Alright, so after raging against how gen 5 is so broken, I decided to bite the bullet and join in. My thought process was that weather teams seem to have the most success, or at least ANTI-weather teams, so it was either beat 'em or join 'em. I think I did a little bit of both...
Team at a Glance:
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I didn't want a conventional and easy-to-counter rain team, and the fact that it was rain didn't necessarily meant that all my pokemon needed abilities or were water-type. The main reason I chose a rain team in the first place is that it can pretty much counter both Sandstorm and Sun teams from my experience as Politoed can beat Hippo/Tyran/Ninetales by himself practically. And most SS/Sun teams don't have legit Poli counters as he's surprisingly bulky. I wanted a team that is MOSTLY offensive, but also able to perform some stall as well.
Alright, obviously this pokemon is going to be my lead (most of the time), so here it is:
Politoed @Leftovers
Bold [252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD]
Drizzle
~Scald
~Ice Beam
~Toxic
~Protect
Needed to have a buffer Poli than my original who was mostly SpD, so I just ran with Bold and full Def EV's and it's worked out great for his stalling potential. So the usual plan is to poison the enemy and Protect to stall them by healing with leftovers and them losing HP to Toxic. This set is pretty underestimated and works GREAT. Almost guaranteed to take out the opponent's lead if they don't switch. And no other poke who switches in will want a Toxic to the face anyways. Scald is there for stab and burn potential, and Ice Beam just in case of dragons setting up or switch in if I predict right.
Okay, I had the epitome of my team, now I needed the second focus of my team, which I thought should obviously be my sweeper. I needed a fast pokemon and I wanted one which could utilize the rain so...
Thundurus @Lum Berry
Timid [252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP]
Prankster
~Nasty Plot
~Thunder
~Hidden Power [Ice]
~Focus Blast
Yes... the electric genie. Pretty standard Plot set, still get pissed that I can't have dual HP to get rid of that terrible Focus Blast accuracy, but it's still been working out fairly well. Lum Berry is fun to laugh at their face when they switch in to status you. Life Orb would make me die too fast, and Leftovers are kind of a waste as he's pretty fragile. I guess I could run Expert Belt, but Lum works fine.
Now I needed a poke who could compliment Politoed's weaknesses and be able to tank/stall pretty well. As I was going for a Toxic+Protect stall for Politoed, my first choice was perfect in complimenting him.
Gliscor @Toxic Orb
Impish [252 HP/108 Def/148 Spe]
Poison Heal
~Protect
~Swords Dance
~Ice Fang
~Earthquake
Another staple set (maybe not so much the EVs), really helps to stall in conjunction with Politoed, and has potential to kill. A very useful tank, and I almost never have problems stalling a physical hitter.
After getting my first three pokemon, I realized I seriously needed to start thinking about getting a guy for entry hazards and also some more special tanking. I wanted this pokemon to also like having the rain support, so I picked up one of the most popular of gen 5 pokemon so far...
Ferrothorn @Leftovers
Sassy [252 HP/60 Def/196 SpD] [0 Spe IVs]
Iron Barbs
~Leech Seed
~Spikes
~Gyro Ball
~Power Whip
My favorite set to use on this saucer, and now adjusted to fit special walling potential. Now with fire only hurting 2x instead of 4x, this guy and his typing make him an EXCEPTIONAL special wall. Plus, this guy can still take physical hits like a champ and usually outlast most pokemon he comes into contact with, or at least leave them sapped. I seriously thought about getting Shed Shell to avoid Magnezone, but I just use my noggin now for prediction. Easy enough now that you have Team Preview.
My next pokemon I wanted was one that is my all-time favorite and I think I've found has a very high impact on my team's performance if used correctly. He doesn't really benefit much from the Rain support, but nevertheless he offers a great variety and unique niche in my team.
Breloom @Toxic Orb
Jolly [252 Atk/244 Spe/12 HP]
Poison Heal
~Spore
~Substitute
~Focus Punch
~Stone Edge
Although it was popular at first to use Techniloom, I've found that the original SubPuncher set still works like a charm. Breloom doesn't have too many counters, and most I have an answer for anyways. Yep, this guy can rip apart slow teams easily and if given an easy Spore, it's hard to beat.
*EDIT* Took out Seed Bomb for Stone Edge, works pretty well but the low accuracy and PP is MEH.
I needed to wrap up my team with someone who can keep everything else that could pown my team in check, and as I love priority moves and still wanted usefulness from the rain...
Scizor @Life Orb
Adamant [252 HP/252 Atk]
Technician
~Swords Dance
~Bullet Punch
~Bug Bite
~Brick Break
I like the SD set better than the CB set mostly because people expect a banded Scizor, and I can usually get off a free one. I really wish I had a 5th slot to fit in Quick Attack, but I just can't find anywhere to put it as I need Bug Bite to keep Rank countered and provide insane STAB, and Brick Break is needed for pokes like other Ferrothorns. Brick Break probably IS my weakest link of this moveset, but Idk...
So yeah that's my team. I've had a lot of success with it, especially when I started to get better at battling in general and use some good prediction to win fights. I can't really find anything to change per se, because I think it's working out great, but I just wanted some feedback from the public. Any suggestions are welcome, but don't expect me to edit them all in or even permanently use them. A recent problem I've run into is Tornadus as nothing on my team resists Flying and Hurricane can pretty much 2HKO any of my pokes...
Right now I'm shooting towards getting in the top 100 (I'm at like 147 currently, so I'm getting there...) with this team. *EDIT* Ok... in top 100, gotta keep going now...
Team at a Glance:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't want a conventional and easy-to-counter rain team, and the fact that it was rain didn't necessarily meant that all my pokemon needed abilities or were water-type. The main reason I chose a rain team in the first place is that it can pretty much counter both Sandstorm and Sun teams from my experience as Politoed can beat Hippo/Tyran/Ninetales by himself practically. And most SS/Sun teams don't have legit Poli counters as he's surprisingly bulky. I wanted a team that is MOSTLY offensive, but also able to perform some stall as well.
Alright, obviously this pokemon is going to be my lead (most of the time), so here it is:
Politoed @Leftovers
Bold [252 HP/252 Def/4 SpD]
Drizzle
~Scald
~Ice Beam
~Toxic
~Protect
Needed to have a buffer Poli than my original who was mostly SpD, so I just ran with Bold and full Def EV's and it's worked out great for his stalling potential. So the usual plan is to poison the enemy and Protect to stall them by healing with leftovers and them losing HP to Toxic. This set is pretty underestimated and works GREAT. Almost guaranteed to take out the opponent's lead if they don't switch. And no other poke who switches in will want a Toxic to the face anyways. Scald is there for stab and burn potential, and Ice Beam just in case of dragons setting up or switch in if I predict right.
Okay, I had the epitome of my team, now I needed the second focus of my team, which I thought should obviously be my sweeper. I needed a fast pokemon and I wanted one which could utilize the rain so...
Thundurus @Lum Berry
Timid [252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP]
Prankster
~Nasty Plot
~Thunder
~Hidden Power [Ice]
~Focus Blast
Yes... the electric genie. Pretty standard Plot set, still get pissed that I can't have dual HP to get rid of that terrible Focus Blast accuracy, but it's still been working out fairly well. Lum Berry is fun to laugh at their face when they switch in to status you. Life Orb would make me die too fast, and Leftovers are kind of a waste as he's pretty fragile. I guess I could run Expert Belt, but Lum works fine.
Now I needed a poke who could compliment Politoed's weaknesses and be able to tank/stall pretty well. As I was going for a Toxic+Protect stall for Politoed, my first choice was perfect in complimenting him.
Gliscor @Toxic Orb
Impish [252 HP/108 Def/148 Spe]
Poison Heal
~Protect
~Swords Dance
~Ice Fang
~Earthquake
Another staple set (maybe not so much the EVs), really helps to stall in conjunction with Politoed, and has potential to kill. A very useful tank, and I almost never have problems stalling a physical hitter.
After getting my first three pokemon, I realized I seriously needed to start thinking about getting a guy for entry hazards and also some more special tanking. I wanted this pokemon to also like having the rain support, so I picked up one of the most popular of gen 5 pokemon so far...
Ferrothorn @Leftovers
Sassy [252 HP/60 Def/196 SpD] [0 Spe IVs]
Iron Barbs
~Leech Seed
~Spikes
~Gyro Ball
~Power Whip
My favorite set to use on this saucer, and now adjusted to fit special walling potential. Now with fire only hurting 2x instead of 4x, this guy and his typing make him an EXCEPTIONAL special wall. Plus, this guy can still take physical hits like a champ and usually outlast most pokemon he comes into contact with, or at least leave them sapped. I seriously thought about getting Shed Shell to avoid Magnezone, but I just use my noggin now for prediction. Easy enough now that you have Team Preview.
My next pokemon I wanted was one that is my all-time favorite and I think I've found has a very high impact on my team's performance if used correctly. He doesn't really benefit much from the Rain support, but nevertheless he offers a great variety and unique niche in my team.
Breloom @Toxic Orb
Jolly [252 Atk/244 Spe/12 HP]
Poison Heal
~Spore
~Substitute
~Focus Punch
~Stone Edge
Although it was popular at first to use Techniloom, I've found that the original SubPuncher set still works like a charm. Breloom doesn't have too many counters, and most I have an answer for anyways. Yep, this guy can rip apart slow teams easily and if given an easy Spore, it's hard to beat.
*EDIT* Took out Seed Bomb for Stone Edge, works pretty well but the low accuracy and PP is MEH.
I needed to wrap up my team with someone who can keep everything else that could pown my team in check, and as I love priority moves and still wanted usefulness from the rain...
Scizor @Life Orb
Adamant [252 HP/252 Atk]
Technician
~Swords Dance
~Bullet Punch
~Bug Bite
~Brick Break
I like the SD set better than the CB set mostly because people expect a banded Scizor, and I can usually get off a free one. I really wish I had a 5th slot to fit in Quick Attack, but I just can't find anywhere to put it as I need Bug Bite to keep Rank countered and provide insane STAB, and Brick Break is needed for pokes like other Ferrothorns. Brick Break probably IS my weakest link of this moveset, but Idk...
So yeah that's my team. I've had a lot of success with it, especially when I started to get better at battling in general and use some good prediction to win fights. I can't really find anything to change per se, because I think it's working out great, but I just wanted some feedback from the public. Any suggestions are welcome, but don't expect me to edit them all in or even permanently use them. A recent problem I've run into is Tornadus as nothing on my team resists Flying and Hurricane can pretty much 2HKO any of my pokes...
Right now I'm shooting towards getting in the top 100 (I'm at like 147 currently, so I'm getting there...) with this team. *EDIT* Ok... in top 100, gotta keep going now...
