My friend Ruben and I went to the VGC Spring Regionals this past April. I'd come with a team I'd prepared well in advance, but Ruben had misplaced his Diamond game with his team on it (it had a Shedinja core; that's all I remember), and so I offered to whip up a team for him. Admittedly, it was hastily built and put together at the last minute, since I had to spend most of Friday and Saturday racking up Subway Points to buy the items. (The plus side of that is I beat the bosses on the Super Doubles Train. Haven't yet tackled Super Singles since my 42-streak was broken.)
The team consisted of Politoed, Magnezone, Porygon2, Volcarona, Cloyster, and one thing I don't remember. Its synergy was...okay, for something just patched together. He went 3-5 with it, to which I wasn't too surprised, but he had a fun day, as did I.
He'd been borrowing my team for a few months and after I finally got it back, we discussed talks about what I could make his next team...and this one he would have as his own to keep instead of borrowing mine. I asked what he wanted, and he said he really liked Volcarona. Thus, I set to work trying to figure out a good team using Volcarona as a core. I bounced an idea off Yoshi, who gave me enough to piece some things together, and in the end, I got an idea!
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Please bear in mind, this team is just in the planning stages, so it isn't going to be too impressive at first glance, but that's why I want to bounce my ideas off you guys - to fine-tune it. Obviously, the core of this team is going to be the sun's herald, Volcarona.
Yoshi suggested that I run Volcarona with a Fighting-type partner to dispatch the Rock-types that give Volcarona grief, pointing out Hitmontop as an ideal example. He also said that Volcarona works fabulously in a sun team...which it does. Thus, I managed to add 2 ideas to the table: Hitmontop and Ninetales.
After this, I had to think a little on my own. I wasn't sure what went well into a sun team, so I thought about how to cover up weaknesses. First off, there was the idea of covering up the leads Volcarona and Hitmontop's weaknesses, who might also be able to fit well. I was trying to think of something that would work, and in the end I came down to a Steel-type. Yet what Steel-type would work very well on a sun team? Not very many...well, except for a gigantic magnet with HP Fire.
Then I thought about what could cover Magnezone's weaknesses. A Ballooning Heatran instantly came to mind. And hey, he's Fire-type too! Fun time to be had by all.
Five slots down, one to go. I figured I probably shouldn't load up on Fire-types any more than I have to; I've got myself covered for that. My first thought is that, since I'm running sun, I will not only be susceptible to Rock, but also Water, which will tear right through me. Gastrodon's Storm Drain came to mind since I'd used it with great success on my own team, but the problem is that Gastrodon doesn't function too well on a sun team, as much as I'd like it to. I thought if there was anything else that had some sort of Water resist or immunity that could hop on a sun team...and sure enough, one does exist: Cradily.
I know what you must be thinking, right? This must be the weirdest team ever. Well guess what? You're wrong; I've built way weirder, but this is probably pretty high on the list. But there's still some more tweaking to be done!
As has been pointed out to me, Magnezone is tremendously redundant on this team since I already have plenty of Fire. I was asked to ditch it and replace it with a good supporting Cresselia.
Then to search for a Cradily replacement, since although it's nice, it doesn't work all that well - especially since sun weakens water moves anyway. I was torn between Shiftry and Virizion, since they both have their good points, but in the end, I sided with Shiftry, due to his ability to be a backup lead instead of Hitmontop.
...way too lazy to search for good art right now.
Volcarona @ Focus Sash
Timid Nature (+Spe -Atk); ability Flame Body (Has a 30% chance to counteract contact attacks with a burn)
EV Spread: 252 SpA 252 Spe 6 HP
Heat Wave // Quiver Dance // Bug Buzz // Protect OR Psychic
Nothing special here, just your basic Volcarona lead for VGC. Focus Sash is to ensure it lives at least once and may even give it the opportunity to crack off 1 Quiver Dance, which is really all it needs. Heat Wave and Bug Buzz are for some hard-core decimation - the former because it's an extremely strong STAB move in sun that sweeps the opponent's side, and the latter because it can pick off Psychics and other things which might otherwise threaten Hitmontop, and Psychic's just a good solid secondary move, although Protect always exists just in case.
Hitmontop @ Fighting Gem OR Sitrus Berry
Adamant Nature (+Atk -SpAtk); ability Intimidate (Lowers the Attack of all opponents by 1 stage upon being sent out)
EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 HP 6 Spe
Sucker Punch // Close Combat OR Mach Punch // Wide Guard // Fake Out
I actually haven't ever used Hitmontop myself, but I constructed this based on what I know about it. Hitmontop is the master of priority as far as VGC goes, so he does not really need to worry much about speed at all; all of the moves on this set are priority related. Fake Out is pretty obvious as to why it's there - one free turn. Wide Guard is what really helps Volcarona out here - it blocks Rock Slide, which is the moth's worst nightmare. Sucker Punch is especially irritating to counter such things like Chandelure, which otherwise absorbs Heat Wave, and Mach Punch is just a nice STAB coup de grace when need be. (I know Hitmontop gets Close Combat and I believe also Feint, but I'm not sure of the viability of either of those moves here.)
Ninetales @ Fire Gem
Timid Nature (+Spd -Atk); ability Drought (Makes the weather sunny upon entering battle)
EV Spread: 252 SpAtk 252 Spe 6 HP
Flamethrower OR Heat Wave // Energy Ball OR Solarbeam // Protect OR Hypnosis // Hidden Power GROUND OR Hypnosis
I'm kinda surprised as to this set idea myself, but I know Ninetales gets Hypnosis and I'd like to take full advantage of that, if possible. The main dilemma here is whether I opt for Flamethrower or Heat Wave; with Heat Wave I have a slight power and accuracy cut but will hit both opponents. Energy Ball is good for giving grief to other things that would otherwise hinder Ninetales (including other weather starters), and Protect is...well, Protect.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Timid Nature (+Spe -Atk); ability Flash Fire (Immune to Fire-type moves, and the first time user is hit by one, its own Fire-type moves get a 50% boost)
EV Spread: 252 SpAtk 252 Spe 6 HP
Flamethrower // Dragon Pulse OR Hidden Power ICE // Earth Power // Protect
RAWR HEATRAN! Like Volcarona, it's nothing out of the ordinary, so time to move on. I opted for Flamethrower over Heat Wave in this case because Heatran's better at precision.
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Bold Nature (+Def -Atk); ability Levitate (Receives no damage from Ground-type attacks)
EV Spread: 252 HP 6 Def 252 SpD
Psychic // Moonlight // Icy Wind OR Thunder Wave // Reflect OR Helping Hand
Cresselia is one of those things that's just plain annoying. It just sits there and sponges hits and it's nearly impossible to kill, but all the while it's supporting its teammates. That's always held true in VGCs even back to 2009, and it still holds true now. Psychic is basically a good solid STAB move; Moonlight is to keep it alive almost perpetually (since in sun Moonlight recovers 2/3 of the HP bar instead of 1/2); Thunder Wave is for crippling purposes although Icy Wind could accomplish that too - possibly better, since it hits Garchomp and T-Wave doesn't; and finally Reflect is to cover the glaring physical weaknesses this team has (it's Fire-type, so expect a lot of EQs and Rock Slides). Helping Hand's a maybe.
By the way, if anyone asks why it's Bold, that's the only nature of Cresselia I have on hand at present.
Shiftry @ Dark Gem
Adamant Nature (+Atk -SpAtk); ability Chlorophyll (Doubles Speed in sunlight)
EV Spread: 252 Atk 252 Spe 6 HP
Fake Out // Seed Bomb // Sucker Punch // Protect OR Explosion
Shiftry is like Bisharp in Sun - super-fragile but it hits with devastating power when it gets the chance - and with combined opportunities for Fake Out and Sucker Punch, it may very well do so. I might give him Focus Sash if I wanted to use Explosion (and with his respectable Attack stat, it's totally possible), but I'm not so sure. For now I'll stick with this and make tweaks where I need to. Set idea is really simple: Fake Out, Protect, and dual STAB (one of which is priority).
Cycled-out members:
Magnezone @ Shuca Berry
Modest Nature (+SpAtk -Atk); ability Magnet Pull (Prevents opposing Steel-types from switching out)
EV Spread: 252 HP 252 SpAtk 6 Spe
Thunderbolt // Thunder Wave // Hidden Power FIRE // Signal Beam OR Flash Cannon OR Volt Switch
Magnet Pull Magnezone on a sun team. Not exactly what you might expect, but that doesn't mean it can't work out. Scizor is something that's actually rather prevalent, so HP Fire can handle this guy with ease. It also helps to dispatch the odd Ferrothorn. (Hey, my Gengar had HP Fire at only 55 power and it was most appreciative to get rid of Scizor.) Other than that, this is your basic Magnezone, but I'm not sure what to do in regards to the last slot...
Cradily @ Leftovers
Bold Nature (+Def -Atk); ability Storm Drain (Draws and negates all Water-type damage against it, and raises SpAtk by 1 stage when this happens)
EV Spread: 252 HP 118 Def 140 SpD
Giga Drain // Sludge Wave // Earth Power // Protect OR Recover
I wish someone could tell me what I was smoking when I wrote this set. I wrote it way back when, and even now I am still a little confused at it. Anyway, the set is...well, fairly straight-forward. Giga Drain is your basic STAB attack. Sludge Wave is a nice spread to the whole field, and everyone on this team except for Volcarona can protect itself from this handily, making me incur minimal losses to my side. Earth Power is another good solid attack, and the last slot is for just getting a turn of Lefties or something. This Cradily is designed to be a little more offensive than most, so I'm not sure if I got the EVs quite right.
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Creds:
First I'd like to thank Yoshi for giving me several good ideas and inspiring me to build the team in the first place. But honestly, I'd also like to thank all the rest of you for the wonderful advice you've given me in helping to build my first ever sun team. You guys rock.
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As I may or may not have stated before, this is my very first experience with building an actual sun team, especially in regards to building it in VGC format - which, although I'm used to VGC, I haven't tried too many team styles in it. I do want to try and build a team that works not only in VGC but also in Singles if need be, but I asked Ruben and he said he preferred Doubles, so I built this to VGC standards.
I know there are several of you guys out there that are willing and able to give me pointers, so tell me how I can best improve this!
) and so I would use that. I've seen Substitute used to great success on Heatran before and so I would use it over Hidden Power/Dragon Pulse, but it's more of a personal preference and Hidden Power [Ice] would work well too. Don't use Dragon Pulse though, it doesn't hit as much as well.