SPOILERS! Pokemon Sun and Moon In-Game Team Thread

[Mova]

Even though I wanted to use Litten when I first saw the starters, I intend to use Jibanyan the Fire starter on a subsequent playthrough. On my initial run, I want to use Popplio due to its amazing coverage in its STABs alone. All of them have different STABs, since I have always disliked running Pokémon that share types.

Salazzle is my only fastmon, but I use Bewear and Mudsdale as juggernauts. I probably won't need a Flying-type if the Poké Rides are useful. I plan to use at least four extra Pokémon during the story, including Raichu-Alola, Ninetales-Alola, and so on.

 

[Zukrad]

you do know it only gets splash and teleport right?

Yep, but I want a Lunala dammit!!

 

[Zukrad]

You don't get one until post-game and it's super worthless. Not gonna spoil you further but Cosmog is not what you want on your in-game team

Oh, you get it in post game?

Well, a new slot freed

 

[zferolie]

My intent wasn't aiming for an all lady team really (chances are my Primerina will be male and I'd welcome him to be the prettiest guy on the block) I just liked how they looked or there typing in Salazzle's case though not feeling that one design wise. Again my issue with Pheromosa though I like their looks I feel like they'll make the game even easier then it already is with how stupid good it is!

It didn't start out like that either. Always liked Popplio for being cute, and I was interested and the fire lizards ability. But then more pokemon got revealed that I liked and it just happened that 5 new pokemon I really liked were lady like. Throw in Mismagius for one of my favorite ghosts and I called it a semi theme team.

But yeah getting female Primarina is going to be long, but worth it. Though Trap Primarina will be the pretty boy as you said

 

[Goodra]

I fiddle around with it and came up with this team instead. I replaced Pheromosa with Kommo-o since
Pheromosa was just way to strong and probably couldn't be caught till end/post game anyways. Kommo-o has an cool design as well and a unique typing so I'm not too bothered by the switch. Replaced Salazzle with Toxapex since it looks to be another cool poison type though way less used them Salazzle from the looks of it. Team synergy doesn't seem to and may even have a bit of competitive use having two hazard users, a spinner and some bulk. Nothing top tier but hey it'll do fine for it's in game purpose and I love/like all these mons so I'm excited to play with this setup!

 

[Kingme1]

Not sure if this is final, but at least I am getting closer...

 

[Theorymon]

So this is my planned ingame team for sun currently. Now, first lets go over the main gimmick.

My main gimmick is that every Pokemon here will be raised to level 100 and bottlecapped so I can use them online in some form. The other gimmick is that I just want to break the game :P

Unlike a lot of people, I am repeating types a lot, having 3 water types. I wasn't originally going to do this, but when I saw Pelipper got drizzle, I thought "oh shit man I bet ingame can't handle rain spam!".

Zygarde is here because I am seriously considering it for Battle Spot Special this season (which allows Ubers) as some sort of bulky check to certain mons, so I figure I might as well use that as my electric immunity. Magearna loves the rain and I figure it will be strong. As for the last slot, I assume Solgaleo is late into the game, so I will switch that slot up a lot till then.

 

[Rygalla]

Before I go into my choices, I want to say that I've begun challenge myself recently in each generation by only using Pokemon that were introduced in the region, as such this team is 100% Gen 7, this team was also made with the intent of excluding Legendaries and Ultra Beasts since I want to Soft Reset for the right natures and competitively train them in the post-game

Primarina: Originally I was planing on using Rowlet as my starter, however as I saw the backlash Popplio was getting, I knew GF was planing on making it into the next Greninja so I thought "if they make an enticing Grass or Water type, that will make my decision", along came Lurantis and I immediately chose Popplio. Post Data-mine I was a bit sad that most of the new pokemon in this generation is relatively slow, Primarina being no exception with 60 Speed, but this seava isn't going to be slowed down anytime soon, as it is hard hitting and quite bulky too. A moveset of Sparkling Aria, Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Moonblast should get me through the game.

Lycanroc: I was so into the little pupper that is Rockruff, when he first was revealed in CoroCoro I knew he was going to be on my team, A rock type relatively early? what could possibly go wrong. I was already set on getting Sun I was super glad to get the sleak Midday form instead of the weirdly proportioned Midnight form. Post Data-mine it was obvious that Lycanroc was going to be a fast physical attacker who can do a lot of powerful attacks, sadly can't say the same about his movepool, which doesn't have a lot of moves. Speaking of which, a moveset of Accelerock, Stone Edge, Crunch, Stealth Rock should get me through the main game and be a useful base for competitive battles.

Tsareena: Like many people when we first saw Bounsweet, I thought it was either going to be a Cherim clone or a one off pokemon. During this time I chose Lurantis to be a team member due to several similarities it seems to have with Lilligant, when Tsareena was anounced I was in a pickle as to who to place on my team, the cunning Lurantis? or the Kickin' Tsareena. It wasn't until Post Data-mine that I decided on Tsareena, as she had better stats, abilities, and movepool than Lurantis. I think Trop Kick, High Jump Kick, U-Turn, and Aromatherapy will do for the main playthrough.

Kommo-o: Ever since Jangmo-o was revealed I knew it was going to be Alola's psudo-legend, and lo and behold I was right. although the only thing I don't like about it is it's shiny color, Kommo-o hits hard and has relatively good speed (anywhere near 90 is good in my books). the unique typing of Dragon/Fighting is as good as it is bad. Post Data-mine and he turned out to be relatively well rounded, good defenses and offences gives him an edge over several problems he might have. Outrage/Dragon Claw, Dragon Dance, Earthquake, Sky Uppercut should work well enough for him.

Golisopod: Originally Mudsdale was going to be on this team over Salazzle, however due to typing he was dropped. which was the same reason Golisopod was put onto the team. Upon seeing him the first time I knew he was going to be a physical powerhouse, but I didn't put him on my team yet since I didn't know how well he would handle. Post Data-mine, he proved to be just that, a Physical powerhouse, although slow he seems to have the bulk to survive a hit or two before his ability kicks in. Leech Life, Liquidation, Sucker Punch/First Impression, Rock Slide may work for it.

Salazzle: As stated earlier, Mudsdale was origonaly going to be on the team, but after thinking through it and seeing Kommo-o's x4 weakness to Fairies, I knew Mudsdale had to be dropped, and among all of the pokemon that can fill in his slot, Salazzle was the only who counteracts this glaring weakness. Since I chose her after the Data-mine I knew what I was getting into...but to be honest, I thought it might drop one of her types to get a Dragon Type based on the posture of her. Anyways, Dragon Pulse, Flamethrower, Sludge Bomb, Nasty Plot should work out for her.

 

[Ze Diglett]

Well, would you look at that, I'm not dead. Anyway, here's the team I ultimately decided on:

I have three key tenants when it comes to building first run in-game teams: new Pokemon only (I counted Alolan forms for this), no legendaries, and no doubling up on types. With those tenants in mind, this is the team I came up with for Moon. I was sold on the first three since prior to the leaks, all for different reasons: Rowlet appealed to me the most out of the starters and I vowed to stick with it, Vikavolt seemed like it could finally be a good starting Bug, and I really enjoyed Wishiwashi's gimmick. I also knew I wanted to use Alolan Dugtrio from the moment I saw it because its design is just amazing, not to mention that typing. I decided on Salazzle as a replacement for another team member due to its good Special Attack and unique typing that provides good coverage for my team. After a lot of thinking, I decided to dedicate my last team slot to Minior, realizing that I can use it now that Decidueye drops the Flying typing, since it actually has really good stats and is, admittedly, quite adorable.

As for Pokemon who were considered for the team but didn't make the cut, the duo of Crabrawler and Alolan Ninetales were planned for a very long time to be on the team, but were dropped for differing reasons. I most likely would have stuck with Alolan Ninetales had it not been exclusive to Sun (by the way, Moon totally gets the shaft in terms of version exclusives this time, just saying), which is why I replaced it with Salazzle as mentioned above. Crabrawler, on the other hand, was dropped because of its evolution, which not only conflicted with Alolan Ninetales' typing, but everything that appealed to me about Crabrawler was absent from its design, so it was dropped. Palossand also deserves an honorable mention as it was considered for the team prior to the "reveal" of Alolan Dugtrio, with Decidueye's secondary Ghost typing being the final execution shot. I also briefly considered Alolan Muk as my Poison-type, but favored Salazzle for its specially-offensive stat spread. Finally, shoutout to the Jangmo-o line, whom I considered for my final team slot, but decided it'd be too much of a hassle to raise one considering it's a pseudo-legend and probably won't appear until late in the game anyway.

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

Despite Lilligant being on here, I'm getting Pokemon Sun because I prefer Solgaleo over Lunala. I got my Magnezone for Alpha Sapphire through GTS, so my Lilligant will be the same. Popplio was my starter choice from the day the starters were announced, event Munchlax seems pretty cool, Arcanine is always a good Fire-type, Lilligant is my favorite Pokemon ever pretty much, Honchkrow has a cool-ass design, and Kommo-o has a great typing, and I haven't used a pseudo-legendary in an actual game before. However, considering how late the last 2 Pokemon come, I might think of alternatives. Maybe Mence and Krookodile/Weavile?

Also, for a bonus, here are the teams I came up with for Decidueye and Incineroar:

Gyarados is interchangeable with Whiscash here, but meh. Crabominable seems something nice to experiment with despite being slow as fuck, Espeon gives the team some much needed speed, Torkoal is something I just like using and it got Drought this gen so yeah. Muk just seems really cool, especially with all the weird color shit, and I really wanted a Dark-type, so yeah.

Rampardos and Archeops are interchangeable depending on the version this team is used on.

 

[RandysRage]

Incineroar: Fire-and Dark-type, two of my absolute favorites? Check. Badass tiger heel? Check. Solid all-around bulk? Check. Super-strong? Check. I've been Team Litten since day one, and I'm glad I've stuck with it since then.

Ash-Greninja: Normally I like to avoid having Pokemon of the same type (I'm anal about it, sue me), but in this case I'll make an exception. With all the dirt-slow Pokemon this generation, Greninja will have little trouble picking something off, transforming, then wrecking house from there. And words cannot describe my happiness that it isn't nature-locked.

Tsareena: I wanted to do a classic Fire/Water/Grass core, but I had trouble deciding on which Grass-type to use. After some deliberating, I decided on this beauty. I see is as similar to Incineroar in that, while not very quick, it has pretty solid bulk and a top-notch Attack to work with.

Mimikyu: Unique typing, surprisingly useful stats, great ability and being the single most adorable little spook in the goddamn world earned it a place on my team.

Mudsdale: Solid Attack, useful ability in Stamina and provides useful Rock, Poison and Electric coverage. A trusty steed, indeed.

Solgaleo: I have no shame in using cover legendaries to steamroll late-game, and Solgaleo is as regal as it is powerful. Screw Pyroar, this is the lion Pokemon we've been waiting for.

 

[Dunfan]

Honestly, i don't mind to make my team competitive considering how bad it is on paper.
My team is very weak to Rock, Dark and Steel, so my Silvally will be Fighting to balance it.
I would love to put an Alolan Ninetales in this team... then i realized it was exclusive to the Sun version.
So, i replaced it with Froslass, one of my favorite Pokemons. This team isn't full of Gen 7 Pokemon anymore, but i like it.

Alolan Muk is fabulous in terms of design and nice in terms of stats.
It's double typing is very good to cover the weaknesses of my team.
Lycanroc Midnight has a very bad typing... but i admit : it's one of my favorite Pokemon of this gen.
Silvally looks pretty nice, even if it's stats are meh. Since it can have any type, Fighting is my main choice.
Decidueye is my starter. I could possibly pick Alolan Marowak, but i'll get my team too late in the game.
Oranguru is awesome, i want to play it in double battles.

I think that's all.

 

[Gothic Togekiss]

In-game for Sun

Took some time but I finally got a good idea on who I'll use for my in-game run. Decidueye, Lycanroc, Salazzle were a shoe-in for me, especially Salazzle after seeing it's model. I really wanted to use Golispod as my Water, but having it and Vikavolt was leaving problems with rock & type overlaying so I'll settle for the psychic fish.

 

[Absolclaw]

Everyone falling for the waifu bait this gen and putting them on their teams, ha ....

On that note, is there a "This is bait" meme with Dhelmise as the bait yet? Get on that fan artists.

Primarina is probably my favourite of the starters, and I usually end up picking Water starters anyway, though its always a struggle considering how many good Water Pokemon they have in every single game.

Salazzle is fast. Enough said. Also cool typing and ability.

Tsareena is bae and has surprisingly good stats. I mostly just love her design.

Bewear cracks me up.

Minior or Lycanroc, though going by their movepools and stats and all that, Minior looks plain better (which is a surprise - I was expecting Zen Mode Darmanitan 2.0, not mini-Aegislash). Plus its cracked form is kind of cute.

I have no idea who to put in the last slot. I absolutely love Ribombee (probably one of my favourite designs of this gen, and its stats have pleasantly surprised me), but then I'm doubling up on Fairy-typing and giving the team 3 weaknesses to Rock, Poison and Flying. I was also thinking Drampa or Oranguru, maybe Vikavolt or something, but I still have no clue.

Also trying to decide what team I'd use if I picked Incineroar or even Decidueye instead, because I'm about as decisive as jelly. Especially since there are multiple Water, Grass and even Fire types I want to use but would end up with multiple types stacking, and I hate that.

 

[Hourai]

Since Metagross is Moon exclusive and I'm getting Sun (not like I have any regrets, Alolan Ninetales is Sun exclusive. It'd be nice to get Kaguya Celesteela without trading though.) I decided to make some tweaks to the team.

Decidueye-This thing still seems really cool to me, regardless of its Speed issues. It has a cool design, a great signature move, and pretty decent stats outside of Speed.
Lycanroc- I've come to love this thing's design. It also has pretty good stats and Accelrock is pretty nice. Nothing more to say, really.
Ribombee-I originally was going to choose Vikavolt, but its disappointing Speed left me so disappointed I went with Ribombee instead. Access to Quiver Dance is pretty amazing.
Alolan Ninetales- I've absolutely loved this thing ever since it was announced. It's the only member I've kept on my planned team since the beginning. Its design is just beautiful and majestic, there's nothing more I can really say about it without repeating myself.
Alolan Muk- I really like this thing's funky rainbow design, it gives it a ton of character, which is something the original Muk was lacking. It also has a pretty good typing
Alolan Marowak- This thing is pretty cool. Fire/Ghost is a pretty good STAB combination, and I like its design a whole lot.

 

[Toasty]

I made a rain team for the XY story and it was a lot of fun and provided a very unique playstyle through the game so I will be attempting to do the same thing in SM. The basic concept of this team is to utilize Politoed's Drizzle and/or Tapu Koko's Electric Surge to setup an environment for Raichu and Dragonite to spam 100% accuracy Thunders and Hurricanes, or for Primarina to drop heavy STAB water moves, and have Toxapex on standby to soak up attacks and stall if needed.

Primarina: Primarina is a special attacker who can take a hit, and every solid rain team needs to be able to drop phat hydro pumps and scalds.
Politoed: Aside from being my favorite pokemon, Drizzle is self explanatory, the only problem is if there is no way to get hidden abilities through something like the dexnav.
Tapu Koko: Tapu Koko's main function is to set up electric terrain for Raichu, and volt switch into Raichu.
Raichu: The main star of the show, Raichu will be dropping big 100% accuracy Thunders with 2x Speed, and hopefully a Psychic Z-Move to deal with ground types.
Dragonite: Dragonite is another one of my favorite pokemon, and it's ability to drop 100% Thunders and Hurricanes will be great, as well as dragon tail to force spikes.
Toxapex( or Palosand): As for the tank of the team, I am torn between Palosand and Toxapex, as both bolster great stats, however the ability to set spikes and combo with dragon tail seems to lock in Toxpex for me.

I'm really excited to play through this team in the story and competitive hopefully as well, let me know if you guys have any suggestions!

 

[TheTraininator]

Anyway, my ingame team:

I wanted to use solely new Pokemon and Alolan Formes on my team, but I quickly came to realize that I lacked any fast physical attackers, and I don't particularly want to use Alolan Dugtrio right now. (I'd use Midday Lycanroc to fill this niche this if I was getting Sun, but I'm not, so oh well.) As a result, I figured I'd try out the new and improved Dragon Dance Flygon!

So I already made this post, but then I just figured out that FLYGON IS A FUCKING SUN EXCLUSIVE and I wanted to blow my lid, so here is the new and improved in-game team:

Still adds a fast physical attacker in the last slot, but one with higher natural physical attack and speed in exchange for bulk and setup potential.

 

[Goodra]

So I already made this post, but then I just figured out that FLYGON IS A FUCKING SUN EXCLUSIVE and I wanted to blow my lid, so here is the new and improved in-game team:

Still adds a fast physical attacker in the last slot, but one with higher natural physical attack and speed in exchange for bulk and setup potential.

Do you happen to have a list of all the exclusives? Would help me if I fudged up my current team picks in my sig.

 

[DuplexBeGreat]

Do you happen to have a list of all the exclusives? Would help me if I fudged up my current team picks in my sig.

I don't have a list on me right now, but I can tell you none of those are version exclusives except obviously Midnight Lycanroc.

EDIT: Found a list.
Sun: Solgaleo, UB02-Absorption, UB04-Blade, Lycanroc Midday, Turtonator, Passimian, A-Ninetales, Garchomp, Goodra, Rampardos, Carracosta, Braviary, Whimsicott.
Moon: Lunala, UB02-Beauty, UB04-Blaster, Lycanroc Midnight, Drampa, Oranguru, A-Sandslash, Metagross, Flygon, Bastiodon, Archeops, Mandibuzz, Lilligant.

 

[SunWarrior]

That's the team i'm planning to use :)

Incineroar: Since the announcement of Sun and Moon, i said that i would choose the fire starter for this Gen. My starter choices have been very balanced between generations (Hoenn = Torchic, Kanto = Charmander, Sinnoh = Turtwig, Johto = Totodile, Unova = Oshawott, Kalos = Chespin, in that order), and since it's the 20th anniversary of Pokemon, i thought that would be nice to chose the same type as my very first starter Pokemon of all (Torchic).

Incineroar is just great for me, i liked Litten the momment a saw it, but then when i saw Incineroar...just wow. Wrestling is something that has been in my life since i was born (i have a family of wrestlers, and though i don't plan to become one...i love and respect wrestling so much). So, Incineroar is perfect for me!

Lycanroc: I loved Rockruff since it was revealed...i just felt that it needed to be in my team. And i really like Lycanroc (Midday) a lot! It's just awesome.

Kommo-O: Just as Rockruff, when Jangmo-O was revealed, i felt that it needed to be in my team too!. My favorite types are definitely Dragon, Fighting, Fire, Steel and Flying (Dragon on the top by a little bit)...so when i saw that Kommo-O is Dragon/Fighting...wow...i mean, what else could i ask for? I LOVE this Pokemon.

Ninetales (Alola Form): Ninetales is a Pokemon that i like, i'm not a "big fan" of it, but i think it's a great Pokemon. When Alolan forms where revealed, i knew that i had to use at least one in my team...and Ninetales was the one i chose. It looks so majestic, so beautiful...and an ice type like it would be great to train since i don't usually use Ice type pokemon, but this one is just amazing.

Toxapex: I don't know what this "thing" has, but...i like it. I have a feeling that it could fit with some of my play styles very well :).

Decidueye: I don't know exactly how, but i will get someone who trade me a Rowlett as soon as i choose my Litten in my Playtrough. I really like Decidueye, it's style, it's design...great pokemon in my opinion.

And that's my team, what do you think guys? :)

 

[TheTraininator]

Let's try this a third time.

I swear I'm not just posting these over and over again to get attention, it's just that I found out that Sneasel is apparently super late-game, and calling it an island 3 'mon is disingenuous. Alolan Dugtrio does add a 4th (!) Ground weakness to my team, but the two mons who aren't weak to Ground do have super effective STAB against it and good bulk, and Dugtrio does add the niche of actually fast physical attacker to the squad.

 

[Codraroll]

Is anyone going to take into account the Exp. Share, and possibly try to raise 12 or so mons instead of just 6? Team levels would be lower, but it should be feasible with the Exp. Share as it is.

I will! It's an excellent way to do a non-intrusive challenge run. Just train two teams of six, and switch them after every milestone battle or so. I haven't exactly figured out the details for SuMo yet (such as when to switch - in XY, the spacing of the gyms meant I couldn't base the switches on gyms alone), but I still have almost two weeks to prepare.

 

[Steel With It]

What is type balance?

But seriously, I just plan on using my favourites regardless of typing or competitive potential, since the game's usually easy anyway (on the off chance that I do have trouble, I'll just swap out Bewear or Mudsdale for Drampa, Alolan Muk or Alolan Golem). I would've preferred Silvally, for the Ghost immunity without stacking a third Flying weakness, but apparently she's post-game only. Oh well.

EDIT: Post-game update - I ended up with Muk-A over Bewear, though not due to any type balance difficulties. Turns out Muk-A is OP as hell; he was definitely the MVP of my team, even hard-walling the notoriously-annoying Totem Lurantis in sun. Not bad for something that was only meant to be an early-game space-filler.

 

[Magcargo]

All the Pokemon I'm planning on using during my son and moon playthrough (with the EXP share obviously on).

Decidueye: Decided to use this guy as my Starter. I love its mysterious design, typing, stats and movepool.

Ash-Greninja: I love Ash-Greninja in the anime, so its obvious I'm going to use one here. Its speed and Battle Bond ability will likely make it OP for most of the game, which is great for grinding.

Vikavolt: I liked its design, typing, and ability the moment I saw it. Even though its speed is crap, its bulk is decent enough and its special attack is through the roof, making it my type of pokemon.

Crabominable: I liked its design though its stats and movepool are pretty lackluster. Might not end up using this mon.

Mimikyu: I always felt its design was cute and typing and ability were good, and with the confirmation that its stats are actually decent, I'm definetly gonna be using this mon.

Kommo-o: I always use the psuedo legendary of the generation in my play through and this one is no exception. Will most likely make it a special attacker since its physical movepool isn't that good.
Alakazam: Strong mon that I always enjoy using. High speed and special attack make it really satisfying to use since it can power through the AI.

Magnezone: Always liked its design and its typing is likely to be good, as it was in BW2 and ORAS.
Zygarde: One of my favorite legendaries, so I'm going to be very happy using it in my playthrough.
Scizor: A staple favorite of mine that I love running on my in-game teams if it is availible.
Gastrodon: I love this pokemon, but almost never have a chance to use it in-game. With sun and Moon, thats about to change.
Porygon-Z: Love this Pokemon's power and design, though its coverage and speed are middling.

Magmortar and Electivire: Always liked using theme guys in game these guys due to their Large movepools and decent attacking stats

Metagross: Really strong mon that has been a staple on my team in every game that it has been availible in. Catching it in the wild will be a pain though.

Goodra: Goodra is one of my favorite psuedo legendaries due to role in anime so i'm likely to use it.

Exeggutor-A: Exeggutor has alway been one of my favorite grass-types, and this new form only makes me love it more.

Sandslash-A: Really liking its movepool and abilities. Its design is a fair step up from regualar slash as well, making me like it more.
Aerodactyl. Dragonite, Gyarados: Staple mons I usually run on most of my teams due to their power.

Golisopod: Looks to be really strong based on stats and movepool, making me want to use it.

Its terrible in game ability though is a huge bummer and may lead to me not using it.

 

[AvatarMew]

In case anyone doesn't know, the Tapus, Silvally and the Ultra baests are all post game. So unless any of you are planning on hacking your save files you can't use any of them.