Yeah, sun in UU! It's been working... Okaaaaaayyyy. I've been battling on Pokemon Showdown for a while and I'm laddering at about 1200ish. That is... Not spectacular, and I'm kind of short of ideas on how to improve the team so I thought I'd give it an RMT. I'll make this one pretty straight forward.
TEAM BUILDING
To start off my sun team, I first searched for a Pokemon that could reliably set up sun in as many battling conditions as possible. There were a lot of candidates, but in the end I chose Volbeat. Thanks to Prankster, I'm pretty much guaranteed a Sunny Day (I even outspeed Prankster Sableye) and he's pretty damn good at what he does.
The next thing I wanted to do was incorporate Victreebel, who has always been one of my favorite Pokemon. This is my first sun team so this is the first time I've gotten an opportunity to use him. He's truly a beautiful sun sweeper.
Next I needed a fire type that could hit incredibly hard along with the Sunny Day boost. I chose Rapidash. It may seem like an odd choice (especially in comparison to Darmanitan or Victini) but I opted for him because of his better speed, which allows me to run Choice Band for even more power, and enough coverage options to hit almost everything for excellent damage.
... I can't really justify the fact that I use Tropius except for that it is absolutely hilarious. Just look at it. But all joking aside, Harvest-Chestorest is a very effective strategy. If only it didn't have that nasty Ice weakness.
At this point it became fairly clear that I needed a spinner. Hitmontop immediately came to mind as it resists moves that Pokemon on this team will often find themselves on the other end of, specifically rock.
And this is the spot that I find I end up switching a lot. Right now the spot belongs to Charizard, who hits incredibly, I repeat, INCREDIBLY hard in the sun but sometimes I think there could be a better Pokemon here. I just don't know what.
THE TEAM IN DETAIL
Volbeat
Bold
Heat Rock
Prankster
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Spd.
Baton Pass, Encore, Sunny Day, Substitute.
I always lead with Volbeat because he's always going to get a Sunny Day out no matter what. Ideally though, I'd like to keep Volbeat alive so if the opponent leads with Mienshao or something and starts Stone Edging I'm definitely not going to stay in. However that's why I have Substitute so I can scout out the opponents first move. If it's an attack, no big deal, I can switch into something else, likely Hitmontop. If it's a non-damaging move, I get to keep my sub, and I can proceed to Encore the Pokemon and force a switch. I then Baton Pass the sub to whatever Pokemon I want to set up with and Volbeat's job is done until I need to renew that sun (That rhymed :D).
Victreebel
Rash
Life Orb
Chlorophyll
172 Atk 140 SpA, 196 Spd.
Leaf Blade, Weather Ball, Sleep Powder, Growth.
Say hello to the best sun sweeper in UU. Thanks to outstanding support from Volbeat, Victreebel is very, verrryyy likely to get a growth out and demolish as much as possible. If Victreebel doesn't sweep the entire opposing team is will get very, very close and will put a huge dent into the opponent. Leaf Blade and Weather Ball are great together, only resisted by fire types. Sleep Powder helps me get a Growth out if for some reason I'm not hiding behind Volbeat's Substitute. It really is effective. Literally the best sun sweeper in the game and I wouldn't consider using any other Chlorophyller. I mean there is Lilligant and other things, but they just can't top the sheer awesomeness that is Victreebel. This thing will absolutely destroy you as long as that sun keeps shining.... ONLY if that sun keeps shining....
Rapidash
Jolly
Choice Band
Flash Fire
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP.
Flare Blitz, Wild Charge, Low Kick, Drill Run.
There's a few reason why I choose to run Rapidash over other common UU fire types in the tier like Darmanitan and Victini. One reason is that Rapidash outspeeds both of them and can proceed to OHKO them with Drill Run. Another one is Flare Fire, which along with the Sunny Day boost, punishes any Pokemon that dare try to use my Sun boost against me. Simply put, he's my main check for opposing Fire types. Also he hits like a truck, did I mention that? Probably.
Tropius
Jolly
Chesto Berry
Harvest
252 HP, 40 Atk, 72 Def, 40 Sp. Def, 104 Spd.
Seed Bomb, Earthquake, Rest, Dragon Dance.
This is a set I made up myself. It's pretty ridiculous, I know. Why would I ever want to use Dragon Dance Tropius? It just seems so craaaazy. Well yeah you're right, it is crazy. Do you know what's crazier? Chesto-Harvrest. Statuses? No problem. Obscene amounts of damage? Bye bye. And there Tropius goes, dragon dancing over and over until you realize that this flying fat dinosaur is going to sweep your team. I'm sorry to say it. Tropius gets Leaf Blade, but the combination of Leaf Blade and Dragon Dance is illegal due to breeding restrictions, so I had to opt for Seed Bomb which was given to Tropius through the BW2 tutors. Thanks for that, GF! Earthquake is coverage. Rest is what makes this set work, I can use it infinitely with Harvest and I don't need to worry about waiting off sleep. I get a lot of opportunities to set up Dragon Dance this way. Trust me, the set works. Sometimes. Occasionally.
Hitmontop
Impish
Heat Rock
Intimidate
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD.
Rapid Spin, Foresight, Sunny Day, Close Combat.
Hitmontop has a few jobs for this team. One of them is to cripple strong physical sweepers that might try and use Rock type attacks to cripple this team, such as Mienshao or Rhyperior. The second is to spin SR away, which he can do with Foresight and Rapid Spin just fine. The last thing that Hitmontop can do, surprisingly, is that he can actually set up Sunny Day if Volbeat for some reason can't. It works because it's a lot less obvious than Volbeat; most people don't expect me to have Sunny Day on my Hitmontop. So yeah, this is a pretty important Pokemon on my team. His support is essential for making this team successful.
Charizard
Timid
Heat Rock
Solar Power
252 SpA, 252 Spd, 4 HP.
Fire Blast, SolarBeam, Sunny Day, Roost.
... I just don't know about this one. As I'm writing this I'm trying to think of why I use Charizard in UU. I'm pretty good at keeping Stealth Rocks off the field, it's just... Hmm. Maybe it's because it hits so hard. Seriously. It hits ridiculously hard. Solar Power + Sunny Day + Fire Blast + STAB 2HKOs almost anything in UU and I also get coverage with Solarbeam so really I'm going to be hurting as least something with it. Yet time and time again, I always get weird looks when I use it. I tried Arcanine in this spot, and even Flygon for a while, but I just like this Charizard so much, it has swept more times than Rapidash or even Victreebel has. I want to switch it for something better though...
And that's it. I would really like to get some rates here, so have at it (: thanks for the support!
TEAM BUILDING
To start off my sun team, I first searched for a Pokemon that could reliably set up sun in as many battling conditions as possible. There were a lot of candidates, but in the end I chose Volbeat. Thanks to Prankster, I'm pretty much guaranteed a Sunny Day (I even outspeed Prankster Sableye) and he's pretty damn good at what he does.
The next thing I wanted to do was incorporate Victreebel, who has always been one of my favorite Pokemon. This is my first sun team so this is the first time I've gotten an opportunity to use him. He's truly a beautiful sun sweeper.
Next I needed a fire type that could hit incredibly hard along with the Sunny Day boost. I chose Rapidash. It may seem like an odd choice (especially in comparison to Darmanitan or Victini) but I opted for him because of his better speed, which allows me to run Choice Band for even more power, and enough coverage options to hit almost everything for excellent damage.
... I can't really justify the fact that I use Tropius except for that it is absolutely hilarious. Just look at it. But all joking aside, Harvest-Chestorest is a very effective strategy. If only it didn't have that nasty Ice weakness.
At this point it became fairly clear that I needed a spinner. Hitmontop immediately came to mind as it resists moves that Pokemon on this team will often find themselves on the other end of, specifically rock.
And this is the spot that I find I end up switching a lot. Right now the spot belongs to Charizard, who hits incredibly, I repeat, INCREDIBLY hard in the sun but sometimes I think there could be a better Pokemon here. I just don't know what.
THE TEAM IN DETAIL
Volbeat
Bold
Heat Rock
Prankster
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Spd.
Baton Pass, Encore, Sunny Day, Substitute.
I always lead with Volbeat because he's always going to get a Sunny Day out no matter what. Ideally though, I'd like to keep Volbeat alive so if the opponent leads with Mienshao or something and starts Stone Edging I'm definitely not going to stay in. However that's why I have Substitute so I can scout out the opponents first move. If it's an attack, no big deal, I can switch into something else, likely Hitmontop. If it's a non-damaging move, I get to keep my sub, and I can proceed to Encore the Pokemon and force a switch. I then Baton Pass the sub to whatever Pokemon I want to set up with and Volbeat's job is done until I need to renew that sun (That rhymed :D).
Victreebel
Rash
Life Orb
Chlorophyll
172 Atk 140 SpA, 196 Spd.
Leaf Blade, Weather Ball, Sleep Powder, Growth.
Say hello to the best sun sweeper in UU. Thanks to outstanding support from Volbeat, Victreebel is very, verrryyy likely to get a growth out and demolish as much as possible. If Victreebel doesn't sweep the entire opposing team is will get very, very close and will put a huge dent into the opponent. Leaf Blade and Weather Ball are great together, only resisted by fire types. Sleep Powder helps me get a Growth out if for some reason I'm not hiding behind Volbeat's Substitute. It really is effective. Literally the best sun sweeper in the game and I wouldn't consider using any other Chlorophyller. I mean there is Lilligant and other things, but they just can't top the sheer awesomeness that is Victreebel. This thing will absolutely destroy you as long as that sun keeps shining.... ONLY if that sun keeps shining....
Rapidash
Jolly
Choice Band
Flash Fire
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP.
Flare Blitz, Wild Charge, Low Kick, Drill Run.
There's a few reason why I choose to run Rapidash over other common UU fire types in the tier like Darmanitan and Victini. One reason is that Rapidash outspeeds both of them and can proceed to OHKO them with Drill Run. Another one is Flare Fire, which along with the Sunny Day boost, punishes any Pokemon that dare try to use my Sun boost against me. Simply put, he's my main check for opposing Fire types. Also he hits like a truck, did I mention that? Probably.
Tropius
Jolly
Chesto Berry
Harvest
252 HP, 40 Atk, 72 Def, 40 Sp. Def, 104 Spd.
Seed Bomb, Earthquake, Rest, Dragon Dance.
This is a set I made up myself. It's pretty ridiculous, I know. Why would I ever want to use Dragon Dance Tropius? It just seems so craaaazy. Well yeah you're right, it is crazy. Do you know what's crazier? Chesto-Harvrest. Statuses? No problem. Obscene amounts of damage? Bye bye. And there Tropius goes, dragon dancing over and over until you realize that this flying fat dinosaur is going to sweep your team. I'm sorry to say it. Tropius gets Leaf Blade, but the combination of Leaf Blade and Dragon Dance is illegal due to breeding restrictions, so I had to opt for Seed Bomb which was given to Tropius through the BW2 tutors. Thanks for that, GF! Earthquake is coverage. Rest is what makes this set work, I can use it infinitely with Harvest and I don't need to worry about waiting off sleep. I get a lot of opportunities to set up Dragon Dance this way. Trust me, the set works. Sometimes. Occasionally.
Hitmontop
Impish
Heat Rock
Intimidate
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD.
Rapid Spin, Foresight, Sunny Day, Close Combat.
Hitmontop has a few jobs for this team. One of them is to cripple strong physical sweepers that might try and use Rock type attacks to cripple this team, such as Mienshao or Rhyperior. The second is to spin SR away, which he can do with Foresight and Rapid Spin just fine. The last thing that Hitmontop can do, surprisingly, is that he can actually set up Sunny Day if Volbeat for some reason can't. It works because it's a lot less obvious than Volbeat; most people don't expect me to have Sunny Day on my Hitmontop. So yeah, this is a pretty important Pokemon on my team. His support is essential for making this team successful.
Charizard
Timid
Heat Rock
Solar Power
252 SpA, 252 Spd, 4 HP.
Fire Blast, SolarBeam, Sunny Day, Roost.
... I just don't know about this one. As I'm writing this I'm trying to think of why I use Charizard in UU. I'm pretty good at keeping Stealth Rocks off the field, it's just... Hmm. Maybe it's because it hits so hard. Seriously. It hits ridiculously hard. Solar Power + Sunny Day + Fire Blast + STAB 2HKOs almost anything in UU and I also get coverage with Solarbeam so really I'm going to be hurting as least something with it. Yet time and time again, I always get weird looks when I use it. I tried Arcanine in this spot, and even Flygon for a while, but I just like this Charizard so much, it has swept more times than Rapidash or even Victreebel has. I want to switch it for something better though...
And that's it. I would really like to get some rates here, so have at it (: thanks for the support!
