Summer time!

[Costagero]

I've been away since DPP and came back recently for some BW. WOW! Ninetales and Politoed revamped! Gotta make a weather team! My choice is Ninetales. Here we go:

Ninetales (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 120 SDef / 136 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Substitute
- Energy Ball


This one is used as the lead instead of Crobat, which may seem unsual. The reasons are pretty much straightforward: Sunlight from the beginning and lure politoed into hydropumping gastrodon, leading to a initial sweep.
Ninetales is used with a defensive set featuring some speed for a fast Will-o-wisp in order to sustain neutral physical damage as well as it sustains neutral special damage due to its SDef. It can stall a little with subs and get free STAB, Sun-powered Flamethrowers in switch-ins if there's no opposing flashfire.

Crobat (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Roost
- Brave Bird


Can't play without a Crobat. This guy can set up switch-ins for the whole fight and take a lot of 25% hits (He has 3 double resistances!). Amazing speed stat can finish off a lot of guys with brave bird without taking damage besides recoil. Taunt and Roost make him really durable. My favourite pokemon.

Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Lonely Nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Growth
- Seed Bomb
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]


The Sun sweeper. Everything is pretty clear here. I used him as a mainly physical sweeper, since earthquake is a bit unexpected. Seed Bomb is a reliable STAB in all weather conditions. Hidden Power is the key against steel guys. He's a beast with a growth going on unless you can stop the sunlight.

Espeon (F) @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Morning Sun
- Light Screen
- Psychic
- Reflect


You realize how much Crobat and Ninetales fear Stealth Rock,,right? You realize how much Venusaur and Crobat fear thunder wave, right? Yeah, this is my solution against entry hazards and obvious incoming status ailments. I chose dual screen cover since it allows Venusaur take some super effective hits and continue it's sweep. It's general team support is really great. Healing is really effective with the screens on and becomes much more powerful in sunlight. Reliable STAB move found in psychic.

Gastrodon-Ea (Gastrodon-East) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SAtk / 16 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Surf
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Ice Beam


While this guy isn't the heart of the team, he is the one making it complete. His typing is amazing and offers great cover for the team with it's high HP. The offensive set works REALLY well on him, you would be surprised seeing that a lot of pokemon get 2HKOed by him. He is also the one making the aforementioned Politoed "counter" work. Rain + Specs + Storm Drain = Devastating Surf. It can 2HKO Politoed itself! Recover makes up for some stall even in a choice set with Gastrodon's high HP.

Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice] - Overheat

The second sun exploiter. Good type cover, amazing switch-in against opposing fire moves trying to kill Venusaur. Overheat under sunlight is just devastating. He's also my main tool along with Gastrodon against dragons with his Hidden Power.






This is it. It's a pretty fast, durable team. It's still aggressive, though. Please feel free to rate and make suggestions :D

 

[jdesai927]

Err, Recover on a specs set? Maybe you could run another coverage move, or maybe you could just swap specs for life orb. But then the only move you really need is surf. Also gastrodons defense isn't the greatest so you might want to go for scald, with all those boosts the difference in power is negligible.

Very interesting team, I should add, definitely a fresh way of taking on rain teams.

 

[Dragone]

Don't run Overheat and Flamethrower on Heatran with the same set. If you're going with Choice Scarf use Overheat, since you will be switching him in and out a lot. Also try switching HP (Ice) to HP (Grass/Electric), so that Heatran can KO opposing water types. Then with the extra move slot you gained from disposing of Flamethrower put Dragon Pulse, so you can still KO opposing dragons. Also Gastrodon should switch Recover to Hidden Power (Whatever type your team needs more of), since you are running a Choice set. You should also change your Venusaur to this set:

Venusaur @ Life Orb/Expert Belt
252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe/4 Hp
Modest
-Growth
-Solarbeam/Energy Ball
-Sludge Bomb
-HP (Fire)

Your old set didn't make sense and played against Venusaur's move pool. Growth contradicted two of your attacking moves, one of them your STAB. You don't need Earthquake because you already have HP (Fire) to take care of steel types, and a grass move to take care of Rock types. The only thing Earthquake would really ever be good for would be to counter opposing Heatran, but many people run him with a balloon so it wouldn't help much. The copious amounts of Pokes immune to Earthquake is larger than any other type, so it's not worth sacrificing so much on Venusaur's set just to have it. With my suggested set, you still have Growth to set up, and you have dual STAB with Solarbeam and Sludge Bomb. You can use Energy Ball over Solarbeam if you fear being weather countered. HP (Fire) is also still there for excellent type coverage.

On a last note, I really like the Gastrodon set, very different and capable.
Good Luck Costagero

 

[New World Order]

Hi, this is a pretty interesting team. A lot of your sets and Pokemon are very underappreciated. First of all, your team currently lacks entry hazards. In the current metagame, Choice Scarf Heatran isn't very good, since there are so many other Choice Scarf/ Dragon Dance users such as Terrakion and Dragonite that Scarftran just cannot touch. I also see Volcorona posing a serious threat to your team, since it can simply Quiver Dance to +6 and just brute force its way through your entire team. So yeah, you have a Heatran, now what's Heatran going to do to Volcorona? I highly suggest going with a Specially Defensive variant for Heatran, with 252 Hp/ 252 SpD/ 4 Def a Calm Nature, Stealth Rock, Roar, Lava Plume, and Protect. Heatran can get up Rocks and Roar out Volcorona every time it comes in. Eventually, you will break the moth. Lava Plume hits plenty hard in the sun, and the chance of a burn could help your team significantly.

I'm a little skeptical about the use of Choice Specs Gastrodon. Surf is neutered by the Sun, Earth Power makes Gastrodon set up bait, and Ice Beam is just not powerful enough. The only niche it seems to have on this team is taking on Rain teams, but the standard Gastrodon does that much better since it wont have to switch out after every Recover. One Pokemon I can see becoming problematic is Trick Room Reuncilus, who can set up and proceed to make your team members drop like flies. Instead of Gastrodon, I suggest going with a Rain check who fares pretty well in the Sun as well in CM Latias. With its incredible Special Bulk, Shadow Ball will rarely ever 2HKO while Latias can simply CM Up. If the opposing Reuniclus is a CM version, Latias can simply Roar it out. It also does perfectly fine against common Rain Pokemon such as Politoed and Rotom-W. The only problem with this is that you no longer have a good counter for Starmie. However, you should be able to play around this using Venusaur.

In Summary:

Hide

Specially Defensive Heatran>Choice Scarf Heatran
pros: check Volcorona, provide hazards, survives longer
cons: not much really, Heatran can't outspeed +1 Salamence/ Dragonite etc even with a Choice Scarf and can't revenge kill them, the only difference is the power between Overheat and Lava Plume, although SpD Heatran plays more defensively anyways.

CM Latias>Specs Gastrodon
pros: patch up problem against Reuniclus, checks rain basically just as well as Gastrodon, has more offensive presence
cons: will now have to rely on Venusaur to revenge kill Starmie.

GL

Sets:

Hide

Heatran @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
Calm
252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Lava Plume
- Protect

Latias @ Leftovers
Levitate
Timid
252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Roar

 

[Costagero]

Thank you all for answering!

jdesai927

I appreciate your suggestion, I'm now running HP Fire and Scald instead of Surf and Recover.

Dragone

Appreciate the tips on Heatran, he needs some changes indeed.
I don't get why Growth contradicts Seed Bomb and Earthquake, since it also raises the Attack Stat. I really like your set though, but I fear it lacks the "mixed" feel i like for Venusaur.

New World Order

Thank you very much!
The lack of entry hazards is somehow ok for me since i have Espeon to bounce hazards back in the first few turns.
As for Heatran, I like the set a lot, but it lacks a way to deal with dragon types! I'll try him out with Latias though!
I really like my Gastrodon set, it's working really really well! But i'll try Latias with the Heatran you suggested.

 

[New World Order]

I'm not exactly sure how Choice Scarf Heatran deals with Dragons. Every DD Dragon outspeeds it at +1 and can dispatch it with Earthquake. It also fares very poorly against the Latii twins because Heatran wont be able to take Draco Meteors forever (no healing) and HP Ice does very little to the Latii twins due to their immense Special Bulk. Something else you could try is Toxic over Protect. This allows Heatran to status dragons such as the Latii twins and Dragonite, neutering them for the rest of the match, while stalling with Protect.

 

[Dragone]

Sorry Costagero, I'v been playing a lot of Pokemon Colosseum and I forgot that Growth also raises attack in Gen V. I still feel that Seed Bomb could be replaced with Solarbeam/Energy Ball, since they are 100 accuracy attacks, and also Sludge Bomb could be tested out too.

 

[Costagero]

Dragone

Seed Bomb has 100% accuracy and same power as Energy Ball, so... I'm running a psysical oriented set with Seed Bomb, Growth, Hidden Power Fire and Sludge Bomb right now, what do you think?

Also thinking about running Solar Beam and going for a full special set.

 

[Dragone]

Dragone

Seed Bomb has 100% accuracy and same power as Energy Ball, so... I'm running a psysical oriented set with Seed Bomb, Growth, Hidden Power Fire and Sludge Bomb right now, what do you think?

Also thinking about running Solar Beam and going for a full special set.

Damn! I really need to stop playing the old games when I'm rating cuz they're f-ing with my mind. I think that set is great, it's nice to have mixed in many situations. Although having full special allows you to literally specialize in a couple stats, but it's totally up to you to test and decide for yourself. Solarbeam is incredible, as far as power goes, but it can be countered when your opponent switches in Tyranitar, Politoed, etc. So make your decision based on what you tend to have to deal with more.

 

[jake]

Hey Costagero,

Looks like a pretty decent sun team. My biggest concern is how you deal with other weathers and even Volcarona to an extent; a Scarfed Heatran has no business dealing with Volcarona, especially if you're locked into HP Ice and Volca gets in a few QDs so that Overheat doesn't bother it. I think you've also got a few sets to fix up slightly. Ninetales is the most notable one and easiest to change - why do you run Energy Ball? Politoed takes very little from it because you have little SpA investment and it KOs you with Surf/Hydro Pump, leaving your weather down for the count. I would run one of Ninetales' many other viable options: Toxic, Protect, HP Fighting, Hypnosis, Safeguard, something over Energy Ball because it's just horrid. Safeguard in particular could net you a free switch-in for Gastrodon without having to worry about Toxic. Some threats to think about:

1. 
   Volcarona
   
   Volcarona is primarily a threat because none of the Pokémon you have bother it at all. Even your Heatran's Overheat in Sun can be Rested/Morning Sun'd off, only doing 70.74%-83.28% to a +1 offensive Volcarona and dropping SpA after every hit. You also don't have Stealth Rock, making Volcarona's job that much easier. Crobat is also outsped and OHKO'd by Flame Dance/Fire Blast, making Brave Bird irrelevant. There's one simple change that needs to be made, and that is to change your Scarftran into Specially Defensive Heatran. Not only does SpD Heatran absorb Volcarona's moves easily, but it also can set up Stealth Rock for you, ending its reign promptly. Having a Pokémon to set up SR will also greatly assist you playing against 'mons like Dragonite and Tornadus (who are probably your worst enemies in Rain!).​
2. 
   Tyranitar
   
   You clearly have a decent way of dealing with rain through Gastrodon but I really don't see any way that you deal with Tyranitar. Scarf Tyranitar in particular has a heyday with your team, outspeeding and OHKOing Ninetales, OHKOing Espeon through Pursuit (and all it can do in return is set up Reflect), revenging Venusaur by cutting Chlorophyll and outspeeding, and resisting all of Heatran's current moveset. Tyranitar also isn't checked by your remaining Pokémon. I know sand is on a decline, but that doesn't make it ignorable. :(
   
   I really, really think that of all of your Pokémon, either Espeon or Crobat need to go in favor of something that can handle Tyranitar well. Both commit the least to team synergy and don't really help break down counters for Venusaur or whatever to sweep lategame. Espeon also simply invites Tyranitar to come in on it and change the weather, something you definitely do not want while you're playing a Drought team. I would like to suggest that you replace Espeon for Conkeldurr for three reasons: one, because it 100% deals with every single Tyranitar variant well; two, because several of its counters are handled very well by a sun-based team (think Skarmory, etc); and three, because it helps check Terrakion who could otherwise run through this team. Terrakion is a little bit of a lesser threat as compared to Tyranitar but it has the power and the coverage to clean out the vast majority of your team, especially if you've already lost the weather war.​
3. 
   Latias
   
   Latias has no trouble walling your team and setting up CMs on everything, recovering off damage. SpD Heatran can Roar it away, but it can just keep coming back, proving to be a fullstop to basically everything on the team. Crobat outspeeds but Brave Bird only manages 35.44%-42.03% to a 252/0 Latias, and U-turn actually does even less: 28.02%-32.97%. Conkeldurr's +0 Payback is only a 3HKO at best as well. Specs Gastrodon's Ice Beam does 39.56%-46.7%. Crobat might be your favorite Pokémon, but I really really think you're much better off replacing it with a solid counter for Latias who otherwise would have no trouble with your team. In this case, you should replace it with CB Snorlax, an uncommon yet surprisingly effective Sun Pokémon. Snorlax provides you with tons of Special bulk, giving you a secondary switch-in to things such as Volcarona, Latios, Latias, Chandelure, opposing Heatran - almost everything that troubles a standard Sun team. Snorlax can also run Fire Punch for pseudo-STAB as well as Pursuit to nab the Latis.​

I think those changes should significantly help your team and prepare it much more for other teams you will encounter while laddering. Stealth Rock is always a concern but by removing one of your SR weaks I think that your weakness in general is mitigated (though be careful with Ninetales, as always). Here are the sets I mentioned, for easy reference:

woot sets

Heatran @ Leftovers | Flash Fire
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk) | 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Lava Plume / Stealth Rock / Protect / Roar or Toxic

Conkeldurr @ Leftovers | Guts
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA) | 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 SpD
Bulk Up / Drain Punch / Mach Punch / Payback or Stone Edge

Snorlax @ Choice Band | Thick Fat
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA) | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Return or Body Slam / Pursuit / Fire Punch / Earthquake

Hope I helped and GL with your team !

 

[Costagero]

Zebraiken

Hey, thanks a lot for the valuable analysis you did there!

So, I REALLY like everything you suggested but you should consider 2 things:

1 - I don't have a rapid spinner and I think Espeon is one of the team's cores because it sets up dual screens for venusaur but also because it's one of my most comfortable switch-ins! Magic Bounce is the ace up my sleeve.

2 - Dragons would still wreak havoc, especially dragonite, is that wrong?

 

[jake]

You're right - dual screens are very useful. I also know that you don't have a rapid spinner, but you only have one SR-weak Pokémon too. My suggestions are definitely only suggestions so you don't have to take them if you're not comfortable, but I think they're ideas you might want to try anyway. Conkeldurr also handles a large percentage of the things you'd switch Espeon into anyway, save maybe Deoxys-S; things like Blissey (who you'd try to reflect Toxic, whatever) are Conkeldurr bait. Espeon is generally considered to be a good Pokémon to have on a Drought team but I don't like it because it generally invites Tyranitar in, which is never good.

Yes, Dragonite is also a big problem and something I overlooked while I was looking at your team. gosh how can I forget the #1 most used mon Dragonite is best handled by getting SR up first and keeping it up if possible - this should be your primary goal when facing Dragonite in the early game. Dragonite is also one of the hardest 'mons for Sun teams to handle because it sets up very easily against it and its most common coverage move (Fire Punch) is boosted by the very weather you establish. There are, however, a couple of pretty cool options you can take a look at and play around with for your team. I'm not really sure who or what you should replace if you do like the sound of any of them, but you always have the say on who stays and who goes, of course. IMO Heatran is probably the most replaceable because Snorlax more or less does the same thing as it, although you lose SR if you do drop Heatran.

Cresselia @ Leftovers | Levitate
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) | 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Reflect / Thunder Wave or Psychic / Ice Beam / Moonlight

Cresselia is a little bit of your Espeon set and a lot more defensive and more reliable for your team, imo. Cress also gives you a pretty solid Dragonite check with its great defenses and Reflect as well as Ice Beam to wear it down. SR is still appreciated to keep Dragonite's Multiscale down. Moonlight is also boosted to 66% recovery in sunlight, just like Morning Sun. Notably if you want to run Cresselia you have to run Conkeldurr too; Tyranitar is the #1 nemesis of this set and there's no way for Cresselia to get around it. Thankfully, Tyranitar and Dragonite on the same team are uncommon because Sandstorm breaks Dragonite's Multiscale.

Donphan @ Leftovers | Sturdy
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA) | 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Rapid Spin / Earthquake / Ice Shard / Head Smash or Stone Edge or Stealth Rock

Donphan works more as a last-resort check to Dragonite rather than a primary one - Sturdy allows it to at least take a shot at Dragonite before attempting to revenge it with Ice Shard. Donphan also gives you a solid Rock-type resist and a Rapid Spinner that you seem to be interested in.

Cloyster @ White Herb / Life Orb | Skill Link
Naive (+Spe, -SpD) | 252 Attack / 8 SpA / 248 Spe
Shell Smash / Icicle Spear / Rock Blast / Hidden Power [Fire]

Cloyster is an odd choice for a sun team, definitely! However, it gives you a good switch-in to things like Mamoswine who try to come in and revenge Venusaur, as well as a solid check to Dragonite. Icicle Spear will maul any and every Dragonite, although I wouldn't advise trying to set up Shell Smash on them. HP Fire provides a pseudo-STAB while you're in the sun and helps Cloyster maul Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Scizor under the sun. Cloyster also has just a support set with Rapid Spin though I cba to look up the EVs and stuff for that atm, though I can definitely find it if you're looking for it.