To Victory! {UU Sunny Day Team}

Star Flare

Having gotten used to the OU metagame, I thought I'd try out UU. My first thought was Victreebel, a pokemon I've always liked, but I had no idea how viable it was competitively. A quick look at its analysis page made it clear - I was going to have to make a sunny day team. Which was fine by me, as I've always been interested in making a weather team.

So I got searching, read up on the sunny day team building article, desperate to find a way to use victree without him being outclassed. I quickly discovered his anlysis is actually outdated, and that he now has physical options, which was a small ray of hope, until I realised how limited his movepool still was. Tangrowth was better in pretty much every way physically, while exeggutor still had the edge specially. Alas, there was no hope. It was just as I was about to cave and make it a NU team with him as a swords dancer, that I discovered one thing he learned which made him usable in UU: weather ball. And thus, Team Victory was born.

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Yup, this is the result of my efforts, and it's performing fairly. There are definite issues with typing, and I'm not at all well versed in the UU metagame, so please bear that in mind when rating if there are any glaring weaknesses. :) I'm also pretty scared of the thought of opposing rain dance teams, and really need help to reliably deal with them.

The Lead
480Uxie.png


Impish Uxie @ Heat Rock

Levitate

EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 6 Spe

  • Stealth Rock
  • Sunny Day
  • U-Turn
  • Memento
I wanted a reliable lead to start things off. Initially I was thinking jumpluff (of course!) but its typing and general frailness really wasn't helping my synergy. Sleep powder didn't seem too good either, as victreebel NEEDS to be able to sleep things and if I have jumpluff breaking the sleep clause early on that kind of gets screwed up. Also, I didn't want to be too obvious about the sun straight away, so my attention came to the already hugely popular uxie. A very bulky and reliable lead, uxie can set up sunny day without fear of being hurt too much, and possibly SR too, then U-turn out to begin the carnage. Memento is another great move later on if I want tangrowth to set up easily. Uxie has problems with taunt leads such as alakazam, nidoking, and electrode, all of whom are handily trapped and KO'd by dugtrio. However, all electrode needs is one turn to set up rain dance, and this really is quite scary, so I'd appreciate advice on how to deal with him.

The Special Sweeper
071Victreebel.png

Modest Victreebel @ Life Orb

Chlorophyll

EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 6 HP

  • SolarBeam
  • Weather Ball
  • Sludge Bomb
  • Sleep Powder
I'm amazed how low this thing's usage. Even Haunter beats it! Sure, it might not be able to explode like exeggutor can, and its special attack may be inferior, but not by enough to warrant this. SolarBeam is still a very powerful move and gets the KOs it needs, and combined with victree's unique access to weather ball, I'd say he has the edge on exeggutor now. All it requires is the sun to become incredibly dangerous, as it can 2HKO almost the entire UU metagame with its 180 BP grass move and effective 150 BP Fire move. Sleep Powder is very important, and not just for the obvious fire types/ altaria that enjoy switching in, but for things it can KO such as absol, dugtrio and toxicroak that threaten it with sucker punches.

The remaining moveslot has several options; I picked Sludge Bomb reliably damages everything that walls the other moves. HP Ice helps against Altaria but didn't KO bulky variants and left me helpless against fire types. HP Rock is much more viable but is negligibly different, 2HKOing everything Sludge Bomb does. It only helps against Moltres, whilst loses the ability to hurt ludicolo and blaziken. All in all however the difference is small and probably not that important. I have also considered sunny day despite his lack of heat rock, just for emergencies. He'll rarely attack with sludge bomb/ whatever anyway and really is useless without the sun.

He hates priority moves, so I have to be wary around them. Chansey is the worst possible switch in, but is dealt with by dugtrio. Clefable can be annoying too, but won't enjoy facing hariyama. In general, if I come across something I need to sleep something I'll take the oppurtunity to switch back to a sunny day setup, or if there are still a good few rounds of sun left I'll let tangrowth switch in and set up.

Oh, and max speed is run simply to be on the safe side with scarfers. Victree isn't taking hits anyway, so it seems silly to risk being revenge killed. 478 speed as opposed to the 420 suggested allows me to outspeed almost everything, scarfed or not.

The Spaghetti Monst- I mean, Physical Sweeper
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Jolly Tangrowth @ Life Orb

Chlorophyll

EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 6 HP

  • Swords Dance
  • Power Whip
  • Earthquake
  • Rock Slide
AKA The other Most Important Member. I needed another chlorophyll sweeper, so I chose the best. Max Speed and a jolly nature reaches a blazing 436 speed in the sun, combined with 598 attack after a single swords dance. Very scary. Even without one it can pose a threat with its brilliant STAB power whip, but it won't find it too hard to set up as he can actually take hits thanks to that impressive defence. Just like victreebel he can be devasting once he's set up, these two really are the crux of the team. This is the main target for Uxie's memento, which is a godsend if I pull it off, almost guaranteeing free setup.

Tangrowth has similar counters to Victree, just less of them. Fire and Ice attacks can be taken by arcanine and hariyama easily, though flying attacks are a big problem. Fortunately not much can outspeed me once I've set up, but the team has 3 flying weaknesses and no resistance... definitely a flaw I'd like to fix, but it's so hard when your options are so limited. @_@ Oh yeah, grass types have it easy against him too, with my best option actually being a resisted power whip. However, rock slide is still used over return as grass types give this team a lot less trouble than flyers; I need the super effective coverage.

The Second Sun Setup
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Adamant Arcanine @ Heat Rock

Flash Fire

EVs: 120 HP, 152 Atk, 236 Spe

  • Flare Blitz
  • ExtremeSpeed
  • Morning Sun
  • Sunny Day
Arcanine is so badass, so I'm glad I had a legitimate reason to use him. Yup, the obligatory Flash Fire pokemon to absorb the Fire attacks that are bound to be thrown at me with my two weaknesses and the sun boost. I like how he is a setup poke that is still very threatening and not just there to bring out the sunlight. Flash Fire sun boosted flare blitzes are just crazy, extremespeed provides that all important priority, and morning sun compliments his natural bulk whilst benefitting from the sun. All in all, a useful and necessary addition to the team.

The Final Sun Setup

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Impish Hariyama @ Heat Rock

Thick Fat

EVs: 80 HP, 172 Atk, 252 Def, 6 Spe

  • Brick Break
  • Ice Punch
  • Fire Punch
  • Sunny Day
This slot has given me a lot of trouble and I'm still not satisfied. The idea is that I have a third, bulky sunny day-er who can take fire and ice attacks well, so hariyama works okay, but he does add yet another weakness to flying. Also, I kind of feel like his moves are rather uh, filler? Brick Break for STAB and stopping dual screens, Ice Punch to hit fliers, Fire Punch because it benefits from the sun... it's not all that effective. :/ I really do need help with this space in my team, perhaps I'm just not using the right moves, but it definitely needs improvement.

The Revenge Killer

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Jolly Dugtrio @ Life Orb

Arena Trap

EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 6 HP

  • Earthquake
  • Stone Edge
  • Sucker Punch
  • Substitute
A team like this can't afford to mispredict, so dugtrio is the perfect (if slightly cheap) trapper/ killer. The third weakness to ice that he brings is easily justified in his ability to KO all sorts of threats. Life Orb STAB Earthquake hits pretty hard even to things that are neutral, and deals with the fire types who think they're being clever trying to use my own weather against me. Stone Edge allows it to destroy all the flying types that plague my team, whilst sucker punch is a useful priority move against weakened attackers or ghost/ psychic types.

The reason I opt for LO over band is that it is especially important with this team that I don't get locked into something and allow the opponent to set up. (Being locked into earthquake for example would be a death sentence against anything flying.)

So yeah, that's my team. As I said, I'm new to UU, so don't be too harsh. D: But any help at all would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
If you're worried about flying types I'd switch out Hariyama with Regirock. Regirock is much bulkier on both sides, can set up sun, and can explode on things you don't appreciate. I'm also really wondering why you're using Victreebell over Exeggutor, Eggy has much better stats in everything you'd need on a special sunny day sweeper and Psychic is better coverage alongside Grass than Sludge Bomb. Sure, there's Weather Ball, but honestly that's worth using Victreebell. What you could do with the Bell is turn it into another Swords Dance sweeper so that it and tangrowth and lure and weaken each others counters, but you should probably just go with eggy.
 
agree with the above post on Regirock, but I personally advise Gardevoir as it gets wish support and trace helps fight rain dance teams/ flash fire pokemon that abuse your sun.

Also, I just noticed 1 more point for Victreebell; it absorbs toxic spikes. :)
 
Congratulations on using a Sunny Day team! Sunny Day is my favourite playstyle :)

I agree with replacing Victreebel with Exeggutor, he's superior in almost every way, and has a better secondary STAB.

I think Memento on Uxie should be swapped for Yawn, Uxie isn't really great as a suicide lead, and it's great defenses shouldn't go to waste. Memento only gives you one extra turn, and that's the turn the opponents switches to whatever they like. Uxier can often survive for later in the match after setting up, and then can set sun up again, which in my opinion, is more useful than one extra turn.
 
Having used a Sunny Day team myself for some time, its always nice to see more popping up on the RMT forums.

I never tried an Uxie lead, but it seems like it could do okay. As Eeveeskitty said, I would definitely consider replacing Memento, however, as you need to keep your Sun setters alive at all costs. Have a look at the normal Uxie lead articles to decide what with.

I myself used Victreebel for quite some time, and I too had major problems making him worthwhile over something else like Eggy. I would say that currently, your set is pretty much outclassed by a similar Exeguttor despite the added power of Weather Ball and Sludge Bomb. To remedy this, I would strongly advise trying out a MixBell set which did wonders for me. Rash nature, 252SpAtk, 92Speed to give you 199 out of sun, and the rest dumped in Atk makes for a powerful attacker on both sides of the spectrum.

A set to the effect of Sleep Powder/Sucker Punch/Solarbeam/Sludge Bomb or Weather Ball or Leaf Blade is what I ran, narrowly avoiding being outclassed by Shiftry due to greater power, sleep powder and T-Spikes absorption; and Eggy due to priority and the ability to take out Clefable and Chansey with Leaf Blade, as well as feigning a special set. It worked pretty well to weaken Tangrowth's counters or to clean up after Tangrowth had been on a sweep.

Tangrowth I would not fault, you run almost exactly the same as I did, just consider what you want to outspeed and perhaps dump a few EVs into HP ( I ran jolly and 236 Spe for 214 outside sun).

Arcanine again I would not fault given that I ran the same set to great effect. Intimidate for you is an option as long as you keep thick fat Hariyama, however.

Hariyama I would agree with both recommendations already posed. Regirock can serve your team greatly as an excellent tank for fire attacks, and Gardevoir has a huge SpDef with investment as well as great utility in countering Rain teams. Try them both out and see what works best, though I'd be inclined to point you towards a Rock type as I ran two Psychics on my team and had considerable trouble with pursuit users.

Dugtrio seems fine, but I would certainly consider running some more Sun abuse on your team, especially as it is arguable that the benefits it brings are covered by the rest of your team. Tangrowth can take on both Flying and Fire types with Rock Slide or Earthquake if Sun is up, and Victreebel with Sucker Punch covers Psychics while luring them effectively too. It is well worth considering some extra bulk or another Sun abuser in this slot. Scarf Typhlosion can work as a revenge killer, or simply decimate teams with a Specs set. If you picked him you may wish to have a spinner or an anti-lead to get rid of SR however. The choice is yours.

In any case, this is a nice sunny day team, and i wish you good luck with it :)
 
Here's a link to my UU sunny day team thread. http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65916

It's a bit outdated (Cresselia's in it and I designed the lead to be able to handle Froslass) but it did fairly well at the time. I used a mixed Victreebel with leaf blade and solar beam. I don't know if you're willing to try out new leads, but i had a LOT of success with Alakazam!

Seeing your team made me decide to rework mine and get back into sunny day =]
 
i like Victreebel especially, and Hariyama's movepool looks OK to me, though maybe ( if you want to risk not being able to break screens) drop brick break for cross chop or something similar.

Tangrowth looks pretty damn good, i wouldn't want to face that thing :s also, maybe take the heat rock off arcanine and/or hariyama, and give them some kind of healing or anti-weakness berry maybe? make them more bulky?
 
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Modest Victreebel @ Life Orb

Chlorophyll

EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 6 HP

  • SolarBeam
  • Weather Ball
  • Hidden Power Rock/Ice
  • Sleep Powder
Click to expand...
My honest suggestion would be to change sludge bomb to something else, either hp rock for moltres and flyers (that you generally have trouble with) or hp to hit altaria whom otherwise you cant touch with solarbeam or weather ball.

other options include sunny day (for obvious reasons) or synthesis to help ease leftover recovery

good luck with the team :)
 
I have been running a very similar team to this lately. I recommend running Exeguttor > Dugtrio, as once Victreebell has weakened the stuff Exeguttor may not be able to OHKO, then Exeguttor can cleanly sweep the rest of the team. Generally, people's checks to Exeguttor and Victreebell are Registeel, so you can just Weather Ball him to 50%, and then kill him with HP Fire on Exeguttor. Here's the set I would run with Exeguttor. :)

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Exeguttor @ Life Orb
Mild Nature ( To not lower Explosion damage )
Evs: Standard, you know em. :P
~Explosion
~HP Fire
~Solarbeam
~Psychic

The lead I used was a varient of a TrickScarfUxie, who did his job VERY well! I absolutely loved how brilliantly he worked. :) I made the set myself!

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Uxie @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Impish
Evs: 252 HP, 40 Defense, 64 Speed, 154 Special Defense
Moveset:
~Sunny Day
~Yawn
~Trick
~U-turn

To explain the EVs a little bit, 64 Speed guarantees you outrun all varients of Ambipom, and can Trick the Scarf onto them before they Taunt you. 40 Defense with an Impish Nature and 154 Special Defense grant 334 Special Defense, and 336 Defense, to try an even out the defenses as much as possible. The rest is thrown into HP.

The thing I love about this lead, as it does so many things at once. It sets up Sunny Day, Trick messes up their lead, and can Yawn when needed to force switches. The only downside, is the fact that you do not run a Heat Rock, so Sunny Day only lasts 5 turns. However, how I remedied this, was by giving my Victreebell a Heat Rock, and making him my Early Game sweeper for basically all occasions. He would weaken the threats of Exeguttor, and allow him to sweep late-game.

Also, you have the surprise factor of the opponent thinking you are "Just another Standard Team" when, infact, you run Sunny Day! :D

I would suggest you try to run a Mesprit set over Hariyama, but then it just leaves you with a HUGE Bug Weakness. However, I am going to ask for you to run this set on Arcanine:


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Arcanine @ Heat Rock
Nature: Impish
Evs: 240 Health, 28 Attack, 168 Defense, 74 Speed.
Moveset:
~Sunny Day
~Flare Blitz
~Morning Sun
~Will-o-wisp

This set worked magic for me, and has not once failed me on my Sunny Day team. It does leave you set up bait for Houndoom, however... so be VERY careful with him. If a Houndoom switches into you, you are going to need to immediately switch out to one of your sweepers while he sets up, and make sure he doesn't kill anything. Thats honestly his biggest flaw.

I hope I helped out a bit! Try out my suggestions, and tell me how you like them!
 
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