.::Introduction::.
Hello Smogon, so this is a sun team I've been working on a while now. I've always been a fan of sun teams, I was one of the few guys running a sun team in 4th gen. So when Drought Ninetales was intorduced I was obviously excited. I started building this team way back at the begining of the BW metagame, but like everyone else I got caught up in abusing all the broken suspects so this team was forgetten. After a brief hiatus from OU, I though I'd go back to building this team since it was already half done and I was running dry on team ideas. This was originally a "normal" sun team until I saw the Enter the Dragon RMT. I decided to play off the idea of eliminating steel-types for dragons, but instead of using Magnezone I wanted to use the power of sun. I never really liked Magnezone, especially since more players are running Shed Shell on thier steels. Sun + Dragons has ways of killing steels without getting boned by random Shed Shell steel types. As for ladder sucess, this team usually hovered around the top 100 when I put time in, which is pretty good considering how bad I am.
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Team Breakdown
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This is a fairly offensive team that works off of Jirachi's and Ninetales's support. The premise of this team is to eliminate steel types using sun boosted Fire attacks so my Dragons can fire off thier powerful STAB moves. The team utilizes Wish, Safeguard, Will-O-Wisp and Light Screen to support my sweepers. WoW and Light Screen basically give the team some added bulk. Safeguard helps agaisnt stall while Wish keeps the team healthy and often wins me the "shootout" type battles. The thing I love about this team is that it doesnt rely on having sun up to win, I can lose Ninetales on turn 1 and still have a chance at winning. Having my own weather changer is just an added bonus. This isn't exactly your bread and butter Ninetales + 5 Fire/Chlorophyll sweeper sun team so I'll do my best in explaining how I use the teams various members and support. A thing you'll notice about the team is the lack of Rapid Spinner. Any Rapid Spinner I tried felt like a waste of a slot unless your using a Volcarona (who is worth it). Hazards aren't a probelm at all as long as you prevent them from stacking up (which is very easy considering common hazard layers are weak to Fire).
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Team Building:
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Before I get on with the team building process, I'd like to show you guys a little check list that I've been using for all my sun teams ever since I completed this one. Any sun team I make under this check list has been decent so far, so if your new to sun this might be an easy way to build a team. This is all personal preffernce so it might not work for you. Just keep in mind that you still have to cover threats with the Pokemon you choose. I might make it a little more in depth later lol.
- Ninetales
- 1 Chlorophyll Sweeper
- 1 Non Stealth Rock weak Fire Sweeper
- 1 Dragon
- Reliable Rock, and Ground immunities/resistances
- 1 Wish Passer/Healing Wish-er (this one really depends on your team)
V1
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Version 1 was pretty good. Ok who am I kidding, it was terrible. It consisted of Specs Ninetales, Latios and Hydreigon along with Choice Band Infernape, Garchomp and Haxorus. This team was extremely fun to use and very fast paced, but I was either 6-0ing my opponents or getting 6-0ed which didn't really sit well with me. I knew this team wouldn't have any real sucess, I just put ot together to test the power of Sun + Dragons. I was very impressed.
V2
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Mr Garchomp was banned and the team felt kind of slow so decided to add Chlorophyll sweeper. After searching through the movepools and stats of virtually every Chlororphyll sweeper, I ended up with Shiftry. Shiftry turned out to be an amazing addition. He took care of opposing weather inducers and basically won me weather wars. I also switched Infernape to a mixed variant.*This version was better, but still a failure.
V3
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Heatran was added over Infernape to patch up some pressing weaknesses. Specifically Volcarona and Excadrill. I finally gave up on Specs Ninetales and went with a custom Wide Lens set. The ability to burn stuff was an instant step up in sucess for the team. I also gave a Scarf to Latios and gave HP Ice to Shiftry to deal with Thundurus and Landorus. This version of the team was pretty good, but I couldn't consistantly win with it.*
V4
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This is the current version of the team. The team really needed some support so Jirachi was added over Hydreigon (who is awsome by the way, I really wish I could have found a spot for him). With Jirachi I got Screen, Stealth Rock and Wish support. These things brought the team to a whole new level in terms of sucess. The team was finally good!
V5
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Thanks for the rates guys! After some testing I found DD Dragonite to be extremely effective over Haxorus for reasons posted a little later in the RMT. It's pretty noteworthy that Salamence was also good, but the Dragonite's extra bulk put him over the edge for me. I also made some EV and moveset adjustments such as Stealth Rock on Heatran and Iron Head on Jirachi.
V6?
Testing:
- Infernape>Heatran
- HP Grass on Heatran
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In-Depth Look
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Ninetales (F) @ Wide Lens
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SDef / 176 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Safeguard
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Comments:
Obvious Ninetales is obvious. I don't know why people think Ninetales is so bad. I mean Tyranitar and Politoed are obviously the more reliable weather inducers, but Nintales does have it's advantages and if you play it right you can make other weather inducers look like little girls. The amount of Ninetales sets I've tried and srapped is ridiculous. After a years (/exgagerting) of looking through Ninetales movepool and tweaking EVs, I've finally settled on Wide Lens Ninetales. Wide Lens Ninetales is kind of a hybrid between a sweeper and support Pokemon. It's a bit remenisant of Celebi's signature Tinkerbell set. With this set Ninetales can punch massive holes in the opponents team with sun STAB boosted Fire Blast, while being able to support it's teamates by crippling offensive threats/walls with WoW or protecting my teamates from status with Safeguard. Fire Blast sits at a reliable 93.5% accuracy with the Wide Lens boost. Having to use Flametrower on offensive sets is pretty lame, while a Fire Blast miss can cost you your Ninetales. Wide Lens gives Ninetales the power of Fire Blast, with the consistancy of Flamethrower. Sun boosted Fire Blast still packs quite the punch even with Ninetale's lack luster specail attack stat. Wide Lens also boost Will-O-Wisp's shaky accuracy to 82.5%, which is amazing for such a crippling move.
Hidden Power Fighting and Safeguard are basically filler moves. HP Fighting hits Tyranitar and Heatran on the switch. The only time I ever find myself using HP Fighting is once everything I want burned has been burned. I always try to burn Politoed or Tyranitar before hitting them with HP Fighting. The damage from the two moves really racks up and often times wins me the weather war. I was stumped on what I should use for the 4th slot, but after stumbling across Katakiri's RMT I decided to go with Safeguard. After using Safeguard on some of my teams, I can confirm that it's a very useful tool in the metagame. Safeguard is a great move to have on Ninetales, especially since I don't have a cleric and it protects my team from Toxic Spikes and random Scald Burns. The EV spread allow me to out-speed Mamoswine and Lucario.
Shiftry (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 140 Atk / 156 SAtk / 212 Spd
Mild nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Sucker Punch
- Low Kick
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Comments:
Shiftry is probably the teams mvp. He's carried the team to victory on many occasions. Shiftry is THE BEST CHLOROPHYLL SWEEPER. Yup that's right, better then Venasaur and weakSawsfuck (just kidding Sawsbuck is pretty good). Yeah it's more frail then an emo kid, but once he gets a safe switch in his perfect coverage allows him easy sweeps Venusaur could only dream of. The main reason Shiftry is my Chlorophyll sweeper of choice is his ability to OKHO opposing weather inducers. For this reason, I often lead with Shiftry. Leaf Storm OHKO's every variant of Politoed and Hippowdon while Low Kick OHKO's the bulkiest of Tyranitar. Low Kick obviously drops Abomosnow, but I don't usually risk this since Scarfed Abomosnow is so common. The only weather inducers Shiftry loses to are Scarf Abomosnow and Scarf Tyranitar. I really don't have to fear ScarfTar since the opponent never leads with them to preserve the surprise. If you wondering about Scarf Politoed, Modest Ice Beam will always fail to OHKO Shiftry while the latter can OHKO back with Leaf Storm. Shiftry won't be sweeping much after he takes an Ice Beam, but the weather advantage is well worth it. You can find all the clacs a bit latter in the RMT.
Of course Shiftry isn't just limited to taking out opposing weather inducers, he can also take out some of OU's biggest threats. Low Kick turns Heatran into fodder while Sucker Punch OHKO's Lati@s, Starmie and Chandelure. Hidden Power Ice hits Thundurus, Gliscor and opposing Dragons. Shifty also does well against common deffensive cores. He can break through Ferro-Cent and can do a number on Solums Core. I can go on and on listing all the stuff Shiftry wrecks, but I think I've made my point. Shiftry is a boss. Nasty Plot or Swords Dance aren't needed for a set like this. As mentioned, I usually lead with Shiftry and a set up lead is kind of dumb. Shiftry can hit hard right off the bat thanks to Life Orb and strong dual STAB's. The given EV spread along with the Chlorophyll speed boost puts Shiftry at a blistering 500 speed stat, just enough to out-speed everything up to base 60 Scarfers which apparently exist.
Leaf Storm vs. 4/0 Neutral Nature Politoed (144.1 - 170.2%)
Leaf Storm vs. 252/252 Positive Nature Politoed (87.5 - 103.1%) 19.9% Chance to OHKO, but not many people run this set.
Modest Scarf Politoed'd Ice Beam vs. Shiftry (83.5 - 98.4%) Never an OHKO as a lead. Most people think it OHKOs so they stay in.
Low Kick vs. 4/0 Neutral Tyranitar (139.2 - 163.7%)
Low Kick vs. 252/0 Neutral Tyranitar (117.8 - 138.6%)
Leaf Storm vs. 252/0 Neutral Hippowdon (126.2 - 149%)
Leaf Storm vs. 252/252 Positive Hippowdon (97.1 - 114.8%) 83.6% chance to OHKO
Those are the three main weather abusers and it will only lose to prediction, Scarf Tyranitar, or a low damage roll on the lesser used Hippowdon set. Shiftry also works against some top threats even outside of sun.
Low Kick vs. 4/0 Neutral Heatran (76.2 - 89.8%)
Sucker Punch vs. 4/0 Neutral Latios (102.1 - 121.2%)
Sucker Punch vs. 4/0 Neutral Starmie (113.4 - 134.1%)
Sucker Punch vs. 4/0 Neutral Chandelure (107.6 - 126.7%)
Leaf Storm vs. 252/252 Positive Nature Politoed (87.5 - 103.1%) 19.9% Chance to OHKO, but not many people run this set.
Modest Scarf Politoed'd Ice Beam vs. Shiftry (83.5 - 98.4%) Never an OHKO as a lead. Most people think it OHKOs so they stay in.
Low Kick vs. 4/0 Neutral Tyranitar (139.2 - 163.7%)
Low Kick vs. 252/0 Neutral Tyranitar (117.8 - 138.6%)
Leaf Storm vs. 252/0 Neutral Hippowdon (126.2 - 149%)
Leaf Storm vs. 252/252 Positive Hippowdon (97.1 - 114.8%) 83.6% chance to OHKO
Those are the three main weather abusers and it will only lose to prediction, Scarf Tyranitar, or a low damage roll on the lesser used Hippowdon set. Shiftry also works against some top threats even outside of sun.
Low Kick vs. 4/0 Neutral Heatran (76.2 - 89.8%)
Sucker Punch vs. 4/0 Neutral Latios (102.1 - 121.2%)
Sucker Punch vs. 4/0 Neutral Starmie (113.4 - 134.1%)
Sucker Punch vs. 4/0 Neutral Chandelure (107.6 - 126.7%)
Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SAtk / 12 Spe
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock
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Comments:
Heatran checks a vast array of threats for my team. Excadrill's ban also meant I could now run Leftovers on this set :D. Heatran is a monster under the sun. Heatran may lack my previous member Infernape's raw speed and power, but Heatran makes up for that in bulk. Getting a safe switch in is a peice of cake for Heatran with all those immunities and resistenses. The set is pretty standard so i'll just tell you about its role on the team. Heatran is basically a right hand man to Latios and Dragonite by helping them sweep. Heatran allows me to spam Outrages and Draco Meteors with my dragons without having to worry about steels. Heatran is very effective at elinating opposing steels since Skarmory, Bronzong, or Ferrothorn (all steel types really) can't do much to him aside from popping his Balloon. Heatran also soften ups opposing dragons with HP Ice so my own don't have to compete with them. Heatran along with Latios form a great offensive duo. The two special attacking juggernauts soften each others counters, giving one of them the ability to sweep late game while the opponents special walls are coughing blood form taking reapeated hits from Latios or Heatran.
Stealth Rock is a breeze to set up with Heatran with that nice bulk and ability to force a ton of switches. I don't miss out on any key KO's without Stealth Rocks, but they're always nice to have as they keep threats like Volcarona and Thundurus at bay. Flame Charge would have been awsome on Heatran, but without Stealth Rock opposing Multiscale Dragonite are an absolute chore to take down. Not much can stop the offensive side of this set. Blissey or Snorlax wall this set to hell and back, but they wont be walling much of any thing after taking a beating from Latios. With the sun boosting Heatrans Fire STAB I could invest a little more into bulk to take resisted hits better. I feel Heatran values bulk more then speed on this team and once my opponent sees the power of this set, they'll just assume i'm running max speed so I'll still force the same switches.
Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Roost
The new first part of my dragon duo. All the switching I had to do while using Haxorus was kind of annoying and I felt like a set up sweeper would really strive on this team so Haxorus ended up bitting the dust for a Dragon that truly loves the sunlight. Dragonite gains a dual STAB combination only resisted by Heatran. A sun boosted Fire Punch leaves Dragonite with little to no counters. Bronzong and Skarmory really don't appreiciate a +1 Fire Punch under the sun. Sun also preseves that oh so important Muliscale by nulifyIng sand or hail. Multisale + Roost make Dragonite a bitch to take down, especially when it's setting up DD's in your face. Sun + Dragons provides an optimal environment for Dragonite setting up.
With Light Screen, Safeguard, Lum Berry and burns being thrown around, Dragonite getting that +2-3 is never a problem. Lum Berry is useless sometimes with Safeguard, but it allows me to run Outrage over Dragon Claw without fear of confusion the first time around. I'm a real fan of Outrages extra power and along with Lum Berry, I'm able to bluff a Choice Band set. The Lum also gives Dragoite some breathing room against stuff like Jellicent and Slowbro. I would have really liked to run Extreme Speed on this set since the team lacks real priority atttack, but Roost is nesasary to heal off that Stealth Rock damage.
Haxorus (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Rivalry
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Dual Chop
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
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Comments:
The first part of my dragon duo. I decided to go with shiny Haxorus because it kind of looks sun burned... Anyways, I'm sure you all know how hard Choice Band Haxorus hits. While building this team I knew I wanted Haxorus on it. This team creates the prefect environment for Haxorus. With the opponents Steel-types constantly being forced out on to Stealth Rocks or taking hits from Latios, they become east picking for Haxorus. I also wanted Haxorus on the team due to my terrible prediction skills. I know Choiced Pokemon usually take more prediction, but with Haxorus all your really doing is spamming banded Outrages. I use Rivalry over Mold Breaker since getting a power boost means even less prediction for me ^-^. I'm not really a fan of an ability that I can't fully abuse, but the attack boost is really worth it as it finishes off some key KO's. Changing your Pokemon's gender to female seems to be the new trend (looking at you female Machamp) thus Female is the gender of choice for this Haxorus. Haxorus's role is to simply come in and punch holes in the opponents team, recive a wish, rinse and repeat. When I'm seeing a non weather team I usually lead with Haxorus just to weaken something right off the bat.
The movset is pretty straight forward. 9 out of 10 times I'm mindlessly spamming Outrage with Haxorus, but I guess the other moves deserve a mention. Since im not running Mold Breaker Earthquake becomes even more useless, but I can still hit stuff like Jirachi or Metagross. Rock Slide is only ever used in a late game situation where I need to flinch something to death. Dual Chop is probably the last move you'll ever see me using due to it's nasty accuracy. The only time I've used it is against those annoying Sub-Disable Gengars who think they can troll my Outrage.
Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Trick
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Comments:
The second part of my dragon duo. Latios's recognition as Uber's material last generation isn't really surprising. With reasonable bulk, a great special attacking stat coupled with ridicululsly strong dragon STAB and the blazing fast speed stat of 110, leaves Latios with many roles to fill on the team. Latios functions as a revenge killer as well as a late game sweeper. His great speed stat means that he outpaces all Dragon after a Dragon Dance thanks to his Choice Scarf. Latios's ability to kill fast Dragons is really important since I have a pretty slow dragon of my own in Haxorus. The reason I use Choice Scarf over Choice Specs is so I can kill Pokemon like Choice Scarf Terrakion (who is a real pain in the ass) or Pokemon that can set up on Jirachi. As mentioned earlier, Latios along with Heatran work in tandem to rough up each others counters. Latios is usually the one doing all the dirty work for Heatran due to Latios's speed and power without having to set up along with the ability to hurt Blissey with Pyshock. Latios is a perfect fit on this team. Latios's usually counters have a really tough time aganist this team. Tyanitar is always at risk of getting burned or getting smashed by Shiftry while Scizor has no buisness switching into a sun boosted HP Fire.
His moveset is pretty standard. Draco Meteor coming from a base 130 special attack stat hits anything hard, seeing as how there a yet to be any 4x resistors of Dragon's. Hidden Power Fire makes my opponents think twice about sending in their steel to take a Draco Meteor as it is a clean 2HKO on the bulkiest of Bronzong. I have Pyshock over Psychic to hit Blissey and Terrakion (who might have a sand storm special deffence boost). Pyshock basically turns Latios into a psuedo mixed sweeper, which is great once I trick away the Chioce Sacrf. Trick is a great move. It breaks down stall by crippling wall and ocassionally trolling those Eviolite users. Trick also turns Latios into a free sweeper, which can be really useful late game.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 SDef / 72 Def / 36 Spe
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Light Screen
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Body Slam
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Comments:
Jirachi is the glue to the team. It provides support that the team needs to function properly. Jirachi's task aren't easy to fufill, but it often gets the job done. Light Screen works in conjunction with Ninetales Will-O-Wisp, cutting the damage of both physical and special attacks targeted against my team. Pass a Light Screen to Latios or Haxorus and suddenly there solid switch ins to rain sweepers like Rotom-W. Then there's Jirachi's Wishes. Passing a Wish basically gives me another shot at sweeping with baically everyone on my team, they're espeocially important since the rest of my team aren't packing Leftovers or a Recovery move. Wish Jirachi's big HP stat, your usually looking at a 50% heal rate when passed. Even though my team is pretty fast paralysis via Body Slam is always appreciated. Paralysys allows my slower dragon Haxorus the abilty to actually out-speed stuff that can one shot him (like Latios).
Iron Head is standard fare on Jirachi. It allows Jirachi to recive it's own Wishes safely and it provides me with a last ditch way of pull out a win by flinching stuff to death.*This Jirachi may seem like set up fodder, but nothing is really safe staying setting up on Jirachi with Body Slam. Jirachi can lure in Excadrill and Landorus who Jirachi can possibly paralyze and cripple for the rest of the battle. Latios's Draco Meteor stills fails to 2HKO with this EV spread and since I have Light Screen boosting Jirachi's special deffence, I could invest a little into deffence to take stray Stone Edges or Rock Slides better.
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Export to Text
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PHP:
Ninetales (F) @ Wide Lens
Trait: Drought
EVs: 216 SAtk / 68 SDef / 224 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Safeguard
Shiftry (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 44 Atk / 252 SAtk / 212 Spe
Lonely nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Sucker Punch
- Low Kick
Heatran (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 76 HP / 232 SAtk / 200 Spe
Modestnature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock
Dragonite (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 72 HP / 232 Atk / 212 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Trick
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 SDef / 72 Def / 36 Spe
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Light Screen
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Body Slam-------------------------------
Conclussion
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Well that about it. Thank you for taking the time to read this RMT! I hope my gammar wasn't to bad ^-^". It was a pleasure building the team as well as writing and formatting this RMT. I cannot think of any more little tweaks to improve this team further which is where you guys come in. In really looking forward to improving the team, so even if it's the smallest thing, please leave a rate if you stop by! Also feel free to try the team yourselfs!
(situational, I know, but Dragonite can't do that either).