Ninetales

Katakiri

Listen, Brendan...
is a Researcher Alumnus
It makes me feel happy to see that people are using Ninetales seriously and not just because of its ability.
Oh, we're ALL just using it for it's ability. The only thing we're really trying to do here is make Ninetales not be dead weight.

If Heatran got Drought, no one would be using Ninetales. But not even Game Freak is awesome/stupid enough to let that happen so they gave Drought & Drizzle to 2 of the most average Pokemon in the game instead of something useful.
 

alphatron

Volt turn in every tier! I'm in despair!
I assume everyone has tried disable on Ninetales to be honest.

Before getting drought, Ninetales was my favorite pokemon, so this pleased me greatly.
 
Hypnosis is really unreliable, and I would think Ninetales can't really afford to take such a risk. Hex isn't exactly going to be punching holes in the opposing team, either.
 

Mario With Lasers

Self-proclaimed NERFED king
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnus
Ninetales's job is to survive the weather war, not trying to cause damage. It lives for the team, not being the star but the man (woman...?) behind the curtain instead.

So, only use Hypnosis+Hex if it means you can kill Tyranitar/Hippowdon/Politoed easier.
 
Oh, we're ALL just using it for it's ability. The only thing we're really trying to do here is make Ninetales not be dead weight.

If Heatran got Drought, no one would be using Ninetales. But not even Game Freak is awesome/stupid enough to let that happen so they gave Drought & Drizzle to 2 of the most average Pokemon in the game instead of something useful.
Honestly I think a Heatran with Drought might not be that great since it is raising a Fire weakness considering Flash Fire is gone, then again the Water weakness is neutralized. I think Arcanine would have been a much, much better Drought Pokemon. It can easily deal with all opposing weather starters given the situation, and it has that Morning Sun to keep itself living forever. Solarbeam would actually work on it.

On topic: Every time I've used Ninetales, I've always used this set since Pokemon Online started Gen V:

Ninetales@Leftovers
Drought
252 HP / 96 SpD / 160 Spe
Timid

Flamethrower/Overheat
Will-o-Wisp
Protect
Safeguard

This Ninetales is meant to stay alive since it is really difficult to hold its own. 252 HP is there to max out its overall bulk. 160 Spe and Timid is used so it can outspeed Excadrill after the Sand is cleared. Since Ninetales has a weak Defense stat, and given its poor defensive typing, I dumped the rest of the EVs in Special Defense, since Ninetales can actually take a few of those hits while the physical side is hopeless.
I use Flamethrower since it doesn't miss and has enough power to OHKO Excadrill with the sun. Overheat is for people who feel that Ninetales won't really be staying in smacking things hard so they go for the strongest hit they can. Will-o-Wisp is here to cripple the likes of Tyranitar and Garchomp shall they switch in, while completely removing the Multiscale off of Dragonite. Protect scouts moves and add a free turn of Leftovers recovery and Burn damage. Should Protect scout a status move, Safeguard is the move to use. Safeguard brings the benefits of protecting everything else from status, including Paralysis on sweepers, and Sleep.
 
252 HP / 96 SpD / 160 Spe timid
an alternative is to go max SpD but then you lose the ability to revenge excadrill
 
Anyone thought of a Calm Mind set?
Ninetales
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Drought
Timid nature
EV Spread: 200HP/66De/66SA/176Spe
Hypnosis
Calm mind
Flamethrower
Solarbeam
Before sending in ninetales, use a smeargle and cotton gaurd twice and baton pass.
I actually swept my friend's team yesterday using this.Only 4 calm minds were needed. Maybe though the EV Spread needs help....
 
Anyone thought of a Calm Mind set?
Ninetales
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Drought
Timid nature
EV Spread: 200HP/66De/66SA/176Spe
Hypnosis
Calm mind
Flamethrower
Solarbeam
Before sending in ninetales, use a smeargle and cotton gaurd twice and baton pass.
I actually swept my friend's team yesterday using this.Only 4 calm minds were needed. Maybe though the EV Spread needs help....
Why 66 for both defense and special attack

That's not really efficient distribution of EVs, and since Ninetales has LOL defense just go full Special Attack. Nasty Plot over Calm Mind because +1 is too weak to do anything.
 
About time Ninetales has SOME niche. She is one of the most unfortunate cases of unevenly distributed base stats (Her attack is almost the same as her special attack and nobody in their right mind will use her as a physical attacker, she might as well have base 50 attack and base 107 special attack) and a rightful typing taken away from her (How can something that can curse people for 1000 years and learn moves like Hypnosis and Grudge NOT be a Psychic/Ghost type? Oh yeah, if she can do that you would think her special attack would be incredibly high but nooo, she only gets a mediocre special attack) thus Drought is a highly welcome ability. Ranting aside, Ninetales should obviously be used on any Sun team, she can go on the support with Will-o-Wisp, Hypnosis and Grudge or try to go on the offensive with a Nasty Plot set.
 
Why 66 for both defense and special attack

That's not really efficient distribution of EVs, and since Ninetales has LOL defense just go full Special Attack. Nasty Plot over Calm Mind because +1 is too weak to do anything.
Oh. I thought the extra defense EV's would help, but maybe the Smeargle setting up Cotton Guard is just all it needs to help protect it. And i guess because it already has high SD Base stat, it doesnt really need SD help...... so Nasty plot would probably work better than Calm Mind.
 
Sorry for the bump, but I found a set that works quite well;

Ninetales @Leftovers
Nature: Timid/Jolly
EVs: 4 SpA / 252 HP / 252 Spe

-Substitute
-Disable
-Will-o-wisp
-Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Flame Charge

It's somewhat like the Disable Gengar set except for it only has one attacking move. Works well against most Politoed/Tyranitar/Hippowdon leads, here's how it works:

1. Sub up
2. Disable while opponent breaks sub
3. Sub up again. Opponent might switch out because its disabled move may be the only SE/Neutral move it has against tails

Now you have 2 choices:

4a. W-O-W your opponents switch in
4b. Opponent stays in, and happens to be carrying another SE/Neutral move that breaks your sub, in which case if its neutral, I would most likely W-O-W then switch out, or if it's SE, then I would gtfo as fast as possible.

Flame charge is there as an option because after one turn it lets you outspeed almost every non-scarfed/boosted pokemon. Flamethrower for consistency, fire blast for power.
 
Completely walled by Heatran. Ninetales is also right smack in one of OU's most common speed tiers(100), unlike Gengar(115). SubDisable isn't really that effective IMO on Ninetales...
 
I've been using SubDisable Droughtales in the Battle Subway and it works wonders against the AI.
I assume that set would also work against people on wifi, and adding Will-o-wisp seems great.
Ninetales is not meant to take on Heatran in the first place : \
 
To be honest, the only Ninetales set I've used effectively is Flamethrower / HP Fighting / Will-o-Wisp / Protect.

First three moves are obvious, and to be completely frank, the last move is just filler. Protect atleast keeps it alive and scouts for choice. It's rather decent on Ninetales.
 

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