How viable are weatherless teams in OU?

[Professor Palutena]

I hear OU getting a lot of hate about how much of a weather-fest it is. With Politoed being the second most used Pokemon in OU, Tyranitar sitting in the top 10 and Ninetales in the top 20, not to go without mentioning Hippowdon as well, weather is certainly used frequently in OU. Sweepers like Tornadus-T, Keldeo, Venusaur and Landorus-I further help support this fact. I only need to say the word Rain for some people to start cringing as they see the face of a Politoed in their brain, and then the army it has with it.

But this topic isn't about those weather abusers that so many of us hate. This topic is about weatherless teams! (if you couldn't guess from the title)

How viable do you think weatherless teams are in OU? Why do you think this?

What does a weatherless team need to succeed? What makes you think this?

What threatens a weatherless team? What makes these Pokemon threatening?

Have you ever used a weatherless team in OU? What results have you had with that team? Did you enjoy using it more than any weather team you've used in the past?

 

[sillykyle]

One thing about weatherless teams is that they are, in my opinion at least, generally harder to use/make. I speak from experience, having tried a few weatherless teams only to watch them fail miserably. This could just be my playstyle, but somehow I don't think it is. They're certainly viable, of course, making up about half of the OU metagame, but I do feel they take at least a little more skill than your average weather team (this depends on the team though, of course).

As for things that threaten weatherless teams... Sun is way up there IMO, as without any kind of counter weather, you're very vulnerable to being picked apart by Chlorophyll users such as Venusaur and Victreebel. This is the main reason that Heatran is as popular as it is, as it puts a stop to 95% of Chlorophyll sweepers (aside from sleep power), with the exception of something like Mixed EQ Venusaur.

Which brings me to my next point. Although they don't include weather themselves, weatherless teams are often full of weather checks, which really goes to show how centralizing weather is in general.

 

[Guts]

I agree with kyle - a weatherless team should be able to check a lot of threats that rain, sun, sand, and hail (yes, hail) provide to the meta. It's kind of ironic; if you took a weatherless team that was designed for the current OU meta into something like to a clear skies tournament, it wouldn't perform as well as it could. Weather-less teams are much more difficult to "autopilot" than team that use weather (namely Rain and Sun), but I like them for that very reason.

 

[Professor Palutena]

I agree with Kyle that weatherless teams need some kind of answer, preferably multiple, to chlorophyll Pokemon, because their speed is unmatched and their defensive typing is pretty great as well (Venusaur has some pretty great resistances in the form of Water, Electric and Fighting). Every weatherless team should run a Heatran for the best possible answer to every Chlorophyll sweeper, with a backup in the form of a Flying / Levitating Dragon in the event of an Earthquake Venusaur (I would never have a Venusaur that runs all four of Giga Drain, HP Fire, Earthquake and Sludge Bomb; sacrificing Growth is way too big of a loss). Between those two, you get sun checked pretty well. Something like Heatran + Latias is what I'd use because the Flying-type Dragons are weak to Stealth Rock, and I'd rather not waste a precious team spot on a spinner (read as: Starmie).

Anti-rain is really easy now without Tornadus-T, as a bulky Grass type can pretty much wall most of rain's offensive now. Celebi is fantastic at this by being an amazing Keldeo counter, while also having the bulk and power to take on threats like Rotom-W and Starmie. Hey, it's also what I consider to be the best Techniloom counter in the game, not to mention it's a great Sheer Force Landorus-I check/counter too.

Finally, I think having someway at outspeeding +1 base 100s is very necessary, because MoxieMence is an amazing threat to any team in this metagame and it can clean up shop easily if you lack a fast scarfer, Bullet Punch or Ice Shard. SubSalac Terrakion is also another threat that shouldn't go unchecked, but these are both things that any team should have, weatherless included.

 

[Chillarmy]

Weatherless teams need a bunch of things to be effective:

- At least one reliable water resists such as Celebi, Jellicent, or Latias.
- A solid counter to Chlorophyll sweepers such as Dragonite or Salamence.
- At least one bulky Steel type to handle Dragons and Sand Rush abusers such as Skarmory and Bronzong.

Of course, weather threatens non-weather... no matter how you look at it weather has an advantage in this match-up. Weather abusers such as Keldeo, Venusaur, and Stoutland all pose an issue if not properly handled.

 

[Equinox]

For one, a weather-less team needs to be able to check and counter or manage to wall off many of the threats under rain/sun/SS. There are plenty of these of course, so saying weather-less teams aren't viable isn't true, OU has just become so drenched with weather teams, weather-less teams are rare. Secondly, there's needs to be good synergy between the Pokemon, which means you shouldn't just have a Pokemon that can only counter a specific threat *coughEvioliteGligarcough*. A good core also helps whether offensive or defensive, and should be able to at least handle Rain and Sun, the two most common weathers.