What it does
Drought summons harsh sunlight the moment the user enters the field, lasting 5 turns, at no action-turn cost. While sun is active:
- All Fire-type moves (physical and special) deal ×1.5 damage; Water-type moves deal ×0.5;
- Solar Beam and Solar Blade skip their charge turn entirely;
- Chlorophyll doubles Speed; Solar Power boosts Sp. Atk ×1.5 (at the cost of 1/8 HP per turn);
- Opposing Drizzle and Swift Swim benefits are suppressed as long as sun holds.
Let's put numbers to it. Take Charizard Mega Y (Sp. Atk 159, Drought locked in via Charizardite Y and the Omni Ring) using Fire Blast (base power 110). Damage rolls in this game span 85–100% in 16 even steps. Without sun, the highest rolls land around 67% of an uninvested target's HP. With the ×1.5 sun multiplier, those same rolls become roughly 100–100%+ — the OHKO line shifts from "threatening at high roll" to "guaranteed at almost any roll." That's the real value: sun doesn't just chip a little harder, it moves the one-hit kill threshold for an entire category of targets.
Chlorophyll is equally dramatic. Venusaur has a base 80 Speed. Under sun that becomes equivalent to 160 — enough to outspeed Weavile (125), Garchomp (102), and virtually every non-Scarfed threat on the ladder without spending a single Stat Points allocation on Speed.
The difference from manually using Sunny Day is exactly one turn. Sunny Day burns your action; Drought doesn't. That freed turn is an attack — and at Lv50 damage ranges, one attack often determines who's still alive to contest weather on the next turn.
Who runs it
Weather setters
- Torkoal (Drought): maximum physical bulk (Defense 135 base), making it the most durable dedicated setter. Runs Stealth Rock for passive chip in singles or pivots to entry-hazard roles. Its job in singles is "come in, set sun, absorb one hit, leave." In doubles it often stays longer because opponents have to split damage. Excellent candidate for heavy physical Defense Stat Points investment — getting it to tank even one extra hit extends your sun window significantly.
- Ninetales (Kanto, Drought): faster option at 100 base Speed, which sometimes lets it act before your opponent can move. Pairs Will-O-Wisp and Hypnosis for disruption — Champions caps sleep at 3 turns and paralysis only fully stops movement 12.5% of the time, so don't overweight these. Its strength is flexible pivoting, not raw stats.
- Charizard Mega Y (via Charizardite Y): the gold standard. Entering Mega Evolution locks its ability to Drought, and at 159 Sp. Atk it is simultaneously your setter and your primary attacker. No other Mega Stone choice puts you both in control of weather and at the top of the damage chart in one slot.
Sun abusers
- Venusaur (Chlorophyll): the textbook partner for Torkoal in doubles. With sun up, it hits Speed 160, uses Growth to double both offenses in one turn, then fires Solar Beam at base 120 with zero charge — two turns from entry to threatening a clean sweep. It doesn't share Mega Charizard Y's Water weakness either, making the pairing genuinely complementary defensively.
- Lilligant (Chlorophyll): singles-focused. Quiver Dance + sun speed lets it sweep after one setup, and Sleep Powder before opponents move forces favorable exchanges. Its paper-thin Defense means it needs sun to already be established before it enters.
- Houndoom Mega (Solar Power): under sun, Solar Power pushes its Sp. Atk into extreme territory. The 1/8 HP per turn drain means after 5 turns of sun it has lost 5/8 total health just from the ability — treat it as a closer, not a lead, and only bring it in when you're confident you need two or three more KOs to seal the game.
How to use it
Singles: the weather trade
The core decision in a mirror-weather matchup comes down to one rule: whoever switches in their weather setter last has active weather. A complete singles framework:
- Turn 1 — bring in your Drought user, sun is up, attack immediately or pivot;
- Opponent reads this and switches in Drizzle or Sand Stream — sun is gone;
- Your decision point: switch the Drought user back in (costs a pivot, extends sun 5 more turns) or commit to KOing their setter before it can act again?
If their weather setter is weakened, KOing it is usually correct — that removes the threat permanently. If it's healthy, re-establishing sun can be worth it, especially if your Fire-types would hit 0.5× under their weather. The key read is how many sun turns you've already used. If you've gotten 3 clean turns, you've likely already made progress; if you're at turn 1 and they immediately cover, you need the KO.
Doubles: the simultaneous entry
The ideal doubles turn-1 sequence: Torkoal and Venusaur enter together. Torkoal's entry sets sun — it doesn't need to do anything else. Venusaur, now at effective Speed 160, fires Solar Beam at a target with no charge. Opponent faces a 159-Sp. Atk Charizard Mega Y equivalent threat arriving the same turn sun goes up.
Support tools that make this safer: Fake Out (from Incineroar or similar) can freeze one opponent for the turn, ensuring Torkoal survives to take its hit instead of being immediately KO'd before the sun is "used." Wide Guard blocks opposing spread moves that could otherwise eliminate both of your leads at once.
Critical warning: Earthquake hits your ally in doubles. Torkoal has no Ground immunity. Plan your coverage moves around this — don't accidentally have your own Venusaur use Earthquake and clip Torkoal.
Tips & strategy
Respect the 5-turn clock. Every turn you spend on a switch, a healing item, or a non-damaging move under sun is a turn you chose not to attack at ×1.5 Fire power. Map out turns 1–5 before the match: turns 1–3 should be maximum-pressure attacks, turns 4–5 are for clean-up or forced pivots. If your plan requires setup moves under sun, calculate whether the payoff arrives before the clock runs out.
Counter-weather awareness. Sand Stream and Drizzle switch-ins immediately overwrite your sun. Identify the opposing weather setter at Team Preview and treat it as your primary elimination target. Two Drought users in your team (e.g., Mega Charizard Y + Torkoal) gives you a re-entry option, but burns two team slots — weigh that against bringing a second attacker instead.
Cloud Nine and Air Lock suppress all weather effects while the user is on the field, but don't clear the weather state. Once they're KO'd, your remaining sun turns resume. Don't panic when Cloud Nine comes in — just remove it and your sun picks back up exactly where it left off.
The beginner autopsy: wrong entry order. The single most common sun-team error is switching in Chlorophyll mons before establishing sun. Speed priority is calculated at the start of each turn — if your Chlorophyll sweeper entered the field while it was still raining (or weather-neutral), its Speed is normal that turn, meaning faster opponents move first and may KO it before it can act. The fix is simple: your Drought setter must enter first (or simultaneously in doubles). Once sun is up, the Chlorophyll mon enters and immediately enjoys double Speed on its first active turn. Get this order wrong once in a high-stakes game and you'll never do it again.
The hard counter: Desolate Land. Primal Groudon's Desolate Land is not the same thing as Drought. It cannot be overwritten by any other weather, and it makes Water-type moves deal exactly zero damage (not ×0.5 — literally fail). If your current Ranked Battles regulation allows it, do not try to Drizzle over it. Your only answer is KOing the Groudon. Regular Drought has none of that protection — any weather switch-in beats it — so never mistake durability of your sun for permanence.