The Heat of Summer

So, I've always wanted to build a successful Sun team, because Ninetales is one of my favorite Pokemon. However, in the past, no matter how many times I tried to make Sun work, I just couldn't, so I gave up. However, this time I decided to try again, only that I'd do it my way: Pure sun offense. Give no fucks about type synergy, don't bother with Rapid Spin, just throw in some dual screens and we're good. The way I played games back in the day, and I never thought I'd be doing it again. But, here I am, with a sun offense team. I had doubts this was going to work (because it's a sun team and I have very bad experience with those), but it does. Let's get into the team.



Ninetales (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 136 HP / 252 SAtk / 120 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp

Normally I would have thought, "Sunny Day Ninetales? Now why would I use that?", except that I know exactly why I'd use it. Normally things like Politoed and Tyranitar can just switch in and get rid of sun, but nope, Sunny Day. With Sunny Day, I can very easily get rid of Rain as Politoed comes in (and rain teams are literally everywhere in this metagame) and 2HKO it with SolarBeam. However, even with Sunny Day I'm still somewhat afraid of Tyranitar, but that's the primary reason I use Will-O-Wisp: To cripple it. I chose Fire Blast for the STAB move instead of Flamethrower because I just feel like Ninetales needs as much power as it can get.



Virizion @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

Normally I hate using Virizion, as previously I've found it to be a mediocre Pokemon. However, on this team, Virizion serves an important role of helping me take care of Politoed and Tyranitar. Handling Politoed is especially important due to the omnipresence of rain, but especially on a Sun team, having something that can handle Tyranitar is helpful too.

I opted for a Swords Dance set over a Calm Mind set for one reason and one reason only: I hate using Focus Blast. I've missed Focus Blast too many times on anything I used on it. Besides, both sets can still scare off Politoed and Tyranitar with the appropriate STAB move, so in my mind it doesn't really matter. However, another big selling point to me using SD Virizion is Stone Edge. Stone Edge lets me hit Tornadus-T on the switch-in harder than HP Ice would on the Calm Mind set, so it makes it easier to handle.



Espeon (F) @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Psyshock
- Baton Pass

Here's a fun fact about me: I hate using Rapid Spin. So, I decided to do this: Instead of spinning, why not prevent the hazards from getting on my side of the field in the first place? Enter Espeon. It does just that and gives me dual screens to help my stuff, well, stay alive. It's a dual screens Espeon, so Reflect and Light Screen are pretty obvious. I use Psyshock because I believe it's more useful in the current metagame than Psychic, dealing more damage to +whatever Keldeo, and even Virizion if you want to mention lesser-used Pokemon as well. Now, I don't just not like using Rapid Spin, but I don't like Pursuiters. I could use HP Fire to help against Scizor or HP Fighting to help against Tyranitar or whatever, but from my experience if you use one, you're screwed against the other. So, I just use Baton Pass because although a dry Baton Pass may seem sketchy, it's actually very useful in letting me escape from any Pursuit user.



Heatran (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock

Before I get started with this one, let me ask you something: How the hell does a single balloon lift up something that weighs 948 pounds?

Okay, now on to a more serious note. Heatran lets me get up Stealth Rock, which is very important because it breaks Dragonite's Multiscale. However, unlike some other Stealth Rock setters, it can still put the hurt on things, especially with a Sun-boosted Fire Blast. I use Air Balloon because this helps me handle +1 Volcarona who use HP Ground, and if it's a bulky Volcarona, Heatran's winning anyway. As an added bonus, it lets me force out Landorus (either forme) Choice-locked into Earthquake and set up Stealth Rock as they switch. Now, I'm going to need moves other than Fire Blast, so Earth Power lets me get a hit on Terrakion on the switch (although I think Fire Blast is still doing a decent chunk) and Hidden Power Ice lets me handle Dragonite and Salamence (if Air Balloon is still intact)



Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Earthquake

Choice Scarf Terrakion is quite possibly the best revenge killer in the game. Dragonite? Got it. Salamence? Sure. Volcarona? Yep. Tornadus-T? You're covered. And the list goes on and on and on...

I wanted something that would be fast, even without a Sun boost (unlike Venusaur). I've had great experience using Choice Scarf Terrakion, so naturally I considered it. Just the amount of things it can revenge kill is ridiculous, as I have already explained. Stone Edge hits all of the Pokemon I mentioned earlier for super effective damage, while Close Combat covers other threats such as Lucario. X-Scissor lets me hit Psychic-types such as Alakazam and Celebi, while I use Earthquake in the last slot because, although it's normally redundant alongside Close Combat, it lets me hit Toxicroak and the occasional Nidoking/Nidoqueen.



Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sludge Bomb

I know what you're thinking. "Timid Venusaur? WTF?" Okay, yeah, sure, but here's something to consider: After the Speed boost, Modest Venusaur hits 518 Speed. I won't deny that's good, but what does Scarf Terrakion hit? 519. So, by using Timid, I beat Scarf Terrakion in the sun and give it a Giga Drain to think about. So, yeah. This set is pretty simple. Get rid of Heatran, set up Growth, sweep. Besides, with Timid, I outspeed pretty much everything. I did mention Giga Drain earlier, right? So, Giga Drain is also useful because if I recall correctly, it means Venusaur can actually beat Thunder Wave-less Blissey and Chansey a little more easily (though I have two Fighting-types on this team so that doesn't really matter as much). HP Fire prevents Skarmory from walling me, while I use Sludge Bomb instead of Sleep Powder because, even though Poison is a pretty bad offensive typing in OU, it actually lets me hit Dragons.


Well, that's the team. Hope you enjoyed reading this and if you have any advice, I'm all ears.

Hiya, Ryuu!

First off, I'd like to say the offensive raw power of this team is insane. All super speedy Pokemon to do tons of different destructive work. Almost nothing can safe switch in to Terrakion, Venusaur and maybe even Heatran's attack especially when the Sun is up on your side.

But I noticed your team doesn't have any form of healing recovery moves besides Ninetales. So everyone but Ninetales will slowly die with each hits thrown at them, especially for strong priority that only came in to safely do damage or kill then switch out to safety, or just plain RAW destruction to your team. I suggest replacing Baton Pass for Wish. Because after you have screens up, and you used a Wish, you can safely switch in to something weakened, take hits and then heal up (barring any Critical Hits that is), and back in action.

While your team synergy is good enough, it won't last very long, even with Dual Screens up and Stealth Rock if they somehow managed to get it up or did if Espeon died. You might possible need to find something to do with it.

Offensive power = Great. Opponents find a hard time switching into something.
Synergy = Good. Certain priorities have trouble with that.
How long it'll last? Not very long against another offensive team.

P.S: I like the idea of Sunny Day Ninetales because when your opponent switches into a weather inducing Pokemon, you can predict their switch and use the move, and then scare them out again and make life easier. Great thinking there.

That is all I can really think of now. Hope this helps.
Cheers!

Hi,
I'd still run Modest over Timid on Venusaur. Scarfed Terrakion can't OHKO Venusaur (252 Atk Jolly Terrakion Stone Edge vs 4 HP/0 Def Venusaur: 62,91% - 74,5%) and you'll regain some HP from Giga Drain. The bonus power may really help you in the long run.

Without sun, Tornadus-T would certainly wreck everyhing, but sun means it can't just spam Hurricane and call it a day. It's not just a simple Politoed switch to get rid of sun thanks to my use of Sunny Day Ninetales. Dual screens also helps everything but Virizion survive its assaults, and if all else fails, I can revenge it with Terrakion.

EDIT: Also, Tornadus-T OHKOes/2HKOes pretty much everything except for Specially defensive Jirachi, which I shouldn't be using on an offensive team because it completely kills offensive pressure. So, I don't see your point.

Heya. I received your rating request, so here I go. First off, there are no individual Pokemon that can threaten your team from the onset besides Dugtrio, so great job on that. Now, there are combinations of Pokemon that can threaten you immensely, such as combinations involving Dugtrio and an opposing weather setter. To deal with your small Dugtrio weakness, I'd recommend the use of a Shed Shell over Leftovers on Ninetales. This allows it to escape the clutches of Dugtrio, leaving it as set-up bait for your Virizion, which can demolish weather inducers. Normally, I'd suggest a Rapid Spinner over Espeon, but by the way your original post was worded, it implies that you don't want a spinner. I'll list some sets out below in case you do want to try them out though.

Nitpicks:

Leftovers ----> Shed Shell



With all that said, good luck with your sun team!

Thanks for the rate! Right now I agree with Shed Shell on Ninetales. I haven't found the Leftovers recovery useful at all, while if there's any Pokemon I don't like facing, it's Dugtrio. Thanks for the suggestion!

At the moment I'm not sure of a spinner. It would help Ninetales massively, but at the same time I don't feel like giving up dual screens. But, thanks for the spinner suggestions anyway.

I noticed the same thing as Bestow5000 in that there are no recovery Pokèmon save Ninetales. While this is a nice change of pace, I also noticed one other thing - you could fit Gastrodon quite nicely on your team instead of Virizion. This way, Gastrodon not only takes care of Politoed and Tyranitar, but also benefits from the rain/sandstorm/possible Storm Drain boost. He's also got a good Recover set and is a good Water immunity. A good set would be:

Gastrodon (Maybe Modest?) @ Leftovers w/ Storm Drain
252 HP/252 SpAtk/4 SpDef
~Ice Beam
~Surf/Scald
~Earth Power

Oh yeah, he can also be a good Dragonite/Salamence/Thundurus-T counter, too. :3
~Recover

I won't deny the usefulness of Gastrodon, but the problem is that it doesn't fit on this team. When I'm not against a rain team, Gastrodon is much less effective. Also, Gastrodon is slowwwwwwww. With a Pokemon that slow, I'm likely to lose offensive pressure by simply sending it out. Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think it'll work.