Hello, Team raters of Smogon, and thank you for taking the time out to rate my team. This is my first RMT on this forum, so apologies for any mistakes that I might have made. Anyhow, I'm mpea and I'm quite new to Smogon, however I've made a neat little team I've made which I've worked reasonably hard on and I found has worked quite well.
Firstly, I'll quickly go through my team building process in order to justify why I chose each specific pokemon, and then I'll describe the sets in detail.
So, naturally when picking a sun team my first thought was ninetales.
Next, I considered how weather dominant this metagame is - The opposing weathers of Sand and Rain would be troublesome. So, thinking about it I decided I needed a grass type, as they could deal with both water type politoed and many of it's rain abusers, as well as Hippowdon and Tyranitar, with their respective sand abusers. The pokemon could not be too reliant on the Sun, but nor could it be easily threatened while in the sun. Thus, Lilligant found it's place on my team - I'll explain why later on.
So, following that I looked at my team as it was so far. I noted two pokemon that could be a major threat to it immediately - Mamoswine and Heatran. Therefore, I found a pokemon that could stop either in their tracks.
Next, I found a new problem arising from my team. With 2/3 pokemon on my team weak to Flying types, I considered them to be an issue, and I considered getting a pokemon which could use Ice, Electric or Rock type moves effectively. So, why not utilize the Bolt-beam combo? It would provide a good benefit across my team, having perfect neutral coverage. Also, it would target flying types such as Thundurus-T, and still have great attack power against others like Gyarados. Thus, I chose the following:
Looking at my team, I also noticed 2 pokemon weak to stealth rock - that's not good for me. I wanted a spinner, one that could work effectively as a specially defensive wall as well, and lay down a few hazards of it's own, also able to work effectively outside of sun (you can see a common theme here)
For my final pokemon, and to round off the sun team by fully abusing it's weather (which I hadn't done much of in my team altogether), so I chose a strong special attacker that could hold out on it's own.
After quickly looking things over, I noticed a rather dangerous Ground weakness. Furthermore, with Heatran and Ninetales, I didn't really need special defensive walls anyhow. A switch from Tentacruel to Donphan resulted in my team looking like this:
Next, I considered how weather dominant this metagame is - The opposing weathers of Sand and Rain would be troublesome. So, thinking about it I decided I needed a grass type, as they could deal with both water type politoed and many of it's rain abusers, as well as Hippowdon and Tyranitar, with their respective sand abusers. The pokemon could not be too reliant on the Sun, but nor could it be easily threatened while in the sun. Thus, Lilligant found it's place on my team - I'll explain why later on.
So, following that I looked at my team as it was so far. I noted two pokemon that could be a major threat to it immediately - Mamoswine and Heatran. Therefore, I found a pokemon that could stop either in their tracks.
Next, I found a new problem arising from my team. With 2/3 pokemon on my team weak to Flying types, I considered them to be an issue, and I considered getting a pokemon which could use Ice, Electric or Rock type moves effectively. So, why not utilize the Bolt-beam combo? It would provide a good benefit across my team, having perfect neutral coverage. Also, it would target flying types such as Thundurus-T, and still have great attack power against others like Gyarados. Thus, I chose the following:
Looking at my team, I also noticed 2 pokemon weak to stealth rock - that's not good for me. I wanted a spinner, one that could work effectively as a specially defensive wall as well, and lay down a few hazards of it's own, also able to work effectively outside of sun (you can see a common theme here)
For my final pokemon, and to round off the sun team by fully abusing it's weather (which I hadn't done much of in my team altogether), so I chose a strong special attacker that could hold out on it's own.
After quickly looking things over, I noticed a rather dangerous Ground weakness. Furthermore, with Heatran and Ninetales, I didn't really need special defensive walls anyhow. A switch from Tentacruel to Donphan resulted in my team looking like this:
I present to you my team, prepared for any criticism you, as the rater feels is necessary. Please, if you could take the time out to rate my team I would be quite grateful.
Ninetales
Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Fire Blast
Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Fire Blast
This is a specially defensive ninetales, with the single purpose of trying to stay alive for as long as possible. The EV Spread compliments this, with as much natural bulk as possible and as much investment into special defense as possible. The final 4 EVs are naturally given away to the special attack stat. Naturally, Substitute+Pain Split is an unorthodox strategy, one that is looked down upon by many players due to being so unreliable. My personal justification for using this strategy is simply because it does what my purpose asks. It stays alive, and for as long as possible. Ninetales has a weakness to stealth rock, a type disadvantage against all the opposing weather inducers (bar Abomasnow), and finds itself being hunted down ruthlessly. However, it is still my weather inducer - it needs some way of staying alive, and the sub+Pain split set is quite effective in this strategy. Will-O-Wisp tackles any physical attackers, trying to skeeve past the lack of Physically Defensive EVs. Naturally, to avoid being taunt bait and due to the benefit of STAB+Sun, a fire type attack would round off the set. I chose Fire Blast over Flamethrower as it could grab the OHKO in the sun on numerous pokemon in the OU tier, such as Dugtrio, Cloyster, Metagross, Jirachi and Venusaur. These pokemon could not hope to be OHKO'd by the more accurate flamethrower.
Lilligant
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 60 Def / 252 SAtk / 196 Spd
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Sleep Powder
- Aromatherapy
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 60 Def / 252 SAtk / 196 Spd
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Sleep Powder
- Aromatherapy
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Immediately, my worry was of the threat of other weathers. Thus, I chose Lilligant in order to counter Hippowdon, Tyranitar and Politoed. Lilligant worked perfectly - With a life orb, it's Leaf Storm has the power to OHKO every single other weather inducer, even Tyranitar in the Sand. Therefore it was a brilliant addition to my team, and even better it worked well in the sun too, reaching a speed high enough to easily outspeed +2 Cloyster, which can be promptly OHKO'd with a Hidden Power rock. The reason I chose HP rock over Ice or fire was simply that it benefited me more. It could counter opposing sun abusers such as Volcarona, deal with flying and ice types that threatened Lilligant, and generally works well. Sleep Powder is great with Chlorophyll - it means that I could stop even the fastest of substitute users, bar those with prankster (which is rare anyhow), and could shut down a sweeper quickly and effectively. The use of Aromatherapy is questionable, I admit, however I found that status was becoming a real issue, for example my Kyurem-B (which you'll see if you scroll down) could be severely hurt by paralysis - I wanted to avoid status at all cost, and in all forms. However, any other suggestions may be considered. My EV spread was made so that I would have enough special attack to OHKO 252 HP/4 SpD Ttar in the sand (I only have a 75% chance to score the OHKO, though), and also defense EVs were put in to survive Mamoswine's dangerous ice shard. The leftover speed EVs were still plenty to outspeed the majority of threats in OU.
Conkeldurr
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Facade
- Payback
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Facade
- Payback
Conkeldurr - one of the most dangerous pokemon in OU due to his monstrous attack and incredibly tough combination of ability, movepools and bulk. Conkeldurr found it's place in my team as a counter to the threats my early team faced, Heatran and Mamoswine. Guts was a great ability to abuse, however I had to use the status orb due to the worry of Lilligant's Aromatherapy taking away status. With an orb, guts is securely activated - allowing me to attack with moves such as drain punch, Facade and payback (perfect coverage on everything in OU) and have mach punch secure for a quick revenge kill. It's main threat are psychic types - faster ones are usually special attackers that OHKO it, and easily (such as Alakazam) and slower ones are usually bulky so they don't feel much from payback, especially since Conkeldurr would move first. An example of a pokemon such as this would be Reuniclus, or Slowbro. Conkeldurr's special defense is worryingly pathetic, so it requires team support from Heatran and Ninetales to back it up in those situations. Other than that, it seems to have a strong effect on my team, dealing with heatrans as well as dark types, and so I find that it benefits my team greatly. It's EV Spread maximises it's attack, and bulk as well - speed is unnecessary on this set anyhow.
Kyurem-Black
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Earth Power
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Earth Power
Kyurem-B works his powerful magic with a choice scarf as his brilliant bolt-beam combo blasts absolutely everything away. A mixed set means not even Blissey nor Skarmory can survive more than a 2HKO. STAB Outrage and earth power cover each other quite well, walled by very little (heatran is the main counter). The EVs have a high special attack in order to maintain the mixed set's use of special attacks. Of course, I've got as much speed investment as possible, and a rash nature rounds off the EV spread, maximising special attack so it can deal roughly as much as the whopping great attack stat that Kyurem-B has. With a choice scarf, it is fast enough to outspeed a lot of the metagame, however the few faster pokemon that will tend to be scarfed such as Garchomp, Salamence and Latios will have dragon type attacks that can easily OHKO Kyurem-B.
Donphan
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
Next, I noticed my Stealth Rock weakness so I had to get to work on that. Kyurem-B's importance as a revenge killer as well as Ninetales' job to stay alive for as long as possible mean that either is quite important to the team, and I cannot risk losing so much damage to hazards. Rapid Spin is therefore obvious, while Stealth rock is particularly useful in sweeping, which is why I chose it. Ice Shard and Earthquake are almost standard, making this a very generic-looking set, finding itself to be an offensive Spinner. The EV Spread is similar, showing an offensive nature and 252 Atk EVs, with bulk - exactly the same as Conkeldurr's spread.
Heatran
Heatran @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Heatran @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Heatran has probably been the most difficult to work with out of all the members in my team. My problem originally was that I had not had enough use of the sun, and therefore I couldn't maximize my offensive power as much as I wanted to. Therefore, I brought in a tough Heatran, which sports a special attack of 130, and boosted his power to the highest it could be with the use of a choice specs. The EV spread increased special attack as much as possible, including nature, while bulk was increased as well. As for the attacks, Flamethrower was a mandatory attack as Heatran tends to be locked into his attacks, meaning that he wouldn't want to be locked into a low accuracy Fire blast, or a special attack dropping Overheat. Earth power, Solarbeam and HP Ice are a great range of moves that can check and counter a large variety of threats. What does concern me is that Heatran is often outsped and OHKO'd by numerous pokemon, (all they need is EQ) so my thoughts immediately drifted to a choice scarf set. Would love to know opinions on what to do with it.
Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Fire Blast
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 60 Def / 252 SAtk / 196 Spd
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Sleep Powder
- Aromatherapy
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Facade
- Payback
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Earth Power
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
Heatran @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Fire Blast
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 60 Def / 252 SAtk / 196 Spd
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Sleep Powder
- Aromatherapy
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Facade
- Payback
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Earth Power
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
Heatran @ Choice Specs
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
