

Now that I'm knocked out of the ADV RU Open tour, I want to take a minute to talk about a playstyle thats been taking off in recency. Sun is an increasingly popular, diverse, and very effective strategy in the current metagame. Ever since Rapidash turned out to be an amazing pokemon, especially the Sunny Day sets, people have been taking it one step further by including Chlorophyll Grasses like Shiftry and Victreebel as partners, and the way they synergize so well at breaking is something the current meta should be wary of. Sun is typically categorized into three groups, generally following the same framework; Partial Sun Spikes, Partial Sun Spikeless, and Full Sun Spikes. I want to go over my personal thoughts of Sun here.
Sun Viability Rankings:
S:




A:



B:
Most of B tier is comprised of offensive glue and other reasonable adds to Sun teams. Stantler and Raichu are generally great wallbreakers that help spread Spikes chip; great as Spikeless offense filler. Although I said Ninetales wasn't that good in my previous meta thoughts post, I think I'm coming around to the lead set a bit more, it especially helps on Sun teams to win interactions vs physical leads and beat down Rapidash, which is important for your own Rapidash to gain an edge. Hypno also is an effective lead that can reliably spread Twave paras and help into Rapidash and Haunter in a pinch, it just fits on everything so ofc it'd be good here. Although Wrath is the preferred Poli on Sun, Politoed isn't counted out thanks to its better Mantine matchup and still-workable Rapidash matchup, being a good fit on Sun teams using Spikes. Meganium seems like it would just stack weaknesses with the Chlorophylll Grasses, and while thats true on Spikes structures, on Spikeless it definitely works to break with SD and lure Rapidash for the rest of the Sun team, potentially benefitting from Suns ability to give it 75% Synthesis healing. Metang is the second normal resist listed here, being solid into Jolly CB Persian if measures are that desperate, but it also has the underrated set of 3A Sunny Day to provide support for some Sun teams.
C downward:
Everything else listed aren't quite the same fixtures on Sun teams as the Pokemon listed above, but they have unique attributes for certain Sun teams, be that shown in practice or merely theoretical. I won't go over everything but I will go over some of the more notable placings. Swalot is one of the best checks to opposing Sun on Spikeless Sun builds, while also helping into fat Waters if the team lacks a Victreebel. Pidgeot is another good mon on Spikeless as an alternative to Hitmonchan for priority and physical wallbreaking. Torkoal is similar to Ninetales but slightly worse to me, though some Sun teams like the extra insurance it provides by being less weak to Rapidash HP Rock. Pikachu is a cool lead that recently popped off in the open tour, it breaks open holes early by beating or trading well with the mid-Speed leads such as Stantler, Hitmonchan, and all of the Water leads. Where it can shine on Sun is by using Light Screen + Volt Tackle recoil for sweepers to take advantage of. Primeape mainly works on Double or Triple fighter structures where they all enable each other and cover for weaknesses very well. I reckon it's more of a Spikeless Sun thing but I think a Spikes comp could maybe work as well? Maybe Primeape Poliwrath Glalie Haunter Rapidash Shiftry/Vic? All of the D tier mons are trash on Sun, but I throw Huntail in there because BFM made it work during Week 1 of RUGL so it's the lowest ranking mon for sure but it has a result at least.
Unsure:
I do believe that Double Fire is great when you use Ninetales/Rapidash and potentially Torkoal/Rapidash, but as far as the other Fires go they really worsen your matchup into physical breakers. Magmar probably has the most promise here though due to its ability to TPunch Mantine early, beating down Rapidash with HP Ground (which is better on Sun over HP Water, honestly I might do this with all of my Magmars), and having generally great firepower under Sun. The rest of the mons in "unsure" do deserve experimentation, especially Kingler lead, but I wouldn't be shocked if they just didn't fit.
Now wIth everything talked about with Sun and why it is a great team style in ADV RU, this leaves us with one question...
Where does this leave Rain?
Rain is another good pick in the metagame, yet I dont feel like it is quite as versatile or efficient as Sun is. Rain is more focused on lures and heavy Spikes support, whereas Sun can drop Spikes for more offensive glue in its team slots. Where Rain really shines is its matchup into Sun teams, it's harder to countersweep Rain as Sun than it is to countersweep Sun as Rain. Rain has also been used to success in the past few months, with good showings in RUGL and the Open Tour. I don't want to put a lot of the focus on Rain in this post, so I will leave this segment spoilered in case you want to read about what's good and my thoughts on it.
S:
Mantine is the linchpin of all Rain right now. Just as Sun can not go without Rapidash, so can't Rain without Mantine, valued for countersweeping Sun teams, outspeeding Salac Haunter, and checking Hitmonchan. Although, where Rain begins to differ from Sun is that while Sun relies on a dual synergy between Rapidash and Grasses, most Rain is dedicated to primarily supporting a Mantine sweep, and potentially other teammates given the team composition but mainly Mantine. While it seems weird that Rapidash would be so high here, the CB and Silk Scarf sets are key to letting Mantine sweep by battering down Waters with a strong Double-Edge. If Rapidash doesn't kill them outright, even some chip is enough to put them in Mantine HP Elec range. So far I haven't seen a Spikeless Rain build as compared to Sun, mostly due to the breakers and sweepers more heavily appreciating Spikes support, though not to say Glalie and Haunter aren't fantastic teammates here. Glalie has a benefit on Rain by being a potential Rain setter, although typical Spikes sets are usually enough to get by.
A:
Huntail and Kabutops are good Swift Swim sweepers too, yet their synergy with Mantine isn't as required or robust. However, Full Rain still widely appreciates them picking up some slack for Mantine. Despite not having Swift Swim, I would also count Raichu as a good Rain sweeper and setter, with fully accurate Thunders and boosted Surfs to make up for the lack of boosting options or pressure other Raichu sets have. Flareon acts similarly to Rapidash by luring Waters, being much stronger and thus less reliant on Spikes or chip to make up for the power loss, yet Rapidash still has the Speed advantage so it's a bit more specific. Agility Metang also benefits from the trend of Rain's nature to beat down bulky Waters and is a shockingly good breaker in these cases, but it can also be a good general weather setter and normal resist, 3 attacks weather move is good for a lot of Sun and Rain teams.
B downward:
While it may seem odd for Pupitar to be ranked so highly, maybe out of experience bias or cope that the mon could work, I find it to have an excellent synergy with Rain in a similar way to Agility Metang. It provides another good sweeper that takes advantage of Waters being weakened and is great into common threats to Rain such as Physical Rapidash, Persian, Haunter, and bulky Raichu. Water leads like Octillery, Wailord, and Seadra are also good at breaking open holes for Mantine early in the game, this is actually featured in one of the samples with Octillery. Hypno and Pikachu are primarily just good leads to match up well into Fighter and Water leads respectively, providing decent support with Twave and Light Screen but ofc not needed for most teams. I have used Banette on a bunch of my Rain teams to break Hypno, but I acknowledge the support as a Ghost compared to Haunter is a little lacking.
Everything below are things that could work but I feel don't typically mesh well with Rain comps. Stantler is generally good offensive glue but I don't feel like the holes it breaks are that necessary for Rain to function. While you can justify a Poli with Mantine on Partial Rain builds, I don't feel it's particularly worth it compared to using CB Rapidash or other Water leads to beat down opposing Waters. Pidgeot and Swalot are Spikeless staples to give a good matchup into Sun yet I still don't feel like Spikeless Rain is a thing yet. Always down to be proven wrong though.
Is Sun a problem in ADV RU?
In my opinion, no. Quite possibly I would even say this is a potential positive in carving out the tier's identity and making it stand out among all other ADV and RU tiers. I believe Sun to be a dominant playstyle but not quite problematic. I think the tier's current anti-offense tools are still sufficient enough to handle Sun with careful play, and by using Sun you take certain risks at some corners, notably with Fire Blast accuracy, which can be detrimental to a Rapidash sweep. There are also techs to handle Sun at the moment, whether that be bulky Hitmonchan or HP Fire Haunter. I've noticed in the survey and when talking to people that the key factor to it being potentially problematic points towards Rapidash alone. Time will tell whether Rapidash is truly broken or not, I would only point to the Sunny Day sets in this instance. I want to leave discussion open here for ADV RU players to give their thoughts on it, if any, whether that be cool tech, teams, is X or Y broken, etc. Thank you all for reading so far! As a parting gift, I want to share some of my own weather teams that I've been using a bit not currently on samples. I would throw in Spikeless Sun if I had the chance but I haven't built with it too much recently. Happy ADV RUing~!
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