Lovin' in the Summertime

[BeyondOurwillMatt]

That's right, folks. It's not even summer, but this team just loves some summertime lovin'... Any who, this is my sun team I've been using for a while and I'd like to see if any of you have some pointers for me to help improve my Pokes. Let's get started, shall we?

In depth

Super Foxy Lady (F) (Ninetales) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
100 HP / 156 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Roar

My sun starter and specially defensive wall. I used to run substitute, but found that Ninetales just does better as a quick stall. It checks and counters many special attacking pokes, such as Venusaur, Heatran, and Volcarona, does a good job at scouting with protect, and also cripples many walls and physical attacking Pokemon with it's will-o-wisp. A sun-powered Flamethrower does a decent job at clearing out some threats thanks to Ninetales' natural special attack.

Big Daddy (M) (Dragonite) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
108 HP / 200 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Fire Punch
- Outrage

Dragonite is my bulky, physical attacker. I chose to use lum berry instead of leftys because I found many Pokemon trying to cripple him down with status ailments. It causes a great amount of shock to my opponent's when he easily shrugs that off haha Fire Punch is a great asset to this set that counters Pokes like Jirachi in the sun.

V-Man (Victini) @ Choice Band
Trait: Victory Star
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- V-Create
- Bolt Strike
- Zen Headbutt
- U-Turn

A standard Choice Band set for Victini. He's got great moves for coverage and the choice band allows him to hit things. HARD. I replaced my Infernape with Victini just because of the coverage he has at his disposal.

Flower Power (M) (Venusaur) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
200 HP / 160 SpA / 148 SpD
Calm Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb

My beast. My monster. My little trooper. A growth-boosted Venusaur in the sun is not to be messed with. Giga Drain makes up for the health lost by my life orb and Sleep Powder (when it doesn't miss) puts many Pokemon who counter Venusaur in their place. I made him a little more bulky to be able to counter mostly water types.

Baby Momma (F) (Chansey) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Counter
- Seismic Toss
- Wish
- Softboiled

My Chansey is my first go-to special wall. I also use it as status fodder thanks to it's natural cure ability. I usually use wish passing for my Venusaur or Dragonite if Venusaur can't seem to Giga Drain it's health back up or Dragonite's multiscale breaks when needed.

Tree Trunks (M) (Donphan) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

Donphan plays a great role in being my physical wall. I needed a spinner so that pesky rocks wouldn't break my Dragonite's ability, although it is a pain if they have a spin blocker. His earthquake deals a lot of damage out to pokemon if I need to use him on the offensive thanks to his natural physical attack.

Well, there you have it! Let me know what you think and what I can improve upon! Thanks so much for your time.

 

[joshe]

I feel Forretress would be a better fit on your team than donphan. Forretress offers more than donphan can and I really just dont like donphan at all. It's set up bait for many different pokemon, doesn't do that much damage without investment, and really the only good stuff it can do are tank terrakion close combats and check (read 2hko) high power 4x ice weak sweepers like dragonite, salamence, and Landorus. I also don't like Donphan because it is toxic Spikes weak and even though you have Venusaur to absorb them it might be pretty darn difficult to get venusaur in on a rain team with Tornadus, Tentacruel, Toxicroak, etc. Heck, even claydol is better than donphan in ou lol. With forretress you get a much needed steel type to tank those high power outrages much better than donphan can. Choice Band Kyurem-B can only 3HKO you with it's Adamant Outrages and that's after Stealth Rock damge. You also get spikes which greatly benefits both your main sweepers and wall breakers. Victini appreciates spikes the most as it can now beat nearly every single pokemon down with its powerful v-create. Forretress also pairs well with Victini as both can scout pretty well with U-turn and Volt Switch which can give your sweepers some free switch ins to wreak havoc.

Hide

Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
- Gyro Ball

With Donphan gone you need stealth rock. Chansey is an excellent user of Stealth Rock and it will fit well over Counter. Chansey should be used now as a safe switch in to Latias and Latios among many other special sweepers and counter isn't needed. As far as the rest of the team I feel you could go with better EV spreads on Ninetales, Dragonite, and Venusaur. Starting with Ninetales I feel 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd is a better option than your current version as it allows you to tank special hits better such as politoed surfs in the SUN. You dont really need the defense because if you get trapped by dugtrio you're dead anyway. I also want you to use Sunny Day over Protect to screw over those Tyranitar and Politoed switch ins that are meant to change the weather into their favor. This causes free switches into something they obviously don't want burned and allows you to gain some much needed offensive momentum by keeping sun up for Victini and Venusaur.

For Dragonite I feel a much more offensive spread is better than your current version. You have a spinner regardless of my rate which means you can abuse multiscale pretty darn easily. Those defensive EVs aren't needed thanks to multiscale which gives Dragonite pretty much a guaranteed turn of set up. With your current set up you need 2 dragon dances to have the same power that an offensive dragonite has after 1 dragon dance. Your team needs dragonite to be beating down stuff and breaking those walls that venusaur doesn't like such as Chansey, Zapdos, etc. 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd with Adamant allows for so much more damage that your team needs.

I really want you to use Brick Break over Zen Headbutt on Victini mainly because it beats Heatran and Tyranitar which trouble a lot of your team. You don't lose much from not having Zen Headbutt as your main option for a move will be V-create nearly every time. Zen Headbutt gives Tyranitar and other dark types like Hydreigon free switch ins and all your other moves handle whatever zen headbutt would hit.

On Venusaur, I want you to use an offensive spread for extra damage and mainly for the speed which is greatly needed for your team. Venusaur needs max speed for that offensive potential and max speed even with modest allows you to beat pokemon such as Choice Scarf Salamence which you dont beat with 0 speed investment. You can also try out a Mixed Venusaur set over your current version. You have alot of trouble handling Heatran currently and it would be a good option to have a couple pokemon that can beat it. for example you could use earthquake on Dragonite but you would lose to steel types such as Forretress and Skarmory who can either phaze you out or hit you pretty hard with gyro ball / hp-ice. Brick break on victini is fantastic and needed over zen headbutt as i already pointed out. Mixed Venusaur will help you with a late game sweeper and to beat heatran.

Hide

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 120 Atk / 164 SAtk / 224 Spd
Rash Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake

I think that pretty much covers it. Good Luck with your team and I hope you enjoy my suggestions :)

 

[BeyondOurwillMatt]

I feel Forretress would be a better fit on your team than donphan. Forretress offers more than donphan can and I really just dont like donphan at all. It's set up bait for many different pokemon, doesn't do that much damage without investment, and really the only good stuff it can do are tank terrakion close combats and check (read 2hko) high power 4x ice weak sweepers like dragonite, salamence, and Landorus. I also don't like Donphan because it is toxic Spikes weak and even though you have Venusaur to absorb them it might be pretty darn difficult to get venusaur in on a rain team with Tornadus, Tentacruel, Toxicroak, etc. Heck, even claydol is better than donphan in ou lol. With forretress you get a much needed steel type to tank those high power outrages much better than donphan can. Choice Band Kyurem-B can only 3HKO you with it's Adamant Outrages and that's after Stealth Rock damge. You also get spikes which greatly benefits both your main sweepers and wall breakers. Victini appreciates spikes the most as it can now beat nearly every single pokemon down with its powerful v-create. Forretress also pairs well with Victini as both can scout pretty well with U-turn and Volt Switch which can give your sweepers some free switch ins to wreak havoc.

Hide

Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
- Gyro Ball

With Donphan gone you need stealth rock. Chansey is an excellent user of Stealth Rock and it will fit well over Counter. Chansey should be used now as a safe switch in to Latias and Latios among many other special sweepers and counter isn't needed. As far as the rest of the team I feel you could go with better EV spreads on Ninetales, Dragonite, and Venusaur. Starting with Ninetales I feel 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd is a better option than your current version as it allows you to tank special hits better such as politoed surfs in the SUN. You dont really need the defense because if you get trapped by dugtrio you're dead anyway. I also want you to use Sunny Day over Protect to screw over those Tyranitar and Politoed switch ins that are meant to change the weather into their favor. This causes free switches into something they obviously don't want burned and allows you to gain some much needed offensive momentum by keeping sun up for Victini and Venusaur.

For Dragonite I feel a much more offensive spread is better than your current version. You have a spinner regardless of my rate which means you can abuse multiscale pretty darn easily. Those defensive EVs aren't needed thanks to multiscale which gives Dragonite pretty much a guaranteed turn of set up. With your current set up you need 2 dragon dances to have the same power that an offensive dragonite has after 1 dragon dance. Your team needs dragonite to be beating down stuff and breaking those walls that venusaur doesn't like such as Chansey, Zapdos, etc. 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd with Adamant allows for so much more damage that your team needs.

I really want you to use Brick Break over Zen Headbutt on Victini mainly because it beats Heatran and Tyranitar which trouble a lot of your team. You don't lose much from not having Zen Headbutt as your main option for a move will be V-create nearly every time. Zen Headbutt gives Tyranitar and other dark types like Hydreigon free switch ins and all your other moves handle whatever zen headbutt would hit.

On Venusaur, I want you to use an offensive spread for extra damage and mainly for the speed which is greatly needed for your team. Venusaur needs max speed for that offensive potential and max speed even with modest allows you to beat pokemon such as Choice Scarf Salamence which you dont beat with 0 speed investment. You can also try out a Mixed Venusaur set over your current version. You have alot of trouble handling Heatran currently and it would be a good option to have a couple pokemon that can beat it. for example you could use earthquake on Dragonite but you would lose to steel types such as Forretress and Skarmory who can either phaze you out or hit you pretty hard with gyro ball / hp-ice. Brick break on victini is fantastic and needed over zen headbutt as i already pointed out. Mixed Venusaur will help you with a late game sweeper and to beat heatran. Nature power is better than earthquake solely for the reason that it bypasses Sucker Punch from Toxicroak.

Hide

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 120 Atk / 164 SAtk / 224 Spd
Rash Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Nature Power

I think that pretty much covers it. Good Luck with your team and I hope you enjoy my suggestions :)

Thanks so much! I'll try it out :)

 

[joshe]

I should probably mention i forgot that nature power is illegal with chlorophyll so just use Earthquake on mixed venusaur. I also edited my post :c

sorry for that lol