(Another) Drought Team in Progress

[PIPhilosopher]

This is my first attempt at a drought team here, it's very much in progress and any criticism would definitely be appreciated. In my tests so far, I seem to have decent across-the-board coverage, but opposing weather teams (especially Sand teams) and well-played stall teams have definitely proven tough to deal with.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SpA, - Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power

I typically use Heatran as an opener to set up entry hazards. With Air Balloon and his excellent typing, Heatran can nearly always set up a Stealth Rock before needing to switch or go on the offensive. Taunt helps me prevent the opponent's opener from using any potential entry hazards.

Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 92 SDef / 164 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Substitute
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp

My weather inducer. I'm running this set in order to give Ninetales the defensive edge to keep it alive even against opposing weather teams and, if I play it carefully enough to pull it off, the Will-O-Wisp burn support can help me weaken some of the bigger offensive threats before a switch (ex: Haxorus).

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 204 HP / 116 Defense / 180 SpA / 8 Spd
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Growth
- Sludge Bomb
- Energy Ball

My primary special sweeper, Venusaur is capable of taking out most of this team's biggest threats in the sun. With Energy Ball in place of SolarBeam, Venusaur can sweep effectively even in sand or rain.

Sawsbuck @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 136 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 116 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SpA)
- Return
- Horn Leech
- Jump Kick
- Nature Power

Sawsbuck functions as a more than adequate physical sweeper in the sun, and even outside of the sun, he fills a very useful niche in my team with access to STAB Return and Horn Leech. Nature power (EQ) gives me solid coverage against most fire types when coupled with Sawsbuck's monstrous base 95 speed and, with careful switching, Jump Kick has proven essential in dealing with Tyranitar (which seems to be one of the biggest single threats my team faces).

Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

My rapid spinner and dragon killer, Starmie seems to fill a lot of holes in this team's composition. While Starmie doesn't have a single STAB move in this moveset and is incredibly frail for a rapid spinner, Life Orb allows Starmie to revenge kill dragons (typically a major problem for a Sun team) Gyrados, and Gliscor and with careful switching / use of Recover still manage to spin away entry hazards as needed.

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Morning Sun
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance

I was originally running the ChestoRest set and using Volcarona as a mid-game sweeper, but after adding Starmie as a rapid spinner into the mix, I changed to using the bulkier Morning Sun build to capitalize on Volcarona's abilities as a bulky late-game sun sweeper with Quiver Dance.


So there we have it. While it fills what seems to be a needed role in my team, I'm not 100% sold on Starmie's place. I also need a reliable way of dealing with Excadrill. I'm considering replacing Venusaur with Dragonite, then changing to either Hitmontop or Donphan as a rapid spinnner. If I bump Dragonite into the set in place of Venusaur, I may also change back to a ChestoRest Volcarona so I still have access to a mid-game Special Sweeper.

 

[kmuffinman]

You need another Sunny Day set-up just in case your opponent replaces the weather and your Ninetales has fainted.
Also, once you have this set up, your Sunny Day will always be activated and you can use Solarbeam on your Venusaur

 

[DaRkRaii]

You need to add more to your descriptions or a mod may find this thread and lock it under rule 3.

 

[kmuffinman]

Oh yes and I don't understand your Heatran's Heat Wave. Firstly, it has less accuracy than flamethrower at the cost of 5 power, and if you want a powerful fire move Fire Blast is much better, despite its 85% accuracy

 

[MCramez]

I would take swords dance of sawsbuck and run nature power, then i would also use double edge over return. Sawsbuck is a fantastic late game cleaner against both weathers, because base 100 speed and near perfect coverage means that even if your weather is gone, you can still sweep. If sun is up sawsbuck is an immediate threat against anything with double edge. Swords dance takes to much time, and it is generally better to hit his counter on the switch anyway. He is weak to common priority, and can't beat scizor, so i find it difficult to set him up.

I find donphan to be a better sun team partner because he threatens sand, and can tank physical hits, but it depends on playstyle. If you do make that switch, consider using donphan as the lead and changing heatran to a sweeper set. He can run a flame charge+3 special attack set effectively, or a sub flame charge set as well. With HP Ice he can function effectively as a dragon killer.

Donphan can run ice shard, and in tandem with heatran can beat many physical dragons (dnight, ddance mence). This change does leave you vulnerable to haxorus...

 

[PIPhilosopher]

Running Flamethrower on Heatran is a much better idea, I made that change immediately. While it would be nice as a "just in case," I don't think I'll be running Sunny Day on any other pokemon (at this point, at least) since thus far keeping Ninetales for sun has not proven to be much of a problem. However, I'll keep that in mind and watch closely to see if Venusaur's Growth is worth dropping in favor of making him a new sun bringer.
I'm also liking the idea of dropping Swords Dance on Sawsbuck for Nature Power. It seems like sets typically run Swords Dance with Leftovers in order to give Sawsbuck more OHKO potential in quick sweeps, but a late-game cleaner shouldn't need any set up.

I'm going to change Heatran's set a bit and run Donphan instead of Starmie as a test before making that change entirely since, as you pointed out MCramez, I definitely am still very vulnerable to Haxorus running that set.
I'll update this here soon once I've had a chance to test out the Donphan idea. Thanks guys!