Sunny Day!
With so much talk of the power of Rain Dance in RU, it is surprising that hardly anyone has brought up the possibility of Sunny Day. I am guessing this is down to the fact that the premier Chlorophyll sweepers are still hanging out in OU and UU while most of the Swift Swim sweepers are already nice and cosy in RU.
Sun's potential in RU is huge thanks to a lack of Dragon types and a limited number of viable Fire type counters, giving Chlorophyll sweepers great opportunities to sweep with their Grass STAB and boosted Fire type attacks. There is no Sun equivalent of Rain's nemesis 'Ferroseed' to sit their ass down and resist every attack either (thank Heatran for having no babies) so once a Sun team gets going it has the potential to be even more devastating than Rain.
While the likes of Venusaur, Volcarona and Heatran are stuck in OU, powerful sweepers such as Sawsbuck, Tangrowth and Charizard are all coming down to mix it up in RU. In the meantime we will have to give a chance to some unfamiliar Sun sweepers but don't be fooled into thinking they can't rip a team to shreds.
Sun Summoners
There are many great support Pokemon who didn't make the cut for UU, and why not make good use of them on your Sun team!
Cresselia is a fantastic Sunny Day user. Not only does it refuse to die, it can use the Sun to replenish 2/3 of its health with Moonlight. It has an expansive support movepool including Dual Screens, Thunder Wave, Gravity, Safeguard, Magic Coat, Trick and Trick Room. It also has access to the legendary Lunar Dance which can give one of your sweepers a second chance at sweeping. Cresselia is suitable for more defensively conscious Sun teams because of its access to instant healing to reliably stay alive for longer as well as a movepool that can let it fend for itself.
Uxie is your go-to support Pokemon in RU. With Dual Screens, Magic Coat, Heal Bell, Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, Yawn, Trick, Trick Room and U-turn as well as massive bulk, Uxie can almost guarantee a successful set up. Uxie also has access to Memento, a perfect way to bow out and get one of your sweepers set up easily. More suited to hyper-offense Sun teams because of its greater support movepool and lack of recovery, it has less staying power compared to Cresselia.
Claydol
Murkrow
Chlorophyll Sweepers
One of the great advantages of playing with Sun is that most abusers can do more than just go all out hyper-offense. Sleep Powder, Aromatherapy, Trick Room, Leech Seed, Nature Power, Synthesis, Morning Sun, Dual Screens, Healing Wish, Quiver Dance, Gravity, Tailwind, Torment, Explosion, Sucker Punch, Worry Seed; these are all attacks that Chlorophyll sweepers have access to that can either support themselves or support the team and it gives them a devastating versatility that Swift Swimmers can only dream of. Most Chlorophyll sweepers also have access to Growth, which doubles both Attack and Special Attack when used in the Sun, making attacks hard to stomach as any switch-in will be ruthlessly targetted on their weaker defence stat. All of this means that Sun teams have reliable alternate answers to problems if hyper-offense isn't working out.
Lilligant is one of the most versatile Chlorophyll sweepers in the whole game. Not only does it get the perfect set up move in Quiver Dance, it also has access to Sleep Powder to drop any potential road-blocks that may get in the way. Great Speed and high Special Attack make it extremely threatening offensively but its support movepool is what makes it borderline ridiculous. In addition to Safeguard, Stun Spore, Light Screen and Leech Seed; Aromatherapy lets it double up as a cleric as well as an unstoppable sweeper, Synthesis helps it perform defensive duties, and it has Healing Wish to bow out in the most terrifying way possible: reviving a dying team-mate to bring on the pain all over again!
Shiftry is a demented monster boasting good offensive stats on both sides and access to a great movepool. On the physical side it gets Swords Dance, Seed Bomb, Sucker Punch, Low Kick, Nature Power (Earthquake), Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Faint Attack as well as Explosion! On the special side it has Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, Leaf Storm, Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, Solarbeam and of course Hidden Power. Add Growth into the mix as well as Chlorophyll boosted speed and it becomes obvious why Shiftry is an absolute juggernaut in the Sun. Sucker Punch means Shiftry is capable of sweeping without Sun too. Support options such as Leech Seed, Knock Off, Synthesis, Tailwind, Torment, Power Swap and Whirlwind keep it as unpredictable as any Chlorophyll sweeper.
Exeggutor is often forgotten when it has one of the greatest Special Attack stats in the game, as well as a decent Attack stat. Once Chlorophyll fixes its speed it can use its extensive movepool to muscle through any threat. Physically, Exeggutor has Wood Hammer, Nature Power (Earthquake), Low Kick, Seed Bomb, Zen Headbutt, and Explosion to leave a dent in things. Swords Dance patches up its decent Attack to hit hard. On the special side, Giga Drain, Psychic, Psyshock, Leaf Storm, Sludge Bomb, AncientPower, Grass Knot, Solarbeam and of course Hidden Power are all at its disposal. Unfortunately Exeggutor does not get Growth or any move to boost its special stats. It should be noted that Exeggutor has a diverse support movepool in Sleep Powder, Gravity, Leech Seed, Dual Screens, Power Swap, Synthesis, Trick Room and Wish! Its Dreamworld ability Harvest makes a supporting role feasable.
Fire Power
Chlorophyll Grass types are the only ones to benefit. Fire types get a power boost to their STAB moves while losing a Water weakness. This makes them a different kind of beast to face in the Sun.
Moltres is already one of the most powerful special sweepers in RU and Sun makes it almost uncounterable. In Sun, Moltres can freely use its powerful Fire Blast that will sting even resists. It has quite a unique defensive typing that make it an excellent pivot and its ability allow it to PP stall many Pokemon out of a threatening move. Choice sets can take advantage of the excellent U-turn and it even has Solarbeam if you wish to take full advantage of the Sun. It also has nice support options in Safeguard, Will-O-Wisp, Tailwind, Roar and Morning Sun making it very versatile.
Entei, as if its Flare Blitzes weren't powerful enough, Sunny Day takes pain to a whole new level. Entei is able to boost up with Howl or Flame Charge and use its physical movepool which includes Flare Blitz, ExtremeSpeed, Stone Edge, Bulldoze and Iron Head. Entei also has great options on the special side with Calm Mind to boost its bulk and power, the ability to make 101 HP Substitutes, great Base 100 Speed, and just the coverage it needs in Fire Blast, Solarbeam, Hidden Power, Extrasensory and Shadow Ball. With no Water weakness, CM Entei is even harder to stop in the Sun.
Emboar
Magmortar
Typhlosion
Stopping the Sun
Sun is not without counters in RU. Most Chlorophyll sweepers will have to carry a Hidden Power to threaten Fire types and a lot of the time they suffer from coverage issues because they can only choose one Hidden Power. One of Sun's greatest strengths is the availability of Sleep Powder to most sweepers which lets them shut down a potential counter, but there are still threats that must be overcome before a Sun team can truly be successful.
Munchlax is the bulkiest Pokemon in RU. Make no mistake when you face this thing because its special bulk is almost untouchable. Its ability, Thick Fat, lets it shrug off Fire attacks and it is a complete counter to Moltres thanks to access to Whirlwind, Rock Slide, Body Slam, Rest and Sleep Talk. Sleeping this thing doesn't stop it from phazing or crippling you with Paralysis which spells trouble for the vast majority of Chlorophyll sweepers. Powerful physical attacks can break Munchlax down but its access to recovery and a lack of powerful Fighting moves on most Sun sweepers mean that Munchlax is likely to stay around for a while. Expect to meet a lot of Munchlax originally employed to take down Yanmega.
Altaria is the only Dragon/Flying type in the tier and its good special bulk allows it to tank hits from most Sun sweepers. Access to Heal Bell and Natural Cure also means it is pretty much impervious to status and with reliable healing it can support its team well. Altaria likes to Toxic stall and often has Flamethrower in its arsenal to roast Steel and Poison types, a move that will be boosted in the Sun against your own sweepers. What's more, Altaria can forgo Natural Cure for Cloud Nine to negate any advantage the Sun may have brought while it is out. Again powerful physical attacks will bring it down but many Sun sweepers lack the moves to significantly dent Altaria.
Lickilicky
Closing Comments
The real beauty of the RU tier is that a player who wants to use a weather team must work hard to get the weather up, to keep it up, and to address the weaknesses of that playstyle all the while knowing that the team must be able to pull together when the weather inevitably ends. This makes playing with weather fun and challenging, and also extremely rewarding if you can pull it off; as it always was back in DPPt OU and UU.
One advantage of playing with Sunny Day is that it eats annoying Hail teams for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also match up favourably against Rain teams because many Chlorophyll sweepers are usable outside of Sun.
So do you see real potential in a Sunny Day based team? Has the possibilities got you drooling or are you as unconvinced as ever at a playstyle that generally requires greater planning and set up? Also feel free to post any interesting sets you have had success with! Will try to include good sets in OP.
With so much talk of the power of Rain Dance in RU, it is surprising that hardly anyone has brought up the possibility of Sunny Day. I am guessing this is down to the fact that the premier Chlorophyll sweepers are still hanging out in OU and UU while most of the Swift Swim sweepers are already nice and cosy in RU.
Sun's potential in RU is huge thanks to a lack of Dragon types and a limited number of viable Fire type counters, giving Chlorophyll sweepers great opportunities to sweep with their Grass STAB and boosted Fire type attacks. There is no Sun equivalent of Rain's nemesis 'Ferroseed' to sit their ass down and resist every attack either (thank Heatran for having no babies) so once a Sun team gets going it has the potential to be even more devastating than Rain.
While the likes of Venusaur, Volcarona and Heatran are stuck in OU, powerful sweepers such as Sawsbuck, Tangrowth and Charizard are all coming down to mix it up in RU. In the meantime we will have to give a chance to some unfamiliar Sun sweepers but don't be fooled into thinking they can't rip a team to shreds.
Sun Summoners
There are many great support Pokemon who didn't make the cut for UU, and why not make good use of them on your Sun team!
Cresselia is a fantastic Sunny Day user. Not only does it refuse to die, it can use the Sun to replenish 2/3 of its health with Moonlight. It has an expansive support movepool including Dual Screens, Thunder Wave, Gravity, Safeguard, Magic Coat, Trick and Trick Room. It also has access to the legendary Lunar Dance which can give one of your sweepers a second chance at sweeping. Cresselia is suitable for more defensively conscious Sun teams because of its access to instant healing to reliably stay alive for longer as well as a movepool that can let it fend for itself.
Uxie is your go-to support Pokemon in RU. With Dual Screens, Magic Coat, Heal Bell, Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, Yawn, Trick, Trick Room and U-turn as well as massive bulk, Uxie can almost guarantee a successful set up. Uxie also has access to Memento, a perfect way to bow out and get one of your sweepers set up easily. More suited to hyper-offense Sun teams because of its greater support movepool and lack of recovery, it has less staying power compared to Cresselia.
Claydol
Murkrow
Chlorophyll Sweepers
One of the great advantages of playing with Sun is that most abusers can do more than just go all out hyper-offense. Sleep Powder, Aromatherapy, Trick Room, Leech Seed, Nature Power, Synthesis, Morning Sun, Dual Screens, Healing Wish, Quiver Dance, Gravity, Tailwind, Torment, Explosion, Sucker Punch, Worry Seed; these are all attacks that Chlorophyll sweepers have access to that can either support themselves or support the team and it gives them a devastating versatility that Swift Swimmers can only dream of. Most Chlorophyll sweepers also have access to Growth, which doubles both Attack and Special Attack when used in the Sun, making attacks hard to stomach as any switch-in will be ruthlessly targetted on their weaker defence stat. All of this means that Sun teams have reliable alternate answers to problems if hyper-offense isn't working out.
Lilligant is one of the most versatile Chlorophyll sweepers in the whole game. Not only does it get the perfect set up move in Quiver Dance, it also has access to Sleep Powder to drop any potential road-blocks that may get in the way. Great Speed and high Special Attack make it extremely threatening offensively but its support movepool is what makes it borderline ridiculous. In addition to Safeguard, Stun Spore, Light Screen and Leech Seed; Aromatherapy lets it double up as a cleric as well as an unstoppable sweeper, Synthesis helps it perform defensive duties, and it has Healing Wish to bow out in the most terrifying way possible: reviving a dying team-mate to bring on the pain all over again!
Shiftry is a demented monster boasting good offensive stats on both sides and access to a great movepool. On the physical side it gets Swords Dance, Seed Bomb, Sucker Punch, Low Kick, Nature Power (Earthquake), Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Faint Attack as well as Explosion! On the special side it has Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, Leaf Storm, Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, Solarbeam and of course Hidden Power. Add Growth into the mix as well as Chlorophyll boosted speed and it becomes obvious why Shiftry is an absolute juggernaut in the Sun. Sucker Punch means Shiftry is capable of sweeping without Sun too. Support options such as Leech Seed, Knock Off, Synthesis, Tailwind, Torment, Power Swap and Whirlwind keep it as unpredictable as any Chlorophyll sweeper.
Exeggutor is often forgotten when it has one of the greatest Special Attack stats in the game, as well as a decent Attack stat. Once Chlorophyll fixes its speed it can use its extensive movepool to muscle through any threat. Physically, Exeggutor has Wood Hammer, Nature Power (Earthquake), Low Kick, Seed Bomb, Zen Headbutt, and Explosion to leave a dent in things. Swords Dance patches up its decent Attack to hit hard. On the special side, Giga Drain, Psychic, Psyshock, Leaf Storm, Sludge Bomb, AncientPower, Grass Knot, Solarbeam and of course Hidden Power are all at its disposal. Unfortunately Exeggutor does not get Growth or any move to boost its special stats. It should be noted that Exeggutor has a diverse support movepool in Sleep Powder, Gravity, Leech Seed, Dual Screens, Power Swap, Synthesis, Trick Room and Wish! Its Dreamworld ability Harvest makes a supporting role feasable.
Fire Power
Chlorophyll Grass types are the only ones to benefit. Fire types get a power boost to their STAB moves while losing a Water weakness. This makes them a different kind of beast to face in the Sun.
Moltres is already one of the most powerful special sweepers in RU and Sun makes it almost uncounterable. In Sun, Moltres can freely use its powerful Fire Blast that will sting even resists. It has quite a unique defensive typing that make it an excellent pivot and its ability allow it to PP stall many Pokemon out of a threatening move. Choice sets can take advantage of the excellent U-turn and it even has Solarbeam if you wish to take full advantage of the Sun. It also has nice support options in Safeguard, Will-O-Wisp, Tailwind, Roar and Morning Sun making it very versatile.
Entei, as if its Flare Blitzes weren't powerful enough, Sunny Day takes pain to a whole new level. Entei is able to boost up with Howl or Flame Charge and use its physical movepool which includes Flare Blitz, ExtremeSpeed, Stone Edge, Bulldoze and Iron Head. Entei also has great options on the special side with Calm Mind to boost its bulk and power, the ability to make 101 HP Substitutes, great Base 100 Speed, and just the coverage it needs in Fire Blast, Solarbeam, Hidden Power, Extrasensory and Shadow Ball. With no Water weakness, CM Entei is even harder to stop in the Sun.
Emboar
Magmortar
Typhlosion
Stopping the Sun
Sun is not without counters in RU. Most Chlorophyll sweepers will have to carry a Hidden Power to threaten Fire types and a lot of the time they suffer from coverage issues because they can only choose one Hidden Power. One of Sun's greatest strengths is the availability of Sleep Powder to most sweepers which lets them shut down a potential counter, but there are still threats that must be overcome before a Sun team can truly be successful.
Munchlax is the bulkiest Pokemon in RU. Make no mistake when you face this thing because its special bulk is almost untouchable. Its ability, Thick Fat, lets it shrug off Fire attacks and it is a complete counter to Moltres thanks to access to Whirlwind, Rock Slide, Body Slam, Rest and Sleep Talk. Sleeping this thing doesn't stop it from phazing or crippling you with Paralysis which spells trouble for the vast majority of Chlorophyll sweepers. Powerful physical attacks can break Munchlax down but its access to recovery and a lack of powerful Fighting moves on most Sun sweepers mean that Munchlax is likely to stay around for a while. Expect to meet a lot of Munchlax originally employed to take down Yanmega.
Altaria is the only Dragon/Flying type in the tier and its good special bulk allows it to tank hits from most Sun sweepers. Access to Heal Bell and Natural Cure also means it is pretty much impervious to status and with reliable healing it can support its team well. Altaria likes to Toxic stall and often has Flamethrower in its arsenal to roast Steel and Poison types, a move that will be boosted in the Sun against your own sweepers. What's more, Altaria can forgo Natural Cure for Cloud Nine to negate any advantage the Sun may have brought while it is out. Again powerful physical attacks will bring it down but many Sun sweepers lack the moves to significantly dent Altaria.
Lickilicky
Closing Comments
The real beauty of the RU tier is that a player who wants to use a weather team must work hard to get the weather up, to keep it up, and to address the weaknesses of that playstyle all the while knowing that the team must be able to pull together when the weather inevitably ends. This makes playing with weather fun and challenging, and also extremely rewarding if you can pull it off; as it always was back in DPPt OU and UU.
One advantage of playing with Sunny Day is that it eats annoying Hail teams for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also match up favourably against Rain teams because many Chlorophyll sweepers are usable outside of Sun.
So do you see real potential in a Sunny Day based team? Has the possibilities got you drooling or are you as unconvinced as ever at a playstyle that generally requires greater planning and set up? Also feel free to post any interesting sets you have had success with! Will try to include good sets in OP.
