Gen 6 OU Sun Team with *Gasp* No Ninetails?!

[Joevahkiin]

Basically I wanted to make a sun team but I hate the idea of having to use Ninetails - it is grossly underpowered, has a limited movepool and the only reason it is ever used is primarily for Drought and the occasional status, meaning one sixth of your team is gone to something weak. We now have Charizard Y, however, so I felt, I should try again:


1- Charizard

Nature: Timid
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4Hp/252Sp Atk/252 Spe
Item: Charizardite Y
Moves: Dragon Pulse, Fire Blast, Air Slash, Solar Beam
Description: Sure he could do with being a smidge faster and have a touch more bulk, but in my opinion this guy vastly outclasses Ninetails as a Drought inducer. Air Slash and Fire Blast are for STAB, Dragon pulse for coverage and SolarBeam for the sun. I didn't want to use Roost as extra health is useless when he can't keep it, this guy just kills his threats before they kill him.

2 - Garchomp

Nature: Jolly
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4Hp/252Atk/252Spe
Item: Choice Scarf
Moves: Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Outrage
Description: I picked this guy to cover my electricity weakness and because he is an excellent revenge killer for when I lose another poke. Dragon Claw for if I don't want to get locked into Outrage, Fire Fang for coverage and extra damage under the Sun. I may try Choice Band-ing it at some point but for now I like being able to outspeed almost everything in the tier.

3 - Cresselia

Nature: Calm
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252Hp/252Def/4Sp Def
Item: Light Clay
Moves: Lunar Dance, Dual Screens, Psychic
Description: Remember I say Charizard lacks bulk? Not anymore, he doen't. I try to lead with this guy as much as possible as once the screens are up you have a team of tanks to play with. Psychic is there for Taunt and the occasional bit of damage, Lunar Dance to refresh one of my other pokes that I need. I feel like I want an extra moveslot on this guy to put in some recovery. A lum berry has always tempted me as well as this guy is huge toxic bait but I want those extra turns on the screens, therefore I just save her for Lunar Dance when she is getting low.

4 - Venusaur

Nature: Modest
Ability: Chlorophyll
Evs: 72Hp/4Def/180Spe/252Sp Atk
Item: Black Sludge
Moves: Sleep Powder, Giga Drain, Sunny Day, Sludge Bomb.
Description: Not much to say about this guy really, he is basically a standard Chlorophyll set. Sludge Bomb for STAB, Giga Drain for STAB and recovery, Sleep Powder to deal with anything I'm worried about and Sunny Day in case I lose Charizard or my opponent removes my weather. T-Tar is a very common threat so Sunny Day is a good prediction move for that scenario.

5 - Rotom-W
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
Evs: 252Hp/252Def/4Sp Atk
Item: Chesto Berry
Moves: Hydro Pump, Will-o-wisp, Rest,Volt Switch
Description: This is a completely standard Resto-Chesto set. There is a reason this guys is so popular in OU - his great physical bulk, good special attack, ability to cripple sweepers and rest of any damage makes him an excellent pivot on the team to keep up momentum. His typing gives good extra coverage, even with the sun up, and allows me to tank hits so I can switch into more frail pokes such as Mega Y.

6 - Mandibuzz

Nature: Impish
Ability: Overcoat
Evs: 252HP/252Def/4Sp Def
Item: Leftovers
Moves Defog, Toxic, Foul Play, Roost
Description: You might have noticed the big weakness to Stealth Rocks? Yeah, I did too, which is why I brought this guy in to fix that. His massive defence mean you're guaranteed to get a defog off, and with Screens up you can even take a few special hits. I picked toxic as I felt I could do with more statuses on my team, Foul Play as anti-taunt and to ruin sweepers, and roost to toxic stall and keep this guy running. I rarely find this guy dying until I let him because of his bulk.




Summary: This is my first draft of the team so I'm open to any advice. The things I've noticed so far - Lack of priority and I could really do with a special wall, but if you can see other problems let me know, thanks.

Ps - Don't suggest Ninetails. Ever.

 

[Triability]

it needs ninetales

 

[Joevahkiin]

Funny, you're a funny guy.

 

[B3N]

Seems solid but if you are running Dragon Claws on Garchomp to not be locked into using 1 move then why are you using a choice item? Regardless or not you use outrage you'll be stuck in 1 move and you lose a lot of extra power.

 

[Joevahkiin]

What I meant was if i need to switch out, which I can't do when using Outrage

 

[Petrico94]

Who needs Nintales when Charizard Y is broken out the ass. Seriously, fuck all megas.

 

[Joevahkiin]

Constructive commenting please :)

 

[Enki]

There is a bit of problems, the sun isn't illimitated, Manaphy could be a big problem, if the sun fadded, or if it boosted, you have too much sun abusers, it isn't a nice idea.
Volcarona is useless, talonflame and pinsir destroy him, you could inseret Talonflame.
Ddance tyranitar or mega tyranitar destroy all of your team, it is a biiiiiiiiig problem.

 

[Joevahkiin]

I dispute your point on Volcarona being useless - by no way is it useless, its a huge special sweeper that really punches holes in teams and, while talonflame is very common, pinsir is not. WHat counters do you thinkwould be good for Mega T-Tar?

 

[whoyoufinnatry]

I'd like to agree with Enki's point on your Volcarona.

The role it provides is pretty much covered well by your Mega Charizard-Y, being used mostly as a Sp. Att. Sun Abuser firing off Fire type moves, and switching your Volcarona to abuse the sun consistently will take up a turn, where it might run out soon after. Also having 3 pokes weak to Stealth Rocks, one being your Defogger and the other two being 4x weak to Rock makes Volcarona an even heavier burden on your team. Also I'd like to back up the fact that the Pokemon that Enki mentioned: Talonflame and Mega Pinsir are HUGE threats to your team and to your Volcarona at that and are in fact both pokemons seeing much use in the current meta where there aren't any more Mega Lucarios or Genesects running around. I believe switching your Volcarona for an AV Conkeldurr will prove to be much more useful, as it clears the obvious problems of having to deal with pokes like Tyranitar, Mega Tyranitar, Blissey, Chansey, Heatran and other pokes that are weak to Fighting type moves as you are running Dragon Pulse over Focus Blast as your coverage move on your Mega Charizard-Y.

The one issue I still see though is the fact that you don't have a useful flying type resist such as Rotom-W or maybe Zapdos that can take on the threats previously mentioned: Talonflame and Mega Pinsir. Does anyone else have a suggestion on what to change up here to counter these threats, as Conkeldurr doesn't cover those needed changes.

EDIT: Grammar and stuff

 

[Joevahkiin]

I have a standard Resto-Chesto Rotom-W ready to go if needed, but I though playing a water type on a sun team was counter-intuitive? I could swap that out for the Volcarona but, if you really think it is required, I have no idea what I would swap out for a Conkelldurr.

 

[whoyoufinnatry]

Possibly switch out your Cresselia and Volcarona? It seems that it's only role is to set up screens and die, and I believe you'll find it more useful to be running larger and better coverage with Conkeldurr and Rotom-W than the former two pokemon. Your team will be able to take more hits without letting them be used as potential death fodder. Though I know Lunar Dance might seem good, the fact that you mostly use your Cress as a lead means most of your pokes would be at full health if your in a sticky situation. Using Rotom-W won't be counter-intuitive as it'll fill a better role in your team, and also remember the sun won't always be up and it'll be nice to have some Water coverage in your team. Having useful Will-o-Wisp in your team and great Volt-Turner will give you nice Electric type coverage and switch initiative.

EDIT: forgot to finish a sentence

 

[Joevahkiin]

The problem with dropping Cresselia is that he covers a large portion of Mega Y's bulk due to the screens. Perhaps I mislead you with my first description: while often Cresselia does die it is not as soon as I have set up screens, normally I can set up screens 2 or possibly even 3 times before I Lunar Dance or death fodder. My initial description seemed to say less of her.

 

[whoyoufinnatry]

If you decide to keep your Cresselia, then I think you should switch Volcarona for Rotom-W and switch your coverage moves on Mega Charizard Y from Dragon Pulse to Focus Blast to nab those nasty looking Heatrans which would otherwise wall you completely. If you look at the calc below, you'll see that even Sp. Def Heatrans don't take the Focus Blast nicely, so its riskier for them to switch into a hit:

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Heatran: 210-248 (54.4 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
(210, 212, 214, 218, 220, 222, 224, 228, 230, 232, 234, 238, 240, 242, 244, 248)


Another possible option to switch out your Volcarona for is Air Balloon Heatran as it can wall Talonflame and Mega Pinsir as long as its balloon remains intact. It can also abuse the weather pretty well, status some enemy pokes, and phaze out pokes that have or are setting up like +2 Mega Pinsirs. Keeping the balloon intact might be tricky, though.

EDIT: added a calc

 

[NotBruceWayne]

Just a minor nitpick here but I think you should move those 4 HP EVs on your Charizard to SDef or Def so that your HP will hit a SR number allowing you to switch in 2 times without dying assuming Zard doesn't take any damage of course. And may I also suggest removing either Sunny Day or Sleep Powder on your Venusaur and replace it with HP Fire. Sure, HP has been nerfed, but with only Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb, Scizor wrecks your Venusaur and Ferrothorn walls it, HARD. And with the sun boosting your HP Fire it will feel like the nerf never happened (I do wish it didn't happen). Another suggestion would be changing the moves of your Scarfchomp to something like this as having both Outrage and Dragon Claw would do you more harm than good.

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw / Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Poison Jab / Iron Head

Poison Jab is for Faries + the grass types that would attempt to absorb your Venusaur's Sleep Powder should you elect to leave it there. Standard EdgeQuake combination to deal neutral damage to almost everything with the right predictions. Dragon Claw is preferred over Outrage as you won't get locked into it and be setup bait for Mega Mawile or something. Lastly, I second the motion of the guy above me about your Talonflame weakness. Once Mandibuzz goes down, Talonflame can outright sweep your team. Having Heatran over Volcarona would probably solve that problem.

 

[Joevahkiin]

Volcarona has been changed to Rotom-W now, works great as I now have something reliable and bulky to go into and he makes a great pivot. Will test a heatran when I get hold of one