SM OU Mega-Diancie Sun (Peaked #13, 1950)

[Adapt or Die]

Introduction:

I feel like sun is an underutilized archetype in the game, and has quite a lot of potential for lethal builds. This is a team I built fairly quickly and with only minor tweaks was able to run all the way upto 1950, #13 on the ladder. I'd be curious to see analysis and suggestions for the team.

Importable

Here Comes Sun (Ninetales) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Hypnosis
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Mean Green Mother (Venusaur) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Growth

Veni Vidi Vici (Victini) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Searing Shot
- Focus Blast
- Stored Power

Lord of Flies (Buzzwole) @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Roost
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch

Mirror Mirror (Diancie) @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Protect

Kevin Durant (Serperior) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Glare
- Defog
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Proof of Peak

The Team:

Here Comes Sun (Ninetales) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Hypnosis
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Tales is the setter here and chosen over torkoal for superior speed and offensive presence. Fireblast hits reasonably hard in the sun while solar beam and hp ground are the coverage moves for rock/ground/water types and heatran respectively. Hypnosis is incredibly useful for neutralizing problematic switch ins although shaky accuracy can be frustrating.

Mean Green Mother (Venusaur) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Growth
The chlorophyll abuser on the team Venusaur is a mean sweeper/breaker in the Sun. Growth with modest nature lets it do things like Ohko pex after SR damage at +2 and take down Chansey. Setting up on something Tales has hypnotized is a great way to get that growth boost. HP Fire coverage takes advantage of sun boost and smacks steel types around, however venusaur is walled hard by heatran.

Veni Vidi Vici (Victini) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Searing Shot
- Focus Blast
- Stored Power
The second main sweeper on this team, Victini does not need sun to do damage although it powers up searing shot to very high levels. Stored power gets the ohko on the troublesome toxapex before it can haze and generally has good coverage with searing shot. Victini and Venusaur make a great one two punch weakening each others checks and focus blast deals with the troublesome heatran and tyranitar.

Lord of Flies (Buzzwole) @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Roost
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch
If there's a mon that's just kinda there on this team it's buzzwole. It counter a nice number of mons that give this team trouble like tyranitar and to a lesser extent kartana, chansey and lando-t (watch out for SSSS). Bulk-up win cons some weak teams, but mostly I find myself using it as a pivot/sack. Now this team was built before zyg ban, and buzz had a much more important role then, but honestly I should probably replace it with something more useful.

Mirror Mirror (Diancie) @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Diamond Storm
- Moonblast
- Protect

Mega-Diancie plays 2 vital roles on this team. The first is helping keep rocks off the field and putting down my own rocks while providing protect support for scouting/stalling. The second is acting as an offensive rock/fairy type to counter all the flying, dragon, and boosting fire type mons that give the rest of the team fits. Keeping Diancie healthy and at full is essential in certain matchup against say volcarona or blacephalon. Max attack is used for strongest diamond storm.

Kevin Durant (Serperior) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Glare
- Defog
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Scarf serperior is good! Scarf Serperior is good! This nifty set compresses a lot of roles into one useful mon. It adds secondary grass spam to the team working in great tandem with venusaur. Provides a way to remove hazards if they get past diancie, and can emergency glare boosting sweepers. HP fire is mostly filler but can ohko unsuspecting scarftanas.

Threatlist:

Pelipper: Public enemy #1 rain ruins the sun and ninetales can only hypnosis it, while the rest of the team struggles against rain sweepers. Strategy is to lay down rocks, put it to sleep so it can't roost and try to get it to die before tales. If Peli goes down first vena will feast on the rain team.

Tyranitar: Not as hard to handle as sand mons don't threaten the team as much and Victini can sometimes lure and kill it (although +1 focus blast does laughable damage to AV and only has a chance to ko on mega stealth rock.) Pursuit can be annoying as well.

Heatran: Invalidates venusaur as a threat who otherwise can blow through anything that isn't a weather setter.

Pinsir: Bulldozes anything not named diancie or 100% victini.

Toxapex: Generally annoying to kill as victini has to be at +1 before it takes the field.

Volcarona: Diancie only mon that can handle.

Blacephalon: Speed boosting variant can ko the entire team if not stopped early.

Replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-850407481
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-850402037
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-850372193
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-850365073
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-849438813
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-849014307

 

[DrPumpkinz]

I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm not super familiar with Sun, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Seeing as how Pelipper is public enemy #1, consider Hidden Power Electric on Ninetales. It doesn't OHKO, and it makes you even weaker to Heatran, but it's an option.

Alternatively, or perhaps additionally, you could run Sunny Day over Hypnosis on Ninetales. This lets you undo the weather change of Pelipper and Tyranitar.

 

[Adapt or Die]

I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm not super familiar with Sun, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Seeing as how Pelipper is public enemy #1, consider Hidden Power Electric on Ninetales. It doesn't OHKO, and it makes you even weaker to Heatran, but it's an option.

Alternatively, or perhaps additionally, you could run Sunny Day over Hypnosis on Ninetales. This lets you undo the weather change of Pelipper and Tyranitar.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give hp electric a try as getting damage on the setter is much more important than changing the weather (they can just change the weather back and unlike AV and manual hail it doesn't gain you too much to manually set sun over). Maybe I can figure something else out for tran with buzz's slot.

Update. Liking Hp electric a lot making rain matchups much easier.

 

[lonely blue heart]

This team is really amazing. Very creative, and I'm very happy to see that a sun team with ninetails could perform so well in OU. Of course since you've already almost reached top10, the team is already pretty good and I don't know if something I say would help it. But I suggest you to use Earth Power instead of protect in mega diancie. This would let you OHKO heatran who gives troubles to the team, and I don't think the utility of protect is better than this.

 

[Adapt or Die]

This team is really amazing. Very creative, and I'm very happy to see that a sun team with ninetails could perform so well in OU. Of course since you've already almost reached top10, the team is already pretty good and I don't know if something I say would help it. But I suggest you to use Earth Power instead of protect in mega diancie. This would let you OHKO heatran who gives troubles to the team, and I don't think the utility of protect is better than this.

Thanks for the input. In my experience protect on Diancie is absolutely essential plus diamond storm 2HKOes most trans anyways. The team struggles with tran for sure, but Diancie does not.

252 Atk Diancie-Mega Diamond Storm vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 181-214 (56 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Diancie-Mega Diamond Storm vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 181-214 (46.8 - 55.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Protect lets me mega evolve on Lando-T and either scout its move if it's scarf or play mind games if its not. Similarly I can scout gren on turn one and find out if its ash or protean. Protect lets me stall trick room turns in that matchup (which is hard for sun). Protect lets me play mind games with Ferro.
In summary protect is really damn good.

 

[Solaros & Lunaris]

Cool team. I noticed that you didn’t really like Buzzwole, so I decided to change it. With the departure of Zygarde, Zapdos adds a secondary Defogger, Kartana, Hawlucha and Pinsir check, and with Toxic can cripple Pert and Tyranitar. Zapdos can also free up HP Ground on Ninetales, but you can still use HP Electric if you want to. Pressure or Static can work, so its up to personal preference.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Defog
- Roost

 

[gaasaa]

Hey,

First off, I really like the team. I have been preaching the wonders of ScarfSerp for ages now, so it's lovely to see a fellow user of it.

You mention how Buzzwole does not have a particularly big role to play on the team, but I think replacing it with something like Zapdos (as suggested above) would be a mistake, as you would literally have 0 switch-ins to Ttar. I think you have stumbled upon a situation which I have also experienced, which is that a mon can feel like deadweight on the team 95% of the time, but if that 5% chance does come it is so vitally important.

Given you say Buzzwole acts more as a pivot for mons like Kart and Ttar, the one thing i would suggest is that you run a slightly more defensive set with an Impish nature and some EVs in Defence and Speed. Currently, your Buzzwole can't easily eat 2 Stone Edges (it takes 49.5 - 58.3%) from Banded Ttar nor can it outspeed. 112 Speed EVs lets you outspeed max speed Adamant Ttar and 144 Defence EVs lets you eat 2 Stone Edges (40.4 - 47.6%). This extra bulk also helps you against something like Exca in sand (which destroys your team if the opponent wins the weather war), Mega-Swamp, and Stakataka (which you used on your previous team). I don't see many scenarios where the loss in power is hurting you that much, and if you are in a position to boost, the lower initial Attack stat likely isn't an issue.

Other than that, the only thing I can say is that your team is pretty weak to Tran (especially Chople Tran), so if you do find a viable alternative to Buzzwole, you should give it a go. Maybe something like Dragon Dance Kommo-O or something wacky like Sub/CM/Icy Wind/Secret Sword Keldeo who can set up/come in on Tran and Ttar and punch holes through the opponent's team before Vic/Venu/Serp clean up.

Hope you found this useful!

 

[SaveMeJebus]

Have you tried using Earthquake over hp fire on Venusaur? While this might give it a bad match up against certain steel types like Celesteela, Scizor and Skarmory, I feel your team deals with those pokes pretty well and it gives you a more reliable way to deal with Heatran

 

[Adapt or Die]

Hey,
You mention how Buzzwole does not have a particularly big role to play on the team, but I think replacing it with something like Zapdos (as suggested above) would be a mistake, as you would literally have 0 switch-ins to Ttar. I think you have stumbled upon a situation which I have also experienced, which is that a mon can feel like deadweight on the team 95% of the time, but if that 5% chance does come it is so vitally important.

Other than that, the only thing I can say is that your team is pretty weak to Tran (especially Chople Tran), so if you do find a viable alternative to Buzzwole, you should give it a go. Maybe something like Dragon Dance Kommo-O or something wacky like Sub/CM/Icy Wind/Secret Sword Keldeo who can set up/come in on Tran and Ttar and punch holes through the opponent's team before Vic/Venu/Serp clean up.

Hope you found this useful!

Perfect description of Buzz's role on the team. Band Tar isn't so much an issue as other tar types as Victini Focus outspeeds and koes. I've been experimenting with a Kommo-O version of the team for a little while now, and while I'm not certain that it's better overall it does help with tran a lot and in general is less dead weight (the lesser physical bulk is notable and I've been running band-tini so I can use kommo-z which changes the complexion of the team quite a bit).

Have you tried using Earthquake over hp fire on Venusaur? While this might give it a bad match up against certain steel types like Celesteela, Scizor and Skarmory, I feel your team deals with those pokes pretty well and it gives you a more reliable way to deal with Heatran

I have tried equake on vena and decided I really don't like it. Opponents usually try to play around Vena to stall out sun turns, and hp fire lets me hit all the steel types that would switch into solar beam or sludge bomb. Heatran and alola-muk are just about the only mons I would want equake for whereas hp fire is necessary for ferrothorn, scizor, kartana, skarmory, and celesteela. Having vena not being able to sweep until tran is gone is a lot less constricting than trying to eliminate all those mons before a sweep.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

I have tried equake on vena and decided I really don't like it. Opponents usually try to play around Vena to stall out sun turns, and hp fire lets me hit all the steel types that would switch into solar beam or sludge bomb. Heatran and alola-muk are just about the only mons I would want equake for whereas hp fire is necessary for ferrothorn, scizor, kartana, skarmory, and celesteela. Having vena not being able to sweep until tran is gone is a lot less constricting than trying to eliminate all those mons before a sweep.

It seems like a lot of your problems get solved by adding Alolan golem since he can OHKO and 2HKO a lot of the pokes you mentioned especially with a sun boosted Fire Punch. Don't know if you tried it yet but maybe you can replace Buzzwole with it seeing as how you say it's just dead weight

 

[Adapt or Die]

It seems like a lot of your problems get solved by adding Alolan golem since he can OHKO and 2HKO a lot of the pokes you mentioned especially with a sun boosted Fire Punch. Don't know if you tried it yet but maybe you can replace Buzzwole with it seeing as how you say it's just dead weight

Will test immediately, and let you know how it goes. TBH Alola-golem is a mon I tend to forget exists.

 

[RaikouLover]

Amazing team! This team really is a pleasure.

Nice on using Buzzwole, he needs more love. He fits well on your team actually. I’d suggest a change to his EV spread to one of these:

252 Attack / 252 Spe, Jolly

Or

240 Def / 252 SpD / 12 Spe, Careful

Buzz doesn’t want HP, he has great HP as it is and lower HP is better healing with drain punch. You want to be fast to lure and OHKO Heatran, or max our defenses. Buzz doesn’t need Max / Max defense because Beast Boost and Bulk up. Kartana can’t even 2HKO with CB Smart Strike. Careful let’s you not die to any random special attacks (remember slow drain punch heals you).

 

[innisfree]

Hey, I feel like Sun has always been one of the coolest archetypes and I really like the direction you took with it. Seeing as your team is very weak to Heatran, specifically SpDef Toxic variants, I would consider changing Serp to a Leftovers HP Ground Variant. You could still keep Defog and Glare as your other 2 moves, but Synthesis is another good option since it's a Sun team. I feel like Scarf Serp is a bit redundant considering you have Venusaur as a grass type that provides speed control, and I think your team would really appreciate having something that lures Heatran.

 

[Adapt or Die]

Amazing team! This team really is a pleasure.

Nice on using Buzzwole, he needs more love. He fits well on your team actually. I’d suggest a change to his EV spread to one of these:

252 Attack / 252 Spe, Jolly

Or

240 Def / 252 SpD / 12 Spe, Careful

Buzz doesn’t want HP, he has great HP as it is and lower HP is better healing with drain punch. You want to be fast to lure and OHKO Heatran, or max our defenses. Buzz doesn’t need Max / Max defense because Beast Boost and Bulk up. Kartana can’t even 2HKO with CB Smart Strike. Careful let’s you not die to any random special attacks (remember slow drain punch heals you).

I'll test fast buzzwole. Outspeeding tran is nice, but I think I might miss the extra bulk. Good point about hp maybe not being the smartest investment.

Hey, I feel like Sun has always been one of the coolest archetypes and I really like the direction you took with it. Seeing as your team is very weak to Heatran, specifically SpDef Toxic variants, I would consider changing Serp to a Leftovers HP Ground Variant. You could still keep Defog and Glare as your other 2 moves, but Synthesis is another good option since it's a Sun team. I feel like Scarf Serp is a bit redundant considering you have Venusaur as a grass type that provides speed control, and I think your team would really appreciate having something that lures Heatran.

I feel like the redundancy of scarf serp with venusaur is a feature not a bug as they have a habit of weakening each others checks. While I would love to lure and ko tran it's not so much of a problem that I can't usually bullshit my way past it with a combo of victini, diancie, buzzwole, and hypnosis/glare.

I'm really hesitant to give up serp's scarf when it does so many nice things with that speed like glare +1 dragon dancers/Volcarona that venusaur can't ko or I have to sack tales to get vena in safely, outspeed scarf lando-t, outspeed swamp in the rain, outspeed ash-gren. It also just wreaks havoc on mons that try to revenge kill it mistakenly thinking they're faster.

I'll test it anyways, and see if the gain of luring tran outweighs the losses associated with losing the extra speed, but for others reading the thread I wanted to explain why scarf is vital for checking some threats.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

Good Game today. My phone cuts off my opponent's name so I had no idea it was you. So did you ever get to test Alolan Golem?