How can I improve my Drought team?

DarkCrisis

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I am in the process of building a drought team and I am not sure how well it might turn out. I am also unsure of all the pokemon I am thinking about putting on the team. Here is my current build.
Exeggutor
Infernape
Ninetales
Venusaur
Dragonite
Charizard

Any help fixing the team is appriciated and if any more details are needed feel free to ask!
 
Can you explain why you chose those Pokemon (outside of Ninetales, because you need it for a team)? I'm curious as to why you're thinking about using Exeggutor, Infernape, Venusaue, Dragonite and Charizard.
 
I chose Infernape initially as my lead pokemon. I would scout for my team and use U-turn to switch into Ninetales to set up the sun. Venusaur is my main Chlorophyll sweeper, Exeggutor being the only other pokemon on my team with Chlorophyll. Dragonite was an odd choice at first but then I realized it can resist some of the things that my other pokemon are weak too, and I figured that Solar Power Charizard is just too good in the sun to pass up on a team based on using the Drought ability. Hope this helps!


I have already trained my Infernape, Ninetales, Venusaur, and Dragonite (which has multiscale btw). Those four pokes I didnt really want to remove from the initial build so I trained them with all intention of using them. Charizard and Exeggutor are not trained yet since I was not sure if I would be using them or not.
 
If you're going to run Sun you need a way of dealing with other weathers. You'll also need a Magic Bouncer or a Rapid Spinner as entry hazards are a real pain for Ninetales. Charizard, while it may seem like a good sweeper (and it can actually do okay damage) isn't OU material. Exeggcutor, while being more viable than Charizard, is redundant when used alongside Venusaur. I'd recommend using Donphan over Charizard. He provides Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, and a valuable check to Dragon types when you use Ice Shard. The next moveslot is up to you, but something like Dugtrio or Landorus-T would work there nicely. Good luck with the team :)
 
An update on my build so far. I decided to stick with my shell for the team which includes Infernape, Ninetales, Venusaur, Dragonite. In additon to them I have decided to add Donphan on as my rapid spinner and stealth rock setup. He also helps scare away those fire types that I was having the most trouble dealing with before since I only had other fire types and grass types before. As for my 6th slot, I am still not sure what I should put there.


After further consideration I am thinking Choice Scarf Landorus-T making the team right now Infernape, Ninetales, Venusaur, Dragonite, Donphan, Landorus-T.
 
Actually, my friend ran a similar team and had excellent success with a Choice Scarf, mixed Kyurem-B. It was Jolly max speed and had Outrage, Ice Beam, Fusion Bolt and Earth Power. It wrecked a lot of stuff. Heatrean would be a good idea as well, the steel typing can be almost too useful.
 
I was considering heatran but never fully thought about what it would be good for but I guess I will give it another look
 
Right now my team is Infernape, Ninetales, Venusaur, Dragonite, Donphan, and Landorus (Incarnate). Using the Sheer Force build of Landorus and Donphan for rapid spin and stealth rocks. Ninetales, Venusaur and infernape all benefit from the sun, and Dragonite serves the purpose of dealing with a few problems that I usually run into playing with friends + is has multiscale which is a big plus for me. Anymore feedback on the team is very welcome as I am open to any changes that I might need to make so that the team can be better.
 
So I've rethought your team, and I've run it through some internet teambuilding helpers and here's what i got. You have 4 Water weaknesses and 4 Ice weaknesses, and in a meta where Ice Shard and Rain is everywhere, that is not a good plan. Additionally, you have no Dragon resist, and with threats like Kyurem-B and Dragonite running around you can't really have that. So how can you deal with this?

Infernape and Landorus-I are the most replaceable members. You need a way of dealing with Rain and Dragon types (and Mamoswine, who hugely threatens your team). I don't really want to build you team for you, but try and find two pokemon that can help you out here.
 
Alright. I don't have too much experience with Drought teams, but I hope you'll find this helpful.

So we'll start with Ninetales, obviously. You need this Poke for a team, blah blah blah you know this already. To start you off, I'll suggest that you run a simple offensive set, featuring Fire Blast / Solarbeam / Sunny Day / Hidden Power Ice. This set is mostly designed to lure in and eliminate Politoed and Tyranitar, which wins you the weather war. Predict a switch in, use Sunny Day, and you've just put a lot of pressure on your opponent while halting any momentum your opponent hoped to gain. Solarbeam is a 2HKO on any Tyranitar at best, while possibly OHKOing Choice Band Tyranitar after Stealth Rock damage. This set also beats the defensive Tyranitar set, as it cannot KO you before you KO it, due to a lack of Stone Edge / Rock Slide on that standard set. The only Politoed set that scares this Ninetales is the Choice Specs set, as Hydro Pump always OHKOs after Stealth Rock damage. With these two big threats eliminated, Ninetales has pulled its weight and has opened up a sweeping chance for the team's Chlorophyll sweeper(s). This is a very aggressive set, making it very reliant on good prediction skills.

With any sun team, you need to make sure you can abuse the weather. Fortunately, Venusaur is a great abuser of Drought due to Chlorophyll. A specially offensive set featuring Growth / Giga Drain / Hidden Power Fire / Sleep Powder. This set works very simple in practice. Bring in Venusaur, incapacitate a Pokemon with Sleep Powder, set up a Growth and sweep them. Obviously Pokemon with resistances to Grass and Fire are huge problems (being any Dragon-type, as well as Heatran), so let's beat them next.

I consider Choice Scarf Terrakion to be an almost universal check to any of OU's Dragon-type Pokemon, with the only real exceptions being Latios and Garchomp. Dragonite, Salamence, Kyurem-B and Hydreigon are all scared out by this magnificent beast, while it also beats Heatran in the process. This further helps set up for a Venusaur sweep.

You'll need some more support now, because of Ninetales' mediocrity. Rapid Spinners naturally fit well in this slot, such as Forretress or Donphan. However, I'm going to suggest a rather different approach: Xatu. With Magic Bounce, you can set up your own hazards using your opponent's turns. This really annoys teams that rely on Deoxys-D for their hazards. Not to mention that Xatu got Heat Wave in BW2, which lets it beat Forretress and Ferrothorn, two Pokemon that Xatu usually has to switch into to get hazards up. Like the Ninetales set I suggested, this is a very aggressive set, which relies heavily on prediction to get anywhere. You'll get better at prediction as you play, so perhaps start with a rapid spinner like Forretress or Donphan and work your way towards Xatu as you play more. For Xatu's set, I would use U-Turn / Heat Wave / Toxic / Roost.

Right now, this opens you up a lot to Terrakion, who only really fears Venusaur when the sun is up. Landorus-T is a great fit at this point for a few reasons. The first being that it beats Terrakion, which is good. The second point is that it provides Stealth Rock support, which is, again, good. The third and final point is that it has U-Turn, giving it great offensive momentum with Xatu. You can U-Turn around to get around threats like Tyranitar who really still annoys you, but hates seeing Terrakion come in. U-Turn is a difficult move to punish, because of the switch initiative.

For the last spot, we really need some sort of defensive Pokemon. Right now, Ninetales, Terrakion and Landorus-T makes a total of three water resistances, while your only option against them is Venusaur. For your last option, I'm suggesting a Calm Mind Latias set, who acts as an excellent way to beat several threatening Pokemon, such as Rotom-W, Breloom and Keldeo. Two water resistances are generally a staple on every team now due to how common rain is, and Latias generally loves beating things in the rain.

So in summary, here's the team I suggest you use.

[animate]ninetales[/animate][animate]venusaur[/animate][animate]terrakion[/animate][animate]xatu[/animate][animate]landorus-t[/animate][animate]latias[/animate]

This team may look very weak to Mamoswine. However, you can check it with both Venusaur and Terrakion. Venusaur can survive an Ice Shard after Stealth Rock, and OHKO with a Giga Drain that doesn't even need to be boosted in power. Terrakion scares it out due to Close Combat OHKOing. With smart play, it shouldn't be a problem. Cloyster make also look like another insta-loss for your team, but Venusaur outspeeds Cloyster in the sun, while OHKOing with Giga Drain.
 
Looks like I will need to get my hands on that Latias after all, many more than one so that I have one for each of my 2 possible teams which use different builds. I have my Ninetales, Venusaur and Landorus-I ready. By the sprite you chose I figure you are recommending Landorus-T instead so I will get on that as soon as I can. I'll be using my donphan instead of Xatu for a while. Terrakion tho is not one of the pokemon that I am very fond of so hopefully there is a good replacement that I can use instead.
 
Instead of Terrakion, you could try Scarf Landorus-Incarnate (though this would have to remove Landorus-Therian from the team, which I think you're okay with). It's a weaker answer to Kyurem-B and Hydreigon, but it can work if you really don't want to use Terrakion. Your 6th slot should be something that beats both of those, which is really only Breloom.
 
After much shuffling and consideration, I have decided that I can use Terrakion on my team, putting personal feelings for the pokemon aside for its great function. My team now looks like Ninetales, Venusaur, Terrakion, Landorus, and Latios. Now I need help finding a 6th and reworking this new verison of my team. Any takers?
 
You will neither either Stealth Rock + Rapid Spin support or Magic Bounce support. You're options are Forretress, Donphan, Xatu and Espeon. I would recommend any of the first three.
 
I already have Donphan trained and ready to go so I figure I can use that for now untill my team gets reworked further. So now it would seem that my team is looking to be Ninetales, Venusaur, Terrakion, Landorus, Latios, and Donphan.
 
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