Cacturne with Water Absorb will easily deal with rain boosted water attacks so I think it should be removed from the cons list.
For mono-fighting, what about Keldeo? Seems the pony is forgotten!
Keldeo is the most powerful special fighting type
Also, why exactly is Dusknoir on the list of notable mon? Dusknoir is outclassed by Dusclops and any other ghost type, it shouldn't be on the list.
As someone who regularly runs monotypes on the ladder (mostly bug and flying), I agree with most of what is said in this post. I have a few more points to add:Fighting is the best mono-type by far. Dragon is also completely viable right now as well.
I don't have the time to write out an entire analysis but here are 10 general tips from my successful mono-fighting team that can help you craft your own team:
1) Pick a good type (obviously). Offensive typing is better. You cannot cover your weaknesses because of common typing so focus on winning offensively.
2) Change your tactics - don't try to sweep or win pretty. Because you are playing mono-type, you're essentially battling the other teams 1-3 resisting typed mons. If you pick a potent offensive type like dragon or fighting, the rest of the match will take care of itself once those pokemon are removed. The best part of mono-typing is this luring aspect. 6 Dragons? If it takes your other 5 pokemon to remove Skarmory and Heatran you may very well still win the match!
3) Don't counter; Sacrifice - You have to get used to this. It is a different way of analyzing a match. Sacrificing is the easiest way to get in a free switch and put yourself in a better position to counterattack the opposition. Team preview helps this alot. If your opponent has Gliscor, Latias, and Toxicroak and you have Breloom on your team he may have to die to help you win because he is useless in that situation.
4) Ditch the choice items! - This is something a lot of people just CANNOT wrap their heads around. I'll make an exception to this guideline for Dragon types, since spamming Choice Band Outrage is a little different than what any of the other types can do. Choice items will cause you to switch way too much, which violates guideline #3. This will force you to lose much more than you should... I know Choice Scarf is appealing for revenge kills, but if you ditch the choice items it is much much harder for the opponent to set up in the first place!!!
5) Priority, Priority, Priority - Resist the urge to counter other sweepers with the Choice Scarf. Yes, it can help you get past some threats, but you will get into a revenge-sacrifice cycle and with mono-typing you will always lose these because of lack of resists.
6) Accept defeat - Do your best! It is monotype! However, there are some team combinations that are just not possible for your team to defeat! Rather than thinking you did something wrong, recognize the limitations of your team.
7) Focus on team roles - Just because Breloom is better with Technician doesn't mean it may be better on a mono-fighting type team. This is the best example I can give. Poison Heal allows a status absorber! Think about these things. You may need to call on Pokemon to do things regardless of what else they can do better!
8) Ignore the Tiers - Just because Pokemon X is OU, doesn't mean a UU team won't fit his slot on a mono-type team better. Movepool, abilities, and unique stat distributions should be strongly considered!
9) Ignore Your Opponent and Believe in Your Team- Many people will try to psyche you out or mock you for using monotype. Ignore them and continue to execute your match always believing you have a chance to win. Like I said, when you fight a team your matches will be different. You may struggle to beat the 2 resists, but the last 2 pokemon will be weak to your whole type!! Be prepared for the late game snowball!
10) Use a wildcard - This isn't for how to win in mono-type, but is definitely something to consider for future team building. If you have a successful mono-type team structure, why craft from there? Sometimes a mono-type core can help build a "real" team using 3-4 same typed pokemon that evolved from your team. Keep this in mind, but don't punk out ;)
Happy Monotyping!
Source:
My mono fighting team right now holds an ~80% win rate in OU current and a ~1700-1750 rating. It can defeat competitive ladderers with smart play and favorable team matches but is obviously competitive as a whole. It reached the top 50 in Gen IV's iteration of it and at its peak it reached the top 20 in BW1 (that credit all goes to Speed Boost Blaziken pre-ban).
I may edit and post it here at a later date.
Common special fire attacks vs. Bulky Volc -
252 SpA Heatran Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Volcarona in sun: 205-243 (54.95 - 65.14%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Ninetales Flamethrower vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Volcarona in sun: 118-141 (31.63 - 37.8%) -- 0.24% chance to 3HKO
Dead Heatran after 1 QD -
+1 0 SpA Volcarona Hidden Power Ground vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Heatran: 372-440 (115.17 - 136.22%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Terrakion and Infernape get stealth rockand only one (if we’re only counting fully-evolved Pokemon) is able to use Stealth Rock.
I agree that it is silly to not include Salamence and Staraptor in the flying analysis when they're indisputably some of the better flying types around. Nidoking lacks the ability to preform that well in OU due to a weakness to ground and lacklustre speed in a metagame that revolves almost entirely around it. Quagsire really isn't that good anymore full stop. In OU it's outclassed almost entirely by Skarmory and Gastrodon, with it's only niche being able to take hits from set up sweepers and either retaliate with Scald, also the ability to be murdered by two of the most common pokemon in the tier (namely Keldeo and Breloom) is a pretty massive disadvantage.How aren't Salamence and Staraptor in the flying analysis?
Also, here are some notable ground pokes:
Donphan
Dugtrio
Flygon
Gastrodon
Gliscor
Golurk
Hippowdon
Krookodile
Landorus
Mamoswine
Nidoking
Nidoqueen
Quagsire
Swampert