Legendary Pokémon

Well, nowadays, there are too many Tyranitares and - specially - Politoeds everywhere, in almost every team. So, I decided to build a team specially for countering them - and fighting other general kinds of teams, of course.

Here it goes, my not-totally-sun-based-team, any help is appreciated.

Donphan
Impish@Leftovers
Sturdy
252 HP, 252 Def, 6 SDef
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Shard

I need a rapid spinner because of the many fire pokemon I´m using this time. Donphan has a great ability, great walling capacities - although no many resistances as Forretress, Bronzong and Ferrothorn -, and has also access to Stealth Rock, sparing me a slot... so I won´t need to use another pokemon for Stealth Rock.

Ninetales
Timid@Leftovers
Drought
6 HP, 252 SDef, 252 Spd
- Flamethrower
- Solarbeam
- Toxic
- Protect

I won´t use it as my lead because, if I´m not mistaken, when two pokemon with weather-changing abilities are sent out at the same time, the ability of the slower one will prevail. Ninetales is faster than them, so... With 252 EVs in SDef, it is able to survive even 2 Hydro Pumps, if Sunny Day is on. It can stall pretty well with Toxic+Protect+Leftovers. Flamethrower and Solarbeam are for attacking, of course.

Tangrowth
Jolly@Leftovers
Chlorophyll
80 HP, 252 Def, 176 Spd
- Power Whip
- Earthquake
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed

With this EV distribution, Tangrowth can outspeed any pokemon with 130 base stat of speed when Sunny Day is on. Its defence is pretty nice. Its attack is not that great, but since it´s using powerful moves, it can deal some decent damage.

Espeon
Timid@Life Orb
Magic Bounce
6 HP, 252 SAtk, 252 Spd
- Psycho Shock
- Hidden Power Fire
- Morning Sun/Wish
- Calm Mind

Its special purpose is to reflect Stealth Rock, Spikes, Spore, Leech Seed, anything back to its user. Morning Sun heals 2/3 of the max HP when Sunny Day is on. Hidden Power Fire is specially for dealing with the usual steel pokemon that use Stealth Rock. I prefered Psycho Shock over Psychic because it can hit well pokemon with high SDef, but no Def, like Blissey.

Chandelure
Timid@Choice Scarf
Flash Fire
80 HP, 252 SAtk, 176 Spd
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Psychic
- Hidden Power Ground

Simply an amazing special sweeper, spinblocker and a counter to many fire pokemon.

Volcarona
Modest@Focus Sash
Flame Body
6 HP, 252 SAtk, 252 Spd
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic

Focus Sash could save my life many times in online battles... it ensures Volcarona will survive enough to use its Quiver Dance or attack.

Well, in general, that´s it... While testing, I saw that one of this teams flaws is a lack of specially defensive pokemon, mainly, something able to survive fire moves, boosted by my own Sunny Day. I was thinking about replacing something with Snorlax.

Anyway, do you have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Hey,I think that you must find a way to deal with Politoed since you don't have something that can really beat it.I hope you can deal TTar with Donphan although i'm not sure because 3 of your pokemon are countered by TTar.You should also remove Chandelure or Volcarona so that you don't have 3 fire types and 4 weaknesses to water.I also believe that you should consider changing Tangrowth with Venusaur since Venusaur has better offensive stats,movepool and it is much more balanced defensively.Gengar could be an effective spinblocker although it won't have good synergy with your other members.Generally speaking,this team can be improved a lot and i think you can do it with some more work on it.Keep trying

^ I agree with dropping one of the Fire-types due to a lot of common weaknesses. I'd probably drop Chandelure since it shares weaknesses with Espeon. Venusaur may also be a better choice offensively and it has access to Growth to boost its offensive stats. If you are building the team in-game though, Tangrowth will have to do.

Also, something that people overlook. The Grass-type move you use on Ninetales is mainly for hitting Politoed and Tyranitar/Hippowdon. If you use SolarBeam as they switch in, the weather changes and you are stuck there with a charging move, waiting to be KOed. That's why Energy Ball is a much better move on Ninetales.

I wouldn't use Calm Mind on Espeon. Espeon is really susceptible to revenge killing so I find a set-up set quite dangerous. Substitute or a third attack would be better imo.

Another Pokémon you could consider is Dugtrio but that would mean dropping Donphan probably. Fire-types, especially ones with Flash Fire can really ruin your team, walling your own Fire- and Grass-types. Dugtrio is great at revenge killing Pokémon like Heatran and Chandelure.

As for a Politoed counter, Ferrothorn may be good. Ferrothorn already dies to any Fire move so the sun won't really hurt it. It can also carry Stealth Rock if you drop Donphan.

Hello, guys, thanks for analyzing already, hehe! Well, I feel a little stupid now. I was building a team for countering Sandstorm/Rain Dance based teams, but I didn´t not choose any counter to Politoed lol

Well, about the Tangrowth stuff... Tangrowth has access to Chlorophyll and its physical bulkiness is much superior than Venusaur´s. And it is a good counter to Tyranitar and other ground/rock pokemon. Plus, it resists Earthquake, while Venusaur doesn´t.

Of course, Tangrowth looks better in theory, I´ll try Venusaur later. I´ll test the Ninetales stuff. Usually, with Ninetales, something like this happens:

- Foe is using Politoed against some random pokemon of mine.
- I switch out to Ninetales, which can take some Scald/Surf/Hydro Pump/Ice Beam (lol) thanks to Drought.
- Ninetales uses Solarbeam, or foe switch out to something else which takes Solarbeam.

It´s just to use prediction, not to use Solarbeam if it is obvious that the foe is gonna switch back to Politoed.

Venusaur also has chlorophyll and is much better than tangrowth for an offensive team thanks to its movepool.I'll edit this post to write more things later since i don't have much time at the moment.