Drought Team 2.0

Nibiria

Alright guys, here's the edited set that I've been working on for a while now. I still use the previous one and am testing the changes to it as we speak, but in the meantime I thought I'd use this thread to set up the second set. This set seems to work extremely well on almost anything, I've really enjoyed it so far, but there doesn't seem to be much variety in the typing. Once you see the set you'll know what I mean. Here goes!

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Donphan (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard


Ah, Donphan...truth be told I was a bit skeptical of putting him on my team at first, but I've found him to be a really reliable lead, among other things. When not being used as a lead, he's a great ground type and usually covers anything weak to earthquake. In addition, he functions as a spinner for the team and is often easy to switch into on certain attacks.



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Redwood (Shiftry) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb
- Sucker Punch
- Brick Break


I decided to switch Shiftry to an offensive sweeper because his base attack is higher, which I should have noticed, but I was trying to take advantage of Growth in the sun. I might potentially change it back later on, but I'm not sure. Sucker punch gets great coverage, as it's usually not resisted and is great for finishing off enemies who think they can outspeed me. Brick Break is there for coverage against grounds, steels, rock types, ice types, etc. Swords Dance is self-explanatory, as is Seed Bomb. Shiftry is the offensive core of the team, and I'm trying to build the team around him. Why? Because Shiftry is amazingly awesome.


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Ninetales (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SDef / 136 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Energy Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Fire Blast


New Ninetales setup! Again! Switched to make him more defensive so that he's really not at risk of dying in one hit. It's still a possibility, but it's greatly diminished. HP Ice is there for the standard Dragon coverage because they're my least favorite Pokemon to deal with. Energy ball instead of Solarbeam for reliability, Will-O-Wisp for shutting down physical sweepers, and Fire Blast for the Fire STAB. Drought is amazing. Enough said.

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Matt (Chandelure) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]


Ahhh, Chandelure. My favorite 5th gen Pokemon (arguably). Fantastic 145 base SAtk makes it one of the most powerful non-Uber special sweepers in the game, and I usually use him for revenge killing. Flamethrower as my STAB because with base stats like that, the Fire Blast power isn't needed, but the accuracy is needed badly. Energy Ball for Rock types and other things that wall Flamethrower and Shadow Ball, the other STAB move. HP Ice to get rid of those dragons.

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Alakazam (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Psyshock
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball


Alakazam is sort of a weird choice for me, and I'm not too convinced of his necessity. His only purpose seems to be to eliminate Fighting types, which to be honest is probably enough. I'd like to replace him with a Pokemon that covers both fighting types and the counters to this set as mentioned below.

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Kingdra (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Best all-around killer I have. STAB Hydro Pump and Draco Meteor are ridiculously powerful when boosted by Choice Specs, and can usually 1hko or 2hko anything that doesn't resist them. Ice Beam and HP Electric provide much-needed coverage to ensure most threats are easily countered, allowing Kingdra to switch in on various threats. His main purpose is really rain killing, since STAB Hydro Pump in the sun is a joke, whereas in the rain it's absolutely deadly.

Notable Counters:

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Terrakion
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Salamence
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Volcarona
TOXIC!!!1!1!!!

These three Pokemon give me more trouble than most full teams do. As it's rather difficult to set up Shiftry for a sweep in my experience, I can't kill any of them with him and I can't cover them very well with my other Pokemon. Any and all suggestions are welcome!

Note: At the moment I'm trying out the defensive pivot Latias detailed below in place of Alakazam, which seems to be doing quite well.
Latias (F) @ Soul Dew Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
 
Hi Nibiria

Interesting Sun team you have here, I really like your use of Chlorophyll sweepers that are not named Venusaur. Now looking at your team, a major threat to it is set up Dragon Dance sweepers such as Dragonite and Salamence. Mamoswine is able to check these threats somewhat but currently you are using him in a form of suicide lead and won’t usually survive for the duration of a battle. For this reason, I suggest replacing your current Mamoswine with the offensive Life Orb Mamoswine with a moveset of Earthquake / Ice Shard / Icicle Crash / Return. Life Orb gives a much appreciated damage boost, offering you a secure revenge killer on Dragons. Earthquake and Icicle Crash are used for powerful STAB attacks while Return is a solid option for hitting Rotom-W. Now if you do implement the offensive Mamoswine, you will have no Pokemon with Stealth Rock which is a vital move especially for Sun teams to check threats such as Volcarona and Dragonite. For this reason, I would replace Forretress with a defensive Donphan with a moveset of Stealth Rock / Rapid Spin / Earthquake / Head Smash. Donphan is a great choice for Sun teams as he is able to set up rocks as well as spin them away and does not share the 4x weakness to Fire type attacks that Forretress has. Donphan also makes a great check to common Sand team threats such as Tyranitar and Terrakion as his great physical bulk allows him to tank hits and retaliate with a STAB Super Effective Earthquake. I would recommend Head Smash over the standard Ice Shard as you are already using Mamoswine to check Dragons and Head Smash is a strong option to hit Gengar, a Pokemon that will often attempt to switch into Donphan in order to spin block. Head Smash is also useful for a powerful hit on switching in Levitators.

Now for some smaller changes. I recommend changing Sawsbuck’s EV spread to 108 HP / 252 Atk / 148 Spd with an Adamant nature. The extra speed investment allows Sawsbuck to outspeed Scarf Terrakion and +2 Cloyster in Sun, increasing the chances of him being able to pull off a sweep. I would also try a Life Orb over Leftovers on Sawsbuck. Leftovers is useful in order to increase survivability, however, Sawsbuck will generally be used late game to pull off a Swords Dance and clean up so the extra power granted by LO will be critical in granting certain KO’s. LO is also helpful in providing some extra damage output if you are unable to pull off an SD.

Hope I helped and good luck with your team!

Sets:

Mamoswine (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Return

Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Head Smash


tl;dr

Endeavor Lead Mamoswine ----> Life Orb Offensive Mamoswine
Forretress ----> Defensive Donphan
Sawsbuck's EV Spread ----> 108 HP / 252 Atk / 148 Spd with Adamant Nature
Leftovers on Sawsbuck ----> Life Orb
 
Thank you very much Nova, I've been experimenting and am making the adjustment you suggested as well as trying another set which replaces some Pokemon, but actually includes some of the changes you made, most notably Donphan. I'll probably be experimenting with both and making a RMT a week or so down the line if any problems arise. Still avoiding Venusaur like the plague, as well as Heatran. I like having sweepers that aren't used by EVERYONE.

::EDIT::

Should I edit this to the other one or what? Not sure what would be better.
 
Hey I like the team. A small change that I would make would be to change Mamoswine from a stealth rock lead to a choice band set. Same ev's and just make the moves Ice shard, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Icicle Crash/Icicle Spear (if you want to break subs and multiscale). After that, change Earthquake on Forretress to Stealth Rock. Other than that small change the team looks pretty good. Good luck!
 
Nibiria said:
Thank you very much Nova, I've been experimenting and am making the adjustment you suggested as well as trying another set which replaces some Pokemon, but actually includes some of the changes you made, most notably Donphan. I'll probably be experimenting with both and making a RMT a week or so down the line if any problems arise. Still avoiding Venusaur like the plague, as well as Heatran. I like having sweepers that aren't used by EVERYONE.

::EDIT::

Should I edit this to the other one or what? Not sure what would be better.
Click to expand...
In order to not clog the RMT forums up, you should probably edit this one instead of making a new one, after you test the suggested changes.
 
Alright, I posted the alternate set with which I had been experimenting. I really like it because it's powerful but doesn't use all of the stereotypical Pokemon, which is exactly what I'm trying to do. Suggestions are welcome, counters are listed at the bottom.
 
I don't really see what Spec Kingdra brings to your team. You already have three special attacker, and hydropump is weakened under the sun. What about Dragonite ? He brings you a solid answer against Volcarona, and a good sweeper in general. And even if he's week to SR, he doesn't fear spikes, unlike all your pokemon bar Alakazam.

Even if I also like the use of another sun sweeper than Venusaur, I think a poison typing would be really useful on your team, because of the immunity to toxik, and above all it get rid of Toxik spikes, in case a good spinblocker annoy Donphan. Because 5/6 members of your team are annoyed by T-spikes, which means a great weakness against solid stall teams. What about Victreebel ? The mixed set with Growth, Leaf Blade, Sucker punch and Weather ball might be interesting in this team.
 
Smilodon said:
I don't really see what Spec Kingdra brings to your team. You already have three special attacker, and hydropump is weakened under the sun. What about Dragonite ? He brings you a solid answer against Volcarona, and a good sweeper in general. And even if he's week to SR, he doesn't fear spikes, unlike all your pokemon bar Alakazam.

Even if I also like the use of another sun sweeper than Venusaur, I think a poison typing would be really useful on your team, because of the immunity to toxik, and above all it get rid of Toxik spikes, in case a good spinblocker annoy Donphan. Because 5/6 members of your team are annoyed by T-spikes, which means a great weakness against solid stall teams. What about Victreebel ? The mixed set with Growth, Leaf Blade, Sucker punch and Weather ball might be interesting in this team.
Click to expand...

So much information! I'll think about it, Dragonite actually sounds like a good addition. Not sure what moveset to use though, as a lot of them are rain-based. In addition, not sure what to replace for Victreebel. I really like Shiftry, mostly because he isn't Venusaur and can rip holes in teams if he's set up properly. Also, he's just cool all around. Definitely going to try Dragonite though, sounds like a solid option. Though again, hard to find a place for him. Any more suggestions would be more than welcome, and thanks again!
 
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