OU Drizzle Team

[Thetwiggy13]

Hi :D I'm not a new wifi battler, but I haven't done so in about a year or two, so here is a Drizzle team I could use some help on.

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature
- Surf/Scald
- Protect
- Toxic
- Ice Beam
Politoed is the centerpiece of this team with its DW ability in Drizzle. Toxic+Protect is used to stall out Jellicent, although Recover is quite annoying. Furthermore, Surf is to provide a bit more power than Scald, but Scald is an option anyways because of the nifty 30% burn. Ice Beam is mainly to hit Pokemon like Dragonite or Salamence on the switch, although it isn't STAB nor is it based off of a sky-high special attack. The 8 EVs in Speed is to outspeed all variants of bulky Jellicent.

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Trick
- Psyshock
In the rain Surf is boosted and with 130 Base SpA stat, it can be costly. Draco Meteor is the Dragon-Type STAB needed to overpower Dragonite, Salamence, and opposing Latios. Trick is to merely lock Pokemon like SR Ferrothorn into its move and then be able to repeatedly attack the wall. However Psyshock is a viable option because of Terrakion, which is a common threat this team faces. Psyshock is also the best option Latios has against bulky Blissey and eviolite Chansey, which in both cases can 'wall 'n' stall' at the same time. The Scarf is used on Latios so that way it can outspeed other base 110's or 108's (most notably Terrakion, other Latios, and Scarf Haxorus, which saved me) and attack first.

Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Spore
- Mach Punch
Under Technician Breloom's Bullet Seed is the strongest move in OU, and that combined with the list of water-type defensive threats such as Jellicent, Gastrodon, and Keldeo leaves Bullet Seed to be a much valued move. Low Sweep allows the Speed of the opponent to go down, allowing Breloom to hit at least one more time. Spore is the most accurate sleep-inducing move in the game and therefore can be a perfect time to switch.

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Oddly, Volcarona in the rain is still a major threat to any team. Originally having Magnezone in this place, I found Volcarona more useful because of its moveset and typing. Quiver Dance can negate the damage done by rain, while also boosting other stats as an added bonus. Bug Buzz is a nice STAB to use on Lati@s switch-ins. Hurricane is basically Thunder for Jirachi; a 120 Base move with perfect accuracy in the rain. This will definitely help with Conkeldurr and other Volcarona. Fire Blast is a nice STAB attack that is still sufficient under rain but can be used beforehand.
(Replaced Magnezone)

Jirachi @ Leftovers
252 HP/ 224 SpD/ 32 Spd
Calm Nature
Wish
Stealth Rock
Thunder
Water Pulse/ Protect
Jirachi allows me to tank Hurricanes with a maximum investment in Special Bulk. Wish grants health, Stealth Rock brings in residual damage, and Thunder is a reliable attack in the rain. Water Pulse allows me to have a 90 Base Power Water-type attack to hit super effectively against the likes of Landorus switch-ins, and Protect is for an easy recovery in Wish. Furthermore, with the Combination of Wish and Water Pulse, I was able to manage an Alakazam outside of rain that was using HP Fire through stalling and healing.
(Replaced Ferrothorn)

Starmie @ Life Orb
252 SpA/ 252 Spd/ 4 HP
Timid Nature
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Thunder
Rapid Spin
With my lack of rain sweepers, Starmie is able to come in, Rapid Spin off the lethal SR and Spikes variety, and then start hitting. Rapid Spin also compliments Volcarona, who is devastated by all forms of entry hazards. Hydro Pump has amazing power under the weather, while Surf has the most accurate hit. I find the power Hydro Pump has to be of dominance as Surf just leaves Starmie to many 2HKOs or Pokemon living with 12% health. Ice Beam is a reliable attack for Dragon-Types, Ground-Types, and Grass-Types. Thunder has perfect accuracy in the rain, and therefore I can also spam Thunders to get easy KOs. Life Orb further reiterates this damage, and a Timid nature is to outspeed Specs Latios and Terrakion (team has fighting weaknesses).
(Replaced Scizor)

With this team, the major threat I'm facing is Sandstorm teams. In the sun, Pokemon like Volcarona and Breloom can still effectively sweep, but with sandstorm my team begins the fall off the fence.
Fixed Ferrothorn --> Jirachi
Fixed Magnezone--> Volcarona
Fixed Scizor--> Starmie

Should I switch out Breloom for Toxicroak? Toxicroak has a much longer lifespan and can be really effective.

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey Thetwiggy, this is a pretty solid team you have here and there aren't too many things that threaten it thanks to its good team synergy and powerful priority moves (which both can ohko terrakion if i remember correctly). However, there are some weaknesses that i think you can touch up on to improve your team.

First of all, like you mentioned, Tornadus is a pretty big threat to your team even if magnezone is still in the match. Scizor does a sizable chunk with bullet punch and latios outspeeds but nothing wants to take its powerful Flying/ Fighting/ Bug coverage. I think to remedy this you should switch ferrothorn to specially defensive Jirachi. Jirachi is a great pokemon in the rain, with the ability to spread paralysis through 100% Thunder while still being able to wall significant special attacking threats and having access to stealth rock.

Secondly, you do lack a spinner which could end up hurting you. I would recommend testing Life Orb Starmie in place of one of your members as it could keep up the offensive pressure of your team. I think its up to personal preference which member you would want to replace as each brings something useful to the table.

Lastly i just have a few moveset/ ev spread suggestions that may help you make your team more efficient. First of all on politoed, you say that you like using it to toxic stall things such as jellicent but many jellicent, including my own, run 84 speed ev's in order to outspeed base 70's such as politoed and skarmory so they can use taunt before using a status/hazard/recovery move. You would only need 8 speed ev's to counter this so i would recommend a spread of 248 hp/ 252 def/ 8 speed so you can toxic these jellicent variants before they taunt. I would also get rid of hp fire on latios since once rain is up it really isn't too effective and magnezone already is using it. I would use both psyshock and trick on the same set since they are very effective moves on scarf latios.

well thats it! hopefully my rate helped, i'll leave you with the spreads/ move sets that i suggested. Good luck!

Hide

Jirachi @ leftovers
252 hp/ 224 sp def/ 32 speed
careful nature
wish
stealth rock
thunder
water pulse/ protect

Starmie @ Life Orb
252 sp att/ 252 speed/ 4 hp
timid nature
Hydro pump/ surf
ice beam
Thunder
rapid spin

 

[Thetwiggy13]

Thanks so much MCBarrett! Jirachi will give me a resistance to Tornadus and I can fire off a Thunder as well. But on the Nature, wouldn't it be Calm rather than careful? Also, I found Starmie to be more useful than Scizor granted Mach Punch has better offensive typing than Bullet Punch, and Breloom is able to use Spore anyways. I'll switch this in the morning!

 

[Jolteon Bandit]

Hey twiggy, this is more of a question than a rate.

How do you deal with fighting types that run rampant through the metagame. You have three steel types, so this is a little concerning for me looking at this team. You also don't have a real "rain abuser" on the team, so I would suggest a Rain Volcarona. You can replace Magnezone with this and still kill stuff like Forretress and Skarmory with a Fire Blast (if you want to run it) since QD negates the negative effects rain has on fire moves. This would pretty much require you to have a spinner though, and as MCBarrett suggested, Starmie is an excellent choice since it has access to Rapid Spin, Hydro Pump, and Thunder. I can't really determine who you would want to take out for him though, maybe Ferrothorn. Anyway, good luck and have fun.

Sets:

Hide

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Hurricane
- Fire Blast

Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

 

[MCBarrett]

You're right, it would be a calm nature. I was looking at a different set

 

[ganj4lF]

Jolteon Bandit has a good point, although the presence of two strong priority users lessens the problem a bit (the only common Fighting type that can take those priorities without worrying too much is called Keldeo, however Latios outspeeds and OHKOs with Psyshock, which should be really used over HP Fire since you're running a Rain team, and unboosted HP Fire is ridiculously weak).

The thing I'd really like to point out is that I don't like at all that Magnezone set. You're running a Rain team, and Ferrothorn is not even 3HKO'd by HP Fire in that kind of weather. Of course, you can use it as set-up bait, but what if you're hit by Leech Seed / TWave on the switch (or worse, the Ferrothorn has Bulldoze? I always run it when I can to troll Zones)? You can be probably outstalled and killed by the thing you're supposed to counter. I'd suggest to use a Choice Specs Magnezone instead; HP Fire always 2HKOs, Thunder is wickedly powerful in Rain (2HKOs standard Latios, to give an idea, or any Jirachi set, which can be a lot dangerous otherwise if it starts to CM), and you preserve a good STAB option (Volt Switch) in case Rain is not up. Magnezone will not be able to sweep anyway, even with a good number of boosts under its belt, especially without HP Ice, and Substitute doesn't give any reliable protection against trappers or Ground types (it can save your life in very situational moments, but that's it). SpecsZone, instead, can nuke down the opposing team while retaining momentum, and can even tank hits a little better (no HP lost for Subs, no need to run all those Speed EVs).

SpecsZone

Magnezone @ Choice Specs | Magnet Pull
Modest | 148 HP / 252 SpA / 108 Spe
- Thunder
- HP Fire
- Volt Switch
- Flash Cannon

Hope it helps. Good luck.

 

[Thetwiggy13]

Thanks everyone I will try out all of these sets and get back to you and edit!

 

[Thetwiggy13]

Hey twiggy, this is more of a question than a rate.

How do you deal with fighting types that run rampant through the metagame. You have three steel types, so this is a little concerning for me looking at this team. You also don't have a real "rain abuser" on the team, so I would suggest a Rain Volcarona. You can replace Magnezone with this and still kill stuff like Forretress and Skarmory with a Fire Blast (if you want to run it) since QD negates the negative effects rain has on fire moves. This would pretty much require you to have a spinner though, and as MCBarrett suggested, Starmie is an excellent choice since it has access to Rapid Spin, Hydro Pump, and Thunder. I can't really determine who you would want to take out for him though, maybe Ferrothorn. Anyway, good luck and have fun.

Sets:

Hide

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Hurricane
- Fire Blast

Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

In reply to the fighting- type problem, I have no idea what to replace and what to replace with to take on threats like Conkeldurr. Any suggestions?

 

[Shurtugal]

Hello!

Okay so this team looks pretty standard. RP Landorus-I looks like it can get an easy mid game or late game sweep if it sets up RP, as Politoed + Latios can only tank one Earth Power or Hidden Power [Ice] respectively, and your more than likely will have nothing for it once they've been weakened into KO zone. Double Dance ThundyT can also set up on Breloom or Jirachi and completely sweep you, and Banded Tyranitar looks like it can eat you for breakfast too, as well as SubCM Jirachi.

I would change Latios to LO Latias, so you can sponge rain hits better (you currently struggle switching into Scarf Keldeo's Hydro Pump, as mostly everything bar Latios should be 2HKO'd by it). This switch, however, makes you lose a much needed scarfer, which is why I recommend trying Scarf Politoed over your current set. This team isn't defensive, and Scarf Toed is perfect for being able to Encore SubCM Jirachi, while Latias can easily switch into ThundyT and threaten it so it can't ever set up al +2's, and Scarf Politoed should keep Landorus-I at bay.

Sets

Latias @ Life Orb
Trait: Leviate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 72 Hp / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Roost

Politoed @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Surf / Perish Song

I would use Swords Dance over Low Sweep, I personally like Breloom's ability to break stall teams after a single boost. Also, Fight Gem is a lot better longevity wise, but its also a personal change since I hate the LO set.

Lastly, I would change Jirachi into a physically oriented one. Switch to a nature that's [+SDef, -SAtk] I forget the name of the nature D: and then run Iron Head and Thunder Wave over Thunder and Water Pulse. Body Slam allows you to paralyze ThundyT so it, hopefully, can't mindlessly just Dance all over it.

Ok so this team should be solid now! I would test Rain Dance over Thunder (not really enforcing this but putting it out there) since any sun team that gets rocks up will end up sweeping with Venu, and Starmie's RD could be an easy fix. Thunder is really only hitting Jellicent (Latias > Tentacruel), but you have Breloom (and LO Latias's Draco does around 67% if you can weaken it enough) so you don't really need Thunder too much. However, just test it. Thunder is still a great insurance move.

~ Good Luck ~
Shurtugal ​

 

[Thetwiggy13]

I found Latias so much weaker and prone to status that I may as well stay with Latios. The Politoed set is a bit better than my defensive set, but I do indeed have a problem against Keldeo, not against Landorus-T as much as -I, and opposing rain teams. I kind of need Thunder on Starmie to attack water types switching in on me--Rain Dance is like a set-up-and-die type of thing.

 

[Dark Assasin]

Hi!

Actually the team is good and I like

but do not get frustrated if you use two quiver dance and roar Heatran uses you and bye boost?

Try this Volcarona

Volcarona @ Leftovers
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ground]

 

[Mr What]

Hey.
This team is pretty good, but there are some problems. First of all, most of your team is specially based. This can be a problem when facing a sp. def wall, such as blissey. Blissey can be a pain to your team, especially after breloom is killed off (which might not take long with the LO recoil and rather bad defenses). Yes, psyshock is on your latios, but it won't be able to do half, which can lead the blissey to be able to softboil up to full.

Another thing is that you have no physical wall, which can be a problem when dealing against offensive pokes that have wide coverage. I suggest this Landorous-T set:

Landorous-T @ leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EV spread: 232 HP/252 Def/20 S.Def, Adamant
Moves:
EQ
Stealth Rocks
Stone Edge
U-Turn

Having Landorous-T around will provide a great check to banded Terrakion, who could wreck even your latios or starmie upon swith-in with a CC. Breloom can be a check to terrakion, but the mach punch doesn't kill, even after a few switch-ins with stealth rocks. The intimidate can also be very helpful to negate LO, choice bands, or any other attack boosts. This will also provide you with another resistance to ground, and me able to puncture steel types. The earthquake is just a STAB move. Having stealth rocks on this poke will allow you to have iron head on Jirachi. U-turn is to keep the momentum going, and stone edge is for coverage. I suggest having volcorona replaced, as it is too reliant on starmie spinning away hazards, but you can choose.

 

[MewTheDestroyer]

Just a question about the description of Volcarona, "Negate damage done by the rain." You mean what by this? o.o

And also, I'm going to nitpick here and say Surf > Hydro Pump on Starmie because you already get the boost from rain, while having 100% with Surf.