Summer Nights

By Myself

Summer Nights

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~Intro~
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Hello Smogon, I'm here to bring you an RMT of one of my favorite teams. I was never really big on sun teams and always thought they were completely inferior to the other weather that was out there (Mainly Sand and Rain). I decided to give it a try and make a quick sun team not really putting much effort into it, but after the potential I saw in the team, I decided to tweak it.

This team gave me a lot of success as I played around on the ladder, and no this team didn't Peak #1(lol). I don't normally make RMT's so this may not be the best but I'll give it my best shot. Nevertheless let's get on to the Team Building Process.
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~Team Building Process~
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So for the weather of course we need Ninetails as it is the only Pokémon in OU that has the ability Drought.
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Now I wanted to pick the Pokémon I want to base my team around. Volcorona is very standard, yet it's power and ability to sweep in the sun is underrated. In the right hands it has the ability to be one of the most threatening Pokémon in the game. I will put much more info on this subject later in the RMT.

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Next I needed to get a Pokémon that could be a perfect defensive tank and take Rock resisted moves well. So I decided to pick Donphan as it has the ability to set up Rocks, Spin, resist rock type moves, and have a strong stab + priority move.
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Next I wanted to pick up the slack since standard Volt+Turn looks really annoying. I decided I was going to use a different type of Venusaur other than the standard offensive sweeping Venusaur. Before I was going to come up with a set i decided to actually go look at the standard smogon sets to see if they might have a bulkier set. I don't get sets from smogon since I normally just go based off experience but the set i got was actually very underrated and underused so I had to give it a shot. More info as we actually look at it's set.
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Now it looks like fire moves and opposing Heatrans look really annoying as well as Latios and Latias. I decided to use an offensive Air Balloon Heatran, although the damage it takes from Latias/Latios would be limited it's still a great Pokémon for the team. Air Balloon also helps with the slack of the ground weakness.
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Now i kind of wanted an "lol" Pokémon but at the same time do really well at revenge killing and help out with taking out Dragon Dancing Pokémon. Although it was fun while it lasted I quickly changed Weavile for a Pokémon that does it's job 10x better.
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Heatran doesn't help stop Volcarona as well as people make it out to be as most offensive ones have HP Ground, so I needed a Pokémon that can check Volcarona while also being a superb revenge killer and could handle Dragon Dancers. Terrakion fits this role perfectly as it is one of the fastest scarfers in the game and the most threatening one.
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~At a Glance~
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Ninetales (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 152 SDef / 108 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
~Sunny Day
~SolarBeam
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~Flamethrower
~Will-O-Wisp

Ninetales is obviously a staple for OU Sun teams. This set focuses mainly on bulk, as Ninetales needs to stay around in the battle for as long as possible in order to win the weather war. Although Ninetales is weaker in comparison to Politoad and Tyranitar, Will-O-Wisp, Sunny Day, and team support help it not be completely useless.

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Heatran (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~SolarBeam
~Fire Blast
~Earth Power
~Dragon Pulse

I feel Heatran is a necessary staple for sun teams. It has great offensive power in the sun and can take hits from most threats like Latio/Latias. Solarbeam is an unexpected move that catches a lot of people off guard. A lot of people switch their Gastrodon's and Jellicent's in like it's no big deal so I decided to throw Solarbeam in there since it doesn't get much play anymore.
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Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
~Close Combat
~Stone Edge
~Rock Slide
~X-Scissor

Terrakion is pretty Self-Explanatory, but like i said before he is a great Pokemon for revenge killing and taking on Dragon Dancers. I don't really need to say much else, as I'm sure most of everyone knows what Scarf Terrakion does.
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Donphan (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
~Stealth Rock
~Ice Shard
~Earthquake
~Rapid Spin

Donphan is a great utility Pokémon. It sets up Stealth Rocks, provides Rapid Spin support, has a strong STAB Earthquake, and has priority in the form of Ice Shard. With Ice Shard and good defenses, Donphan can stand up to most dragons in OU. Paired with Choice Scarf Terrakion, this duo is a great check to the aforementioned dragon threats.


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Volcarona (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
~Fire Blast
~Bug Buzz
~Quiver Dance
~Hidden Power [Ground]


Volcorona is probably one of the biggest threats in this current metagame, and I have noticed a lot of people don't really fully prepare for Volcarona during a battle. They usually just spam their Terrakion and let it get withered down quite a lot to the point where it's just dead weight. Terrakion(Scarf) is the biggest thing to stop Volcarona in it's tracks, and most of the time players don't really utilize their Terrakions very well. Now I'm going to show you some calcs on why I think Volcarona is one of the biggest threats and should be properly aware of. P.s. i took SJCrews advice and made it Modest, seeing how my team already checks Scarf Salamence I don't need to speed tie with it as it's the only common scarfer I see at base 100 speed.
Detailed Result:
All in Sun
252 SpAtk Volcarona Fire Blast vs 4 HP/0 SpDef Terrakion: 55.86% - 65.74%
2 hits to KO
Detailed Result:
252 +1 SpAtk Volcarona Fire Blast vs 4 HP/0 SpDef Terrakion: 83.64% - 98.46%
2 hits to KO
Potential KO after rocks
252 +1 SpAtk Volcarona Fire Blast vs 0 HP/0 SpDef Gyarados: 74.92% - 88.22%
2 hits to KO
KO after rocks
252 +1 SpAtk Volcarona Fire Blast vs 4 HP/0 SpDef Dragonite: 76.54% - 90.12%
2 hits to KO
KO after rocks
Detailed Result:
252 +1 SpAtk Volcarona Fire Blast vs 252 HP/4 SpDef Eviolite Chansey: 44.89% - 52.98%
2-3 hits to KO
2hko after rocks
Detailed Result:
252 +1 SpAtk Volcarona Bug Buzz vs 4 HP/0 SpDef Politoed: 77.33% - 91.3%
2 hits to KO
Potential to KO after rocks

Some of the biggest walls to Volcarona with this team.

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Venusaur (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Def / 52 SDef / 12 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
~Hidden Power [Fire]
~Leech Seed
~Substitute
~Sleep Powder

Venusaur is by far my favorite Pokémon of this team just because of this set. It trolls the hell out of people, since they aren't prepared for a subseed Pokémon with amazing speed in the sun. Although it's only attack is fire type it doesn't really hinder it useless, Leech Seed + Substitute and the ability to put something asleep really takes care of only being able to hit certain things. I really was looking for a Pokémon that can help combat vs. Volt+Turn, it can switch into Rotom quite easily disregarding the Will-O-Wisp. Also taking on the physical attacks from standard threats of Volt+Turn. It's also good at sponging Terrakion's Close Combats scouting out what kind of set he is. Venu+Tran+Volc is really good with Leech Seed support since Celebis tend to switch into Venusaur after they realize what's going on, and also having their fire types come in and just giving me a boost + Leech Seed recovery to Heatran. This set becomes problematic to most teams with Pokémon I can just shift to when a problem arises.

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~Conclusion~

This team isn't the greatest since every team has flaws especially in this metagame. I think it's pretty solid for how it's made and what it does. You can try it out and see what changes you may recommend that stand out the most. I'm really looking for help against DD Gyarados since that is the biggest threat to this team. Substitute Swords Dance Terrakion is too, but that's Terrakion lol. Thanks for reading my RMT and I hope you enjoyed.

Changes = Red
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Importable:
Ninetales (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 152 SDef / 108 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
Heatran (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- SolarBeam
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
Donphan (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
Volcarona (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Venusaur (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Def / 52 SDef / 12 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Sleep Powder

Shout out to PenguinX, TonyFlygon, Gr8astard, and itzGator for helping me double check and format this. :]



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Threat List:
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Really annoying in Rain, just have to play around it.
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Substitute Dragon Dance is a pretty huge threat, I usually just have to play around it if it gets a sub up. If it doesn't have a Substitute just let Terrakion deal with it.
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Substitute Swords Dance is a pretty huge threat in general as it being Terrakion and all, usually it doesn't get a Substitute up unless it happens to get a Substitute up on a switch or Venusaur. Just really troublesome since Venusaur doesn't have a Grass move.
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Landorus is always a problem since it's so powerful especially with an Expert Belt. I just want to get rocks up as soon as possible and try to wither it down, if I have sun up, Venusaur can handle it pretty well. Also of course Donphan.
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Nothing wants to take a Specs Hurricane, dear lord is this thing a heavy hitter. Playing around it is tough especially if the opponent knows what their doing.
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Surprisingly mix Infernape is super annoying to this team, choiced is easier to play around since it locks itself into one move. I'm just glad mix Infernape isn't really common.
 
isn't better lum berry on volcarona? since you can absorb a toxic from chansey and 2hko him and get a twave from gyara and 2hko him(I know isn't really used but you speak about it).
 
Hey there.

A more offensive spread on Donphan would probably do you more good. Physical walls aren't really a necessity on sun teams, and Rapid Spin support really is. Considering that you won't be able to much damage to most spin-blockers (outside of Tentacruel), things like Gengar can cause you problems. Therefore, I suggest running a spread of 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Speed with an Adamant nature. The Speed EVs may seem useless but they serve a purpose in letting Donphan outrun Jellicent, thus letting it 2HKO it before it can cripple Donphan; you can shift the EVs to HP if you feel that Jellicent isn't too big of an issue. Also, run Head Smash over Ice Shard. Heatran and Terrakion can take on Dragon-types anyway, and Head Smash just demolishes all of the Gengar that will switch in to Donphan. It's a better choice than something like Assurance because it can also smash any DD Gyarados that tries to set-up on Donphan; this is especially useful in sun since Waterfall will be weakened.

Solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!
 
ShakeItUp said:
Hey there.

A more offensive spread on Donphan would probably do you more good. Physical walls aren't really a necessity on sun teams, and Rapid Spin support really is. Considering that you won't be able to much damage to most spin-blockers (outside of Tentacruel), things like Gengar can cause you problems. Therefore, I suggest running a spread of 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Speed with an Adamant nature. The Speed EVs may seem useless but they serve a purpose in letting Donphan outrun Jellicent, thus letting it 2HKO it before it can cripple Donphan; you can shift the EVs to HP if you feel that Jellicent isn't too big of an issue. Also, run Head Smash over Ice Shard. Heatran and Terrakion can take on Dragon-types anyway, and Head Smash just demolishes all of the Gengar that will switch in to Donphan. It's a better choice than something like Assurance because it can also smash any DD Gyarados that tries to set-up on Donphan; this is especially useful in sun since Waterfall will be weakened.

Solid team. Hope I helped, and good luck!
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Thanks for the rate, I'll try it out.
 
Erm, have you considered SolarBeam on Venusaur? I know you're going with HP Fire right now, but you have ridiculous amounts of fire attacks in the first place, so wouldn't hurt to try it imo.
 
Nibiria said:
Erm, have you considered SolarBeam on Venusaur? I know you're going with HP Fire right now, but you have ridiculous amounts of fire attacks in the first place, so wouldn't hurt to try it imo.
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Having Solar Beam would leave him completely walled by grass types as well as Scizor, who can just u-turn out on a leech seed provided the opponent already has a sleep fodder.

Also, I'd keep HP ground seeing as Heatran is a nuisance for sun teams in general. A super effective HP rock is only 5 bp stronger than a resisted, STAB Fire Blast in the sun anyway (140 vs 135 bp).
 
Hi

You kindly asked for a rate, so here's my 2 cents ;)

This teams is pretty solid, but whenever I used it I found Water-type moves, and especially Rain teams to be very annoying. Even though Sun reduces the damage, having 5 pokemon weak to Water was a real letdown. Another resist would be nice in my opinion.

Without changing "the main idea of the team" too much, I think something like Blastoise can be a possible replacement for Donphan. It's also a Rapid Spinner, it has similar bulk to check those Dragon-types, but it also gives you an additional resistance to Water-types moves and it makes a fine switch-in against Rain teams thanks to it's Rain Dish ability. As an added bonus, you can run Roar to have an easier time against Sub Gyarados and - Terrakion. Blastoise also handles Landorus decently, and when needed it can also take a Hurricane from Tornadus thanks to it's natural special bulk. I think a moveset of Rapid Spin / Roar / Ice Beam / Scald can work, but you can play around with the moveset if you'd like in case you don't like using Scald in the Sun.The standard physical bulky EV-spread of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef with Leftovers will suffice, but again feel free to play around with this. Using Blastoise does mean you have to run Stealth Rock on Heatran, preferably over Solarbeam or Dragon Pulse, that's up to you.

Alternatively, another option you could do, is running your own Choice Scarf Salamence over Terrakion. It performs a similar job in checking DD Dragons, Volcarona etc, at the cost of being slightly slower. Salamence does give another Water-resist (albeit Rain boosted hits will still hurt), and if you run Intimidate, you can make Landorus, Gyarados and Terrakion a little less threating. I can see a moveset of Fire Blast / Earthquake / Outrage / Dragon Claw work. Of course you can also run Moxie if you want to go a more offensive way. As far as EVs go, a spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe will be more then good enough.

I hope these suggestions somewhat helped you, good luck with the team.
 
i agree with delko that a second water resist would be really helpful. while blastoise is a cool mon, i'd rather go with starmie or tentacruel, as they both have their advantages: starmie can shrug off scald burns with natural cure, and tentacruel can set up t-spikes to further aid venusaur's stalling capabilities. whichever one you go with, i recommend using hp fire so you can beat ferrothorn, who'd otherwise repeatedly set up hazards as soon as you spin them away. you'd have to drop donphan to make room, so you've gotta shove sr on heatran.

delko's scarfmence suggestion is also cool, i'd give it a shot. i'd fit stone edge on it to check volcarona though.

gl cheese, nice team. weavile version was better js
 
Now that I think about it, having a Starmie or Blastoise in place of Donphan doesn't sound so bad because of their water resistances. Tentacruel I feel is not such a good idea because it adds to your Landorus weakness. I'm gravitating towards Blastoise, however, as you can use a bit more bulk in your team and standard Starmie is always 2HKO'ed by Scarf Politoed's Hydro Pump in the rain.
Scarf Salamence is also an interesting idea to patch up the water weakness even more, but it won't be taking rain-boosted hits well anyway, and you would give up the only remaining rock-resist in the team, making the team vulnerable to CB Terrakion spamming stone edge. Not to mention you'll need to rely on speed ties to deal with +1 Salamence and Volcarona.
I'd say try out Blastoise, and keep Terrakion for now.
 
Delko said:
Hi

You kindly asked for a rate, so here's my 2 cents ;)

This teams is pretty solid, but whenever I used it I found Water-type moves, and especially Rain teams to be very annoying. Even though Sun reduces the damage, having 5 pokemon weak to Water was a real letdown. Another resist would be nice in my opinion.

Without changing "the main idea of the team" too much, I think something like Blastoise can be a possible replacement for Donphan. It's also a Rapid Spinner, it has similar bulk to check those Dragon-types, but it also gives you an additional resistance to Water-types moves and it makes a fine switch-in against Rain teams thanks to it's Rain Dish ability. As an added bonus, you can run Roar to have an easier time against Sub Gyarados and - Terrakion. Blastoise also handles Landorus decently, and when needed it can also take a Hurricane from Tornadus thanks to it's natural special bulk. I think a moveset of Rapid Spin / Roar / Ice Beam / Scald can work, but you can play around with the moveset if you'd like in case you don't like using Scald in the Sun.The standard physical bulky EV-spread of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef with Leftovers will suffice, but again feel free to play around with this. Using Blastoise does mean you have to run Stealth Rock on Heatran, preferably over Solarbeam or Dragon Pulse, that's up to you.

Alternatively, another option you could do, is running your own Choice Scarf Salamence over Terrakion. It performs a similar job in checking DD Dragons, Volcarona etc, at the cost of being slightly slower. Salamence does give another Water-resist (albeit Rain boosted hits will still hurt), and if you run Intimidate, you can make Landorus, Gyarados and Terrakion a little less threating. I can see a moveset of Fire Blast / Earthquake / Outrage / Dragon Claw work. Of course you can also run Moxie if you want to go a more offensive way. As far as EVs go, a spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe will be more then good enough.

I hope these suggestions somewhat helped you, good luck with the team.
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Thanks a lot for the rate, the Idea of Blastoise is really nice on the team i didn't think of it at all. I agree more water resists are a better idea so rain can be less troubling. Scarf Salamence doesn't look bad either, I'll try these out. Thanks again for the rate these ideas sound interesting. :]

BKC said:
i agree with delko that a second water resist would be really helpful. while blastoise is a cool mon, i'd rather go with starmie or tentacruel, as they both have their advantages: starmie can shrug off scald burns with natural cure, and tentacruel can set up t-spikes to further aid venusaur's stalling capabilities. whichever one you go with, i recommend using hp fire so you can beat ferrothorn, who'd otherwise repeatedly set up hazards as soon as you spin them away. you'd have to drop donphan to make room, so you've gotta shove sr on heatran.

delko's scarfmence suggestion is also cool, i'd give it a shot. i'd fit stone edge on it to check volcarona though.

gl cheese, nice team. weavile version was better js
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You make some valid points and i agree with you and delko, I'll test out these new suggestions and make some changes when i need too. Thanks for the rate friend. :]
 
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