Rising Dominance (Sun Offense)

[Alter]

An OU Sun Offense team created by ShellShocker

Hey there, everyone! Tonight I'll be bringing you one of my most successful teams that I've been using a lot lately. I don't really ladder too much but right now I'm up to a rating of 1740 on of one my alts. Given, this isn't high or anything, I still think it is a pretty good achievement for now. This team started around a base of Eject Button Ninetales along with a trapper (which ended up being Wobbuffet). I've put a lot of effort building and working on this team and received advice from many other players. I started playing on Pokemon Showdown! late last year and using a Sun team was the first I made. Admittedly, when I first joined I was one of those guys that tried to run Charizard in OU along with a limited knowledge of the game. I like to think that over the course of my playing my skill has improved dramatically with an expansion of my competitive knowledge. Without further ado, please enjoy my team.

As aforementioned, this team began around two unique sets that I created which are meant to be able to work together to keep weather up. The basic premise was to keep the team fast paced and leave little room for my opponent to gain an advantage. Thus, Eject Button Ninetales and Custap Wobbuffet were born and stand out to be the two most important Pokemon in my team, playing extremely important roles. I also wrote up this on the use of Eject Button Ninetales + Custap Berry Wobbuffet if you were interested.

At this point I knew that I'd need something to keep hazards away. Ninetales hates stealth rocks as they take away 1/4 of its health on a switch and Wobbuffet enjoys to be able to enter the field without the annoying Toxic Spikes. While I looked at many other Pokemon, I ended up choosing Forretress due to its great typing to deter Dragons and its outstanding access to both Stealth Rock and Spikes, two things which would help a lot in hurting other weather inducers as they try to switch in and claim the weather for themselves.

Chandelure, the next candidate, spawned from the idea of using a Flash Fire Pokemon in conjunction with Forretress to be able to not only absorb fire attacks but reply with ridiculously powerful fire-type attacks of its own. Chandelure is a Pokemon I've always wanted to use and it fit perfectly with the team. Furthermore, its Ghost-typing is a huge asset which will be explained later on.

I added my next two Pokemon, Dragonite and Venusaur, in together. Dragonite jumped board because I wanted to be able to have a Pokemon that could clean up after a Chlorophyll user had struck havoc and Venusaur was the candidate for a strong chlorophyll abuser. Both ended up fitting nicely into the team with both enjoying the support that both Ninetales and Forretress could provide. Dragonite worked very well with its ability to set up a dragon dance behind multiscale and then unleash its power upon broken down enemy teams whereas Venusaur could become an fierce, unstoppable monster after a single Growth boost.

Ninetales (F) @ Eject Button
Trait: Drought
EVs: 240 HP / 168 SDef / 100 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Sunny Day
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar

Wobbuffet (M) @ Custap Berry
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Encore

Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch

Chandelure (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 30 Spd / 3 Atk
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed
- Dragon Dance

Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 76 Atk / 252 SAtk / 176 Spd
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- Growth

Ninetales brings something to the table that nobody expects: an eject button. This obscure, oftentimes neglected item, plays a pivotal role in Ninetales’ main role which is to set up sun and keep it there. Ninetales acts fully as a utility, support Pokemon, only coming in to claim the weather and seldom actually fights due to its subpar offensive stats. The reason I use an Eject Button is to be able to switch out, set up sun and then switch back out all in one turn which works in tandem with Wobbuffet’s trapping ability to ensure the stability of harsh sunlight. Being able to survive a Politoed’s attack, trap and then murder it is a vital part of why I use the Eject Button. The EV spread was given to me by The Unlucky One. It out speeds most of the things it needs to burn while maximizing its special bulk which is the reason I use a Calm nature. I use 0 Atk IVs just to minimize Foul Play and confusion damage as I don’t need any attack.

Flamethrower is there to make sure Ninetales isn’t complete taunt baunt and is always not expected to be able to dish out much damage. But with a STAB and sun boost, Flamethrower can help whittle down opposing Pokemon’s health. Sunny Day is fairly standard and for good reason. I use it when an other weather inducer pops in or to be able to set up sun in an already out Politoed’s face, take the hit and then switch to the appropriate Pokemon. Will-o-Wisp acts as a great tool to not only hinder Tyranitar but to neuter the majority of physical attackers (usually on a suspected switch). Roar is an amazing move that works in conjunction with Wobbuffet’s encore to phaze away things that try to set up on either of them.

The fact that this behemoth of a Pokemon was banned and locked into the realm known simply to us as 'Ubers' is just a testament to how absolutely amazing it really is. You thought it was good? You're wrong: it's ridiculously spectacular. When armed with a Custap Berry, Wobbuffet takes a role as a surprise revenge killer who can sometimes, when I play it correctly, chain a combo of three kills in a row of people who can't handle it. If you don't know how a Custap Berry works, it essentially boosts your attack to the top of the priority for a single turn when you're under 25% health. This works excellent with Wobbuffet as he can damage himself getting a revenge kill and then surprise another fast Pokemon with a speedy Destiny Bond to essentially grab an extra kill.

While all of this is fine and dandy, Wobbuffet's actual role is to trap threatening Pokemon and weather inducers to make Ninetales' life easier. Its amazing ability, Telepat-just kidding- Shadow Tag, lets it do this to the fullest and surprise opponents with its sheer killing power. It does this by coming in off Ninetales' activated Eject Button and destroying anything foolish enough to attack it. Heck, if a Politoed begins attacking after it uses Toxic I can surprise it with a Destiny Bond when I'm low on HP after Encoring it. If not, Venusaur or Forretress can jump in off an encored toxic and set up as they please. Finally, it can even use Encore to make set up sweepers get locked into moves such as Dragon Dance for Ninetales or any other team mates to blow them away or set up alongside and then kill.

I know I will face a lot of contention with the EV spread, but I stick by maximizing HP until the very end. The reasons why I believe max HP is obligatory on a set like this falls under the reason that the more damage Wobbuffet takes in hitpoints, the more it will retaliate back with. For every 4 EVs invested into its health, it will retaliate an extra two points of damage at an opponent. Furthermore, HP helps it increase its overall bulk and be harder to take down. If that's not enough reasoning for you, then I'd like to add that more HP also expands the 25% portion of HP that Wobbuffet can work with.

Maximizing its special bulk also helps me deal with otherwise troublesome threats such as Landorus-Incarnate and Keldeo. The latter will either face the wrath of Mirror Coat or get jammed into Rock Polish while the latter will have difficulty taking down Wobbuffet with a commonly used four-attack move set. Long story short: don't underestimate Wobbuffet.

Look at him spin! Yep, that's Forretress's main role. Taking on the same set that I used in my first RMT, Forretress never ceases to amaze me. Its amazing access to two forms of entry hazards, a defensive momentum move and an amazing support in the form of Rapid Spin are all reasons that encompass why Forretress is an asset to this team. As said, his main role is put down hazards and get rid of them, but that's not his only use. Forretress also helps fend off against physical defensive dragons and is used a death fodder a lot of the time in the mid-late game to make sure my offensive Pokemon don't die. Forretress works amazingly at setting up hazards because of his great defensive stats and his sweet Steel-typing.

I use a spread of 252 HP / 252 Def as I believe it's a waste to invest in Forretress' low special defense and prefer to make it as physically bulky as possible. The Bold nature is there for the same reason. I run Volt Switch to gain defensive momentum and Spikes over Toxic Spikes due to preference and that I believe they work better on this team. Forretress is generally my lead a lot of the time due to its ability to scout, protect me from physical attackers and be able to lay down stealth rocks as soon as possible. He is an extremely important supportive Pokemon in this team due to the fact that I don't have a Pokemon with Magic Bounce and Rapid Spin is vital for a team with three Stealth Rock weaknesses.

While lurking down under, low in the BW2 OU viability thread, Chandelure is a hidden gem. When you look at its stats, the first you notice is the absolutely ridiculous 145 base special attack which meets the likes of many legendaries, almost reaching Kyogre's. One of the biggest hold backs of Chandelure is its Fire-typing which causes it to take a lot of damage from stealth rock. On top of this, it is weak to pursuit so a lot of the times can not run away after a quick blow. Despite all this, Chandelure is amazing. I chose a scarf set due to the fact that I wanted to add extra speed to my team and to patch up Chandelure's sub-par Speed as it already has spectacular Special Attack.

A big part of Chandelure's use is its sweet ability in Flash Fire and, as mentioned multiple times, its Ghost-typing. So, Shelly, why is a Ghost-typing so 'sweet', as you put it? One word (or two... I don't know?): Spin blocking. What? A Pokemon as frail and offensive as Chandelure as a spinblocker? You've got to be kidding me! Nope, not at all. Let's take a look at some of OU's spinners, shall we? Starmie, Forretress, Cloyster, Tentacruel and Donphan.

252+ SpA Chandelure SolarBeam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Starmie: 354-418 (135.63 - 160.15%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Donphan in sun: 528-622 (137.5 - 161.97%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Cloyster in sun: 730-859 (302.9 - 356.43%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Forretress in sun: 2104-2484 (594.35 - 701.69%) -- guaranteed OHKO (My favourite calc)

That's 4/5 of OU's spinners - all OHKO'd by Chandelure. Heck, there's even a chance to 2HKO Tentacruel after Stealth Rocks. Chandelure makes a great offensive spin blocker due to its ability to murder all spinners and make sure the team is using hazards to the fullest. If this wasn't reason enough why Chandelure is a great partner of Forretress - it can also switch into Forretress' x6 fire weakness in sun without a cost and proceed to have an even more powerful Fire Blast that nothing enjoys jumping into.

I run Fire Blast over Flamethrower or Overheat due to the constant, incredibly massive power. Fire Blast does ridiculous amount of damage even to those that resist it, making it a premier choice. Sometimes I like to roll Energy Ball but SolarBeam has a lot more power and is no real problem to use after the Sunlight. Let's not pretend as if the only teams I run into are Sand, Hail and Rain teams. Actually, scratch the last one. But seriously, to continue, I run Shadow Ball as a strong stab option to kill Psychics and other Ghosts. I once ran HP Ground in the final slot to kill Heatran but, with the help of The Unlucky One, the Venusaur and Dragonite sets were edited which meant that Chandelure had enough room to fit in HP Fighting - something that could kill Tyranitar and still hurt Heatran for super-effective damage. Finally, it is worth mentioning the value of Trick over Hidden Power Ground, which supports Wobbuffet and can help deal with stall better.

Sporting the satchel from the first movie, Dragonite makes a comeback as a top sun sweeper in my team. Dragonite acts as a late game sweeper who is capable of destroying any remains left over after Venusaur, Wobbuffet and Chandelure all nuke the opposing team. I believe that Dragons can have a great role as late game sweepers on Drought/Sun teams due to the fact that most steel types are generally cleared out through the battle. Another important role of Dragonite is to finish off weakened pokemon with its enormously powerful 252+ Atk ExtremeSpeed, which takes a lot of pressure off other Pokemon to help revenge kill.

Being a Dragon-type, Dragonite sports key resistances to Fire, Water and Grass, while also being immune to Ground-type moves such as Earthquake which can otherwise pose to be serious problems for my team to handle. His ridiculous base stats and great bulk for a dragon help Dragonite crush through my opponents' Pokemon and win the battle. Even if it only takes out two Pokemon in a mini Dragon Dance sweep, it has probably done enough damage to help the rest of the team sweep.

The EVs are fairly obvious and standard, used to push his Attack and Speed stats as high as possible with 4 simply put into HP as filler. I originally ran a similar set consisting of Outrage, ExtremeSpeed, Fire Punch and Dragon Dance. This was changed to have Dragon Claw and Earthquake (to hit Heatran) and then finally into Dragon Claw, ExtremeSpeed, Fire Punch and Dragon Dance. Dragon Claw is used over Outrage for a generic stab move, but I dislike the fact that Outrage often got me locked into a move I didn't want to use. ExtremeSpeed is the team's only priority and helps take out opponents such as Keldeo when they're on low HP. Fire Punch is not only boosted by the sun, but helps give Dragonite a near-perfect coverage in conjunction with Dragon Claw.

I use a Lum Berry to stop enemies from burning, paralysing or putting Dragonite to sleep which can be very important near the end of the game in helping me achieve a clean-up sweep. I've considered using other items, such as gems or Leftovers, but a Lum Berry has proven itself to be the most valuable.

Alright, no, he's not using Razor Leaf. But it was the best picture I could find. Regardless, Venusaur is definitely a force to be reckoned with. This first gen starter, placing as early as third in the Pokedex, has jumped into its deserving spot as one of, if not the best Chlorophyll sweepers in the game. Venusaur's role on the team is to hit hard and hit fast, as well as lead potential offensive rushes into the enemy team. Its ridiculous speed stat is supported by the Sun-boosted Growth, which in turn doubles three stats within a single turn. If that doesn't excite you, I don't really know what does.

I originally ran a set consisting of Giga Drain, HP Fire, Sludge Bomb and Growth. While this worked very well, I found that the surprise value of this new set worked quite well. The Unlucky One also helped me with this latest version of the set, which alleviates pressure from the team in killing Pokemon such as Dragonite with Hidden Power Ice. The EVs are fairly simple, 252 is put into its Special Attack to maximize it, 176 is put into the speed stat, in tandem with a Naive nature to outspeed common threats such as Scarf Terrakion (which Venusaur KOs back with Giga Drain). The rest of the EVs are placed into the attack stat, to strengthen up Earthquake. Venusaur acts as an extremely good Heatran and Volcarona lure, neither of which enjoy taking a +2 Earthquake from the likes of this dinosaur.

Chlorophyll is obviously there to abuse sun, while a Life Orb boosts Venusaur's attacks to 130% of their original power and works very well with Giga Drain to heal back any damage taken from the Life Orb and continue sweeping. Venusaur also sports a great resistance to Fighting-type moves, which lets it take Mach Punches and the like a lot better. Overall, Venusaur is a very valuable member of my team and I hope you see that too.

Well, I guess that's the end of it. Before I wrap up this RMT, I'd like to say thanks to a few people. The first and largest thanks definitely goes to The Unlucky One, who not only gave me advice on improving the team but was very nice and supportive through the process. Thanks a bunch, man! Really, this team was improved a lot by him and I can't thank him enough. Secondly, a shout-out to Tom who helped me test this team a lot and offered me his opinion on sets. Next up, Aurora deserves a shoutout just because I said so. Problem? Too bad. It's also worth mentioning all the other Showdown players who helped me fix holes in my team through battling them and picking up on common threats. I don't claim this team to be perfect, but I hope it shows you a good example of where sun offense can go. Thank you for reading.

 

[Smogteer]

This is an awesome strategy! I have seen the devastation myself! ShellShocker has featured in my tourneys and played brilliantly with this team!

 

[TUO]

hey ShellShocker :) Thanks for a lot of the shoutouts and stuff. This team is really good actually. It doesn't have much glaring weaknesses except some stuff that are natural to Sun teams like Substitute Kyurem-Black (even so, you just need to put enough pressure to not let it Sub. The Hone Claws+Dragon Tail variants are dealt with by Ninetales and Hazards+Spinblocker def helps) so it isn't too big of a deal. Something I was rather scared of when you showed off the team to me was the reliance of Wobbuffet to deal with threats (side note: who am i to say that, i rely a lot on Goth and Tran for my sun team lol). Wobbuffet is very much a 1 for 1 pokemon or a 2 for 1 mon with Custap Destiny Bond and Wobbuffet is your main check to the threats in the meta like Keldeo and Landorus while having a double-duty of helping in the weather war. These changes I am going to recommend is an attempt to take a load off of Wobbufett's shoulders so it can sustain decent health throughout the game.

First off you don't want weather ruining Chandy's day. The fact that Wobbuffet is the main roadblock for winning the weather war means that Rain offense won't have a hard time toppling you over eventually. To give as much help against weather, You must consider Changing SolarBeam to Energy Ball Sure you made a bit of a side comment but I think that idea is enough to make it a staple on that Chandelure. Speaking of Chandelure, you really don't wanna be outsped by Timid Scarf Politoed so A Timid Nature would work over a Modest one Sure you lose out on a bit of wallbreaking capabilities, but i'm pretty sure 145 SpA is good enough to support itself :) You can also outspeed Gyarados iirc which helps since SubBounce can potentially wreck your team.

Alright now let's go for some optional stuff. In our conversations you mentioned Mamoswine being a mon you really hate with this team. This might be a good enough reason to Spikes with Gyro Ball Gyro Ball can help vs Mamo while stopping you from being set-up fodder to Rock Polish Landorus who you rely on Wobbuffet to deal with. Volt Switch is irreplaceable at the current moment since your Scarfer isn't the fastest of scarfers so you really wanna stop as much set-up opportunities as possible from DD or RP mons.

Since you rely on Wobbuffet for the weather war and it is our goal to take as much weight off of his shoulders (as said before, you rely WAY too much on wobbuffet) we need something as a weapon vs other weathers better. It might be a decent consideration to Replace Dragonite for LO Latias LO Latias really helps vs Rain teams in general (Ttar is lured by HP fighting and Hippo Sand is not too hard to deal with cuz of Venu's Luring) and it's main walls (Jirachi, Tyranitar, Heatran) are all dealt with or lured by your team. Again this is optional as Dragonite is really good for dealing with HP Ground Volc that Chandy can't handle or some other stuff that Dnite covers that Latias doesn't.

Good job with the team! A lot of creativity with the initial core as well as using stuff that are really cool and the team works out in general. These rates are a lot of minor stuff and as you see the only real issue are how team matchup usually can be not in your favor against high-level teams. Hope these improvements help, thanks again for the shoutouts and good job!

 

[ganj4lF]

Nice team, I'd really love to see that core in action, and will probably try it myself since it's very interesting and innovative, I guess. I don't have much to add, The Unlucky One already covered many possible changes (I support most of them), and you covered almost as many yourself in your set descriptions.

The only thing I would modify (but I guess it's just a typo or something) is to use an IV array of 31/30/30/31/31/31 on Venusaur: it seems you're using a 2 Atk IVs, that is obviously not ideal for mixed Venusaur (and, btw, does not give you an Hidden Power Ice, unless you also lower the Defense to 30). Make sure to not use the 31/31/31/31/31/30 spread (or to edit your EVs accordingly), since using that one you are outsped and OHKO'd by Scarf Latios even in sunlight.

Sorry for the short rate, but I guess that's a positive team for your team, after all! I hope it's useful somewhat anyway. Good luck!

 

[Alter]

Already responded to The Unlucky One over PS.

snip

Hey there ganj4lf,

Thanks for the rate! I thought the IVs would be a bit confusing, sorry. I meant to put them as if the IVs I displayed where the ones I edited and the Hidden Power I mentioned also had the forced IVs. Edit: Deleted the rest of my message. I can't believe I didn't notice that fault with Venusaur, derp. Thank-you very much for the kind words and picking up on that.

snip.

@Chimpakt: Hey there Chimpakt,
First of all thank you for the kind words about my team - it means a great deal to me coming from you. To be honest, I never really noticed that it followed item clause, haha. I think you're definitely correct in saying that the team relies on Wobbuffet to too large of an extent which can be frustrating for me at times when I misplay Wobbuffet and it dies far too early.

On the topic of Gyro Ball over Spikes, I really can't think of a more annoying dilemma of four moveslot syndrome. Heck, it'd be great to even fit Toxic Spikes on him as well! I never like to use a team in the same way every single battle (which is why I've mentioned Energy Ball / Trick on Chandelure) so I'll definitely take into consideration the repeated idea of Gyro Ball on Wobbuffet. Alternatively, I could also attempt to use the same move set albeit with a Red Card instead of Leftovers in order to punish set-up sweepers. Furthermore, a Red Card could also help alleviate the team's Baton Pass problem as well as, which you stated, take pressure of Wobbuffet to makes sure that he can fully fill his intended role. Again, thanks for the feedback!

snip

@Dcae: Hey Dcae, thanks for the rate. I've actually tried Garchomp in the past albeit with a different set. The lack of priority on Garchomp hurts severely when trying to take out a boosted threats. It also removes the team's only Ground immunity/resistance meaning threats such as Landorus-I and -T can much more easily wreck up my team by themselves. I will still try out the Garchomp set as it appears to be a very nice substitution for a late game sweeper when its threats have been killed off by my fire-type moves.

I've also done some testing just recently on Gyro Ball Forretress. The results were pretty good and Forretress wasn't completely set up bait for the likes of Dragonite anymore. I did noticeable miss the spikes support but it is still manageable regardless. I think it's better left to personal preference with Gyro Ball vs. Spikes and I prefer having the extra residual damage to ensure my sweepers can KO.

 

[chimpact]

I applaud you for using such an innovative team. Most sun teams on here are 6-0'd by volcarona but it's nice to see someone put thought into their team. It's super creative and even follows item clause lol.

A few things I've noticed while testing this team is that like the unlucky one said, it relies on wobbuffett a lot. It's the main answer to take out big threats and win the weather war. You really need to take pressure off of it and allow some of your other pokemon to handle threatening pokemon so all wobbuffett has to worry about is winning the weather war for you.

One of the biggest threats to your team is Kyurem-B. It gets to take out something nearly everytime it comes in. Dragonite is outsped and multiscale is not going to help against Kyurem's ability, it can take both venusaur and chandelure's hits and ohko back with an appropriate move. the only pokemon that can take a hit reliably is forretress and that can't retaliate back with anything.

As a result, I think you should give your Forretress a relaxed nature with Gyro Ball over spikes. Extra hazards are nice, but stealth rock damage is enough for your team to work properly and it makes it so Forretress is not set up fodder against dragons, who match up very good against sun. With Gyroball you can deal decent damage to Kyurem to either take it out or weaken it enough to where another one of your pokemon will be able to take it out.

This is pretty much the only suggestion that I really have. I feel like Dragonite could be replaced by something that can do something so much more on your team, but priority and its ability to handle volcarona is amazing.

good luck with your team.

 

[dcae]

Hello there ShellShocker! This is a very nice Sun team, using a very unique combo in Eject Button Ninetales and Wobbuffet. Since other raters have already covered a lot of the problems, mainly the weakness to the deadly Sub Kyurem-B, this will be a shorter rate. Now as other raters have gone over, Kyurem B is the biggest threat to this team, as it will KO anything once it comes in. Dragonite is a wonderful pokemon, but I think on this team the weakness to Kyurem B could be patched up with the addition of SubSalac Garchomp. SubSalac Garchomp is one of my favorite sweepers, and it can set up easily on many pokemon. The two counters to the set are Bronzong and Skarmory, both handily removed due to this been a Sun team. Chomp outspeeds and OHKOs Kyurem as well, unlike Dragonite. The tradeoff for running Chomp is you lose priority, but instead get a pokemon that is quicker off the bat, allowing it to outspeed and take out base 100 and 101 threats such as Nasty Plot Thundurus and others. The Garchomp set is as follows:

Garchomp @Salac Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Swords Dance
-Substitute
-Outrage
-Earthquake

This is a monstrous sweeper that has won me personally many games, and is really underrated. It helps your team out cover threats as well. An option is to move the 4 HP EVs to Def in order to create 4 Subs and have Salac activate at 1% HP. That, however, is up to preference.

Another option to take care of Mamoswine and Kyurem B that has already been suggested, which I back, is dropping Spikes and replacing it with Gyro Ball. This allows Forretress to damage sweepers that try to use it as fodder, allowing it to take out Mamo, Kyurem B, and severely hurt sweepers in general. Overall, this is a very good team, and I hope I helped. I also love the RMT presentation, really well done. Good luck!



Tl;dr

tl;dr

SubSalac Chomp > Dragonite
Gyro Ball + Relaxed nature > Spikes + Bold

 

[Alter]

Just a little bump for more rates. :)

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

I see someone here has been emulating the format of my RMTs. Haha. I kid you, but if you really did copy the format for my RMTs, then that's cool as well. By the way, what font did you use for your Pokemon sets? It's aesthetically pleasing. Anyways, onto the substance of my rate.

First off, I'd like to see you follow through with Chimpakt's and Dcae's suggestion of Gyro Ball over Spikes and a Relaxed nature over the Bold nature currently on Forretress, as the Kyurem-B weak is painfully noticeable. In addition, Gyro Ball helps against CBTar, which poses massive problems for your one spinblocker and trapper with its powerful Pursuit. Also, I think that reversing Venusaur's and Dragonite's roles would be more efficient for this team, since your team practically guarantees that the sun will be up for the rest of the battle. In addition, using a Choice Band Dragonite over your current set gives you a stronger ExtremeSpeed which can be exploited to revenge kill weakened boosting sweepers like Thundurus-T or Landorus as well as an Outrage that can be used to quickly decimate teams into little chunks that can be quickly swept by Venusaur.

Now, this may be small, but I think that Roar simply does nothing on your Ninetales, courtesy of the Eject Button. Since your Ninetales lacks a somewhat reliable source of recovery, I'd like to see you use Pain Split over Roar on it. Pain Split gives your Ninetales a means of leeching HP from your opponents to recover for the minor scrapes it incurs throughout battle, making it easier for you to win the weather war. Also, I'm clearly aware that you are averse to making changes in your Wobbuffet's EV spread, but I think that using an EV spread of 28 HP / 232 Def / 248 SpD will help your Wobbuffet trap and kill more opponents more reliably. For instance, with your EV spread Garchomp easily 2HKOes, whereas with this EV spread, Garchomp can only 3HKO. Again, I know you will probably say no to this change, but it's something that you should just try out. A summarized list of changes can be found below.

Set:

Dragonite @ Choice Band | Multiscale
Adamant | 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Outrage | Fire Punch | Superpower | ExtremeSpeed

Nitpicks:

• 
  • Spikes ====> Gyro Ball
  • Bold nature ====> Relaxed nature
• 
  • Dragon Dance set ====> Choice Band set
• 
  • Roar ====> Pain Split
• 
  • 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD ====> 28 HP / 232 Def / 248 SpD

Anyways, hope this helps. Good luck! I'll have to try that core out.

 

[Alter]

Hey Trinitrotoluene (that's a mouthful),

I see someone here has been emulating the format of my RMTs. Haha. I kid you, but if you really did copy the format for my RMTs, then that's cool as well. By the way, what font did you use for your Pokemon sets? It's aesthetically pleasing. Anyways, onto the substance of my rate.

Haha, shh! They'll notice! But yeah, I definitely used your RMTs as an inspiration to structure this as I think they're really good examples.
I used Jellyka - Estrya's Handwriting for the sets.

First off, I'd like to see you follow through with Chimpakt's and Dcae's suggestion of Gyro Ball over Spikes and a Relaxed nature over the Bold nature currently on Forretress, as the Kyurem-B weak is painfully noticeable. In addition, Gyro Ball helps against CBTar, which poses massive problems for your one spin blocker and trapper with its powerful Pursuit.

I've actually been testing this over the last couple of days and it is really great at not only protecting me from the two that you mentioned but also helps with breaking Dragonite's Multiscale if it got in without rocks up or simply hurting it if it tries to set up. I'm most probably going to keep Gyro Ball on there except I'll still miss the Spikes support.

Also, I think that reversing Venusaur's and Dragonite's roles would be more efficient for this team, since your team practically guarantees that the sun will be up for the rest of the battle. In addition, using a Choice Band Dragonite over your current set gives you a stronger ExtremeSpeed which can be exploited to revenge kill weakened boosting sweepers like Thundurus-T or Landorus as well as an Outrage that can be used to quickly decimate teams into little chunks that can be quickly swept by Venusaur.

This is a rather interesting idea and I don't really know where I sit with it. Dragonite is my only physical attacker and I've never really considered for him to take on such a role. With my only two main attackers choiced it'd require quite a bit of prediction but this idea is definitely worth testing!

Now, this may be small, but I think that Roar simply does nothing on your Ninetales, courtesy of the Eject Button. Since your Ninetales lacks a somewhat reliable source of recovery, I'd like to see you use Pain Split over Roar on it. Pain Split gives your Ninetales a means of leeching HP from your opponents to recover for the minor scrapes it incurs throughout battle, making it easier for you to win the weather war.

I mainly had Roar on there to blow away Pokemon that try to set up on Ninetales. It also worked well with Wobbuffet's encore for things that I can't proceed to kill directly with one of my sweepers (i.e. a Kyurem with a sub, maybe). I'll try out Pain Split but I still think it's fairly unreliable.

Also, I'm clearly aware that you are averse to making changes in your Wobbuffet's EV spread, but I think that using an EV spread of 28 HP / 232 Def / 248 SpD will help your Wobbuffet trap and kill more opponents more reliably. For instance, with your EV spread Garchomp easily 2HKOes, whereas with this EV spread, Garchomp can only 3HKO. Again, I know you will probably say no to this change, but it's something that you should just try out. A summarized list of changes can be found below.

The only qualm of have with using such EV spreads is that it could make me miss out on retaliating hits back for a kill as well. For example, if something does 150 points of damage to Wobbuffet and I counter for 300 and they have a max of 280 HP, they die immediately. On the other hand, if, with my new defensive spread, they only manage to deal 120, I pretty much have to waste 240 health disposing of them rather than 150. This is a pretty sketchy example as I can't think of that many things that this applies to at the top of my head but leaving something on <10% after a CounterCoat leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm still going to try this but one of the other main reasons I used such a spread is because it helped me kill RP Landorus a bit easier since it can easily 6-0 my team. I think a slightly different spread than the one you suggested could be used (still the exact same idea) because I no longer need to hit a Leftovers number.

Thanks for the massive rate and I will definitely try out all the things you suggested will take Wobbuffet, Forretress and (possibly) the Ninetales changes.