Hello and welcome to... Well, I say this a lot but this is without question the most bizarre team I've yet made. Which is REALLY saying something, and the reason why I'm RMTing it despite the fact that I still use (and completely love) my Damp Rock team. Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the name, and even more (possiby even a cookie) to anyone who can tell me why the name fits the team. But that's besides the point. This team started out around a simple concept that is nonetheless extremely odd-seeming to me, Anti-Politoed Heatran. It actually works (unless the opposing Toed is Scarfed anyway) pretty well, although Magma Storm's accuracy trolls hard. The basic idea is to trap, change the weather and kill. It's not even that difficult, since Heatran outspeeds non-Scarfed Toeds (ScarfToed is the only common Toed that bothers with Speed investment really), so once I trap I'm usually good. Anyway, to the team
Ninetales @ Air Balloon
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Ninetales is pretty much obligatory on a Sun team, so here's mine. Standard offensive Tales, which I chose due to me not using Dugtrio. Sunny Day is more or less standard on Ninetales, since it makes the all-important weather war quite a bit easier. Tyranitar and Politoed hate eating Solarbeam, so nailing them with Sunny Day on the switch generally sends them running again and gets me a free switch to something. Against Rain teams, I like to go to Heatran and trap Toed on the switch. Or trap what they have out and kill it anyway, either works. Fire Blast is (double) STAB and even off Ninetales it's gonna hurt. Hidden Power Ice, finally, is the reason for using a Timid nature - Spe-tying Positive-natured non-ScarfMence and outspeeding Neutral. And OHKOing with HP Ice. It also hits Gliscor, Landorus (both) and other dragons I didn't already mention.
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 196 Spd / 252 SAtk / 60 Def
Modest Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ah, Lilligant. I actually prefer her to Venusaur. She's generally worse, less power, less coverage, but she's also not completely dependent on Sun courtesy of Quiver Dance. Venusaur kinda needs the Spe boost. Lilligant keeps it even if I lose the sun and come on, Politoed doesn't wanna take a Giga Drain at +1 from anything. And besides, I also have Sleep Powder to mess with things and give me setup time. Giga Drain is, as mentioned, my boosting move. HP Fire allows Lilligant to run through the majority of the Rain playstyle with Giga Drain hammering the Waters and Grounds (Gastrodon, I'm looking at you) and HP Fire for punching through the Steels. For the Sand teams, Giga Drain rips into the Ground and Rock-types and HP Fire punches through the Steels. Sure, Lilligant may miss out on some important players in there, but she can nonetheless punch huge holes in either opposing weather team regardless of how the climate looks. Although the SDef boost for Rock-types in Sand can be problematic, and she needs Sun for HP Fire to do its job properly.
Sawsbuck @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 112 HP / 248 Atk / 148 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Nature Power
- Return
- Swords Dance
Oh Sawsbuck... The flagship Chlorophyll physical behemoth. We all know Sawsbuck, I think. Its job is more or less the same as Lilligant's: Murder things. Sawsbuck is, however, much more reliant on the Sun than Lilligant is. That means that while he can certainly maul Politoed and Tyranitar, he has trouble against several faster threats when the Sun isn't shining. Nonetheless, he is a monster after one SD. I'm using Nature Power over Jump Kick because it hits everything I was Jump Kicking besides Skarmory anyway, Skarmory is not a problem, and it gets me around Fire-types quite nicely. They like to come in to try and scare me off. Horn Leech is my first STAB and recovery move, offsetting LO recoil as well, also my go-to Politoed killer. And Water-killer in general. Return is my strongest move after STAB and seriously hurts things.
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Shard
- Stone Edge
Sun hates two things above almost all else: Stealth Rock and Dragons. Stealth Rock cripples a lot of powerful Sun sweepers and Sunmons in general, and does a sizable chunk to Ninetales as well. So Rapid Spin support is almost essential. Dragons can tank both of Sun's favorite STABs, Fire and Grass. So I needed something to reliably get rid of them (Sorry Ninetales, you don't cut it). To these ends, I added an offensive Donphan to my team. It carries Rapid Spin to blow their hazards away and it carries Ice Shard to do a serious number to those Dragons. It also revenge-kills very nicely. Earthquake is STAB and extremely strong coming from Donphan. Stone Edge completes the infamous EdgeQuake combo for great coverage.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Wish
Let the strangeness commence... This particular Salamence is something I stumbled upon quite by accident. My two main sweepers, although they both carry draining moves for recovery, do also carry Life Orb. That can be taxing on the HP. I also wanted some more offensive presence (this team is rather offensive, as Sun tends to be). I also had no real Physical defense. This Salamence actually solves, to a degree, every one of these problems. It's similar to MixMence, but with Wish over Dragon Dance. I've found Salamence actually gets a lot of opportunities to fire off a Wish and though they're only for a little under 167 that's still pretty helpful. I can come in on something I scare off and Wish on the switch. I can Intimidate something it cripples and Wish on the switch. Then I still have the offenses to do some real damage to the opponent as well, with max Spd and max Atk. It may seem gimmicky, but it's really fun and it actually works with decent prediction. Dragon Claw is here for reliable STAB (I don't wanna lock myself into Outrage, however powerful it may be). Fire Blast gets pseudo-STAB and roasts the Steels. Earthquake rounds out the set by hitting for 4x damage the only thing that actually resists the other 2 moves - Heatran. Even though it isn't completely meant for offense, I can usually KO at least something with it too, if I don't need to Wish. That Wish has helped Sawsbuck or Lilligant come in a lot easier enough times to justify itself to me though. Great for giving Lilligant some room to breathe in case the first Sleep Powder misses.
Heatran @ Grass Gem
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- SolarBeam
- Sunny Day
- Substitute
And the other very strange set is run on my Heatran. The general idea here is to predict the switch to their auto-inducer, Magma Storm it and then Solarbeam for kills. This particular set has no trouble with Politoeds, as I get the Sub up, Sunny Day and basically force it to come back in and get trapped. Then Sunny Day again and finally Solarbeam. SpecsToed has no chance, as it's outsped and OHKOed after 2 turns of Storm damage puts it down to around 75%. Defensive Toed have literally one thing they can do, and it results in them dying anyway - Perish Song. And if I happen to KO before the song does, I get to keep my Heatran for all the good it can (potentially) do against the rest of a Rain team in the sun. The whole idea behind this Heatran is winning the weather war, and I've only lost said war once in about 20 fights (of which I have lost about 7 now), and the one time I lost the weather war Lilligant swept anyway. Against Rain, no less.
I greatly appreciate your taking the time to read this, I've only briefly used this team but I have had a blast with it so far. All comments welcome!
Ninetales @ Air Balloon
Trait: Drought
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Ninetales is pretty much obligatory on a Sun team, so here's mine. Standard offensive Tales, which I chose due to me not using Dugtrio. Sunny Day is more or less standard on Ninetales, since it makes the all-important weather war quite a bit easier. Tyranitar and Politoed hate eating Solarbeam, so nailing them with Sunny Day on the switch generally sends them running again and gets me a free switch to something. Against Rain teams, I like to go to Heatran and trap Toed on the switch. Or trap what they have out and kill it anyway, either works. Fire Blast is (double) STAB and even off Ninetales it's gonna hurt. Hidden Power Ice, finally, is the reason for using a Timid nature - Spe-tying Positive-natured non-ScarfMence and outspeeding Neutral. And OHKOing with HP Ice. It also hits Gliscor, Landorus (both) and other dragons I didn't already mention.
Lilligant (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 196 Spd / 252 SAtk / 60 Def
Modest Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ah, Lilligant. I actually prefer her to Venusaur. She's generally worse, less power, less coverage, but she's also not completely dependent on Sun courtesy of Quiver Dance. Venusaur kinda needs the Spe boost. Lilligant keeps it even if I lose the sun and come on, Politoed doesn't wanna take a Giga Drain at +1 from anything. And besides, I also have Sleep Powder to mess with things and give me setup time. Giga Drain is, as mentioned, my boosting move. HP Fire allows Lilligant to run through the majority of the Rain playstyle with Giga Drain hammering the Waters and Grounds (Gastrodon, I'm looking at you) and HP Fire for punching through the Steels. For the Sand teams, Giga Drain rips into the Ground and Rock-types and HP Fire punches through the Steels. Sure, Lilligant may miss out on some important players in there, but she can nonetheless punch huge holes in either opposing weather team regardless of how the climate looks. Although the SDef boost for Rock-types in Sand can be problematic, and she needs Sun for HP Fire to do its job properly.
Sawsbuck @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 112 HP / 248 Atk / 148 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Nature Power
- Return
- Swords Dance
Oh Sawsbuck... The flagship Chlorophyll physical behemoth. We all know Sawsbuck, I think. Its job is more or less the same as Lilligant's: Murder things. Sawsbuck is, however, much more reliant on the Sun than Lilligant is. That means that while he can certainly maul Politoed and Tyranitar, he has trouble against several faster threats when the Sun isn't shining. Nonetheless, he is a monster after one SD. I'm using Nature Power over Jump Kick because it hits everything I was Jump Kicking besides Skarmory anyway, Skarmory is not a problem, and it gets me around Fire-types quite nicely. They like to come in to try and scare me off. Horn Leech is my first STAB and recovery move, offsetting LO recoil as well, also my go-to Politoed killer. And Water-killer in general. Return is my strongest move after STAB and seriously hurts things.
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Shard
- Stone Edge
Sun hates two things above almost all else: Stealth Rock and Dragons. Stealth Rock cripples a lot of powerful Sun sweepers and Sunmons in general, and does a sizable chunk to Ninetales as well. So Rapid Spin support is almost essential. Dragons can tank both of Sun's favorite STABs, Fire and Grass. So I needed something to reliably get rid of them (Sorry Ninetales, you don't cut it). To these ends, I added an offensive Donphan to my team. It carries Rapid Spin to blow their hazards away and it carries Ice Shard to do a serious number to those Dragons. It also revenge-kills very nicely. Earthquake is STAB and extremely strong coming from Donphan. Stone Edge completes the infamous EdgeQuake combo for great coverage.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Wish
Let the strangeness commence... This particular Salamence is something I stumbled upon quite by accident. My two main sweepers, although they both carry draining moves for recovery, do also carry Life Orb. That can be taxing on the HP. I also wanted some more offensive presence (this team is rather offensive, as Sun tends to be). I also had no real Physical defense. This Salamence actually solves, to a degree, every one of these problems. It's similar to MixMence, but with Wish over Dragon Dance. I've found Salamence actually gets a lot of opportunities to fire off a Wish and though they're only for a little under 167 that's still pretty helpful. I can come in on something I scare off and Wish on the switch. I can Intimidate something it cripples and Wish on the switch. Then I still have the offenses to do some real damage to the opponent as well, with max Spd and max Atk. It may seem gimmicky, but it's really fun and it actually works with decent prediction. Dragon Claw is here for reliable STAB (I don't wanna lock myself into Outrage, however powerful it may be). Fire Blast gets pseudo-STAB and roasts the Steels. Earthquake rounds out the set by hitting for 4x damage the only thing that actually resists the other 2 moves - Heatran. Even though it isn't completely meant for offense, I can usually KO at least something with it too, if I don't need to Wish. That Wish has helped Sawsbuck or Lilligant come in a lot easier enough times to justify itself to me though. Great for giving Lilligant some room to breathe in case the first Sleep Powder misses.
Heatran @ Grass Gem
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Magma Storm
- SolarBeam
- Sunny Day
- Substitute
And the other very strange set is run on my Heatran. The general idea here is to predict the switch to their auto-inducer, Magma Storm it and then Solarbeam for kills. This particular set has no trouble with Politoeds, as I get the Sub up, Sunny Day and basically force it to come back in and get trapped. Then Sunny Day again and finally Solarbeam. SpecsToed has no chance, as it's outsped and OHKOed after 2 turns of Storm damage puts it down to around 75%. Defensive Toed have literally one thing they can do, and it results in them dying anyway - Perish Song. And if I happen to KO before the song does, I get to keep my Heatran for all the good it can (potentially) do against the rest of a Rain team in the sun. The whole idea behind this Heatran is winning the weather war, and I've only lost said war once in about 20 fights (of which I have lost about 7 now), and the one time I lost the weather war Lilligant swept anyway. Against Rain, no less.
I greatly appreciate your taking the time to read this, I've only briefly used this team but I have had a blast with it so far. All comments welcome!
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