this is probably one of my first successful teams that i've used. ill go over my thought process in making my team in this thread.
i wanted to use what i think is an underrated feature of pokemon, and that is weather. i've tried creating a team for all the four different weathers. my sun team was the most successful, but most of the pokemon that i used weren't any good in ou. so i bumped down to uu. i originally created this team in 2v2 uu, but i have since shifted it to fit singles.
my first pokemon was ninetales.
Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Memento
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Extrasensory
role: sunny day setter
the ev spread is self-explanatory. i put memento so that i could pivot into a sweeper (you'll see soon). solar beam is useful for defeating common answers to sun, like ground and water, and it's just a strong move in general. ninetales has a high special attack and speed, which is why i chose it as a setter.
i also need a sweeper that can use sunny day.
Heliolisk @ Heat Rock
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Sunny Day
- Weather Ball
heliolisk for a sweeper. it's quite fast on it's own, which is why i didn't put scarf. dragon pulse for dragon coverage, and weather ball for fire coverage. thunderbolt is for stab damage, boosted by the weather. the reason why i chose weather ball is that it's damage gets doubled, and then x1.5 by the sunny day, dealing 150 damage (i think.)
it has sunny day as an alternate setter.
i initially wanted to put vileplume (nostalgia reasons), but i thought up of a strategy using liligant. it will make sense eventually.
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Encore
- Energy Ball
- Entrainment
role: sunny day sweeper
ev set is again, self-explanatory
growth does 2x in sun, which is why i chose it over quiver dance. not to mention the the speed. encore is to trap/force switch outs. energy ball is just for sweep damage, and entrainment will lead into my next pokemon.
Gardevoir @ Focus Sash
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 132 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Encore
- Hyper Voice
role: wallbreaker? / sweeper
the strategy is to kill the pokemon you can with liligant, and then entrainment a counter. try and have liligant faint, to guarantee a gardevoir switch in. this strategy does kinda get countered by u turn, but it can still be strong.
gardevoir is supposed to trace the chlorophyll (after liligant's entrainment), and get a speed boost. that's why i invested some in HP, so that it could tank a hit if i switch in instead of switch in after fainting.
psychock, hyper voice, and psychic for damage. encore can also trap ppl into moves.
i wanted some answers to fire and air (sometimes rock), so i thought of a hard hitting pokemon. i chose lycanroc.
Lycanroc-Dusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Accelerock
- Close Combat
- Drill Run
- Stone Edge
role: sweeper
accelerock for priority. close combat can defeat dark and rock types. stone edge deals with flying types. drill run for coverage. this lyrcanroc just melts fire types in general.
the ev set is also self-explanatory. i'm willing to change the item. then, i realized i needed more fire coverage because they threaten my team pretty hard.
Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aura Sphere
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Taunt
same as lycanroc, but with special attack. i've though about changing the life orb to specs, but i'm not too sure. taunt is to shut down spike and rock setters. i'm also not sure which one i should get rid of, aura sphere or secret sword.
hydro pump, secret sword, aura sphere are all for coverage and busting my sweeper's weaknesses. keldeo can also serve as a "clean up" pokemon, if that makes any sense.
strategy
it's quite obvious this is a sunny day team, so you'll wanna predict what answers they'll have to ninetales. keldeo and lycanroc are great to lead with, from my experience. try and defeat their first pokemon, or taunt them and force to switch into a different pokemon.
when you have sunny day up, from ninetales, you can switch to liligant, lycanroc, or heliolisk, depending on your opponent's pokemon. don't worry too much about water weaknesses, as the damage will decrease from the sunny day. you can also use gardevoir's trace to defeat and counter quite a few pokemon.
sometimes, when ninetales gets taken out but you need sunny day up again, you can use heliolisk.
use keldeo to clean up any remaining pokemon.
problems
here are a few problems i think i've spotted.
- overusage of life orb
- lack of physical sunny day sweepers
- lack of walls
and that's it.
i'd like to keep a few pokemon in, and that's keldeo and heliolisk. i also want to keep the sun element of my team.
i wanted to use what i think is an underrated feature of pokemon, and that is weather. i've tried creating a team for all the four different weathers. my sun team was the most successful, but most of the pokemon that i used weren't any good in ou. so i bumped down to uu. i originally created this team in 2v2 uu, but i have since shifted it to fit singles.
my first pokemon was ninetales.
Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Memento
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Extrasensory
role: sunny day setter
the ev spread is self-explanatory. i put memento so that i could pivot into a sweeper (you'll see soon). solar beam is useful for defeating common answers to sun, like ground and water, and it's just a strong move in general. ninetales has a high special attack and speed, which is why i chose it as a setter.
i also need a sweeper that can use sunny day.
Heliolisk @ Heat Rock
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Sunny Day
- Weather Ball
heliolisk for a sweeper. it's quite fast on it's own, which is why i didn't put scarf. dragon pulse for dragon coverage, and weather ball for fire coverage. thunderbolt is for stab damage, boosted by the weather. the reason why i chose weather ball is that it's damage gets doubled, and then x1.5 by the sunny day, dealing 150 damage (i think.)
it has sunny day as an alternate setter.
i initially wanted to put vileplume (nostalgia reasons), but i thought up of a strategy using liligant. it will make sense eventually.
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Encore
- Energy Ball
- Entrainment
role: sunny day sweeper
ev set is again, self-explanatory
growth does 2x in sun, which is why i chose it over quiver dance. not to mention the the speed. encore is to trap/force switch outs. energy ball is just for sweep damage, and entrainment will lead into my next pokemon.
Gardevoir @ Focus Sash
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 132 SpA / 124 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Encore
- Hyper Voice
role: wallbreaker? / sweeper
the strategy is to kill the pokemon you can with liligant, and then entrainment a counter. try and have liligant faint, to guarantee a gardevoir switch in. this strategy does kinda get countered by u turn, but it can still be strong.
gardevoir is supposed to trace the chlorophyll (after liligant's entrainment), and get a speed boost. that's why i invested some in HP, so that it could tank a hit if i switch in instead of switch in after fainting.
psychock, hyper voice, and psychic for damage. encore can also trap ppl into moves.
i wanted some answers to fire and air (sometimes rock), so i thought of a hard hitting pokemon. i chose lycanroc.
Lycanroc-Dusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Accelerock
- Close Combat
- Drill Run
- Stone Edge
role: sweeper
accelerock for priority. close combat can defeat dark and rock types. stone edge deals with flying types. drill run for coverage. this lyrcanroc just melts fire types in general.
the ev set is also self-explanatory. i'm willing to change the item. then, i realized i needed more fire coverage because they threaten my team pretty hard.
Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aura Sphere
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Taunt
same as lycanroc, but with special attack. i've though about changing the life orb to specs, but i'm not too sure. taunt is to shut down spike and rock setters. i'm also not sure which one i should get rid of, aura sphere or secret sword.
hydro pump, secret sword, aura sphere are all for coverage and busting my sweeper's weaknesses. keldeo can also serve as a "clean up" pokemon, if that makes any sense.
strategy
it's quite obvious this is a sunny day team, so you'll wanna predict what answers they'll have to ninetales. keldeo and lycanroc are great to lead with, from my experience. try and defeat their first pokemon, or taunt them and force to switch into a different pokemon.
when you have sunny day up, from ninetales, you can switch to liligant, lycanroc, or heliolisk, depending on your opponent's pokemon. don't worry too much about water weaknesses, as the damage will decrease from the sunny day. you can also use gardevoir's trace to defeat and counter quite a few pokemon.
sometimes, when ninetales gets taken out but you need sunny day up again, you can use heliolisk.
use keldeo to clean up any remaining pokemon.
problems
here are a few problems i think i've spotted.
- overusage of life orb
- lack of physical sunny day sweepers
- lack of walls
and that's it.
i'd like to keep a few pokemon in, and that's keldeo and heliolisk. i also want to keep the sun element of my team.
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Your team lacks hazard support, which is useful to neat kills easier and hazard removal, to prevent your team from being too worn down. Torkoal compresses all of these roles as well as being a sun setter, and overall provides more utility than Ninetale's memento.
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This is a no brainer, Venusaur is what carries the archetype to viability. Fulfills the same roles except it has acces to a better movepool.
I don't see the logic behind using hyper voice on Gardevoir. Mystical fire offers something to beat steel types while being boosted by the sun. Healing wish is also an option to bring back one of your sweepers from the brink of death.