I'm not very good at the game but I've tried to build Sun for a while mainly because I think it's a fun playstyle (and my favorite weather), I have gone with different cores and mons and I think this one is kind of solid (?) but I would like to hear some advice you guys got to share!
The one and only Sun setting tortoise! You might already guess their job, get the Sunny Day up allowing the potential of the team to be at it's best while also having a supporting role, acting as a defensive wall against attackers like Melmetal, Kartana and Rillaboom. With moves such as Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin and Yawn it can further help the offense and defense of the team by setting hazards, removing them and threaten to sleep a foe.
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Weather Ball
No need for introduction, Venusaur is an obvious choice on the team for being the best Chlorophyll user. Given one turn of set up with Growth and with Sun up it can wallbreak and/or sweep through most obstacles on the opposing team. It's able to commonly set up against passive Pokemon such as Bulky Waters, Ferrothorn and even Blissey thanks to its immunity to Toxic and the health-draining Giga Drain. It's may also tank one or two hits from prominent attackers such as unboosted Garchomp, Urshifu-R, Zeraora, Tapu Koko and non-Choice Banded Tyranitar to thrive against offensive teams.
Hatterene @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 56 SpD / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
I mainly picked Hatterene because I wanted the utility of Magic Bounce while not being as passive as Xatu, she also gives me some sort of an answer to Dragonite which is a common problem for Sun teams. This Hatterene is EV'd to be able to survive a Modest Choice Specs Shadow Ball from both Dragapult and Blacephalon after one Calm Mind at full health (Ideally should boost as you lure them in) from which you can then trade KOs with Dazzling Gleam or Psyshock respectively if they stay in (Not the best way to deal with them but I'll explain later in the Threats to the team section). Remaining EVs are used in Spe to outspeed Toxapex and Def to decently tank some hits from most physical Dragonites.
Darmanitan (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn
Acting as a strong wallbreaker equipped with a Choice Band, its STAB Sheer Force Flare Blitz becomes quite spammable under Sun. Making use of its other coverage moves, Rock Slide, while it doesn't hit many targets that already don't wanna eat a Flare Blitz, it can potentially be a huge help if you manage to hit Dragonite or Pelipper with it. Earthquake is your classic coverage move to threaten Heatran and hit Toxapex when Sun isn't up or you don't want to deal with the recoil damage yet. Finally I settled for U-Turn instead of Trick as you can use it to lure in common Fire resists such as Tapu Fini, Slowbro and Toxapex to pivot into Venusaur which famously uses Water Types to set up.
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
Kartana is here for a much appreciated form of speed control outside of Sun and a back-up wincon. With it's massive speed and power it heavily threatens troublesome Pokemon such as Tyranitar, Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele, forcing them to switch most of the time and potentially gaining momentum through aggresive double switching. It's two other offensive teammates can help dealing or weakening its checks such as Buzzwole, Corviknight, Ferrothorn, Zapdos and Toxapex, enabling it to be a much more effective back-up wincon when Venusaur doesn't quite cut it (pun not intended).
Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
I know Assault Vest might seem like a silly choice but I put a lot of thought into this I promise! The main use of this Landorus-Therian is to act as a short-term defensive backbone against Tyranitar, Heatran, Dragapult and Blacephalon.
It was EV'd to be able to eat 3 Shadow Balls from Dragapult and 2 from Blacephalon (both Specs) threatening them with Knock Off afterwards, it is also able to tank one Choice Banded Stone Edge from Tyranitar but was specifically EV'd to outspeed 252 Spe Adamant ones so next turn you can either chunk it with Earthquake or generate momentum with U-Turn if you feel like they want to switch out.
This was an honest attempt at trying to combat both Tyranitar and the Shadow Ball users, it's prone to getting overwhelmed by the later as Dragapult and Blacephalon are commonly paired together in Ghost Spam cores, but Lando-T can help generate that one bit of momentum that may be vital to allow the team to out-offense these threats and effectively sweep!
It is no secret that Sun has a hard time against Rain given the natural type advantage and Rain having stronger, faster and better Pokemon overall, and this particular team isn't able to do much to fix that issue, Darmanitan and Landorus-T can potentially become deadweight as they are threatened heavily by Water STAB, Kartana cannot sweep on its own since Pelipper and Zapdos constantly switch into it, recover the damage with Roost and pivot out with U-Turn and Volt Switch respectively, Barraskewda is also faster than Scarf Kartana under Rain and even threatens a 1HKO with its Banded Close Combat. Venusaur is your best shot at winning the matchup but it is very reliant on Sun to be able to set up and outspeed the opposing team, so it will struggle to make progress as long as Pelipper is healthy.
Other weather (Sand/Hail):
While the other two weathers are overall doable and not nearly as bad as Rain, losing the weather wars against Sand or Hail can greatly reduce your chances of winning by being prone to opposing weather speedters such as Sand Rush Excadrill and Slush Rush Arctozolt.
Sand Stream Tyranitar is dangerous to the team by virtue of its two most common sets, Hatterene and Torkoal don't really want to switch into Tyranitar directly, making them a very effective Stealth Rocker, while the Choice Band set is very dangerous on its own on top of changing the weather.
Snow Warning Ninetales-Alola, while not as threatening on it's own and a bit easier to play around, if it manages to set up Aurora Veil, it can make the opposing team incredibly hard to both break and out-offense.
Dragonite:
I did prepare the team to fare better against Dragonite but it still remains a huge wincon against our Sun team due to its incredible bulk, Fire resistance, fantastic Ability in Multiscale and Heavy-Duty Boots to negate Stealth Rock pressure. The only moves that hit Dragonite super effectively are Hatterene's Dazzling Gleam, Landorus' Stone Edge and Darmanitan's Rock Slide, however they all can get chipped down through the battle as they have no form of recovery besides Leftovers on Hatterene. Also worth noting, Dragonite Substitute sets, while not super common, may appear ocassionally and be the single most dangerous set Dragonite could run, having the capacity to legit 6-0 the whole team under the right circumstances.
Heatran:
Heatran is another common Pokemon that annoys Sun as a whole, especially if it's running its Ability Flash Fire. Being able set up Stealth Rock or spread Toxic, and with our own Sun boosting its already deadly Magma Storm along with a common coverage move in Earth Power makes it hard for anything to switch in if Lando-T is down. However, Heatran does have more exploitable weaknesses thus making it easier to deal with if you maintain offensive pressure.
Ghost Spam:
Refering specifically to the offensive core of Dragapult and Blacephalon, these two can give the team a hard time due to the sheer power of their unresisted Shadow Balls, their unmatched speed and surprising defensive utility, Dragapult is one of the few Pokemon that can potentially check Venusaur due to it resisting both Giga Drain and Weather Ball, Venusaur does outspeed it under Sun and has slightly more than a 50% chance to OHKO with Earth Power at +2 with no prior chip damage but that's a huge risk that may lose you the wincon if you get a bad roll. Meanwhile Blacephalon, while having way worse defensive utility, is specially deadly due to it benefiting from our own weather, Choice Specs Blacephalon Flamethrower 2HKOes or 1HKOes the whole team under Sun.
Choice Specs Tapu Lele & Tornadus-Therian:
These two, while not inherently huge threats and regardless of if they're paired together or not, can be annoying if played well by the opponent.
Specs Tapu Lele may struggle to get in but when it does enter the field it can put huge pressure on our team and get huge reward if it clicks the right button.
Tornadus-Therian is a solid check to both Kartana and Venusaur when Sun isn't up, from there it may Knock Off or U-Turn depending on what move makes for the most favorable situation. Although we do have the benefit of our weather reducing Hurricane's accuracy to a pitiful 50% at the cost of boosting the power of Heat Wave may it run the move.
Importable / PokePaste
Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Body Press
- Yawn
Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Body Press
- Yawn
The one and only Sun setting tortoise! You might already guess their job, get the Sunny Day up allowing the potential of the team to be at it's best while also having a supporting role, acting as a defensive wall against attackers like Melmetal, Kartana and Rillaboom. With moves such as Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin and Yawn it can further help the offense and defense of the team by setting hazards, removing them and threaten to sleep a foe.
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Weather Ball
No need for introduction, Venusaur is an obvious choice on the team for being the best Chlorophyll user. Given one turn of set up with Growth and with Sun up it can wallbreak and/or sweep through most obstacles on the opposing team. It's able to commonly set up against passive Pokemon such as Bulky Waters, Ferrothorn and even Blissey thanks to its immunity to Toxic and the health-draining Giga Drain. It's may also tank one or two hits from prominent attackers such as unboosted Garchomp, Urshifu-R, Zeraora, Tapu Koko and non-Choice Banded Tyranitar to thrive against offensive teams.
Hatterene @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Def / 56 SpD / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
I mainly picked Hatterene because I wanted the utility of Magic Bounce while not being as passive as Xatu, she also gives me some sort of an answer to Dragonite which is a common problem for Sun teams. This Hatterene is EV'd to be able to survive a Modest Choice Specs Shadow Ball from both Dragapult and Blacephalon after one Calm Mind at full health (Ideally should boost as you lure them in) from which you can then trade KOs with Dazzling Gleam or Psyshock respectively if they stay in (Not the best way to deal with them but I'll explain later in the Threats to the team section). Remaining EVs are used in Spe to outspeed Toxapex and Def to decently tank some hits from most physical Dragonites.
Darmanitan (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn
Acting as a strong wallbreaker equipped with a Choice Band, its STAB Sheer Force Flare Blitz becomes quite spammable under Sun. Making use of its other coverage moves, Rock Slide, while it doesn't hit many targets that already don't wanna eat a Flare Blitz, it can potentially be a huge help if you manage to hit Dragonite or Pelipper with it. Earthquake is your classic coverage move to threaten Heatran and hit Toxapex when Sun isn't up or you don't want to deal with the recoil damage yet. Finally I settled for U-Turn instead of Trick as you can use it to lure in common Fire resists such as Tapu Fini, Slowbro and Toxapex to pivot into Venusaur which famously uses Water Types to set up.
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword
Kartana is here for a much appreciated form of speed control outside of Sun and a back-up wincon. With it's massive speed and power it heavily threatens troublesome Pokemon such as Tyranitar, Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele, forcing them to switch most of the time and potentially gaining momentum through aggresive double switching. It's two other offensive teammates can help dealing or weakening its checks such as Buzzwole, Corviknight, Ferrothorn, Zapdos and Toxapex, enabling it to be a much more effective back-up wincon when Venusaur doesn't quite cut it (pun not intended).
Landorus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
I know Assault Vest might seem like a silly choice but I put a lot of thought into this I promise! The main use of this Landorus-Therian is to act as a short-term defensive backbone against Tyranitar, Heatran, Dragapult and Blacephalon.
It was EV'd to be able to eat 3 Shadow Balls from Dragapult and 2 from Blacephalon (both Specs) threatening them with Knock Off afterwards, it is also able to tank one Choice Banded Stone Edge from Tyranitar but was specifically EV'd to outspeed 252 Spe Adamant ones so next turn you can either chunk it with Earthquake or generate momentum with U-Turn if you feel like they want to switch out.
This was an honest attempt at trying to combat both Tyranitar and the Shadow Ball users, it's prone to getting overwhelmed by the later as Dragapult and Blacephalon are commonly paired together in Ghost Spam cores, but Lando-T can help generate that one bit of momentum that may be vital to allow the team to out-offense these threats and effectively sweep!
Threats to the team
A little info on the flaws and threats that I have
found out by myself that give a hard time to the team.
Feel free to point out any more flaws/threats you may find! :3
Rain teams:A little info on the flaws and threats that I have
found out by myself that give a hard time to the team.
Feel free to point out any more flaws/threats you may find! :3
It is no secret that Sun has a hard time against Rain given the natural type advantage and Rain having stronger, faster and better Pokemon overall, and this particular team isn't able to do much to fix that issue, Darmanitan and Landorus-T can potentially become deadweight as they are threatened heavily by Water STAB, Kartana cannot sweep on its own since Pelipper and Zapdos constantly switch into it, recover the damage with Roost and pivot out with U-Turn and Volt Switch respectively, Barraskewda is also faster than Scarf Kartana under Rain and even threatens a 1HKO with its Banded Close Combat. Venusaur is your best shot at winning the matchup but it is very reliant on Sun to be able to set up and outspeed the opposing team, so it will struggle to make progress as long as Pelipper is healthy.
Other weather (Sand/Hail):
While the other two weathers are overall doable and not nearly as bad as Rain, losing the weather wars against Sand or Hail can greatly reduce your chances of winning by being prone to opposing weather speedters such as Sand Rush Excadrill and Slush Rush Arctozolt.
Sand Stream Tyranitar is dangerous to the team by virtue of its two most common sets, Hatterene and Torkoal don't really want to switch into Tyranitar directly, making them a very effective Stealth Rocker, while the Choice Band set is very dangerous on its own on top of changing the weather.
Snow Warning Ninetales-Alola, while not as threatening on it's own and a bit easier to play around, if it manages to set up Aurora Veil, it can make the opposing team incredibly hard to both break and out-offense.
Dragonite:
I did prepare the team to fare better against Dragonite but it still remains a huge wincon against our Sun team due to its incredible bulk, Fire resistance, fantastic Ability in Multiscale and Heavy-Duty Boots to negate Stealth Rock pressure. The only moves that hit Dragonite super effectively are Hatterene's Dazzling Gleam, Landorus' Stone Edge and Darmanitan's Rock Slide, however they all can get chipped down through the battle as they have no form of recovery besides Leftovers on Hatterene. Also worth noting, Dragonite Substitute sets, while not super common, may appear ocassionally and be the single most dangerous set Dragonite could run, having the capacity to legit 6-0 the whole team under the right circumstances.
Heatran:
Heatran is another common Pokemon that annoys Sun as a whole, especially if it's running its Ability Flash Fire. Being able set up Stealth Rock or spread Toxic, and with our own Sun boosting its already deadly Magma Storm along with a common coverage move in Earth Power makes it hard for anything to switch in if Lando-T is down. However, Heatran does have more exploitable weaknesses thus making it easier to deal with if you maintain offensive pressure.
Ghost Spam:
Refering specifically to the offensive core of Dragapult and Blacephalon, these two can give the team a hard time due to the sheer power of their unresisted Shadow Balls, their unmatched speed and surprising defensive utility, Dragapult is one of the few Pokemon that can potentially check Venusaur due to it resisting both Giga Drain and Weather Ball, Venusaur does outspeed it under Sun and has slightly more than a 50% chance to OHKO with Earth Power at +2 with no prior chip damage but that's a huge risk that may lose you the wincon if you get a bad roll. Meanwhile Blacephalon, while having way worse defensive utility, is specially deadly due to it benefiting from our own weather, Choice Specs Blacephalon Flamethrower 2HKOes or 1HKOes the whole team under Sun.
Choice Specs Tapu Lele & Tornadus-Therian:
These two, while not inherently huge threats and regardless of if they're paired together or not, can be annoying if played well by the opponent.
Specs Tapu Lele may struggle to get in but when it does enter the field it can put huge pressure on our team and get huge reward if it clicks the right button.
Tornadus-Therian is a solid check to both Kartana and Venusaur when Sun isn't up, from there it may Knock Off or U-Turn depending on what move makes for the most favorable situation. Although we do have the benefit of our weather reducing Hurricane's accuracy to a pitiful 50% at the cost of boosting the power of Heat Wave may it run the move.
Final thoughts:
I do like how the team looks on paper and I think it may not be as matchup-fishy as my previous Sun teams, but my gut tells me there is just that one little something missing to make the team better, I did have fun building it though! It allowed me to get a bit more creative with some sets which is something I appreciate (I love calcing stuff tbh :3).
- Nauts
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