Rising Temperature: An OU Sun Team

[Conver5e]

Introduction

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Back in Generation 4, I had never really delved into really making a weather-oriented team. Now that Gen 5 is here with all sorts of new dangerous sweepers that are benefited from weather, I decided to take a crack at it. I usually make regular standard OU teams; using a weather team would definitely take me out of my comfort zone.

Gen 5 was obviously blessed with Drought Ninetales and Drizzle Politoed. After hearing many complaints and praises alike about Rain, I noticed that Rain was getting quite popular in OU. Daring to be different, I looked towards a sun-oriented team. Unlike Rain teams however, I chose not to pick a multitude of Pokemon that abuse rain; instead I chose to make a team with support to lead to a much larger sweep than ever imagined by a sun team.

The idea that I had in mind with this team was using a concept that was popular in past generations, and that is Baton Passing. With Gen 5, Baton Pass has decreased in viability with new bulky sweepers and Trick Room. However, I still felt that Baton Pass could still be a top strategy, as it has led me to some of my fastest sweeps I've ever accomplished in Generation 4. It was with this concept of support, in addition to the sun concept, that I decided to center this team around.

Team Building Process

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I obviously used Ninetales as my starting point. This sun team would not be complete without her.

Uxie would be my next Pokemon. He can reliably set up dual screens, which will make the Baton Pass a bit easier. Uxie has great natural bulk, and he can use it extremely well. Plus, I used him in my other standard OU teams for Gen 5, and I already knew how bulky he was.

Mew is the next one I chose. He learns Swords Dance and Rock Polish, two great stat boosting moves that can be Baton Passed by him. Plus, with the dual screens, and a high Defense and Special Defense, he pretty much becomes indestructible. Mew can also learn Magic Coat, which makes sure he doesn't become Taunt bait. An obvious choice for me.

Sawsbuck, a great sweeper under the sun. Good coverage, Chlorophyll, plus Baton Passes from Mew = good game. However, Sawsbuck loses to priority. If only Sawsbuck could learn ExtremeSpeed... o_o. However, if I predicted a Mach Punch coming my way from a Conkeldurr or something, I could switch to Uxie/Mew to tank the hit.

Arcanine was a mixed sweeper that could take the Fire moves that were intended for Sawsbuck. Arcanine was here solely as a counter to Skarmory, as well as a counter to Blissey. He also gets some STAB and gets the boost from the sun.

Hitmontop was my choice for a Rapid Spinner. I consider him as one of the best Rapid Spinners in the game, due to access to Foresight. He can also take Pursuits that are coming to get Uxie or Mew. Rapid Spins also make sure Ninetales and Arcanine stay alive a little more due to Stealth Rock still being prevalent.

I switched Uxie with Xatu first. Uxie was doing well in setting up dual screens, but he didn't have much support outside of those screens. Xatu learns Reflect and Light Screen, while also learning Wish to keep my team alive longer. Xatu also gets Magic Bounce, which can get me a free Stealth Rock with accurate prediction. I then replaced Mew with Gliscor. Gliscor is more bulky under dual screen support, and he's protected from status with Poison Heal.

I replaced Arcanine with Air Balloon Heatran. With Arcanine, this team was completely walled by Gliscor. Air Balloon Heatran makes sure that Gliscor doesn't use Earthquake, and Heatran can counter back with HP Ice.

I replaced Xatu with Jirachi. In terms of Wishpassing capabilities, Jirachi beats out Xatu in that area. Since I have Heatran setting up SR for me, I don't need Xatu to reflect the enemy's SR as much. Jirachi seemed a better choice, as he's not Pursuit-weak, he gets the awesome ability Serene Grace, and he is more bulky than Xatu. Jirachi here serves as Wish Support as well as crippling the other team with offensive moves.

The Team

Team Analysis

Ninetales (M) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 92 SDef / 164 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rest
- Toxic
- Will-o-Wisp
- Flamethrower


Ninetales starts off the match with Drought support, and crippling the opponent with WoW and Toxic. Toxic is used for general stalling, and Will-o-Wisp lets me take care of Tyranitar, and Steel-types and Poison-types. Rest and Chesto Berry give her a lot more survivability than Leftovers. STAB Flamethrower under the sun hits hard on Pokemon that even resist it.

Heatran (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock


My counter to Gliscor, who otherwise would wall this team to complete bits. Air Balloon allows it to be untouched by Gliscor's Earthquake, at which point Heatran can OHKO it with HP Ice. HP Ice also hits the genies and Latios and Latias. Fire Blast hits hard in the sun, weakening pretty much any Pokemon that doesn't resist it. As a matter of fact, even Pokemon that do resist Fire Blast still get hit hard. Earth Power takes care of other Heatrans and Excadrills that aren't holding Balloon. Stealth Rock helps my other Pokemon in setting up and such.

Sawsbuck (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Horn Leech
- Return
- Megahorn
- Jump Kick


Oh, boy. This guy is just monstrous in the sun. I think it's become standard to have this guy in a sun team. His coverage isn't that great, but that really doesn't matter, because he'll be getting Swords Dances from Gliscor. A +2 Return coming off of STAB will most likely OHKO any Pokemon, except Ghosts, of course. This set has some trouble with Gengar, who could completely wall this set, which is why I have been thinking of putting Faint Attack into one of the moveslots. A +4 Horn Leech will most likely 2HKO-OHKO it though. Megahorn takes out any Reuniclus that poses a major threat to this team. Jump Kick takes out Steel-types except Ferrothorn and Skarmory. Sawsbuck most likely won't staying in on Ferrothorn or Skarmory either.

Jirachi @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Wish
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Fire Punch


An extremely reliable WishPasser, while also giving my team some offensive capabilities. Wish keeps my team healthy, and the other 3 moves, coupled with Serene Grace, have a high chance of crippling the opponent's team. A Wish followed by an Iron Head could get me a free Wish if I'm lucky. Body Slam takes out speedy sweepers, and Fire Punch takes care of physical sweepers. Iron Head gives me reliable STAB with a high chance of flinch. The EV spread lets it have the most specially defensive bulk, while outspeeding Jolly Tyranitar.

Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 128 SDef / 72 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake


My Baton Passer, who passes all those good Swords Dances and Rock Polishes. Rock Polish helps out Heatran, while Swords Dance makes Sawsbuck a dangerous sun sweeper. Poison Heal makes it so there is no status that is screwing up his Baton Pass attempt. The SDef EVs let him take some special attacks, but he obviously won't be able to take an Ice Beam. Earthquake is there so that he doesn't become Taunt bait. Speed EVs let him outspeed Jolly Tyranitar.

Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Rapid Spin
- Sucker Punch
- Mach Punch

I've combined the Technician and the Rapid Spin sets into a nice support, yet offensive set. Fake Out breaks sashes and lets me scout for items. Rapid Spin blows away entry hazards so my sweepers can enter safely. Mach Punch is a main STAB move, coupled with Technician, lets him still hit hard. Sucker Punch is another priority move that lets me not get completely walled by Ghosts.

Threats

Even though Heatran can counter Gliscor, this team is still completely walled by him. He is not that much of a threat any more, but it will definitely mean trouble if Heatran is dead.

Reuniclus can take a lot of my hits, and deal them back twice as hard. Up in the analysis I spoke about putting Crunch on Heatran to deal with Reuniclus. Dark Pulse is obviously not going to put much of a dent in Reuniclus. Plus, no other Pokemon on this team has a super-effective move against him.

Nasty Plot Thundurus can mess up this team pretty badly, boasting super-effective moves against both of my sweepers. Hopefully with dual screens up, my sweepers can take those hits, or my sweeper can kill him before he sets up.

Politoed is obviously a counter to this team. He won't allow Ninetales to set up sun, so now Sawsbuck is down. And he can take out Heatran easily. However, Xatu can block Toxics that are coming from Politoed that seems to be common these days.

Rotom-W is extremely dangerous in the rain to this team. Although Sawsbuck counters him pretty well, Rotom-W can sweep this whole team when Sawsbuck is out of the way.

Tyranitar is also a bit of a problem. I'm seeing more and more TyraniBoahs this generation, and they can screw up the sun, and proceed to take out Xatu, Sawsbuck, Heatran, and Ninetales. He has been a pretty large problem in testing.

....................
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[Ayeeelin]

How is this a sun team? You've only one abuser and you could just scarf him anyway. You might was well just switch out Ninetales 'cause all it's really good for is putting up sun.

 

[Conver5e]

How is this a sun team? You've only one abuser and you could just scarf him anyway. You might was well just switch out Ninetales 'cause all it's really good for is putting up sun.

I said I wanted to base a weather team around Baton Passing. If you want, I can put in Solar Power Charizard in place of Xatu if it makes you sleep better at night. The sole purpose of this team is not to have a bunch of sun abusers. The Baton Passes go to my main sweepers who can take out a team of 6 easily. Why do I need more sun abusers when my main sweepers can already handle a full team? Plus, Heatran also abuses the sun using STAB Fire Blasts in the sun.

Of course, if you feel that I should change up the team because it's not what you call a "sun team" then go ahead.

 

[Shiny Mew2]

This should be Dream World. 1/2 of the pokemons' abilities are DW.

 

[Mysterious Trainer]

This should be Dream World. 1/2 of the pokemons' abilities are DW.

That may be, but Drought, Magic Bounce, and Poison heal are all released on Ninetails, Xatu, and Gliscor, respectively. This thread does not need the '(Dream World)' tag.

 

[Benlisted]

How is this a sun team? You've only one abuser and you could just scarf him anyway. You might was well just switch out Ninetales 'cause all it's really good for is putting up sun.

Sawsbuck doesnt function without Sun, and he aims to pass boosts to two sweepers who perform best with Sun up, so I'd say this is definitely a Sun team.

This should be Dream World. 1/2 of the pokemons' abilities are DW.

No, the DW abilities are all released so this is actually an OU team.

With that out of the way, onto a rate. This is a really interesting Sun team, with a fantastically original concept in doublepass Gliscor! There are a few improvements and adjustments I feel could be made though, so onto them.

Consider WoW on Tales over Protect. It may help with Toxistalling but that's literally all, it makes you even worse setup fodder than you already are. If having really bad TTar problems WoW will let you cripple its attack and scout for its set from behind that Sub, as well as rack up some residual damage on it so you can hopefully wear it down. If toxistalling with it is crucial to taking things out for your team then perhaps keep it, but I can't see that it is.

On Heatran Dark Pulse is entirely obsolete - it hits things SE for 160 BP, and your Fire Blast in Sun reaches 240 BP or more with Flash Fire - so even Psy/Ghosts who resist it (Jellicent and that's it) will take 120 BP hits from it, which isn't enough to make it worth it imo. Crunch isn't a great option seeing as his attack isn't wonderful, so I'd suggest a few things for the slot. Firstmost, SR. You may be running a sweeper set, but your first 3 moves provide enough coverage with Modest's power, and Sawsbuck greatly appreciates the 12% on Latios to enable a surefire revengekill, not to mention how much it helps in restricting other weather inducer's switchins. If you feel Xatu can reflect it well enough, however, try Substitute. This protects you from paralysis, scouts for unexpected hits and puts you at a huge advantage if you outspeed things (ie if you've recieved a RP from Gliscor), as well as letting you see your counters and their sets. Works wonders against opposing Sun teams too - my nightmares are haunted by Sub Balloon Trans, let alone with +2 Speed...

On Sawsbuck I have a few suggestions. Nature power is filling a role overlapping hugely with Jump Kick imo. Double-Edge's power on anything that doesn't resist it is 180, and a SE Nature power is 200, barely worth it on things that don't resist Normal - but Jump Kick covers all Steels and Rocks just fine, especially now balloon is so used on things like Tran. Over it I'd run one of a few things. Since you have such Reuniclus problems and have no real counter to Latios barring Tran, whose balloon you want intact, Megahorn is an option to OHKO them both, as well as save you recoil on other things weak to it. Aromatherapy could be used to heal off Burn and Paralysis from yourself as well as function as a pseudo-cleric for the entire team, or SD could be added to get a further boost if something threatening Gliscor comes in, or he is lost early. As well as this, I'd definitely run some more Speed, so that you can fuction as a revenger of even enemy Scarfers without a RP. Personally I'd aim for 263 Speed to beat the odd Scarf Latios who will give you hell if you can't outspeed it, but feel free to drop to 250 for ScarfChomp or inbetween for the base 108s. Your bulk is supplemented well if you get a Wood Horn off on something, so you needn't worry about increased recoil too much. As a warning, +2 Jump Kick will not OHKO either Ferrothorn or Skarmory, you need +6 I think to guarantee them (assuming Sutdy is broken) and the recoil/fact they can both almost kill you with Gyro Ball/Brave Bird means you shouldn't be trying to use Saws to take them out.

Xatu looks fine, consider a little Speed so you can throw a Reflect up in TTar's face if it comes to it. Gliscor similarly, but I'd advise only passing SDs to Saws as opposed to trying to get both. If you have time to boost a few times the SDs will be more useful unless you need an RP to outspeed something, and if you invest a little in Speed on Saws he shouldn't need the RP anyway.

On Hitmontop I wouldn't bother with Sucker punch - it hits for 160 SE and Close Combat reaches 180 with STAB once Foresight has been used. Mach Punch for revenging utility seems better. In any case, Hitmontop seems like he isn't too useful to this team to be quite honest - he exacerbates your Reuniclus weakness, and since you only have 2 SR weaks (one of which is passing wishes and reflects SR) it doesn't seem like you need the secure spin Hitmontop guarantees. I'm not quite sure what to suggest instead, as the typical Venusaur or similar I recommend doesn't really fit your team, but just keep in mind that you have a slot here which feels replaceable. Perhaps a Sub Terrakion - CC maims the weather inducers, X-Scissor beats Reuniclus, SE kills the genies, and even Gliscor doesn't wall him at +2? He loves either of the boosts you can pass with Gliscor and could pack them himself if need be as well.

Hope this helps, really like your team so I hope you keep us posted on how it does.

 

[Conver5e]

Thanks for the rate Benlisted. Your Solar Flare team is one that inspired me to make a sun team :P

I feel that Ninetales might do worse with dual status, but I see your point in putting WoW to deal with Tyranitar, who is a pain to face for this team. I will test it out tonight to see how it comes out.

Right now I am willing to put anything on Heatran to replace Dark Pulse, because it really isn't doing much, besides hitting a few bulky ghosts that really just shrug it off. SR sounds like a good idea, I feel that my prediction skills are lacking to try and predict an enemy SR and reflect it with Xatu. I probably won't put Sub in for Heatran because having two Sub users seems kind of redundant.

On Sawsbuck, I see how Nature Power EQ and Jump Kick are kind of irrelevant together on a moveset. I replaced Nature Power with Megahorn so far and Megahorn seems to be doing great so far in countering Reuniclus. However, in putting Megahorn on, I don't deal as much damage to Jirachi and Metagross (bar Balloon), but it seems to be working as a benefit.

Xatu is now at 72 Spd EVs with 40 EVs in SpDef. The Speed EVs let him outspeed +Nature TTar with maxed Speed. I left Gliscor untouched, I haven't really run into problems with him before concerning speed. But if I find him being killed easily, then I'll probably invest some EVs into speed.

Adding Terrakion adds to my Fighting weakness, even though Xatu and Gliscor wall Fighting moves quite well. I am pretty unsure about this decision. I will probably test it tonight and see if I should keep him or replace him.

 

[Benlisted]

Yeah, once I posted that I realised Terrakion would give you a bad water weak more than anything else, making it really hard for you to face Rain. I'd go for a Water resist or at least neutral in the slot, perhaps, though pretty much no waters fit on Sun well. Slowbro would be an option, he seems to compliment your weaknesses quite well but obviously isn't going to benefit from your boostpasses. Yawn may help you get Gliscor in safely if you use that on him though, and he gets Flamethrower, so try it out perhaps - Hitmontop really just doesn't seem worth it.

Great to know my RMT inspired you to an extent anyway, that was what I'd hoped it'd do!

 

[-Gallade-]

Your team is an odd one... I feel like it is very loosely put together.
For the Baton Passing, your team is completely shut down by Sturdy Skarmory, Cofagrius, Sableye, and Thundurus. Also, Scarf Chandelure poses a major threat to your team, trapping and KOing everything with its STAB Fire Blast in the sunlight, bar Heatran, of course
In order to stop this, I would recommend a Thundurus of your own to pass to. Sure, you would need to add a Celebi or a Mew along with Thundurus, but it can Paralyze anything with a +1 Thunder Wave, Taunt a phazer, and destroy everything with a boosted Thunderbolt.
As far as Ninetales goes, I would recommend keeping it alive as long as possible, even if your opponent doesn't run weather, because some upper class players carry Abomasnow to counter weather. Dugtrio traps and defeats Ninetales, but nobody uses that and Ballon Heatran takes care of it. I would recommend running Nitro Charge on Heatran over Dark Pulse, as the speed boost is very helpful.

 

[Conver5e]

Changes made so far:

• Replaced Xatu with Jirachi
• Changed Protect on Ninetales to WoW
• Replaced Dark Pulse with Stealth Rock on Heatran
• Changed Hitmontop's set with a mixed Technician + Rapid Spin set
• Changed Ninetales's set to ChestoRest
• Replaced Double-Edge with Return on Sawsbuck and Nature Power with Megahorn

 

[chimpact]

I would replace Sawsbuck with Venusaur, since it can actually hit gliscor with hidden power ice or + 2 Giga Drain/energy ball.

-Growth
-Giga Drain / Energy Ball
-Hidden Power [Ice]/[Fire]
-Earthquake / Sludge bomb / Sleep Powder

There's not much that can take on a Venusaur in the sun and it absorbs toxic spikes which could really hurt your hitmontop. Earthquake is for those spdef walls that think they can take you on and heatran.

Even with Sawsbuck, I don't know how BP'g is gonna be effective since Gliscor shares common weaknesses with the pokemon you were gonna BP out to.

Wobbuffett I think can help you set up your sweepers better than Gliscor could because 1. It can help eliminate the opponents weather 2. Encore an opponent so that Venusaur can set up to sweep.

The last thing I would suggest is to replace hitmontop with tentacruel so you can take random special attacks a lot better and it can set up toxic spikes to weaken your opponent's inducer. I'm not too sure about this since you lose a lot of physical bulk if you go that route.

 

[Conver5e]

I would replace Sawsbuck with Venusaur, since it can actually hit gliscor with hidden power ice or + 2 Giga Drain/energy ball.

-Growth
-Giga Drain / Energy Ball
-Hidden Power [Ice]/[Fire]
-Earthquake / Sludge bomb / Sleep Powder

There's not much that can take on a Venusaur in the sun and it absorbs toxic spikes which could really hurt your hitmontop. Earthquake is for those spdef walls that think they can take you on and heatran.

Even with Sawsbuck, I don't know how BP'g is gonna be effective since Gliscor shares common weaknesses with the pokemon you were gonna BP out to.

Wobbuffett I think can help you set up your sweepers better than Gliscor could because 1. It can help eliminate the opponents weather 2. Encore an opponent so that Venusaur can set up to sweep.

The last thing I would suggest is to replace hitmontop with tentacruel so you can take random special attacks a lot better and it can set up toxic spikes to weaken your opponent's inducer. I'm not too sure about this since you lose a lot of physical bulk if you go that route.

Based on this advice, I've actually made some major changes to this team. I saw the Ice weakness in Gliscor and Sawsbuck, so I switched out Sawsbuck with a CB Darmanitan. CB Darmanitan + Swords Dance + Rock Polish + Sun = a hard hitting Flare Blitz. Since I had 3-Fire types on my team (plus another Water-weak in Gliscor) I replaced Heatran with Venusaur. I realized that Venusaur is just a monstrous threat in the sun, and he serves more than just a Gliscor counter unlike Heatran who was solely there to abuse Fire Blast and HP Ice. I will test this team tonight to see how it does.