Introduction
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Team Building Process
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To be honest I didn’t initially decide that this would be a Rain Dance team. I started off with a Latias and Scizor core which both feed off each other’s weaknesses. One focuses on the physical spectrum while the other is specially based. I knew that they were both capable sweepers as I had been on the receiving end of a couple of them. Scizor immediately offered the much needed dragon resist and Latias gave me the equally important fighting and electric resist.
With Latias and Scizor covering many crucial resistances in the team there was little need for a dedicated wall. I decided that instead I would find a Pokemon that would benefit both Scizor and Latias. The dominant weather strategy was playing through my brain during the whole process and in the end I decided that I would join the crowd. It still needed to benefit my core and also allow me to abuse it.
While I do have Pokemon that abuse the Rain I don’t have anyone whose ability is being abused. I knew that Swift Swimmer’s were banned simultaneously so I looked to a different ability. Rain Dish didn’t really have an impact on the opponent so the last real Rain ability to abuse is Dry Skin. At first it may seem like a poorer Swift Swim but I believe that it works so much better in Rain. The recovery, immunities and the fact that the Pokemon that got it were considerably bulkier than those that got Swift Swim I thought that it would only be a matter of time before it would get its turn in the limelight. It is for that reason Toxicroak found its way on this team.
I had heard how well Specs Dragonite worked on a Rain team so I decided to chuck him in. I guess with the almost meant for moveset to abuse it isn’t hard to see why it is the crux of Rain teams. His great special attack and speed as well as a reasonable amount of bulk meant that he could hold his own while still dealing with threats.
Shaymin-S is a behemoth to be reckoned with. His blistering speed coupled with that stellar special attack stat and high base power STAB moves means that he found his way on this team. He has the perfect BST placement, abusable movepool and looks like Rudolph! How much more perfect could a Pokemon get?
Mamoswine replaces Shaymin-S after the ban. Mamoswine is an overlooked Pokemon as it is. When I tell people that I run a Choice Scarf set they usually laugh, but once they see how well it works they start running them in their own team. Gifted with arguably the best dual STAB in the game, a colossal attack stat and acceptable speed he can be a juggernaut and revenge so many Pokemon.
Dragonite wasn’t working for me, so I decided to find another Pokemon that used the weather to abuse its moveset. Who else but Rotom-W? Everyone knows that its dual STAB is beneficial under Rain and with incredible bulk he is able to knock off heaps of threats. Nice resistances and only one weakness meant that it was going to be an effort to dismount.
Mamoswine was nice, but with only a resistance to Ice and Poison, an immunity to Electric and countless weaknesses to omnipresent types mean that he was pretty hard to switch in. Even his great dual STAB and Attack stat coupled with a Choice Scarf just wasn't enough. Tornadus is an absolute monster on a Rain team. He earnt his place on this team, even though he has some nasty weaknesses to the likes of Stealth Rocks, thanks to the fact he's got STAB Hurricane to spam.
Latios' immediate raw power meant he was able to hold his own without the level of set up Latias required. This usually lead to earlier sweeps and with only a couple points less in special defense, nothing much drastic changed. Also the multitude of Choice Specs Latios meant that the unpredictability of this set allowed for Substitute to easily be set up on numerous occasions. A free Substitute usually means a free Calm Mind so it is a lot easier a task to set Latios up that his little sister.
I desperately needed an Electric resist and I the only replacable Pokemon left was the amazing Tornadus. However with the addition of Garchomp I'm sure he won't be missed to badly. Garchomp not only absorbs Electric attacks, he also slaughters Sand teams which only makes my job of setting up Rain easier. Garchomp offers his plethora of options, whether they are prying teams open for a Rain sweep or absorbing a Thunderbolt to make things easier for me.
Team At A Glance
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In Depth Analysis
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Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 88 SAtk / 168 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Rest
- Protect
- Toxic
- Scald
Politoed is the almighty Rain caster. Being the only Pokemon to fulfill his job, there was no other choice. Politoed is nothing to scoff at though, sporting greater defenses then Abomasnow and Ninetales as well as having the type advantage over Hippowdon, Tyranitar and Ninetales and losing only to Abomasnow, the lesser used abuser. Politoed also has a great abusable movepool unlike Ninetales, and can fulfill a plethora of roles, whether a support or offensive one. Politoed is used to scout teams and attacks as well as absorbing a hit or two on the special side.
Politoed's set functions to give him a range of options against most Pokemon, whether glass cannons or dedicated walls. Protect allows him to scout against threatening Pokemon such as Choice Band Terrakion, allowing him to switch to a suitable counter. In tandem with Toxic, Protect lets him stall out Toxic damage as well. Toxic is great against walls and weather bringers. Hippowdon, Tyranitar and Ninetales all don't appreciate damage from Toxic and find it difficult winning the weather war in most situations. Scald is my choice of attack for Politoed, sporting a healthy 30% chance to burn. It receives a double STAB from the Rain, meaning that it isn't just a pushover. The burn allows him to cripple the likes of Choice Band Scizor and relatively any other physical attacker who doesn't have Guts. Finally Rest was chosen just for that second chance against other weather teams. Many don't expect that Politoed carries Rest, meaning they sacrifice their Pokemon just to kill it. Rest also allows Politoed to sponge status, a major problem for my team.
The type advantage over Sand and Sun teams makes Politoed an immediate counter to both inducers. Most will begin the match by keeping their weather caster away, and really in turn can be crippling to their own team. Having Rain up should really be no problem 99.9% of the time, just beware of uncommon strategies such as Focus Sash Reversal Dugtrio + Pursuit Tyranitar or Perish Song Shadow Tag Gothitelle or even Focus Sash Endeavor Ice Shard Mamoswine, because they could really end Politoed's reign as the supreme weather caster.
Latios (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 16 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
Latios has secured his place as the hardest hitter in OU. His special attack hitting 130 and speed at 110 means that not much hits harder than him or outspeeds him. Latios uses Rain to his advantage much like the others on this team. With rain up that means a couple of good things for Latios. The first is that there is no Tyranitar ruining his fun. The second is that the weather isn’t countering Leftover recovery. Latios' set doesn't fear most other Latios, seeing as how he outruns all others that run Hidden Power Fire. His surprise factor also forces many careless mistakes from my opponent, giving me an even easier time to set up. Most expect a Choice Specs set, meaning they switch to a reliable counter only to give me a free Substitute.
Latios is one of the powerhouses of this team. Substitute is the move that makes this set work. Most people tend to run Refresh, but I guess that is there loss. Substitute means that there is no freezing coming from a move like Ice Beam, no Nattorei’s Leech Seeding me and most importantly no critical hits to ruin my time and effort put into setting Latios up. Substitute also protects Latios from Tyranitar's Pursuit, allowing him to flee until the time is right to clean up. With a great base speed and a reliable recovery move in Recover Latios is able to get himself out of seemingly the most dire of situations. Calm Mind is the best statistic boosting move in the game, with most Pokemon blessed with it being also blessed with great statistic allocation and moveset. Dragon Pulse is my choice of move. The boosts, STAB and lack of resists means that nothing, except maybe specially defensive Jirachi and Heatran, Chansey and Blissey, and Sturdy Pokemon such as Skarmory can survive a Dragon Pulse.
Latios handles Ninetales as well as Sun teams with ease. The Grass and Fire moves that Sun teams heavily rely on are easily sponged by Latios, who can continue to Calm Mind away. Latios can also put a big dent in Hippowdon, who can't really do much except Yawn or occasionally Ice Fang him.
Scizor (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
Scizor was the epitome of 4th generation. His usage was often outrageous, with almost every team carrying one. His great typing leaves him with only one weakness. However Scizor uses the Rain as a shield against fire moves, nulling them down to 2x super effective. This means that Scizor finds it a lot easier to handle threats he normally wouldn’t be able to. He is my only Dragon resist, but I see little reason to run another. His ability Technician allows him to easily abuse priority moves, giving him the upper hand, not having to invest in speed and focusing on defenses instead.
Scizor provides the perfect partner to Latios in everyway. They have amazing synergy, allowing me to make them the focal point of my team. One focuses on using physical attacks to break down teams, while the other focuses on using special attacks, once again complementing one another to overcome the strongest of cores. With Swords Dance and two STAB moves, one with priority, the opponent is in for a world of pain. Swords Dance's +2 is incredibly daunting to face, especially coming off a 130 attack statistic. Scizor punches holes in teams with ease, and only really fears Heatran, Chandelure and Volcarona. Roost once again give my sweeper a solid form of recovery, increasing Scizor's longevity. Scizor's Bullet Punch is one of only three other Pokemon who receive STAB from it. However with Technician he outclasses the other users in every way. Bullet Punch is not to be confused with other priorities as being weak. With a STAB and Technician boost, Bullet Punch sees itself being stronger than half the moves in Scizor's arsenal. Bug Bite was chosen to receive the Technician boost as well as offering a pseudo form of recovery. Scizor has the odd chance of receiving a Lum Berry from formidable sweepers, which really helps when he's been burnt or paralysed.
Scizor handles one of the biggest threats to this team, Tyranitar. Whether he Bullet Punches him or Bug Bites him, most Tyranitar won't stay it, unless they are running Choice Scarf Fire Blast. If they are running a Choice Scarf variant, they are very easy to work around. Scizor just needs to find the right opportunity to Swords Dance to swing the momentum in my favour. Scizor also handles the rare Abomasnow with ease. He can practically decimate an entire Snow team with one Swords Dance, thanks to Bullet Punch.
Rotom-W @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
Rotom-W's new asset in its typing has blessed him with a lot more usage. His new Electric/Water typing offers him a much better set of resistances than Ghost/Electric did. His ability Levitate is often for-granted, with people forgetting that it covers up one of his weaknesses. With his ability he is left with only one 4x weakness, and when coupled with his amazing bulk means that it won't be an easy feat defeating him. His abysmal speed statistic however is crippling, especially in metagame that is dominated by speed.
Rotom-W was honestly created to be abused on Rain teams. Looking as his movepool the two most stand out moves have to be Thunder and Hydro Pump. Under Rain Rotom-W receives a 100% accurate Thunder and a double boosted Hydro Pump. Not to mention that Electric + Water grants very good coverage. Hydro Pump is usually always the move I chose when I predict a switch, seeing as it will hit most Pokemon harder than Thunder will. Thunder however does come in handy, especially with the 30% to paralyse the opponent. Trick was chosen to cripple the likes of Blissey and Chansey. They can provide a major problem for this team if not handled properly. When used with Skarmory the core seems even harder to take down. However there is a simple way to lure out Chansey or Blissey for the Trick. I find myself switching Rotom-W into Skarmory while he sets up a layer of Spikes. If they do the right thing and predict a Thunder, they will almost always go to Chansey or Blissey, unless they pack something like Gastrodon. Volt Switch more than anything is a filler but actually allows Rotom-W to put massive holes in opponents team as well as scout his team and switch to a reliable counter.
Rotom-W provides another sound check to Sand teams, sporting an immunity to the omnipresent Ground type. He mocks the likes of Landorus and Excadrill and forces switches which can work in my favour. Rotom-W also handles opposing Rain teams with ease, firing off Thunder's and Hydro Pump's continuously.
Toxicroak (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Sucker Punch
- Drain Punch
Toxicroak hasn't seen any usage this generation, and why that is I am unaware. Many seem much more fascinated in the ability Swift Swim to actually care about Toxicroak. Many are yet to fully understand his ability, Dry Skin. Offering not only a 1/8th recovery but also a Water immunity makes him a no brainer on a Rain team, sponging those boosted Hydro Pump's and Scald's as well as using the Rain to his advantage. His typing leaves him with great resistances to the dangerous Fighting and Stone STAB of Terrakion, but also gives him a nasty weakness to Ground moves. His lackluster attack and paper thin defenses also leave him vulnerable without any prior boosts to his attack or defense. However once he gets going there is no stopping him.
Toxicroak's movepool, while being shallow, has the right tools needed to get the job done. Substitute works wonderfully in tandem with his ability. With a Substitute costing 1/4 of his Health Points and Dry Skin healing 1/8 of his health each turn, Toxicroak can constantly set up Substitute's until the opponent finally decides to either switch or boost his own attack. Letting Toxicroak get behind a Subtitute can be deadly. With Bulk up, he boosts his mediocre attack and defense to obscene levels, allowing him to even withstand the blunt force of Garchomp and Haxorus' Earthquake. Drain Punch offers him another reliable form of recovery as well as a great STAB move. With the healing from his ability as well as the Drain Punch recovery, Toxicroak could very well go from having 1 Health Point to being back at 100%. Sucker Punch is by far the best move Toxicroak could have asked for. WIth his 4x Psychic weakness, Espeon and the likes constantly try to switch in and kill Toxicroak. However to there surprise they soon discover that getting rid of Toxicroak won't be that easy, getting OHKO'ed by Sucker Punch.
Toxicroak provides yet another Tyranitar counter, giving me an easier time against Sand teams. However, don't forget that Tyranitar can in fact run Earthquake. While most don't there is a possibility that one will and you don't want to stupidly lose Toxicroak.
Garchomp (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Garchomp, much like Latios, is renowned for his hard hitting and lightning fast speed. His typing offers a lot to this team, but none more so than his Electric immunity. With great statistic allocation, movepool, typing and ability, Garchomp truly is the whole package. Sand Veil sees him as my primary Sand counter, usually switching straight into Tyranitar before setting Rain up if I see a lack of Skarmory or Hippowdon to phaze him. Many times Garchomp usually ends Sand teams who are more interested in winning the weather war than actually winning the game, awarding me with easy 6-0's. Garchomp's movepool was chosen to dispose of Sand teams rather than use the Rain to his advantage. Out of all the Pokemon he is the only one who doesn't gain an advantage from Rain. In fact he actually gains a 2x weakness to Water moves. Despite this Garchomp still holds this spot securely.
Garchomp's movepool isn't all too extensive, but what he has is all he needs. Swords Dance allows him to break stall teams and overpower Sand teams once Garchomp is behind a Substitute. Substitute serves many crucial roles and is the epitome of the set. Not only does it protect Garchomp from status and critical hits, it also functions in tandem with Sand Veil to give him free opportunities to set up. A miss on Garchomp could easily means its game over, seeing as after +2 he 2HKO's standard Gliscor. Outrage offers him his most powerful and reliable move. Sporting a 120 BP STAB move with minimal repercussions is really helpful for to tear through teams. Blindly unleashing Outrage's works more often than not, thanks to the lack of Dragon resistors that are viable outside of Ferrothorn, Skarmory and the occasional Bronzong. The choice of Outrage over Dragon Claw was pretty simple to me. I would rather get confused every so often than not have the power to cleanly dispose of threats. A clean KO is much preferred, seeing as there's no use in not being confused if you can't even overcome certain threats. Earthquake coupled with Outrage gives Garchomp a strong dual STAB moveset and good coverage. With both moves over 100 BP Garchomp decimates the opponents team. Skarmory is a major problem for Garchomp, but with Politoed and Rotom-W, Skarmory more often than not will be dead long before Garchomp is revealed.
A fourth Tyranitar counter never hurts. With over 2/3's of my team being able to handle Tyranitar, he finds it hard to even switch in and set up Sand, unless he sacrifices something to bring him in free. Once again Garchomp provides a great Sand counter but also a reasonable Sun counter. Dual Dragon's are really intimidating for Sun, seeing as how one is usually difficult to handle alone, let alone two of the greatest suspects.
Threats
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More of a nuisance than anything else. The only one that is annoying is the SubDisable set. It can come in on Garchomp, Latias and Toxicroak, outspeed and Substitute, before disabling my only means of damaging him. However there isn't much he can do in return, seeing as how they tend to carry Psychic + Focus Blast.
Once again this guy is a pain rather than a threat. I consider him a pain in all my teams, because now that he got Shadow Tag back he can trap and KO anything he wants. The worse is when he traps Scizor, seeing as how he is my one and only much needed dragon resist. I don't know why anyone would create such a troll Pokemon in the first place.
Tyranitar is a pain. He is so far the only threat I have encountered. He carries Pursuit and can trap Latias if I don't have a Substitute up, can hurt Toxicroak + Mamoswine with Earthquake and Superpower respectively and the odd Fire Blast can hurt Scizor a lot, seeing as how the weather is now Sandstorm. The special defense boost doesn't help in my task to take him down. Luckily Toxicroak can Drain Punch, due to the fact that Earthquake is very uncommon, but he is troublesome.
Importable
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Final Glance
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Hello
As you know I have had some relative success on PO with my other team PhD in Pokemon Studies. I decided I would try out Rain, seeing as after its neutering from Aldaron's proposal it hasn't seen much usage. With Swift Swimmer's aside many for Rain to have nothing much to offer in comparison to Sun and Sand, whom still both have their Chlorophyll and Sand Rush sweepers respectively. After testing I started to get a firm grasp on what Rain is about. Unlike Sand, Rain isn't meant to be used only for abilities. Rain is overpowered because of secondary features to it. Such seemingly simple things such as a boosted Scald or nullified Flamethrower is what is so menacing about Rain. When coupled with abilities such as Swift Swim, Pokemon could essentially be receiving a Choice Band/Specs and 2 Choice Scarf's boosts together. From experience we've seen that Swift Swim isn't what makes Pokemon broken. Take for example Manaphy, the only Pokemon to be considered broken under Rain. His ability Hydration was more than enough to get him into Ubers, highlighting the vast options that Rain has.
Testing this team was extensive and panned from before Aldaron's proposal all the way to the banning of Garchomp. It really has held up during all the commotion of the metagame and really didn't find any problems amidst new and potent sweepers. This team peaked #1 at Pokemon Online, Smogon University and PokeBattleCenter numerous times under the alts Dezza, Dezza Laa and Of Mice and Men, even sporting a 100% win rate at PBC.
Weather has kind of toned down since the beginning of the metagame when every team carried a weather counter. No doubt that weather is still out there, it’s just not as common. This was inevitably going to happen as the metagame developed and new amazing sets are being discovered. Stall has also been scarcely seen with the amount of power this metagame is producing in some sweepers. Dominating the scene right now if I had a say in it would have to be fast paced offense. Ones that benefit from others downfalls and weaknesses and can blast a hole through opponents that resists that move anyway. But as I said the metagame is still trying to find its way around town and will settle shortly after all the bans and tiers are settled, which can only mean that there will be new threats as over powered ones go into Ubers.
I had a formula for building this team again, much like my other team. It wasn’t so much a formula, more that I knew what I wanted. Each Pokemon needed to abuse Rain in one form or another, whether it is their ability, moveset or weaknesses. Whilst saying that I didn’t want everyone to have abilities, moves and weaknesses to abuse in one as I saw that as rather idiotic. I also didn’t want too many water Pokemon, even though they possess the abilities to be abused under rain and tend to be the backbone of most teams. I tried to keep it at Politoed + 1 at most and in that way I eliminated my electric and grass weakness that most Rain Dance teams tend to carry. I needed someone to take status as always and I needed a core of a couple of Pokemon that feed off each other’s weaknesses to open more chances to set up and sweep. Important resistances such as dragon, ice and fighting are a must. This is where I think most teams fail. They don't cover the most common types this metagame and therefore are overpowered by them and eventually win. Most importantly though, if you want them to wall important types like dragon and fighting, they need recovery, or a secondary resist, otherwise they will slowly die and soon they won't be able to wall even the type they're trying to wall effectively. This then opens up a gap for them to sweep you cold.
So go ahead and critise and nitpick and dismantle my team, so long as you give me a rate!
As you know I have had some relative success on PO with my other team PhD in Pokemon Studies. I decided I would try out Rain, seeing as after its neutering from Aldaron's proposal it hasn't seen much usage. With Swift Swimmer's aside many for Rain to have nothing much to offer in comparison to Sun and Sand, whom still both have their Chlorophyll and Sand Rush sweepers respectively. After testing I started to get a firm grasp on what Rain is about. Unlike Sand, Rain isn't meant to be used only for abilities. Rain is overpowered because of secondary features to it. Such seemingly simple things such as a boosted Scald or nullified Flamethrower is what is so menacing about Rain. When coupled with abilities such as Swift Swim, Pokemon could essentially be receiving a Choice Band/Specs and 2 Choice Scarf's boosts together. From experience we've seen that Swift Swim isn't what makes Pokemon broken. Take for example Manaphy, the only Pokemon to be considered broken under Rain. His ability Hydration was more than enough to get him into Ubers, highlighting the vast options that Rain has.
Testing this team was extensive and panned from before Aldaron's proposal all the way to the banning of Garchomp. It really has held up during all the commotion of the metagame and really didn't find any problems amidst new and potent sweepers. This team peaked #1 at Pokemon Online, Smogon University and PokeBattleCenter numerous times under the alts Dezza, Dezza Laa and Of Mice and Men, even sporting a 100% win rate at PBC.
Weather has kind of toned down since the beginning of the metagame when every team carried a weather counter. No doubt that weather is still out there, it’s just not as common. This was inevitably going to happen as the metagame developed and new amazing sets are being discovered. Stall has also been scarcely seen with the amount of power this metagame is producing in some sweepers. Dominating the scene right now if I had a say in it would have to be fast paced offense. Ones that benefit from others downfalls and weaknesses and can blast a hole through opponents that resists that move anyway. But as I said the metagame is still trying to find its way around town and will settle shortly after all the bans and tiers are settled, which can only mean that there will be new threats as over powered ones go into Ubers.
I had a formula for building this team again, much like my other team. It wasn’t so much a formula, more that I knew what I wanted. Each Pokemon needed to abuse Rain in one form or another, whether it is their ability, moveset or weaknesses. Whilst saying that I didn’t want everyone to have abilities, moves and weaknesses to abuse in one as I saw that as rather idiotic. I also didn’t want too many water Pokemon, even though they possess the abilities to be abused under rain and tend to be the backbone of most teams. I tried to keep it at Politoed + 1 at most and in that way I eliminated my electric and grass weakness that most Rain Dance teams tend to carry. I needed someone to take status as always and I needed a core of a couple of Pokemon that feed off each other’s weaknesses to open more chances to set up and sweep. Important resistances such as dragon, ice and fighting are a must. This is where I think most teams fail. They don't cover the most common types this metagame and therefore are overpowered by them and eventually win. Most importantly though, if you want them to wall important types like dragon and fighting, they need recovery, or a secondary resist, otherwise they will slowly die and soon they won't be able to wall even the type they're trying to wall effectively. This then opens up a gap for them to sweep you cold.
So go ahead and critise and nitpick and dismantle my team, so long as you give me a rate!
Team Building Process
..........
To be honest I didn’t initially decide that this would be a Rain Dance team. I started off with a Latias and Scizor core which both feed off each other’s weaknesses. One focuses on the physical spectrum while the other is specially based. I knew that they were both capable sweepers as I had been on the receiving end of a couple of them. Scizor immediately offered the much needed dragon resist and Latias gave me the equally important fighting and electric resist.
With Latias and Scizor covering many crucial resistances in the team there was little need for a dedicated wall. I decided that instead I would find a Pokemon that would benefit both Scizor and Latias. The dominant weather strategy was playing through my brain during the whole process and in the end I decided that I would join the crowd. It still needed to benefit my core and also allow me to abuse it.
While I do have Pokemon that abuse the Rain I don’t have anyone whose ability is being abused. I knew that Swift Swimmer’s were banned simultaneously so I looked to a different ability. Rain Dish didn’t really have an impact on the opponent so the last real Rain ability to abuse is Dry Skin. At first it may seem like a poorer Swift Swim but I believe that it works so much better in Rain. The recovery, immunities and the fact that the Pokemon that got it were considerably bulkier than those that got Swift Swim I thought that it would only be a matter of time before it would get its turn in the limelight. It is for that reason Toxicroak found its way on this team.
I had heard how well Specs Dragonite worked on a Rain team so I decided to chuck him in. I guess with the almost meant for moveset to abuse it isn’t hard to see why it is the crux of Rain teams. His great special attack and speed as well as a reasonable amount of bulk meant that he could hold his own while still dealing with threats.
Shaymin-S is a behemoth to be reckoned with. His blistering speed coupled with that stellar special attack stat and high base power STAB moves means that he found his way on this team. He has the perfect BST placement, abusable movepool and looks like Rudolph! How much more perfect could a Pokemon get?
Mamoswine replaces Shaymin-S after the ban. Mamoswine is an overlooked Pokemon as it is. When I tell people that I run a Choice Scarf set they usually laugh, but once they see how well it works they start running them in their own team. Gifted with arguably the best dual STAB in the game, a colossal attack stat and acceptable speed he can be a juggernaut and revenge so many Pokemon.
Dragonite wasn’t working for me, so I decided to find another Pokemon that used the weather to abuse its moveset. Who else but Rotom-W? Everyone knows that its dual STAB is beneficial under Rain and with incredible bulk he is able to knock off heaps of threats. Nice resistances and only one weakness meant that it was going to be an effort to dismount.
Mamoswine was nice, but with only a resistance to Ice and Poison, an immunity to Electric and countless weaknesses to omnipresent types mean that he was pretty hard to switch in. Even his great dual STAB and Attack stat coupled with a Choice Scarf just wasn't enough. Tornadus is an absolute monster on a Rain team. He earnt his place on this team, even though he has some nasty weaknesses to the likes of Stealth Rocks, thanks to the fact he's got STAB Hurricane to spam.
Latios' immediate raw power meant he was able to hold his own without the level of set up Latias required. This usually lead to earlier sweeps and with only a couple points less in special defense, nothing much drastic changed. Also the multitude of Choice Specs Latios meant that the unpredictability of this set allowed for Substitute to easily be set up on numerous occasions. A free Substitute usually means a free Calm Mind so it is a lot easier a task to set Latios up that his little sister.
I desperately needed an Electric resist and I the only replacable Pokemon left was the amazing Tornadus. However with the addition of Garchomp I'm sure he won't be missed to badly. Garchomp not only absorbs Electric attacks, he also slaughters Sand teams which only makes my job of setting up Rain easier. Garchomp offers his plethora of options, whether they are prying teams open for a Rain sweep or absorbing a Thunderbolt to make things easier for me.
Team At A Glance
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In Depth Analysis
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Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 88 SAtk / 168 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Rest
- Protect
- Toxic
- Scald
Politoed is the almighty Rain caster. Being the only Pokemon to fulfill his job, there was no other choice. Politoed is nothing to scoff at though, sporting greater defenses then Abomasnow and Ninetales as well as having the type advantage over Hippowdon, Tyranitar and Ninetales and losing only to Abomasnow, the lesser used abuser. Politoed also has a great abusable movepool unlike Ninetales, and can fulfill a plethora of roles, whether a support or offensive one. Politoed is used to scout teams and attacks as well as absorbing a hit or two on the special side.
Politoed's set functions to give him a range of options against most Pokemon, whether glass cannons or dedicated walls. Protect allows him to scout against threatening Pokemon such as Choice Band Terrakion, allowing him to switch to a suitable counter. In tandem with Toxic, Protect lets him stall out Toxic damage as well. Toxic is great against walls and weather bringers. Hippowdon, Tyranitar and Ninetales all don't appreciate damage from Toxic and find it difficult winning the weather war in most situations. Scald is my choice of attack for Politoed, sporting a healthy 30% chance to burn. It receives a double STAB from the Rain, meaning that it isn't just a pushover. The burn allows him to cripple the likes of Choice Band Scizor and relatively any other physical attacker who doesn't have Guts. Finally Rest was chosen just for that second chance against other weather teams. Many don't expect that Politoed carries Rest, meaning they sacrifice their Pokemon just to kill it. Rest also allows Politoed to sponge status, a major problem for my team.
The type advantage over Sand and Sun teams makes Politoed an immediate counter to both inducers. Most will begin the match by keeping their weather caster away, and really in turn can be crippling to their own team. Having Rain up should really be no problem 99.9% of the time, just beware of uncommon strategies such as Focus Sash Reversal Dugtrio + Pursuit Tyranitar or Perish Song Shadow Tag Gothitelle or even Focus Sash Endeavor Ice Shard Mamoswine, because they could really end Politoed's reign as the supreme weather caster.
Latios (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 16 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
Latios has secured his place as the hardest hitter in OU. His special attack hitting 130 and speed at 110 means that not much hits harder than him or outspeeds him. Latios uses Rain to his advantage much like the others on this team. With rain up that means a couple of good things for Latios. The first is that there is no Tyranitar ruining his fun. The second is that the weather isn’t countering Leftover recovery. Latios' set doesn't fear most other Latios, seeing as how he outruns all others that run Hidden Power Fire. His surprise factor also forces many careless mistakes from my opponent, giving me an even easier time to set up. Most expect a Choice Specs set, meaning they switch to a reliable counter only to give me a free Substitute.
Latios is one of the powerhouses of this team. Substitute is the move that makes this set work. Most people tend to run Refresh, but I guess that is there loss. Substitute means that there is no freezing coming from a move like Ice Beam, no Nattorei’s Leech Seeding me and most importantly no critical hits to ruin my time and effort put into setting Latios up. Substitute also protects Latios from Tyranitar's Pursuit, allowing him to flee until the time is right to clean up. With a great base speed and a reliable recovery move in Recover Latios is able to get himself out of seemingly the most dire of situations. Calm Mind is the best statistic boosting move in the game, with most Pokemon blessed with it being also blessed with great statistic allocation and moveset. Dragon Pulse is my choice of move. The boosts, STAB and lack of resists means that nothing, except maybe specially defensive Jirachi and Heatran, Chansey and Blissey, and Sturdy Pokemon such as Skarmory can survive a Dragon Pulse.
Latios handles Ninetales as well as Sun teams with ease. The Grass and Fire moves that Sun teams heavily rely on are easily sponged by Latios, who can continue to Calm Mind away. Latios can also put a big dent in Hippowdon, who can't really do much except Yawn or occasionally Ice Fang him.
Scizor (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
Scizor was the epitome of 4th generation. His usage was often outrageous, with almost every team carrying one. His great typing leaves him with only one weakness. However Scizor uses the Rain as a shield against fire moves, nulling them down to 2x super effective. This means that Scizor finds it a lot easier to handle threats he normally wouldn’t be able to. He is my only Dragon resist, but I see little reason to run another. His ability Technician allows him to easily abuse priority moves, giving him the upper hand, not having to invest in speed and focusing on defenses instead.
Scizor provides the perfect partner to Latios in everyway. They have amazing synergy, allowing me to make them the focal point of my team. One focuses on using physical attacks to break down teams, while the other focuses on using special attacks, once again complementing one another to overcome the strongest of cores. With Swords Dance and two STAB moves, one with priority, the opponent is in for a world of pain. Swords Dance's +2 is incredibly daunting to face, especially coming off a 130 attack statistic. Scizor punches holes in teams with ease, and only really fears Heatran, Chandelure and Volcarona. Roost once again give my sweeper a solid form of recovery, increasing Scizor's longevity. Scizor's Bullet Punch is one of only three other Pokemon who receive STAB from it. However with Technician he outclasses the other users in every way. Bullet Punch is not to be confused with other priorities as being weak. With a STAB and Technician boost, Bullet Punch sees itself being stronger than half the moves in Scizor's arsenal. Bug Bite was chosen to receive the Technician boost as well as offering a pseudo form of recovery. Scizor has the odd chance of receiving a Lum Berry from formidable sweepers, which really helps when he's been burnt or paralysed.
Scizor handles one of the biggest threats to this team, Tyranitar. Whether he Bullet Punches him or Bug Bites him, most Tyranitar won't stay it, unless they are running Choice Scarf Fire Blast. If they are running a Choice Scarf variant, they are very easy to work around. Scizor just needs to find the right opportunity to Swords Dance to swing the momentum in my favour. Scizor also handles the rare Abomasnow with ease. He can practically decimate an entire Snow team with one Swords Dance, thanks to Bullet Punch.
Rotom-W @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
Rotom-W's new asset in its typing has blessed him with a lot more usage. His new Electric/Water typing offers him a much better set of resistances than Ghost/Electric did. His ability Levitate is often for-granted, with people forgetting that it covers up one of his weaknesses. With his ability he is left with only one 4x weakness, and when coupled with his amazing bulk means that it won't be an easy feat defeating him. His abysmal speed statistic however is crippling, especially in metagame that is dominated by speed.
Rotom-W was honestly created to be abused on Rain teams. Looking as his movepool the two most stand out moves have to be Thunder and Hydro Pump. Under Rain Rotom-W receives a 100% accurate Thunder and a double boosted Hydro Pump. Not to mention that Electric + Water grants very good coverage. Hydro Pump is usually always the move I chose when I predict a switch, seeing as it will hit most Pokemon harder than Thunder will. Thunder however does come in handy, especially with the 30% to paralyse the opponent. Trick was chosen to cripple the likes of Blissey and Chansey. They can provide a major problem for this team if not handled properly. When used with Skarmory the core seems even harder to take down. However there is a simple way to lure out Chansey or Blissey for the Trick. I find myself switching Rotom-W into Skarmory while he sets up a layer of Spikes. If they do the right thing and predict a Thunder, they will almost always go to Chansey or Blissey, unless they pack something like Gastrodon. Volt Switch more than anything is a filler but actually allows Rotom-W to put massive holes in opponents team as well as scout his team and switch to a reliable counter.
Rotom-W provides another sound check to Sand teams, sporting an immunity to the omnipresent Ground type. He mocks the likes of Landorus and Excadrill and forces switches which can work in my favour. Rotom-W also handles opposing Rain teams with ease, firing off Thunder's and Hydro Pump's continuously.
Toxicroak (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Sucker Punch
- Drain Punch
Toxicroak hasn't seen any usage this generation, and why that is I am unaware. Many seem much more fascinated in the ability Swift Swim to actually care about Toxicroak. Many are yet to fully understand his ability, Dry Skin. Offering not only a 1/8th recovery but also a Water immunity makes him a no brainer on a Rain team, sponging those boosted Hydro Pump's and Scald's as well as using the Rain to his advantage. His typing leaves him with great resistances to the dangerous Fighting and Stone STAB of Terrakion, but also gives him a nasty weakness to Ground moves. His lackluster attack and paper thin defenses also leave him vulnerable without any prior boosts to his attack or defense. However once he gets going there is no stopping him.
Toxicroak's movepool, while being shallow, has the right tools needed to get the job done. Substitute works wonderfully in tandem with his ability. With a Substitute costing 1/4 of his Health Points and Dry Skin healing 1/8 of his health each turn, Toxicroak can constantly set up Substitute's until the opponent finally decides to either switch or boost his own attack. Letting Toxicroak get behind a Subtitute can be deadly. With Bulk up, he boosts his mediocre attack and defense to obscene levels, allowing him to even withstand the blunt force of Garchomp and Haxorus' Earthquake. Drain Punch offers him another reliable form of recovery as well as a great STAB move. With the healing from his ability as well as the Drain Punch recovery, Toxicroak could very well go from having 1 Health Point to being back at 100%. Sucker Punch is by far the best move Toxicroak could have asked for. WIth his 4x Psychic weakness, Espeon and the likes constantly try to switch in and kill Toxicroak. However to there surprise they soon discover that getting rid of Toxicroak won't be that easy, getting OHKO'ed by Sucker Punch.
Toxicroak provides yet another Tyranitar counter, giving me an easier time against Sand teams. However, don't forget that Tyranitar can in fact run Earthquake. While most don't there is a possibility that one will and you don't want to stupidly lose Toxicroak.
Garchomp (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Garchomp, much like Latios, is renowned for his hard hitting and lightning fast speed. His typing offers a lot to this team, but none more so than his Electric immunity. With great statistic allocation, movepool, typing and ability, Garchomp truly is the whole package. Sand Veil sees him as my primary Sand counter, usually switching straight into Tyranitar before setting Rain up if I see a lack of Skarmory or Hippowdon to phaze him. Many times Garchomp usually ends Sand teams who are more interested in winning the weather war than actually winning the game, awarding me with easy 6-0's. Garchomp's movepool was chosen to dispose of Sand teams rather than use the Rain to his advantage. Out of all the Pokemon he is the only one who doesn't gain an advantage from Rain. In fact he actually gains a 2x weakness to Water moves. Despite this Garchomp still holds this spot securely.
Garchomp's movepool isn't all too extensive, but what he has is all he needs. Swords Dance allows him to break stall teams and overpower Sand teams once Garchomp is behind a Substitute. Substitute serves many crucial roles and is the epitome of the set. Not only does it protect Garchomp from status and critical hits, it also functions in tandem with Sand Veil to give him free opportunities to set up. A miss on Garchomp could easily means its game over, seeing as after +2 he 2HKO's standard Gliscor. Outrage offers him his most powerful and reliable move. Sporting a 120 BP STAB move with minimal repercussions is really helpful for to tear through teams. Blindly unleashing Outrage's works more often than not, thanks to the lack of Dragon resistors that are viable outside of Ferrothorn, Skarmory and the occasional Bronzong. The choice of Outrage over Dragon Claw was pretty simple to me. I would rather get confused every so often than not have the power to cleanly dispose of threats. A clean KO is much preferred, seeing as there's no use in not being confused if you can't even overcome certain threats. Earthquake coupled with Outrage gives Garchomp a strong dual STAB moveset and good coverage. With both moves over 100 BP Garchomp decimates the opponents team. Skarmory is a major problem for Garchomp, but with Politoed and Rotom-W, Skarmory more often than not will be dead long before Garchomp is revealed.
A fourth Tyranitar counter never hurts. With over 2/3's of my team being able to handle Tyranitar, he finds it hard to even switch in and set up Sand, unless he sacrifices something to bring him in free. Once again Garchomp provides a great Sand counter but also a reasonable Sun counter. Dual Dragon's are really intimidating for Sun, seeing as how one is usually difficult to handle alone, let alone two of the greatest suspects.
Threats
..........
More of a nuisance than anything else. The only one that is annoying is the SubDisable set. It can come in on Garchomp, Latias and Toxicroak, outspeed and Substitute, before disabling my only means of damaging him. However there isn't much he can do in return, seeing as how they tend to carry Psychic + Focus Blast.
Once again this guy is a pain rather than a threat. I consider him a pain in all my teams, because now that he got Shadow Tag back he can trap and KO anything he wants. The worse is when he traps Scizor, seeing as how he is my one and only much needed dragon resist. I don't know why anyone would create such a troll Pokemon in the first place.
Tyranitar is a pain. He is so far the only threat I have encountered. He carries Pursuit and can trap Latias if I don't have a Substitute up, can hurt Toxicroak + Mamoswine with Earthquake and Superpower respectively and the odd Fire Blast can hurt Scizor a lot, seeing as how the weather is now Sandstorm. The special defense boost doesn't help in my task to take him down. Luckily Toxicroak can Drain Punch, due to the fact that Earthquake is very uncommon, but he is troublesome.
Importable
..........
Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 88 SAtk / 168 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Rest
- Protect
- Toxic
- Boil Over
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 16 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
Scizor (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
Rotom-W @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Pain Split
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
Toxicroak (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Sucker Punch
- Drain Punch
Mamoswine (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 88 SAtk / 168 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Rest
- Protect
- Toxic
- Boil Over
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 16 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
Scizor (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
Rotom-W @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Pain Split
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
Toxicroak (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Sucker Punch
- Drain Punch
Mamoswine (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 20 HP / 252 Atk / 236 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
Final Glance
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