Learning to Shine

[Roane]

For a long time now I've been trying to create a decent sun team, since I love grass and fire pokemon, and the sun is one of the best ways to really abuse both of these typings. Through a process of trial and error, I believe I have created a relatively decent team, though I would really appreciate some critiques on this team in general.

(I don't exactly know how to use the animated sprites, so I'm just using some sprites provided by another user on this website.)

So, now onto the team.

Ninetales@Leftovers
Trait-- Drought
Timid Nature
EVs-- 252 HP, 120 Def, 138 Speed
Moves--
Flamethrower
Will-o-Wisp
Hypnosis
Sunny Day

I really like this set; basically just a standard Smogon Keep-Ninetales-Alive set. Flamethrower helps me weaken pokemon that Ninetales can weaken once she's set up the sun for good and no longer needs to stay alive, and Will-o-Wisp helps the other pokemon to switch into physically based moves and proceed to kill the opponent's team. Hypnosis is a great move, but kind of the last move I would go to for and usually use it on the pokemon that threatens my team the most, like Landorus or Latias. Sunny Day, however, was suggested by Smogon for stopping weather inducer's momentum when they switch in, which, really, I see as quite pointless; I'd rather put a move that's somewhat useful for my team such as Pain Split to help ensure Ninetale's longevity or something of the sort.

Venusaur@Black Sludge
Trait-- Chlorophyll
Timid Nature
IVs- 2 Att
EVs-- 72 HP, 252 S. Att, 180 Speed
Moves--
Growth
Giga Drain
Hidden Power Fire
Sleep Powder

Being my 2nd favorite grass type (first is Sceptile, who wouldn't fit well on this team) and overall a great pokemon, naturally I would choose him as my chlorophyll sweeper. So far, when using him, after he sets up, he just takes all the opponent's pokemon and eats them for breakfast, as long as it's not heatran or a weather inducer, of course. Even while paralyzed, I have seen him take out an entire team single handedly (but of course with giga drain and black sludge recovery after two growths, this monster can keep on going and KO nearly everything with a +4 giga drain). Even for the things this beast can't devour, sleep powder easily keeps them out of the battle, allowing for Venusaur to really set up and get ready to destroy.

Dugtrio@Focus Sash
Trait-- Arena Trap
Jolly Nature
EVs-- 252 Att, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moves--
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Reversal

Mr. Reed... he was a band student teacher my junior year of high school, and truly he reminded everyone of this little mole thing. The guy looked like a tiny gopher of some sort. He had the beard, the buck teeth, the balding head, and the skinny little arms and the beer belly. Moreso, this guy would pop up behind you as you're blasting away on your trumpet and whisper, "Dynamics..." in the most freakishly creepy voice. He would pop out of nowhere too... So, on one of my rain teams, I used the dugtrio named Mr. Reed as a Ninetales/Tyrannitar trapper. And again, he comes back as my weather trapper. The little Mr. Reed is probably one of the most important pokemon on this team. He's amazingly fast, and at 1 HP, Reversal does massive damage to anything that's not a ghost type. His strategy is pretty simple after all... trap the pokemon, KO the pokemon, set up rocks, and die. Nothing much to it. The biggest problem I have with him though is those freaking entry hazards. Being without a spinner, this little guy can sign his will and give everything he owns to his pet cat when any of those hazards are up. Though this does give him trouble, he, Venusaur, and Heatran can pretty much handle anything that comes their way.

Heatran@Air Balloon
Trait-- Flash Fire
Timid Nature
EVs-- 252 Att, 252 Speed, 4 Sp. Def
Moves--
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Hidden Power Ice
Stealth Rock

If Venusaur can't get the job done, this guy will. He's an amazing wall breaker, a good Stealth Rocks user, and an amazing abuser of Hidden Power Ice. Personally, I think this guy really makes the team, and really helps a whole lot on pokemon that would otherwise stop it, like Landorus, Gliscor, Salamance... basically pokemon who would normally set up on this team. Though HP Ice is a weaker move, Heatran makes it work definitely. He's one of the pokemon that I would probably be the most resistant to change; in fact, I would probably remove Ninetales before I remove Heatran. (Not really)

Latias@Life Orb
Trait-- Levitate
Timid Nature
EVs-- 252 Sp Att, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moves--
Dragon Pulse
Hidden Power Fire
Psyshock
Roost

Really, this pokemon would probably be the first to be thrown out. I mainly put her into this team just for coverage; little did I know that Heatran does basically the same thing, but better due to his steel typing. Not to hate on Latias of course; she's a great pokemon but... I just don't see her working out in this team anymore. So, she's probably going to go.

Snorlax@Choice Band
Trait-- Thick Fat
Adamant Nature
EVs-- 72 HP, 252 Att, 186 Sp Def
Moves--
Return
Pursuit
Earthquake
Fire Punch

Snorlax is a great pokemon. I like this sexy thing. Especially with choice band... and that's saying something because I don't like many choice items except maybe Victini on Choice Scarf. Though, since I use Venusaur, Dugtrio, and Heatran so often, Snorlax sees himself as not used almost at all, and ends up being unused by the end of the battle most of the time (provided I don't lose). And, since I don't have a spinner, and could probably fill his spot with someone better, I'm probably going to toss him as well.

So, there are two pokemon that really stand out to me for edits, and they are as follows...

Victini@Choice Scarf
Trait-- Victory Star
Adamant Nature
EVs-- 252 Att, 252 Speed, 4 Sp. Def
Moves--
V-Create
Bolt Strike
U-turn
Zen Headbutt

As I said before, Scarfed Victini is like my favorite Choice user ever. V-Create, though is the only reason she is; what other moves does she need? Though, her other moves serve her well too. Bolt Strike helps take care of Politoed, U-turn with Tyrannitar, and V-Create for everything else. I use Zen Headbutt as my fourth move because I appreciate the dual STAB, but Trick would also be a nice option there... can she learn trick?

Forretress@Leftovers
Trait-- Sturdy
Relaxed Nature
EVs-- 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Sp. Def
Moves--
Rapid Spin
Spikes
Volt Switch
Hidden Power Ice

I like this set because I could use this guy as a bulky pivot as well as a Rapid Spinner. Since this team is in desperate need of a Spinner, this guy is probably my first choice. Though it has a huge fire weakness and could be trapped by the rare Magnezone, this guy still would be very good on this team.

Forretress and Victini would replace Latias and Snorlax I believe. I think this would make this team more efficient but I would like more critiques and what not to this team. Thanks very much.

 

[Plus]

It seems that you have a good idea as to how you want to change this team -- and I would definitely advocate running a Forretress in there because Sun teams hate entry hazards above all else. If you really want to run HP Ice on the Forry, then you really have to use 44 Satk EVs to 2hko standard Landorus-T with leftovers. I'd take it out of Defense so you'd have 252 hp/212 def/44 satk. Since you are not running Gyro Ball, you can also opt to run Bold, though I can understand if you want to use Relaxed just to go last when Volt Switching. Taking Latias out of the equation seems like a good idea, because although it fixes one problem with many sun teams in that there is a common ground weakness, it doesn't fix the weakness to opposing Latias.

Volcarona is a great pokemon to use on Sun teams, and with Forretress. Forretress keeps the rocks out of the equation, and Volcarona can find ample opportunity to set up on most Latias sets and proceed to sweep the rest of your opponent's team. I'd run HP Ground Volcarona too just so you can get the jump on Heatran, another common way to deal with Sun teams. Running this over Snorlax would be great because Snorlax really does seem like dead weight to this team.

Scarf Victini is a cool pokemon to use, but I find that Volcarona is scarier to deal with, even though it doesn't have V-Create. Having Volcarona lets you deal better with weather teams than Scarf Victini would, as it's hampered by Rain teams and Sand teams alike, while Volcarona can still deal hefty damage to teams under the Rain or Sand. Heck, if you found that Rain teams gave you more trouble than any other playstyle, you could even run Giga Drain over HP Ground, even though you have pokemon like Venusaur who can still do some damage to Rain teams without the presence of Sun.

Lastly, I'd probably suggest running Substitute over Hypnosis on Ninetales. Not just because of the bad accuracy, but because Venusaur is your primary sleeper. Substitute allows you to get extra turns on pokemon so you can proceed to burn them. If you predict a switch correctly and bring in Ninetales on a Ferrothorn for example, then you would be able to get a Substitute out while the Ferrothorn switches out so you can burn the switch in, which is usually something like a Tyranitar or a Garchomp.

Volcarona@Lum
Timid 252spa/252spe/4hp
Fiery Dance/Bug Buzz/HP Ground/Quiver Dance

Forretress@Leftovers
Bold 252 hp/212 def/44 satk
HP Ice/Volt Switch/Spikes/Rapid Spin

Good luck with the team, hope I helped.

 

[Hopkinc1]

Hey man the team is a really well made team! Theres just one thing with this team: Your Stealth Rocks on Heatran. There is nothing wrong with the set itself; in fact, it's a set I use myself, and it works amazingly! However, you already have Stealth Rocks on Dugtrio, making Stealth Rocks here a bit unneeded. Here is a set for Heatran That I use:

Heatran @ Air Balloon [Flash Fire]
Modest Nature | 128 HP / 180 SpAtk / 200 Spd
Fire Blast | Earth Power | Hidden Power Ice | Flame Charge​

The idea with this set for Heatran is that you can come in on an incoming fire move or a Pokemon locked into an Earth Move. You can then force a switch and use Flame Charge, boosting your speed and setting you up to sweep the other team. You keep most of Heatrans power, and actually find a use for what i think is a wasted moveslot on Heatran. Alternatively you can put Momento on your Dugtrio if you are deadset on using that set for Heatran. Hope that helps! :)

Edit: Also, here is a site that has animated sprites, open up the sprite in a new window, then copy the link with the picture and paste it in just like any other photo: http://www.silver-islands.com/pokemonsprites

 

[Roane]

@Plus-- I like that suggestion, that just puts me with one problem... I have 5 special attackers and just one attacker. I really would use Volcarona, but the SR weakness is too much for this team and that puts me in a bad place if I run into someone like the rare snorlax or Jellicent in rain. The Victini is meant to be somewhat of a check to that and break those threats a little easier than my Venusaur can. (Plus the bolt strike is a great move to run on this set; against a defensive politoed even it's a guaranteed 2HKO, which could be picked off later, since Politoed has been taken care of. Though I'm probably going to change my Forretress as you suggested; I was trying out the main set before I decided.

@Hopkinc1-- Since this team doesn't really rely too much on Stealth Rock, since I have no way to Spinblock and most of my pokemon either OHKO or 2HKO almost everything anyway, I'll probably make that change on my Heatran. That's a pretty cool idea actually; since Heat's a huge part of my offensive core, it would be a great move to have to help set up.

But overall, great suggestions! I worked really hard on this team but I know it can improve; and I have made the changes from Latias and Snorlax to Victini and Forretress. Overall, the change has really improved my battling; I went up against a sandstorm team and won (though the team had too many steel types and once I got Tyrannitar out of the way it was a Heatran sweep almost...)