[OU] Twist at Rain Team

[TenaciousAfroman]

Introduction:​

How this team came about actually is an ironic story. I needed a gym team for a league that I was attempting to join. I needed 3 pokemon of the same type (water) and I could have 3 other pokemon that could be anything. I pondered awhile using Marriland Team Builder and thoughts and I came up with this. I decided I'd test it on Showdown to see how it works, and I found out it's actually a very competitive team in the OU tier alone. I've probably played around 100 matches with this team, and I just can't seem to get past 1800 with it. I either end up having the wrong pokes at the end, or my opponent has just the right pokemon to beat me. It's sad to think, and makes me mad when I realize it. Anyway, I'm going to skip team building process since I've kept the same 6 pokemon the entire time. Without further a do, this is my rain team:​

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The Team:​

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CHANGES ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN RED​

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Politoed (F) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Drizzle​

EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk​

Bold Nature​

- Toxic​

- Perish Song​

- Protect​

- Scald​

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The obvious pokemon in any rain team. Politoed starts the show. I run a more defensive set on Politoed for the fact that this team needs pokemon to take the physical hits. I run Perish / Protect instead of a more offensive Politoed because I'll bring this in on Pokemon like Salamence & Garchomp who I know I can't one shot, and begin their sweep early and pressure them into shortening their sweep. Perish Song saves my butt a lot of times against players who know the right time to set up their pokes. Scald is my obvious stab move and toxic is there to help stall out pokemon such as Gastrodon and Jellicent who I can't hit.​

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Rotom (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 252 Spd / 4 HP / 252 SAtk​

Timid Nature​

- Volt Switch​

- Hydro Pump​

- Thunder​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

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Rotom-W is the second water pokemon I thought of just because of it's great bulk and good offensive potential. I'm running a normal will-o-wisp set, because this helps me cripple physical sweepers such as Scizor, Lucario, and offensive dragons. Hidden Power Ice helps me with hitting dragons and grass types who would otherwise resist the rest of my move pool. Hydro Pump and Volt Switch are obviously there for STAB and Volt Switch is there to help create offensive potential with it's fabulous partner, Scizor. Rotom-W helps with taking care of steels such as Rachi and Scizor.​

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Scizor (F) @ Choice Band​

Trait: Technician​

EVs: 252 Atk / 236 HP / 20 Spd​

Adamant Nature​

- Bullet Punch​

- Pursuit​

- U-turn​

- Superpower​

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Who else would work better with Rotom-W on a rain team than Scizor. Scizor is the Kyogre of OU, it's always a reliable pokemon to put on your team. I'm using a standard choice band set to help with instant offensive potential and help give reliable priority. I put 20 speed EV's on my Scizor to help me outspeed Scizor's who run 16 speed EVs. Superpower is for Ferrothorn and other Scizors, U-turn is to help scout and create synergy with Rotom-W and Pursuit is to trap Latios, Latias, Starmie and Celebi. Bullet Punch is for STAB and priority.​

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Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb​

Trait: Poison Heal​

EVs: 20 Spd / 252 Def / 236 HP​

Impish Nature​

- Seed Bomb​

- Focus Punch​

- Spore​

- Substitute​

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Set Suggested by Plus​

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Breloom seems to be a good fit for this team. You should probably try a bulky set because it catches lots of people off guard in that it can survive all sorts of moves and Spore them to effectively neuter their sweeping potential. This helps greatly against your Ferrothorn issues, as Breloom is one of the best Pokemon to take advantage of Ferrothorn setting up on your Pokemon. It is immune to Leech Seed, and it is also immune to paralysis if you switch it in safely and let Toxic Orb activate. Tentacruel seems to be the best way to replace this -- I don't seed a dire need for spinning on this team and its coverage will be a bit redundant with Politoed and Rotom-w in the mix of things.

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Mamoswine (F) @ Focus Sash​

Trait: Thick Fat​

EVs: 72 Spd / 252 Atk / 184 HP​

Adamant Nature​

- Earthquake​

- Ice Shard​

- Icicle Spear​

- Stealth Rock​

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I needed a pokemon who could set up rocks and check dragons. I already had a spinner, so I called Mamo up. I run 72 speed to reach a speed stat of 214 so I can outrun standard Body Slam / Iron Head rachi sets. This thing outruns Heatran and takes care of Sun team threats and helps me check and kill of Dragons and other rain team sweepers like Thundurus-T and Tornadus. honestly Mamoswine is the complete package when it comes to weather, being a viable poke on your team in all four variants. Stealth Rock is needed to help get residual damage when I force switches, Ice Shard is needed for priority to hit dragons and Icicle Crash and Earthquake are for STAB. I think Icicle Crash is better than Icicle Spear because it can 3-4 Hit KO Skarm, and I feel like the risk of not getting all hits on Icicle Spear throw me away from using it.​

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Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP​

Timid Nature​

- Draco Meteor​

- Psyshock​

- Trick​

- Surf​

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The final poke to my team, my last addition. This pokemon helps glue everything together, giving my team an instant offensive potential that wasn't really there before. I run Scarf > Specs for the sole reason that Scarf Terrakion and Keldeo give my team a lot of trouble. This thing reaches a speed stat of 525, which is outrunable by a few pokes in the game. This also helps me with Alakazam who is a big problem and Toxicroaks who don't run Sucker Punch. It also helps if rain is set up, because it allows me to hit and outrun Adamant Stoutlands. Psyshock is to hit Breloom and Toxicroak and other fighting pokes, Draco is for a strong STAB, trick is to give a poke a choice scarf to throw off tempo, and surf is to hit everything neutral with Dragon and is also there because of it's boosted power in rain.​

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Conclusion:​

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I have done very well with this team, a lot better then expected. With a lot of games played with it, I'm still not sure with replacements I should make. I just need those necessary changes to make this team get over the plateau and reach that next level. I've noticed a huge problem with Alakazam, Keldeo, Toxicroak Terrakion, Gastrodon and Ferrothorn. I just find a few pokes who can really hit Ferro, Toxicroak and Gastro hard with STAB while Kazam, Terra and Keldeo just outrun a good portion of my team. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't necessarily need to keep the 3 water pokemon for the gym, but if somehow we could keep 3 water pokemon and improve this team I could then still use this for my gym team. Otherwise any changes are accepted.​

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Importable:​

Politoed (F) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Drizzle​

EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SAtk​

Bold Nature​

- Toxic​

- Perish Song​

- Protect​

- Scald​

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Rotom (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 4 SDef / 252 HP / 252 SAtk​

Modest Nature​

- Volt Switch​

- Hydro Pump​

- Will-O-Wisp​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

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Scizor (F) @ Choice Band​

Trait: Technician​

EVs: 252 Atk / 236 HP / 20 Spd​

Adamant Nature​

- Bullet Punch​

- Pursuit​

- U-turn​

- Superpower​

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Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge​

Trait: Rain Dish​

EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP​

Timid Nature​

- Rapid Spin​

- Scald​

- Giga Drain​

- Ice Beam​

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Mamoswine (F) @ Focus Sash​

Trait: Thick Fat​

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef​

Adamant Nature​

- Earthquake​

- Ice Shard​

- Icicle Crash​

- Stealth Rock​

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Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP​

Timid Nature​

- Draco Meteor​

- Psyshock​

- Trick​

- Surf​

 

[Plus]

Hi there.

Your team seems very weak to Ferrothorn, as it can get spikes up on nearly everything on your team, does good damage to most of it as well, and will really mess around with you when it uses Leech Seed. Gastrodon seems to be a weakness of your team if only because Tentacruel might have trouble switching in as Giga Drain is rather unorthodox. A lot of threats you mentioned can be helped if you ran more speed on the right Pokemon, as Rotom-W can act as a check to certain kinds of Keldeo if you choose to Scarf it, same with Sash Alakazam(voltswitch to Scizor, bullet punch). If you feel you are still weak to Toxicroak despite having Scizor, perhaps it's because your Politoed is set up fodder for it, and you might want to consider a different set to help you deal against Toxicroak.

Breloom seems to be a good fit for this team. You should probably try a bulky set because it catches lots of people off guard in that it can survive all sorts of moves and Spore them to effectively neuter their sweeping potential. This helps greatly against your Ferrothorn issues, as Breloom is one of the best Pokemon to take advantage of Ferrothorn setting up on your Pokemon. It is immune to Leech Seed, and it is also immune to paralysis if you switch it in safely and let Toxic Orb activate. Tentacruel seems to be the best way to replace this -- I don't seed a dire need for spinning on this team and its coverage will be a bit redundant with Politoed and Rotom-w in the mix of things.

While the SD Mach Punch set is Breloom's most threatening set, I don't know if it's the best option for your team if only because your team is very weak to Ferrothorn, and the SD Mach Punch set doesn't always yield the optimal result when you're fighting Ferrothorn.

Politoed can opt to run Psychic over Toxic if Toxicroak is really such a pressing issue. While you don't get to Toxic incoming Jellicent, you have Breloom to tank hits from Jellicent anyway, so it doesn't matter as much. You can decide to run a more offensive set in general such as Specs which hurts tremendously in the Rain, but I can understand if you want to keep the Perish Song strategy just to keep your checks in place. Also, consider running Icicle Spear over Icicle Crash on Mamo so you can break Dragonite Subs and prevent them from sweeping you with a DD up.

Scarfing the Rotom-W gives you a much quicker Volt-turn with Scizor and provides you responses for a lot of quicker threats that you mentioned previously. You can then use Thunder over WoW on your Rotom, as it deals a great amount of damage and is your primary form of offense under the Rain.

Rotom@ Scarf
Timid 252 Satk/252 Spe/4 HP
Hydro Pump/HP Ice/Thunder/Volt Switch

Breloom@ Toxic Orb
Impish 236 HP/ 252 Def/ 20 Spe
Seed Bomb/Focus Punch/Spore/Substitute

Good luck with the team, hope I helped. =)

 

[TenaciousAfroman]

Yes thats exactly what happens. Politoed ends up being set up fodder for Toxicroak and I have a disadvantage off the bat. I will try those two suggestions, and reluctant as I am I will try Icicle Spear to see if it helps. But with running a bulky Breloom I feel like I'm losing offensive Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[David Weaver]

Tentecruel, is by no means going to be sweeping teams i would change him to a Special Sponge. Pretty much Plus covered everything i was gonna say

 

[Jazz]

Yes thats exactly what happens. Politoed ends up being set up fodder for Toxicroak and I have a disadvantage off the bat. I will try those two suggestions, and reluctant as I am I will try Icicle Spear to see if it helps. But with running a bulky Breloom I feel like I'm losing offensive Thanks for the suggestions!

In all due respect, your team has no real offense as it is at the moment - rain boosted hydro pumps. Idk how this team plays so I can't help you there, but you're going to need to fit in a Life Orb user or Two because your team is way too dependent on making perfect reads and even then this won't help you against certain defensive cores/stall teams.

 

[TenaciousAfroman]

Tentecruel, is by no means going to be sweeping teams i would change him to a Special Sponge. Pretty much Plus covered everything i was gonna say

Say that now, but if you know how to play with Tentacruel and weaken the opposing teams, I've had Tentacruel come in late, and just finish off 3-4 pokes. So yes, by means he will.

In all due respect, your team has no real offense as it is at the moment - rain boosted hydro pumps. Idk how this team plays so I can't help you there, but you're going to need to fit in a Life Orb user or Two because your team is way too dependent on making perfect reads and even then this won't help you against certain defensive cores/stall teams.

Yes I have realized that playing someone today, and having to switch a ridiculous amount of times, any suggestions would be beneficial on how to make this team more offensive from how it is now.

 

[KabaticStorm]

Nice team! The twist makes rating a bit harder, but I'll try to outline some things your team has trouble with.

First off, could you change the explanation for rotom? It talks about a defensive set, while your set is clearly offensive.
Next, you are very weak to Dragon-Types. Though Mamoswine can check them, something like DD Haxorus can easily sweep. For that reason, I'll suggest a mixed wall Jirachi. It can tank dragon type moves on both sides of the spectrum. You could swap either Mamoswine or Scizor, and put SR on Jirachi to fulfill Mamo's role.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
252 HP. 154 Def 100 Sp.Def
Iron Head
Body Slam
Stealth Rock
Wish

 

[TenaciousAfroman]

First off, could you change the explanation for rotom? It talks about a defensive set, while your set is clearly offensive.

I made changes to that Rotom set, made earlier which is why the EV spread, attack and nature have been highlighted in red. I forgot to switch that which is the reason for that.

Next, you are very weak to Dragon-Types. Though Mamoswine can check them, something like DD Haxorus can easily sweep. For that reason, I'll suggest a mixed wall Jirachi. It can tank dragon type moves on both sides of the spectrum. You could swap either Mamoswine or Scizor, and put SR on Jirachi to fulfill Mamo's role.

Yes, but with a defensive rachi taking out my Mamoswine/Scizor, I am losing more offensive potential and turning this more into a bland team. What I mean is I can tank dragon hits that way, but I'm losing offensive power at the same time, making me vulnerable to teams with multiple tank/walls who can counter or check one of my pokes. I will try that out though, and then maybe make Breloom a more offensive variant and see how that runs. Thanks for the suggestion!