Agreeing with Arikado on that one. I mean, yeah, there's some obviously broken stuff down here right now, but there's still room to explore. And that provides me a nice segway of sorts. I've seen everyone mention Scolipass, Drizzle, straight HO, but there's also another key weather setter that nobody is paying attention to:
Yes, standard Ninetales is still down here in RU Alpha despite its alolan form being a pretty solid upgrade. That being said, full Sun teams are much easier to pull off than full Hail teams due to the higher amount of abusers that the tier has (Chlorophyll Venusaur, Entei, Darmanitan, etc.) and it even has the best hazard remover in terms of defensive synergy in Donphan. So why is it harder to pull off than Rain and Scolipass teams? Pretty simple. The playstyle is centered around a Pokemon that is not nearly as useful outside of its playstyle as Politoed and Scolipede. Politoed has a solid defensive typing and decent overall bulk and Scolipede has Speed Boost. Of course Speed Boost is great on an offensive Pokemon. That being said, Ninetales is still useful in its own right; capable of running Toxic to ruin the fat Water-types that keep the powerful Fire-types from doing work. Here's a preliminary set I've been working with so far:
So this is the Ninetales set I've been working with. I had to go in the way back machine and look up some old PO teams from Gen 5 to figure out what EVs I ran on Ninetales and just went from there. Toxic is the key move as it lets Ninetales wear down the fat Water-types wanting to switch into it and it also can catch other neat stuff like Diancie and Politoed. Flamethrower is a STAB move that's reliable and packs a decent enough punch to KO what it's supposed to. Sunny Day seems super odd on a Pokemon with Drought, but there's a couple of reasons behind this. First and foremost, it allows Ninetales to steal insane amounts of momentum against Drizzle teams as Politoed switches in, maintaining the Sun and forcing it back out. The other is when Ninetales is forced to come in on a bulky Grass-type near the end of Drought, thus allowing her to still set Sun. Solar Beam is the last move and is generally best saved until the target of the move (Politoed, Swampert, Milotic, etc.) has been worn down enough by Toxic to be in KO range. When pulled off correctly, it's an absolute game changer against Rain teams as Ninetales can catch a low HP Politoed trying to set rain, only to have Ninetales set Sunny Day and KO it the following turn with Solar Beam. As far as the EVs go, they look strange but are rather simple. 248 HP EVs is a must as Drought teams need Ninetales to survive as long as she can to maintain favorable conditions. 192 Speed EVs + a Timid nature is enough to keep Ninetales in front of Jolly Bruxish as she can survive even a +2 LO Aqua Jet in the sun and still OHKO back with Solar Beam. This also includes Jolly Lucario (if that becomes a thing) as it is incapable of OHKOing with +2 Extreme Speed. The rest is thrown into Special Attack to give Ninetales a little bit more power behind its offensive moves, but max Speed is an option if outspeeding the likes of Sigilyph, Drapion, and Haxorus is important, though it should be noted that Ninetales generally will not fare well against Drapion and Haxorus without Will-O-Wisp anyway.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankrualpha-511748743 - a decent-ish battle against Arikado showcasing Drought. We both kind of screw up some but it still does a decent job of showing how difficult it can be to handle the likes of Entei and Venusaur in sunlight. Also, Talonflame is cute. Can't wait to try building around it.
Yes, standard Ninetales is still down here in RU Alpha despite its alolan form being a pretty solid upgrade. That being said, full Sun teams are much easier to pull off than full Hail teams due to the higher amount of abusers that the tier has (Chlorophyll Venusaur, Entei, Darmanitan, etc.) and it even has the best hazard remover in terms of defensive synergy in Donphan. So why is it harder to pull off than Rain and Scolipass teams? Pretty simple. The playstyle is centered around a Pokemon that is not nearly as useful outside of its playstyle as Politoed and Scolipede. Politoed has a solid defensive typing and decent overall bulk and Scolipede has Speed Boost. Of course Speed Boost is great on an offensive Pokemon. That being said, Ninetales is still useful in its own right; capable of running Toxic to ruin the fat Water-types that keep the powerful Fire-types from doing work. Here's a preliminary set I've been working with so far:
Heat Bullet (Ninetales) (F) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 68 SpA / 192 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Flamethrower
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 68 SpA / 192 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Flamethrower
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
So this is the Ninetales set I've been working with. I had to go in the way back machine and look up some old PO teams from Gen 5 to figure out what EVs I ran on Ninetales and just went from there. Toxic is the key move as it lets Ninetales wear down the fat Water-types wanting to switch into it and it also can catch other neat stuff like Diancie and Politoed. Flamethrower is a STAB move that's reliable and packs a decent enough punch to KO what it's supposed to. Sunny Day seems super odd on a Pokemon with Drought, but there's a couple of reasons behind this. First and foremost, it allows Ninetales to steal insane amounts of momentum against Drizzle teams as Politoed switches in, maintaining the Sun and forcing it back out. The other is when Ninetales is forced to come in on a bulky Grass-type near the end of Drought, thus allowing her to still set Sun. Solar Beam is the last move and is generally best saved until the target of the move (Politoed, Swampert, Milotic, etc.) has been worn down enough by Toxic to be in KO range. When pulled off correctly, it's an absolute game changer against Rain teams as Ninetales can catch a low HP Politoed trying to set rain, only to have Ninetales set Sunny Day and KO it the following turn with Solar Beam. As far as the EVs go, they look strange but are rather simple. 248 HP EVs is a must as Drought teams need Ninetales to survive as long as she can to maintain favorable conditions. 192 Speed EVs + a Timid nature is enough to keep Ninetales in front of Jolly Bruxish as she can survive even a +2 LO Aqua Jet in the sun and still OHKO back with Solar Beam. This also includes Jolly Lucario (if that becomes a thing) as it is incapable of OHKOing with +2 Extreme Speed. The rest is thrown into Special Attack to give Ninetales a little bit more power behind its offensive moves, but max Speed is an option if outspeeding the likes of Sigilyph, Drapion, and Haxorus is important, though it should be noted that Ninetales generally will not fare well against Drapion and Haxorus without Will-O-Wisp anyway.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankrualpha-511748743 - a decent-ish battle against Arikado showcasing Drought. We both kind of screw up some but it still does a decent job of showing how difficult it can be to handle the likes of Entei and Venusaur in sunlight. Also, Talonflame is cute. Can't wait to try building around it.
