Sunny Day UU

[Cambria]

Hello there this is my Sunny Day team that I have been testing to some success and I quite enjoy the play style of it, but i feel as though it could be improved upon and would like some outsiders to evaluate it. Please give me any feedback on it and point anything out to me.

Loki (Whimsicott) (F) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Prankster
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Sunny Day
- Taunt
- Memento
- U-turn

So this little fur ball is one of my sun setters and most common lead. Basically prankster allows me to ensure Sun gets up. Taunt allows me to bypass stall and utility mons and set up a Sunny Day, like on a Fortress for example. Memento allows me to cripple offensive mons and gain momentum, and set up with my sweeper under the sun, by crippling the offensive mon and forcing a switch and allowing me to get up a SD or NP. U-turn fulfills the same roll to get my sweepers in safely and provide momentum but doesn't waste Whimscott.

Floor Jizz (Florges) (F) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast

Basic SDefensive Florges with Sunny Day instead of Aromatherapy. Wish is great to pass to my sun sweepers if they don't succeed on a first attempt. Florges also gets many opportunities to set up Sun on many special attackers because its massive special defense just allows it to soak up hits. Moonblast is just great stab to help wear down opponents mons.

Cambria (Houndoom) (F) @ Houndoominite
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Grass]/Solar Beam

Main reason to use Sun. With its massive Special Atk and Solar Power, Sun boosted Fire Blast not to mention the ability to easily set up a Nasty Plot with Whimscott nothing in the tier is gonna live that Fire Blast. Here are some calcs

+2 252 SpA Solar Power Mega Houndoom Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Florges in Sun: 451-532 (125.2 - 147.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Solar Power Mega Houndoom Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Umbreon in Sun: 511-603 (129.6 - 153%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Solar Power Mega Houndoom Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mega Blastoise in Sun: 377-444 (104.1 - 122.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Solar Power Mega Houndoom Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Suicune in Sun: 378-445 (93.5 - 110.1%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

That is the 2 most common special walls in the tier and 2 most common and bulkiest water types taken down by a fire type move.(sorry I'll stop gushing now)

Santa's Hitman (Sawsbuck) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 236 Spd / 252 Atk / 20 HP
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Double-Edge
- Jump Kick
- Swords Dance/Megahorn

My favorite Chlorophyll sweeper. Synergizes well with Houndoom giving me a sweeper on the physical side and hits most things Houndoom can't. Spd EV's are to out speed timid base 80's. biggest problem is I can't decide if i want to keep SD or replace with Megahorn. SD gives me a move to set up on mons protecting to try and stall out Sun. SD ensure an OHKO's but on the other hand I get walled by a majority of Ghost-types in UU such as Gourgiest, Trevenant, and Chandelure but Houndoom can usually switch in on those and handle them.

Rick Roll (Donphan) (M) Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin

Best sun rapid spinner to keep hazards off the my side for Houndoom. Ice Shard gives me some good priority to deal with scarfed and weakened mons. Powerful EQ that can threaten many mons especially when guaranteed to hit thanks to sturdy Also help set up Stealth Rocks to break sash's and secure OHKO's. Has the Poison resist for my 2 fairies as well.

Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn

A Great mon that works well outside of the sun as well as inside. Inside the sun Sun boosted Flare Blitz's maim some mons while being scarfed helps deal with fast threats that I need to deal with when I can't get the sun out. U-turn allows for scouting and EdgeQuake coverage to help deal with opposing fire type pokemon who try to abuse my sun.


Conclusion

If feel this is a very solid team because of all my defensive mons still are able to put a dent into my opponents team to help me get to a point where I can set up Sun and have either Sawsbuck or Houndoom finish it from there.

 

[KarrsGoVroom]

You're team looks pretty solid! From personal experience, Sawsbuck and Houndoom together is a great combo. The only thing that sets them both back is that any Fighting type can destroy them both instantly, so definitely make sure to watch for that. But what makes your team promising is the Chlorophyll on Sawsbuck, which may be enough speed to revenge kill (incase houndoom faints). Whimiscott seems like a great switch in as well to save Sawsbuck or Houndoom from a Hi-Jump-Kick Mienshao (Since it resists fighting and is invested in Def and HP).

Another good move for Sawsbuck is Megahorn, which can dent Mew or Azelf pretty hard and can add for extra coverage. Assault Vest Donphan looks really cool to try out, and the fact that it has knock off/rapid spin is also a plus.

Overall, imo, this team has quite a few threats and it looks promising.

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention, it may be tricky to set-up Sunny Day with Houndoom as opposed to Florges and Whimiscott. If you're finding this difficult, I can definitely recommend Hidden Power Grass, especially for dealing with Unaware Quagsire. Even without Solar Power, it can OHKO easily (unless someone is running a SpDef Quagsire, which is completely unheard of):

Without Solar Power, Defensive Invested Quagsire
252 SpA Mega Houndoom Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Quagsire: 396-468 (100.5 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

With Solar Power, Special Defensive Invested Quagsire
252 SpA Solar Power Mega Houndoom Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Quagsire in Sun: 428-508 (108.6 - 128.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[Brawlfest]

This is a really great sun team, and is one of the better weather UU teams I've seen in a while. This said it does have some flaws. Lack of any hazards means that opposing sashed pokemon or teams lack any pressure outside of your attacks, which is worrisome. Another thing this team lacks is speed outside of the sun, which is extremely worrisome. After sweepers are setup, if whimicott is unable to setup sun you are pretty much immediatly 6-0'd.

The easiest solution is to replace Suicune. Looking over your team, it honestly is a sitting duck, as its scalds are hampered by sun, and it loses so much momentum for your rather HO team. Instead, I would look into Scarf Darmanitan. While they fill two completely different roles, Darmanitan not only is not hurt by the sun, but loves to be in it, hitting absurdly hard, being the single strongest sun abuser in the game. It also is very fast with a scarf equipped, meaning the majority of +1 mons will not be getting very far.

The only other thing I would say is to replace your AV Donphan with Standard Tank Donphan, as with leftovers passive recovery it spins more reliably by staying around, and it actually can set up stealth rocks, which is very important for any weather team to have, as sashes waste precious weather turns.

A very good team! Nice work.
__________________________________

Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Superpower / Earthquake
- U-turn

Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge / Ice Shard / Toxic
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

 

[jg1198]

I really like the team, and i see the reasons for using suicune as a late game sweeper, and also the reasons to switch it for darm, and I can't honestly say im sure what to do with that, but on houndoom i would perhaps try out solar beam over sunny day since you already have two setters, and with solar power and houndoom's not so great bulk, it would be incredibly hard to set up both nasty plot and sunny day. Solarbeam takes advantage of the sun, and makes it much easier to beat blastoise, swampert, quagsire, and rhyperior for example, OHKO'ing all of them even if you haven't set up to +2.

 

[Cambria]

Thank you everyone for your ideas so far i'm really enjoying the team. Edited OP after testing and these are my thought. I love scarf Darmanitan, it just feels good to let rip a sun boosted Flare Blitz and destroy everything in your way. Not Having CroCune isn't as bad as I thought. I just rely on defensive Whimscott more so it makes me more hesitant to use memento. I miss AV Donphan but I agree having rocks to break sash's and secure OHKO's is better.

Still not sure on whether to run SD on Sawsbuck or just let it have 4 coverage moves and act a revenge killer but will keep testing.

For Houndoom I'm having trouble deciding between HP Grass or Solarbeam. On one hand HP Grass OHKO's water/ground types but lacks power to finish bulky mono water pokemon. Where as solarbeam is raw enough power to finish any water type but there will be situations where the sun isn't up. Thoughts?

 

[KarrsGoVroom]

For Houndoom I'm having trouble deciding between HP Grass or Solarbeam. On one hand HP Grass OHKO's water/ground types but lacks power to finish bulky mono water pokemon. Where as solarbeam is raw enough power to finish any water type but there will be situations where the sun isn't up. Thoughts?

You have two pokemon that can setup Sunny Day which seems good enough for always having the sun out. The problem is, like you've stated, if your down to only a couple of pokemon left and the ones that are fainted end up being Whimiscott and Florges, then Houndoom's Solarbeam will be near useless since he would need to charge. However, this is completely situational, but its good to be prepared for any scenario. In that case, its good to keep in mind that you also have Sawsbuck, who carries STAB Horn Leech; 2HKOing Mega Blastoise and Suicune AND at the same time restoring health WITHOUT a Swords Dance.

On the other hand, Solar Power boosted Solarbeam is quite deadly, and if you predict right, you could end up sweeping just based on prediction alone.

When you play your team, you'll have to decide whether you need the extra Grass power or not.

In regards to Sawsbuck, since it will be taking advantage of Chlorophyll instead of Sap Sipper, then Swords Dance is usually your best option for late-game sweeps. With a successful switch-in, it will have the necessary speed and attack power to sweep. That being said, you may have to decide what the best attacking moves for Sawsbuck would be. Now that you have Darmanitan as well as Houndoom, you may not even need Megahorn, but that's for you to try out and see.

 

[jg1198]

Thank you everyone for your ideas so far i'm really enjoying the team. Edited OP after testing and these are my thought. I love scarf Darmanitan, it just feels good to let rip a sun boosted Flare Blitz and destroy everything in your way. Not Having CroCune isn't as bad as I thought. I just rely on defensive Whimscott more so it makes me more hesitant to use memento. I miss AV Donphan but I agree having rocks to break sash's and secure OHKO's is better.

Still not sure on whether to run SD on Sawsbuck or just let it have 4 coverage moves and act a revenge killer but will keep testing.

For Houndoom I'm having trouble deciding between HP Grass or Solarbeam. On one hand HP Grass OHKO's water/ground types but lacks power to finish bulky mono water pokemon. Where as solarbeam is raw enough power to finish any water type but there will be situations where the sun isn't up. Thoughts?

The thing is though, that most often, the first thing your opponent will send out to take on your houndoom in the sun will likely be things like swampert, mega blastoise, and quagsire, since they likely know that florges will just be set up fodder, and that the three I listed have the power to hit houndoom hard with aura sphere and earthquake. Your opponent will be sending them out first, rather than sacrificing their entire team waiting until sun goes away, and bulky waters are the only time you'll be using solarbeam, so it's a safe assumption that most the time when facing them, solarbeam will be an option thanks to the sun.

EDIT: Also, regarding Sawsbuck, I think you should keep swords dance, since the only other notable coverage move it gets is megahorn, but you already hit most things harder with your other moves. Basically megahorn lets you hit opposing grass types and bulky psychics harder. Of those here in UU, we have Tangrowth, Celebi, Slowbro, Metagross, and Mew. Tangrowth and Celebi are already roasted (lol) by the rest of your team, Slowbro is hit harder by Horn Leech, Metagross is hit nearly as hard by Jump Kick, and is destroyed by your fire types, so that leaves Mew, and the most common set, the defog roost set, is set up fodder for Houndoom, leaving you almost no reason not to run Swords Dance.

Also I realized that holy shit this team is weak as hell to mega aerodactyl, and for that reason I recommend that you run rock slide or stone edge on donphan over knock off, because after donphan is gone, aerodactyl OHKO's your whole team, and even a sun boosted flare blitz from darmanitan can't OHKO it.