Sunny Day Fire Team, first RMT

Reinanigans

Reinanigans

I've played this team a fair bit on Pokemon Online, and while it does okay, I was hoping to get some more comments on it before I breed the whole team for in-game play. Note: I have a legit Drought Vulpix that I got from a Japanese guy today. Guy wanted a female Octillery at any level, oddly enough.

Ninetales@Leftovers
Drought
Timid, 252 HP, 92 Sp. Defense, 164 Speed
-Will-o-Wisp
-Protect
-Overheat
-Solar Beam

I send her in on turn one to get the sun up, and then either attack with a supercharged Overheat, or Solar Beam on Water/Rock/Ground types, or burn them with Will-o-Wisp, crippling physical attackers. Easy peasy.

Excadrill@Air Balloon
Sand Rush
Jolly, 252 Speed, 252 Attack, 6 HP
-Rapid Spin
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Swords Dance

This guy is here for a few reasons. Not only is Tyranitar a huge threat to any Sunny team, but so are rock moves, specifically Stealth Rock. Excadrill can get rid of Rocks as well as put the fear of God into Tyranitar. Air Balloon means he can come in on nearly any of Tyranitar's attacks, bar Fire Blast, and either get rid of Stealth Rocks, or set up with Swords Dance.

Darmanitan@Choice Scarf/Band/Life Orb
Sheer Force
Adamant, 252 Speed, 252 Attack, 6 HP
-Flare Blitz
-U-Turn
-Rock Slide
-Super Power/Earthquake

This guy is the main reason I made this team. I love his design and his stats are great. He's a very straightforward sweeper, but I'm not sure which item to run. I've had great success with Choice Scarf and using him as a revenge killer, as even without the attack boost from Life Orb or Band, with the sun out, Flare Blitz is destroying most things in his path. He's a beast.

Volcarona@Life Orb
Flame Body
Modest, 252 Speed, 252 Sp. Attack, 6 HP
-Quiver Dance
-Bug Buzz
-Fiery Dance
-Solar Beam

This is the other Pokemon that inspired this team. Standard setup, and it can come in on a slow Tyranitar and threaten with Bug Buzz, and start setting up with Quiver Dance. Fiery Dance in the sun is almost as threatening as Flamethrower/Fire Blast with the added benefit of possibly powering up all her other moves. Solar Beam is there because it doesn't have a huge movepool, and this will be for cartridge play where Hidden Power isn't viable.

Skarmory@Leftovers
Sturdy
Impish, 252 HP, 252 Defense, 6 Sp. Defense
-Stealth Rock/Spikes
-Brave Bird
-Whirlwind
-Roost/Sunny Day

Skarmory is the Ground immune Pokemon on the team, and sets up the entry hazards to make it easier for the sweepers to do their thing. I've been playing with dropping Roost in favor of having a second way of getting the sun out. It's met with somewhat limited success, but it's not as necessary with Politoed's Drizzle being banned. Not sure if another Spiker/Stealth Rocker might make a better addition. I do like that she can also Phaze things away with Whirlwind, too.

Breloom@Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
Impish 236 HP, 252 Def, 20 Speed
-Substitute
-Leech Seed
-Spore
-Focus Punch

I was wracking my brain trying to think of someone resistant to both ground and rock, and I finally came upon the Grass/Fighting combo. Breloom is here for synergy as she also resists water in case the sun gets taken down, resists Darmanitan, Ninetales, and Volcarona's major weaknesses, and also shuts down Tyranitar, unless it's a Special variant.

OR

Virizion@Life Orb/Leftovers
Justice Heart
Naive 252 Speed, 252 Speed, 6 Sp. Def
-Solar Beam/Giga Drain
-Focus Blast
-Calm Mind
-Taunt

Its Hidden Power is Steel, 66 Base Power.

I'm contemplating using the Virizion I captured in game because I got a decent nature, and a 31 speed and special attack IV. I haven't tested him, but another special attacker might be good, and the improved speed over Breloom might be good, and he resists the same things she does.

With the banning of Politoed's Drizzle, my only real threats are Sand teams, and I've gone to good measures to try to make sure I'm not completely screwed if I face one.

So guys, let me know what you think!
 
Okay, your team looks alright, but there's a fair few improvements you could make. On Tales, do not use Solarbeam. You either risk being locked in and OHKOd by another inducer, or lose yourself a moveslot until you kill it. Try out a ChestoRest set since you can deal with TTar and Tran okay between Darmanitan and Excadrill, with the same EVs. The added survivability often lets you outlast other inducers, especially given you'll be stacking hazards to wear them down. If you wanna keep Overheat you'll want Power Swap over Protect, which in any case just makes you even bigger setup bait. Alternatively, use Fire Blast and replace protect with Toxic for better damage on Toed etc, or even something like HP Fight to catch TTar and Tran on the switchin.

On Excadrill I'd drop the balloon. You'll want him to come into Rock hits for you from Volcarona and Darm, so go for Lefties - and try out Sub over SD. With his lack of speed in Sun he often won't be sweeping, so scouting a switch and being able to hit it for huge damage is often better.

Darmanitan looks good (try CB to maim walls, maybe with Timid since you already have insane power), and Volc looks okay. I'd drop Solarbeam for the same reasons as with Tales, and use either Psychic, Morning Sun, or Rest and make your item a Chesto Berry, giving you added survivability - or simply allowing you to not die from SR. Coverage is less needed when you have Darm breaking holes in things which may wall you. You can also choose to go bulky with a nearly max Def spread, letting you get multiple boosts against opponents and heal off damage as they risk a burn from your ability.

Skarm seems an odd fit for a Sun team. Her fire weakness becomes fatal, and she offers little in the way of support but a ground immunity. Since you lack SR as well, I'd recommend a Forretress here, with SR/Spikes/Rapid Spin and either a Physically Def or mixed Def spread. The last move is up to you - an attack or Volt Switch to get Tales in easier. Makes a nice lead if need be too with Sturdy, especially against most Rain teams. Now, since you lose the ground immune but gain spinning in this slot, consider dropping Excadrill for Landorus, who actually goes surprisingly well on Sun (thanks Jaroda :D). The same power (actually more) to take out TTar and other huge threats, better overall bulk and initial speed than Excadrill, and the ability to go Mixed to beat Gliscor etc. I'd run either a Scarf set with HP Ice and U-Turn as well as EdgeQuake, or the Sub set I recommended for Exca with HP Ice over Spin. Also, if you use a Tales wth survivability like ChestoRest right, you needn't put Sunny Day on any other mon.

Now, whilst Breloom may be a good idea as a Rock resist, if you fancy taking your team in a more Hyper Offensive direction consider using a fast chlorophyller in this slot, as you currently lack a good revenger for when things get out of hand. Sawsbuck can take Ground hits reasonably well, and heal off the damage with Horn Leech. He outspeeds the entire meta with EVs to spare, giving him OK bulk depending on where you invest them. You may not get that rock resist, but you get a answer or at least insurance to the many things which currently outspeed your team and threaten to do immense damage to it - like Latios, +2 Blaziken, etc. I wouldn't use Virizion purely as you badly need the priority from Breloom - in fact if you do choose him I'd think about Conkeldurr purely for the better Mach Punch.

Hope these suggestions help you out, a lot to think about I know.
 
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely think about using the Chesto Rest for Ninetales. But why would you recommend Forretress over Skarmory based on fire weakness? Forretress is even more weak to fire than Skarmory, but without the Ground immunity I need.

The Excadrill comments make sense too.

Any other comments for anyone?
 
The team members are pretty good, but there's a few things I would change about the sets. Firstly and most importantly seeing as you are running a sun team, you want Ninetales to last as long as possible, and very rarely should he attack unless you predict a switch and want to poison/burn the switch in. So run a more defensive EV spread / Nature, and definitely use Rest, with or without Chesto Berry.

On Excadrill I'd switch Jolly for Adamant, and Air Balloon for Life Orb, if his main use is a Sandstorm counter, He is already going to be fast enough, so you want him doing as much damage as possible.

Darmanitan looks pretty good, but I'd definitely recommend Banding him. Sheer Force, Choice Band, Sun-Boosted Flare Blitz coming off 140(I think) attack is going to SEVERELY injure just about anything that takes it.

For Volcarona ditch Solar Beam, while you are at it, ditch Solar Beam everywhere you have it listed. I'd run Max Hp / Max Def, Bold Volcarona@Leftovers, and put Morning Sun on there over Solar Beam. You are almost guaranteed to get a few Quiver Dances up, then you can just heal 66% of your health back with MS if you have sun up. It's walled easily by Heatran and Chandelure, but Solar Beam isn't going to do anything to them anyway, and I've 2hkoed Chandelure at +6 with Bug Buzz, even despite the 1/4 resist. If you REALLY want a way to take the two of them out, run HP ground. But Morning Sun has worked better for me.

Skarmory looks good, and I'd suggest Virizion over Breloom, but no Chlorophyll users(or anything with an ability to abuse sun) on a Sun team? You should try out Sawsbuck or Venusaur or even Exeggutor to abuse the sun. Possibly even use Harvest Exeggutor@Sitrus Berry as a wall, that thing is nearly impossible to take down.
 
Reinanigans said:
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely think about using the Chesto Rest for Ninetales. But why would you recommend Forretress over Skarmory based on fire weakness? Forretress is even more weak to fire than Skarmory, but without the Ground immunity I need.
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Essentially Skarm's 2x weak to Fire becomes a 3x weak, meaning most fire hits it could previously live it now dies to. Forry is already so weak that all Fire hits OHKO it out of Sun, meaning Sun doesn't really hinder it - in fact it gains a Water resist. Forry takes ground hits okay and if you do run Landorus then that wouldn't be an issue anyway.
 
ScizorMeTimbers said:
and I'd suggest Virizion over Breloom, but no Chlorophyll users(or anything with an ability to abuse sun) on a Sun team?
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I was thinking a Leaf Guard Tangrowth, but I love Breloom/Virizion's Rock resist. Other than Excadrill, I don't have any other rock resist, so I think I'd rather keep them around. They also scare off Tyranitar.
 
Reinanigans said:
I was thinking a Leaf Guard Tangrowth, but I love Breloom/Virizion's Rock resist. Other than Excadrill, I don't have any other rock resist, so I think I'd rather keep them around. They also scare off Tyranitar.
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Actually, thanks to his epic Def and HP, Tangrowth will take Rock hits equally as well as both the Grass/Fight types, so he's a prefectly viable choice. Again though, run Chlorophyll as the added speed will benefit you infinitely more than status immunity. Furthermore, Power Whip maims Tyranitar (and high Spe Tangrowth outspeeds him even out of Sun too) so you can use him to beat TTar as well.
 
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