First Gen Sun Team

[tjjerome]

So I made this team a few months back just to see what I could do with classic first generation pokemon. It started out as kind of an inside joke between me and my friends but it has actually treated me very well so I thought I'd share it. I decided on sun because of access to both drought ninetales and chlorophyll venusaur, as well as the lack of good stealth rock users in first gen. The team revolves around sweeping with either venusaur or charizard, which can both completely wreck an opposing team with the sun support. Obviously, other weather inducers are the biggest threat, especially politoed as dugtrio can usually get rid of tyranitar. The easiest way to take care of politoed is by inflicting burn and stalling with ninetales while using sunny day or luring him into venusaur, who can at least 2HKO him even without sun while taking minimal damage.

THE TEAM:

Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 30 Spd
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day
- Substitute

Ninetales is obviously a must as he can induce the permanent sun necessary for a successful sweep. I went with this moveset because it can outspeed politoed to summon sun while retaining the bulk to allow it to take any hit from politoed after setting up said sun. It can then set up a pretty good stall with will-o-wisp and substitute. Flamethrower can then be used alongside burn damage to turn enemies to a crisp.

Charizard @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Yes I know what you're thinking. "Charizard in OU? Unthinkable." Just trust me on this one. Solar Power Charizard is a total beast. Choice scarf gives him the extra speed to set up his successful sweep. He OHKOs almost anything with fire blast, bar tyranitar and dragon types. Focus blast and HP-Ice are there to take care of these threats. Air slash can be used if a more reliable move is needed and HP-Ice won't cut it. However, Charizard is made pretty much useless if stealth rock is out so it is imperative to keep cloyster alive long enough to set up charizard's sweep.

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 72 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder

Venusaur is a total must for any sun team. Chlorophyll pretty much makes him impossible to outspeed and growth will double his special attack under sun. He can easily switch into any water type move directed at nintales, charizard, or dugtrio and sleep powder gives him the turn needed to set up growth. Giga drain infinitely extends his sweep, negating the life orb damage as well as any damage taken from entry hazards. HP-fire can take care of other grass types along with the ever so common steel type wall.

Snorlax (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 188 HP / 104 Def / 216 SDef
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Fire Punch
- Rest

Snorlax actually took some time to work his way into this team. I experimented with eviolite chansey for a whlie but ultimately decided on snorlax because of his more diverse offensive options. Thick fat allows him to take opposing fire type moves that would be boosted by my sun with ease and his overall bulk lets him switch in on pretty much anything. Snorlax is pretty much outsped by anything anyways so curse can only be helpful. It also has the added kicker of pretty much shutting down the rare trick room team. Body slam delivers great STAB damage and the 30% paralyze chance is sooo helpful to shut down enemy sweepers. Fire punch can take advantage of the sun against grass and steel types. Rest is handy to restore health after setting up curses or to negate other status conditions.

Cloyster @ Leftovers
Trait: Skill Link
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 176 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Ah, Cloyster. Skill link has got to be one of my favorite abilities. Icicle spear shuts down pretty much all of the dragons, and is especially handy against multiscale dragonite. It also is perfect to take out substitutes. I used to run rock blast as well but toxic spikes came in handy when used in weather wars and hp-fire can take advantage of sun against those nasty steel types. Cloyster is not the best rapid spinner in the game, but he does his job well, which is to protect fragile charizard.

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Reversal

Dugtrio is a badass. That's the only way to put it. Earthquake easily takes out heatran and, you guessed it, steel types, reversal removes tyranitar from the game, and sucker punch turns him into the perfect revenge killer. Stone edge can be used against threats such as volcarona, who would gain a boost from my sun.


So there you have it, let me know what you think.

P.S. I love this pic^

 

[Sayonara]

Hello, interesting team. I think one of the main problems of this team is that it lacks Stealth Rock support, which is vital for a successful offensive sun team, as it prevents Dragonite, Volcarona, Salamence from coming in at full health when Stealth Rock is up, and these Pokemon can all be threatening for your team. An easy way to give Stealth Rock to a team member without changing anything would be to replace Dugtrio's Sucker Punch by Stealth Rock. Sucker Punch is a bit useless anyways, especially since Dugtrio is quite fast already and there is no STAB. Dragons seem problematic so I'd give Sludge Bomb over Sleep Powder on Venusaur, allowing you to get past Dragonite, Salamence and Latios after Stealth Rock at +2. Good luck, hope this helps.

 

[deadflame]

I agree with the above posted. In addition, Curse Snorlax is terrible, just awful, especially in OU. Too many Fighting Types. Off the top of my head, Keldo, Terrakion, Lucario, Conkeldurr, Breloom and Infernape. Not to mention Choice Band Tyranitar's Superpower and stuff like that. You should change your Snorlax to an Adamant Snorlax, with an EV Spread of 72 HP/252 Atk/184 Special Defense, with Return/Body Slam, Pursuit, Fire Punch, and Superpower/Wild Charge. Give it a Choice Band. It checks opposing Sun Teams very nicely, and is especially useful against strong special attackers.

I would also strongly urge you to not use Charizard in OU. I love Charizard to death, but it just doesn't cut it. It's not strong or fast or bulky enough to be viable. Sorry, dude.

Also, Donphan is a much better spinner on a Sun Team then Cloyster. Points for innovation, though. And I know Donphan is Gen 2, but you want to win games.

edit: Also, you really only have one answer to Heatran. If you're using Cloyster, use an offensive one. To be completely honest, though, Cloyster has no business being on a Sun Team, because it prevents him from using his Water Type STAB.

 

[tjjerome]

Thanks to both of you for the feedback. I'll take your advice on dugtrio and snorlax. I think I'm going to stick with sleep powder on venusaur though, because that has let me get past many encounters with fire and psychic types that would have OHKOd him. Also, I would strongly urge you, deadflame, to try out charizard before you bash him. I've been using him for months and he has not let me down. I realize that donphan would be better than cloyster but this is a first gen team and it's going to stay that way.