My Sunny Day Team

[Alex.the.Riddler]

Hey all, please give me some suggestions for improving my team!

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Air Slash
- Roost

I have Charizard(Mega Y) to serve as a powerful special attacker that doesn't require any set-up to OHKO or 2HKO many pokemon with its powerful STABS and 1-turn Solar Beam. The ability to choose when I mega-evolve (and having 2 pokemon with drought) also grants me some extra control in getting and keeping sun against switch-ins with their own weather.

I would definitely be open to switching out Roost for more coverage as it rarely makes a significant difference. Different EV spreads would also be a possibility.

Venusaur @ Black Sludge
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SAtk / 24 SDef / 232 Spd
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Growth
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Venusaur typically serves as a mid- or late-game sweeper. It definitely requires sun both to set up with Growth and to take advantage of Chlorophyll. If I can manage to get 2 Growths (+4 to Atk and SAtk) and entry hazards (which happens surprisingly often) Venusaur easily sweeps until its sun runs out. The speed stat is designed to be faster than any unboosted pokemon (i.e. Deoxys-S) when under sun. Giga Drain and Black Sludge help with longevity, HP Fire is extremely handy for sweeping under sun, and Sludge Bomb hits pretty much everything that resists the other 2 very hard after boosts.

I would be interested in redistributing some of the SAtk EVs to bolster defense, provided I didn't lose the ability to take down much after 1 or 2 sun-boosted Growths. I've also been toying with the idea of Venusuarite so it can mega-evolve once sun runs out to switch gears into a bulky sweeper. But this would mean I'd have to replace Charizard and probably lose weather battles more often.

Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar

Mainly here to guarantee me 8 turns of sun if the opponent has no weather-inducing pokemon. I find that this set is very fragile, but also counters many pokemon well. I can often burn physical attackers before dying (often letting Venusaur come in to set up) or roar away counters that try to set up on Ninetales. Fire Blast hits hard, which often takes opponents who think Ninetales has a mediocre offense by surprise. Solar Beam lets me hit water types hard if they switch in (except Politoed).

I might be open to a moveset change, but I mostly like Ninetales the way it is.

Greninja @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 252 SAtk / 240 Spd
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Extrasensory
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Greninja serves as my special attacker, designed to cover the weaknesses of the rest of my team. I know that Extrasensory and HP Electric are unconvential, but both have saved me several times. Expert Belt because I should really only be using Greninja if its moves are super-effective and I think it is too fragile for Life Orb.

This slot is pretty open for other pokemon. If anyone can suggest a better special/mixed sweeper with excellent coverage, that's what I want this slot to do. Often Greninja doesn't hit as hard as I want it to.

Breloom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Spore
- Rock Tomb

Breloom is here to serve as my physical attacker. It's also great for dealing with annoying pokemon who don't resist its priority Mach Punch. Spore is great for slower pokemon or those Breloom resists. I used to have Focus Punch, but replaced it with Rock Tomb for coverage. The EV spread is designed to outspeed Adamant Mamoswine's Ice Shard and also lets me Spore Adamant Dragonites without Extremespeed.

I'd be open to a different fourth move, but I'm pretty happy with Breloom as he is.

Deoxys-Speed @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 128 Def / 252 SAtk / 128 SDef
Modest Nature
- Psycho Boost
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes

Deoxys usually serves as my lead, letting me taunt any hazard-setters or Baton Passers. Psycho Boost lets him hit pretty hard when my opponent isn't expecting it and also lets him serve as an excellent revenge killer against anything without priority if Deoxys survives to the middle or end game.

I would be open to a different lead/hazard setter.

Overall: I've been doing quite well with this team as of late, but there are still flaws.

I have no way to deal with rapid spin or defog without predicting a switch (often they will switch in excadrill against my Deoxys-S, which gives them a free rapid spin even with taunt unless I predict and switch to a fire-type), which sometimes cripples me. Magic Bounce and Prankster can also cripple Deoxys.

Related to the above, I think I need a way to stop or remove hazards on my team. Stealth rock totally cripples Charizard, hurts Ninetales, and can break Deoxys's Sash.

I often have problems with tanks (or really any defensive pokemon of certain types), Chansey is particularly hard to take out if Breloom has fainted. Dragons with good defense and typing (meaning those not 4x weak to ice) aren't hit hard enough by Greninja's Ice Beam either. Likewise, Dark Pulse and Extrasensory often don't even 2HKO defensive pokemon that are weak to them.


Any input you can provide is welcome and appreciated!

 

[Prankster.]

Good morning Alex.the.Riddler. I popped in because sun teams use to be my favorite last gen. First off, I would recommend running a modest nature on your Charizard-Y with Focus Blast over Air Slash. In my opinion, Y doesn't out speed his threats anyway such as the Lati twins. Modest still allows you to outspeed crucial things such as most non-scarf Excadrill, non-scarf Tyranitar, and other things. Focus Blast allows you to one shot most Tyranitar that come in and 2hko spdef tran.

Venusaur: Since your speed is doubled due to chlorophyll, I would re-work your evs to outspeed Azumarill while sun isn't up. I would run 252 Spatk, enough to peak 220 speed, and dump the rest into hp. I found this spread most optimal while testing.

Ninetales: I agree with you about Ninetales being very fragile. You could re-work the evs to make it more SpD and bulky rather than an all out attacker. Flamethrower/Fire Blast still gets the job done vs Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Scizor. WoW is very nice utility, as is roar. I personally do not like solarbeam on it, but that's just me. HP Ground/Fighting may be a good slot depending on if you'd rather hit Tyranitar/Heatran. Fighting would also allow you to outspeed and ohko Bisharp.

Breloom: I would keep your spread and move pool, but maybe swap orb for focus sash. Reason being it can help zard-y a lot in taking out a lot of things. It can also help you fall back on Talonflame, Pinsir, the Zards, and guarantees a drop in speed with rock tomb if you need it.

Deoxys: I would recommend using some form of speed evs.

Hope I was able to help out your team with suggestions backed by insight. Best of luck.

 

[Alex.the.Riddler]

Good morning Alex.the.Riddler. I popped in because sun teams use to be my favorite last gen. First off, I would recommend running a modest nature on your Charizard-Y with Focus Blast over Air Slash. In my opinion, Y doesn't out speed his threats anyway such as the Lati twins. Modest still allows you to outspeed crucial things such as most non-scarf Excadrill, non-scarf Tyranitar, and other things. Focus Blast allows you to one shot most Tyranitar that come in and 2hko spdef tran.

Venusaur: Since your speed is doubled due to chlorophyll, I would re-work your evs to outspeed Azumarill while sun isn't up. I would run 252 Spatk, enough to peak 220 speed, and dump the rest into hp. I found this spread most optimal while testing.

Ninetales: I agree with you about Ninetales being very fragile. You could re-work the evs to make it more SpD and bulky rather than an all out attacker. Flamethrower/Fire Blast still gets the job done vs Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Scizor. WoW is very nice utility, as is roar. I personally do not like solarbeam on it, but that's just me. HP Ground/Fighting may be a good slot depending on if you'd rather hit Tyranitar/Heatran. Fighting would also allow you to outspeed and ohko Bisharp.

Breloom: I would keep your spread and move pool, but maybe swap orb for focus sash. Reason being it can help zard-y a lot in taking out a lot of things. It can also help you fall back on Talonflame, Pinsir, the Zards, and guarantees a drop in speed with rock tomb if you need it.

Deoxys: I would recommend using some form of speed evs.

Hope I was able to help out your team with suggestions backed by insight. Best of luck.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I had been considering replacing Roost with Focus Blast on Charizard-Y, I personally like the extra coverage from air slash. Do you think it would be better to keep roost? My Charizard always seems to be too frail to get much use out of it aside from recovering Stealth Rock damage. I will switch him to a modest nature though.

If I dropped Venusaur's speed that much, I'd no longer outspeed things like Breloom, Politoed, Magnezone and many Rotom-W without sun (many of whom are OHKOs after I've set up). The extra bulk would definitely be nice though. I'll have to think about that one.

I love the idea of HP Fighting instead of Solar Beam on Ninetails. I'll revisit its EVs as well.

I had thought about Focus Sash for Breloom as well. I'll test it out and see if I like that better.

Giving Deoxys some speed investment is probably a good idea, its bulk is terrible either way and then I could outspeed a few more threats.

Thanks again, those were great suggestions!

 

[Prankster.]

You're very welcome, glad you like them. Roost is worth it all the way. I would run Roost / Focus Blast / Solarbeam / Flamethrower/Fire Blast. Just experiment with it and decide for yourself, I like it though. Maybe we can re-work Venu's spread. I don't find not outspeeding Breloom an issue because it doesn't do much and sludge bomb can ohko. I wouldn't be so worried about Politoed either unless potential specs ice beam. Definitely play around with some numbers and I can get back to you on a bulkier spread.