs. Earth Power and Fire Blast alone have great type coverage, and I usually use Earth Power for lowering Blissey's special defense, or to take out other Heatrans. Dragon Pulse OHKOs most Dragons, most being anything that's not Latias or Multi-Scale Dragonite. The Balloon and sun provide fantastic resistances for Heatran. Heatran is no longer weak to Water, and can easily survive an attack, Ground is now an immunity, and that leaves its only weakness to be Fighting. In this metagame, most Fighting types are slower (Conkeldurr, Scafty) and Heatran is able to get the attack off first. Even some of the faster ones (Mienshao) can't outspeed Heatran at +1 and still get OHKO'd by Fire Blast.

Jumpluff (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Cotton Guard​

Role: Sub-Seeder

Description: Jumpluff is one of the best subseeders, especially in the sun. The Chlorophyll boost allows Jumpluff to get some extra bulk by not needing to put any EVs into speed, leaving the rest of them to go into HP and the Defenses. Since it is a subseeder, it needs Substitute and Leech Seed of course. Only problem is, Jumpluff is completely walled by Grass types. This is where Sleep Powder comes in. When they bring in the Grass type, I go for a Sleep Powder and set up a Substitute for whatever comes in next. I'll most likely be faster with 562 Speed so I can set up a Leech Seed or a Cotton Guard. Cotton Guard allows Jumpluff to increase it's Defenses to make it harder for the opponent to break the Substitute. The Majority of the metagame seems to be physical attackers so after 1-2 Cotton Guards, they won't be able to break the Substitute and Jumpluff will gain all of it's HP back that it lost from setting up.

Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Endeavor
- Ice Shard​

Role: Set up Stealth Rocks and counter a good amount of threats.

Description: This team was lacking Stealth Rock, and this team really needed that support. Earthquake is a great STAB move on Mamoswine, and it can OHKO a lot of things that don't resist. Icicle Drop is for some of the bulkier Dragons, and Ice Shard works for Virizion and Dragons that are 4x weak to Ice. At the moment, Mamoswine is my only Dragon check, but it usually is able to stay around to take out what it needs to. The strong Ice moves Mamoswine provides goes great with the rest of my team, since other Chlorophyll users could be a pain. I don't really have anything else to take them out, but Mamoswine always seems to be around to hit it with the Ice Shard or Icicle Drop.

Charizard (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse​

Role: Late game sweeper

Description: Charizard always seems to always be my last pokemon, and I'm glad it is. Charizard is a great late game sweeper with these 4 attacks, which give it amazing type coverage. At the moment, I'm running Leftovers since I don't see the need to run Life Orb with Solar Power, although I'm considering using Expert Belt since I still get the extra power but don't have to lose any HP. Fire Blast is a great STAB in the sun, and it OHKOs pretty much everything that doesnt resist. Air Slash is another STAB that can get some lucky flinches when I won't be able to OHKO. I usually use Air Slash just for Water types because I don't really have anything to cover them with this. Ancient Power is needed for type coverage when going against Fire types, and Dragon Pulse is for other late game sweepers, which seem to be Dragons in this metagame. Overall, Charizard has saved me multiple times when I'm down 2-1.

Importable

Ninetales (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Extrasensory
- SolarBeam
- Hypnosis

Leafeon (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Leaf Blade
- X-Scissor
- Aerial Ace
- Yawn

Heatran (M) @ Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Nitro Charge
- Dragon Pulse

Jumpluff (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Cotton Guard

Mamoswine (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Icicle Drop
- Ice Shard

Charizard (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- AncientPower
- Dragon Pulse

 

[QwilfishHadouken23]

Hidden Power Grass would probably be better than Nitro Charge on Heatran.

 

[Cherub Agent]

mabye sawsbuck over leafeon? he's a powerful and just as fast sun sweeper.

 

[Blobicus]

Hidden Power Grass would probably be better than Nitro Charge on Heatran.

Nitro Charge is there for the +1 Spe boost it gives. Its more of a setup move than an attacking move.

 

[Shnoogle]

You need a Spinner... Any team with Charizard, Ninetails, AND Jumpluff needs one. I'd suggest Starmie because it also helps you deal with Sand teams after Ninetails faints.

Put it over Leafeon as it seems like the least valuable member. CB Leafeon isn't that great in my experience, either.

 

[MajorGambit]

You need a Spinner... Any team with Charizard, Ninetails, AND Jumpluff needs one. I'd suggest Starmie because it also helps you deal with Sand teams after Ninetails faints.

Put it over Leafeon as it seems like the least valuable member. CB Leafeon isn't that great in my experience, either.

/\ this

Get rid of solarbeam. It is just a crappy
Move. Ttar will come in and since it is slower the sand will prevail. You'll then need one turn to charge and he just gets a free ko and wins the weather battle thus ruining your team. In fact sandstorm team just rape you. Nothing can stop dory or even rp landorus when sand is up and it will generally be. Leafleon just sux. Even the new average deer guy has better coverage. But if you insist on it, get rid of yawn, use swords dance and a life orb.
You'll struggle on the ladder since sandstorm teams are dominant. I think the whole team needs a revamp to adapt itself to the metagame. :/

 

[ch00b]

Happy St. Patrick's day everyone! Very solid team, however I would like to critique it a little. Not much of a rater, but I'll do my best.

First of all, I have to agree with the people above me. While your running a drought team you NEED spinner. Tentacruel seems like a viable choice here because he can not only sponge damage, provide residual damage with toxic spikes, counters some SS pokes nicely, and serves a hard hitter with solid SpA stat. I also sometimes realize that the toxic allows Charizard to turn 2HKOS to OHKOS.

Tentacruel (M) @ Leftovers
Calm Nature - Liquid Ooze ability
252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SpD
- Boiling Water/ surf
- Toxic spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Rapid Spin

Honestly, I don't see any purpose of running 2 choiced Pokemon on one team. It's redundant and forces many switches. Since this team is waning toward the frail side your opponent can easily force switches on your choice Pokemon and your forced to switch to something to take a hard hit. Therefore, I suggest you swtich your ninetails to a wide lens set or life orb or leftovers. If your going to run wide lens definitely run fire blast. Life orb allows you to switch moves and hit hard. Lefties are always acceptable.

I also suggest a switch on Charizard. Since he's going to be sweeping I would suggest LO to be a harder hitter in general. I can see why you want to use ancient power but solar beam would be a better choice. You might say that Jumpluff could take out bulky waters, I don't think so. Charizard should be running solar beam to deal with pesky bulky waters, even though air slash hits for neutral, it's not enough.

Another thing. Your Heatran cannot deal with opposing Heatrans if they're running ballon.

Other than that, great synergy, originality, and team! Ch00b out.

 

[G NuBz]

Thanks for the rates.

@Cherub Agent
Even though I am probably gonna try Sawsbuck, I just wanted to let you know that Leafeon has 10 more base attack than Sawsbuck, so they are not at the same power.

@Shnoogle
I realize I need a spinner, I just wasn't sure what I would want to use. I think I'm going to go with Tentacruel like ch00b suggested.

@MajorGambit
If not Solar Beam then what would you suggest? I know Tyranitar is slower so Sand will come up but you're not suggesting anything to fix it. Doryuuzu is usually stopped by Ninetails coming in late game and slowing him down, and Rock Polish Landorus is OHKOd by Mamoswine. And once again, you're not suggesting anything to fix it. I can also see you didn't bother reading the description because I said I was looking to replace Leafeon. Why would I insist on keeping him? Anyways, I will give Sawsbuck a try.

@ch00b
I definitely want to give Tentacruel a try, but I'm not sure where I'm going to fit it in. I guess I could try putting it in Leafeon / Sawsbuck's slot. And I can see where you're coming from with having 2 choiced Pokemon, which is why I'll give Wide Lens Ninetails a try. Same thing with Solar Beam on Charizard, I'll give it a try. And for the record, Jumpluff can take out bulky waters. I easily outspeed, and once I get a Leech Seed off (most likely on the switch), they're pretty much done unless they switch. Also, while my Heatran may not be able to deal with other Heatrans, the other Heatrans can't deal with mine. So if I'm at +1, I'll win the battle. Otherwise it's down to a speed tie.

 

[MajorGambit]

Something called energy ball. Solarbeam is just a terrible move as explained. If you think tales will survive endgame either you're wrong or have faced weak foes. Since it is absolutely frail, ttar pursuit bait and weak to SR, don't count on him to stop dory. Landorus very often carries yache berry. Sorry i seem harsh but let's face: sand is te dominant playstyle and it is sun nemesis. You need a lot of effort to deal with it and sti have a balanced sun team. So I guess you'll very difficulties with that team as it is designed now.

 

[G NuBz]

Because Energy Ball does so much to Tyranitar (25.2% - 29.9%). Next turn I switch, he gets 7% back. Roughly 20% net damage. If I ever do predict a Tyranitar switch, I go for Hypnosis to be safe. I usually don't end up being stuck with Solar Beam charging against Tyranitar. And Ninetales has been able to stay around late game because I keep him around for late game. It's usually get the sun and get out. Plus, I have never seen 1 person use Pursuit going against Nintails... ever. I would not say Landorus often carries Yache Berry, but even when it does I get a 2HKO, which is possible with the Rapid Spin support I'll be adding in and a simple change of Leftovers to Focus Sash. Also:

So I guess you'll very difficulties with that team as it is designed now.

What?

EDIT:

Ninetails vs. Tyranitar

Ninetales's Drought intensified the sun's rays!
The foe's Tyranitar's Sand Stream whipped up a sandstorm!

Start of turn 1
Ninetales used Hypnosis!
The foe's Tyranitar fell asleep!

The foe's Tyranitar is fast asleep!

The sandstorm rages!
Ninetales is buffeted by the sandstorm!

 

[MajorGambit]

So your way to maintain your weather inducer is praying you predict correctly in a weather based team? And you had never seen ttar using pursuit on tales? And your hypnosis has 100% acc? Gl then

 

[G NuBz]

I never said my team handled other weather teams well, I'm just saying I usually don't find myself being locked into a Solar Beam charge. I have not seen Pursuit used against Ninetails, and at the moment I'm using Wide Lens on Ninetails so it does have better accuracy. I'm still testing Wide Lens, but it seems to be working out. Also, keep in mind this is my first attempt at a Drought team.

 

[Seth Vilo]

This is just me, but doesn't Whimsicott do everything that Jumpluff does, all while having more bulk and not depending on the sun to fully operate? You're running Timid to boost your speed, but if all your moves are +1 does speed really matter? You can run Impish instead. You can also run the exact same moveset, with the bulkier EV's and nature, and not fear a lack of your weather thanks to Prankster. That's just me. If you're after using Jumpluff, go for it, but Whimsicott seems like a better & more reliable option.

 

[Mischievous]

U need a spinner guy S:

 

[Boorego]

If your going to stick with choice specs on Ninetales, you will probably want to take out solarbeam and extrasenorary and replace them with hp fighting and energy ball.
Hp fighting lets you 2hko max hp tyranitar and energy ball lets you at least nail politoed and hippowdown for reasonable damgae (your not 2hkoing specially defensive toeds, though)

Another tip
Three sleep moves seems like way too many as you can only put one pokemon to sleep at a time, I won't bother you much on leafeon's moveset as you seem to be replacing him with sawshbuck. On jumpluff you will want to be replacing sleep powder (grass types will probably stay in and try to wake up anyway). Encore and u-turn (make puff jolly if you are using u-turn obviously) are good options, encore gets you extra turns, is more consistent than sleep powder, to set up and u-turn lets you go to a teammate easily without much prediction. You might want to try and get rid of cotton gaurd so you can fit both u-turn and encore on puff, if you don't like it you can always go back.

Mamoswine seems decent enought, if your having trouble with weather leads though you can always go to a set like this
Jolly/Adamant
252 attack/252 speed
Focus sash
-endeavor
-stealth rock
-ice shard
-earthquake

This set performs well in the lead role (beats both politoed and scares off tyranitar pretty easily) and still has great mid game utility with a strong earthquake and ice shard to fend off dragons and genies. Once you finally fit a spinner/mm user (and you REALLY need one)on your team 1 hp mamoswine can often get you an easy extra ko due to his immunity to weather effects. Adamant lets you perform alot more damage with ice shard and earthquake, jolly lets you out speed heatran though.

That's it for now, hopefully I helped a bit.

 

[Benlisted]

@Seth Vilo - Whimsicott doesn't have the Ground immunity valuable for Sun, and moreover lacks Sleep Powder, so his Pluff is fine.

Anyway, this is a nice Sun team, but looks like you could use a few changes. First of all, Tales. Specs or Scarf sets may seem attractive for her, but she is the frailest of the weather inducers and given her SR weakness and your lack of Wish support, she frankly needs recovery if she's going to win the weather war at higher levels unless you can predict like a soothsayer. There are two ways to go with this - Lefties sets or ChestoRest. Personally I like the insurance against status and the recovery greater than TTar or Toed ChestoRest gives me, but Lefties works excellently too.

In terms of coverage moves, you must be aware that Tales' attack even with Specs is only adequate when not using Fire moves - so coverage moves need to have a fantastic reason for using them as opposed to just attaining decent coverage. Solarbeam is a no-go since against weather you get to use it once (if that) and then the surprise is gone - TTar will be switching into you and OHKOing whilst stealing your weather, meaning you lose. Essentially you cripple yourself by losing a moveslot which isn't even that great against other teams - Tales won't be dishing it out with Solarbeam even with Specs. The main coverage options you want to use are Energy Ball (not all that viable) or a HP, Ground or Fight specifically. Fight lets you 3HKO TTar (or 2HKO if he's taken SR and/or Burn damage previously) as well as take down Heatran when behind a Sub, and these two are the biggest threats to Tales.

I'd advise you to try Fire move/HP Fight/WoW/Sub with Lefties, Timid and Speed EVs to beat Excadrill out of Sand, max HP and the rest in SpAtk. WoW over Hypnosis for two reasons - the accuracy, and that Pluff needs Sleep more since Tales can get by with Burning stuff. If you thing TTar will come in, WoW it (or Sub then WoW to scout its item) then switch out, and the next time it comes in on you HP Fight it twice for the kill if you have SR up. VS Tran, Sub up and HP Fight three times as it fails to KO you thanks to Lefties.

I really don't see Zard doing sweeping late-game with that not great speed, either :\. Try out Flame Charge on him or a Scarf to use him as a revenger/nuker to break walls all in one. You may as well run Solarbeam seeing as he's not much use without Sun up anyway, if you want to. Specs are another option to simply blast everything you see into oblivion, as well, which is always fun.

Given this, you may want more coverage over Speed on Tran, so consider a HP over FC if you choose a way to make Zard faster. Both could work together however, so it's just a suggestion.

Consider Icicle Spear on Mamo - something like 25% of the time it'll do lower damage and the ability to break through Subs is awesome. CB is also an option to boost Ice Shard and make him more powerful in general (give Tran SR if you do this).

Pluff could is your only insurance against a lot of sweepers that have gotten out of hand, so consider Encore over Cotton Guard to force them out or for easier setting up of the Subseed.

Finally I'll agree with your need for a spinner - you are very T-Spikes weak as well as SR, which will mean spikestaking teams give you hell. Agreeing with putting it over Leafeon (too poor coverage to perform as a Sun abuser sadly, once it gets BP it'll be useful however.) but try out Starmie if you feel you need a more offensive spinner, since it can still fire off Ice Beams and T-Bolts and Psychics if need be. A Scarfed spinner could work nicely since you'd like to be able to revenge things better, so perhaps give that a shot?

Sorry for the essay, hope it helps.

 

[G NuBz]

Thanks for the rates.

@Seth Vilo
Whimiscott doesn't have a Ground immunity, and it doesn't have Sleep Powder. So Jumpluff is just fine.

@Mischevious
I know, I've already added one into the team and I just need to update the thread.

@Boorego
Choice Specs Ninetails has been replaced with Wide Lens Ninetails, I just need to update the thread. And Hypnosis is already Will-O-Wisp, but I have yet to update. As for Jumpluff, the set I have now has been working just fine. I don't see any need to change it. Plus, the sleep moves on the other two pokemon are removed. The Mamoswine set seems like it would be a good idea, I was thinking I should put a Focus Sash on it but never got the chance to test it. I'll give it a try.

@Benlisted
Ninetails Choice Specs set is gone, like I said above. As for Solar Beam, I think Hidden Power [Fighting] would be a better choice, so I'll give it a try. Charizard actually does a great job of late game sweeping, it's mostly cleaning up whatever Heatran didn't kill. And at the moment, I have Solar Beam on Charizard, I'll be updating after I post this. The rest of what you said is already being fixed so I'll get the full update when I can.


For now, I don't have enough time to update the descriptions but I can update the set. It's already pretty late and I'm going to be away this weekend. So for now, the sets will be changed but the descriptions won't be until I get back.