Let The Sun Shine In! (A DW OU Sunny Day Team)

[Professor Beef]

Hello there, everyone. First-time thread maker, long-time lurker here, and I've decided to come out of my silence to submit a team that recently hasn't been failing me. But first, some preamble (feel free to skip if you wish).

Weather teams have always been my favorite dynamic in the Pokemon games, but Sun/Rain have always been my aim. Since Smogon's ridiculous (in my opinion, and that's all I'll mention of it, I promise) Drizzle + Swift Swim ban, I've decided to make a new team. But since I have little to no experience with teams that don't use the weather, I decided to stick with what I know.

With that being said, I have made what I feel is a pretty good Sunny Day team, and I'd like any and all critique you can dish out. So without further ado, here's my roster.

Ninetales (F) @ Wide Lens (Updated)
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hypnosis
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp
- Energy Ball

Certainly an obvious choice for a lead. Ninetales is not only my main Sun-bringer, but she's also good for spreading around status effects when she pops in. I chose Overheat over Fire Blast because of all the switching I would end up doing during test runs. That accuracy is also a good factor. Wide Lens is there because I can rarely afford a Hypnosis/WoW miss due to her being so squishy against poor type matchups. Solarbeam has been replaced with Energy Ball, due to SB being so luck-based with opposing teams not using weather.

Eggy (Exeggutor) (M) @ Leftovers (Updated)
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Psycho Shock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

(In case you're wondering about the sudden change of format on the EVs/Nature, I just found the "export to text" option. :P)

Exeggutor has been a staple in every version of Sunny Day that I have made. Chlorophyll is, in case you were unaware, the sun's version of Swift Swim. Eggy's decent bulk and power, backed up by his all-of-a-sudden 418 speed in the sun, make him one dangerous opponent. Solarbeam is his main attacking move, and does respectable damage even on a resistance. Psycho Shock has been added as a way of dealing with Blissey, and HP Fire is for opposing Grass-types.

You may be wondering why I chose Sunny Day as Eggy's 4th move. The reason is because if Ninetales gets taken down early, then I no longer have a source for the sun. I've always been paranoid about losing the weather, thanks to running a Rain Dance team for so many years. Having Sunny Day on Eggy alleviates that problem. The most common tactic I have seen that my opponent does when they see one of my sun-abusers is to switch to a weather-starter of their own to try and get me to switch back to Ninetales, therefore shifting the tempo. But with Sunny Day, I can halt their tempo shift and keep moving without skipping a beat. Worst case scenario: they switch to Politoed to start the rain. I use Sunny Day and they use Ice Beam to try and KO Eggy (which can't OHKO). Now the sun is back, and they're stuck with a rainless Politoed who is begging for a Solarbeam.

Blaziken (M) @ Leftovers (Updated)
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Hi Jump Kick
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Flare Blitz

Blaziken, while incredibly powerful, tends to get beat to the punch before he can really get moving. So I'm borrowing a task from Ninjask and giving him Protect to get his game going, and to scout for danger. If things seem alright, then I go for a Swords Dance, and let the fun REALLY begin.

Heatran (M) @ Balloon (Updated)
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Heatran is a great partner for Eggy, absorbing the many Fire attacks that would be flung his way and responding in kind. HP Ice has been added to deal with opposing Balloon-holders, as well as a way to deal with flyers and Dragons.

Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 24 Atk / 232 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Roost

Salamence, a true contender. He enjoys the sun, he enjoys coming into attacks that would normally damage the team, and also enjoys giving back any sort of damage that would be inflicted. Draco Meteor is there to deliver a crushing blow to the opposition, while Earthquake mops up anything that would survive. Fire Blast gets a boost in the sun, and Roost is there to stop the bleeding caused by Life Orb.

Cresselia (F) @ Light Clay
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Lunar Dance
- Toxic

Cresselia is a great Dual Screen user, and can easily stay in to build them both with its enormous bulk. While there are no actual attacking moves on this set, Cresselia rarely needs to actually attack to begin with. Screns are obvious; Toxic is there to make people question staying in, and Lunar Dance is good for the late-game, when one of the sweepers is on their last legs.

 

[Pandalax]

Hi, Im new to smogon too, and I would like to say that this is a very good weather team, but I just have a few suggestions:
On Blaziken, I would recommend changing it to a swords dance variant, with the item choice being a wide lens, as this significantly outdamages the claw sharpen set while keeping decent accuracy on most of its moves.
On Heatran, I would remove explosion due to the nerf it got this generation and replace it with either Nitro Charge or HP Ice, which allows heatran to either sweep on its own or revenge kill scarf garchomp, which can be a problem for this team if it is weakened.

Also, I see a potential problem with sandstorm sweepers if you end up losing the weather battle, and I would suggest replacing your crobat with an Acrofling Gliscor, which is highly effective at checking SS and fighting types alike
name: Fling
move 1: Fling
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Acrobat
move 4: Protect / Taunt / Swords Dance
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe

 

[Benlisted]

Seconding the change to a SD Blaziken - he gets on better damage output after 1 boost even if you switch to a Wide Lens to make up for the accuracy loss. If you do keep Claw Sharpen at least switch to Life Orb to get extra power, but I don't recommend it.

On Ninetales you may well know not to use SB until other inducers are gone, but why cripple yourself by restricting yourself to 3 moves when you could have 4? You will either solely use Solarbeam (much less powerful than her Fire attacks) to kill the odd Water type, or never be able to use it VS other weather (or not until the match is already won). Not to mention is goes awfully with Overheat dropping SpAtk and Wide Lens. Try out either Power Swap - allowing you to steal boosts from things like Urugamosu (and beat them as they boost up), or Toxic, letting you cripple Politoeds and bulky waters, or perhaps go with Rest and use a Chesto Berry to increase her survivability.

I quite like your Eggy set, but there seems little point having Sleep on two pokes, so perhaps give him HP Fighting, or Fire or Ice in that slot. Sunny Day lets you beat counters much like Sleep does, so a HP increases coverage. Fight lets you beat TTar and hurt Heatran, Ice is for Dragons, and Fire beats other Grasses (though STAB Psychic or HP Fight deals with most well). Sub could be used to scout for counters instead, and save you wasting turns to set Sun up.

Tran looks nice, although if using Explosion I would recommend giving Leafeon Baton Pass to give you the option of taking a Fire hit aimed at her and letting Heatran fire off +2 Explosions or boosted Fire attacks at steels, since Synthesis is doing little for her at the minute and so many things wall Leafeon. If in DW this should be legal.

Crobat seems somewhat tacked on, you say he does little to help the team on most occasions. If you really need to stop a fighting type, consider Cresselia with Dual Screens. Reflect will stop Payback dead (especially if coupled with Moonlight to recover) and can help get Blaziken setup opportunities. Blaziken with a sun boost is still a major problem, however, and so you have to pretty much max defence if you need to beat him. TTar can easily be switched out after scouting his attack with the Def boost and Leafeon or Heatran should be able to take any of his hits especially with a Reflect up.

 

[Professor Beef]

You know, I was getting ready to start defending Solarbeam, but then I realized that the times I've been able to fire it off without consequence have been

1) When Politoed/Tyranitar/Hippowdon is dead
2) When Politoed/Tyranitar/Hippowdon is nowhere to be found

Now Point #2 has been more common, but I can see how lucky I have been. With that in mind, I still don't like the idea of Ninetales sticking around longer than necessary. I don't like the idea of having three status-inducers on her though, so I'll tinker with Hypnosis/WoW/Toxic and see which two I like best, with Overheat and Energy Ball rounding the set out.

It's funny you mention replacing Sleep Powder on Eggy too, since I was thinking about removing that myself after looking at his set! I didn't even think about using Hidden Power though, so that's definitely something to keep in mind.

Once again, thanks for the advice, and I'll make sure to update this after changes are made and tests have been performed.

 

[Benlisted]

You know, I was getting ready to start defending Solarbeam, but then I realized that the times I've been able to fire it off without consequence have been

1) When Politoed/Tyranitar/Hippowdon is dead
2) When Politoed/Tyranitar/Hippowdon is nowhere to be found

Now Point #2 has been more common, but I can see how lucky I have been. With that in mind, I still don't like the idea of Ninetales sticking around longer than necessary. I don't like the idea of having three status-inducers on her though, so I'll tinker with Hypnosis/WoW/Toxic and see which two I like best, with Overheat and Energy Ball rounding the set out.

No problem on the help. Yeah, the only reason I didn't recommend you Energy Ball was because it does a pittance to Politoed and in fact most waters - you are better off Toxicing them as they come in and getting out, and the main thing it's useful to revenge (Kabutops) is now essentially banned. On PO Energy Ball may be more useful for this reason, however. Hidden Power likewise isn't powerful enough to do anything (HP Fight needs LO to 2HKO min SpDef TTar), so that's why I advise status options.

Sleep/Burn/Poison lets you cripple your 3 main counters - Heatran, TTar and Toed respectively, so while it seems dubious it may work out. Power Swap is useful to cripple special attackers trying to come into you, as well as steal boosts from physical ones coming in after you burn or toxic them to wear away at their health, so if Energy Ball and status aren't working for you then give it a shot.

Be sure to bump this with the results of your testing to let us know how it's going :)

 

[jynx KB]

For Exeggutor, you might want to try a Harvest/Rest/Lum Berry set to absorb status. Don't underestimate it, even without speed you still have massive coverage, and access to Sleep Powder.

Nothing wrong with your current one, but it's just an idea to test.

 

[Fantom0]

I'm not exactly sure what Leafeon does on your team considering you already have a Clorophyll user. If I'm daring enough to say so, I would actually recommend an ice-type in that position. Now before you call me stupid, I just want to state my reason why. It's because of dragons. Your team has no SE moves against, say, Garchomp, which isn't a good thing. This means it can fairly easily SD a few times, then sweep. And Leafeon isn't going to enjoy an SD Fire Fang in sunlight. In all fairness, your team is fairly good and dragons aren't going to sweep your team on their lonesome, but I think an ice-type would help check a few threats. Personally I'd say Froslass...

Froslass @ Focus Sash
Timid: 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt/HP Fire
-Destiny Bond
-Taunt/Spikes
Call me thick, I like doing things differently. Froslass is, very nearly, the perfect dragon counter, able to outspeed them all and OHKO most with Ice Beam. Using Thunderbolt or HP Fire, it becomes quite a potent sweeper as well. Froslass can also Taunt set-up pokes or Spike. Destiny Bond is, quite simply, to take out something you don't like, ie BUers, CMers, SDers, NPers etc.
Other than that, I will second the Crobat change to AcroFling Gliscor.

Hope I helped (in some strange, mystical way)!

 

[Benlisted]

Problem with Froslass is that it cannot come into the boosted Fire attacks or Dragon moves the dragons will be firing off, and if it comes in on a DD it will simply be outsped and OHKOd. Whilst SS may not break the sash of the set you recommend, any hazard will, making it unreliable as a dragon killer out of the lead position. Weavile or Mamoswine would do better as a revenger of Dragons than Lass for this reason, but still cannot switch in and hence I would not recommend them.

Leafeon is indeed not the best Chlorophyller out there, but can do well if BPing (maybe her boosts) to something to kill what normally walls her - namely Heatran.

 

[ChaosNebula]

Weird pokemon to add in a Sun Team.

...Cloyster. Focus Sash Cloyster.

 

[SmileZ]

Cloyster has one of it's STABs weakened and a in turn becomes weak to fire.. I'm not sure it's the best choice. Interesting at least, for what reason would you add it?

 

[IcyMan28]

Cloyster and Froslass have no place on this team. For starters, get rid of Claw Sharpen on Blaziken, as the accuracy of its main moves are more than adequate, and use Swords Dance. You'll probably want to keep the Adamant nature as well for the power.

Second, I suggest that you run Sunny Day on Crobat over Super Fang, as it is quite fast, bulky, and will have the opportunity to set it up on multiple occasions if you need it. With that done, you can run this Exeggutor:

Exeggutor@Life Orb
Modest; 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Psychic
Giga Drain
Sleep Power
HP Fighting

I generally prefer Venusaur due to stronger moves, but this is fine. You can opt for Solarbeam but, should Tyranitar or Politoed come in on the charge done, you could very well be finished.

Leafeon is doing nothing for your team that Sawsbuck doesn't do better with its STAB on the normal attacks, and access to a fighting move:

Sawsbuck@Life Orb
Adamant; 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jump Kick
Horn Leech
Double Edge
Swords Dance

Far superior to Leafeon. the STAB on Double Edge and access to Jump Kick is superior to Leafeon's moves. With such high speed and Chlorophyll, Jolly is unneeded. I believe you will still be outrunning Scarf Latios (I could be mistaken, though). Hope I helped.

 

[Rakan]

Interesting sun team, but I have a few suggestions to make.

First off, I don't think Wide Lens is worth an item slot on Ninetales as Leftovers will make it last much longer. I also think you should use Protect in place of Solarbeam to scout for dangerous moves. You are walled by Heatran and other Flash Fire users, but its not like Solarbeam is going to be much use against them anyway. You can also change the ev spread if you want along with the nature to make Ninetales more bulky (it can actually be surprisingly bulky when ev'd correctly), but I suppose you want to outspeed the most things you can.

On Exeggutor I would recommend using Hidden Power Fire over Sunny Day since you already have Ninetales. Besides, 5 turns of sun when Ninetales is gone is not very useful, and since Exeggutor is so slow it often won't have a chance to set up sun. I also want to suggest Psycho Shock over Psychic to defeat Blissey as it completely walls you, and doesn't mind sleep due to Natural Cure.

I also agree with the people suggesting SD Blaziken over Claw Sharpen since SD nets you much more significant KOs such as the OHKO on Jellicent with a +2 Life Orb Stone Edge. Honestly the KOs are way more important than accuracy, and the chance to KO can make you lose or win. In the sun, a +2 Life Orb Flare Blitz can OHKO the standard defensive Gliscor since most Gliscor don't run max/max HP/Def. Yea. That crazy. Don't use Wide Lens, its really not worth it. Life Orb's added power is very much needed in Blaziken's case.

Please don't use Explosion on Heatran. Since it has been nerfed this generation, a 250 base power, unSTABED move coming off of a base 90 Atk isn't doing much without investment. Replace it with a Hidden Power or Dragon Pulse for better coverage; Explosion isn't worth it anymore. Actually, now that I think of it, you have huge issues with Gliscor. Run Hidden Power Ice since you'll probably outspeed most Gliscor that usually don't invest in Speed.

Leafeon, unfortunately is really not worth the teamslot for a Chlorophyll sweeper. It gets walled by every Steel-type in the game because of its ridiculously bad movepool. I would suggest replacing it with either Venusaur or Victreebel as your Chlorophyll sweeper since they both have far superior coverage.

Here's a set for Venusaur that I like.

Growth Sweeper
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Nature: Naughty/Naive
Ability: Chlorophyll
Evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Speed
-Growth
-Solarbeam/Giga Drain
-Sludge Bomb/Hidden Power Fire
-Earthquake

Mixed Growth Venusaur is a beast in the sun. Since Growth raises Atk and SpA by 2 stages in the sun now, it can destroy any Fire-types that come in to ruin its day. Sludge Bomb covers the Fire-Flying types that are immune to Earthquake. In addition, Venusaur can utilize a sun-boosted Hidden Power Fire to kill Steel switch-ins like Bronzong and Skarmory. Venusaur also has the added convenience of absorbing Toxic Spikes for the team and also being immune to Toxic, something Leafeon definitely cannot do.

I also don't really like Crobat on your team since you don't seem to have too much problems with Fighting-types in general, but I'm not really sure what to replace it with. Perhaps Gyarados or Salamence with Intimidate? Salamence works really well as a stall-breaker while Gyarados is sturdy enough to phaze, buliding up entry hazard damage.

StallBreaker Salamence
Salamence@Life Orb
Nature: Naive
Ability: Intimidate
Evs: 24 Atk / 232 SpA / 252 Speed
-Draco Meteor
-Fire Blast
-Earthquake
-Roost/Outrage

Draco Meteor is immensely powerful, and destroys every Dragon-type or things that don't resist it, Fire Blast is boosted by sun and rapes Ferrothorn and Steel-types in general, and Balloon Heatran won't survive a switch-in to Draco Meteor + Earthquake. Immensely powerful and can take out a lot of threats to your team. Roost provides survivability while Outrage severely damages other things with excellent Special Defense and poor Defense such as Blissey.

Overall, I think your team is pretty good, but a few tweaks could make it excellent. Try out my suggestions and see what they can do for you. I also like the creativity of your team though.

Anyways, I hope I helped and Good Luck with the team.

 

[Professor Beef]

Welp, I managed to switch things up slightly, and after a few games the results were....very poor. -__-

To the posters who claimed that I could get walled by every Steel-type under the sun (no pun intended)? Boy, you weren't lying. And as much as I liked Leafeon with twice the speed, I also didn't enjoy the feeling of despair that accompanied it when the game was on the line. Here is the edited version of my original team, or "Version 2."

NOTE: I probably should've put this edit in the OP in the first place, but I've been busy as of late, and simply forgot. Apologies!

Ninetales (F) @ Wide Lens Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hypnosis
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp
- Energy Ball


Eggy (Exeggutor) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fighting]


Blaziken (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Hi Jump Kick
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Flare Blitz


Heatran (M) @ Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion


Leafeon (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Return


Cresselia (F) @ Light Clay
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 40 SDef / 68 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Lunar Dance
- Ice Beam

NOTE 2: This is not the team I am preparing to use. Version 3 will be updated in the OP.

I can say without hesitation that Leafeon is heading for greener pastures (pun partially intended). I'll also be switching up Heatran's moveset up, since I found that there's little I can do against an opposing Balloon-wielding Heatran. Ninetales and Eggy have been earning their keep with what they currently have, so no need to change them at the moment. I had no clue that Eggy was able to learn Psycho Shock, and I'm going to be testing that right now.

I did like how much Cresselia added to the team in terms of survivability, although her lack of doing anything offensive worries me. The only attacking move she has is Ice Beam, and I only put that there as a way of stopping potential Taunts. I'm thinking I'm going to switch to something else and have a "no-attacks" build, with Toxic replacing Ice Beam.

Blaziken is doing wonders, but I find myself never really using Stone Edge, instead opting to use Flare Blitz or HJK since they both offer such good coverage. I'm going to borrow a trick from Ninjask and use Protect so I can get a quick Speed Boost, then prepare to go to town. At least for a few games. Here's hoping it works out.

The OP has been updated with my latest variation of Sunny Day. I'll try and add graphics to it later, but I don't have the time right now. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

 

[Benlisted]

Several pieces of advice for you. Consider Lefties on Tales to increase her general survivability, and maybe Fire Blast as your STAB if you often need to use both moves the same time you come in.

Eggy I really like, but it slightly concerns me, as anything pursuiting or attacking you fast and SE you will OHKO, as will TTar's crunch if it has a lot of SpDef and lives the solarbeam, losing you a main sweeper. Scarfers also pose your entire team a large issue now Leafeon is gone, since your fastest is eggy who barely beats +base 130s, or Blaziken if it can get to +2 (Protect may help this however), and Scarf Sazzy etc will be OHKOing Eggy.

Without SE you need to watch for enemy Chandelures before you attempt a Blaziken sweep, just something to keep in mind. As you're dropping the coverage I highly recommend LO on Blaziken as LO Sun boosted +2 Flare Blitz decimates everything whereas unboosted it falls short. The extra recoil can be mediated with Lunar Dance and Screens.

Mence I would initially try Mebukijika (Sawsbuck) over purely to remedy your lack of speed, unless your Blaziken deals with this adequately. It really is a demon with a SD or 4 Atks set, and can revenge most things giving Sun issues.

Cress with Toxic doesn't seem helpful to me - it lacks any form of recovery with which to toxic stall, and some of the things coming in - Reuniclus and TTar, you'd rather not status or would rather hit with WoW. I'd revert to an attacking move - possibly Psychic for STAB and to threaten enemy Blazikens since they outspeed your Eggy after a boost and most probably rape your whole team otherwise.