Sun team I’ve had the most success with. OU is currently crazy in s&s but I love how they shrank the pool of available threats, so previously powercrept mons like charizard and seismatoad are now viable.
Trouble I have currently is with rain, naturally as a sun team, so any suggestions are welcome.
Torkoal @ heat rock.
252 hp, 252 def, 4 spdef - Impish.
Rapid spin, stealth rock, lava plume/will-o-wisp/body press/rest
Torkoal is actually not horrendous in this gen compared to other setters. While pelipper lost defog, torkoal can both set up hazards, remove them and set up sun. He also beats ttar 1v1 with body press, and few mons like being burned. I find max defense more useful than a mix defense set, since he doesn’t have recovery he has to take as little damage as possible. Torkoal is also just amazing against darm, even able to survive an eq.
shiftry @ life orb
252 spa, 252 spe, 4 hp - modest
Nasty Plot, heat wave/dark pulse/focus blast/solar beam/extrasensory
Against a lot of teams shiftry sweeps outright, with fantastic coverage and an outstanding stab in S&S of dark. He has a bit of 4MSS, for instance dark/fire/grass crushes rotom-w/Milotic/corsola/ferrothorn cores but leaves you open to hydreigon komo-o and Ttar. Heat wave/dark pulse/focus blast means you can’t set up grassy terrain and have more trouble with milotic. Extrasensory helps vs pex and komo-o but +2 grassy terrain solar beam ohkos both pex and kommo anyways. In most cases you want heat wave though because it allows you to set up your own sun with Gigantamax. Overall a great secondary g-max user (when charizard has a bad matchup) since grassy terrain solar beam is nuts and offsets his life orb.
Why special over physical? Not getting affected by WoW and intimidate is really nice, and having a very strong fire move is doubly important for coverage as well as sun.
darmanitan @ choice scarf
Standard evs
Icicle crash, flare blitz, u-turn, earthquake
Not much to say here...it is very hard to make teams without this monster. Checks most dragapault and other dragons, strong stabs, u-turn for scouting. Once shiftry or charizard break through bulky waters darmanitan can usually clean up
kommo-o @ soundproof, throat spray
252 spa, 252 spe, 4 hp timid
Clangorous soul, clanging scales, flamethrower, flash cannon
Man this mon is tough. Even removing 1/3 of his health he can usually take 2-3 more hits afterwards and requires a g-max to stop. +2 clanging scales just wrecks everything that doesn’t resist. Flash cannon hits fairies. Flamethrower for steels, esp in sun is great. This mon also is just tough for rain to handle in general, and is absurdly bulky with g-max. Soundproof lets him wall most toxtricity which is neat.
Mandibuzz @ leftovers
252 hp, 252 spdef, 4 def - careful
Defog, foul play, Roost, u-turn
Secondary hazard remover that is super bulky on both sides. Checks the omnipresent dragapault, excadrill. This is the mon I’m most unsure about, but does act as a good overall pivot with u-turn.
charizard @ choice scarf/specs/life orb solar power
252 spa, 252 spe, 4 hp timid
fire blast, solar beam, dragon pulse, hurricane
The main man himself, what this team was built around, charizard. Charizard hits like a truck with solar power, able to blast through walls (38-45% to toxapex with fire blast in the sun, more with specs). He can also set up his own sun, grab speed boosts with g-max. I recommend scarf since a lot of games end with scarf zard beating scarf darm, but specs let you pick up speed with gmax hurricane and hit suuuper hard after it ends. Too bad hurricane loses accuracy in the sun though
threats:
Rain - specifically drednaw + seismatoad can get annoying. Kommo-o can handle drednaw but need to set up with shiftry and outplay with g-max resetting sun to win.
togekiss - bulky and annoying, especially now with the ability to gain speed with gmax. Fortunately darm and zard both outspeed +1. Shiftry does too but can’t do much dmg. Can’t let it get a free nasty plot though.
gyarados - god this mon is dumb. Unending spe and attack boosts with outstanding type coverage. I’ve gotta pray for burn, hurricane to hit, and shiftry to do a lot of damage to bring him down. Is there really any check besides milotic, toxapex and rotom, who get wrecked by power whip and eq respectively? Just a scary, scary mon overall.
Trouble I have currently is with rain, naturally as a sun team, so any suggestions are welcome.
Torkoal @ heat rock.
252 hp, 252 def, 4 spdef - Impish.
Rapid spin, stealth rock, lava plume/will-o-wisp/body press/rest
Torkoal is actually not horrendous in this gen compared to other setters. While pelipper lost defog, torkoal can both set up hazards, remove them and set up sun. He also beats ttar 1v1 with body press, and few mons like being burned. I find max defense more useful than a mix defense set, since he doesn’t have recovery he has to take as little damage as possible. Torkoal is also just amazing against darm, even able to survive an eq.
shiftry @ life orb
252 spa, 252 spe, 4 hp - modest
Nasty Plot, heat wave/dark pulse/focus blast/solar beam/extrasensory
Against a lot of teams shiftry sweeps outright, with fantastic coverage and an outstanding stab in S&S of dark. He has a bit of 4MSS, for instance dark/fire/grass crushes rotom-w/Milotic/corsola/ferrothorn cores but leaves you open to hydreigon komo-o and Ttar. Heat wave/dark pulse/focus blast means you can’t set up grassy terrain and have more trouble with milotic. Extrasensory helps vs pex and komo-o but +2 grassy terrain solar beam ohkos both pex and kommo anyways. In most cases you want heat wave though because it allows you to set up your own sun with Gigantamax. Overall a great secondary g-max user (when charizard has a bad matchup) since grassy terrain solar beam is nuts and offsets his life orb.
Why special over physical? Not getting affected by WoW and intimidate is really nice, and having a very strong fire move is doubly important for coverage as well as sun.
darmanitan @ choice scarf
Standard evs
Icicle crash, flare blitz, u-turn, earthquake
Not much to say here...it is very hard to make teams without this monster. Checks most dragapault and other dragons, strong stabs, u-turn for scouting. Once shiftry or charizard break through bulky waters darmanitan can usually clean up
kommo-o @ soundproof, throat spray
252 spa, 252 spe, 4 hp timid
Clangorous soul, clanging scales, flamethrower, flash cannon
Man this mon is tough. Even removing 1/3 of his health he can usually take 2-3 more hits afterwards and requires a g-max to stop. +2 clanging scales just wrecks everything that doesn’t resist. Flash cannon hits fairies. Flamethrower for steels, esp in sun is great. This mon also is just tough for rain to handle in general, and is absurdly bulky with g-max. Soundproof lets him wall most toxtricity which is neat.
Mandibuzz @ leftovers
252 hp, 252 spdef, 4 def - careful
Defog, foul play, Roost, u-turn
Secondary hazard remover that is super bulky on both sides. Checks the omnipresent dragapault, excadrill. This is the mon I’m most unsure about, but does act as a good overall pivot with u-turn.
charizard @ choice scarf/specs/life orb solar power
252 spa, 252 spe, 4 hp timid
fire blast, solar beam, dragon pulse, hurricane
The main man himself, what this team was built around, charizard. Charizard hits like a truck with solar power, able to blast through walls (38-45% to toxapex with fire blast in the sun, more with specs). He can also set up his own sun, grab speed boosts with g-max. I recommend scarf since a lot of games end with scarf zard beating scarf darm, but specs let you pick up speed with gmax hurricane and hit suuuper hard after it ends. Too bad hurricane loses accuracy in the sun though
threats:
Rain - specifically drednaw + seismatoad can get annoying. Kommo-o can handle drednaw but need to set up with shiftry and outplay with g-max resetting sun to win.
togekiss - bulky and annoying, especially now with the ability to gain speed with gmax. Fortunately darm and zard both outspeed +1. Shiftry does too but can’t do much dmg. Can’t let it get a free nasty plot though.
gyarados - god this mon is dumb. Unending spe and attack boosts with outstanding type coverage. I’ve gotta pray for burn, hurricane to hit, and shiftry to do a lot of damage to bring him down. Is there really any check besides milotic, toxapex and rotom, who get wrecked by power whip and eq respectively? Just a scary, scary mon overall.
