Dream Drop Distance - BW2 OU Sun (~Top 10 on PS)

[Drako]

Dream Drop Distance

Introduction

Hello, Smogon community, my name is Drako and today I want to present you my first ever RMT. I really enjoy reading these so I figured, I could write one myself. First of all, I want to apologize in advance for any grammatical or orthographical issues. English - unfortunately - isn't my native tongue.
Secondly, I'd like to make clear, that I am by no means a strong battler. Top 10 on PS, in my humble opinion, is worth nothing at all, considering that there are a lot of new players trying to get into the game and not really knowing what they are actually doing. However, for a mediocre player like me, it is a pretty big achievement.
That being said, I'd like to get right into the game and present you one of my most successful teams.

With the introduction of BW2, rain got some pretty powerful tools, easily skyrocketing to be the number one weather. Sand is still a force to be reckoned with and one should never forget hail and its versatility.
One day, I was wondering if sun could still do the job and after some testing I realized, hell yeah it could.
It was incredible to see how easy it was to win the weather war even without the likes of Dugtrio, Wobbuffet or the awesome Heatran set.
Anyway, I've rambled far enough and I'm sure you all want to see the in depth analysis of each individual team member already.

Team building process

Hide

There's no actual teambuilding process since I can't really remember all the past members. It hasn't been too many though and I don't exactly like this section anyway.

At a Glance

Theme

As you can probably tell, I'm a huge fan of the Kingdom Hearts series and I just recently finished its newest addition "Dream Drop Distance" or simply 3D, so I figured I could make this a themed RMT because I find it to be the most appealing for the eye. I sincerely hope you are not bugged by it in any sort of way.

The team

Naminé (Ninetales) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 184 HP / 216 SDef / 108 Spd
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Roar

I never really understood why people think Ninetails is shit. I mean, it would have been nicer to get Drought on something like Arcanine, but Ninetails is by all measures, not a dead weight. It's an invaluable member for the team, providing it with the essential sun support. Without it, the team could not work as efficiently as it does.
The EVs allow Ninetails to take even the strongest specially based hits (Latios' Specs Draco Meteor fails to OHKO at full) while still hitting a respectable 263 speed stat which enables the fox to outspeed jolly Breloom and roast it with a sun boosted Flamethrower.
I chose Will-O-Wisp over Toxic because the burn hinders Politoed's and Tyranitar's survivability more than poison. Weather inducers won't stay in more than one turn anyway, since they just want to get the advantage on their side again.
Painsplit is obviously for recovery and roar because it stops set up sweepers in their track. Most notably Volcarona.

Taking all the facts into account, I have to admit Ninetails is a decent poke overall and I think I found the right set for my team. However, sometimes I'd love Protect instead of Roar to deal better with the extremely dangerous Specs Politoed.

Hide

~ Bad, or good, I don't know. They're a group of incomplete people who wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something. ~

Riku (Terrakion) (N) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Quick Attack
- Stealth Rock

Monster. The Power. Or simply Terrakion. I love this thing. It hits insanely hard and it got some nice bonus in BW2, namely Stealth Rock.
The bull is there to muscle through my opposition's team and to set up my only entry hazard. It does both jobs very well, since it forces an amazing amount of switches.
There's not much else to say, I went with a standard life orb sweeper spread, just replacing Protect/Swords Dance with Stealth Rock.

Terrakion's awesome coverage and access to priority (weak but useful) make it the perfect member for a sun team.

Hide

~ People can't judge you by your appearance. I also have a friend who saw through me into my heart. ~

Sora (Forretress) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 240 HP / 40 SAtk / 220 Def / 8 Atk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 2 Spd
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Sora is the most important character of Kingdom Hearts, seeing as everything kind of relates to him. Forretress is very much alike. He is THE utility poke of my team. He provides a pretty much perfect Gyarados counter in the sun, nails Sub Toxic Gliscor with HP Ice and deals a lot of damage to fast threats with Gyro Ball.
The most important thing about Forry though, is his capability of rapid spinning. Keeping away the hazards is a big plus for a sun team.
I want to make a shout out to Gamester's Solar Vengeance (#1 on all major ladders) RMT. As soon as I saw this set I was like, yes, that's what I was looking for.

You may think Forretress without Hazards is redundant but it fills the needs of my team perfectly and I don't know what I would have done without my self-appointed glue.

Hide

~ It's okay, even when we're apart, my heart is always connected to Riku's, so I'm sure your feelings will reach him. ~

Xion (Venusaur) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 156 Atk / 180 Spd / 172 SAtk
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 Spd
- Earthquake
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Venusaur makes its way on 99,9% of all sun teams. And for a good reason, the big plant from 1st Gen is one of the most dangerous sweepers in OU. With its blistering speed due to Chlorphyll and its mad coverage it can destroy whole teams after one Growth.
The EVs allow it to outspeed Scarf Latios which is pretty much the fastest thing you will encounter and the rest is pumped into Attack and Special Attack.
I chose Lefties over Life Orb because Venusaur is an important switch in to Politoed and other rain threats, making Life Orb kind of the wrong choice because it would greatly hinder Venusaur's survivability.
The moves are rather special, to say the least. I chose Earthquake for Heatran, Jirachi and Tentacruel, Giga Drain for obvious STAB and HP Ice to revenge dragons.

Venusaur is extremely important for the team's synergy. Even though I'd love Life Orb and Sleep Powder sometimes, the coverage and overall utility would be missed a lot more.

Hide

~ Who am I? What am I... here for? ~

Roxas (Dragonite) (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Fire Punch
- Outrage

My main check against opposing sun. Lum DD Dragonite is just a monster. Again and again, I gaze in amazement how easy it grabs a Dragon Dance boost due to Multiscale and proceeds to kill 2-3 (ideally 6) pokes.
EV spread is self explanatory. Sometimes I wish I had Earthquake or Superpower but most of the time, the standard set does the job for me. The boost Fire Punch gets from sun is awesome and Dragonite's access to the strongest priority move in the game makes it even better. Outrage is there to muscle through everything that doesn't resist it.

Dragonite is cool and does well against sun, but sometimes I thought it's my weakest link. Especially if Multiscale is broken, it can't really put lots of pressure on the opponent's team, since it's fairly slow and Extreme Speed is weak without a boost.
Nevertheless, I'm not sure if there's any replacement that could turn out to be an improvement while still providing my team with some useful resistances.

Hide

~ Roxas: What's gonna happen to me now? Just tell me that. Nothing else really matters anymore.
Naminé: You are...
[she flickers]
Roxas: Naminé!
[she vanishes; DiZ appears]
DiZ: There's no knowledge that has the power to change your fate.
Roxas: Even if it doesn't, I wanna know. I have the right to know!
DiZ: A Nobody doesn't have a right to know. Nor does it even have the right to be. ~

Lea (Victini) (N) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- V-create
- Brick Break
- Fusion Bolt

The MVP. Like literally. The moment I had 5/6 members of my team set, I knew I needed a scarfer for some speed apart from Venusaur.
Also I noticed that I was incredibly weak to SD scizor which could basically destroy my whole team with +2 Bullet Punch. When I created this team, Genesect wasn't released yet, but I knew it would fit pretty nicely. I thought I could try out Victini in the meanwhile 'cause sun boosted V-Create was supposed to be strong.
HOLY CRAP, Gene-who?? Victini is freakin' amazing. Imo it's better in OU than in UU. The sun makes it so incredibly strong you wouldn't believe it!
It OHKOs stuff like Starmie, Salamence, etc. after Stealth Rock which resist the hit! So imagine what it does to Pokes that don't! It obliterates, demolishes, destroys them!
Standard EV spread with a jolly nature and a Choice Scarf to make it an extremely fast and powerful force.
V-Create is obvious, U-Turn to scout, Fusion Bolt to hit Politoed hard on the switch and revenge +1 Gyarados and Brick Break for Heatran, in case Venusaur or Terrakion didn't manage to take it out.

Sometimes I wished I had Flare Blitz on this thing to sweep a weakened team but the other moves are just too important and it would only be the icing on the cake anyway.
Siriously people, try Victini. It's really good.

Hide

~ Axel? Please. The name’s Lea. Got it memorized? ~

Conclusion

All in all, I really enjoyed using this team, but I'm safe to say that it's time to retire it and try something new. Maybe you have some suggestions what could be improved and if you want to use the team yourself please go ahead, I'll leave an importable below.
That being said, I wanna thank you for reading this RMT and I hope my mediocre English didn't bother you too much.

Importable

Hide

Naminé (Ninetales) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 184 HP / 216 SDef / 108 Spd
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Roar

Riku (Terrakion) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Quick Attack
- Stealth Rock

Sora (Forretress) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 240 HP / 40 SAtk / 220 Def / 8 Atk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 2 Spd
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Xion (Venusaur) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 156 Atk / 180 Spd / 172 SAtk
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 Spd
- Earthquake
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Roxas (Dragonite) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Fire Punch
- Outrage

Lea (Victini) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- V-create
- Brick Break
- Fusion Bolt

​

 

[Jstan]

It is a really nice team but your team in general doesn't like rain and the Tornadus-T(especially if its scarfed as it out speed your venusaur even in the sun) that comes with it.

Try run 30 Atk and Def IVs on venusaur so you can out speed opposing venusaurs.

 

[destinyunknown]

Hey Drako,

You have a really nice sun team, good job! There isn't many things that need to be changed, but you should definitely consider using Dugtrio instead of Terrakion. The main problem to your team currently is its inability to win weather wars reliably, especially against Sand teams with Tyranitar, something Dugtrio can help you with. Dugtrio also helps you taking out another big threat, Heatran, which can be hard to beat if you can't lure it with Venusaur. Using Dugtrio also lets you run a more useful move like Sludge Bomb or Sleep Powder on Venusaur, or simply using Sludge Bomb + Hidden Power Fire coverage. Here's the set:

Dugtrio@Focus Sash | Arena Trap
Jolly Nature | 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Earthquake / Stone Edge / Reversal / Stealth Rock

Good luck!

 

[Drako]

@Jstan

Are you serious? Scarf Tornadus-T? Nobody runs that. Like ever.
Venusaurs EV's are precisely given so that it has exactly 1 point of speed more than Scarf Latios minus the 1 IV.
Opposing Venusaur can potentially be a threat but I sleep fodder one of my pokes (most likely Ninetails or Forretress and revenge KO it with one of my other pokes depending on its coverage move.

Btw, I find rain pretty easy to beat.

Thanks for the rate though.

@DestinyUnknown

Thank you very much for your rate!
I'll definitely consider Dugtrio, since sand is probably the biggest threat to my team (especially a Landorus+Terrakion combo).
I have to test this a lot though, cause Terrakion really packs the punch and its damage output is of course a lot higher than Dugtrio's and its ability to pick of most Politoeds at like 50 % is also pretty neat.

We'll see, thanks for your rate again!

 

[Drako]

Bump. No more rates? Come on guys, even if you have some criticism on the lay out or whatever or if you think my team is shit, just tell me, I spent like 5 hours on it hah

 

[TheStarRapper]

Hey bud, savage team.

Did you know that a spread of 30/30/30/31/31/31 on Venusaur allows you to run full speed full power HP Ice?

Also, have you considered Sunny Day over pain split on Tales? I see almost every Ninetales running it nowadays, and it is extremely clutch because that means the opposing Weather Starter has to waste momentum coming back in, while you get 5 turns to enjoy your own weather and then at least be in neutral. Pain Split survivability is nice sure, but it doesn't mean a ton when Scarftoed can bring the pain. Better to just Sunny Day on the switch and ruin Toad and Tars day.

Guten Team, Ich mag es.

 

[Finchinator]

Hello Drako, great team ya got there!
Just a few possible changes I'll suggest for your team:
First off, Trick over Brick Break on Victini for more hurting stall oriented teams and cripling walls to Terrakion, Venasaur, and Dragonite. (heatran is beaten by the Terrakion and Venasaur while phazed by ninetales)
Second of all, and also my final revison would be to fix your ninetales set. I see that you use it as a phazor with roar while also utilizing pain split to hurt opponents and heal yourself. Using this combination with a bulky ev spread is certainly viable; however, I'd slap on substitue to benefit pain split and while the sweepers set up, you can sub then phaze while they continue to still set up, acting as a bluff of just a normal sub split set. Keeping you old ev's(they would work well on this set) the moveset would likely be sub/pain split/roar/flamethrower. If you'd wish you can also use rest if roar isn't totally necesary but, roar seems to be a staple for this set on this team!
In conclusion, good luck with the team and tell me if you plan to impliment any of these changes!

 

[bluewooper]

Hey Drako. I would like to tell you up front that this is one of the better teams that I have rated. I really do not have that much to recommend to you, but I hope that you take my suggestions and test them. Here goes nothing.

Your Dragonite EV spread is very simple. I understand that you want to maximize attack and speed so that you can sweep more effectively. However, I feel as if you can run a more efficient set that can give you some more added bulk. I recommend to you that you run an EV spread of 104Hp/252Atk/152Spe; Adamant. This spread does a lot of good to your team's longetivity. This EV spread allows you to outspeed positive-natured 110's after a dragon dance. Also, this gives you an addition to your bulkines, which is really helpful to your team since I'd imagine that you would turn to Dragonite against sun teams. You don't miss out on any really important outspeeds with the exception of Tornadus-Therian.

On Ninetales, you seem to be running an EV spread that is designed to outspeed Jolly Breloom. In my experience, I find that most users will use Adamant Breloom for Techniloom variants. The other variations do not run Positive speed natures. My recommendation to you is that you change your EV spread significantly to increase your bulkiness. A spread of 252Hp/216SpDef/40Spe: Calm will give you a lot of special bulk. Additionally, that will give you 245 speed, which allows you to outspeed pokemon with a 244 speed stat. Now, I am sure that you are thinking "duh," but there is good reasoning behind this particular stat. 243 is the Speed of a jolly Tyranitar, which came into good use during late DP. This has become a speed tier which has lived into the BW generation. Many pokemon now run 244 Speed in order to outrun Jolly Tyranitar (which in my mind is a terrible set). Not that Jolly Tyranitar really exists anymore, but the Speed tier due to his once being present exists still. Also, this allows you to still outspeed Adamant Breloom, which is big.

Also, I would recommend to you that you run Sunny Day on your Ninetales. I see all the time opponents bringing Politoed/Tyranitar into Ninetales to really turn the weather in their favor. This move really helps you to keep the momentum of the weather and the match in your favor. I would recommend that you replace Roar with Sunny Day. I think that Roar at the moment is the least useful of your current moves, and I believe that you would benefit much more from having Sunny Day in its place. Do note that you would end up losing a phazer in this change, although with Ninetales' bad weakness to ground and rock, as well as your lack of spikes, I don't think this will prove gamebreaking.

Drako, I'd like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to have me rate your team. I think that your ladder placement is very impressive, and I hope that you can implement some of these changes and have new success with your team!

 

[Drako]

Thank you guys!

I've tried out Sunny Day over Roar and the EV spread bluewooper recommended. Big improvement! Thanks a bunch!

Also, the new Dragonite EV spread (Thanks to bluewooper again) works wonders. The increasement of bulk is definitely noticeable. I slapped a Choice band on it and replaced DD with Earthquake. This made Dragonite a lot more powerful from the get go and it provides me with a strong priority in Extreem speed.

Last but not least I use Trick instead of Brick Break now and it's awesome. It really helps against stall since I don't need the speed against it.
Thanks to Finchinator for his great suggestion.