Generic Sun - OU Drought Team

[MrIntro]

This is my first ever OU competitive team, and I researched combined pretty basic move-sets from Smogon to create a (supposed) balanced sun team. Feedback is much appreciated.

Team Development Process:

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Original lineup I thought up with on paper before any testing or anything. It seemed good, with each covering the others' weaknesses. I'm not too familiar with the competitive scene in general, so this was the best I could come up with so far. Moveset changes, etc. were all I needed so far.

Originally Chillarmy's suggestion, I now have a better way of dealing with Sandstorm teams, Dragon attacks, and I have a priority-mon semi revenge killer with Scizor.

Additionally Salamence was also getting too slow (always a sure kill from faster dragons), and before Scizor I could never find a safe switch-in to a Draco Meteor or Outrage. I wanted to keep Salamence and even tried to create a gimmick with a choice scarf, although that came out pretty badly for me. I finally settled with Latios, with a new way to deal with stuff like Blisseys and some other walls.

Currently, I'm trying to find a way to replace Venusaur, being too boring and generic for my standards. I'll need lots of suggestions for that.

Ninetales (M) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 92 SDef / 164 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Toxic
- Rest
- Confuse Ray

ChestoRest Ninetales has a higher survivibility rate when pitted against other weather inducers. It also gives me a better chance to re-induce Sun just incase I have to switch out from a Drizzle or Sandstream. Rest lets me be more independent from Stealth Rock and statuses. Toxic or Confuse Ray is usually the first move I use, to incapacitate either opposing weather inducers or some switch-ins for free poison/confusion. Otherwise, Ninetales will be mainly abused for its Drought ability.

Sawsbuck (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 136 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 116 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Horn Leech
- Nature Power
- Frustration

Another popular Chlorophyll abuser, but I'm not sure what I can change on this guy. He is my main physical sweeper. He's on my team because it seems to have great synergy with Ninetales and a good sun-sweeper in general. I may need help on this one.

Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Growth
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder

My main chlorophyll abuser. HP fire is used to hit Ferrothorn, and Sleep Powder to aid in using Growth to sweep. Energy Ball is currently the best stab move, I think, since Giga Drain is not yet legal. Basic Metagame pokemon without much changing, I presume.

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick

Life Orb Salamence didn't quite work for me, because I was always OHKO'ed by a Draco Meteor/Outrage from opposing Latios, Dragonite, and ScarfChomp. He could also serve as a revenge killer, and Trick and Psychock to cripple SpD walls like Blissey and sometimes Reuniclus if it doesn't carry Shadow Ball.

who replaced:

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

A dragon-type that can abuse a boosted Fire Blast, with Ground and Fighting resistance, and Intimidate, Salamence works pretty well. Running a mixed set because of Fire Blast's 120 base power and Draco Meteor, and he is my only other physical-sweeper I have on my team. He can switch in to most of the weaknesses that Sawsbuck and Venusaur, so I believe he works fine.

Vaporeon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Roar
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Ice Beam

My wish-passer, to heal off the Life Orb recoil of my sweepers, and also being having a phazing ability. Ice Beam for dragons and I did not put a water, for its uselessness in the sun. Took xGenesis's suggestion of replacing Protect with Heal Bell.
Thinking of changing her to a Substitute-Wish Baton Passer, but I need more help on that. Old idea

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower

A new way to deal with Tyranitar and Blissey, my most opposing threats, Scizor can snag some decent kills. Suggested by Chillarmy, U-turn is for turning to sweepers, and Bullet Punch/Superpower is an effective way to kill RP Terrakion.

who replaced:

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Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Overheat
- Trick

Last guy, my revenge-killer. With the ability to Volt Switch back into Ninetales with also super-effective coverage on Politoad and rain abusers, and Shadow Ball for Chandelures, this guy fit into my team pretty well. I'm not too sure about having 2 Electric STABs, so possibly a change to Trick for Thunderbolt would work? I'll need suggestions on that.

Threats:

Blissey - Trick from Latios, then taken care of by Sawsbuck after locked into Scarf or a Psyshock from Latios

Dragonite - KO'd from Draco Meteor on Latios after taken off Multi-Scale

Reuniclus - Taken care by Shadow Ball on Rotom

Politoed - Toxic from Ninetales and then sweep by Venusaur/Sawsbuck

Chandelure - Sawsbuck w/ Nature power

Toxicroak - Taken care by Latios revengekill or Sawsbuck revengekill

Heatran - Earth Power from Sawsbuck, and if Air Ballooned, then a Superpower by Scizor should do the job

 

[adman2]

I'm not terribly experienced, though I often use Scarf Rotom-H. I found HP Ice to be more useful than Volt Switch. Your team doesn't seem to have much in the way of being able to kill boosted Dragons (Swords Dance Garchomp, Dragon Dance whatever) if the weather isn't going your way, and even Vaporeon won't like switching into an Outrage. HP Ice at least allows a revenge kill.

Generally Scarf Rotom shouldn't be staying in unless it OHKOs something, so you may want to dump Shadow Ball in favor of Trick. Trick has helped me mess up walls before, and allows you to get in a free switch.

 

[Kemmi]

To take care of opposing fires or chandelure/heatran, maybe Nature Power on your deer thing can take care of those (so long as no ballons are present) since it turns into earthquake. replace double-edge

 

[MrIntro]

I'm not terribly experienced, though I often use Scarf Rotom-H. I found HP Ice to be more useful than Volt Switch. Your team doesn't seem to have much in the way of being able to kill boosted Dragons (Swords Dance Garchomp, Dragon Dance whatever) if the weather isn't going your way, and even Vaporeon won't like switching into an Outrage. HP Ice at least allows a revenge kill.

Generally Scarf Rotom shouldn't be staying in unless it OHKOs something, so you may want to dump Shadow Ball in favor of Trick. Trick has helped me mess up walls before, and allows you to get in a free switch.

Thanks for the suggestion. HP Ice actually is more effective than Volt Switch, but I'm also trying out your Trick suggestion. What counters can I have to Reuniclus and Chandelure if I don't run Shadow Ball then?

And Kemmi, I see your point, but can will I lose out on any coverage on replacing Double-Edge?

 

[Kemmi]

As you know, normal doesn't get SE on anything, and is resisted by steel, rock, and immune by ghosts. Popular ghosts will be able to easily get past Sawsbuck, since Jump Kick and Double Edge don't do a thing.

 

[Green Mage]

Nature Power > Jump Kick. Jump Kick generally tends to only hit pokemon that are utterly destroyed by fire types, especially fire types in the sun. Also, it misses and then you die.

Popular ghosts will be able to easily get past Sawsbuck, since Jump Kick and Double Edge don't do a thing.

Ghosts aren't such a problem because wood horn kills the majority of them (gengar is ohkoed through the resist). Stuff like dusclops is heatran bait (which should always be on sun teams imo).

 

[xGenesis]

I suggest keeping Jump Kick. In my opinion, Jump Kick is actually more helpful than Earthquake against Balloon Heatran, Tyranitar. Other Fire types are generally taken care of by Double-Edge anyway, which means you should keep DE too. I don't know if its just me, but I find Normal/Fighting/Grass more useful.

Status problems can be easily fixed by replacing Protect on Vaporeon with Heal Bell. Without any sort of passive damage and the general purpose of wish-passing, protect looks rather pointless. Also, Heal Bell can help Ninetales too, incase you Rest more than once.

 

[evan1o1]

Something that can deal with most of your threats is shiftry. Why doeant anyone use this guy? With chlorophyll he becomes an absolute monster and imo is better than sawsbuck. Try this set out.

Shiftry@life orb
Chlorophyll
Adamant
4hp/252atk/252speed
-swords dance
-leaf blade
-sucker punch (thats what sets it apart)
-brick break

Leaf blade, of course is very powerful. Sucker punch will ohko lati@s, chandalure and pretty much anything weak to it after a boost, and it doesnt rely on sun to attack first. Brick break for more coverage. Takes care of heatran, blissey, ttar, and the likes.

Something ive messed around with before is a mix shiftry, because it has the almighty leaf storm. Just give it 200 atk evs and 56 spatk evs, replace swords dance with growth, and leaf blade with leaf storm. This will allow you to throw out one or two very powerful leafstorms, then still have the +2 for the physical attacks.

Shiftry in the sun is a monster.

 

[WaterBomb]

A couple of things to note:

Sawsbuck - Double Edge combined with Life Orb is going to absolutely kill you. Swap for Return.

Venusaur - Since you're getting the Attack boost from Growth simultaneously, why not go for more power with Power Whip? I'd go with an EV spread of 80 Att / 176 SpAtt / 252 Speed with a Mild/Rash nature to give you better damage output overall. Having a third physical presence will also limit the amount of walling an opponent Blissey or other special wall can do.

Hope these suggestions helped. Good luck!

 

[MrIntro]

Took some suggestions and changed a few things. Thanks guys.

By the way, I still don't have a counter to Reuniclus yet. It still has been a problem for me. What should I do to counter its defenses?

and evan1o1, I might play around with Shiftry for a bit, but does it really learn leaf blade? My Pokemon Online doesn't have that as a move. Weird

 

[yandere1337]

I think that a mix shifty can replace sawbucks.

(chandelure check)
Shiftry@Life orb chlorophyll
Growth
Sucker punch
Hidden power/focus blast(u choose)
Energy ball/giga drain(good with orb)/leaf storm(power)/seed bomb.(u choose)

If you run mix shiftry, you can replace mix salamence with another pokemon like latios or latias to cover for a lot of your team's weaknesses.They also have earth immunity(levitate) and they can switch in without worrying about taking too much damage from stealth rocks unlike salamence. If you pick Latias, I suggest leftovers & calm mind to set up with fairly nice
moveset.

If you pick latios I suggest trick scarf to cripple reuniclus/blissey/wall politioed/Toxicroak so it can't set up on you and it will be locked into 1 move so it will decrease it's offensive/defensive capabilities. Trick gets rid of your item so you won't have to worry about using 2 scarfs.

 

[AeroNightmare]

So in the event of a weather war which is MORE than common, you need to have something that doesn't mind not having an umbrella. All of your pokes are in love with the sun outside of salamence and vapy. A good sunny day team can win even without weather because face the facts you aren't gonna win all the weather wars but you can still win the pokemon battle. Ya dig?

 

[wacky tabaky]

You dont have any pokemon that can cause status so with vapy i suggest scald when in conjunction with roar it can really damage a team plus it helps with the fact you have no defencive pokemon like jelli or pory2.

 

[MrIntro]

screwed up post edit; delete please

 

[MrIntro]

You dont have any pokemon that can cause status so with vapy i suggest scald when in conjunction with roar it can really damage a team plus it helps with the fact you have no defencive pokemon like jelli or pory2.

Ninetales w/ Toxic and I didn't have scald because of the power reduce due to sun.

I think that a mix shifty can replace sawbucks.

If you pick latios I suggest trick scarf to cripple reuniclus/blissey/wall politioed/Toxicroak so it can't set up on you and it will be locked into 1 move so it will decrease it's offensive/defensive capabilities. Trick gets rid of your item so you won't have to worry about using 2 scarfs.

I have a scarfed Trick-Rotom, is that fine?


I'm still testing Shiftry for Sawsbuck, though.

 

[Green Mage]

Don't replace sawsbuck. There is only one pokemon that can even begin to match sawsbuck under the sun, and that's venusaur...and you've already got one of those. Shiftry is not going to help you.

Reuniclus is ohkoed by return after a swords dance, and you have a chance of surviving its focus blast after one calm mind with the standard evs (if it even hits). Also, your rotom can just use trick and render it completely useless.

 

[iforgot120]

and evan1o1, I might play around with Shiftry for a bit, but does it really learn leaf blade? My Pokemon Online doesn't have that as a move. Weird

He doesn't learn Leaf Blade. Evan might've been thinking of Razor Leaf, which is sort of similar in concept.

 

[Benlisted]

Shiftry is not outclassed by Sawsbuck entirely at all - he's slightly frailer but gets sick priority and better coverage at the cost of less speed and a tad less power since he has to go mixed. I'm honestly shocked I don't see more people using it.

Dark moves are a great neutral coverage to utilise in Sun, don't let the above dissuade you from using him if he works for you.

 

[iforgot120]

DW Leafeon is released the 19th; possible replacement for Sawsbuck? Base stats are better than Sawsbuck, but can't learn Jump Kick and won't get STAB from DE (or Return). Leafeon does get Leaf Blade and X-Scissor, though.

 

[Chillarmy]

May I ask how often you manage to get a Wish passed onto one of your sweepers when they actually need it? I honestly don't see the point in carrying a WishPasser on such an offensively-oriented team, as it only forces you to give up any momentum you have in order to (riskily) heal off damage that your main sweepers may take. So, I'd honestly suggest replacing Vaporeon with Heatran. While you do lose out on a great water immunity, Heatran is able to sponge boosted Fire-type attacks as well as Will-O-Wisp, can really take advantage of the sun with its STAB Fire Blasts, and most importantly, can get an entry hazards - Stealth Rock - cycling on your opponent's side of the field.

Next, you might want to ditch Rotom for Choice Band Scizor. You'll lose on on Levitate, but will gain a great tool against most sandstorm teams (and Reuniclus!) and a semi-reliable method of getting your sweepers in safely (U-turn). Rotom, in my opinion, won't accomplish much outside of turning into setup fodder for Terrakion (who can ram through this team after a RP, or SD if sun isn't up) and Reuniclus (Trick Room variants WILL mess you up if given the chance to set up).

Lastly, on Sawsbuck, I'd suggest dropping Jump Kick and replacing it with Frustration. Yeah, hitting Ferrothorn and various steels is cool and all, but Sawsbuck is vulnerable to being revenged by the likes of Lati@s and Garchomp without Frustration.

tl;dr:
~Over Vaporeon

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
-Stealth Rock
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Hidden Power [Ice]

~Over Rotom-H

Scizor @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
-U-turn
-Bullet Punch
-Pursuit
-Superpower

I hope you enjoyed my rate and good luck with this team!