Burning Attack!

[deadflame]

Hello, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read this. Welcome to Burning Attack. So far, I'm doing pretty good, peaking, at the moment, at 1944, I believe, and making the ladder several times. I know that Sun may be antiquated to some of you, but trust me, I do make it work. In any case, on to the team!


Oh, and by the way, this is for Pokebank OU (Beta)! Much obliged!

1. Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Sunny Day
- Roar
- Will-O-Wisp

Ninetales, the backbone of my team. Sun, while not completely necessary for my team to function, does really help. Feel free to change the evs if you want to test. I'm looking to tweak movesets for this team anyway, but I don't want to change Pokemon at this time. The evs do serve a purpose. They make her quite specially bulky, while letting her switch into some strong special attacks. The moves are pretty self-explanatory. Flamethrower is decently strong STAB in Sun, and prevents her from being Taunt Bait. Sunny Day is for other weather inducers and when the Sun is out. Roar is for Volc and Calm Minders. WOW is for Physical attackers.

2. Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 72 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Naive Nature.
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Welcome to what I call Dual Venusaur. The credit for this goes to Psych over nine from Showdown. The premise behind this is simple. Sweep while Sun is up, abusing Chlorophyll, then when a Fire or Ice Attacker comes in, or Sun goes down, Mega Evolve and continue fighting, abusing Thick Fat. It's Standard Venusuar EV's from 5th, allowing it to survive Mamoswine's Ice Shard in normal form, while keeping good speed in Sun (528). The moves are standard, too. Growth to make me have 598 special attack, Giga Drain for STAB and healing, Sludge Bomb for a strong neutral hit on Volc and Dragons, and HP Fire for Pseudo STAB, Genesect, and Ferrothorn, as well as Skarm.

3. Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed

Ah, Dragonite. My main sweeper, if I'm being honest. Okay, to the evs! Standard sweepers evs, really. The moves are too. Dragon Dance is standard, and Outrage is powerful STAB. I hate Dragon Claw. Fire Punch in Sun for Fairies and Steels, and ExtremeSpeed for strong priority, especially at plus 1 or 2. I kind of wanted to try Iron Head, but ExtremeSpeed is so damn useful.

4. Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Head Smash

It may seem odd to have a mainly offensive moveset on a defensive set, but trust me, it works. Defensive set to take hits better, and, of course, Rapid Spin for Rocks. Earthquake for strong STAB off base 120 attack, and Ice Shard for Dragons 4X weak to it. Head Smash is an amazing tool I've been using with great success, nailing Talonflame and Volcarona who think they can set up on me. Head Smash is used over Stone Edge in case I get burned, which, unfortunately, happens more than one might think.

5. Wobbuffet @ Custap Berry
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Bold Nature
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
- Encore
- Destiny Bond

Wobbuffet, my favorite Pokemon ever, and the single most important member of the team. He traps so many things, like Magnezone (so Dragonite can sweep), both Banded and Assault Vest Tyranitar, Specs Toed (however rare that might be now) and so much more! I run max defenses because no leftovers, and so it lives a Banded Crunch 100% of the time, barring a crit. Custap Destiny Bond is so nasty, and I just adore it! Also, you'd be surprised how many people try and boost on me, only to eat an Encore to the face!

6. Heatran @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Overheat
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
- Flash Cannon

I used to have Banded Infernape here, and, while I miss him, Heatran is working wonders for my team. This is my favorite set, so please don't suggest that I change Specs. Standard evs for a Specs Set, while I go with Timid to outspeed a few important threats, namely, other Heatran. Overheat for very strong STAB in Sun, especially with Specs and a possible Flash Fire boost. Earth Power is for other Heatran, and also hurts some other threats. Ancient Power might seem odd, but it's for Talonflame and Volcarona. Last but not least is Flash Cannon, which hurts some threats for neutral damage, as well as those damn Fairies which seem to be running amok nowadays.

Well, that's it for team Burning Attack! I do have some trouble vs Sand Teams sometimes, especially with Hippowdon, as I easily trap Tyranitar with Wobbuffet and kill him. I also really hate Greninja and Mega Kangaskhan. If anyone can help me tweak movesets, I'd greatly appreciate it! Mostly, though, I'm just looking for your thoughts and opinions on the team. Thank you so much, and have a great night!

 

[Jimbon]

Hi there,

Interesting team, I've been meaning to experiment with Sun a little in X/Y and this team looks fun to use. As for your team, there are some things that I think need changing, the first being the lack of Stealth Rock on this team. While Stealth Rock may see less usage thanks to the new Defog mechanics, I would argue this doesn't really affect your team much, given that the main Defog users such as Scizor and Skarmory don't pose much threat to Sun Teams. I'd consider running Stealth Rock on Donphan in place of Head Smash, as while Head Smash has some use I would argue Stealth Rock would benefit your team much more. While Head Smash does hurt Talonflame and Volcarona, Stealth Rock pretty much removes them as a threat as they can be picked off by Dragonite's Extremespeed. Additionally, the recoil damage from Head Smash is a problem too, as it weakens Donphan for opposing physical attackers -- given Donphan's importance on this team [only Pokemon to take physical hits, Rapid Spinner, Dragon check, etc] I think you would want to keep Donphan alive as much as possible. In general Stealth Rock slowly chips away at Pokemon that may block a potential Venusaur / Dragonite sweep.

If you choose to go with this suggestion, then there is a follow-up change that may work to your advantage. If you choose to give Donphan Stealth Rock then it may be a wise idea to get rid of Ancient Power on Heatran and replace it with a more consistent, fail-safe Fire move of choice which you can easily abuse when Sun is up. I'd consider dropping Ancient Power in place of Flamethrower / Fire Blast -- with Stealth Rock support on your team, you're not going to need Ancient Power to deal with Volcarona / Talonflame, as both are dealt with by a Fire move in the Sun after Stealth Rock. In general, an extra Fire move will also give Heatran some sort of staying power as you don't have to switch out everytime you use Flamethrower or Fire Blast, as well as a choice of power vs accuracy [Overheat vs Flamethrower / Fire Blast]. Additionally, it makes sure that Heatran is not complete set-up fodder after using Overheat, which is important given that lack of a Choice Scarf user to revenge kill.

Another thing I noticed on this team was your sweepers and how well they work together. Recently I've been using Weakness Policy Dragonite on a Hyper Offense team, which has been working extremely well. I would argue that a Weakness Policy would work better on Dragonite in place of a Lum Berry as most status users that threaten Dragonite can be dispatched by Heatran or trapped and used as set-up fodder by Wobbuffet. It's also important to mention that Dragonite is your only Physical attacker, and your only real answer to certain Special walls, especially given that Donphan is running a defensive set, so you rely pretty heavily on Dragonite to deal with these. A Weakness Policy takes advantage of Dragonite's sweeping opportunities, and having Multiscale means Dragonite can take a Super Effective hit to activate the Weakness Policy and sweep easier.

Good luck!

 

[deadflame]

Thank you so much! I'll try out all those changes ASAP! Except, I'm going to keep Head Smash, and just get rid of Ice Shard on Donphan. I do miss Stealth Rock sometimes. And I'm going to keep Ancient Power, just because Talonflame is such a huge threat, but if I find I don't need it after using Stealth Rock, I'll drop it for Flamethrower. Thank you so much! This team is super fun to use, by the way! And I've been meaning to try Weakness Policy. I suppose I can play around Status Users, who tend to be pretty obvious, anyway, Togekiss, Rotom, etc.

 

[TheTommy10200]

Deadflame, i would listen to Jim if i where you and just ditch Head Smash all together. You see, Ice shard complements Dragonite's E-Speed very nicely. It is always good to try out new things one in a while or else you will never know if it would have worked. Also... Heatran was a good addition to your team over Infernape but it seems that the common air balloon heatran can give this team problems resulting in a huge reliance on Wobbuffet. I see Wobbuffet was filler in the placement there so i have a feeling his spot might change over the later experiments with this team.

 

[welsknight]

You may want to consider putting a Weakness Policy on your Dragonite. I know the Lum Berry will cure Outrage's confusion, but the Weakness Policy when combined with Dragon Dance and Multiscale can turn Dragonite into a nigh-unstoppable sweeper in ONE TURN. (Dragon Dance + Hit by SE move = +2.5x Atk, + 2x SpA, +1.5x Spe)

This is the Dragonite I've been using (and to great success):

Dragonite (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Dragon Dance

The other major difference we have with our Dragonites is EV Spread. I put 252 in HP to make him bulky (since I know he will have to take a SE hit to get that +2x Atk/SpA boost from Weakness Policy, but with the EVs put into HP and Multiscale, I have yet to find something that can OHKO him without stat boosts.

Just a thought, take it as you will. =)

Overall great team though, I do love me some Sunshine.

 

[LightningLuxray]

What the fuck is this?

Extremespeed is used on most Dragonite sets, as like TheTommy said, works very well with Ice Shard.

Earthquake is used to hit steel types (Most notably Heatran, who you yourself said was a threat to his team.)

However, I would agree with you on the EV's; Dragonite really needs Max Speed in order to outspeed a lot of threats. Also, I noticed the nature wasn't listed; make sure you go Jolly, as again, speed is something Dragonite definitely needs.