[OU Sun Team] Praise the Sun!

[Nhadala]

Ive been fiddling with this team for quite some time now, its the team im the most successful with which is weird, i thought id try something unique(hopefully) and it ended up working, ive been fiddling with the movesets to adapt to whatever is most commonly seen in the OU Metagame.

This is also my first thread here, please do forgive me if i make some grave mistake.

http://cdn.staticneo.com/w/pokemon/7/75/045.gif

Vileplume (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Solar Beam
- Moonblast
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]

ROLE: Special Sweeper

One of the main sweepers on the team, vileplume is one of the best at what it does with the Sun up and deals quite a lot of damage.

http://cdn.staticneo.com/w/pokemon/f/f9/038.gif

Ninetales (F) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp

ROLE: Sun Setter, Special Wall.

The main purpose of this pokemon is to set up long-lasting sun and take some special hits when needed, i make sure to keep it alive though most of the game.

Charizard (F) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [ice]
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Solar Beam

ROLE: Lead, Special Sweeper, Sun Setter

With lots of Garchomps and Landorus roaming about i decided to put HP Ice on this pokemon, it still has to rely on a 70% accuracy move to beat Heatran however which is less than ideal.

http://cdn.staticneo.com/w/pokemon/b/b1/465BW.gif

Tangrowth (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Synthesis
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Power Whip

ROLE: Physical Tank.

The main physical tank on the team, this pokemon can take a lot of hits, most physical attackers switch out of it which lets it set up swords dance or replenish its HP with Synthesis, Chlorophyll lets it outspeed some pokemon in the tier that would normally outspeed it.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/pokemon/images/a/a1/Heliolisk_XY.gif

Heliolisk (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [ice]
- Focus Blast

ROLE: Special Sweeper.

With Solar Power and Life Orb this pokemons attacks will always pack quite a punch to any pokemon, its main purpose is to deal a lot of damage.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/pokemon/images/1/16/Darmanitan_XY.gif

Darmanitan (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Zen Headbutt
- Hammer Arm

ROLE: Physical Sweeper, Clean-up duty, Wall Breaker.

With Flare Blitz hitting like a nuke with the sun up, this pokemon can break Physical Tanks and deal a ton of damage to everything and to make up for the teams lack of physical attacker.

There we go, i hope i did it right.

EDIT: I cant use for some reason, it says im not allowed, i dont know why the charizard pic works though.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Nhadala

[Simon]

I'm not all the most knowledgeable regarding competitive battling, due to me not caring for it all too much, but I would recommend getting a Defogger/Rapid Spinner on it since hazards (particularly Stealth Rocks hurt you badly). Replacing Ninetales with mons like Latios/Latias, Starmie (best choice imo), and Excadrill can work since you have Zard-Y as a Sun Setter. Also, your team gets beaten pretty badly by common Scarf Ground Types such as Lando-T and Excadrill so watch out for them.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will put there thoughts on here so expect a better analysis/recommendation soon.

[NickCrash]

I would toss Tangrowth because it does not provide an actual role for the team. Instead I would put Rhyperior in its place, which has Ground and Rock coverage as well as the potential to setup with Rock Polish. At +2 and full 252+ Speed, it outspeeds even Alakazam, so there you can go and kill all you want. Rhyperior is a good choice for Sun teams, since Water damage is minimized and further decreased by Solid Rock. Grass is rare anyway, so you won't have any problems with that. You could slap a Weakness Policy or Leftovers for maximum survivability.

Vileplume has enough bulk to be able to tank a few hits. With Sun around, a Moonlight does 75% of recovery, so you might want to switch a move for that, preferably Moonblast, since your STAB moves is all you need. If that's not enough, you can throw it away entirely and switch it for Victreebel with also has Weather Ball to get a hold of Sun and hit harder than Vileplume, albeit with less bulk.

As Simon said, a Sun team with multiple pokemon weak to Rocks is doomed to fail. Starmie seems to be the best choice to replace Ninetails, and especially the Reflect Type set. Rapid Spin those Hazards away fast enough, Set Sun with Zard Y and then proceed to attack with the rest of your team, that are now not 100% dependent on Sun, as they were before.

[Nhadala]

I thought moonlight sucked in the Sun, but yeah i use Moonblast to K.O dark types, like Hoopa and Weavile which seem to be pretty common.

I will replace Tangrowth with Rhyperior, it seems like a great idea.

Though Ninetails? I am not 100% sure, it sets up the sun for me which is very important, with heat rock it lasts 8 turns which is very good, i feel like 5 turns is too short sometimes and with Charizard being my lead(which means it will die early on in the game), it feels like eeehhh.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Nhadala

[Tomas Elliot]

Why Vileplume and not Venusaur? Same typing, same ability, same moves, but Venu's stats are superior from any possible point of view...

[Nhadala]

I personally like Vileplume better as a pokemon, though i understand why Venusaur would be preferred.

[Ironbound]

It seems to me that this team is meant to be used competitively. Forgive me if you had wanted to use it casually, but the following criticism is based on the assumption that you actually intend to use this team on the ladder and in tournaments.

First off: there's a line, thin but distinct, between a workable gimmick and a bad one. There is also a very good reason why weather archetypes other than sand and the rare rain are quite truly dead in this generation. In fact, even rain is not so common: sand being usable as a play style simply because it can achieve a great core in just two Pokémon (Hippo/Ttar and Drill).

As for your team itself...like it has been mentioned already, the best move in the game, Stealth Rock, completely destroys you, limiting the switch in and stay power of your setters and punishing your sun turns.

This is also a good time to mention that team synergy is nil in this case. You do not have a way to deal with threats like the Lati twins, Charizard X (which benefits from your own sun), opposing Charizard Y, Talonflame which is everywhere, the Sand duo which can whittle you down, Heatran, electric types like Mega Manectric, Raikou and Thundurus and, let's face it, more than half of OU. You may like using things like Vileplume, Ninetales and Heliolisk, but there's an excellent reason why they fail in OU: they are outclassed.

I do not believe that sun is a very viable archetype in OU anymore. The only way to abuse sun currently is to use Charizard Y. It itself demands a huge amount of support to eliminate faster threats, keep rocks off, remove the Latis and other things that it can't burn through. It is not even a very viable sun supporter because it cannot hold a Heat Rock and it is prone to hazards. You are not even packing Roost on yours. (And btw, in case you didn't use the damage calculator available on Showdown and also on Google if you just searched for it, Fire Blast from Zard Y does KO Lando-T, making HP ice one of the worst options for that slot. You may as well use Roost or Dragon Pulse if you're very scared about dragons - which you should be, because you have no way of dealing with them either)

Anyway, the best you can do with sun in OU is to use it alongside Sand on a bulky offense or balance archetype. I recommend pairing a (modified and with Roost) Charizard Y with a Choice Scarf Pursuit Tyranitar, a Sand Rush Rapid Spin Excadrill, a Ferrothorn for Rocks of your own, and using something like Latias/Latias, Starmie as an alternative Spinner, Rotom-W as a pivot, Keldeo because it pairs well with this type of team and helps with Bisharp and Tyranitar or, if you are determined to use multiple fire types, a Quiver Dance Volcarona or a Talonflame or a Heatran of any sort (just not all of them. You will fall to bulky dragon, ground and strong water types). You are also free to replace Ferrothorn with chlorophyll Venusaur; it will affect your synergy but it can pull it off, especially if you have Sunny Day on it. Charizard Y alone cannot support sun for long, and Ninetales is just not viable in OU. Just make sure that you have Stealth Rock on your Tyranitar in that case (i.e. convert your Tyranitar into a support set, or better still, use a Hippowdon) and mandatorily use Rapid Spin on Excadrill, or, if you are also using a Lati, Defog on that.

Sets and elaborated strategies can be found at www.smogon.com to help you.

Have a nice day. I hope I have been able to help you. I also hope that my criticism is well received; I am not a believer in sugarcoating.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Viridescent

[SJMistery]

You know, rain is still common in high OU, the good old KingColoTops does not need permanent rain to tear apart teams, especially now that Swampert works as a Kabutops on ehem, on vitamins.

Sun is mediocre at best, Charizard Y is better used alone, as little to nothing can use the sun boost better than Charizard Y himself anyway.

Edited March 15, 2016 by SJMistery

[Nhadala]

I like the idea of a mixed sand and sun team, seems unique and i like it.

[Tomas Elliot]

sand being usable as a play style simply because it can achieve a great core in just two Pokémon (Hippo/Ttar and Drill).

To this you need to add that, well, dual sand (meaning, a team with TWO sand setters) is doable, because Hippo and Ttar, while admittedly sharing some weaknesses, are still a nice defensive core, considering that AV Ttar in sand has some ridiculous SpDef, and Hippo, having very solid Def and access to a recovery move, can afford to carry Smooth Rock. Compared to that, dual sun has a glaring weakness in that both its weather setters are weak to SR, and of them, the one that can carry Heat Rock lacks a recovery move, making it very very easy to wear it down.

With this being said, Viridescent did make a mistake in saying "scrap your idea and use something else": this section is called "rate my team", not "tell me to use a different team". If a guy wants to use a strategy, you tell that guy what are the best choices to build a team around the strategy, even if the strategy in question is a bad one. Telling him "sorry, your strategy is bad, so use this other strategy instead" is against the stated goal of this section.

I was about to follow up on this by analyzing in details the strengths and weaknesses of a double sun strategy, and giving suggestions on how to make such a strategy at least partially viable... But then the topic starter posted, stating that they like your suggestion, so yeah, at this point I have no reason to say anything more. But please try and keep my words in mind going forward!

[Nhadala]

I decided to keep the members of the team that did most of the work on my old team(That is Darmanitan, Vileplume and Charizard-Y) and toss out the rest for the sand-focused side that Viridescent proposed with T-Tar, Excadrill and ferrothorn.