VGC Sun team (VGC 2022)

[Thunderstar175]

Groudon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch
- Rock Slide
- Thunder Punch

Explanation: Groudons primary role is to setup sun for Charizard and Zacian-C. Assault vest plus sun to help take hits from kyogre, Caly-S and other strong special attackers. Precipice Blades stab, fire punch to take rilla, rock slide for Charizard, and thunder punch to cover for kyogre.
Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Behemoth Blade
- Solar Blade
- Play Rough
- Sacred Sword

Explanation: Zacian-C is here as a damage dealer, behemoth blade, play rough as STAB, sacred sword to hit incineroar, and solar blade, to pair with groudons sun, to hit gastrodon, kyogre, ect


Charizard @ Life Orb
Ability: Solar Power
Level: 50
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Blast Burn
- Solar Beam
- Air Slash

Explanation: Main damage dealer, pair with groudons sun for free kills, pretty self explanatory

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Yawn
- Recover

This is here to soak up water type moves, to protect groudon and Charizard. Earth power to cover for fire types and zacian, ice beam coverage, yawn to force a switch or risk sleep, and recover to get back health.

Grimmsnarl (M) @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Fake Tears
- Taunt
- Spirit Break

Explanation: Grimm here as a support mon, t wave for speed control, fake tears to pair with g max zard to break bulkier mons, taunt to deny trick room and others, spirit break to lower SpA, and also there incase i get taunted.

Hitmontop (M) @ Muscle Band
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wide Guard
- Quick Guard
- Fake Out
- Brick Break

Explanation: Another support mon, hitmontop has 180 speed ev and jolly nature to outspeed max speed incineroar. Quick guard to deny grassy glide, fake out, grimmsnarl, ect. Wide guard to deny rock slide, precipice blades, water spout, origin pulse, astral barrage, glacial lance, ect. Brick break to get rid of annoying screens

 

[Omastar68]

All I can think of is that Hitmontop doesn't really need 252 Atk w/ just Fake Out and Brick Break. I'd max HP and put in Def, your whole team tends towards SpD, even the Groudon cause AV(I like AV Groudon though, it's what I ran S13.)

 

[zee]

hey Thunderstar175 I think this team has the solid foundations of a typical sun team, but I'm going to suggest some changes to the sets and EVs that will likely help you out and hopefully I can explain where they come into play


Groudon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Drought
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe -> 252 HP / 156 Atk / 4 Def / 76 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Precipice Blades
- Fire Punch
- Rock Slide -> Stone Edge
- Thunder Punch -> Shadow Claw / Giga Impact

the main change to the spread is that you now always survive G-Max Charizard's Gmax Wildfire in sun (note that you will faint to the residual damage at the end of the turn from the move's effect) allowing you to fire back with Stone Edge, which will KO at neutral Attack if it isn't holding Charti Berry. This is why we make the Stone Edge change, but also that Groudon can't get too many Rock Slide flinches on account of its Speed. We drop Thunder Punch because Precipice Blades / Max Quake already damage Kyogre a ton, and the extra utility in Shadow Claw pressuring Lunala & Calyrex-S or Giga Impact giving strong Max Strikes is way more important


Zacian-Crowned @ Rusted Sword
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Behemoth Blade
- Solar Blade -> Protect
- Play Rough
- Sacred Sword

I don't think there's anything wrong with using 252/252 spread Zacian on sun, but i do think you absolutely need Protect. Not having Protect leaves you incredibly vulnerable to things like Fake Out, Max Moves, or prankster attacks from Grimmsnarl and Whimsicott. Solar Blade isn't too necesary either - you can wall out Kyogre with Gastrodon + Groudon and beat other Groudon with your Charizard.


Charizard @ Life Orb
Ability: Solar Power
Level: 50
Gigantamax: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Blast Burn
- Solar Beam
- Air Slash -> Hurricane

I think there are lots of alternative Charizard sets like Weakness Policy and Charti Berry if you ever want to consider them, but Life Orb is totally fine. I do recommend Hurricane here just because we're going to be Dynamaxing this mainly and all the extra damage you can get from these multipliers really adds up.


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD -> 180 HP / 204 Def / 124 SpDef
Calm Nature -> Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Yawn
- Recover -> Protect

The EVs improve your overall defenses a lot, allowing you to take an Adamant 252 Zacian-C Play Rough at +1 while still surviving all the special hits you'd need to. Protect is better than Recover here, as it helps still Yawn, Dynamax turns, and Trick Room turns. Gastrodon without Protect can be overwhelmed way quicklier and easier, which isn't good when you want to preserve it for checking Kyogre most of the time.


Grimmsnarl (M) @ Safety Goggles -> Iron Ball
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD -> 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SpD
Careful Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Fake Tears -> Trick
- Taunt -> Reflect
- Spirit Break

The idea behind Trick Iron Ball Grimmsnarl is that you cripple an opponent for the entirety of the game, and it's nearly impossible to circumvent. This also allows Charizard to outspeed pokemon like Thundurus and Calyrex-S that you wouldn't normally. The EV spread lets you survive Incineroar Fake Out + Life Orb Thundurus Max Airstream 100% of the time. Reflect is generally better than Taunt because there isn't a lot you need to disrupt but improving Charizard's physical bulk goes a long way.

into
Hitmontop (M) @ Muscle Band
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Wide Guard
- Quick Guard
- Fake Out
- Brick Break

into

Incineroar @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 29 Spe
- Fake Out
- Flare Blitz
- Throat Chop
- Parting Shot

Incineroar is just better Hitmontop unfortunately. If Pokemon couldn't Dynamax to get access to single target moves I think Hitmontop would be solid on sun, but since that's the case it's just way better to be Incineroar. It has a pivoting move, checks Calyrex-S way better, actually pressures Zacian-C. Shuca Berry helps it survive any Max Quake in the game, and the EV Spread lets it live Life Orb Dialga's Max Wyrmwind.

Hope these help, you can find an exportable with these set changes here: https://pokepast.es/111ce52a1ec7019b

 

[Thunderstar175]

Hi, sorry for the late reply, and thanks for the help, but about the incineroar-hitmontop thing, i think that denying kyogre,caly s,groudon and all those other multi target move abusers is just too strong in my opinion. Grassy glide from rillaboom, sucker punch yveltal has always been a problem, and quick guard seems like an easy fix. Brick break also cleans out the screens from the enemy, and screens help them wall me easily with bulky offensive mons, so i need brick break, and fake out is just a free flinch. I think hitmontop would do better to support and deny all these multi target/priority move abusers. Also for groudon, I use rock slide not for flinch, but for the greater accuracy and the fact that it also chips the other mon. Rock slide and stone edge both easily take charizard. On grimmsnarl, i use taunt to deny trick room, wide guard, spore ect, since all these can be really annoying to me. I usually use thunder wave for speed control, and if zard had a bad matchup against electric types, i would always swap into groudon ( Note: I never play groudon lead, my usual lead is t wave grimmsnarl and protect charizard, swap in groudon to activate sun, incase groudon is faster than their weather setter, and some other weather shows up instead of sun)