Blazing Stars: My OU Sun Team

[BlazingBarrager]

First off: I'm back peeps! :D

Anyway, this is a Sun Team that I've been working on. I have posted this in the past, but with the change in the forums I don't know if it's around or not so I figured I'd post it again. Anyway, here you go. Please give me helpful hints on how to improve my team as this is my first major OU team.

First Look

Team Overview

@ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
EVs: 176 Spd / 252 HP / 80 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Overheat
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
- Safeguard

The sun star of the team. This is your typical defensive Ninetales as I need it to survive and win the weather war. Overheat is there to give Ninetales a very powerful option to hit other Pokemon hard while Protect is there for scouting. Safeguard is there to give my team protection against status effects.

@ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Def
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

While I could have used Forretress for the role of a spinner and trap layer, I figured that to keep up with the offensive nature of Sun teams Donphan was the better choice. Anyway, standard set with the EVs leaning more towards being as offensive as possible. Opted Ice Shard to help revenge kill Dragons.

@ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Healing Wish

I needed some way to boost the defenses of my Pokemon as most of them were fragile enough as it is, so I opted for a Dual Screener, and Latias fit the bill perfectly (I was thinking of Celebi, but felt it wasn't the best choice for the job). Anyway, standard Dual Screen set with Draco Meteor for a reliable STAB and Healing Wish to help give one of my sweepers a second chance at sweeping. Not much more to say really.

@ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Baton Pass
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Espeon oh Espeon. Why are you so stupidly good? Can't stop loving ya. Anyway, I added Espeon to give me a second defense against status effects and entry hazards. She's also my Baton Passer for Venusaur. Psyshock is there to deal with Blissey (who is freaken annoying) while HP Fire deals with Steel types and what not while taking advantage of the Sun for extra power. The EV spread is to make Espeon as fast and bulky as possible so that she can get a Calm Mind or two in.

@ Flame Plate
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- U-turn
- Bolt Strike
- Brick Break

My Fire type and physical sweeper of the team. I opted for Victini because V-Create is so stupidly powerful when under the Sun. Standard Physical moveset save for the use of a Flame Plate, which gives V-Create extra power without sacrificing health in the process.

@ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- SolarBeam
- Synthesis
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]​

The Grass Chlorophyll abuser of the team. I followed Delko's set for this Venusaur as I was curious about how it played, and I must say it works really well. Solarbeam is a powerful STAB move while under the Sun while Synthesis gives Venusaur a recovery option to stay healthy. Sludge Bomb and HP Fire are standard for this set.

Credit

I would like to thank everyone for their suggestions and helping me make this team possible, and I hope you can continue to help me with future teams.
​

Import

Ninetales (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 156 SDef / 100 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Flamethrower
- Roar
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day

Donphan (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Def
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

Latias @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Healing Wish

Espeon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind
- Baton Pass
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Victini @ Flame Plate
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- V-create
- U-turn
- Bolt Strike
- Brick Break

Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- SolarBeam
- Synthesis
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Can someone please rate my team? I'd really like to have a rating on it so I can make alterations. I plan on using this on my games against others.

 

[dwarfstar]

I don't have time to make a full rate right now (I'll come back when I can), but let me leave you with this: change the nature on your Venusaur to Timid. That allows you to outspeed Scarf Latios and KO it with a +2 Sludge Bomb instead of getting killed by its Draco Meteor or Psyshock. The power difference isn't big enough to be worth losing to that relatively common threat, especially since you'll be shredding things after a Growth boost anyway.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Hmm...there are situations where I don't have a chance to use Growth, but I see your point.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Does anyone else have any suggestions or is the team fine the way it is, because I'm wanting to start making my second team.

 

[Qualna]

I suggest you move the Spd EV to Def EV on Donphan, your team has problems with physical attackers, even if you have Will-O-Wisp. The Spd EVs are not needed.

And also, the other guy is right, make Venusaur timid nature. Pokémon like Scarf Latios is a threat that sun teams can hardly handle.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Alright. Thank you. Anything else?

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey BlazingBarrager, thanks for the request, hopefully I can help you out a bit.

First of all, you lack a steel type which is going to put you in a really tough situation against any and all dragon types. I'm going to recommend replacing Celebi with Magma Storm Heatran to help you out against Dragons as well as Rain Teams which your team really doesn't match up well against. Magma Storm allows Heatran to trap opposing Politoed, set up a Sunny Day and take them out with Solarbeam. Use max speed and max special attack and use HP Ice in the last spot to Revenge KO Dragons if needed.

I can also see Mamoswine being pretty difficult to deal with as well since he can revenge KO a good amount of your team and nothing really wants to switch into it. Since you don't really have room for a true switch-in to Mamo, I would suggest running max defensive investment on Donphan to take Physical hits like Mamo's EQ a bit better, plus I will suggest changing your current Scarf Salamence to a Scarf Kyurem-B. One of the great things about Kyub on sun teams is that he cannot be easily revenge KO'd by Mamoswine like most other Sun Threats can be, plus he provides more immediate power than Salamence does and has better bulk for switching into Water Type attacks if needed. Kyub's main revenge killers, Scizor and Breloom are also dealt with nicely by the rest of the team.

Lastly, I'm going to suggest changing your current Venusaur set to a Mixed attacking Set. This runs the same spread but with a Hasty Nature and uses EQ and HP Ice as attacks to help take out sun's biggest weaknesses in Heatran and Dragon types. This will allow you to run either another coverage move in Giga Drain on Volcarona or make it a bulkier set with Roost to give yourself more sweeping opportunities.

Hopefully my suggestions helped! Let me know how it works and good luck with the team!

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Thank you so much for the rating. :D

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Sorry for the double post, but I updated my team and included a back-up section.

 

[vyomov]

I'd recommend changing Scarf Cube to a Scarf Terrakion set.
Scarf Cube doesn't cut it as a scarfer because ScarfRachi and most other common scarfers easily outspeed.

Scarf Terrakion offers needed fighting-type coverage as well as a way to get past Ttar easily, while also outspeeding most other scarfers.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Ah okay. What kind of set should I run with Scarf Terrakion?

 

[vyomov]

Terrakion@Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Sacred Sword

This set gives you good coverage as well as being a fast enough scarfer to revenge most things your team might have issues with

 

[BlazingBarrager]

kk Thank you.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

I updated my team a little. Added Salamence back in for the time being, though I do plan on testing Terrakion. Truth be told I'm not all that up for using four Legendaries on my team.

I also plan on testing out Stealth Rock on Celebi and switch Donphan for Espeon as a bouncer.

 

[SHAURYA]

Using legends is not a crime! :D
Nice catch you need the fighting type coverage also i dont see the use of sacred sword cause you are just going to be using CC Stone Edge & X-scissor.
I use Ariel ace on mine (ik it sounds weird but i use if for breloom when i have nothing left to check it!).
Other than that i also suggest using Sawsbuck over leafeon. With just a 148 investment in speed you can outspeed scarf latios under the sun!
It has a more offensive presence IMO.

Sawsbuck@Life orb
Adamant nature,48 HP / 244 Atk / 216 Spe
~ Horn Leech
~ Double Edge / Return
~ Nature Power / Jump Kick
~ Swords Dance / Megahorn
Swords dance can help as this thing can force switches but megahorn is proffered for coverage.
Kudos!
Nice team Btw

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Yeah I'm thinking of making some changes. The changes are as followed.

Swap Salamence for Trick Room Victini
Switch Heatran into a standard attacking set (Weather Trapper isn't doing very well)
Swap Latias out for Gengar (my team is too vulnerable to Mamoswine ATM)
Swap Donphan for Leafeon (I need a Wish user to keep my team healthy plus Leafeon makes good usage of the Sun).

Here are the movesets for the following Pokemon.

Heatran (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power

Victini @ Flame Plate
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- V-create
- Bolt Strike
- Trick Room
- U-turn

Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Protect
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast

Leafeon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Wish
- Roar
- Heal Bell

Thoughts and comments?

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Made another update to my team. Can anyone please rate the changes?

 

[noobcubed]

With three Pokemon weak to SR on the team, you really need to get those spins off. For that reason I would test Assurance in place of Ice Shard on Donphan (you already have Scarf Salamence to revenge-kill Dragon-types). This gives you a sweet 100 base power super-effective attack to hit Jellicent and especially Gengar with as they switch into Rapid Spin, as long as you have rocks up. It requires decent prediction but it will destroy Gengar thinking it can block Rapid Spin and set up a Substitute.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Alright. I'll test it out and see how it does.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

I updated my team to be more like BTzz's Sun + Dragons team. This will probably be the last time I update my team due to X and Y being so close to being released, and in turn the new metagame.

Edit: I lied. lol