The Art of UnOriginality

[SuperChillarmy]

Introduction​

Hello Smogon. It's been a while since I've posted an RMT, and that's because I've been crap at teambuilding lately. I've been trying to stray away from the ever prominent weather and trying to use less used pokemon while still being successful. I did make a bit of a run with Alakazam, but I think we all know that to be successful in today's metagame we need to run a weather or be an insanely good player. So I had to follow the crowd and use an old favourite of mine, Rain.

With regards to play style, Rain is fairly versatile. You can run HO with pokemon such as Azumarill, Tornadus, Dragonite etc, or you could run a Stall team with Skarmsey. Having no personal preference I decided to try out Rain Stall. Rain Stall is extremely redundant, there's no way around it. Have the typical Stall core of [Special Wall][Physical Wall][Spin Blocker] and work your way around with things like phazer, entry hazards, spinner, and slight offensive presence. Rain Stall teams are either this or unsuccessful (or, again, you're an extremely good player). This is basically the format I followed when building the team. So, without further ado, let's dive in to Rain Stall: The Art of Unoriginality.

So, this is the team. Fairly easy to see from "At a Glance" that this is a typical Rain Stall Team. We have Politoed because he has a Rockin' Special Attack stat, making him a powerhouse in OU to be reckoned with (not really, we all know what Toed is for). Have have the nob core of Skarmsey, with the two of them having amazing defensive synergy and the ability to support the team. Sableye is my spin blocker, and he can prove to be extremely annoying with Prankster Taunt, Will-o-Wisp, and Recover. He comes out ahead against every spinner except Starmie and the occasional Tentacruel. Then we have Tentacruel, who lays down the Toxic Spikes and Spins. And finally, Celebi, who provides an additional Water resist and lays down Stealth Rock.

In Depth

Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Perish Song​

Why This Pokemon?
It's Politoed on a Rain Stall team, go figure. Politoed's role on the team is to set up Rain and consistently set up Rain in the case of a weather war. That's basically it. He also provides Status and Perish Song support, but who am I kidding? Politoed's only use is setting up the Rain and occasionally switching into a physical attack when I've won the weather war.​

Moveset
Fairly standard Defensive Toed. Scald is my main and only attacking move, hitting decently in the Rain and burning pokemon such as Ferrothorn on the switch. Toxic hits more defensive pokemon such as Jellicent and opponent weather inducers. Protect lets me scout for predictions, moves, and switch-ins, while stalling out Perish Song and Toxic damage. Perish Song helps against set up sweepers such as Volcarona and Latias, forcing them out before they can accumulate enough boosts to sweep.​

EVs and Nature
I've given Toed enough Speed to outspeed Skarmory. Then I maxed out HP EVs and dumped the rest in Defence.​

Skarmory (F) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 228 Def / 28 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind
- Roost​

Why this Pokemon?
Skarmory is the 1st member of my defensive core. He really is second to none when it comes to defensive bulk. He can switch into virtually any physical attack with ease and either set up Spikes or phaze away boosts.​

Moveset
Once again standard Skarm. spikes pressures the opponent every time he switches. Brave Bird hits Virizion and Breloom for surprising damage, usually with an OHKO. Whirldwind racks up hazard damage and phazes away boosts. Roost is that invaluable instant recovery. As a side note, I chose Shed Shell over Leftovers because Skarm is my only steel type and I need to keep him alive against DragMag teams and pretty much any team with Dragons.​

EVs and Nature
Standard EV spread and nature. Enough Speed to outspeed Timid Wobb and other Skarms, witht he rest invested in HP and defence.​

Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic​

Why This Pokemon?
The pink blob is on my team as the 2nd member of my defensive core. Chansey can sponge any special attack bar Psyshock and the odd Focus Blast, making her a phenomonal Special Wall. And, with the addition of Eviolite, she can also take some physical hits. She is great at supporting the team with Wish support, helping out Politoed and Tentacruel who aren't privileged with instant recovery.​

Moveset
Wish support is Chansey's niche on my team. Unfortunetly, Politoed has no form of recovery, meaning its switch-ins are limited to keep Rain up. Chansey supports Politoed by restoring a huge chunck of Toed's HP, proving to be infuriating for the opponent. Seismic Toss is extremely useful for providing constant damage and breaking Subs of boosting special sweepers. Toxic is there to wear down the HP of switch ins.​

EVs and Nature
Max HP and Max Defence to increase Chansey's bulk and help it stand a chance against physical attacks.​

Considerations
I have thought of changing Chansey to her big sister Blissey. She brings a bigger Wish tot the table and the freedom for Lefties recovery in exchange for a loss in physical bulk. Suggestions welcome.​

Tentacruel (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Protect
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes​

Why This Pokemon?
Tentacruel is a pretty cool pokemon this generation. With Rain Dish, Leftovers and Protect, Tentacruel restores 25% of its HP every 2 turns (if I did my math right). It may not be the best recovery, but it has proven to be fairly reliable combined with Wish Support from Chansey. Tentacruel is my common switch-in for threats such as Terrakion and Tyranitar. It also absorbs Toxic Spikes, which are a HUGE pain for Sableye, Celebi, Chansey, and especially Politoed. Finally he provides Spin support to help against opponent Stall teams.​

Moveset
Once again fairly standard moveset. Rapid Spin is Tentacruel's main niche, beating out most common hazard layers and getting off that invaluable Rapid Spin. Spin Blockers such as Jellicent can prove to be a problem for Tentacruel, but generally Celebi can take the more overweight jellyfish. Protect lets me scout for the Terrakion with the odd Earthquake, and lets me get huge amounts of recovery. Scald is for the burn on pokemon such as Breloom or Landorus on thw switch, as well as dealing decent damage under the rain. Finally, Toxic Spikes are a huge pain for opponent teams, especially for grounded sweepers such as Volcarona and Terrakion looking to sweep.​

EVs and Nature
The Smogon analysis recommends enough speed to outspeed Adamant Breloom, but I feel I have Breloom countered with the combination of Celebi and Skarmory.​

Sableye (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Recover
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Night Shade​

Why This Pokemon?
While this spot is up for debate with Jellicent itself, Sableye is a huge annoyance for opposing Stall teams and physical sweepers. His prime function is spin blocking, but the spreading of taunt and WoW is invaluable for my team​

Moveset
Pretty self explanantory. Recover is to sort of compensate for Sableye's lack of bulk, providing longevity for Sableye. Taunt shuts down Stall, preventing Forry from laying down hazards, Blissey from passing Wish etc. Will-O-Wisp hits pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Terrakion that are looking for the sweep. Night Shade deals consistent damage and wears down pokemon with no recovery.​

EVS and Nature
Pretty much standard, balencing each defence equally.​

Considerations
I have considered changing Sableye to Jellicent, who has more bulk and a water immunity in exchange for more weaknesses and losing priority Taunt, WoW, and recover. Comments are appreciated.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Giga Drain
- Psychic​

Why this Pokemon?
The last member of my team, and probably the most replaceable. Celebi acts as a reliable water resist while having the ability to get Stealth Rock up right away due to having no shared weaknesses with Politoed. With amazing bulk and a solid attack, she really helps the team by providing a slight offensive prescence​

Moveset
Stealth Rock is obvious due to the amount of Volcaronas and Nites running around, crippling them immensly. Recover is to make her last longer. Giga Drain is there to deal some STAB damage and recover some HP. Psychic is there to hit BU Breloom and Conkeldurr.​

EVs and Nature
Standard Defensive spread.​

Considerations
Changing Giga Drain for Leaf Storm would certaintly put on a huge amount of pressure against neutral sweepers, hitting much harder.

That's the team. Comments are appreciated. thanks for reading :)​

 

[godbaka]

I think u should add twave or perish song on celebi cuz hp fire not gonna do much in rain

 

[Delko]

Hello SuperChillarmy

As you mentioned this is a pretty standard Rain Stall team, but it's very solid nonetheless. I can't suggest much, but I do have some small nitpicks that could help you out.

Why don't you try out Foul Play over Night Shade on Sableye. It hits the Magic Bounce pokemon Espeon and Xatu much harder, both pokemon seems to be annoying for your team. You still deal good enough damage to other pokes too though.

I also notice that Jellicent can be a problem for your team too, especially if your opponent has his own entry hazards set up. It prevents you from spinning and it can take on more then half your team with a combination of Taunt + Will-O-Wisp/ Toxic. I think the easiest way to fix this is by running Toxic over Toxic Spikes on Tentacruel. This lets you beat Jellicent one-on-one but it also lets you cripple pokemon as Psyshock Lati@s, Rest Volcarona etc, who can also cause you some trouble. Additionally you could also replace Protect with Substitute for stalling purposes and run a Timid nature with an EV spread of 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe. This lets you outspeed Dragonite and Gyarados so you can Toxic them before they use Substitute or Taunt. You still have 2 Toxic and 1 WOW users so you don't have to worry about the lack of status-inducers on your team.

Last but not least, I suggest Psychic on Celebi, over Hidden Power [Fire]. Mainly because I can see pokemon as BU Breloom and Conkeldurr to be a bit dangerous for you otherwise. Hidden Power [Fire] doesn't do alot to Scizor in the Rain anyway.

I hope these suggestions helped and good luck with the team.

 

[Lady Alex]

Hi, this is a pretty solid team. I'm not sure that I would advise using sableye as a spinblocker on a rain team. Starmie outright beats it in the rain and if it gets burned from tentacruel, it won't be able to beat it one on one either. I would suggest using shadow ball jellicent with 60 sp def EVs instead of it. It can reliably spin block against every relevant spinblocker and still does pretty well against other stall teams. good luck!

 

[SuperChillarmy]

Thanks for the comments :)

@godbaka: After more testing I agree with you that HP Fire doesn't fit on the team. However, Heal Bell isn't necessary as Tentacruel absorbs Toxic and Celebi and Chansey absorb everything else with Natural Cure. T-Wave wouldn't be good on my team as I have T Spikes, two users of Toxic, and Thunder Wave would simply prevent me from racking up Toxic damage. Thanks for the comment, though :)

@Delko: I strongly agree with you on the Psychic>HP fire change on Celebi. I also like changes on Tentacruel. I'm a little tentative about changing Night Shade to Foul Play, but I'll test it and see how it goes. Thanks for the rate :)

@Lady Alex: I too have thought about changing Sableye to Jellicent. I'm a little reluctant to lose the momentum Sableye provides, but I'll test out Jelli for sure. Thanks for the rate! :)

 

[SuperChillarmy]

Bump!

 

[HoiPolloi]

Hi, I think you don't need Wish on your Chansey. Politoed and maybe Tentacruel are the Pokemon you would need to pass a Wish to. So I think you wasted a whole moveslot on Chansey. I would replace Wish and Protect with Softboiled and Aromatherapy, which is always useful on a stall team.

 

[SuperChillarmy]

Hi, I think you don't need Wish on your Chansey. Politoed and maybe Tentacruel are the Pokemon you would need to pass a Wish to. So I think you wasted a whole moveslot on Chansey. I would replace Wish and Protect with Softboiled and Aromatherapy, which is always useful on a stall team.

Thanks for the comment, HoiPolloi. This is a valid suggestion, but Politoed really appreciates the Wish support to win the weather war. Nonetheless, i will test out that change. Thanks!

 

[New World Order]

Hi, sorry about getting to this late. But I had taken a 1 month hiatus from Pokemon and wanted to get used to the meta before I started rating again. First of all, I think you should consider swapping Protect on Chansey for Softboiled. While having 2 healing moves seems weird at first, Wish is needed to keep the team healthy. One thing Blissey has over Chansey is Leftovers recovery, so Chansey gets worn down by entry hazards throughout the game. You really do need that instant recovery if you don't want your opponent to use Swords Dance or something as you Protect. Softboiled is also a better option if Chansey is being constantly forced out and you can't find an opportunity to use Wish.

I also agree that Shadow Ball Jellicent is a better option than Sableye as your spinblocker. Sableye is honestly meant for more offensively oriented teams, as it doesn't have enough bulk to take hits from heavy hitters. While Jellicent doesn't have Prankster priority, it is still a capable stallbreaker with Taunt and Will-O-Wisp. The extra resistances that it brings to the table never hurts either. Jellicent, as mentioned before, is great because it can defeat the most common spinblockers Starmie, Forretress, and Donphan on some occasions if you hit it with Will-O-Wisp early enough. It should also give you another option against Terrakion, as you're currently relying too much on Celebi to deal with it.

GL

TLDR version

Softboiled>Protect on Chansey
pros: instant recovery
cons: no scouting

Jellicent>Sableye
pros: better defensively/ better spinblocker
cons: not as good a stallbreaker

Sets

Chansey @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Softboiled
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Triat: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

 

[BKC]

SubCM Rain Abuse Jirachi eats you pretty hard, sweeping with Psyshock and Thunder after a couple of boosts. This is easy to fix; just drop Chansey's Wish + Protect for Stealth Rock + Softboiled and give Celebi Perish Song over SR. This'll give you an excellent check to CM Rachi and will help you check CM Reuniclus more reliably, because unlike Politoed, your current check (should you take NWO's advice and drop Sableye for Jellicent, which I think is a good idea), it has reliable recovery and resists Reu's attacks. Losing Wish support isn't that big a deal because every single one of your mons has reliable recovery besides Politoed [if this bugs you, try using a Rest + Chesto strategy for better longevity, although I think Leftovers + Protect is good enough].