intro:
made this sun team a week after DLC 2 was released. it was a bit tougher to use during the zygarde metagame as kyurem wasn't that hard to take on, but zygarde match up was tough because that shit is so bulky, and also will cripple something with glare, and as you'll see, speed is of the utmost importance on 4/6 mons on the team.
sun seemed very powerful end of last DLC as we saw in the WCOP, but i feel like it went under the radar a bit for DLC 2 with everyone fanboying on the other new toys and usually going for the more dependable rain. though i think ox the fox posting their sun team couple days back has shown how good sun is, with eruption tran.
team is built around solar blade kartana, and despite somewhat being high risk high reward because of the abundance of grass type resists who may seem like a roadblock at first glance to its beast boost snowballing, i think i have the tools to weaken them to the point that kart can usually break through or at the very least take advantage of them with my other mons.
team building process:
going to keep this v brief. but the original team actually had weather ball thundurus-t as well, who provided the quintessential regieleiki electric immune and was also very threatening against opposing rain.
version 1:
shoutouts blunder and ctc who made a vid with it as well:
down the line i switched thundurus-t to lando-t who i thought did a better job at luring out and killing bulky physical mons or grass resists for kartana, namely corviknight, moltres and zapdos. latter two might be a surprise but i think up till recently a lot of moltres and zapdos got a little too comfy with lando-t as they usually run knock and u-turn and so they try to be cute with static/flame body thinking you won't use those. but i got stone edge. also you lure kill other stuff with fire type weather ball too.
that's p much all i changed, all the other mons kinda came to me at the same time more or less lol when i decided i wanted to build with solar blade in the sun.
so there it is, the final version:
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in depth:
Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
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self explanatory. max / max to take advantage of this guy's physical defense which comes in handy as he can form at least some sort of defensive backbone with clef, but really, he's there for sun, rocks and spin. sometimes can seem like asking too much from him, that's why below i talk an alt version i have with excadrill as well who helps with spinning duties.
honestly though i feel like i'm pleasantly surprised with how well torkoal actually faces up against the metagame, at least when it comes to physical threats. it's longevity even without lefties is p nice as torkoal somehow usually ends up in the backdrop towards the end of games too when played right to provide another 8 turns when needed. i'm aware spikes are going back up in usage when i talk about his longevity lol, but i don't think it's that easy to spike stack vs this team due to its offensive nature.
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Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect
- Teleport
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basically... this team is a glass cannon, and clef is a sheet of duct tape trying to hold it together... this sums it up:
yes, i'm asking clef to do a lot of shit for me as you can see which works most of the time but not always. other than that he doesn't let up momentum via teleport and gets enough breathing room vs stall and balance to pass wishes as well.
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb
- Weather Ball
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most underrated weather sweeper rn, game freak couldn't give chomp dragon dance but in their infinite wisdom gave venu earth power? hello? so now he takes out heatran handily which was the only real road block for him.
most people switch in their clef if tran is down as well as they expect the grass move > sludge but that is one shotted as well, which helps facilitate a kart sweep down the line too.
honestly, a monster to face under the sun. if he gets a growth up and there's no blissey on site, it's going to take some smart switching and maneuvering to stall out the sun, and even then venu is taking 2 kills home to his wife and kid MINIMUM.
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Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 52 HP / 204 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Weather Ball
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the gen 7 GOAT returns. i feel this set had a lot more surprise factor couple weeks back when the lando-t standard seemed to be eq/ knock off / u-turn / sr or defog, because of which it was way easier to catch zap and moltres off guard who got a bit too cozy with lando-t's around the globe as they didn't always run stone edge. knocking them out helps big time for kart. as does obliterating buzzwole, ferro, corv, and celesteela with fire type weather ball (does about half to the latter 2, i try to suss them out with sd first).
the way i use this set is to give the sense that i am defensive or standard utility with speed, and rocky helmet helps create that false sense of security, before i go for sd and hurt someone. though again, swords dance has picked up recently as well, and people are more aware of it now.
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Charizard @ Choice Specs
Ability: Solar Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Weather Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hurricane
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super strong mon, and i feel like if you're not using heatran or zard on sun offense, you're missing out. 700+ satk nuking everyone not immune to fire, even blissey is 2hko'd. i try to get him in via teleport clef or double switches through kartana. pressurizes tyranitar as well on sand who is usually the go to check to zard, but focus blast obliterates that.
i used to have scorching sands over hurricane because focus blast is a bitch made 2% accurate move, and i was p much guaranteed a heatran death who can be hard to switch into, but i feel like hurricane is necessary for stuff like kommo-o and other dragons outside of sun. helps punish rain when sun is not up as well.
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Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Solar Blade
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
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who even is zacian, this is the pokemon sword mascot. i built the entire team to flex on em with solar blade, and i think he delivers fine considering how many grass resists are in this tier. speaking of which, if he gets a +1 revenge killing someone, and you don't have a x4 resist, kart's gonna go on a rampage. ofc he has the broken ass snow ball ability like his mother pheromosa, which really makes solar blade hurt more than it should, and i've swept all different types of team archetypes with that move alone with their main checks weakened or down. the only other move i really use is smart strike, the other two barely make an appearence, either i need to kill ferro or heatran asap so i sacred sword, or if sun is about to run out then i leaf blade instead.
another mon who is rising in usage, as i said he has a lot of resists to his main stabs, but i think he's not hard to build around because they can be broken down and beast boost + scarf gives him the tools to run through teams.
strengths and weaknesses:
very fun team to use, almost always played aggressively, not really any other choice. clef is there as a glue of sorts as a last ditch effort to sponge hits from latios and darks like urshifu. no ghost resist means spectrier is a huge bitch to play against, you can say the same for no flying resist, but seeing as the most common move is hurricane, in the sun it's always going to be a coinflip for them and you. obviously in the rain it's a different story. the raw power, coverage and speed of venusaur is usually huge in overwhelming balance and offense, zard goes crazy vs stall too as blissey is 2hkoed under the sun, and kart usually plows through once the grass resists have been weakened, and even if not, you still do a lot with +1 after revenge killing something.
alternate version:
i have used scarf exca over lando-t as well, as you surprise kill stuff like latios, and then they don't expect a second scarfer in kartana, but idk i enjoy using the lando-t version more, in exchange for killing certain important threats, i actually get to do what i set out with this team- pave the way for kart. sounds wack, but yeah, if I were to play for a serious tour i'd probably bring the version with the following over lando-t. Helps vs sand but also helps clef check some stuff:
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
this is not a perfect team by any means, if anything it has some glaring weaks, but i love offense and have used this team to good success. if i had to bring this in tournament, only adjustment i would make would be the above exca set over lando-t for consistency.
also wanted to showcase sun which i think is very viable and gets overlooked for the other 3 types usually. (esp since they recieved dracozolt and arctozolt)
also i guess i could've made an equally effective team and not weak to certain big threats using rilaboom + kart, where grassy terrain would boost leaf blade to near solar blade levels, but aye, it is what it is.
import
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