Sunday Morning #18 Team

[kaiijy]

Yes, this is a Drought team​

Even though a team based on Sun could make a great use of Garchomp since the fire pokemons can deal perfectly well with the Steel pokemons, the decay of Drizzle teams based on the banning discussions of Politoed in the two major servers (PO & Smogon) is the main reason to build a team for Ninetales and its friends.

So if you still believe that Sun teams sucks, make a favour to yourself and press CTRL+W. Drought, which used to be an underdog, now has the chance to grow much stronger into the metagame and bite a bigger slice of the ladder. Actually the main attractive to play Drought is that those random Ice Beam freezes will never happen again.

I've posted a primary version of this team at PO in the beginning of the month and now i decided to post a newer version here in Smogon for additional feedback.

Team Preview​

The Team​

Infernape @ Life Orb
Naive | Blaze
252 Atk // 4 Sp. Atk // 252 Speed
- Close Combat
- Overheat
- Grass Knot/HP Ice
- Stealth Rock​

I wanted a lead that could set up Stealth Rock and that wasn't Fire-weak. This is a restriction which takes out all efficient walls from this category so my lead had to be an offensive threat to my opponent, forcing him to sub his lead and allow me to set the SR. Among my options were Aerodactyl, Mamoswine, Donphan, Swampert and Deoxys-S, all of them are pretty reliable, specially since a few of them weak the Ground weakness this team has and which we'll follow up later on. As an offensive and effective lead, Infernape had to fight his position with Mienshao, which for me is an amazing pokemon with Regenerator and Fake Out to break sashes, but the absence of SR spoke louder and i went for Infernape, which has been honestly doing a great job. The EVs are quite self explanatory, Close Combat hits like a truck and Overheat OHKO Gliscor under the sun (does about 80% without sun though). Grass Knot is there to hit Hippowdon like a truck, but since it can't OHKO it i'm really willing to change it for HP Ice and increase the Sp. Atk EVs to 24, so it OHKO Gliscor with HP Ice and.

Possible changes?

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Mienshao (Life Orb @ Fake Out; Hi Jump Kick; HP Ice; U-Turn/Stone Edge);
Donphan (Leftovers/Life Orb @ Earthquake; Stealth Rock; Ice Shard; Rapid Spin);
Aerodactyl (Life Orb @ Stone Edge; Taunt; Stealth Rock; Whirlwind).

Chansey @ Eviolite
Impish | Natural Cure
200 HP // 252 Def // 56 Sp. Def
- Aromatherapy
- Toxic
- Seismic Toss
- Softboiled​

I just love it SO BADLY. Thanks to eviolite Chansey's defense turn up even higher than Blissey's for the cost of Leftovers. This set wills to use sufficient bulk to take Draco Meteors from Specs Latios, which means it can actually deal with any Sp. Attacker. Let's see some numbers:

Eviolite Chansey: 691 HP; 178 Def; 390 Sp. Def (200/252/56);
Leftovers Blissey: 714 HP; 130 Def; 307 Sp. Def (252/252/4);

With a metagame infested by status, Aromatherapy is a bless and just necessary for this team since Quagsire is fragile to status, my Ninetales is running ChestoRest and my attack duo which hates paralyze.

Possible changes?

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- I actually don't think so.

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Bold | Unaware
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp. Def
- Scald
- Swagger
- Stockpile
- Recover​

Extremelly defensive Quagsire is a beast. Even though Scald might seem like an unusual choice for a sun team, it is only there for the burn chance. Quagsire is able to stallout pokemons like Reuniclus in the setup while he Calm Minds and i Stockpile. Quagsire is also the biggest nightmare of Cloyster since it can't hit him effectively through anyway. There's not much to talk about Quagsire since this one became quite a standard set and must of what has to be spoke about it has already been

Possible changes?

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RestTalkGyarados (Scald; Rest; SleepTalk; Dragon Tail)

Ninetales @ Chesto Berry
Timid | Drought
196 HP // 48 Sp. Atk // 104 Sp.Def // 160 Speed
- Flamethrower
- Will-o-Wisp
- Rest
- Roar​

The essential member of any Sun team and the worst weather inducer. 196 HP reaches a Leftovers number, even though i stopped using Lefties, it is a nice amount and i left it that way. 160 Speed is the classic to revenge kill Excadrill and 48 Sp. Atk to OHKO it with Flamethrower (also OHKO Ferrothorn). The leftovers went to Sp. Def. Most people will defend that Protect/Leftovers works better, but with Aromatherapy there's no need to be afraid of Rest. It is also able to absorb Spore directly and make some damage into the opposing team thanks to Drought. I really enjoy Ninetales so the only thing i'd change on it would be include Overheat/Power Swap instead of Flamethrower/Will-o-Wisp, this would give me an extra bulk since the EVs spent to revenge Excadrill could go into HP, but those 10% miss of Overheat always made me think twice. Overheat would also be a better option dealing with Reuniclus. The reason for Roar is that Ninetales is setup bait, so i can set up a burn and roar my opponent out, works better against special setuppers since they'll much rarely OHKO Ninetales.

Victini @ Choice Scarf
Adamant | Victory Star
4 HP //252 Atk // 252 Speed
- V-Create
- Fusion Bolt
- U-Turn
- Zen Headbutt​

In a perfect world for Victini, Politoed and Garchomp would be banned and he would get Fusion Bolt. Oh, wait. V-Create is a major threat under the sun and even physical walls might run away from it. Fusion Bolt avoids the usual recoil of Wild Charge and covers Gyarados, which rapes Sun teams apart usually. U-Turn allows me to scout and deal with psychic threats like Espeon effectively. Zen Headbutt is a filler, the other option would be Brick Break but i personally prefer the STAB.

Possible changes?

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- 100% open for suggestions

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Modest | Chrolophyll
4 HP // 252 Sp. Atk // 252 Speed
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- HP Fire
- Growth​

The classic chrolophyll user for a drought team. I didn't run any calcs for the EVs, so it is just pretty straight forward, so as the set. I used to run a mixed Venusaur which did great, but due to its synergy with Heatran which i stopped using, so this Venusaur is more of a loneplayer able to win matches after a single Growth. Pretty standard set, no calcs included, gonna run a few later on

Possible changes?

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I might change the EVs a bit, but the moves are fine. I may replace it for other Chrolophyll abuser.

Team's weaknesses to solve:

- Uncovered Ground Weakness: Ninetales, Infernape and Victini take 200% from Ground attacks while Quagsire, Chansey and Venusaur take 100%.
- Lack of Priority: This team has no priority user, which is not so good...
- Lack of Rapid Spin: It is always useful to have a rapid spinner in a Drought team, this team would be pleased with one though.

Threat List:

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I really hope to fill this with some feedback:

Terrakion: outspeeds the entire team after a Rock Polish, killing everybody with Close Combat+Stone Edge.
Reuniclus: can be dealt with thanks to Victini and Ninetales, but it is still a pain to break.
Hippowdon: Possibly the only weather inducer that is problematic overall.

Exportable

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Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Close Combat
- Overheat
- Stealth Rock
- Grass Knot

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Def / 56 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Softboiled

Quagsire (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Stockpile
- Swagger
- Recover

Ninetales (M) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Drought
EVs: 196 HP / 48 SAtk / 104 SDef / 160 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Roar

Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Growth
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sludge Bomb

Victini @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fusion Bolt
- U-turn
- V-create
- Zen Headbutt

Conclusion:

This project is quite recent so i am here to ask for advice to improve it since i believe two brains are logically better than a single one. Hopefully you'll enjoy the team (or at least the RMT) and make it grow better along with me :)

 

[Rakan]

Giga Drain is illegal with Chlorophyll Venusaur because it's no longer a TM in the 5th Generation. I suggest Energy Ball or Solarbeam (if you're feeling ballsy) as a replacement.

 

[kaiijy]

Giga Drain is illegal with Chlorophyll Venusaur because it's no longer a TM in the 5th Generation. I suggest Energy Ball or Solarbeam (if you're feeling ballsy) as a replacement.

Are you sure this is the reason? Because Venusaur can get Giga Drain via egg move from Torterra (i might be wrong :p) in Gen V. Don't know if there's any other restriction on DW.