Sun Fun

[Poopy]

I always wanted to get into competitive pokemon. Instead of just playing through the easy ingame battles so I started learning more about the metagame. With that said here's my first team!
EDIT:My team really needs a physical attacker I get utterly destroyed by special walls, and I want to run Heal Bell on Blissey. Problem is i'd have to lose Stealth Rock, and then I have no hazard support :/

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Ice
As soon as he's in he traps the enemy with Magma Storm. Then he taunts them stopping them from setting up in any way, and hopefully kills them.

Ninetales @ Shed Shell
Trait: Drought
EVs: 160 HP / 248 SpD /100 Spe
Timid Nature
-Flamethrower
-Will-O-Wisp
-Pain Split
-Hidden Power Fighting

Ninetales is there for sun obviously since how would a sun team work without drought. Will-O-Wisp is for weakening them T-Tars, and so is HP Fighting. Pain Split is there for decent recovery. While Flamethrower is my preferred stab.

Blissey @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Flamethrower

Blissey without you my team wouldn't work very well at all. I need you for status absorber, hazard setter, status inducer, wish support, and special wall. Blissey also surprisingly destroys bulky steel types trying to setup on me.

Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sludge Bomb

Venasaur most likely the top sun sweeper in OU. There would be no point in having the sun if I didn't have a sun abuser right? I run a standard Venusaur set, and haven't had any problems with it.

Starmie @ Life Orb (Thanks to Gary)
Trait: Nature Cure
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
Starmie is a nice spinner on the team. Ice beam is for killing those pesky dragon types if I cant have Cresselia do it. Recover is too lengthen my Starmie's life. While Hydro pump is a good stab even in the sun.

Cresselia @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight

Cresselia works really well with Blissey. With high def and psychic typing Cresselia can take those physical attacks especially Close Combat for Blissey. Then I proceed to setup with as many Calm Mind boosts as possible then destroy assuming I don't get poisoned...

 

[Gary]

Hey man! Would you mind expanding your descriptions a bit? This will help raters understand why you chose each move, EV spread, etc so we can get a more rate that's more beneficial for your team.

I must admit you have a very solid sun team for your first team, and it's nice to see you use Cresselia, a very underrated but useful Pokemon in this meta game. Cresselia is very good on Sun teams especially because of her insane bulk and her ability to heal up over half of her health under the sun. One thing I recommend on Cresselia, is to replace Reflect with HP Fighting or Ice Beam. Reflect without Light Clay is quite annoying, as it only lasts a few turns. Since Cresselia already has maxed out physical bulk, Reflect seems pretty redundant. Since you lack any Fighting type coverage, HP Fighting can help against your decent Mamoswine weakness, as well as giving you something to hit Ferrothorn. Ice Beam is another alternative to hit Dragons, especially Latias and Latios who wall Cresselia's Psychic, and something to hit Landorus or Gliscor more effectively. Having Calm Mind boosts to her special attack with only Psychic at her disposal is kind of a let down coverage wise, so having at least +2 attacking moves makes her more of a threat defensively.

Next, I'd like to address your pretty decent Mamoswine weakness. Normally, he wouldn't be too much of a problem. However with the ability Thick Fat after the banning of Snow Cloak, he can still survive Sun boosted attacks and OHKO half of your team back. The first thing you can change to help this is by replacing your Cloyster with an Offensive Starmie. Cloyster is kind of a meh spinner in OU, because ironically it packs a weakness to Stealth Rock itself, so switching it in to spin will take a toll on it's sweeping potential. Here's the set:

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Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Nature Cure
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam/Thunderbolt
- Psyshock/Recover
- Rapid Spin

Starmie seems to work much better on your team then Cloyster did after testing, and it can not only spin, but check a ton of threats with it's amazing speed and coverage. Life Orb cancels out some of the lost power that Hydro Pump receives because of the Sun, and works pretty well in conjunction with Recover if you choose to use it over Psyshock. Ice Beam is pretty much to check anything that Cloyster did, however unlike Cloyster it can check right off the bat instead of having to set up. Psyshock is for Terrakion, Keldeo, and Gengar, however if you feel like most of your team can handle them then use Recover over Psyshock to increase its longevity. T-Bolt can be used over Ice Beam to have a back up for Jellicent if Venusaur's gone, however Ice beam is an all around better choice.

The last thing I can think of to change would be your Heatran's move set a little bit. First off, I would replace it's Leftovers for an Air Balloon. This allows Heatran to be completely immune to Ground attacks, and is an awesome combination when combined with HP Ice to check Gliscor, Sand Force Landorus, and most of the Dragons who pack Earthquake. Speaking of Hidden Power Ice, I'd replace either Taunt or Toxic with Hidden Power Ice. Although Starmie is a decent check to most of these threats, Starmie still can't safely come into Scarfed Landorus or DD Salamence like Air Balloon Heatran can. Although Heatran can't counter them, provided he has a free switch he can wall a DD Outrage and OHKO back with HP Ice, and also wall physical Landorus' moves. I personally enjoy Balloon Heatran the most out of any other item he usually holds because it really ups his opportunities to come in and check things most wouldn't even imagine him being able to check. Just make sure to use the Balloon wisely and not have it pop early on in the game. Play smart.

Also, one little nitpick. I recommend changing your Venusaur's EV spread to 72 HP / 252 SpA / 180 Spe / 4 Def with a Timid Nature in order to be able to take an Ice Shard from Mamoswine better and heal most of your health back with Giga Drain, and taking him out in the process. The reason you should run Timid over Modest is so you can out speed Scarfed Latios. Why would you want to be able to out speed scarfed Latios? Well, if you replace Sludge Bomb with Sleep Powder, then you'll be able to put it to sleep so you can set up some Growths. Sludge Bomb has terrible coverage, and really isn't worth the STAB bonus. Sleep Powder gives Venusaur a better chance to set up on something like a Heatran who walls all of Venusaur's moves.

Anyways, good team dude, and Good Luck with your team!

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

Hey. Gary2346 said most of what I would have said, so this rate will be nitpicking a few of your members to (hopefully!) eliminate a few weaknesses I think must be dealt with to ensure your team's success. To help alleviate your vulnerability to Mamoswine, I'd recommend using an EV spread of 248 HP / 40 Atk / 156 Def / 64 Spe and an Impish Nature on Cloyster. This spread grants Cloyster much more physical bulk than it had before, giving it the ability to take on every physically-based dragon not named Choice Band Kyurem-B, taking quite a bit of stress off Cresselia's shoulders. In addition, the given EVs allow Cloyster to outpace everything up to max Speed Weavile after one Shell Smash Boost, while leaving it enough power to do some damage after a Smash.

Also, your team suffers quite a bit at the hands of Scarf Politoed, who can OHKO Heatran before it can even blink, leaving you without your main means of winning the weather war. In addition, it can also force your Ninetales out without too many issues, helping it achieve complete dominion over your team. I'd recommend using an EV spread of 160 HP / 248 SpA / 100 Spe with a Timid Nature to help resolve that issue. These changes are also a twofold solution, since these EVs give Ninetales the ability to outpace all Mamoswine, allowing it to cripple Mamoswine with a burn before getting hit with Earthquake, as well as live through whatever Scarf Politoed throws at you in the sun. In addition to what I said earlier, Ninetales is probably Dugtrio's biggest switch-in opportunity, so to counteract that, I'd also recommend using Shed Shell over Leftovers, so it can escape the clutches of Dugtrio more easily. Now, these changes leave your Ninetales without a form of recovery, so I'd recommend using Pain Split over Energy Ball. A summarized list of changes can be found below.

Nitpicks:

• 
  • 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly ----> 248 HP / 40 Atk / 156 Def / 64 Spe Impish
• 
  • 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Modest ----> 160 HP / 248 SpD / 100 Spe Timid
  • Leftovers ----> Shed Shell
  • Energy Ball ----> Pain Split

Good luck with your team! I hope this helps.

 

[shofly12]

Hiyas! So Gary2346 and Trinitotulene have given awesome suggestions and I would definitely recommend that you follow them.

In addition, I would say that Psychic on Cresselia is generally not a great choice. Having Psychic Monotype coverage means that just about any Dark-type Pokemon can come in and force you out. This could, for instance, give Weavile the chance to set up an SD and knock out most of your team, or Hydreigon to fire off a U-turn to a more favorable position, or even for T-tar to just come in and make life miserable.

Thus, I would recommend that rather than going for the STAB bonus that Psychic offers, make the switch of Psychic->Ice Beam on Cresselia. This will make dealing with Outraging Dragons not named Kyurem (B) much MUCH easier, and has the nice side benefit of threatening Landorus/Lanto-T.

Good luck with the team!