My First Team

[BlazingBarrager]

Blazing Stars​

Hello. I've just recently got back into Pokemon and I wanted to start being Competitive so I want to make a good Sun Team. Only thing is...I'm new to this so I'm not sure what to have and what not to have. I know the basics, but the advanced stuff...well how about I show you my team? I'm looking for a good, offensive build that can also keep itself alive.

Version History​

v1

v2

v3

v4

v5

v6

Indepth Look​

@ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spd
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day
- Roar

Your standard Ninetales set. I went for a Defensive set since it won't be staying in for long, but in the off chance it has to it can take a hit. What you'd expect from Ninetales really.

@ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SAtk / 200 Spd
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- U-turn
- Recover

Celebi may seem like an odd choice for a Sun team considering it lacks Chlorophyll, but it has one advantage over other Grass types that rely on Sun: it isn't hindered from the lack of it. Whether the Sun is out or not Celebi is ready to face any threats. I opted for an Offensive build to help make use of its strong attacks. Leaf Storm is for the obvious STAB and deals severe damage to all that don't resist it. HP Fire is to help it deal with Steel types like Skamory, Forretress, and, most importantly, Scisor. U-Turn is for scouting purposes as well as escaping threats that could oppose it, particularly Heatran. Recover is for healing up from Life Orb and Stealth Rock damage. The EV spread and Modest nature maxmizes Celebi's power and, along with Life Orb, ensures that it will be severely denting Pokemon that don't resist it. It also allows it to outspeed various Pokemon.

@ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

My favorite Dragon type, and for good reason. He hits like a truck and has the bulk to survive. It may not be as bulky or fast as Dragonite or Garchomp, but it gets the job done and has the power to knock out many threats. Going with a Choice Scarf set because Salamence needs to outrun as many threats as possible. It also makes him the perfect revenge killer/late-game sweeper. People are going to think twice before messing with this monster. The moveset is your basic Choice Scarf set: Outrage for a powerful STAB, Dragon Claw as an extra option in case I don't want to get trapped in Outrage, Earthquake for Heatran and other threats, and Fire Blast to deal with Steel types.

@ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Fire Blast
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power

My Fire Pokemon of the team. This Heatran is your standard Offensive type, but has its EVs placed in its defenses to make it more bulky and able to survive longer. Aside from that this is your standard Heatran saved for the addition to Taunt, which allows it to block walls such as Blissey or Chansey from setting up.

(F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Wish
- Roar
- Heal Bell

I know what you're thinking. Why Leafeon? Well the answer is simple: Wish. Then you'll be like "lol wish Jirachi is better." Well Jirachi has the typing and bulk, but Leafeon has the speed to get Wish setup. In fact, it's the fastest Wisher when under the Sun in the game. Not only that, but it also comes with Heal Bell, which allows me to rid my team of status. It can also wall physical threats thanks to its amazing Defense stat. EV spread has it to where it maximizes HP and Def while adding a little to its SpD. Leaf Blade is there to prevent Leafeon from ending up Taunt bait as well as give it a STAB move against Specially Defensive Water types.

(M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Volt Switch

Being my Rapid Spinner as well as my trap placer, Forretress allows my team to gain an edge thanks to Stealth Rock. Rapid Spin is obviously there to blow way opposing traps while Volt Switch gives it a way to escape. Gyro Ball gives it a reliable STAB as well take out weakened Pokemon it can wall. In other words, it's your standard Forretress.


Thoughts and comments? I'd say this is v6 of my team. Once I get everything sorted out I'll begin building it ingame.

Changes​

Ninetales: Swapped Protect for Roar
Heatran: Swapped Stealth Rock for Taunt
Swapped Jirachi for Leafeon
Swapped Latias for Forretress

@ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost

The second Dragon of my team. Latias serves as a beater to wear down my opponent's Pokemon as well as act as a beater. While it may seem strange to use an offensive set considering the existence of her brother, I found that her bulk is perfect for the goals she's meant to accomplish. As you would expect, Draco Meteor is the main move of this set, with Psyshock handling Chansey/Blissey and any Specially Defensive Pokemon, Surf to deal with opposing Fire types such as Heatran, and Roost to heal herself with.


Thoughts and comments? I'd say this is v5 of my team. Once I get everything sorted out I'll begin building it ingame.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 Def / 72 SDef / 36 Spd
Impish Nature
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Light Screen
- Thunder Wave

The Wish Pokemon serves as the supporter of the team, providing Wish, Paralysis, and Light Screen support for the rest of the team. Iron Head is there to make sure Jirachi doesn't end up Taunt bait as well as gives it a reliable STAB move with 60% flinch rate. The EV spread ensures that Jirachi won't be knocked out by common threats. I opted for a physical defensive spread due to many Pokemon carrying Earthquake as well as the popularity of Fighting types in today's metagame.

Latias @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost

The second Dragon of my team. Latias serves as a beater to wear down my opponent's Pokemon as well as act as a beater. While it may seem strange to use an offensive set considering the existence of her brother, I found that her bulk is perfect for the goals she's meant to accomplish. As you would expect, Draco Meteor is the main move of this set, with Psyshock handling Chansey/Blissey and any Specially Defensive Pokemon, Surf to deal with opposing Fire types such as Heatran, and Roost to heal herself with.


Thoughts and comments? I'd say this is v5 of my team. Once I get everything sorted out I'll begin building it ingame.

IMPORTABLE​

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Ninetales (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spd
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day
- Roar

Celebi @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 56 HP / 252 SAtk / 200 Spd
Modest Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Recover
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Fire Blast
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Leafeon (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Chlorophyll
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Wish
- Roar
- Heal Bell

Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Volt Switch

 

[deadflame]

Hello there. For not being in the game very long, you seem to know what you're doing. I'll get right down to it with the changes.

I am curious regarding Venusaur, as to why you don't just opt for full speed. Could you please elaborate? I would keep Moxie on Salamence, personal preference. You might want to change Outrage to Dragon Claw, but Outrage is insanely powerful, so either way you're golden. I personally like Donphan over Forretress for it's higher attack and access to Ice Shard, but that's a personal preference of mine, as they both do a splendid job of spinning and setting up rocks. And I could see why you'd go with Forretress, as he can also use Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Volt Switch. Lastly, I would indeed go with Celebi over Lilligant. It has much better bulk, while still maintaining a good offensive presence, as well as good (well, decent, at least) base speed. I'm going to use a Nasty Plot Celebi on my Sun Team, but the set you choose is really up to you. I'd go with Specially Defensive if you want to support your team. Hope I helped.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Thanks for some of the tips. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Nemusus]

Hi there! It's a nice team, and it seems fairly solid. Just one thing- Dragons hurt this team. +1 Dragonite gets the 2HKO on offensive Heatran, and you have no other resists bar Forretress, who gives up when he sees them Fire Punch you. And the sun you put up is boosting their Fire Punch. Also, Forretress can't do anything back to Dragonite- it dies before it can Gyro Ball. Salamence can't revenge kill after Dragonite gets a Dragon Dance. It's pretty much good game for you at this point, as Celebi only 2HKOs with HP Ice, and Dragonite outruns you.

I'd recommend Donphan over Forretress. It makes a wonderfully bulky attacker, packing powerful Ice type priority with Ice Shard to take out the Dragons, and it can carry Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin. That frees up your Heatran to pack another offensive move, maybe Solarbeam (this is a sun team after all).

Also, Terrakion in the sand plows through this team with Close Combat/Stone Edge. You could try Dugtrio, as it not only traps and kills Tyranitar, but also beats Terrakion. I'm not sure who to replace for it, but at a glance, I'm leaning toward replacing Celebi. Defensive Pokemon do work in Sun, but you've opted for a Pokemon who gets hindered by it. Celebi has a fair bit of bulk, but you double its fire weakness, meaning that standard Celebi counters are going to be even more dangerous. Also, Dugtrio's trap and kill style of play can often eliminate the need for a wall by beating the threats the wall would check. If you're worried about Landorus, give Venasaur HP Ice over HP Fire-Heatran already deals with Steel Types, and with the Chlorophyll boost, you can beat Landorus. And if you opt for Donphan over Forretress, he beats Landorus without a problem.

Also, before you begin building this team in-game, I'd recommend testing it on a simulator like Pokemon Showdown. It lets you iron out weaknesses and flaws before you go and breed for IV's and EV train and grind to lvl 100 and all that stuff.

 

[Neliel]

Hi there,

i see some potential in this team so ill give you some suggestion. First of all, i think celebi its completely out of place here. I mean, with all the grass type you can use why you have one without clorophill? I would honestly use again lilligant, but i have something else in mind that ill tell you later.

To start i would like to change roar in favor of protect in your ninetales; while you are more setup fodder now, without protect you will probably lose against choice band tyranitar, which is pretty much everywhere. If you stay in and he stone edges, you will be dead anyway, and if you switch out and he pursuit you, you have lost your summoner. with protect you can check the move and avoid this. Its also cool in general to check choiced pokemon since they are very common right now.


Now i think you need donphan instead of forretress for a few reasons; first, you dont have switch in for rock moves. As i said, you can check the ttar move with protect with ninetales, but then you have nothing to switch into stone edge. Donphan also can run stealth rock, letting heatran using a more efficent set; honestly i dont think spikes are that usefull for your team, especially without an antispinner. Donphan also has the always usefull ice shard to revenge kill dragons. I would like you to use a fast donphan in this team; you actually need to have heatran dead, otherwhise it will wall your team. I think a spread like EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spd with an Adamant Nature is what you should use. This will let you outspeed and baitkill heatran, as well as some other things like choice band tyranitar, that probably thinks it is faster, as well as fast jellicent, defensive politoed and scizor. the loss of bulk isnt that bad imo, afterall this is an offensive team and you wont have more than one chance to spin.

Now that your heatran doesnt have to run anymore stealth rock, you can use a more usefull set to help you winning the weather war; the set im talking about is the magma storm trapper, consisting of Magma storm / Sunny day / Solarbeam / Hidden power ice. With this set, you can do magma storm to the obvious politoed switch, then bring back the sun and kill it with solarbeam; if you have already scouted the set and its a scarf politoed, then its better to you to do sunny day on the switch. It also works in a similar way against tyranitar. Hidden power ice is for dragons locked into outrage, but you can replace it with roar if you feel like calm mind latias is hard to face.

Now i think you can use a sun abuser instead of celebi, which is completely out of place. You already have a grass type and salamence also resists water, so you dont need an another rain check. I think your team would appreciate a quiver dance volcarona here which is always scary to use under sun. The set i suggest you is Bug buzz / Hidden power ground / Fire blast / quiver dance with a standard offensive spread. There isnt much to say, bug buzz hits lati@s and tyranitar, fire blast dents everything, even things that resists it, while hidden power ground lets you bypass heatran, so that your venusaur can freely sweep later.

Thats it, hope i helped.

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Donphan (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

Volcarona (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Quiver Dance
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Bug Buzz

Heatran (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Magma Storm
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

On ninetales: Roar--> protect

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Thanks for the info. This should really be helpful for me and my team. Shame Celebi doesn't have Chlorophyll.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Sorry for the bump, but after much testing I found that this team isn't performing as well as I hoped, so if anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it.

 

[Nemusus]

It would help if you could tell us which pokemon in particular are giving you trouble, so that we focus on beating them in particular.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

One of the problems I have is with Salamence not being able to set up a Dragon Dance boost. I was thinking of making it a Choice user or switching it with Garchomp, but I'm unsure. I really want to keep Salamence on the team though.

Another problem I noticed is that Heatran, while great, is just too slow when compared to some other threats. Perhaps a faster Pokemon is necessary? I also don't think the team needs two Fire Pokemon to abuse the Sun with.

Finally, I've noticed that Venusaur gets walled by a lot of Pokemon, and there's also the matter of Chansey/Blissey. Either I need to make it a mixed, or use a Physical Grass type like Sawsbuck.

 

[joshe]

Hey! This is a great team for your first team and I'm sure I can help you make it better. You have quite a bit of offensive synergy and your team meshes well defensively as well. I'm concerned about a few walls and opposing pokemon that really hamper you and make your life hell. I also feel spikes would be great on your team as well so i'd like to reincorporate that in this rate.

Choice Scarf Salamence is a better fit for your team in my opinion. Dragon Dance Salamence isn't too good in this current meta that is dominated by 100+ base speed pokemon and the amount of priority which makes it pretty hard to set up. With your current set, dragonite does its job better as well. I know you still want Salamence on your team so Choice Scarf Mence would be the best option for you. Mence gives you a solid revenge killer as long as you keep stealth rock off the field and later on in this rate i'll reintroduce spikes to your team which would help venusaur and salamence sweep as well. The standard set here should fill your needs quite nicely and it still keeps your win condition lategame albeit in a different way.

I feel you should go back to Forretress over Donphan. While you don't have a spinblocker I still feel spikes is very beneficial to your team. If an opposing dude wants to rapid spin they have to forgo either a free switch in for one of your sweepers or lose momentum with them not attacking or setting up. Spikes helps out most of your team in addition to stealth rock as your whole team forces switches and otherwise makes use of the 25% or 12% damage. This would also help out against Tyranitar because most Tyranitar do not run any form of recovery and are limited to their current HP. I should mention that I absolutely despise Donphan because i think it is a terrible pokemon and should not be used in OU :P The lack of a Rock resist does hurt you though, but we can play around it by setting up hazards and forcing Tyranitar for example to switch in alot to no avail. Terrakion is also a pretty big threat to your team and I will cover that weakness better while still keeping offensive momentum your team needs to sweep with either Venusaur or Salamence.

I'm not too big of a fan of Magma Storm Heatran in general due to the poor accuracy and I think you'd be better off reverting to a standard offensive Air Balloon Heatran with Stealth Rock. Having Stealth Rock Heatran allows you to use Spikes on Forretress and makes next to nothing be able to take on Salamence + Venusaur. Opposing weather dudes are handled through spikes + ninetales sunny day making their switch in useless i.e. sunny daying on Politoed who can't beat you with Surf / Scald while they're forced to switch out. I would also Recommend that you use a more specially defensive spread; 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef with a Calm Nature to make sure that Politoed can't beat you and it also just fits better in this current metagame. You'll definitely have to watch out for Dugtrio even more than before but overall it's a better change because the set handles things such as opposing venusaur without earthquake and Volcarona without Hidden Power [Ground]. I also want you to use Roar over Protect to help abuse Stealth Rock and Spikes and to also force out whatever they switch in after you waste their Politoed switch in. A lot of Tyranitar sometimes don't run Stone Edge as well if they aren't using a Choice Band set and use Fire Blast. Will-o-wisp would be a better option to hit opposing Tyranitar switch ins as well.
​

With Salamence being a Choice Scarf user, Hidden Power [Fire] is better on Venusaur over Hidden Power [Ice] because you hit steel types for Super Effective Damage. Steel types are the only pokemon that can really handle Salamence's outrages aside from Hippowdown and Landorus who you beat anyway with Giga Drain. Hidden Power [Fire] also rounds out your coverage more than HP-Ice does. I wouldn't suggest a mixed set with earthquake because heatran/ninetales/jirachi are all you beat which you can now beat with heatran anyway. You can obviously try it out but I'd be more concerned that you can't beat opposing Skarmory or Forretress now which Salamence HATES.

Finally, I want to round out my rate by helping you cover some big threats in case things go awry as well as something to help out against some walls that you might not like. I feel a Latias would do wonders over Volcarona not only because it checks Terrakion, Keldeo, and Landorus but also deals quite a bit of damage to these threats or anything that thinks they can tank a Draco Meteor. Scarf Keldeo is always a big threat to your main sweepers and Latias is a pretty much guaranteed switch in on every single set (Expert Belt Keldeo Icy Wind's fail to 2HKO Latias). I don't like Volcarona on your team because of 3 fire types and 3 stealth rock weak and you won't always be able to rapid spin because you'd either lose momentum or something sets up that destroys you. You have enough speedy set up presence in Salamence and Venusaur and Latias offers to kill stuff that walls Venusaur. Blissey / Chansey can be handled through repeating blasting them with powerful attacks while racking up hazard damage. It isn't the best way to handle it aside from running something like Terrakion or whatever to ohko with fighting attacks but it's better than what you ran before. They can be free kills for Salamence lategame if you keep them below 50% or so and attributes to a clean sweep if you play right.

Latias set

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock / Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Surf
- Roost

Good Luck with your team :)

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to make the changes and try them out. :D

Edit: Well I tested it a bit, and my team is still being a little iffy. I don't know if I still need to make changes or I'm simply not playing this team right. Hmm...

 

[deadflame]

How is it being iffy specifically? Which pokes are you having trouble with, and which pokes aren't performing as well as you'd like?

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Sorry again for the bump, but I had a couple of thoughts. First thought was switching Forretress with a Wisher like Jirachi. The way I see it Forretress doesn't keep up with the flow of this team. With Jirachi or a Pokemon to abuse Healing Wish it will allow my Pokemon to stay alive longer.

Secondly, I was thinking of swapping Heatran for another Fire type. Heatran is great and all, but he's just too slow. Any thoughts?

How is it being iffy specifically? Which pokes are you having trouble with, and which pokes aren't performing as well as you'd like?

Well it's mostly Heatran and Forretress. They just don't keep up with the flow of the team like I want them to.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Figured I'd bump this one more time so that you all could get a look at v5 of my team.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

Bump due to version 6 of my team being done.

Please tell how I'm doing. I'm wanting to make a great team before I start going in and making it ingame.

 

[BlazingBarrager]

I'm sorry for bumping this, but I'm having a LOT of trouble trying to come up with a good team. I made various changes, but I just can't seem to get it right. I'm probably going to have to scrap this current setup and start from the ground up. Can someone assist me?