I'm not terribly great at introductions or explaining things, so I'll just get on with it- this is a Sun team for Smogon Doubles built around giving Charizard opportunities to decimate teams. Unlike some teams, I only aim to keep Sun up- no mucking around with Tailwind or Trick Room or Gravity or dual screens here. I find that, in general, it's much easier to disrupt or weather the opponent's plan than it is to snag an immediate win with your own, so I just try to keep Sun up and spend the match whittling my opponent down.
Charizard @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Dragon Pulse
- SolarBeam
The most efficient sun cleaner in the game, and the star of my team. Charizard's Heat Waves in sun are face-meltingly powerful and require zero set-up aside from having sun on the field. Choice Scarf means I'm faster than basically everything except other scarfers and Deoxys-S and lets me get clutch kills on things not expecting scarf, which is basically everyone as choice items are very rare in Doubles.
I click Heat Wave so often with this I might as well have HM moves in the other slots. They do serve purposes though- Solarbeam eliminates Terrakion and Water-types, Dragon Pulse dismantles Dragons in a pinch, and HP Ground kills non-balloon Heatran.
Ninetales @ Focus Sash
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Protect
-Sunny Day Energy Ball
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
If I'm using Charizard, I obviously need a form of Sun, and I don't want to muck around with invoked weather so Ninetales is here. Specifically offensive Ninetales, the version that actually gets stuff done. It basically just spams Heat Wave all day, but carries HP Ground for dealing with Heatran trying to come in on Zard.Sunny Day helps keep Sun on the field when facing other weathers. Protect is extremely useful on Ninetales, allowing me to preserve Sash against Fake Out and wait for Cresselia to fire off an Icy Wind so it can outspeed.
I was encouraged by a friend early in the team's life to use Modest Ninetales instead of Timid for more firepower, but soon after I had a nasty encounter with offensive Gliscor and changed it back.
Replacing Sunny Day with Energy Ball as I find myself never using it- even when I do run into opposing weathers Cresselia usually takes the helm and being unable to get Sun up before Zard attacks is lame. It also helps with the fact that Gastrodon is extremely common and kind of a jerk to this team if played well.
Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Icy Wind
- Sunny Day
- Psychic
-Helping Hand Moonlight
This is probably the set I'm least certain about- against Trick Room teams it usually winds up sitting in front of them and accomplishing very little. Against faster teams though, Icy Wind lets Ninetales outspeed foes, breaks sashes, and does surprisingly heavy damage against some of the 4x Ice-weak mons that litter the tier. Helping Hand gives Charizard's Heat Waves nuclear power, Psychic picks off reckless Hitmontops that stay in, and Sunny Day is for making sure Zard has Sun.I've been considering Moonlight over one of these moves, but I don't want to drop any of them- I need a back-up Sun setter and Helping Hand is very useful in general. I run Sitrus Berry over Leftovers due to lack of Protect or any way to ensure she stays around for enough turns for it to matter.
Moonlight on this is huge. Cress's sheer bulk makes her extremely hard to OHKO and having recovery lets her stay around for the entire battle. I don't miss Helping Hand at all.
Hitmontop (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Close Combat
- Feint
Standard Hitmontop. Intimidate+Fake Out is obligatory, letting me stop all sorts of threats. Sucker Punch helps for weakening faster bulky attackers so I can Heat Wave them with confidence, and maiming offensive Ghosts and Psychics. Close Combat is Fighting STAB and very useful in general, while Feint lets Heat Wave through Wide Guard. I run Lum Berry as, in my experience, Hitmontop takes a lot of status due to being Wisp-bait and having nothing but contact moves.
Amoonguss @ Lum Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Spore
- Protect
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
Rage Powder alone makes Amoonguss an excellent mon- while normally I can't risk Charizard failing to KO both of its opponents, Rage Powder lets me spam Heat Wave with fear only for spread. Being able to Spore Trick Room setters and wall Rain teams is a bonus. Protect helps to stall out Trick Room/Tailwind, and Giga Drain makes it not dead weight on its own. I run Lum Berry instead of Leftovers here mainly because I'm paranoid of Magic Coat.
Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Spd / 232 Atk / 24 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Fusion Bolt
Kyurem serves mainly as a secondary rain check that isn't vulnerable to Ice, while also threatening the Dragons that resist Heat Wave. 24 SAtk EVs with Life Orb ensures a OHKO on Heatran with Earth Power. Dragon Claw is STAB and Kyurem's most damaging non-suicidal attack, while Fusion Bolt softens up Water-types. I run max speed instead of bulk as, due to Life Orb, I don't expect Kyu-B to be able to tank terribly many hits.
For a bit, I ran Dragon Tail with this instead of Fusion Bolt to heckle Trick Room, but I found that many Trick Room attackers threaten Kyurem-B to the point where I didn't want to risk using a negative priority attack with it to stop Trick Room. I still never find opportunities to use Fusion Bolt though, so I'm open to suggestions for putting something else in the slot.
Threatlist:
Sun: If Heatran is absent, Zard can usually go nuts. Opposing sun teams are usually frail and can be plowed through with Charizard's Heat Wave after a bit of softening up. Venusaur is somewhat imposing but the rest of my team is fat enough to deal with it.
Rain: Full rain teams are uncommon and can be checked by Amoonguss and Kyurem. Obviously don't Solarbeam until Politoed is dead, and try to abuse my Sunny Day invokers.
Hail: lol
Sand: Kill Tyranitar. Once its dead I'm usually fine because the only scary Sand abuser is Excadrill.
Trick Room/Tailwind: I lump these together because I handle them the same way- stall until the effect is up, then crush them underfoot with Charizard. Against obvious Trick Room teams I usually lead with Amoonguss for Sporing.
Stall: do these teams exist
In general: Prankster. Thundurus-I, Tornadus-I, and Whimsicott all scare me as they can effortlessly end Charizard's sweep with Thunder Wave or Tailwind. Priority-heavy teams, especially Fake Out ones, are also unnerving as I can rarely count on having Amoonguss out to absorb them. Weather is also annoying but I can generally get Sun up when it matters, and even if I can't I have Cresselia to re-activate it.
Despite the fact that I'm using the oft-maligned Charizard, I have had some luck with this team on the ladder, peaking at #9. I would appreciate feedback though, as I'm rubbish at team-building and I know this could be better.
Charizard @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Dragon Pulse
- SolarBeam
The most efficient sun cleaner in the game, and the star of my team. Charizard's Heat Waves in sun are face-meltingly powerful and require zero set-up aside from having sun on the field. Choice Scarf means I'm faster than basically everything except other scarfers and Deoxys-S and lets me get clutch kills on things not expecting scarf, which is basically everyone as choice items are very rare in Doubles.
I click Heat Wave so often with this I might as well have HM moves in the other slots. They do serve purposes though- Solarbeam eliminates Terrakion and Water-types, Dragon Pulse dismantles Dragons in a pinch, and HP Ground kills non-balloon Heatran.
Ninetales @ Focus Sash
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Protect
-
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
If I'm using Charizard, I obviously need a form of Sun, and I don't want to muck around with invoked weather so Ninetales is here. Specifically offensive Ninetales, the version that actually gets stuff done. It basically just spams Heat Wave all day, but carries HP Ground for dealing with Heatran trying to come in on Zard.
I was encouraged by a friend early in the team's life to use Modest Ninetales instead of Timid for more firepower, but soon after I had a nasty encounter with offensive Gliscor and changed it back.
Replacing Sunny Day with Energy Ball as I find myself never using it- even when I do run into opposing weathers Cresselia usually takes the helm and being unable to get Sun up before Zard attacks is lame. It also helps with the fact that Gastrodon is extremely common and kind of a jerk to this team if played well.
Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Icy Wind
- Sunny Day
- Psychic
-
This is probably the set I'm least certain about- against Trick Room teams it usually winds up sitting in front of them and accomplishing very little. Against faster teams though, Icy Wind lets Ninetales outspeed foes, breaks sashes, and does surprisingly heavy damage against some of the 4x Ice-weak mons that litter the tier. Helping Hand gives Charizard's Heat Waves nuclear power, Psychic picks off reckless Hitmontops that stay in, and Sunny Day is for making sure Zard has Sun.
Moonlight on this is huge. Cress's sheer bulk makes her extremely hard to OHKO and having recovery lets her stay around for the entire battle. I don't miss Helping Hand at all.
Hitmontop (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Close Combat
- Feint
Standard Hitmontop. Intimidate+Fake Out is obligatory, letting me stop all sorts of threats. Sucker Punch helps for weakening faster bulky attackers so I can Heat Wave them with confidence, and maiming offensive Ghosts and Psychics. Close Combat is Fighting STAB and very useful in general, while Feint lets Heat Wave through Wide Guard. I run Lum Berry as, in my experience, Hitmontop takes a lot of status due to being Wisp-bait and having nothing but contact moves.
Amoonguss @ Lum Berry
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Spore
- Protect
- Rage Powder
- Giga Drain
Rage Powder alone makes Amoonguss an excellent mon- while normally I can't risk Charizard failing to KO both of its opponents, Rage Powder lets me spam Heat Wave with fear only for spread. Being able to Spore Trick Room setters and wall Rain teams is a bonus. Protect helps to stall out Trick Room/Tailwind, and Giga Drain makes it not dead weight on its own. I run Lum Berry instead of Leftovers here mainly because I'm paranoid of Magic Coat.
Kyurem-Black @ Life Orb
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Spd / 232 Atk / 24 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earth Power
- Protect
- Fusion Bolt
Kyurem serves mainly as a secondary rain check that isn't vulnerable to Ice, while also threatening the Dragons that resist Heat Wave. 24 SAtk EVs with Life Orb ensures a OHKO on Heatran with Earth Power. Dragon Claw is STAB and Kyurem's most damaging non-suicidal attack, while Fusion Bolt softens up Water-types. I run max speed instead of bulk as, due to Life Orb, I don't expect Kyu-B to be able to tank terribly many hits.
For a bit, I ran Dragon Tail with this instead of Fusion Bolt to heckle Trick Room, but I found that many Trick Room attackers threaten Kyurem-B to the point where I didn't want to risk using a negative priority attack with it to stop Trick Room. I still never find opportunities to use Fusion Bolt though, so I'm open to suggestions for putting something else in the slot.
Threatlist:
Sun: If Heatran is absent, Zard can usually go nuts. Opposing sun teams are usually frail and can be plowed through with Charizard's Heat Wave after a bit of softening up. Venusaur is somewhat imposing but the rest of my team is fat enough to deal with it.
Rain: Full rain teams are uncommon and can be checked by Amoonguss and Kyurem. Obviously don't Solarbeam until Politoed is dead, and try to abuse my Sunny Day invokers.
Hail: lol
Sand: Kill Tyranitar. Once its dead I'm usually fine because the only scary Sand abuser is Excadrill.
Trick Room/Tailwind: I lump these together because I handle them the same way- stall until the effect is up, then crush them underfoot with Charizard. Against obvious Trick Room teams I usually lead with Amoonguss for Sporing.
Stall: do these teams exist
In general: Prankster. Thundurus-I, Tornadus-I, and Whimsicott all scare me as they can effortlessly end Charizard's sweep with Thunder Wave or Tailwind. Priority-heavy teams, especially Fake Out ones, are also unnerving as I can rarely count on having Amoonguss out to absorb them. Weather is also annoying but I can generally get Sun up when it matters, and even if I can't I have Cresselia to re-activate it.
Despite the fact that I'm using the oft-maligned Charizard, I have had some luck with this team on the ladder, peaking at #9. I would appreciate feedback though, as I'm rubbish at team-building and I know this could be better.
