Generic rain team + Swampert

[Yayoi Takatsuki]

That's a pretty old rain team of mine. I had it sitting in my HDD for about a year, and now I finally have the chance to post it here. So huh... I would like to read your opinions.

Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Perish Song

Scarfed Politoed is an effective lead and middle game sweeper, since I can attack on most Pokémon outspeeding most things (namely Starmie, Terrakion, Gengar and such) and avoid 1KOs from Alakazam and Starmie. Perish song is just to intimidate setuppers/Baton passers, making Politoed an effective "late game" killer. Ice beam and Focus blast are just for coverage against grass types, dragons and Ferrothorn.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Utility and offensive in one Pokémon. And that Pokémon must be Starmie. There isn't much to say about it. It's the offensive Rapid spin set, there isn't much to say. Thunder instead of thunderbolt to abuse the rain even more. Ice beam takes down dragons and grass types even better than Politoed. Rapid spin blews away hazards. I needed a spinner so toxic spikes won't damage Politoed and Swampert, and Stealth Rocks weren't going to disable Dragonite's multiscale.

Gengar (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Thunder
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
One of the two ghost types in OU, Gengar spots one of the highest special attacks in OU. It's the default set... In a nutshell. Substitute lets me "scout" switches and attacks, while Thunder abuses rain and Gengar's high special attack. Shadow Ball is obviously a STAB while Focus Blast hits steel types pretty hard.

Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Atk / 16 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Roar
With grass knot becoming less and less common (thanks Rotom-W!), Swampert has many opportunities to switch and block dangerous Pokémon like Thundurus-T. I preferred the offensive tank set, but w/e. Let's begin. Waterfall is the "niche" of this set. Blasts almost everything that doesn't resist it. Eq is the other stab, which hits many Pokémon hard. Ice punch takes down dragons, and Lati@s (for those is usually a 2HKO). Roar just takes away setuppers, Volcarona and the like.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Atk / 148 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
Bronzong is always forgotten. Not only Ferrothorn makes him feel like he's forgotten, but both share identical roles. Though, Bronzong abuses the rain to cover it's only non-double weakness. Also, Bronzong has a tool that Ferrothorn wishes to have: Earthquake. With Eq Bronzong can just go and smash nuts, especially if Magnezone dares to switch in. Stealth Rocks are here for an obvious reason while toxic is just a filler. I think I might switch it with Splendid screen/reflect.

Dragonite (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 108 SAtk / 148 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Hurricane
- Thunder
- Dragon Tail
- Roost
Good bulk, reliable recovery, Dragonite has the keys to win a weather war against Ninetales and fight 'till the battle ends. Hurricane and Thunder abuse the rain at its best, making it a fearsome attacker. Dragon tail just phazes out random crap/setuppers. Roost is just the reliable recovery. Well... There isn't much to say. It just helps me against Ninetales and whatnot.

 

[Chronic Smash]

Hi Yayoi Takatsuki!

Pretty solid rain team you got there,I like the usage in a rare poke in the form of Swampy but I have a few suggestions

1)I recommend you replace your Bronzong to a Substitute+Calm Mind Jirachi,Jirachi is a wrecking force behind a Sub and its almost guaranteed to sweep entire teams unprepared for it.

2)I highly recommend you give an Expert Belt over Life Orb on Starmie becuase taking 10% damage wit Rapid Spin is a bit of a waste of HP and Surf>Hydro Pump because that way you won't miss at all.

3)If you took my advice of taking out Bronzong I suggest you give your Swampert Stealth Rock over Roar on Swampert so you provide hazard support assuming you took out Bronzong for SubCM Rachi.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
EV's 252 Sp Atk/224 Hp/32 Spe
IV's 0 Atk
Trait:Serene Grace
Modest Nature
-Substitute
-Calm Mind
-Thunder
-Psyshock/Psychic

Basically the changes were:

Bronzong------>SubCM Rachi

Life Orb------>Expert Belt on Starmie

Roar------>Stealth Rock on Swampy

Well,those are my suggestions.Hope I helped!!!

Good Luck!And take care!

:D

 

[Yayoi Takatsuki]

Hi Yayoi Takatsuki!

Pretty solid rain team you got there,I like the usage in a rare poke in the form of Swampy but I have a few suggestions

1)I recommend you replace your Bronzong to a Substitute+Calm Mind Jirachi,Jirachi is a wrecking force behind a Sub and its almost guaranteed to sweep entire teams unprepared for it.

2)I highly recommend you give an Expert Belt over Life Orb on Starmie becuase taking 10% damage wit Rapid Spin is a bit of a waste of HP and Surf>Hydro Pump because that way you won't miss at all.

3)If you took my advice of taking out Bronzong I suggest you give your Swampert Stealth Rock over Roar on Swampert so you provide hazard support assuming you took out Bronzong for SubCM Rachi.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
EV's 252 Sp Atk/224 Hp/32 Spe
IV's 0 Atk
Trait:Serene Grace
Modest Nature
-Substitute
-Calm Mind
-Thunder
-Psyshock/Psychic

Basically the changes were:

Bronzong------>SubCM Rachi

Life Orb------>Expert Belt on Starmie

Roar------>Stealth Rock on Swampy

Well,those are my suggestions.Hope I helped!!!

Good Luck!And take care!

:D

That set you gave me can be easily blocked by Ferrothorn, Lati@s and Hydreigon.
About SR on Swampert, it makes no sense since Bronzong is the one who lays the rocks. About the Starmie change... it might work.

 

[TheEpicStunfisk]

Hello, I have tried to use your team and it worked out fine. I have too many suggestions to make in one rate, so I'm going to try.
First of all, if you somehow lose the weather war, you won't be able to touch your opponent. Like at all. Without rain, Hurricane, thunder and focus blast misses will really hurt. Ferrothorn is untouchable, as Gengar's focus blasts miss way too often. I would strongly recommend surf on Starmie, as it cannot afford to miss hydro pumps. I would also recommend sludge bomb over Focus Blast on Gengar, as Focus Blast misses a lot, and it isn't even stab. Sludge Bomb hurts grass types that would give 3 of your Pokemon huge problems. I would also advise a Lum Berry on Dragonite. Dragonite can sweep unprepared teams as it is. If it has a Lum Berry, Sleep/Paralysis inducers would cripple the beast. I can't think of much more right now, and I do think your team has good synergy. GOOD LUCK! :D

 

[100%]

Hello, I have tried to use your team and it worked out fine. I have too many suggestions to make in one rate, so I'm going to try.
First of all, if you somehow lose the weather war, you won't be able to touch your opponent. Like at all. Without rain, Hurricane, thunder and focus blast misses will really hurt. Ferrothorn is untouchable, as Gengar's focus blasts miss way too often. I would strongly recommend surf on Starmie, as it cannot afford to miss hydro pumps. I would also recommend sludge bomb over Focus Blast on Gengar, as Focus Blast misses a lot, and it isn't even stab. Sludge Bomb hurts grass types that would give 3 of your Pokemon huge problems. I would also advise a Lum Berry on Dragonite. Dragonite can sweep unprepared teams as it is. If it has a Lum Berry, Sleep/Paralysis inducers would cripple the beast. I can't think of much more right now, and I do think your team has good synergy. GOOD LUCK! :D

Hurricane and Thunder are good moves because it takes advantage of the rain, so basically what your indirectly saying is Chlorophyll is bad because it is useless outside Sun. There is something called "weather wars", so you can win and SPAM these powerful moves. Focus Blast has excellent coverage with Shadow Ball, so I don't catch your drift by saying that "STAB moves should only be used since other non-STAB moves are weak". Shadow Ball is 80 BP x 1.5 = 120 which is the same as Focus Blast. Sludge Bomb is only used with Focus Blast due to coverage issues. This is a rain team, and it's very well-built from what I'm seeing and Grass-type moves aren't an issue. Dragonite is a tank set and needs Leftovers. Hydro Pump is a nuke in rain, making it superior on the Leftovers set, but I'd see Surf good with Life Orb, but he is running Leftovers.

Okay, after that, hey!

It's cool to see Swampert get some use, but if you are really leaning towards and good tank, then Garchomp is better. Garchomp is bulkier than Swampert and packs the same resistances Swampert has. The Choice Band set is the best Swampert set out there, since it hits hard (with rain of course), and can use its coverage to the fullest, but Garchomp has pretty much everything Swampert has bar Waterfall (which is pretty weak compared to Garchomp, and the flinch rate is useless with something with 60 Base Spe). Trying out a Support Garchomp or Choice Band Garchomp over Swampert would do well. Having two Pokemon 4x weak to Ice-type moves won't hurt all that much, since the rest of your team take them with ease.

Hidden Power [Ice] > Toxic because it provides more coverage making sure your not set-up bait to Dragon-types and it puts a beating on one of Bronzong's main niche, countering Salamence and Garchomp, and its one of the few who can do it successfully. The extra coverage is also amazing against non-Gravity Landorus-T and Gliscor. Coverage is always superior to some way of staying in to long, and Bronzong has no reliable recovery. If you decide to give Garchomp Stealth Rock then Hidden Power Ice > Stealth Rock. Actually, nevermind, just try out Hidden Power [Ice] over Stealth Rock.

Everything else looks great, so good luck!

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet | Rough Skin
Jolly | 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 Spe
Stealth Rock | Dragon Claw | Earthquake | Protect

Garchomp @ Choice Band | Rough Skin
Jolly | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Outrage | Earthquake | Aqua Tail | Dual Chop