Battle Spot Singles Sun team!

[Smokee]

Hi! I'm pretty new to competitive battling, but I've made myself a team I like and I'd like to get some rates! It's a sun team that uses a strategy that I'm able to understand and execute while still being a novice. (Note: I've been playing Pokemon my whole life, just not competitively.)

I've tried some test runs and my team seems to be doing pretty good! I still think it could use some final tweaking a though, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

Anyways, this is my team!

AID (Swampert) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 232 HP / 24 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Earthquake
- Waterfall

My dedicated lead unless the opposing team has clear dangers for her. I chose toxic because my team doesn't rely on burn so it's safe to inflict on anything. Earthquake and waterfall are physical STAB moves, and stealth rock is for setting up so people will think before switching their pokes constantly. HP Ev's are to avoid unnecessary extra damage from Super Fang/ Poison.

Legend (Arcanine) (M) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sunny Day
- Morning Sun
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge

My primary sun setter and Physical Attacker. Heat Rock is for increased sun, morning sun takes advantage of sun and helps recover damage from recoil moves and the attacks are for STAB and coverage. Flash Fire beats his other abilities because of immunity.

Radia (Florges) (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Sunny Day
- Aromatherapy
- Synthesis
- Moonblast

Radia sets up the sun when Arcanine can't. Synthesis take advantage of sun, and aromatherapy helps when my physical attackers get burned(or status really). Moonblast in case of taunt.

Leafy (Leafeon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 200 HP / 56 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Wish

Chlorophyll means Leafeon is fast enough to hit and can actually take a few attacks with her defense Ev's. Wish/Protect for extra recovery with leftovers or for passing a wish to a teammate. Swords dance ups Leafy's already decent attack for Leaf blade. HP ev's are to maximize leftovers recovery.

Spark (Chandelure) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- SolarBeam
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse

An all out special attacker. I decided to use life orb in stead of a scarf because I'm less comfortable switching out all the time of getting locked into one move. SolarBeam is only useful in sun, so I have two sun setters to help keep it up. Fire Blast gets STAB and sun boost, and the others are STAB/coverage attacks.

Valentine (Lopunny) (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out
- Drain Punch

My all out physical attacker. Fake out lets Lopunny Mega Evolve safely, and the others are for STAB and coverage. I chose Drain Punch over hi jump kick because I don't like its recoil and accuracy.


Overall, my team is designed to hit hard but have some help from the two semi clerics if they need it. Everyone except for Swampert benefits from sun but she can switch in to opposing fire types that try to take advantage of the sun.

Thanks! :)

 

[cant say]

Hey there Smokee and welcome to Smogon!

I think it's cool that you're trying to use a dedicated sun-based team, however I don't think it's a very viable strategy to use in the metagame. Sun sweepers typically only have Grass and Fire coverage, meaning they have a hard time against the popular Dragons such as Garchomp, Mega Salamence and Dragonite (and no, putting a Florges on your team does not fix this), and since Grass-types are the main abusers, the omnipresent Talonflame can just come in and bypass their speed and OHKO with priority Brave Bird. Actually keeping your sun active with the popular Tyranitar and Hippowdon running around makes this even harder. As for your sun setters, there are many better options than Arcanine and Florges, and there are better abusers than Leafeon. In short, I think your whole team needs a shake up which would take much more than just this post to fix, and it won't be the same team after doing so, making the rate useless.

Feel free to either PM me for my suggestions, check out the Battle Spot forum where we have a teambuilding workshop thread and other cool resources, or hang out in either our IRC channel or PS! room and ask us for help there!

here are some ideas since I didn't want to leave you with nothing!

Swampert @ Sitrus Berry / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 232 HP / 24 Atk / 252 Def these aren't optimised for level 50. HP can be dropped to 228 and still make the same stat, same with 24 attack being dropped to 20. Remember that EVs at level 50 increase a stat once for every 8, not 4 like at level
100. 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Yawn
- Roar
- Scald

This is actually the better dedicated lead Swampert set. Get rocks set up to break sashes, use Yawn to either sleep something or force a switch, Roar to rack up rocks damage and annoy the opponent as they switch out of a Yawn. Scald for clutch burns against physical mons like Chomp and Mence.

Arcanine Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse / Hidden Power Ice
- Hidden Power Ground / Earthquake

Arcanine is an odd choice for setting sun, why not just use Charizard which sets up sun and attacks on the same turn? Fire Blast's power is well worth the accuracy risk. Dragon Pulse hits Dragons but HP Ice hits the 4x weak ones (Chomp, Mence, Nite. also Lando-T) harder. HP Ground should be used with Dragon Pulse, and Earthquake with HP Ice. Ground coverage stops Heatran from walling you (who gives sun teams pains).

Florges Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Taunt
- Memento
- Moonblast

Here's your Florges replacement. Whimsicott can get the sun up quickly thanks to Prankster, and Memento out into your sun sweeper (so it doesn't have to take unnecessary damage). Taunt stops annoying things like Hippowdon (who will try to shut down your sun). Moonblast incase you get Taunted or just need to get some damage in. 220 speed makes sure you're faster than Thundurus, the next fastest Prankster.

Leafeon Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain / Grass Knot
- Hidden Power Fire / Ground / Ice / Rock
- Growth

Leafeon is underwhelming as a sweeper, especially with mono-attacking Grass coverage. Wish+Protect also wastes valuable sun turns, and the lack of attack and speed EVs meant it was quite weak and also slow even with Chlorophyll active... I've given you Venusaur just because I like him personally.

You really need a decent Talonflame check, and Chandelure and Lopunny definitely don't help there, so I would think about scrapping them too! (see what I mean about this not being the same team anymore?) I would give Tyrantrum a try, his Scarf + Rock Head + Head Smash set is really fun! As for the last member, I really don't know. There a heaps of options but none that are really jumping out at me. Something to take on Kangaskhans and Salamences couldn't hurt, I'm thinking Porygon2 could be a decent fit.