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(Female if wanting to threaten most Pokemon, Male if wanting to threaten Salazzle, Kangaskhan, Tsareena, etc)
Ability- Snow warning
EVs- 252 speed, 75 def, 75 sp def, 108 sp atk
Nature- Any that increases any of the stats above while decreasing atk. This Ninetales is a multi-use support.
Attract/Aurora Veil
Moonblast (Single)/Dazzling Gleam (Doubles)/Toxic
Blizzard
Confuse Ray/Toxic
Summary
Alolan Ninetales is not the best Pokémon in this game. It is UU at best. This set, however, is the perfect amount of trolling, Support to ice types, and damage output. Throughout my battling experience, I have come to terms that well more that 60% of Pokémon in the competitive scene will be male. Using this, it becomes much more likely for Attract to really get use, as it has 100% accuracy and will decimate opponents of the opposite gender. However, a male Alolan Ninetales will help against major threats such as Salazzle. Aurora Veil is also a good option, as Hail will be up for 8 turns, which is a fairly long time given how long most Gen 7 doubles battles last. While it probably wouldn't be up for the entirety of a single battle, it would be up long enough to assist other Pokémon such as Slush Rush Alolan Sandslash (Sonic), Ice Body Glaceons, or other blizzard users. For STAB, Blizzard is a necessity, especially with the amazing Special Attack that Alolan Ninetales has. In both singles and doubles, it hits for an impressive 110 with a chance to freeze, a status that, at times, can change the fate of a game. Confuse Ray works especially well with Attract in order to reduce the chance of your opponent attacking from 50% down to 33% before accuracy checks. Pairing this with toxic leads to a slow and painful death, but Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam both do excellent jobs in terms of STAB damage and coverage.
Team Options
It is nearly a requirement to pair this Pokémon with a Slush Rush Sandslash. Not doing that is like having peanut butter without jelly or Mario without Luigi. They work together and support each other, especially when making up for each other's weaknesses. Another important pokemon to have is a water type to take care of threatening Pokémon like Salazzle and Alolan Marowak. You will also need a fighting type and/or a ghost type to take care of Steel, Rock, and Poison. Lucario is probably the best example, as it resists Steel and Rock while being immune to Poison.
I think you had the calc settings off. Ninetales definitely cannot OHKO Hippowdon under any circumstances. I think you had it set at lvl 50 with Ninetales at lvl 100. Ice Beam is a guaranteed 2HKO on Hippowdon with 252 spatk EVs after Leftovers recovery.
Oh hell. I think you may be right about that, my mistake. Disregard those calcs then.
So I guess the only real reason to run max SpA is for the chance of 2HKOing Hippo and offensive TTar on the switch...? I gotta admit it doesn't seem like much of a reason, though. Although, on the flipside, is there really much of note that Tales can withstand if it DOES run max HP?
Actually it DOES make the difference between a guaranteed 2HKO on Pelipper VS 68% chance of OHKO with max SpA. Since he's probably the most relevant weather-based thread right now maybe that actually is worth it.
This spread capitalizes on Alolan Ninetales' speed while increasing it's bulk slightly so it can take a hit or two. Meanwhile, the 108 sp atk makes it powerful enough to land powerful blizzards.
So I just got my shiny Ninetales-A Light Clay thanks to my friend tossing me an ice stone. She's got the hidden ability, Moonblast, Freeze-Dry, and Encore egg moves, Timid nature, EV trained 4Def 252SpAtk 252 Spd.
So three things I ask all y'all, in order of importance:
1) what's a good nickname for an ice fairy fox?
2) What are good teammates for that particular Ninetales-A build? I'm not overly great at teambuilding, but I'm currently working on Dhelmise, though I'm not sure whether to go with Adamant or... which one was it for Dhelmise, either Relaxed or Calm.
So yeah, any ideas on good teammates for that particular Ninetales-A? Singles and doubles are possible.
And...
3) Does anybody want a clone of her? She's hyper-trained to max her Defense IV; the other four relevant ones are 31. And if they don't want one of the shiny, I have a few Vulpixes with HP Ground on offer I guess.
100% yes. Aurora Veil is so damn good that I don't see how Ninetales could fall below the OU threshold. The ability to set up a sweep for 1, possibly 2 sweepers with ONE MOVE makes not just Ninetales, but the entire Hyper Offensive play style viable in OU (That said, HO has always been viable). Teams used to use fast pokemon that had access to Dual Screens for HO; that meant needing 2, possibly 3 turns (1 for Reflect, 1 for Light Screen, possibly one for Taunt) to set up and sweep. The fact that Ninetales can do that in ONE TURN not just speeds up HO, but it also makes other Screen Setters more or less obsolete. Things like Azelf are definitely going to drop in usage.
Not to mention you can also run Safeguard on Ninetales if you want to prevent Scald burns or paralysis; it just slows down the sweep by 1 turn.
(At risk of sounding like an idiot) Ninetales will absolutely be OU.
EDIT: I perhaps should have elaborated a bit. Ninetales can actually set up multiple sweepers in a game thanks to its typing. Previous Dual Screeners had poor typing and bulk, meaning they couldn't reliably do their job more than one time. Ninetales has Dragon immunity, Dark resistance, Bug resistance, Ice resistance, and Base 109 Speed to set up Aurora Veil, meaning it can get in and do its job reliably--sometimes it even can set up Aurora Veil 2 or 3 times, making it MORE than enough for the rest of your team to sweep/set up and dent the opposing team. Ninetales' stats leave a lot to be desired as a standalone Pokemon, but holy hell does it bring more utility than half the damn OU tier.
2) What are good teammates for that particular Ninetales-A build? I'm not overly great at teambuilding, but I'm currently working on Dhelmise, though I'm not sure whether to go with Adamant or... which one was it for Dhelmise, either Relaxed or Calm.
So yeah, any ideas on good teammates for that particular Ninetales-A? Singles and doubles are possible.
Most sweepers in general appreciate Aurora Veil. IMO I think Mega Gyarados and Mega Charizard X benefit from it the most. Dugtrio or Magnezone are good partners as well, since they can trap the Pokemon that threaten Ninetales the most. Also having someone with Defog is a good idea since Ninetales is weak to Stealth Rock.
I wouldn't be too surprised if it drops since its offensive presence is pretty horrible and its Scizor bait. Though to parrot Sun King; being able to set up dual screens in 1 turn is very strong. Its not very difficult for Ninetales to do its job either, since it has a good speed tier, along with a surprising number of key resistances. Even if it falls to UU, I can still see it being a good pick for any OU team, especially HO.
(Female if wanting to threaten most Pokemon, Male if wanting to threaten Salazzle, Kangaskhan, Tsareena, etc)
Ability- Snow warning
EVs- 252 speed, 75 def, 75 sp def, 108 sp atk
Nature- Any that increases any of the stats above while decreasing atk. This Ninetales is a multi-use support.
Attract/Aurora Veil
Moonblast (Single)/Dazzling Gleam (Doubles)/Toxic
Blizzard
Confuse Ray/Toxic
Summary
Alolan Ninetales is not the best Pokémon in this game. It is UU at best. This set, however, is the perfect amount of trolling, Support to ice types, and damage output. Throughout my battling experience, I have come to terms that well more that 60% of Pokémon in the competitive scene will be male. Using this, it becomes much more likely for Attract to really get use, as it has 100% accuracy and will decimate opponents of the opposite gender. However, a male Alolan Ninetales will help against major threats such as Salazzle. Aurora Veil is also a good option, as Hail will be up for 8 turns, which is a fairly long time given how long most Gen 7 doubles battles last. While it probably wouldn't be up for the entirety of a single battle, it would be up long enough to assist other Pokémon such as Slush Rush Alolan Sandslash (Sonic), Ice Body Glaceons, or other blizzard users. For STAB, Blizzard is a necessity, especially with the amazing Special Attack that Alolan Ninetales has. In both singles and doubles, it hits for an impressive 110 with a chance to freeze, a status that, at times, can change the fate of a game. Confuse Ray works especially well with Attract in order to reduce the chance of your opponent attacking from 50% down to 33% before accuracy checks. Pairing this with toxic leads to a slow and painful death, but Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam both do excellent jobs in terms of STAB damage and coverage.
Team Options
It is nearly a requirement to pair this Pokémon with a Slush Rush Sandslash. Not doing that is like having peanut butter without jelly or Mario without Luigi. They work together and support each other, especially when making up for each other's weaknesses. Another important pokemon to have is a water type to take care of threatening Pokémon like Salazzle and Alolan Marowak. You will also need a fighting type and/or a ghost type to take care of Steel, Rock, and Poison. Lucario is probably the best example, as it resists Steel and Rock while being immune to Poison.
Heya, could someone give me some tips on how to raise my Vulpix to Ninetales?
It's not exactly the best, it has Snow Cloak, Bashful nature and perfect IVs in Sp.Atk, HP, Atk, Def.
I'll go for breeding a HA/6IV one later but I do want to use this one for a while since it's shiny.
Without the HA, Freeze-Dry or Moonblast, what else could I use to make it strong in battle?
I'd Replace Blizzard w/ Encore, No need for Freeze Dry + Blizzard. Hits the same mons and Freeze dry hits those pesky rain team harder and more reliably than blizzard.
It really doesn't. I believe what they were going for is because of Attract which is really not a very useful move competitively. Aside from the fact that it's useless on the same gender it also is completely useless on genderless Pokemon, of which there are plenty in OU - especially when it comes to a good number of Steel types. And even on the Pokemon it will affect, you're relying on a coin flip. Aurora Veil is infinitely better because the damage reduction effect is not reliant on luck.
Heya, could someone give me some tips on how to raise my Vulpix to Ninetales?
It's not exactly the best, it has Snow Cloak, Bashful nature and perfect IVs in Sp.Atk, HP, Atk, Def.
I'll go for breeding a HA/6IV one later but I do want to use this one for a while since it's shiny.
Without the HA, Freeze-Dry or Moonblast, what else could I use to make it strong in battle?
Unfortunately, there's no competitive value in Bashful for any tier, and if you want to use it in OU at all, Aurora Veil + Hail is its only niche (albeit a pretty good one).
It's not listed anywhere in ANinetails' sets, but how is safeguard for an option in the 4th moveslot? I've been running encore and the main problem I've encountered with it is that basically every poke switches out upon being encored, leaving your ninetails in against something it probably has a worse matchup against than the first one. Now you still have to hard switch into whoever is gonna make use of the veil (unless you switched when they did, in which case what you got out of this was a blind switch for both sides, rather than the hard switch for you on the next turn). Safeguard, however, will probably not force a switch (doesn't matter if it does tho), so you can bring in your setup sweeper on the next turn with no fear of, well, anything really.
Dazzling Gleam is good but only in doubles, so better stick to Moonblast if you're going singles (get it by breeding with a male Smeargle that sketched a Moonblast). Blizzard or Ice Beam can be alternatives (but if you want Blizzard be aware of the low accuracy, ...hence why it's used on Hail). Freeze Dry is super effective against Water-types, without it mons like Azumaril will wall you all day (also obtainable only with the Smeargle method). Psyshock or Extrassensory can be used to cover Poison-types. Nasty Plot might be needed to boost all the mentioned moves above (obtainable via Move Reminder on Ninetales).
Dazzling Gleam is good but only in doubles, so better stick to Moonblast if you're going singles (get it by breeding with a male Smeargle that sketched a Moonblast). Blizzard or Ice Beam can be alternatives (but if you want Blizzard be aware of the low accuracy, ...hence why it's used on Hail). Freeze Dry is super effective against Water-types, without it mons like Azumaril will wall you all day (also obtainable only with the Smeargle method). Psyshock or Extrassensory can be used to cover Poison-types. Nasty Plot might be needed to boost all the mentioned moves above (obtainable via Move Reminder on Ninetales).
Nitpick, but Freeze-Dry is available from breeding with Swinub caught using Island Scan. Moonblast is also available from Sylveon and the Popplio line, and now that both parents can pass on egg moves, compatibility is less of an issue.
Anyway that Vulpix is going to be limited to ingame use only, and even then it's going to struggle with some of the tougher challenges the game has to present like Battle Royale and Battle Tree.
It's not listed anywhere in ANinetails' sets, but how is safeguard for an option in the 4th moveslot? I've been running encore and the main problem I've encountered with it is that basically every poke switches out upon being encored, leaving your ninetails in against something it probably has a worse matchup against than the first one. Now you still have to hard switch into whoever is gonna make use of the veil (unless you switched when they did, in which case what you got out of this was a blind switch for both sides, rather than the hard switch for you on the next turn). Safeguard, however, will probably not force a switch (doesn't matter if it does tho), so you can bring in your setup sweeper on the next turn with no fear of, well, anything really.
Encore causing your opponent to switch isn't really a problem: that's the entire purpose of the move. If you get Encored, staying in is a really bad idea unless whatever you have in currently is completely unthreatened by the opposing team. You really don't want to be stuck doing the exact same thing for three turns, especially if it's a move like Stealth Rock or Fake Out because that means 3 turns where your opponent is safe to do whatever they want. Its purpose is to give you one free turn, not three. Although if your opponent chooses to stay in (or has no choice but to stay in) for all three encore turns well that's a boon to you. Safeguard can be a potential lifesaver, but you have to consider if it's overall worth giving your opponents an extra turn to score a hit, a safe switch, or more time to freely set up their strategy.
100% yes. Aurora Veil is so damn good that I don't see how Ninetales could fall below the OU threshold. The ability to set up a sweep for 1, possibly 2 sweepers with ONE MOVE makes not just Ninetales, but the entire Hyper Offensive play style viable in OU (That said, HO has always been viable). Teams used to use fast pokemon that had access to Dual Screens for HO; that meant needing 2, possibly 3 turns (1 for Reflect, 1 for Light Screen, possibly one for Taunt) to set up and sweep. The fact that Ninetales can do that in ONE TURN not just speeds up HO, but it also makes other Screen Setters more or less obsolete. Things like Azelf are definitely going to drop in usage.
Not to mention you can also run Safeguard on Ninetales if you want to prevent Scald burns or paralysis; it just slows down the sweep by 1 turn.
(At risk of sounding like an idiot) Ninetales will absolutely be OU.
EDIT: I perhaps should have elaborated a bit. Ninetales can actually set up multiple sweepers in a game thanks to its typing. Previous Dual Screeners had poor typing and bulk, meaning they couldn't reliably do their job more than one time. Ninetales has Dragon immunity, Dark resistance, Bug resistance, Ice resistance, and Base 109 Speed to set up Aurora Veil, meaning it can get in and do its job reliably--sometimes it even can set up Aurora Veil 2 or 3 times, making it MORE than enough for the rest of your team to sweep/set up and dent the opposing team. Ninetales' stats leave a lot to be desired as a standalone Pokemon, but holy hell does it bring more utility than half the damn OU tier.
I have to agree that it would be OU. If not that, it would be borderline.
Defensive and offensively, it is subpar. Its physical defense 73/75 is similar to Greninja although it has 100 special defense. It also has a stealth rock weakness. The Fairy typing seems to be the most salient aspect since it at least acts as deterrent for Outrage or other Choiced Dragon attacks. If Stealth Rock is up, those resistances would be rendered moot, and it requires some prediction to come in on a predicted resisted attack that some risk averse players would not exploit.
Its defensive typing doesn't allow it to counter much. U-Turn/Volt Switch support increases it utility to set up Aurora Veil.
109 Speed is good and provides many opportunities to set up Aurora Veil.
82 Special Attack is bad. Its offensive typing makes it easily walled by Steal or Fire types. Blizzard can be considered a free Icicle Plate/NeverMeltIce on Ice Beam, but that is on an 82 Special Attack. It would most likely not have an attack boosting item. STAB Freeze Dry gives it a powerful choice against some common OU Pokemon who use their water typing to give it a neutrality against Ice, such as Quagsire, Gyarados, Pelipper.
It is not a complete offensive or defensive deadweight, but it at least has enough to provide a defensive presence and offensive threat to at least do its job and set up Aurora Veil.
I'm posting to agree that Aurora Veil is crazy good - especially in a metagame where Beast Boost is going to be all over the place. Also, the Stealth Rock issue isn't as big a deal because Ninetales shouldn't be seeing much action past Turn 1, when it sets up dual screens (unless you switch it in to neutralize Outrage or something).
So I just got my shiny Ninetales-A Light Clay thanks to my friend tossing me an ice stone. She's got the hidden ability, Moonblast, Freeze-Dry, and Encore egg moves, Timid nature, EV trained 4Def 252SpAtk 252 Spd.
So three things I ask all y'all, in order of importance:
1) what's a good nickname for an ice fairy fox?
2) What are good teammates for that particular Ninetales-A build? I'm not overly great at teambuilding, but I'm currently working on Dhelmise, though I'm not sure whether to go with Adamant or... which one was it for Dhelmise, either Relaxed or Calm.
So yeah, any ideas on good teammates for that particular Ninetales-A? Singles and doubles are possible.
And...
3) Does anybody want a clone of her? She's hyper-trained to max her Defense IV; the other four relevant ones are 31. And if they don't want one of the shiny, I have a few Vulpixes with HP Ground on offer I guess.
@teammates-- 50% Zygarde. That thing does not die with Aurora Veil up. Watch it set up behind Veil and destroy whole teams. I've set up on Tapu Lele's Moon Blast and swept. I've gone for a second Dragon Dance on Greninja's Icebeam then swept with Thousand Arrows. Even if your opponent has something tough like Tapu Fini or Kyurem that can weaken you down to priority, you just broke their only answer and can do it again later with z-move/healing wish shenanigans.
Ninetales-A is a cool pokemon and IMO one of the best "new" pokemon released this gen. Aurora Veil is learned by a not insignificant amount of pokemon, but since Ninetales-A is the only one to get Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, it's essentially the sole pokemon that can actually use it. It's an absolutely amazing move, and makes an otherwise aggressively mediocre pokemon quite stellar.
This is the set you should be using on Ninetales-A:
Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Moonblast
- Freeze-Dry
- Encore / Hidden Power Fire / Blizzard / Hypnosis
The last slot is in order of viability (IMO.)
It's a very straightforward set and A-tales is pretty one-dimensional and doesn't have many good options. What I'm really focusing on here is making a team around Aurora Veil: such teams will be referred to as Veil Offense or VO.
Benefits Ninetales-A Gives a Team
Aurora Veil: This is the entire reason to use Ninetales-A. It fails if Hail is not currently in effect, halves all damage your team takes and takes one turn to set-up, and with Light Clay lasts eight turns. It can be defogged away by opponents, but not removed by your own defog. It persists even when hail stops.
Hail: An automatic weather setter gives you some counterplay against weather teams. Ninetales-A puts a hard stop to Kingdra, as removing rain automatically cuts Kingdra's speed and Ninetales-A OHKO's it with Freeze Dry. Ninetales-A can't beat Excadrill 1v1, but it does remove Sandstorm, which allows other teammates to revenge it. Hail will also break Focus Sashes automatically, and the chip damage is actually very useful for securing OHKO's and 2HKO's. It also OHKO's Shedinja, which improves your match-up vs the Wonder Trio.
Fairy type: Fairy is a very valuable typing, though Ninetales can't use it very well due to its frailty. At the very least, Ninetales-A is immune to Dragon moves, which makes Outrage's and Draco Meteors a little less threatening and makes Garchomp think twice about clicking Dragon Claw. A Dark resist is also always nice to have, but Ninetales-A has a very tough time switching in to any Dark type, and losing Light Clay to Knock Off is pretty bad.
Offense: Ninetales-A is very weak and struggles to 2HKO even frail neutral targets, but it does threaten OHKO's on many pokemon, like Garchomp, Lando-T, Buzzwole, Pelipper, Salamence, and more.
Encore: Encore is a very handy move to have, and can mess with many pokemon slower than Ninetales-A.
Constraints Ninetales-A Puts on a Team
Hail: Ninetales-A automatically summons Hail when it switches in. This is vital to how it functions. Hail doesn't do anything we really care about, besides allow Aurora Veil to be used and damage most pokemon for 1/16 of their health every turn. The chip damage means you will have a hard time using any pokemon with Focus Sash (besides Mamoswine,) and it makes Life Orb a less appealing item since pokemon using it will be worn down quite fast. Dragonite is also a poor choice on VO, as its selling point, Multiscale, is automatically broken under hail. Hail will also cut Synthesis' healing, meaning Mega Venusaur might get in tough spots, however it should be noted that without Icy Rock, Hail will only last five turns and Ninetales is going to consume one or two of those turns, so it's not a huge concern.
Stealth Rock: Ninetales-A is weak to stealth rock. This means two things you should avoid placing more stealth rock weak pokemon on your team, but if you do, you should fit in some form of hazard control. Defog works because again, it won't remove Aurora Veil on your side of the field.
Steel Types: Ninetales-A is essentially a free switch in for a large number of steel types, such as Scizor, Heatran, Celesteela, Magearna, Mega Metagross, and more. A good OU team needs answers to these anyway, but this is doubly true when Ninetales-A is inviting them in every time it's on the field. At most it can hit them with HP Fire on the switch in, but Ninetales-A is usually better off getting Veil up and getting itself out, as its teammates will be able to handle them easily when taking half damage.
Fire and Poison types: Steels are the major concern, but Y-zard, Volcarona, Alolan Marowak, Nihileho, and Mega Venusaur are also able to switch in to Ninetales-A without taking much damage, and checks for them should be carried. Unlike steels, they can't OHKO Ninetales-A through Veil, but Ninetales-A should avoid taking large hits if it can help it. Y-zard is a huge concern for Ninetales-A, since it prevents Veil from going up and is only 4HKOed by Freeze Dry.
How to Use Aurora Veil
Click set-up move, win game: A very obvious use, and the best use, of Aurora Veil is simply to set-up while behind it and then sweep the opponent's team. Not only does Aurora Veil make setting up easier, it also makes it more difficult to revenge kill. For example, Scarf Tapu Lele is a very consistent revenge killer for Mega Pinsir, as it can outspeed and OHKO and is also immune to Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack. But with Aurora Veil up, Mega Pinsir comfortably takes a hit and OHKOs back. Manaphy is capable of setting up Z-Rain Dance in the face of LO Tapu Koko and beating it 1v1 (not that this is advised,) just to give a feel of how significant half damage can be. There's a wide variety of set-up sweepers available, and many become very difficult to face with Veil support.
Take hits and dish them back: Bulky/not frail, powerful pokemon become very tough to handle when they aren't taking meaningful damage, and are doing significant damage in return. They don't need to set-up to wreck an opposing team, they just need some turns to fire off powerful attacks.
Become INVINCIBLE: Bulky pokemon with recovery are extremely difficult to beat while behind Veil, and several pokemon in OU are bulky enough to eat up hits, strong enough to send them back, and with reliable recovery they can do this throughout the match. Mega Scizor and Mega Venusaur are both good picks due to their strength, small number of weaknesses and immense bulk. Mega Slowbro is a personal favorite of mine as it can blanket check a large number of physical attackers and is actually pretty hard to switch into itself.
How Not to Use Aurora Veil
help I can't find a BW style tox sprite Just sit there and not die: It may sound somewhat effective to make extremely bulky pokemon even tougher to kill, but this isn't the case. Pokemon that are unable to threaten the opponent just waste Veil turns, which puts more pressure on Ninetales-A since it will have to set Veil more often. These pokemon don't have much of a serious place on offensive teams, and VO isn't any different.
gib sprites Look mom this OHKO became a 2HKO: Very frail pokemon don't benefit from Veil very much, since they will take large amounts of damage from attacks anyway. This is not to say they can't function on VO teams, since they're still very threatening attackers who now take two hits to die instead of one, but they don't make very effective use of Veil.
pls Stacking Ice types has never gone wrong: One is the maximum limit for mediocre ice types on one team, and Ninetales-A is already taking that slot. Hail is not the selling feature of Ninetales-A, it's just needed to set-up Veil. If you REALLY want to use hail, Blizzard Spam isn't that bad in doubles.
Just stay in Ninetales-A because it's pretty and you want to look at it: Above all, Ninetales-A is the absolute worst user of Aurora Veil. Its job is to set Veil, not use Veil. Get in, set Veil, and get out. There are very few situations in which you would want to stay in with Ninetales-A for more than a couple turns.
Good Roles for VO
Anti-defoggers: Defog is more of a concern for VO than it is for other offensive teams, since it removes Veil and removes that advantage you have over the other team. Defiant Bisharp and Thundurus (who is actually quite a viable physical attacker this gen due to gaining Z-Fly) deter defog by threatening to gain a free +2 boost when switching in to it. They also have an easier time switching into a defogger's offensive moves, since they would be protected by Veil if the defogger decides to not go for defog.
The only defogger that actually beats Ninetales-A is Scizor, and Veil will eventually go away on its own, so a defiant mon isn't a mandatory pick by any means, it's just nice to have.
Weather Setters: Imagine the following scenario: Ninetales-A comes in, but before it can set Veil, it gets forced out. A few turns later, you find a chance to get Ninetales-A in, but... hail ends before you can use Aurora Veil, and you get forced out again. With another weather setter to reset the weather, this is less likely to happen.
Tyranitar and Y-zard are both very good pokemon in their own right, and can fit the secondary weather setter role on VO teams. Tyranitar is an amazing pokemon as always, and provides pursuit, which is so nice for eliminating many threats, including Alolan Marowak who is a common check to Ninetales-A. CB ttar tanks hits easily when behind Aurora Veil and puts the hurt on the opposing team. However, many of the things that would force Ninetales-A out will also wreck Tyranitar, namely steels.
Y-zard is a very good pokemon as well, and an excellent partner to Ninetales-A and abuser of Aurora Veil. It resets the weather (and Ninetales resets the weather for it,) it can roost off damage, it melts steel types for Ninetales-A, and it's bulky enough to the point where Aurora Veil makes a real difference. And of course, it hits hard. The only drawback is that it necessitates hazard control, but that's not so difficult to fit in.
The usual stuff:
A Stealth Rock setter is mandatory for a serious team.
With just Ninetales-A you could get away without defog/spin, but likely you'll want another mon that's rock weak, at which point you'll need to fit in.
You'll need to account for top threats, just like any other team. Aurora Veil gives you a lot of breathing room, but you can't count on it to be up all the time.
Final words: Ninetales-A is a cool pokemon that I don't think is being explored nearly as much as it deserves. Besides the dual screens in one turn it's absolutely mediocre, no doubt about it, but I feel that alone is so strong.
Anyway, key points of VO:
-use powerful mons to make the most of your veil turns.
-use set-up mons to use your veil turns to the highest potential.
-use a team that can be successful without veil, cause it's usually not going to be up.
-have a solid steel check.
This is a significantly improved version of the last team.
Ninetales-A is here to set-up Veil and maybe spook a garchomp or two. Auto-hail is also nice for resetting Y-zard's sun, in the event that it gets forced out.
Y-zard ruins teams when behind a Veil, and has reliable recovery. It's mainly chosen because it can check the majority of steel types.
Tapu fini is there to check dragons for Y-zard, and also defog for it. It's a really good mon, doesn't need a lot of explanation. I switched Latios out because it checks more of the meta and has an easier to combating common stealth rockers.
I'm very electric, rock, and poison weak at this point so Ferrothorn is added. Every good team needs a steel as well for lele and metagross (one of the few steels Y-zard can't really take on,) and it also sets stealth rock.
SubDD zygarde is a sick abuser of aurora veil due to how hard its subs are to break, as 108/121/95 bulk is enormous when combined with Veil. Defensive lando-t's EQ never breaks it, Mega Scizor's BP has a chance to need three hits to break it if not running a lot of attack investment, offensive mega venusaur's giga drain doesn't break it, etc. This is hands down one of the best set-up sweepers for veil teams.
(Double Dance Lando-T might be a better pick since it gives a second ground immunity.)
