The SSS (Special Support Section) and friends from Trails to Azure
Pokepaste - I'm a yapper so I'll put this up front.
Intro
Sun has a lot of well-known weaknesses. It often stacks dragon types, leading to fairy and dragon weaknesses. The sun setters, Torkoal and Ninetales, can at least resist fairy but often create ground weaknesses that dragons dont cover. They come with a fat SR weakness too, which necessitates good hazard removal, because if your sun setter dies to rocks, the sun aint shining. Stuff like toxic spikes, garganacl, raging bolt, and iron moth can be hard to work around as well. The biggest obstacle of all is Chilly Reception Slowking-Galar, who can comfortably swap into sun setters and reset the weather, erasing the advantage your whole team is structured around.
In making this team, I sought to address these weaknesses and make sun as consistent as possible, both offensively and defensively. I've seen a lot of different sun teams before, and I didn't really like the ones that stacked dragons, nor was I a fan of ones with zero ground resists. I especially hated using Hatterene, which felt like a filler slot that hardly did anything besides be an eject button pivot once. With these 6 teammates where every member carries their weight and makes valuable offensive and defensive contributions, I believe I've optimized sun.
This is the team that my sv hating bumass finally broke 2k with.
My Peak
(at the end of OLT cycle 2)
(middle of cycle 3)
(at the end of OLT cycle 2)
(middle of cycle 3)
Teambuilding
I started building this team a long time ago before Ninetales was really well known, but even back then I was aware of its strengths (Encore, Healing Wish) and nonetheless knew that I preferred Torkoal as my sun setter. Two big reasons: Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin. Every team wants rocks but nobody wants to set it, so slapping rocks on Torkoal means that my teammates don't have to. Rapid Spin is pretty overrated on Torkoal, it's not actually good hazard removal in general, but it is very important for one key matchup: Sticky Webs.
Sun teams without Great Tusk are wild man. This guy is the best hazard removal in the tier and sun needs it, and in turn, Great Tusk benefits from sun via protosynthesis. Handshake emoji. Can you imagine using some Iron Treads shit or dropping Rapid Spin? Nauseated face emoji.
Walking Wake is easily the best sun abuser in the tier, no contest in my eyes. Yes, better than gouging fire, raging bolt, and roaring moon. If I have to choose any dragon to stick on sun, it's this one. These have all been standard picks so far, the next 3 are a little off the beaten path for sun.
I wanted a grounded poison type because tspikes are brutal otherwise. My choices are Iron Moth or Venusaur, and I wanted to try Venusaur because entire sun team slower than Ival is super inconvenient, borderline unviable imo. Having a positive mu into garg, tera water glowking, etc is all good shit that moth can't easily do as well.
Most teams need a dragon resist and that goes double for sun, since opposing Bolts/Wakes/GFs will come at you with a free protosynthesis. One benefit heatran has is having a good matchup into dragapult, being able to punish its wisp and eat dracos/darts. Beating Iron Moth is also super key, which can rip apart sun teams otherwise. Magma/Taunt also allows Heatran to fill the primary wallbreaking role on this team. We got a nice FWG core going too.
AV Slither Wing gives me a sweet special tank for threats like opposing wake, bolt, kyurem, darkrai as well as a ground resist for mons like Lando-T, Great Tusk, Ting-Lu, and Gliscor. It's got a surprisingly relevant defensive profile for an RU mon. A slow U-turn to give good positioning for your threats is key for this team's functioning, and a hefty First Impression that's attack boosted under the sun keeps a ton of threats in check.
You may be wondering: "Srn are you sure about only using ONE dragon on sun?" Yes actually, I think 1 is best. 2 and especially 3 are far too much for a cohesive and consistent sun team IMO, you're bordering on cheese territory and not covering your defensive needs. I'm missing out on some using some super powerful sets, sure, but those sets don't exist in a vacuum. Without proper support, even your CM Shuca Bolt or Loaded Dice DD GF in sun are not gonna impress you.
I once heard of the sun philosophy (from Lily I think?) summed up as "any sun turn you're not using to blow shit up is a sun turn wasted," which is hard to deny, but once again, only in a vacuum. In reality, you need to position torkoal in to get sun up, get it out to keep it safe for a while, then get your threat in somehow, and not give any openings to get counterswept even after you blow something up.
Quality > Quantity.
Lloyd (Torkoal) (F) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Fairy / Flying
EVs: 104 HP / 236 SpA / 168 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Overheat
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
Lloyd is the leader and glue who supports the team and enables his teammates to do the best they can, but he's no slouch himself. Rapid Spin is important primarily for keeping Sticky Web off the field against Ribombee, but in general it's nice to not be spinblocked by Balloon Gholdengo. Stealth Rock on Torkoal means Great Tusk and Heatran get to really flex cool sets on this team which make it work. Overheat and Earthquake allow Torkoal to be fairly threatening, with the given ev spread allowing Torkoal to OHKO Darkrai and Deoxys-Speed while simultaneously living one LO Psycho Boost from Deoxys-Speed. A Quiet nature was simply given to not reduce attack so EQ remains strong, but I've elected to outspeed Slowking-Galar (even though I could be slower) so that Overheat+EQ can pressure opposing slowking-galar the best. The combined damage from Overheat+EQ into standard boots Chilly Glowking is 82.4-97.3%, meaning that even after Chilly, Glowking is kept below half unless combined min roll, making it much more difficult for it to come in again. It's often worthwhile to pressure glowking early like this to help keep up sun later in the game, and it's something that Ninetales cannot do without burning tera or using NP or some shit, which might take away from its useful utility moveslots carrying Encore and Healing Wish. Glowking can tera water early to take much less from Torkoal, but this also means that it's exposed to Venu's Giga Drain and still loses to Heatran's Solarbeam. Torkoal's tera type doesn't matter much, just slapped fairy bc nobody else managed to fit tera fairy on the team. Flying is cool too tho. Terastallizing torkoal shouldn't happen often.
I've heard a lot of Torkoal slander in the past, but it's important to remember that Torkoal is only as passive as you let it be. The standard max defense sets with Lava Plume are ass and you have to be more offensive to make up for the lack of Yawn. This is easily the best Torkoal set IMO.
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 104 HP / 168 SpD Torkoal: 188-224 (61.2 - 72.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Psycho Boost vs. 104 HP / 168 SpD Torkoal: 259-305 (84.3 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 132 SpA Iron Moth Sludge Wave vs. 104 HP / 168 SpD Torkoal: 246-289 (80.1 - 94.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Darkrai in Sun: 282-333 (100.3 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Deoxys-Speed in Sun: 283-334 (117.4 - 138.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Iron Valiant in Sun: 390-460 (134.9 - 159.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Torkoal Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 124 Def Iron Moth: 316-376 (104.9 - 124.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking-Galar in Sun: 177-208 (44.9 - 52.7%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO
0 Atk Torkoal Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 148-176 (37.5 - 44.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(Overheat+EQ does 82.4-97.3 to glowking)
252 SpA Life Orb Deoxys-Speed Psycho Boost vs. 104 HP / 168 SpD Torkoal: 259-305 (84.3 - 99.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 132 SpA Iron Moth Sludge Wave vs. 104 HP / 168 SpD Torkoal: 246-289 (80.1 - 94.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Darkrai in Sun: 282-333 (100.3 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Deoxys-Speed in Sun: 283-334 (117.4 - 138.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Iron Valiant in Sun: 390-460 (134.9 - 159.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Torkoal Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 124 Def Iron Moth: 316-376 (104.9 - 124.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
236+ SpA Torkoal Overheat vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking-Galar in Sun: 177-208 (44.9 - 52.7%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO
0 Atk Torkoal Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 148-176 (37.5 - 44.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(Overheat+EQ does 82.4-97.3 to glowking)
Randy (Great Tusk) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Bulk Up
- Rapid Spin
Randy is the combat veteran and soldier here to keep the team safe and provide some muscle. Tusk is the primary hazard removal and a strong wincon vs offense teams. EQ+Ice Spinner is great, and while Knock Off is missed, you'll see that this team is largely specially based and Helmets will not be the reason you failed to break a fat team. I don't think eq/knock/bulk up/rapid spin is totally unviable, but the rapid spinner should be able to beat gliscor, and this team definitely wants a sturdy check to dnite, so you're gonna want Ice Spinner over Knock Off. Offense teams that have a lot of priority like Thunderclap, Sucker Punch, and Extremespeed are where this set excels, and you can rapid spin once under the sun to get faster than Ival/Moth/Boulder/Deoxys-Speed/Scarf Darkrai.
I chose Tera Steel primarily to help me resist Roaring Moon's Acrobatics, as it can find opportunities to DD vs much of my team (Heatran, Torkoal, +0 Venusaur and Wake depending on choice lock) and then Tera Flying to resist First Impression. It's also nice to resist Dragon, Fairy, Toxic, Make it Rain, you know the deal. A Tera Steel vs Balloon Ghold could help you run away with the game vs some HO teams. Randy was holding Leftovers for a long time, but I found myself having a TON of trouble with salt cure/protect Garganacls that could Tera Water/Fairy and then stay in vs Tusk for a long time and slowly force progress vs me+often keep rocks up as I need to spend multiple turns bulking up and losing health to force it out. This is a super tough matchup for most weather teams, as there's nothing to reliable stop salt cure's progress, throwing your whole team into what I call the "Garg Blender." Garg can easily waste my sun turns and come back in comfortably (Water on Wake/Torkoal/Tusk, Fairy on Slither/Tusk), and chip my whole team down, it's a nightmare.
Instead, Covert Cloak allows me to take only ~3% from the Salt Cure attack itself and completely fodderize this otherwise weak MU, drawing out my opponent's Tera as a bonus. Tera Steel happens to synergize nicely with Covert Cloak as well, meaning that I can tera and still defeat mono salt cure gargs, and I've been seeing a lot of them as the passive balance teams that Curse Garg defeated continue to fall in popularity. Another bonus of Cloak is that you can set up vs Scald Alomomola under the sun and take minimal damage+not fear burns, as it does 7.8-9.6% under sun to Tera Steel Randy, flipping your Alo matchup. I miss Leftovers, believe me, but slightly lowering Tusk's overall performance to fix a nearly 0-100 matchup is worth it. The given EV spread just maximizes hp and speed to ensure Protosynthesis boosts Speed.
Noel (Slither Wing) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Electric / Ice
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- First Impression
- Earthquake
- Low Kick / Tera Blast
Noel is versatile and determined to support the team with proficiency in a variety of weapons and techniques. Sleeper MVP of the team and first part of the new sun core. U-Turn and First Impression are your quintessential moves, a slither wing without these two is wack to me. I chose Low Kick over Close Combat because there are a lot of relevant targets that Low Kick gets 120 bp on anyway, like raging bolt, ting-lu, kingambit, opposing Great Tusk, Zamazenta, Gouging Fire...etc. CC can 2hko standard Alomomola under the Sun, which is cool but rarely happens in practice, so whatever. Low Kick, not CC, is also the move you want to spam whenever you're fighting these new lame Sub/Tect Kyurems, as CC only has 8 pp and accumulated defense drops will ruin the MU. Earthquake is very good to threaten an ohko on Slowking-Galar a majority of the time under sun, and by pivoting in slither wing vs a predicted glowking swap in, you put yourself in a great position by threatening to OHKO w/eq or gain momentum with U-turn. At first, this was a more defensive set and dedicated pivot with U-turn, First Impression, Will-o-Wisp, and Morning Sun, but I think that being able to threaten glowking was too important to be enjoying my longevity. I miss the bulk, but I don't miss giving openings for glowking to take my sun away.
The tera type is Electric in case you ever run into skymin's nonsense hax team, so you can absorb glares and twaves while slow U-turning out into wake or venu to revenge kill. Helps with Zapdos too. Ice + Tera Blast is a solid option to snipe gliscors, Torn-Ts, and Dragonites if needed, which has definitely come in handy before, but it's a commitment. The given ev spread hits 220 speed, which is faster than Jolly Kingambit, while going max attack to ohko glowking with eq as often as possible and give First Impression some surprising punch under sun. Rest into HP.
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 168 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Slither Wing: 142-168 (40.2 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Protosynthesis Raging Bolt Thunderbolt vs. 168 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Slither Wing: 141-166 (39.9 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Protosynthesis Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 168 HP / 0 Def Slither Wing: 156-183 (44.1 - 51.8%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Sludge Bomb vs. 168 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Slither Wing: 84-100 (23.7 - 28.3%) -- 94.6% chance to 4HKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 378-446 (95.9 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing Low Kick (120 BP) vs. -1 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 340-402 (91.6 - 108.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing First Impression vs. 0 HP / 124 Def Tera Ground Iron Moth: 273-322 (90.6 - 106.9%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing Close Combat vs. 12 HP / 252+ Def Alomomola: 240-283 (50.6 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Protosynthesis Raging Bolt Thunderbolt vs. 168 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Slither Wing: 141-166 (39.9 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Protosynthesis Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 168 HP / 0 Def Slither Wing: 156-183 (44.1 - 51.8%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Sludge Bomb vs. 168 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Slither Wing: 84-100 (23.7 - 28.3%) -- 94.6% chance to 4HKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking-Galar: 378-446 (95.9 - 113.1%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing Low Kick (120 BP) vs. -1 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 340-402 (91.6 - 108.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing First Impression vs. 0 HP / 124 Def Tera Ground Iron Moth: 273-322 (90.6 - 106.9%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Protosynthesis Slither Wing Close Combat vs. 12 HP / 252+ Def Alomomola: 240-283 (50.6 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Elie (Venusaur) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Weather Ball
Elie is here to end games when given the chance, and provide some key utility and defensive checks otherwise. In a metagame filled with 550 BST+built in LO mons and 660 BST cover legends, Venu's measly 525 BST distributed evenly struggles to hang on, but with Growth to double special attack and Chlorophyll to double speed, it manages to be surprisingly potent. The grounded poison type to absorb tspikes combined with grass type lets you swap into some key threats like Ogerpon-W and Primarina while also threatening Garganacl. Sludge Bomb is somewhat optional and interchangeable with Earth Power, but Sludge Bomb can hit a lot of dragons neutrally, and you definitely don't want to miss out on nailing the increasingly popular Moltres, so I consider Sludge Bomb to be mandatory. Hitting fairy types super effectively is more important than just hitting base fairy types, as tera fairy is a very popular tera type and being able to punish it is very useful. The main example of this is Tera Fairy Raging Bolt, a super threatening mon to most sun teams, but venu can just resist thunderclap and ohko with sludge bomb.
This brings us to Weather Ball + Tera Fire. I chose Weather Ball over Earth Power because I was a little annoyed with Balloon Gholdengo and Kingambit messing with me and forcing me out, as well as Corv and Skarm. In most sun teams, you really need to be able to outspeed and threaten an ohko on Iron Moth with earth power, but since we have Wazy (Heatran) in the back, Iron Moth is covered and you're free to abuse the power of Tera Fire Weather Ball. This damage output can definitely catch Dragapults and Glowkings off guard, as a +2 LO timid Tera Fire Weather Ball in the sun actually ohkos both. Nabbing an ohko on both of those, on top of resisting Ice Shard and Fire moves, makes this the strongest Venusaur set in my humble opinion. Earlier versions of this team had Leftovers on Venusaur, which was better than you'd think, but you really gotta hit those damage benchmarks below. When it comes to fighting those pult/gliscor/garg/moltres type of balances, leave it all to Venu.
The given ev spread is simple, with 29 HP IVs to hit 299 hp, a LO number, so every tick of LO does 29 hp damage and not 30. Timid was chosen to ensure that you outspeed Ival, and while you can beat it for the most part even with a Modest Nature, I think being slower and losing to a potential Destiny Bond or even Tera Steel+Encore on Sludge Bomb is just an unnecessary risk when Venu is the main Ival answer. Even with Timid nature, you want max speed to outpace +1 Greninja after battle bond and speed tie scarf Meowscarada, unfortunately being slower than booster Iron Boulder and scarf Darkrai.
252 SpA Life Orb Tera Fire Venusaur Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Darkrai in Sun: 289-341 (102.8 - 121.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tera Fire Venusaur Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult in Sun: 335-394 (105.6 - 124.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tera Fire Venusaur Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking-Galar in Sun: 363-426 (92.1 - 108.1%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Moltres: 364-430 (95 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Venusaur Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kyurem in Sun: 385-454 (98.4 - 116.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tera Fire Venusaur Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult in Sun: 335-394 (105.6 - 124.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tera Fire Venusaur Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking-Galar in Sun: 363-426 (92.1 - 108.1%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Venusaur Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Moltres: 364-430 (95 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Venusaur Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kyurem in Sun: 385-454 (98.4 - 116.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
Tio (Walking Wake) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 8 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Steam
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Flip Turn
Tio relies on the support of her teammates, but she is a nuke who always gets shit done. 522 Speed and 520 Special attack with no prior set up required under the sun is gnarly paired with >=120 bp water+dragon stabs. I always said to myself that Modest Specs or Timid Mystic Water were the best sets, never Timid Specs...but here we are. It actually was Modest Specs at first, and that wasn't bad, but what changed my mind primarily was opposing Zamazenta. Having Venusaur and tera ghost on Heatran really wasn't enough for this demon imo, but ever since switching Wake to Timid Speed booster Specs, I've never had trouble again. Gotta be Specs because min roll on Mystic Water Hydro Steam+min roll Venu Weather Ball under sun isn't a kill on Leftovers ID Zama, and you need it to be. This is a pretty standard and boring set, but you know what it does, and it always pulls its weight, as long as you click the right buttons.
Hydro Steam is an awesome water stab in sun, Draco is the best dragon stab, and Flamethrower gets pseudostab under sun while nailing some sweet midgrounds like Waterpon/Ival. Flip Turn is way better than Knock Off or anything else, this team really doesn't use hazards enough to lean into Knock, and the Knock targets of Wake are never really the ones that carry helmet and piss of Tusk/Slither Wing anyway. Knock Off in general on Wake is not really a move I consider worthwhile on sun teams, they rarely set up enough hazards to lean into Knock Off spam and have much better/quicker ways of breaking fat teams.
Note that of the two popular booster energy mons that outspeed Wake (Ival and IMoth), Venu handles Ival and Heatran handles Moth, locking them both down and leaving Wake to outspeed and OHKO the majority of the remaining mons on offense teams. You can further rely on Great Tusk for common priority options like Thunderclap, Sucker Punch, and Extremespeed, nicely covering most of the ways that Wake can be revenge killed. With Slither Wing's slow U-turn to get wake in vs steels, birds, and grounds, Wake is well supported and poised to succeed. The given ev spread just maximizes Sp. Atk and Speed while ensuring Protosynthesis boosts Speed. 8 HP/4 Defense just hits an odd hp number.
Wazy (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 224 HP / 40 SpA / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Solar Beam
- Taunt
Wazy is a trickster, not breaking walls with raw power, but trapping you and slowly chipping you down nonetheless. I've always found Heatran to be ass, and I hate using it most of the time in gen9. The simple reason why, on top of being vulnerable to hazards and not having much longevity, is because Heatran gets fodderized by Alomomola, who's able to just cheaply wish and Flip Turn to foil any of its stallbreaking attempts. And yet, this set will carry and often 6-0 most stall teams I fight and put in heavy work against anything else slow, even other Alo's. Why? Because of SolarBeam, a move you can only make room for because Torkoal is carrying the burden of Stealth Rock along with providing sun. With Solarbeam in hand, many of Heatran's worst nightmares, like Tera Water Garganacl and Alomomola, get melted and are completely unable to switch-in. Earth Power provides some useful coverage against other Heatran, Raging Bolt, Gouging Fire, and Iron Moth. Taunt is crucial to deny recovery, set up, and Chilly Reception. After Walking Wake forces a Tera Water, you can use Heatran to Magma Storm+Taunt+Solar Beam down opposing Tera Water glowking, garganacl, and gliscor. Magma Storm, while inaccurate, is quite powerful under sun even with minimal investment and the trapping+chip effect forms the basis of why Heatran can run through defensive teams. It lacks the raw power of breakers like CB Gouging Fire or Modest Specs Wake, but I find it's much less prediction reliant and easier to position to actually defeat stall.
The Tera type should always be Tera Ghost, and you will almost always want to save your Tera for Heatran fighting stall or most fat teams. By Magma Storming and then Tera Ghost+Taunting vs opposing Blissey, you can trap them, take no damage from popular Stoss+Flamethrower variants, and shut them down completely. By keeping balloon intact, you can create openings vs some Gliscor sets and Clodsire, allowing you to click magma/Taunt again and claim another. Tera Ghost also is useful to turn your fighting weakness into an immunity and fully wall some eq/espeed dragonites, even scouting and living tera blast grounds from mons like Iron Moth and occasionally spinblocking. Heatran provides all the defensive utility of a Heatran, checking Dragapult, Gouging Fire, Iron Moth, Hatterene, and Iron Crown, while near single-handedly carrying the fat matchup, allowing the rest of the team to lean into beating offense. The EV spread hits 251 speed, outpacing Gliscors that hit 250 for modest Raging Bolt at 249. 40 evs+modest nature allows Magma Storm+2 Solarbeams under the sun to kill max sdef Leftovers Ting-Lu, meaning that it cannot switch in and defeat you if your balloon is intact. Weakening or eliminating Ting-Lu early means that it cannot Tera and hinder Venu/Wake later, which is key to the team's lategame cleaning plans. The rest is in HP, giving you a good shot to live 2 hex's after pult T-waves you and hitting an odd HP number. Finally, Heatran is strong in gen9.
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Ogerpon-Wellspring in Sun: 237-280 (78.7 - 93%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
*(You can also treat SR damage the same as Magma Storm chip damage, so wellspring from full cannot swap in safely)
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 244 HP / 228+ SpD Gliscor in Sun: 204-240 (57.9 - 68.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal and trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 12 HP / 244 SpD Alomomola in Sun: 144-171 (30.3 - 36%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 12 HP / 244 SpD Alomomola: 310-366 (65.4 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
*(Magma in Sun+Magma Chip+Solarbeam always kills)
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Samurott-Hisui: 346-408 (107.7 - 127.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Primarina in Sun: 102-120 (31.7 - 37.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Primarina: 216-256 (67.2 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
*(Magma in Sun+Magma Chip+Solarbeam always kills offensive boots Prima on teams like Prime Pult BO)
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk in Sun: 382-450 (88 - 103.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
*(Treat 1 spike = 1 round of Magma Chip)
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Sun: 144-171 (28 - 33.2%) -- 94.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery and trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 154-182 (29.9 - 35.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
(So Magma+(magma chip-lefties)+Solarbeam+(magma chip-lefties)+Solarbeam comes out to 28+6.25+30+6.25+30=100.5%, Ting-Lu can't swap into Heatran if sun is up and Balloon is intact)
252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Ivy Cudgel vs. 224 HP / 0 Def Heatran in Sun: 174-206 (45.9 - 54.3%) -- 51.6% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Dragapult Hex (130 BP) vs. 224 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 169-199 (44.5 - 52.5%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Gouging Fire Outrage vs. 224 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 140-165 (36.9 - 43.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
*(Fighting an Outrage/Flare Blitz/Eq GF with Heatran's Balloon intact, GF must outrage to do damage and loses the matchup unless it Tera Dragons)
252 SpA Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 224 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 127-150 (33.5 - 39.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Primarina Surf vs. 224 HP / 0 SpD Heatran in Sun: 150-176 (39.5 - 46.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 224 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 308-366 (81.2 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
*(You can also treat SR damage the same as Magma Storm chip damage, so wellspring from full cannot swap in safely)
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 244 HP / 228+ SpD Gliscor in Sun: 204-240 (57.9 - 68.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal and trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 12 HP / 244 SpD Alomomola in Sun: 144-171 (30.3 - 36%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 12 HP / 244 SpD Alomomola: 310-366 (65.4 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
*(Magma in Sun+Magma Chip+Solarbeam always kills)
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Samurott-Hisui: 346-408 (107.7 - 127.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Primarina in Sun: 102-120 (31.7 - 37.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 80 HP / 0 SpD Primarina: 216-256 (67.2 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
*(Magma in Sun+Magma Chip+Solarbeam always kills offensive boots Prima on teams like Prime Pult BO)
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk in Sun: 382-450 (88 - 103.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes
*(Treat 1 spike = 1 round of Magma Chip)
40+ SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Sun: 144-171 (28 - 33.2%) -- 94.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery and trapping damage
40+ SpA Heatran Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu: 154-182 (29.9 - 35.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
(So Magma+(magma chip-lefties)+Solarbeam+(magma chip-lefties)+Solarbeam comes out to 28+6.25+30+6.25+30=100.5%, Ting-Lu can't swap into Heatran if sun is up and Balloon is intact)
252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Ivy Cudgel vs. 224 HP / 0 Def Heatran in Sun: 174-206 (45.9 - 54.3%) -- 51.6% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Dragapult Hex (130 BP) vs. 224 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 169-199 (44.5 - 52.5%) -- 21.5% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ Atk Gouging Fire Outrage vs. 224 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 140-165 (36.9 - 43.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
*(Fighting an Outrage/Flare Blitz/Eq GF with Heatran's Balloon intact, GF must outrage to do damage and loses the matchup unless it Tera Dragons)
252 SpA Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 224 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 127-150 (33.5 - 39.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Primarina Surf vs. 224 HP / 0 SpD Heatran in Sun: 150-176 (39.5 - 46.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
4 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 224 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 308-366 (81.2 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Usage Tips
-Don't be afraid to lead somebody besides Torkoal. Walking Wake often has a great lead matchup into offense teams that carry Glimmora or Raging Bolt, being able to tank a hit and kill back while staying alive to revenge kill stuff later.
-That said, you do want to lead Torkoal in some matchups like Ribombee Sticky Webs. They often try to Stun Spore you first and fish for full paras to keep up Webs, so Overheat first and then threaten a Rapid Spin kill the next turn so they are discouraged from setting up webs. If you get up rocks on Turn 2 and correctly predict them to switch out, or Rapid spin on turn 2 and correctly predict them to stay in and web up, you are immediately at a game-winning advantage.
-Start off the game by identifying your best lategame cleaner: BU Tusk, Growth Venu, or Specs Wake. Try to preserve your tera for the best fit, or if you think BU Tusk doesn't need tera to win, try using it to live a hit and get rid of a problematic mon.
-Always be mindful of certain mons that can end the game vs you. Don't tera your Great Tusk when fighting a CM Raging Bolt, don't throw out your Venu too early when fighting a Glimmora or anything that can tspike, don't throw away your first impression slither wing when fighting Roaring Moon. Preserve Heatran vs stall, maintain balloon vs Clodsire etc etc.
-Let opposing Slowking-Galar take away your sun early on in order to pile on the pressure with Overheat+eq Torkoal so that it doesn't ever get healthy enough to stop Venusaur and Walking Wake in the future. It's ok to lose your sun early on if it means keeping it up later because glowking is too damaged to safely use chilly reception.
-Let Slither Wing take a beating early on to help position in your threats to make progress. Even if it's weakened, Slither Wing can First Impression threats down into range of being revenge killed by Wake or Venu. If my opponents have Primarina, they tend to lead it, and I like to lead AV slither wing in response and just eq turn 1, which does a little under half to offensive sets, while they often overpredict and Surf expecting you to U-turn into Torkoal (You can do this turn 2 lol). Even if you take a moonblast though, I find this chip damage to often be worth it, putting prima into range of 2 hydro steams from wake, solarbeam from heatran, and eq from tusk.
-On the contrary, always keep Torkoal healthy enough to potentially take hazards and still be alive to get up sun. Don't forget that the sun is your speed control, activating Protosynthesis Speed on Tusk+Wake and Chlorophyll on Venusaur. Torkoal should never be the first or second mon to die, rarely the third. Sometimes it's worth it to facetank shit and kill back with Overheat tho.
-This team has no ghost resist, so you need to keep Slither Wing and Heatran healthy when fighting mons like Specs Dragapult. Thankfully, any chip you can get on pult means that you have 3 options to revenge kill. Gholdengo isn't an issue either, with every member of the team being able to threaten it and common tera types like water/fairy get punished by Venu.
-Opposing Blissey with Shadow Ball can leave Heatran too chipped to handle mons like gliscor and clodsire. In those matchups, sometimes it's better to tera blast ice the gliscors with slither wing, if you have it. Try to scout whether the blissey you're fighting is shadow ball, flamethrower, or neither.
-Don't be afraid to Hydro Steam with Wake when you're fighting a Waterpon in the early game. You can afford to hit what's in front of you, because you have a healthy venusaur in the back that can handle whatever Waterpon wants to do, so long as the sun is up.
-Against HO teams with likely sash HSamu leads, lead with your own Slither Wing and do slow U-turn-->Tusk to threaten a spin kill. Depending your opponent's team, you could just eq in case of tera ghost so you don't take aqua cutter on rapid spin, or ice spinner to hit a potential balloon gholdengo in the back. You could also slow U-turn-->Torkoal-->hard switch into tusk if tusk can afford to take an aqua cutter under sun + 1 spike entry in that matchup.
Tough Matchups
- A scorching sands+U-turn+flame+roost set paired with any competent special tank is very hard to get rid of because Heatran cannot trap Moltres and also cannot kill it quickly, leading to you making less progress than your opponent. It's probably going to burn great tusk and slither wing as they try to remove hazards and pivot, further limiting your options. It's best to try and Tera Fire Venusaur early to muscle through it asap. Don't try to preserve resources in matchups like these. The longer the game drags out, the worse off you'll be.
- Can set up on Torkoal, Heatran, +0 Venu, and Wake depending on choice lock and then Tera Flying to resist Slither Wing's First Impression, which means that I have to keep my Tusk healthy and Tera Steel+Ice Spinner OR if I kept up sun and Rmoon couldn't burn off its booster, I could just stay base form. It's worth noting that a Tera Water Hydro Steam in Sun from Wake does 53.5-63.2 to Dark/dragon Rmoon and First Impression in Sun does 40.7%-47.8% to Flying Rmoon (assuming no bulk investment). Combined, this damage roll is 94.2-111%, a roll very much in your favor, so if you find yourself fighting a lategame rmoon with a weakened Tusk, you want to try and aim for this endgame scenario.
- The Meteor Beam variant in particular is a giga menace imo, more ppl should use it. Slither Wing and Heatran are likely slower and don't resist +1 Meteor Beam, and Tusk can fall prey to coverage like dazzling gleam. This is on top of the tspike potential that forces you to keep Venusaur alive.
- Most Dnite can't really get past Tusk, but if you run into one that does, like dd tera blast flying or some weird ice beam shit, it can get really annoying. It has a naturally good matchup into Torkoal (which lacks wisp and is walled), Heatran, Venusaur, and Slither Wing, so you need to be mindful of how healthy you keep Tusk, and as a last resort, Wake.
- This one is more niche, but Iron Boulder outspeeds both Walking Wake and Venusaur in the sun, and often carries a tera type to resist First Impression like Fairy or Flying, making it very possibly a 6-0 matchup. If you ever let this guy get an SD or Sub, you need to win tera mindgames with Tusk.
- For obvious reasons, resetting the sun and being a special tank into venu and heatran is quite bad. You'll almost never run into this though, so don't worry about it too much
- For even more obvious reasons, resetting sun with Chilly Reception and tanking Wake/Venu is tough to work around, even when the team has been designed to heavily pressure glowking. Don't let your opponent double switch-in glowking and get regen off once you've weakened it with Torkoal. Don't forget that Venu's +2 Tera Fire Weather Ball under the sun will fry glowking and could proceed to sweep from there.
- Lowkey this guy's such a bastard bc it comes in on Heatran and Torkoal easily, can Aura Sphere past my dragon resist, and nobody else can really swap into Draco/Psy Noise. Tera Steel can also fuck with your BU Tusk lategame and even block Sludge Bomb from Venu. Swap into Slither Wing on Aura Sphere and Tera Electric early to limit its damage and kill if they stay in, thankfully this is rare.
/ Ghost 
- These guys can spinblock torkoal and tusk pretty effectively because of heatproof, Overheat's diminishing returns, or in Ting-Lu's case, uber statline. Any hstack paired with Sinistcha/Ghost Lu means you're gonna be fighting with layers up on your side for a long time, which is extremely tough because this team is very weak to hazards. Fighting Ting-Lu makes me want to lead Wake or Slither Wing so I can apply immediate pressure and dissuade hazards.Replays
Vs Garg/Gliscor balance: I include this one to also show how long ago I was messing around with this structure. The sets have changed quite a bit since then.
Vs endgame Rmoon HO with my Tusk weakened - See my advice vs fighting rmoon, played out to fruition here (except opp should've kept Tera for Rmoon and not wasted on pult).
Vs A tough Garg/Glowking matchup that shows you why I changed Tusk to Covert Cloak. Only some hard reads saved me here.
Vs another Garg/Glowking MU but I have Cloak Tusk now. See the difference?
Vs Ye ol mimikyu stardust band pult BO piloted by the master himself
Vs Ye ol mimikyu stardust rain piloted by the master himself. He crit my torkoal in another fight but not this time :]
Vs some standard Primarina offense where staying in to eq it turn 1 with slither wing was worth it, even if my opp didn't overpredict and clicked moonblast. BU tusk shows its value in these MUs.
Vs Mav using some pecharunt hstack HO. Venu looked hella good on preview so I played to that angle and it cleaned up.
Vs U-turn Moltres which can be such a pain in the ass that sometimes it's better to just go hard with Venu early.
Vs Specs Bolt volturn. If venu got a high roll on glowking it would've been smoother, but it worked out pretty well regardless.
Vs the ladder goat Storm Zone using the mon I'm the most scared of. Thankfully it's TB Fairy and not Zen Headbutt, and the Tera+healthy Tusk plan works out. You can see the performance of Tera'd Tusk under the Sun here vs Waterpon as well.
Vs SZ again but this time notice how tough the Ghost-Lu is? Brutal to get past, and I got outplayed with venu on corv too.
Vs some wack dnite stall that walls out Heatran, so I had to get creative here.
Vs Spook, eq torkoal really threw off a sub dd kyurem. Very cool set.
Vs JJ late in cycle 3, venu cleans up a glowking balance
Vs hellom tryna snipe somebody else w/garg stall, I got owned by letting heatran get paralyzed but it still carried the matchup and broke 2k for me.
Vs tko in WCoP (for fun) after my team lost. I didn't feel well practiced with anything else so I just pulled up for a +1 on the sheet.
Vs Laurel using stall right at the end of cycle 4. A few missed magmas doesn't ruin my day thankfully.
Vs Xavgb. I forgot to consider custap on Ting-Lu and lost wake when it could have won. Missing magma on turn 10 also sucked a lot, and I'm down a sack which puts me in a bad spot I almost got out of.
Vs GeniusX my boy. I was very scared of tera ghost garchomp hstack + moltres + boots wake, they definitely could've given me grief, but I decide to play aggressively with venu as I see no prio, and that is enough to clean up.
Vs Yves Stone using some cool HO, but my matchup was very good. It's very difficult for them to handle my Wake because they have no priority and Ival's one-time booster gets stuffed by venu: the team working as intended.
Vs Welliou's Specs pult HO. I was actually thinking it was sash lead on preview and led Torkoal so that Overheat could put it into range of being revenge killed by Venu/Tusk. I got hella careless towards the end, but Wake shows how strong it is in these MUs when the team can defend against its revenge killers.
Vs endgame Rmoon HO with my Tusk weakened - See my advice vs fighting rmoon, played out to fruition here (except opp should've kept Tera for Rmoon and not wasted on pult).
Vs A tough Garg/Glowking matchup that shows you why I changed Tusk to Covert Cloak. Only some hard reads saved me here.
Vs another Garg/Glowking MU but I have Cloak Tusk now. See the difference?
Vs Ye ol mimikyu stardust band pult BO piloted by the master himself
Vs Ye ol mimikyu stardust rain piloted by the master himself. He crit my torkoal in another fight but not this time :]
Vs some standard Primarina offense where staying in to eq it turn 1 with slither wing was worth it, even if my opp didn't overpredict and clicked moonblast. BU tusk shows its value in these MUs.
Vs Mav using some pecharunt hstack HO. Venu looked hella good on preview so I played to that angle and it cleaned up.
Vs U-turn Moltres which can be such a pain in the ass that sometimes it's better to just go hard with Venu early.
Vs Specs Bolt volturn. If venu got a high roll on glowking it would've been smoother, but it worked out pretty well regardless.
Vs the ladder goat Storm Zone using the mon I'm the most scared of. Thankfully it's TB Fairy and not Zen Headbutt, and the Tera+healthy Tusk plan works out. You can see the performance of Tera'd Tusk under the Sun here vs Waterpon as well.
Vs SZ again but this time notice how tough the Ghost-Lu is? Brutal to get past, and I got outplayed with venu on corv too.
Vs some wack dnite stall that walls out Heatran, so I had to get creative here.
Vs Spook, eq torkoal really threw off a sub dd kyurem. Very cool set.
Vs JJ late in cycle 3, venu cleans up a glowking balance
Vs hellom tryna snipe somebody else w/garg stall, I got owned by letting heatran get paralyzed but it still carried the matchup and broke 2k for me.
Vs tko in WCoP (for fun) after my team lost. I didn't feel well practiced with anything else so I just pulled up for a +1 on the sheet.
Vs Laurel using stall right at the end of cycle 4. A few missed magmas doesn't ruin my day thankfully.
Vs Xavgb. I forgot to consider custap on Ting-Lu and lost wake when it could have won. Missing magma on turn 10 also sucked a lot, and I'm down a sack which puts me in a bad spot I almost got out of.
Vs GeniusX my boy. I was very scared of tera ghost garchomp hstack + moltres + boots wake, they definitely could've given me grief, but I decide to play aggressively with venu as I see no prio, and that is enough to clean up.
Vs Yves Stone using some cool HO, but my matchup was very good. It's very difficult for them to handle my Wake because they have no priority and Ival's one-time booster gets stuffed by venu: the team working as intended.
Vs Welliou's Specs pult HO. I was actually thinking it was sash lead on preview and led Torkoal so that Overheat could put it into range of being revenge killed by Venu/Tusk. I got hella careless towards the end, but Wake shows how strong it is in these MUs when the team can defend against its revenge killers.
Conclusion and Shout-outs
I've been working with this structure for a while, but I wanted to wait to RMT this team because I know that teams get worse the second they go public. So I peaked as high as I could, passed this shit around, and wanted to see if others could find success with it as well.
I didn't end up seeing this team a single time in high ladder so fuck yall LOL
The whole OU room: It's been a pleasure looking after the room with you all. So cool that we won PSPL the first time I managed, despite needing to carry me. Ask Storm Zone to play ou slot from the beginning next time lmao.
Njnp, Sabella, and the Cryos: Thanks for giving me a shot, SPL was so fun and really motivated me to continue trying harder.
Team US Northeast: Riding the bench and building/testing with yall was a ton of fun too, I remember when I caved in to lax's idea of AV spam lmaoo
I love everybody on the OU Forum Mod team, my OUPL team, and my PSPL team as well <3
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