SM Doubles OU Sun Offense

Hey guys,
I recently started to play doubles OU with a new sun offense team that I created. This team revolves around the CharY+heatran core and I have been having a lot of fun with it. Do keep in mind that I'm new to this tier and don't know a lot about it.


Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Focus Blast
- Solar Beam
- Protect

This is a standard chary set with focus blast. Since I wanted a team based around weather when I started, CharY popped into mind along with heatran as I remember both of them were used a lot during VGC 2014. Even though charY usually ran hp ground, i switched it for focus blast to help deal with steel types against rain teams and when opponents carried wide guard.



Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 8 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Flash Cannon

This is a standard heatran set with flash cannon over hp ice/ solarbeam. This is because charY already supports this team with Solarbeam to deal with ground types along with zapdos to deal with water types, and since i alreay have around 3 flying types, one of them being landorus-t, I didn't feel it necessary to use it. So I decided to put in flash cannon instead to help deal with lele easier especially psyspam teams.



Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 156 SpA / 28 SpD
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect

After I made my Off core, I decided to make a defensive core around tapu fini to help my fire mons by easily taking water moves. This tapu fini set with calm mind helps by setting up calm mind and ploughing through opponent teams later.



Zapdos @ Misty Seed
Ability: Static
EVs: 244 HP / 136 Def / 80 SpD / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
- Tailwind
- Roost
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

After Fini I wanted a def mon which could provide tailwind support and zapdos came to mind. This mon is primarily used to deal with bulky water types and provide tailwind support to my team. This mon also helps the team deal with lando and chomp and takes attacks from them due to its bulkiness. and hits them back harder if they outspeed.



Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower

After I decided my first 4 mons, i needed a scarf mon that would help me deal with opposing landorus and tapu koko. So, I decided to use landorus-t. Most games landorus's main role is to click eq besides my flying mons while they help deal with the threats against landorus.



Marshadow @ Marshadium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Spectral Thief
- Shadow Sneak
- Hidden Power [Ice]

For my last mon, I wanted a mon with good offensive abilities with a good priority move that also helped deal with landorus-t. So I decided to use marrshadow. Originally, it had life orb over marshadium z but then I switched it over coz I needed the raw power of his z move to plough throught he oppoents.

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heat Wave
- Focus Blast
- Solar Beam
- Protect

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 8 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Heat Wave
- Protect
- Flash Cannon

Zapdos @ Misty Seed
Ability: Static
EVs: 244 HP / 136 Def / 80 SpD / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
- Tailwind
- Roost
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 156 SpA / 28 SpD
Modest Nature
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Calm Mind
- Protect

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Superpower

Marshadow @ Marshadium Z
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Spectral Thief
- Shadow Sneak
- Hidden Power [Ice]


Do you guys have any suggestions to improve my team?
 
Last edited:

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Hey, sorry for the somewhat delayed reply. Your team looks pretty good for someone who just started the tier though ;3! I think Charizard is fading out as a sun setter, and in fact sun is fading out as an archetype, due to the increased usage of Stealth Rocks - but I'll rate the team for what it is, a Charizard Sun team.

In terms of the overall structure of the team, it's pretty neat! The only thing I'd point out is that Tapu Fini seems a little passive compared to the rest of the team, what with the Sun + Tailwind offense. Having Tapu Fini in next to Zapdos can really be a momentum drain on your team, and can waste Tailwind turns. Tapu Fini's slower method of offense where it spends turns building up CM boosts before attacking can easily let opponents gain an edge on the rest of your (not very bulky) team. As such, I'd suggest Tapu Lele over Tapu Fini. You can run it with either a bulkier Mago / Sitrus Berry or LO set, but it does more immediate damage than Fini and gets that offensive advantage from its terrain, all that good stuff. You could even run Calm Mind Tapu Lele, which aims not to boost up a lot and become super bulky but just nab a free turn to amplify its damage output even more. If you make this change, remember to use Psychic Seed on Zapdos over Misty Seed (for the same effect)!

On to finer points: your sets are generally pretty neat but I'll touch on some small oddities here and there. Focus Blast on Charizard, while an interesting option, is generally not very effective in practice since the only Pokemon it hits which your Fire-type moves don't hit is Heatran. Since you already have Landorus-T and Marshadow as offensive checks to Heatran, and your own Heatran as a softer check, I don't think this is absolutely necessary - rather, you could try Tailwind for more speed control or (more commonly used) Overheat for a one-use nuke. Charizard is a bit on the squishier side of Megas anyway, so Overheat lets you get almost a guaranteed OHKO on any resist before you go down. As for its EV spread, I generally prefer a bulkier spread on Charizard, and I know a few players have been trying 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SAtk as a Charizard spread, since its Sun-boosted attacks still do so much damage (and Solar Beam is still a 2HKO on most relevant Water-types, anyway).

Similarly, you may want to take a closer look at Heatran, which seems like it's your main stop to psyspam teams. A little bit more bulk investment may go a long way on Heatran, especially if you're going to be taking repeated Psychic-type attacks in Terrain (this is especially true if you change your Tapu Fini to Tapu Lele). The last time I used a bulky Heatran, it was 228 HP / 8 Def / 20 SpA / 252 Spe with a Timid Nature. Then again, that was like back in March. Heatran's really fallen out of fashion nowadays, since most people resort to other Steel-types which check psyspam more easily, like Celesteela or Aegislash or Mega Scizor. Aegislash could be a consideration over Heatran since it brings Wide Guard support for Charizard and Zapdos and also helps to check psyspam more easily, though that does cut down on your offensive presence.

Finally, a small nitpick about Marshadow. While it's not exactly a glass cannon, it appreciates having Protect as people who realise how threatening a Pokemon it can be will tend to target it down rather aggressively. Therefore, I'd recommend using Protect over Hidden Power Ice, since your team has a number of ways to deal with Landorus-T and Mega Salamence anyway: HP Ice on Zapdos and Intimidate from Landorus-T, plus the Z-Move from Marshadow does a good chunk. You could alternatively remove Shadow Sneak if you switch to Tapu Lele and find that its terrain is hindering you.

That's all I have, good luck with your team!
 

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