• Smogon Premier League is here and the team collection is now available. Support your team!

Semi-Sun Team

Clawd

*update* i've decided to make a completely different team that doesn't involve pikachu. it's sort of a sun team, but i wouldn't call it that... i think it's okay, but it has some flaws that i cant put my finger on.

257.png


Blaziken@Life orb
Trait: Speed Boost
252 atk 252 spe 4 hp
Jolly nature
- Flare blitz
- Sky Uppercut (used to be Hi jump kick)
- Shadow Claw/Rock Slide
- protect

I've decided to make a team based around blaziken, idk why, i just like him. he has a lot of potential in the metagame and is a great sweeper. I have jolly nature for the extra speed. Flare blitz is a STAB attack that hits metagross and other steel types who i would otherwise have trouble with. Hi Jump kick is a riskier move to use that sky uppercut, but it hits harder. Shadow claw hits latios, latias, chandelure, etc. Rock Slide obviously serves as a spread move

302.png


Sableye@Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
252 hp 252 spD 4 def
Careful nature
- Sunny Day
- Fake Out (used to be Sucker Punch)
- Will-o-Wisp
- Detect/Recover

I've decided to pick sableye because it supports blaziken well. i actually decided to use him instead of ninetales because i can get rid of the weather fast, and auto weather is too much of a hassle for me. if i run into a rain team, i can just use the priority sunny day, which boosts blaziken's STAB and weakens water attacks. I use will-o-wisp to cripple dangerous physical attackers such as garchomp, Metagross, hitmontop, etc. Sucker Punch is a Stab attack that hits chandelure and other psyhic/ghost types. Detect is to avoid dagerous attacks and if i dont have detect, i can use recover to heal him up.

3.png


Venusaur@Grass Gem
Trait: Chlorophyll
252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 hp
Modest Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Energy Ball/Solarbeam
- HP Ice
- protect

Venusaur provides the perfect support for everybody in the sun. He hits threatening bulky water types who wall blaziken, puts dangerous foes to sleep, which will help blaziken to sweep. Sleep powder puts threatening foes to sleep, allowing blaziken to hit them hard. energy ball or solarbeam or giga drain hits bulky water types very hard, and may ohko them with a grass gem boost. hp ice hits dragon types such as salamence, who blaziken can't touch unless he has rock slide.

503.png


Rotom-Wash@choice scarf
Trait: Levitate
252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 hp
Timid nature
- Hydro pump
- Thunderbolt
- HP Ice
- Trick

Rotom wash is something i need in case blaziken has fainted. I mainly have him because of fast threats such as choice scarf chandelure or garchomp. with timid nature, it practically outspeeds all of pokes in the metagame besides trick room attackers. i mainly use this guy when the sun isn't up, so hit STAB Hydro pump isn't weakened. Thunderbolt hits bulky water types bar gastrodon and swampert, and hp ice hits those threatening dragon types, and trick is to get tanks locked into a move.

493.png


Cresselia@sitrus berry
Trait: Levitate
252 hp, 252 spd, 4 def
calm nature
- Icy Wind (Used to be T-Wave)
- psychic
- Sunny day
- helping hand

Since Sableye can't take hits forever, i need a pokemon that is extremely bulky. who else fits the role better than cresselia? she provides good support for blaziken to cripple fast attackers. i have t-wave over icy wind to lower metagross's speed, who has clear body. psychic is a STAB attack that hits hitmontop.
Reflect is a must-have because my team lacks physical tanks, and helping hand powers up any pokemons' attacks. Sunny day is for support in case sableye is gone.

237.png


Hitmontop@Fighting Gem
Trait: Intimidate
252 atk 252 hp 4 spe
Adamant/Brave Nature
- Fake out
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
- Protect/Feint/Detect (Used to be Wide Guard)

I don't know why i have hitmontop on this team, tbh. But he's a good poke. he supports sableye so he can survive physical attacks, and has wide guard to protect him or anyone from spread moves. I originally had mach punch instead of close combot, but it practically does nothing to steel types like ferrothorn. Sucker punch is to hit latios and other psychic types.



 
I'm not so sure I can join in on the praise nerdyboy (which is now deleted, apparently) has given you. While your attempt to make a lesser used Pokemon worth something is admirable, you really don't have the skeleton of a team designed to do that ironed out yet. At the moment, half of your team is Fake Out / Rage Power support and the other half a deviation of Trick Room + Rain. You should hone your focus to one central idea behind a team instead of running two entirely different strategies.

That said, the half of your team that's trying to support Pikachu isn't really the greatest. Most any neutral spread move will be OHKOing or 2HKOing Pikachu and you haven't done much to stop that. I can't really suggest many alternate team mates to help solve your problems, as in the end I'd be suggesting an entirely different team. My advice to you would be to start the team building process over and set a new skeleton into place. Try to set up a synergetic web of Pokemon that can support Pikachu without completely relying on him and that can support each other well. Try to focus on a few things Pikachu likes such as providing Rage Powder / Fake Out and Wide Guard support for him, or a few ways for him to power up through Lightning Rod. Not only that, but make sure Pikachu supports the Pokemon in return. I know this advice is all pretty vague, I'm really just trying to set up a few ideas to work with when you try your hand at a team like this again!
 
hmm i guess i can do that. i'll update the post when i'm done redoing the team. thank you for the advice, but i have trick room/rain on this team for a reason. in the rain, my special defensive wall, togetic can take hits from chandelure's heat wave extremely well, and weavile works decently in the rain, because threatening fire types' STAB moves are weakened, giving it at least a chance to survive against them. although i will say that the trick room part needs to go, but rain is quite useful with pika, weavile, and togetic
 
Why Pikachu? Raichu Outclasses him in every way except for the fact Pikachu has acess to Eviolite which you aren't running but you could opt for a much stronger option. No offence intended but pokemon are generally put into lower tiers for a reason. You have a great team idea (one that I considered using) but better pokemon could fill the roles.
 
hoult66 said:
Why Pikachu? Raichu Outclasses him in every way except for the fact Pikachu has acess to Eviolite which you aren't running but you could opt for a much stronger option. No offence intended but pokemon are generally put into lower tiers for a reason. You have a great team idea (one that I considered using) but better pokemon could fill the roles.
Click to expand...
I assume you aren't familiar with the Light Ball item. It doubles Pikachu's (and NOT Raichu's) attacking stats, giving it the equivalent of around base 130 attacking stats at the cost of not being able to hold another item.
 
*update*
I have edited the team to something new which doesn't involve a pikachu, who needs a full team of supporters. I couldn't figure out how to change the name of the thread :/
 
Clawd said:
*update*
I have edited the team to something new which doesn't involve a pikachu, who needs a full team of supporters. I couldn't figure out how to change the name of the thread :/
Click to expand...
Just simply press "edit" and press "go advance", you can change the title that way.
 
Quite honestly, I don't know why this doesn't have a Protect/Heatwave/HPsomething/4th move Quiet Iron Ball Ninetales.

Careful or not, Sableye is going to be hit hard by players who know what's up. In fact, I'm quite surprised you're not just running Sun/Terrakion "mixed"...

Prankster Sunnyday on Whimsicott works just as well, and he has access to Beatup for Terrakion, Tailwind for kicks, and Trick Room for the counter (which is something you seem weak too).

The Terrakion/Sun-mixed team is fairly fluid, having only 2 real fixed slots - Whimsi and Terrakion. Afterthat, you can run Ninetales to doubleup on sun, and then keep the brokeness of Cumbustian, Venosaur, and Cresselia or Hitmontop. Cress needs Icy Wind, by the way, and shouldn't run helping hand - you don't have enough spread moves to make it count.
 
Try the "Terrakion Partner" set here:
http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/whimsicott/vgc2011
Sub Sunnyday for either of the last 2 moves (if going with mixed terrakion/sun), or anything but tailwind if going for straight sunnyday. I've also seen it use either Gigadrain or Grass Knot for a STAB-attack... which is useful against rain teams, but never going to OHKO anything.
 
Black Sludge would be better on Venusaur instead of Grass Gem since it hurts anything that uses Trick on it, and it's like a backup leftovers without violating item clause.
 
No one uses trick in doubles. Grass Gem isn't that great, though, I could see the anti-ice gem since ice beam's going to be all over the place.

I'd opt for Focus Sash on Blaziken and Life Orb on Venosaur, though...

Also, Hi Jump Kick might not be the choice for Blaziken in doubles. Ghost-Jumping and Protect out the wazoo will hurt things.
 
labarith said:
Careful or not, Sableye is going to be hit hard by players who know what's up. In fact, I'm quite surprised you're not just running Sun/Terrakion "mixed"...

Prankster Sunnyday on Whimsicott works just as well, and he has access to Beatup for Terrakion, Tailwind for kicks, and Trick Room for the counter (which is something you seem weak too).

The Terrakion/Sun-mixed team is fairly fluid, having only 2 real fixed slots - Whimsi and Terrakion. Afterthat, you can run Ninetales to doubleup on sun, and then keep the brokeness of Cumbustian, Venosaur, and Cresselia or Hitmontop. Cress needs Icy Wind, by the way, and shouldn't run helping hand - you don't have enough spread moves to make it count.
Click to expand...
Okay, I don't mean to sound rude, but I would highly recommend against this advice. Terrakion + Whimsicott was rare and well prepared for at the end of VGC 2011. It's been dead in the water since VGC 2012 rolled around when new, half decent Fake Out users like Hitmontop and powerful priority users like Metagross and Scizor who hit Terrakion for super-effective damage came to town.

My advice to you from earlier still stands. While this is definitely a more competent team, I feel like you're not explaining why you chose each Pokemon and what interwoven synergy they have. I think a session of Battling 101 tutoring would do you wonders. That said, I can offer a few general comments on what you have here.

  • Hi Jump Kick is a terribly risky move in VGC with Protect running around everywhere. Consider replacing it with Sky Uppercut for a more reliable option.
  • Sableye is fine as is. I wouldn't recommend switching it out for a Whimsicott at all. My only recommendation would be to try Fake Out over Sucker Punch for the awesome utility Fake Out brings.
  • On Venusaur, it you're using this team in a VGC regional, use Energy Ball due to legality restrictions. Otherwise, if you're simply playing by GBU rules, use Giga Drain.
  • I would recommend Sunny Day over Reflect on Cresselia. If you want to work in the Sun, Cresselia is among the most bulky and reliable users out there.
  • You don't have an especially apparent weakness to spread moves; Wide Guard looks a tad unnecessary on Hitmontop. If you don't find it to be very useful, consider replacing it with Protect or even Feint.

Gengan said:
Black Sludge would be better on Venusaur instead of Grass Gem since it hurts anything that uses Trick on it, and it's like a backup leftovers without violating item clause.
Click to expand...
Leftovers are hardly useful on anything outside of the bulkiest Pokemon in VGC. Grass Gem is much preferred for the offensive prowess it brings.
 
should i keep rotom wash on this team for revenge killing/outspeeding scarf users such as chandelure? i feel like another pokemon could suit the spot better than rotom wash
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top