Fire in the Sun with Diamonds

[superstarr]

Welcome, one and all to the best sun team I have ever created. After a long hiatus from pokémon, I returned to the game determined to create a team such that would strike fear into the heart of my opponents. I wanted a team that would, to put it bluntly, wreck shit.

The choice of weather was my next decision, because for better or for worse, in this Black and White meta-game, weather teams destroy non-weather teams unless the non-weatherer has a degree of skill which I admittedly do not possess. Politoed is just too silly-looking to use, and Tyranitar's pure bad-assery scares me, thus sun was my choice. (Hail? Did you say hail?)

Here is a quick summary of my team:

I would like to note that this team is not perfect, and could certainly be improved. Criticism is VERY welcome.
So without further ado, let the RMT begin:

Hades - Ninetales@Leftovers
Ability: Drought
Nature: Modest
EVs: 144 HP/252 SAtk/112 Spd
Will-o-Wisp
SolarBeam
Sunny Day
Fire Blast

Just as Hades summons fire in the underworld, so does Ninetales rain sun upon the earth

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Ninetales with Sunny Day. This set, popularized by Grimm70, is actaully a brilliant way to deal with opposing weather inducers. The given EVs ensure that Ninetales is faster than Politoed, and Tyranitar. While this should be an advantage, it also means that it will be the last to get weather up in the lead position. Therefore, I can use Sunny Day against Toed to get favorable weather, and then strike with SolarBeam. When I know they are going to switch in (and they ALWAYS switch in on Ninetales), I strike with Sunny Day, and then power up a SolarBeam, which conveniently is supereffective against both of these guys.
Will-o-wisp allows me to cripple three of the main threats to the team: Dragonite, Haxorus, and Tyranitar, excluding the scarf versions of the last two. Got Lum Berry? No matter. I can then switch in Heatran, who resists their attacks, and burn them again.
Fire Blast is there for raw power.

The EVs allow Ninetales to outspeed all the other (non-scarfed) weather inducers. Max power in SAtt is a given, considering how defensive T-Tar is on the special side. The remaining EVs are in HP to give Ninetales maximum bulk.

Beelzebub - Heatran@Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Calm (+SDef, -Att)
EVs: 252 HP/92 SAtk/36 SDef/128 Spd
Will-o-Wisp
Taunt
Magma Storm
Earth Power

How I love this guy. My answer to pink blobs and my tanker, this guy is here to trap, taunt, and burn. Heatran turns the schoolyard bullies on the other team into quivering wrecks, ready for punishment by the hardened thugs that compose the latter half of my team.

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How to even describe this kid? Magma Storm traps the opponent. Switch in Chansey/Blissey? Magma Storm, Taunt, goodbye pink blob. Earth Power is the standard coverage move, which comes in handy to hit Tyranitar and Terrikon, two of the biggest threats to the team. Taunt stops so many varieties of pokemon its ridiculous. I think this move is necessary on any team.
A typical use of Heatran will be to take a dragon-, fire-, or ground-type attacks directed at another member. (Jirachi is there to take rock shots), then fire back with a double-boosted Magma Storm.

Skywalker - Jirachi@Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Careful (+SDef, -SAtt)
EVs: 252 HP/76 Atk/180 SDef
Thunder Wave
U-Turn
Stealth Rock
Healing Wish

Named after the naive young Jedi who will always do his best to support his comrades, Jirachi is nearly always dead at the end of a match, but rests easy knowing the genderless pokemon has helped its teammates win.

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This guy is here to cripple and scout. U-Turn allows me to both scout and inflict a bit of damage as I switch out, having installed Stealth Rock or paralyzed something. Healing Wish allows me to bring something back from the brink of death and status with full health. This is often used on Volcarona when Stealth Rock is on the field, allowing the moth to switch in twice to the battle, albeit at half health. (I don't need more switches than that, you'll see later)
Thunder Wave stops Dragon Dancers and fast pokemon (Terrikon comes to mind) in their tracks, making them easy pickings later for Volcanara or Latios. Stealth Rock's utility is obvious.

Herman - Latios@Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spd
Draco Meteor
Hidden Power [Ground]
Thunderbolt?
Dragon Pulse
​

As Herman Cain repeats the same message over and over, so too does Latios. By spamming powerful STAB moves, he rips gaping holes in entire teams. However, like Herman Cain, Latios often has to go on the defensive, stopping Ground and most importantly Water-type attacks from destroying the whole team.

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The EVs and nature of this particular Latios are simply to get max speed and max special attack. With Specs equipped, Latios reaches an absurd 531 SAtt, nearly as high as Venusaur after a Growth boost. This means that he can blast apart teams with Draco Meteor. I often spam Draco Meteor, switch out, switch in, and do it again. Hidden Power [Ground] may seem like an odd choice, but it is essential to deal with Heatran, which is more than enough justification for the move. Thunderbolt is there to deal with water types when I don't want the special attack drop, but considering Draco Meteor does more anyway, considering STAB...other options, anyone?

King Flash - Venusaur@Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Att)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spd
Growth
SolarBeam
Hidden Power [Fire]
Sleep Powder

Ahhh, KingFlash. The speed superhero of the team, Venusaur is incredibly dangerous once he switches in. He will put something to sleep, get a growth boost, and wreck everyone.​

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The main reason the other Pokemon on this team exist are to tear out the walls in the other team so that my two sweepers can go ham. Venusaur cannot defeat (most) Dragon-types [killed by Latios], Fire-types [Heatran and Latios kill 'em] and...oh wait, that was it. The general use of this guy is sleep, boost, then kill with the two attacks. One for STAB and one that gets pseudo-STAB in sun and is great coverage.
The given EVs are obvious for a special sweeper. Why Timid? Scarf Terrakion. Venusaur is 3 points short of outspeeding it with a Modest nature. Life Orb gives plenty of additional power anyway.

Jordan Rogers - Volcarona@Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Att)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spd
Quiver Dance
Fiery Dance
Bug Buzz
Morning Sun

As Aaron Rogers' little brother quarterbacks the losing Vanderbilt Commodores to victory, so too does Volcarona lead my team. This is ironic, considering he only comes in about once or twice a game. Maybe a kicker would be a better analogy.​

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The basic strategy with Volcarona is to find a good moment to switch in after all the enemy threats have been eleminated (fire types, Terrakion, Chansey/Blissey, Dragons), boost once or twice, and sweep whole teams. Even a lot of the aforementioned threats won't like a double boosted, STAB, sun-boosted Firey Dance, if I can get it off.
The EVs and natures of the set are standard special sweeper fare (again), and the only unusual choice on the moveset is Morning Sun. Since the rest of my team can deal with the aforementioned threats (and in fact is built to do so), I find another coverage move unneccesary, and Morning Sun is great to heal off stealth rock damage when sun is up. If sun is not up...well, I've pretty much lost the battle already.

IN SUMMARY:
Ninetales-- Sun inducer, weather war winner
Heatran-- Blob killer, Trapper, Taunter, Defender
Jirachi-- Hit Sponge, Paralyzer, Stealth Rock, Healer, Scout
Latios-- Dragon killer, Heatran destroyer, General wreck-shitter
Venusaur-- Sun sweeper
Volcarona-- Sun sweeper

Criticisms:
Big problem with Choice Scarf Terrikon, Rock Polish Terrikon and Landorus
Totally helpless if I lose a weather war to a rain team
All special attackers (although I don't think this is too big a problem. Most walls are physically defensive and I can easily kill Latias and Chansey)

 

[Braseg257]

to defeat landorus you can run surf over thunderbolt on latios, it is very helpful.
sunny day over healing wish (jirachi) can restore the sun, also i suggest to run iron head over u-turn and try thunderbolt over thunder wave. also surf helps against terrakion. scarf terrakion isn't a problem for venusaur, rock polish terrakion can be stopped by sKarmory/gliscor

 

[superstarr]

to defeat landorus you can run surf over thunderbolt on latios, it is very helpful.
sunny day over healing wish (jirachi) can restore the sun, also i suggest to run iron head over u-turn and try thunderbolt over thunder wave. also surf helps against terrakion. scarf terrakion isn't a problem for venusaur, rock polish terrakion can be stopped by sKarmory/gliscor

Thanks for the rate! The problem is that when the sun is up, surf on Latios does less damage to landorus than a Draco Meteor would. But since I don't use TBolt anyway, I'll give it a shot.
I like the idea of Sunny Day over Healing Wish, and I'll test out the other move ideas, although I don't really want to invest more in SAtt to make thunderbolt effective.
A Skarmory/Gliscor is a good idea. I might try out a Skarm over Jirachi.

 

[snowclaw1234]

You may want to add a physical attacker into this team. Maybe breloom, or even terrakion. I just think if you do not have a special attacker, blissey will troll you. Or you could always just make venusaur physical instead of special.

 

[Nova]

Psyshock over HP Ground on Latios. Psyshock 2HKOs the common Blissey set I believe and you will also be speed-tied with other Latios that are not running a 30 Speed IV hidden power and will be faster than those that are are

 

[Joeyboy]

Ok so this is a pretty cool team but you've got some weaknesses that could easily be exposed. First your team has serious problems against SD Lucario. It straight OHKO's your team after it sets up; your team also seems to not fare too well against sand teams. Your team also seems rather weak to Bliss/Chansey even with your trapping Heatran.

My first recommendation is to run Conkeldurr over Heatran. While you do lose many valuable resistances I believe this would be a better fit for your team. Conk gives you a solid check to some fearsome Sand 'mons, such as Tyranitar and Terrakion. With Conkeldurr's bulk and Mach Punch he can even check Lucario's at low health or at -1. The standard set I would suggest is:

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Conkeldurr (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 SpDef
Adamant Nature (+ Atk, - SpA)
- Bulk-Up
- Drain Punch
- Payback
- Mach Punch

The next change I would suggest is running Forretress over Jirachi. While your Jirachi is cool and innovative I don't believe it's contributing much to your team. The set I would suggest is:

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Forretress (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDef
Sassy Nature (+ SpDef, - Spe)
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball

Forretress can provide similar resistances to Jirachi AND rapid spin, which your team would love. Forre could also provide Toxic Spikes support, this is a much more reliable way to beat Bliss/Chansey; plus poisoning Politoed and Tyranitar is a great way to keep your sun up. Forretress could even prove a last minute check to some fearsome sweepers utilizing it's super slow Gyro Ball.

EDIT:
So with these changes your team becomes even weaker to Volcarona(even your Heatran isn't doing much)

So I'd like to propose also trying Scarf Terrakion over either Conkeldurr and Heatran. Scarf Terrakion checks Lucario, Tyranitar and Volcarona. This could be very useful; while Terrakion may not have the bulk and sustainability of Conkeldurr, your team really needs a Volcarona check. The set I would suggest is:

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Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+ Spe, - SpAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide

Anyway thought I should give you another option since I saw another big hole. Let me know how it all goes.

Anyway hope some of those help, Good Luck!

 

[Charge]

One glance and I spot a mistake.

Using Volcarona without a Spinner. Joey said pretty much what I want to say but t h, I don't quite like to use Forretress as it seems like almost everybody, anybody can set up on it.

 

[Vein]

One glance and I spot a mistake.

Using Volcarona without a Spinner. Joey said pretty much what I want to say but t h, I don't quite like to use Forretress as it seems like almost everybody, anybody can set up on it.

you can use donphan instead...

 

[Cyberthorn]

Quite a solid team but you need a. Rapid spinner to save ninetales and vulcarona from SR. Also i suggest Arcanine or Darmanitan over Heatran since you lack physical attackers and they totally screw over blissey/chanse better than. Arcanine also has flash fire, and you dont really need two steels since you already have Jirachi

 

[New World Order]

Hi, solid team. As many have already pointed out, you are currently carrying Volcarona with no method for deterring entry hazards. However, I disagree about using Forretress, as it would only compound your issues dealing with Terrakion and Landorus. Instead, I would like you to consider a more obscure, yet viable Rapid Spinner in Claydol. It boasts important important Fighting and Rock resists, as well as a Ground immunity due to Levitate. This allows Clay to check not only Landorus and Terrakion, but various other threats, such as Conkeldurr and Gliscor, as well with Psychic and Ice Beam. Furthermore, Claydol is granted immunity to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, as well as a resistance to Stealth Rock. This allows it to come in multiple times throughout the match to spin. While Jirachi is capable of giving a sweeper a second lease of life with Healing Wish, the Thunder Wave support is unnecessary, as your team is incredibly fast as is. Many of Jirachi's roles are already reciprocated by Heatran, so there shouldn't be much issue. so replacing Jirachi with Claydol should help immensely. I do however, suggest using Safeguard to protect Volcarona and Venusaur from status.

Although Claydol is capable of carrying Stealth Rock, your Heatran currently can't do anything to threaten Volcarona, who can maul the rest of your team. I suggest swapping it to a Specially Defensive variant with Stealth Rock, Roar, Lava Plume, and Protect, with Leftovers. Heatran carries the burden of checking Volcarona and really does need the Leftovers recovery to come in over and over again to SR+Roar Volcarona away. Even though you're now hit by HP Ground, the Air Balloon variant has difficulty against Volcarona anyways, due to lack of a strong enough attack. Although Magma Storm seems nice on paper, you don't have the proper support to abuse it. The point of Magma Storm is to trap an opponent, then swap to Dugtrio to finish them off.

Your Choice Specs Latios is walled by a significant number of Pokemon. There is honestly no point in running Dragon Pulse. The point of Choice Specs is to get in, hit as hard as possible for 1/2 turns, then get out, rinse and repeat. 2 Draco Meteors hit harder than 2 Dragon Pulses factoring in the Special Attack drop, and is therefore much more efficient. I suggest swapping Dragon Pulse for Psyshock to better deal with common switchins, such as Blissey and Tentacruel. Keep Thunderbolt, as it is useful for hitting some Dragon+Ground resists, namely Skarmory. Finally, the EV spread on Ninetales is awkward. I suggest using 128 HP / 252 SpA / 20 SpD / 108 Spe. There's no need to speed creep opposing Ninetales since they wall you anyways, 108 Speed is sufficient for outspeeding all non scarfed Politoed/ Tyranitar. 128 HP gives you 319 HP, which is one less than divisible by 16, and minimizes the damage you take from all forms of passive damage, such as hazards, weather, status etc.

TDLR version:

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Claydol>Jirachi
pros: check Landorus, Terrakion, Conkeldurr, Gliscor etc, Safeguard to protect team from status, Rapid Spin to clear hazards, immunity to Spikes/ Toxic Spikes, SR resistance
cons: loss of Healing Wish, loss of T-Wave support

Specially Defensive Heatran>Air Balloon Heatran
pros: checks Volcarona, gets up Stealth Rock, gains form of recovery
cons: now hit by HP Ground, loss of Magma Storm, although neither asset was particularly useful anyways

Psyshock>Dragon Pulse on Latios
pros: better for hitting Blissey, Tentacruel, et al.
cons: none, Draco Meteor>Dragon Pulse

new EVs on Ninetales
pros: minimizes all forms of passive damage
cons: none

GL

Sets

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Claydol @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Safeguard

Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Roar
- Protect

Latios @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power Ground
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock

Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 20 SpD / 108 Spe
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Solarbeam
- Will-O-Wisp

 

[emirinho]

if you want your volcarona to be a sweeper you should put hp ground on it as well. Because his main thing is sweeping. So you need hp ground on him more than on latios
Also you should put sludge bomb instead of sp on venusaur for coverage.

 

[superstarr]

@snowclaw1234: I actually love the idea of that physical venusaur, and tested out both this and a mixed set, but I hated the total inability to deal with steel-types. Plus, the mix set lacks sleep powder, so its really hard to set up. Blissey is not a problem because of Heatran, or possibly Terrakion if I switch to that, especially because I'm going to add Psyshock on Latios

@Novary: Great idea. It shall be as you say.

@Joeyboy: The original version of this team was terrible, and the foretress and starmie I kept trying were big reasons why. Unfortunately, Foretress just doesn't fit well on an offensive team, and I love the healing, scouting, and additional speed Jirachi provides.
However, both Scarf Terrakion and Conkuldurr are cool ideas. I'm leaning towards the Terrakion right now, because I like the revenge kill capability.

@Charge: Well, that's why Volcarona has Morning Sun. If he switches in on something that can't do much while the weather is favorable, he can heal the SR right off. Even if he can't, he can switch in once again with a Healing Wish

@Cyberthorn: I decided to use Terrakion, if I change Heatran at all, because he resists fire and gives me some great type matchups, but thanks a lot for the rate.

@New World Order: Wow, great rate man. I have used Claydol before on a sand team and loved him, so I'll definitely give him a shot here. The Heatran set is great for all the reasons you said, but it leaves me defenseless against Blissey/Chansey. I'm leaning towards Terrakion at the moment, but I will test both out. Psyshock over Dragon Pulse is much better than over HP Ground because of opposing Heatran, so I'll go with that.

@emirinho: I won't even try a Volcanara sweep until Heatran is eliminated, and he is pretty much the only thing that HP Ground covers, so I still like Morning Sun. Great idea about sludge bomb, though. It also gives me a much more reliable move against enemy weather inducers, which I like.

Thanks for the rates everybody, I feel like they will improve the team a lot