forestflamerunner
Ain't no rest for the wicked
A rain dance thread has been much overdue, and since no one else has made one, i think i will do so now. this thread is meant to discuss the viability of rain dance in the fifth generation.
Effects
The Pokemon
as you can see, water types gain the most from the rain. however, some steel types gain quite a bit from the rain as well since they have one of their weaknesses( fire attacks) nuetralized. ice and grass types benefit for similar reasons. thanks to hydration and dry skin pokes, rain stall is now a definite possibility. i will split the thread up into two sections: offensive rain abusers, that use swift swim, the increased accuracy of hurricane and thunder, and the inrease in water type attacks to punch holes is opposing teams, and defensive abusers that use hydration, toxic, dry skin, waters great defensive typing, and the reduced power of fire type attacks to help whittle down the opponent. both of these pokes can be used on the same team for balence, or exclusively for either hyper offense or stall team types.
offensive
Politoed @ Choice Specs/scarf
Timid/Modest
Drizzle
252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Hydro Pump / Boiling Water / Surf
Ice Beam
Focus Blast
Hidden Power Grass/Electric
pretty much a mandate for any rain team. specs toad provides offensive pressure right off the bat thanks to choice specs. drizzle and choice specs raise hydro pumps power to such an extent that most pokemon will be at worst 2HKO'ed (excluding some special walls. hypro pump can be replaced with surf for a more accurate stab or boiling water, though boiling water is somewhat inferior on a choiced set. the next three moves are for coverage. ice beam is for dragons which you can probably outspeed if you are using choice scarf, focus blast is for ttar, while the last slot is for either swampert or gyarados, depending on if you choose hp grass or hp electric respectively.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
Ability: Swift Swim
6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
~Dragon Dance
~Waterfall
~Outrage
~Substitute
probably the most powerful rain dance sweeper out there. swift swim doubles its speed to astounding hights, which are then only boosted further by dragon dance. substitute is there to prevent status from interrupting your sweep, outrage for the dragon stab, waterfall to gain the rain boost and attack steel types that resist outrage, and dragon dance to boost stats.
Kabutops @Life Orb
Swift Swim
6hp/252SPA/252Spe
adamant
-Swords Dance
-Aqua Jet
-Stone Edge/Superpower
-Waterfall
kabutops can raise its attack stat to great hightsthanks to sword dance. addi on stab rain boosted aqua jet and you become a killing machine. waterfall is for a more powerful stab option and stone edge provides yet another stab though you may want to use superpower over stone edge to take on natorrei, something rain has trouble against. furthermore, if you so wish you can use stealth rock and rapid spin on kabutops for support options on hyper offense teams.
ludicolo@life orb
swift swim
32HP/252SPA/224SPE
modest
surf/hydro pump
energy ball
ice beam
brick break
most swift swimmers are primarily physically offensive. ludicolo provides one of the few viable special swift swimmers. it has great defensive typing allowing for multiple switches and its base 90 SPA provide a base for your sweep. surf/hypdro pump are your primary stab, while energy ball takes care of bulky waters that get in your way. ice beam is mostly for dragons and other flyings and brick break is to deal with ttar and special walls.
dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multi Scale
Nature: Rash
Evs: 252 SpA, 72 Atk, 184 Spd
-roost
-Thunder
-Windstorm
-Outrage
dragonite is one of the best dragons on a raindance team, excluding kingdra. with its new ability, multi scale, lets it take %)% damage when at full health. compine that with roost, and you have an exceptionally bulky dragon. thunder is used to take care of bulky waters and random flying pokes and outrage is for powerful stab. windstorm gets 100% accuracy in rain and helps take out roopushin, and hits nattorei the hardest of all of these moves.
scizor@choice band
technician
248HP/252ATK/8SPE
adamant
bullet punch
uturn
superpower
pursuit
the infamous CB scizor. in the rain, fire type attacks aare weakened and he is all the more deadly because of it. he can function as a great counter to various dragon types thanks to his typing and stab technician boosted bullet punch. uturn can really help with switching and makes it really easy to get in your favorite sweeper. pursuit helps deal with latias and other psychics while superpower is there to deal with other steel types.
latios@lifeorb
levitate
4HP/252SPA/252SPE/timid
dragon pulse
thunder
psycho shock
recover
latios works exceptionally well on rain dance teams. it packs resistances to both electric and grass attacks which is very useful for a rain dance team. dragon pulse is for obligatory stab, thunder is used to abuse the rain, and psychoshock is to help get around special walls like blissey. recover is used for bulk and to prevent lifeorb recoil from adding up to quickly.
dugtrio@choice band
arena trao
4HP/252ATK/252SPE
sucker punch
earthquake
stone edge
memento
a rain dance trapper. dugtrio can easily dispell of 4 of the five weather inducers, the exception being hippodon. earthquake cleans up politoed, ninetails, and ttar most of the time and stone edge massacres abomasnow. sucker punch is there mainly to help deal with some troublesome psychics like starmie, while momento can be used to help set up a sweep when dugtrio nears its dimise. just be sure not to use memento too quickly.
defensive
manaphy@ life orb
hydration
252SPA/176SP/80hp
tail glow
rest
ice beam
surf
manaphy is somewhat of a balence between offensive and defensive. 100/100/100 defenses are nothing to scoff at but tail glow is hard to overlook. I'm putting it in defense, so whatever. tail glow raises your special attack by +3, allowing you to do significant damge to even natorrei with surf, especially with a rain dance boost. ice beam is there mostly for coverage while rest is there to abuse hydration, which cures manaphy of its sleep each turn.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
-Surf/Boiling Water
-Wish
-Protect
-Roar/Hidden Power [electric]/Ice Beam
wish support for a rain dance team. hydration is an option, but generally manaphy is better as a hydration abuser. thanks to th changes wish underwent, it now restores half of Vaporeons HP. this means thatt vaporeon can pass 242 hp wishes to its teammates which is incredibly useful. boiling water is used to spread burns and for some stab while wish/protect are there to ensure recovery for vaporeon. roar is there to help phase and general utility, but if your team needs help with dragons or gyarados, ice bean and hp electric are options respectively.
(Parasect) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- X-Scissor/Aromatherapy/Aerial Ace
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Spore
the new primier subseeder for rain dance teams. ludicolo is now outclassed thanks to parasects since drizzle always keeps parasects ability, dry skin, active. x- scissor provides solid stab, though you can use aromatherapy for team support though it leaves you vulnerable to taunt. substitute and leach seed are self explanatory while spore provides guaranteed sleep, which also allows to put a sub up with ease. noteworthy fact is that, when it is raining, parasect actually gains hp on the turn it uses substitute thanks to dry skin, leach seed and leftovers.
Tentacruel
Rain Dish
Black Sludge
Calm
252 hp, 252 Special Defense
Surf
Toxic Spikes
Acid Bomb/Giga Drain
Rapid Spin/Giga Drain
Basic idea for any Tentacruel. Toxic Spikes to help you wittle the enemy for your team, Rapid Spin to save your team from hazard damage. The attacking moves, I use surf as boiling water is useless if your poisoning your enemy with the toxic spikes. Acid Bomb and Giga Drain are both awesome. Giga drain gives you great recovery, and Acid Bomb is just amazing in general, especially when the enemy switches into it.
Zapdos
Pressure (Volt Absorb if it gets released)
Left Overs
Calm/Bold
252 HP, Rest of EV's into defense of your choice
Thunder
Substitute
Roost
Toxic/HP Ice/HP Grass
This is the basic Sub Roost set. No need for heat wave due to it being in a rain team. This is a GREAT addition as it resists both GRASS and ELECTRIC type attacks that would be aimed at your other water types. Thunder with 100% accuracy in the rain. Toxic away and start sub roosting. Toxic is a good choice, but if you have toxic spikes on your team you can have room for more coverage through Hidden Power.
Slowbro/Leftovers
Regeneration
Bold/252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
~ Slack Off
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam / Psychic / HP Electric
~ Thunder Wave / Toxic / Yawn
has gotten a real boost this generation. with regeneration, it gains 33% of its hp upon switching out. combine that with slack off and you have a pretty sturdy wall. slack off is for recovery and surf is your primary stab. you then have your choice of status infliction.thunder wayve is better for offensive teams while toxic is good for stall. yawn can be used mostly to stop sweepers in their tracks. the choice between ice beam, hp electric, and psychic is entirely based on what your team needs remmoved. ice beam deals with all your dragans weith ease, hp electric takes on bulky waters while psychic mostly takes car of roopushin.
Natorei
Steel Thorns
Left Overs
Careful/Impish
252 HP, Rest of EV's into defense of your choice
Power Whip
Thunder Wave/Spikes/Stealth Rock
Leech Seed
Protect/Spikes/Stealth Rock
Typical Wall set. He resists the grass/electrric attacks aimed at the waters in a raindance team, and also benefits from the decrease in damage from fire type attacks. Another basic walling set, as with leech seed and left overs, he can get a few layers of spikes up with out dropping quickly at all. Thunderwave is also a great choice for incoming switches, although it really isn't THAT necessary as if you are running swift swimmers you are most likely going to outspeed the enemy anyways.
Foretress
Sturdy
Left Overs
Careful/Impish
252 HP, Rest of EV's into defense of your choice
Spikes/Toxic Spikes
Stealth Rock/Toxic Spikes
Earth Quake
Rapid Spin/Gyro Ball
This is another typical wall who sets spikes and stealth rock up. Nothing too new or different compared to his role in the previous generations. Set up hazards, and rapid spin the enemies hazards away. As noted, the only real difference from this set compared to the previous set is the fact that explosion is missing. Due to its nerf, it most likely is more useful to set up another layer of spikes.
latias@leftovers
bold/levitate
252HP/236DEF/20SPD
wish
protect
thunderwave/ toxic
draco meteor
latias, unlike its brother, has wish, which makesw it more inclined to run a defensive set. wish/protect is for wish passing (go figure). thunder wave or toxic is to spread status. the choice comes down to if you are running more of a stall team or an offensive team and you want to slow down your opponents. draco meteor is to pack a punch if you need to
bibliography
these are all the people from who'm i borrowed
norelationstojfk- i used the politoed set on his thread
steeldragon- i borrowed his kingdra set
boyofrito- for his kabutops set
super mario bro- for his moveset for vaporeon
G.I.R. for recomending superpower on kaputops
alphatron- for the parasect set
RaRaRabbit: for his analysis and movesets for zapdos tentacruel forretress and natorei
megan fox- for the slowbro moveset
Effects
- increases damage from water type attacks by 50%
- decreases damage from fire type attacks by 50%
- solar beam's base power is halved
- thunder and hurricane are 100% accurate
- pokemon with swift swim get their speed doubled
- pokemon with dry skin recover 12.5% of their hp each turn
- pokemon with hydration recover from stattus at the end of every turn, even self inflicted status conditions
- weather ball bbecomes a 100 base power water type move
- pokemon with rain dish recover 6.25% of health
- pokemon with the forecast ability become a water type
- synthesis moonlight and morning sun only recover 25% of their health
The Pokemon
as you can see, water types gain the most from the rain. however, some steel types gain quite a bit from the rain as well since they have one of their weaknesses( fire attacks) nuetralized. ice and grass types benefit for similar reasons. thanks to hydration and dry skin pokes, rain stall is now a definite possibility. i will split the thread up into two sections: offensive rain abusers, that use swift swim, the increased accuracy of hurricane and thunder, and the inrease in water type attacks to punch holes is opposing teams, and defensive abusers that use hydration, toxic, dry skin, waters great defensive typing, and the reduced power of fire type attacks to help whittle down the opponent. both of these pokes can be used on the same team for balence, or exclusively for either hyper offense or stall team types.
offensive
Politoed @ Choice Specs/scarf
Timid/Modest
Drizzle
252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Hydro Pump / Boiling Water / Surf
Ice Beam
Focus Blast
Hidden Power Grass/Electric
pretty much a mandate for any rain team. specs toad provides offensive pressure right off the bat thanks to choice specs. drizzle and choice specs raise hydro pumps power to such an extent that most pokemon will be at worst 2HKO'ed (excluding some special walls. hypro pump can be replaced with surf for a more accurate stab or boiling water, though boiling water is somewhat inferior on a choiced set. the next three moves are for coverage. ice beam is for dragons which you can probably outspeed if you are using choice scarf, focus blast is for ttar, while the last slot is for either swampert or gyarados, depending on if you choose hp grass or hp electric respectively.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
Ability: Swift Swim
6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
~Dragon Dance
~Waterfall
~Outrage
~Substitute
probably the most powerful rain dance sweeper out there. swift swim doubles its speed to astounding hights, which are then only boosted further by dragon dance. substitute is there to prevent status from interrupting your sweep, outrage for the dragon stab, waterfall to gain the rain boost and attack steel types that resist outrage, and dragon dance to boost stats.
Kabutops @Life Orb
Swift Swim
6hp/252SPA/252Spe
adamant
-Swords Dance
-Aqua Jet
-Stone Edge/Superpower
-Waterfall
kabutops can raise its attack stat to great hightsthanks to sword dance. addi on stab rain boosted aqua jet and you become a killing machine. waterfall is for a more powerful stab option and stone edge provides yet another stab though you may want to use superpower over stone edge to take on natorrei, something rain has trouble against. furthermore, if you so wish you can use stealth rock and rapid spin on kabutops for support options on hyper offense teams.
ludicolo@life orb
swift swim
32HP/252SPA/224SPE
modest
surf/hydro pump
energy ball
ice beam
brick break
most swift swimmers are primarily physically offensive. ludicolo provides one of the few viable special swift swimmers. it has great defensive typing allowing for multiple switches and its base 90 SPA provide a base for your sweep. surf/hypdro pump are your primary stab, while energy ball takes care of bulky waters that get in your way. ice beam is mostly for dragons and other flyings and brick break is to deal with ttar and special walls.
dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Multi Scale
Nature: Rash
Evs: 252 SpA, 72 Atk, 184 Spd
-roost
-Thunder
-Windstorm
-Outrage
dragonite is one of the best dragons on a raindance team, excluding kingdra. with its new ability, multi scale, lets it take %)% damage when at full health. compine that with roost, and you have an exceptionally bulky dragon. thunder is used to take care of bulky waters and random flying pokes and outrage is for powerful stab. windstorm gets 100% accuracy in rain and helps take out roopushin, and hits nattorei the hardest of all of these moves.
scizor@choice band
technician
248HP/252ATK/8SPE
adamant
bullet punch
uturn
superpower
pursuit
the infamous CB scizor. in the rain, fire type attacks aare weakened and he is all the more deadly because of it. he can function as a great counter to various dragon types thanks to his typing and stab technician boosted bullet punch. uturn can really help with switching and makes it really easy to get in your favorite sweeper. pursuit helps deal with latias and other psychics while superpower is there to deal with other steel types.
latios@lifeorb
levitate
4HP/252SPA/252SPE/timid
dragon pulse
thunder
psycho shock
recover
latios works exceptionally well on rain dance teams. it packs resistances to both electric and grass attacks which is very useful for a rain dance team. dragon pulse is for obligatory stab, thunder is used to abuse the rain, and psychoshock is to help get around special walls like blissey. recover is used for bulk and to prevent lifeorb recoil from adding up to quickly.
dugtrio@choice band
arena trao
4HP/252ATK/252SPE
sucker punch
earthquake
stone edge
memento
a rain dance trapper. dugtrio can easily dispell of 4 of the five weather inducers, the exception being hippodon. earthquake cleans up politoed, ninetails, and ttar most of the time and stone edge massacres abomasnow. sucker punch is there mainly to help deal with some troublesome psychics like starmie, while momento can be used to help set up a sweep when dugtrio nears its dimise. just be sure not to use memento too quickly.
defensive
manaphy@ life orb
hydration
252SPA/176SP/80hp
tail glow
rest
ice beam
surf
manaphy is somewhat of a balence between offensive and defensive. 100/100/100 defenses are nothing to scoff at but tail glow is hard to overlook. I'm putting it in defense, so whatever. tail glow raises your special attack by +3, allowing you to do significant damge to even natorrei with surf, especially with a rain dance boost. ice beam is there mostly for coverage while rest is there to abuse hydration, which cures manaphy of its sleep each turn.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
-Surf/Boiling Water
-Wish
-Protect
-Roar/Hidden Power [electric]/Ice Beam
wish support for a rain dance team. hydration is an option, but generally manaphy is better as a hydration abuser. thanks to th changes wish underwent, it now restores half of Vaporeons HP. this means thatt vaporeon can pass 242 hp wishes to its teammates which is incredibly useful. boiling water is used to spread burns and for some stab while wish/protect are there to ensure recovery for vaporeon. roar is there to help phase and general utility, but if your team needs help with dragons or gyarados, ice bean and hp electric are options respectively.
(Parasect) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 160 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- X-Scissor/Aromatherapy/Aerial Ace
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Spore
the new primier subseeder for rain dance teams. ludicolo is now outclassed thanks to parasects since drizzle always keeps parasects ability, dry skin, active. x- scissor provides solid stab, though you can use aromatherapy for team support though it leaves you vulnerable to taunt. substitute and leach seed are self explanatory while spore provides guaranteed sleep, which also allows to put a sub up with ease. noteworthy fact is that, when it is raining, parasect actually gains hp on the turn it uses substitute thanks to dry skin, leach seed and leftovers.
Tentacruel
Rain Dish
Black Sludge
Calm
252 hp, 252 Special Defense
Surf
Toxic Spikes
Acid Bomb/Giga Drain
Rapid Spin/Giga Drain
Basic idea for any Tentacruel. Toxic Spikes to help you wittle the enemy for your team, Rapid Spin to save your team from hazard damage. The attacking moves, I use surf as boiling water is useless if your poisoning your enemy with the toxic spikes. Acid Bomb and Giga Drain are both awesome. Giga drain gives you great recovery, and Acid Bomb is just amazing in general, especially when the enemy switches into it.
Zapdos
Pressure (Volt Absorb if it gets released)
Left Overs
Calm/Bold
252 HP, Rest of EV's into defense of your choice
Thunder
Substitute
Roost
Toxic/HP Ice/HP Grass
This is the basic Sub Roost set. No need for heat wave due to it being in a rain team. This is a GREAT addition as it resists both GRASS and ELECTRIC type attacks that would be aimed at your other water types. Thunder with 100% accuracy in the rain. Toxic away and start sub roosting. Toxic is a good choice, but if you have toxic spikes on your team you can have room for more coverage through Hidden Power.
Slowbro/Leftovers
Regeneration
Bold/252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
~ Slack Off
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam / Psychic / HP Electric
~ Thunder Wave / Toxic / Yawn
has gotten a real boost this generation. with regeneration, it gains 33% of its hp upon switching out. combine that with slack off and you have a pretty sturdy wall. slack off is for recovery and surf is your primary stab. you then have your choice of status infliction.thunder wayve is better for offensive teams while toxic is good for stall. yawn can be used mostly to stop sweepers in their tracks. the choice between ice beam, hp electric, and psychic is entirely based on what your team needs remmoved. ice beam deals with all your dragans weith ease, hp electric takes on bulky waters while psychic mostly takes car of roopushin.
Natorei
Steel Thorns
Left Overs
Careful/Impish
252 HP, Rest of EV's into defense of your choice
Power Whip
Thunder Wave/Spikes/Stealth Rock
Leech Seed
Protect/Spikes/Stealth Rock
Typical Wall set. He resists the grass/electrric attacks aimed at the waters in a raindance team, and also benefits from the decrease in damage from fire type attacks. Another basic walling set, as with leech seed and left overs, he can get a few layers of spikes up with out dropping quickly at all. Thunderwave is also a great choice for incoming switches, although it really isn't THAT necessary as if you are running swift swimmers you are most likely going to outspeed the enemy anyways.
Foretress
Sturdy
Left Overs
Careful/Impish
252 HP, Rest of EV's into defense of your choice
Spikes/Toxic Spikes
Stealth Rock/Toxic Spikes
Earth Quake
Rapid Spin/Gyro Ball
This is another typical wall who sets spikes and stealth rock up. Nothing too new or different compared to his role in the previous generations. Set up hazards, and rapid spin the enemies hazards away. As noted, the only real difference from this set compared to the previous set is the fact that explosion is missing. Due to its nerf, it most likely is more useful to set up another layer of spikes.
latias@leftovers
bold/levitate
252HP/236DEF/20SPD
wish
protect
thunderwave/ toxic
draco meteor
latias, unlike its brother, has wish, which makesw it more inclined to run a defensive set. wish/protect is for wish passing (go figure). thunder wave or toxic is to spread status. the choice comes down to if you are running more of a stall team or an offensive team and you want to slow down your opponents. draco meteor is to pack a punch if you need to
bibliography
these are all the people from who'm i borrowed
norelationstojfk- i used the politoed set on his thread
steeldragon- i borrowed his kingdra set
boyofrito- for his kabutops set
super mario bro- for his moveset for vaporeon
G.I.R. for recomending superpower on kaputops
alphatron- for the parasect set
RaRaRabbit: for his analysis and movesets for zapdos tentacruel forretress and natorei
megan fox- for the slowbro moveset
