OU Sun-offense

[Yagachi]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to show you my team.
I used to play sun teams in 5G, as I really like their aggressive but fragile playstyle. That's why I wanted to build a sun team in 6G, with some of the pokemon I liked in 5G (Infernape, Espeon). During my test, I realized that Ninetales lost a lot with the climat-inducer nerf, having a Heat Rock instead of leftovers hurts her longetivity. The set I used to have on her (flamenthrower/substitue/will-o-wisp/sunny-day, with enough EVs to outspeed non-scarfed politoed and to take less than 25% to a scald under the sun) doesn't work anymore. In fact, I haven't found a set that really works for her now.
Thanks god, another pokemon has access to drought in OU: Charizard. I gave him a try, and I was really impressed by his performances. The downside is that the sun only lasts 5 turns, that's why I decided to build a team that benefits from sun, but that won't be depending on it, and the result was this:

Infernape @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Close Combat
- Overheat
- Stealth Rock
- Fake Out

>> I really like infernape as a lead, as he can set up the rocks and often prevent the opponent from doing it. I don't see him as a suicide lead, I like to keep him alive because he can deal some huge damage to the ennemy team when played at the right moment (overheat under the sun, with blaze active thanks to focus sash is quite devastating). It's not rare I use him as a finisher in the late game, or as a revenge killer if the sash is still active.

Espeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Baton Pass
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psychic

>>Espeon is amazing at preventing my opponent to put his nasty rocks on my field, which otherwise decrease my team's longetivity by a huge amount. I prefer espeon over defoger/spinner because of its ability to keep tempo, as I don't want to let my opponent breath.
This set and repartition allows Espeon to sweep if necessary, but I usually pass the boosts to Charizard, or sometimes Thundurus.

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost

>>Classic Charizard, he sets up the sun and sweep. I prefer flamenthrower over Fire Blast because of the precision, there's nothing more frustating than missing an attack and getting killed in return when I passed him some calm minds with Espeon.

Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

>>A good olf relic from 4G. I choose Flygon over other choices because of its versatility: 2 immunities, excellent movepool, almost not affected by hazards. Flygon is a good scout and a decent reveng-killer, his base stats aren't that great, but base 100 in attack and speed is enough for his job. He does a little bit of everything and is decent at it.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit

>> The good old scizor, everyone knows him and how effective he is. he helps me to deal with tyranitar and give my team a strong priority move with bullet punch. I usually use U-turn, to keep the momentum and abuse my stealth rock.

Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

>> I has a lot of problem to choose this last slot, but I feel comfortable with Thundurus. He is a decent late-game sweeper and a good target for my Espeon's baton pass. His major problem is blissey, but Scizor and Flygon can deal with her, or at least put her in range of a KO with a +2 focus blast. I feel that there may be better options for this slot, but I don't know them.


Conclusion

I know this team isn't perfect, I've almost managed to reach 1600, but I'm usually stuck near 1550, that's why I need your advices to improve it.
I feel that Flygon lacks some raw power, but I can't really think of a better option. Scarfchomp doesn't have access to U-turn, and I don't feel comfortable with Landorus because of its weakness to water type moves.
Same for thundurus, I feel like there is a better option that I'm not currently aware of.
Overall, the team works pretty fine, but it lacks some stability : It relies a lot on predictions, and a single mistake can put me in a very difficult position.

Thanks for reading this and feel free to make any suggestion ! :)

 

[xJownage]

Scrap flygon. There IS a better option. I like WP dragonite, multiscale makes it extremely bulky even to super effective attacks. Its really just preference. But really scarfchomp is easily better than scarfgon. Like i said though, WP dragonite is a great option.

If you are going to run a nasty plot sweeper thundurus it needs to be defiant. I love prankster trus but it would run taunt and be a lead or would surely run t-wave.

 

[Yagachi]

Thanks for your answer !
I feel that I need the U-turn on Flygon, Dragonite and Garchomp don't give me that option.
I don't need the Defiant on Thundurus, as he only uses special moves. With Prankser, a non-attentive player may think my thundurus is faster than his pokemon, when he isn't, pushing him to make some mistakes.

 

[xJownage]

My bad on the thundurus part.
But do you really need uturn? Flygon is really quite weak and other dragons namely dragonite dont care to uturn cause WP DNITE WANTS TO GET HIT SUPER EFFECTIVELY. Uturn will just make whoevers coming in get hit anyways. Most of those moves will be ice, dragon, or fairy, none of which you really would feel comfortable switching anybody else into unless the opponent is choice (most of the pokes of that type have coverage for the others on your team.

 

[Yagachi]

I think that I need a revenge killer, the choice scarf seems necessary to me.
I'll maybe try Dragonite, as extremspeed may help to RK, but then I'll have 3 pokemons weak to stealth rock, and 3 that take normal damage... Seems a bit risky.

 

[TheManlyLadybug]

I highly recommend replacing Flygon with Choice Band Talonflame. It has U-Turn, so you won't miss Flygon's U-Turn, like you would if you chose Dragonite or Garchomp. It also has the strongest priority move of all time, an incredible STAB 120 BP Brave Bird. It is incredibly capable of picking off just about any Pokémon, and makes an impeccable cleaner/last resort Pokemon.
Try it out. I promise you won't be disappointed.

 

[xJownage]

You could sub scarf excadrill with rapid spin over espeon. Problem with espeon is you have to predict rocks, if you dont the opponent can still get rocks up

 

[NotBruceWayne]

Scarf Flygon is outclassed by Scarf Garchomp. The only thing Flygon has going for it is U-turn and Levitate. ScarfChomp outspeeds +1 XZard and could OHKO with Outrage whereas Scarf Flygon risks speed tying with +1 Jolly XZard. Next, I'd move Charizard's 4 HP EVs to SDef or Def to be able to switch into Stealth Rock at least twice. Same goes for Thunderus. Rule of thumb for pokes weak to SR is to have an odd number in HP. I think you also give Fire Blast a try as it 2HKOs SpDef Clefable and 3HKOs SpDef Washtom respectively. Talonflame could blitz through your team once Thundy goes down (Talonflame 2HKOs Thundy though) so I suggest finding a way around it. Hope I helped and good luck with your team!!