-Balanced Sunny Day BDSP OU-
Hi! I have been playing a while with this Sunny Day team. I like it and I think it is pretty solid, but I think I could get better result with it (I must say that other factors like the player's ability and motivation are crucial for getting good results). So, any suggestion will be very appreciated.
-The Team-
Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Clear Smog
- Rapid Spin
The main sun setter and spinner of the team. Torkal is a decent lead and can take on a variety of annoying threats in OU, such as Scizor, Lucario, Breloom, Tangrowth, and Skarmory. This set is very typical, and has Clear Smog to prevent the opponent from setting up in front of Torkoal (very useful against Clefable or even Garchomp). Sometimes it struggles against other leads such as Azelf or Donphan.
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb
Venusaur is the main sweeper on the team, being extremely powerful after using growth. Annihilates Water, Grass, and Ground (Starmie, Breloom, Crwdaunt, Rotom-W, Tangrowth, Hippowdon, Azumarill, Donphan…). Its main problem is its lack of coverage against Steel-types, which are very abundant in OU, an prevent him from sweeping. It has nothing to do against Heatran, Skarmory, Scizor, or Magnezone, other than trying to put them to sleep.
Cresselia @ Heat Rock
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 40 SpD / 68 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonlight
- Ice Beam
- Sunny Day
- Thunder Wave
The second sun setter, extremely bulky and reliable. It's able to take a lot of hits from a lot of different Pokemon, and works really well against Ground-types and pesky Dragons (Latios and Grachomp). Like Venusaur, it suffers against Steel-types, but at least it can paralyze them. I'm thinking of using some more special defense focused EVs, since one of Cresselia's roles is to be a safe switch to Latios' Draco Meteors (the specs version 2KOes her).
Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Infernape is the second sweeper on the team that benefits from the sun. Previously Heatran specs took its place, but seeing that Blissey was very problematic I decided to put Infernape. This CB build is extremely dangerous, making virtually no switch safe against it, especially with Flare Blitz under the sun (Rotom-W, Azumarill, Gliscor... all of them recieve massive damage). I decided to use CB so I could have access to immediate power. The only problem is his lack of durability due to recoil. Nape perfectly covers Steel-types for Venusaur.
Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Throat Chop
- Poison Jab
- Brick Break
Weavile is here for three reasons: it provies coverage against Ghost/Psyquic, gives me extra Dragon coverage, and has a lot of versatility. There is not much to say about this pokémon, perhaps the only strange thing is its set, since it is neither Swords Dance nor Choice Band. This is because I needed as much coverage as possible, so I didn't have to constantly switch into things like Azumarill, Clefable, Tyranitar, or Heatran. One of its problems is that being Ice Shard the only Ice-type coverage, Weavile can barely damage Hippowdon.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Damp
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Along with Weavile, it's not a common Pokémon on sun teams, but it works really well. Swampert is a very interesting wall, providing excellent resistance coverage to the team: it resists Fire, can hit Dragon-types hard with Ice Beam, and shuts down Steel-types completely. This rare set is amazing: EQ and Ice Beam give me great coverage, and with Roar I get rid of potential set up sweepers like Clefable, Gyarados, Cloyster or Scizor. Stealth Rock works very well in case Torkoal is no longer around to set them.
Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Clear Smog
- Rapid Spin
The main sun setter and spinner of the team. Torkal is a decent lead and can take on a variety of annoying threats in OU, such as Scizor, Lucario, Breloom, Tangrowth, and Skarmory. This set is very typical, and has Clear Smog to prevent the opponent from setting up in front of Torkoal (very useful against Clefable or even Garchomp). Sometimes it struggles against other leads such as Azelf or Donphan.
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Sludge Bomb
Venusaur is the main sweeper on the team, being extremely powerful after using growth. Annihilates Water, Grass, and Ground (Starmie, Breloom, Crwdaunt, Rotom-W, Tangrowth, Hippowdon, Azumarill, Donphan…). Its main problem is its lack of coverage against Steel-types, which are very abundant in OU, an prevent him from sweeping. It has nothing to do against Heatran, Skarmory, Scizor, or Magnezone, other than trying to put them to sleep.
Cresselia @ Heat Rock
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 40 SpD / 68 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonlight
- Ice Beam
- Sunny Day
- Thunder Wave
The second sun setter, extremely bulky and reliable. It's able to take a lot of hits from a lot of different Pokemon, and works really well against Ground-types and pesky Dragons (Latios and Grachomp). Like Venusaur, it suffers against Steel-types, but at least it can paralyze them. I'm thinking of using some more special defense focused EVs, since one of Cresselia's roles is to be a safe switch to Latios' Draco Meteors (the specs version 2KOes her).
Infernape @ Choice Band
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Infernape is the second sweeper on the team that benefits from the sun. Previously Heatran specs took its place, but seeing that Blissey was very problematic I decided to put Infernape. This CB build is extremely dangerous, making virtually no switch safe against it, especially with Flare Blitz under the sun (Rotom-W, Azumarill, Gliscor... all of them recieve massive damage). I decided to use CB so I could have access to immediate power. The only problem is his lack of durability due to recoil. Nape perfectly covers Steel-types for Venusaur.
Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Throat Chop
- Poison Jab
- Brick Break
Weavile is here for three reasons: it provies coverage against Ghost/Psyquic, gives me extra Dragon coverage, and has a lot of versatility. There is not much to say about this pokémon, perhaps the only strange thing is its set, since it is neither Swords Dance nor Choice Band. This is because I needed as much coverage as possible, so I didn't have to constantly switch into things like Azumarill, Clefable, Tyranitar, or Heatran. One of its problems is that being Ice Shard the only Ice-type coverage, Weavile can barely damage Hippowdon.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Damp
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Along with Weavile, it's not a common Pokémon on sun teams, but it works really well. Swampert is a very interesting wall, providing excellent resistance coverage to the team: it resists Fire, can hit Dragon-types hard with Ice Beam, and shuts down Steel-types completely. This rare set is amazing: EQ and Ice Beam give me great coverage, and with Roar I get rid of potential set up sweepers like Clefable, Gyarados, Cloyster or Scizor. Stealth Rock works very well in case Torkoal is no longer around to set them.
-Threats-
Gyarados: no one hits him super effective (just Infernape with Stone Edge), though it's thankfully very rare in OU.
Azelf (lead): it is very problematic, since it uses Taunt against Torkoal and Cresselia. Infernape, Venusaur, and Weavile take super effective damage, and Swampert can barely hit it with Ice Beam.
Crawdaunt: I have no safe switches. Only Venusaur is a safe option for hitting him super effective.
Nidoking: less dangerous than Crawdaunt, but Cresselia is still the only safe switch in. Weavile doesn't OHKO it with Ice Shard. Infernape outspeeds him and OHKOes him with Flare Blitz.
Cloyster: if he sets up a Shell Smash, it would be terrible for my team. I can try to paralyze him with Cresselia, use Roar with Swampert or try to defeat with Nape and Venusaur before he uses Shell Smash.
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