太陽サンサン熱血パワー！キュアサニー！
Taiyō sansan nekketsu pawā! Kyua Sanī!
The brilliant sun, hot-blooded power! Cure Sunny!
Hello everyone. My name is Kusanagi Dark and this is my second Gen VI RMT. If you saw my previous RMT You may remember that I mentioned that I used to play Sun during Gen V, going as far as to reach Number 2 in the Pokemon Showdown Server. Unfortunately I never made a RMT for my Gen V Sun Team, something I still regret to this day...That's why I decided to start from Scratch and try to make Sun viable once agan in XY OU. I still have a LONG way to go,but I think I've finally managed to put together a decent team so...Let's take a look at it!
The Sun Abusers.
Ninetales (F) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hypnosis
A Sun Team is not a Sun Team without Ninetales. I went for a simple offensive set as opposed to my Specially Defensive Set from Gen V because there are no more Weather Wars going on, so I no longer need to constantly switch in on Politoed. I run a modest Nature because Ninetales needs all the power she can get and a 252+ Fire Blast under the sun is not something you want to switch into. Solarbeam allows me to severely damage some Bulky Waters like Slowbro, Rotom-W and Azumarril. Fnally, I run BOTH, Will-O-Whisp and Hypnosis so that she can provide some Support by Burning Tyranitar and Hippodown on the switch our outspending and burning Mamoswine, Defensive Landorus-T, Bisharp, and Azumarril, Bisharp (Surviving Aqua Jet thanks to the sun) While Hypnosis is there as a last resort to buy me some time or for when I need to prevent Stealth Rock AT ALL COSTS...Unfortunately, apart from it missing very often...When it DOES Hit...The Pokemon is only put to sleep for one turn...Call it Karma. All in all, Ninetales is a Good All-Around Pokemon that supports the Team by setting up Sun, Punching holes on the opponent's team and spreading status.
Houndoom (M) @ Houndoominite
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot
- Taunt
Why Mega Houndoom instead of Mega Charizard-Y you ask? Well, I wanted to try something different and Mega Houndoom has some things going for him that Mega Charizard doesn't. For example, Flash Fire allows me to switch in on a predicted Fire move and grab a boost before Mega Evolving. Fire Blast as my main STAB that can achieve ridiculous levels of power under Sun. Dark Pulse is my secondary STAB and is used to hit Latios and Latias, Gengar and mew and, thanks to the Steel Type no longer resisting Dark, it does decent damage against Heatran. Now comes the fun party. Nasty Plot allows Houndoom to boost his already high Special Attack to obscene levels levels,enough to 2HKO Chansey in the Sun. Finally, Taunt turns Houndoom into a decent Stall Breaker since he has no trouble getting past common stall Pokemon like Slowbro, Gliscor, Mew, Amoongus, and even Chansey and Mega Venusaur when Sun is up. Another advantage of running Taunt is that I can prevent common Stealth Rock leads like Defensive Landorus and Specially Defensive Heatran from setting up. And speaking of Specially Defensive Heatran, Houndoom can beat him 1-on-1 with a combination of Taunt, Flash Fire and Nasty Plot, 2HKOing him with +2 Dark
Victreebel (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- SolarBeam
- Weather Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Now that Sun is no longer permanent, I can't waste turns setting up with Growth. That's why I went for Victreebel instead of Venusaur as my Clorophyll Sweeper, using an All-Out Ataccking set with a Modest Nature to clean up late game all the holes that Ninetales and Houndoom make on the opposing team. I run Solarbeam instead of Giga Drain because I need all the power I can get considering Victreebel's mediocre Special Attack. Sludge Bomb is my secondary STAB and hits Fairies hard. Weather Ball is a very Powerful Fire Type move under Sun that completely Incinerates any Ferrothorn and Skarmory that think they can wall me and also is my most powerful move against things like Gengar. Finally Hidden Power Ice is for Landorus, Landorus-T, Garchomp and Dragonite. I'm aware that this Victreebel is almost useless without the Sun but the plan is to keep him alive for as as long as I can, sacrifice Ninetales for 8 more Turns of Sun and let him finish the Job once Heatran, Tyranitar, Mega Pinsir and Talonflame are gone. He is my Trump card.
The Support.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Def / 104 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Speaking of Talonflame and Mega Pinsir, this is my answer to both of them. There are many, many Pokemon that threaten my main Sun abuser and it's Landorus-T's job to keep them in line. The 104 Speed EV's give me enough Speed to outspeed things like Defensive variants of Rotom-W, other Defensive Landorus-T and Mandibuzz. Earthquake is a strong STAB, even without investment thanks to Landorus-T's naturally high attack stat. Stone Edge is there to counter against Talonflame, Mega Pinsir and Mega Charizard-X and Stealth Rock provides me with some Insurance against them in case he is taken down. Finally, U-Turn is there for Scouting and provide momentum since my Sun Abusers are extremely Frail.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 176 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Discharge
- Roost
- Defog
- Heat Wave
Zapdos seems like another unconventional Choice, but believe me, he works wonders under the Sun. I went for a Specially Defensive spread to check Landorus, Mega Macnetric, Latios and Latias, with 64 Def to still be able to Counter Mega Pinsir, Azumarril and Talonflame Locked on Brave Bird. I run Discharge instead of Thunderbolt since the 30% chance of Paralysis makes the slightly lower power worth it. Roost is there to keep him alive, specially since his Stealth Rock Weakness makes his Job as a Defoger harder than it already is. Finally Heat Wave is there so that Zapdos can act as a Counter to Ferrothorn, Skarmory and Scizor and to surprise Pokemon like Mamoswine and Excadrill on the Switch. Also, it gets a nice 50% boost on the Sun.
Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit
Scizor, the most recent addition to my team after testing a long list of Pokemon. Including Conkledurr, Sylveon and Swasbuck. Scizor's role is to patch some Weaknesses. The first of them being my complete lack of a competent physical attacker and, most notably, Fairies since Victreebel's Sludge Bomb is not always enough to OHKO them. Bullet Punch covers not only the previously mentioned Fairies, but also acts as a strong priority, something I was lacking too. U-Turn provides Momentum just like Landorus-T with the added benefit of getting STAB and, since Scizor is very slow, gives me a chance to send in my Sun Abusers unscratched. Superpower is to be used in case of a predicted Heatran switch-in and Pursuit is used to remove Latios and Latias from the Game. Also, Sczor is a good lure to fire type Attacks so that I can grab a boost with Houndoom
THREAT LIST
Even with Landorus and Zapdos there to check it, Talonflame is a huge Threat to my team if not handled carefully. Greninja too gaves me trouble since it requires my to do a chain of switches, starting with Ninetales to reduce the power of Hydro Pump, then going into Scizor and then Zapdos in case of Hidden Power Ice. I can handdle it but it ussually leave my team heavily damaged. Offensive variants of Heatran with Earth Power are also problematic because my only answer to them is Landorus-T and he is already too busy taking care of many, MANY other things. Stealth Rock leads are also a nightmare because I can't always Taunt them and, in the case of Garchomp, I CAN'T Prevent it from using Stelath Rock on the first turn, immediately putting me at a disadvantage since getting rid of Stealth Rock with Defog is not an easy task for Zapdos who sometimes dies before he even has the chance to use defog...Specially against stall. And speaking of Stall, there is also Cosmic PowerU/Calm Mind Clafable, Gliscor, Mega Venusaur and Crocune. All in all, I can handle most threats but I wish I could do it without receiving heavy damage in the process since Clever Switching could mean all that effort ended up being for naught...
REPLAYS
Now that you know the team, I think it'll be better if I show it in action. Also, I'm using a different Username in Showdown because I wanted to start from scratch with that team.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-167661982 VS Hyper Offense.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-167660147 VS Stall.
CLOSING WORDS
Sun has always been seen as an inferior option over Rain or Sand. And now that weather is no longer permanent Ninetales seems to be doomed to rot in the lower tiers where it can't even use it's Drought ability. Even Politoed has been seeing more use lately. But, just as rain managed to make a small come back, I hope more players realize that Sun still has many things to offer and I'll be sticking with it and trying them all.
